It had been months since Himchan’s first and (he hoped) last suicide attempt.

It took Yongguk a lot to convince himself that Himchan would be okay even without constant overprotection. It wasn’t like he didn’t believe the latter; he did, he always did, but after the nearly fatal cuts a few months ago, Yongguk became a little paranoid. His overprotective attitude nearly put a strain on their relationship. Nearly. Luckily, it didn’t stay for so long. He was sure, finally, that Himchan had opened up to him almost completely.

Like this certain day, after a whole night of crying for the younger male.

“You alright?”

The foxy-eyed man shrugged. “Better. Contrary to what most people thought, I’m actually quite simple, like a small child. I got easily frustrated, cried like a madman, but then I would go to sleep or eat a lot and watch stuff that I like. They were usually sufficient to get rid of the aftermath of crying. I’ll be good as new.”

“But something,” he pointed at Himchan’s arm, “is not right. What the hell is that? Have you started cutting again?”

“It’s nothing.” He waved it off quickly. “Don’t worry; I wouldn’t try to kill myself anymore. I’m just doing this to preserve the scars. And do not ever question my motive.”

“Alright, fine.” Yongguk scratched the back of his head. “Still, I don’t quite understand. I mean, you could get a tattoo or something. It serves the same reason with less pain and less... gore.”

“Sure, I’ll have my mom cut my hand off if she finds a tattoo there. Besides, you know I can’t have a tattoo, for one reason or another.”

“So a tattooed hand is not okay but a self-injured hand is.”

“Well maybe because a cut scar is a lot less noticeable than a tattoo; no matter how small it is, a tattoo is still ink.”

“You mean nobody has ever noticed those gigantic scars in your arm AND face?”

“Wrong. People noticed, but they simply shrugged it off. Mind you, that scar belongs to an illustrator who often create paper mascots, and whose love of cats explodes like a million fireworks. Cutter blades, scissors, cat claws, who cares where the scar come from?”

Yongguk shook his head; from disbelief and slight amazement. “Clever. I still don’t approve cutting, by the way. But eh, as long as it doesn’t get you in trouble then whatever.”

Himchan smiled softly, looking at the older man with warm gaze. “You know what I really love about you? Well, there's a lot, but there's this one thing that lets me open up to you more than anyone else. It's that you never proclaim that you will be my 'friend' and save me. Too many people do that, and most of the times, they fail. If anything, they only make matters worse. Calling me sick or insane and stuff. But you, you never say anything, yet you do everything you could to understand me. I really appreciate that.”

Yongguk smiled back with the same warmth. “I’m also amazed at myself; I mean how I even manage to shut up about this whole ordeal for so long. However one thing is for sure; if I open my mouth, you’re going to run away and hide. That’s not on my list.”

“That’s not on mine either. And… you know, I wouldn’t have to add it later, would I?”

A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves round Himchan’s waist, fingers tangling tightly in front of the slim body.”No.”

Himchan felt a soft breath near his left ear.

“No. Never.”

coon's paw print:

uh. so a few weeks ago i accidentally wrote a drabble out of frustration (again).

when i reread it, the story seemed to match cuts' storyline a bit so i thought why not

it's crappy esp the first three paragraphs, i wasn't a part of the original drabble but i added it so the story would make more sense.

i'm so sorry for putting this on draft for too long! this chapter had lots of things to fix and i sorta ended up forgetting about it.. i'm shaming my whole species T^T

also, i noticed some errors in the first chapter (like referring to himchan by 'her') but i couldnt find it, so i'm sorry

coon loves you