cheval glass inflation

There are a few things Zhang Hao has immense hatred for. 

One, being an impudent lapdog of capitalism. Two, getting abruptly woken up by anyone that isn't Taerae.

And finally, Sung Hanbin.

But that's for another conversation.

Right now, thinking about Sung Hanbin and letting last night’s agonizing memories flash in front of his sleeping subconscious is the last thing he wants to do to himself. Especially when he can feel the throbbing headache grow into an intermittent piercing pain. He feels like he is tumbling from dreams of deserts and demons (read: Sung Hanbin), into semi-consciousness. 

His hazy brain picks up something unusual; a low but persistent ringing noise. Which gets exceedingly infuriating as time passes. 

Hao groans into his pillow and uses it to cover his ears. He snuggles in deeper under the threadbare blanket but it becomes too agonizing to ignore when the shrill buzzing of the penthouse doorbell starts to echo through his walls.

He throws the blanket carelessly from on top of him and starts walking towards the front door of his home, rubbing his groggy eyes and groaning while massaging his temples. He can barely see anything, his head painfully heavy. Fucking god, he really should've listened to Gunwook and stopped drinking last night. 

He stumbles his way to the door, barely making out the outline of his home with how blurry his vision is.

"Since when the fuck is this couch angled like this?"  Hao curses to himself. 

With one last groan he opens the door, “God, Taerae, can you tone the buzzing down, my head hurts like shit.” He mumbles, still rubbing his eyes. Then his eyes start to focus on the subject standing in front of him. He almost gapes in disbelief. 

He thought he was awake. But guess this is another shitty nightmare.

The subject of his nightmare seems puzzled.

“Taerae? Like Kim Taerae? Since when do you guys talk again?” the figure in front of him asks, puzzled, then a sudden flash of realization dawns on its face, "Oh, did you contact your old friends after we broke up last night?" 

The words fall from none other than Sung fucking Hanbin’s mouth, who’s standing in front of him in all his godforsaken glory. 

This is a hallucination, he says to himself and makes an effort to immediately close the door on the asshole. 

Oh look, the hallucination can even hold doors from getting closed on his face- the audacity. 

“Hao-hyung, I'm not here to solve things ‘cause we both need a break from each other, but that doesn't mean you get to slam doors on my face, this is my apartment as much as it's yours.” the hallucination says, holding the door open with one of his hands. 

Even though Hao is aware that this isn't the real Hanbin, he still feels absolutely disgusted at the sight of his hands on his own door, and listening to his eerily realistic voice call him hyung makes his skin crawl. 

“I’ll leave after a week, for good. We need to stay together til this next gathering.” Hanbin grimaces. “We can’t let the families know what happened, if they found out we separated, the deal will never go through, we can't do this to them.” 

“Wow this is a weirdly woven nightmare, my subconscious is one hell of a storyteller.” Hao speaks up in a hoarse voice and moves to close the door again to no avail.

Because nightmare Hanbin proceeds to hold the door open again and this time, with all his abhorrent audacity, his hand falls directly where Hao’s is. Hao could swear he felt a surge of homicidal intent swim through his whole body, caustic enough to burn his insides. He quickly takes a few steps back, knowing full well that he could be hungover out of his mind, but he isn't airheaded enough to keep neglecting the fact that this, whatever this is, could very much be real. Because Hanbin touching him felt way too real, real enough for him to want to commit arson, and Hao is fairly very much against violence.

Unless it comes to Sung Hanbin. 

And here he is, standing in front of him, talking to him, like it's normal. Like they don't want to tear each other’s heads off every time they cross paths. Like their usual routines around each other isn't to fight for their lives to not be around each other. 

The next words that come out of Hanbin’s mouth aren’t something Hao could’ve fathomed hearing in a thousand years.

“I know we still love each other, Hao-hyung. Nothing will ever change that. We’ve been together for more than two years now, but some things are just not meant to be. This is for our own good, and the families, but you already knew that.” 

Hao wishes he never woke up.

‘I know we still love each other, Hao-hyung.’ 

Yeah no, what the fuck. 

“Did you hit your fucking head? Or did I? Oh god, you mixed something in my drinks last night, didn't you? I'm hallucinating because of that.” Hao says this time, absolutely inflamed.

Hao is surprised he is even letting himself indulge in what is the weirdest fucking nightmare sequence of his life. But who could have warned him that it would get a lot, lot weirder?

“What are you even saying? Why– how would I mix something in your drinks? Did you get home and start drinking? You were pretty sober when we broke up.” Hanbin (derogatory) retorts defensively. “I didn't even leave the gathering until it was late.” 

“Okay. So you did hit your head. Cool.” Hao says as he stares into the void in disbelief. “Hallucination or not, please get the fuck out of my face before I call authority, like right now.” 

“What, Hao-hyung, what are you even– how much did you even drink?” Hanbin asks, looking concerned this time.

“No, no, no, you don't get to ask me that shit, when you, my mortal fucking enemy-” Hao hovers over the word for a second, and realizes it sounded way too dramatic, “my… whatever the fuck you are, come here, to my house and talk to me like- like that, like you aren't you and I am not me. And then you have the audacity to ask me what I'm saying?” Hao exclaims, finally lashing out at the subject of his hallucination, as he keeps trying to convince himself.

Hanbin looks taken aback, obviously disoriented, “I– what?” he pauses and starts again, “Did us breaking up affect you that badly?” A flash of sympathy paints his face as he exhales out, “Oh, baby.” 

And that is the last straw for Hao, he turns on his toe, walks straight to his kitchen, and upon first glance everything look… odd. He notices the aisle is– is he seeing this right? Since when are the countertops granite instead of marble? What the hell is this awful color? 

He’s too hungover for this. So without putting much thought into that, he swiftly opens the drawers under the island counter to find his desired object missing, his eyes then travel to the knife block sitting atop the side of the central isle. He leans over and grabs the biggest of the set and rushes out to where the subject of his nightmare was, and oh the nerve he has for walking inside and standing in Hao’s living room. Hao would have to get his house sanitized and cleaned off of the essence of this creature as soon as he is done here. 

But now, he is standing in front of Hanbin, with a sharp butter knife in his hand; with it half raised to point at Hanbin’s face as he seethes, “Call me that again and I swear to god, I’ll cut your balls off and feed it to deformed felines. Get out of my house. Right now.”

Hanbin looks pissed. Good. 

“This is my house too? What the fuck, Hao? Look around you, every part of this house has me in it.” Hanbin bites back while pointing around him, specifically at the framed pictures lined atop the mantelpiece. 

