song: as u wave - halfnoise
jeonghan was the first who came to sense and rushed over to chan, who was visibly feeling guilty about his actions and the situation that just occurred.
he worriedly kneeled down to the ground and tried to pull chan in a hug. however, the younger only crawled further away from him, holding his hands up in protection to keep jeonghan away.
"don't come n-near me." he sobbed, trying everything to keep distance between him and jeonghan, "y..you've seen it yourself.. i'm dangerous.."
"don't be silly chan, come here." jeonghan kept trying and didn't wait this time, forcing chan in a hug. chan finally stopped fighting against it and gave in to his urge of feeling safe, clamping onto jeonghan and muffling his sobs by pressing his face against the elder's chest.
"i'm so..i'm so sorry.." chan trembled horribly, and the happy expression he had worn while playing the game and at dinner earlier disappeared completely. no one has ever seen him like this before, this vulnerable and open about his feelings, "where is seokm-min? and m-mingyu?" chan mumbled, peering up from jeonghan's chest to check if they were doing alright after what he had done to them.
"i'm here." seokmin said, sitting on the floor with a worried seungkwan and jisoo next to him, smiling as bright as ever.
chan let go of jeonghan and crawled over to seokmin, making himself even more tiny by dropping himself against seokmin's chest, grabbing him in a tight hug. another thing unusual for chan to do. "i'm -i'm so sorry.. i.. i wasn't thinking straight and.. i'm so sorry.."
"hey chan don't worry. i'm absolutely fine!" seokmin assured the younger boy in his arms, pulling him a little higher up his chest to comfort him. "are you okay?"
"i'm okay.. i'm okay.." chan repeated himself a few times, even though everyone around them knew he was clearly not, "i just.. i don't get it.. what's wrong with me.."
"chan that's not true, there's nothing wrong with you. it's making me sick that girls confess to you only because of your parents money. but we're here now for you, right guys?" chan carefully looked up after hearing seokmin's voice, scared but eyeing everyone in the room.
and everyone slowly nodded, agreeing with seokmin. "of course we are!" hansol spoke up as first, kneeling down in front of chan and ruffling his oaken brown hair, "listen little guy, we're placed together in this group for a reason: to become friends. and they couldn't have picked anyone better than these thirteen teens together. of course we're going to be here for you."
"even after this school camp?" chan asked with a look of anticipation in his eyes. and to his relieve, hansol and everyone else in the room confirmed that by nodding.
"even after this school camp."
"where is mingyu?" chan let his eyes wander through the room again to see that both mingyu and wonwoo had disappeared.
"wonwoo took him outside." soonyoung explained, pointing at the door. chan instantly got up but was stopped by seokmin who pulled him down on the floor again.
"you should give them a moment, i think they can both use it. just talk to him later. we're here for you, remember?" seokmin ensured chan who obeyed him by calmly sitting back down on the floor and allowing himself to lean against his chest again.
meanwhile, wonwoo had dragged the uncontrollably crying mingyu outside in an attempt to calm him down. he had to keep an arm around his shoulder as mingyu's legs were too weak to stand on because of the panicked trembling.
