《stray together》

Cracking Foundation, Crumbling Walls

Curled up in a ball, as close to the wall as possible, Lino was asleep. Changbin let out a sigh as he went further in the room, hating having to wake the elder, but knowing he had a mission he needed to start soon. As Changbin crouched down, he saw the dried tear streaks on his cheeks, and realized he wasn't around for his friend to lean on. Guilt hit him like a truck. He couldn't even imagine what Lino went through last night on his own.

"Hey, you're safe. It's me, Bin." Changbin softly announced.

Lino blinked his heavy eyes open, and immediately recognized Changbin. He was so exhausted he couldn't keep his eyes open though, drifting right back to sleep.

A few inches from Lino's mattress was his pill bottle. "Did you take Lory?" Changbin asked. He knew Lino would use it as a last resort, which confirmed he had a hard night last night.

Giving a small nod, Lino reached to pull his blanket over himself more. "Three." He mumbled, snuggling further into his bed.

A mix between a gasp and a sigh fell from Changbin. "Why did you take three?!"

"Had to."

Clenching his teeth and tightening his jaw, Changbin was beating himself up. "I should've been here." He muttered, too quiet for Lino to hear.

Knowing how much Lorazeram Lino had in his system, and how he wouldn't really be able to function in that state, Changbin let him just sleep, for two hours more, staying by his side the entire time. As he watched the elder sleep, he kept thinking about his conversation with his younger brother. A few more possibilities being discussed as Taehyun thought more about it. The mentioned male had the feeling it was related with severe, repeated childhood trauma, and was fairly certain it was some type of dissociation disorder.

"Lino, don't worry, you're safe. But you need to wake up." Changbin said, brushing the elder's hair back. The older woke up, eyelids still heavy, but he pushed himself up on his elbows. Changbin carefully wiped Lino's face of the crusted tears. "You have to go watch Namjoon, but I wanted to talk to you before that."

Too drowsy to speak yet, and vision too blurry to make out what kind of expression Changbin had, Lino just nodded for him to continue.

"I talked to Taehyun. He thinks it could be this thing called dissociation." Changbin started, extending an arm out to pull Lino to sit up more, "Basically your brain thinks you're in danger and turns off for you, as a way to protect you. He said it's probably something that started as a child."

Rubbing his eyes to wake up more, Lino hummed. "Hmm. I didn't have these kind of episodes until now, though."

On his own accord, Changbin had researched everything Taehyun had considered. He learned a lot about dissociation and the way it could cause amnesia and gaps in memories from the past. "Do you remember everything from back then? Like, every single horrific thing?"

Quietly, almost as if he was afraid to be caught talking about it, Lino replied. "No. Some of it I remember clear as day, but a lot of back then is a blur."

Placing a comforting hand on Lino's knee, Changbin sighed, catching eyes with the elder. "Lino, it was happening back then. That's why you don't remember it. It succeeded in what it intended to do."

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⚠️ CSA/R ⚠️

Sixteen.

Minho was sixteen, though he didn't really know his own age anymore. The days and years were a hard concept to wrap his head around as he was held in captivity for so long. His limited sources of education became less and less as time went on. Master didn't want an idiot, but he also didn't want Minho to know too much. Minho was bigger in height, though his body frail from his circumstances. His hair had grown. At one point, his master let it grow long enough to match his wig, but somewhere along the way, his master decided he preferred the boy with more of a chin length cut, it made him more androgynous.