since hongjoong had nothing else to do saturday morning, he sat alone in his room and played with his stuffed animals. seonghwa was busy and he was going to yeosang's later in the day, so this was his best form of entertainment for the time being. hongjoong also didn't want to bother jongho, so he decided to stick with himself.

"hello night fury, can i say that you look rather dashing this morning!" hongjoong spoke in a deeper voice than his usual for his toothless plush.

"why thank you, toothless. you don't look too bad yourself." hongjoong cleared his throat and spoke in a higher pitched voice this time, trying to put on his best female voice for the character.

before hongjoong could continue with his stuffed animal's conversation, he heard a light knock on his bedroom door. he figured it was his mother bringing him a snack of some sort, so he smiled widely and put down his stuffed animals to run and open the door for her.

"hi momm— oh, hi jongie." hongjoong was a bit shocked to see his brother, but was happy nonetheless.

after getting a better look at his brother's face, he noticed jongho's face was red and puffy like he had been crying over something. hongjoong instantly began worrying for his brother, the smile on his face turning into a frown.

"jongho, are you ok? have you been crying?" hongjoong asked, using jongho's full name rather than his nickname because of how worried he was for the boy.

"y-yeah, i-- actually, no. i'm not ok, that's why i came here. i wanted to talk to you." jongho choked on his words, the tears falling down his face as he stood in hongjoong's doorway.

"come in, sit down on my bed." hongjoong moved to the side and allowed jongho to walk in.

jongho quickly ran inside and sat down on hongjoong's bed. once he sat, jongho grabbed one of hongjoong's fluffy pillows to cuddle into. hongjoong ran to a bin he had in his room that contained tons of fluffy blankets and grabbed one for the boy, wrapping it around jongho to comfort him and warm him up. jongho smiled at the cute action, opening the blanket up a bit so hongjoong could be wrapped up in it with him.

"jongie, can you tell me what happened please?" hongjoong spoke quietly, not wanting to scare or push jongho to say anything he didn't want to.

"i, um... do you want to know why i came home so late last night?" hongjoong nodded his head, "well, i broke up with ryujin."

"oh my god, i'm so sorry. i know how much you liked her." hongjoong apologized and jongho immediately shook his head.

"no, that's not why i'm upset. i mean, yeah i guess i liked her a lot... at one point in time. but after getting to know her better, i realized how much of a horrible person she truly is." jongho spat out, sounding disgusted with the girl he once called his girlfriend.

"what do you mean a horrible person?" hongjoong questioned, not understanding what jongho meant by his statement.

"she's so rude. she would always belittle people, you and your friends in specific. i never told you about it because i didn't want your feelings to get hurt, but it's true. it would happen so often, way too fucking often. sorry for my language, but it infuriates me. i don't understand how someone can talk about another person like that, especially their boyfriend's brother. it's absolutely disgusting.

and on top of that, she's always so jealous of everybody! the other day when she came to our table at lunch, she was being her typically bitchy self so i decided to turn around and talk to yeosang instead of her. she got so jealous that she started bad mouthing yeosang right in font of him! i know for a fact he definitely heard it and was hurt by her words, but i know he would never tell me that. also, she flicked his head as she walked away from us. i couldn't take it any longer." jongho cried even harder, holding onto hongjoong tightly.

"jongho, do you think i didn't realize how mean she was to me on wednesday? now i know things take a while to process for me sometimes, but i'm far from stupid. but since i thought you liked her a lot, i chose to ignore it." hongjoong smiled and stared into jongho's eyes, pulling on his chubby cheeks a bit.

jongho chuckled as he knocked hongjoong's hand off his face, "you should never ignore it, joongie. if someone is being mean to you, you should stick up for yourself. no matter who it is." jongho informed his brother and hongjoong shook his head.

"i know i should, but i'm too nice. i don't like hurting people's feelings." hongjoong said as he hung his head low.

"don't like hurting people's feelings? babe, if someone is making fun of you, the last thing you should be thinking of is their feelings. obviously they don't care about yours, why should you care about theirs?" jongho asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"i can't help it, that's just how i am. i don't like fighting with anyone." hongjoong pouted a bit as he looked into jongho's eyes.