Hao drops his hand to his side as his eyes wander over to what Hanbin was pointing at, even though the framed pictures set on top of the mantelpiece are too small to make out from where he was standing, he notices the antique oval-shaped picture frame, right above the fireplace, an art piece that almost looks like a renaissance painting, two figures, painted from the side, one’s head angled to rest at the other’s chest, while the other gazes at something distant. 

Almost as if the picture speaks louder than any words, they look in love. 

Hao and Hanbin.

The figures in the picture are Hao and Hanbin. 

What the fuck.

Hao is tongue-tied as he stares into the painting with such intensity that if it wasn't humanly impossible, he could have burned the picture from where he stood.

After a solid moment of speechless dubiety from Hao's side, he manages to speak up, “How– how the fuck– how the fuck am I there, how the fuck do we– you–” Hao hisses and points at Hanbin with his weapon, “ that…” Hao says precariously pointing at the frame. “What the fuck is that?”

“What do you mean, ‘what is that’?” Hanbin scoffs. “It’s the painting Ricky made us for our first anniversary?”

“Our what? ”

“Is this a new concept where you are so mad at me that you’re gonna pretend we hadn’t been dating for the past 2 years?” 

“We had been WHAT?” 

Hao screams. 

☆

There is an eerie discomfort in the air. The bungeoppang Gunwook brought has cooled down and Yujin has not moved a single muscle in his face since he got here. Hao and Gunwook are sitting in silence across from each other while a very disheveled Hanbin paces along the same line beside the couch. 

“So–  what you’re saying is you have never dated Hanbin-hyung?” Gunwook queries, still contemplating the situation.

“No.” Hao breathes in. “What I’m saying is, I fucking hate him. there is absolutely no way in the world I could ever date–” He seethes, “this god-awful excuse of a human being.”

Hanbin stops pacing for a moment and scoffs. 

“Unless.” Gunwook demurs. 

After a brief moment of uncomfortable silence Hao presses, “Unless?”

“Unless, you’re not from this world.” 

Hanbin whips his head around to look at Gunwook at the exact moment as Hao glowers, “Excuse me?”

How does one even possibly come to that conclusion? 

Gunwook shifts his attention to Hanbin, “This isn’t our Hao-hyung, you know that.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Hanbin spits, clearly frustrated. 

“Don’t act dense. you know damn well whatever is happening here– this isn't Hao.”

Hanbin scoffs. “Wook, I know you have a thing for fantasy but this is not time for all that.”

“Hyung, come on. Look at this guy. This is not the time for you to descend into your unhealthy denialism habits. You know it’s not him. Even beyond the fact that there are actual physical differences.” Gunwook gestures up and down at Hao’s figure.

At that, Hanbin deflates. His eyes drop to Hao's wrist after taking a look at his own– on a tattoo, Hao notices. Yujin’s gaze follows theirs and he grimaces, the first exposure of emotion Hao has seen from the boy all morning.

“Okay. And where the fu–” Hanbin is cut short as the penthouse door swings open with several beeps. An invigorated individual storms in and comes straight at Hao. 

Is that Shen fucking Ricky? 

“Ge, are you okay?” Ricky breathes out after wrapping a very stiff Hao in his arms. “Came here as soon as I could. You’re suffering so much these days.”

Hao is so fucking confused. Shen Ricky wraps him in his arms– so tight that he can't even breathe, after all these years. The universe is playing a sick joke on him.

“Ricky-ah, please let the poor guy go. You’re choking him.” Gunwook speaks up, defeated. “Leave your kinks in Gyuvin’s bedroom, please.” 

What.

As if on cue, Gyuvin walks through the door, a little too bright considering the circumstances. But that’s just Gyuvin.

“Aye, bros. Sup?” Yeah, definitely just Gyuvin. 

“Hyung, please shut up.” Yujin groans. 

“Rude, that is no way to talk to your self-proclaimed, hard-earning father. Plus, I was talking to Rick.” 

Yujin rolls his eyes and gets up to go to the kitchen and fixes himself some water. Hao is starting to forget what water tastes like, he should probably ask Yujin to grab him som–

“I suck your dick every day, please stop calling me bro.” Ricky pouts then, finally letting Hao go. 

What.

“Why put bros before hoes when your bro can be your hoe, y’know?” Gyuvin winks. As he leans forward to press a kiss on Ricky’s mouth, who slaps Gyuvin’s arm in the kiss. 

Okay. 

What the fuck? 

Gunwook probably notices the color draining from Hao's face as he speaks up again. “Jesus Christ, can you guys please tone it down? Hao-hyung is already traumatized as it is.”

Both their heads snap in Gunwook’s direction and worry masks their features.

“Wait– traumatized, why?” Ricky looks at Hao. “Don’t tell me you found Hanbin-hyung’s collection of hentai comics?” He gapes, “Damn, what a horrible thing to discover about your ex of 12 hours. My poor baby.” 

At that, Ricky garners a couple of reactions. Gunwook sighs so deep that Hao's neighbors probably heard it, same for the snort that leaves Gyuvin. Hanbin looks like he’s about to snap but not before Hao finally cracks. 

“God, what the fuck? Can someone please tell me what the fuck is all…” he waves his finger between Ricky and Gyuvin’s close proximity and intertwined hands with disgust. “.. this? What the fuck is happening? Why is he–” Hao points at Ricky, repulsed. “being so nice to me right now?” 

Before Gunwook can speak up, Hanbin does, much to Hao’s dismay. 

“Look, I really don't know what’s going on right now, but those disgusting creatures were given to me by your insufferable fetus of a boyfriend.” Hanbin grumbles at Ricky.

Gyuvin frowns at that, “Can’t even look out for your brothers anymore.” 

Hanbin ignores him and continues, “And I threw those away before anyone else could be traumatized. You both are insufferable, never taint my name like that ever again.”

Gunwook sighs deeply, “Thanks for your input, hyung. I’m sure Hao-hyung’s first concern right now is knowing whether or not you have hentai comics when he's out here having a pretty literal existential crisis.” he looks at Hao then, “To answer your questions, I suppose you aren't in good terms with Ricky but Hao here was. Not just because of the cousin thing, but they're like really best friends."

Right, that used to be a thing. 

Before he can continue Ricky chimes in, “You say that like it's a bad thing.”

“No offense, but every time you both do something together it ages Jiwoong-hyung up by ten years." Gunwook remarks, "And he's already like prehistoric.”

Ricky frowns but Gunwook starts at Hao again, “Anyway, so what's going on between these two is that, Gyuvin and Ricky are the, ugh, grossest couple ever. And Hanbin is or was, I don't know, that's their lovers quarrel, but Hao’s boyfriend of almost two years. That's pretty much it. Hanbin- hyung already clarified the other, very unnecessary part.” 

Gyuvin speaks up before anyone else can, “Why do you keep referring to Hao-hyung like he isn't here?”

