counting raindrops
genre: heavy angst, comfort/slight fluff
summary: it was never supposed to happen. you were sure god meant to take you, not hongjoong.
warnings: character death, car crash, mentions of blood, self-doubt, reader is depressed, mentions of reader dying
note: thank you so much for all the love on my first two posts! happy reading!
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for as long as you've known seonghwa, it was always him and hongjoong. they were brothers, and you could have sworn hongjoong was seonghwa's soulmate - in every sense of the word.
you never minded hongjoong being around, you loved when he would come over late in the evening to entertain you and seonghwa about whatever work, school, or friend drama he had. he was like a kid of your own - despite him being older than you - and you wouldn't have had it any other way.
although seonghwa had always been protective of you when you were around his other members, he never worried about hongjoong, and often asked him to watch over you in times of his absence. you had grown highly fond of the short man, just as seonghwa had many years ago. even though you had seonghwa's heart, hongjoong was just as present in it as you were.
it was a stormy night when hongjoong had texted you asking for a ride home. seonghwa was fast asleep, his phone on silent not alerting you of hongjoong's consistent calls and text messages. you briefly woke seonghwa to let him know that his best friend was stuck at the studio, and you were to pick him up. gently kissing seonghwa's head and whispering an "i love you," you grabbed a spare coat and your keys, and you were out the door.
arriving at the studio almost thirty minutes after, hongjoong runs out of the building with his jacket over his head, already soaking and desperate to seek the warmth of your car.
"thank you so much y/n, hwa wasn't answering his phone and i was praying you were awake," he says while quickly hopping in the passenger seat.
"of course joong, i'm always happy to help," you say, giving him a smile before turning the heater up, and slowly driving off to hongjoong's apartment.
the rain had gotten so bad the roads were starting to flood. you could hardly see the road in front of you, driving very cautiously and turning your hazards on.
"you might be home later than you wanted to be hong," you say, keeping your eyes on the road, acknowledging his little hum he lets out. "that's okay," he says, "as long as we both get back safe it'll be alright."
you should have had a feeling something bad was going to happen, hell maybe you shouldn't have been driving at all. before getting a chance to respond, you see are bright lights seemingly coming straight for your car. trying to veer to the right to get out of the way, your car seems stuck in the flooded streets. reaching over to brace hongjoong for the impact, everything went black.
waking up drenched in water and blood wasn't what you thought was going to happen. the car had flipped upon impact, your side almost completely smashed in. trying to break free of the restraints of the seatbelt, you look over to see hongjoong's seatbelt is almost broken. he's hanging, the seatbelt being the only thing keeping him in one place.
getting out of the seatbelt, you reach over to try and undo hongjoong's. with a firm tug it breaks, and hongjoong falls to the bottom of the flipped car. he's not moving, at all, and his body looks lifeless as he lays in the shattered glass and blood that's all over the car.
you push hongjoong's body out his window, barely being able to do it yourself due to the confined space of the car. after he's out, you follow suit. seeing flashes of blue and red coming toward you, you drag hongjoong to the end of the car, panicking as he still hasn't moved.
when ems arrive, you drop to your knees with a face void of emotion as the paramedics pronounce hongjoong dead.
at around 4 am, seonghwa is frantically awoken by his members banging on his and your apartment. pulling himself out of bed with his bones feeling as heavy as lead, he trudges to the front door.
"seonghwa hyung! open up!" is what seonghwa hears with banging following. sleepy but able to tell the voices are panicked, he opens the door to find all his members but hongjoong.
"hyung, we've been calling you for over an hour!" yunho says, his voice wavering slightly. all the members have their heads downcast, and seonghwa thinks maybe they've done something stupid.
"it's y/n and hongjoong, hwa," yeosang starts, "they're in the hospital."
arriving at the hospital with heavy hearts, seonghwa desperately asks the receptionist where you and hongjoong are.
"i'm only seeing an y/n l/n, no kim hongjoong, i'm sorry sir. but she's on the third floor," the receptionist says, and the members panic hearing their captain isn't here.
rushing to the third floor, everyone begins looking for your room. upon finding it, seonghwa bursts in, the members behind him. you're laying in the hospital bed, many wires and machines hooked up to you along with the cast that you sport on your left arm.
