In-Between [Chapter 1]
Title: In-Between
Characters/Pairings: 2PM, OT7, (Taec/Jay this chapter)
Genre: Supernatural, slight!AU, Bffery, out-of-body experience
Rating: PG - for supernatural elements
Disclaimer: No idols/characters were harmed in the making of this piece of fiction
Chapter List
Summary:
There’s a fine line between life and death, but what happens when you find yourself trapped in-between the two? Where no one can see nor hear you. All you can do is see your other self, lying lifeless on that hospital bed, fighting for survival, not being able to do a thing.
Chapter 1:
His hands on the steering wheel tightened at the statement from the female seated in the passenger seat.
“You know I would never do something like that to you.”
“Don’t Taecyeon,” she retorted, her left thumb playing with the ring on her forth finger.
“I love you. You know that, I only--”
“Enough with the ‘I love you’s and whatnot. Just tell me,” she paused and looked at him. Her eyes burned with a rage that Taecyeon had never seen before, “Was she good?”
Just as Taecyeon scoffed in disbelief, the tyres skidded and he turned the wheel a full 180. Their car swerved to the left and the rain beating down on the windscreen shrouded their vision. Their car came to a screeching halt, only to be met with a resounding bang. A car from their right came towards them, crashing straight into the driver’s seat.
Silence. The sound of heavy breathing followed. The rain had calmed down and was only a pitter-patter on the dark road.
She turned her head, wincing at the pain in her right arm and shoulder, only to see Taecyeon’s eyes closed, blood dripping from his forehead. She moved in closer, placing her index and third finger under his jaw bone, searching for a pulse. It was weak, but a pulse nonetheless. It eased the female slightly.
Scrambling around in his jacket pocket with her left hand, which was now covered in Taecyeon’s blood, she quickly dialled the emergency number.
...
Hospitals were never a comfortable place for Taecyeon. The twenty-seven year old rapper had been in the waiting room for nearly twenty four hours and it seemed as though whoever he tried talking to, would ignore him. Running his fingers through his black hair, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.
“Am I invisible?!”
“Not to me,” the male voice came from beside him. “But to them,” he motioned to the occupants in the waiting room, “yeah.”
Taecyeon’s face read of confusion and the male laughed. He was wearing a white tank top, which was covered in black oil stains, the sleeves of his navy blue jumpsuit was tied around his waist and the hem of his pants just touched the floor. The male looked like a kid; he couldn’t have been more than twenty two. He swore he knew the guy from somewhere.
The male held out his hand. “Jay?” Taecyeon looked at him confused and Jay grabbed the taller male’s hand for a handshake.
“Glad to see you still remember me, Taec,” Jay teased as he let go of Taecyeon’s hand and pulled him in for a hug.
“Uhh what are...how...you?” Taecyeon couldn’t form a proper sentence. It had been five years since he had actually seen Jay in the flesh. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, what this?” Jay pointed to his overalls. Taecyeon nodded. “Day job.”
“Really?” Taecyeon tried to keep from laughing but in the end he burst into laughter, clutching at his stomach. Jay scowled and crossed his arms, sinking into his armchair. “You, a mechanic...I don’t even...” Taecyeon kept laughing.
“Yeah...well what are you doing?! Dressed to the nines and all,” he muttered, “2PM went on hiatus since 2015!” Jay shouted.
“I see you kept up with our schedules,” Taecyeon replied a little too smugly. “I bet you even attended our concerts and performances,”
“What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t?!” Jay stood up and shouted at the younger male. Taecyeon smiled. He forgot how fun it was messing with the shorty. “What are you so happy about? You’re invisible to everyone here!”
“I only need you to see me, Jay,” he wiggled his eyebrows and Jay kicked him in the shin. “OW!! JAYY~” Taecyeon whined.
“Take that you giant!” he pointed and Taecyeon only shook his head. He was lucky that no one else saw this interaction but he still felt embarrassed. “But really,” Jay calmed down, “why are you dressed like that?”
