Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ijin was far from normal, that fact had been evident to Dayeon from the first moment she met him at the airport. Her brother never proved her wrong either as she witnessed first-hand Ijin’s many weird little quirks and habits that ranged from harmless little things that you wouldn’t notice at first glance to things like the sight before her now. 

Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised. Afterall, she knew that Ijin knew how to fight and could most definitely hold his own no problem, enough to take on Huijin’s brother and enough confidence to take on the girl herself if Dayeon hadn’t stepped in. Honestly, some days she kind of envied her brother for his strength. If she had that strength, then she could’ve taken care of Huijin herself and not made trouble for Grandpa and Ijin. But she isn’t, and she kind of resents herself for it sometimes. 

But that’s not important right now, the point is Dayeon is all too aware that Ijin can fight and is very familiar with fights, and she knows that fights often involve getting hurt. None of that knowledge however could’ve prepared her for the sight of her brother sitting quietly on the couch with a small mirror propped up in front of a nasty cut -that she can only assume is a stab wound based on those crime shows- on his side that he’s halfway through stitching closed with the same slightly annoyed look on his face he has while doing homework.

To make matters worse, now he was staring at Dayeon with that blank look while the needle is still halfway through his skin - She must’ve been staring at it as Ijin quickly blocked her view, putting both his hands over the scene and saying a quick “sorry” like that made this situation better somehow.

Dayeon couldn’t even begin to question what in the world Ijin was apologizing for before he continued. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

Dayeon didn’t even attempt to hold back a sigh as she buried her head in her hands trying to wrap her head around what the actual fuck she was witnessing.

She should’ve known something happened when Yeongchan, Hyeokjin and Jaehyeong were waiting at the school gates for her. According to them, Ijin suddenly left once class was over and then said he wouldn’t be coming to the game room with them because “something came up” so they came to ask her if something was wrong. Of course, nothing was wrong, Grandpa was still at work and Ijin had texted her that he wouldn’t be walking home with her that day, which, while strange Dayeon just chalked it up to Ijin being Ijin as he said he would see her at home. So she went straight home. Logically, Dayeon knew her brother would be fine, at worst she thought that maybe Ijin got sick or something, maybe he got food poisoning for all she knew, but it probably wasn’t serious.

Jokes on her, because she forgot one very important fact about Ijin: Ijin Yu is a master at downplaying any and all physical injuries and ailments to the point that just thinking about it makes Dayeon want to strangle her brother. Then again, she should’ve expected this since her brother once got a second degree burn on his arm while cooking and didn’t even flinch. It took Dayeon threatening to tell their grandpa for Ijin to let her even look at it, much less treat it.

God give her patience. She let herself stew in the never-ending questions rattling around in her brain before starting with the most important one, “Were you planning on hiding it?!”

“...” At least her brother had the sense to look guilty about it.

“Okay,” she breathed. She swore her brother was going to be the reason for her first gray hairs. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No.”

“... Can’t say I didn’t expect that.”

“Please don’t tell Grandpa.”

“I won’t, but were you seriously going to walk around at school tomorrow with stitches??”

“...”

Ijin just stayed silent, which was the smart thing to do as any answer except “no '' would've ended with Dayeon being convicted of attempted murder. Thankfully, no blood would be staining Dayeon’s hands today.

By this point Ijin had continued stitching himself up, one hand blocking Dayoen’s view while the other continued stitching… Dayeon didn’t know if she should be concerned or impressed that Ijin could easily sew stitches one handed, at the very least she knew she was very unnerved, especially since Ijin still showed no signs of being in pain during this entire process. Both facts raised red flags for her as it was obvious that 1. This wasn’t Ijin’s first time sewing himself up, one handed or not, and 2. Either Ijin had incredible pain tolerance (she didn’t want to think about what had to happen for him to develop such pain tolerance much less have a need for it) or the wound was much worse than it looked, and he just couldn’t feel pain there anymore. Honestly, Dayeon doesn’t know which one is worse.

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

Ijin turned his gaze back to her at the question and simply shook his head. “I’m used to it, plus I’m finished already.”

Yeah, that was not reassuring. Dayeon then nearly had a heart attack when her brother tried to get off the couch.

“Why are you getting up?!” she all but screamed as she frantically shoved Ijin back onto the couch, only to back away quickly when Ijin slightly winced. “Sorry… sorry. But still, you just finished stitching yourself up, what if it opens again and you faint or go into shock or you bleed out and- and I have to call an ambulance and give you a blood transfusion or it gets infected and your go into a coma or- or-”

“Dayeon.”

Ijin softly knocked their heads together, knocking Dayeon out of her panic in the process. He shows a small smile as her gaze focuses back on him.

“I’m fine, I was just going to get a towel or something to wipe off the blood.” He motions to his bloody hands and his wound.

“Ah.” Yeah, that made much more sense, still didn’t make Dayeon understand why Ijin had to get up, but it made more sense.

Or it would’ve had Ijin not immediately tried to stand up again, only for Dayeon to carefully but firmly push him back down. She was never going to overestimate her brother’s critical thinking skills again.

“I’ll get it.”

“... Huh?”

Maybe Ijin was stupider than Dayeon thought. “I’ll get it, so stay there and don’t . move .”

Thank the Lord Ijin had some sense left in his head as he just sat there with a confused look on his face as Dayeon slowly backed up while staring Ijin down so he wouldn’t even think of standing up again. With one last look at her brother that embodied the feeling of every dog owner who was teaching their dog to stay, Dayeon turned the corner and went about getting a clean cloth, a bowl of water, rubbing alcohol, some soap and whatever else she could think of as useful. When she came back, she had a stack of random things that looked just about ready to tip over to the point where Ijin tried to get off the couch again and Dayeon had to yell at him to just sit down. 

Dayeon then played nurse for the next few hours, forcing Ijin to stay still until it was almost time for Grandpa to come home and Dayeon reluctantly helped Ijin move to his room all while threatening random acts of violence if Ijin so much as thought about getting up again.

It was probably overkill, but Dayeon was genuinely worried. She had only just gotten her stupid brother back and like hell was she going to let him die due to his own stupidity and inability to ask for help when he’s injured . If being a paranoid mother hen and making very detailed threats that she could never realistically pull off but made Ijin chuckle kept her brother from digging his own grave, then so be it.

Chapter Text

Dayeon tried, she really did, but to be fair there was only so much arguing she could do while also not being late. Ah the woes of being a student with an idiot brother. Long argument short, Dayeon was not able to convince her brother to stay home from school and rest. 

If there was a trait she both despised and admired, it was Ijin’s stubbornness. Honestly, both siblings were stubborn to a fault, it was just that both were also very quiet so not many fights broke out between the two of them, but if they did, it was personal. But that’s a story for another time, the fact is that Dayeon lost the battle but not the war. While Ijin was allowed to go to school and participate in classes, he wasn’t allowed to stay out, not even allowed to wait for Dayeon. He had to go straight home and if Dayeon didn’t find him at home when she got back… well Ijin was stubborn not stupid.

Neither ever claimed to be smart though. Both forgot that today was sports day, and the fact that it was mandatory to participate, and the fact that only Ijin and Dayeon knew about Ijin’s injury and Ijin was already there, so there was no getting out of this now without explaining the injury which Ijin would absolutely not do, not to mention then Grandpa would find out which neither wanted. So yeah... They were kinda fucked.

Luckily, Ijin knew how to move without reopening his wound as, while long, it wasn’t that deep of a wound. All he had to do was be more aware of his movement, it would make his movements a bit stiff to a trained eye, but Ijin was confident that nobody would notice. Still, even if they did, that was much better than having to explain why he was bleeding out onto his school-issued sports jacket, plus bloodstains were a pain to clean.

 Unluckily, luck was never on his side.

While Ijin knew how to move without aggravating his injury, no one else did. Actually, that’s not completely correct, but he’s getting ahead of himself.

This all started when his class decided to play dodgeball. Ijin didn’t even know what dodgeball was before today, but now he wishes he’d stayed ignorant. At first, it was fine, the concept was simple enough after all: two teams throw foam balls at each other until one is left, easy. Ijin could throw knives so why not a foam ball? Sure, he had to go against his instinct of going for the head and major arteries, but that was fine. 

