Love me tender (1/2)

Hyukjae closed the book he was reading and placed it on the table next to his bed. He wondered where his roommate was; it was nearly midnight and a terrible storm was forming outside.

The minute he got up from the bed to grab his phone and call Donghae, the mentioned fishy boy opened the door, his head in his right head and Hyukjae got up quickly to ask him why was he away for so long, but he tensed when he heard the other sobbing, his tears hitting the floor and it was clear something bad happened.

“God,” Hyukjae breathed, stepping closer to the younger, his hands flowing around him helplessly. “You got beaten up again, didn’t you?”

Donghae only buried his face into Hyukjae’s neck more, his shoulders shaking as he cried silent tears.

“Hush,” Hyukjae stroked his back lovingly. Donghae’s heart tightened at his movement and hugged the older even closer than before. The presence of the older soothed his pain away but couldn’t repose the aching he felt in his heart.

“Am I this bad…” he began with a shaky voice, “…that I’m always getting beaten up?”

Hyukjae bit his lower lip but said nothing; he knew no words could vanish the fish’s traumas. He kissed his forehead and led him to the bed, then took off his clothes with only a boxer staying on. Donghae simply obeyed, but everytime Hyukjae accidentally touched his bruises on his face, neck and arms, he hissed in pain, but he knew it wasn’t the reason he felt weak all over.

He remembered two drunken men walking down the road while he made his way home in a hurry, just to see Hyukjae before he went to bed but they stopped him, calling him a fag and hit him in every places they could, leaving a broken Donghae behind on the empty, quiet street. He trembled at the thoughts appearing in his mind but when Hyukjae kissed his forehead again he quit the thoughts as fast as possible.

Donghae looked up at Hyukjae.

“Are you okay?” Hyukjae’s voice was so caring it made Donghae shiver inside.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“It’s not your fault,” Hyukjae said. “You’re not bad.”

Donghae snored. “What if I am?”