a little brotherly bonding.
— * for @ryxsungjae ! ( trigger warning: slight mentions of anxiety. )
he didn't understand why family vacations were so important. while his parents claimed it was for occasional bonding ( with the underlined added plus of good publicity coined as well, ) he didn't see the trip as anything affective. of course, he's also rejected his family with every chance he got to preserve his own confidence, but he knew he couldn't avoid them for much longer. since he's ran out of excuses to avoid spending more time than he wanted to with his family, he finally agreed to go skiing with them since he didn't even need to stay by their side for the majority of the time— which is exactly what jun wanted.
as much as he loved his brothers, the inferiority he feels consumes him ten times faster when one of the older princes are around him and altogether he just suffocates as a whole. he allowed this insecurity to create a shield around him, which was the reason he was practically squishing himself into his side of the ski lift as he and sungjae managed to get onto the same one. the air suddenly felt so, so awkward and jun wanted nothing more than to leave right at this very moment. he could only eye their destination with impatience, wishing that this thing would magically go faster so that the silence would no longer engulf the both of them for a minute longer.
but instead of speeding up, the entire thing stopped.
sirens began going off in his head as his eyes darted around to assess the situation, but there was nothing that could be done other than wait. they were too high up for them to jump down, not that jun would even consider making such an irrational decision, and even with a safety net below, jun wouldn't dare. jun was stuck in the air with no way of getting down quick enough, and he was stuck with one of the people he'd rather avoid, which only meant one thing— two points for anxiety.
shyly turning to his brother as he gripped tighter onto his side, he opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out— what could he say? he wasn't sure if the air was becoming thicker simply because of the awkward tension or if it was just due to his anxiety rising, but either way, jun was this close to screaming and something needed to be done. ❝ h-hyung... what— what do we do now? i... i don't want to w-wait... ❞
