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It’s four months and twelve days after Mingyu told Wonwoo (Wonwoo didn’t count). Things changed.
Wonwoo let Mingyu come over whenever he wanted; sometimes Wonwoo even picked him up. Mingyu still broke down at times, but the breakdowns were lessening. Wonwoo and Mingyu grew closer over time. They sat next to each other at lunch and sometimes in class. They could talk about anything and everything and joked around a lot as well. Their friends saw that they were closer than before. After Jihoon mentioned their closeness once, the friend group dropped the subject and accepted the new close friendship of Mingyu and Wonwoo. They were glad to see that their friends talked and had fun together.
One time, when Wonwoo was at home, he received a text from Mingyu “I’m coming over.” Wonwoo couldn’t suppress the butterflies in his stomach and began to clean his apartment a bit (although Mingyu had seen it at its worst anyway). Wonwoo heard a knock on the door and quickly opened it with a smile on his face. When he saw Mingyu his smile immediately faltered. Wonwoo had never seen Mingyu like this before. He had a busted lip and a wound above his left eyebrow. He was leaning against the doorframe so he wouldn’t fall down. Wonwoo’s eyes widened with shock visible in them.
“M-Mingyu… are you alright?”
Mingyu pushed himself off of the doorframe so he could walk inside, but when he didn’t have grip on anything around him to support his body, he fell down. Wonwoo rushed forward and got a hold on him before he could hit the ground. Mingyu whimpered in pain and the older knew that he was touching a wound. Wonwoo put an arm around Mingyu’s waist and gently guided him to the couch. Wonwoo kneeled in front of him and brushed a few hairs out of Mingyu’s eyes.
“Hold on. I’ll take care of you.” Wonwoo kissed Mingyu’s forehead before he stood up to fetch his first aid kit. Wonwoo’s hands were shaking. He had taken care of Mingyu so many times before, but he was afraid of hurting Mingyu since these wounds were nothing like he had seen before. He felt a hand on his. “Don’t worry. I’ll be alright as long as I’m with you.”
Wonwoo smiled at Mingyu’s cheesiness and moved to disinfect the younger’s facial wounds. Mingyu couldn’t help but stare at Wonwoo. The older tried to ignore the stare of the other, since his eyes were burning holes into his face. Wonwoo placed a bandage over the wound above Mingyu’s eyebrow and looked Mingyu directly in the eyes. “Your face is done. Are you hurting anywhere else?”
Mingyu smirked and pointed at his lip, which Wonwoo had disinfected just a minute ago. “Yeah, right here.”
Wonwoo giggled and placed a peck on Mingyu’s lips. “This will help.”
Mingyu’s hands moved to Wonwoo’s waist. “Can I get more of that medicine?”
Wonwoo let his forehead rest on Mingyu’s shoulder. He couldn’t stop himself from blushing at his boyfriend’s remark. “Enough of your jokes. Where are you hurting?”
Mingyu leaned back from Wonwoo and reached for the hem of his hoodie. Wonwoo prepared for what was coming. The younger grimaced and got stuck with his arms in his hoodie. Wonwoo snorted, but helped his boyfriend take off the piece of clothing nonetheless. When Mingyu’s upper body was revealed Wonwoo didn’t know how to react. There were a lot of purple and dark blue bruises over his abdomen. Wonwoo looked at Mingyu’s back as well, it wasn’t too bad, but he could see blood. Wonwoo felt tears spring into his eyes.
“I’m going to report him.”
These words changed everything for Mingyu. Mingyu began to cry, out of relief and because he was scared that Wonwoo would get hurt if he wouldn’t report the man who had caused him and his boyfriend so much pain. They hugged each other and cried together. It was certainly not a nice moment for the two boys, but they felt like they could go against the world together. After sitting like that for a few minutes, Wonwoo took up disinfecting again and treated the wounds on Mingyu’s back. They didn’t utter a word until Mingyu pulled on his hoodie again.
“When?”
Wonwoo looked up to Mingyu. “As soon as you say I can.”
Mingyu smiled and his eyes filled with tears. Nobody had ever cared about him as Wonwoo did. “You can, but only if I can go with you.”
Wonwoo nodded and the two curled up on the couch together, their hands never leaving each other.
So here we are. Four months later. Mingyu’s dad is in jail for abuse. It was pretty difficult for Mingyu’s lawyer to get his dad in jail for a long time. His dad’s lawyer made sure that he wasn’t in jail for maximum years he could get. So in the end they had to settle with 3 years. Mingyu was still a bit hesitant about that amount and often thought about what was going to happen after his dad had served his sentence. Wonwoo kept telling him that he would be safe from his father and that he could live with him. So as soon as Wonwoo had proposed the idea, Mingyu got his stuff ready and within two weeks Mingyu had moved in with Wonwoo.
