Jonghyun grabbed Minki by his upper arm, dragging him with him and through the crowd. Not a single stripper or customer had seemingly heard the gunshot. Everyone was still busy partying, annoyed by the fact Jonghyun pushed them aside.

When outside, Jonghyun and Minki were greeted by Minhyun. Ah. That explained where Minki got that gun from. 

“Guys!” Minhyun approached them quickly. “How did it…” He didn’t finish the question. Minki’s horrified expression made everything clear. He just walked back to his car and got behind the steering wheel, waiting for his friends to join him so that they could get the Hell out of there.

“I killed him.” Minki whispered to himself when seated in the back of the car, trembling in every limb. “I can’t believe I really..” He buried his face into his hands, beginning to sob. 

“It was self defense.” Jonghyun rubbed his back in a comforting manner. “You did nothing wrong, you hear me? You’ve never done anything wrong.” 

“Besides, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get caught.” Minhyun added, looking over his shoulder when in front of a red light.

“You don’t think I’m a bad person?” Minki turned his head to look at Jonghyun, his eyes reddened and puffy.

“Of course not, my sweet.” Jonghyun moved to sit closer to him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him in close. “None of this was your fault.”

“I love you.” Minki cried, resting his head against Jonghyun’s shoulder.

“And I love you.” Jonghyun caressed his hair gently. “Shh.”

——

Minki stared blankly into the room when seated on Jonghyun’s couch later that night. 

“Here you go.” Jonghyun attempted to hand Minki a glass of water, but he didn’t take it. He just sat there and stared.

“Hmm.” Jonghyun just took a sip himself then, still trying to ignore how much his hand hurt. “Y’know,” Jonghyun cleared his throat. “You should relax.” He sat down beside Minki. “Want me to run you a nice bath?” He tilted his head, waiting for an answer. “I have a very big bath, with a jacuzzi function if you’d like.” He added, still optimistic to make Minki talk at some point. 

“Alright...” Minki finally whispered after taking about two minutes to answer. 

Jonghyun sat on the edge of the large bathtub, while filling it with hot water. “Nice and warm.” He hummed, acting like nothing was wrong. 

“Yeah.. Nice..” Meanwhile, Minki joined him in the bathroom and undressed himself. “How much longer?”

“Not long.” Jonghyun turned around to look at him.

“Ok..” He had his own arms wrapped around himself. He was like a vulnerable, abandoned little baby bird; so sad. 

“There we go.” When there was more than enough water in the tub, Jonghyun stuck his hand into the water.. to pull it back with a scream. “It’s too hot!”

Minki ignored him, climbing into the tub without hesitating.

“H-hey!” Jonghyun stammered.

Minki didn’t even flinch, sinking down slowly. “Ahh..” He closed his eyes, up to his shoulders in boiling hot water. 

Jonghyun would’ve said something about Minki being crazy, but given his current mental state, he didn’t. He just stood up from the edge of the bathtub and moved back, towards the door. “You good?”

“Um, wait.” Minki reopened his eyes. “Please stay here.. I don’t want to be alone right now.” He whispered. 

“Ok, babe.” Jonghyun flashed him a smile, leaning against the sink. “Oh!” Suddenly, he remembered something. “I got you this.” He turned around, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a bottle of sakura bath foam. “I noticed that you like cherry blossom.” He walked over to the bath, and held out the bottle to Minki.

“Wow.. That’s..” Minki’s hands slowly rose above the water, so that he could take the bottle in them. “So thoughtful of you..” He stared at the present Jonghyun had given him. “You are so sweet.” He swallowed, and sniffed. “I do not deserve you.” Oh no. Jonghyun was just trying to be nice, and now Minki was on the verge of tears again. “I don’t deserve you at all!” He continued. “I am… evil!” He dropped the bottle into the water. It splashed over the bathroom floor, wetting Jonghyun’s lower legs. “I’ve never hated myself more!”

“Stop it!” Jonghyun yelled at him, his enraged voice echoing through the bathroom. He sank to his knees, not really caring about the fact that his pants were getting soaked even more. “Listen to me!” He grabbed Minki, who was still crying heavily, by his wrists. “Look at me!” Jonghyun hated having to use force, but this seemed to be the only way to get through to Minki. “Calm down!”

Minki tried to steady his breathing, but could not yet stop crying. Though, he paid close attention to what Jonghyun was saying, that much was clear. 

“If you hadn’t killed him, he would’ve killed me!” Jonghyun kept yelling, making sure Minki was getting the message. “You’ve saved the life of a person you love, and ended one of a person who used and abused you, alongside many others!” He paused for a moment. “You did the right thing!” Finally, he lowered his voice. “No one is going to punish you for sending a demon back to Hell. Certainly not me.” 

Minki was silent at once. “Oh..” He swallowed, blinking slowly, the last of his tears rolling down his beautiful face. He was such a pretty crier, Jonghyun thought. 

Jonghyun let go of Minki’s wrists, while still staring at him intently. And Minki stared back at him. They kept staring at each other until Minki moved forward and even closer to wrap his arms around Jonghyun. In the bathroom, they shared their own little scene from a pirate film; Jonghyun being the voyager, Minki the siren. 

— 

“I have a plan.” Jonghyun told Minki after both of them had dried themselves and prepared for bed, lying down beside him. “We’ll move to Busan, somewhere close to your family, and we’ll start all over.”

Minki turned his head slowly and looked at him, interested. 

“I’ll get a new job there.” Jonghyun continued. “And we’ll find a nice house.” 

“That sounds like a good plan.” Something that could definitely be labeled as a smile tugged at the corners of Minki’s perfect mouth. “But, one one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll let me pay for the house, too. We’re a couple now. We’re a team. So you gotta stop paying for everything on your own.” Minki lifted his hand, holding his pinky out. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Jonghyun lifted his wrong, possibly broken hand first. Oh. He thought he’d switched them quickly enough, but Minki had already noticed. 

“You should have that looked at!” Minki squeaked. 

“I will.” Jonghyun nodded. “Tomorrow morning. I’ll say I… fell down the stairs.”

“Ok.” Minki squinted. “Promise me.”

“Wh-“

“I know how stubborn you are by now.”

“Alright. I promise.” Jonghyun scoffed sarcastically. 

“We should go to sleep. It’s late.” Minki fluttered his eyelashes. “Goodnight. I love you so, so much.”

“I love you, too.” Jonghyun hummed, moving closer to Minki to press a gentle kiss to his temple. “Wake me up if you can’t sleep, ok? I’ll keep you company.” 

Minki nodded, closing his eyes and heaving a sigh.