"oh baby," seonghwa whispers, walking up to your sleeping form, "she's alright," a voice interrupts. a doctor walks in, holding a clipboard and a nurse behind him.
"she had some internal bleeding, but we performed a short surgery not too long ago to fix that. she's broken her arm, but overall she's okay," the doctor says.
"where's hongjoong?" san injects, "she was with another person in the crash, but i'm afraid the other passenger didn't make it," the doctor says, before walking out. the nurse checks a few of the machines you're hooked up to, before walking out with her head low.
two months had passed since hongjoong's pure soul was taken off the planet. two months had passed and you had hardly spoken a word to anyone, seonghwa included. hongjoong's passing affected everyone, but you're almost certain it affected you more than seonghwa.
although he was heartbroken that his other half had passed on, seonghwa's never ending positive attitude seemed to help the other members grieve with ease. there wasn't a day that went by since the accident that you hadn't seen seonghwa with a smile on his face. he wanted to remember his best friend in the happiest way possible.
you on the other hand, were struggling greatly. you were the one driving when the truck had hit you, and you felt as if god had taken the wrong person. the truck impacted your side directly, so how was it that hongjoong had taken the punishment?
disregarding your cold attitude, seonghwa had been with you every day since that dreadful night. he tried his absolute best to get you to understand that it wasn't your fault, that it was just an accident. his words went in one ear and out the other though, and you quickly fell severely depressed, shutting yourself out from everyone, even your beloved boyfriend.
the only thing you found comfort in was the rain, as ironic as it is. the rain had reminded you of hongjoong - not of the accident - but hongjoong and his spirit which you were sure was with you sometimes.
seonghwa walks into the living room, seeing you sitting near the window, admiring the rain. carefully walking up to you, he squats down in front of you.
"my love, i think it's time we talk about this," he says softly, moving to rest his hands on your legs. looking down at him, you're silent for a moment. "there's nothing to talk about seonghwa, hongjoong's gone. i know it was my fault, and i'd rather we didn't speak about it," you say rather defensively, unaware of seonghwa's watering eyes.
"it wasn't your fault sweetheart. i can see how much this has been affecting you, and i really think we need to talk about it," he pushes, gently trying to persuade you.
without saying a word, you ponder for a moment. hongjoong's death has been the only event thus far in your life that has pushed you to shutdown as aggressively as you had. maybe it would relieve some of the pent up stress and aggravation you had toward yourself if you finally discussed it.
seonghwa led you to the couch, sitting on the opposite side, but facing you. he lets out a long sigh, containing his tears and composing himself before speaking.
"baby, there was nothing you could do to stop the accident. you know that. it was nothing more than just a stupid and unlucky accident, and whether or not you believe me, his death is not your fault," he says.
"it should have been me, hwa. not joong. he had a whole life ahead of him, and it was ripped from him," you finally sob, bringing your knees to your chest, feeling hopeless.
"i never want to hear you say anything like that again y/n, do you hear me?" he voices, quickly moving to console you in his arms. "neither one of you should have been put in harms way. i know it isn't fair that he isn't here, but love you can't blame yourself anymore, please," he says as his tears fall, and you wipe them away before looking at him.
"how do you not hate me, hwa?" you ask, genuinely questioning him since all you've done is hate yourself the last two months. "sweetheart, i could never hate you, especially not over something that you had no control over," he follows, while bringing you closer in his arms.
"i love you so much hwa, and i'm so so sorry," you say, leaning to burry your head in the crook of his neck. "i love you too honey, you don't need to apologize, i just need you to forgive yourself, okay? that's all i need you to do," he says while rubbing your back.
"okay hwa, i can do that, i promise," you counter, while leaning up to kiss him, both of you letting your tears of sadness and of understanding fall freely from your eyes.
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i'm not really sure where i was going with one lmao, but i like how it turned out. pulled on my heartstrings so much though! thank you all for reading ! <3