Youngjae knew that Daehyun wouldn’t be at work.

He knew it but he still stopped in every day.

At this point everyone that worked there knew him, and everyone was worried. Youngjae hadn’t ever been this worried about someone, this at a loss of what to do. He had no idea how to get hold of Daehyun, no idea where his apartment was, and no idea where Jaehwa lived. He didn’t want to go there, though. Youngjae had a feeling that if he went there it wouldn’t end well for either of them.

Sighing, Youngjae scanned through the new flowers and smiled softly as he ran his fingers through a few of the buds. He didn’t notice the woman who worked there walk up behind him, and when she spoke he jumped a bit. She just offered him a smile.

“Those are called Alstroemeria,” she said softly, pointing to the flowers that Youngjae had been admiring. He looked down at them again, cocking his head and letting out a soft, almost wistful sigh.

Daehyun probably would like them.

They looked cheery.

She looked back and forth between Youngjae and the flowers a few times before she simply picked them up, handing them to Youngjae with a hopeful smile.

“Just take them. You come in every day and look at the flowers and you seem so sad,” she said, watching as Youngjae took the offered stems with a surprised expression. She shrugged. “You lost someone important to you, didn’t you?” she asked, and Youngjae nodded. There was a long pause and she furrowed her brows, looking down. “… Was it someone you loved?” she asked, and Youngjae looked at her and shook his head.

“A friend,” he replied, though the look he got in response was almost questioning. Eventually she nodded, pointing to the flowers.

“Those flowers symbolize friendship,” she said, smiling happily. “Take them home and take care of them.” Winking at him, she headed back toward the desk. “I hope your friend comes back,” she added as he opened the door to leave, his only response a gentle sigh.

He put the flowers in a vase when he got home, ignoring the fact that his apartment was slowly starting to look like a garden. Youngjae didn’t mind – they made the place feel more inviting, happier.

The Queen Anne’s Lace was still blooming happily, as was the Anthurium. Daehyun might have been good at choosing flowers, but Youngjae was good at keeping them alive. He smiled as he played with some of the petals, ignoring the rain pelting against the window. It was late and, like usual, Youngjae was nowhere near sleep. He was just sitting on his couch, scrolling through a few random pages while he tried to calm his mind.

Every once in a while Youngjae would glance at his phone, brows knit together in concern. It was gnawing at him, and without any way to fix it, it was only getting worse. As the rain got a bit harder he picked up his phone, trying to call Daehyun one more time.

“Maybe someone will answer…” he mumbled, setting his laptop next to him and dialing.

He had just called when a few persistent knocks sounded on his door and he looked over, eyes wide before he pushed himself from the couch and nearly ran over. Youngjae pulled open the door, jaw dropping when he saw Daehyun standing in front of him.

Daehyun was drenched from the rain but that didn’t cover the fact that there was blood all over him. It looked like he could barely stand and he opened his mouth to speak but Youngjae pulled him inside before he could say a word, locking the door behind him.

“Daehyun, oh my god,” Youngjae said, wanting to help but not knowing where to start. His hands were just shaking in front of him, brain whirring but body not knowing what to do.

Daehyun had blood matted in his hair, dripping down his face, and staining his shirt. Youngjae couldn’t even count all of the bruises and cuts, and the way Daehyun was holding his arm, almost cradling it, made him even more worried.

“He broke a lamp… on me… and he pushed me down the stairs,” Daehyun said in a whimper, entire body shaking. “He did so many things to me…” he added, and Youngjae moved to pull Daehyun close but Daehyun flinched away, eyes closed tightly.

“Daehyun, did you call the cops?” Youngjae questioned, trying to remain calm but only continuing to see more of the marks that were covering Daehyun’s body. Blood was dripping and he couldn’t do anything about it. Youngjae just ran down his hall, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around Daehyun’s shoulders. He watched as Daehyun curled into it, Youngjae frowning.

“No… Youngjae, he’s following me. I know he’s following me. He made me tell him your address. I took the back way, so I beat him here.” Youngjae’s eyes widened and he let out a shaky breath, his arm wrapping as gently as he could around Daehyun’s shoulders.

“I’m taking you into my room. He doesn’t know you’re here, you could be anywhere. Don’t come out, no matter what happens. Just hide,” he instructed quietly, eyes trained with Daehyun’s as Daehyun nodded shakily. Youngjae could only frown at him, pushing his hair back off of his forehead. “… I should have helped sooner,” he mumbled, Daehyun swallowing deeply. He was about to say something in response but there was another knock at the door and both of them turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound, Youngjae biting his lip before he looked back to Daehyun. “Don’t move.”

When Youngjae closed the door to the bedroom Daehyun looked around, curling into the corner of his closet and closing the door slightly. He knew Youngjae had told him not to move and he intended to listen to him, but that meant he was also going to be listening to whatever happened in the other room.

