TRIGGER WARNING. DO NOT READ IF SENSITIVE.

Ten always believed that the cure to any problem one is having is life. For example, if someone is feeling sad, a puppy almost always cheers them up. Another example is that if a child is crying, the parent can give them their stuffed animal and impersonate it to make it come alive. Ten believes that just being near someone or something with life in them helps. That's one of the many reasons why he became a therapist, because God knows he's full of life.

But how do you stop someone from hurting themselves as a habit? Ten struggled with this question for a few hours, lying helplessly in his bed at 4:00 in the morning. While he did have a pleasant dream, he awoke to his bladder crying for help at 2:00 AM, and even after saving it from combustion, he couldn't go back to sleep.

He had been thinking about Taeyong, and how to help him. More specifically, his habits that he uses to calm himself down. Compared to Jungwoo's method of breathing deeply, Taeyong's methods are much more hurtful. His fist clenching causes his skin to break under the pressure of his nails, and his jaw clenching can end in some serious needs for dental work.

Ten can't just coo at him to stop these habits, although he did think about it. When Ten taught Jungwoo his breathing methods, he used calming words. In Taeyong's case, however, Ten found out that physical help is the way to stop his tendencies. He picked this up after the last session, still feeling the contraction of his sharp jaw under his fingers.

Ten squeezed his hands to make the feeling go away. Focus, dumbass, Ten thought. But as he stared at his hands being squeezed, it suddenly clicked.

He jumped (read: fell) out of bed and hurried into some sort of presentable attire, keeping his plain white shirt and putting on some black sweatpants. "Fuck." Ten cursed as he fell on his side while trying to put his foot into the pant leg. He then realized he shouldn't hurry, but rather work on being quiet. He grabbed his phone and slowly opened his bedroom door.

Of course he had to sleep there, Ten thought as he saw Jungwoo snoozing on the couch, hugging his Mr. Cuddles teddy bear plush. Finding Nemo was playing on the TV, illuminating his features. Ten took a moment to squeal at his brother's cuteness, snapping a few photos.

He comically tip-toed to the other side of the room, grabbing his jacket, his wallet and his keys before heading out the door.

****

Ten laughed at himself while walking through the dark streets of Seoul, making his look like an absolute maniac. He was laughing at how dumb he must look, going to any store that could be open at this ungodly hour.

Whatever place is open right now must be filled with lunatics, Ten thought.

After what felt like an hour of walking, (It took 8 minutes.) Ten finally found a store open, just a few blocks down his apartment.

It was a 24-hour grocery store called "Utopia". Ten just stood in front of it for a few seconds before entering.

I was right, was his first thought.

When he entered the first thing he saw was a small man dressed like a minion pulling man's ear. The latter was a tall man with bright orange hair in a long coat that's too big for even a giant. Ten spotted name tags on both of them, surprised that they work there.

"Yah! call me Korea Big Minion one more time! Those'll be the last words to come from your mouth!" The short man yelled while pulling at the other's ear.

Poor guy, Ten thought.

"But I love you!" The tall man cried. The other seemed to soften, letting go of his ear and kissing his cheek, before smacking his neck. "Then listen." The orange haired man grumbled and rubbed his ear.

No one seemed to notice Ten's presence yet. On the other side of the store he saw another tall puppy looking dude trying to stack Twinkies and two men arguing, if that's what you would call it. One of them had black hair and was laughing loudly in the other's face. The recipient had long blonde hair- a look that Ten had been wanting for a while- and was just dragging the man.

After dumbly standing in the doorway for god knows how long, someone finally noticed Ten.

"Hello, welcome to Utopia, how can I help you?" A man with black curly hair asked. His smile looked like he was cringing, and Ten wondered if that was just his normal smile. Suddenly a loud singing voice was heard. Ten looked past the man to see a guy casually splitting apples while belting. The short minion guy from earlier came running over to try and stop him from ruining their produce.

"Um... Hi." Ten said, astonished at how calm the guy seemed. He must be used to this, Ten thought.

