Chapter Text
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Attempted Kidnapping, Panic Attack-ish stuff, Dissociation(? Maybe? Not sure tbh, but like better safe than sorry)
The Dreamies had just made it through a particularly tough day of schedules, and each member immediately retreated into their rooms upon arriving at the dorm, eager to have some time alone. Every member except Chenle, that is. In fact, Chenle had gone to the dorm rather than his apartment specifically because he didn’t want to be alone. He just felt… off. But he understood his groupmates’ need for space, so he tried to give them some. He figured one of them would come over to him after a while anyway.
He sat on the living room couch for a while. He got some food and ate at the kitchen table. He went back to the living room couch and sat there for a little while longer. He took a hot shower. He went back to the living room couch and sat there again.
“This sucks,” he muttered petulantly as he finally realized that no one was going to come talk to him.
Ignoring the small, irrational pang of hurt in his chest, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Poking his head in the doorway of Jeno and Jaemin’s room, Chenle found Jeno dozing off in one bed while Jaemin sat on the other, scrolling through Twitter on his phone. Not wanting to disturb Jeno, as the older boy clearly needed his sleep, Chenle crept quietly over to Jaemin and tucked himself against his hyung’s side. Jaemin initially let him rest there without protest, silence reigning in the room. But after a few minutes, Jaemin shifted away.
“I’m sorry Lele, but I could really use some alone time right now,” his voice was tense but genuinely apologetic, “Maybe try Jisung or Renjun?”
“Oh ok, sorry hyung,” Chenle’s voice was understanding, even as his chest constricted slightly with another pang of hurt.
Jaemin gave him a sheepish smile and ruffled his hair as an apology, to which Chenle just smiled back at him and slipped out of the room. He padded quietly down the hall to Renjun and Jisung’s room, where Renjun was lying in his bed and Jisung was playing Overwatch.
He headed over to Renjun’s bed, intending to lie down next to his fellow Chinese member, but he was stopped abruptly as a hand flew out to barr his access.
“Please don’t,” Renjun groaned in irritation, “I’m seriously not in the mood.”
“Ah, sorry hyung,” Chenle apologized quickly.
Apparently he and Jaemin weren't the only ones feeling out of sorts.
Trying his best to shrug off the latest rejection, Chenle crossed the room to join Jisung at his computer. Surely his best friend would make some time for him. Sitting down to watch the maknae play, he cheered as Jisung made kills, chattered excitedly between matches, and even tried to instigate debates about which heroes were the best. But all he got in return for his efforts were half-hearted shrugs and clipped, indifferent responses.
Defeated, he returned to the living room. As loneliness tightened his chest in a way that he couldn’t explain, he found himself wishing for Haechan or Mark. But they were at the 127 dorm. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to go bother them there, especially with all of the other hyungs around.
Shrugging slightly, he decided that he would take a walk and then go back to his apartment. Maybe the fresh air would clear his head. Grabbing his jacket and stepping out the door, he shouted a farewell. No one bothered to respond.
--
Chenle strolled leisurely down the darkened streets of Seoul. Night had fallen, and the city lights bathed the pavement in a familiar, yellowish hue. His identity was concealed safely beneath his mask and bucket hat, and he felt the tight hurt in his chest loosening as he breathed in the cool air.
Crossing over into a park, he smiled gently as he meandered down a dirt path. Trees towered over him, the mysteries of the small city forest lost in the darkness behind them. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves. The world was quiet.
SNAP!
Chenle jumped as a loud cracking sound rang through the air. Whirling around, he stared into the darkness of the treeline on either side of him, his eyes searching desperately for a form to fix onto. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight, his skin prickling with the distinct feeling that someone was watching him. Someone that was very, very close, but still invisible, completely cloaked under the oppressive darkness.
