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Taesan stepped out of the elevator of the Hybe building, a yawn escaping him as he made his way to the practice room. Tonight was a practice session that Taesan wrote in himself, and right now he was beating himself up for doing so. It was a late night, roughly already around 7:30pm, and Taesan wanted nothing more than to cuddle up on the couch and watch TV with his roommates.
Taesan slid off his headphones as he neared the door, ready to pocket them away in his duffle bag thrown over his shoulder, and that’s when he heard it — the yelling.
It made Taesan freeze in place. The yelling was coming from inside the practice room, and as far as Taesan was aware, he had this room completely booked until midnight. A sympathetic grimace grew on his face as he figured it was a trainee getting scolded by a coach, and said coach probably found the first empty room they could to scream at the poor person. Taesan was about to turn around and find another room when he heard —
“I get that you’re young, Woonhak, but Christ, are you a fucking idiot too?!”
Taesan froze once more, but this time he felt his blood go cold and his skin grow warm.
A part of him wanted to imagine it wasn’t his Woonhak getting yelled at. It must be another one, because his Woonhak never did anything wrong. His Woonhak was loud and had a lot of energy, but he was polite and kind. He was the hardest worker Taesan could think of, despite being so young. He never complained, never let his spirits get down. So, his Woonhak couldn’t possibly be the one getting yelled at.
Taesan stepped closer to the door, and the sound of Woonhak’s cry felt like a punch to his gut. It was so unmistakably his Woonhak crying like that, crying like he was hurt, like he was in pain.
Taesan threw himself at the door and grabbed the door knob, flinging it open with so much force that he wondered if the hinges would break.
At the other end of the practice room was Woonhak and a staff member Taesan couldn’t recognize. Woonhak was on the floor, palms planted onto the ground and his head low, his cries loud in the empty room. The staff was standing over him, a hand raised in the air. Taesan saw red.
He crossed the room in a second, crouching down in front of Woonhak when he stood in front of the younger. He went to grab the maknae’s face, but Woonhak only flinched and cried louder, shaking his head rapidly as if to keep Taesan away.
“Baby it’s hyung, please just—” Taesan was cut off by another wail coming from Woonhak’s mouth. Taesan’s head whipped over to the staff member.
“What the fuck did you do?!” He snapped, standing up to his full size. It was a bit satisfying, because he had some height on the older man in front of him. Taesan stepped between Woonhak and the man, fists clenched.
“Oh, he’s just being a crybaby. I never cried like this when I was his age!” The staff member threw up his hands in his own defense. “What, we can’t scold you children anymore? Unbelievable!”
“Maybe it’s not your fucking place to tell him what he can and can’t do!” Taesan barked out, pointing to Woonhak behind him. “What did you fucking do?”
The man was quiet, lips pressed to a tight line. Taesan made a sound of frustration and turned around, dropping to a knee to grab Woonhak’s face. The maknae protested again, but Taesan was stronger. He grabbed the maknae’s cheeks and pulled his face up, a gasp leaving his own lips when he saw the cut on Woonhak’s cheek. Not only that, but the area around the cut was a bright, blotchy red. Woonhak cried louder at the feeling of Taesan’s hand on it, and the other quickly let go. He whipped his face back over to the older man.
Taesan stood up instantly and he was on the man in a second, his hands moving to push them backwards.
“So you hit him, huh? You hit him? You wanna beat on kids, yeah?” Taesan shoved him harder, stalking forward as the man continued to stumble backwards.
The staff member hit the wall behind him and Taesan was quick to grab his shirt, twisting the fabric in his fists. “Then go on, hit me! Since you’re so fucking entitled, go ahead and hit me!” Taesan pulled him forward only to slam him back into the wall, as if the emphasize his own words.
He must have been louder than he thought, because the door to the practice room opened and two staff members walked in, their expressions one of worry. They morphed into shock when they saw the scene in front of them. They broke off instantly, one rushing over to Woonhak and the other to Taesan, grabbing the younger and pulling him away.
Taesan struggled to break free. “He— He fucking hit Woonhak!” Taesan moved to kick the man but the staff member pulled him farther away.
“Taesan, is there proof?” The staff member grabbing him asked, and Taesan had to inhale sharply to try and keep a rational mind — of course they needed proof, but it still pissed Taesan off that his word wasn’t enough, that Woonhak’s sobs weren’t enough.
“Cameras, the cameras.” Taesan broke an arm free and pointed to the camera in the corner of the ceiling. “You’ll see, you’ll see that he— he fucking—” Taesan resumed struggling, trying to reach the man cowering against the wall.
“Okay, okay, we’ll sort this out, don’t worry,” The staff member was clearly trying to calm him down, but Taesan wanted nothing more than to beat this man into the ground. “Let us handle this, Taesan. Woonhak needs you right now.”
At the sound of the maknae’s name, Taesan whipped his head around to see the younger still on the ground. Taesan broke free from the staff’s arms in a second and rushed over, collecting the younger in his arms. Woonhak practically melted into his embrace, burying his face into the crook of Taesan’s neck. Taesan held the back of his head and carefully rocked them back and forth, his grip on the maknae tight and firm.
“Woonie, I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry…” Taesan breathed into his ear, keeping his voice low. He turned and saw the two staff members dragging the man out, but he really didn’t care. He was worried about Woonhak, and that’s all. Taesan pressed a kiss to the side of his temple as he let Woonhak calm down in his arms.
