Taemin sat patiently on the couch, watching as the numbers on the clock change slowly. Jongin would be home from school soon.

                It had been a week since he’d gone to school and most of his bruises and small cuts had healed. Although his ribs and wrist were still broken, scabs covered many parts of his body, and bandages were wrapped around most limbs, after the weekend, he’d be able to return to his usual, daily routine consisting of classes and chores.

                When the door opened moments later, Jongin’s head popped in, a smile on his face. “I’m home!” He announced.

                Without a change in emotion, Taemin robotically got up, walking towards the younger boy with his arms open. “How about a ‘welcome home’?” Jongin asked, pulling the blonde in for a tight hug. “Welcome home.” Taemin repeated.

                “Did anything interesting happen today?” He asked, peppering Taemin’s face and head in kisses.

                “No.”

                “Hyung, you always say that.”

                “Jongin, I sit around at home all day watching the paint peel off the walls…”

                The boy laughed, dropping his bag to the floor before placing his hands on Taemin’s thighs, lifting the elder and carrying him to the bed.

                “Taemin, you’ve been so quiet the past couple of days. It makes me sad, especially since you’re getting better.” He admitted, setting the embrace seeking boy in his lap. Taemin’s arms wrapped around his neck, shrugging.

                They sat in silence for the majority of the next hour, as they had since Taemin came back from the hospital.

                Jongin got a movie playing for the both of them although he knew he was the only one who would pay any attention.

                When he peeked over at the older boy, he noticed him staring at his knees, fumbling with his thumbs. Leaning over, Jongin’s two fingers tiptoed across the sheets and up Taemin’s thigh and side until his hand cupped Taemin’s cheek.

                Catching his attention, Taemin looked over, sending him a curious gaze.

                Jongin simply smiled, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. “Taemin, you look really pretty today.”

                The elder blushed, averting his stare. “Do you really think so?”

                Jongin nodded. “Of course I do. With the black eyes basically gone, you’re back to your usual self. Your hair looks really fluffy today too. Did you do something with it?”

                Taemin nodded, his cheeks now a bright red. “Yeah… When I finished cleaning I thought I should add some volume to it or… I don’t know. I didn’t really get much opportunity to do anything with myself lately so I just… I just did this.”

                “Well it looks great.”

                Smiling, Taemin adjusted himself, resting his head on Jongin’s legs. “Thank you.”

                “No problem. I love you.”

                “Jongin, you’re the best ever. You’ve been so good to me; I wouldn’t be able to thank you enough.”

                “Hyung, this is the first time I’ve seen you smile in days. Please don’t stop.”

                The elder sighed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I just haven’t been myself lately.”

                “Is there anything I can do-” Jongin stopped himself, “I ask, but I already know the answer… You can say it anyways, I guess.”

                He shook his head once more. “I don’t want to bring it up.” Sighing, he hugged Jongin’s leg.

                His ringtone went off, the phone ringing across the room.

                “Are you going to answer it now?”

                “No… it’s been ringing all day.”

                “You know, you want to see him and he clearly wants to see, so why don’t you pick up?”

                Taemin sat up, watching the cellphone screen flash a few times before going black. “Because I’m afraid he’ll convince me into letting him come over and then he’ll see me like this. I’m still not completely healed; I mean it’s obvious when you look at me.”

                His phone continued to light up periodically, leading to Jongin leaning over and checking it. “You know you have twenty seven unread messages, right? Hey Taemin, if we didn’t live together, would you miss me this much too?”

                “Jongin, if you weren’t here, I think I’d go insane. I’d miss you a lot.”

                “Would you pick up my calls?”

                “I wouldn’t need to hide it from you. I could’ve just told you that I got into a fight with someone, but I told you the whole story, didn’t I?”

                “I guess you’re right. Anyways, I’m going to make something to eat. I hope you don’t mind mac and cheese. I can’t do much more.” He laughed, lifting Taemin off his legs and placing him to the side.