"Don't worry, this always happens... actually I guess that means you should worry..." The man entered a deep thought for a moment, Ten just stared.

"Anyways!" He said suddenly, causing Ten to flinch. "My name is Seonghwa, feel free to look around, ask me if you need anything!"

The man walked around back to the front counter. Ten had to take a moment to recuperate. Should I just wait until another store is open...? Ten wondered.

When he looked throughout the store, he tried to find what he was looking for. Ten groaned, knowing he's gonna have to ask one of the store workers where he can find it. He decided to go for the most sane one and went to the front counter.

"Hi, could you help me find something?" Ten asked Seonghwa. "Of course! what do you need?" He responded.

"Do you guys have any stress balls?" Ten asked, suddenly feeling weird for asking such a thing.

Seonghwa chuckled, and Ten concluded that was just his real smile.

"An interesting thing to look for, but I'm sure we have some in the toy section, follow me."

Ten nodded, thankful that at least one of them seems functional as a store worker. I'm way too tired for this chaos.

Thankfully, the toy section was at a quieter part of the store, sparing Ten a from headache.

"I think we have some... Ah! here we are! We seem to have a few so you can choose! Anything else?" Seonghwa smiled.

"No, thank you." Ten responded with a sleepy smile.

Ten began to look through the small plastic bags of stress balls. He finally found the perfect one.

A cherry, Ten smiled.

Ten went to the front counter to buy it.

"I would like to get this." Ten said.

"Of course!" Seonghwa scanned the item. "Anything else?"

Ten was about to shake his head when he saw two other things that could help Taeyong.

"Actually I would like these two things as well." Ten said while grabbing the gum and sunflower seeds and putting them on the counter, For the jaw clenching.

"No problem! That'll be $3.67."

As Ten was pulling out his wallet to pay, the door opened and a high pitched scream came.

"Seonghwa!" A man who had long hair with a white highlight in the front came in.

"Hi San" Seonghwa smiled, embracing the other.

Ten's ear's perked up at the name. Where have I heard that name?

"Wow you actually have a customer?" San mused as he pulled away.

"Of course! We always have customers!" Seonghwa retorted, an arm still around his waist.

"Baby, someone walking in, seeing this chaos, and walking out doesn't count" San kissed his cheek when he saw Seonghwa pouting.

Ten suddenly remembered where he heard the name. The past therapists!

"San? Choi San?" Ten called.

San looked at the other curiously, "Do I know you?"

"No, but I know you. I'm Ten."

"Ten? As in Taeyong's new therapist Ten?" San pulled out of Seonghwa's embrace, causing the latter to whine. "I've heard about you!"

Seonghwa stopped whining and looked at the two, "You've both worked for the same patient?" The other two nodded. "Wow! Amazing!" Seonghwa yelled.

"Yeah, I'm actually here buying things for him."

San looked at the items on the counter and hummed.

"Actually can I talk to you? I have things to ask about Taeyong if you don't mind." Ten asked.

"Sure, I can spare a few." San said, kissing goodbye to Seonghwa, who started whining again and began to lead Ten out to the front of the store. He stopped when he saw Ten looking at his items, about to check them out quickly.

"Leave them, Hwaseong will watch it for us, don't bother about paying." San smiled, ignoring Seonghwa's pleas. He grabbed two sodas from one of the fridges.

"Yah! You can't just take from the store!" the short minion man came in yelling again.

"I can, Hongjoong, I have the benefits of dating a worker!" San smirked, blowing a kiss to Seonghwa, which made the other blush.

"Let's go?" San asked.

Ten nodded.

****

San led Ten outside to the patio table outside the store.

"So... Taeyong huh?" He asked, handing Ten the soda.

"Yeah, Taeyong." Ten simply replied.

"How is it?" San asked, suddenly growing concerned for the other.

"He's... interesting." Ten said.

San raised his eyebrows, chuckling at the word choice, "How so?"

"Well, I did inkblots with him yesterday, and-"

"He let you do inkblots?" San mused.

