The door slammed shut with a resounding thud as Chen rushed into his house, bounding up the stairs. He tried to move as quickly as possible without jostling the smaller boy that was draped over his arms. His arms burned at the strain of having carried Xiumin for so long, he knew he wasn’t exactly a muscly guy to start with. He ignored the pain in his biceps as he kicked open his bedroom door and sped to his bed. He slowly, carefully laid the elder down on the bed, resting his head gently onto the pillow. He had to turn the elder’s chin so that his bruised side wouldn’t be pressed against the pillow.

“Chen? Is that you?” His brother’s voice called from the room next door to his.

“Yeah, I need your help! “ He yelled back, fighting down his emotions as he tried to concentrate. He didn’t know whether Xiumin would be more comfortable with his knees up or with his legs flat, he didn’t ing know. He took a deep breath to calm himself, his worry and fear flooding through his mind, fogging his thoughts. A few seconds later Chen’s brother appeared at the door looking worried. He had clearly heard the tone of Chen’s voice and the urgency behind it.

He wasn’t any taller than Chen, the same height actually, yet he had an air around him that demanded respect which Chen hadn’t yet been able to acquire. He had the same rich chocolaty brown hair and pretty eyes. His usual rosy smile and warm glow was replaced by a look of concern. There was quite a large between the two of five years and the twenty-two year old was currently training for a career in medicine. Their parents having moved to France for an early retirement the two boys lived alone together.

“R-ryeowook Hyung I don’t…help me…” Chen said threading his hands nervously through his hair as he pleaded his brother with his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Who’s thi….is that blood?” Ryeowook rushed to the side of the bed. He pressed the back of his hand against Xiumin’s forehead and began looking at the dark bruises forming on his cheeks.

“Calm down Chen-chen.” The use of his brother’s pet name for  him helped to calm him a little as he took another deep, stuttering breath. “Now tell me what happened.”

“I was walking home and – god I shouldn’t have left him – and then I got a call and, , he was, they were…” Chen stopped and took another breath. He moved to Xiumin’s other side and laced his fingers between the older’s, the warmth giving him comfort.

“It’s okay Chen-chen, start again.” Ryeowook said calmly. Chen nodded and tried once more.

“Okay, two guys must have, I don’t know, cornered him? He was drunk, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything to stop it. He managed to call me and I heard- I heard….they were going to do stuff to him, they were ing filming it those ing s. “Chen took another shaking breath to try to control his burning rage. “They tied up his wrists with ing wire and, I don’t know exactly what they did. I couldn’t find him quick enough, when I got there they were gone but they had- they had….I don’t think they did it fully but they had r- him with t-their f-fingers.” Chen broke down into sobs, tears streaming down his face as he leant his forehead against Xiumin’s slowly rising and falling chest. “I wasn’t fast enough, god I shouldn’t have ing left him in the first place I’m just as bad as them I…”

“Chen.” Ryeowook’s tone was sharp and hard, Chen looked up to his brother, vision blurred by his tears. “Don’t you dare try to blame this on yourself, you hear me?”

“But I…”

“No. Do you understand?” Ryeowook kept Chen’s gaze until he finally nodded. “was he bleeding anywhere?”

“Y-yes. His wrists are cut up pretty bad, I wrapped them but they need proper care and he..his..he’s bleeding where they..they…” Chen couldn’t finish but Ryeowook rested a palm on his shoulder in understanding.

“Okay, I need you to go and get my medical kit from my room, the pack of sleeping pills from the kitchen draw and a flannel with a bucket of cold water, preferably with some ice cubes in it. You got that?”

“Medical kit, pills, water, flannel.” Chen repeated. He stood from where he was kneeled beside the bed, his hand not leaving Xiumin’s. He didn’t want to leave him. He sighed as he placed Xiumin’s hand back on the bed, he would come back as quickly as he could. He ran about the house collecting the requested items and in less than a minute he was back in his bedroom. He handed all of the items to Ryeowook and went over to his closet to get some warm pyjamas out for Xiumin.