There was a long pause before more rapid knocks sounded through the room, a click of the door opening, then screaming.

“Where the is he? I know he’s here,” Jaehwa screamed, and Daehyun shrank into the towel he was wrapped in, clenching it with one hand and letting the other hang almost limp by his side. Daehyun could barely move it.

“No, he’s not. He’s not here, now get out of my house,” Youngjae said, clearly trying to stay calm. Jaehwa wasn’t letting him, though, and Daehyun heard a bit of a scuffle and he assumed Jaehwa had pushed into the apartment. “Get the hell out, I said he wasn’t here!”

“He ing is, I know he is!” Jaehwa screamed, then there were more sounds of a scuffle and the distinct sound of something breaking.

“I’m calling the cops if you don’t get the out of here,” Youngjae said.

More sounds of a scuffle.

Another crash.

Youngjae screaming.

Jaehwa cursing.

Daehyun had no idea what was happening in the other room but he still did what he was told, swallowing deeply and closing his eyes.

All of a sudden there was a dull thud and the door opened, Youngjae rushing in and holding it closed. Daehyun opened the door a bit, leaning out and looking up at him with brows knit in concern.

Youngjae was bleeding and breathing heavy, using his entire body to hold the door closed.

“I just knocked him down,” he said softly, biting his lip for a moment. He paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath before he looked to Daehyun. “Daehyun, you need to call the cops. I need you to be really brave right now and pick up the phone on my nightstand and call the cops while I hold this door closed, okay?” he asked, and Daehyun hesitantly reached up for the phone and dialed. He kept his voice down, paying close attention when he heard movement in the living room.

Daehyun looked to Youngjae and the two made eye contact, conversation between them being made in silence before Youngjae dropped his head forward.

“There’s… Someone in the house. He wants to hurt us. Please send someone over,” Daehyun said, words quiet as he listened. He had only just managed to mumble out the address when there was an attempt to force the door open and Youngjae braced himself to keep it shut.

“Don’t come into this room, get out of my ing house!” Youngjae screamed, though what he was greeted with was more pounding. Daehyun could see the door threatening to open from where he was sitting and he tried to keep the phone call going as long as he could. He knew Youngjae wasn’t going to be able to hold the door closed much longer and he was right. A moment later it burst open and Jaehwa ran in, Youngjae almost falling forward before he turned and tried to push the other man out of the room.

“I ing knew he was here!” Jaehwa screamed, pushing past Youngjae and trying to get to Daehyun. Still on the phone, Daehyun inched away, back pressed against the wall as Youngjae grabbed Jaehwa’s arm and wrenched it back. That pulled Jaehwa away for the moment before he recovered.

“Daehyun, keep them on the phone, don’t hang up,” he pleaded, turning around to keep his eyes on Daehyun. He didn’t see Jaehwa turn and before he could react Jaehwa grabbed him by the collar, pushing him away and into the wall. Daehyun heard the thud of Youngjae’s head hitting the drywall and he turned to look, dropping the phone as he stood.

“Jaehwa, don’t touch him!” he screamed, and Jaehwa turned to look at him before he reached out to grab the arm that Daehyun had been favoring. Daehyun let out a choked gasp, and that gasp only grew to near a scream when Jaehwa twisted his arm suddenly.

The pain that he felt at that moment was nearly enough for him to pass out and his vision went white, eyes wide and tears streaming down his cheeks that he couldn’t stop. He dropped to his knees, watching through slightly blurred vision as Jaehwa picked up Youngjae and kept going. He saw Youngjae get punched and kicked, saw him fight back for a while, saw Jaehwa’s hands around his neck, and then he tried to get up to help, only to have Jaehwa push him down again. Daehyun’s head hit the nightstand and he yelped, Youngjae going nearly limp in Jaehwa’s arms as his struggling died down.

Then Jaehwa went down and Daehyun looked up in a daze, a few policemen bursting in. They looked like they were holding guns, though one must have been holding something else because he hadn’t heard a gunshot.

Before he knew what was happening one had walked over to him, lifting his head and saying something to him. It just sounded like a dull buzz and Daehyun’s brows knit together as he looked up in confusion. The officer snapped in front of his eyes, said something else, but Daehyun just looked over at Youngjae, who was passed out on the floor and not moving. He attempted to crawl over but his arms buckled under his weight and the officer reached down, trying to avoid what was most definitely his broken arm as he lifted him up.

How had Daehyun let it get to this? Youngjae was lying on the floor, bruised and bloody, and Jaehwa had just been handcuffed by one of the officers. It had just been a few threats at first but it had escalated to this…

Daehyun was silent as they were led outside, the lights of the ambulances and police cars that were sitting there shining brightly. He covered his eyes despite the fact that he was shaking, Youngjae’s towel still wrapped loosely around Daehyun’s shoulders.

