Lone Thorn on a White Rose || soonhoon; hoshi-centric

chap 2: a small village

Jihoon had held Soonyoung until they had passed out in his arms. Exhausting themselves with their tears.

Once Soonyoung's loud wails had turned into quiet sniffles, Seungcheol had been quick to call their manager, letting them know they would need to cancel practice for the day. It had been awhile since Seungcheol had left to make that phone call, causing worry to settle in Jihoon's chest. Soonyoung's meltdowns aren't an uncommon situation in the Seventeen dorms and it had been decided early on that excusing them from schedules for the day was best, but this is the first time they had all decided to stay back with Soonyoung.

Over the years they had quickly learned that three things are major triggers for Soonyoung's meltdowns:

1. Lack of sleep combined with too much noise

2. Seams and tags on clothes

3. Unexpected food textures and tastes

And this situation today. Well, this wasn't a normal Soonyoung meltdown.

Something bigger is going on, and Soonyoung is hurting from it. Soonyoung is hurting and Jihoon can't stand to watch it.

Once Soonyoung had fallen asleep in his arms, he carried them to their room placing them on the bed making sure to cover them in the softest blanket and place their noise cancelling head phones snuggly over their ears.

Jihoon knew this wasn't a sensory issue meltdown and yet he still couldn't stop stressing about Soonyoung being comfortable. Couldn't stop himself from doing everything he knew that usually helped Soonyoung in moments of distress.

He looked down at Soonyoung as they laid on the bed in front of him, softly brushing his fingers along their puffed cheeks. Around their eyes was tinged red due to irritation, lips settled into a pout, a slight crease as if they were deep in thought glued between their eyebrows even as they slept.

Jihoon wished they could remove every worry from Soonyoung's head. Reassure them of how much they are loved, of how much everyone in this group would do just to make sure they are safe and happy and healthy.

"Rest well, Soonie," he said softly before placing a gentle kiss to their forehead and exiting the room.

As he carefully shut the door, they turned to be met with Seungcheol waiting outside. Seungcheol's shoulders were tensed, the worry clear in his eyes as he took in a slow breath in an attempt to calm himself.

"Nobody asked too many questions, thank God, they just more so seemed concerned with Soonyoung feeling better," Seungcheol spoke, eyes focused on the door behind Jihoon rather than the others eyes in front of him. Jihoon could tell all the eldest wanted to do in that moment was to walk in that room, pulling Soonyoung into a tight hug, physically protecting him from all of the dangers in the world. Physical touch was how Seungcheol eased his own anxieties, which in moments with Soonyoung could often suck since it was the absolute opposite of what the dancer needed, leaving Seungcheol desperate and antsy for them to just feel better.

"Soon's gonna be okay, Cheol," Jihoon assured as he watched the leader roll his bottom lip between his teeth in worry.

"I've never seen Soonyoung so sad-," his voice cracked. "S-so scared I-," a stuttered breath fell from Seungcheol's lips as he blinked back tears. "What have we done to make Soonyoung feel so unsafe?" A brief silence fell between the two before Seungcheol's sniffles filled the space. A hand quickly came up to Seungcheol's face, wiping away the tears that had escaped in an attempt to push back the intense emotions.

"Nothing, Cheol." Seungcheol squeezed his eyes closed as more tears started to fall, gently shaking his head in disagreement of Jihoon's words. Disbelief that those words could be correct. There was no way they had done nothing to lead to this sort of reaction from Soonyoung.