“My fiancée’s showcase,”
Jay’s eyes widened, “You’re engaged?!” Taecyeon nodded. “And you didn’t tell me why?” He gave the older male a knowing look. “Oh please, you’ve managed to keep your relationship under the radar this whole time, still call me and text me from time to time but you fail to mention this very important deta--” Jay gasps mid-sentence. “It’s because you already asked Khun to be your best man, isn’t it?”
“You know you’ll always be my number one choice--”
“Then why?!”
A team of doctors and nurses interrupted, running right through them, pushing a crash cart towards the left wing. Taecyeon looked at Jay and the latter shrugged. After a brief minute, the two found themselves standing outside the ICU hall. Jay casually strolled through the door and had to drag Taecyeon with him as the newbie couldn’t seem to move. He was still trying figure out if they had actually just walked through walls.
They were about to enter the room when Taecyeon suddenly stopped. The sign beside the door caught his eye causing Jay to backtrack and nudge him.
“Dude, why’d you stop?”
Taecyeon just pointed to the sign. Jay suddenly felt a twinge of guilt leading Taecyeon to this side of the hospital. If he knew “Real Taecyeon” was here, he would’ve never let himself wander to where the hospital staffs were headed, knowing how the younger followed wherever he would go.
Before Jay could say anything, he turned to see Taecyeon already entering the room. It was too late now. Jay followed the younger inside. When he noticed the frozen expression on Taecyeon’s face, he decided to just leave him alone for now. He’d explain everything later, when the time was right.
“I’ll let you...”
He just nodded and Jay walked out of the room.
Taecyeon finally understood what it meant to have an out-of-body experience. He didn’t think he would ever be staring down at his lifeless form. It shook him to his core. Definitely some supernatural stuff.
His body was laying there, a tube taped to his mouth leading up to a ventilator. He was dreaming. That was the only logical explanation for all this.
A beeping from outside his room followed by a stampede of footsteps brought his attention off his body. Following the commotion, he found himself two doors down.
A male doctor was kneeling on the hospital bed, performing CPR on the patient while another doctor was preparing the defibrillator. Taecyeon approached the bed and immediately dropped to his knees when he recognised the patient.
She was lying there; doctors hovered over her, the ECG machine going crazy, it felt like time had stopped. He couldn’t help but blame himself for all this. The weird thing was, Taecyeon wasn’t thinking what would happen if she weren’t to make it but rather why couldn’t he see her. She was practically in the same situation as him (from what he had made out so far) but why wasn’t she “out of her body” so to speak.
“Clear!” the doctor shouted before placing the two shock pads on his fiancée’s chest and pressing the button. The beeping went back to a steady beat and Taecyeon assumed it meant her heartbeat was back to normal and that she was back.
He watched as the doctors and nurses cleared up and left the room. Slowly, he stood back up and walked towards her figure. Gently, he brought a hand up to her face and brushed her pale cheek. Her cheek was cold to the touch but the slow rise and fall of her chest calmed his nerves. Taecyeon wanted to just hold her in his arms but he knew he couldn’t. That cold sensation running through his fingers was his hand running straight through his girl’s cheeks. He knew it wasn’t actually the touch of her cheek.
“Doctors said she’ll be fine,” Jay’s voice came from the door. Taecyeon didn’t reply. He felt Jay walk up beside him and put an arm on his shoulder. “Do you know her?”
He nodded and replied, “She’s my fiancée.”
Jay’s heart sank a little. “Oh, I’m sorry man. I didn’t-”
“I was driving,” Taecyeon cut him off, “it was raining, we were arguing. The next thing I knew…well, I don’t remember what happened. All I remember is a flash of lights in front of me and here I am. I didn’t know she would end up like this too,” his tone was barely a whisper. He kneeled down beside the bed and rested his hand on her torso, holding her hands, though neither of them could feel it.