"i need to teach you how to fight back." jongho laughed, "but seriously, i hate how she spoke about you and how she spoke about your friends. your friends are angels. especially how she spoke about yeosang, i don't know why... but it angered me more than anything. the poor boy is mute, he can't help it." jongho made fists with his hands like he was about to punch something. hongjoong grabbed his fists and held onto them, calming the older down a bit.

"it's ok jongie. don't get so angry over this. at least you're done with her, right?" hongjoong giggled and jongho nodded his head.

"yeah, but now i have two tickets for a formal i don't even want to go to anymore. seonghwa isn't going and i know ryujin will still be there, she told me she was buying her own ticket. that's twenty dollars completely wasted." jongho sighed and hongjoong's eyes immediately lit up remembering the conversation he had with his friends the other day.

"i mean it, the only way i'd go to the formal was if jongho took me... and that'll never happen. he has ryujin, a beautiful girl any guy would die for. why would he leave her to take his brother's weird mute friend?"

he can take yeosang, it would be perfect! he has two tickets, one for him and one for sangie. ryujin can see the two of them together and it'll get her mad, especially since jongie said she got jealous that one day he spoke to him instead of her at lunch. and then, yeosang would go to the formal!

instead of telling jongho his genius idea, hongjoong decided to keep it to himself for a while. jongho was very hurt and vulnerable right now, and he didn't want to add unnecessary stress to his brother. hongjoong pushed the idea to the back of his head, remembering to make sure to inform yeosang at their hangout tonight about everything that was going on in his room right now.

"i think you should still go to the formal, jongie. not going would probably make ryujin happy, she would feel like she won against you. and also, the formal is gonna be so much fun! i can't go because seongie won't be there, and i'm upset about it. i don't want you to regret not going because of her." hongjoong put a hand on his brother's thigh and squeezed it reassuringly.

"you're right, but i just don't know if i can. i'll think about it, but as of right now i don't think i'll go. at least not alone, i'll figure it out. i just need time to myself today, to gather all my thoughts." jongho smiled at his brother, giving hongjoong a kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

hongjoong hugged his brother back, nuzzling his head into jongho's big chest, "i agree with that, you should have today to be upset. it's normal to be upset after a breakup, even if the person wasn't the nicest. maybe you can hang out with me and my friends tonight?" hongjoong suggested and jongho's eyes immediately widened.

hongjoong's friends? as in wooyoung and... yeosang?

"um, your friends?" he worridely asked.

"yeah, wooyoung and yeosang are coming over. is there a problem with that? mommy is home tonight, right?" hongjoong asked, suddenly feeling unsure. jongho gulped, an uneasy feeling in his stomach growing after hearing yeosang was coming.

"uh, y-yeah. mom's home tonight. sorry, i don't know why i asked that." jongho lied, stuttering a bit as he spoke.

"oh ok, but it would be so much fun if you played with us! or maybe we can watch a movie, whatever you want. i want to cheer you up today!" hongjoong smiled widely, giggling into his hands as he spoke.

hongjoong threw the blanket off his and jongho's bodies and stood up, holding a hand out for jongho to grab, "come on, let me take you to your room. you can have some alone time now and later we'll have fun!"

jongho hesitantly grabbed hongjoong's hand and stood up from his bed, walking out of hongjoong's room and to his own. after they arrived, hongjoong gave his brother one last hug before skipping back up to his room.

when hongjoong left, jongho slammed the door shut and fell onto his bed, crying hard once again. his mind was going insane for some reason, thinking of one person in particular.

i should be upset about ryujin... shouldn't i? why is yeosang suddenly on my mind? why am i so nervous to see him tonight? why is the idea of playing with him or watching a movie with him giving me butterflies, something i never even had with ryujin? i can't like yeosang, right? that wouldn't make sense...

i'm straight?

lol just kidding about a few chapters ago!!! i always planned on them breaking up, i just wanted y'all to be shook. she's finally gone, the wicked witch is dead!!

(once again irl ryujin i love you with all of my heart this was just for the book pls marry me)

-vic