''~°.HIDE AND SEEK.°~'' | YEONGYU

THE PROMISE

"I know, Gyu," he whispered, his breath warm against the boy's hair. "I know."

Beomgyu felt so small. Fragile in a way that twisted Yeonjun's stomach.

"Fragile. Fragile in a way that needed protection ."

His fingers stroked gently along Beomgyu's back in slow, soothing patterns. He kept his voice low, even, steady.

"You're safe now. I'm not going anywhere."

But in the dark recesses of his mind, the tabs started reopening...slower this time, quieter.

"Next move: secure the apartment. Lockdown perimeter. Keep Gyu from breaking. Prioritize emotional stability."

But for now, Yeonjun let himself stay still. Arms around Beomgyu. Chin resting lightly on his soft hair.

Beomgyu's arms tightened suddenly around his neck. Like if he let go now, Yeonjun might slip away and vanish.

Yeonjun's chest rose with a slow breath, but the tabs in his mind...those hundreds of running calculations, contingency plans, exit strategies stayed closed. For once, he forced them shut.

He could feel the tremors in Beomgyu's frame, every shiver echoing through his own body. Fragile. Not just fragile...fractured.

And Yeonjun wasn't sure which was worse: that Beomgyu had been left to splinter this way...or that it made something deep and vicious in him want to burn the world for ever letting it happen.

But right now wasn't about that.

Right now was about this trembling boy clutching him like he was the only solid thing left in a crumbling universe.

Yeonjun's arms tightened just slightly, protective, anchoring. His hand cradled the back of Beomgyu's head, thumb brushing softly against his nape in reassurance.

"I'm here for you," he murmured again, voice low and steady. "No one's touching you. Not while I'm here."

Beomgyu made a sound...small, muffled, almost a sob and burrowed closer, his face pressing into Yeonjun's shoulder as though trying to disappear there.

Yeonjun exhaled slowly.

For now, there was no masked figure. No detective. No spiraling theories.

Just Beomgyu.

Just this fragile, quiet weight in his arms that he would willingly carry till the end of time...

And Yeonjun let himself stay still.

Beomgyu's fingers clutched harder at the fabric of Yeonjun's shirt, knuckles white with the effort. His breath hitched against Yeonjun's shoulder, warm and shaky.

Then..so faint Yeonjun almost didn't catch it, came a broken whisper.

"Yeonjun...s-stay...please. I don't...I don't wanna lose you again."

The words cracked like thin ice beneath desperate feet.

Yeonjun's jaw tensed, his chest tightening sharply. For a moment, he couldn't move, not because he didn't know what to do, but because the weight of that plea sank deep, anchoring him.

The boy who had once been his shadow in sunlit childhood days. The boy whose laughter used to ring like windchimes in the rain. The same boy was now trembling in his arms, hollowed out by fear and loss, begging him not to disappear.

Yeonjun's arms tightened, protective in a way that felt instinctual.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, voice low but firm. "Not this time. You're stuck with me, got it?"

There was no answer. Just the faintest nod against his shoulder, and a shudder that made Yeonjun pull him impossibly closer.

"You're safe with me," he whispered again. "Even if the world turns on you, I won't."

Beomgyu didn't let go even a bit. His grip stayed tight.

His voice came again, smaller this time. Barely a whisper.

"I...I really thought I'd be o-okay alone." A pause. His fingers twisted into Yeonjun's shirt. "But I wasn't. I wasn't okay. I just—" His breath caught, a shallow hitch. "I thought if I kept p-pretending I was okay...maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad."

Yeonjun ran a hand slowly up and down Beomgyu's back, grounding him. His voice, when it came, was quiet but unwavering.

"You don't have to pretend now. Not with me."

Beomgyu shivered. "It was so loud, Yeonjun. The nights. The silence. Everything." His words tumbled out, soft and cracked. "Sometimes I...I thought about just...stopping. So it wouldn't hurt anymore."

Yeonjun's fingers froze for half a second before resuming their steady motion. His eyes darkened...not in anger at Beomgyu of course, but at everything that had been allowed to happen to him.

"Don't say that," he murmured, his tone soft but carrying an edge beneath. "You're still here. You fought through all of it, Gyu. That means something."

Beomgyu let out a trembling laugh that wasn't really a laugh. "I didn't fight. I just...I survived because I had to. I didn't want to disappoint anyone. Even them."

Yeonjun's jaw clenched. Them. He didn't need names to know who Beomgyu meant.

"You don't owe them a damn thing," Yeonjun said evenly, though there was steel in his voice now. "You survived for you. And I'm glad you did. Because I'm here now and I'm not letting you carry this alone anymore."

Beomgyu's breath hitched again, his hands trembling harder.

"Promise?" It was barely audible, the tiniest flicker of hope behind the wreckage of his voice.

Yeonjun's arms tightened like a shield around him.

"Promise," he whispered. "Even if the whole world burns down around us. I'm not leaving you again."

For the first time all night, Beomgyu let out a deep, unsteady sigh. His weight slumped more fully against Yeonjun's chest, like some fragile part of him believed it.