yunho stepped around in the puddles that formed when it had rained the night before. he was waiting for hongjoong to arrive at the school and pick him up from dance club, as hongjoong had texted him and told him he was going to be late.
there were still some people outside, mostly kids from much younger grades wandering around, also waiting for their parents to arrive.
soon it started to rain a little bit, and yunho's umbrella was broken and wouldn't open, so the boy decided to go wait inside the school instead, as it was still unlocked and available.
once he walked inside, he turned a corner, suddenly seeing a few boys, all much younger than him, surrounding another boy.
they pushed him against the locker, ridiculing and laughing at him.
it brought back memories of sehun.
yunho's brotherly instincts kicked in, and he decided to stop whatever they were trying to do, since now he wasn't a tiny little five year old, like he was when he tried to stand up to sehun.
"hey!" he said as he walked up to them.
"are they bothering you?" he asked the victim, who nodded quickly and fearfully.
"leave him alone, guys. you shouldn't waste all your time picking on other kids. how would you feel if you were in his position?" he said. the group looked at each other, then ran off, afraid of yunho because of how much taller and older he was.
yunho turned to the remaining boy, bending down to his eye level and saying "did they hurt you? oh, by the way—i'm yunho."
"n-no, they didn't.. i'm youngseok.. hey, uh, what grade are you even in?"
"i'm in ninth grade. freshman year of high school. what about you? and why do you ask?" "uh, fifth grade.. it's just, why are you in this building if you're in high school?" "it started raining outside. why aren't you home yet? it's past 5 o'clock." "well, my brothers have clubs to go to.. i have to wait for them. they're probably done now.. i just don't know where they are.."
"well, let's go look for them, then. i'll come with you so that those bullies don't mess with you."
"okay..." youngseok muttered, then pushing himself off the lockers and walking down the hallway, as yunho followed next to him.
"so.. how many brothers do you have?"
"i have three.. two older, one younger. one of them is older than me by only a month."
"oh cool! i have five younger brothers. we're all adopted, so we're really close in age too. i just happened to be the oldest."
"hey, we're adopted, too! i have two moms, that's why we're adopted."
"i have two dads! pretty cool coincidence, huh?"
"yeah." youngseok giggled.
suddenly, he went silent, which took yunho by surprise, until he yelled "junyoung!" and ran down the hallway to an unfamiliar boy.
"where were you?" junyoung asked. "they were picking on me again.." "hi youngseok!" a younger boy yelled as him and one other came walking out of a nearby classroom.
"he helped me. oh yeah! guys, this is yunho." youngseok motioned to the oldest.
"yunho, this is junyoung, that's minjae, and that's yechan." he said. yunho smiled and waved, easily knowing who was younger and older.
"it's nice to meet you guys. my dad's probably here, so i've got to go." he said, saying a quick goodbye and finally walking off. he ran outside into the rain, seeing the car and sprinting to it.
"hey hon, where were you?" hongjoong asked once the child got into the car.
"well, i went inside, because it started raining, and there were some kids bullying this poor fifth grader, so i shooed them away and walked him through some hallways to find his brothers."
"good, i'm proud of you for standing up for him. do you know their names? maybe you can find them and meet with them again.."
"well, the first boy was youngseok, then there was minjae, i think he's the same age as youngseok.. then yechan, he's definitely the youngest, and then the oldest, probably around jongho's age, his name was junyoung." yunho finished explaining.
hongjoong was listened calmly, but his heart stopped when he heard the last boy's name.
junyoung. he thought.
yunho could feel the way hongjoong had reacted, and became confused, as he had no idea why.
hongjoong realized yunho didn't know the story.
"dad? are you okay?" yunho asked hesitantly, not sure if he was just going crazy or if hongjoong had simultaneously stopped breathing and blinking.
"o-oh, yeah i'm fine." he muttered.
"hwa, yunho mentioned a name today that i didn't think i'd ever hear anyone say ever again, and it made me realize something.." hongjoong said, tapping his fingers with one hand as the other hand held the phone up to his ear.
"what name? and what did you realize?"
"he.." hongjoong stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. he could feel his eyes watering just at the horrible memories of his first child.
"he m-met a few kids today.. one of their n-names was.. j-junyoung... a-and i realized that none of the kids know that story.." the parent's breathing hitched for a moment as he tried his best not to let any tears fall, in fear of one of the kids seeing him.
here was the thing with hongjoong; he almost never let the kids see him cry. being the head of the family, he enjoyed keeping the image of being strong and brave when it came to the kids. only in certain circumstances would he ever let them see he upset or crying, as he saw it as a sign as weakness—well, at least when he did it. he never thought anyone else seemed weak when they cried, but he figured his strong image would crumble if he let his emotions out like that. so he never dealt with them, which caused many problems, as all of his kids' problems had to do with emotions, and he didn't know how to deal with them. that's why he relied on seonghwa so much for the emotional support.
anyways, back to the present.
"i think you need to tell them about it. you can always wait for me to get back, of course. i'd be happy to help you explain it to them."
"no. i'm a grown man, i can tell them myself." he sighed. "i should probably go do it now, before they all go to sleep. i'll let you know how it goes." "alright. good luck, you can do it. i love you."
"love you too, bye.." hongjoong said and finally hung up the call.
"yunho, can you go get all your brothers? i have something i need to explain to all of you."
"yeah—is everything okay?"
"mhm. it's just something i think you're all old enough and deserve to know by now."
nahh not @ some of y'all dm-ing me on twitter and saying the sweetest things 🥺🥺 and y'all keep acting like i'm some celebrity and i won't reply to you,,,,,, i know you think i won't see your messages but i do!! i try to respond to everyone!! again my twitter is @yeoslovebot please send me a dm and i'll respond i promise 🥺🥺🥺🥺
also btw i'm now selling handmade ateez stand ups and cards on twitter!! check my pinned and pls if you have money buy a few! i reallyyyyy need some money so i can afford a ticket to see ateez in concert sjxkxnsb
oh yeah shout out to y'all who know who those four boys are! if you don't, they're the new kq fellaz 🥰
anyways thank you for all your lovely support! and sorry for making y'all mad last chapter 👁👄👁
