𝐏𝐒𝐘𝐂𝐇𝐎 ミ nct

026

ｔｗｅｎｔｙ─ｓｉｘ
ｊａｅｈｙｕｎ ｘ ｔａｅｙｏｎｇ

Fluttering his eyes open as he felt someone beside him, Taeyong saw one of the nurses touch his arm. He suddenly sat up, thinking that the nurse was going to attack him when in reality the dextrose is out and is needed to change.

"Shh, Taeyong, you're alright. We're just going to replace your dextrose with a new one." Sooyoung flashed him a small smile, holding his shoulders to prevent him from doing something to the nurse.

The doctor motioned the nurse to continue what she was doing as Taeyong calmed down, lying back down on the bed.

Once he felt the nurse let go of his arm, his body relaxed as he stared at the ceiling, watching the staff from his peripheral vision. Sooyoung went up to him whilst holding a clipboard, tapping on his arm which made Taeyong flinch.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Your scheduled TMS session was canceled today, do you still take the paroxetine prescribed to you?" The doctor asked as Taeyong nodded his head in reply. "Okay then, do you still want a new bottle of alcohol?"

Taeyong just blinked and didn't answer for a seconds or so, creating an awkward tension between them. Sooyoung sighed and is about to just nod and give him another bottle when he shook his head – waves of shock entering her veins.

Did.. Did Taeyong just shake his head?

Sooyoung blinked for a moment before snapping back to reality. TMS does work and it helped him a lot than she could imagine. The doctor flashed Taeyong a smile before turning her heel and motioning the other nurses to come with her and leave the ward. Taeyong sighed and looked at his left hand, after years of this IV needle pierced on it, he honestly can't remember the feeling of having no needle on his hand.

"Is the patch on your arm still bothering you?"

Taeyong snapped his head to where the direction of the voice came from, making eye contact with the owner of the bed across him that's now walking up to him. He gazed back at the ceiling that he suddenly finds interesting, not really wanting to have a conversation with the guy.

"Go back to sleep," Taeyong replies, as far as he can remember, he fell asleep after everyone did.

"Can't." Jaehyun shrugged, walking up beside the bed as he reached out for Taeyong's sleeves, about to fix it when he suddenly felt the older slap his arm away. "Don't touch me."

Jaehyun was taken aback, but nonetheless let out a soft chuckle, "Wasn't going to. I'm just bothered,"

That made the older on the bed frown, eyes landing on Jaehyun's orbs as the younger reached out to fix his sleeves and his messy hair – but this time, Taeyong just let him do what he wants.

"There, much better."

Taeyong blinked, he can't tell if he's flirting or just straight up can't seem to handle something that's messy or unclean. Jaehyun sat on the chair next to him, sleepiness taking over once again. He woke up because of the loud footsteps of the nurses, taking a glimpse of Taeyong's disheveled state, and can't sleep because he was bothered at his look.

Now that everything's been fixed, Jaehyun sighed and leaned back on the chair.

"Did you seriously just come here to fix my clothes and hair?"

The younger yawned and stretched on the chair, nodding as he came closer to the bed, about to place his arms on it and lean his head on his arms to sleep but then Taeyong had to stop him.

"Hep– sanitize first." The older handed him alcohol, to which Jaehyun was slightly confused but then remembered the older's sickness.

The younger took the alcohol and applied it on his hands and arms, handing the bottle of alcohol back to Taeyong before proceeding to lean his arms on the bed. Jaehyun closed his eyes, feeling sleepiness take over his body yet he didn't bother drifting off to dreamland.

"Don't you like.. Want to go back to your bed?" Taeyong broke the silence they were sharing for a few minutes or so, Jaehyun sleeping in this uncomfortable looking-like position is bothering him.

Jaehyun hummed, "It's more comfortable here."

The older didn't reply and just stared at the ceiling, silence engulfing them once again – with the aircon and the soft breathing of the other patients providing sounds for the two of them. Taeyong sighed and closed his eyes, lifting his left arm to cover his eyes.

"What brings you here?"

Jaehyun's eyes fluttered open, but he didn't say a single word. He was about to say that he's been here for four months or so and he still hasn't known when he remembered that it was himself that didn't really want to talk to anyone, not until his encounter with Mark at the rooftop.

"I'm atelophobic, throwing tantrums here and there when I make mistakes– or when something isn't perfect enough," Jaehyun said casually like he's used to answering this kind of question.

Makes sense to Taeyong when he saw him getting irritated over the portrait hung on the wall. "No wonder you look perfect yourself."

That was supposed to be a whisper, but Taeyong just had to say it aloud. The younger felt sleepiness drive away from his veins, looking at Taeyong with hope and joy in his eyes.

"You think so?"

Taeyong pursed his lips in a thin line, he didn't mean to say it aloud but nonetheless nodded. "Yeah."

Jaehyun tugged his lips in a smile, going back to his previous position with the smile not leaving his face. Damn, it felt good when someone tells you you're perfect when you're atelophobic.

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