"yunho.." san whined.
"what? why do you keep groaning and whining,"
"because... i don't feel good.. i feel like i'm gonna throw up.." the child groaned, leaning on yunho and clenching onto his stomach.
"i'll take you to the nurse. but i can't stick around, i have to find yeosang and convince him to actually eat his lunch and not throw it all away like he did yesterday. you can just nap in the nurse or go home."
the oldest then had to basically drag san down to the nurse's office, and made sure that they called the parents to bring san home, before rushing to the cafeteria to find yeosang as quickly as he could.
but, he couldn't seem to find him anywhere.
he even asked wooyoung if he knew where yeosang went, and when wooyoung said he didn't know, yunho became very worried, looking around the whole cafeteria and even outside in the small school courtyard in search for yeosang.
he was scared that yeosang had been hurt by jisung, or that he was taken somewhere. and those thoughts made the oldest sick to his stomach.
he finally went into a seemingly empty bathroom, discovering yeosang, who was sitting against the wall and hiding his face, obviously crying.
yunho ran to him immediately and quickly asked what was wrong with him.
yeosang brought his hands away from his face, wiped his eyes and nose, and began signing. '..i really miss beomseok. i can't go to him when i'm stressed out.. i can't comfort him, even though he's sad.. i'm just so worried about him and what's going to happen..' he signed slowly and weakly.
yunho nodded, then pulling his younger brother into a quick, tight hug.
"i know you're worried, but it's gonna be okay. i promise. now come on, let's go eat lunch." yunho tried to comfort yeosang as best as he could, despite being bad at being emotional like that.
'i'm not hungry.' yeosang signed and got up, his attitude completely changing as he quickly left.
yunho was speechless. he became so stern so fast.
and all the poor oldest brother could do in that moment was worry. he told yeosang not to worry, even though he himself was worried.
okay, let's talk a little more about yunho.
you know yunho here, he's the oldest of six boys. he has five crazy younger brothers that he has a partial job of taking care of. but the thing is, he doesn't really want to be the oldest. all the child wants is to pursue his interests, meet new people, and overall, just be seen as cool. but he can't do all of that in the stage of life they're in, because he's too busy with his constant worry about each brother, on top of doing well in school. he's got san, a brother with a wild personality, he's got jongho, a brother who's having problems and he wishes he could help, he's got yeosang, a brother with a disability who is now going through relationship drama, he's got wooyoung, a brother who is also wild, and in injured and upset about it, and he's got mingi, a brother with mental illnesses that prevent him from living a nice everyday life. yunho has a lot on his plate. and it's hard for him, because he wants to protect his younger brothers, and make hongjoong and seonghwa proud, but he also wants to have more time to focus on himself, and make his own friends. he just doesn't have time.
anyways, i'm getting sidetracked. back to the story.
yunho decided to get up and run after yeosang.
he tried to call yeosang's name, as the younger ran outside, going around a corner, and completely disappearing from yunho's view.
the oldest ran back inside the cafeteria, wanting to find his other brothers to help convince yeosang to calm down and eat his lunch for once. even though it seems like it isn't much, yunho knew that yeosang had already skipped lunch the day before that day, and he didn't want it to happen again.
he found mingi sitting with his group of friends, and approached him.
"mingi, come talk to me. please it's important."
mingi was confused at first, as he rarely heard yunho speak that sternly, but he eventually was convinced to come with him and look for yeosang.
he then went to wooyoung, who was sitting with renji, and brought both of them, so that renji wasn't left alone. but yunho still made it clear to the boy that he didn't want him getting involved in their problem at all.
they all ran outside, and began calling his name. he wasn't in the main courtyard area, so they gave up looking there and went to look somewhere else.
they eventually heard something coming from under one of the outdoor staircases, going under and unsurprisingly finding yeosang. he was sitting in the dirt, looking like he was determined to fight away any force his brothers tried to put on him.
"yeosang, i don't wanna fight you on this. but i don't want you to starve. it's only lunch, why is it such a problem for you?" yunho tried to say nicely.
"and you don't have to sulk." wooyoung added.
'i'm not sulking.' yeosang signed angrily.
wooyoung rolled his eyes, as mingi opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by yunho, before he could even start talking.
"yeosang, all we want is for you to be healthy. i know you're hurting because of... him. but he wouldn't want you to be like this, he would want you to be healthy while he's gone, right?" yunho said. yeosang knew he had a point, but he was still determined.
'i really don't feel like eating. it feels like i'm going to throw it all up if i try to eat it.'
"yeosang, please, work with us, we just wanna-"
mingi stopped talking as yeosang had yelled.
"n.. no! no-o!" he yelled. everyone was in shock.
"yeosang-" wooyoung began to yell, but he was quickly interrupted by yeosang's yelling.
"no! i m-m-mi.. i mi.. i mi.. s.. miss.. i miss-" he stopped trying and yelled again out of anger. at this point, he was standing, and stomping his feet. he felt tears falling down his cheeks as he became full of anger at himself for not being able to speak, all he wanted was to express his emotions and thoughts without having to use his hands and just get ignored. he wanted to use his voice to tell them how he felt.
the child finally fell back down in defeat, crying out loud, leaving everyone else in shock.
"m-mingi.. go call mom in the front office... tell him or dad to come pick up yeosang. i don't think he should be going to class today—or even tomorrow." yunho said without even turning his head, making mingi nod and run off.
"yeosang, you need to calm down! stop acting like a child, you're gonna be fine-"
"wooyoung, stop saying it like that! don't yell at him, and he's not acting like a child, he's just angry! he wants to-" "no, i won't! we need to stop babying him for once! he's just as old as the rest of us! i'm pretty sure he can handle this stuff!" "we're all different, wooyoung! some people can handle more than others, and some less-" "but come on! it's just a little breakup! it's not even permanent!" "wooyoung! shut up!" "no! he needs to learn-"
wooyoung stopped. yunho had just slapped him across the face, barely even realizing he did.
renji just watched the situation from a few feet away, debating whether he should comfort yeosang, or stop yunho and wooyoung from going at each other's throats.
he decided a third option. to just stay quiet, and watch.
"i'm fucking telling mom." wooyoung spat.
well damn that was heavy. o well
n e ways i'm super nervous for ateez's new hair colors istg if yeosang went red or blue i'm gonna pass out.
also btw i love you all thank you for all the positivity here you have no idea how much it means to me, when people get excited for the next chapters or tell me they're super excited to read the update, i just 🥺🥺 ily so much!! <3
