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shihyun nods his head towards suren. “and the kid?”
muti spares a glance, and any tension he felt from the day’s encounter is gone. suren is laughing at something doyeom says, and the bright, childish smile on his face radiates on to the few sat around him. seeing the smile, his laugh, makes some sort of parental fondness swell up in muti’s chest. he refocuses on the task at hand.
“he’s my little brother," he mutters. “found him alone, somewhere along a highway. his—the group he was with was attacked, they told him to run, and he did. he had been wandering by himself for a few days, so i just—i couldn’t leave him there. i only planned to keep him around until i found a camp that was taking in kids, but he grew on me and before i knew it, he was calling me gege and now i’m telling folks we’re blood-related."
suren, more often than not, wakes up in tremors. tremors from nightmares, ones that are cruel and horrible enough to make the 10-year old weep and sob for hours. the first time it happens, muti is a little scared too. it had been barely five hours since he had picked up the kid off the side of the road. all he knew about suren was that he was young, weak, and had been alone for days.
he’d gotten a coat around the kid’s shoulder and a water bottle in his hands, and after finding a decent place to camp out for the night, had started a fire and heated up a can of soup for them to split. (though, instead of it being 50-50, it was more 70-30. the kid was ravenous. muti didn’t mind.)
muti spreads out a coat on the floor and balls up an extra shirt, leaving it there for suren to use as a pillow. he digs through his backpack before pulling out an old, ragged blanket and throwing it over the kid after he’s settled down. it’s starting to get cold at night.
most nights muti would sleep without worrying about things that could get him outside his shelter; if they got him, they got him. but tonight, he’s staying up. he’s sat against the wall adjacent to the door, gun propped up beside him. for once, he’s protecting someone other than himself.
for the most part, suren sleeps soundly. he's not counting, but muti would put it at about three hours of deep sleep before he stirs. and by that point muti himself is starting to nod off, his head drooping every now and then, so suren’s shout scares him to no end. he startles and kicks a bottle cap across the floor, wincing at the sound that resonates through the room.
he stares at where suren is laid, peaceful and calm and asleep, and he’s almost convinced that he made up the noise. but then suren jerks in his sleep and a strangled whimper comes from his throat, and muti is on high alert.
he moves closer, quietly. the closer he gets, the easier it is to see suren’s strained expression—pained, almost—and the few tears coming down his cheeks. muti’s never dealt with his own nightmares, much less anyone else’s; when he was at his old camp, a hyung of his had night terrors, but someone else was always there to help, and so muti never spoke of or inquired about it.
he reaches his hand out to gently shake suren’s shoulder, hesitating when the boy’s arm muscles jump again. “hey, kid, wake up. you’re having a nightmare,” he whispers.
suren lets out another cry, this one louder, scarier even. he starts to curl in on himself, and he must be thinking up terrifying things. muti pulls the kid into his lap, cradling him against his chest. he cards a hand through his hair and whispers what he can only hope are calming words.
“it’s alright, gege’s here,” suren’s shakes die down with time, but the tears and whimpers are still there, he’s still crying. maybe he’s awake at this point, muti isn’t really sure. the kid’s breathing is rough still but he’s not choking on air. it’s progress.
-
three hours later, the sun rises. suren’s fallen asleep against muti and the elder is passed out too, and yet a sound startles him awake. he almost throws the kid off his lap in surprise. he moves suren away, as gently as he can, and lets out a huff of breath when he doesn’t react.
grabbing the gun that’s off to the side, he stands and goes towards the shuttered windows at the head of the small cabin, squinting at the sunrise sunlight coming in through the cracks of the boards. he sees nothing but green, leafy vegetation until a walking mass of grey crosses his vision, and he stumbles back. it’s a Breather.
he wakes up suren and starts packing up their things, quickly stuffing the coats and items into his bag.”there’s a Breather out there. it’s alone, i think, but we need to move before more of them come this way.”
once they’re all packed up, muti slowly opens the door, doing his best to keep it from creaking. he makes sure suren stays inside and, after a count of three, sneaks up behind the Breather and hits it in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. it falls and doesn’t move, so muti gets suren from inside. he covers the kid’s eyes; he doesn’t need to see that.
before they leave, muti pulls a scarf from his bag and wraps it around suren’s neck and ears. there’s frost on the ground today. suren’s small hands grip onto muti’s and they head south, looking for anything.