What was not fine was when he had to switch teams.

Switching teams, by itself, wasn’t that bad. Ijin was initially really excited when he and Jaehyung got called to the other team since they were short on players. Their new team got numbers and Ijin and Jaehyeong got to face off against Seokju, Hyeokjin and Yeongchan which all five accepted with maniacal glee. Win-win. Or at least that’s what Ijin thought.

Oh how naive he was.

That brings Ijin to his current situation. You see, Ijin could adjust his movements to avoid reopening his wound, no problem, however no one else did. Ijin was the only one in the room who knew he was injured, and he stubbornly wanted to keep it that way, so now he was on the field with multiple loose cannons with no spatial awareness that couldn’t throw for shit and fell with so much drama they may as well be trying for an oscar.

And the kicker? Those loose cannons were his teammates .

Maybe he should’ve been more suspicious when he heard a few of his “teammates” laughing behind him and staring holes into the back of his head. He knew some people didn’t like him, but since he beat up Gisu Kim and his friends back when he first started school, many students -especially the ones in his class who saw the carnage- ended up giving him space and some even came to respect him like Jaehyeong and Hyeokjin who then later became his friends. 

Even those who feared Ijin after all that later came to at least tolerate him since he genuinely wanted to learn and never caused trouble unless provoked, and even then, nobody ever saw him even get upset, much less throw a punch, outside of that incident. It’s to the point where other classes now think Ijin’s class made it up because everyone just saw Ijin as a quiet kid who never really stood out and didn’t know basic things sometimes.

All that to say, everyone saw Ijin as a dumb but gentle giant with a soft spot for his sister who never spoke more than he had to and was ludicrously popular with just about every girl at school. That last part was obvious to everyone except Ijin himself to an outrageous degree, and for some students, mainly three of the kids Ijin was now forced to be teammates with, it was downright infuriating.

So guess who saw a chance for petty revenge and took it by the throat?

It started harmless enough, one “accidentally” stepped on Ijin’s shoe, another almost kicked him in the knee while running past, but then two nearly tackled him while “chasing a ball” while sed ball was 5 feet behind Ijin, and that’s not even mentioning the almost 28 times Ijin nearly got elbowed in the arm, chest, back, sides, directly on his stitches and a few almost got his head. Thankfully, getting repeatedly shot at by a hailstorm of bullets like a shower from hell makes you really great at dodging. Unfortunately, having to be mindful of an injury does not, and neither does Ijin’s ever dwindling patience-

…29, that one nearly got his eye.

Now, while Ijin didn’t have enough social awareness to know specifically why his teammates didn’t like him, Ijin could definitely tell that these attacks were purposeful and definitely not accidents. Especially since after he dodged the first 5, they only got more and more obvious to the point where all of his friends, and even those on the other side are starting to look concerned at their continued attempts to hurt Ijin.

Now where was the coach? On the bleachers, looking but not looking at the game as they’re getting continuously bombarded by questions by a few of Ijin’s teammates who got out earlier and seemed to be friends with the main three who were targeting him. Still, Ijin can’t really blame their coach as their coach is quite skinny and short while all the kids talking to them are much taller and are completely blocking the coach’s view for what’s probably been almost 10 minutes straight. The Coach is actually new this year apparently and while well-meaning, is known to get pushed around by some of the athletes due to their size. Okay, now that he thought about it, Ijin just felt sorry for the poor coach who was clearly trying to keep their eyes on the game but kept getting blocked by his teammates.

A ball whizzes past Ijin’s head and into the face of another kid who was coming up behind him. Picking up the ball off the ground from where it bounced off the kid’s face, Ijin faces the one who threw the ball and sends it back, nailing them in the shoulder before quickly retreating back to get another ball in hopes of finally getting Seokju out.

While a bit stiff, Ijin is still fast, moving to the sides from the back of the field before finding a target and quickly aiming for their shoulders, knees or sides and retreating back before anyone on the other side gets the chance to retaliate. All while keeping tabs on his three hostile teammates and any of their friends, using them as shields, and dodging any spur-of-the-moment attempts to elbow or kick him as he waits to get another ball since most were on the other side of the field or being used by his friends in their mini war.

Jaehyeong was on the other side of the field from where Ijin was, facing off against Hyeokjin and Yeongchan who are teaming up against the redhead in what can only be described as a free for all as all three of them keep running back and forth the width of the field in a mad scramble to avoid each other’s attacks while also wildly throwing whatever balls they can get their hands on with little to no care for anyone else. Multiple times, both sides have had teammates run over by the trio or caught in the crossfire to the point where everyone has given the battle a wide girth so most of his teammates are cluttered towards the sides and the back. This is pretty advantageous for Ijin, as his strategy of weaving in and out between the gaps of his teammates is made all the more effective by the clusters of people. The downside is that it’s also advantageous for his traitorous teammates who have it out for him.

Once Jaehyeong’s fight got underway, Ijin’s teammates quickly realized they could trap him by blocking his running path.

Those last 20 attempts had come from this new strategy and while Ijin could avoid them well enough, he was bound to get hit or mess up, plus he still had to look out for-

Ijin turns to the side quickly to avoid a ball aimed directly at his right shoulder, when he looks up, he meets the grinning face of Seokju, brows slightly furrowed from his failed attempt at Ijin. Ijin himself isn’t much better as he weaves between his teammates, eyes shining with malicious intent, never looking away from Seokju as Ijin’s lips quirk up in a small smirk that only promises bad things for Seokju.

The two dance around each other at a frenzied pace from either side of the field, each shot just barely missing as they run around in a chess game neither wants to lose. Many of their teammates are taken out as a result of their fight as both use their teammates as shields to catch their breath or get another ball, but neither seem to care as both only seem to have eyes for the other.

Ijin can see Seokju start to slow down his pace, cheeks flushed red from exertion and Ijin can see him stop here and there to wipe some sweat from his brow. Ijin’s never one to not take advantage of something, so when Seokju slows down yet again, Ijin throws a ball his way and quickly retreats back to catch his breath. It doesn’t get Seokju out, in fact he almost goes to catch it before Jaehyeong almost hits him, but it does make Seokju lose sight of him, and both take the chance to catch their breath.

Ijin takes a moment to adjust his gym shirt and jacket, lest they catch on his stitches. He could feel his skin pulling at the string during the fight, they hadn’t snapped as Ijin made sure to be careful, but it was still uncomfortable.

Maybe Ijin had been more tired than he thought though as he noticed way too late when one kid got hit in the face, stumbled back into another kid who then bumped into a third kid -that third kid had been the kid with straw-colored hair who made attempt 7, 12, 17, 18, and 21- who saw Ijin behind him and let himself fall backwards hard into Ijin, who reflexively put his arms up to catch the traitor and foolishly left his side and therefore his stitches unguarded.

The traitor’s elbow somehow jabbed right into Ijin’s stitches, immediately ripping a few and making Ijin let out a quiet hiss as he stumbled back a step before finding his footing and pushing the traitor back upright.

The traitor himself was poorly hiding a smug grin as he “apologized” to Ijin, dramatically waving his hands around Ijin like a worried mother. All of that was fine, Ijin wasn’t really listening and was moved to ask the Coach to go to the restroom so he could patch himself up quickly, but then the kid prodded at his side soaking Ijin’s jacket with a very noticeable bloodstain.

Ijin immediately smacked the kid's hand away, replacing it with his own and adding pressure to stop the bleeding, and internally laughed at the kid as he stared speechless at his now bloodstained hand with wide eyes. Unfortunately, the silence didn’t last as the kid who bumped into the traitor had seen his friend’s bloody hand and Ijin’s bloodstained jacket and started screaming hysterically.

Everyone immediately looked at them and the coach immediately came running over. The coach barely made it halfway through asking them if they were okay before they caught sight of the blood on the kid’s hand and Ijin’s jacket and promptly fainted -Ijin barely caught them with his free hand- only further adding to the confusion and panic as the only adult in the vicinity was now passed out cold.