“Chen, fold and wet the flannel then place it over his forehead to bring down his temperature, okay? Then I’m going to need you to try and wake him up so that he can take some sleeping pills. He needs rest and it would be better if he is unconscious when I examine him, I don’t want him waking up part way through in pain, okay?” Chen nodded as he rung the flannel through the icy water. He pushed Xiumin’s sweat matted hair out of his face with one hand as he laid the cold flannel down over his forehead with the other.

“Min.” Chen called, he rubbed his thumb over Chen’s good cheek, cupping his jaw in his palm. “Minnie, wake up.” Xiumin’s eyes fluttered and he groaned in pain, squeezing his eyes shut tight not even a second after he had opened them.

“Ch-chen?” Xiumin whispered, his voice was rough and hoarse. Chen Xiumin’s hair to calm the elder.

“I’m here. You’re okay now, you’re okay.” Chen murmured. Xiumin’s eyes opened again and he looked around himself, his eyes were wide and afraid like those of a deer caught in headlights. He noticed Ryeowook and shied away from into Chen. His small fingers gripped Chen’s t-shirt as he lifted his upper body into Chen, tucking his head between Chen’s shoulder and neck, the flannel falling into his lap.

“Ahh.” Xiumin gasped as the movement made a sharp, burning pain shoot from his bum up his spine.  Chen wrapped his arms around the elder before lowering him back down onto the bed, his hands never stopping their gentle through his hair.

“W-what happened? Why does it hurt so much? I…” Realisation seemed to dawn on Xiumin as his eyes filled with tears as he began sobbing into Chen’s chest. “No, no, no, no…”He continually mumbled into the dirty, sweat filled fabric of Chen’s t-shirt.

“It’s okay Min, you’re safe now.” Chen said. “This is my brother, Ryeowook, he’s a doctor and he’s going to fix you up, is that okay?” He didn’t want anything happening to Xiumin that he wasn’t comfortable with. His heart broke at the sight of a tear stained, bruised and sobbing Xiumin.

“No, no, no. I don’t want to, don’t want to, don’t touch me, please don’t touch me.” Xiumin wept into Chen’s shoulder. Chen’s own tears streamed at those words, this was all his fault.

“Xiumin.” Ryeowook said quietly. The wailing boy quieted and looked up at Ryeowook, his fingers still gripped Chen close to him, unwilling to let go even for a moment. “My name is Ryeowook but you can call me Hyung okay?” Ryeowook’s tone was calm and warm as he spoke. “I need to take a look at your wounds for you to be able to heal, I promise you that I won’t hurt you and Chen will be here the entire time. Do you think that would be alright?” Xiumin’s eyes didn’t leave Ryeowook for about a minute before he looked back up at Chen in question. Chen nodded in assurance and after a deep breath Xiumin agreed. “O-okay.” Chen could see the fear still in the elder’s eyes, one of which was swelling and closing on itself.

“Min, look at me.” Chen murmured. “I need you to take these. They will help you to sleep and will take away the pain, when you wake up you will feel a lot better, okay?” Chen held out two pills in his palm. Xiumin looked at it shakily but nodded and allowed Chen to place them on his tongue. Chen held a bottle of water to his lips so that Xiumin could swallow them. It took a few attempts for Xiumin to get them down his dry throat but once he had he sighed and his body seemed to almost immediately relax down into the mattress. A few moments later gentle snores started to flow from Xiumin’s mouth. Chen re-cooled the flannel and placed it back on Xiumin’s forehead before continuing to the other’s hair, more for his own comfort now that the elder was asleep once more.

“Okay Chen, I’m going to have to take off his jeans now and check for any rectal tearing, just hold his hand and if I ask anything of you then do it straight away, understand?” Chen bit his lip but nodded and gripped one of Xiumin’s hands in two of his own, careful not to touch his damaged wrists. Ryeowook cautiously pulled down Xiumin’s, well Chen’s, jeans and lifted the injured boy’s legs so that his knees were pointing up to the ceiling. Chen focused his gaze on Xiumin’s face, not wanting to see the blood again, when he was asked he would pass his brother creams and bandages but except for that he never let his eyes waver from their focus. It was about twenty minutes before Ryeowook seemed to be finished.