                While the younger boy was off making dinner, the blonde turned off the movie. It was too loud for him and he couldn’t care less what was going on. Staring at the ceiling was what he went on to doing, seeing as it was what he did most of the day.

                He didn’t bother checking his phone, either. He could keep Minho’s curiosity at bay for the first half of the week, but then he began questioning Taemin’s excuses and asking him what was wrong. He told Minho not to worry and that he wasn’t going to school so there was no point of coming to get him. He also told Minho not to stop by, simply because he was asking it of him.

                Taemin found no point in repeating himself so he just stopped reading them.

                Occasionally though, he’d look at photos of them together on his phone. That was the only thing he used it for.

                Sitting at the dinner table, the loudest thing was the sound of their cutlery hitting the plates. Jongin decided to break the ice by talking about his day and what he did at school.

                “I didn’t get it at first because she explained it really weird but then my friend explained it so I was fine. It’s a new concept anyways so I’m sure that when we start doing it every day, I’ll memorise it.”

                He looked over to see Taemin with his head resting in his folded arms. The elder maintained eye contact with him, showing that he was paying attention.

                When Jongin went on with his story, Taemin’s hand reached out, taking the younger boy’s and playing with his fingers.

                “How are you doing with your homework Taemin? Is there anything you don’t understand?”

                The elder nodded, pulling Jongin’s hand to his lips, closing his eyes and kissing his knuckles.

                “Nope.”

                “That’s… good to hear. Taemin, are you really this lonely?”

                Taemin nodded, nuzzling into his palm.

                “Come here, come to me Hyung. I’ll feed you.”

                “Will you?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Okay.”

                It was now Saturday afternoon. Jongin spent the whole morning trying to get Taemin out of the house but couldn’t manage to make him budge. In the end, they stayed home.

                Nevertheless, Jongin convinced him into doing random arts and crafts, earning a few, solemn laughs.

                “What’s that supposed to be?” Jongin asked, chuckling.

                “It’s two oranges.”

                “It looks like a .”

                “I’m not done yet!” The elder defended, pouting as he grabbed an orange crayon and flooded the page with its streaks.

                “When it says ‘draw two fruits’, it doesn’t mean draw a . A isn’t a fruit.”

                “Jongin…” He whined, “It’s not a … Besides, yours looks super dumb.”

                “It’s a banana. Since when do bananas look super dumb?”

                “Since you drew it.”

                Jongin rolled his eyes, grabbing the safety scissors on the corner of the table and cutting his drawings out.

                Pushing the scraps to the side, he held up the yellow shape, swinging it in front of Taemin’s face.

                “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t mistake this for a banana if it were in a bowl filled with… uh, bananas!”

                “You’re ridiculous…” Taemin whispered, trying to hold back a laugh.

                After the elder finished cutting out his drawing, Jongin let out a strange giggle, catching Taemin’s attention.

                “Hey, look at this.” He said, stealing the paper from Taemin’s hand and placing the two oranges at the base of the banana. “Does it look like anything?”

                Shaking his head quickly, Taemin smacked the two drawings apart, standing up from the table. “No! No, no, no!” The blonde repeated, “Are you five years old? You’re… w-weirdo!” He stuttered, avoiding the embarrassment by declaring that he was going to take a shower.

                He strutted into the bathroom, seconds from slamming the door before Jongin stopped him, something in his hand.

                “Are you planning on using tissues to dry yourself or?”

                Grunting, he stuck his tongue out, snatching the soft material from the younger boy and shutting the door.

                Looking over at the shower, he leaned inside, turning the hot water on.

                He’d give it some time to heat up.

                Since he came back from the hospital a week ago, he’d only showered once.

He did feel dirty and sweaty but he didn’t like having to see himself like this, especially since it was far worse in the beginning.

Now stripping his shirt, he began to unwrap the gauze that covered his whole torso. Next, he went on to taking it off his wrist and ankle, as well as upper arm.

When his pants and underwear were down at his feet, he stepped into the warm water, letting the steam absorb him.

Squirting some shampoo onto his hand, he rubbed it into his hair, feeling the suds grow along his fingers.

