A crowd of scientists were gathered around a test tube, all completely focused, their eyes carefully concentrated on the task at hand — except for two. A short man with blonde hair and a tall man with elf-like ears stood in front of the microwave from all the way across the room, observing what was going on inside and keeping a notebook on hand to write down any observations.

They were heating up a bug inside.

And it had just exploded.

The two of them nodded at each other and the tall one proceeded to jot down a “hell yeah” in his notebook.

“Byun! Park! What are you doing?” A voice from the crowd of scientists around the test tube barked. “Get over here!”

The two scurried over to the others to witness what was occurring. Kim Joonmyun and Wu Yifan, the head scientists of the facility, were carefully carrying out an experiment while the rest of them observed. Yifan was holding a test tube, while Joonmyun was carefully holding a dropper above it.

They both looked incredibly concentrated, enough that the test tubes would have probably snapped under their scrutinization.

But they made sure that didn’t happen, because that would ruin their whole lifetime’s worth of work, possibly making them give up on their lives completely.

“Careful,” Yifan warned. Joonmyun was too engrossed in whatever he was doing to shoot his partner an annoyed look. Of course he knew he had to be careful; one drop more or one drop less would mean having to start over their experiment, which would probably take another three years.

Joonmyun finally applied pressure to the pipette and watched as the liquid dropped down into the test tube, mixing with the contents that were already at the bottom. Joonmyun breathed a sigh of relief and removed his lab goggles, since his eyes were watering from how dry they were.

Wiping his eyes, he announced, “Gentlemen, we have our first test tube baby of the experiment. Kyungsoo,” he said, taking the test tube from Yifan.

Some scientists jotted down observations, documenting what they had just seen, while the others applauded.

“Now we gotta do the other one,” Yifan interrupted.

“... We can just do that the day after tomorrow,” Joonmyun groaned.

The second baby was born two days later and was named Jongin.

Joonmyun and Yifan, along with their research team of eight other scientists, were able to come up with a way to manufacture babies that can grow at a faster rate and then stop aging. This was only for scientific purposes and was only a very small part of the whole experiment — the purpose of their research was to experiment on love.

C₈H₁₁NO₂ + C₁₀H₁₂N₂O + C₄₃H₆₆N₁₂O₁₂S₂… Dopamine, seratonin, oxytocin — this is the chemical formula for love. As the second part of the experiment, Joonmyun and Yifan manufactured this in the lab, and injected it into the two babies once they were fully developed with limbs, a spine and brain, and complex organs. Having this formula flowing through their bodies, they would become the only two people in the whole world who could love.

It’s the year 5062, and the world had lost the meaning of love. Humans only knew the feeling of lust and instinct, strength and power, and intelligence and wit — they had no emotions and didn’t know the experience of operating under the feeling of sentiment and passion.

Joonmyun had been a book nerd growing up and he had read old, ancient classics that told stories of love and having a significant other — he didn’t believe they were fiction. He truly believed that if the writer was able to write about such feelings so vividly, he or she must have felt them at one point.

By the start of high school, Joonmyun had wondered what it was like to experience love.

He first brought up his research to his long-time friend Yifan and they began looking for answers together. By the end of college, they had earned a position in SM Laboratory along with eight other scientists who believed this experiment was possible.

The newspaper that came out the next week proved all of their hard work:

Experiment of Love: First Test Tube Couple, First Step

The proposal to “rediscover” the feeling of love, which was announced a few years ago, is finally going underway in SM Laboratory. Scientists Kim Joonmyun and Wu Yifan, in charge of the EXO Unit, have successfully produced the experiment’s test tube babies, which is only the first step in the process…

“Guess who made top headlines for 58 different article websites~” Kim Jongdae sing-songed as he walked into the lab. He hung his coat on a hook on the wall and noted five of his team members were observing a room that they could overlook through a glass wall.

“You’re late.” Yifan had not taken his eyes off the two toddlers that were playing in the room.