Seokju and Jaehyeong were the first ones to snap out of their shock and run to Ijin who was slightly struggling to lay the coach down on the ground one handed. Jaehyeong took over laying the coach down on the floor while Seokju took one look at the kid’s bloody hand and Ijin’s hand that was putting pressure on his side and immediately sighed before kneeling down in front of Ijin and taking away Ijin’s hand from his side and seeing the blood.

Looking up at Ijin, Seokju could only frown, “How-”

“IJIN, WHAT THE FUCK?!?”

Ijin slightly winces at Jaehyeong’s scream as the red head starts frantically looking at Ijin’s bloodstained hand and the ever-growing stain on Ijin’s jacket and looked just about ready to pass out himself before Ijin caught both of their attention.

“It’s not that bad. Now-”

“Ijin Yu,” Seokju interrupted. “How the fuck is this not “that bad”? Actually, don’t answer that, I don’t wanna know. Look, we need to get you to the nurse, probably a hospital-”

“No hospital.”

That got both of his friends, along with Hyeokjin and Yeongchan who showed up during Seokju’s ramblings, to immediately stare at Ijin like he was clinically insane, which honestly most were considering not far from the truth.

Hyeokjin was the first to speak up, “... What?”

Yeah, that basically summed up all their thoughts.

“I don’t like hospitals, plus it’s not that bad.” Ijin chose to ignore his friends’ dumbstruck stares and continue. “I need a few things, but I can patch myself just fine here.”

With that, Ijin made his way over to the nearby bleachers, followed quickly by his friends who were still in various states of shock, and sat down before giving out a few orders.

“Yeongchan, I need you to go get my bag from the locker room, I have a first aid kit in there with everything I need. Hyeokjin, go bring the nurse, we’ll need her to help the Coach and also ask her for some water in a basin or something, I’ll need water to clean the wound. Jaehyeong, Seokju, we should move the coach to the bleachers. Once you’re done with that, Jaehyeong, go get a janitor, they probably have some stuff to clean the blood off the floor.”

Given some direction, even if the one who gave those directions was the one who was injured, most of his friends went to carry out his tasks without complaints. Seokju instead just stood there for a moment with a flat look, then held his hand up to  Ijin and said, “stay” before quickly following after Jaehyeong who was already half-way back to the Coach.

Ijin could only stare dumbfounded as Seokju left. What was with people and treating him like a dog? First it was Dayeon and now Seokju, it was like they didn’t trust him to be able to stay still.

To be fair to Ijin, they absolutely did not, and rightfully so considering his track record.

Ijin’s pondering didn’t last long though as Jaehyeong and Seokju came back with the Coach, each one with one of the Coach’s arms over their shoulders. After laying the coach down on the bleachers, Jaehyeong ran off to find a janitor while Seokju took off his sports jacket and folded it to put under the Coach’s head.

Ijin was just grateful he was able to catch the Coach, as clumsy and awkward as it was, no one needed to add a concussion to the list of injuries that came out of this game from hell. Looking around, he noticed the other students looking at him before quickly averting their gaze when their eyes met Ijin’s, all except the kids who were talking to the coach earlier, all of them looked terrified while some looked downright furious with the kid who bumped into Ijin. That kid was still looking at his bloodstained hand, all the color having left his face, with wide eyes and mumbling something.

Before Ijin could try and make out what the kid was saying, the gym doors flew open as the nurse stormed in, followed closely behind by Hyeokjin who had a small basin of water and Yeongchan who was carrying Ijin’s bag.

The nurse was a taller woman with a no-nonsense attitude. Almost everyone in the school had seen the lady at least once, and everyone knew not to get on her bad side because, while she didn’t talk much, when she did you would listen as she looked you right in the eye with a stare that dared you to talk back and see what happened.

Ijin had gotten very acquainted with the nurse a few weeks ago when he showed up to school with a fresh second degree burn on his arm with simple gauze on it. The lady had taken one look at it before giving Ijin the harshest lecture he’s had besides from Kang’s military doctor, all while not breaking eye contact and not raising her voice in the slightest. Ijin left the nurse’s office with fresh bandages wrapped on his arm and wrist, a recommendation for some creams and lotions and the fear of God in his veins.

That’s something to unpack later, for now Ijin looked to Yeongchan and motioned for him to give Ijin the bag.

Yeongchan handed over the bag and Ijin got to work. Ignoring his friend’s stares and Seokju explaining what happened to the nurse, Ijin took out his first aid kit from his bag. From the first aid kit, Ijin grabbed a needle, string, gauze, disinfecting wipes, scissors and a small mirror before motioning to Hyeokjin to bring over the water basin and set it down next to him.

By now Seokju had finished his explanation to the nurse. The nurse made quick work of assigning Yeongchan and Hyeokjin to bring the Coach to the nurses office before turning her attention to Ijin.

“Mr. Yu, what do you think you’re doing?”

Ijin wordlessly handed Seokju the mirror before directing him to hold the mirror so Ijin could see the wound.

Seeing as she wasn’t getting an answer she asked again, “Ijin Yu, what are you…”

***

Ijin had lifted his shirt and jacket, exposing his bandaged waist and side that was now covered in blood, staining the once white bandages in a bright crimson. Ijin took his scissors and cut the bloodied bandages, revealing his snapped stitches and reopened wound on his side that bled out lazily onto Ijin’s already blood stained skin. The whole gym was silent as Ijin dipped some of the cloth in the water and started to wipe away the blood before he began to restitch himself.

Seeing the wound clean, Ijin grabbed a needle, threading it, before settling himself in front of the mirror and beginning to stitch the skin back together and remove the stitches that had snapped. The whole gym watched as Ijin calmly pushed the needle in and out of his skin before tying it shut with a knot, cutting the extra string and wiping away any extra blood. They watched quietly as Ijin grabbed some new gauze and bandages and easily wrapped them around his waist before covering them back up with his gym shirt and jacket like they never existed, the only evidence of the whole event occurring being the blood still staining Ijin’s jacket.

***

Ijin then cleaned his hands with a wipe then disinfected all his tools and put them back in his first aid box before taking the mirror from a stunned Seokju and remarking, “Told you it’d be fine.”

With that, it was like a trance had broken as everyone stared at Ijin with sheer confusion and disbelief painting their faces as his friends devolved into different variations of “How the fuck did you do that?”, “This isn’t fine!” and “Don’t you need a doctor?!”

“Ijin Yu, did you really come to school with stitches?”

All of Ijin’s friends stopped at the nurse’s question as she stared their friend down, waiting for an answer.

“... Yes, ma’am.”

“I see.” -She turned to Seokju- “Mr. Seokju Ko, you seem to be friends with Ijin Yu, please carry him back to the infirmary.” Seeing Seokju give a small nod, she looked back to Ijin, and oh if looks could kill, her’s wouldn’t but her voice absolutely would, “It seems we will be needing another nice long chat, Mr. Yu.”

Chapter Text

Seokju had practically been chased out of the infirmary the moment Ijin was settled down on the edge of a free infirmary bed, leaving Ijin alone to face the nurse who didn’t say anything as her eyes bore holes in him.

Ijin was used to silence, he wasn’t scared of it, in fact he found the quiet really relaxing. Silence was a welcome friend for the teen who had lived through war ravaged land where at any moment the calm could be shattered by a rain of bullets and rogue shrapnel.

This silence wasn’t like that, not by a long shot. This one was sharp and threatening, further accentuated by the nurse’s unyielding stare that made Ijin want to hide. Honestly, the only reason he even managed to meet her gaze is because he was trained to never look away from a threat.

Not that Nurse Nam was actually a threat to him, at least in a physical sense. 

If need be, Ijin could easily overpower Nurse Nam as, while she stood an inch or two taller than Ijin, who was about 6 foot, the nurse was lanky and obviously didn’t have proper training for fighting. Still, even if she did, her open stance and relaxed posture- despite her hard stare and crossed arms- showed more exasperation and disappointment toward Ijin instead of any malice.

In short, Ijin wasn’t scared. Ijin knew what fear was and whatever he was feeling right now as he had to resist bowing his head under the weight of the nurse’s stare, wasn’t fear. He didn’t feel like he was in danger, instead he felt… ashamed? No, that implied he regretted coming to school and playing with the rest of his class, which he didn’t. Then what-?

