NOTES:

I hope you haven't waited long. I tried to really make something good for you guys. Thank you for all the love and support!

The firm hold on the man’s hand doesn’t falter when Hakyeon’s gaze meets the othre’s angry look. His delicate fingers are pressing harshly, and when he tells the coordinator to leave, his eyes are still locked on Jongup.
“Cha.” Jongup calls disrespectfully. He growls and yanks his hand away. The taller takes a step back, and when he’s about to say anything, Hakyeon decides not to waste any more time on the man, and walks away. 
“What was that?” Hakyeon’s manager asks, meeting him as he walks towards his own coordinators. He grumbles a meaningless answer and sits down. 
Jongup is known for his rude personality. Sadly, he will have to put up with his distasteful actions. He groans and presses warm hands to his temples, massaging away his agitation.

“You said that you’re dense..” Taekwoon mumbles silently, his hands are busy with the white pup rolling between his folded legs. They’ve decided to say here for a while, and leave afterwards to grab food. Having no money with him, Taekwoon pleaded for Wonshik to allow him to pay him back sometime later. However, to his surprise, Wonshik simply laughed and told him to forget about it.
“Hm? What about it?” The younger looks up from his phone, somewhat distracted. He left in the middle of work, without so much explaining it to his boss. He has to say something, and for the last couple of minutes, he has been thinking about what . The purple-haired scratches at his eyebrow out of habit, until his fingers reach the metallic loop sitting there. Trying to stop himself from damaging his unorganized brows any longer, he picks at his pocket, grasping for a cigarette. He can see how Taekwoon’s expression doesn’t change, and it relaxes him some. He doesn’t think he would have handled this well if this hyung disliked his habits. 
“Why did you say so?” The older asks in his always soft voice. It’s nothing like Wonshik ever heard before, he notices as he lights up the bud. 
“I mean,” Taekwoon stutters, but stops as the younger cuts his words. 
“I’ve been in a lot of places, hyung .” The word makes the raven-haired wince slightly, “But, you know, didn’t you ever get bullied at school? I mean,” Wonshik takes a deep drag, “You don’t really expect to see a teenage boy with some red-hair and some pretty ty ink on his body.” There’s a glint of humor to his words, and Taekwoon isn’t sure how to take it. 
“People can be cruel. But you can’t be cruel to those who are stronger than you, so I got dense.” 

It’s somewhat unbalancing to Taekwoon. Hearing what Wonshik says, it’s almost like there are people that go through things similar to what he has been through. Sure, he wasn’t that odd kid with the crazy hair and the piercings, but he was the quiet one. 

The bell rings gracefully, liberating all the students to their lunch-break. People are folding their belongings, and stuff them as quick as they can into their respective bags. The smallest of them, sporting a green and white football shirt is still sitting silently at his desk. His bangs are rolling out of the band his mother gave him this morning, so he still can’t see the three others approaching him. 
“How did they even let you on the football team?” One of the tallers ones asks. Taekwoon is used to those kind of malicious questions. Sometimes he really does wonder why, why , is he on the football team, only to be reminded by his mother and coach that he’s doing wonderfully, and actually helps the team a lot. He has practice today, after school hours, and he looks forward to it, like every other day. However, looking forward going out on the field has nothing to do actually with how he will feel at the end of the day. 
It’s insane that those people have power to dictate how he feels, and how well he will do in games. Just a word there, a gesture here, and they’re all under his skin. But he, he was taught not to talk about it, because their parents are influential or something like that. Taekwoon isn’t sure he even knows what influential means. 
“Are they that desperate to take a mute person to the team?” Another one says. It’s a common mistake about Taekwoon, that he is mute. His mother told him that he needs to explain to them he isn’t mute,and that in fact, there’s nothing wrong with him.

But what’s the point?

He would always end up in between their painful fists, telling others that he just plays too roughly on the field - as rough as a 9 years old can do. And they, they’re always out there to get him. Make him comply. Because he’s weak. Because he’s odd. Because he deserves it .

“That’s a wrap!” The director calls, and Hakyeon immediately folds, saying his regards to the team. Everyone did word hard today, despite some mishaps. He messed up his lines a few times. Thank god he’s not into theatrics, he wouldn’t have handled the pressure of remembering things so oddly quick. 
He takes a walk back to his station, picking up on the way some water bottles. Firstly, he hands them out to the team, only then, saves one for himself. He’s always like that. 
“You’ve worked hard.” His makeup artist grins at him, while bringing some wipes to remove the already-set makeup. 
“It’s all your work.” He tells her, then grabs his phone. Uncharacteristically, he got a message from Wonshik, so that he would check last. More characteristically, he got a message from Jaehwan and Hongbin, blabbering something about who played best in the last football match. Hakyeon could care less, since he doesn’t even like football. He finds it too dull- a group of sweaty men running after a ball in a yard is less his favor. He keeps telling them that they should drop the subject, and talk about something more elegant, like contemporary dance. That earns him a snort from the younger two, and in return, he would sigh.

