Satisfaction [NCT]

30.

———

Taeyong found Jaehyun curled in a ball on what he assumed was his bed. "Hey." He startled the boy. Red, wet lines trailed from his eyes, creating a glare from the light.

"Hi." He mouthed, unable to speak. Taeyong took a couple steps closer.

"Your parents told me about your friends." He said softly. "I'm so sorry. No one deserves that." Jaehyun couldn't look at Taeyong. He shifted his view back to the wall he was originally staring at. "I want you to know I'm here for you. I might not be good enough, I know you haven't known me for very long either, but I'm here if you need me." Jaehyun didn't respond. "Do you want me to leave?" He asked.

Jaehyun was silent, he didn't want to send Taeyong away, but he also didn't want to talk. Jaehyun shook his head, no.

"Okay, I'll stay." Taeyong said. He sat on the side of his bed and gently traced his hand along Jaehyun's back, comforting him as much as possible.

———

(Trigger Warning, homophobic remarks and put downs)

———

When Jungwoo got home, his parents were waiting for him. They had both left work early so they could talk to their son. "Come, sit. We need to talk." His father said in a no nonsense voice. Jungwoo obeyed and sat down in front of his parents.

"We received a call from the school today." His mother began. "I cannot begin to express how disappointed I am. We love Joy, we allowed you to date while still in high school as long as you wouldn't kiss her and take away her innocence until you were sure you would get married. We believed you would follow our rules. Where did we go wrong? Why did you feel the need to go behind our backs and break the agreements we set?" Jungwoo bowed his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up in the moment." He spoke softly.

"That is not good enough." She spoke. "I need an actual excuse."

"I-, I don't know, I felt that if we wanted to get closer then I should kiss hi-her." He stuttered. His parents didn't pick up on his mistake. "I know it's against your rules. We agreed we wouldn't do anything more than kissing. It just... felt right." Jungwoo explained.

His parents were silent, speaking to each other using looks. "Where's your phone?" His mother asked.

"It's in my bag."

"Go get it. You'll get it back before you go to school tomorrow but once you get home safe I'm taking it back." His mom directed.

"Mom..." Jungwoo whined before stopped himself.

"Do not whine, your actions have consequences, give me your phone in the next 30 seconds or you'll be grounded for even longer." Jungwoo stood up and ran over to his bag, digging out his phone and handing it to his mother. He hoped she wouldn't look through it, he had texts from Xuxi and he didn't want her to see them. "After practice you will come directly home everyday this week. Understand?"

"Yes mother."

"Go do homework." She directed, sending him off.

"I have a soccer game on Friday that I need to be at." Jungwoo brought up.

"That same soccer team with what's-his-face?"

"Lucas? Yes." Jungwoo knew who his parents were talking about.

"Is that why you decided to go against us? The fag is convincing you that all relationships need to be based off of sex." His mom made a wild connection. He was used to the homophobic comments by now, he just tries to tell himself that they aren't real, that being gay is okay, but it's difficult to convince himself of that.