Wooyoung made San sit at the couch as he himself walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water for the both of them, deciding he'll just get takeout later for them.

Walking back to the living room where San sat completely still, Wooyoung cautiously approached the blonde, sitting down beside him. He offered the glass of water to San who just glanced at the object before looking away.

Sighing, Wooyoung placed the glass of water on the little table in front, a silence taking over.

"You're a murderer." San started after what seemed like ages of quiet, voice monotone.

"I'm in a gang to be more precise." Wooyoung stated indifferently. "The leader to be even more exact."

San let out a shaky exhale, lowering his head into his hands. "I don't want to hate you." San muttered after another stretch of silence.

"What?" Wooyoung was confused about what was happening.

"Death." San started again. "I have a fear of death, or murder." San said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Oh." Wooyoung could only manage out, a little realization making itself known.

"It's called Thanatophobia, to be more clinical. For me, it's a little different. I'm not afraid of the idea of dying in general, but watching someone kill anyone is a major trigger. Blood used to make me squeamish, but i slowly got over that. But I can't watch someone hurt another, which is why I freaked out. Just the idea of killing someone terrifies me." San finished, still looking down.

Wooyoung, after a few seconds of silence, smiled slightly before gently cupping the others face making him look up at him. San looked at the silver haired boy with tear glazed eyes.

"It's going to be fine. I'm sorry I had to make you go through that. It's my fault I didn't tell you about myself properly from the beginning." Wooyoung stated, rubbing a thumb soothingly over the blondes cheek.

San let the tears flow down freely as he gripped Wooyoung's shirt, burying his head into the tallers chest. Wooyoung wrapped his arms around the blonde, bringing him into a comforting hug.

No words were exchanged between the two as San's shaking slowly started to subside, his sobs slowly reducing to sniffles. Wooyoung held the other throughout his entire breakdown, rubbing soothing circles on his back, the other hand playing comfortingly with his hair.

Feeling San slowly slump against him slowly, he gently moved back to see the others sleeping face resting on his chest. Wooyoung smiled softly at the other, slowly starting to adjust him so he was lying comfortably on the couch.

Wooyoung figured San must have been exhausted after spilling out his emotions since the blonde didn't even twitch while being manhandled. His eyes caught sight of the red staining the others wrist.

He gently took San's arm, inspecting the injury. It looked like nail marks; San may have dug his fingers into his wrist.

He quickly walked over to his room, making his way to the cupboard to find a spare blanket he always kept in case of guests. He also went to his bathroom to grab a first aid kit he kept incase of emergencies.

Walking back to the living room, Wooyoung sat beside the sleeping San and took his wrist again. Cleaning the wound carefully with a cotton swab, he patched the injury up neatly, placing San's arm back in a comfortable position beside him.

He draped the blanket over him, watching amused as the blonde immediately curled into himself hugging the blanket close.

Satisfied with his work, Wooyoung walked into the kitchen to grab himself an apple as he sat down at the kitchen table, taking his phone out. He called up Jongho, who immediately picked up after the first ring.

"You never call this late after an incident!" He heard Jongho loudly scold over the phone. Wooyoung let out a sigh, biting into the apple. He understood his concern but he wasn't ready for all the shouting.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. Something happened and I had to take care of that first. But at least I'm alive!" Wooyoung told the younger.

"Is everything ok Wooyoung?" Jongho asked softly after a few beats of silence.

Wooyoung absently nodded before answering the other, "Yeah. Just tired. Can we talk when I come over tomorrow?" Wooyoung asked, plead evident in his voice.

Jongho thankfully understood and said his goodbyes before Wooyoung hung up. Placing his phone down on the table, Wooyoung put his head on his crossed arms, exhaling deeply.

His mind had been elsewhere recently. Ever since Mingi had led him to Euphoric where he met San, Wooyoung couldn't get the blonde boy out of his mind. He'd never felt the need to protect anyone other than his own little family, yong gamhan. But just the thought of San being intentionally hurt or forced into something he didn't want a part in made the silver haired males blood boil.

He glanced up at the sleeping lump on the couch, peeking at the peaceful face of the blonde. He unconsciously let a small smile slip onto his face. He didn't know what it was about the other male but Wooyoung wanted to help him.