“Okay, can you pass me the pyjama bottoms?” Chen did as he was asked and Ryeowook slipped them up Xiumin’s legs to return the boy some of his dignity and privacy.

“H-how is it?” Chen asked nervously.” Ryeowook sighed and wiped his hands with some disinfectant wipes to rid himself of the boy’s blood.

“There is some internal tearing of the flesh which is why he was bleeding. It’ll be a little painful for a while but it isn’t too bad, it should heal fully within a week. I’ll clean up his wrists now.” Chen nodded and bit his lip to hold in his tears. Ten minutes or so later Ryeowook had sanitised and bandaged Xiumin’s wrists with incredible precision.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing I can really do about the bruises, they’ll fade but in their own time.” Chen nodded without looking away from Xiumin. Ryeowook paused before asking. “Is this the one you were telling me about?”

“Yeah.” Chen felt himself blush despite the horrific situation.

“He’s very beautiful.” Ryeowook said with a smile. “No wonder he caught my baby bro’s eye. I’ll leave you alone with him. If he wakes up in terrible pain or if you need anything, anything at all, just yell and I’ll come, okay?”

“Thank you Hyung.” Chen said with a sad but genuine smile. Ryeowook smiled before walking out of Chen’s room and back into his own.

“I’m so sorry Minnie.” He murmured, rubbing his thumb over Xiumin’s cheek. He pressed a light kiss to the elder’s cheek before pulling back. “You probably wouldn’t want me to do that right? I’m sorry. I’m sorry I acted so rashly, I shouldn’t have walked off, it isn’t your fault. I can’t expect you to like me back, I won’t. If you don’t hate me, I promise to make sure it isn’t weird between us. We can just be friends, can’t we? I really hope so because I don’t know what I’d do if you blanked me out of your life but…I guess I understand if that’s what you want. Look at me, babbling away at someone’s who’s unconscious for goodness sake. I’m sorry for this too. If I had just stayed with you…. I will find those s; believe me when I say that I’ll make them wish that they had never lain a finger on you. I promise. I know you probably don’t want to hear this – not that you can – but I love you Min. I do.” He sighed and ruffled his hair, what was he doing? He leant his head down and rested his cheek on Xiumin’s chest, letting the gentle rise and fall lull him into a restless sleep.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Xiumin woke to a pounding headache. The bright sunlight filtering through the curtains was too much for the hung-over boy. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes as he tried to blink the grittiness from his eyes. There were four key things he noticed as he did this. The first was the white bandages wrapped around his wrist, the second was that he could only open one of his eyes, the other feeling as though it were glued together, the third was that there was a dull ache shooting up from his bum up his spine, the feeling was hazy as though it were marred by painkillers, the fourth and final thing was that this was not his bedroom. He looked around frantically, groaning as the movement heightened the banging pain behind his eyes. Noticing a familiar t-shirt draped over the desk chair and the most ridiculous hat that he had gotten Chen for his birthday sat on the dresser he felt his nerves calm a little. He must be in Chen’s room. Why, he didn’t remember.

Closing his eyes he focused on what he could remember from the night before. He remembered being at the norebang and then Chen had taken him outside and…and what? He thought and thought. Suddenly he remembered Chen’s words and he felt a blush flood over his cheeks. Chen had confessed to him. This memory made him smile. However once that memory had wormed its way into his head the rest of the night seemed to come flooding back in waves of pain, fear and denial. He felt his chest heave and his breathing become ragged as he began to hyperventilate. He could feel hands and fingers all over his body, there was no one there but the sleazy touches felt all too real as he thrashed in the bed, trying to get away from the groping hands in his head. His struggling brought a shooting pain up his spine and he cried out in pain, tears slipping from his eyes. His vision began to blur at the edges as he tried to drag in deep breaths but didn’t seem able to get in enough oxygen. Panic attack. He was having a ing panic attack.

