NOSTALGIA. － p.sh + k.hj

+ 03

he was about that age when he came to understand that perhaps his life wasn't completely normal.

his father would always be shouting, making his small heart stutter and thud roughly against his showing ribs, his mother would always be crying and yelling.

he came to understand that when people were angry, they were scary. his father always seemed to be angry, and so hongjoong was always scared.

he'd gotten in the way once, when the man was going after his mother, and his large, heavy hands pushed hongjoong against the stairs. the hard edges dug into his side, making it hard to breathe and even harder to move. he'd started to cry but the man only warned him to stop, threatening to strike him if he didn't stand. he shuffled onto his wobbling legs.

another time, he and his brother had been playing in the living room, sharing a gameboy that was gifted to them by a family friend and ignoring the quarrel occurring in the kitchen. it was when their mother came to bring them a plate of food, then cold and rather bland, that they had to run.

the man came in shortly after, expression contorted with a ferocity inhuman, only noticing his children long enough to give the eldest a sweeping kick.

hongjoong shrunk in on himself, but his brother took hold of his hand and tugged him up, despite the pain marring his young face.

"come," was all he said, and then they were sprinting as quickly as they could to the bathroom, shutting the door the instant they were in. the resounding crash of their gameboy against a wall did not affect their already altered states, hongjoong holding onto his brother as they sunk to the cool floor, squeezing his eyes shut in the hopes that it was all a dream.

the screams and thumps continued
and there wasn't you.

》》》

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