Chapter 7

Kangin’s eyelids slowly fluttered open. The sun pouring in through the open window made him quickly close them again, and he tried to shift his face away from the abusive light. But as reality began to flood his brain, he realized that his body was aching. His head throbbed and his muscles felt sluggish, and he had no idea why.

Using his arms, he tried to push himself off the mattress only to fall back onto it with a long groan. Choosing to roll over onto his back instead, his mind finally registered where he was and why he felt the way he did.

Taking a deep breath, he ran his hands over his face and then finally looked around the room.

There was evidence that Leeteuk had been here with him at some point. His jacket was lying across a chair, and his bag was sitting on the floor in the corner.

“Jung Soo?” he croaked, quickly grabbing his throat in shock.

Why did his voice sound like this?

He tried to clear his throat and then called for him again.

“J-Jung Soo?”

There had been soft noises coming from outside of his room and then they suddenly stopped. He then heard murmuring and feet coming towards his door, only for it to slowly open and Leeteuk to step through.

“You’re awake,” he said with a smile.

 He pushed the door almost closed and then walked to the other side of the bed, sitting down beside him.

“What…what happened last night?”

“You don’t remember anything?” asked Leeteuk, shocked.

“I remember…being with you at the river…and then drinking,” he sighed closing his eyes in regret.

“Yeah, that was part of it,” said Leeteuk. “I’d almost rather not tell you everything else. It’s not you at your best.”

“I want to know,” said Kangin trying to sit up.

“Wait, wait, I’ll go get you some medicine,” said Leeteuk noticing Kangin’s pained expression.

Kangin gave a soft nod as he watched Leeteuk go, “Thank you.”

When he returned, Leeteuk placed two pills in his palm and handed him a glass of water.

After he swallowed the bitter medicine, he looked over at Leeteuk who looked down at his hands.

“Did I hurt you?” asked Kangin softly.

Leeteuk blinked nervously as he looked over towards Kangin.

“Not directly, no,” said Leeteuk and Kangin groaned, sliding back down into bed.

“What I mean is, you weren’t yourself last night Kangin-ah. You said a lot of things…did a lot of things that are just so unlike you, it’s hard to deal with it all. No one wants to blame you—well, Hyukjae aside, no one wants to blame you, but we just don’t know what to do with our hurt and confusion,” said Leeteuk taking Kangin’s right hand in his.

“Whatever it was that I did…can you forgive me?” he asked looking down.

Leeteuk let go of his hand, which crushed Kangin, only to cup his cheek.

“Of course pabo. What kind of boyfriend would I be otherwise,” he said with a warm smile as he softly smacked him.

Kangin grinned as Leeteuk moved closer to him and gave him a kiss.

“I understand you were upset out of love, not hate, so I can’t be angry with you,” Leeteuk said softly as he touched his forehead to Kangin’s. “Just promise me, that if you ever feel like this again, you’ll talk to me. Really talk to me and not put yourself and anyone else in danger, okay?”

Kangin softly nodded and then looked down at his hand, that suddenly seemed to bother him.

He noticed his knuckles on his right hand where slightly red and tender.

“Do you know what happened here?” he asked lifting his hand. “Did I punch a wall or something?”

Leeteuk sighed, “No, not exactly.”

Just then they heard Eunhyuk’s voice.

“Is he awake?”

“Yes but— they heard Ryeowook’s worried voice.

“Come on Hae.”

“Hyukkie wait, he doesn’t have to see it now, let’s just wait a while.”

“Hyukjae-ah, he doesn’t remember—said Ryeowook following them.

“Well this visual will help jog his memory,” he said and he stepped inside the room, pulling Donghae along by the wrist.

“What’s going on?” asked Kangin as he saw Donghae trying to hide his face by turning around and using his free hand to guard it.

“Did you tell him hyung?’ asked Eunhyuk looking at Leeteuk.

“Not yet,” said Leeteuk, a little uneasy about the situation.

Eunhyuk glanced at Donghae.

“Hae, stop, he needs to see,” he said struggling to pull his hand away.

Donghae finally conceded and Eunhyuk pinned held both of his hands down. He spun Donghae around and held him in front of himself.

Kangin sat up, shocked at what stood before him.

“Donghae-ah, what happened?!”

“You hyung. You happened. Last night when we tried to carry you back to the dorm, you rejected us pretty hard. So hard in fact, that you broke your dongsaeng’s nose!” said Eunhyuk walking Donghae closer.

“Donghae-ah, come here,” said Kangin motioning for him to sit on the bed.

Eunhyuk was reluctant to let go, so Donghae had to softly elbow him.

“Hyukkie, he’s not going to attack me, relax,” he said breaking free and sitting on the bed beside Kangin.

Kangin sadly Donghae’s cheeks as he moved his face from side to side so he could see all angles of the damage.

“Hyung’s sorry, I really had no idea I did this. Even now, I can’t remember,” said Kangin rubbing the back of Donghae’s neck.

“It’s okay hyung, it’ll heal. I’m just glad everything’s settled now.  And I’m sorry that any of this even started. If I hadn’t—

“Donghae-ah, I already told you, none of this is your fault,” said Leeteuk leaning over and touching his shoulder.

Donghae quickly nodded and then looked down.

“Is Sora okay?’ he asked softly.

Kangin looked at Leeteuk.

“She will be,” said Leeteuk with a small smile.

It was quiet for a moment until Donghae glanced over at Eunhyuk.

“Hyukkie, don’t you have something to say,” urged Donghae.

“Like what?”

“Now that Kangin–hyung has apologized, don’t you think you should too?”

Eunhyuk’s shoulders slumped.

“…sorry hyung. It’s just…you know how protective of him I am. Seeing him bleed and in pain like that just sent me into overdrive,” mumbled Eunhyuk.

“I understand, I feel the same way now,” said Kangin looking at Donghae’s face again. “Donghae if you need me to do anything to help you, or you want a free pass to hit me, just let hyung know, alright?”

Donghae laughed, “I’ll be sure to remember than Hyung, for next time. Come on Hyukkie, let’s give them some time alone.”

Donghae rose and Eunhyuk nodded, closing the door behind Donghae and himself.

“I can’t believe I seriously did that,” said Kangin. “I hope that’s the worst of it.”

“Well, other than abusing your poor liver, panicking your dongsaengs, and making a woman and me cry, I’d say yeah, that’s the extent of it,” said Leeteuk with a small laugh.

Kangin sighed, hoping to himself that his mind would spare him the fine details indefinitely.

“Come on, I think you should rest a little more,” said Leeteuk softly pushing Kangin back down.

“Will you stay with me?” Kangin asked sheepishly.

“Of course,” said Leeteuk giving him another soft kiss and then lying his head down on Kangin’s chest as they both closed their eyes.

a/n: So I'm thinking there will be one more chapter left, I'm currently working on the ending, but I'm not sure how long it will be. Thank you all so much for reading so far and I hope I haven't let all of you KangTeuk shippers down!