"We need to know what happened" said Jongho firmly. The two, uninterested in the movie, were in the maknae's room, arguing.
"I'm not gonna tell anyone unless Hongjoong tells me I can" refused stubbornly the oldest.
"Hyung, Hongjoong's safety is at risk!"
"And his trust in me is at risk too, I can't just tell you like this, no regard for his feelings. Would you be happy if someone you trusted gave away your secret?" pointed out Seonghwa, sighing and shaking his head.
Jongho stood up from his bed, where he was sitting.
"Well, if you're not gonna take action, I will" Jongho marched towards the living room. Seongwa quickly followed him, trying to stop him.
"No what the hell! At least wait until he's big again!" tried to reason Seonghwa, however Jongho wasn't gonna give up.
"What if something like that happens again while he's still in his regressed headspace? We can't risk it" shook his head the youngest, crouching down in front of the little.
"Hey small one! Like your movie?" Hongjoong nodded.
"Chu otay papa?" tilted his head Hongjoong, confused as to why the older looked uneasy.
"Yes baby, papa's fine. He just needs to ask you something" nodded Jongho. Hongjoong paused his movie to give his papa all his attention. Here goes nothing, thought the maknae.
"Remember how you told mama the bad things that the bad man did to you?" Hongjoong nodded, unsure where the conversation was going. He didn't want to remember that, he just wanted to cuddle up with his hyungies and watch his movie.
"Can mama tell papa what happened? You don't have to tell me yourself but papa feels safer knowing what happened" Jongho's voice remained calm, waiting for the little's reaction.
"Mama tewws? No Joongie?" Hongjoong wasn't sure he understood well.
"Yeah baby, mama will tell me. No need to remember those bad things. But mama needs your permission to tell me" reminded Jongho, making the little nod in relief. He trusted his mama.
"Mama can teww chu" decided Hongjoong. Jongho smiled and thanked Hongjoong, but as he was about to leave, the little called him again.
"When chu done chu come watch movie wif Joongie?" Jongho chuckled.
"Of course minion. Always" promised Jongho, smiling at the little one last time before leaving the room.
Seonghwa sighed defeated, telling everything to the maknae. Jongho was shocked to say the least, and by the time the oldest finished, the maknae was ready to kill the man who had hurt his leader.
"Jong, you should probably tell the others too at this point. There's no use keeping this from them, Hongjoong trusts them anyways and it's safer if something else happens. When Hongjoong woke up earlier, he was crying and shaking, he was trembling like a leaf" Seonghwa shuddered at the memory, hating seeing the little upset.
"What? Why?" widened his eyes Jongho. Seonghwa sighed before continuing.
"He told me the bad man, how he calls that bastard, was back. He told me why he had a face mask on. It was to not get recognised by that man" recalled Seonghwa through gritted teeth.
"Did Joong ever describe him to you?" asked Jongho, making Seonghwa shake his head no.
"No. And don't even try asking him until he's big" warned the oldest, glaring at the maknae, who rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Do I look that selfish to you? One thing is asking him for permission to get to know something about him, but asking him to almost relive that night, that's a whole different story" pointed out the youngest, trying his best to stay calm.
"I know, sorry if I thought you were careless" apologised sincerely Seonghwa, making Jongho sigh but nod.
"I think we're both pretty stressed out by this situation, so it's alright" muttered quietly Jongho.
"So... when he's in his normal headspace again we'll ask him about it so we can report it to the company" suggested Seonghwa.
"We first have to make sure Hongjoong's okay with sharing his... past experiences... with our manager. We can't just go to our CEO and be like 'hey please arrest this man, we can't say why so just do it'! It won't get us anywhere, and it will make us look bad in the public's eye" explained Jongho.
"But we can just say he's a threat to us" argued Seonghwa, making the maknae shake his head.
"No, we can't. We should prove it to them, and he hasn't done anything to us. He hasn't even recognised Hongjoong yet! We can't just say that hyung, we have to really think it through or we could face serious consequences. Fake allegations is a crime" reminded the youngest.
"Then what should we do? I refuse to let Hongjoong live in fear of that man. Hasn't he suffered enough?" sighed Seonghwa.
"I know hyung, and neither do I, that's why we have to think it through. It could end up worse for both our group and Hongjoong as an individual, so we absolutely can't lie. If we can get as specific as possible there will be higher chances of winning a hypothetical court" Jongho reasoned. Seonghwa nodded, uneasy. He didn't like where the conversation was going, even though he knew Jongho was right.
"Let's think about it tomorrow. Wanna put Joongie to bed?" offered Jongho, a small smile on his face as he looked at the older.
"Alright" nodded Seonghwa, making his way to the living room.
"He's already sleeping" chuckled Mingi, pointing to the little who was cuddled to Yeosang's side, deeply asleep.
"He's so cute" cooed Seonghwa. The others laughed in agreement.
"He is" Yunho smiled looking at the little endearingly.
"Seonghwa hyung was about to take him to bed" said Jongho, making the others agree. Just a few moments later, Hongjoong was tucked in with his favourite plushie in his arms, snuggling into its fur. Seonghwa smiled one last time to him and left the room, checking in for the night.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
i have no voice left lmaooo
the concert was amazing, unluckily I was late so when I got to the venue NMIXX had already performed 4 songs 🥲 during the skz concert they were on the vip area above us AND LILY COMPLETED MY HALF HEART LOOKING AT ME AND I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THIS phew sorry i had to say it
Stray Kids. They were AMAZING. BREATHTAKING. STUNNING. i shouted my lungs out during Miroh and Topline (and maybe My Pace too but ahh who knows? 👀) AND THE FIREWORKS OMFG I WAS SPEECHLESS
anyways I'll shut up now as this book is about Ateez :) have a drink + a snack or a meal and stay safe!
Love you all, see you in the next one!
~Nabi
YOU ARE READING
Tiny captain
FanfictionHongjoong has been slipping unvoluntarily since that day. It's not a thing that he can control and it's not a thing that he plans on telling his members. Absolutely not. But telling them is not the only way they'll discover this part of him. Warning...