"Yeah, it took a little convincing but we got there." Ten responded.

"Did he hurt you at all?" San asked worriedly, his eyes searching Ten's face for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine, he hasn't hurt me" Ten said, causing San to be surprised. "Why is everyone surprised when I say that?" Ten asked.

"He always hurt people even a little bit, it's expected." San said, his eyes darting this way and that as if he's experiencing the memories again.

"The most he's done to me is knock the inkblots out of my hands, but it got the truth out of him. I think he hasn't hurt me because his medications, his files say that he takes them before any sessions now." Ten said.

"It's always been that way." San said.

"What?" Ten asked.

"Taeyong has always taken his medications before sessions." San clarified.

Ten went silent at that.

"You must be special, Ten" San smiled. "I hope you can help him, do what I couldn't."

"How did it go for you?" Ten asked curiously.

"Well... I believe I was the first therapist assigned to him ." San recalled. "The first day I tried inkblots like you did and came home with a bloody nose. The next day I talked to his doctor, Kim Dongyoung, you might have heard of him." Ten nodded, and San continued,

"I learned about his past. It's dark Ten, I suggest you talk to Dongyoung, he has all records on Lee Taeyong. Anyways, he told me that if Taeyong passed as mentally stable, he could start going outside and having free time. I decided to make that my goal, just let him see the outside again you know?" Ten nodded once again.

"Seonghwa was already against me treating Taeyong the first night I came back. I convinced him that I had to at least try. And I did. I attempted to get Taeyong to do inkblots, to talk to me, to even move actually, he never moved from his little window." Ten agreed with this.

"Eventually he started moving, but only to hit me. I came home with yet another bloody nose" San chuckled, but there was not humor in it.

"I managed to get another chance from Seonghwa before he go and resign me from Taeyong himself. So, I went to the next session, And Taeyong didn't comply with anything I said, the only words he said to me were insults, which didn't phase me of course, it was more so the hits. That night Seonghwa finally drew the line when I came back with a broken nose this time. So... I quit."

"I don't think you understand how much of a surprise it is that you haven't been hurt yet. It's not the medications, Ten, Dongyoung said they do very little."

Ten stayed silent.

"I think... you can help him. I think you can with the best chances out of all of us. Try to get him free time."

Ten finally spoke, "I will."

****

After sleeping for a little bit, and there was light in the air, Ten decided that he should talk to Kim Dongyoung to learn more about Taeyong's past. He figured that he needed to know more about Taeyong, and it's not like he would tell him very openly. He decided that he should know the extent of Taeyong's past before deciding whether or not to talk about it to Taeyong himself, especially after talking to San. His words kept echoing in his head,

"I learned about his past, It's dark Ten."

"I think you can fix him."

"You have the best chance out of everyone."

His free time, Ten thought. I'll start there first. Let him see the outside.

Ten went to the hospital to see Kim Dongyoung. Ten finds it funny because he's been working there for his entire career, yet he still doesn't know every room in the hospital. Perhaps it's the routine.

"Hello," Ten said to the usual nurse he greets. The nurse didn't find this surprising, cause he does this all the time. What did surprise the nurse, however, is when Ten began to walk toward front counter, rather than past.

"I would like to speak to Kim Dongyoung, do you know where his office is?" Ten asked.

The nurse took a moment, having never really heard Ten's voice say anything other than "hello".

"Yes I do know where his office is, but I'm afraid that Kim Dongyoung isn't at office Tuesdays and Thursdays. His office is in the medical center two turns to the left and one to the right though in case you would like to leave a message?" The nurse responded.

"Not in office? If you don't mind me asking, how does he give his patients medications on those days?" Ten asked.

"Well he usually has the nurses come in and give the proper medications then." The nurse said.

"I see. Well could I have his number? I would like to meet with him quickly." Ten said. He wants to know Taeyong's past before their session.