Suddenly, a figure launched from the shadows. A hand wrapped around his waist, another fixing itself across his mouth. Chenle thrashed violently as he was dragged toward the woods, screaming into the fingers that cut his lips against his teeth with the crushing force of their grip. Chenle kicked outward with all of his strength, landing a powerful strike to his attacker’s knee as he bit at the man’s fingers. In the brief moment that pain loosened the man’s grip, Chenle tore free.
He sprinted down the dirt path, fear pumping blood through his body as his feet flew over the uneven trail. The trees seemed to close in on him, choking his vision. The pounding of his heart thundered in his ears, its volume making his eardrums throb.
Bursting out of the forest and onto the asphalt road that cut through the heart of the park, Chenle bolted for the front gate. He launched out onto the sidewalk with a violent speed, and, dodging around the couple he had startled, ducked into a convenience store at the corner of the block. Darting down the aisles, the Chinese boy fled to the back corner of the store and hunkered down into a ball in the corner.
His breath came in shaky gasps as his eyes darted between the aisles with lightning speed, his body primed to run the moment his attacker appeared underneath the harsh fluorescent lights. His body trembled with a cold shock that contrasted harshly with the warm blood that seeped sluggishly from his sliced lips. He crouched there, paralyzed with terror, for what felt like hours before he could convince himself that the man hadn’t followed him inside. Hands shaking violently as he suddenly jolted himself back into motion, Chenle fumbled for his phone. He had to call someone, he had to get out of here.
Ringggg... Ringggg... Ringg-
--
Felix groaned as his phone buzzed obnoxiously next to his head. Who the fuck was calling him in the middle of the night? He squinted at the screen, flinching as the bright light seared his retinas, before recoiling in surprise when he saw Chenle’s name. He had been friends with Chenle for a while now, and Chenle never called him unless it was something serious. Without hesitating, he picked up the call and brought the phone to his ear.
“Chenle? Are you ok?” his voice was rough with sleep.
“Hyung I-” the sharp terror in the answering tone had Felix sitting up straight in his bed/
“Chenle?” Felix questioned nervously, “What’s wrong?”
“Hyung-” Chenle whimpered, “Hyung, someone just attacked me.”
The Chinese boy’s harsh breaths filtered through the phone speakers in scratchy puffs.
“Fuck, ok, um, are you ok? Where are you?”
“Um, I’m fine, um, I’m at a convenience store, uh, near a park?” Chenle’s voice was dangerously unsteady.
Well that didn’t clear up much of anything.
“How about you just send me your location, ok?”
A weak “ok” sounded through the phone speakers, and a few moments later a notification popped up on Felix’s phone.
“Do you want me to call one of your members?”
There was a pause.
“Could you come get me instead?”
Startled, Felix blinked in incomprehension.
“Wait, what?”
A choked, almost hysterical laugh made its way into Felix’s ear, and the Aussie felt his heart sink at the sound.
“Yeah. I don’t know either. Just please?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course I’ll come get you.”
Felix locked eyes with his roommate, Jeongin, who had been awoken by Felix’s voice and was now listening intently. Felix jerked his head toward the door in the hopes that the maknae would go find Chan. To his immense relief, Jeongin understood immediately and headed straight for the hallway.
“Jeongin’s going to find Chan-hyung. We’ll get there as fast as we can, just stay on the phone, ok?”
He got a shaky “ok” in response. Felix threw off his blankets, put the phone on speaker, and placed it on the night table before pulling on some clothes as quickly as he could.
Just as he finished dressing, Jeongin barged back into the room, dragging a disheveled Chan with him. The pair was followed by a bewildered Changbin.
“Hyung, I need you to drive me to a convenience store near Chenle’s dorm. Someone just attacked him, and he’s hiding in there.”
Chan’s eyes widened as he registered the words.
“Holy shit.”
His eyes fell on Felix’s phone, where the call was still live.
“Chenle?” He called out tentatively.
“Chan-hyung?” came the jittery reply.
“Yeah, it’s me kid. Can I ask you a question? About your attacker?”
