We are Stray Kids - A Stray Kids Fan-Fiction

Chapter 65: Reveal

Chan couldn't properly explain it but when he saw Byungho standing there beside Hyunjin, he felt a lot of emotions swirling around in his heart. He was relieved to see the brunette again but also worried because he knew something was up. Despite that he had this warm feeling in his chest when he meet the dark eyes of the brunette.

Sadly, before Chan could properly greet his mate Jeongin and Felix ran past him and tackled Byungho into a hug. The brunette seemed to be taken a bit off guard when the two younger males hugged him without warning but Chan saw a small, warm smile tugging at the other's lips.

"We missed you, hyung", Felix mumbled, barely audible. Nevertheless, Chan heard it thanks to his good ears. The ginger cat hybrid hugged Byungho a bit tighter after saying that. Jeongin stayed silent, but he clearly showed how worried he was about the wellbeing of his hyung by the way he hugged him close.

"I missed you too", Byungho lightly huffed and patted Felix's and Jeongin's backs. Chan immediately picked something up when he heard Byungho talk. Despite the small smile on the brunette's lips, his voice sounded less warm, less emotional. The rest of the group probably missed it, because it was so subtle to the point Chan, who had known Byungho for years, barely picked up on it. It worried Chan a lot because Byungho's voice had never sounded like that before.

The wolf hybrid hadn't realized how he had spaced out until Minho nudged him with his elbow and brought him back to the present. Chan blinked at the cat hybrid in light confusion and didn't say a word but Minho seemingly understood what was up anyway.

"Talk to him alone. I'm taking care of the rest", Minho suggested, using a rather low voice, so the rest couldn't hear him so well. Chan gave Minho a little nod and mumbled a "Thank you". He was glad to have Minho around in that moment. 

"Alright we found Hyunjin. Now, we just need to find our dear vampire friend", Minho stated, putting his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. Jeongin and Felix let go of Byungho and turned around to look at Minho, who was obviously trying to take the lead.

"Oh, we shouldn't disturb him right now", Hyunjin chimed in, which earned him some weird looks. One person in particular didn't care. That person was Han Jisung, the one who, made it his mission to get Changbin to sleep.

"I don't care about that. I'm gonna drag him to bed if that is necessary", Jisung exclaimed and started walking. Hyunjin opened his mouth again to say something but he was stopped when Jeongin grabbed his wrist.

"Auntie was stressed when she saw that your bed was empty this morning, so you will have to explain yourself to her if you want to live", Jeongin said, not sounding like he was joking. Hyunjin gulped at that.

Using the moment where everyone was distracted, Chan walked up to Byungho, took his hand and silently lead him down the corridor, away from their group members.

Chan was grateful to Minho for giving him the opportunity to talk to Byungho alone, because his gut feeling told him that Byungho would be more ready to talk if it was just the two of them.

Byungho let Chan lead him, without questioning it at all. The wolf hybrid could feel the familiar warmth from his mate's hand, which made him feel better and stronger in general. He hoped Byungho felt the same effect and that it somehow cheered him up just a little bit.

When Chan was certain they were somewhere out of everyone's ear shot he slowed down and made a turn that led them into an open, small common room where they halted. The wolf hybrid turned around to look at his mate but the brunette had his gaze focused onto the ground, seemingly not wanting to make eye contact again.

"Byungho?", Chan gently called the other's name while giving his hand a light squeeze to make sure Byungho knew he was there. The brunette still refused to look up but Chan felt how he held his hand just a bit tighter.