Wooyoung's gloved fingers yanked the drawstrings of his bag shut. He fiddled them into a knot before he moved over to Yunho's, drawing down the zipper over its contents. One slung over his shoulder, then the other. The raider exhaled before he straightened. 

Only for the pain he braced himself against to stab into his lower back much more viciously than expected.

"Fuck!" He loudly cursed, almost dropping the bags. This discomfort was unlike anything he ever felt before, like no bleeding wound and no infection. It hurt like a bitch, however, and he would have to grit through it to even hope to stabilize his gun with his arms. As he stood on trembling knees, he threw every insult he could think of at San in his mind. They hadn't continued and Wooyoung never wanted to if the pain restricted him so much.

"You good?" Mingi asked, stretching his head through the doorway. He counted their stock while everyone else carried their belongings into the car. They snacked various protein bars on the side and with Seonghwa's guidance, Jongho had figured out how to dissolve the chunk of noodles inside those cups with water, but the results bit at their tongues and sat in Wooyoung's stomach like a rock. 

Though he appreciated the soft meal.

"Just a cramp," Wooyoung grimaced. He stumbled his way to the door, squeezing past Mingi's tall frame to escape the narrow room where Mingi's sharp gaze stifled him. Did he know any better about sex than San? Wooyoung doubted it. Few opportunities out there.

Mingi let him pass, but the lack of his hat on his fiery hair exposed his frown. Wooyoung was halfway through the main room of the gas station when Mingi called after him. 

"Ask Seonghwa about it if you are feeling unwell. We don't need any injuries so close to the border."

Wooyoung grumbled, but made no promises. Instead, he dragged his aching limbs over to the car and handed Yeosang their bags. He looked just as alarmed by the drag in Wooyoung's step and the dark circles under his eyes, but he didn't mention it. By his feet, Jongho had rolled to his side to peek under the car, checking if whatever needed to be in place was still in place. 

For a moment, Wooyoung stared back at the gas station that seemed impossible to reach. Sitting wasn't as bad as moving around, but Wooyoung knew the jostling of the car would agonize him.

Begrudgingly, they crawled back inside. Yunho racked the shelves for secret treasures Seonghwa pointed out to him. They had stacks of wipes here in different packaging and Yunho gathered them all. When Wooyoung miserably shuffled up to his side, Yunho beamed down at him.

"Are we all set? I'm almost done here." Like everyone else, he was refreshed and in high spirits after the last evening. And not that Wooyoung regretted wandering off with San; they felt wonderful, but the insistent pain in his backside served as a reminder of their less glorious ideas.

"Do we still have some ointment?" Wooyoung asked, acting unbothered as he contemplated the needle and threat Seonghwa wanted them to take along. They served no purpose, in his opinion. 

"Wound ointment? You have to ask Yeosang, we stored anything medical in his bag. Did you get hurt?" Immediately, Yunho's hands slowed and worried eyes scanned Wooyoung. Exposed, Wooyoung shook his head.

"Not at all! Just making sure in case you find any here." Awkwardly, he backed away towards the counter. Though confused, Yunho nodded and continued his search. 

Exhaling, Wooyoung slinked up to Seonghwa's side. The laptop was very understanding for an AI and Mingi was right. They didn't need unnecessary ailments.

"I have a question," Wooyoung whispered and Seonghwa immediately also lowered his voice. 

"Ask me anything."

Relieved their light was understanding and not some dastardly programmed robot, Wooyoung glanced around the room to make sure no one would approach them. They had retrieved almost all the bottles from the closet in the back, leaving only the fruity drinks that would get bad with time.

"San and I we, uh, we are together, yes?" He made sure he didn't drop any random information. Seonghwa nodded along and pulled up a picture of them last night, kissing over the gummy worm. A subconscious smile tugged on Wooyoung's lips and San's expression looked incredibly gentle even as he exposed his vulnerability to their group. 

Though it was a fond memory, Wooyoung squawked at seeing it. He knew what he looked like from the occasional broken mirror, but seeing it from Seonghwa's perspective was ghostly. Did he record all of their encounters?

Hastily beckoning Seonghwa to switch back to his map, Wooyoung battled the blush on his cheeks.

"Okay, yes, good, you know. Last night, we... Well, we wanted to get closer. And we know how things work, where what goes, but..." Wooyoung struggled to say it, never one to be shy but now that he exposed the truth about the warehouse in the night, he wished for some bandages to hide behind. 

"I'm in pain now," Wooyoung deadpanned, finishing before it got worse. He hated giving away which role he played in their dynamic, wished he could ask the heroic question for San instead. Not that San didn't look out for him. He had been skittish during the morning, but he brought Wooyoung cigarettes and the snacks he liked. They hadn't dared talk about it with the others nearby, but his eyes twinkled with the shared secret.

No, Wooyoung didn't hate any part of what went down. But shit, that hurt.

Seonghwa didn't take long to put two and two together. 

"I can give you a lengthy guide about preparation, though it depends on the person. One major difference when doing it that way, however, is lubrication."

"Lubrication?" Wooyoung echoed. Jongho had babbled something about lubrication while singing about their car, but it couldn't possibly be the same.

"Yes. Any method to slick up your body. Saliva is insufficient."

