𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭│𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐮 ✓

83

Healina

Vernon was half way through the doorway when his arm was caught, he flinched as the hand came down on his wrist. "No, not 'save it' you're going to sit down and talk to us about what's actually going on." Seokmin stared at him sternly, although he'd usually take the soothing route he knew this was a situation that needed some tough love.

Within the flurry of emotions there was a few ounces of defeat which made Vernon stumble backward in a complete stupor. He wasn't crying, he didn't believe he could; reality refused to set in.

"I shouldn't have hit him." Were the first words to come out of his mouth, his statement was clear and simple like his mind had been stripped down to the very basics to still keep it running but unable to process the complex vat of emotions within him. Seokmin and Joshua shared an uncertain glance, "Why did you lie?" Joshua asked, it wasn't accusatory more curious.

Vernon gulped but was able to give a shaky answer, "Seungkwan was the first person to be nice to me in years and I always thought if he's happy then I can be happy but recently everything has been so so bad and I just can't ensure his happiness," He took a pause, thinking as if he wasn't really sure of the answer himself, "I've always been struggling with my course and I thought that maybe if he saw me acting fine about M-Minghao and having a promising future then he'd get better."

"Repressing your true feelings only makes things worse, Vern." Seokmin said, it was quite rich coming from but it was a statement that he'd had a lot of experience discovering the hard way and he didn't want the same for Vernon. "It's just a little break, okay? You both need to work some stuff out," He then reassured, trying to pull the younger in for a hug.

Vernon backed away, he didn't want their sympathy. "I think I'm just going to head home." He mumbled, the other two respected his decision. Neither of their friends were likely to do anything rash so all Seokmin and Joshua could do was spend the night mulling over what this would mean for them.

"You guys can't go two seconds without something dramatic happening huh? Here I was thinking 'Oh I wonder what lovely stories my darling friend Seokkie will have to tell me about his weekend and how it's going with Josh' but no, the other two have to go and do something stupid," Bohee huffed, folding her arms in frustration. "I thought you'd have at least some advice," Seokmin said.

"Great yeah, ask the forever single lesbian for advice on how to fix a nine year long gay relationship, I have a lot of experience with that," She rolled her eyes at the question but in true Bohee fashion ended up answering it a millisecond afterward anyway. "Okay fine, I say just focus on your exams for now, they can work it out once this is all finished too. When I'm feeling sad I just look at my rabbit and go 'if anything else, she seems like she's doing pretty well' and try cope with it."

"So I should get them rabbits?"

"No! They need to find someone or something that keeps them grounded."

"Okay but what if that was person was the person they're currently taking a break from?"

Bohee groaned in defeat, "I don't know anymore, wait, won't they have to see each other at lunch?"

"Already thought of that, Shua is going to hang out with Vernon while I make sure Seungkwan is okay," Seokmin reassured. "No!" Bohee shouted far too loudly for the class that they were in, "I thought you and your friends were finally getting somewhere but now not even you and Joshua will be hanging out?" She whined, not caring about the stare of disapproval coming from their lecturer.

"You're all hopeless."

Seokmin chuckled almost fondly, "Yeah, we are."

"Oh Kwannie," Seokmin said as he saw his friend sat at their bench. His hair was messy and he was wearing what was effectively pyjamas. "Come, please join the pity party, you're the only one with an invite." Seungkwan said dryly, aware of his meagre appearance.

Seokmin came and sat next to him, opening his arms for a hug that Seungkwan instantly accepted, "Weren't these roles switched only about two weeks ago?"

"Yeah, something like that."

They both laughed lightly, their sense of humour becoming a lot sadder since the start of the year but laughter soon reverted back into sniffles, "D-Did I make the right choice?" He asked, "Yes of course, that was incredibly brave of you." Seokmin reassured, swaying them slightly. He paused when he felt a small tap on his shoulder.

"Vernon didn't come in today." Joshua said simply, taking his usual place on the bench. The two opposite him pulled away and Joshua pouted at the state of Seungkwan. "I called him and he sounded okay, I think he's just trying to work through it all," He said carefully, in truth it was very clear on the phone Vernon was far from okay but Joshua figured hearing they were both suffering would only make things worse.

Seungkwan just nodded meekly, he was working through so many emotions while trying his best to not let it get to him. "Kwan can I ask, what was the 'Hansol' thing about?"

"Oh."

"I shouldn't have said that, Vernon he... when we were little he was bullied quite a lot, both his parents were originally from Odera and that really didn't bode well for him back then. It was weird, there was such a prejudice against him when I first joined the school because I moved from the other side of the kingdom I didn't understand it but even though I found him kind of annoying at first I stood up for him and he clung to me ever since," Seungkwan smiled lightly at the memory, "But when we started dating he was so happy he told me he didn't want to remember a time we weren't together and he decided to stop going by Hansol and go by Vernon instead from that day on. I shouldn't have called him that, I was just angry and looking for his weak spots." Seungkwan admitted solemnly, they really had been through a lot together.

"How come you never told us?"

"Didn't need to, it was our thing but I guess not anymore and I think we've established Vernon doesn't like opening up about his issues, even to me." Seungkwan said, the last part tasting bitter on his tongue.

The bell soon rang out for them to head back to lessons, Seungkwan instantly tried to put on a very fake smile, "Just so you know I might not be around as much, I really want to crack down for our exams." He pumped his fist up with a smile that hid so much pain, before the two others could protest, he was already gone.