“She’s gonna make it, Taec. The doctors-” Jay tried to comfort but again Taecyeon interrupted him.
“Why isn’t she like us?” he mumbled into the bed sheets. “We’re in the same situation, how come I can’t…” Jay could hear the tears in Taecyeon’s voice and it made his heart ache even more. This was probably the best time to explain everything.
“Taec it doesn’t work like that,” Jay tried to keep his own voice steady but he could never stand to see Taecyeon like this. The younger lifted his head up and Jay took a deep breath. “It only works if you’re in a state of unconsciousness,”
Taecyeon’s eyebrows creased in the middle of his forehead, “She is unconscious.”
“Yeah, but her vitals and everything are still responsive and everything,” Jay attempted to explain. It didn’t help that he was never good at science, especially when he had no interest in becoming a doctor or be involved with anything medical.
“But they’re not-”
“She’s not induced in a coma,” Jay finally blurted out.
“W-What?” Taecyeon stuttered.
“Whereas you and I,” he continued, “we’re pretty much vegetables.”
Taecyeon tried to process the new information but his mind just wanted to believe that this was all a dream. That he would wake up any moment now, with his girl in his arms and that everything would be alright. Unfortunately, he knew that all this was as real as reality could get.
“I know this is really difficult to get your head around-”
“How long?” Taecyeon muttered. “How long have been,” he tried to find the right words, “floating around?”
Jay sighed, “About a month.”
“Makes sense,” he said to himself. “So, I’m pretty much dead?”
“Technically, we’re still alive but in short…yeah. We’re kinda like undead-ghosts. I don’t know, no one really told me what we are,”
“Like zombie-ghosts or something?” Jay chuckled in relief. He was glad to see that Taecyeon could still make jokes at a time like this. He nodded and a small smile showed on Taecyeon’s face.
~
A/N: and there goes the first chapter. How was it? Little things will be revealed in each chapter so if you're confused, dont worry haha. <3
Characters/Pairings: 2PM, OT7, (Taec/Jay this chapter)
Genre: Supernatural, slight!AU, Bffery, out-of-body experience
Rating: PG - for supernatural elements
Disclaimer: No idols/characters were harmed in the making of this piece of fiction
Chapter List
Summary:
There’s a fine line between life and death, but what happens when you find yourself trapped in-between the two? Where no one can see nor hear you. All you can do is see your other self, lying lifeless on that hospital bed, fighting for survival, not being able to do a thing.
Chapter 1:
His hands on the steering wheel tightened at the statement from the female seated in the passenger seat.
“You know I would never do something like that to you.”
“Don’t Taecyeon,” she retorted, her left thumb playing with the ring on her forth finger.
“I love you. You know that, I only--”
“Enough with the ‘I love you’s and whatnot. Just tell me,” she paused and looked at him. Her eyes burned with a rage that Taecyeon had never seen before, “Was she good?”
Just as Taecyeon scoffed in disbelief, the tyres skidded and he turned the wheel a full 180. Their car swerved to the left and the rain beating down on the windscreen shrouded their vision. Their car came to a screeching halt, only to be met with a resounding bang. A car from their right came towards them, crashing straight into the driver’s seat.
Silence. The sound of heavy breathing followed. The rain had calmed down and was only a pitter-patter on the dark road.
She turned her head, wincing at the pain in her right arm and shoulder, only to see Taecyeon’s eyes closed, blood dripping from his forehead. She moved in closer, placing her index and third finger under his jaw bone, searching for a pulse. It was weak, but a pulse nonetheless. It eased the female slightly.
Scrambling around in his jacket pocket with her left hand, which was now covered in Taecyeon’s blood, she quickly dialled the emergency number.
...
Hospitals were never a comfortable place for Taecyeon. The twenty-seven year old rapper had been in the waiting room for nearly twenty four hours and it seemed as though whoever he tried talking to, would ignore him. Running his fingers through his black hair, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.
