merry christmas, meanie

Guilty

Jieun outright refused to accompany Mingyu to the hospital today. No matter how desperately he tried to convince her, she wouldn't listen. Why? Mingyu has no fucking idea. But he knows for sure Jieun isn't acting up or being a brat, although he fails to understand the real reason behind her refusal. As reluctant as he is to leave her out of his sight, he's still inside the elevator of their apartment complex right now -- making his way to Seungcheol's.

Mingyu rings the doorbell to his hyung's house, and waits restlessly for him to open the door. When he does, the older boy looks surprisedly at Mingyu; Mingyu doesn't know why.

"Mingyu, dear, you look terrible. I don't say that to offend you, but, have you been taking care of yourself?" Oh.

He simply nods, flashing a fake smile Seungcheol's way. "Are you alright?" Seungcheol asks. With a small 'yes', to which the older looks unconvinced, Mingyu bids goodbye, saying he's in a hurry, and leaves after profusely thanking Seungcheol.

Mingyu briskly walks to the hospital, with headphones on and his gaze fixated strictly in front of himself -- nowhere else. He doesn't have anything to hold back any trauma response right now, so Mingyu doesn't want to risk it. He wants to reach Wonwoo as soon as possible, with no disturbances.

The receptionist lady at the hospital doesn't even have to ask for his name anymore. The moment she sees him approaching the desk, she sends a smile his way and creates an entry for him right away.

Mingyu opens the door to Wonwoo's ward, stepping into the air-conditioned room. It calms him a bit when he sees a lesser number of equipment hooked onto Wonwoo.

As usual, Mingyu takes a seat on the chair that's been there for the past two weeks. He takes Wonwoo's much warmer palm in his, tapping each of his fingers with his index one. 

"Jieun's waiting, Baby," Mingyu whispers.

As he mindlessly continues to play with his boyfriend's hand, he feels it twitch in his.

Mingyu becomes alert right away, as Wonwoo's eyes slowly flutter open. "Water." He croaks.

Mingyu springs into action, and turns to his side to find a jar of water kept on a small table. He pours him a glass, holding it up to Wonwoo's parched lips - who greedily gulps all of it in a matter of seconds.

Mingyu doesn't get the time to react, when Wonwoo grips his hand tighter. He's fully conscious. Mingyu has to remind himself.

His boyfriend's hand feels weak, although he can see the effort Wonwoo puts in. "Relax, Baby, I'm not going anywhere." Mingyu smooths his hand over the boy's head. Wonwoo slumps back, his palm still not having left Mingyu's.

Mingyu's brain has too much going on to form coherent sentences, and he settles for the one that made most sense right now. "How're you feeling?"

"Tired." Mingyu appreciates Wonwoo using his words. "I'm sorry," He hears Wonwoo whisper.

That enrages Mingyu. What the fuck was he saying? He snorts, visibly annoyed. "What the fuck Wonwoo?"

The older boy catches on to Mingyu's tone, and goes silent immediately, turning away from Mingyu. "Won, look at me."

Wonwoo does as he's told, though the conflict in his eyes is as clear as day. He expects Mingyu to lash out.

Instead, Mingyu smiles at him, bending down to kiss his pale hand. "Jieun's gonna be so happy."

It goes unsaid between the boys that the accident wasn't going to be mentioned anytime soon. Not ever, even. "How's Jieun?" Wonwoo asks.

Mingyu almost spills everything -- but he holds back. Wonwoo doesn't have to know just now. "She's alright, she's been waiting."

"Tell her I'm sorry,"

Mingyu decides against holding back. "Shut the fuck up. How and where do I start?" Mingyu rambles. "She blames herself, I've tried talking her out of it, she just doesn't agree. She's very stubborn, just like you." Mingyu attempts a chuckle, but fails miserably, as the intended chuckle comes out more like a choked sob. "You need to talk to her."

"Where is she?"

"She didn't want to come today. I don't know why."

But Wonwoo knows immediately. Tears pool in his eyes, as he instantly brings his free hand to his mouth and bites on it to dissolve the sob in his throat. "I don't think I'd be able to talk to her."

"You have to. She's heard too much of me."

Wonwoo finally sobs. It hurts Mingyu to see him this way, and although he knows the reason behind Wonwoo crying, he finds himself helpless, unable to do anything to stop it. "Won, Baby, please. No one's at fault here, and I've spent an entire fucking week trying to drill that into Jieun's head. Please, I'm not lying."

"I feel terrible. As a dad."

"For what? Huh?" Mingyu finally snaps, but he tries to keep it quiet at the moment. "For getting into an accident? That fucker driving the fucking car was on a narrow street, where you'd always find people walking on. He should have been civil with the speed he was going at. You did nothing, if anything, you saved that puppy's life - it escaped to the other side later. Jieun says she shouldn't have pointed at the puppy, and now she blames herself -- she's a fucking toddler, and you," Mingyu jabs a finger Wonwoo's way. "Blaming yourself for being so fucking selfless, diving to the middle of the road to save an animal. What are you sorry for?" Mingyu's eyes are red and wet by the time he's done speaking.

And Wonwoo has the answer right in front of him. "This," He gestures towards a flustered Mingyu. "For causing all of this, and I'm sure as fuck Jieun's been worse. I'm sorry for troubling you both so much."

"HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF?! Please fucking understand, Wonwoo."

Mingyu grabs at Wonwoo's hand with both of his, looking down to poorly hide his uncontrollable tears.

"Oh Gyu..." Wonwoo ends up coughing, to which Mingyu holds a refilled glass of water near his mouth again.

"We can save this for later. We need to get you out of here first." Mingyu says, going back to caressing Wonwoo's hand.