Right, now that he thought about it, San's wet fingers had been less unpleasant to take. It definitely depended on the size as well, but Wooyoung understood. 

Before he had to figure it out by himself, Seonghwa summoned the image of an arrow pointing left.

"Where Yunho just was are health-related products. Take me there, please."

Relieved for such a straightforward task, Wooyoung gathered Seonghwa up in his arms. He carried him with the display facing to the front and thankfully, Yunho was outside chatting with Yeosang to sort the bags. San wandered about with his fuel canisters and Wooyoung's eyes stuck to him for a yearningly long time until they double-took something else on the other side of the car. Mingi wore his hat now, but he had lowered his head to obscure his features. Before him and caged between the jeep and Mingi's arm braced against its door, was a round head of brown hair. 

Blinking, Wooyoung tried to see what they were whispering about, but Seonghwa found what he had been searching for and made a noise of confirmation.

"Over there, the packaging with the blue lid. Take it. It's lubrication specifically made for this, so it won't damage your bodies."

Fascinated, Wooyoung picked it up. He couldn't read, but he trusted Seonghwa and his knowledge. The old civilization sure had its remedies for anything.

"Use enough so it doesn't hurt anymore and the rest of it is proper preparation. It's always safer to go slow first since it puts a strain on your body."

Wooyoung nodded along. Suddenly, it didn't sound so bad anymore. No wonder it hurt if they did it wrong. But with this lubrication, they could try again. 

"There are also sexually transmittable diseases, called STDs, and given the delicate condition of San's skin-"

"Oh, shush," Wooyoung snickered. "Thank you for your help, but I will take it from here. We live too fast to worry about something like that." If one didn't turn into a foul upon kissing San, they should be fine.

Seonghwa sighed to himself.

"I would like you to live a long life. Especially after I fixed the skies."

"We are close now, aren't we? How do you feel about this?" Wooyoung carried Seonghwa over to the car and let the lubricant disappear into his bag. Today, he would sit in the back and Yunho tucked the chips he liked into the corner as if to invite him for a secret snack. 

Jongho hated smells and crumbs in his car, but they had collectively given up on accommodating him. If they made it out of this ordeal alive, they had all the time in the world to clean up.

"I am tentative, but I hope to make it for the sake of this planet. And to pay you back for taking this journey with me. The more I see of this place and the more people we meet, the more I want to do anything I can to improve it."

Wooyoung agreed. He knew they all lived in mutual suffering and never cared much about others, but this group showed him a new side of himself. He wanted them to be happy, to fulfill their own goals, and live long lives. In that utopian world, maybe San could be treated?

"Perhaps we can't fix the sky, but you help us every day with your knowledge. Even if this doesn't work, let's continue striving for a better world," Wooyoung muttered and he sounded like Jongho.

They all went mad here. If an AI was truly a mind-controlling robot, he had them ensnared.

"I'm happy you think so. You came a long way," Seonghwa approved, but he sounded depressed at the thought it might not work. They were trusting in some old tech floating around amid the stars and signals far enough to reach the entire world. So many things could go wrong, but in one way or the other, Seonghwa could help. 

"Looking back, I can't fathom how blind I was. There was a cure all along, but I would have lived every day in ignorance until death, fighting for petty things hadn't Jongho picked me as his victim," Wooyoung uttered. Mingi finally left their leader alone and stepped away to smoke. Jongho scurried about to get back to what he was doing and he only ran around the car six times until he remembered and slumped back down on the ground. Yeosang watched him with an amused twinkle in his eyes, but his scars forbade him from commenting.

"Survival is a battle. I don't think you were ignorant, you just never knew what to look for. And how could you? Everyone here is cautious of the old ways. They were what made the planet like this. I always feel as if teaching a forbidden craft."

Yunho had been listening to the last part while they piled into the car. He perked up to join the conversation and Wooyoung ran his fingers through his best friend's hair, freshly washed with the extra water they found in the station.

"But you aren't bringing back those systems, right? The big leaders that killed each other's nations?"

"No," Seonghwa said, voice grave. "I want to bring the oceans back to the ground so the skies will clear and the rain will fall to give you land to live on again. And I want to get rid of that fungus, so no one gets forced to become a tumbling zombie after death. That's all I want to do."

The rest of them had gathered in the car and Mingi slammed the door of the trunk shut behind Wooyoung. He hovered with bated breath as everyone else witnessed Seonghwa's confession. 

Wooyoung met San's eye across the car. It shone with something that made Wooyoung's chest warm and his limbs gooey. Perhaps it was for the best he was in the trunk and could sprawl out to reminisce about their night together.

"We are almost there. You showed us once, so you can live up to the rest soon." Mingi grunted, not looking back from beneath his hat.

"We will fix things together! We like fixing, fix, fix, fix," Jongho giggled as he cradled Seonghwa into his arms like a hug. 

Touched, the laptop mimicked a sniffle. He couldn't cry, as far as Wooyoung understood the system behind his being, but he knew how to interpret their words.

"Thank you, everyone. We will cross into Canada soon and then it isn't far anymore. Let's do our best."

San turned the key in its ignition, and Jongho cheered. Wooyoung shared a grin with Yunho and then a more tentative one with Yeosang. As the jeep rolled into motion to cross through the forest, Wooyoung was sure Seonghwa could do it.