begin again | woosan

- forty -

the end of the semester was fast approaching, and everyone was beginning to get a bit stressed out. being stressed meant different things for each boy, but it was hard not to notice how the stress was impacting wooyoung. the boy was starting to have more nightmares again, which worried seonghwa and yeosang a bit, but san understood and was happy to have wooyoung stay over every few days so that he could get some proper sleep.

since wooyoung still had a hard time spending the night in his own room, he rotated between sleeping with seonghwa and yeosang when he was home. their support was more effective than they knew, as the younger's nightmares hadn't been nearly as intrusive as in the past. san noticed this too, that when he woke up from one of his nightmares, he was more aware of his surroundings. to san, this was a sign that therapy was helping, even if it was only a little bit, and that put a smile on the boy's face.

yeosang, jongho, san and an exhausted wooyoung were seated in the corner booth at what had recently become their favorite cafe, each boy attempting to get work done. san had noticed wooyoung was struggling to stay awake, but didn't want to bring the attention to him, especially knowing how easily yeosang got worried.

"woo," he whispered, squeezing the boy's hand gently.

"hm?"

"take a break, love... try and rest for a few minutes."

"but—"

"woo... you've barely been able to keep your eyes open for the past fifteen minutes. please? for me?"

wooyoung sighed and nodded, san patting his shoulder so that the younger could rest his head there.

"i'll wake you a bit later, sound good?"

"okay... thank you, sannie."

wooyoung was quick to fall asleep, yeosang soon noticing and tilting his head a bit.

"is woo okay?" he asked softly.

"mhmm... just needed a break. i told him to try and rest," san explained, leaving out how he had noticed the boy was barely able to stay awake prior to his nap.

"ah, okay," yeosang nodded, jongho then kissing the boy's temple and pulling him closer.

"can you see if woo wants to go to ours, san? i was planning on staying the night with sangie."

"oh, yeah, of course. is hwa going to be at joong's?"

"mhmm! he's finally done with his little project to ask hwa out with, so they're going out for dinner later and then hwa's staying the night," yeosang explained.

"that's great," san smiled, glancing down to make sure wooyoung was still doing alright.

"the stress has been really getting to him..." yeosang stated, noticing where san's gaze landed. "it worries me."

"yeah... me too. i don't want to ask if there's anything making him this stressed outside of classes, but i know there must be something."

"yeah... yeah there is. it's not my place to explain it though."

san nodded, beginning to brush his fingers through wooyoung's hair.

"san?" jongho asked.

"hm?"

"i think we should all head out soon. we've been here for a while now, i think it's time to call it quits on doing work."

"five more minutes, then i'll wake woo."

jongho nodded in response and then yeosang leaned over to kiss the boy's cheek as they started to get their things packed up. san quietly finished what he was working on, then a few minutes later, he gently started to wake wooyoung up.