jaeyong ✧ skindeep

Twenty-nine

The doctor entered the room where Taeyong and Jaehyun were present in. He stuffed his hand into his coat's side pocket and his opposite hand grasped the papers in his hand. His furrowed his eyebrows, his forehead wrinkling, showing off his age before he hesitantly made eye contact with Jaehyun.

"You injured your ankle last week, correct?"

"Yeah, but it was minor and healed quickly."

He crossed his arms over his chest,"Well, clearly it didn't heal as quickly as you thought. Your ligament is almost completely torn and it's highly possible it tore easier today because it was beginning to rip."

"What do you mean it's almost torn?"

"Your ligament is only few millimeters away from the sprain being considered a level three sprain. You're lucky though, if it had been any worse, surgery would have been required and it wouldn't be likely that you'd play sports again."

Jaehyun dug his nails into his thigh,"How long with it take to heal?"

"Anywhere from eight to ten weeks, I'd say. Although, that depends on how well you take care of it."

"But finals are in two weeks-"

Taeyong tugged on Jaehyun's arm before the latter let the argument go.

~~~~

The car ride home was especially quiet, neither side muttering out any thing and the only sound being the humming of the tires. Once the arrived in front of the house, Taeyong supported Jaehyun's body as they walked to the door and entered the building.

Jaehyun limped to the edge of the stairs, Taeyong approaching behind him,"Jaehyun, let me he-"

"I'm fine, Taeyong. I can get up the stairs myself."

Taeyong remained on the first floor as Jaehyun limped up the flight of stairs. In a frustrated manner, he ran his fingers through his raven locks before softly hitting his hands against the base of the marble and heading upstairs.

His fingers clutched the frame of Jaehyun's bedroom door, peeking his head in to see the back of the latter sitting on his desk chair. Taeyong hesitantly walked in, Jaehyun noticing his counterpart's presence. The brunette sniffled and wiped under his eyes and cheeks, clicking in Taeyong's mind that he was crying.

"Jaehyun-"

"Taeyong," his sleeve ran over his cheek,"did you need something?"

The older grasped the edge of the office chair, spinning it half way around and his eyes landing on Jaehyun's face.

It was Taeyong's first time seeing Jaehyun show any emotion close to sadness. He almost didn't know what to say or do, without hesitance, he held Jaehyun against his stomach and hugged the latter.

Jaehyun softly pushed Taeyong away,"No, I'm fine, I-"

"Jaehyun, I've cried in front of you how many times? It's okay to cry and it's okay to be sad. It doesn't make me think of you as a weaker person and it doesn't change how I feel about you whatsoever."

Jaehyun wiped his drying tears off his face,"I'm sorry, just the feeling of not being able to play overwhelmed me."

"It's okay."

It was almost as if the two temporally switched roles, Taeyong forgetting about the timid and bashful feelings, that were often drawn out of him by Jaehyun, to nothing but wanting to comfort the latter, even if it was slightly embarrassing.