Yujin stops in his tracks from where he was walking back to the couches and sucks in a deep breath.

”Because I don't think our Hao hyung is here, Gyuvin-ah.'' Gunwook says carefully and Hanbin looks up at that. “Yujin could back me up on this but I think what’s going on here is, to put it scientifically, the inflation collision.”

☆

 “So what you're trying to tell me is, alternate universes exist. And the Haos from two universes were swapped? And that our Hao is now in a parallel universe where,” he looks at a very confused Hao, “he is from.'' Hanbin heaves, realizing how ridiculous his own words sound to him.

“Yes, that is precisely what I am saying.” Gunwook provides very unhelpfully. Hanbin looks at him befuddled so he continues, “Well, to explain this scientifically, according to the theory of cosmological inflation, to create a homogenous universe, the everlasting expansion after the big bang causes parallel universes that are adjacent to bleed or blend into each other. Alternate universes that aren’t parallel can even collide and destroy each other. But since there are some that are compatible, they can merge and harbor survivors of each other’s universes.”

Gyuvin interrupts him, “Okay, now try saying that in Korean.”

“Shut up. You know damn well what he’s talking about.” Yujin rolls his eyes.

“I do, but I wanted to make a joke.“

Well at least something about Gyuvin is still Gyuvin. 

Ricky chimes in, “You’re so funny, babe, but please read the room. Anyways, Gunwook, continue.”

“Thanks, Ricky. So, this is more common than people think. It’s a theory behind the Mandela Effect, where people have clear memories of history that are false, at least in the current universe.” 

“Wait, you’re saying, there’s a multiverse?” Gyuvin squeals.

“Yes. precisely. Not in the doctor strange way you’re thinking, no need to get excited. But, when the universe grew exponentially in the first tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang, some parts of space-time expanded more quickly than others. This could have created ‘bubbles’ of space-time that then developed into other universes. And if our universe is just one bubble, there must be many other bubbles in the cosmic fabric. And these bubbles might oscillate to or away from each other, because of inflation.” 

Hanbin looks like he’s about to throw up, Hao can relate for the first time in his life.

“What the fuck is inflation, this is not the kind of inflation I learned running the business for years?” Hanbin heaves.

“You don’t run the business, your father does. And, you’re asking this now after I explained everything?” Gunwook replies.

“All I understood was that there is absolutely nothing scientific about this.” 

“Okay,” Gunwook straightens up. “Now you’re offending me. This is a speculative untestable theory since inflation makes no predictions, but that doesn’t make it any less real. Say you’re standing in the middle of a seesaw, you can fall in this direction, you can fall in that direction, and if you're shit-drunk, eventually you will fall. Inflation is exactly that—instability of our space with respect to its expansion.”

“Okay, and why do we care about that?” Hanbin arches a brow.

“Who’s we?” Gyuvin adds. “Sorry, I zoned out, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hao would be annoyed at Gyuvin’s lack of seriousness some other time, but he knows that's how Gyuvin copes. Plus, having someone make this abhorrent situation lighter isn’t so bad.

Yujin starts when Gunwook sighs, again. “Hyung, ugh, please. Anyway, as Gunwook-hyung said, this inflation can be eternal. Leading to a multiverse in which space is broken up into bubbles or patches whose properties differ from patch to patch spanning all physical possibilities. Which is why, this Hao-hyung here, has entirely different experiences than ours. Oftentimes, the differences are so subtle, that people don’t even notice when they get switched out. As adjacent universes which collide and successfully impact matter in each other’s brane are oftentimes nearly identical. But when the difference is so stark, it's hypothesized that that has to do with the exchanged body’s willingness and compatibility to its own universe. Maybe our Hao-hyung, was rejecting this universe.” He looks at Hao then. “And so was he.” 

Everyone is silent for a beat, not even finding it in them to exhale. Gyuvin breaks the silence, “We seriously have this all wrong, Yujin was the one swapped out cause what the hell?” 

“I’m not as dumb as you think, I have hobbies.” Yujin rolls his eyes, probably for the 50th time that hour as Gunwook’s chest puffs up a bit in pride, despite it all. 

“Tell me the first 4 numbers of PI.” Gyuvin deadpans.

“Fuck you, dude. You know I’m not a Math person.” 

“Do they have marvel comics pseudo-science and foul mouth lessons at high school these days?”

“Not pseudo-science, I’m at college now and you should kill yourself.” Yujin throws a pillow at Gyuvin.

Before Gyuvin can walk up and tackle Yujin down Ricky drags him down, glueing him to his side, 

“That was very impressive, Yujin-ah.” Ricky finds it in himself to speak while everyone is still reeling, “But can we talk about how it doesn’t really make sense? Hao-ge was happy here. He had to be.” He looks at Gunwook then.

“Did we really know that? Besides, maybe Yujin is wrong. I’d like to think so at least. In that case, it could’ve also been completely accidental. This is all hypothetical. But the fact is, there’s a Zhang Hao sitting in front of us. And he isn’t from this universe. When Yujin and I learned about all this back in school, we researched some cases and had our doubts. But well, we have the misfortune of experiencing this now.”

Hanbin looks like his legs are turning into jelly. He holds onto the nearest cabinet surface, takes a chair from the dining table, and plops down on it with his head in his hand. Hao looks aghast, feels even worse. He decides he cannot bear this for even another minute.

A disheveled Hao hastily gets up to leave. “I– I can’t do this right now, sorry. I need to get to Taerae. He’s the only one that can help me right now.”

“Taerae-hyung?” Ricky asks, puzzled. 

Hao is already walking towards the front door. He’s out of the penthouse by the time Ricky yells, “But you guys haven’t spoken in years!” 

Hao decides on calling an Uber when he notices his garage doesn’t look like what he’s used to seeing. The drivers and men on watch are completely different from the people he’s used to, except for a few and Hao exhales in relief at the sight of some familiar faces. But he craves Taerae grounding him with reality more than anything right now. So without another look, he gets into the Uber and is on his way to the music academy where Taerae teaches during this time. He really hopes he finds him there.

Upon arrival, Hao is taken aback when he isn’t greeted by Hana, the front desk lady who always makes sure to greet Hao and ask him about his day. Nobody in the building seems to turn an eye toward him which is ridiculous. Hao spends most of his time with these people rather than his own family. And now, nobody seems to know him. 

He fights back tears as he barges into the main practice room. With some crazy luck, he sees Taerae monitoring his class as they sing away. Hao runs straight to his best friend and hugs him tight. 

Taerae doesn’t hug him back. 

“Uh who–“ Taerae starts, bumfuzzled. “Hao-hyung?” He questions, the word falling from his lips like he thinks it’s ridiculous.

