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Jaehyun was with Mrs. Han when the news broke. His children - half a dozen junior doctors and nurses - barged into his office, which, in reality, isn’t rare, but today was special - in a sense. Mrs. Han looked displeased by the development. He was just confused.
Nervously, the lot of them arranged themselves in a disciplined line. Jaemin, Jeno, Renjun, Yeri, Yuqi - where's Chenle?
"Hyung!" Chenle burst in after them. Ah, there. "Have you seen the news?"
"No?" Jaehyun deflated. Nothing serious, probably. "Chenle, I don't have time-"
"It's Tae- His highn- Prince Lee- what the fuck do I call him-"
"Can you get to the point, Chenle?" Jaehyun sent Mrs. Han an apologetic look.
"Oh, yeah. He was shot."
+
Jaehyun sprints. It's not enough, and when he reaches Emergency, he skids and his shoes make a painful squeak.
He sees Johnny first. He's standing rigid against the wall while Jeonghan picks something out of his bicep. Something, which on closer inspection, is a bullet. Johnny catches Jaehyun's eye and tilts his head inwards.
Jaehyun pushes through the throng of nurses and doctors gathered around the bed in the cramped space the hospital declares as Emergency, in bold block letters by the door.
Jaehyun can't see his husband, and a panic is beginning to burn in his abdomen. Or it has been, for a while, ever since Taeyong didn't text him back after lunch. He'd successfully convinced himself Taeyong got caught up in some impromptu meeting or he had a bad connection, but Jaehyun knows him, and Jaehyun knows their relationship.
Still pushing, Jaehyun reaches the sanctum of the Emergency room. Taeyong's seated on the bed, his shirt ripped in half. Its remnants are concentrated on a region in his back. Jaehyun guesses that's where the bullet wound is, and blesses Johnny for trying to contain the bleeding.
The doctor working on him - Dr. Park, if Jaehyun remembers correctly - acknowledges him with a nod and a curt demand to draw the curtains. He obliges, closing off the view of an impaired leader from his people, and replies to Dr. Park with a short hello.
Taeyong instinctively turns his head at Jaehyun's voice, but Dr. Park is faster and holds it in place, lest he pull something. Jaehyun takes a few long strides and reaches his husband, carefully accompanying Dr. Park in her administration of a numbing balm across Taeyong's back.
Taeyong has tear tracks down his cheeks and his fist clenched tightly in the sheets of the bed underneath him. Jaehyun lets his hands linger in comfort.
Peeling the rest of the shirt off, Dr. Park examines the wound.
"Can it be removed?" Jaehyun asks.
She shakes her head. "Surgery. Can't tell if it's hit anything vital."
"Do we need an x-ray?"
"Yes."
Jaehyun nods. "Okay. And his vitals?"
"They seem stable." She looks to the expectant silence on the other side of the curtain. "I'll arrange it. Stay put."
"Thanks."
A sliver through the curtain is vulnerable for a second, and then Dr. Park commands the crowd to dissipate.
In the glaring artificiality of the light, Taeyong observes Jaehyun, and Jaehyun observes Taeyong.
"You didn't reply to my text," Jaehyun says.
"Sorry. I was too busy getting shot."
Jaehyun sighs and sits beside him. His eyes graze over Taeyong's back, checking for any additional injuries, then land on his face. Taeyong's looking at him.
"Don't strain your neck."
"I'm not."
Taeyong's hand crawls over and settles on his thigh, palm exposed and upward-facing, and Jaehyun understands. He laces their fingers together and doesn't say a word. Neither does Taeyong.
It's his steady breaths that Jaehyun measures time with. He never knew how precious they could be to him. In, out. Rise, fall. Contraction, expansion. Taeyong holds a steady grip.
Dr. Park returns, armed with a gaggle of nurses and a couple of interns. Jaehyun helps him get onto cot and he's swiftly wheeled away for an x-ray.
+
"See?" Dr. Kim, their radiologist, holds up the x-ray against a lamp. "Some damaged tissue, probably. The problem here is that there's fragments all over and there can be damage to arteries."
"Should we go in for removal, then?" Jaehyun asks her, examining the scans himself. Idly, he wonders what happened to Mrs. Han.
"I'd suggest it, yes." Dr. Kim confirms.
Jaehyun takes the x-ray and explains the situation to Dr. Park, who quickly arranges an operation theatre.
When they're wheeling him there, Taeyong's lulling in and out of sleep, the exhaustion having finally caught up to him. Jaehyun gently whispers in his ear to wake him up.
Taeyong doesn't jerk awake, thankfully. He opens his eyes slowly, blinking, dispelling any blurriness from his vision.
"What happened?"
"They're taking you in for surgery." Jaehyun maintains his low tone. "They'll remove the bullet."
"Will it hurt?"
"No, they'll put you under anaesthesia."
"Will you be there?"
"If you want me to."
"I want you to be there."
Jaehyun holds Taeyong's hand in his for as long as he can. He lets go disinfect his hands, and when he returns, dressed in surgical garb and masked, he takes Taeyong's hand again. He doesn't let go, not even when Taeyong grip is limp and he's breathing out of an oxygen mask.
+
Taeyong jerks awake, which jerks Jaehyun awake, which jerks Johnny awake. He inhales deeply. They're in a hospital room. Johnny's lounging in a cot placed opposite his bed, awake and alert. Jaehyun sits in a chair beside his bed, and he's draped himself over it in order to rest his head against Taeyong's side.
"Good morning." Johnny's gruff voice breaks the silence.
Taeyong hums, and Jaehyun, sensing nothing wrong, falls back asleep. Soothing fingers glide through his hair.
"Don't worry about it, by the way."
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't need to," Johnny mutters.
Taeyong considers the pros and cons of glaring at Johnny.
"They were dealt with. Last of the Yakuza we'll have the pleasure of meeting for a while."
"Good." Taeyong changes the pattern of his strokes in Jaehyun's hair. "And what of our local nuisances?"
"They aren't powerful enough, Taeyong. Stop worrying."
"How can I not?" He asks softly. "Not when there's another life on the line now."
Whatever retort Johnny had planned dies on his tongue. "It went through?"
"It went through," Taeyong confirms. A smile plays at his lips.
"Does Jae know?"
Taeyong shakes his head. It hurts, but not as badly as before. "Not yet."
Johnny tires to suppress his smile. "You're going to be a father, oh my god."
The words echo in Taeyong's mind as he settles back against the pillows. We're going to be parents.