begin again | woosan

- forty nine -

tw / mentions of rape/sexual abuse

wooyoung and yeosang arrived back to their apartment early a couple days later. the younger boy was determined to do his laundry and a few other chores around the apartment before going to see san, especially since he knew the boy was working until late afternoon. yeosang was by his side every second, and seonghwa was going to be home soon as well. with this, wooyoung decided he wanted to discuss their living arrangements and explain to his friends why his room was a difficult place for him to be a lot of the time.

"sangie?"

"hm?"

"when's hwa getting home again?"

"he should be on his way now, why?"

"i just have some stuff to tell you guys... but i need you both here."

"ahh, i see. do you want to grab a snack or something for now?"

"could we?"

"of course, youngie."

the two boys went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of snacks before heading to sit down.

"how are you doing, woo? like... actually," yeosang asked softly.

"still not great... better than before, but i'm still much worse than i was before running into him..."

"i figured... i just wanted to check in, y'know? i know you, youngie... you tend to hold things in until they're too much and i don't want you to suffer."

"i appreciate you, sangie. a lot."

"i could tell you were starting to do a little better, you seemed to be having a really good time with kyungmin yesterday. if that had been a few days earlier, i don't think you would have been having so much fun."

wooyoung nodded a bit, thinking about what yeosang was saying. the boy was right, the timing mattered. he had a great time with his brother, but it also filled him with guilt for not being there more often for the years prior.

"i wish i had been there more... y'know, when he was younger? w-while i was with my ex, i-i barely even spoke to my family. i barely got to talk to my brother. i feel like i missed so much, like i lost the experience of watching him grow up. a-and what if he had needed protecting? i'm his older brother, sangie... i'm supposed to protect him."

"hey... shh, it's okay. kyungmin knew something was wrong, woo. he knows you love him and that you missed him. i promise."

"but—"

"kyungmin is a strong boy, woo. and you still have plenty of time to watch him grow up."

"you think so?"

"i know so. y'know, when i used to go home without you i always visited... kyungmin was confused when you never came with me, he asked me if you were mad at all of them or something like that. i explained to him that you weren't, i said that you were dealing with a really hard situation and coming home wasn't easy. he didn't believe me at first... i ended up telling him that you did want to be home, but someone was keeping you from doing so. he believed me then."

"he knew?"

"he asked me about him... i told him that you were trapped a-and i couldn't save you like i wanted to. i said that the man you were with was evil, that i disliked him and prayed for your safety every day. kyungmin asked me if he could help me protect you, woo... i told him to just keep being the strong little boy in front of me. i knew that would make you happy."

wooyoung let tears well up in his eyes and hugged yeosang tight, seonghwa entering the room a second later.

"i'm home~"