Hao takes notice of Taerae’s hair. It’s a dark shade of brown. Instead of the peach-pink Hao had dyed it the week prior. 

Hao breaks from the hug. He fully expects the room full of people he knows and spends his days with to erupt into greetings and excitement but instead, they look confused and somewhat– annoyed.

“I–“ Hao starts. Suddenly feeling small. “Need to talk to you, really bad.” 

Taerae seems to catch on to the urgency of the situation. He nods to Hao and turns to his class, “Water break everyone, keep doing the drills, I’ll be back.”

With that, Taerae takes Hao to the corridor outside the practice room and asks him if everything is okay.

“Fuck, I don’t know what’s happening to me, Taerae.” Hao’s voice trembles. “I woke up this morning after a really rough night. I thought I was hallucinating because of how much I drank last night at first. But– but fuck. This is starting to feel so real. Even you’re acting like– like you don’t know me.”

Taerae seems taken aback, obviously confused. “Of course I know you, Hao-hyung. But it's been more than a year since we last had a real conversation so I’m just– surprised? What’s happening?”

“God, you’re saying weird things now too. They’re saying things like universes collided, I got switched out. Fucking hell, they’re saying Sung fucking Hanbin, that asshole is– ugh, I can’t even say it. He’s saying he lives in my house? Can you believe his audacity?” Hao rants while Taerae listens, absolutely puzzled. “And Shen Ricky, don’t even get me started on him. He comes to my house, he pretends to be all friendly with me, he hugs me for fucks sake. He’s acting like everything is fine between us. And oh god, don’t even get me started on Gyuvin. Can you believe he's siding with Ricky? They, oh my god, they kissed . Fuck, I’m going crazy– how’s Gyuvin like that with fucking Ricky? Like this–”

Hao is cut short when Taerae holds him by his shoulder and slightly shakes him. “Hao, calm down. Please, it’s okay. Calm down. You’re blabbering. It’s gonna be okay. Please just calm down.” 

Hao blinks a few times and struggles to suck a breath in as tears spill forth and crest over his reddening cheeks. 

“I–fuck. What’s happening to me, Taerae?” Hao is fully crying at this point.

“Hyung, please calm down. It’s going to be okay. You said something about universes colliding? Let’s explore that a bit. What did they say?” Taerae questions. Hao is grateful that despite his confusion, Taerae is humoring him.

“I– I don’t even know. They were saying all these things about parallel universes, getting swapped out and it got too much for me to bear. So I did the only thing I could think of. Run to my only friend.”

Taerae smiles softly at that. 

“This all sounds ridiculous but hearing that felt nice. We fell off, um, quite a long time ago after you reconciled with Ricky. And Ricky and Gyuvin started dating. I guess you– or well, this universe’s Hao?” Taerae squirms, possibly surprised at himself for humoring this, “I guess he got too caught up with Ricky, Gyuvin, and his boyfriend. So this is just kind of strange to me.” 

Hao is shell-shocked. “What the fuck? How could I ever–? Why would anyone ever leave you for them?” 

Taerae nervously chuckles. “No, no. There was no leaving. We just kind of lost contact. Both of our faults. But anyway, that’s not the concern right now. You obviously aren’t okay. And this all sounds like a load of shit. What do you plan to do now?”

“I don’t know. Fuck, I don’t know. I want this to stop. I just want this to stop–“ Hao’s panic seems to rise up again and Taerae cuts him short. 

“Hao-hyung. Please don’t panic. I got you, okay? I’ll accompany you to your place. They’re there right? I get that you don’t want to be around them right now but that’s the only way to get answers. I’ll be beside you and speak for you if needed, okay?”

Taerae is kind. He’s always known to stand firm and be blunt while being here for whoever shall need him. And even though this world’s Hao chose others over him, it took Taerae a second to fall back into being here for Hao again, like he always has, even when his closest friends, his family, left him for another.

The ride back home, if he can even call it that anymore, is quiet. But not uncomfortable. Taerae doesn’t pry and lets Hao take his sweet time to process everything. He hums a soft melody and with the rain softly hitting the windshield, Hao feels at peace, for the first time today. He revels in it for now, because he knows it won’t last long. 

Hao clings onto Taerae when they get out of the Uber. Practically shielding himself from what’s about to come like a child meeting unwelcome strangers for the first time. Luckily for him, Taerae doesn’t mind. He never does.

When they get to the topmost floor of the penthouse building, Hao feels his stomach drop. Strange, isn’t it? The elevator he always took, the strides he made to get through the lounge and reach his safe place after a long day is the place he happens to dread the most at this moment. Hao wishes he could do what he does best, run away from everything until it can’t bother him anymore. 

When they reach the front of his penthouse door, Hao nervously punches in the code. Just like he thought, it doesn’t work. He tries again and when it beeps again, Hao almost kicks the damn door. Before he does, someone opens the door and relief washes over Hao when he sees it being Gyuvin. 

“What the fuck is the code of this damn thing?” Hao mutters when Gyuvin leads him inside. 

Hao’s enemy… Nemesis? Rival? Whatever the fuck he is, replies, “The hell if I knew. You changed the code first thing when you came here.” 

Hao cringes, “I don’t even know who you are?”

Hanbin silently plops down on the sofa beside a visually perplexed Ricky who seems to be immersed in deep conversation with Gunwook about something. Both of them look disoriented enough to not even notice Hao and Taerae coming in. This can’t be good.

Their heads turn this way when Gyuvin says hello to Taerae. Who replies back with a small bow and polite greetings. The whole exchange being ridiculously awkward. Watching his two best friends looking at each other with foreign glances freaks Hao out even more. He needs to keep it together.

“Oh, you’re back,” Ricky says and walks over to Hao. “Are you feeling any better now?” 

Hao feels uneasy. This is the last thing he wants right now. He looks at Taerae in hopes that he can save Hao from this. 

Ricky’s eyes follow Hao’s and he politely moves over to where Taerae is and engulfs Taerae in a small hug. “Hi, Taerae-hyung. It’s been a while. How’ve you been?”

They break free from the hug and Taerae smiles softly, “I’ve been fine, my friend. Tell me about you.” 

“I’ve just been the same as you left me.” Ricky returns the smile.

Another voice comes from behind and this time it's Gunwook saying hello in the most awkward manner Hao could ever imagine a greeting being. 

Taerae seems taken aback as his eyes land on Gunwook and he manages a small hi. 

This whole exchange is unsettling. Not the kind of awkward Taerae is with the others in this room but just downright– unsettling. What the hell happened between these two?

Hanbin seems to pick up and tries to cut through the tension, “I didn’t expect to see you here, Taerae.” 

