4*TOWN

Torn 2

As Tae Young runs to his room, Robaire follows behind him.

"Wait! Tae!"

Robaire calls after him, but he's ignored. When Tae Young reaches his room, he closes and locks the door. Robaire stands closely on the other side.

"Let me-"

"No! G- go away!"

Robaire sighs, leaning against the door.

"Tae... I'm sorry."

He says. There's sincerity in his voice, and Tae thinks about letting him in. He reaches for the door handle, but still hesitates.

"Please let me in."

Tae opens the door before going to sit on his bed. He doesn't say anything or even look at Robaire.

"Tae, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to... I didn't know you were... you had... I..."

Robaire can't seem to find the right words to say, as he's not normally one to apologize like this.

"Sorry. I don't know what to say."

"I can tell."

Tae says, his voice breaking slightly. Robaire frowns.

"I, uh... I don't know what happened to you in the past, Jesse's right about that. And you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable at all..."

"It's okay. I do want to tell you, it's just... It's hard to talk about."

"I get it."

Tae takes a short breath in, preparing himself to talk about something he hasn't in a long time.

"Uh, my parents... My dad... he..."

Robaire furrows his eyebrows as Tae's voice becomes higher in pitch. Tae covers his face, his tears running down his hands.

"He would... hurt me... and my mom would..."

Tae struggles to go on, his voice faltering quickly. Robaire pulls him into his arms, rubbing his back soothingly. Tae stops talking for a while, crying softly onto Robaire's chest.

After a few minutes of quiet, Tae finds the strength to speak again.

"My parents, I guess they never cared about me. They'd hit me, and forget me at places, I think that's where the fear of crowds came from. I've never had anyone who actually cared until I met Jesse.

When I moved to Toronto, he helped me get away from them. I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for him."

Robaire nods, trying not to let it show on his face that he's shocked. He takes Tae's hand in his, idly running his thumb across his knuckles.

"Oh. I guess... I guess what I said back there was uh, not the best."

Tae Young shakes his head.

"Well, again, I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me though, I won't say or do anything like that again. Ever."

When Tae brings his head up, he sees Robaire looking at him with a complex expression, still holding his hand.

"Tae, I..."

Robaire tries to continue on with his apology, but he's run out of things to say. Instead, he places a gentle kiss to Tae's lips, using his free hand to wipe stray tears from his cheek. When they pull away, Tae rests his forehead against Robaire's.

"Do you forgive me?"

"Not yet. You're forgetting something."

Tae replies as he sits up straight. Robaire's confused, isn't that how people apologize? They say sorry, own up to what they did-

"You need to apologize to Jesse too."

"Oh. Yeah, I don't know."

Tae Young crosses his arms and looks at his boyfriend with a stern face.

"You do."

"Fine, but one more thing."

"What?"

Robaire tilts Tae's chin up toward him, before swiftly moving in and kissing him deeply. Tae is caught by surprise at first, but returns the kiss still. By the time Robaire seperates them, Tae gets weak in his entire body, and his heart feels as if it's going to jump out of his chest. He immediately blushes, looking away from Robaire.

"Uh... L- let's go."

Tae says, still flustered, getting a smirk from Robaire. They leave the room to go find Jesse.

When they encounter Jesse, Robaire just awkwardly stands in front of him. Jesse looks at him and Tae expectantly, Tae nudges Robaire with his elbow.

"Um... Sorry, Jesse."

"Woah, Robaire's apologizing for something? Never thought I'd live to see the day."

Jesse says, his voice coated in sarcasm. He's already annoyed again, and Robaire's only said a few words.

Robaire fights the urge to say something smart back, instead rolling his eyes before starting again.

"I'm here to apologize. I had no idea about any of that stuff with Tae, and I shouldn't have said any of that or made him go through that crowd. I'm sorry."

After Robaire's done, Jesse cracks a smile. He looks at him with a sort of disbelief.

"Woah. Who are you and what have you done with Robaire?"

Robaire's face brightens, and he actually laughs a bit. Jesse continues,

"But really, I appreciate that. I guess I coulda been less harsh on you."

"Nah, I totally deserved that. I was being a d*ck."

They both laugh, and Tae watches with a smile.

"Aw, guys! You know what this calls for!"

"What's that?"

"A group hug!"

"Tae, I don't-"

Before Robaire can finish, Tae throws his arms around both of them and pulls them close.

"I love both of you guys. Don't ever argue like that again."

"I'll try."

"No promises."

Tae and Jesse both turn their heads to Robaire as he says this.

"What? I'm just being realistic."

Jesse rolls his eyes, and Robaire smirks at Tae, pulling him in by his waist.

"Is everything good now, Tae?"

"Mhm!"

"Now, where were we?"

Robaire says, looking down at a confused Tae Young before bringing his face close to his. Jesse laughs,

"And I think that's my cue to leave."