warm like a gun | ot23 nct; ot5 red velvet

Chapter 17

Kun pushes away from his desk with a sigh, checking his watch. It's nearly morning already. He's lucky they're still on break.

He yawns widely. Doyoung stayed up to help him, but he ended up giving in to sleep hours ago. He's in Kun's room, napping, while Kun runs more tests.

The initial analysis gave them more or less what they needed to know—that the mod arm Seulgi and Sooyoung stole is made of a mix of synthetic and organic skin cells. He'd done some other tests and taken a closer look, but hadn't been able to figure out much more. All he could tell was that because the organic cells were mixed in with the lab-grown ones, the skin could take on a preservative without compromising the feel. It was nice to know how exactly they were made, but Kun wanted to know why. Synthetic cells aren't perfect, sure, but the point of mods is that they're replaceable. When the cells eventually wear themselves down, the owner can just get a replacement. And so what if they feel just the slightest bit unnatural? It's not like mods are a secret. Lots of people have them.

Besides, organic material only functions well when it's attached to a real, living host. So even though the skin feels more natural, the skin will degrade faster this way. Maybe they're just trying to get people to buy more—by making sure their products aren't built to last. It's not like UltraViolet has a whole lot of competition. People wouldn't have another choice.

He carefully puts everything away, his stabilizers the only thing stopping him from breaking something in the process. His vision swims a little bit. He needs to sleep.

He runs through some information just to make himself feel better as he pads upstairs to take a shower. Chenle is working on his father to try and get some information. We should know soon if he can help us. He slips into the bathroom, turning the water on in the shower and waiting for it to warm. The UltraViolet girls are looking into the company some more, to see if we can get more material to test or maybe a new lead. Kun steps into the shower. Hyejin is looking into hospital records to see if we can figure out where these limbs are coming from. And tomorrow, Doyoung and I will start trying to come up with ways to leave a trail in case any of us are next.

He showers quickly, eager to crawl into bed and forget about all of this for just a few hours. The warmth of the water is nice, but he knows his bed will be better, where Doyoung has already built up a soothing bubble of body heat.

Kun towels off somewhat aggressively, stumbling a little when he swings his head up too fast. He secures his towel around his waist and creeps into his room, dark but for the sliver of light coming from where Doyoung had left the curtains cracked for him.

Doyoung is fast asleep in his bed, curled up with his back to him, barely visible under the covers. Kun looks over to his dresser and sees his pajamas already on top, folded neatly. Doyoung, as usual, looking out for him in weird little ways.

He tugs on his t-shirt and steps into his underwear and then his shorts. He hangs his towel up on the back of his door, and then carefully picks his way across the floor to his window, where he shuts the blinds completely. He's plunged into blackness, and he feels his way back to the bed.

Doyoung stirs as he climbs in beside him. "What time is it?" he croaks.

"Still early," Kun replies. "Go back to sleep."

"Not early enough," Doyoung grumbles, rolling over and extending an arm. "What were you doing?"

"Running more tests," Kun replies sleepily, letting Doyoung pull him close.

"What for?"

"I don't even know," Kun admits wearily. "I was tired, but... I don't know. I just didn't want to do nothing."