angel horns ; norenmin [ ✓ ]

white birds¹³

yuta had so many questions whirling around in his head as his worry just seemed to worsen every passing minute. it didn't seem like jaemin to just run off and never return home like that...

even during the days when he was dating that boy yuta in no way approved of, he at least came back home. now he goes to hang out with yangyang and never shows up. he called his brother's friend's parents, but they didn't know either and were just as worried.

he felt too scared for his half-brother's wellbeing to be mad at him for not listening to that one rule set years ago — don't stay out long unless at a friend's house. his brain seemed intent on coming up with more worse and worse things that could've happened to him... did he run off? was he kidnapped? was he... murdered?

he pushed the last thought away. he didn't need something else to worry so much over.

at the sound of his office door opening, he looked over, seeing his husband standing in the doorway. sicheng immediately took notice of yuta's current appearance — unkept hair and his eyes clearly showing how tired he was. he had stayed up all night and hadn't even eaten due to his worry for his half-brother. sicheng swallowed; he didn't like seeing the man he was in love with look like that.

it seem to hurt him more especially when shotaro noticed and started pestering sicheng with questions about yuta and jaemin, clearly worried for his dad and uncle. he was at school at the moment, but he knew their son's questions would start up again as soon as he's back home.

"honey," sicheng finally found his voice, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. "you should eat and take a nap. you look horrible."

"i can't," yuta said shakily. "i have no idea where the hell my little brother went and it's killing me. what if something happened to him?" his eyes widened to as big as moons, now clearly panicked. "what if he never comes back ever? i won't be able to live with myself then! what would mum think?"

sicheng swallowed again, but with great difficulty. "that's — that's the last thing we need to be thinking about. i know he'll turn up and i know nothing happened to him."

"how do you know, sicheng?" yuta shot back, his eyes glistening with new tears to fall down his cheeks, already stained with dry tears.

sicheng didn't have a retort for that. true, how would he know for sure? but they needed to be optimistic and stop thinking about the worse possible answer for jaemin's disappearance. yuta's always had a problem of obsessively thinking about the worst possible things to happen, causing him to lose sleep and stop eating.

this was the last thing sicheng wanted to witness again. he made a promise to yuta's mother before she passed that he would take care of her son and he hasn't let her down since.

he slowly approached yuta and lowered himself down enough to pull his crying husband into a hug. "shh, calm down," sicheng said softly, running a hand through yuta's messy hair. "calm down and breathe."

"i — " yuta started to say again, sniffing.

"calm down," sicheng repeated, continued to stroke his hair. "calm down..."

slowly but surely, the beating of yuta's once panicking heart slowed and his breathing became more even and less rushed.

"there," sicheng pulled away to wipe a tear that started to fall. "i want to look for jaemin as much as you do, but it's only been a day. let's hope he'll come back soon enough. for the time being, eat your lunch and take a nap. you need it, honey."

to his relief, yuta's panicked state had gone away and he had truly relaxed and not started up again at the mention of his brother. without protest, he nodded and let sicheng guide him from his office.