“Am I invisible?!”
“Not to me,” the male voice came from beside him. “But to them,” he motioned to the occupants in the waiting room, “yeah.”
Taecyeon’s face read of confusion and the male laughed. He was wearing a white tank top, which was covered in black oil stains, the sleeves of his navy blue jumpsuit was tied around his waist and the hem of his pants just touched the floor. The male looked like a kid; he couldn’t have been more than twenty two. He swore he knew the guy from somewhere.
The male held out his hand. “Jay?” Taecyeon looked at him confused and Jay grabbed the taller male’s hand for a handshake.
“Glad to see you still remember me, Taec,” Jay teased as he let go of Taecyeon’s hand and pulled him in for a hug.
“Uhh what are...how...you?” Taecyeon couldn’t form a proper sentence. It had been five years since he had actually seen Jay in the flesh. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, what this?” Jay pointed to his overalls. Taecyeon nodded. “Day job.”
“Really?” Taecyeon tried to keep from laughing but in the end he burst into laughter, clutching at his stomach. Jay scowled and crossed his arms, sinking into his armchair. “You, a mechanic...I don’t even...” Taecyeon kept laughing.
“Yeah...well what are you doing?! Dressed to the nines and all,” he muttered, “2PM went on hiatus since 2015!” Jay shouted.
“I see you kept up with our schedules,” Taecyeon replied a little too smugly. “I bet you even attended our concerts and performances,”
“What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t?!” Jay stood up and shouted at the younger male. Taecyeon smiled. He forgot how fun it was messing with the shorty. “What are you so happy about? You’re invisible to everyone here!”
“I only need you to see me, Jay,” he wiggled his eyebrows and Jay kicked him in the shin. “OW!! JAYY~” Taecyeon whined.
“Take that you giant!” he pointed and Taecyeon only shook his head. He was lucky that no one else saw this interaction but he still felt embarrassed. “But really,” Jay calmed down, “why are you dressed like that?”
“My fiancée’s showcase,”
Jay’s eyes widened, “You’re engaged?!” Taecyeon nodded. “And you didn’t tell me why?” He gave the older male a knowing look. “Oh please, you’ve managed to keep your relationship under the radar this whole time, still call me and text me from time to time but you fail to mention this very important deta--” Jay gasps mid-sentence. “It’s because you already asked Khun to be your best man, isn’t it?”
“You know you’ll always be my number one choice--”
“Then why?!”
A team of doctors and nurses interrupted, running right through them, pushing a crash cart towards the left wing. Taecyeon looked at Jay and the latter shrugged. After a brief minute, the two found themselves standing outside the ICU hall. Jay casually strolled through the door and had to drag Taecyeon with him as the newbie couldn’t seem to move. He was still trying figure out if they had actually just walked through walls.
They were about to enter the room when Taecyeon suddenly stopped. The sign beside the door caught his eye causing Jay to backtrack and nudge him.
“Dude, why’d you stop?”
Taecyeon just pointed to the sign. Jay suddenly felt a twinge of guilt leading Taecyeon to this side of the hospital. If he knew “Real Taecyeon” was here, he would’ve never let himself wander to where the hospital staffs were headed, knowing how the younger followed wherever he would go.
Before Jay could say anything, he turned to see Taecyeon already entering the room. It was too late now. Jay followed the younger inside. When he noticed the frozen expression on Taecyeon’s face, he decided to just leave him alone for now. He’d explain everything later, when the time was right.
“I’ll let you...”
He just nodded and Jay walked out of the room.
Taecyeon finally understood what it meant to have an out-of-body experience. He didn’t think he would ever be staring down at his lifeless form. It shook him to his core. Definitely some supernatural stuff.
His body was laying there, a tube taped to his mouth leading up to a ventilator. He was dreaming. That was the only logical explanation for all this.
