〘 NCT TEXTS 〙 ✔

11

"ahhh," jaehyun shoves the food into taeyong's mouth. he smiles, showing his dimples which makes taeyong coo.

"are you guys enjoying the food?" doyoung asks. everyone nods their heads, too busy devouring the food in front of them. well, except for jungwoo. the male was just staring into space, face blank.

"snoopy," winwin pokes the younger's cheeks. he snaps out of it, immediately whipping his head over to face winwin.

"what is it?" jungwoo asks, smiling. if anyone were to see the boy's smile, it was pretty damn easy to tell that smile was fake.

"are you okay? you seem really out of it," the older looks at him, concern written all over his face. jungwoo was never one to feel down. he's always been the one to comfort people, giving them the warmest hugs.

"i'm fine, winwin. i'm just...tired," he holds winwin's hand, hoping that that would send some sort of reassurance to the older. winwin is doubtful but he knows that he wouldn't get anything out of the boy if he continued with the questioning.

"if you say so," he focuses his attention back on yuta, who won't stop tugging on his sleeve.

"i'm going to head to restroom real quick," jungwoo abruptly stands up and rushes to the bathroom.

once jungwoo is out of sight, everybody turns their heads to face each other. it seemed that everyone had picked up on jungwoo's concerning behaviour.

"donghyuck... could you please tell us what's wrong with jungwoo?" lucas begs.

"frankly, it's not my place to tell. i know everyone wants to make him feel better but what he's going through is something that he's not fully comfortable on sharing," donghyuck answers.

jungwoo comes back and everyone goes back to acting natural. the male is no idiot. he's certain that his members were talking about him.

*Flashback*

"we didn't raise such a child! we didn't raise him to be like...some disgusting fag," jungwoo's father seethed.

"he should be allowed to do what he wants. love is love and i'm sure he can take care of his problems just fine. if he's confident in his sexuality, encourage him! he didn't grow up with such a father!" jungwoo's mother screeches back.

jungwoo doesn't know what to do. the conversation was over a phone call but it didn't make him panic any less. he was terrified that his mother could get hurt.

the boy thought it was finally time to come out to his parents. after years of contemplation, he thought it was only right. he couldn't just keep it a secret his whole life!

if only... he had know that his actions created a huge conflict. glass shattering, doors slamming. it left him completely shaken. to realise that now he has someone who's turned away from him, hating him, it hurt immensely. to top it all off, it was his own father.

ever since the incident, jungwoo has kept quiet, trying to cover up the trauma. he knew it was an unhealthy way of dealing with the situation but his heart was telling him not to worry the other members. it would only make him feel like even more of a burden.

*End of Flashback*

"guys don't worry about me! instead of being so overprotective, lets get some desserts. i'll pay for everything," he smiles more genuine now causing the older members to coo at him.

—

"no that's mine! give it back!" kun whines as he tries to snatch back his lollipop.

"no, it's mine," ten sticks out his tongue, placing the lollipop on it. he twirls it around, making kun cringe and sigh in defeat.

still the noisy, lovely bunch, jungwoo thinks as he looks out of the car window, admiring the little droplets of water decorated on it. he feels a hand slide into his empty one and his stomach erupts in butterflies. he looks over to see lucas's big hand in his tiny ones, fingers laced together.

there was something about the moment that felt intimate. aside from the fact that lucas panics every time jungwoo tries to initiate skinship, but the fact that lucas was basically making jungwoo want to tell him everything. it's difficult to explain but he felt the need, the urge to spill everything to him.

the urge seemed so hard to resist because the first thing he did when they got back to the dorms was going to lucas and crying into his arms.

—

(a/n: i'm alive, school's coming up ughhh. this isn't proofread so i'm sorry for mistakes! it's like 3am skskks)