As he spread it around, he noticed a scabbing gash that was previously hidden by his bandage.

He ran his fingertip over it, feeling the disturbing texture.

Getting distracted, he crouched down, his nail nicking at the wound.

Jongin had finished cleaning up the table when he heard the knock. Ignoring it the first time due to uncertainty, he heard it once more.

“Give me a second!” He yelled, jogging over to the garbage can and dumping the scrap paper before heading for the door.

Without looking through the peeping hole, he turned the lock, opening it.

He was shocked to see Minho standing there, looking no more welcoming.

“H-hyung… what are you doing here?”

“Where’s Taemin?”

“He’s, um… he’s not here.” The younger boy stuttered. He caught Minho’s eyes flicker downwards and then back to his again. “Sure he is. His shoes are still here.”

“He wore another pair. I mean, he left a bit ago and I don’t think he’ll be back for a while, so…”

“You want to try that again? You seemed a bit hesitant. Without confidence, your lies are easier to spot.”

Jongin avoided the older boy’s eyes, closing the door a bit to deny him any further vision of something he could use against him.

“L-look, he’s not here.”

“Why are you covering for him? No– what are you covering up for him?”

“Nothing! But I’m sure if there was something he wanted you to know, he would tell you…”

“Move aside.” Minho commanded, placing his palm flat up against the door and pushing it in.

“Hyung, you can’t just walk into someone’s house like this–“

“I’ve been walking into this house longer than you have.”

With that, Jongin shut up, growing anxious the further Minho entered.

It was now completely obvious that Taemin was home and Jongin had no more excuses to make.

“He’s… he’s taking a shower, okay? If you really want to talk to him, just come back later– Hey, wait! What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me? He’s taking a shower!” The younger boy repeated as he watched Minho grab the doorknob and open the bathroom door. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before…” He heard him mumble, going inside and slamming the door.

“What…?”

The room was far too steamy, moisture gathering on his skin. He wafted the mist in front of his eyes away, finding it harder to breathe.

The shower was running just as he was told.

Feeling around the wall above the sink, he found the switch for the fan, turning it on. A loud hum filled the room.

Finally looking towards what was supposedly Taemin’s direction, he spotted no one. At first.

Following the water down to the drain, he spotted a crouching figure behind fogged up glass.

He paused for only a split second before coming to the conclusion that the person couldn’t possibly be anyone else.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled open the glass door.

Seeing the blonde on the floor, he knelt down beside him, disregarding the water as he leaned in and took him by the wrist, his hair catching more than half of the shower head’s spray.

It all happened so fast that the younger boy had very little time to react, face frozen by both surprise and confusion.

“Taemin, why are you avoiding me?!”

“Minho?!” Taemin managed, shielding his body with his remaining, free arm.

“Why are you avoiding me– wait, what’s this?” He asked, noticing a stream of red flowing down from where his fingers met Taemin’s wrist.

Suddenly, the arm was jerked from his hold, hidden behind the blonde’s back. “It– it doesn’t matter, I’m showering! Get out!”

“Was that blood? Your ankle’s bleeding too… what happened?”

“Minho, get out! Don’t look at me! Just get out; I’ll be there in a second!”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what happened!”

“Nothing happened!”

“This isn’t nothing!”

“That’s exactly what it is!”

“Taemin, if you don’t tell me, I’ll get someone else to!”

Before the boy could argue any more, the half soaked Minho dragged him directly out of the shower, sloppily tossing him his towel before pulling him out into the main room, to Jongin.

“What’s this?!” He asked, pulling Taemin’s bloodied hand into view.

“Hyung, I told you not to pick at your scabs… They’ll end up scarring… I’ll get you fresh bandages,” was all Jongin said, awkwardly walking towards one of the cabinets across the room and retrieving a first aid kit.

“So you knew about this?” Minho remarked sharply.

“Well, yeah… I live with him…”

“Okay, that’s great, so what happened?”

“Minho, it hurts…” Taemin whispered, struggling to hold up the towel with a single hand.

