ateez family au

173

"Yunho, what's wrong?"

The sudden break of silence in the room made the elder twitch. Yunho looked up from his notebook in a fast motion, eyes involuntarily widened like a deer looking into headlights. "What do you mean?"

Mingi lifted their brow, giving their brother a knowing look. "I can see you are bothered by something and I can't really pinpoint it. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Yunho was fast to dismiss his sibling, turning back to his notebook. There was not much written on the page he was staring at. A word cluster, scribbles, a rip in the paper's upper right corner.

"Sure. Suuurreee," Mingi sighed exaggeratingly, let themself fall back into their bed. "Okay let me tell you what I think is up," they then said, "One, you had a fight with dad - but that can't really be, I would know for sure. Two, your grades don't look as blinding as they should - but I don't think you would care enough to look this miserable. Three, we have no snacks anymore - this could be it actually - or Four, you had a fight with your friends"

Yunho closed his notebook with a huff and threw it from his bed onto the desk. It landed with a thud, knocking off the pencil holder. "I did not have a fight with my friends. We're fine." The tone was sharp, the words mumbled. In that moment Yunho cursed to himself for being so obvious. Of course something was wrong, he just didn't know what exactly. Of course something was wrong, his chest was getting heavier by the second. And of course Mingi knew better than him. And they knew things Yunho didn't - for that moment.

"Okay I guess it's not your friends from the studio... did something happen between you, Yuqi and Chan? I can't remember the last time you three were mad at each other."

"Because we had never been. And we still aren't."

Mingi turned on their stomach, put their head on their hands and looked at Yunho. "Sounds different to me."

Yunho had scooched to the corner of the bed, dunked his head beneath his blanket. "I'm so confused..." he admitted and sighed. Suddenly, his eyes burned a little, his nose inflating rapidly. He wasn't going to cry, not because of this and especially not in front of Mingi - not like this.

A sad smile graced the younger's lips as they got up from their bed and went over to the other's. Mingi sat on one edge of the bed, leaned against the wall and looked at their brother, buried beneath blankets and pillows. "... you can cry if you need to"

"I'm not crying!" Yunho responded harshly, shutting his eyes. "it's just... they spend so much time together... and now he got a girlfriend... and ..."

"Yuqi and Chan? since when are they dating?" Mingi rose their brows shocked, confused himself.

"I don't know if they are!" Yunho said, "I don't know who it is and they won't tell me"

"Why is it important to you to know who it is? Aren't you happy he has one?"

Yunho sighed and opened his eyes, tears breaking the wall of his ego and rolling down his cheeks. They burned as they left a trail behind, pooling at his chin and falling on his knees. "They are excluding me..." he mumbled. Yunho didn't dare to move, fearing he might tremble and Mingi would see it.

"I don't think that's what's happening here... or that's what's really bothering you, Yunho..." Mingi scooched closer to their brother and put their hand on the blanket, somewhere there where they assumed Yunho was beneath.

Suddenly, Yunho emerged from the blankets and pillows, looking at his sibling again with these widened eyes, now reddened and wet, but clearer. Now it was clear to see, there was fear pooling in his eyes as he stared down Mingi, almost outraged. "What are you suggesting here!"