Taerae sheepishly runs his hand through his hair. “Uh, yeah. Hao-hyung looked really fucked up so I had to come.” 

Gunwook seems to break out of his trance and smiles a sad smile, barely noticeable. 

“You’re the kindest, hyung.” Ricky smiles and leads Taerae to sit down on the sofa. Hao sheepishly follows and sits down beside Taerae, who rubs his back in turn. “So, we have a lot to talk about.” 

“Right. Me and Yujin are trying to do some... research. Refresh our minds on this.” Gunwook adds. 

Hao looks down at the center table and there’s a bunch of open books sprayed all over. Yujin runs his hand through the pages of a book and tries to collect his thoughts into words.

“Okay, so, to set the record straight–” Yujin starts carefully, “Hao-hyung here is, not our own Hao-hyung. Ours is presumably stuck in this guy’s universe and we need to get him back. And get this young man back to his world.”

“He’s heaps older than you.” Gyuvin adds, very helpful he probably thinks. 

“I apologize, I was trying to sound like we are on some superhero mission.” Yujin replies.

Gunwook groans and mutters, “God, kids.”

“Mind you, you’re like 2 days older and also my bad for trying to cope with the loss of my favourite hyung who could potentially be dead right now.”

“I thought I was your favourite hyung.” Ricky and Gyuvin say at the same time, what happens further as they face each other in delight of the jinx, Hao wishes he didn’t have to keep witnessing.

Hanbin grimaces, “Jesus Christ, don’t you think you’re taking this superhero cosplay thing a little too far now, Yujin-ah?”

Gyuvin snorts moving away from the kiss, “You dumped him. You don’t get to talk right now.” 

“Yujin wasn’t joking. Interuniversal exchange can very much be fatal.” Gunwook speaks up slowly. 

Hanbin seethes this time, “Fuck off, Gyuvin. And this Hao is alive, isn’t he? Not much logic in two people of the same biological structure having totally different experiences with– this.”

Hao kind of hates how Hanbin sounds. Like he gives a shit. Asshole.

Ricky swiftly says something before Gunwook can, “No, no, Hanbin-hyung is right. Hao is alive. If this one made it, I’m sure my Hao-ge is safe too.”

His Hao-ge. Fucking Shen Ricky. Hao would laugh if he wasn’t so on the edge right now. Thankfully, his only friend in this place seems to notice. 

“Are you okay, Hao?” Taerae asks with concern laced in his voice, his whole frame turned to Hao. This seems to turn everyone’s heads to a very fidgety Hao. Hao doesn’t reply but Gunwook tries to get hold of the situation. 

“Okay, we’re getting sidetracked. Hao-hyung, I can’t even start to imagine how taxing and confusing this must be for you. But this is impossible for us to figure out without your cooperation–” Gunwook gets cut off by Gyuvin.

“You sound too professional, you’re gonna freak him out. Let me handle this.” Gyuvin turns to face Hao. “Dude, this is like some freaky Inception type of bullshit and if you don’t do everything The Brothers say, you’ll be stuck here–” Gyuvin looks at Hao with threatening eyes, “forever.”

“Yeah, so much for not freaking the poor guy out.” Gunwook rolls his eyes. 

“I made him loosen up a bit.” Gyuvin smiles at Hao. 

Hao hadn’t realized he had a very faint smile plastered on his face at Gyuvin’s comment until now. 

Hao’s poignant expression returns, “I just really miss Gyuvin. My Gyuvin.”

Gyuvin smiles sadly, “I’m still Gyuvin, y’know.”

“No, you’re not. The Gyuvin I know wouldn’t be talking to him–” Hao looks at Ricky. “Or him.” This time at Hanbin, he makes sure to let his eyes linger on him a little longer than usual, seething with disgust. “My Gyuvin stayed back last night to fight this guy for even thinking of arguing with me. Smoked his ass all night.”

“If Gyuvin stayed back to fight Hanbin, did you go home alone this drunk?” Gunwook presses.

“No, you– my Gunwook and Jiwoong hyung took me back.”

“Totally sounds like them but me and Ricky brought Hao hyung home last night.” Gyuvin adds with a sympathetic smile.

Hao almost wants to believe everyone’s playing a sick prank on him. But he’s sobering up, unfortunately.

“The paradox has to lie in how your story differs from our Hao.” Yujin wonders out loud.

“Huh?”

Yujin looks at Gunwook to explain further. “Yeah, or more specifically in the events of last night. Since that is what led to the switch.”

“Wait so, this doesn’t just happen biannually?” Gyuvin asks.

Yujin answers this time, “We don’t know for sure. There could be triggers? How we can get Hao-hyung back might have something to do with last night.” 

“It’s all speculation. Yujin and I will do further reading on this but for now, we need some backstory.” Gunwook looks at Hao for answers. 

Hao feels his headache seeping through his now sober consciousness. Last night was a freakshow and he hates thinking back to it. 

☆

Hao asks the clearly uninterested bartender for his 7th round of Somaek. And Gunwook is trying to stop him, for the 8th time. 

“And then he had the fucking audacity to tell me, tell me that I don’t understand what’s going on. Like this fucking piec–” Hao slurs as he takes another sip of his drink.

Gunwook takes the glass from his hands. “Okay, that’s enough. You’ve drunk enough. Hanbin-hyung was very wrong to say that to you and I’ll talk to him about it. He’s taking the stress of this deal out on everyone. I’ll talk to him.”

“No– no talking. Set his dick on fire.” Hao points his fingers at Gunwook, scarily close to his eyes.

“We need to get you home, you’re fucked. I’ll go get Jiwoong-hyung to drive us to your place.” He slides a bill to the bartender whose eyes seem to sparkle for the first time this evening. “Make sure he behaves.”

“No, no Jiwoong-hyung, he will scold me. I want Taerae.” 

“Absolutely not. I will not be calling my brother’s boyfriend here at midnight because one of them needs to stay sane at least.” Gunwook makes to leave and points at Hao before doing so, “Behave.”

Hao, in fact, does not behave. 

He tries to seduce the poor bartender into giving him more drinks and when he is on his way to the other side to increase proximity and intimidate the guy even more, he has an epiphany, he can just pay the guy more than Gunwook did. Right.

But when Hao frantically looks for some cash on him and fails to find any, he curses Sung Hanbin for being a pickpocket. This time, loud enough for the various rich dudes roaming this place to hear. The bartender– whose name is Cheong-san Hao has learned while telling him it is a very screamable name– tries to stop Hao to no avail. Thankfully, Gyuvin makes it here in time to calm Hao down just when Mr. Choi from Daewon Group is about to approach him. That guy is a nutter. There are rumors going around that his son washes his face with his own pi–

“Uh, Hao hyung?” Gyuvin frantically waves his hand in front of Hao to snap him out of his daze. 