There was a small silence before an affirmative was murmured through the phone.
“Alright. Do you think it was a stalker? Or were you just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
“Um, wrong place at the wrong time. I think. I don’t know. I think he was trying to take me somewhere.”
Felix’s eyes widened as he registered the implications of the last sentence, and he locked eyes with Changbin, hoping against hope that he wasn’t right in thinking that Chenle had almost been kidnapped. He received no comfort from the regretful grimace that was returned to him.
“Alright, we’re gonna come get you, ok?” Chan’s eyes had hardened with a combination of fear and determination.
“Ok.”
Chan grabbed Changbin by the arm and leaned in next to his ear, talking quietly so that the phone wouldn’t pick up his words, “Ask security to get a car out to the same location. Tell them not to get out of the car unless there is a problem, but have them be ready. Even though Chenle says the man wasn’t a stalker, it's still possible that he’s being targeted specifically. Especially since it was an attempted kidnapping instead of a mugging or something.”
Felix felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he listened to Chan, and he swallowed hard. As Changbin left the room to make the call, Jeongin wrapped Felix in a back hug and nuzzled his face into the crook of the older member’s neck.
A few minutes later, Felix was descending the stairs alongside Changbin. Chan was waiting for them at the door.
“We’re gonna be there soon Lele. Just hold on a little longer.”
--
When Changbin’s gaze first fell on Chenle, who was still curled up in the corner of the convenience store, he couldn’t help but let out an audible gasp. The kid looked terrible. His hairline was beaded with sweat, and his pale face contrasted starkly with the smears of crimson blood around his mouth. His hands were shaking, and his eyes glassy as they stared up into his. The SKZ member knelt down on the floor beside the NCT maknae liner, resting a careful hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“You with me?” Changbin spoke to Chenle as one would speak to a frightened animal.
Chenle nodded an affirmative, fidgeting agitatedly with the sleeves of his sweatshirt.
“Can you stand? We need to get you to the car,” Changbin didn’t want to pressure him, but the last thing Chenle needed was for pictures of this to surface and cause a scandal.
“Yeah,” Chenle’s voice was shaky, but he seemed to understand that he was on borrowed time.
Putting his mask back on and tipping his hat down to cover his eyes, Chenle pressed himself up into a standing position, stumbling slightly as Changbin guided him out of the brightly lit store and over to the dark SUV that contained Chan and Felix.
Handing Chenle off to Felix so that the youngest Australian could help his friend into the vehicle, Changbin walked around to the other door and climbed inside. Chan was watching him with nervous eyes, and Changbin saw the leader’s face crumble at the grave expression on his face.
“Oh my god, Chenle!” Felix’s exclamation of horror had both of the older members turning immediately, only for Changbin to wince the moment he saw the scene.
Chenle had taken off his mask, revealing the blood that stained his skin, and the sight was still disturbing the second time around. He couldn’t imagine how startling it was for Felix to see his friend like that.
“Hyungs-” Chenle’s voice stuck in his throat for a moment, “I don’t feel good.”
Changbin could only thread a hand through the Dream member’s hair as the kid’s whole body started to shake. Felix had responded immediately to his friend’s fearful tone, gathering Chenle tightly against his body. He had tucked Chenle’s head under his chin and was whispering words of comfort as Chenle clutched the older boy’s shirt with what could only be described as desperate fear.
“Should we take him back to the Dream dorm?” Chan had twisted around in the driver’s seat in order to face them, and the sheer uncertainty in his expression made the situation all the more frightening.
“No, we need to go to the 127 dorm. That’s where Mark-sunbaenim and Haechan-sunbaenim are,” Felix’s voice was surprisingly steady as he met Chan’s eyes, and Changbin felt a small surge of pride as he realized that Felix had managed to wrestle down his own fear and take charge of the situation in order to help his friend. Their kid was growing up.
