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deathbyseventeen · 1 year

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As the World Caves In

pairing: Dino/Chan x f!reader

genre: post-apocalyptic, romance/fluff, angst | zombie!au

word count: ≅7.0k

series: To be Together

chapter warnings: allusions & talk death, weapons (the knifebrella), and violence (defending self from zombies)

summary: The world ended on a Tuesday in November, days after Halloween, when the sun was less than an hour away from setting. Chan had just left his dorm’s building, late to his History of Dance 136A lecture, when it happened. You hadn’t been as lucky on the day the world began to crumble.

a/n: hello again :) take a chance on this fic, maybe? spicier times ahead (not actually lol) oh boy.. oh boy oh boy oh boy

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{INTRO} + {3 DAYS SINCE THE END} + {7 DAYS SINCE THE END} + {10 DAYS SINCE THE END} + {20 DAYS SINCE THE END} + {24 days since the end} + {27 days since the end} + {a month since the end}

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27 Days Since the End

The two of you hid, backs pressed tightly against the door, in a conference room Chan had been lucky enough to find unlocked and unoccupied after running through the student courtyard, pursued by a horde of undead that was continuously increasing.

Chan had flipped the deadbolt on the door before sliding down next to you. He breathed heavily under the scarf and mask he was wearing, his throat burned, and even though he knew he needed to cough, all that came out were choked grunts.

You squeezed his hand and your eyes at the groans on the other side of the door and the thumps that accompanied them. They wouldn’t end not for a couple of hours, long after the two of you had fled.

But, when his coughs continued to come out choked, you forced them open. “Take off your mask,” you struggled to get out yourself.

Chan didn’t understand why he hadn’t thought of that in the first place. He was thankful, though, that you had while the fear inside him grew.

He couldn’t breathe. (He could.) He couldn’t breathe. (He was.)

Then his scarf and mask were off, and you held out a bottle of water for him to take.

His throat was irritated, even after he’d drunk half the bottle, but at least he could cough now.

“Here,” you whispered to him after a particularly rough one. “I found some in your backpack when we were packing.”

A cough drop.

He smiled. “Thanks.”

“Chan,” you whispered again minutes later, “What are we going to do? We can’t stay here forever.”

He took hold of your hand again and gave it a squeeze. “There’s another exit somewhere. I didn’t see it when we came in, but all the conference rooms have a second exit.”

“What if there are more of them there?”

He was silent, then, “We’ve got to check, at the very least.”

Twenty minutes later, your hand gripped the knob of the back door that had been hidden behind a blackening curtain. Chan stared at you, eyes having adjusted to the darkness, from across the room. His fingers bent over the deadbolt on the door, and he gulped before he nodded to you.

“For someone else,” he’d whispered to you.

In the silence, the click of the deadbolt echoed like the beat of a drum at the end of an orchestral piece. Then Chan ran, and his muffled footsteps fell on deaf ears as blood rushed into yours. A chill ran down your body as your eyes locked onto Chan’s wide ones.

“If there is anyone else,” you had agreed.

☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡

Lothlórien. Lothlórien. Lothlórien.

Chan could have shouted in joy when you pointed out your dorm’s building to him, were it not for his burning throat and the zombies the two of you were both still managing to avoid. It was taller than all the other residency buildings around it and all the other buildings Chan had seen on campus. It had sparkled in the sunlight.

Now, he knew it had been a mirage, hope luring him into a false sense of security.

He screamed now.

“Don’t stop! Keep going!”

Chan didn’t know how long he’d been running, how long he’d truly been running. The running the two of you had been doing on your way here couldn’t be considered the same activity.

“Go!” He yelled to you as two zombies from the horde pursuing the two of you broke off from the rest and charged forward as if they’d been given a boost. He bared his teeth in a growl under his mask as he opened his knifebrella to push them back.

He managed to take a couple of steps back before the two recovered and rushed toward him again.

Chan pulled his umbrella shut, and like the prop cane he’d used in a recital once, he twirled it around to the knife end. Without thinking much about it, he drove it into one, pulled it out with all the strength he could muster, and moved on to the next one.

Then he ran and continued to swing his umbrella against the undead you’d knocked away but were quickly recovering. A cold wave of fear flushed down his spine when he turned the corner to reach the next set of stairs, and, out of the corner of his eyes, a zombie fell from the sky next to him.

The groans of the undead echoed through the tightly encompassed staircase. Still, above it all, he could hear your cries as he raced on.