“Oh, Gyuvin.” Hao croons, “Oh, my Gyuvin. How have you been? Last time I saw you was so long ago. You don’t miss your hyung?”

“Hyung, please be serious. I saw you half an hour ago grilling Shen Ricky.” Gyuvin cringes at the memory, Hao can relate. “Which by the way, fuck you. I had to go through a whole conversation with him. An argument actually. I’d rather eat my own foot than have a conversation with him. But do you know how embarrassing that is, hyung? His fuckass knows so much about fashion, it’s ridiculous. You guys all graduated with the same business degree and yet he has so much fashion knowledge for no reason, ugh, It’s so annoying, I hate smart people.” He pauses then quickly corrects himself, “Not that I think Ricky is smart.” 

Gyuvin is ranting. Hao is not in the mood. Sometimes– well not sometimes, it’s just now while he’s shitfaced– Hao wishes Gyuvin and Ricky would just fuck their frustration out. He’s had enough.

“Gyuvin, you had a big crush on Gunwook in middle school because he was a smart nerd. Don’t act like you’re not a bookfucker.”

Gyuvin looks taken aback, “That is– definitely a word. Jesus, how much did you drink?” 

“A lot.” A pained bartender replies from across them while fixing someone else a drink. 

Gyuvin sighs and tries to hold Hao, whose stool wavers and he almost falls face flat on the ground. Gunwook makes it in time before Hao starts ranting about Hanbin again. Jiwoong tries to make it to Hao but gets called by some older men, again. This charity ball is probably the most stressful one Jiwoong has seen so far and the one where he had to deal with him and Gunwook, the crown jewels of the KHP business, publicising their respective relationships with two commoners still exists. 

“God, they called him again,” Gunwook says while looking at his brother trying to explain something to the men with polite gestures. “The Sungs are pissing me off, to be honest. They could be handling this a lot better. Jiwoong hyung and Danbi-eomma are having to go through all this bullshit for no reason. They aren’t even in favor of the deal?”

“Dinosaurs.” Hao replies. 

“Excuse me?”

“He’s gone. Please take him home, man.” Gyuvin says to Gunwook.

“No– listen, dinosaurs.” Hao starts again, with utmost seriousness. “Hanbin and his family should be wiped out by an asteroid impact too.”

“Oh, that’s grim, even for you.” Gyuvin grimaces, “My little scientist, let’s get you home okay?

Jiwoong signs Gunwook and Gyuvin to get Hao to the car and that he will meet them there. 

Gunwook and Gyuvin comply and Gyuvin holds Hao by his side so that he doesn’t end up falling again. Before they can exit, much to Hao’s dismay, Hanbin calls Gunwook from the back. 

“Not now, hyung. We’ll talk later.” Gunwook replies, still walking.

Hanbin has the audacity to start again, “Not you, I needed to talk to– him.” Hanbin looks at Hao and Gyuvin is infuriated. 

“Have some shame? You got this guy drinking his brains out. He’s literally so unstable right now because of your sorry ass. And you come here asking to speak with him?” Gyuvin spits out.

“Gyuvin-ah. Take your anger out on hyung later. I need to talk to him right now.”

“Oh you’re–” Gyuvin gets cut off by Hao who tries to spring free from his hold. 

“Let me go. I wanna see what he has to say. I’ll slap the shit out of him this time.” Hao slurs, pissed.

Gyuvin tries to protest but Gunwook tells him to let it be. The more they try to stop these two from gouging each other’s eyes out the more violent they get, so it’s pointless. 

Hanbin tries to start but with people from the other side of the hall staring at them, he proposes they make their way to Danbi’s garden to talk. Hao isn’t opposed to the idea for some ridiculous reason. He could dump Hanbin’s body in the pool if it comes to murder. Not that it would. Maybe. 

Once they’re there, Hao stands beside the swing set, making sure Hanbin’s back is towards the pool, so he can push him off, if absolutely necessary. 

“I know you don’t wanna talk to me right now, the feeling is quite mutual,” Hanbin states which makes Hao want to bitchslap him even more. He’s better than this, Hao, control. 

“But, what I said to you inside was– wrong. We have our differences and you say vile shit to me all the time but I’m not like that. So I felt like I had to clarify that I didn’t mean what I said.” 

“If you’re trying to apologize to me right now, you’re achieving the exact opposite.” Hao yawns. 

He’s too sleepy for this.

“You’re yawning.” 

“No shit, genius. Congrats that you know why a man parts his lips in front of another man at this hour.” Hao rolls his eyes, clearly missing the innuendo of what he just said while Hanbin looks petrified.

“That’s not– whatever. What I was trying to say is, things are messed up right now. I have too much on my plate and I’m taking it out on everyone. I’m used to being the model kid. I’ve never had my friends, brothers, and even Danbi be disappointed in me. I guess at that moment, what I could think of was to take it out on the one person who’s been disappointed in me since– well, forever.” 

“Your father?” Hao yawns again. This time not bothering to use a hand to cover his face. 

Why Hao is entertaining a conversation with this guy is beyond him, but he guesses he still hopes Hanbin fucks up and he can push him off, obviously, only if necessary. 

“Uh, no? I was talking about you?” Hanbin retorts, offended. Hao is pleased. “How drunk are you?”

Hao barks a peal of dark laughter, “Oh, you don’t get to ask me that after humiliating me in front of everyone–”

Hanbin cuts him off. “There was mutual humiliation but go on.” 

Hao ignores him, “You don’t get to ask me anything actually. Don’t talk to me. This was the worst apology I’ve ever heard. It won’t kill you to say sorry.”

Hanbin sighs and composes himself, this egoistic bastard. “Fine, what I did was wrong, I shouldn't have jumped you. I’m s–” 

“No, don’t.” Hao straightens himself. “I don’t wanna hear you say that, you’re not gonna mean it and neither am I ever going to be at a point with you where you could earn your apology and I could grant it to you. Goodbye, Hanbin. I’d say good luck with the demerger but you know damn well it’s going to turn out bad for everyone. Hope you and your father can live with that.” 

Hao leaves with that, the last thing he can hear is Hanbin’s wavering breath against the cold winter. He kind of hates how the last time he saw his world's Hanbin, he felt something different for him than what he is used to feeling his whole life. Instead of resentment, there’s just pity. Something he can see in the eyes of the Hanbin in this new world he has fallen into. 

☆

“And the last thing I remember is Jiwoong-hyung and Gunwook setting me down on my bed. I passed out after that I guess.”

Gunwook hums and loses himself on a thought train. Gyuvin looks at Ricky and they exchange an uncomfortable glance.

