By Zephyria 
As expected, Lee A-gon replied that he didn’t sleep. When Hae-jun asked why, A-gon answered as if it were obvious.
“If I sleep, you’ll run away, won’t you?”
“….”
“That’s right. You’ll run away, hyung.”
“A-gon-ah.”
Hae-jun sighed softly. A-gon took Hae-jun’s hand and made him caress his cheek.
“That’s why I don’t sleep.”
It had been ten days since they were trapped here. A-gon was saying he hadn’t slept a single day during that time.
Only then did Hae-jun examine A-gon closely. A-gon’s appearance had changed so much that Hae-jun wondered why he hadn’t noticed sooner. His face had thinned, his eyes were dark, and his lips were chapped.
“I won’t run away, so please try to sleep.”
“No.”
“You’ll harm your health like that.”
“I’m fine.”
“Your eyes are bloodshot. Do you know that?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“A-gon-ah, don’t do this…”
“Why do you keep trying to make me sleep? What will you do if I sleep?”
Perhaps annoyed by the continued persuasion, A-gon’s tone sharpened.
“No, I’m worried about you…”
“You’re lying. You’ll be happy if I get sick.”
“Why would you say that? It’s not true.”
Hae-jun was flustered by the sudden attack. He wanted to separate from A-gon, not for A-gon to die or get hurt.
A-gon was sensitive. It was the sharpness characteristic of someone who hadn’t slept for a long time. Hae-jun gently patted A-gon’s hand.
“Calm down, Lee A-gon. I don’t want you to get sick. Never.”
As Hae-jun patted him for a long time, A-gon’s sensitivity subsided. He leaned his forehead against Hae-jun’s shoulder with a soft thud and mumbled.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I was wrong.”
“I said it’s okay.”
“I guess it’s because I’m tired. I haven’t slept for too long.”
“Try to sleep.”
“No.”
But A-gon absolutely refused to sleep.
“I can’t do that. I’ll lose you, hyung.”
“Even if I say I won’t go?”
“…Yes.”
At that moment, Hae-jun felt a pang of sadness.
A-gon loved Hae-jun, and Hae-jun loved A-gon, but they couldn’t trust each other. Trust and love were separate.
“Alright.”
Hae-jun slowly brushed through A-gon’s hair. A-gon, who had stayed up all night watching him sleep. A-gon, who wouldn’t sleep tonight either.
You, who don’t trust me as much as that deep insomnia, do you really think we have a future?
Swallowing the question he couldn’t voice, Hae-jun just kept stroking A-gon’s hair.
The eighteenth day. It had been 18 days since Lee A-gon had slept.
Now, A-gon looked undeniably sensitive to anyone who saw him. His face bore a sickly pallor, his complexion was deathly pale, and blue capillaries showed through the thin skin of his eyelids. His eyeballs were red, his lips pale, and his muscles had atrophied, making him look gaunt.
“Lee A-gon.”
“….”
“Lee A-gon.”
Hae-jun gently shook A-gon’s shoulder. A-gon startled and lifted his head.
“What is it?”
“No, you were just staring into space…”
Hae-jun trailed off. He thought A-gon had fainted with his eyes open. Or perhaps fallen asleep.
“I’m sorry. I guess I was tired.”
A-gon ran his hand through his hair like a rake. Veins like earthworms writhed on the back of his hand. They protruded because his body was so thin.
“You need to sleep.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. Look in the mirror. You’re not normal right now.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
As if he didn’t want to hear it, A-gon abruptly stood up and walked out into the living room. Hae-jun followed him. He always reacted like that when Hae-jun told him to look in the mirror.
“A-gon-ah. Please, just sleep. You’ll die if you keep this up.”
“I won’t die.”
“Yes, you have superpowers. But no matter how many superpowers you have, you could really die if you keep this up.”
“Why do you keep trying to make me sleep? What will you do while I’m sleeping?”
A-gon bristled.
“I’m trying to keep you from dying.”
“You’re a liar. You’re going to abandon me! I know everything!”
Eventually, their voices rose. They were having the same conversation they had repeated for days, from the beginning.
Hae-jun insisting he needed to sleep. A-gon saying it didn’t matter if he didn’t.
Hae-jun saying he’d die. A-gon saying he couldn’t sleep for fear his hyung would escape.
Hae-jun asking him to trust him. A-gon saying he couldn’t trust him.
Then Hae-jun’s shout that if he couldn’t trust him, he should just die, and A-gon’s retort that he was already doing so. It was all a painfully familiar repetition.
“I’m sorry.”
And the end, as always, was A-gon kneeling. He clung to Hae-jun pitifully.
“I’m sorry for yelling. I was wrong. Please don’t hate me. It’s because I’m tired.”
“A-gon-ah.”
