𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭│𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐮 ✓

87

Healina

Loud music reverberated throughout the house, discarded snacks and comics stretched over the floor in Vernon's bedroom; Vernon certainly had some unconventional methods of self discovery.

His days were spent in a perpetual sadness, no one there to help him get over it barring the occasional text from Joshua. He tried to convince himself a break was good, he could become more 'Healinan' if he really put his mind to it. The issue was, Seungkwan was his driving force so taking that away meant his lack of motivation was overpowering and lead him to act more outlandish.

A few years ago he had stumbled upon a dodgy looking website housing all different types of music you wouldn't traditionally find in Healina and he fell in love with it, this making you a bad person he figured was silly so he thought it'd be fine. But it did make him question more deeply, what constitutes a bad person?

Of course serious crimes like murder or being hateful would make sense but Jeonghan wasn't like that and he went. All these things they'd grown up thinking were wrong, addiction, mental health and promiscuous habits, were they all that bad or even controllable?

He thought about how horrible Minghao's dad was and how they still had prisons in Healina, all these other factors that made him question the place he'd lived in for so long. His sunshine life with Seungkwan had blinded him to these things, the strict nature of everything didn't make it perfect at all, it made it conditioned.

All his friends had been depressed, confused and socially manipulated to try and be what they assume is perfect, it wasn't right.

These sorts of thoughts were very unnatural for Vernon, he was one to not overthink anything and just take each day as it comes but it was definitely stimulated by the marijuana he had smoked just 40 minutes prior. He'd had the drug for a while, idle in his drawer after being given it at the underground club Minghao used to work in, when it first happened he took it because he didn't want to be rude and wasn't sure exactly what it was but something about the stress had made him finally give in to trying it out and yes, it was also true Vernon had paid a few more visits to that club than he had previously let on. He felt so attracted to the change but told himself it was just to make sure Minghao was doing okay there after the incident but it was becoming more apparent now with Minghao gone and Seungkwan slipping away, some sort of release like that was something he thought he needed.

However, in this moment, he felt the calmest he had in a long time, warmth coursing through him as he spaced out, occasional pointless giggles escaping from his mouth. He was enjoying it so much in fact that he didn't hear the sound of the front door opening.

Seokmin felt bad for not seeing Vernon but felt a lot calmer after spending his day with Joshua so decided it'd be nice to pay his youngest friend a visit. He knocked twice with no reply but remembered the spare house key kept under a pot plant at his entrance way and decided to let himself in since he could clearly hear sound coming from the house but no cars in the driveway indicating the absence of Vernon's parents, as usual. To his surprise, the house looked immaculate but the once quieter sound grew to loud music coming from the upstairs so naturally followed it.

He opened the door and was hit with the smell of stale crisps and a very strange looking Vernon, it took Seokmin's brain a second to process what he was witnessing. Vernon was lying on his bed, eyes red and glassy while a poorly constructed blunt lay next to him on his sheets.

"Oh Vern..." Seokmin started, the shock melting away and leaving pure pity. He approached the dazed boy who slowly began to lift his head and just hugged him, ignoring the sickly sweet smell that engulfed the room. Vernon registered the warmth around him and held onto Seokmin's arm tightly, rocking back and forth lightly.

"Seungkwan," Vernon mumbled, he was disassociating in and out of reality in a ghost like manner but Seokmin could feel his heart beating like crazy. He didn't say anything, he didn't know if he could so he just continued to hold the younger, feelings of guilt and sadness washing over him.

It took a while but eventually Vernon's heart rate slowed and his grip became looser. Seokmin felt the change and carefully manoeuvred his way off the boy, pulling him into bed.

He was in a weird state, seeing his friend for so many years in a completely new and humanising manor. To him, it always felt like the young couple never really grew up, suspended in this time capsule of youth that they adored but now it had been opened it was hard for Seokmin to see how the pair could go back to how they were before, if that was even a good thing.

Lost in his thoughts, Seokmin absently began cleaning up after Vernon, turning off the loud music and putting everything back to its original state. It didn't really dawn on him that he could be seeing the real Vernon, for all he knew Vernon could be using drugs most days, after Jeonghan it was hard to tell but for now Seokmin was focused on bringing at least an ounce of composure to Vernon's hurricane.

What was he meant to do? No amount of courses in behavioural studies could prepare him to be hit with mental blow after mental blow and part of him felt selfish, selfish because his life wasn't going that badly where it seemed everyone around him was crumbling so his brain simply refused to process it.

When the room was cleaner he decided it was best to stay with the boy, finding himself a few old blankets and draping them over a beanbag in Vernon's room to form a makeshift second bed.

Before he was about to shut his eyes he heard a soft, "Thank you," From above him and smiled, they could think about the consequences tomorrow, work on helping Vernon tomorrow but for now it was better they just rest.