Hyungwon got worse, as Changkyun had expected. He'd known that he wouldn't be enough to fill the emptiness Hyungwon felt, but he'd hoped he might be. Inevitably, he wasn't, and Hyungwon once again grew thinner, less there, physically, mentally.

But it wasn't as bad as before. Changkyun wanted to think it was because of himself.

He got used to waking up in the middle of the night to ragged breathing and soft mutters from the other side of the room. He got used to rubbing Hyungwon's back until Hyungwon's monsters, whatever they were, went away. He got used to Hyungwon mumbling Kihyun's name in the middle of the night and waking up in the morning without remembering a thing.

Never Wonho's name, though. Changkyun found it odd.

But everything about the situation was odd, and he couldn't really pick out a defining characteristic.

Evaluations came and passed for the week. They both failed. Dr. Irving seemed disappointed in Changkyun, who had been trying much harder recently, but who had given up on the hope of leaving. Hyungwon failing, he seemed to expect.

When visitor day arrived, Changkyun was surprised to learn that Jooheon had come to see Hyungwon again and had asked to see Changkyun as well. Of course, if he agreed to see Jooheon, then he wouldn't get to see his mom.

"...Okay," Changkyun had agreed. He had a nagging feeling that his mom hadn't planned on visiting him today anyway.

"So how's it going?" Jooheon asked, leaning back in his chair so the front legs lifted off the ground. The words rolled off his tongue lazily, like he knew he was supposed to ask them at some point, but he didn't really believe in the meaning associated with them.

"You know what it's like," Changkyun replied. Now that he was sitting in the room across from him, he honestly couldn't remember why he'd ever agreed to meet with Jooheon in the first place. They hadn't been friends. Jooheon hadn't even been nice to him. He hadn't been nice to anybody, except Hyungwon, and he wasn't even that nice.

"Yeah," Jooheon said, shrugging. There was a moment of silence that neither of them felt like breaking because neither of them had much of anything to say.

"Why are you here?" Changkyun finally asked.

Jooheon stared at him for a few moments before exhaling through his nose and shifting in his seat so his weight was forward. "Just checking in on Skeleton, thought I'd get a look at you while I'm here. Like checking out animals in the zoo."

"Thanks," Changkyun muttered, not bothering to mention that Jooheon had been one of the animals in the zoo not so long ago. "Why bother seeing me though? For real."

Jooheon shrugged, narrowing his eyes as though deciding how much truth he should reveal. "Just checking up on Skeleton."

"You said that, that's why you're here, to talk to him and-"

"No, that's why I'm here. With you. To check up on him."

Changkyun frowned, leaning forward. "You already talked to him. What the heck do you need me for?"

Jooheon snorted. "You think I can get any answers out of him? He just likes to listen to me talking about my mom and stuff."

Changkyun perked an eyebrow.

"What?" Jooheon asked defensively, shifting once again and avoiding eye contact. "He likes being in the loop. You wouldn't believe it but he wants all the good gossip." Jooheon shifted his eyes back to Changkyun, his stare hardening. "For real, though. How is he doing? It's hard to tell. He looked like shit but he always looks like shit. Health-wise, I mean. He's not a bad-looking kid. He's- I mean he's all right, he's-" Jooheon cut himself off, exhaling abruptly. "He looked sick. Is he okay?"

"I mean, he's eating less," Changkyun said, deciding to take the high road and not call Jooheon out on his worried rambling. "But I mean, with Wonho leaving, it's kind of expected that he'd fall apart again."

Jooheon's lips tightened into a grimace. "I heard about that, but I didn't think he'd actually...well, shit. Who's going to take care of Hyu- Skeleton now?" Jooheon asked, quickly correcting his mistake. He tried to seem unaffected, but it was clear to Changkyun how much he cared.

"Me," Changkyun answered weakly, and Jooheon's frown didn't make him feel better. "Look, you all left. I'm all that's left."

"I'm sorry," Jooheon said, the first time he'd ever said those words to Changkyun. Even when he'd punched him once, all he'd said was Your face looks better that way. "You're right, we left. Can't really blame you for anything. But...can you handle it? Him, I mean? Is he going to be okay?"

Changkyun exhaled. "Yeah. He's going to be fine."

Jooheon hesitated. "And you?"

"We'll be fine," Changkyun restated, and Jooheon nodded.

"Cool, cool, cool," he mumbled, twisting the phone cord around his arm before looking up. "That's all I really have to say. Take care of our Skeleton, okay, Changkyun?"

Changkyun blinked. He wasn't sure if he'd ever heard Jooheon use his actual name. "I will."

Jooheon nodded and stood up. He hesitated a second before two words slipped past his reluctant tongue. "Thank you." Then he hung up the phone and left.

Changkyun hesitated before hanging the phone up. He understood the message.

Jooheon was leaving Hyungwon in his care. He trusted Changkyun to take care of Hyungwon.

Despite never having liked Jooheon, Changkyun found that he didn't want to fail his trust.