Daejung smiled to himself as he noticed Lee quickly getting the orange soda after he mentioned he knew his favorite flavor. Little things like these were enough to make his heart skip a beat, perhaps a way to fool himself that Lee still cared enough for him. It also felt reminiscent to the good, old days. When they used to spend their time being ridiculously domestic at each other’s apartments back in New York. It was nostalgic at best. He attentively listened to Lee’s explanation and introduction to every fury friend in the room. Nodding along and smiling every so often, cooing at the dogs with the names that were being told to him. Though Lily was in fact… not having it. He laughed a little at the grumpy chihuahua in the back. “Oh I can see that”, he joked. “And I think she found herself a new pillow to sleep on”, he pointed out as Nugget got herself comfortable on him. “A bulldog? No… does she make you sleep next to him when she grounds you?”, he joked, laughing a little.
“Well, it’s really nice to meet your family”, he confessed softly. He could tell how deeply Lee cared for these animals and Nessa just by the sole tone of his voice. It immensely warmed him inside: that he could finally have a family, after all. The one that he always deserved. “Thank you… you remembered”, he smiled as he took the glass from his hand, referencing how he brought them orange soda. It was nice that things weren’t as awkward as their first encounter… though they were maybe about to get that way as Lee seemed to be ready to unpack everything. Daejung felt anxious as hell, he took a sip of his drink in an attempt to ease his nerves. “I… I think you should start your story. I’m… I’m certain the questions will arise after it”, he nervously said, sitting there facing him with worried eyes as he waited for him to start talking.
Lee wanted to chuckle... yes, he had been grounded far too many times and had to stay with Freddie outside. But now, now he was getting the right mood, state of mind, to narrate the worst part of his life... so, no laughing. He had decisions to make. Where to begin with? With the part Moonie he already knew of the story but on Lee’s point of view? Or from his disappearing? Lee passed a hand through his hair, wishing for a millisecond that he could fucking run from there— a wishing that he immediately reacted to, shaking his head. He was already past the ‘running away’ as a solution, right? So it was absolutely not something to consider now. “That day... I ran back to my parent’s house” Lee told him, his eyes laying elsewhere as he remembered. It was so weird. When he thought about it enough he could feel the rush in his veins, the sorrow, the fear, the betrayal. But he couldn’t let himself into that, not anymore, so he closed his, eyes, trying to keep himself away from those feelings... and opened them again, before looking at Moonie “I confronted Mr. Hwan. Told him how many times we fucked in the bathroom and how many times it had happened right under his nose” he said with a smirk. Oh, yeah, the only good thing about that day was his father’s face at the truth. How scandalized he looked. “I bet he heard enough details to have nightmares, which I’m very proud of” he smiled kind of humorless, but also satisfied.
Then, Lee took a deep breath before start narrating the not funny at all parts of the story, in which he ran away and Nessa found him and helped him without asking questions. How, a few days later, he finally opened up about himself, probably trying to sabotage his odds of getting help— he spelled how he was mad all the time, furious, and sad, and Nessa offered help with treatment. Which was a surprise. He was too mobilized to feel relief, but he wasn’t stupid enough to deny it or to not thank Nessa with all he had; when he realized, he was actually living with her. And taking medications. And trying to get a job in a near vet. And then he worked out some stuff he had done in the past— when he finally recognized his first overdose as a suicide attempt, which was a shock, he could barely believe he had been bad enough to try that like, a long time before what he thought it had been his first attempt. Then, he spoke about Borderline. About the diagnosis that was never actually closed as the psychiatrist thought it had been the drugs and the alcohol that led him to develop bad coping mechanisms. And to fucking obsess over Moonie. Lee took a few pauses here and then to drink some of the soda, trying to keep his mind clear enough... after all, he wouldn’t suffocate into things he couldn’t change, not anymore.