Their staring contest was interrupted by the door being loudly slammed open.

Dayeon came rushing in, a look of pure worry on her face as she quickly looked at Ijin up and down, eyes zeroing in on the drying bloodstain on Ijin’s sport jacket with a look that screamed unimpressed. He would definitely be getting an earful from her later.

Ijin couldn’t help but feel this was unfair, first the nurse and now his own sister were looking at him like one would look at a misbehaving pet or small child. Needless to say, Ijin didn’t like this situation and so he moved to get up.

“Mr. Ijin Yu.”

He sat back in the chair. Ijin values his life, thank you very much.

Nurse Nam nodded in approval before motioning for Dayeon to take a seat. “I see you are not surprised at your brother’s state Ms. Dayeon,” Dayeon looked away at that. “Do not worry, I am very aware of how stubborn Mr. Ijin Yu is when he makes his mind up about something,” she looked back at him as she continued, “even if that decision gravely impacts his health.”

Considering the very apparent blood staining his jacket, Ijin knows very well that any argument he has is already sunk and will quickly be disregarded. 

“In any case, disturbingly, Mr. Ijin Yu seems to be fine physically. I do have to let you both know that I will have to call your grandfather and-”

“No.”

“Please don’t!”

Nurse Nam held back a wince at both Yu siblings after their outburst, expecting this reaction, but not enjoying it in the least.

“Please don’t,” Dayeon repeated. “Grandpa’s probably at work right now and we don’t want to worry him more than necessary. You know he has a bad heart, so we try not to make him more stressed than he needs to be, and then he recently got a back injury and only just got well enough to go back to work and-”

Ijin put a hand on Dayeon’s shoulder, stopping her ramblings before putting in his own thoughts. 

“I can go home early-” Ijin was interrupted by Dayeon glaring at him till he corrected himself, “... we can go home early. Just, please don’t call Grandpa, he doesn’t know about this, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Please Nurse Ji-An!” Dayeon tacked on.

Both looked desperate, their eyes making the nurse grimace. She didn’t like when her kids made that kind of desperate face at her, it made her uncomfortable, especially when it came from these two. 

The reason she didn’t like it from Ijin was obvious, all of his emotions were subdued at best, barely peeking over the surface of his stoic disposition. That in itself made Ji-An all the more worried about Ijin’s seemingly non-existent mental health- but she’s not a therapist nor is it her place to ask- especially when she compared how extremely reserved and filtered he was in comparison to his open and outgoing sister who wore her heart on her sleeve. 

The reason she didn’t like that look on Dayeon however was a bit deeper. Ji-An had been at the school for almost 5 years by this point, so she had been here throughout all of Dayeon’s time at the school, and therefore, all of Dayeon’s bullying. She had been there to patch up every bruise, black eye and busted lip and had been there to hold the quietly sobbing girl as she hid in the infirmary so her bullies wouldn’t catch her.

Every time the nurse suggested telling her grandpa, or really anyone at that point, Dayeon would immediately shut it down and swear Ji-An to secrecy. Even after so many talks, Dayeon never told the nurse who was bullying her, so Ji-An couldn’t even file a report on Dayeon’s behalf. So, Ji-An did what she could, offered comfort when she could, offered Dayeon a safe place at school, tutored Dayeon in a few subjects she remembers from her time in secondary school, patched Dayeon up with what was on hand and even taught the girl a few bits of basic first aid and how Dayeon could take care of her grandpa when the man once got injured somehow.

It never felt like enough, and Ji-An Nam damn sure knows it wasn’t, but she hoped it helped at least. 

Then, earlier this year, Dayeon got her brother back, and then her main bully was transferred, and their family was exposed on the news. Ji-An doesn’t know how that all happened- she definitely suspects it has to do with Dayeon’s stoic brother who appeared from God knows where- but she’s so grateful and so relieved. The nurse almost started crying when she walked past Dayeon’s class one day and saw the girl smiling brighter than Ji-An had ever seen, and by God she will do her best to keep that poor girl smiling.

So cut to now, where that same girl is looking at her with those same desperate eyes the nurse never wanted to see again, plus her older brother who looked just as desperate, even behind the neutral mask he always wore. It made her heart hurt, and immediately Ji-An knew she lost, she just can’t say no to Dayeon, and now Ijin just had to add on more sympathy points with those too honest eyes that opened up to her for whatever reason and like hell was Ji-An going to backhand both of these kids’ misplaced trust in her.

“Fine,” the sibling’s shared sigh of relief and smiles definitely did not make her decision worth it, and no she was not going soft, anyone who said otherwise was a liar and a fraud. Still, there was no denying she felt so guilty for what she had to say next, “Do not get too excited yet, I do not feel comfortable sending Mr. Ijin Yu walking home with fresh stitches, do you have anyone who can drive you?”

“Seok-”

“An adult Mr. Yu. While I trust Mr. Seokju Ko is a responsible driver, I still need to fill out some paperwork so you both may leave without breaking the few laws I have not or barely have not already.”

Dayeon hid a snicker at that, before pausing and looking up at Ijin, “Oh! What about Grandpa’s friend? Mr. Cha?”

Ijin blinked once before nodding and pulling out his phone. It didn’t seem to take too long for the mystery man to answer as it only took two rings.

“Hi, yes, it’s me… I’m fine, but can you pick me and my sister up from school?” The man must’ve said something because Ijin paused for a second before explaining. “The nurse doesn’t want me to walk home after I restitched myself, so we need someone to drive us home-”

Ji-An could clearly hear the man on the other end screech “restitch-?” before coming back to a normal volume. Oh how she wishes she could also scream at this idiot child sometimes, but alas she’d prefer to keep her job.

“-I’m fine, the bleeding already stopped, the nurse just wants me to go home-”

“Mr. Ijin Yu, give me the phone,” thankfully the teen complied. “Hello, I am the school nurse, Ji-An Nam. I am sending Mr. Ijin Yu home so he does not reopen his stitches that he foolishly came to school with. As far as I can tell, he stitched himself up properly and unless he decides to play dodgeball again, there is no risk of infection or the wound reopening. I recommend he stay home from school for a week, however knowing Mr. Yu he will neglect to follow those orders unless forced.”

A gruff laugh came from the other end, “Don’t I know it, and I haven’t even known the kid for that long,” the man’s voice sounded tired. “I can be there for the kids in 15 minutes, I’m guessing I have to fill out some paperwork?”

“Yes.”

“Fair, I’ll be there in a bit.”

The two worked out a few other details before the nurse hung up and passed the phone back to Ijin.

“I will have to see if he is a trustworthy adult, but otherwise, I will send for someone from each of your classes to bring your things and we will wait at the front for…” Ji-An just now realized that she forgot to ask the mystery man for his name. She hates her life.

Luckily, Ijin seems to notice this as he says, “Dushik Cha.”

“Yes, Mr. Dushik Cha- Wait, Dushik Cha?”

Ijin tilts his head in confusion, but nods.

Oh that is all the confirmation she needs. She doesn’t realize the unconscious grin she had on her face till her cheeks hurt with how wide it is.

Ijin doesn’t know if he should be scared or terrified of the expression their usually blank-faced-no-nonsense nurse is making right now, but the general consensus is both. Thankfully, for both Ijin’s sanity and Nurse Nam’s facial muscles, her expression quickly returns to normal, although the nurse seems to be in a much better mood.

“Let me call for your things and then we will head out front, I will also explain to your teachers as to why you are both leaving early,” with that the nurse got up to start making calls and getting the papers ready for their dismissal when she was suddenly tackled into a hug by Dayeon.

“Thank you thank you thank you! I know the paperwork is a lot and you have to do so much and I promised not to have to ask you to do it again but-” she was interrupted as two strong arms embraced her back.

“You’re okay, mija, I do not mind,” Ji-An said softly before grinning slightly. “Well, my wrist definitely minds, but it is worth it.”

Dayeon chuckled at that, pulling away from the hug as the nurse ruffled her hair before also pulling away.

