Chapter Text
Throwing open the door, they were greeted with the sight of Junhui screaming as he writhed in bed. “Stop! I beg you, just stop the voices, I can’t take it anymore,” he cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks as his eyes remained closed.
Minghao rushed forward, clasping Junhui’s hand as he collapsed onto his bed. “Junnie-ge, please wake up, it’s just a nightmare, hm?” the younger Chinese boy seemed to be in tears as well as he tried to shake the older awake. “Junhui? Junhui, you have to wake up, Junhui?” Joshua joined Minghao’s side in an instant, helping to wake him up as well. Just as Soonyoung was about to help, Junhui’s eyes shot open, his hands flying to cover his ears as he sat up in bed, backing away into a corner. His eyes scanned around the room in a panic, shivering as his eyes landed on the members. Joshua slowly moved forward, hand reaching out to touch him but the younger boy merely huddled closer to the wall. “Don’t touch me! Just go away!” he screamed, covering his ears and desperately shaking his head at them.
“Junnie, we’re not going to leave you,” Seungcheol’s mouth was downturned as he took one step closer to the bed. That was apparently the wrong move, for Junhui let out another frightened scream, closing in on himself as his breaths got ragged again. “You don’t care about me anyways, just go!” the Chinese boy stuttered, gasping for air. “That’s not true, we love you so much,” Wonwoo’s stoic facade had broken down, leaving the boy staring sadly at the panicking one.
They’re lying.
“N-no you don’t, they said you’re lying,” Junhui choked out, tears flowing freely as he rapidly shook his head.
“Who’s ‘they’? Who said so?” Jihoon asked with a wavering voice. “The voices, don’t you hear them? They keep screaming at me, pointing out all my mistakes,” he answered, voice tapering off at the end. The members exchanged glances before Soonyoung crept nearer slowly, “Junhui, I’m going to touch you, is that okay?”
They don’t care about you.
Tell them to leave.
The mentioned boy shook his head and cried, “no, they said you have to leave, go away!” Soonyoung faltered but Mingyu pushed on, edging closer to the crying boy. “Hyung, we need you to ignore those voices, just focus on us, please?”
Don’t be deceived by them.
“Hyung?” Chan was evidently on the verge of tears as he approached the older boy one step at a time.
It’s your fault now.
They’ll blame you for making your dongsaeng cry.
“I’m sorry…” Junhui repeated apologies, refusing to meet his members’ eyes. Their hearts shattered as he wrapped his arms around himself, as though building up walls and preventing them from reaching out to him. Unable to hold himself back further, Seokmin extended his hand out and touched the older boy gently, watching as he flinched but didn’t attempt to pull away further.
What are you doing?
You’re not supposed to show them your weakness!
Pull away from him right now!
“Stop…” he murmured, shuddering from the chill running down his spine. “Hyungie, don’t listen to the voices, just keep your attention on us, hm?” Vernon asked quietly, hand moving forward to lift Junhui’s head up. The older boy didn’t resist, tears still dripping from his eyes as he raised his head shakily. They released sad smiles as they neared the bed, Junhui still flinching slightly at the movements. Seungcheol slid slowly onto the bed, opening his arms to welcome the younger boy into an embrace. There was a moment of tense silence as Junhui stared blankly at the leader, the rest of the members holding their breath to see what would happen. Eventually, he crawled over to position himself between the oldest member’s legs, slumping forward into his chest.
Seungcheol wrapped his arms around Junhui tightly, murmuring comforting words into his ear as his sobs became muffled in the leader’s warm hoodie. “We love you, Junhui,” Jeonghan whispered, running his hands through Junhui’s hair. The younger boy stiffened slightly when he heard the word ‘love’ but as Seungkwan stepped forward, tilting his head up to leave a gentle kiss on his lips, he melted into the leader’s touch again. He was still shaking but the tears had since been wiped away by Jihoon’s soft hands.
“Hands up,” Minghao nudged Junhui gently until the older boy lifted his head from Seungcheol’s chest, raising his hands up weakly. Smiling, the younger Chinese boy pulled a cream hoodie that everyone recognised as Mingyu’s due to its large size, onto Junhui. He looked adorable in the oversized hoodie though, so Mingyu wasn’t about to complain about his stolen hoodie, instead cooing at the older member. Junhui dived back into Seungcheol’s embrace once the hoodie was pooling at his knees, nuzzling into his neck as if seeking for comfort. The leader complied easily, though he frowned as he stared at the clock showing 4:00am.
“We can talk tomorrow but we have to get some rest, the manager cancelled our activities for the week but it’s almost dawn,” Jeonghan clearly noticed Seungcheol’s frown, turning his head to face the clock too. “What if the voices come back?” Junhui’s tiny voice brought their attention back to him. Joshua hummed sadly while fondling Junhui’s cheeks and noting how it wasn’t as soft as usual, “we’ll stay here with you, we’ll show you how much we love you, and we won’t leave you forever.” Junhui peeked up from where he was hiding in Seungcheol’s embrace, “promise?”
“Of course,” Wonwoo let out a small smile as Chan lifted his pinky to hook around Junhui’s, their Seventeen rings shining under the light. The oldest 96’liner blushed lightly, before nodding, slipping under the covers whilst watching the other members play a quick round of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would be sleeping on the bed with him. Minghao and Jeonghan eventually won, triumphantly laying on his left and right respectively. The remaining 10 members groaned as they hunted around the house for spare mattresses, pillows and blankets. Junhui had cast them an apologetic look as they dragged their tired selves into the room in their sleepwear, but they had shoved his unspoken apology away, leaving kisses on his forehead to assure him that it was not his fault.
As Vernon reached up to turn off the lights, Junhui cuddled closer towards Minghao, burying his head into the younger’s chest as Jeonghan’s arm snaked over his waist, holding him close as a protective gesture. He allowed a small genuine smile, the first one in weeks, to creep onto his face as he started drifting off into sleep.
They held him tightly that night, chasing away the doubts he ever had. And if he woke up in the middle of night, screaming about not deserving their love, they made sure to hold him until he stopped thrashing, promising him that he deserved all the love in the world.