trigger warning: there are mentions of r*pe, self harm, and violence in this chapter. read with caution please
"breathe in," yunho inhaled, wooyoung copying him shakily. "breathe out." the older then exhaled with wooyoung following.
they repeated this a few times, before yunho ruffled the younger's hair and rubbed his shoulder.
"i haven't seen you like this in a long time. i'll always be right here for you, you know that. whatever is wrong, it's going to be okay, okay?... aw, don't cry woo-"
yunho then pulled his crying brother into a tight hug, rocking him back and forth and rubbing wooyoung's head to try to calm him down.
it was currently the afternoon.
san had taken mingi and yeosang to get some late lunch, while jongho was out with eunsoo, seonghwa was at work, and hongjoong had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room.
wooyoung was having another panic attack after recounting what had happened at the party.
yunho, after finding out that something bad happened to his brother, did some research, and told the family that he was going to comfort wooyoung daily, and slowly get the boy to tell what happened and who hurt him, instead of forcing the truth out of him immediately. he wanted to make sure wooyoung was ready to say anything before he did.
"i-i feel gr-gross.." wooyoung said softly.
"why? you don't have to t—"
"h-he.. hurt m-m-me..."
"who? i'll make sure he pays."
"t-toby.. he's friends with m-maejae, you know h—" "i know her. give me her number and i'll ask her info about toby." yunho said without hesitation, pulling away and grabbing both of their phones.
wooyoung shakily pulled up their friend's number, letting yunho type it in and send her a text.
yunho:
hi. this is wooyoung's brother, yunho. we've met a few times. i understand you have a friend named toby, he's korean-american and a bit older than wooyoung. please give me his contact information or any way for me to reach out to him, this is serious. i really need to talk to him. thank you.
"okay, if she doesn't respond soon i'll call her." "th-thank you... yunho... c-can i tell you.. s-somthing.." wooyoung asked weakly.
"of course, woo, you can tell me anything."
"t-t..t-toby.. h-he.. h.." the boy tried to build up the strength to just say what he wanted to.
"h-he... he... r.. he r-r... r-r-ra.."
yunho's eyes widened as the urge to burst out into tears hit him like a train. he realized what word wooyoung was trying to pronounce, and for the first time in his life, he was ready to..
well, he was ready to beat the shit out of "toby."
"he.. ra—" yunho started to say, causing wooyoung to flinch and cover his ears.
"..oh my god woo.. i'm so.. so.. so sorry.."
the older quickly pulled him into another hug, secretly letting a few tears fall from his own eyes as his younger brother sobbed into his shoulder.
"whatever you need, i'm here to help in any way i can. you're not alone." yunho whispered.
wooyoung just kept crying. he appreciated yunho being there for him, but he didn't have the strength to tell him then, nor did he have the strength to form any more words.
he felt gross, like it was his fault.
the terrifying event had unlocked old memories he hadn't ever recalled until now. they were childhood memories of what happened to him before he was adopted. they were memories that he didn't want to ever think about, and it just made things worse.
he didn't know what to do. he just cried. if it weren't for yunho holding his in his arms, the boy would've fallen to the floor by this point.
jongho felt a slight anxious feeling creeping up in his chest.
him and eunsoo were at a small marketplace to buy a few things. there weren't many people, but there were enough to make jongho feel a bit nervous.
he naturally leaned against eunsoo, holding their hand tightly and avoiding eye contact with others.
the pair had been together for almost three months, and, with both of their consent, of course, they'd gotten to the point where they were comfortable with skinship (such as hand holding, cuddling, and kissing), and jongho was finally happier.
he wasn't completely better. he still had his bad days. but he'd definitely gotten his life back together—he was a month clean of self harm, and he realized how important his life was.
anyways, back to the story.
eunsoo knew jongho was starting to feel anxious, so they pulled him into an empty area and wrapped their arms around him.
"you doing okay? let me know if you need to leave." "i'm alright, just a little nervous." "well, we've already bought a few things, how about we go get some ice cream then head back to my house."
"sounds good." jongho said and smiled.
the two fell onto eunsoo's bed tiredly, letting their bags of things they'd bought fall on the floor.
they rolled over so that they were lying properly in the bed, eunsoo laying on their back while jongho wrapped his arms and legs around his partner like a koala, with eunsoo's arm on his shoulder.
eunsoo took out their phone and started playing some youtube videos, and the pair watched peacefully for a little while.
jongho felt so safe and contempt, he never wanted this time with eunsoo to end.
as they watched videos, they started watching music videos, and one of jongho's all time favorite songs came on. he was in the moment, and didn't think about anything except for the music.
he began to sing along. eunsoo froze.
jongho sang for a few more seconds, stopping when the song ended. eunsoo paused the video.
"w-wow.." they said surprisedly.
"what?" jongho asked, embarrassed that he let himself sing like that.
"your voice.. you're amazing." "really?" "yes, really! i got goosebumps, your singing is so good.. does anyone else know you sing that well? did you even know?"
"well.. no, i never really thought i was good at it.." "well, you are! you're incredible!"
damn another timeframe where multiple things are going wrong and the only happy part is one couple that are doing well.. brings back memories if u know what i mean lmao
ahh also today is my one year anniversary of ulting yeosang!!! i didn't do much to celebrate because today (and this whole week) didn't go very well :( but yay happy anniversary to me lmao!!
anyways thank you SO SO SOOO much for 170k reads thats absolutely insane, you're all amazing and i love you so much!!!!