Above him, on the thirteenth floor, you smacked a zombie with a makeshift shield Chan had made for you. You cried as you held out the backrest of a dining chair in front of you, gripping the handles Chan had hammered into it until your fingers felt stiff around it. As if the setback you’d suffered hours before because of the noise Chan was making building you a shield hadn’t been enough to give you jelly legs the entire time.

Two zombies blocked your path up to the fourteenth floor. Eyes glazed over into a cloudy white, skin grayed, and half their hair missing like a doll with half its hair ripped out. It took you a minute to fall into a horrible realization.

“Chan!” You cried. “I can’t! I can’t!”

Your neighbors limped forward, ankles bent into awkward angels. Clicking groans slipped past their lips, and when one lurched forward, hand outstretched, you cried and lifted your shield to block them.

“I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!” You cried.

You hid behind your shield, walking backward until your back hit the wall. The knife you hid in your boots lay long forgotten.

“Y/N!” Chan yelled as he reached the landing you were on.

The zombie closest to you lurched forward again, only this time it focused on him.

Chan nodded to himself, then fixed his grip on the knifebrella. The zombie had only taken a couple more steps forward when Chan rushed it. He opened the umbrella and, using the thick ferrule, pushed it backward, hitting it repeatedly until it stumbled onto the other and it struggled against the wall.

“Go!”

“I can’t! I can't! I can't! I can't!”

“Just run! Don’t look at them! Run!”

The pair of undead jostled forward against his open umbrella before you listened to him and took off running. He pushed against the pair one last time before pivoting on his heels and following after you.

“Chan!” You yelled from the floor above him, leaning over the railing and pointing at him.

No. Distracted by the pair of zombies that had been on you, Chan failed to take in the rest of his surroundings. The amount of time it had taken for you to move had been enough for the zombies he’d left behind to catch up to him.

You were pointing behind him.

His head turned to take a quick glance behind him, but it was too late. The two zombies at the front of the hoard reached for him as they grew nearer, and, by the time Chan caught a glance of them out of the corner of his eyes as he turned, they had already grabbed the back of his shirt.

He stumbled as they pulled him, and he twisted around, screaming as he fell.

You screamed.

The undead were quick to reach for Chan, and your neighbors fast to recover and join the two at the front.

Chan floundered for his knifebrella, and as he did, the pair in front of him lurched forward. Their skinned, bony fingers wrapped around his ankles, pressing into his jean-clad legs like razor-sharp needles. Chan screamed, almost dropping the knifebrella at the sensation. He tried to shake from their grip. It didn’t work.

The pair bent forward, intent clear as their jaws split apart.

Chan struggled, twisting to and fro until, in his increasing panic, he kicked and hit both of the zombies on their jaws. A second of unbridled relief as they let go of his legs, then he raced to open his umbrella. The other two zombies had reached him, and the rest were only a couple steps away from joining them.

“Chan, run! Run!”

The canopy of his umbrella hit your neighbors’ faces, and they stumbled backward. The other two recovered and latched onto Chan’s leg again. He kicked them, then stumbled onto his feet. He closed his umbrella as quickly as he could. Then as the horde became one ran up the stairs to join you.

“Go! Go!” He screamed as he grabbed you by the arm and pulled you as he ran.

How much longer? How much longer until the two of you reached the fifteenth floor? Every step he took felt like an eternity. Is this what it felt like to walk through a desert without knowing when you’d reach civilization again?

He burned, and it felt like it would never end.

“Here!” You yelled suddenly, fumbling with the zipper of your duffle bag.

Sweat ran down Chan’s face as he waited for you to find the key to the floor’s door, watching as the horde pushed forward relentlessly. Only a couple ever fell over the railings or onto the floor, getting trampled by the others.

“Hurry,” he struggled to choke out.

“I got it!” You pushed the key into the lock and, a moment later, opened the door.

Chan meant to stop you from going through first, but before he could find the energy to force the words out, you had already rushed through the door, stopping once inside to hold it for him. He shook himself out of his stupor in an instant and shook his head as the door clanged shut behind him.

He breathed heavily as he scolded you. “You shouldn’t have rushed inside. What if there had been more inside.”

You apologized, eyes rimmed red from crying.

His concerns, though valid, were for naught, he soon realized, as he noticed the entire floor was empty. He glanced at you, and you pointed to the only door on the left side of the hall.

