“... Han?” Slowing down tentatively, Fang blinked up at the man’s suddenly pained expression. “Are you okay? Are… are you sick?” He said, noticing that they were passing by the infirmary hallway and thinking briefly of the virus. 

Seeming to pull himself together, Han closed his eyes in a grimace and placed one hand on the boy’s shoulder. He sighed heavily, voice thick with emotions that Fang couldn’t understand. “Shantao…” 

“Hey!” A faint shout from somewhere down the hall caught their attention during the hesitant pause. Recognizing Rai’s voice, Fang felt himself brighten and opened his mouth, intending to call back to the boy when a hand clamped firmly over his mouth and pulled him to the side.  

He found himself hauled around a corner of a small corridor and pressed back into Han’s big body. Startled, Fang lifted his eyes questioningly. Han’s hands loosened from his mouth, and after exchanging meaningful glances, Fang nodded in understanding and they both peeked out around the corner. 

“I said, hey! Listen to me! Aris!” The said man was walking down the hallway, looking like he’d come from the recreational area. His hands were in his pockets but his shoulders were stiff, and his short ponytail high in the air as he kept his head lowered. Behind him, Rai was running to catch up, expression vibrant with anger. “Stop running away, you coward!” 

At that, Aris skidded to a stop and turned, grabbing Rai by the front of his collar and leaning forward with a hiss. “I’m not running away.” 

“Yes, you are.” Glaring back, Rai spat the words in the man’s face indignantly. “You told me to keep it a secret from him so I am. But I did it thinking you would at least be nice to him. Come on, he’s actually a good guy. I’m not asking for you to save him or anything but can’t you stop pretending he doesn’t exist? He’s always looking at you. I’m sure you noticed it, too.” 

Who are they talking about? Blinking in curiosity, Fang leaned forward a little more, only to have his head pushed back. Above him, Han shook his head slightly with a warning frown. 

Scowling, Aris released the boy and gave him a backwards shove. “It’s none of my business. He’ll die like the rest of them soon, anyway.” 

“Stop pretending!” Rai said angrily, shaking his uniform back into place and then stepping forward to grab Aris’s arm before the man could turn away again. “He’s your cellmate, Aris! And he’s just a kid! Even if he’s going to die in a month or so, you can’t treat him that way!” 

Oh, it’s me. Fang realized with a rush of blood and heat to his cheeks. 

“I treat everybody this way,” Aris growled, shaking him off.  

“No, you don’t,” Rai scoffed bitterly. “You treat everybody else like they’re diarrhea. But when you look at this kid – I can see it, Aris. I know who you’re thinking of.”   

Again, Aris froze in half-turn, face shadowed. A savage grin grew over Rai’s face when he saw that he’d hit the right note, and he continued in an almost jeering tone. 

“You noticed too, right? He looks at you the same way, with those same, dark eyes. As much as he was terrified of you, he adored you. You knew that – you knew he was struggling to reach out to you, and you turned your back.” Rai’s voice clenched up, turning from jeering to husky as he grinded the last words in venomous hate. “You could have saved him.” 

Oi, oi, I don’t look at him like that, do I? Troubled, Fang shrank behind the wall and smacked his cheeks with his hands, sure that he was bright red by now. But when he heard the loud thump, he peeked back out in alarm. 

Aris had turned and slammed his fist into one of the metal lockers against the wall. It was thoroughly dented when he removed his hand, teeth clenched and pale hair covering his face. “No. My only mistake was letting him get close enough to care. I’m not going to make that same mistake again.” 

“Arghh!” Rai lifted his head with an agonized shout of frustration. “You’re such a fucking dick, Aris! Let me punch you, let me beat up your goddamn pretty face, c’mere –” He leapt at the man, knocking both of them into the lockers. They promptly turned into two struggling orange bodies and Fang felt Han stiffening above him – but before the man could step out and intervene, a third figure turned into the hallway. 

“Ah… hello?” It was a woman – a young, slim, tan woman with curly brown hair. She was wearing a white lab coat, and underneath that a pair of skinny jeans and a green turtleneck sweater. Fang recognized her with a start – it was that lady who’d let him sit in her chair! – but he couldn’t remember her exact name. Sara… or something. 

At the sound of her voice, Aris pulled Rai off of him, tossed the boy aside like a mere doll, and turned to face the woman with a dark, narrowed glare. 

The woman seemed to jitter under his hostility, but in the end she smiled and took her hand out of her lab coat pocket in an offered handshake. “I’m Saram. Are you Aris and Rai?” 

“I’m Rai!” Picking himself off the ground, Rai grabbed the hand that Aris had been ignoring and shook it dutifully. “And this dickface is Aris,” he added in a less enthusiastic voice.  

“Ah, n-nice to meet you.” There was a faint stammer in her voice as she spoke and she lifted a hand to her lips, clearing her throat hastily before continuing. “Thanks so much for letting me speak with you. So as you probably know, I’m a researcher here at Siguang-Ri – but trust me,” she broke off a little nervously, perhaps noticing the flash of irritation in Aris’s gaze as he crossed his arms. “I-I’m not like the others. I’m trying to develop a way to grow the virus outside of a human host – in a lab, or at least in another animal if we have to… though all the leads I’ve found so far hit dead ends. I’m here because, unfortunately, I need virus sample in order to conduct my research and, well…” She grimaced. “They said this was the best place. Anyway, I was looking through patient files and I noticed that you two have been here for nearly three years.” Her voice became awed. “That’s far longer than the incubation time for the NF-I virus. There’s been some rumors going around but because the virus caused so much devastation in such a short time, we’ve never really thought about it… the presence of people who are immune to the disease.” 

Immune? Surprised, Fang shifted and his elbow promptly hit the corner of the wall with a quiet thump. 

Immediately, Aris turned his head in their direction. Han pulled them back hastily and they pressed themselves against the wall, breaths held in the following silence. It wasn’t until several long seconds later that Saram’s voice spoke up again in an uncertain tone. 

“Um… perhaps we should talk about this somewhere else? I understand this is a sensitive topic…” 

“Yeah.” Aris offered a brusque grunt of agreement, and it was followed by the sound of shuffling footsteps.  

Waiting until they were gone, Han then released Fang and they both stepped back out into the hallway.  

“… Shantao…” Han began uncertainly, perhaps seeing something in the boy’s gaze as Fang stared at the opposite wall.  

“Zhu Han,” Fang said eventually, glancing up at the man with round, dark brown eyes. “Is this really a prison?” 

Han sighed heavily, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his lips in pained uncertainty. “Technically… yes, but…” 

“Are they ever going to let me out?” Fang continued, his emotionless voice streaming dully past his lips. “Will I ever get to go home? Or will they just wait until I die? Is that going to be soon?” 

“… Shantao, I…” Swallowing hard, Han lifted a hand to his head and sighed, averting his eyes. “I don’t know…”  

The man trailed off into a silence that neither of them broke for a moment. But he could only withstand the intensity of pity in Han’s gaze for so long, and eventually Fang turned and lifted his hands to the back of his head with a heavy sigh.  

“Ah, well.” He shrugged, continuing their way towards the recreation area. “Now I really have a  reason to tell my mom.” Pausing, he glanced back and bared his teeth in a sheepish grin. “Eh? Aren’t you coming? I’m not very bright so I need someone smart like Zhu Han to show me what to do.” 

Han’s normally stoic face rapidly changed expressions several times before he finally settled with a guilty, crooked smile and went to catch up to the boy.  

“Alright,” he said, lifting his hand to awkwardly to touch Fang’s hair. “I’ll do what I can."