Minseok shut the car door after he got out, locking the car. As soon as he reached the front door of their house, he opened it with his keys. He glanced at the ground in the hallway. Luhan’s coat lay on the floor, forgotten. His shoes next to it. Minseok tried his best to take his shoes off at the same time he was taking off his jacket.

“Luhan?” Minseok called and walked towards the door which would lead him to the living room.

“Kitchen.” Came Luhan’s dull response.

Minseok frowned while walking towards the kitchen. It wasn’t often that Luhan’s voice didn’t sound cheery. “What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked as soon as he entered the kitchen, met by Luhan’s back.

A deep sigh left Luhan’s lips. “You told me to go to the doctor, right?” Luhan asked.

Minseok nodded, but he soon thought of the fact that Luhan could not see his action. “Yeah, and?” he asked softly, worry in his voice.

“Well.. they found something..” Luhan said softly before turning around.

Minseok gasped softly when he was met by Luhan’s tear stained face. Eyes red and swollen. Cheeks still wet from the tears that had left Luhan’s eyes not long ago. It was one of the few times that Minseok had seen Luhan like this. He slowly walked towards his boyfriend and softly put his hands on the younger’s shoulders.

Minseok didn’t dare ask, but he had to.

“What is it that they found?” The words left his lips softly.

It was quiet for some time. Minseok tried to find the answer in Luhan’s eyes, but the younger was avoiding eye contact at all costs.

“Luhan, you really have to tell me..” Minseok added after a while. He could see more tears emerging from the younger’s eyes. Minseok couldn’t handle seeing his boyfriend like this. So sad. So broken. Slowly, tears started to swell up in his own eyes as well, even though he had no clue as to what was going on.

“A brain tumor.” It was just a faint whisper, but the effect was just as bad. Those few words made Minseok’s whole world collapse. A few words said could be the cause of a person’s world shattering into a million pieces.

“What?” Minseok asked, voice cracking midway. It didn’t take long for his tears to leave his eyes. They slid alongside his cheeks, falling off of his chin not much later.

“A brain tumor, Minseok. They found a brain tumor.” Luhan sobbed. He no longer could keep his feelings hidden. He threw his arms around Minseok, clutching the back of his shirt. He felt the younger’s tears wetting his shirt as he pressed his face in Minseok’s neck. Not that he cared. Not even a little.

Minseok hardly believed the words which Luhan had said just now. He pressed the younger firmly against his chest,  softly pressing a kiss on the younger’s hair. He was at loss for words. What was he supposed to say at a moment like this? Ask Luhan what was going to happen? That wouldn’t make either of them feel better. Tell Luhan that it was going to be okay? .. Yeah, Luhan probably wouldn’t appreciate words like that.

Minseok shushed softly while rubbing Luhan’s back soothingly. “Try to calm down a little, okay?” he said gently after a while of silence, even though he himself was far from being calm.

It took quite some time, but eventually the sobs of Luhan died down. He took a deep breath and let go of Minseok a bit so they could look at each other.

“Let’s sit down, okay? Then we can talk about what happened today.” Minseok proposed softly.

They walked towards the living room, where the couch was located, after Luhan had given a short nod.

Minseok sat down and pulled Luhan with him. He threw both arms around the younger so he could press  him against his body in the hope to give him some comfort. “Okay, fire away.” Minseok said softly.

After a short time of silence, Luhan started talking. “Well.. I went to the doctor, like you told me to,” Luhan’s  voice was shaky and unsteady. “He did some tests and what not, but didn’t really know what was going on. He made an appointment at the hospital, since he didn’t trust it, so I could go through one of those MRI scans or whatever.”

Minseok nodded and hummed at the right moments, trying to take everything in.

“I went to the hospital, they gave me some sort of pill and put me in the MRI scan and after waiting for who-knows how long.. well—“ a heart wrenching sob left Luhan’s lips. Minseok bit his lip, trying to prevent his tears from falling, but he had no such luck.

Luhan took a shaky breath before he continued. “The nurse came and got me from the waiting room, taking me to the doctor’s office. The doctor was already there. After I sat down, he showed me the outcome of the scan. He pointed at something. It didn’t make sense to me, really, but apparently that one  blop wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Minseok did his best to swallow the lump that was in his throat, but he was struggling to do so.

“Apparently that blop is called a Brainstem Glioma,” Luhan said softly, his eyes cast downwards towards his own lap.

Minseok was at loss for words. He had so many questions, though he was afraid to ask them. He was afraid of the answers that would be given to him. He coughed softly to clear his throat. “So.. what will happen now?” he asked softly as if he would hurt Luhan even more by talking too loudly. He wiped the tears off of his own cheeks, but they were replaced with new tears not long after.

