"what are we going to do huiqing? this isn't like him at all, he's not our little boy anymore." jun's mother asked. you could hear the panic in her voice meaning it was very obvious that she was concerned and it was even more obvious that she was talking about jun. he knew she was as well; her voice had woken him up although to be fair he hadn't really managed to get himself to fall asleep. he sat up in his bed, staring at his open bedroom door as his parents' voices ran from their room all the way down the hall so that jun could hear it. "he's growing up too fast for us to catch up, how do we prevent this from happening again?"

"that's the problem! he's not our little boy, he's all grown up now. we should be there for him but we shouldn't overwhelm him. he needs his space honey and we have to respect that." an older voice, jun's father, spoke out against his mother. the older man seemed to be irritated with his wife and it was expressed in the tone he used with her. he didn't think that jun needed to be coddled any further, it was obvious to him, while his wife thought the perfect solution was to crowd their son with more parental attention. "so you want me to respect that he nearly died because we weren't around to watch and protect him? he'll only do something like that again! if anything we should watch over him more, maybe enforce a curfew-"

jun closed his eyes and covered his ears. he was tired of hearing his parents' conversation. the thought of him being such a burden to the two that they took to having arguments late at night about him made him feel beyond guilty. tears pooled in his eyes as he took deep breaths to try to calm himself down. it was something that his therapist had taught him; they spent their first session discussing breathing techniques when jun had gotten nervous after talking about what triggered him to skip out on taking his medication.

truth be told his father was on the right path of thinking. the purple haired male had just wanted some space for once in his life. he spent his childhood being shielded by his overprotective mother and now that he was well near the age of adulthood, jun wanted to feel what it really meant to have and enjoy freedom. however, his parents' argument only reminded him that he wasn't free at all yet. his mother was adamant on protecting him no matter what and the thought of her getting even stricter with her methods made him just want to stop eavesdropping on them overall.

jun released his ears when he felt calm once again, brushing his hands past his eyes to collect the tears that hadn't had the chance of dropping down his cheeks. he still couldn't sleep, but he tried to attempt to again by laying his head on his pillow and looking up at the ceiling. he spotted the small glow in the dark star stickers he remembered placing up there when he was a kid. his dad bought them for him after realizing that the reason jun kept climbing into his parents' bed at night was because he was afraid of the dark. they were still up there now, since the purple haired student had forgotten to take them down, and were soothing to look at whenever jun felt it was difficult for him to reach a good slumber.

suddenly in the space next to him, the bed covers shifted and after that followed a small indent in the bed space next to jun. even though jun hadn't seen him walk in, he knew that his younger brother had just climbed into his bed. jackson did that a lot during nights when he couldn't sleep which was why jun often kept his room door open. he hadn't expected for the younger boy to come into his bed this night though but it made sense why he did. he must have also heard the arguing, jun wondered if his sister was awake as well.

"can't sleep either kiddo?" jun turned to face his little brother who nodded in his spot on the bed. the younger wen shifted around in the bed as to make himself comfortable before laying to face jun on his side. it was about then that the older male considered himself lucky that it was pitch black in his room, he didn't want his little brother of all people to see him crying so weakly. he was supposed to be the strong older brother; he already messed up by landing himself in the hospital for jia and jackson to witness, he didn't want either of them to see him crying too. "what are you doing up? did you have a bad dream?"

"mom and dad are arguing really loudly." jackson spoke in a soft tone that contrasted his usual hyper tone. he was like your typical first grader who loved to play games and make as much noise as possible at all times. jackson really reminded jun of himself at that age and anytime he saw the younger male playing around he reminisced in those good old days of freedom and childhood innocence. "what about you?"

"the noise woke me up too. that and you climbing into my bed you little pest." jun spoke lovingly despite using the teasing nickname to identify his brother. the younger wen laughed softly so that their parents wouldn't hear and that was when jun noticed the distance between them. he brought his arms out from under the covers and held them open for jackson to crawl right into. they often hugged and cuddled under the covers whenever the first grader had bad dreams or night frights. in those cases it was a matter of comforting jackson, tonight though it was different; jun had wanted the comfort all for himself rather than giving it all to jackson to calm the younger boy down. "come here."

"do you think that it's my fault they're fighting? I spilled juice on the floor during dinner, maybe they are mad about that." jackson spoke seriously as jun's arms wrapped around him, showing that it was a serious concern of his. one of his classmates had told him that parents could sell their kids whenever they got fed up of taking care of them and even though jackson thought he was too smart to believe in that type of silly rumor, he still found himself being a bit scared of such a thing being true despite his thoughts. "mom did look upset when she was cleaning the mess up for me..."

"nah they would never get too mad over that, it was an accident jackson mom and dad know that." jun quickly rebutted his brother's theory knowing fully that the younger male was not to blame at all for their parents' quarrel. he should have known that jackson was going to mention something about the situation the family was in. jia already expressed her feelings about it with the way she avoided jun whenever she could, jackson was sure to sense that things were wrong. "I'll tell you a little secret though, they're arguing about me."

"is it because you went to the hospital?"

"bingo kiddo, wow you really are a smart one aren't you?" jun ruffled his brother's hair while giving the younger boy a proud smile. that in turn made the younger boy feel proud of himself. sometimes it baffled him with just how clever his younger siblings were, and sometimes he envied their intelligence and wished he could have just an ounce more of smartness in him. the purple haired male made eye contact with his brother and wasn't surprised though to see that he would be confused by why they were fighting because of something like that. "mom and dad are only arguing because they're scared I'm going to get hurt again. believe it or not jackson but even grown ups as tough as mom and dad get scared sometimes."

"maybe they're scared because they love you junnie. I always get scared when I dream about losing things I love." jackson spoke simply as if he weren't spewing a statement that shows sophisticated thinking even for a person his age. jun silenced himself after hearing the first grader who did have a clear point. maybe he should be more understanding towards how his parents must be feeling, all jun ever had been thinking of was how he felt all the time. "and when I dream about spiders."

"you're oddly insightful for a little kid. what kind of weird dreams do you have?" jun laughed softly at his brother, earning a smile from the young boy. jackson liked to be funny and he loved the attention that came with earning a laugh from the people in his life. he adopted this from jun of course, along with the troublemaker tendencies that the teenager had. it explained a lot as to why the two bonded so well with one another, jun truly was a role model to the younger boy. "hm I dream about losing in mario kart to jia all the time."

"I have to say, that is pretty scary." jun grinned widely. even though jackson couldn't clearly see the grin on his face he could tell that by the tone of his older brother's voice that he was now happier than he was when they first started talking. jun liked to think he was good at concealing his feelings, but jackson could feel when his older brother was struggling and he sensed it right from when he climbed in to the older male's bed. it was safe to say that the purple haired teenager was better now though, even his actions reflected that as he hugged jackson closely to him. "you may be on to something though jackson. we can talk more in the morning, let's get some sleep now alright?"

"good night jun."

"good night kiddo."

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