third person pov
————————————

TWO WEEKS LATER

~

"you got everything?"

"yeah" san sighed, looking back at his room before turning his lights off.

seonghwa pat the boys back as he guided him down the stairs. the helium balloon from the party from the previous day are starting to deflate, making the room seem that much more depressing. waking up at seven in the morning to take an hour drive to a mental hospital is possibly the worst way anyone could spend a monday.

yunho was the first to notice his brother walking down with his bags. he walked over and helped set the bags by the entrance. mingi got off the couch and was the first on to hug san

"if you grow anymore while i'm gone i'm gonna beat you when i get home" san said as he cried into his taller brothers shoulder

"yeah, i wouldn't doubt it" mingi chuckled as he sniffled and pulled away to wipe his tears. everyone in the room smiled a little, before it was jongho's turn.

"try breaking an apple with one hand, i want that perfected before i get home" san smiled before pulling his youngest brother into a hug

"you're demanding lately" jongho joked

"might as well be while i'm here" san sniffled before reluctantly letting go

now it was yeosangs turn.

"you promise to practice your speaking while i'm gone, you're so close to perfection" san smiled before dragging his brother into his arms

"i'll w-work hard" yeosang smiled as tears fell onto sans jacket, letting go, though not wanting to.

"youngie" san called out to the crying boy, "come here"

the boy dragged his feet as he walked into sans arms, letting out sobs that could make a war sergeant cry

"don't torture everyone too much while i'm gone" san laughed a little, rubbing wooyoungs back to try and help him calm down.

"no promises" wooyoung whispered

"yeah i figured" san chuckled "you'll be okay" he said before letting the boys go.

yunho looked at the two and smiled before walking up to san himself. pulling san into a hug that he hated to think would be the last for a while.

"keep everyone in line, and please for the love of god, show your emotions from time to time" san laughed before letting out a soft sob

"i will, don't worry about us. you focus on you. got it?" yunho said softly, like if he were to talk any louder, he would break san.

"yeah, do my homework while i'm gone?"

"i love you. but not that much" yunho chuckled before letting the younger go.

"ready honey?" hongjoong asked, rubbing the boys back after walking up to him

"i guess" the boy shrugged

"it'll be okay, you always have the choice of coming back home" seonghwa said as he lead him to the door. hongjoong stayed behind for a second to talk to the kids

"okay, yunho is in charge, yeji and renjun will be over in a few but i want everyone staying either in the living room or the basement. and clean up you messes. we'll try to be home before lunch" hongjoong said, looking around as if he's looking for something, but really he's just inspecting the home. "got it?" everyone nodded

"okay, yunho, you know the rules. call us or the hwangs or bangs if you can't reach us" yunho nodded and watched as his dad walked to the door, kissing all the kids heads on the way. and seonghwa doing the same.

"okay, we got everything. let's go" seonghwa sighed out

"we love you san-ah" yunho said

"i love you guys too" san said with a wobbly bottom lip, and then walking out the door

"be good, and hey, he's gonna be okay" seonghwa said, watching the kids nod with tears running down their face, and then shutting the door. wooyoung ran to the window, watching until he couldn't see the car anymore.

"fuck" yeosang sniffed before running to the bathroom.

"i don't think i can even say it's going to be okay anymore" yunho sighed out

"it feels empty already" jongho noted, spinning his body around to look around, as if san was just hiding and he had to find out where he was

"i'm going downstairs" mingi uttered before opening the basement door and walking down the stairs.

"wooyoung, buddy-"

"they're gone" wooyoung cut yunho of with a wobbling voice "he's gone" he said, looking at yunho, displaying his tear stained cheeks and glossy coated eyes.

"come here, let's try to watch a movie and calm down, hm?" he knows he promised san to show emotions, but right now he needs to calm the situation.

after about an hour, everyone was calmed down, watching aladdin on the living room tv. the doorbell ring, so yeosang went to open it, looking out the peep hole first.

"yeji's here" yeosang smiled at the girl slightly before giving her a side hug. yunho got out of his seat and walked up to the girl, giving her a long awaited hug

"how are you doing" she whispered

"shit" he muttered before letting go

"hey guys" she smiled sadly at the brothers who all just waved back. wooyoung announced that he and jongho were going downstairs to play air hockey

yeji and yunho sat in the loveseat as yeosang and mingi sat on the couch, until renjun showed up

"yeah, i'm not fifth wheeling. you guys have fun" mingi said as he walked downstairs. the couples laughed and started talking about whatever.

"you doin okay?" renjun asked once their conversations broke apart.

"no. not at all" yeosang sighed out. renjun laid the others head on his lap, playing with hair, eventually pulling him to sleep again.

yeji nudged yunho, then pointing to the other couple with a smile spread across her face. yunho smiled at his brother and his boyfriend. he couldn't be any happier for him.

"our dads told us to stay down here, but if you two are going to sleep you can go back up to his room" yunho said, quietly, trying not to wake yeosang in case renjun doesn't want to go up. but the boy nodded and woke his boyfriend up, and helping him walk up the stairs.

"they're so cute" yeji smiled after watching the two walk upstairs

"yeah they are" yunho smiled a little, though his mind is still fogged with the thought of san leaving, and if he's alright, if he's comfortable.

"hey, don't think too much. your dads wouldn't put him somewhere that wasn't safe" yeji said, snuggling into his side a little more. letting him play with her fingers as she placed small kisses on his jaw.