“Goodness, not even a ‘hello, Jongdae!’ ‘How was your morning, Jongdae?’ My morning was fine, thank you, Yifan,” Jongdae faked a hurt expression as he settled into a seat next to Yixing.

“How was your commute here, Jongdae?” Yixing asked looking away from the test subjects and smiling sweetly at his partner.

“It was hectic! Thanks for your concern, Yixing!” Jongdae forcefully said, loud enough for their team leader to hear.

Yifan rolled his eyes and focused back on the two toddlers. “There are times when I just want to send you to the K Division and get Minseok back, but I won't let poor Joonmyun deal with a third dog.”

“Hey! It's beagle,” Jongdae bit back, defending his self-earned title.

“Focus!!” Zitao interrupted, rapidly tapping his pen on the panelboard to get their attention. Jongdae reluctantly opened his notebook and finally set his eyes on the experiment.

The two toddlers, Jongin and Kyungsoo, got along too well with each other. Unlike the other kids of their time who were greedy with their toys or even solitary, they liked to share and play with each other. All of the researchers have never seen anything like this before. They have not yet fought or cried or even smacked each other.

Observations made included hugging, playing hand-games, and even giving each other kisses on each other’s cheeks.

Yifan and Joonmyun were able to intervene and create a controlled environment similar to if they were to live in the outside world. They were father and mother figures to Kyungsoo and Jongin and taught them how to speak, read, and write. Typical mealtimes were scheduled, just like in any regular household. Although they provided the basic necessities, they could not give them love and affection.

Kyungsoo and Jongin had each other for that. Because they loved each other, they did not need anyone else.

Joonmyun had observed that their love was not as intense as what he had read in the books, but he reasoned that it was probably because their brains were not fully developed yet. He matched it up to the term “Puppy Love”, which he had seen before in a children’s book. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae were very happy to hear it had the word “puppy”.

“I lub you, Nini,” Kyungsoo’s voice blasted through the speakers. There were microphones situated in the room so that the researchers could listen in on their dialogue.

“I lub you, too, Soo!!” Jongin exclaimed and hugged the other boy.

The researchers were surprised from this exchange — they have never seen their own parents display this type of affection, nor had they ever had the impulse to do this to others. These were worthy observations to write down in their notebooks.

Kyungsoo and Jongin were aging progressively — they were now teenagers who had each developed a passion for a form of art. In the outside world, there were still people who performed singing and dancing, but none quite like Kyungsoo and Jongin. People sang and danced, but there was no spirit, no intensity of emotions, no affection. The world was now dominated by science and math, rather than music and the arts. People were driven by achievement and awards rather than the self-satisfaction and rewards they got from doing something they loved.

No one had love and passion running through their veins.

— Kyungsoo and Jongin did.

When Jongin danced, he knew how to move his body as if it were a second language and spoke gracefully with his whole being. The expression on his face was foreign to observers — it constantly changed to reveal the unsung music playing in his head. His arms were like water, fluidly moving along the steps he choreographed himself, and his legs were like the earth, grounded and steady as if no one could knock him down from his passion for dance.

When Kyungsoo sang, he hit every note right. When he sang, it was as if he poured his entire soul and being into each chord he belted out. He would leave the researchers who watched, and even Jongin, extremely awestruck and captivated by his honey-milk voice.

It was as if they were truly both born to sing and dance.

The scientists couldn’t explain it; Joonmyun and Yifan had to put into question whether if it was because the two had superior engineered genetics or if it was because they knew and were able to experience what love was. ‘Further research needed’ was noted.

The magnitude of their skills and passion only amplified as they grew older, nearing their peak in age. Joonmyun and Yifan had specifically altered their genes so that they would age more rapidly than normal — to yield results more quickly — and so that they wouldn’t grow older than 23 years of age.

According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, early adulthood, which ranged from ages 20-25, was the most ideal time where people would focus on love. During this stage, the conflict was intimacy versus isolation, but it was clear Kyungsoo and Jongin were able to love each other freely.

Joonmyun and Yifan wanted to study them at this stage for longer, since it was when they might obtain the most observations and results. At a normal growth rate, it would be impossible to study them closely at this age without making changes to their genetic code.