“I will be in the other room making calls and getting a few things,” she explained, moving towards a side door and opening it before looking back at the two siblings. “Dayeon, please make sure Mr. Ijin Yu doesn’t do anything stupid.” Then she closed the door without another word, leaving Dayeon horribly holding back her laughter while Ijin stared at the door where Nurse Nam had disappeared behind with an affronted look.

Catching her breath, Dayeon sat next to Ijin on the bed, a few giggles escaping her before she took a deep breath as her gaze hardened. Two usually warm brown eyes were now steeled as they met Ijin’s much darker ones. Ijin didn’t like how that gaze made him feel and had to resist looking away again.

“You are so dumb.”

Yeah he couldn’t deny that.

“ Dodgeball ? Of all things? How did you lose some stitches to dodgeball when I know you’ve taken out who knows how many people without breaking a sweat?!”

A valid criticism, but like hell was Ijin going to tell Dayeon that some asshole with a grudge decided to fall like a damsel in distress into his stitches. Besides, he still didn’t get why everyone was making such a big deal about it since the bleeding already stopped, plus he’s gotten worse and walked it off.

“It’s not-”

“Ijin, I wear if you even dare to say ‘It’s not that bad’ I will strangle you myself.”

Ijin wisely decided to shut his mouth.

A small click was heard, making the two look towards the door as it opened, revealing Yeongchan carrying their bags. He seemed to notice the slight tension in the air as his shoulders slightly hunched before asking in a quiet voice, “Am I interrupting something?”

Dayeon huffed as she motioned Yeongchan inside the infirmary, “No, Ijin’s just being dumb and was going to play the ‘It’s not that bad’ card.”

Yeongchan turned his head to look at Ijin with a flat look.

Ijin felt wronged.

Seeking a distraction, Ijin took the bags from Yeongchan, getting out his regular blazer so he could get out of the bloodied sports jacket, and started asking about classes. Of course, the two seemed to catch on to his attempt at distracting them just as quickly, giving each other a knowing look, and immediately started talking about proper treatment of injuries and how important rest was while pointedly staring at Ijin.

After about 10 minutes of this lecture, Yeongchan left to go back to class, saying “Get well soon!” as he left. Ijin knows that phrase is meant to wish someone health- the Major made sure Ijin was up to date on all kinds of slang and other colloquialisms before taking him back to Korea- but Ijin is also very aware of what an underlying threat is, and while he knows Yeongchan isn’t a threat, it doesn’t mean Ijin is taking chances. So he nods and hopes to never ever be the one to make Yeongchan choose violence. 

He already has Dayeon, he doesn't need more people to make absurdly detailed yet physically impossible plans about his demise. 

“Ijin.”

The two had been sitting in silence since Yeongchan left the infirmary. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence to Ijin, although he could tell Dayeon wanted to say something else, so he let the silence stay while she gathered her thoughts, he just hoped she wouldn’t chew him out again for all this, he’s had his fill thank you.

Still, he’s not about to ignore his younger sister for being worried, so he tilts his head to look at her. In a weird way, he feels kind of… happy every time she’s worried about him, maybe that’s another “quirk” of his the Major always says he has.

“What’s ‘bad’ to you?” She doesn’t give Ijin a chance to answer as she barrels on, “You have stitches you were bleeding out , how is that not bad? Why… What happ… You come home, injured , you go out sometimes and come back injured, you go to SW and get injured, you have all those scars that both me and Grandpa know weren’t from the crash… You don’t have to tell us what happened, how you got hurt, but why don’t you at least tell me when you get hurt?” 

Dayeon’s grabbing onto the sleeve of Ijin’s blazer in a white-knuckle grip, as if he’d disappear if she let go, with one hand while her other hand is gripping her skirt as she fights off unshed tears.

Her breath is shaky as she continues, “Doesn’t it hurt?”

Ijin can feel his jaw clench at that. He really doesn’t know how to answer that and falls back on the only thing he knows Dayeon wants to hear: the truth. “No.”

“What-?”

“Dayeon,” he sighs. He really doesn’t know how to explain this. “I feel pain, it just… doesn’t register as well? Major Kang told me it has to do with my pain tolerance, apparently mine is way above what’s normal.”

Kang had explained that it could be that Ijin’s become so used to filtering out pain signals and any outward responses to pain in an effort to survive, that he can’t react the same way normal people do. Apparently another one on his “trauma responses,” as Kang called it. Ijin has learned to not react to pain for so long that it’s become an unconscious habit to ignore pain above a certain threshold or any injury that impacts his motor functions. 

Basically, if Ijin can ignore it, he will. After all, that’s what was beaten into him at the Camp.

“I’ll know I was hurt, but I wasn’t... allowed... to show it for so long that I guess it became a habit.”

Dayeon stared wide eyed at him for a moment, before tears started to flow freely and Dayeon carefully pulled Ijin into a loose hug, making sure to put basically no pressure on his wound.

“You’re allowed.”

“Hm?”

Dayeon pulled away slightly, looking Ijin in the eyes, “You’re allowed to show you’re hurt.” A small smile graced her face, a few lingering tears escaping her eyes as they crinkled at the edges. “At least around me, I won’t tell anyone.” 

Ijin was smiling before he knew it, so wide it hurt, a small giggle tumbling out of him. He could hear Dayeon squawk, probably mad that he started laughing at her all of a sudden, but he couldn’t really stop laughing now. Quiet chuckles kept on spilling out past his lips, leaving him breathless and titling forward as he rested his forehead on Dayeon’s shoulder and wrapped an arm around her.

If either of them felt Dayeon’s shoulder getting wet, neither of them mentioned it as both descended into a fit of giggles.

Chapter Text

Walking into the well-worn school building to pick up the kids, Dushik Cha expected the two to be waiting near the front or something with the nurse he talked to on the phone. Then again, he hasn’t been in a school in years , so what does he know?

Still, Dushik doesn’t think it’s typical for a lady in light blue scrubs and a white coat- probably the nurse judging from the clothes- to suddenly grab him by the arm, without saying anything , and drag him to the front of a door next to the infirmary. He doesn’t even have a chance to complain as the lady then turns to him, putting a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion before grabbing his arm again and taking him inside what looks to be a small office- hopefully her office, he would rather not get charged for breaking and entering- before again dragging him to yet another door, one that seemingly connects to the infirmary, that’s ajar. Finally not being manhandled by this woman, Dushik hears a girl laughing and some other quieter laughing through the door.

Looking through the gap in the door, he sees-

‘The kid-?’

Sitting on an infirmary bed with his sister was the kid, both of them shaking with giggles as they held each other. Dushik can barely see, what with how Ijin’s face being mostly away from him, but then Ijin turns his head slightly in their embrace, probably to breathe, and Dushik can see why the nurse lady was so adamant about shushing him.

Ijin’s face is flushed slightly, probably from how hard he’s laughing even if they’re quiet, his eyes closed, scrunched in the corners, and his smile the widest Dushik has ever seen on the kid.

‘He actually looks like a kid…’

Dushik resists huffing a laugh himself, afraid the kid would hear and ruin the moment, but lets himself smile at the sight. The siblings calm down after a while, small giggles fading out as they catch their breaths.

The nurse grabs Dushik by the arm again and leads them back into the hall, taking a clipboard with some papers on it and a pen from her desk on their way out. She lets go of his arm to quietly close the door before motioning him to follow her back towards the front of the building.

Once far enough away she speaks, “Let us let them have their moment, Dushik.” She hands him the clipboard and pen before sitting in one of the chairs they have towards the side and motions for Dushik to sit down across from her. “You can fill out the paperwork while they calm down.”

“Aren’t you a bit too casual for someone you just met?” he half-heartedly complains but sits down all the same and starts filling out the papers. He can tell she isn’t really a threat, plus he’d really rather not get into a fight right now over manners.

“I would be if we had just met.”

He glances up at her, raising a brow in question.

“You wound me, Dushik,” she laughs, standing up and giving a proper greeting, “Ji-An Nam Martinez, currently a school nurse, but you probably remember the nickname you gave me, ‘Marti’.”

