begin again | woosan

- twelve -

christmas day was especially hard for wooyoung. he hadn't been around so many people at once outside of his classes in so long, and here he was, expected to socialize with all of them. his head pounded, his palms were sweaty, and he didn't understand why every member of his extended family had to interrogate him for his two year absence.

as soon as he could, he escaped from the lively first floor and went to his room, locking the door behind him and holding in a heavy sob. he didn't want to call yeosang, as he had already bothered the boy enough the night before preparing for the number of people who would be in his house. he felt bad contacting seonghwa too, as he had stayed in their apartment with wooyoung during chuseok instead of going home like he usually would to make sure the boy wasn't lonely and was safe.

he didn't know what san was up to either, but he knew he needed to contact someone, so he quickly typed out a text to the older.

wooyoung
are you busy??

san
not really ,, my family
doesn't start christmas
until later in the day

wooyoung
can i call you?? pls??

instead of answering, san called wooyoung, sensing the urgency in his texts.

"hey, woo... what's up?"

"s-so many people... i-i can't—"

"hey, hey... shh... you're okay, everything's okay. are you alone now?"

"mhmm..."

"good... where in your house are you?"

"m-my room..."

"alright. i want you to lay down okay? lay down and close your eyes, and do whatever you can to make yourself feel safe. tell me if there's anything i can do too, sound good?"

"o-okay... i-i'll try."

wooyoung got into his bed, wrapping himself in his blankets and closing his eyes, his phone still pressed to his ear.

"s-san?"

"yeah, woo?"

"can you... c-can you sing me something?"

"what song?"

"um... i-i don't know... anything is fine."

"okay."

the line went silent for a moment, then san softly started to sing lullaby by iu. his voice was gentle, quickly helping wooyoung to relax. once the song was finished, wooyoung remained quiet, taking in the rare moment where both his thoughts and the world around him felt quiet.

"thank you," wooyoung whispered after a few minutes of silence.

"of course, wooyoung... i'm glad you called, actually. i was worried that you might not call at all."

"y-you wanted me to call?"

"well, yeah... i like talking to you."

"really?"

"really."

"t-thank you, san..."

"ah, please... don't thank me. i should be thanking you. i was bored out of my mind before you asked if i could call," san snickered, causing wooyoung to laugh softly.

"oh yeah?"

"yeah, my dad is out right now and my mom's busy cooking, so i couldn't bother them, and of course my sister was already on the phone with someone by the time i got up."