Beautiful time (Noren)

23

Mentions of self harm in this chapter.

Mark has been trying to call Renjun and even knocking on his door, to no avail. Finally around 8pm he calls Donghyuck back.
"I need you to come here with your badge, we have to do a welfare check. He won't answer." Donghyuck agrees quietly and hangs up.
"Come one, let's get you to bed." He says to Jeno.
"Rest up, I'm coming in the morning to make you breakfast and I need you awake when I get here." Jeno agrees and goes to his room. He's still in the same smelly clothes but he was still to weak to shower and Donghyuck plans to make him tomorrow afternoon.
He tucks him in and hugs him.
"I love you Jeno, so many people love you. You made a mistake and you can learn from it and fix it. You are human, so please stop hurting yourself." Jeno can finally see the sadness in his partners eyes and softens.
"I'm sorry, and thank you for all that you've done. I'll be good I swear." He says making Donghyuck feel a whole lot better.

When he gets to Renjun's building Mark is sitting on a bench in the lobby waiting. He goes to the managers office and flashes his badge.
"I'm here to do a welfare check." He says. The man stands and grabs his keys and follows him and Mark to his door. The man opens the door and Donghyuck holds his hand up to both of them.
"You guys wait here, I'll check it out." They nod and mark paces nervously.
He doesn't have to go too far in when he sees him passed out on the couch. He turns the lamp on and sees a lot of empty liquor bottles and an empty bottle of sleeping pills. A lot of them are on the floor but he's still terrified. He drops to his knees and starts to shake him.
"Renjun, wake up. Wake up!" He shouts as he shakes him harder. Renjun slowly opens his eyes and gives him a big dopey grin.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" He says drunkenly. Donghyuck sighs and goes to the door. He thanks the manager and ushers Mark in.
"Morkkkk." Renjun says, making the other two chuckle at his cuteness.
"Renjun I need you to explain to me all of the alcohol and sleeping pills, did you take any?" Donghyuck asks making Mark concerned.
"I need to sleep, but every time I do I dream about him." He says with a pout.
"So I thought I could stay asleep with pills but I dropped them on the floor then I tried to pick them up and I hit my head so I sat back down." Both Mark and Donghyuck are relieved to hear it at least wasn't a suicide mission.
"Let's clean you up." Mark says as he grabs his wrists to pull him up. Renjun screams and pulls away making the other two look at each other. As Mark looks down he notices blood where he tried to pull him up.
"Fuck." He says as he gets to his knees and carefully takes Renjun's hands. He lifts the sleeve and sees multiple fresh cuts littering both arms.
"Renjun why?" Renjun half smiles.
"Sometimes when it hurts too bad in here." He says pointing to his chest.
"I have to take the pain away by putting it here." He points to his cuts.
"Come on, you are bleeding. Let's clean you up." He says helping him up. He sits him on the bathroom counter and cleans all of his cuts. He can see that some are from a few days ago and some are freshly done today. Donghyuck walks in and runs him a bath.
"Come on Renjun lets get you sobered up." Mark, being uncomfortable decides to step out while he undresses so Donghyuck helps him into the tub. He hands him a small towel and tells him to cover himself with it and calls Mark back in the room. They both sit on the floor trying to get him to talk on his own, they don't want to trigger anything by bringing it up themselves. For the most part though it's just them talking as he silently plays in the water.
"I'm pretty messed up huh? I bet you didn't know I was this fucked in the head right?" He asks quietly.
"Renjun you are not fucked in the head. You were hurt and this is the only way you knew to deal with it. Sometimes life deals you shit cards and we have to cope any way we can." Marks says softly. Renjun nods and lets his tears fall.
"I'm sorry, it just hurts so bad. I feel so used, like I give myself over to this whole thing, never once did I question why, I knew it was because I was falling hard for him and would do anything for him. I wanted so badly to tell him. I almost did but I didn't want him to feel pressured, I know he had a bad relationship that still haunts him. I just thought he at least liked me." Donghyuck sighs.
"He stopped eating and taking his meds when you left, on the premise of dying a slow painful death." As hurt as Renjun was by him he still looks horrified.
"Is he ok? That idiot, he has to take his pills." He says with concern. Donghyuck smiles seeing that Renjun still cares deeply which is comforting.
"He lied to me and texted me Friday morning that you guys wanted to be alone and told me to stay away, so I did until today. I found him, weak and pale but still here and don't worry I yelled at him for it." Renjun smiles.
"Good." He says with a soft chuckle.
"He feels terrible, and I know that you guys need to talk but you need to know that he didn't mean any of that. He had a nightmare about you." Renjun frowns and waits for more explanation.
"Of you being with someone else and he was triggered by those helpless feelings in the past when he walked into his bedroom to see his ex with someone else. I know he told you about him, how much he trusted him, they were best friends for a long time before they dated. He thought they would be together forever." Renjun nods. He wonders if he still has feelings for this person.
"Please give him a little time and talk to him. Please?" Renjun nods and looks at his arms still feeling ashamed.
"Ok but please, don't tell him about this? I don't want him to be upset." Mark and Donghyuck both smile because they can clearly see that Renjun loves Jeno and even though he said really hurtful things he doesn't want him hurt.
Mark goes and cleans up the booze bottles and picks up all the pills as Donghyuck helps him out of the tub. After he dresses they wrap his arms so they won't bleed on anything.
"Please, don't hurt yourself again Junie. I love you. Maybe this week you, Jaem and I should go out together?" Renjun smiles appreciatively and hugs Mark then Donghyuck.
"Thanks for this and I'm sorry if I worried you." He says softly.
They finally leave and Renjun heads to bed, after all he still has to work in the morning. He lays there thinking about everything and maybe he could listen to Jeno, hear him out when he's ready to talk anyway. He softly touches his bandages and regrets that he fell into old patterns again but it can't be helped now.
He falls asleep faster this night but still wakes up early and has to fight the urge to do it again. He told them he wouldn't but some things are easier said than done.