Jongin arrived at the address within a few minutes, a small brick townhouse crammed in between what appeared to be endless others exactly like it. He gingerly approached the doorstep, pausing for a minute before ringing the doorbell. Taemin answered the door, his expression mildly surprised. 

"You actually came..." He breathed. 

"Yeah." Jongin shifted uncomfortably. Taemin let him in, closing the door softly behind him. 

"Taemin, did you get the-" A man who looked to be just a little older than them appeared from the next room, stopping short when he saw Jongin. "-Oh. I-uh, I'll go out, give you two some space." He quickly brushed past them, heading straight for the door. 

"That's my brother, if you couldn't guess," Taemin said once the other man had left. The bitterness in the boy's voice startled Jongin, but he tried not to show it. "Come on, we'll talk in the living room." Taemin turned and began walking into the room his brother had come out of, leaving Jongin to follow. 

The room was small but cozy, a large corner couch taking up most of the space. Taemin motioned for Jongin to sit, but didn't sit down himself, so Jongin chose to stay standing as well. 

"So."

"So."

"Jongin, I don't even know where to begin," Taemin ran a hand through his hair, a strained expression taking his features. "I don't think I can do this anymore. I've been trying to make it work, but I don't think you want to even try. At least, you haven't been acting like you do. I really care about you and want to be with you, but you don't seem to feel the same. I-"

"-What are you saying?" 

"I'm saying that I think we need to take a break." Taemin bit his lip, looking at the floor.

"What? Why?" Panic seized Jongin's heart, his world suddenly flipping upside down. 

"You're not ready yet, I think we should have waited to get together or-" 

But Jongin wasn't listening. 

"-Is it because you really are cheating? Or you want to be with someone else?"

"Would you stop with that!" Taemin yelled, startling Jongin. Taemin never raised his voice, so to actually be yelled at was a huge shock. "You're so ing blind to everything, Jongin, I swear. You can't even take a step back and actually look at situations or think rationally. Hell, you can't even trust me, even though I've proven to you over and over again that you can. Do I really seem like the type of person who would go out and do something like that? Me? Admit it, if there was some way for you to be with him again you wouldn't even think twice about leaving me, so don't go around accusing me of something you know I'd never do."

"Taemin..." 

"Don't. I don't want to hear it. Like I said, you're not ready yet. You're too stuck in the past to focus on what you have here right now. So let's take a break, give each other some space. And if in a little while we both want to try again, then we'll try again. I just don't think we should stay together right now, this isn't healthy."

Jongin didn't know what to say. What could he say? Taemin was really leaving him. He'd never expected this to actually happen. He had to do something. He knew now that he'd screwed up, and majorly, though he still didn't entirely understand how or what he did. But he knew enough of it, and he also knew, deep down, that if he let Taemin go now, he'd never see him again. So he did the only thing he could think of, tears welling in his eyes as he realized the gravity of the situation and that there might really be no coming back from it. 

"I'm sorry." He said, but his voice came out as nearly a whisper, so quiet that he wasn't sure if Taemin had even heard it. He said it louder, walking towards the other boy and embracing him. "I'm sorry." 

For a few moments, Taemin struggled weakly against Jongin's arms, and he could have gotten away if he really tried to, but he didn't. Instead he gave up, resting his head on Jongin's shoulder. 

Jongin nervously continued speaking, tears threatening to fall.

"I'm sorry. I know I ed up. I don't know exactly how to fix it, but please don't leave."

Taemin was shaking, and Jongin noticed that his shoulder was quickly becoming wet. At the realization that Taemin was now crying, Jongin couldn't help but to cry himself. He'd never wanted this for them, what had he done?

"Please. I know I'm a horrible person, but please. I care about you so much, and I'm stupid for not showing you that. You deserve so much better, but please don't leave me. Please Taemin, we can still fix this." He was desperate. He couldn't lose Taemin, he needed him. He hated himself, he couldn't believe he'd ed up this badly. 

"Can we? If we do, you can't do this again, I can't take this again. Jongin, I'm serious. If you want to stay together we can't let things get this bad again. Please don't make me regret not walking out now." 

"I won't, I promise. I'm so sorry..." 

"I am too. I don't want to leave you, I'm just trying to look out for us both."

"I know, but you can trust me when I say it'll be different from now on. Just please stay." It would be different. Jongin was determined to fix this. He'd change if he had to. He'd do anything, he just needed Taemin to stay. 

Taemin was silent for a minute, and Jongin had never felt more anxious. 

"Okay." Taemin finally responded, sighing heavily. They stood there for a while, saying nothing, before Taemin pulled back, looking at Jongin's face.

"You're crying." 

"So are you." Jongin responded, reaching up to wipe away his boyfriend's tears. Taemin's lips pulled into a faint smile as he also reached up, doing the same for Jongin. 

"I guess I am."

"We're a mess," Jongin joked, although there was quite a lot of truth behind the statement. 

"You're right about that," Taemin agreed. "We have a lot of work to do." He looked closer at Jongin. "You look tired. When do you have to go back to work?" 

"I have a shift at three thirty." 

"It's half past ten now... you should probably go home." 

"You're not coming?"

Taemin looked uncomfortable, removing his hands from Jongin's face to wrap his arms around himself nervously. 

"I'm not. I want to, and I will eventually, but I feel like for now, at least, we need a little distance." Seeing the expression on Jongin's face, he quickly continued. "It won't be for long, I promise. Just because right now we're just trying to put everything back together, so... how do I put this? While we're still working out the bigger issues in our relationship, it's probably better for us to be apart instead of constantly being in each other's space." 

All Jongin wanted was for Taemin to finally come home, but he nodded in agreement anyway, knowing that there'd be no pursuading him to do otherwise. Jongin knew was lucky just to have been able to convince Taemin to not leave him. 

"So... yeah. I'm glad we're working this out. Now go home and get some sleep. Call me when your shift ends, okay?" 

"Okay. Me too, I'm glad we're working it out, I missed you." 

Taemin smiled, and Jongin pulled away from him, walking back to the front door of the townhouse. They said their goodbyes, and then Jongin found himself out on the dark city streets, a hurricane of conflicting emotions whirling around in his head. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

Was this what y'all were expecting? Or at least close to it? Honestly, Taemin should have really left Jongin, but oh well... 

Thanks to all my readers!! You guys are the best! I'm almost completely caught up with this I think, so regular updates will be coming soon, I swear. And your surprise is coming really really soon I promise. Next chapter, you'll see ;)

Thanks for reading! 

-H