The Mystic 4

Timing

After Onew and Taemin went back to bed, Taemin stayed awake for a while He thought about what happened with Onew. He wondered about his past and how fucked up Onew's Ex had to be to make Onew feel the way he did. How could someone do that to a person like Onew and why would they justify it by telling him his parents would forgive him if he beat him? Taemin was disgusted at the thought. Despite the short time, he already cared about his Hyung a lot. He cared about what Onew thought and if he was comfortable. Taemin thought about his past and wondered if everything that happened led him to meeting Onew. He wondered what luck brought him to Onew as well as the other two. He didn't fall asleep until around 4 A.M. It wasn't till he heard noise around him that he woke up. Key and Minho were sitting on the floor with focus as they played an intense game of Uno. Onew was sitting beside him with a smile. He seemed completely different from the night before. Now he was completely composed. It was as if his breakdown never happened at all. Onew raised a brow. It was then that Taemin noticed that he was staring.

"Sorry, Hyung." Onew shook his head.

"Don't be. What's going on in that head of yours?" Taemin just sighed.

"Are you okay, now?" Key and Minho went silent as they listened to the conversation. Onew frowned lightly, remembering what happened the night before. It only lasted for a moment before he was smiling again.

"I'm okay, Taeminie." Taemin nodded. He knew that Onew was lying but he wasn't going to push it further in front of the guys. It was Onew's story to tell if he wanted to and Taemin wasn't going to expose it like that. He would wait till later when they were alone. Key had a smile on his face as he stood up. He held his hand out to a confused Minho.

"Hyung, let's go get some food. I'm hungry." Minho nodded at Key's words and grabbed his hand to stand up. Key turned to Taemin and Onew. He nodded once and pulled Minho out the door by the hand he still held onto. Onew turned to Taemin with a smile.

"He heard our thoughts?" Taemin nodded.

"Probably some of them. I wonder if he's able to block it out or he just hears things all the time." Onew shrugged.

"Who knows." Taemin turned his body to sit in front of Onew.

"You want to talk about last time? What happened and what did you tell me?" Onew thought for a minute. He was terrified about someone knowing his past but he'd already told Taemin some things. He felt like he could and needed to but he also knew how fucked up in the head he'd been at that time. He didn't want to scare Taemin off. He knew he was developing something for the younger. That was proven when he kissed him the night before.

"I do want to talk about it but it's a lot and it was a time in my life when I was fucked up. I was so broken that any type of affection was welcome. That was probably why I let it go on for as long as it did. A part of me knows what he did was wrong but the other part still believes the things he said to me. That's why asked you last night if you were going to punish me. My Ex was a bad man who did really bad things and I let it go on for four years before I finally put an end to it in the summer. I went off my meds and finally started seeing things clearly." Taemin hesitated before asking his next question.

"What exactly happened to you?" Onew looked away from Taemin, unable to face his soft eyes.

"You know how when you have a dog and they misbehave, sometimes you have to be physical to make them obey your commands?" Taemin hummed, afraid of where the conversation was going. "That's what happened to me. My Ex beat me for liking him and for doing intimate things with him. He would tell me that it was my punishment for giving in to my urges. What's worse is that my parents were the same way. Every time they even heard the word gay, they hit me. It didn't have to be about me. They would just hit me." There was silence as Taemin tried to take in Onew's words. He knew that Onew was a mess just from what he had seen the night before but after hearing what he said, he wondered how Onew was still alive. He looked up at Onew when he saw him get off the bed. Onew had a hard expression on his face as he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the floor. Taemin sucked in a breath at the amount of scars he saw. Most of them were old but he saw a few that looked fresh. Onew looked down, unable to see the expressions on Taemin's face. He was worried now. He wondered if Taemin felt disgusted at what he saw. What he wasn't expecting was the tears that fell from Taemin's eyes when he looked back up. Taemin stood up and gently wrapped his arms around a shocked Onew.