"Yes just let me go get it for you." The nurse said, heading to the computer and typing away on it. Ten checked the time

9:00, I have enough time if he responds fast. Ten really hopes he responds fast.

Ten was looking around while waiting for the nurse. While doing so, he saw through the large windows the lead outside two patients playing Ping-Pong. I want Taeyong to have that, Ten thought.

"Alright." The nurse said, breaking Ten out of his thoughts. "Here you go, Ten."

"Thank you." Ten bowed and left the hospital, entering Dongyoung's contact and texting it.

You, 9:06: Hi

Ten waited for a response while heading to Jungwoo's diner where he planned to ask Dongyoung to meet. Just as he got in his car, he received a text.

Kim Dongyoung, 9:10: I have a boyfriend.

What the fuck...

You, 9:11: Sorry not interested. My name is Ten. I'm Lee Taeyong's therapist. This is Kim Dongyoung, his doctor, correct?

Kim Dongyoung, 9:11: Yes.

Ten, 9:12: I would like to meet with you to talk, since you weren't at your office today.

Kim Dongyoung, 9:13: Okay, where would you like to meet?

Ten, 9:13: Kick it Coffee. It's my friend's cafe. I'm already heading there now, I would like to talk before my session with Taeyong if you don't mind.

Kim Dongyoung, 9:14: No, not at all. Heading there now.

Ten finally started the engine and drove to the designated meeting spot.

****

"Hey Ten, You're here early." Jungwoo said, surprised, but excited nonetheless, and went around the counter to hug his best friend.

"Hey Jungwoo." Ten said while hugging him. "I'm actually meeting someone."

"Oh? Does Ten finally have a date?" Jungwoo teased, but his voice had a hint of hopefulness.

"God no, it's someone from work who could tell me more about Taeyong. It's his doctor actually." Ten said, crushing Jungwoo's hopes and dreams that his best friend will finally find someone to love.

Before Jungwoo could voice his sorrows, Ten's phone rang. "That's him, he's here."

"Alright then, I'l leave you to it. Pastry?" Jungwoo asked.

"Of course." Ten said smiling. He waved and sat down at his usual corner.

Ten looked to the door when it opened, and a bunny-looking man walked in. He had black styled hair and wore a blue and white striped shirt with a badge on it. He had an hombre dark blue and red belt and brown striped pants. Definitely not him, Ten thought, and looked past the man.

Ten was still looking when the bunny-looking man sat down in front of him.

"Hello, you're Ten, right?"

Ten nodded, and opened his mouth to say he's not the guy he's looking for, but not realizing the strangeness of this guy knowing his name.

"I'm Kim Dongyoung." He smiled.

Ten choked.

After a long minute of Dongyoung staring with concern and Ten coughing, Ten talked.

"You're Kim Dongyoung?" Ten asked.

"Please, call me Doyoung, and why are you so surprised?" he asked.

"Just... you don't look like a doctor with that outfit." Ten said while trying not to laugh.

"Is that what you wanted to meet for? Cause if so I'll be going." Doyoung said, about to scoot his chair out.

"No! No." Ten said, still giggling.

"I have things to discuss about Taeyong."

Doyoung sat down again. "I'm listening."

"What does Taeyong have to do in order to be able to go outside?" Ten asked.

"He must be deemed mentally stable."

"How does he do that?"

"It's simple, really. He'll come to me and take a couple tests. The usual inkblots, questions, and whatnot. If the results say he's ready, then he may go" Doyoung explained.

Ten nodded.

"I want to discuss Taeyong's past." The atmosphere immediately darkened.

Doyoung scooted forward and spoke with a hushed tone, not in the way that he wants no one to hear, but in the type of way that when someone is talking about something so serious it's almost sacred.

"What do you want to know?" He asked wearily. He seemed scared just to tell it.

"Everything. I need to know... for Taeyong's sake" Ten said.

Doyoung took a deep inhale, then nodded. Ten sat up more in his chair, suddenly feeling like they're speaking of a heresy banned from society.

"Taeyong grew up here, and came from the richest parts of Seoul, but in the darkest depths.