“You didn’t tell us what you and Hanbin hyung talked about though.” Gyuvin states when nobody else seems to want to say anything anytime soon. 

“I don’t remember.” Hao lies. Hanbin fiddles with the bracelet– or hairband he has on his wrist. 

“Okay. Well, things were pretty similar–” Gyuvin starts and looks around for validation and continues when Gunwook nods, “-- here too, but instead of Gunwook and Jiwoong-hyung it was me and Ricky who dropped Hao-hyung off. He didn’t let us in, he went straight inside. Refused to talk to us about what happened too. Just said, he and Hanbin-hyung broke up.”

“Yeah, I was surprised when I heard about it too. Well, more disappointed than surprised.” Gunwook says, looking at Hanbin.

“Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know why I did what I did.” Hanbin grits out.

“Yeah, so tell us?.” Gunwook starts, his tone condescending, “You never tell us anything anymore, hyung. We need to know both sides of the story to know why we are in this damn mess.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Hanbin is insufferable in every single universe.

“This doesn’t depend on whether or not you want to do it, you simply have to. Do you not want your Hao back?”

“He broke up with him, he sure doesn’t.” Gyuvin retorts. 

Go, Gyuvin.

Actually no, this universe’s Hao deserves backlash too, which idiot will date Sung Hanbin in his right mind?

“Okay, first of all–” Hanbin starts but gets promptly cut off by Yujin. 

“Guys, I don’t mean to alarm you but Jiwoong-hyung just sent a code red, Danbi-eomma’s coming here.” He looks at his phone again, “In 30 minutes.”

The room pauses for a brief moment and they erupt into silent curses. Why the hell is Danbi coming to Hao’s house? This place is fucking weird. 

“I should get going then.” Taerae says, who Hao realizes has been quietly comforting him this whole time, holding his hand. Hao mutters a thank you and Taerae politely brushes it away. 

“We all need to. Everyone sober up and move. Danbi cannot know a damn thing.” Gunwook says and that elicits a groan from Hanbin. 

“Okay, god, pause. Why the hell is she coming here? She barely visits me, it’s usually me going over.” Hao questions.

“Oh uh, she visits Hanbin and Hao a lot recently. Trying to make sure this sticky situation doesn’t ruin their relationship.” Gunwook pointedly looks at Hanbin who just sighs. 

“Sticky situation in question is the demerger?” Hao questions, confused on whether or not the conflict in this universe is about the same damn deal. 

“Yeah. The absolute fuckery the Sungs have started.” Gyuvin snorts. Hao can wholeheartedly agree. 

Hanbin is about to say something when Yujin interrupts. “Don’t say anything, hyung. We’re only tolerating this because you’re our brother.”

“You know it’s bad when the neonatal starts lecturing you, whew.” Gyuvin pointedly says which earns him a death glare from both Hanbin and Yujin.

“Anyways,” Gunwook sighs. “You guys need to be extremely careful. Danbi has had her people roam around here recently. If she finds out there’s trouble in Hao & Bin paradise, the deal is not gonna go through.”

Hao isn’t sure if he heard that right. “That’s like the only good thing I have heard all day?” 

There’s a chorus of sighs and ‘not again’s when Gunwook starts, “Hao and Hanbin from here came to a common ground, and since they’re in love and everything, Hanbin successfully manipulated Hao into helping him with the deal even though he absolutely hated it. And we have been rolling with it ever since.” 

“What the fuck, Wook? I did not manipulate him. He literally agreed because of my father?” Hanbin grits out. 

Hao has no idea what that means, neither does he want to know. His head hurts.

“Yeah, that sure turned out in your favor.” Gunwook comments sarcastically. “Whatever, just make sure this gets over smoothly, it’s your mess, fix it.” 

“I’m not the one that got switched out. I’d need him to cooperate.” Hanbin tilts his head towards Hao.

Hao had known Hanbin was crazy but the extent manages to blow him away each time. 

“I literally don’t fucking want the deal to go through. Why would I cooperate? That too with this guy?”

“Us either, hyung. But you can’t mess with the dynamics of this universe or you might get stuck here forever.” Gunwook explains and Hao takes his head between his hands and sighs.

Ricky straightens up for the first time in a while, “We’re gonna get you back, Hao. We will do everything we can. Just make sure you can pretend your way out of this. No one can know except us. Not even Jiwoong hyung.”

“Especially not Jiwoong-hyung, he is going through enough because of this deal,” Gunwook pointedly looks at Hanbin for a brief second. “I don’t want him to go through added bullshit.”

Taerae looks at Gunwook at that, for a brief second. If Hao wasn’t practically clinging to Taerae, he wouldn’t have noticed. God knows what happened between these two.

Speaking of Taerae, “Fine. I’ll do what I have to. But can I at least have Taerae with me here when she comes over?” 

“I don’t think that would be a great idea, Hao-hyung. Danbi-ssi knows we fell off. Me suddenly being here would raise suspicions.” Taerae finishes, with a sympathetic smile.

Hao knows Taerae is right. But the prospect of being in the same room with Hanbin and Kim Danbi comingg over, is probably his worst nightmare so far. 

“We need to get moving. One of the libraries in Seoul has to have something helpful about this. I remember reading some stuff, I’ll go over it and we’re gonna find a way out of this, okay?” Gunwook says. Gyuvin and Ricky give Hao a reassuring nod at that, their hands interlocked tightly.

For the umpteenth time this day, Hao realizes the gravity of this situation. Hao might’ve drunkenly said he wanted Ricky and Gyuvin to fuck their hatred out, but he didn’t actually mean it to come true. Why couldn’t his wishes of Hanbin drowning have come true instead?

Gunwook speaks up again, “Yujin, Ricky, Gyuvin, and I are on search duty. You and Hanbin handle Danbi. Do not let her understand what’s going on. At any cost.” 

“You’re just worried she’s gonna tell her son.” Hanbin comments. 

“Yeah? That’s ‘cause he actually cares about his family, unlike some people.” Gyuvin says to Hanbin and then turns to Gunwook, “I got you, man. If you ever wanna hook up, my offer still stands.”

Ricky slaps Gyuvin’s head at that and he just giggles. Hao wonders why gay people are real.

Gunwook briefs Hao on the details of this universe and the other boys chime in with information they think could be relevant, to ensure Hao doesn’t fuck up in front of Danbi. Hao realizes everything has been pretty much the same up until 2 years ago. He assumes it’s because of the fucked up reason his counterpart started dating Hanbin. After getting the details straight he leans back into the sofa and groans into his hands. 

Gunwook finishes his rant off, “Okay, we need to get going. Yujin is on internet research duty and I’ll go to some old libraries and see what I can find. Ricky and Gyuvin will start with the National Library.”