The researchers watched as their hugs turned into cuddles and embraces, as their looks turned into more intimate gazes, and as their puppy love turned into something more fiery and intense.

Luhan and Sehun were left in charge to night watch over Kyungsoo and Jongin. Sehun was very a little irresponsible, and Luhan was very a little careless — put these two together, and you have a disaster bound to happen. Joonmyun and Yifan were reluctant to leave these two in the lab alone together, but everyone else was either too busy or unwilling to stay this particular night. In a way, Luhan was a genius and Sehun was obedient, so having them observe their experimental subjects was better than nothing.

“Everything will be fine,” Luhan reassured.

“Leave it to us,” Sehun chorused.

Yifan and Joonmyun were skeptical, but both sighed in acceptance. “Don’t forget to administer the formula to them. It’s that time of the month. I already prepared both shots, so be careful and give it to them correctly,” the leader of the K Division warned them. “Without. Fail.”

Luhan and Sehun immediately straightened up and saluted their team leaders as both walked past them and left. When they were clearly out of sight, the two subordinate scientists relaxed and slumped their shoulders, mentally preparing themselves for a long night.

All they had to do was make sure that Jongin and Kyungsoo both got their monthly dose of the formula for love at exactly 12 AM, not one minute early and not one minute late.

They both sat down at the panelboard and overlooked Jongin dancing and Kyungsoo smiling happily while watching him. His moves were powerful and dynamic, but you could tell he was fooling around and having fun with the just as happy expression he had on while looking back at Kyungsoo.

“Everytime I look at them, I’m so amazed with how they look at each other. It’s something I’ve never seen anyone else do in my entire life,” Sehun remarked.

Luhan continued staring at the two test subjects. “Hmm, you’re right,” he replied. “I guess I don’t mind. I just wonder how it’s possible that such an expression is caused by an emotion; how it’s possible that we were able to create this.”

“I mean, Joonmyun saw that it was created naturally way before our time. We only artificially re-created love.”

Luhan started to hum after that and tried to occupy his thoughts so as to not allow himself to think deeper about such a topic. Sehun began to get bored, even though it was only a quarter minutes past 11. He thought about how he was going to survive for the rest of the night.

“I’m just going to get the formulas and bring it over here, so we have it ready by the time 12 o’clock rolls around,” Sehun announced. Luhan just gave a grunt of agreement, and the younger hopped up from his chair, almost too glad that he had something to do.

He went to the back of the room and grabbed the test tube rack with the formulas and syringes.

“You better be careful with that,” Luhan called out from across the room.

Sehun pouted. “I’m not some idiot who would stumble on his own two f—WOAH!”

Luhan looked on in horror as he saw Sehun fall forward and drop the rack on the ground. A tinkling smash could be heard as one of the two test tubes and its contents crashed onto the ground.

For a split second, time stopped.

— Then chaos ensued.

Luhan shot off of his chair with orders spewing out of his mouth. “Get the hydrogen and carbon. Leave the mess, we’ll clean it later,” he commanded in a level tone.

Sehun was already running around to get the chemicals.

“We don’t have much time right now — argh, how does Yifan do it…” Luhan muttered to himself. “We have approximately forty-two minutes left until we need to give it to them; maybe thirty-five if we don’t make this fast. What are you stumbling around for?! Hurry up and get the pipettes!” he shouted, getting his own set of test tubes.

They had to start from scratch and manufacture each individual chemical of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.

Meanwhile, Jongin and Kyungsoo weren’t suspecting a thing. They didn’t know they were test subjects; they didn’t know they were supposed to receive monthly doses of love; they didn’t know they were being watched by a bunch of researchers; and they certainly didn’t know the whole world had its eye on them.

— They only had eyes for each other.

Jongin was exhausted from dancing, but happy because he was lying on the bed next to Kyungsoo. They were facing each other, hands holding up their heads, with smiles on their faces.

“Your nose is so cute,” Jongin said, then leaned over to kiss Kyungsoo’s nose.