“And I still don’t know why. Jongin, do you know what happened?”

“Yeah… I do.”

“Well?”

The youngest sent Taemin a clueless look, but he just dropped his head, avoiding his gaze.

“Look, I’ll– just let go of him first, okay? You’re putting him on the spot…”

Sighing, Minho did, allowing Taemin to go back to the bathroom and finish his shower.

“Hyung, please clean up your cuts! I’ll be there in a few minutes!” Jongin shouted.

Minho went over to the couch, sitting down and staring at the red stains on his fingers.

Jongin offered him a tissue which he took, wiping his palm clean. He then watched the younger boy walk to the fridge and pour a drink into a cup. Bringing it over, Jongin sat across from him, handing him the glass.

“It’s orange juice.” He claimed.

Nodding, Minho took a sip. “So what happened to Taemin?”

“He asked me not to tell anyone…”

The elder found his response absurd, sending him a judging look. “And where has that gotten us?”

“Well I made a promise!”

“A promise that has left him bleeding in the shower!”

The younger boy clenched his fists, fumbling with the hem of his shirt. “Well he got beat up, okay? He got beat up, was hospitalized, and now he’s been healing at home the past week.”

“Hospitalized? How bad was it?”

“It was… really bad.”

Upon hearing this, Minho felt a rage take over him. He could already imagine himself bringing pain to some faceless assailant.

“Who was it? Jongin, who did it?! Do you know who did it?!”

“W-well, I do, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you where he is or anything!”

“Do you know who would?!”

“I- I guess so. I mean, I know someone who I think knows him, so…”

“A name, Jongin, give me a name!”

“No!” Taemin suddenly shouted, still soaked. “Jongin, don’t tell him anything! Hyung, it’s really not that important, please forget about it.”

“Taemin, this is so important. I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me about this!”

“Wait, wait, wait! Hold up. Before you two start arguing, at least let me bandage Taemin. Come here.” Jongin said, patting the spot beside him.

Taemin did, letting his towel rest at his hips, lifting his arms. The youngest began tending to him, starting with his wrapping his chest.

Now in a calmer tone, Minho approached the subject again. “Jongin, how would you go about contacting the person who knows of… whoever did this’s whereabouts?”

“Well, I have his phone number. So does Taemin.”

“Can you call him and ask?”

Jongin looked to Taemin for guidance once more, still not getting any response.

“Well, I guess.”

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he dialled some number, putting it on speaker.

Within a few minutes, a voice familiar to all of them answered, “Hello?”

“Hey Jiyong hyung, I know it’s late and you’re probably busy, but I was wondering if you’ve seen someone?”

“Again? Who is it this time? Hey, I never ended up seeing Taemin. How is he?” Jiyong asked.

“He’s fine. Um, I’m looking for… for… uh…” Jongin nudged Taemin’s shoulder from behind, hearing him whisper ‘Seunghyun’. “Seunghyun, I’m looking for Seunghyun. Do you know where he could be right now?”

“Seunghyun? I didn’t know you two were friends. Actually, I’m surprised. Anyways, on Saturdays… well I haven’t personally heard from him or anything, but he’s usually getting drunk at the bar.”

“Do you know which one?”

“Yeah. What’s it to you, though?”

“Oh, uh, I was just; I have to give him something. Like, right now.”

“…Okay. Well it’s called Strex and it’s right around the corner from the–”

“That’s fine, I know where it is. Well thank you so much.”

“Yup. No problem. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Hanging up, Jongin looked towards Minho. “Is that everything you need?”

The elder nodded. “Well, that and one more thing. What does he look like?”

“Tall, sharp stare… he’s not bad looking, um… you could always ask around, especially if he’s a regular.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He got up, marching towards the door. It wasn’t until he was hallway through the doorway that he felt the pull on the back of his sweater. “What?” He asked, turning around. Taemin stood there, holding on tightly, staring at his feet with his shoulders trembling.

“Minho, please don’t go… don’t do it… please… I’m begging you…”

He took the blonde’s hands, removing them from his clothes. “I’ll be back in a bit…”

With that, he left, making his way to the nearest subway.

