hyunjin ~ scars

~ pt.1 ~

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Minho sighed tiredly, looking around the living room from his position on their giant couch. NoEasy promotions were finally over, and while they were all grateful for all the support and awards and gaining new STAYS, they were absolutely spent.

Stray Kids had been given a few days before they had to go back to the company to start recording for their holiday album. They had planned to spend the day at a park or a mall together, but the weather had decided that wasn't an option.
Instead, they had all gathered in Minho and the maknae line's dorm to just watch movies all day and enjoy some well deserved rest. By this point they had made their way through 5 or 6 films (not to mention endless amounts of snacks), and night had fallen.

Chan was sound asleep on Minho's shoulder, with an exhausted Jeongin resting his head in the leader's lap. Minho was busy running his fingers through Jisung's soft hair as the younger sat on the floor between his legs. Changbin had the two other maknaes on either side of him, Seungmin rolling his eyes every time Felix would jump at the horror movie they were watching and almost cause the bowl of popcorn on his lap to go all over his hyungs and the floor. Jisung was trying to stifle his laughter every time this happened so that he wouldn't wake up Chan, meaning his normal obnoxiously loud cackle was muffled into little squeaks (which Minho definitely did NOT think were the most adorable thing he had ever heard).

This thought made him think of how Hyunjin always sounded similarly adorable when he tried not to laugh. He had many vivid memories of giving death glares to the two of them while they both tried to keep from bursting into laughter so loud the whole company would hear. Or when Hyunjin's eyes would disappear as he smiled brightly at Jisung's antics during practice. He'd always loved Hyunjin's smile. When the younger took photos, he usually did a pose or a specific expression, but nothing could compare to when a photo caught his real smile. He understood why their fans loved that smile so much and would do anything to protect it. He knew he would.

But he hadn't seen Hyunjin smile as often lately, and when he did it always looked kind of forced. Minho looked over to the very end of the couch, where the tall boy was curled up under a blanket away from them. He sighed again, this time with sadness.

Pretty much every other movie night they had ever had as a group involved Hyunjin cuddling up with one or sometimes all of the maknae line. They would talk and laugh loudly over the movie until Chan either told them to shush or joined them. Nothing like that had happened in a while; now that he thought about it, Hyunjin hadn't really shown much of any emotion lately, good or bad.

Of course they all knew why; they had only just gotten him back. Minho clearly remembered when Hyunjin had been told he was going on hiatus, way back at the beginning of the year. Their managers had told him in front of everyone, and all of them had immediately looked to their precious drama llama, ready to catch him, hug him, comfort him, smother him in loving words; whatever he needed.

But Hyunjin's face had gone blank as he had just nodded. He then strode right out of the room without making eye contact with any of them. Chan had quickly gone to follow him, but was held back by their manager. The leader had looked at the man with fury in his eyes, so Minho had brought him into a hug before he did something stupid. They had all been aware of the rumors that had been spread about Hyunjin, but they didn't think it would get this far.

Chan had cried softly into Minho's shoulder that night after they had to help Hyunjin pack for where he would be staying during the hiatus. He wasn't allowed to stay with his brothers. None of them knew how long it would be before he was back, so they just packed everything they could grab from his room in the 3racha dorm. For the next four months, the room which once held a ball of pure happiness looked completely barren and abandoned.