It was Dushik’s turn to stand up, “Wait, ‘Marti’?”

“I see you still cannot roll your Rs, Dushik. Glad you remembered, it’s been a while.”

“You got into nursing? I thought it was too much studying?”

“It was a lot, but I got the paper. And you dropped out… and I heard about Grandpa Ko… You okay?”

“It’s been 10 years.”

She chuckled at that, “And you’re still good at avoiding answering my questions. But seriously, it is good to see you are doing well for yourself, Dushik. You even made new friends.”

“What-?”

“Mr. Cha!” Yeongsu called out as he opened the front doors and walked in. “I know I was supposed to stay in the car, but you were taking a while so I-”

“Aww, you do have friends, Dushik,” Ji-An giggled. “And I thought you claimed to be a lone wolf?”

“Shut up, Marti,” Dushik sighed, before mumbling, “God, this is just like grade school.” Putting aside his newly forming headache, Dushik quickly introduced the two to each other, letting the two talk while he finally finished signing his name on the last paper.

“Finally done, Dushik?”

He rolled his eyes as he handed back the clipboard and pen, “It’s not my fault this thing was five pages, when did schools pass so many regulations anyway? I don’t remember them ever being so strict with us.”

Ji-An shrugged before reading through the papers, “I’m not the one who passed them, but at least they help keep the kids safe, or at least help parents feel more secure. Anyway, this all looks good. Let me see how the Yu siblings are doing and I will bring them out.”

A few minutes later Ijin and Dayeon were loaded into the back of Dushik’s car, Ji-An making sure to drill in the fear of God into Ijin so he wouldn’t get any ideas, before Ji-An waved Dayeon goodbye and headed back inside.

Ji-An and Dushik had shared a few more words and a promise to try and get in touch after her shift was over before they left, and while Dushik had thought nothing of it, it seemed like the two kids staring holes into the back of his neck thought otherwise. He could hear the two texting back and forth before Ijin finally spoke up.

“Are you flirting with Nurse Nam?”

Dushik choked on his non-existent drink.

“Huh?!”

“Are you flirt-”

“No no, Kid, I heard you the first time.” 

Dushik wanted to go home. It didn’t help that he could hear Yeongsu snort in the driver’s seat next to Dushik, very poorly trying not to laugh. Maybe Dushik could jump out of the car… no that’d scar the kid’s sister, so Dushik did the responsible, adult thing and just answered the question and made a mental note to hit Yeongsu when they got back.

“No, I’m not flirting with Marti, she was an old friend back when I was in school who used to patch me up when I would get into fights. We lost contact a while back and honestly, I didn’t recognize her at first,” Dushik couldn’t help but laugh, “Good to see that jerk hasn’t changed after all these years, although she definitely doesn’t cuss as much as she used to.”

That answer seemed to satisfy Ijin as he nodded and looked out the window. Dayeon on the other hand, was not, and that’s how the whole rest of the car ride was Dayeon asking questions about Ji-An. Not that Dushik minded all that much, it was nice to reminisce sometimes, plus it made the kid’s sister smile.

Chapter Text

Hearing Dayeon laughing so freely while trading stories about Nurse Nam with Dushik was a balm Ijin never knew he needed. Excited chatter filled the car as the two reminisced about their times with the nurse and discovered how she changed.

“Never knew she could stop cursing though,” Dushik chuckled. “Marti used to have quite the mouth back when we were teens. Could put a sailor to shame.”

Dayeon grinned, practically giddy even as she jokingly complained about the double standard. “She never lets me swear. She even threatened to wash my mouth out with soap if I ever swore near her.”

“Apparently, it’s tradition. I remember one time I went to her house, her grandma came into the living room holding a bar of soap and said the same thing, although I think in her grandma’s case the lady actually would’ve done it.”

Ijin couldn’t help the small smile that settled on his face. A sense of relief washed over him as the two continued talking. 

He’d always felt guilty for not being here sooner for his sister, even if he knows it would’ve been impossible.

Ijin can’t turn back time, can’t take away the years of bullying and straight up physical assault that Dayeon had to endure on her own for years no matter how much he wishes he could. He wishes he could take away how Dayeon subtly flinches whenever someone closes a makeup compact hard enough to snap. He wishes he could take away how Dayeon always walks on the other side of the street whenever they pass a karaoke place. He wishes he could take away the look of nausea and the physical recoil she once did when Yeongchan once offered her a certain canned drink.

He couldn’t have gotten here sooner. He knows that better than anyone.

Ijin needed time to adjust, learn, and figure out not just how to be a normal Korean teen, but also how to just be a person and not just an attack dog that only knew how to draw blood.

The harsh truth is that even if Ijin came back to Korea earlier, he never would’ve been the brother Dayeon needed, much less deserved . Hell, he didn’t even know he had a family, nevermind that he was an older brother and grandson to the kindest, most accepting people Ijin has the honor of calling his family. He’ll always be amazed that they were blood related. How could he be related to such nice people? How badly was he warped?

Ijin knows all this, and yet he can’t help but feel bitter towards himself. He made his family grieve for him . He made his family mourn the loss of him for years and then had the gall to waltz back into their lives without warning.

He’s so glad - lucky that they accepted him so readily. He’s so lucky they didn’t just turn him away because, quite frankly, they didn’t have any responsibility for him, truly. They didn’t have to take him in. The fact that they were instead happy to see him when he arrived in Korea still amazes Ijin to no end.

He’ll make sure to repay it back tenfold.

Dayeon deserves to smile and laugh freely. She deserves to have good memories of school. She never deserved to get bullied, to keep the invisible scars that Ijin knows from first-hand experience are sometimes worse than physical ones.

“-And then she just stared at him!” Dayeon laughed, snapping Ijin out of his thoughts. “I’ve never seen Ijin actually back down from a stare down!”

Dushik hides a laugh with a cough into his fist, “Marti always had guts. Never challenge her to a staring contest by the way, she always wins, it’s honestly scary.”

Dayeon just nods, laughing too hard to speak properly.

The rest of the drive continues like this until they finally arrive at the apartment complex. Ijin can feel his stitches catching on a small bit of fraying gauze as he gets out of the car. It’s uncomfortable, but not unexpected. He knew he restitched and wrapped himself up too fast, not letting the injury site dry properly in his haste to cover it up again when under the scrutiny of 21 pairs of eyes.

He was needlessly hasty, and he can’t understand why.

Dayeon immediately insisted on carrying both of their bags as soon as they had gotten out of the car, much to Ijin’s confusion, but he knew better than to fight her and just handed the bag over without question. Yeongsu and Dushik both smiled at him which only added to Ijin’s confusion. Dayeon then thanked Dushik and Yeongsu for the ride and waved them off while Ijin just nodded in thanks before the two turned towards the building as Dushik and Yeongsu drove away.

Going up the stairs, while furthering Ijin’s annoyance at his bandages, was a welcome change from just sitting in the car. Sure, it caused the fraying gauze to rub against and catch on his stitches and made the adhesive loosen its grip even more, but at least the motion and Dayeon talking helped distract him. Besides, it’s still his own fault the bandages were slightly damp.

Halfway up, Ijin heard purposefully heavy footsteps above them slowly coming down the stairs. It was a familiar pattern that Ijin didn’t expect to hear right now and couldn’t figure out why the owner was here in Korea of all places and in the middle of the day. Dayeon was still talking as the two walked, totally oblivious to Ijin’s new source of confusion. Habitually, Ijin stepped in front of Dayeon slightly as they turned the corner, but he quickly relaxed as he met a familiar set of eyes.

“Major?”

The man in question looked up from his phone, meeting the teen’s confused gaze from the top of the stairs, before a wide smile broke out on his face, “Hey, kid, what are you two doing here so early? Shouldn’t you two still be in school?”

“Ijin got hurt playing dodgeball, so he got sent home and I came with him to make sure he actually rests,” Dayeon answered quickly, continuing up the stairs as she talked.

Kang gives Ijin a doubtful look, “Dodgeball? Really?” 

The only answer he gets is an annoyed look from Ijin and a laugh from Dayeon as she says, “That’s what I said!” as he follows the Yu siblings back up to the third floor and into their apartment.

