Straykids OS (Book)

toxic pt.3

Ship: Jeongchan
Triggers/Warnings: just some toxic relationship shit

--------------------------------------

They ate in silence, not knowing what to say, but Chan seemed to want to get something off his chest, as he started talking without hesitation.

"The young man... who was after me... he was my boyfriend... well, now ex-boyfriend... we were together for four years and the first year of our relationship he was completely different... but a year later he changed... into this monster... it wasn't that bad at the beginning... he forbade me from going out alone and if I was allowed to, only to go shopping... but after that it got worse because I asked him if I could go to work and then he started to become violent, but it was within limits... a month later he allowed me to work at least part-time and after that he was normal again until he completely lost it. 

I wasn't allowed to go out alone anymore, he was just shouting and when he didn't know what to do with his aggression I had to suffer. From one day to the next he wanted me to quit my job in the café, but I didn't want to and that was the mistake... he hit me every day, shouted at me about how ungrateful I was, how useless I had become and so he went out every evening, I knew that he hung out in clubs and got into bed with anyone who was willing... he said that I had become useless, so this was the most normal behavior that could have happened... why didn't I break up with him... if I had done so... then I would have ended up on the street... because I only work part-time, that doesn't add up to much... I couldn't get away from him, even though he hurt me over and over again, shouted at me and a lot more... 

...now what I didn't want has happened, what I was even more afraid of than this monster of an ex-boyfriend... I have nothing... nothing at all... no apartment, no friends anymore, no clothes, nothing..." Then he fell silent and looked at the floor. Minho and the others looked at each other until Minho sat down in front of Chan and reached for his hand. "Chan... you are not alone... and you will not end up on the streets... you have us as your friends from now on if you want... and I don't think any of us would mind having you as a roommate. We like you Chan, you are important to us, even if we don't really know each other... but we can still change that if you want to..." 

And then Chan looked up again, watery eyes, looking into Minho's until the first tear rolled and then another and another and he started to sob. Minho and the others were right by his side and hugged him as gently as they could so as not to hurt him, but still to comfort him. Some time later they broke away from Chan and this time it was Jeongin who started to speak first. "You're welcome to stay here, the others are all in their houses with their boyfriends, but I'm alone and company actually doesn't sound bad, but of course you have the choice to go to the others too. No matter what you decide, nobody is mad at you or anything, okay?" Chan nodded and so they were silent again until Jeongin got up and turned on the TV and put on a random movie.  

At first everyone looked at the TV until they fell into a chaotic conversation that Chan got into pretty quickly. They talked and talked until they calmed down again and started talking about themselves, and that's how Chan found out that he is apparently the oldest at 24 and Jeongin is the youngest at 20. That Seungmin, Felix, Jisung and Hyunjin are 21 years old, Changbin 22 and Minho is 23 years old. They quickly knew that Chan was part of their chaotic bunch, because the more they told him about themselves, the more open the older man became. 

They laughed and joked until the evening hours, until the six left after Chan confessed to them that he would like to stay with Jeongin to keep him company. They grinned and said goodbye to the two of them and so they were alone. When Jeongin started to clean up, Chan helped without saying a word. After he brought the rest of the used dishes into the kitchen, he ran water into the sink and washed the dishes. As soon as Jeongin realized that Chan was gone, he walked into the kitchen, where he saw the older man standing there, calmly washing the dishes.