“Do you want to take an ambulance?” the man asked, Daehyun looking over at him and nodding. He glanced over, seeing Youngjae strapped into a stretcher, and started walking toward him. The officer was about to stop him but he looked at the EMT, brows furrowed as they both nodded at each other. He helped Daehyun into the back, offering him a stretcher as well though Daehyun barely even acknowledged him. Daehyun simply reached over and took Youngjae’s hand, holding it loosely as the man working by him did all he could to stop the bleeding from Youngjae’s head.

The entire drive went by in a blur, Daehyun never taking his eyes off of Youngjae. Jaehwa must have done some awful things to Youngjae when Daehyun had out, because he had oxygen pumping into his system and he was still unconscious. He frowned.

Before he knew what was happening they were separated, dropping Youngjae’s hand and looking back before his legs almost buckled under him. The doctor nearest him caught him, guiding him to lie on a stretcher so he wouldn’t collapse again.

Everything went by so quickly, and Daehyun didn’t even remember what he answered to the questions he was asked. He remembered getting a scan of his head, blood tests, an IV in his arm, and so many other tests that he couldn’t even figure out. The doctors fitted his arm with a cast, stitched up some of the deeper gashes, and left him in bed for a while. He fell asleep, only waking up when he was prodded lightly.

“Excuse me, sir,” the man said, sitting down in the chair next to the bed, “but we have a few questions. We tried to ask you earlier but you were pretty delirious so we decided to let you rest.”

“Where’s Youngjae?” Daehyun asked, cutting him off. The man frowned, looking down at his paper. Daehyun just stared at him. “Where is he? Is he okay?” he asked again, and he watched as the man sighed.

“He hasn’t woken up yet. The doctors had to do some emergency work because he stopped breathing…” Daehyun stared at him, eyes wide. “They got him breathing again but he’s still out. No one knows anything for sure, but he hasn’t stopped breathing again so they have high hopes.”

Daehyun nodded weakly and answered every question that was thrown his way, but if he’d been asked what he’d said he wouldn’t have remembered. The only thing that he could think about was that Youngjae hadn’t woken up yet.

He was still unconscious.

Jaehwa had beaten him into submission and Daehyun couldn’t do anything about it.

“Can I see him?” Daehyun asked suddenly, cutting off the man’s question as he looked up. “Can I go see Youngjae?” The man thought for a second, looking down at his paper where he’d been taking notes.

“Not yet. But when you can we’ll let you go. Now, they’ll get you something to eat. Try to stomach as much as you can.” He stood, offering Daehyun a little nod as he pocketed his notepad. When he slipped out of the room Daehyun just laid his head back, eyes trained on the ceiling.

Youngjae had stopped breathing and it was Daehyun’s fault.

Just like the man had said, someone came in with food a bit later, Daehyun eating as much as he could before he started feeling sick. It wasn’t much, but it was probably more than he’d had at one sitting for the past few weeks. He tried to sleep but he couldn’t, instead just anxiously waiting for someone to come in to let him go see Youngjae.

Daehyun himself had no grasp of how much time had passed but when someone finally came in to check on him he perked up slightly, asking once again if he could go see Youngjae. All he was offered was another shake of the head as the nurse busied herself with what she had come in to do.

Another nurse came and went later, and once more he was told that he couldn’t leave. It took what felt like ages before a doctor he had never seen cracked open the door and Daehyun looked up with drooping, tired eyes.

“Youngjae is in his own room. If you’d like to see him, you can visit for a while.” Daehyun sat up but immediately winced, eyes closed but nodding nonetheless. The doctor brought in a wheelchair, Daehyun moving into it and the doctor moving the stand for the IV so that it was attached.

Daehyun stayed silent the whole way to Youngjae’s room.

When they opened the door Daehyun felt all of the wind leave him.

Youngjae was lying in the bed, hooked up to oxygen, a heart monitor, an IV, and countless other machines. Daehyun forced back tears as he was rolled over to the side of Youngjae’s bed, still looking at him wordlessly.

It must have been Jaehwa choking him, or the blow to his head, but Daehyun couldn’t be sure. Knowing the doctors, they probably wouldn’t tell him any more about it, at least not yet. Resting his hand on Daehyun’s shoulder, the doctor looked down at him.

“I’ll leave you alone for a moment, but soon you’ll have to go back to your room,” he said softly, and Daehyun nodded as the man walked out, closing the door behind him and leaving Daehyun alone with Youngjae just as Daehyun let the tears fall down his cheeks.

“Youngjae, I’m so sorry,” he choked out, immediately taking Youngjae’s hand though he made sure the grip was loose. All that he was answered with was the dull beep of the heart monitor in the background. “I’m so sorry I brought you into this…” He knew Youngjae wasn’t going to answer him, but he didn’t care.

Daehyun linked his fingers with Youngjae’s, his head resting on the edge of the bed as he watched him.