Just 3 weeks ago they told their friends that they were living together. They told their friends a slightly less disturbing version of the original story, but it was enough so their friends would understand. They told the truth, but left a few details about the abuse out of it. Seokmin hugged Mingyu tightly and told him he could tell him everything if there was something bothering him. Mingyu was glad his friends didn’t show pity, but care. They treated him like before. And most importantly, they accepted their relationship. Jihoon was the first to react to their relationship status: “Oh. Well, I already knew. You guys hold hands at lunch and you don’t do it very secretly.”
Wonwoo was sitting on his couch with a mug of Mingyu’s in his hands. And maybe he was wearing one of Mingyu’s sweaters as well. He was waiting for his boyfriend to come back from work. Seokmin send him a picture of him and a few other friends in the club. Wonwoo smiled. And right after that picture he received a picture of Jihoon talking to a bartender and smiling like crazy. Seokmin texted him: “WoW, LOOK AT THEM. JihoON is finally flirtiNG LIKE A REAL MAN.”
Yup. He was drunk.
Wonwoo heard the keys in the lock. He looked over to the door and saw Mingyu come in. “Hi,” Mingyu said a bit gloomy. Wonwoo sat up immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Mingyu shrugged and flopped down on the couch. “One of my dad’s colleagues came into our barista.” Wonwoo wrapped an arm around Mingyu. “He said some nasty things to me and I can’t get them out of my head.” Mingyu ruffled his hair in frustration.
Wonwoo got up and made some tea for Mingyu. That seemed to calm Mingyu down a lot more effectively than a beer. But that was due to the past. He set the cup of tea down on the coffee table. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked carefully.
Mingyu shook his head and looked up to Wonwoo. “I want to think about something else.”
The younger looked to the older’s lips and leaned forward. Wonwoo didn’t hesitate to close the distance between their lips. It took a while for their first kiss to happen. Wonwoo had rejected Mingyu a lot of times because he was scared that Mingyu didn’t feel anything for him. The younger was scared that Mingyu would only be using him. One time Mingyu held a whole speech about why he liked Wonwoo and that had sold the older. They shared many kisses since then. Wonwoo was still a bit scared that he would come home one day and Mingyu would have left him. But then Mingyu would hold him again and everything would be long forgotten.
Their lips moved slowly, as if they were afraid to hurt each other. Wonwoo’s hands moved to Mingyu’s neck. Mingyu pulled Wonwoo closer and leaned back into the couch. The younger laid his hands on Wonwoo’s lower back and fiddled with the hem of his sweater (literally his sweater). Wonwoo ended their kiss with a small peck on Mingyu’s lips and curled in Mingyu’s side. Mingyu put an arm around Wonwoo and let him rest on his chest.
“I got this funny picture from Seokmin,” Wonwoo softly spoke after a moment of silence. “I’ll show you.”
Wonwoo pulled his phone from his pocket and showed Mingyu the picture of Seokmin in the club (“What a loser”) and the picture of Jihoon after that (“Wait, what?”).
They discussed when Jihoon would finally get this bartender named Soonyoung as a boyfriend. Mingyu stayed with “Never” while Wonwoo picked “Within 6 months. Hopefully. With some help.”
Later that night they laid in bed facing each other. They were softly speaking and giggling a bit. Wonwoo couldn’t help but stare at Mingyu’s eyes when he laughed. The way they became smaller and crinkled a bit, it was cute. A silence fell but it was filled with staring. Comfortable staring, they already surpassed the ‘awkward staring’ fase.
“I’m glad to have you,” Mingyu spoke first and Wonwoo smiled shyly. “I wouldn’t have survived that time without your support.”
Wonwoo gave Mingyu a comforting smile and scooted closer until their noses were almost touching. “I’m glad you came to me.”
Mingyu kissed Wonwoo and pulled back slowly. He really was glad that he had Wonwoo. He was the sweetest boyfriend he could ask for. He would give him a moment if he was having a hard time, but he didn’t let him dwell in the past. Mingyu was moving on, it was hard, but it was less of a burden because Wonwoo was there. The younger wrapped his arms around Wonwoo and the older snuggled into his chest.
“You’re warm,” Wonwoo spoke and yawned.
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
Wonwoo laughed softly. “Yeah, it is.” He wrapped his arms around Mingyu. “It makes me happy.”
Mingyu kissed the top of Wonwoo’s head and they tangled their limbs together. It was comfortable to sleep like that. And they fell asleep in their own little world. Without fathers who abuse their children, homophobia and bad things. There was only good in their world.