Taeyong's mother, Park Dae, was one of Seoul's biggest CEO's. Her business, Everglow Enterprise, was a huge fashion and makeup company. She eventually married Lee Sooman, the CEO of SM entertainment. The two had Lee Sunmi, Taeyong's older sister, and 4 years later they had him. Dae wanted to get an abortion, but it would look bad to the public, so she had to keep him. The family seemed happy on the outside, the perfect family, but in the inside, it was ugly.

Dae was a crazy woman, the word psycho has probably never fit anyone more than her. she hated Taeyong, constantly calling him a waste of time. If it wasn't for Sunmi, Taeyong would probably have more serious scars than he already does, he would probably even be dead.

There were many instances where Dae would hurt Taeyong. People say that when Taeyong was first born, she tried to subtly suffocate him. Sooman luckily stopped her, and believed she just made a silly mistake.

Lee Sooman was never really home, due to his need to be at SM. Dae, however, had such a big company, she never even needed to step foot in her own building. This only opened up more opportunities for her to act on her hatred for her own son.

One day, when Taeyong was 10, he stayed home from school cause he was sick. Dae decided to come into his room and... and..." Doyoung couldn't finish his words.

"And?" Ten asked, making Doyoung flinch. He seemed to forget about Ten's presence.

"And rape him." Doyoung said.

Suddenly, Ten didn't know where they were, he didn't know that there were tears streaming down his face, he was too lost in Doyoung's words and the pain of hearing them. He couldn't even imagine what the pain must feel like to live it.

"No... No, the files said Dae is in jail for attempt of rape." Ten said, refusing to believe Doyoung's words.

Doyoung shook his head, "Dae was a very influential person, she could get away with anything... and... it wasn't the only time."

Ten choked on a sob. Stop.

"Taeyong became silent from then on, moving like a robot and only eating enough to survive. Sunmi began to question his sudden silence, as he used to always be the brightest boy. One day... When Taeyong was 13, it happened again, and Sunmi was there to stop it all. She promised Dae with crossed fingers to not tell anyone about it, and continued to cradle a crying Taeyong in her arms."

Stop. The way it's spoken, like a book. No one... No one should go through this.

"Sunmi told Sooman the moment he came home, late at night. Sooman couldn't believe it, and started looking into his own wife. He found out through a private source that Dae had been money laundering through her business. She illegally sold drugs and laundered it all through her company. Sooman reported her immediately. After Dae's arrest, the cops searched the house while Sunmi was in school. Taeyong stayed home that day. The cops found Lee Sooman dead in his shared bedroom with Dae. He had committed suicide." Doyoung exhaled shakily.

"Why... how do you know this." Ten asked after a long silence. His hands were shaking, tears continuing to stream down his face.

"I met with Sunmi." Doyoung said. Ten looked up in surprise.

"And Taeyong? He's here now." Ten said.

"Yes... Taeyong moved out and moved in with Lee Soo, Sooman's sister, his aunt. Sunmi was 17 at the time, Taeyong still 13. Soo had a piano and some CD's, where Taeyong learned that he had a love for music and dance. He had always seen it, at his father's company, but never got to try it. But even with his new life, Taeyong had never smiled. When he turned 20, he began to drink and do drugs. Sunmi caught him once sniffing in the bathroom. One day he was walking, and he began beating a man up. that's all Sunmi learned from it, she didn't even learn why."

Ten remembered reading that in the files as well, Taeyong beating the man up.

"Taeyong's family then decided to send him to Neo Hospital after he tested positive for IED... and here he is. 4 years later." Doyoung said sadly.

Ten finally wiped his tears away, recuperating himself. Doyoung did the same, but not needing the clean up as much as Ten did.

"Thank you... for meeting me." Ten said.

"You're welcome." Doyoung said getting up. Ten put his head in his hand, covering his eyes.

"And Ten?" Ten looked up.

"He needs you. I can tell. You may not realize it, or he doesn't, but... it's you who can do it."