Chan nodded and, without uttering a single word, motioned for you to follow behind him. You gave him the key as he passed you. Nothing happened. No one else was on the floor, your neighbors, your only neighbors, had already joined the undead.

He pressed an ear against the door, and when he heard nothing, he knocked.

No response.

He held his breath as he unlocked the door. The knob felt slippery under his palm, and it slipped out of his hand twice before he had a strong enough grip around it to turn it.

He pushed it open. “Hello? Is there anyone here?”

Silence. “I thought--” he coughed, then continued, voice hoarse-- “I thought you said you had a roommate.”

“I do.”

He nodded and walked inside. You followed him, closing the door behind you though you felt it was safer to leave it open. Chan moved through the loft-like dorm quickly, flinging doors open, and when he was satisfied, returned to the living room.

“There isn’t—” he struggled to say. His voice, apart from being hoarse, was growing quieter and thinner. “Isn’t anyone here.”

Your eyes darted around the room, searching for clues about your roommate, when Chan started coughing uncontrollably. He wheezed in the impossibly short breaks between coughs as he tried to catch his breath. His knees gave way, and sooner than you could hold out an arm to help steady him, he kneeled on the ground clutching a hand to his chest.

“Chan,” you gasped.

You knelt next to him as he sank even further, pressing his face against the carpeted floor. That’s when you noticed the growing stain on his legs. You shuddered before you reached for his leg, pushing him onto his side so you could see his legs clearly.

The lower half of his jean-clad leg was ripped into shreds, held together if only by the undisturbed hem. Following the paths of the shredded denim, both long and short scratches bled and seeped through what was left of his pant leg.

“Oh no,” you whimpered, tears starting to stream down your face again.

“What do I--What do I--” you sobbed behind your hand-- “I need--I need a first aid kit.”

You stood on shaky legs and ran to your bedroom on the left side of the dorm. You shot straight for the bathroom. Luckily it was to your immediate left when you entered your room and rummaged through the cupboards looking for the first aid kit.

After you’d found it and rushed back to Chan, you found him sitting up. His coughing fit had lessened, though now his face was red, and sweat ran down his temples.

He stared at his injured leg blankly, and it wasn’t until you kneeled in front of him and reached for his leg that he came to.

“No, don’t.” It came out as a whisper, though it sounded much louder to himself.

“Chan, I—” you cried— “I have to.”

“No.” He shook his head. “There’s no point.”

“No.”

“You’re going to have to kill me.”

“I can’t!” You sobbed. “I can’t! I can’t! I won’t!”

“You have to. I’m—they did this.” Another coughing fit, though it ended quickly. “I might be turning. I probably am. You have to.”

“I can’t,” you cried, “Please, just let me stop the bleeding. T-take off your mask and drink some water.”

He shook his head again, “No. It’s better this way.”

“Chan, please.”

His arms trembled, and just as they gave out, you caught him. He shuddered, and you realized that apart from sweating, his face had also paled significantly.

“You have,” he mumbled slowly, “to let me go. Kill me.”

You shook your head, “I can’t.”

He was silent for a moment, though it felt like hours to you, then, “Do you have rope?”

“My roommate did.”

“Then—” his head lolled on your shoulder.

“Chan?”

“Tie me to something. And give me my phone. Please.”

☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡

You lay across the couch hours later, back completely against the bottom cushions, staring at the ceiling without end. There was a buzz in your ears, and no matter how much you tried, you couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it was insomnia, or maybe you just couldn’t help staying awake. You were listening. No matter how much you tried to focus on everything else, you could not stop listening.

The afternoon had disappeared without much notice. You’d helped (practically dragged) Chan to your roommate’s room. Her bed had posts, and after finding the rope, you’d tied his arms and feet to them, leaving only his right arm free for the moment.

Chan had unceremoniously dumped his bag on the floor next to the bed when you’d set him down. You rummaged through it, through the food and the clothes he’d packed until you found it. He’d placed his phone inside a baggie, then hidden it inside a pair of folded pants.

You’d given him the phone, and while he was distracted, you’d gone to work on his leg.

You could still picture him, feel the way he protested your care. Eventually, he relented, struggling with his legs tied to the posts sapped his energy quicker than he wanted, and with the little he had left, he focused on his phone. When he was done, you had to finish tying his arms. The sun had long gone down by then, though it was only when you left the bedroom, the door clicking shut, and Chan choking out a goodbye, that you noticed how dark it had gotten.

