Chan was upset, to say the least. He practically stormed into the living room, the fear he'd felt before suddenly vanished. "Why did you call him here? Only to pick a fight? Were you going to just beat him up because he was about to bring me coffee?" he yelled at Kangmin who was pacing around the coffee table.

The older spun around to glare at him. "He's into you, you blind idiot!" he shouted back at him. Kangmin was intimidating, but Chan was not going to back down so easily. "He is not...and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me names..." he said. Kangmin huffed.

"You're straying from me, Chan! I care about you, so I don't want you to walk out on me for that guy!" he tried to justify himself. It only made Chan angrier. He'd endured so much over the past few years and now he had finally snapped. Today's events had been the very last straw.

"If you truly cared about me, you wouldn't always resort to calling me annoying or an idiot or a child or whatever the it is I am to you!" he shouted. "For years, you have treated me like I'm your pet or your housemaid. 'Chan, cook scrambled eggs. Chan, go grocery shopping. You're always doing everything wrong!'  You stopped caring about me a long time ago and I've had it up to here!"

Kangmin looked a little taken aback at the younger's outburst and Chan had to say that he was shocked himself. He didn't remember the last time he had felt so much confidence around Kangmin; enough to stand up to him and stand his ground.

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden?" the older asked. Chan huffed. Of course, Kangmin wouldn't get it. He genuinely thought that he could do no wrong. "You're not even sorry, are you?" he questioned in slight disbelief. One might think that after hearing all these accusations, he would actually start to reconsider the way he treated his boyfriend.

"Sorry? For what, trying to save my relationship?" Kangmin asked. "By trapping me and making me feel inferior? That's not how this works, Kangmin! I've had enough. I'm done..." "What do you mean you're done? You're not walking out on me!" the older demanded, striding over to Chan, who looked up at him, right into his eyes.

"Watch me!"

He turned to leave but Kangmin held him back by his sleeve. "If you walk out that door now, you're going to regret it. I promise you that!" he growled. Chan held back a shudder, determined to hide his fear. "I'm not scared of you!" he shot back, yanking his arm free before all but storming out of the apartment.

It wasn't until he'd reached the door that led him outside that Chan started running. All his strength and confidence began to fade as he realized what had happened; what he'd just done. He didn't even realize he was crying until his sight became blurry, but he never stopped running. He needed to get away from Kangmin as far as possible. He wanted to feel safe again.

His feet automatically led him to the first and only person that came to his mind.

~

About 20 minutes after Minho had returned to his apartment, there was a frantic knock on his door. He furrowed his brows. It was 10pm, so who would show up at this hour? He opened the door nonetheless, only to find a completely shaken up Chan standing there.

"Channie, what happened? Are you okay?" he questioned, even though, the older very clearly wasn't okay. He was crying and shaking. Minho didn't hesitate to pull him into a hug. "What happened?" he asked again, carefully. Chan practically clung to him, his body shaking with silent sobs. Minho gently began to lead him inside and closed the front door.

Chan pulled out of the hug and let Minho take his hand. He took the older to the living room where they both sat down on the couch. Minho wiped Chan's tears away with his free hand. He wasn't sure if he wanted to imagine why he was like this right now. When he'd left the older's apartment building he had had a bad feeling.

"I...", Chan finally croaked out. "I think I just broke up with him..." Minho's eyes widened. Did he hear that correctly? "What exactly happened? Did he hurt you?" he asked. Chan shook his head and wiped at his eyes. "After you left, I told him that he needs to stop driving my friends away...I told him to stop making me feel inferior, but he didn't want to hear it...so I left..."

Minho gave the older another hug. "I'm sorry...", he muttered. "I feel like this is all my fault." Chan pulled back again shaking his head. "No, don't feel bad...this was necessary. He's...toxic. I should have done this a long time ago...", he assured the younger.

"Why didn't you?" Minho asked carefully. He didn't want to overstep or make Chan feel worse than he probably already did. The older lowered his head. "I've tried...but I...", he trailed off, trying to find his words. "I know that I let him walk all over me and I know that I should have called him out for it...but I think that I just got used to it after a while", he explained.

Minho couldn't deny that that shocked him. He couldn't understand how someone could get used to being treated like this. Then again, he didn't want to ask Chan about it. He hadn't experienced it first hand, so it wasn't his business. For now, he just wanted to make the older feel better – mostly about himself.

"I think it was because I was so familiar with him", Chan continued after a short while. "I've known him all my life and he really wasn't always like this. He got like this shortly after we started college and he couldn't keep as much contact with his friends and family from back home. He's really close to his parents usually and being away from them stresses him..."

Minho raised his eyebrow. Sure, being away from your parents was hard, especially when you moved out for the first time. But it didn't give Kangmin the right to let his pent-up frustration out on Chan.

"Besides...he's working to pay for the apartment...", Chan muttered. Minho could literally see that the other was starting to feel bad again, before he even continued speaking. "Maybe this was a mistake. He's done a lot, so I could focus on my studies. I should be-" "Don't say grateful! If he didn't treat you well, you shouldn't be grateful for anything he does, no matter if he's paying rent or not!" Minho cut in.

Chan exhaled and leaned back against the couch's backrest, bringing his knees to his chest. "You're right...but I'm just so ing confused", he said, burying his face in his hands. Minho patted his knee comfortingly. "It's all going to be okay", he assured the older.

"Is it, though? I can't even sort out my feelings. I like you, but it's not like I've never loved Kangmin. Even after everything we still had good times...", Chan said. Minho tried not to dwell too hard on the fact that he'd just heard Chan say that he liked him, he had to stay focused.

"So, are you planning to go back to him?" he asked. Chan thought about it for a few seconds, but shook his head, much to Minho's relief. "I can't go back. Not after I finally stood my ground and especially not after he threatened me...", the older stated. The last bit caused Minho's eyes to widen in shock.

"Excuse me he did what now?" Chan avoided his gaze, as he told him about how Kangmin had apparently told him that he would regret it if he walked out on him. "Did he ever threaten you before?" Minho asked, his blood boiling with rage. Chan shook his head reluctantly. It didn't take a genius to see that he was lying. Minho gave him a look, even though Chan still didn't look at him directly.

Chan sighed before opening his mouth to speak again: "After that party...he told me that if he ever found out that I was cheating on him he'd kill me..." Needless to say, it took all of Minho's willpower not to get up and drive over to Kangmin and punch him in the face...or worse.

"You can't go back to this guy. I won't let him hurt you!" he said, his hands balled into fists. Chan finally looked at him, his eyes looked puffy from all the crying and Minho wanted nothing more than to bring his smile back and see those pretty dimples again. "What should I do? I have no friends, no place to stay...I don't even have a job. I have nothing...", Chan panicked.

Minho reached out to take one of the older's hands, giving it a reassuring squeeze, while holding eye contact. "First of all, you have me. You can stay here for a while. I'll call the guys and we can get your stuff tomorrow while Kangmin's at work. We can figure the rest out later. You're not alone with this. I'll help you if you let me..."

Chan seemed to think about it. Minho didn't want to seem like he pitied the older, but he really wanted to help him. Sure, part of him wanted to get Chan away from Kangmin for his own selfish reasons. But a bigger part just wanted this angel to be free from all the toxic bull he'd been faced with for way too long.

"Okay...", Chan finally agreed.