"How do you know?" Ten asked.

"No one has shown more compassion when hearing his past than you have." Doyoung softly smiled softly and left.

Ten went back into his original position, head in his hands, still sniffling from earlier, and closed his eyes.

"Hey..." Ten looked up to see Jungwoo smiling softly, holding a pastry.

"I swear we don't have slow customer service, I just saw how serious that conversation was and didn't want to interrupt." Jungwoo sat next to Ten, rather than in front.

"Thank you." Ten said, automatically leaning his head on Jungwoo's shoulder. He grabbed the chocolate pastry and started nibbling on it.

Ten closed his eyes. "I have to help him Jungwoo... I can't... I-" Ten's face twisted into a crying face again.

"Shh I know, Ten, and you will, just like you helped me." Jungwoo comforted Ten, stroking his hair like a kitten.

Ten closed his eyes and saw Taeyong.

Taeyong.

****

Ten got back to the hospital for the session at 11:30, after recovering himself and heading to the apartment to get the stuff for Taeyong and back.

Ten had so many thought swimming in his head, and all of them were just about Taeyong.

Taeyong.

After meeting with Doyoung, Ten has a better understanding about him.

He went to his office and sat down. He stared at the items he'll give to Taeyong

I want to see him play music, I want to see his face with the sun shining down on it.

I want to see him smile.

****

When it was time for the session. Ten jumped out of his chair, grabbed the stuff, and rushed to the room. He nearly dropped his items too many times to be deemed sane.

He entered the code, but typed it wrong. He had to try another 3 times, embarrassed because his failures are presented with a loud beep.

When he finally got the door opened, he attempted to open the door with his foot. But luck doesn't seem to be on his side today, and the door was too heavy to open. Ten even tried ramming into the door, but it didn't move.

"What the fuck." Ten cursed. Was it always this heavy? Should I be doing leg workouts?

Ten geared himself up to try and ram into the door once again. He stepped back and had a countdown in his head. 3...2...1...

Suddenly, just as Ten was about to ram into the door, the door opened, and Ten met the ground. He thought the door magically opened.

Ten looked up to see Taeyong standing over him. his brows furrowed, in amusement or confusion, Ten couldn't tell you, because that was really just his face when showing emotion.

Ten stood up and smiled. "Thanks."

Taeyong didn't answer, but Ten had expected that.

"I got you stuff" Ten said as Taeyong closed the door.

Ten seemed to be more comfortable entering this room. He didn't realize it, but earlier, he felt no nervousness, instead he felt... eagerness. He takes the same medications as always, and yet he's never hit me.

Taeyong walked up to Ten.

"They're for your nervous tendencies." Ten said, heading over to Taeyong's bed. "May I?" he asked. Although he's more comfortable, he hasn't lost his manners.

Taeyong again didn't respond. Ten could see from where he was standing across the room that his jaw was clenched. A sudden rush spiked in him, to stop it as fast as possible.

But a thought ran through Ten's head. He noticed that while they're still standing across the room from each other, this time, Ten is standing by the bed and the small window, while Taeyong stands by the door. Ten smiled wider.

"Thanks" Ten said, sitting on Taeyong's bed.

"I didn't say yes." Taeyong gritted out.

"Well you didn't say no either, you have to used words Taeyong. A therapist talks, they don't read minds." Ten said.

He patted the space next to him. Taeyong doesn't move.

"Oh come on. What are you afraid of? You said you could break me in two the first day did you not?" Ten smiled brightly, something he can't seem to stop doing around Taeyong.

Taeyong's jaw clenching ceased as he walked over to Ten, sitting down next to him.

Ten began taking out the items.

"First I have this." Ten hold up the stress ball. "Do you know what this is?" He asked.

Taeyong scoffed.

"What?"

"You're really fucking dumb, you know that? How did you even get this job?" Taeyong pushed.

Ten laughed, causing the other to look at him curiously (His face didn't change at all, but he was curious nonetheless).

