My Best Friend's Brother

Work Song

A/N: this next chapter and possibly the next are following Hyunjin. Minimal Hyunlix moments but it's basically Hyunjin working through more of his stuff. Bare with it please!

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Hyunjin spent the entire train ride lost in thought while looking out of the window. Truth be told, Hyunjin hadn't heard from his father in years. So he was surprised to be told that he would spending a almost a week with the guy out of nowhere. His mother didn't leave him much of a choice though.

It was sad really but Hyunjin was relieved when his parents got divorced. He was only 5, and he still knew that his parents were miserable in their marriage. What broke his heart, was how it affected his relationship with his dad. He didn't find out the reason for the divorce until he was older, but it made him hate his father.

You see, Hyunjin's father had been a serial cheater in his marriage. Hyunjin's mother forgave and forgot more times than she could count for Hyunjin's sake. His father, Henry, would always claim that he was going to do better, to be better for Hyunjin. Once Hyunjin started to ask his mom why they were so distant and why she was crying so often, she decided she had finally had enough.

She didn't want Hyunjin to grow up with a toxic marriage as an example. She wanted him to believe in love, and the happiness that could come from it with the right person. So she packed their bags, and left town.

Hyunjin's father used to call him every week to keep a relationship. Those weekly calls became more inconsistent as weeks passed, eventually stopping once Hyunjin was old enough to learn the reason for the divorce. It was OK for him though, because 4 years later, Mr. Yang and Jeongin came into the picture. He had accepted him as his own child and filled that dad role with pride.

Mr. Yang had been more of a dad to Hyunjin than his father had been in the past 10 years. To him, this trip was just going to be awkward, he would be in his old childhood home that was no longer his own, with a man who was his father but had been estranged for so long that Hyunjin was sure he may as well be a stranger.

He let out a deep sigh and focused his attention to his phone, his fingers itching to message Felix, but not knowing what to say. Hi? I miss you? Nothing seemed appropriate. He hadn't even told Felix where he was going. He had the chance to, but he couldn't get himself to say it. Couldn't get himself to get into his past. He knew he needed to. He was trying to be better, but how do you tell someone something like that? How do you share that the person who gave life to you, couldn't stay faithful long enough to watch you grow up? Couldn't stay faithful at all and couldn't get himself to do better for his own son.

He groaned and locked his phone, putting it back on his lap and resting his head on the window. He opted to just listen to some music, trying to focus on the melodies and the words to stop his ever catastrophizing mind from spiraling out of control.

He was shocked awake by the jolting breaks of the train. Realizing he must have dozed off, he got all of his stuff packed up and swung his bag over his shoulder, waiting his turn to leave the cart and step on the platform at the station, for once not minding if the people in front of him were taking forever.

The humidity and heat hit him as soon as he got close to the door, making him feel gross on top of feeling uncomfortable with the situation. He froze when he looked into the crowd at the pickup area and his eyes landed on fierce brown ones, much like his own but lighter in color. He could never forget those eyes that used to give him comfort on the first day of school or play soccer with him on the weekend.

The tall man gave a wave and a smile. Hyunjin pursed his lips and walked over to the man. Henry walked up to him and immediately pulled him into a hug. Hyunjin couldn't really tell what he wanted to do, the hug was not uncomfortable, but it was definitely not comfortable either.