Message from Shikie, 16:46:
Hyung, I left Badass at your place for a while. If there’s a scratch on the sofa, just know it wasn’t him.

Hakyeon rolls his eyes, and gets a scolding from his makeup artist for making it harder to remove it. He apologizes quickly, and scrolls down to the newer messages.

Message from Shikie, 17:16:
How’s your new drama going?

Message from Shikie, 18:39:
Hyung, I think you might be working with Taekwoon-hyung’s ex.

At the last message, he drops the phone on the table, startling the other around him. He gets irritated looks, but after a moment they’re all back to work. He grabs the device again, just to check if he saw the message correctly. Oh god . 
His logical side tells him to think straight. Wonshik said might , which means he might not. His emotional side, that usually acts up in situations like this, wants to yell at him for not knowing prior to this.

Sent to Shikie, 20:22:
What do you mean????

He hopes for a quick reply and exhales loudly. This is exactly why he stays out of the whole actors-community business. He knows for a fact that the people there aren’t very pleasant. And for Hakyeon, while being able to put up with that obnoxious group of stuck up actors, he has made a decision long ago not to waste his time. Surely, this would cost him in getting good roles through acquaintances, but his belief is that he should get roles based on his skills solemnly. His manager constantly laughs at him for this naive kind of thinking, but he’s one of the last people he’d pay attention to when it concerns his beliefs.

Message from Shikie, 20:29:
You work with Moon Jongup, right?

His heart sinks at this comment. This malicious man has been nothing but trouble on set when he wasn’t busy acting his part. Hakyeon inhales deeply and closes his eyes. He doesn’t think he can stand that man much longer.

He doesn’t want to know what he could have done to Taekwoon for him to cross path with Wonshik, being so terrified of everyone around him, and looking in pain. Hakyeon hopes the pain isn’t real, and it looks like his hopes are up for nothing. This unconventional fire that burns with the sense of justice makes him his chair, and walk heavily to that man’s place, again. His eyes hold this strange, dark aura, that is rarely seen in the calm man. Not many get to see him so worked up.

“What is wrong with you?” He asks, however quietly, as he stands next to Jongup’s chair. The latter doesn’t bat an eye at him, and seemingly is far too invested in the music plugged to his ears.

So Hakyeon grasps the earphones and pulls them away.

“What is wrong with you?” Jongup shoots, hands already flying to grab onto his snatched earphones.

“That’s what I asked you, Moon Jongup.” The older keeps his quiet manner, and it’s like the universe has stopped around them. Their eyes are glaring fiercely, and there’s nothing besides them inside the small tent. Noise seem to die, only the sound of their heavy breathing reaches their ears.

“What the hell do you want from me?” Jongup asks between gritted teeth. Hakyeon can hear his words clearly, even though the room is buzzing with people and workers. His focus is solemnly on that man.

“Stop mistreating Taekwoon.” He says after a while, voice final as he leaves once again.

Noise starts coming back, but Hakyeon is cooped up inside his mind. He stops at the entrance of Jongup’s tent, and looks at the earbuds in his hand. He turns around to the latter, and in a way that he could see, drops the white device to the ground.

Jongup’s expression seem to hold so much rage, that Hakyeon thinks the man would run to him and start beating everything around, including Hakyeon himself. After a moment of confirming he doesn’t, the older leaves.

He knows that Jongup is dislikable, but this is already taking on his nerves.

The convenience store is just a block away from Wonshik’s place, and thankfully, at this time, there aren’t many people there. They’ve left the pup at Hakyeon’s place, and it made the older wonder how much does the actor trust Wonshik to give him a key. He doesn’t really know anything about the man he’s currently shopping with, and staying at his place, but he has been far more generous than most people he met.
His phone buzzes, and stopping right in front of some packed meals, he pulls it out of the jacket. Wonshik’s jacket. 

Message from Jongup, 20:33:
Woon-ah, I wanna talk

His heart stutters at the message, and he brings the phone close to his chest, as if looking at a secret. He scans the aisles, hoping that no one is looking at him, or at the screen. His hands are a little shaky, and become even more so when he receives another message.

Message from Jongup, 20:37:
I’m sorry babe, I know I’ve been wrong.

Taekwoon believes this man’s honesty blindly. Jongup may have beaten him, but Taekwoon thinks, no, he’s sure, that Jongup loves him. Otherwise, why bother keeping him? He only fights with him because Taekwoon is important to him.
Or so Taekwoon tells himself.

Sent to Jongup, 20:41:
Okay

Sent to Jongup, 20:42:
Where?

NOTES:

lease leave a comment below! I'd read all of them dilligently.

** another note **
This fic is really dear to me, and I try to do my best for you guys to enjoy it. I know so many people who have been in abusive relationships, including myself, so I want to bring you guys some of the feeling that float around people who are in one. Thank you for reading, commenting and upvoting I appreciate it so much. <3