Strex was a popular albeit cozy bar and getting to it served as no problem.

Minho wasn’t too fond of the area but it only made sense that someone who could hurt Taemin so brutally would hang around here.

He knew he was near when he was trapped in a giant cloud of cigarette smoke. Looking up at the buildings, the only thing that signified his arrival were bright, neon signs.

While still in front of the building, he approached the nearest group of people, asking if any of them knew a Seunghyun. He was quickly directed to another group a couple of meters away.

Walking up to them, he didn’t have many questions. The conversation went like something along the lines of:

“Seunghyun?”

“That’s me. Do I know you?”

“Do you know Lee Taemin?”

“Lee Taemin, huh..? Oh, right, that . Yeah I do. What’s it to you?”

“That’s what it is to me.”

With that, he swung his fist and started a fight that was anything but merciful.

Taemin was hidden beneath his covers, bawling his eyes out. Minho had left over an hour ago and Jongin had been apologizing ever since.

“I’m sorry I told him… I’m so sorry Taemin! He just seemed really responsible; I didn’t know what to do okay?”

“He’s going to leave me! He’s going to hate me and then leave me!” Taemin cried into a pillow.

“He won’t! He wouldn’t do that! Minho isn’t that kind of guy!”

Sitting up, Taemin clung to the sheets, sobbing into the soft fabric.

Neither of them noticed when Minho entered at first, surprised by his sudden reappearance.

Walking up to them, he stopped before Taemin, lowering himself to the blonde’s level, sitting on the back of his heels.

“Oh God, you’ve come to break up with me, haven’t you..?” He asked through the tears.

“What? No... Why would I do that?”

Watching the boy’s quivering lip as he failed to compose a sentence, he glanced towards Jongin. “Sorry, do you mind giving us some time alone? We really need to talk.”

“Uh… yeah, sure. I guess I’ll go wash up anyways since it’s late.”

“Thanks.”

When they were alone, Minho’s arms came up, pulling Taemin into a tight hug.

“Just say it… just break up with me already…” The blonde mumbled into his shoulder. He was scared and he didn’t want to hug back just to be left alone again.

There was a moment of silence, confusion. “Taemin, why would I do that?”

“Because… look at me… I’m a mess… I’m so much trouble… why would anyone ever want to be with me?” He stammered, his eyes falling lower until the caught something odd, “H-hey, wait… your knuckles are red… what happened?”

“I beat him up.” Minho bluntly answered.

“Who?”

“Seunghyun. I beat him up. He didn’t get a decent hit on me, but that doesn’t mean I held back at all.”

“What?! Why did you do that?” Taemin asked, having never seen or heard of Minho committing an act of violence.

“Because he touched you. He put you in the hospital. He… what did he do to you? What are you healing from?”

After slight hesitation, Taemin recalled everything the doctors told him before he left, going over the list for Minho, starting with the broken ribs and finishing with the bruises.

He explained how he had to stay at home because he couldn’t walk to school or walk at all the first few days and how while Jongin was gone, Ruki came to watch after him.

“I got all sorts of painkillers though, so it didn’t hurt too much, but then it usually knocked me out so the only times I wasn’t really in pain was when I was asleep.”

When he looked back down at Minho’s face, he caught his skin in a pinker shade then it previously was and eyes glazed over.

“Hyung? Are… are you okay?”

The elder shook his head, releasing a shaky sigh.

“I should have known…”

“There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“Yes there is! If you would have just told me, I could’ve done something! Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide it?”

“Are you crying?”

“Yes! I am! How would you feel if I was suffering and you couldn’t do anything, you wouldn’t even know? Because I hate it so much… I’m imagining you in the hospital bed and how I could have brought you soup and wrapped your bandages or something. Instead, all there was was you lying half-conscious on medication… all alone…”

“Hyung…”

“I recognized him you know. Seunghyun, I mean. He was the same guy who was bothering you when we met. Has he been doing this the whole time? Have you been getting hurt all these months?”