“Changbin-hyung, I need you to call Mark-sunbaenim. Tell him what happened, and let him know when we’ll be arriving,” Felix’s next command was aimed at him, and he took the proffered phone immediately. After taking a deep breath to steady himself for the conversation he was about to face, he pressed the call button.
Ringggg… Ringggg… Ringggg…
--
The moment that Chenle was guided into the living room of the 127 dorm by the SKZ members, Mark felt like he had been punched in the gut. Sure, he was aware that his friend had been attacked, and he even knew that the boy was hurt. But there was something different about actually seeing it. Taking in his friend’s shaking form and bloodied face, Mark could only stand in frozen shock as Haechan and the hyungs rushed forward and swiftly directed Felix to settle the Chinese boy down on the couch.
“How badly is he hurt?”
Doyoung was already questioning Changbin and Chan, trying to assess the seriousness of the situation.
“I don’t know, he didn’t tell us. We were more concerned with getting him the hell out of there before someone caught us on camera. He seems really shaken up though,” Chan offered apologetically.
It didn’t matter either way, as Haechan had soon pried enough knowledge out of Chenle for them to start tending to his injuries.
“Taeyong-hyungie, check his ankle. He thinks he did something to it,” Haechan called out over his shoulder as he went in search of some ice.
Almost instantly, Doyoung was setting a pillow on the coffee table and Taeyong was moving Chenle’s injured ankle to rest on it, elevating the limb. The leader’s long, thin fingers probed gently at the joint as he investigated the swelling caused by a tweak during Chenle’s frenzied escape.
Haechan reappeared with two ice packs, holding one against Chenle’s jaw, which ached after being gripped with such violent force, and passing the other one off to Doyoung, who secured it against the Chinese boy’s ankle after Taeyong finished his examination.
Taeil had taken up residence next to Chenle on the couch as he carefully wiped the blood off of the dreamie’s face and cleaned the wounds on his lips, whispering a steady stream of apologies every time the younger boy flinched in pain.
And, through all of this, through all of the time when he should have been there for his dongsaeng, soothing the boy’s pain and helping heal his injuries, Mark stood frozen in the entrance to the room. His muscles seemed to have locked up even as his mind screamed at him to go be useful, to go be a real leader hyung.
“Mark?”
The voice startled his body into action as he jumped in surprise at its close proximity.
“Woah kid, take it easy.”
Wait, that was English.
“Are you alright?”
Jaehyun was peering down at him with concern in his eyes.
“Ah, um, yeah dude I’m fine, sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you-” Mark stammered out.
“You’re not kidding anyone, ya know,” Yuta’s voice butted in behind him, causing Mark to swivel sharply as his heart rate jumped again, eyes snapping to where his Japanese hyung was leaning against the wall of the hallway.
“Christ! Are you two trying to give me a heart attack?!” Mark exclaimed with a forced
laugh, switching back to Korean as he smoothed his features into an amused and exasperated expression with practiced ease.
“What do you think you’re doing, giving us a press front?” Yuta tugged Mark’s ear scoldingly as a small glare crossed his face, “You’re scared as hell, just admit it.”
“I’m fine though?” His protest was professionally clean, his expression a perfect replica of genuine innocence and confusion.
“No, you’re not,” Jaehyun persisted, switching back to English, “You’re shocked and scared because one of your best friends almost got kidnapped, and now you’re starting to feel guilty because you haven’t done anything to help him even though the hyungs and Haechannie clearly have that covered already.”
Well fuck.
“Sometimes I think you forget that you’re a maknae as well as a leader, Markie,” Yuta’s voice was concerned, “Besides, this is a freaking terrifying situation. No one can say how they’re going to react to it until it happens, and you’re no different.”
Yuta looked like he wanted to say something else, but a loud sob broke through the room that had Mark whirling around in an instant, his eyes fixed on Chenle.
--
The NCT and SKZ members had crowded around Chenle the moment he started to cry, trying desperately to comfort him, but he could only curl into Felix’s familiar side until one particular voice broke through the din.