Woonhak wasn’t very talkative on the walk back to the dorms, but Taesan didn’t blame him. He had a protective arm around Woonhak’s shoulder the entire time, keeping him ducked into his side. As tall as Woonhak was, he was still so small. Taesan heart ached at the thought of Woonhak being so small but enduring so much.
When they opened the door to the dorms, Taesan assumed that the members had been contacted if the way Jaehyun was crying was anything to go by. Their leader practically threw himself onto Woonhak, crying into the younger’s neck as he clutched onto him. Taesan fought the tears in his own eyes and closed the door behind him, gently guiding the duo further into the apartment.
The other three were staring with concern written across their faces, eyebrows furrowed and eyes glistening.
Sungho stepped forward and wrapped both Jaehyun and Woonhak into his arms, pressing a kiss to both of their heads as the two of them cried. Taesan knew Jaehyun’s heart ached for their maknae, because he could feel it too. The guilt was also unbearable as well — how didn’t they know?
“What happened?” Leehan asked quietly, staring at Taesan with his hands wrung in his lap, fingers picking nervously.
Taesan sighed and ran a hand down his face, setting his stuff down before sitting on the ground next to Jaehyun, Woonhak and Sungho.
“I’m not sure how it started, but… I heard yelling and, and then… I heard Woonhak. So obviously I walked in, and the staff was just… standing over him. He wasn’t even fucking sorry.” Taesan shook his head as he told the story, the anger boiling up inside again.
Leehan frowned and slowly made his way off the couch and over to Taesan, grabbing his hand. “Thanks for protecting our baby, hyung.”
At that, Woonhak lifted up his head from Jaehyun’s neck, face red from crying and wet with tears. “M’not a baby.” He pouted, looking at all of his hyungs.
Riwoo knelt down behind Woonhak and wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. “You’ll always be our little baby, Woonie. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Woonhak let out a sound of disagreement, but buried his face back into Jaehyun’s neck regardless. Sungho cooed and pressed another kiss to Woonhak’s head, lingering for a moment before pulling away.
Jaehyun was taking shaky breaths, his grip on the maknae unyielding. “Did—Did they— did they fire him? Is he— Is he getting charged? He—He hit—”
Riwoo was quick to move to Jaehyun’s side, leaning into him for comfort. Jaehyun let out another shuddered breath and held Woonhak impossibly closer. Taesan would laugh at the squeak Woonhak let out if he wasn’t so angry.
“I’m sure we’ll find out tomorrow. After they took care of him, I just wanted to get Woonhak home.”
Leehan hummed, playing with Taesan’s fingers as the other spoke. “On the phone, they said they’ll watch the camera footage and get back to us in the morning… Woonie, do you want jeyugbokk-eum?”
Woonhak’s head perked up instantly, eyes wide. Taesan couldn’t help the coo that left his lips at how darling Woonhak looked — eyes sparkling, eyebrows raised and expression one of interest.
“Really? Jeyugbokk-eum? Right now?” Woonhak asked, looking around to his hyungs for his answer.
Jaehyun held onto Woonhak tighter — another squeak — and buried his face into the maknae’s neck. “You can have all the jeyugbokk-eum you want, Woonie. All of it. Just take it all.”
Sungho rolled his eyes fondly and shook his head, ruffling Woonhak’s hair. “Yes, we can order it for dinner tonight. How about we go wash up before dinner though, hm? You’ll let hyung help?”
Woonhak whined, looking up at Sungho with a pout. “S’embarrassing when you do it, though.” Sungho leveled him with a look, causing the maknae to groan. “Fine! Fine, that’s fine. Do whatever you want.”
Riwoo watched Sungho practically lift Woonhak off the ground and gather him in his arms — the sight was quite comical, considering how lanky and long Woonhak was growing. He frowned at the thought — growing, Woonhak was still growing because he was so young. Riwoo turned to Taesan.
“Did he tell you what happened?”
Taesan sighed and shook his head, frowning. “No, he just… I think he’ll talk when he’s ready. Just not now, though.”
Jaehyun made a sound of confirmation before turning to Taesan, eyes still teary. “Staff told us they had to pull you off the guy, huh?” Jaehyun said with a watery laugh, smiling.
The other two laughed as well, whilst Taesan grinned and shrugged, looking towards Sungho’s closed door where he could hear the water running. He could hear Woonhak’s scream that the water was too cold and Sungho’s protest that cold water is good for you!
“Of course they did, you know I’d do anything for him.” Taesan said softly, looking back to the members. “We all would.”
Perhaps Woonhak was pampered and spoiled that night beyond belief, but then again, Taesan knew it was what the maknae deserved.
At night, when he turned off the light in his and Woonhak’s room, the elder crawled into the maknae’s bed, wrapping his arms around him tightly. Woonhak must have been expecting it, seeing that he was already turning over, burying his nose into Taesan’s neck.
“Thank you, hyung.” Woonhak mumbled sleepily into his skin, and Taesan pressed a quick kiss to his forehead.
“Don’t thank me, Woonie. I’ll always be there for you, always.” Taesan spoke into the quiet of the night, his maknae in his arms. “I love you, Woonie.”
Woonhak made a sound of contentment. “Love you too, hyungie.”
They slept like that, wrapped up in each other’s arms. And, if they woke up to four more bodies piled on top of the them and beside them, they paid it no mind. It felt right.
It felt safe.