The blonde was clearly not in the best position at that club. Wooyoung wanted to find out more and be there for San to support him. It was out of the ordinary and dangerous for Wooyoung to let someone into his life, but his heart urged him to risk it for San.

Deciding he needed to take care of his shoulder first which had been throbbing ever since the encounter, he returned to the living room to get the first aid kit again before going back to the bathroom.

Grabbing a disinfectant and some bandages, he haphazardly wrapped it around his arm, willing his mind to focus on anything other than the stinging. He'd dealt with worse but the wound still hurt like a bitch.

Deciding on a quick shower, he went to his room to grab some fresh clothes before entering the shower.

~

San's eyes fluttered open slowly at the sound of a door being closed. He sat up slowly before his gaze wandered down to his neatly bandaged wrist. San lightly ran his hand over it feeling a smile slip on his face at the thought of Wooyoung taking care of him.

The sound of feet padding made San look over himself to see Wooyoung walking into the living room, a towel wrapped loosely around his torso, hair dripping wet. San gulped.

"You're up." Wooyoung started warily, not knowing how to approach the blonde after what had transpired just a few moments ago.

"Yeah." San said softly, shifting his gaze back down to his wrist. "Thank you."

"Huh?" Wooyoung's confused sigh made San look up at him again.

Raising his wrist slightly, he said, "For this." San said. "And for saving my life back there."

"Oh that. It was really nothing." Wooyoung said, voice nervous. San was even more confused. Why was a gang leader acting nervous...

San's gaze travelled to Wooyoung's horribly bandaged shoulder, a frown etching itself on his face. Getting up, ignoring Wooyoung's questioning gaze, San walked right in front of Wooyoung, trying not to let the others lack of clothing affect him.

He raised his hand to lightly touch the bandaged shoulder. He quickly retracted his hand at the way the taller tensed up at the touch.

"Let me fix this for you. It's the least I can do." San said softly.

Wooyoung nodded, gulping. He lead San to the bathroom where he put away the first aid box. San immediately got to work, gently taking the bandages Wooyoung had haphazardly applied off, and patching up the wound again much more neatly.

Wooyoung's eyes remained on San's concentrated face. He was so distracted, he didn't notice the other look back up at him with a questioning gaze.

"Why are you still here?" Wooyoung asked hesitantly.

San remained silent for a bit, before turning away to pack the kit again to place it back from where it was taken out. "This is the best I can do for your wound. I'm not a doctor so I can't help you further than this, but hopefully this'll be enough for now till you can get it checked out properly later." San hurriedly said, putting the packed box on the counter, moving to leave the bathroom.

Wooyoung caught the others wrist, stopping him from walking out. The blonde didn't turn back to look at Wooyoung. "You should have walked out the moment you woke up. Not be here helping someone like me. I'm your living, walking fear. So why?"

San remained silent but slowly turned to look back at Wooyoung. "I don't know." San whispered out, looking down.

"I don't know. But I don't want to run away. I've been running away from things for too long. I know this is stupid but I don't want to leave and run anymore. I want to stay. I don't...I don't want you to leave either..." San managed to get out, still keeping his gaze fixed on the ground.

Wooyoung was shocked at the others words, but his surprised expression quickly melted into a soft smile. Gently placing a hand under the blondes chin, he lifted his head, making the smaller make eye contact with him.

Leaning forward, he pulled San towards him by his wrist, connecting their lips in a passionate kiss. San's eyes widened at the sudden action, before he let them close, kissing back with the same fervor.

Wooyoung brought his hands up to cup the blondes face to angle them better as he licked along the blondes lower lip. San let out a moan, quickly letting the others tongue dart into his mouth, as he grabbed onto the taller's waist.

Pulling back, Wooyoung looked into San's eyes, gaze determined. "I'm not going to leave. I'm going to protect you. I promise. You can lean on me." Wooyoung said, voice soft but firm enough to get the message across.

San's eyes widened, before tears finally spilled freely down his cheeks, diving back in for a kiss. San was scared. Scared of the little hope that was slowly blossoming. But he was willing to give it a shot. For them.

a/n
i just couldn't wait to update again so here's another chapter ;))) anyway, i'm still trying to figure out where i want this story to go but don't worry, this fic is far from over 😁 next update on monday :)