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Jiseok isn’t quite sure what he’s supposed to do with this situation.
The last thing he was expecting on Christmas Eve was for Hyeongjun to call him at around 10 PM, then having to look after him all night, most likely even the day after, but this is happening now, he has to do something.
“Hi Jiseok, could you please open the door? I’ll explain later but please let me in because I’m freezing.“ This is what he said through the phone and Jiseok was honestly pretty surprised, didn’t really know what to expect, but he still got up from the bed, his disrupted sleep not bothering him at all, and hurried to the front door, no questions asked.
Hyeongjun wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was freezing.
When Jiseok opened the door for him, Hyeongjun was standing in the December cold wearing pajamas, so he instinctively grabbed him by his arm to pull him into his home. He shut the door at the speed of light. At least Hyeongjun was wearing winter boots.
“I’ll make some tea then let you some bathing water, okay?” Jiseok worried, and he didn't even take a proper look at Hyeongjun’s face at the time.
He went into the kitchen hurriedly and turned on the light as fast as he could, turned on the kettle and took his teabags out of the cupboard.
He’s fiddling with the bag in his hand while he’s waiting. He’ll give Hyeongjun the hot water in a cute Christmas mug, with the apple-cinnamon flavored bag in it, and like a kilogram of sugar, the sweeter the better.
He holds it out to Hyeongjun who’s sitting on the couch hugging himself. He doesn’t look up, he just takes the mug which warms his overfrozen, cold fingers quite nicely, and Jiseok goes to the bedroom to fetch a blanket to cover him with. He sits down next to him and watches as he drinks slowly, taking small sips.
His mouth is blue, he notices that much, but the rest of his face is mostly covered by his dyed red hair, so he can’t see much else from it.
“I’ll let you some water then, okay?” Hyeongjun nods, to witch Jiseok stands up unhurriedly.
In the almost annoyingly white bathroom he watches the steaming water fill up the tub, and Hyeongjun won’t leave his thoughts, but this isn’t like the other times.
In the phone he said he would explain later, but when is later? Maybe there won’t be a later, he just said it so that he would let him in, they haven’t really been on talking terms after all. Though Jiseok wouldn’t mind getting some context, because right now he can only think of the worst (especially knowing who Hyeongjun’s boyfriend is).
He pours some of his mint shower gel into the bath, then lets some cold water in it, he doesn’t want to cook Hyeongjun after all. He mixes the light blue lines on the surface with the water using his hand until it becomes foamy. He shakes the water off his hand, dries it, and goes back to the living room.
“The bath is ready. Do you want some clothes to change into? Then when you’re done bathing, I would really like you to tell me what happened.” He leads Hyeongjun to the bathroom gently holding his arm, and he’s speaking to him as softly as he can. He’s obviously worried, always for Hyeongjun, but he knows it wouldn’t be effective to completely crash out. He goes into the bathroom alone, and Jiseok gets his other pyjamas from his bedroom. A now naked Hyeongjun only opens the door slightly for him, just enough to take them from him.
Jiseok pretends not to notice his black eye.
Hyeongjun gets into the bathtub carefully, the hot water feels good for his freezing legs. He sinks into it until it’s covering his neck. He feels a bit bad for putting this burden on Jiseok, especially since he didn’t even apologize for what happened the other week. ‘I would really like you to tell me what happened,’ but Hyeongjun wishes he could disappear. He sinks even deeper so that his nose is just out of the water. He doesn’t want to get out of the tub.
Jiseok and Hyeongjun wear the same size.
When Hyeongjun moves from the bathroom to the living room, Jiseok is already there waiting for him, and he goes into the kitchen again when he arrives. He comes back with a bag of frozen peas. He holds it out towards Hyeongjun.
“Put this on your eye.” Hyeongjun does so.
They sit next to each other in silence for minutes.
“Why did you come here?” Jiseok asks the simplest questions just to talk.
“I didn’t know where else to go.” Jiseok acknowledges this with a nod, and then they don’t speak to each other again.
“It was Jooyeon.” That’s all of Hyeongjun’s explanation, and he doesn’t need to say more. Jiseok bites his lip. Saying he’s surprised would be a vast overstatement.
Around a year and a half ago at a party, when both of them had drunk enough, Jiseok confessed his love shouting through the music. Hyeongjun kindly, politely told him that he doesn’t like him that way, and he doesn’t want a relationship right now anyway. He accepted that.
Hyeongjun got with Jooyeon two weeks later.
Hyeongjun was happy, he could see it on him, and Jiseok, though feeling a little hurt, was genuinely glad for him.
That was, until all kinds of bruises started appearing on Hyeongjun, until he started covering his body obsessively, until he started canceling plans at the very last minute just to not be seen for a week afterwards.
Jiseok has met Jooyeon, heard all kinds of stories about him too, maybe too many of them, and well, he didn’t really form an overly positive opinion on him (actually, he usually thinks way worse and nastier things about him, but he doesn’t like to say those out loud).
He can take a proper look at Jooyeon now, and, among others, he notices how his lip is busted, moreover the short sleeve T-shirt makes it visible that his arms are covered in bruises.
He would like to tell him to break up, but he’s been telling him that for the past year and a half, he even told him the other week, and that just resulted in a fight.
He doesn’t understand how he can keep defending Jooyeon when he’s no good for him, how he doesn’t see what a shitty person he is when all he does is hurt him. Hyeongjun has cried over him so many times, even now he was running around in pyjamas in the freezing temperature and snow, and even if Jooyeon was holding a gun to his head, he would be saying how he’s such a great guy until the very last moment.
“I’m sorry. For everything.” Problem is, Jiseok isn’t mad at him. As much as Hyeongjun is quiet and shy, he can be the biggest idiot when fighting with someone. He can say incredibly foolish things, but somehow Jiseok could never be really angry at him. He mostly just feels sorry for him.
Hyeongjun is so… pitiable. Even when his boyfriend isn’t beating him.
This is the first Christmas he’s spending without his parents. He’s told Jiseok about the kind of relationship he has with them (not exactly free of problems, to put it that way), and Jiseok thinks about how much he was looking forward to Christmas this year.
It’s not fair that he can’t have a proper celebration.
Jiseok inches closer to him on the sofa. He hugs his shoulder gently.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?” asks Hyeongjun feebly.
“Not even a question.”