“No! No, of course not! After you stood up to him that one time, he stopped for the most part. I’ve had a lot of luck avoiding him for the longest time! It’s just last week… I bumped into him and I guess he took all that pent up anger out all at once…”

Feeling guilty, Taemin pulled his sleeve into his hand, wiping Minho’s tears with it while his own began to return.

“Minnie, why did you hide it from me?” Minho said, cupping Taemin’s hand gently.

The younger boy took a few seconds to figure it out himself, shrugging. “I told you, I thought you’d break up with me if you found out. I thought you’d be put off by the fact that I get bullied and figure that being with someone who isn’t would be more convenient and… I really didn’t want you to leave me… I– I was scared…”

His hand started shaking uncontrollably and he knew Minho could feel it because his squeezed tighter.

They were both trying to calm themselves down but it wasn’t easy provided that their lips were quivering and their cheeks were already far past moist.

“Minnie, I’d never ever leave you. Especially over something like this. You don’t think everyone has problems? You know, no one’s perfect. There’s a reason why you have people like me, Jongin, Ruki, and others. We’re called friends because we’d help you in a heartbeat. And me… I’m your boyfriend. I’d like to be able to help before you even ask for it. That’s really hard to do when you hide when something’s wrong from me.”

“Hyung… I love you so much…” Taemin expressed, desperately trying to wipe away his tears.

Jongin was watching the whole exchange from the bathroom.

Leaving the door cracked open, he caught a view of Taemin and Minho in the reflection of the mirror.

He sat down on the toilet, letting the water run while he paid attention.

Their conversation was generally what he expected, but one of Minho’s lines caught him a bit off guard.

“And me… I’m your boyfriend. I’d like to be able to help before you even ask for it.”

To be completely honest, he wished he was more surprised or shocked. He could say he kind of expected it, which hurt, but maybe it’s been hurting this whole time and he just didn’t pay attention to it.

A few seconds later, he heard Taemin say something along the lines of “Hyung… I love you so much…” and then watched through the mirror as both of them seemed to lean in, short of breath and short of words, kissing.

After that, he stood up, grabbing his toothbrush and doing what he initially came in here to do, wash up.

Their kiss was wet and salty, but neither of them cared. They just wanted to be near each other.

Pulling away, Taemin offered the most genuine smile he had in a while, burrowing his head into the curve of the elder’s neck.

“You know, I’ve haven’t felt this lonely in a while. I haven’t seen you in a bit and Jongin hasn’t been sleeping with me because he’s worried he’ll roll over onto me during the night and crush something. I just… I’ve missed you so much…”

“I know how that feels all too well, except I don’t have a Jongin to hug me when I need it. At first I was fine because I figured you just came down with a cold, but then after a few days, I would check my phone every thirty seconds, I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, I’d be too nervous wondering if you were okay to pay attention in class.” He went on, pulling back enough to get Taemin’s face away from his neck and into view, capturing his lips once more.

The kiss was deeper this time and included their tongues. It started at the lips but then traveled down the neck and stopped around Taemin’s collarbone, summoning a giggle.

“Tae, can I come over tomorrow? And the day after, and the day after that?”

The younger boy nodded, hugging Minho’s head.

A few moments later, Jongin came back into the room.

Patting Taemin’s thigh, Minho stood up. He tried stepped back but was taken by the hand and held in place.

“Wait hyung, don’t go yet!”

“I won’t on one condition.”

“What is it?”

“You tell me everything you did this week. I want to know everything I missed out on.”

Taemin nodded with a bright smile. “Deal. But there isn’t much.”

“That’s fine. It’s late, so I’ll stay for a bit though. Come, I’ll get a snack really quickly. Jongin, you come too.”

The two younger boys followed him, sitting at the kitchen counter.

Jongin couldn’t help but notice how Taemin’s lips refused to come down from a smile.

Taking the bag of chips that was handed to him, he decided it must have been best that Minho found out.

At least this way, Taemin was happy again.

A/N: Herpy hurrlidays if you do the celebrating