Nights passed. The two spent a great deal of time talking over the phone because Minseok was a college student after all and visiting each other often would become suspicious to Jongdae’s parents. Even if Jongdae couldn’t see Minseok everyday, The older seemed to always have ways to make him feel amazing. He often called Jongdae Angel, beautiful or my juliet, all of which caused Jongdae so squeal and fall further for the man.

One morning, Jongdae was woken up by a familiar yell.

“JONGDAE!!” It was his father. He sat up in the bed and pulled off the covers, getting out of the bed. His white t-shirt and sweats were wrinkled from sleep. He looked up to see his father standing in the door, a furious look engraved in his face.

“Jongdae, who the hell is this Minseok?!” he boomed. Jongdae scrunched his face a bit. He didn’t remember telling his parents about Minseok, and for a good reason too.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, still confused. His father became even more angry. He shoved Jongdae’s phone in his face. Jongdae’s eyes widened. They have my phone?! How?!

“This Minseok character has texted you this!! What the hell is this Jongdae?! WHO IS HE?!” His father’s roar nearly caused the house to shake. The screen lit up as his father pressed the home button. Minseok had texted him.

Minseok

Morning beautiful~ how’s my juliet doing?

Jongdae would have cooed at how cute Minseok was, but his angry, homophobic father was burning holes into his head.

“He’s just a friend father-’

“FRIENDS DO NOT TEXT BULL LIKE THIS TO EACH OTHER JONGDAE!! THIS IS NOT NORMAL IN THE LEAST!! THIS IS- THIS IS SO- GAY!!! IS THIS A POTENTIAL- UGH IT’S SO DISGUSTING I CAN’T EVEN SAY IT!!” he screamed so loudly that Jongdae was surprised that the windows didn’t shatter. He shrunk back in fear, but as he was backing away, his father grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and yanked him forward. Jongdae whimpered slightly, completely vulnerable. After shaking him violently, his father pushed him back and landed multiply punches on Jongdae’s face and chest, releasing all his anger on the small boy. As the knuckles collided with Jongdae’s soft skin, his eye began to throb and he felt blood trickle down his temple. His stomach screamed in agony as his father's anger ripped him apart. The man then grabbed Jongdae’s hair and yanked it hard. The boy let out a soft cry as his father belted again.

“YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK TO THIS BOY AGAIN YOU HEAR ME?! NEVER!!” he then threw Jongdae to the ground and stormed off, barricading the door so he couldn’t get out. When Jongdae heard the commotion, he knew that they had trapped him inside. It wasn’t the first time. They would leave him there without any food for a whole day as punishment.

Jongdae stayed sprawled out on the floor for sometime, crying hard. After what felt like an hour, he pulled himself upright. He really needed Minseok, but he didn’t have his phone anymore. He would have to go with an old tactic he used a few times to get away from home unnoticed. He pulled on an oversized hoodie and stumbled to the window, opening it. With all the strength he could muster, he kicked out the screen and climbed out the window.

Closing it behind him, he carefully climbed his way down from the second floor to the ground. He started out limping towards Minseok’s apartment. Thanks to him asking where it was before, he knew where to go. He quickly became paranoid that his parents figured out he was gone, so he started to run. His bare feet burned against the cement but that didn’t stop him.

~*~

In an instant, or that’s what it seemed, he was standing in front on Minseok’s apartment door. He knocked a few times and he heard footsteps coming closer. The door swung open and Minseok was standing there in a muscle tee and basketball shorts. He was also wearing nerd hipster glasses.

“Jongdae? What are you-” his voice went quiet when Jongdae looked up at him. Even though the hood on his head shaded his face, Minseok could still see that his Angel’s face was bruised and beaten. His cheeks were stained with blood and tears and his eyes were puffy from crying. Minseok looked down to see that he wasn’t wearing any shoes either, his cute little toes were burned and dirty.

“Mi-Minseok,” the younger boy choked, his voice weak and coarse. Tears began to spill again. The boy stumbled forward and hugged Minseok tight around the neck, holding on for dear life. Minseok responded quickly, wrapping his arms around his waist and cuddling the poor boy, nuzzling his nose in his hair.

“Shh, shh. It’s alright Angel i’ve got you.”

“Don’t let go, please.” the desperateness in Jongdae’s voice caused Minseok’s heart to shatter like a glass ornament. He placed gentle kisses in Jongdae’s hair.

“I promise I won’t let go of you. It’s alright. Don’t cry.” Jongdae sniffled a little bit, trying to calm the tears, but inevitably he failed, shaking violently and losing the ability the stand. His knees gave out. In one swift movement, Minseok lifted up the boy bridal style, carrying him inside the apartment and closing the door behind him. He carried Jongdae to the bed and sat him down. When he tried to back away, Jongdae held tighter.

“P-please, Minseok d-don’t go.” he cried softly. Minseok his hair.

“I will be right back. I need to clean your wounds so they don’t get infected. I will be ten seconds. You can count.” Jongdae slowly released Minseok and the older gave him a reassuring kiss on the forehead. He bolted to the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit. He ran back to Jongdae as fast as he could. Setting down the kit, he pulled the boy into an embrace again. “See? I told you I would be right back.”

He quickly and efficiently cleaned and bandaged all of the open wounds. He grabbed a clean pair of clothing for the boy to wear. Assisting Jongdae, he managed to remove the hoodie and the t-shirt, leaving the sweats for Jongdae to change. After that helped Jongdae under the sheets he crawled in afterwards. He scooted close to the trembling boy and pulled him closer, wrapping his arms protectively around Jongdae’s body. The younger buried himself in Minseok’s embrace, cuddling his head into the crook of his neck. Minseok ran his finger’s through Jongdae’s dark, soft hair, Doing his best to sooth him.

