𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭│𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐮 ✓

31

Healina

10 hours earlier

Minghao woke up and fixed his eyes to the light in a house he still hadn't adjusted to, every morning his brain would scramble to pick up the pieces and then remember it all, over and over.

He slowly sat up on the couch in Vernon's room that he temporarily called his own and peered around. He liked Vernon's room, for a Healina born, it was pretty interesting with various nerdy comics and posters with racks upon racks of old hiphop vinyls from artists he'd never heard of. To the outside world Vernon was clear cut but Minghao had begun to see how much more comfortable the younger was in his own home with slightly questionable fashion choices and funny outbursts, it was cute.

Minghao would be lying if he didn't have a slightly overwhelming crush on his new found friend, before they knew each other he'd admired Vernon from a far a few times and appreciated his good looks but being around him 247 when he had done so much for him it was impossible not to fall for his deep brown eyes. He was endearing without effort, had a calm energy surrounding him that told Minghao everything would be okay but he also had Boo Seungkwan. Of course he did.

At the underground bar, Minghao was very upfront and straight forward; he didn't see the point in trying to beat around the bush to get where you want. Having to hold back from Vernon was excruciating when his cheeks started to warm any time the younger would so much as move.

Minghao wasn't stupid though, he accredited it to his current situation, he knew he was vulnerable and the fact Vernon didn't act on that vulnerability made him like him even more, the cycle was so unfair. He was frustrated at his father for kicking him out, himself for this stupid crush, life for landing him in Healina. It was all wrong, he wasn't meant to like Vernon and he wasn't meant to be here, he could feel it but it was just a case of where to go next.

His brain switched back to reality when he saw Vernon walk into the room, shirtless. 'Oh fuck why do this to me?' He thought, trying desperately not to look although Vernon seemed his usual state of unbothered.

"I think we should stay in today, play some scrabble maybe?" Vernon said whilst, much to Minghao's relief, putting a shirt on. "What are we, 80?" Minghao chucked back but when he received the saddest little pout he'd seen in his 19 years of living so he quickly backtracked, "I'm joking, sure that's fine, get my mind off... you know."

"Hell yeah!"

It was clear Vernon was slightly too excited.

The younger's approach to helping Minghao wasn't intrusive, it was slow steps, not talking much about it but just doing small things to integrate into normality in hopes to move on, his chill vibe really supported that and he was aware he wasn't the best at giving deep advice so today's agenda of scrabble was appropriate.

"Wow Vern, why are you so good at this?" Minghao said, genuinely shocked at how his score could be half of his counterpart's, even if it was still early days.

"I write rap lyrics sometimes, trying to find things that rhyme really opens up your vocabulary,"

"Clearly," Minghao replied, placing down a word that only got him six points but doing it proudly none the less. The game dragged out for quite a while but with little intensity due to Vernon's hidden talent for it.

"Hao I don't think 'tiddies' is in the dictionary,"

"Well it should be."

"Hao no-"

The newly introduced nickname of Hao was sending of signals in said boy's brain. Vernon looked amazing today, he swore he did everyday but somehow always a bit better. His look was simple, his hair was a soft brown with a white shirt and silver necklace but it was breathtaking anyway.

That's when an episode started.

They came on at anytime and had done for years but recently far more frequently. Minghao's hands started to shake and he felt an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach which grew and grew until he let out a small cry and calmed his post together tightly. Vernon didn't notice until the noise since he was evaluating his scrabble board but he really should've been more vigilant.

He could hear his father again in his head like a violent screaming match played on ten times the speed, Minghao clutched his ears, scraping at them to the point where he almost drew blood. That was until he felt a hand on his chin.

His head was lifted up and out of the dark, Vernon was holding his face with his thumb and forefinger, darting between Minghao's eyes to figure out what is going on but for some reason this sudden action made it go away. The adrenal glands didn't stop pumping however so on an act of impulse he did it.

Minghao pressed forward with his tear stained cheeks clashing with Vernon's in a frantic rush. He was confused because it didn't feel how he thought it was meant to feel, the adrenaline was replaced with shock and confusion which was then replaced with a loud thump on the floor and the sounds of bones crunching harshly.

Seungkwan.

What had he done?