It was the same type of darkness you stewed in now, not one of early nightfall but of the dead. Empty and still.

You had tried turning on the lights at first, but that had only made everything feel suffocating and taunting.

You didn’t dare check what time it was. You only wanted to sleep. You only wanted to forget.

Perhaps, you thought, you should be thankful you had yet to hear a peep from Chan’s room-- your roommate’s room. Your rich roommate that, at the beginning of the semester, had demanded her room be soundproof. You wouldn’t know what state Chan was in unless you went to go look yourself.

You really wished the buzzing in your ears would lull you to sleep. If you were lucky, everything would have only been a nightmare. But it didn’t, and if the buzzing wouldn’t stop, then it was only maddening.

You ran a hand down your face in exasperation, then pressed them against your ears. It stopped. Releasing a sigh, you let your hands drop from your ears, and you heard the buzzing again.

Buzz. Buzz. Pause. Buzz. Pause. Buzz.

You sat up, head swiveling in all directions as you tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. When you couldn’t figure it out, you stood up and made your way through the living room. Fear ran up your spine when the buzzing grew stronger the closer you got to Chan’s room.

Then you saw it, and your heart jumped into your throat. It stopped buzzing, and after a pause, it buzzed again, and you realized what you were looking at.

Chan’s phone lay face upward, peeking through the gap from the open zipper of his duffle bag.

You reached for it, silencing it once you ran your finger down the notifications. No other notifications came in afterward, and the room plunged into silence again. You clutched it in your hand as you made your way back to the couch. You’d only just sat down when it buzzed again.

A new message.

Was it his family or his friends? Had he given them his goodbyes?

It was certain that a lot of people hadn’t been able to say their goodbyes to the people they cared for when everything went down. Would you have to tell Chan’s?

You paused, thumb hovering over the stack of messages, wondering if you would even be able to unlock his phone. Then you slid your thumb across the topmost one and watched as it unlocked without an issue. A barrage of messages flew across the screen.

You hesitated to scroll through them until you found the first one, then decided against it. Instead, you read the ones that were already on the screen.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

- Today 02:32am -

Cheol WE CANT [2:32AM]

Jeonghan FUCK SEUNGCHEOL WE HAVE TO GO THERES NO OTHER OPTION HERE [2:32am]

Jeonghan DONT YOU EVEN CARE [2:32AM]

Cheol ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO ACCUSE ME OF THAT [2:33am]

Cheol NEITHER OF US HAVE A CAR JEONGHAN IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THERE BY FOOT [2:33am]

Cheol DO YOU REALIZE HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE US TO GET THERE?! [2:34am]

Jeonghan THAT DOESNT MATTER WE HAVE TO GO WE HAVE TO FIND HIM [2:34am]

Cheol Don’t you understand Jeonghan? It’s been hours. If Chan was bit, he’s turned by now. He’s dead. Even if we looked for him, we wouldn’t be able to find him. [2:35am]

Jeonghan HES HERE YOU’RE OKAY [2:40am]

Cheol CHAN YOU ASSHOLE [2:40am]

It’s then that you decide to answer.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Chan I’m not Chan. I’m sorry. [2:42am]

Chan I’m Y/N. I heard the phone buzzing nonstop and realized Chan may still have family alive. I was going to tell them, you, what happened. But I guess you already know. I’m really sorry. [2:43am]

Seungkwan You’re that girl he saved [2:44am]

Jeonghan WHAT HAPPENED?! JUST GIVE US THE ADDRESS OF CHAN’S BUILDING [2:48am]

Jeonghan How’s Chan? [2:44am]

Cheol Could you tell us where you are? Chan didn’t say [2:44am]

Jeonghan If it’s more convenient, you could just share your location [2:45am]

Chan I don’t think there’s much of a point in telling you where we are. Chan’s gone. [2:47am]

Cheol So it’s true then? He’s one of them? [2:48am]

Your fingers stalled over the screen as you reread Jeonghan’s last message. What happened? He’d gotten hurt saving you again. You answered them, telling them where the two of you were first. Then noticed the message’s progress bar was stuck at fifty percent. The screen blackened as you waited. Sighing, you decided to rummage through Chan’s bag to find his phone’s charger.

When you found it, you plugged it into the outlet on the wall behind the tv and sat down on the floor next to it. Half an hour had passed in utter silence. You’d folded your arms over a corner of the tv’s stand and burrowed your head in it, when it was broken. Chan’s phone buzzed in quick succession, incoming messages blinding you as the home screen turned on.