“Your eyes are pretty,” he kissed each eyelid.

“Your mind is imaginative,” he kissed his forehead.

“And your lips are so alluring,” Jongin finished, kissing his love full on the lips. Kyungsoo smiled into the kiss, so happy with how much love and affection Jongin gave to him. He only hoped he gave just as much love back, because Jongin deserved it more than anyone in the world.

When they broke away from the kiss, Kyungsoo snuggled up to Jongin and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Jonginnie? You love me, right?”

Jongin was stroking Kyungsoo’s hair when he answered, “Of course I do. You know that already.” Jongin kissed him on top of his head.

“I just wanted to hear you say it,” Kyungsoo said happily, then closed his eyes and hugged Jongin tighter.

Luhan was finishing up the last few drops of the last chemical. When it was all done, he wiped the sweat off his forehead on his sleeve, disposed of his gloves, and took off his goggles. He looked at the clock and saw they had about five minutes to spare.

He handed the oxytocin to Sehun, not wanting to deal with it anymore. “Now mix them all together.”

Immediately, Sehun took all three test tubes and a clean pipette and set to work. He was carefully setting the pipette to each amount needed for each chemical. He successfully transferred the dopamine and serotonin. Luhan was getting a needle prepared from the other test tube that didn’t spill.

“We have two minutes left! Hurry up!” Luhan barked.

Sehun grew frantic and started putting together random numbers on the pipette. He picked up an unknown amount of oxytocin and dropped it into the flask. Luhan grabbed the flask, swirled it around to make sure it was mixed properly, and prepared one needle. They picked up their night goggles to see in the dark, since Kyungsoo and Jongin were sleeping already.

He gave the needle to Sehun, while he carried the other one. “You give Jongin his dose,” he ordered as they walked into the room.

They slipped out just as quickly and quietly as they slipped in. Not wanting anymore trouble, they gave the injections as fast as they could to get out of the room as soon as possible.

“‘I’m not some idiot who would stumble on his own two feet,’ huh?” Luhan mocked Sehun in a dopey voice as soon as they closed the experiment room door. “You’re right, because you’re a stupid idiot!”

“Hey, we fixed the problem before something could go wrong,” Sehun retorted. “Joonmyun and Yifan don’t have to find out about this.”

“Oh, you better bet your ass that they don’t find out about this, otherwise, we are both dead. They would use us as the test subjects for their next experiment.”

“If it were Baekhyun and Chanyeol, they wouldn’t have been able to get themselves out of the mess!!” Sehun argued, trying to salvage whatever pride he had left.

“THEY PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAVE CREATED THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!”

Sehun shrunk back; his superior was definitely angry now. “Calm down, Luhan. I’m sure nothing went wrong. It’s all over now. All we have to do is just stay up for the next few hours, and then we can go home and rest.”

Luhan huffed before throwing himself into his chair, once again overlooking the dark room. “You stress me out, Oh Sehun.”

Sehun was right. Nothing went wrong in the next few days.

But after those few days, some things became weird.

Jongin’s behavior seemed off, and Zitao and Minseok were the first ones to notice.

The younger test subject seemed to slowly lose interest in everything and held on more to Kyungsoo. Even when Kyungsoo wanted him to get off or wanted some space, Jongin wouldn’t let go. There were times when he’d mumble words that were incomprehensible to all the researchers. And when he wasn’t clinging onto Kyungsoo, he’d be staring at him with a piercing gaze. None of the researchers could pinpoint his behavior.

It was almost as if it were an obsession.

Before, Kyungsoo was confident that he loved Jongin just as much as the younger loved him — but now, he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t even know if what Jongin possessed towards him was love anymore, because it was starting to get out of line.

Jongin didn’t want to dance anymore. All the passion he had for it melted away, because now all he wanted to focus on was Kyungsoo.

“Jongin, I really want to see you dance again,” Kyungsoo begged.

The younger shook his head. “I no longer love dancing — I only love you.”

“But if you love me, why can’t you dance for me?”