Suddenly the door was pushed open and Chen staggered into the room. Noticing Xiumin’s state he rushed to the elder’s side. Xiumin felt himself instantly calm down at the younger’s presence but it took at least five minutes of Chen his hair and murmuring in his ear before his breathing return to normal. Once he was calm he was finally able to take a good look at Chen through his good eye. He gasped at the sight. Chen had a black eye and his lower lip was split and puffy, dried blood dribbled down his chin. His hair was a mess and Xiumin noticed a bruise on his wrist. He couldn’t see any more notable damage but that was enough to freak him out.

“Chen, chen, chen, w-what happened to you? Are you alright? You’re bleeding oh god…” Xiumin spewed out in worry. Chen placed his finger against Xiumin’s lips and the elder instantly stopped talking, his one good eye widening in worry.

“I’m fine. It’s just a split lip, no biggy. But look what I got.” Chen reached behind him and pulled something out of his pocket. Xiuin felt his heart jolt and stutter at the sight. It was a fist sized black object, one that he knew would haunt his dreams. Chen had gotten it, how?

“How…?” Xiumin gasped.

“I looked up their names and found that those s had a site. Those stupid s had a phone number on the site so I found their address and went to get this. Like hell was I got to let them put anything with you in it on their ing disgusting site.”

“Chen you idiot!” Xiumin wailed. Chen looked surprised at that. “You went to their house? Oh god you could have been hurt…you were hurt and it’s because of me! What if they come for you what if…”

“Shhh.” Chen said to calm him, the youngers finger’s working through his matted hair. “After I got the camcorder I called the police and those two s have been taken into custody for , theft and drug selling. I mean was there a load of weed in that apartment.” Chen grinned. His grin dropped after a few seconds, his eyes seeming to flit over Xiumin’s face and body. “How are you feeling though? Do you need some more pain killers?”

“Not great if I’m honest.” Xiumin sighed as he leaned back into the pillows and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding Chen’s gaze. “I just feel so disgusting and…and dirty.” He whispered.

“You listen to me.” Chen said, his tone soft and homey. “You are as beautiful to me now as the day we met and you made me blush like a school girl, this won’t change you. It might be hard for a while but we’ll get through it, you’re not disgusting Min, please don’t say that.” Xiumin looked at the pained expression on Chen’s face and sighed.

“I’m sorry Chen.”

“Don’t apologise Min, don’t apologise for this when it wasn’t your fault.” Chen said, he seemed to be waiting for something so Xiumin nodded. “I’m going to go get you some more painkillers and some water. Do you think you could eat anything?” Chen asked as he got up from the floor.

“I don’t think I can, I’m sorry, I…” Xiumin swallowed, his stomach heaving at the thought of food.

“Don’t rush it, just tell me when you’re hungry, okay?”

“Okay.” Chen walked to the door, he was just going out of the room when Xiumin called after him once more. “Chen?”

“Yes Min?” Chen asked, worry evident on his face.

“I-I don’t like Luhan like that.” Chen’s face went lack with shock and Xiumin almost found funny..almost.

“What?”

“I’ve never liked Luhan. I think I might like you but I don’t know what... I mean I hadn’t thought about it but I might…” Xiumin tried to explain what he was feeling but it came out a garbled mess.

“Don’t worry Min.” Chen said with a soft smile. “I won’t rush you, you don’t need to confess to me or anything, just think about what you really feel. Take your time, I can wait.” With that Chen left to get the water and painkillers, Xiumin sighed and laid back. What did he feel? There was definitely something there, but what was that feeling called?

A/N: Wow, a lot of anger about the angst :/ Oh well, this chapter was a little less angsty? Kind of... This was quite a long chapter for me but I don't feel like much really happened, I'll try to make the next chapter more exciting! Don't forget to comment :3 Okay, bye!