begin again | woosan

- thirty four -

tw / unintentional self harm

the past two weeks had gone smoothly for wooyoung, the boy slowly building up to eating three meals a day again and consistently doing everything he could to maintain these habits. this was relieving for seonghwa and yeosang, as the boy's history had them extremely worried.

the issue that persisted was that wooyoung couldn't sleep in his own room. it wasn't that yeosang and seonghwa didn't mind wooyoung sleeping in their rooms either, but that this behavior was concerning. thankfully though, wooyoung was meeting his therapist for the first time later that week, so everyone hoped that he would be given some options on what he could try soon.

wooyoung had been having a pretty good week, honestly. he went to all of his classes, he ate something during each mealtime, and he was sleeping through the night most of the time. san was the first to realize that something was still going on beneath this, but he decided to approach it differently than most of their friends would.

he waited down the hall from wooyoung's class for it to end, not wanting to wait too close in fear that he would be in a spot that the boy's ex had waited. as wooyoung made it down the hall minutes later, san peeked out and waved to the boy, who smiled and ran over.

"hi sannie," the boy whispered.

"hi love... how was class today?"

"it was a lot... my brain feels like mush."

san chuckled softly as he intertwined the two's fingers, nodding a bit.

"i get that... so, i was thinking that maybe we could go grab ice cream or coffee or something like that? does that sound fun?"

"oh my goodness, yes! can we stop by my place though before we go? i want to change and drop off my stuff."

"of course we can, bug. anything you need."

"thank you sannie," wooyoung muttered, a blush coating his cheeks.

san gently wrapped his arm around the boy's waist and pulled him close, then the two walked to san's car.

"san?"

"hm?"

"i'm really nervous about starting therapy... l-like... how am i supposed to open up to someone i've never met before about things that i haven't even told most of my friends?"

"woo, it's okay to be nervous. but you don't have to tell them anything you're uncomfortable talking about right away. you have time, you can built up your trust with them and then talk about it."

"i-i don't know if i'll ever be able to, sannie... i-i haven't even told you yet. or yunho, or joongie, or mingi... only sangie and hwa know."

"hey... woo, love, you don't have to think about that now. right now all that matters is that you're getting the help you need."

"y-you think so?"

"i do. and i'll always be right by your side, sound good?"

wooyoung nodded, then san started driving the two to the younger's apartment. once they'd arrived, the two went upstairs and wooyoung went to change, san sitting on the couch and waiting patiently.

when wooyoung came back out, san noticed that he was picking at his nails, creating small nicks in his skin.

"ready?" san asked softly, not wanting to directly mention anything right away.

wooyoung only nodded, then the two headed out to san's car again. it was there that san gently intervened, shaking his head.

"love, you can't hurt yourself... talk to me, what's up?"