rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 38

"Well, at the very least, I can promise you he'll be able to do that. Do you want me to save a version of his current code before I fix it?" Soobin asked, already moving to plug another memory chip into the box extension.

"Why would I want that?"

Jungwon felt hollow, scooped out. He never wanted to think about blank Jay again, much less have a version of him saved.

"So you can, I dunno, sue the guy who did it?" Soobin frowned at him, "HYBE Tech would be pissed to see this hack job on their precious code."

"How do you know that?" Yeonjun sounded awed.

"Jailbreaking 'bots is a lucrative business, and I have got a college tuition to pay off," Soobin flashed a winning smile at Yeonjun.

"I can't tell if it's sexy or stupid how casually you just implied you break laws for a living," Yeonjun's mouth curled into a crooked grin, as he leaned over to observe Soobin working on the computer.

"I'll help you out there. It's sexy. Betcha didn't know I was a bad boy," Soobin winked at Yeonjun, who chuckled.

Soobin then turned back to Jungwon, briefly, and seemed to sober up instantly, "Please leave my involvement out when you go to HYBE. Thanks."

Jungwon nodded, hollowly. He wasn't even thinking about it, not even after Soobin had brought it up. He could barely look beyond the immediate future, the precise moment when Jay would have his chip put back in him and he'd reactivate and Jungwon would discover how much of himself he had retained.

Soobin made a few more taps on the keyboard, a few more quick clicks of the corded mouse. The window displaying Jay's code changed, as all the lines previously enshadowed turned a vibrant, fully opaque green.

Then, just like that, Soobin was closing the window.

Jungwon blinked. Has it really been that easy a solution? He'd felt so dismal, so heartbroken, and all because of an issue that was a few quick keystrokes and a couple minutes programming away from resolution. Jay had been erased, and his retrieval had only been a car-ride to a college campus away.

Soobin plucked Jay's chip from the slot of the metal box. Wordlessly, he extended his hand to Jungwon.

Jungwon looked at the tiny thing, uncomprehending, at first.

"You can do it, if you want," Soobin said, "Don't worry. This part'll be hard to fuck up."

With those resounding words of encouragement ringing in his ears, Jungwon took the chip. With utmost care, he drew aside Jay's shirt and exposed the open square of wires in his chest.

He heard a weak sound behind him, from Taehyun's direction.

Then, Jungwon carefully, carefully inserted the chip. It slotted into place as easy as anything.

Nothing happened, for a split second. Then, the panel slid shut, cutting off the vibrant pulsating light, and making Jay look indistinguishable from a person in slumber.

⭐

With bated breath, waiting for any slight movement or indication of Jay's reactivation, Jungwon angled his head to watch him. As he waited and waited, as Jay remained seated stock still, Jungwon began to button Jay's shirt up.

It was taking a while, with his hands trembling as they were. He had to focus intently, just to get the cool metal buttons through the slits in the shirt's placket.

Jungwon reached the second highest button, the one that rested at the base of Jay's throat and he paused, to glance up at Jay again.

He gasped, startled, when he found that Jay's eyes were open, that he was staring solely at Jungwon.

To Jungwon's surprise, in his haste to move away, he fell back onto the ground.

"Sorry," he gasped, breathless, trying to figure out when Jay had woken up, how long he must have watched Jungwon in silence.

Jay blinked, and cocked his head, "There's no need to apologize."

Jungwon nodded. He searched desperately for any spark of recognition in Jay's eyes.

Jungwon couldn't discern whether or not Jay recognized him but-- Jungwon's heart skipped a beat-- Jay's face wasn't blank. He looked at Jungwon with what could only be termed curiosity, his eyes wide.

"If I may ask-- where am I?" Jay moved his gaze from Jungwon, looking around the room.

Jungwon opened his mouth to reply, but no words were coming to mind. He stared at Jay, mute, as Jay turned to face him again. His head was still cocked, his expression was still puzzled.

Soobin cleared his throat, "You're in a basement lab, particularly at BELIFT LAB."

"Interesting," Jay didn't look at Soobin as he replied to him. He didn't remove his eyes from Jungwon,

"Who are you?"

- the end of chapter 38 ♡

JAY IS BACK !!! but it seems like he can't remember jungwon T__T

i will update again after this
reaches 550 votes ^_^