Deeper into Darkness | ChanHoMin

9

chan sat back on the couch, tipping his head back as minho came in from the garage. he was relaxing with byeol laying next to him, the dog's head on his thigh as chan petted his fur.

"felix texted." chan mumbled.

"about what?"

"he wants seungmin to go to a sleepover at his place, apparently they used to do it all the time."

"hell no."

"hold on, i said no at first, but the little shit started asking why, what was i supposed to say?"

"you said yes?!"

"not yet, but think about it, we have to be careful, if we stop him from doing anything, our situation is going to look worse than it already does."

"chan if we let him go out, who knows what will happen?!"

"relax, i tried to get out of it, i told felix he has separation anxiety and dietary needs, i told him i wouldn't even ask seungmin because he will feel like he's disappointed his friends if he can't go but felix is adamant that we ask him."

"i genuinely don't know what seungmin will say."

"if he wants to go, we need to be especially sweet to him before he goes."

"get him all love struck so he'll behave, or maybe even miss us so much he'll come home."

"that's good."

"when is it?"

"this weekend."

minho sighed and rubbed his forehead, hallway.

"i guess we should ask."

--

the day before felix wanted seungmin to go to the sleepover, the two men unlocked the door and went down the steps, they unlocked the door to seungmin's room, looking inside at the boy curled up on the mattress, sleeping.

chan walked towards him, crouching down and running his hand over his cheek, making him flinch awake, getting scared.

"shh shh, don't be scared darling."

seungmin's scared eyes darted around, trying to figure out what was going on as minho's figure in the doorway blocked the light.

"hyung?"

"hyung's here, no need to be scared sweetheart."

seungmin leaned up against chan's hand on his cheek, nuzzling into it. chan just watched the mentally weak boy search for comfort.

"would you like to eat with us?"

seungmin's eyes lit up and he nodded frantically, smiling big.

"can i really?! i-is my punishment over?"

"we decided to end it early."

seungmin sat himself up.

"thank you so much, i'm so sorry for being bad, i really am-" he started to ramble.

"come on, or it will be too late to eat."

they helped him out of bed and minho ended up carrying seungmin on his back upstairs and he was sat down in the dining room at his usual seat. he was cold despite his sweatpants and long sleeved t-shirt, rubbing his hands together as chan went back to getting the food ready.

seungmin felt very distant and dazed, his eyes weren't focusing very well and his head hurt, he felt dirty and hungry and tired. he didn't know the reason for their abrupt kindness but he wasn't complaining, even though it messed with his head and caused so much confusion, all he could really do was trust them, it had kept him going for years anyway. he widened his eyes as minho came into the dining room with two bowls of food, then chan walked in with a third one, all of them were identical and it blew his mind even more when one bowl was placed in front of him as well as the smoothie felix had brought for him previously.

the bowl contained hot black bean noodles with fried chicken and it smelled amazing. he stared at the food, his mouth watering slightly as the other two sat down.

"eat or i'll take it away, we need to fix that ungratefulness."

"yes hyung, thank you so much."

he didn't need to be told twice to eat what was set in front of him, he immediately started to eat with them.

it was the best meal of seungmin's life.

every bite was packed with flavor and by the time he was finished he actually felt full, that rich taste lingering in his mouth was heavenly. he sat back in his seat after drinking his smoothie, smiling a little. he couldn't finish all of it which was extremely disappointing but he could only assume the prolonged starvation made his stomach shrink and his body could only take so much.

chan picked up the plates and carried them to the kitchen as minho got up and took seungmin's hand, helping him up, he took seungmin towards the stairs, helping him climb up them and to the bathroom, he started to help the boy take his clothes off and turned on the shower for him, letting him step into the warm water. he backed off and waited by the counter, allowing seungmin to shower.

meanwhile, chan was setting up the living room with blankets and pillows, putting seungmin's plushie toys on the couch too before sitting down to wait for minho to come back with him.

chan looked up as they came down the stairs with seungmin now dressed in clean clothes, his hair freshly cut by minho and a small, distant smile spread across his face when he saw the couch. minho took him to it and sat down, pulling seungmin down between him and minho. chan moved seungmin's head to rest on his shoulder, putting the blanket over him and tucking seungmin's toys in with him while minho brushed the boy's hair out of his face. seungmin smiled a little more, cuddling up to chan.

"you know we care about you, right darling?"

seungmin closed his eyes minho ran his fingers through his hair.

"i know." he whispered, nodding.

"we want to treat you."

seungmin opened his eyes to look up at him, getting confused.

"i... i don't deserve a trea-"

"shh shh, don't interrupt, listen."

he nodded obediently and shut his mouth, listening again.

"remember before you came to us, you used to have sleepovers with felix?"

seungmin nodded, he didn't really remember much in particular, but the memory of cuddling up with felix while watching movies or staying up late flashed in his mind.

"how would you like to do that again?"

minho caressed his cheek gently, the two of them hoping that seungmin would immediately think about being away from them and not want to do it.

much to their disappointment, seungmin got a huge smile.

"really?! a sleepover with lixie?!"

chan gritted his teeth and nodded.

"will he come here?!"

"you'll go to his place." minho mumbled, clenching his jaw.

seungmin sat up quickly, looking extremely excited.

"i really get to go?!"

"quieten down pup, come here," minho pulled him close "are you sure you can manage it? you'll be away from us, what if you have a bad dream? or get too cold? or need us? we won't be there."

seungmin's smile faded a little.

"isn't there a way i can still reach you? maybe if i have a phone i can text you..." he suggested timidly.

minho held in his annoyance.

their only option was to be extremely affectionate and sweet to seungmin in hope he would change his mind.

=♡=