Taerae clears his throat, “I could join you? It might help.”

Gunwook seems taken aback by the suggestion. A sentiment that is shared by everyone except Hao in the room.

Upon noticing the confusion, Taerae is quick to clarify, “I just wanna be of help. It’d be nice if I could help in getting our Hao back and hopefully connect with him again.” He softly smiles then, “I kinda miss him now that I think about it.”

Hao suddenly feels lonely. He wonders what his Taerae must be doing right now with the new Hao and in the face of the sudden loss of his best friend. 

“Oh and this Hao trusted me and asked for help. At the end of the day, he’s just– Hao. So I can’t just sit around knowing I’m doing nothing when I should be helping however I can.” Taerae adds.

Hao feels warmth sweep over his heart. He has Taerae, regardless of what world he’s in. And somehow that’s enough for now.

Gunwook looks down and lets himself smile genuinely for the first time today, “You’re too kind, Taerae-hyung. Always too kind.”

Hao notices the air in the room shift then, again. Taerae smiles sadly and brushes Gunwook’s compliment away. Gunwook straightens his back and clears his throat in order to cut the tension in the room. 

Hao hears Gyuvin whisper to Ricky, “These two need to fuck it out. There’s angst of about 10 years right there.”

Ricky crinkles his nose, “Um, let’s not forget Jiwoong-hyung.”

“The brothers can take turns with Taerae-hyung, I don’t know.”

“This is not a Freeform 2008 ethically questionable Vampire TV show.” 

“It could be if you wanted it to be, if you catch my drift.” Gyuvin winks at Ricky, which promptly grants him a slap on the arm again, lovingly so, for the 46th time that hour.

Hao is going to barf.

Gunwook starts to move everyone towards the penthouse door, “Alright, we’ll get to work. Have faith, Hao-hyung. We’ll get you home.”

Hao thinks faith is stupid. It always comes back to bite you in the ass. But for Gunwook’s sake, he nods. 

While they’re at the door exchanging goodbye’s Gyuvin suddenly remembers something and comes back inside.

“Hold on, Danbi is going to notice that Hao-hyung doesn’t have the tattoo.” 

Ricky coos at how smart his boyfriend is and gives him a peck on the lips. Hao looks away.

“Wow, I sometimes forget you’re good for things that don’t include giving your hyung hentai comics on his birthday.” Hanbin notes. 

Gyuvin laughs and takes his permanent marker out of his jacket’s inner pocket and Hao gives Gyuvin his right hand and he starts drawing something. 

“Do you always just randomly carry a permanent marker?” Taerae asks, fascination laced in his voice.

Gyuvin snorts, “I’m so handsome. I get requests to tattoo autographs on tits all the time. Of course, I do.” 

Everyone in the room groans and Hao says, “That’s something Jiwoong-hyung would say.”

Much to his dismay, he says that at the same time as Hanbin says, “Stop hanging out with Kim Jiwoong.”

Hao cringes at the sudden verbal jinxing between the two of them and the air is disturbingly thick again.

Ricky attempts to cut the tension, “He actually carries it to be an absolute menace. He’d ask people if he can draw stars on their cheeks only to draw a fucking penis.”

“Babe, stars are obviously reserved for you only.” Gyuvin coos at his boyfriend.

Hao fights the urge to punch Gyuvin in the face.

Ricky rolls his eyes affectionately and Taerae turns to slowly ask Gunwook, “Are they always like that?”

“Worse.” Gunwook replies and Taerae nods. 

Hao looks down at his new tattoo when Gyuvin takes the marker away from his skin, he’s confused as to what he’s looking at, at first. It looks like one half of a… mirror? What does this even mean?

Hao concludes he doesn’t give a fuck. He just wants to get home. 

He thanks Gyuvin and everyone hurriedly make their way out. Hao watches their retreating figures and the reality of having to be in the same place as Hanbin, alone, dawns in on him. The last time this happened was probably when Hao was still in middle school. 

Hao comes back inside and plops down on the sofa, not paying Hanbin any attention.

After a while of contemplating running away from this place, Hao hears Hanbin clear his throat.

“We need to talk if we’re gonna do this, you know.”

Hao feels annoyed, “No, we don’t. I’d rather eat my own foot.”

Hanbin rubs his temple, “Look, I want our Hao to come back home as much as you want to go back. Your ego is not going to help here. Just be normal so we can get this over with.” Hanbin expects Hao to say something but continues when he doesn’t get a response, “Danbi would catch up so quickly if you keep being like this. She can’t know I broke up with him. She’s used to seeing us being grossly in love.”

Hao groans, “Please, do not fucking say that about you and my twin.”

“What twin, he’s literally from another universe than you.”

“I do not want to discuss science with you. Get to the fucking point.”

Hanbin sighs, “I’ve been- fucking up. For a while. I have reasons for it. And my– our Hao knew that. He respected it. Which is why he agreed to support me. But I loved– love him, always will. I could see it taking a toll on him so I decided it was best for us to break up. After the deal goes through, things would never be the same for us anyways. It was the right decision and as pissed as he was at me, I know deep down he knew that too. But when the families find out this happened because of the damn deal, half of them would revel in it and half of them would be heartbroken. For one, Danbi would do anything she can to not let this go through just to keep us together. Because the condition she agreed on was that we stay together. Keep working together." Hanbin explains and Hao thinks back to his world and how Danbi is dead-set on doing whatever she can to stop the spin-off demerger. It's ridiculous that apparently all it takes for her to throw her and the families' whole life's work out is Hao dating fucking- Hanbin. The people in this universe are a joke.

Hanbin starts again, "It breaking her heart aside, which I really don't want, it'll cause a lot of unnecessary complications if you were suddenly against me. Which might end up in you being stuck here. And if we have to be convincing, you need to stop being so cold.” 

“So, your brilliant plan is to deceive Danbi? She’s eventually gonna find out that you and– the other guy broke up.” Hao says, condescendingly.

“That’s a bridge me and our Hao need to cross, no? For now, just let things play out normally, please. When he’s back, we’ll decide what we have to do. Together.” Hanbin pleads almost, but upon seeing the sceptical look on Hao’s face he starts again, “I know him. He’s gonna do his best to try and pretend he fits into your universe too. Don’t sabotage this for him, at least.”

Hanbin is right. For some fucked up reason, Hanbin is right. Because right now, not only his own fate but his doppleganger from another universe’s fate depends on him too. 

Hao really hates the situation he has literally landed himself into. And he hates even more how Hanbin’s voice breaks when he says, “I really just want him to come back.”

Hao hates him. 

And he hates how if the doorbell didn’t ring, he would’ve considered saying something to comfort Sung Hanbin.