Kang takes a good look at Ijin as they take off their outdoor shoes. He knows the kid, and for it to be bad enough that not only did his sister know he was hurt, but the school did as well, was making alarm bells start ringing in his head. Ijin doesn’t fold under the scrutiny, and so Kang is about to let the matter go, but then he notices Ijin’s hand tense up out of the corner of his eye.

Kang lets himself sigh, mourning his remaining sanity, “I knew it wasn’t just dodgeball.” He walks further into the apartment, disregarding manners in the face of getting to the bottom of what’s going on with the kid, and motions for Ijin to sit on the couch in the living room. “Sit down and let me take a look at it really quick, and you better tell me what actually happened, Ijin.”

Dayeon stares stunned, not understanding how Kang knew there was more going on and looks to Ijin with wide eyes not knowing what to do. The two men just stare at each other for a few seconds before Kang breaks, softening his gaze.

“Please, kid. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

That seems to make Ijin relent as he finally sits down on the couch and reluctantly explains, “Another kid fell into me on purpose elbow-first and ripped a few stitches-”

“Stitches?!?”

“- on my side. I sewed it back up, but I did it too fast, so it didn’t dry properly, and I wrapped it a bit too tight. It’s just a bit of discomfort; I don’t feel any pain.”

Kang can only hold his face in his hands as he realizes yet again that Ijin will no doubt be the cause of his first gray hairs. Gathering himself, he motions Dayeon over and asks for Ijin’s bag. 

“Do you still have the first aid kit Doc gave you?”

The kid nods and sure enough, Kang finds the kit in Ijin’s bag. He kneels down on the floor in front of where Ijin is sitting and pulls out some antiseptic wipes, scissors and a pair of gloves- Then he remembers that Ijin hates the feeling of gloves on his skin, so he gets up to wash his hands.

“I’ll be back, don’t mess with the bandages until I get back. I’ll also get water so just stay put.”

As Kang leaves for the bathroom, the two siblings are left alone.

Ijin, surprisingly, is the first one to break the silence, “It’s not going to be pretty.”

Dayeon just stares at him, head slightly tilted in confusion. Ijin just hopes he can explain it well enough not to get kicked in the shin or hear another murder plot.

“When the guy fell into me, the impact tore two stitches-” Dayeon’s eyes go wide so he adds quickly “-the injury itself isn’t that deep. It just needed stitches in the first place because it was long. When he fell on me, two of the stitches at the end of it ripped so the skin is really red, but it shouldn’t be bleeding since it was already healing. It’ll… just look really gross.”

Dayeon stays quiet as she stares so he continues.

“I had to clean it so it got wet, and I didn’t let it dry out for long enough and I wrapped the bandages a bit too tight so now the moisture collected and so the skin will probably look pruney and maybe white on the edges, on top of it having scar tissue forming and probably having bruising from the impact.”

Dayeon still doesn’t say anything, and Ijin doesn’t know what else she wants him to say.

Lucky for him, Kang returns with a damp towel, a dry one and freshly washed hands. “Doesn’t explain how you got injured in the first place, kid.”

He knows this isn’t even the right continent, but Ijin would like to plead the fifth.

Kang huffs, probably already expecting that Ijin wouldn’t answer the question and instead turns to Dayeon as he settles back in front of Ijin.

“He is right though,” he starts. “It probably won’t be the prettiest sight so there’s no shame if you want to go to your room really quick or just look away while I check it out.”

Dayeon was already shaking her head before she knew it. 

She started looking up online how to care for stitches the day she first walked in on Ijin. It had only been a day, so she didn’t know much, but she knew she needed to learn. Dayeon had always been worried for her brother, even before the stitches, he’s her brother who she only just got back. Of course she’d be worried. 

She never expected she’d have to look up wound care though, that was a surprise to say the least. 

She didn’t know how Ijin got injured, and Dayeon knew he would never tell her, so she had to be prepared if this ever happens again. Before yesterday, she’d never even seen an injury that required stitches outside of medical dramas or a few healed scars that Grandpa has and told her stories about. The fact that she knows nothing about how to care for her brother infuriates her. 

She’s learned how to take care of the house, cook and take care of herself and even whatever injuries she got when being bullied. She took pride in how much she could help her grandpa; how little he had to worry about her. She hated how helpless she was when it came to helping her brother, and the fact that she could only stare dumbly as Ijin was stitching himself up without a care in the world only added to her simmering self-loathing that only seemed to grow every day. 

She knows this isn’t a healthy mindset, she’d talked with a therapist about it, but this is all she has. She needs to know how to support others because she’s a burden if she doesn’t. She knows Grandpa would still love her even if she couldn’t cook or clean, but after her parents died, she didn’t want to add any more stress onto the only family member she had left. Then Ijin came back. She has a brother. She has someone with her now to help with Grandpa.

She doesn’t think she can go back to not having a brother again.

She could look away, she knows she could. Ijin would never blame her for looking away and in fact probably wants that, to keep up the facade, but he’s her brother. He saved her from bullies she thought she’d have to deal with all through high school, and yet he got injured without her even knowing how or when. He’s one of the two only blood relatives Dayeon has left in this world. He’s filled a void in her life Dayeon hadn’t even known was there. He came back so easily that she’s afraid he’ll leave that easily too. This incident has only cemented that fear for her.

Ijin doesn’t owe her answers. She knows better than anyone that sometimes it’s easier to tell a white lie than burden someone you care about with the knowledge that you’re in pain. Ijin doesn’t have to tell her everything, Dayeon would never force him to, but she’s also scared that Ijin will die in an alley or just vanish without a trace and she and Grandpa will have to piece together their lives all over again.

She can’t fight. The only strength she has is speed and even that is limited to being the fastest in her class in gym. Still, she can help. She needs to help because she can’t do anything else for those she cares about.

She’s already sitting next to Major Kang on the floor while looking Ijin in the eye, not really asking, “Can I?”

Ijin himself is horribly confused by the determined stare Dayeon is giving him. 

He never remembers Dayeon being interested in medicine or wanting to become a doctor or any kind, so he can’t really figure out what reason Dayeon has to want to see his injury so badly even though she’s been told multiple times that it won’t look nice. Still, Ijin was never one to deny his sister- not after processing the fact that she grieved him, so he just nods and lets Kang start cutting away at the bandages with the scissors.

-

The wrapping and gauze fall away easily, the adhesive sticks a bit but most of it has been worn away enough that it comes off with barely a tug. A few strings of frayed gauze are caught on the stitches, some stray fibers even finding their way into the new layer of skin being built.

Kang takes his time picking out the loose strings and cleaning the wound carefully, getting rid of the dried and not dried sweat and water clinging onto Ijin’s skin. Pat drying the area with a towel, he leans back to look at the injury as a whole. Kang already figured that it would be bad, but twelve stitches was a lot. Thankfully, the kid used individual stitches instead of a continuous one so only the ones that got ripped were able to be restitched without impacting the others, but the skin near the torn ones was still inflamed and the skin around the injury was starting to prune and turn white due to the moisture that was trapped under the gauze. At least it wasn’t bleeding or turning another color which would mean it was infected, although the area around the two ripped stitches is a bit purple because of bruising which sticks out on Ijin’s paler skin.

-

“Have you aired this out at all?” Kang asks as he looks up at the kid.

“Only in my room.”

Kang frowns but holds his tongue, “How deep is it?”

“Not too deep, but the bullet made a long wound, so I cleaned it and stitched it up.”

Kang nods at the explanation, but he notices Dayeon stiffening up slightly next to him. He decides to finish with Ijin first and hopes that's the right decision.

He knew Ijin could take care of himself and knew how to patch himself up from numerous different types of injuries, but it never made it any easier to see Ijin get hurt even if the kid didn’t always feel it. At least Ijin is finally telling Kang when he’s hurt, sure Kang still needs to ask, but baby steps. It’s better than when Ijin tried to leave the med tent the second he could stand on his own.

