HOLD ME TIGHT

²²

jin woke up the next morning in an unexpected place. namjoon's apartment.

why was he here? then he remembered, he stayed the night. he scolded himself for letting this happen, but it obviously was too late to do anything about it, so he just stayed laying across the couch, confused. a lot had happened in these past few hours. he'd kissed namjoon three times now.

but he's soon caught off guard when he feels a hand on his shoulder. "morning!" namjoon softly greets, flashing him a small dimpled smile. jin stayed silent. he was still so confused about everything. "miyoon still doesn't know you're here" namjoon chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

then he slips into a bit more serious state. "so... um- i know it may be a bit early for this but, i was up all night thinking. thinking a-about the whole fake boyfriend situation" jin gulped, finally getting himself to lazily sit up. "i just wanted to know more about it all. for example, how you came up with the whole fake boyfriend idea, or why that whole night you seemed really... strange - i guess you could call it - with taemin, was it?" the elder suddenly received a few unwanted flashbacks, causing him to flinch. "if it's too personal, you don't have to. i understan-" "no, i-it's fine" jin forced a smile at him.

"i was out grocery shopping and i ran into him. he started purposely bragging about how he had a new boyfriend and how they were 'so in love' and i wanted to show him that i didn't care, or that i was living a good life too... to show him that i'm doing perfectly fine without him. then i accidentally blurted out that i had a boyfriend and he started asking more about him. obviously, you were the first person that came to my mind. taemin wanted to meet 'my boyfriend' and suggested that we all had dinner together later on. he seemed completely convinced that you were fake, so i stupidly agreed to dinner, just to prove him wrong." he explained.

"ohh... so why'd you two even break up?" jin started to feel a bit uneasy, and luckily namjoon noticed. "i-i'm sorry. we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" "he abused me" the man quickly spat out. namjoon's eyes go wide. "i broke up with him b-because he used to hurt me almost e-every day" jin rephrased, a few tears falling loose. "god, i'm sorry... i h-hate being this dramatic" he apologizes, wiping at his now sticky cheeks. "it's okay" namjoon assured the man, pulling him close. jin wraps him arms around namjoon's waist, snuggling up comfortably into his chest.

"it's okay to be hurting over something like that. it's really traumatizing and i appreciate you telling me" but jin wasn't done. "he punched me, h-he kicked me, e-even slapped me, until i was bleeding and bru-bruised and hurting and crying a-an" "ah, jin..." namjoon pats the trembling boy's hair. "shush, you don't need to worry about him anymore"

jin sniffles, wiping at his tears. he hated being dramatic. "sorry, i'm b-being really dramatic"

"no, not at all" namjoon assures the boy, getting lost in his thoughts momentarily. he felt a bit guilty for making jin pour out his traumatic past to him, yet all he's been doing was lie to jin ever since he'd met him. finally - after some debating with himself - he decided to open his mouth and tell the truth.

"uh... jin?" he felt his ears get red at the thought of finally revealing the big 'secret' to jin. jin pulls back. his curious eyes lock with namjoon's, slowly nodding.

"ah- i haven't been completely honest with you..." the sentence gave jin an unsettling feeling in his stomach. "about what?" namjoon's mouth goes dry. he swallows a few times to get the saliva to take away the bothersome feeling. "um..." just go on with it, namjoon. spit it out as if you're tearing off a bandage, he told himself. this only seemed to help make him more nervous, though. just say it.

"miyoon... he's not my little brother"

"...he's my son"