You opened it as quickly as you could, noting how your message rested underneath all of the others.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Jeonghan Hello? Hello? [2:52am]

Seungkwan Did she leave? [2:53am]

Cheol I think she left. [2:53am]

Seungkwan SHE LEFT [2:54am]

Seungkwan Why would she leave? We weren’t being too pushy were we? What do we do now? [2:55am]

Seungkwan Maybe we should call? [2:55am]

Jeonghan You’re right we should [2:56am]

Cheol Are you kidding me? We can’t call. What if we get her killed? [2:56am]

Jeonghan Chan probably left the phone on vibrate though [2:57am]

Cheol Let’s just wait. If she doesn’t come back, then we call [2:57am]

Cheol Okay? [2:57am]

Seungkwan I guess [2:58am]

Jeonghan Fine. We’ll wait. [2:58am]

Chan We’re in my dorm, in the Lothlórien dormitory building of the university, not his. Chan was getting sick and the power was starting to fail. I have medicine here and my roommate had a new power generator independent of the university ones, and a satellite phone. I volunteered my dorm but it’s all the way on the other side of campus from where his is. We ran into a lot of problems the moment we stepped out and it practically took us the entire day to get here. I didn’t think there would be many zombies on the emergency staircase, but there were and that’s where it happened. We were almost there. It was my fault. We were almost there when I choked. He saved me and then he stayed behind to fight off the zombies that were getting closer. It happened so fast I don’t know if he tripped or what but they were on him, and when we got to my dorm, he had blood running down his leg. [3:22am]

Chan I’m really sorry. I cleaned the wounds but that wasn’t going to stop his turning. He asked me to tie him to the bed posts. So that’s what I did. [3:22am]

Seungkwan He asked you to do WHAT [3:22am]

Chan I’m really sorry. I swear I didn’t leave, the cell signal comes and goes now. It’s one of the reasons we decided to come here. [3:23am]

Jeonghan The university has power generators for a reason [3:23am]

Chan I know. But they’re old and they took a long time to come on. We don’t even know how many things were left on, and those will end up sucking the juice out of it too. Chan didn’t even have medicine in his dorm. We had to do this. [3:25am]

After sending your message, you stared at the bubble unblinkingly. The bright light stung your eyes, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to look away. It dimmed, eventually, and once it had completely shut off, tears built at the rim of your eyes. You huffed at the sensation, sniffing as you rubbed them.

Ten minutes had passed when Chan’s phone buzzed again.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Cheol You don’t need to keep justifying yourself. [3:26am]

Seungkwan So that’s it then? Chan’s dead [3:27am]

Minghao I’m sorry to say this. But, if he was bleeding that bad, he would have needed actual medical attention. [3:29am]

Seungkwan Really, Minghao? [3:29am]

Jeonghan Hello? [3:29am]

Minghao I’m only stating the facts. For all we know, Chan didn’t turn into a zombie. He just died of blood loss. [3:30am]

Jeonghan Hello?? [3:30am]

Chan Sorry. The signal disappeared again. [3:37am]

Jeonghan You said one of the reasons Chan and you agreed to move to your dorm was a satellite phone. Why? [3:39am]

Chan My roommate had one. She used to show it off, the phone that didn’t rely on towers for signal but a satellite in space [3:41am]

Jeonghan You found it then? [3:41am]

Chan Not exactly [3:42am]

Jeonghan Then find it so you can finish telling us what happened to Chan [3:43am]

Cheol Jeonghan… [3:43am]

Jeonghan We can still go to him. See that he’s dead with our own eyes [3:45am]

You swallowed at the texts. The phone buzzed again as another message came in, but instead of looking at the new text, you glanced at your roommate’s door. Tears pooled in your eyes again.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Jeonghan Find that phone [3:46am]

Chan I can’t [3:48am]

Jeonghan Why not? [3:48am]

Chan It’s in the same room as Chan [3:49am]

Seungkwan Minghao had a point. I don’t understand why everyone is ignoring it. [3:50am]

Seungkwan When’s the last time you checked on Chan? He may not even be a zombie [3:51am]

Chan’s ‘goodbye’ as you closed the door echoed inside of you.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Chan I haven’t. When I was leaving, Chan asked me to shut the door. He didn’t want me to see him turn [3:53am]

Seungkwan Disobey him then. Go inside, find the satellite phone, take a picture and send it to us. [3:55am]

Chan I can’t [3:55am]

Seungkwan You have to [3:56am]

Seungkwan You said you tied him to the bed. Even if he turned, he won’t be able to go near you. [3:57am]

☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡

Tears slipped down your cheeks without end. You’d been staring at your roommate’s door for an eternity. Your sobs were silent, and your breathing was practically nonexistent. You didn’t know if it was the blood rushing up to your face or a void that had suddenly come into existence, but you couldn’t hear anything.

