unhealthy - 2jae

twelve - ???

I'll give you a lot, all of my love

I can't live without you

My heart won't ever change

Ding-dong.

It doesn't take long for there to be a response. It's a shout, coming from inside the house.

"Youngjae-ah, is that you?" Jaebum hollers from indoors, his head sticking out from the bahroom.

"Y... Yes!" the younger replies with his best loud voice, although he feels awkward for screaming outdoors in a neighborhood.

"The door's unlocked so come inside!" Jaebum yells back and shuts the door to the bathroom again. Youngjae carefully steps in, a bit concerned that his front door was unlocked to begin with. He makes sure to lock it after stepping inside and takes off his sneakers.

"Hyung?" he asks when not being able to spot where he is.

"I just took a shower," his voice is echoed because of the bathroom, "I'll be right there in a few minutes." Youngjae slightly sweats at the idea of that, but quickly makes himself stop having such perverted thoughts.

It's been less than a minute and Youngjae's nose is sniffling uncontrollably. No, he's not crying. His eyes are also getting teary and he has no idea why, until he feels something brush against his leg. A cat.

"Oh, no..." he murmurs to himself as he squishes himself against the wall, an attempt to keep his distance from the animal. Clearly, it isn't effective, and the cat is curiously following Youngjae around as he slides across the walls uncomfortably. He uses some tissues he has in his pockets to wipe away his runny nose.

"Youngjae-ah..." Jaebum appears out of nowhere, drying his hair with a baby blue towel, which causes poor Youngjae to freeze in surprise. The cat freezes too, and eventually Jaebum joins in the frozen party.

He's not wearing a shirt, he's not wearing a shirt, he's not wearing a shirt-

Youngjae is only able to stare at him quietly—well, aside from the sniffles since his nose refuses to stop—because, honestly, hot damn. He never knew that Jaebum was so muscular; he could tell that he was well-fit and a strong person, but this? There's muscle on literally every part of his body and Youngjae can't fight the urge that keeps him from looking away. The elder steps even closer to Youngjae and he snaps back into reality, panicking.

"Youngjae, are you crying?" Jaebum looks at his friend as though he's crazy. Youngjae shakes his head quickly and wipes his nose again, pointing to the cat that's rubbing against his legs.

"I'm allergic." Immediately, Jaebum springs to action with a worried look.

"Oh shit, really? I'm sorry." He grabs his cat who meows in protest and takes the feline to another room, closing the door. Youngjae sighs a breath of relief when the cat is gone, but there's still a big problem.

There's an extremely handsome, muscular, half-naked man staring at him.

Youngjae pinches his own arm, mostly because he thinks he might be dreaming and that he's now self-conscious of his average body. Jaebum walks over to the crouch and grabs a tank top that was laying there, throwing it over himself and ending the muscle-fest.

"Hey, sit down. I want to talk," Jaebum pats the cushion next to him after he sits down, coaxing the other with a gentle voice. Youngjae sits carefully, taking off the overcoat he's wearing and folding it in his lap. Leaning forward with his legs spread wide in a manly fashion, Jaebum holds his hands together and stares at his feet.

"So, like I told you, I remembered what happened. It's not pleasant. Do you still want to hear it?" Youngjae nods and is listening with all ears, looking towards him.

He sighs before starting.

"A whole lot of things happened... I guess I should tell you about myself first so that it makes sense."

...

"I've never known my biological mother. She just disappeared when I was young so I have no memories of her anymore. My dad, on the other hand, is a good person. He's a hard working psychologist for children. But he also has a tendency to be fooled by women often. I was used to seeing him being played around by various women, but recently, he picked up one of the worst people ever."

He pauses in the middle of his story, which meant that the painful stuff was coming up.

"She's a bitch is all I can say. It's obvious that she's dating a different man but my dad is oblivious and never notices. She came to our house often and would intrude in my room a lot. It was fucking annoying but I stayed quiet for the sake of my dad."

...

"Then, one night, I caught her stealing my dad's checks and cash. I wanted to beat the shit out of her when I saw that, because it's the money that he's worked hard to raise as a single father. She gave me this 'so what' attitude and that was it. I slapped her."

Youngjae's gaze never focuses away from Jaebum, whose arms are visibly shaking.

"My dad came home at that moment and witnessed me hitting her. He tried holding me back but I was in absolute rage and hit him too. I didn't want to hurt him, though. He knocked me out right after that by slamming my head to the wall or something like that." He breathes shakily and it even hurts Youngjae, his audience to listen to the story, but he continues.

"I don't remember much of what happened after that. It was vague, but I was half-awake and I could water running. I was outside, too. From the way my vision was messed up, I was probably drugged."

"Drugged...?" Youngjae suddenly asks, worry in his voice.

"Yeah. It makes sense, considering my dad works at a hospital that specialized with mentally unstable people." Jaebum sighs and throws his towel across the room in frustration. He shouts, too, but it's one that came from anger at himself.

"As much as I do blame that bitch for all of this, I know I'm also to blame. If only I knew how to be calm and handle the situation better, my dad would still talk to me."

...

The room is silent and only the clock ticking can be heard.

"I..." he starts again after swallowing. He sits up straight and is looking at Youngjae directly.

"I want to move on. And I think I have, thanks to you. You distract me from the bad memories I have and give me new ones, ones that I actually look forward to remember." Youngjae can't help but blush lightly at the heartfelt words.

"I know you have mysophobia," Jaebum exclaims, making the younger bite on his lips. "and I want to help you overcome it. So you won't be afraid of me when I want to hug you or hold your hand."

...

"I want to be the only one who you can trust and keep you safe from any harm."

"Hyung, I..." Youngjae averts his gaze. "I don't know what that means."

Jaebum pushes back the hair that's just about getting in the way of his eyes, making him even more attractive (if that's possible).

"Choi Youngjae, you are a fool."

"It means I love you."