“Am I, alone, not enough for you? Do you even love me anymore?”

“No, Jongin, of course I still love you! It’s not like that,” Kyungsoo fervently insisted.

“They’re arguing, they’re arguing,” the scientists said, a little panicked. “If Jongin resorts to physically hitting Kyungsoo, isn’t it like that domestic violence bit we’ve come across during our research?”

While the rest were scrambling to write down their observations, only Joonmyun and Yifan watched through the glass calmly and intently, focusing their full attention on everything Jongin was saying.

“If you really love me, you wouldn’t be asking me to dance for you even when I said I don’t want to,” Jongin continued to press. “You should understand me, Soo!”

Kyungsoo flinched back on his bed as Jongin shouted at him. At this moment, Yifan and Joonmyun decided to intervene; they couldn’t sit still when Jongin was acting so unusually like this.

The scientists watched as Joonmyun and Yifan barged into the room.

“Jongin, what’s going on? Why are you yelling at Kyungsoo?” Joonmyun asked, even though he was already completely aware of the answer. He walked over to Jongin to calm him down, while Yifan stood close to Kyungsoo.

At first, Joonmyun stood in front of Jongin and unintentionally blocked his view; he tried to get Jongin to sit down on his bed and cool his anger off. When Joonmyun shifted, that was when Jongin saw Yifan near Kyungsoo.

— And he lost it.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM! HE’S MINE AND MINE ONLY!” Jongin snarled, shooting back up from the bed and shoving Joonmyun to the side. Before Yifan could process what was happening, Jongin viciously lunged at him.

Joonmyun shouted in surprise and Kyungsoo screamed in fear as Jongin violently pinned Yifan onto the ground.

Jongin raised a fist to pound Yifan’s face, but Joonmyun dove for them and grabbed Jongin’s arm to hold him back. Full of rage, Jongin shoved Joonmyun off again before turning back to Yifan. The scientist couldn’t fight back because he was unable to move around too much underneath Jongin, but he managed to pull something out from his lab coat pocket.

Suddenly, Jongin groaned as he felt a sharp sting on his right arm; his vision suddenly became blurry and he began to feel faint. Yifan withdrew his arm, showing the syringe he had just plunged into Jongin’s arm, then pushed his attacker off his body.

Kyungsoo watched in shock and horror as Jongin’s unconscious body slumped onto the ground.

“We need to put an end to this. This experiment is deemed a failure.”

“No, it’s not. Maybe it’s just a short side effect. It should pass soon.”

“He’s a danger now, Joonmyun. Who knows what he might do next?”

“He’s not!”

“He literally attacked Yifan! He’s lucky he carried a syringe with him!!”

“He… he didn’t mean it…”

“Do you even hear yourself, right now?”

“Jongin is showing excessive signs of extreme paranoia and insanity. He even thinks Kyungsoo doesn’t love him anymore!”

“This… this is my life’s work… I can’t just throw it away like this.”

“Everyone worked hard on this experiment, but maybe something went wrong. Whatever it is, Jongin needs to be put down before he harms Kyungsoo or anyone else.”

“And Kyungsoo? What about Kyungsoo?”

“I honestly don’t think Kyungsoo can live without Jongin — they’ve literally been together their whole lives. Jongin being euthanized might have negative effects on Kyungsoo, so we should put him down, too. Just to be safe, you know.”

Joonmyun closed his eyes and threw his head back in despair, so Yifan patted him on the back to comfort him.

“We did everything we could,” the taller said. “We answered a lot of questions that we have been wondering about for years. It was an amazing breakthrough in the scientific world, but…”

“Maybe…” Joonmyun sighed despondently, “love was not meant to exist in this world afterall.”

Kyungsoo didn’t understand why he was strapped onto his bed or why he was being wheeled out of the only room he had known for his entire life.

He was scared; he didn’t know who these people walking beside him were because he only knew Jongin. He stared at the ceiling, lights continuously rolling into view as he was wheeled past them.

“Where are you taking me?” Kyungsoo asked aloud. “Jongin — where’s Jongin?”