"Well look at me, I managed to get this close to someone I'm told to stay away from. I'm sure that must count for something right?" Ten tilted his head and smiled in amusement.

Taeyong just stared.

"And hey, you didn't even answer my question, so you could be hiding the fact that you don't actually know what this is. Who's the dumb one now?" Ten teased. If anyone else saw how Ten was acting toward Taeyong without getting beaten up, they would probably faint. But if Ten was being honest...

He's not scared of Taeyong.

Not anymore.

Not after learning his past, crying for him, seeing how he hasn't been harmed even while talking to the same Taeyong the others have talked to.

"It's a stress ball." Taeyong said.

"Shaped as?" Ten said.

"A cherry." Taeyong said. The confusion can be heard in his voice if you listen close enough.

"Can you show me?" Ten said, already giggling. He was referring to the inkblots they did the day before.

Taeyong scoffed, but his lip quirked.

"What was that?" Ten asked. Taeyong looked at him

"What was that I just saw on your face?"

"You didn't see anything, you're probably just being fucking dumb again." Taeyong said.

"Did you... Did you smile?" Ten asked.

"I didn't." Taeyong gritted.

"Okay Taeyong..." Ten said.

"I fucking didn't!" Taeyong yelled. Ten laughed

"I didn't say you did." He retorted.

If the room was lighter, if the window was just a little bigger, just to let in the tiniest amount of sunlight in, Ten would see the tips of Taeyong's ears a bright shade of red.

"Anyways, this is for your fist clenching." Ten said. He looked at his fists, and saw they were clenched. "Last session..." Ten began, grabbing Taeyong's hands and opening them, putting the stress ball into his hand. Taeyong stared at their hands and then at Ten. "You clenched your hands too hard, and broke your skin." Ten recalled. He can see the crescent shaped marks in the patient's hand.

"So now, you have your own little stress cherry." Ten said smiling and finally looking up, just to meet Taeyong's eyes. Taeyong looked back down at the bag, squeezing the cherry. Ten saw this and smiled inwardly, although he was doing this outwardly as well.

"I also have... gum... and sunflower seeds." Ten said, pulling out the items as he named them.

"This is for your jaw clenching. I don't want you needing dental help. Of course, I want you to get over the habit on your own, cause this food isn't the healthiest for your teeth anyway, but I think it'll help. Just eat this when you feel like you need to, yeah?"

Taeyong grabbed the gum package and pulled out a piece. He put one in his mouth and chewed slowly. Ten giggled, "I didn't know your favorite flavor, so I got you mine. If you don't like it, I can get you a different one."

Though Ten wasn't expecting a response, Taeyong shook his head. Ten smiled.

"Taeyong," Ten said after a moment. Taeyong looked at him, still chewing his gum.

"Do you ever think about going outside?" Taeyong paused.

Eventually he nodded his head.

"I want you to go outside, okay?" Ten said. "I want to let you see it. I know you can get there, so you just have to too."

Taeyong stared blankly at him.

"They have a music room here." Ten said. Taeyong frowned.

"Why do you think that matters to me?"

"I do research you know." Ten said.

Taeyong squeezed the stress ball.

Ten bit his lip, wondering if he should ask. "Do you still know how to play?" He decided yes.

Taeyong nodded his head.

"Then when you get to go outside, let's go there and you play for me, yeah?" Ten said

"I can't go outside."

"You will be able to"

"No... I won't"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because... I can't control it."

"So why haven't you hit me?" Ten mused.

Taeyong went silent.

He thinks he can't make it. If he doubts himself on those kinds of things, how much does he doubt himself."

"For tomorrow... try to think of your favorite songs." Ten said, standing up.

Taeyong stared at Ten, he took it as a yes.

Ten smiled softly. "Goodnight Taeyong, see you tomorrow."

"It's not night time." Taeyong said.

Ten turned around. "I know, but it will be, and I won't be there to say it to you. So I'm saying it now."

Ten opened the door and left. His heart beating rapidly as he left.

Lee Taeyong.