Hae-jun was tormented by the repetitive situation. In a relationship where neither would yield, A-gon’s inner self was festering.
“I’m sorry. I was truly wrong, so I’ll do something good for you, hyung.”
“That’s enough. I…”
“Come here.”
Suddenly, as if excited by something, A-gon pulled Hae-jun and hopped excitedly. Hae-jun had no choice but to follow him.
“I’ll suck you off.”
A-gon lay down with his neck at the edge of the bed, his head tilted back. In that position, his mouth and throat aligned in a smooth curve.
“Hurry. Quickly.”
A-gon urged him. When Hae-jun still didn’t move, he tilted his head from his lying position.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
“A-gon-ah. You’re sick right now.”
“Do you hate me?”
“…A-gon-ah.”
Hae-jun covered his forehead with his hand. He felt like crying.
“Hyung?”
Seeing Hae-jun’s strange reaction, A-gon’s face turned deathly pale as he sat up from the bed.
“You’ve grown to hate me, haven’t you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Or… are you tired of me? Am I boring you?”
“A-gon-ah, please.”
“I’ll grip tight. I can make myself even tighter.”
A-gon urgently put his fingers in his mouth and mimed sucking forcefully. He was checking the sensitivity of his throat. After a moment, A-gon pulled his fingers out and smiled broadly.
“It’s tighter. You’ll be satisfied too, hyung.”
“You need to sleep!”
Hae-jun couldn’t take it anymore. He shouted, almost screaming.
“How long are you going to do this crazy thing! You’ll die! You’ll die!”
“….”
“Ple…ase.”
Tears fell, drop by drop. His heart ached so much. He truly wanted it to stop. It was too horrific to watch the person he loved fall apart. Hae-jun buried his face in his hands and sobbed.
“Lee A-gon. You’re going to die.”
Ability Users who don’t find an Assistant must die or go mad.
But do Ability Users not go mad if they find an Assistant? Doesn’t an Ability User who loves an Assistant eventually go mad?
If not, why are we so unhappy when we love each other? Why do you look more pained when you are with me? Why do we only hurt each other?
“Hyung.”
When Hae-jun looked up, A-gon was in front of him. He was crying too. Hae-jun felt the helplessness of a lost person in his eyes. He was truly lost. So lost that he didn’t even realize he wasn’t normal.
“A-gon-ah, I love you.”
Hae-jun confessed mournfully, his voice thick with tears.
“So please, don’t die. Don’t let yourself die because of me.”
They embraced each other and wept uncontrollably. Tears fell onto their bulging Adam’s apples as they choked back sobs. They fell onto their withered fingers. They fell onto their chests that touched.
They cried until they became salt, out of pain and sorrow. They cried without moving from that spot, as if they would turn into pillars of salt.
After crying for a long, long time, they were completely exhausted. Hae-jun’s last memory was of stroking A-gon’s back and repeating that he loved him, unsure when or how they fell asleep.
When A-gon let out a soft breath, Hae-jun felt relieved, and soon he too fell asleep. The two slept soundly, from night to dawn, and until morning came again.
A-gon woke up in the late afternoon. The moment he opened his eyes, he knew. His hyung had disappeared from the house. He knew his hyung had broken his promise and fled. He knew it the moment he opened his eyes.
“…Hyung?”
A-gon sat up, his hair disheveled. He knew his hyung wasn’t there, but he called out for him. Perhaps he was mistaken. Perhaps his hyung hadn’t abandoned him yet.
But there was no answer, and A-gon confirmed that his hyung had truly left him.
The house felt different without his hyung. When his hyung was in the same space, A-gon’s heart felt peaceful and warm. That place became a home, a place to return to, a family.
Conversely, a house without his hyung was merely a structure. It was just a space made of concrete and stone, containing various facilities for human convenience. For A-gon, home meant the same as his hyung. His hyung was his home, his resting place, his space to return to.
A-gon looked out the window. His hyung had just appeared at the first-floor entrance. He was wearing a zip-up hoodie that didn’t look very thick and jeans. He must have grabbed the closest thing from the closet without making a sound so as not to wake him.
Heh heh, A-gon let out a laugh. See. It’s just as I expected. The moment I fell asleep, hyung ran away, abandoning me.
See, it always ends like this. How can I possibly sleep then?
“Wait for me, hyung.”
A-gon chuckled, pulling his hat down low. Sorry, but hyung would be caught. And this time, if he caught hyung, A-gon had no intention of giving him any freedom. If hyung got pregnant… no, even if hyung got pregnant now, he couldn’t give him any more freedom.
Opening the front door, A-gon whistled. Thanks to sleeping for even a short while, his head felt a little clearer.
This time, he intended to thoroughly tame hyung so that he would never even think of running away again.