Was Chan dead or dead?

How were you supposed to find the satellite phone with Chan in the room either dead or wanting to kill you?

You had to, though. Your hand curled around the door’s knob. You had to do this for Chan’s friends. For Chan.

Wiping the tears off your face with your other hand, you took a deep breath, turned the knob, and took a step inside.

Darkness shrouded everything inside, save for a sliver of moonlight that slipped past the window’s curtains. That sliver stretched itself across the room until it came to a rest on Chan’s profile. But even that wasn’t enough to reveal to you his fate.

Your options were clear.

“Chan?” You whispered, eyes straining to see him through the dark.

There was no answer but the sound of shuffling sheets.

Your breath caught in your throat, and you hesitated to turn on the lights.

After taking one long shuddering breath, you groped along the wall next to the door, searching for the light switch. It met your fingers suddenly as if it had been anticipating your arrival. Rather than giving yourself a moment to brace, you let your thumb brush against the switch and blind you.

You squeezed your eyes shut, then opened them slowly, gaze trained on the floor in front of your feet.

Fear gnawed at your insides, though there was no sound, no movement. Then you forced yourself to look up, and your gaze landed on Chan’s covered body.

A breath caught in your throat.

Chan lay on the bed in the same way you had left him, chest rising and falling evenly. A layer of sweat covered his face, and his cheeks burned a bright red.

“Chan?” You croaked from the door. When he didn’t answer, didn’t stir, you moved forward until you were kneeling on the floor beside him.

“Chan?” You called out to him again.

No response.

“Chan?” You tried again, this time placing a hand on his shoulder. It only takes a couple of seconds for it to seep through the fabric of his shirt and sting your cold hands.

You flinch, then press the back of your hand against his forehead.

He groaned at the sensation, head shifting on the pillow but not waking.

“You’re alive,” you whispered, shuddering when the tears you’d been holding at bay finally fell.

You moved, unaware. Chan’s feverish body burned so permanently into your eyes that you only realized you had moved from his side when you caught a glimpse of your tear-stained face on the medicine cabinet’s mirror as you opened it.

A shudder ran down your spine as you focused on the contents of the cabinet.

“Medicine,” you mumbled as you rifled through boxes and flipped bottles around so you could see what they were for.

“Medicine,” you continued to mumble as you searched. It had to be around there somewhere. Your roommate had been sick only a week before the world ended.

Your fingers brushed against a bottle shoved all the way to the back. You grabbed it, pulling it out without caring that you were pushing everything else out and into the sink.

You measured out the appropriate amount into the little cup it came with at his side and then placed the bottle on the nightstand so you could tip its content past his parted lips. It, the syrup, seeped out painfully slow. You glared at it as it trailed past the edge of the cup, past his lips, and down his throat, willing it to move faster. It never moved past its snail’s pace.

When all that remained was the syrup that stubbornly clung to its side, you set it aside and rushed outside to fetch a water bottle from the duffle bag.

Uncapped and full, the water threatened to spill out of your shaking hands and onto Chan. It took you a moment to swallow your feelings before you were able to force your hands to stop shaking. Then, you let a trickle of water run past his lips.

Sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, you held his hand through the night, mindlessly drawing circles with your thumb on his clammy skin. Hours passed as you sat there, oblivious to the rising sun, until Chan began to stir. He groaned, eyes crinkling at the edges as he squeezed them shut tighter. You let go of his hand then.

“Chan?” You lurched forward, hands coming to a rest on his shoulders. You shook him a little, just as much as you dared, without fear of startling him. “Chan, wake up. You need to wake up.”

He groaned but opened his eyes anyway.

“How do you feel?”

He stared at you, blinking lethargically, as if he couldn’t really see you or, perhaps, couldn’t understand what you were saying.

“Y/N,” he finally croaked after a minute.

“How do you feel, Chan?”