No reply came as the scientists on each side of the bed continued to look ahead and pull his bed down the white hall.

Kyungsoo knew panicking was not an option, because it wouldn’t get him out of the situation. He continued to lie still, even when the scientists wheeled him into a dark room.

There were two light stands facing each other, one without anything beneath it and the other shining on a bed. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened as he realized that Jongin was on that bed, sleeping peacefully.

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo shouted out, now starting to struggle against the binds on his wrists and ankles. “Jongin!”

There were even more people in white lab coats — they were probably from the group that brought Jongin here — and some of them were gathered around a metal cart, which was off to the side of Jongin’s bed.

Kyungsoo was eventually wheeled underneath the other light, right next to Jongin. The younger’s eyes were still closed, but Kyungsoo could see the rise and fall of Jongin’s chest. He wasn’t dead or harmed; he was still breathing normally.

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo called out desperately. “Open your eyes and look at me, please!”

Slowly, Jongin’s eyes fluttered opened, causing Kyungsoo to be relieved.

“Soo…”

“Jongin, they didn’t do anything to you, right?” Kyungsoo asked urgently. “You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“I’m… not sure…” Jongin responded, then turned his head away from Kyungsoo and towards the scientists. He could only see their backs because most of them were gathered around that metal cart, so he couldn’t tell what they were doing. He turned back to Kyungsoo and said, “I think they fed me something earlier… I feel so tired…”

Joonmyun and Yifan broke away from the crowd of EXO Unit’s researchers and stood at the foot of Kyungsoo and Jongin’s beds. The experiments watched the two people, who they have known as their caretakers for their entire lives, with fearful eyes and silence.

“Kyungsoo, Jongin,” Joonmyun started to say, “there’s no need to be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just going to administer some medication on you guys, but it’s not for anything bad. In fact, you guys will feel a lot better after it. You guys will be free.”

Joonmyun spoke his last sentence with tears in his eyes. “This will feel like a pinch, but it’ll make you fall into a peaceful sleep, okay? It really won’t be painful at all.”

Kyungsoo could sense something wrong with the way Joonmyun was talking to them, so he watched with wide eyes as Yifan came towards him with a syringe. Jongin was too tired to process what the researchers were saying to him, and he was too exhausted to fight against Joonmyun, who had walked towards him with a syringe of his own.

Joonmyun and Yifan took hold of each of the experiments’ arms that were closer to them; at the same time, they looked at each other, then nodded.

The rest of the EXO Unit watched with sad eyes as the leaders of their research slowly stuck the syringe into Kyungsoo’s and Jongin’s arms and pushed down on the plungers. Once the contents were injected and emptied out into their bloodstream, Joonmyun and Yifan withdrew the syringe and stepped away from the beds.

At first, Kyungsoo wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen. He had no idea what they had just given him. Jongin realized right before Kyungsoo started to feel the slow effects of the poison spreading in his bloodstream.

Despite the binds wrapped around their wrists, Jongin used the last of his energy and wordlessly extended his hand out towards Kyungsoo. The older also struggled against the binds when he saw that it was possible to reach out for Jongin.

Despite the sheer terror of not knowing what was occurring to the both of them and not knowing what would happen next, they both felt comfort in holding onto the other’s hand.

“Kyungsoo, I love you,” Jongin said, his eyes growing heavier by the minute. “I really do. You love me, too, right?” he whimpered.

“I do, Jongin,” Kyungsoo told him, struggling to hold on tighter to the younger’s hand. “I love you so much.”

“I… just wanted to hear you say it,” Jongin mumbled. “I’m… so glad and relieved…”

Kyungsoo watched as the little light left in Jongin’s eyes grew dimmer and dimmer until it was no longer there. With a content smile on his face, Jongin finally closed his eyes and Kyungsoo knew he would never open them again. Too tired to cry out in pure grief, Kyungsoo held onto Jongin’s hand like his life depended on it.

The scientists wrote down the last of their observations as Kyungsoo’s grip on Jongin’s hand grew limp.