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"Hyung, we should talk."
Taeyong doesn't face him, his hands still busying themselves with the clothes that needed folding. "About what, baby?" The pet name was used to throw off the younger but it didn't prove itself effective this time.
"You. We need to talk about you." Jaehyun huffs, slightly irritated that the older wasn't showing any sort of enthusiasm in this conversation. "There's nothing to talk about. I'm doing just fine." He says shortly, arranging the jewellery on his nightstand.
"You don't need to concern yourself over what Doyoung says, half of it is exaggerated."
The younger feels the steam hissing out of his ears the more he suppressed his anger. "Wow. Let's all pretend that Taeyong isn't underweight and sleep deprived." His tone was icy, enough to make his boyfriend raise an eyebrow.
"Babe, I don't like your tone. What happened to using honorifics?"
Deep breaths, Jaehyun. Blowing up now won't solve anything. He desperately chants in his head, inhaling through his nose.
"Why won't you let me help you? Is it so hard to let me in? I'm your boyfriend for god's sake!"
"There is nothing to be helped, Jae. Drop it." Taeyong's voice raises an octave, eyes narrowed dangerously. No one has ever dared to push the leader's buttons, let alone stuck around to find out. Jaehyun glares at him, no doubt there was fear bubbling in his chest but he had to prove his point.
He could see that the older's anger was building up as his face was flushed crimson, a vein throbbing in his neck.
"I don't understand why it's so hard for you to communicate with me. Am I not supportive enough? Is there something I'm doing wrong?"
"Jaehyun." The older grits his teeth, growling in a warning tone.
"If you'd just tell me I could help--"
"JEONG YOONOH, I TOLD YOU TO DROP IT!"
The younger's face was met with a palm, the force turning his head the other way. A horrible sting follows, causing his eyes to well up with tears and his bottom lip to quiver. He stares up at the man in front of him in utter shock, his throat constricting painfully.
He couldn't move a muscle. He couldn't even breathe.
It wasn't the slap that sent him into a mild state of shock, it was the fact that Taeyong, his sweet harmless boyfriend who had promised to never hurt him, had just slapped him square across the face.
"Jae.. oh god, I'm so s-sorry!" The flame inside Taeyong snuffed out as realization hit him like a truck. The younger was moving away from him, those crescent eyes that always held so much of love and adoration for him were now replaced with fear and hurt.
"Shit.." He curses under his breath, gripping his hair in frustration. Jaehyun was full-on sobbing, clutching the side of his face while he chokes on his breath like a child. "Hyun, baby.. I d-didn't mean to hurt you, I swear!" Taeyong tries to touch his boyfriend only for him to flinch away, whimpering softly.
It was all his fault. He was a monster.
Taeyong breaks down, crumpling into a heap as he lets out quiet cries. He feels disgusted in his own body, he stares down at the hands that had hurt the love of his life, clenching them till his knuckles turned stark white.
He was slowly losing his mind.
"H-Hyung.." Jaehyun crawls over to him once he had calmed down, slightly hesitant before curling himself onto the older's lap. The older tensed, staring at the younger who was still hiccuping. "Please don't cry, I'm sorry for making you mad." He speaks, hugging his boyfriend tight.
He was indeed shaken up by Taeyong's actions, but he understood the older well enough to know that there was no meaning behind the slap and that it was purely unintentional.
"Baby, I-I can't.. hold you right n-now.." The older sobs, "I might hurt..y-you again.." Jaehyun shakes his head, not releasing his hold. "You won't."
The older buries his face in the younger's crook of his neck, inhaling his sweet peach scent a little too desperately as if he were going to drown any moment. He couldn't imagine a life without Jaehyun, his limbs trembling at the mere thought of losing him forever.
It haunted him almost every night, that his baby would suddenly disappear from his life.
A string of apologies tumble out of his mouth, breaths uneven and shaky. The younger silences him with a kiss to his chapped lips, making him break into a small smile. "There's nothing to forgive, hyung. We are both at fault."
That night, Taeyong refuses to let Jaehyun leave his side. The skin on the younger's cheek was a little red, to which the older had peppered multiple kisses to soothe it.
His limbs tangled themselves around his boyfriend, finding comfort in his embrace. "Hyung.. please let me take care of you from now on?" Jaehyun whispers, Taeyong nodding reluctantly.
"I love you, baby.. so much."
"Me too, hyung. Now go to sleep, we'll talk in the morning."