Holding back a smile at the memory, Kang stands up and lightly ruffles Ijin’s hair, getting his attention, “Other than the wrappings leaving a few lines on your skin and the little strings you got here and there from the gauze, you did pretty well for it being a fast job. Just let it air out for a couple of hours at least before you put more wrappings on it again and put on a looser shirt.”

Ijin nods, glancing at Dayeon, but goes to his room to do that while Kang gathers the old gauze and wrappings to throw away.

“Ah, and Ijin,” Kang waits for the teen to look at him. The resigned look on the kid’s face lets Kang know that Ijin knows what he’s going to say, making him smile despite himself. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Kang turns away without a care and Ijin once again feels wronged, but says nothing as goes to his room, letting the door close behind him as he rummages in his closet for a shirt.

He knows all the lectures are deserved, and, in a sick way he can’t bring himself to explore, Ijin revels in it despite his outward annoyance. He can’t understand why, but it makes him happy. No, he doesn’t enjoy being lectured by any means, the lectures themselves always make him small and childish, but Ijin can never look away like all the kids in cartoons his friends have shown him.

He’s never regretted any action he’s done since coming to Korea, but he can understand why the people around him get frustrated when he goes off and does something by himself or with little to no warning. He doesn’t like to make people worried or frustrated, but there’s a certain… rush he gets when he realizes that people noticed that he was gone. That they noticed he got hurt. That they looked at him enough to notice something was wrong.

Whatever feeling that gives him, he doesn’t think he can live without it now.

Outside, Kang looks back to Dayeon who hasn’t moved from her place on the floor. He’d hoped that giving her a minute would've helped but she’s still paler than he’d like. He hopes just talking to her will snap her out from whatever is going on in her head.

“Dayeon?”

The girl looks at him, her eyes are distant and slightly fearful but not of him. The fear makes Kang hesitate. 

Kang is used to dealing with Ijin hiding his injuries or not even realizing he’s been injured if it doesn’t hinder his mobility. He doesn’t know specifically what happened to the kid before he met the teen, nor does he want to pry unless necessary. The kid had to become so much more independent than any child his age should have had to. Keeping such injuries to himself, numbing himself to the pain to the point where IJin himself can’t feel it, all of it helped Ijin survive.

Kang’s understanding of Ijin and all his little quirks does nothing to help him when it comes to Dayeon. He doesn’t think she has any medical knowledge, so she probably hasn’t seen a wound this gruesome in person. Not to mention that Ijin’s wound will look different from those on TV since it’s healing. Though, even if she has, there’s a difference between seeing it on someone you don’t know versus someone you love and care about.

He isn’t the person Dayeon needs right now to comfort her, but he’ll do his best until Ijin gets back.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be-”

“Fine?!” she asks incredulously. Something in her snapped and she doesn’t know why. Her eyes are bright with tears of frustration as she looks towards Kang. “He got shot !! He went to school with stitches ! Stitched himself up twice and this is supposed to be fine?!”

Tears stain her face as she takes a shaky breath. She’s angry, not at Major Kang, not at Ijin, but at something, and she thinks it’s herself.

“I know he’ll be fine,” she says slowly, her eyes on the floor. “He’s gone through so much- he won’t tell me any of it and that’s okay, but I know-” her voice breaks “-He won’t tell me. But I know. He doesn’t want me to worry, but… but I just got him back! I can’t-”

A sob cuts her off. Kang can only stay where he is, crouched in front of her. He can’t think of anything to say so he just rubs small circles into her back.

“...I’m sorry,” Daeyon murmurs. “I’m so sorry, you didn’t deserve to hear all that. I just got angry- I don’t even know why, but-”

Kang just pats her head, not unlike how he did when he thanked Ijin for saving him and his men when they shared a room in the med ward together.

The wide-eyed look Dayeon gives him only adds to the similarities.

“It’s fine, kid,” Kang says. “I’m sure you had that building up for a while now. More importantly, are you okay? At least physically?”

“Yeah,” Dayeon sniffles as she wipes away the last few tears that managed to escape.

Kang hands her some tissues from a box on the coffee table. He waits for her breathing to steady a bit more before getting Dayeon’s attention again.

“Thank you for being such a good sister to Ijin.”

“Huh?”

“He’s a pain to have around sometimes, but he’s a good kid,” he smiles. “You don’t know how nice it is to see Ijin being able to act like a normal kid, so thank you, so much.”

Dayeon just stares at the man bowing in front of her and stays quiet as the man straightens up and softly ruffles her hair again.

This wasn’t an outburst he should have heard. None of those words were meant for him, and he hopes the intended recipient who is standing dumbly in the hallway wearing a new shirt- one of the few loose ones he wears since it was a gift the kid’s grandpa got him- understands that.

He motions for Ijin with his eyes, but when that doesn’t work, he resorts to harshly motioning him over with his free hand before turning back to Dayeon.

“I’ll text Ijin some links to some first aid videos and ask for some tips from some of my men.”

That only gets him a confused look and a cut off “What-?” as Ijin pulls his sister into a hug.

Ijin’s voice is no louder than a whisper above where Dayeon is held against his chest, “I’m here. I’m sorry. I’m right here. I’m not leaving.”

A beat passes before new sobs wracked her frame, shaking both of them as she clutched onto his shirt like he’ll vanish if she lets go.

Ijin doesn’t know what to do now. He hugged Dayeon in a spur of the moment decision. He doesn’t regret it, not at all, although he doesn’t know how tightly to hold Dayeon or really anyone because he doesn’t even remember the last time he got a hug. Kang already took their hug as the cue to leave so the two are by themselves, but that also means Ijin doesn’t have anyone to ask what to do next, so he just settles on continuing to hold her. He tells her over and over that he’s here, that he’s staying, that he would never leave, and he apologizes. He apologizes for so much that he knows will only get him weakly punched if he chooses to verbalize it fully so it just turns into a continuous stream of “sorry”s that Ijin can’t seem to stop.

He has so much to make up for, so much to learn about being a brother, a grandson, a classmate and a friend.

A spark of pain makes itself known at his side. It barely registers as pain, more like an itch or when you feel a rock in your shoe. He would ignore it, he almost does ignore it, but…

“Ow.” The sound is horribly monotone, almost sounding sarcastic if it wasn’t Ijin who said it.

Dayeon looks up at him, eyes red and puffy from now two rounds of crying, in surprise. The attention makes him want to take it back. He almost does because bringing attention to any level of pain that isn’t life threatening or that hinders mobility is going against every instinct he’s honed during his time in Grian. 

But he’s not there anymore. He told Dayeon he’d try, so he’ll try.

“You pulled on my stitches a bit.”

Dayeon just blinks, then blinks again before her arms loosen from where they’re holding onto his sides. She doesn’t completely let go of his shirt though. He’s glad.

Another beat passes as they stare at each other, then a wide grin breaks out across Dayeon’s face as a few stray tears fall from her eyes, but she doesn’t look sad anymore or apologetic as she laughs, “Sorry!”

Ijin has a lot to learn.

Later, Ijin will find a text from Kang with the promised links and tips from his men, along with a whole set of instructions for how to care for stitches from the base’s doctor. Later, Dayeon will make him put on lotion and some antiseptic cream as per the instructions Kang left on a handwritten note Kang had left on the table before he left. He’ll also find a lot of texts from the other men on base sending him well wishes and also telling him to get better at dodgeball. Tomorrow, Dayeon will make Ijin walk her through how he wraps his stitches and makes him promise to air them out again soon. Tomorrow, Ijin’s friends will come over to check on him and nag him for coming to school with stitches. 

Tomorrow, their grandpa will pull Ijin aside and take a look at the full injury himself, only asking if Ijin had been taking care of it properly and leaving it at that when Ijin says yes. Ijin knows his grandpa knows it wasn’t because of dodgeball. 

When he goes back to school next week, Nurse Nam will pull him out of sports for another two days and gives Ijin a lecture each time. The kid who fell into him never causes trouble for Ijin again, instead opting to stay a respectable distance away at all times. Whether this is due to the scarring sight of blood on his hands or the death stares Ijin’s friends have given him will remain a mystery.

For now, he decides, none of that matters. Instead, he focuses on his sister who is still clinging onto his shirt while smiling widely.

He knows what a family is now.