I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER

Chapter 180 180: Dad!!! vs Suha has a mom (,,Ծ_Ծ,,)

A pause while they hit the stairwell and started going down.

"There were clocks everywhere. A lot of them. Some broken, some still running, just— everywhere, in every direction—"

"How long were you there?"

"I don't know. Time felt wrong." She glanced at the back of his head while he pulled her down the stairs. "And your whole energy is different… What happened? You were like gonna break when you were strangling me."

"Turns out both of us need to die for the regression to trigger," Si Hon said casually.

Jisoo's footsteps faltered for exactly one step. "What?!!!!!!?"

"Yep."

"What do you mean WHAT DO YOU MEAN BOTH OF US—"

"We died together," Si Hon said, already moving again. "Well. You first, then me. But it counts."

Jisoo stared at the back of his head while being pulled through the second floor landing. Several expressions crossed her face in rapid succession. Then she settled on something that was almost impressed and mostly horrified. "This is INSANE… no, you're insane," she said.

Si Hon laughed. Actually laughed— short and genuine, the first real one since any of this started. "Probably."

First floor.

The building shuddered as they hit the ground level corridor— not the dragon yet, just the small event, that deep structural groan that came right before the main event when it started forcing its way through the upper floors.

Si Hon counted seconds in his head automatically now. They had maybe fifty seconds before everything got significantly worse.

He found the classroom fast. The door was still intact, which meant they were ahead of the worst of it. (A/N: But due to the shuddering and like this is the first floor some of the students have already moved or already left.)

He pushed it open.

Han was in the front row, which was where he sat all this time probably. Suha was beside him. And Han— Han was crying. Not the loud kind, not the broken kind, just quiet tears running down his face while Suha sat beside him with her hand patting slow circles on his back and her expression carrying the particular confusion of someone watching something happen that they didn't have an explanation for.

Han looked up.

The moment his eyes found Si Hon in the doorway— he moved.

The chair scraped back so fast it nearly toppled, and then Han was across the room in seconds, arms locking around Si Hon's waist with a force that was impressive for his size, face pressing against Si Hon's chest while he cried harder than he had a moment ago. His hands fisted in Si Hon's collar. His whole small body shook with it.

"Dad," he managed. "Dad I don't— I don't know why but I feel so sad, I just needed to see you, I had this— it was like a daydream, you were carrying me and your arms, your legs and your whole body wer—" He couldn't finish it. His grip on the collar tightened instead.

Si Hon's hand came down on Han's head.

He didn't say anything. Just— held it there, palm resting against Han's hair, and let Han cry into his shirt while the building shuddered again somewhere above them.

His other hand moved slowly, fingers running through the back of Han's yellow hair in a rhythm that had no urgency in it, steady and unhurried like they had all the time in the world even though they absolutely did not.

He could feel Han's breathing gradually, gradually slowing against his chest. Not stopping. Just easing.

Behind him, Jisoo had moved toward Suha.

She crouched down beside Suha's desk with her arms open in the internationally recognized gesture of please let me carry you, we need to leave, and Suha— Suha leaned back in her chair, looked Jisoo directly in the face, and said.

"Ahh! Suha don't know you." She crossed her arms with complete dignity. "Suha already has a mom. (,,Ծ_Ծ,,)"

Jisoo blinked.

Stayed crouched there for a moment.

"I'm—" she started.

"Suha don't know you," Suha repeated, with the particular confidence of someone who had made a decision and saw no reason to revisit it.

Jisoo slowly straightened back up and turned toward Si Hon with the expression of someone who had just been formally rejected by a nine year old and was choosing to process it later.

Si Hon kept his hand moving through Han's hair.

"It's okay," he said quietly, to Han more than anyone else. "I've got you."

Han's grip on his collar tightened once more.

Then—

The building shook.

Not the warning kind. The real kind— deep and rolling, starting from somewhere high above them and traveling downward through the structure fast enough that the floor moved visibly beneath their feet.

Dust rained from the ceiling. The lights flickered. From somewhere far above came the sound they all recognized by now, even the ones who technically shouldn't have.

The dragon had arrived.

Si Hon looked down at Han still pressed against his chest.

Then at Suha, who had finally, silently, slipped off her chair and wrapped both arms around Si Hon's leg instead of going anywhere near Jisoo.

Then at Jisoo, who was watching him with an expression that said she was ready and also still processing the clock room and also had several hundred questions and was apparently willing to table all of them for now.

Si Hon exhaled once.

(Okay,) he thought. (This time we do it right.)

******

(Author note: I'm sorry if I've been p u b L I s h I n g 1 c - h - a - p -t - e - r a time... It was because... I'm rewriting the early chapter... 1-15 actually... It's turning great, currently at chapter 4 it's hard though... So r r y. A gain... And yes... I'm just yapping for the words... Sorry, I'm truly sorry... I'm probably wasting your coins right now... Forgive me for writing this, 60words (,,Ծ_Ծ,,) sowwy... (,,╹⌓╹,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,)(,,꒪⌓꒪,,) I love you my readers and again, sorry as theauthor.