200410

given prompt: in the first few weeks of bringing joohyun home, seungwan has to step out real quick to run an errand while joohyun was sleeping. when she wakes up to an empty house, she hesitantly tries to explore her surroundings, becoming a little more brave with each step bc she has the house to herself. When she spots something that piques her interest, she gets excited, but in her excitement she actually knocks something over and breaks it. Seungwan comes home to a broken item with joohyun nowhere to be seen. When she finds her, joohyun is anxious af. Seungwan is patient and joohyun eventually (but timidly) goes to seungwan and nudges her forehead against Seungwan’s bc this is how bunnies apologize to each other. She doesn’t say a word, her tears are enough for  seungwan to understand

trigger warning: mentions of blood, but not explicit.

— 

when joohyun wakes up, the first thing she becomes aware of is that she’s alone.

cold fear washes over her for a few heavy seconds as she stiffens up in anxiety, but the tension slowly leaves her body once she begins to take notice of her surroundings.

for one, the tv in her room is on and playing at a low volume when she knows it hadn’t been when she’d dozed off. and the blankets she’d gone to bed with tucked loosely over herself are now swaddling her up warmly. 

it makes it a little difficult for joohyun to completely disentangle herself from the blankets wrapped around her, even with her small frame wriggling around. she eventually gives up, instead sitting up from the bed with a small, sleepy huff. 

her eyes immediately land on a familiar stuffed animal squirrel perched on her nightstand, and the sight makes her smile for the first time since waking. that definitely hadn’t been there when she’d gone to sleep. it makes it obvious who placed it there.

there’s a sheet of paper in the squirrel’s arms with a picture of something. joohyun has to lean back in order for the image to become less blurry for her, but once she does, she sees that it’s a very neatly done sketch of the telephone in the living room. a red circle is drawn around one of the buttons. 

slowly, joohyun crawls out of bed, dragging along with her one of the blankets still wrapped around her frame. she takes the paper and the squirrel with her too, hugging the latter to her chest and absentmindedly nosing into its fur, breathing in its soothingly familiar scent as she carefully steps out of her room.

the wooden floors for once feel cold beneath her feet, and joohyun’s ears twitch from under the blanket at how silent the hallway is. she darts her eyes over the rest of the doors near her, notes how they’re all closed. her grip on the stuffed animal tightens.

slowly, hesitantly, joohyun pads down the hallway. the house is eerily silent save for the sounds of her footsteps echoing against the floor. 

emerging into the living room, joohyun sighs quietly in relief; the open space is much more preferable, much more homely and inviting even when devoid of people. when she glances toward the corner of the room, the corner of her lips twitch upward upon spotting yet another familiar stuffed animal seated next to the telephone.

there is also a piece of paper in the toy bunny’s arms: a simple, red arrow points down at the same button the first paper has circled. joohyun adds both items to her armload of papers and stuffed animals, nose buried in the bunny’s pelt, before tentatively pressing down on it.

a few beeps from the telephones cause her to startle back a step, but then suddenly a voice is speaking up, and joohyun’s ears perk up in instant recognition. 

“hey, hyunnie, this is wannie speaking! if you’re hearing this message it probably means you woke up and followed all the clues into the living room. sorry about that if i scared you, by the way! i just didn’t know how else to tell you this without waking you up. i didn’t want to leave a note either since i wasn’t sure it would be easy to read. 

“did you have a nice nap, hyun? you were sleeping so peacefully, i hope you were dreaming about something good. did you know your nose twitches in your sleep? it’s really cute to see, hyunnie.”

at this, joohyun feels her cheeks pinkening. she buries her face further into the stuffed animals in her arms.

“okay, i’m getting too sidetracked. i think you might have noticed already, but mom and dad aren’t home right now, so you’re the only one left in the house at the moment. i had to leave to go buy some stuff for dinner since mom texted me saying she forgot a few things.

“i don’t know what she’s planning on making, but i’m gonna buy some tteokbokki for her to make as an apology for having us all leave you alone at home. but you can get something from the kitchen if you’re hungry, hyunnie. and you know how to call any of us if there’s an emergency. 

“i think that’s it. i swear i’ll be back soon, okay? i left around two o’clock, i should be back in about an hour. just sit tight for now. i’ll be home in a bit, hyun.”

the message ends with a click, leaving joohyun standing in the silence of the living room. for a few moments she doesn’t move, breathing absentmindedly into the toy bunny’s fur. her own ears twitch atop her head, peeking out from beneath her blanket and listening for any telltale signs of life in the house. but there’s nothing. she truly is alone. 

a weird sort of tingling excitement shoots through her, prickling the tips of her fingers and toes. on the balls of her feet, she slowly swivels around in a circle, taking in her surroundings once again. 

the thing is, it’s only been a few weeks since seungwan brought her home here. even as the house has become completely familiar to her, there’s an entirely different feeling in the walls now that there is no one else around. she’s a little scared, but her curiosity to explore is quickly overpowering that. 

besides, she thinks, clutching the bunny and squirrel closer to her. she’s not actually that alone after all. 

with a little gleeful hop in her step, joohyun begins to pad deeper into the house.

—

the front door swings open as seungwan steps inside, bags of groceries gripped in one hand. “hyun, i’m home,” seungwan sings, toeing her shoes off in the doorway. its only after she’s tucked them neatly in the shoe rack and locked the door behind her that she realizes the house is dead silent, and there is no bunny hybrid in sight.

a concerned frown adorns seungwan’s face, but she moves into the kitchen to sort the groceries into the fridge. “maybe she’s still asleep,” seungwan mumbles to herself. 

once she’s finished, seungwan steps back into the living room, only to freeze once she spots the mess of broken shards scattered across the floor. she immediately recognizes them as the remains of one of her mom’s prized statues she’d brought back from one of her travels. was it of an elephant? seungwan can’t remember, there’s honestly too many. 

her rambling thoughts come to a screeching halt though, once she spots the drops of blood amidst the mess. 

“,” seungwan hisses in alarm, immediately surging into motion. “joohyun? joohyun!” 

panic overtakes her for a few seconds as seungwan calls loudly into the hallways for the missing hybrid, worry climbing in her stomach and causing her insides to twist in fear. her heart hammers loudly in her chest, and her ears roar with