“Y/N, you need to get out of here.” He spoke hoarsely, you noted, though it was also gravely. “You need to leave.”

You shook your head and scooted closer, “Chan, you’re--”

“Go,” he croaked again, grabbing one of your hands and casting it off his shoulder. “I’m going to turn.”

“No.” You insisted. “Chan, you’re only sick. If you were going to turn, you would have done it by now.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Chan,” you sighed.

“Go, Y/N. Go.”

“If you don’t trust me, trust your friends. I’ve been speaking to them--your phone wouldn’t stop buzzing--and Jeonghan, I think it was, said that the change is nearly instant.” You leaned forward to cup his face. “If you were going to change, it would have happened by now.”

A shudder racked his body. “What if it’s just taking longer?”

“It’s not.”

He stilled, and you swore he blinked even slower than he had been and hummed. Then he shifted and nuzzled into one of your palms, pressing a kiss onto it.

You grinned in an instant, then realized his breathing was evening out.

“Oh, Chan, wait. You need to wake up. I gave you medicine in the middle of the night. You need to eat before sleeping again.”

He hummed but made no motion to wake up.

“Chan,” you insisted, voice taking on a slight whine. “Sit up, please. I’ll make food right now.”

He didn’t move, didn’t sit up as you asked still, you left him to rummage through the pantries.

It’s been nearly a month since you’d stepped foot inside your dorm. Any conception you held about the food there was, or had long since been eaten, was nonexistent now. You practically had to eat your own scream when you found a box of uncooked pasta.

Your mind buzzed as you prepared the pasta until you were nearly finished, and you remembered Jeonghan and the others. The long wooden spoon you were using to scoop out the pasta clattered against the side of the pot you were using as it slipped out of your fingers.

“Shit,” you mumbled before picking up the spoon again and filling your own plate.

Chan remained asleep when you reentered the room. But, rather than wake him, you placed the plates on the nightstand, pushing aside the bottle of water, the medicine bottle, and its cup.

Tendrils of heat wafted into the air as you searched your roommate’s (ex-roommate, you corrected yourself with a small frown) room. While the power generator had a permanent spot in the broom closet, by the front door, where the fuse box was installed, you didn’t know exactly where she kept her emergency satellite phone. You figured it would be in this room and that you could spend a while looking for it as you waited for the tendrils wafting over your plates to thin.

Seven minutes and a room full of strewn clothes later, you find it. Shoved all the way in the back of her wardrobe, hidden by piles of clothes she hadn’t bothered to hang or fold, you find the satellite phone still in the box you figure it had originally come in.

You tap away on the phone, getting to know it as quickly as you can before taking out Chan’s and finding Jeonghan’s number. You send him a quick, simple message.

###########

########## It’s me [7:32am]

Less than a minute later, the satellite phone buzzed.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

########## has been added to the chat

Jeonghan How’s Chan? [7:33AM]

You pointed the phone’s camera toward Chan and took a quick picture.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

########## [attachment] [7:34am]

########## He’s alive. He’s got a fever but I’ve already given him medicine. I’m going to wake him so he can eat right now [7:34am]

“Chan,” you shook his shoulder after setting the phone down next to you. “Chan, I need you to wake up. You need to eat.”

He groaned in protest, almost syncing in perfect time with the buzzing coming from the satellite phone. You reached for it and grinned when you saw the messages that were coming in.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Seungkwan HES ALIVE [7:34am]

Cheol THAT’S GREAT NEWS! [7:34am]

Jeonghan He’s alive! I told you he was alive! [7:35am]

Seungkwan That lazy bastard. He needs to wake up. [7:35am]

Hoshi Chan! [7:36am]

Hoshi Wait hes sick [7:36am]

You shook your head as they continued to shoot messages between each other, pitching the phone into a constant buzzing. The grin you sported as you shook Chan awake again failed to go unnoticed by him, and it wasn’t long after that he sported a shaky one too.

“Why are you grinning?” He croaked. “Are you--” he went into a coughing fit-- “are you that glad I’m alive?”

“I am,” you laughed as you untied his restraints and helped him into a sitting position. “Very glad. But I don’t think my happiness compares to the happiness running through your friends.”

“My friends?”

“Mmm. Your friends.” You showed him the still buzzing phone.

He laughed. “Seems like them.”

You put down the phone and reached for his plate, “Do you think you can eat by yourself, or do you need me to feed you?”

He shook his head with a small smile, “I can feed myself.”

