"Take it easy on my heart,
Even though you don't mean to hurt me,
You keep tearing me apart.
-SHAWN MENDES, MERCY

It was raining heavily late in the evening, Jihoon sighs as he weighs his options whether to just stay at home or drive to his studio to work on his next project. He plays with his car keys in his hand as he stares at his laptop screen. Another sigh escapes his lips when he hears frantic knocks on his apartment door.

“I’m coming! Jeez!” he mutters under his breath as he opens the door with an annoyed expression only to be changed with an expression of confusion and shock when he was greeted by his drunk, sobbing bestfriend. “C-cheol? Yah, what the hell happened? You look like !” he exclaims as he closes the door once Seungcheol helped himself in straight to the living room despite his dripping wet clothes.

“Hoon-ah…” Seungcheol sobs on the floor with his head on Jihoon’s worn out sofa. “Jihoon-ah…”

Jihoon walks towards his bestfriend and crouches down on his level to get a clear view of his face. “What’s wrong?” he asks with worry in his tone.

Seungcheol didn’t say anything as he looked into Jihoon’s eyes. He looked as if he was searching for something in the shorter man’s stare. Then he looks down on the floor, the sobs slowly dying down. His calloused hands grabbed at the front of Jihoon’s shirt as he cried silently.

“Cheol, yah… I’m here now, okay?” the smaller male rubs a hand on Seungcheol’s back despite uncomfortable feeling of wet coldness there. “Why don’t you shower and change into dry clothes first, hm? I don’t want you getting fever tomorrow morning.”

Seungcheol reluctantly lets go of Jihoon and nods obediently, going straight to the bathroom to shower. However, he didn’t even take his clothes off when he went under the water in the coldest temperature.

 Jihoon dropped all the folded clothes he was holding when he decided to check up on his bestfriend. “Choi Seungcheol! What the hell!?” he rushes to his bestfriend’s side to turn off the shower but he was stopped by hand on his wrist. “Yah, let go. I swear I’m going to hit–“

“Hoon-ah…” Seungcheol croaks out pathetically, eyes on the tiled wall absentmindedly. “Hoon-ah, the child’s four years old. His name’s Jeongsoo and he’s really, really cute.” He scoffs and smiles bitterly, biting down on his lower lip.  “His dad has the most alluring cat eyes ever and his voice is the most gentle that I have heard in the world. He was sophisticatedly dressed too.”

The smaller male listens despite the water still running down on Seungcheol. He listens even though he has no idea what the other was talking about.

“Jeonghan cheated on me. Four years of lies– wow. He’s so great I think he really deserves a ing Oscar award.” Seungcheol laughs sarcastically and then it all clicks to Jihoon.

Jihoon couldn’t say anything that would make his bestfriend stop feeling miserable. It’s not like another round of backrubs and ‘It’s gonna be okays’ would turn back the time and undo the things that made Seungcheol like he is now. He just stands there with his mouth slightly open, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do.

It seems like Seungcheol had noticed this as his attention was now on the smaller. With his fingers still tightly wrapped around Jihoon’s wrist, he pulled him close and under the running water as well which earned him a slightly audible gasp. “What if I married you instead of Jeonghan? You wouldn’t cheat on me, right? You’re my bestfriend since we were in kindergarten and you’ve never kept a single secret from me ever since. I’m sure you would never cheat on me, right?”

“Cheol, what are you–“

A pair of lips against his stopped him from continuing what he was supposed to say. Seungcheol doesn’t let him speak as he starts moving his lips against Jihoon’s frozen ones. Jihoon doesn’t move; not until the taller had his hands roaming under Jihoon’s shirt.

“Stop!” Jihoon panics and tries to push his bestfriend away with all his might but to no avail. “Cheol! You have a husband waiting for you–“

Seungcheol rips the smaller male’s shirt off and looks at him with a gaze filled with fury and lust. “Waiting for me?”

Jihoon feels smaller and smaller as the latter keeps staring down at him. It’s the first time he saw his bestfriend like this.

The taller takes advantage of Jihoon’s speechless and unmoving state, leaning close again to nuzzle his nose on the crook of Jihoon’s pale and unblemished neck. “God knows they might be banging on my own bed right now.” He hisses against the smaller male’s skin and presses their bodies close together. “We might as well do the same.”

“No, Seungcheol! Stop! This isn’t right!” Jihoon tries again but with a weaker force this time as he feels his body submitting to the man’s touches. He just doesn’t want