20: Connection.

“Hyung?” came the sweet voice from the other side of the door not long after.

Jisung stared at the shadows under the door, forehead resting on the wood. His voice was harsh when he replied; “I’m sorry, Sect leader. I’m not your hyung.”

“Second Master Minho explained your situation,” Jeongin said, very gently. “Would Master Han sound better?”

Hyung, where are you? Let me pick you up.

No need, Innie. I don’t think I should come back...

I will pick you up.

“No,” he said. “Hyung is fine. Although--”

“I know. Ah, you see, we lost our hyung in the war a few years ago. He was killed, protecting our home,” he explained. “He and our parents.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not him.”

“I know. Please don’t apologise, hyung. You are some other’s hyung, aren’t you?” Jisung, choked up on his tears, could only breathe in raggedly. Jeongin, perceptive as ever, was silent for a while before continuing.

“Did you lose your brother like we lost our hyung?” Jeongin asked, and he sounded just like him, because he was him, and this world had already had a Jisung, and now another Jisung was stealing a moment with Jeongin he did not deserve.

“Hyung?”

“Yes,” Jisung said. Sobbed. “Yeah. he-- Jeongin. Jeongin. I’m so sorry.”

“It is not your fault,” he said, and he was wrong. It was Jisung’s fault. Felix hated him for it, and now he was here too, hugging Jisung like he deserved it.

“It is. It was my fault,” he insisted.

“I don’t believe you,” Jeongin said, and he still sounded very gentle, even when he disagreed with him. “Please open the door, hyung.”

“It was my fault,” Jisung tried again.

“Please,” asked Jeongin.

Jisung could not deny anything from his brother. So he opened the door, and there he was in his pretty robes, looking so full of compassion. He pulled Jisung into his arms without a word, petting his back soothingly.

“There, there,” he mused. “Why don’t we sit down, and you tell me everything?”

The thought had once terrified him; talking about it, talking about any of it. There had been only one person who he could force himself to talk to, and he’d been–

And now Jeongin was pulling him with him to the seats by a window, and Jisung let him. Then he told him everything.

_____________

Later, when Jisung was not on the verge of a mental breakdown, they let Felix and Minho in as well, each more concerned than the others. His brother demonstrated this in his usual, very angry manner, punching him on the shoulder and then yelling at him for not contacting them sooner, despite the fact that Jisung had no idea they existed here.

Minho looked at him with slightly lowered eyebrows and stood very close to him.

“Jisung,” Minho said, which meant are you okay, and maybe also do you want me to kick this angry chicken out of here?

“Minho,” he replied, which meant I’m fine, and the angry chicken can stay.

"Why are you two addressing each other by name?" Felix asked, suspicious. “Aren’t you just sharing a sect while this dumbass waits to get back to his original world?”

“Why can’t I make friends while I’m here?”

“With the Second Master of Lee sect, infamously cold and distant to people?”

“I like a challenge.” Jisung replied, and couldn’t help but wiggle his eyebrows. His eyes were still swollen from crying. He must have looked ridiculous.

Felix gagged. “Stop.”

“Hyungs, be good,” Jeongin said. “I apologise for my brothers, Second Master.”

Minho inclined his head in a polite gesture. “No need.”

“So, you,” Felix said then. “You are a Jisung. Not ours, but a Jisung.”

“Yeah.”

“So I guess you have your own Jeongin and Yongbok back in whatever hellhole you crawled out of,” Felix speculated. Correctly.

“Yeah. In my reality, you are a very different kind  even from the name. His name is Felix unlike yours which is Yongbok. My Felix goes out on a date every Friday and then we make a tearful call after it, where he tells me that no woman’s company could ever surpass the delight of having his big brother--”

“No I don’t.” Felix no Yongbok said, two degrees less annoyed than Jisung would’ve guessed. “Skip the bullshit.”

Jisung sighed. “Fine, you really want to know?”

“I do,” Yongbok said.

Swallowing, Jisung nodded. Squared up. “You hate me and Jeongin is dead.”

The revelation paled Yongbok's face, his eyes widening. The angry line between his brows smoothed out then appeared back deeper.

“How?” he asked. “Why?”

Jisung turned away from him, then, to the window. The view from their room was to the courtyard, towards trees and paths and bridges.

“Does it matter?” he asked, tired. “Just know you have your reasons and drop it.”

“Hyung...” his Jeongin said, and Jisung could not meet his gaze. Not when Jeongin told him it wasn’t his fault even after hearing the story. He’d said that Felix was only lashing out.

“In any case, I’ll be here for a little over half a year more, right? So maybe I can visit your, the, uh, Yangling, when it’s summer again.” Jisung said. Jeongin had just told him they could swim there. That it was beautiful.

Yongbok took his time forming an answer. And then, when it got out, it was a gruff, “Sure.”

“Ah, and Minho will come too, right?” he turned to Minho, who’d followed the conversation quietly from the sidelines. Now that Jisung’s attention was on him, he seemed contemplative.

“If Jisung wants,” he replied.

“It’s going to be great, Minho! Jeongin can cook for us, he’s a great cook.”Jisung grinned, but Yongbok rubbed his forehead. 

“He has a pregnant wife, stupid. Probably won’t be making any trips from Yangling in half a year when she could give birth any second.”

Ah. The reason for their trip had completely escaped him, hadn’t it? The sect leader’s wife was pregnant and the leader was his Jeongin. And, wow-- let’s put that thought on hold.

But then...

This meant Yongbok was alone. Even here, in the parallel world with cultivators and magic, Yongbok was the one with responsibilities Jisung could not share with him. Had he promised here, as well? Could Jisung not do right by his brother anywhere he existed?

“Yongbok,” he said, refused to sound miserable. “I’ll visit you, okay? Then we’ll be here together when Jeongin’s kid is born.”

Yongbok narrowed his eyes at him, but the pleased tilt in the corner of his mouth was obvious. So obvious, even between realities. Han Felix was Yang Yongbok. Han Jeongin was Yang Jeongin.

Han Jisung was Yang Jisung.

“Fine. But you better not invite anyone else from high-ranking with you,” Yongbok said, glancing at Minho. "We can only provide a limited number of luxurious guestrooms."

“I wouldn’t want anyone but Minho anyway,” he said, winking at the man in question. Minho sighed. Jisung’s siblings, in turn, looked between them with raised eyebrows.

“So, Yang Jisung Yewon, huh?” Jisung rolled the name over his tongue. “Minho, do you know, it seems I do have a courtesy name after all.”

“Mn.”

“But don’t worry,” he said, leaning into Minho’s side with a grin. “You can still call me Jisung.” Jeongin was hiding a smile, but the eyebrows on Yongbok’s face were twitching.

“Ugh. No way. No. Jeongin, you deal with that.” He waved a hand in Jisung and Minho’s general direction. “I will not… unbelievable. Lee Minho Hagwan, do not forget yourself. Jisung, for the love of god, do not embarrass our sect. I’m… done. I’m out.” With that, Yongbok marched out of the room.

Jisung turned to Jeongin. “What was that about?”

His smile was so fond that it told Jisung he was being incredibly foolish once more. Jeongin had spent their adolescent years perfecting that look.

“I think we should give our Yongbok some time to take all of this in,” Jeongin said, shaking his head slightly. “Why don’t you tell me about your stay here, hyung? Second Master Lee, you as well.”

“Sure, Jeongin,” Jisung said. So, as per Jeongin’s wishes, they did.