Work Text:
Cale- no, Kim Rok Soo recalls the first time he saw Lee Soo Hyuk collapse, away from the sight of everyone else, those who saw him as invincible, those who had entrusted him with their lives, those who took him as the pillar of their lives.
He saw him collapse suddenly, with a noise so forceful that it had hurt even him, lose his breath and tremble silently, biting his lips and holding back his tears with an exhausted expression.
And his heart ached, the way it did when he thought of all those who had gone, of all the ways the world had crumbled down on him until he no longer had the strength to get up and fight. His heart ached and he wanted to scream, scream and roar against the world, against his people, against himself for putting so much on the shoulders of a man who was still human.
But he didn't, because it would do no good, because it wasn't him who needed the comfort, because it was that human who now seemed so small and vulnerable in his arms, who clung desperately as if he no longer knew where else to anchor himself to stay alive, who cried so miserably that he felt as if he would break the moment he loosened even a little of his grip.
Kim Rok Soo did not plan to do so and just as he did not plan to do so, he did not. He held him and held him and held him and held him until his arms trembled, and continued to hold him until the crying stopped, until his body no longer gave the feeling that he was about to break, until he seemed to come back to his senses.
He still continued to hold him.
Lee Soo Hyuk did not complain, loosening his own grip but not letting go, feeling his throat raw and eyes sore and the body was broken and—.
And loved, understood, cherished, human.