Luhan took another shaky breath. “The doctor said they’ll start off with chemotherapy to stop the tumor cells from growing and dividing. And if that isn’t enough.. they’ll also put me through radiation therapy..” he said softly. His fingers were playing with the hem of his shirt nervously. “And in the worst scenario I’ll have to go through surgery.”

The words sunk in slowly. Minseok hummed softly. “When will they start with chemotherapy?”

Luhan seemed to think for a moment. “The first appointment is in two days at 11:10 AM – I think. I have the appointment card in my coat somewhere.” The younger mumbled.

Minseok rubbed Luhan’s arm. It was a lousy attempt at comforting the younger, but Minseok had no clue as to what to do. What did you expect him to do after he just found out his boyfriend has a brain tumor? Minseok opened his mouth to ask another question, but Luhan beat him to it.

“Can we – like – not talk about it? Not now?” Luhan asked softly, looking at Minseok.

Minseok bit his lips while letting his eyes slide over Luhan’s face. He brought his hands up to softly wipe away the tears on Luhan’s cheeks. He nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He said, followed by a soft, sweet kiss to Luhan’s lips.

Luhan cast him a small smile, which was filled with pain and sorrow. Minseok couldn’t blame him. He probably looked about the same. The younger pressed his face against Minseok’s shoulders and took ahold of his hand. Minseok rubbed the younger’s back.

“I have an information brochure which you could read?” Luhan said after a while of silence.

“Maybe I should, yeah..” Minseok said, though he wasn’t very excited. Who would be?

“I’ll go get it.” Luhan said before pulling back. Minseok looked at the younger while he got up and left to go get the brochure. While alone, Minseok pressed is hand palms against his eyes. A deep sigh left his body. How could this happen to them? To Luhan?

While deep in thought, Minseok didn’t notice Luhan walking back into the living room. Not until the couch dipped down from the weight of Luhan.

“Here,” sounded Luhan’s voice.

Minseok opened his eyes and saw a brochure lying on his lap. ‘Brainstem Glioma’ It read. He was afraid to touch it. Afraid to have reality crashing down on him.

“Read it and we’ll talk about it later, okay?” Luhan said softly. It was as if Luhan was the one comforting Minseok with the way he talked and caressed Minseok’s arm.

Minseok nodded slowly. “Yeah, I—Okay.” He muttered.

“I’m going to take a hot bath. Join me when you’re done reading?” Luhan needn’t ask, since Minseok had and would always join him.

Minseok nodded once more and looked at Luhan. He couldn’t even form some sort of answer, since Luhan had pressed his lips firmly on Minseok’s. Minseok felt Luhan’s hand grab is hair desperately. The kiss was slow and unsteady, but it was real.

After breaking the kiss after a while, Minseok pressed is forehead against Luhan’s, eyes closed. “I’ll be up in a bit.” He told the younger softly.

Luhan hummed before pulling back. “See you in a bit, then.” He said before getting up. “Love you.” Luhan pressed a last loving kiss on Minseok’s lips before making his way towards the bathroom upstairs.

“Love you too, Lu.” Minseok said while looking at Luhan’s back.

Minseok brought his eyes to the brochure that was still in his lap. It felt as if it was burning. Reluctantly, he took ahold of the brochure. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. After a few seconds of intensely staring at the brochure, Minseok opened it.

He scanned the pages, too scared to read every word written in the brochure. A few words caught his attention here and there.

Cause unknown – Headaches – Nausea – 37% survive one year – 20% survive two year – 13% survi—Yeah. No. Minseok didn’t need this right now. He wasn’t ready to face the fact that Luhan might not survive. He threw the brochure aside and got up. He went towards the bathroom as soon as he could.

Minseok opened the bathroom door and stepped inside, closing the door after him. The bathroom was filled with steam of the hot water which filled the bathtub. He saw Luhan in the warm water, eyes closed, surrounded by bubbles. Luhan loved bubbles.

While Minseok undressed himself, carelessly throwing his clothes on the ground, Luhan spoke. “Done reading already?”

Minseok shook his head no. “I could—Like you said, let’s not talk about it now.” He decided to say. After all his clothes lay on the ground, he walked towards the bathtub. He lifted one foot, slowly dipping it into the hot water, before the other one followed. Luhan had cleared a little space behind him for Minseok to occupy. As soon as Minseok was fully in the water, Luhan leaned his back against Minseok’s chest.

“Yeah, let’s not.” Luhan spoke softly.

Minseok wrapped his arms around Luhan’s body and nuzzled his face in the younger’s damp hair. He closed his eyes.

“Yeah..” Even though they both agreed not to talk about it now, they had to sooner or later.

They had to face whatever was coming for them.

Together.

Wow, it even breaks my heart to write this, haaaha ;-;

Please tell me what you think in the comment section below~

Subscribing and upvoting would be great ^-^

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!