《stray together》

Caught

⚠️CSA, homophobia, mentioned SA⚠️

There was only so many police interviews Jeongin could sit through before he tuned them out. The same questions. The same answers. The same inability to catch the person who killed Joon and Byunghyuk.

He had to listen to his parents dissect every detail of his brother, trying to abolish the claim he was gay with some sort of ground to stand on. Heard enough of the blame be put on Byunghyuk, that not only did he corrupt Joon, but his 'unnatural lifestyle' lead to his death, and subsequently, Joon's.

Even when the police told the Yangs that it was confirmed Joon was in a relationship with Byunghyuk.

"If it's true, he brought it upon himself." Jeongin's father said, slamming back the rest of his third beer. "We raised him better than that. He had two respectable ladies he could've married!"

'Iseul is into girls.' Jeongin thought was ironic, listening in from the other side of the wall.

"It disgraces our family name." Jeongin's father grumbled.

Jeongin scrolled through Byunghyuk's phone, scouring his text messages for the person who killed his brother. He saw the last message Joon sent his boyfriend, and it shattered him.
'I don't need anything else, as long as I have you and Jeongin, I'm happy.'

They were texting about Byunghyuk's mother finding out about his sexuality, and being somewhat accepting. It prompted a little guilt, knowing the same couldn't be expected from Joon's parents.

Jeongin hoped the revelation was unrelated to the murders, but wasn't going to completely rule out the possibility.

There were texts between their shared friends, having a close knit circle, they were all close with each other. Ham Iseul last texted five middle finger emojis, in good fun, as Byunghyuk had just called her flirting game 'weak' with the girl she was talking to online. Ham Byeol had last texted the address to a bathhouse, stating they should make plans to go as a group, as they all needed a break from life. Choi Beomgyu had sent a selfie, one that Jeongin also received, smoking weed with fireworks going off in the nightsky behind him. Some from his university giving general updates. But, the further Jeongin scrolled, the stranger the texts got.

P.TH
| do u wana practice ur head game? theres no i in team but i def see u in me cumming

K.SH
| Are you always that tight? 🥵 Whoever your boyfriend is gets to tap that on the daily?

L.CW
| Do me a favor and ask your bf how much it would cost to have you all to myself on Wednesday nights

C.WJ
| honstly I dnt rly see the hype, in fact u were 2 whiny 4 me

The onslaught of disgusting texts were all seemingly around the time Jeongin could estimate that Byunghyuk was sexually assaulted. Reading each one worsened the sinking feeling in Jeongin's stomach, and he tasted the vile at the back of his throat.

Then, one message stood out. The last message from the person was the homophobic slur that was written next to Byunghyuk that night in the bathroom.

L.JS
| hey I have those notes you were asking for, if you want to swing by the locker room. I have practice today

| you can't tell me you didn't like my surprise. Your kind likes taking it up the ass. That was a dream come true for you

| come to the locker room babyy
| im so hard rn
| I know youd suck me off

| you're gonna ignore me? That's cute
| eun byunghyuk