"Your sister rubbed off on you, no?"
His dad's voice greeted him first thing the next morning. Wonwoo had just entered the house after being discharged, and he knew he was going to be dumped with a lot more shit.
"You heard?" Wonwoo made the frustration apparent in his tone, sliding his shoes off.
"Watch your tone, Wonwoo, I just asked you a question,"
"Yeah, and insulted Somi. She's dead, for heaven's sake,"
Even before the words had reached his dad, Wonwoo had expected to be hit. And he did, painfully, on the back. It stung, making Wonwoo wonder if his dad had claws or something. "Hit me as much as you want, but don't ever talk about Somi with that filthy mouth of yours," he spat, silently walking up to his room.
Not even five minutes had passed since he returned. Although he'd heard it several times before, it made him revolt when his parents talked about Somi so heartlessly, and disrespectfully. Only if they knew how much of a great sister she was. She even spent time talking to him, despite being dead. Or that was probably Wonwoo missing her a bit too much. He didn't know, and he'd like to be kept in the dark about it.
He slumped on his bed, things thrown aside. His head hurt, and he had no idea of what he should be doing to soothe the ache. He thought of icing it, but then realised his head would probably get numb. Giving up on doing anything to lessen the ache, Wonwoo took to stare at the ceiling. He would just let it pass, and it would eventually calm down. He'd survived some of the worst hits from his parents earlier – surely a healing wound on his head couldn't cause much damage.
Wonwoo thought about the last twenty-four hours he spent at the hospital, and not in his house. It hadn't been too enjoyable, but he'd definitely liked it when someone, even if it was Mingyu, came to see him. Of course, he was all on the news, and yet his own parents weren't bothered to check up on their son, who'd survived a fucking suicide attempt. But Mingyu came. That didn't magically make his views about him flip an entire 180, but he agreed with himself that Mingyu wasn't as entitled as he'd assumed he was.
The thought subconsciously brought a smile to his face, one of the rare times Wonwoo caught himself smiling. He thought how Mingyu was the only one who had managed to bring smiles to his face lately. It didn't mean much, honestly. Wonwoo wouldn't want to smile anyway.
--
"How're you feeling?"
Mingyu ran up to greet him the next morning. Gods, just looking at him gave Wonwoo a headache, but secretly, he liked that someone wanted to check up on him. It felt alien, after being devoid of being looked after for so many years, ever since Somi's passing.
"Looking at you gives me a headache, so I was better, before you asked,"
Mingyu looked as though he'd taken Wonwoo's word to heart, as he turned around, muttering a tiny 'okay'. Wonwoo grabbed his hand to stop him from walking away, but dropped it when he realised what he just did. "I'm just kidding, I'm better now,"
Mingyu's eyes went wide, as he stared at his own hand, mumbling vaguely, "That's good,"
"It's weird to be asked that, you know?"
"Why?"
"No one's ever done that, after her..."
"Oh, um... I understand. I don't have much idea either, honestly,"
Wonwoo wondered what Mingyu meant by saying that. Shouldn't he be having at least ten people dedicatedly running behind him, just to look after his needs? Not paying much mind, Wonwoo shuffled off, muttering a quiet 'bye', and went to his locker room.