“I’m always here for you Jongdae.” he whispered softly into the boy’s ear. “I just wish I was there to protect you from whoever did this to you, I feel like i’ve failed you-” Minseok was interrupted when Jongdae leaned up and pressed a firm kiss on his lips. He pulled back and Minseok’s cheek with his thumb.

“This is enough for me.” he whispered. Minseok smiled sadly at his Juliet.

“Get some rest beautiful. You must be tired.” Minseok reached for the boy’s hand to lace their fingers together. He lifted their intertwined hands up to his face and placed a kiss on the younger boy’s hand. Jongdae smiled slightly, a soft pink color dusting his cheeks. He buried his head back into Minseok’s neck. Minseok giggled softly to himself before tightly winding his arms around Jongdae’s frame, pulling him even closer. They both fell asleep shortly after.

~*~

Ding~

Jongdae cracked his eyes open. He turned over to look at the digital clock on the night stand. It read 7:00 PM. He sat up in the bed and ruffled his hair. All the memories of that morning flooded back into his tired brain. He instantly became uneasy.

“Hey.” Jongdae looked over to Minseok standing in the door. His soft smile made Jongdae feel a little comfort. “How did you sleep? You must have been really tired because you’ve been asleep for hours.”

“I slept well. Thank you Minseok for taking care of me.” Minseok smiled and made his way to the bed. He sat down across from Jongdae. He reached and grabbed the younger's hand and brought it to his face. He kissed it gently.

“I will always be here to take care of you.” A warm smile spread across Jongdae’s face.

Sudden realization must have hit Minseok because he looked as if he had just remembered something. “Oh! Jongdae you must be hungry! When was the last time you ate?”

“Last night I think…” Jongdae’s stomach growled. Minseok giggled.

“I’ll make you some ramen. Come on.” He laced their clasped hands together and lead Jongdae to a table. Minseok worked swiftly in the kitchen, pouring some boiled water on the dry ramen. Once it was done he brought it to Jongdae with a pair of chopsticks. Jongdae instantly began to shove the noodles in his mouth, filling his cheeks. Minseok, who had seated himself next to Jongdae, watching him eat, couldn’t help but to coo at his cuteness.

“You look so cute Angel~” he reached up and wiped some broth from the corner of Jongdae’s mouth. Jongdae blushed.

“Stop~ I'm gonna choke on the food.” Minseok only giggled and continued to gaze at his Juliet.

When Jongdae finally finished, he stood up to take the bowl to the sink, but Minseok took it instead.

“I’ve got it.”

“You know I can do it myself, and you’ve done so much for me already…”

“Just let me take care of you, please?” His face was serious. Jongdae sighed.

“Alright…” Minseok smiled and skipped off to the kitchen. When he came back, he and Jongdae settled on the couch. Jongdae cuddled up to Minseok and closed his eyes. The older slipped an arm around his waist and nuzzled his hair.

“Jongdae,” he spoke after a while, “What happened this morning?” Jongdae stiffened a bit. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want.” Minseok quickly added. Jongdae sat up and looked into Minseok’s eyes.

“My father saw a text that you texted me this morning,” he began. “He was disgusted by it and he was angry with me. And then-” he breathed in shakily, Minseok rubbed his hand comfortingly. “He beat me Minseok. He punched me and yelled at me and locked me in my room. I climbed out the window and ran here because I didn’t know what else to do.” Tears began to fall from his eyes. His hands shot up and tried to to wipe his eyes but he failed, breaking into heavier sobs. Minseok pulled him close. He removed Jongdae’s hands from his face and kissed his eyes.

“I’m sorry Angel I’m sorry I made you go through that again.” He kissed the younger's eyes, then his nose. He kissed the corners of Jongdae’s mouth before hovering over Jongdae’s lips momentarily. Jongdae pushed forward himself, connecting their lips in a desperate kiss. Their lips moved together slowly, drowning Jongdae’s cries until the boy stopped crying altogether. Minseok pulled back, pressing small kisses on Jongdae’s lips, reassuring him that everything would be okay. Jongdae snuggled into Minseok’s chest, absorbing all the warmth he could.

After a while, realization hit him and he shot up straight, eyes wide. Minseok looked confused.

“Minseok I have to get back before they discover I’m gone. They will kill me if i’m not there!”

“Okay calm down,” Minseok caressed his cheeks gently. “I’ll get your clothes and then drive you home. I’ll park a street down and walk you to your bedroom window, okay?” Jongdae thought for a second and then nodded in agreement. Minseok grabbed Jongdae’s clothes and they both went out to the car. Minseok drove to Jongdae’s house. It was 8:30 and the sun had already set. It was pitch black outside, aside from the small street lamp on the corner. They walked under Jongdae’s window. The two captured each other in a warm embrace.

“Thank you again, for everything.” Jongdae whispered.

“Anything for you.” Minseok responded, pulling back and kissing Jongdae. The younger wrapped his arms tightly around Minseok’s neck and the older let his hands slide up under the back of Jongdae’s shirt, cold hands cooling his warm skin. There they kissed for awhile, not wanting to leave each other's warmth. Jongdae pulled away gently.

“Good night Romeo.” he smiled gently.

“Good night my sweet Juliet.” Minseok pressed one more longing kiss on Jongdae’s lips and watched the boy skillfully maneuver his way up the side of the house. Once he climbed in the window, he stuck his head out and blew Minseok a kiss. The older caught it and placed it over his heart, then watching Jongdae disappear into the house. He walked back to his car and drove away, a new sense of yearning constricting in his chest.

A/N: Another chapter IS UP!! Next chapter will come out soon!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ AND SUBSCRIBED IT MEANS A TON TO ME THANK YOU!! Until next time! Have a lovely day~