“Okay,” you say, handing him his plate.

The two of you eat in silence, staring at the cloud-filled sky through the window. The food on your plates dwindles slowly, cooling quickly between bites, but it doesn’t matter. The two of you are at peace, mind free of any and all thoughts. That is until you’re startled out of your trance by a choking sound.

You whip around to look at Chan, whose choking has turned into garbled coughing.

“Chan? Chan, what’s wrong?”

You pound his back until he stops coughing and manages to choke out a single word.

“Water.”

You reach over to the nightstand to grab it and hand it to him. He gulps it down, and when he’s done, takes long wheezing breaths until he calms down and slumps down against the headboard.

“Did you swallow before chewing? What happened?”

Chan nods. Once.

It should be final, but something about his nod makes you ask again.

“Is that really it? You swallowed before chewing?”

It takes longer for him to nod this time.

“Chan?”

He takes a glance at you and looks away just as quickly. He coughs, then clears his throat.

“Are those….” he hesitates, “your…. Are those panties?” He asks, eyes frozen on a pile in front of the window.

You only glance at them before narrowing your eyes at him, “Eyes on me, sir.”

He looks at you then for a moment, then goes back to eating the food on his plate. But not before his eyes flick downward on you for a single second, and his cheeks turn red, and you know it isn’t from the fever he’s running.

A snicker threatens to leave you, and you swallow it just as it’s making its way up your throat.

“Sorry,” he says suddenly, quietly.

You shake your head as you stand, holding out your hand for his plate.

“Get some more rest, Chan. I’ll wake you when it’s time for you to take your medicine again.”

You’re halfway out the door when you throw a look behind yourself and catch him looking at you from under the comforter.

“And, for the record, those aren’t mine. They were my roommate’s.”

Time seemed to move slowly after that. You washed plates and put away the food, rummaged through the cabinets taking note of everything available, and finally took a shower. You washed your clothes by hand as best you could, hanging them in the shower to dry. Then, when you were sure you’d done all that you needed to, you went back to Chan’s room and sat on the floor next to the bed.

Elusive as sleep had been only hours before, it was quickly turning into the only thing you knew as you sat next to Chan. You could hear him inhale, then exhale, inhale, then exhale, inhale, then exhale. It lulled you to sleep. You had only just begun to nod off when he shifted in his sleep, and the satellite phone came tumbling down from where you had left it on the bed.

You flinched at the clunk.

Buzz. Pause. Buzz.

The amused smile that you wore as you grabbed the phone fell when you read a single message.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Jeonghan Y/N Chan I need one of you to come to the phone! Please! We need to discuss!!! [8:52am]

Cheol Jeonghan. We have to talk about this now. [8:54am]

Jeonghan They need to be here too. We’ll lose them if we don’t work this out with them right now. [8:55am]

Jeonghan Y/N CHAN WAKE UP [8:55am]

Jeonghan WAKE UP [8:55am]

Jeonghan WAKE UP [8:56am]

Wonwoo I think it’s starting. [8:57am]

Cheol We’ll lose everyone else too if we don’t talk about this RIGHT NOW [8:58am]

You scrolled past the blocks of text that followed, afraid of what you’d find at the end since the phone had finally gone silent.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

Jeonghan Chan, Y/N, when you see these please reply. [9:27am]

Seungkwan I’ll say it just in case you don’t bother scrolling all the way up Chan [9:28am]

Seungkwan Wonwoo found an emergency broadcast channel online warning everyone that different cities were about to have their water and power shut off. Cell signals are failing us too now. We’ve made a plan. Go back up and read it. [9:32am]

Jeonghan Fill what you can with water. Charge your phones and power banks, and hope the electricity lasts until it’s full. [9:33am]

Jeonghan Get ready to leave. You’re going to have to leave and you’re going to have to do it soon. [9:34am]

########## We can’t leave. Chan’s sick, he can barely stand. [9:51am]

########## Where would we even go [9:51am]

You waited in bated silence for the phone to buzz again. It didn’t. Then, just as you were about to put down the phone, you remembered what you were holding.

With a heavy heart, you typed out another message, hit send, and waited for the message to read as sent.

💕💕hannie’s fools 💕💕

########## Write down everyone’s phone number on a piece of paper, mine included. If you can, find an electronics store or somewhere where they sell hiking equipment. They should have satellite phones there too. Be safe.

☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡☡

a month since the end

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