Title: 7pm
Pairing: Jongho
Words: 2,691
Warning: Mentions of abuse, blood, etc.

Minho vividly remembers the first time he’d been in this situation – the first time he’d found Jonghyun crying, bruised and bloodied. But most of all broken – not completely, but broken, like the vase Minho accidentally knocked over when he was ten. It could be fixed – just like Minho fixed Jonghyun with sweet words and reassurances that the older man was loved – but the vase was never quite the same, proudly displaying the cracks of the event. Jonghyun reminds Minho of that vase, displaying (albeit not proudly) the cracks of being broken, through his vulnerability and desperation to be loved and appreciated.

Minho feels his heart in his throat as he dresses Jonghyun’s wounds. He feels as though someone’s sliced his heart with a machete, embedding new degrees of pain within his being with every cut until his heart lied there, torn in two, a serrated mess.

“W-why hyung?” He finally finds the nerve to ask as his thumb traces over a purple blotch on Jonghyun’s cheek. “Why would he do this to you?”

Jonghyun’s lower lip quivers and Minho is so sure the older man is about to start crying again.

“I-it’s my fault-“

Minho fights the urge to roll his eyes, willing himself to not let his anger get the best of him.

How could Jonghyun honestly blame himself for this?

“I c-complained about him staying out late and not spending time with me. H-he got mad.”

Minho feels his nostrils flare at Jonghyun’s words. ‘He got mad.’ So that gave him the right to hit, slap and punch Jonghyun, to leave him covered in angry red lines and purple hues, bleeding on their living room floor?

“Hyung please. Why won’t you let me turn him in, he deserves to be in prison for what he’s put you through over the past two-“

“Stop Minho! Just stop it he’s not perfect okay!” Jonghyun shouts. He moves away from Minho’s touch, wincing as he does so. “He has anger issues and he’s been trying to work through them.” He looks at Minho in disgust as if Minho was in the wrong for talking about his abuser in such a negative light.

Jonghyun breathes in deeply.  “I-I deserve this. I shouldn’t have bothered him with my neediness when I could tell he was already in a bad mood.”

Minho feels his tears spill over. Surely Jonghyun didn’t truly believe that.

Minho presumes it’s the sight of his tears that has Jonghyun’s expression morphing from pained to concern. As heartbroken as he feels whenever he finds his hyung in situations such as this one, he’s never allowed his tears to fall. Until now.

“M-Minho I’m sorry I – p-please stop crying.”

Minho hears the tremble in Jonghyun’s voice but he honestly doesn’t care if the other man cries, he has something that he needs to get off of his chest. “I am so sick of this hyung! I’m sick of coming here and finding you bruised and bloodied all due to the hands of that bastard. And I can’t even do anything about it because you won’t ing let me!”

Minho pauses to gather his thoughts, harshly wiping the liquid from his face. “I’m just – I’m scared hyung, scared as of coming here one morning and finding you dead in a pool of your own blood and yet all you care about is protecting him! All you do is make excuses for the way he treats you.  He’s not the same person you met in college.”

“Stop.”

Minho’s voice quiets down to a whisper. “He doesn’t love you.”

“Yes he does,” Jonghyun grits his teeth.

Minho clearly sees the cracks of emotional instability and denial.

“What you two have isn’t love Jonghyun. If he really loved you he wouldn’t do these things to you. I bet you can’t even remember the last time he genuinely told you that he loved you.”

Jonghyun’s mouth opens, and then closes. He adopts a wistful expression.

That’s what I thought.

Minho lightly grips Jonghyun’s chin and turns his face towards himself. Jonghyun’s wearing a vulnerable expression that makes Minho’s eyes well up with tears again. He leans forward slightly, breath ghosting over Jonghyun’s lips – mind screaming that what he’s about to do is reckless and uncalled for but he can’t help himself.

“This is real love hyung,” he breathes before pressing his lips firmly against Jonghyun’s, trying to relay all his feelings of passion and adoration for the elder man into the kiss. Jonghyun’s mouth tastes of an unbearable sadness which only coaxes Minho to press harder, to show the elder man how much he was really loved.

Jonghyun presses against Minho’s shoulders harshly, a lot stronger than Minho had expected due to the man’s weakened physical state.

“I-I’m sorr-“

“What the Minho?” Jonghyun inches as far away from him as he can. “Was this your plan all along, to always be here when I needed someone in attempts of making me leave Hunchul and fall for you? I’m not interested,” he grits out.
Minho’s eyes widen completely in awe of Jonghyun’s words. Sure, he hadn’t thought that Jonghyun would react kindly to his actions, but those weren’t the words he was expecting. ”Wow um…I think you made it pretty obvious that you weren’t interested in me when I confessed to you in high school and you pretended like it never happened.” He looks up blinking back a fresh set of tears.

Jonghyun looks down at that, refusing to look in Minho’s direction.

“I’m sorry for kissing you hyung. But I-I just had to, just once. Because soon I may never have the chance. I don’t know when I’m gonna come here and find you dead.”

“M-Minho!” Jonghyun chokes down a sob. “H-he would never kill-“

“No it’s the truth hyung. I love you, I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember and I’d be the happiest man alive if you were to fall for me. But that can’t happen if – when this guy kills you.” Minho pauses to take in a deep breath. “I just, right now I’m not even asking for your love hyung, I just want to keep you safe. If you were in a relationship with anyone else, just someone who wasn’t treating you as horribly as this guy does then I’d be so so happy for you hyung. Physical abuse is the least of your problems when you let this guy play with your emotions like this.”  

Jonghyun still refuses to look at him.

Minho takes in the sight of the old and fresh bruises all over Jonghyun’s body and feels his heart sink into the pit of his stoma