“Chenle, it’s ok. I promise, it’s ok.”
A hand was cupping protectively around the nape of his neck.
It was Mark.
Chenle pressed his hand tightly over his mouth in an attempt to stifle his sobs, ignoring the pain from his cut lips.
“Hey, no, no, no, don’t cry! It’s ok!”
Mark pulled him out of Felix’s hold and into a tight, protective hug, one arm looped around his waist and the other around his shoulders as he guided his younger group member up to his room. Hiding his face in the crook of his leader’s neck, Chenle pressed as close to the older boy as possible, craving the security of Mark’s steady presence.
“Aigoo, my aegi. Don’t cry aegi~”
The voice, coupled with a light touch that smoothed soothingly across his back, left no doubt in Chenle’s mind as to who had joined them in Mark’s room.
“Haechan-hyung,” he practically sobbed.
“Yes, aegi.”
Haechan pressed a kiss onto the top of his head before continuing to stroke gentle touches down his spine.
They found their way onto the bed, where Mark sat propped against the wall as Chenle cried into his neck. They stayed like that for a long while while Haechan cooed at them in his distinctly Haechan-y way, rubbing Chenle’s back.
“Do you want me to get Johnny-hyung?”
That was an… interesting idea. Chenle didn’t really know Johnny very well, but the Chicagoan had an undeniably strong and protective presence. So he nodded.
“Alright aegi, I’m going to go get him. I’ll be back in a moment.”
The hand left his back after one more soothing circle, and he felt the bed shift as Haechan’s weight left the mattress. He shivered at the loss of contact, and Mark splayed his hand comfortingly across the small of Chenle’s back.
Haechan’s footsteps returned to the room mere minutes later, and this time he was accompanied by a heavier tread. The scent of Johnny’s cologne filled Chenle’s nose as the older member came closer, and Chenle felt his shoulders relax involuntarily as the powerful rapper’s hand came to rest on the back of his neck. His cries soon turned to sniffles, and he felt some of the tension start to bleed out of him.
“How ya doing there, kid?” Johnny’s velvety voice filled his ears.
“Better now,” he mumbled into Mark’s neck, almost cracking a smile when he felt Mark tense up uncomfortably as Chenle’s breath tickled his skin. Harrassing this hyung, even unintentionally, would never get old.
“Good, good. Do you want to tell us what happened?”
Johnny exuded a steady confidence as he rubbed Chenle’s neck soothingly, but even that comfort couldn’t stave off the swoop of dread that the question caused.
“I didn't feel well when I got back to the dorm,” Chenle started despite his discomfort, “The other dreamies wanted to rest by themselves, but, like, I wanted to be with someone. That's why I went back to the dorms in the first place. But no one wanted me around.”
Hearing Haechan’s disapproving exhale, Chenle rushed to defend the other dreamies.
“I don’t blame them! They were tired, I totally understand it. They don’t have the same personal space that I have with my apartment. But then I thought I would walk around a little and clear my head before I went back to my apartment. I went in the park and was walking down a path in the woods and someone-” his voice hitched slightly as his heart rate started to pick up again, “someone grabbed me. He started dragging me into the woods, he grabbed my face and covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream-”
Johnny shushed him gently and Mark’s hold on him tightened.
“It’s ok, you don’t need to tell us any more,” Johnny’s tone was soothing, “We get the idea.”
Mark’s countenance had turned to stone, an unfamiliar expression that lessened only when Haechan leveled a warning glare in his direction, which Chenle was almost grateful for. That was, quite frankly, the most terrifying look Chenle had ever seen on Mark’s face.
They didn’t press any more, just let Chenle cling to Mark’s shoulders as a wave of pure fatigue crashed over him. Telling the story had been the last straw, and, with his injuries now tended to, he felt his strength wane rapidly. He fell asleep to the steady sound of his leader’s heartbeat, completely exhausted.