A beeping from outside his room followed by a stampede of footsteps brought his attention off his body. Following the commotion, he found himself two doors down.
A male doctor was kneeling on the hospital bed, performing CPR on the patient while another doctor was preparing the defibrillator. Taecyeon approached the bed and immediately dropped to his knees when he recognised the patient.
She was lying there; doctors hovered over her, the ECG machine going crazy, it felt like time had stopped. He couldn’t help but blame himself for all this. The weird thing was, Taecyeon wasn’t thinking what would happen if she weren’t to make it but rather why couldn’t he see her. She was practically in the same situation as him (from what he had made out so far) but why wasn’t she “out of her body” so to speak.
“Clear!” the doctor shouted before placing the two shock pads on his fiancée’s chest and pressing the button. The beeping went back to a steady beat and Taecyeon assumed it meant her heartbeat was back to normal and that she was back.
He watched as the doctors and nurses cleared up and left the room. Slowly, he stood back up and walked towards her figure. Gently, he brought a hand up to her face and brushed her pale cheek. Her cheek was cold to the touch but the slow rise and fall of her chest calmed his nerves. Taecyeon wanted to just hold her in his arms but he knew he couldn’t. That cold sensation running through his fingers was his hand running straight through his girl’s cheeks. He knew it wasn’t actually the touch of her cheek.
“Doctors said she’ll be fine,” Jay’s voice came from the door. Taecyeon didn’t reply. He felt Jay walk up beside him and put an arm on his shoulder. “Do you know her?”
He nodded and replied, “She’s my fiancée.”
Jay’s heart sank a little. “Oh, I’m sorry man. I didn’t-”
“I was driving,” Taecyeon cut him off, “it was raining, we were arguing. The next thing I knew…well, I don’t remember what happened. All I remember is a flash of lights in front of me and here I am. I didn’t know she would end up like this too,” his tone was barely a whisper. He kneeled down beside the bed and rested his hand on her torso, holding her hands, though neither of them could feel it.
“She’s gonna make it, Taec. The doctors-” Jay tried to comfort but again Taecyeon interrupted him.
“Why isn’t she like us?” he mumbled into the bed sheets. “We’re in the same situation, how come I can’t…” Jay could hear the tears in Taecyeon’s voice and it made his heart ache even more. This was probably the best time to explain everything.
“Taec it doesn’t work like that,” Jay tried to keep his own voice steady but he could never stand to see Taecyeon like this. The younger lifted his head up and Jay took a deep breath. “It only works if you’re in a state of unconsciousness,”
Taecyeon’s eyebrows creased in the middle of his forehead, “She is unconscious.”
“Yeah, but her vitals and everything are still responsive and everything,” Jay attempted to explain. It didn’t help that he was never good at science, especially when he had no interest in becoming a doctor or be involved with anything medical.
“But they’re not-”
“She’s not induced in a coma,” Jay finally blurted out.
“W-What?” Taecyeon stuttered.
“Whereas you and I,” he continued, “we’re pretty much vegetables.”
Taecyeon tried to process the new information but his mind just wanted to believe that this was all a dream. That he would wake up any moment now, with his girl in his arms and that everything would be alright. Unfortunately, he knew that all this was as real as reality could get.
“I know this is really difficult to get your head around-”
“How long?” Taecyeon muttered. “How long have been,” he tried to find the right words, “floating around?”
Jay sighed, “About a month.”
“Makes sense,” he said to himself. “So, I’m pretty much dead?”
“Technically, we’re still alive but in short…yeah. We’re kinda like undead-ghosts. I don’t know, no one really told me what we are,”
“Like zombie-ghosts or something?” Jay chuckled in relief. He was glad to see that Taecyeon could still make jokes at a time like this. He nodded and a small smile showed on Taecyeon’s face.
~
A/N: and there goes the first chapter. How was it? Little things will be revealed in each chapter so if you're confused, dont worry haha. <3