"yeah. but still, i don't know what he's thinking, or going through. all i know is that he's gonna be alone in there" yunho whispered, playing with the rings on his girlfriends fingers. yeji sighed, lifted her hand to his jaw, making him turn his head. now being face to face, the situation felt more personal for some reason

"he's safe yun, just relax, i'm sure he'll be home soon"

~

"we got mcdonald's, where is everyone" seonghwa said walking into the house, quietly after seeing yunho asleep on yeji's lap.

"well, mingi, woo, and jongho are downstairs. yeosang and renjun are in yeosangs room, but only because they went back to sleep" yeji explained as she continued playing with the boys hair

"that's fine, can you wake him up and help gather everyone please? we got you a ten piece" hongjoong smiled lightly, yeji smiled back and nodded

"thank you papa-joong"  she smiled before tapping yunhos shoulder. "yunnie, wake up. your dads are here with food"

yunho grumbled and held onto yeji tighter before sitting up. his messy hair and puffy cheeks from sleeping always made yeji giggle a little

"fix my hair please" yunho said in his morning voice, it really gave the young girl butterflies, every time. she giggled again, then scoot closer to her tall teddy bear, running her hands through his hair. trying to fix it

"there bubs" she said, pecking his nose then hopping off the couch. well, not really. her legs were asleep from yunho sleeping on them. yunho chuckled as he helped the girl stand, then standing himself. "let's go get the boys"

"i'll get sang and junnie" yunho said, knowing he would probably have to physically drag his brother out of bed. or renjun. or both.

yeji walked downstairs, seeing jongho asleep on the mini couch placed by the hockey table. wooyoung playing his switch on the bean bag, and mingi on the other bean bag trying to figure out a rubix cube.

"come on, your dads are home with mcdonald's" the girl said softly while walking to jongho and gently shaking him awake

they all walked upstairs, jongho immediately walking into seonghwa's arms. and wooyoung walking into hongjoongs. yunho dragged renjun and yeosang down the stairs, yeosang immediately went to hug his parents, and soon enough it was a big family hug. renjun and yeji smiled at the family sadly, not knowing exactly how they feel, but knowing they're hurt.

all of them sat down to eat, not really knowing what to talk about other than school, which is starting up the next day. yeosang and wooyoung refused to talk about how it was signing san in, and so did everyone else, so it was just never brought up.

it was too quiet for anyone's liking

~

"i'm glad my mom brought my school stuff so i could stay" renjun said as he sat down on the bed and watched his boyfriend strip off his shirt and put on a new hoodie

"me too" the older mumbled and went to sit down on the bed. renjun sat back and pulled the boy onto his lap. he leaned into renjuns chest and his legs straddled him. "hopefully i'll be able t-to get s-stuff done t-tomorrow" yeosang mumbled again, the first day back is always hard, this just added to it.

"it's stupid how we start up on a tuesday" renjun said, hoping a slight subject change would help anything

"i guess" yeosang shrugged

it didn't.

"baby" renjun whispered, lightly tapping his butt

"hm?"

"c'mere" the younger lifted yeosangs chin, making him look up at him, then connecting their lips. "everythi-"

"everything will be okay, i know jun. it's all i've heard my entire life. but right now it doesn't feel like it's going to be okay, and if i'm being honest, i don't think it'll ever be okay" he didn't stutter. not a single-fucking-word. he was so upset, so fogged in the head that his rambling, came out perfectly

"sang"

"what" yeosang whined

"you didn't stutter"

and realization hit. i didn't stutter. how did i not stutter?

"try saying something, say you love me" renjun teased, making the older chuckled and roll his eyes

"i never s-stutter when i s-say that" yeosang laughed a little, before frowning again.

"it's okay, you still did it. you did so well" renjun to the rescue "i'm so proud of you"

and he was, renjun has been friends with yunho and yeosang since pre-k. he's watched yeosang struggle the most, and cheered him on when he would practice talking. he's seen yeosang go through it all. and he couldn't be anymore proud of his boyfriend

yeosang smiled and leaned in to join their lips once again. once again feeling the passion and emotion from before.

maybe everything was okay, at least at this moment.

~

"you didn't stutter?" seonghwa smiled widely

"nope" yeosang smiled proudly

"like, at all" yunho asked, hardly believing his brother and best friends words

after a little make out session, as usual, renjun and yeosang ran downstairs to tell seonghwa and hongjoong. yunho just so happen to be there getting a water.

"i think that he was so caught up in just letting, whatever was built up, out, that he didn't even have to think about it" renjun smiled

"honey that's great" hongjoong smiled before bringing his son into a hug

"i s-still s-stutter though" yeosang reminded

"that's okay, but you've been doing so well, you might just have your words perfected by the time san-ah gets back" yunho smiled. yeosangs face lit up, he couldn't wait to tell san, his biggest supporter.

"it getting late, and you guys have school. go ahead to sleep" hongjoong said "i love you" kiss on yeosangs head "i love you" kiss on yunho's head "and i love you too bud" renjun got a head pat and a soft chuckled

yeosang and renjun ran upstairs after saying their good nights. and quickly fell asleep, it had been a long day

i didn't stutter

[to be continued]

[not proof read]

[i hope you liked this chapter. i was trying not to cry in class while writing it]