maneater | minlix

🩸; 4

Minho perks up from the couch upon hearing the front door creak open, heavy breathing following. 

"Min! I'm here!"

Minho's comfort, in the form of a fun-sized man with dimples, dashes towards Minho, pulling him into a tight embrace. The younger man deeply inhales the older's scent, relishing in the pleasant way the minty green apple filled his nose and entered his lungs, a sharp note of lemon.

"Channie..", it was pitying the way Minho's voice broke, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks as he tightens his arms around Chan's torso. The older man replies with a soft hum, his thick fingers rubbing  comforting circles on Minho's hips. They remained like that for the next few minutes, before being interrupted with a cough.

"Are you alright?"

Minho's eyes widen at the familiar deep voice. He turns his head to the side and sees Felix, in all his irritating glory, standing with an awkward hand rubbing his nape. It was a stupid question- of course Minho wasn't alright! In fact, he would've been alright if it wasn't for the obvious bruises Felix left around his neck.

A feeling of rage bubbled up inside him as he glared at the blonde male, pulling away from Chan's warm arms. "What the fuck are you doing here!", the growl in his voice would've scared anyone if it weren't for the cartoon-ish blobs of tears rolling down his patchy cheeks. It gave him a childish element, he looked like a little kid who got his toy taken away from him.

Chan grabs his hand tightly, reassuringly squeezing it with a smile on his face. "Calm down Minkins, his parents left him with me, he'll be gone soon". The freckled boy snorted at 'Minkins', getting another glare from Minho. 

"Are you alright though?"

Minho feels Chan's bigger hands envelope both of his, directing Minho's attention to him instead. Chan was always gentle with Minho, demanding his attention in the most endearing ways. The younger liked that about Chan. 

"I'm alright, he left before you came", replies Minho. His voice is still scratchy from all the screaming and crying he'd done in the past hours. His eyes burned and cheeks felt tacky as he rubbed at them, trying to get rid of the tear tracks that seemed to imprint permanently on his flushed skin.

The older boy caresses Minho's cheek, leaning to press a kiss on his forehead. "You should tell someone Minho-" "No!". Chan lets out a defeated sigh. He knew he can't force Minho to tell anyone, but his heart ached so badly at the sight of Minho bloodied and ruined every time something like this happened.

"I can't make you..but just know that it isn't too late to report him, yeah?"

Minho nods at Chan's words, hugging him tightly again. He laid his head on Chan's sturdy chest, sighing heavily as he closed his eyes. Felix was long forgotten about, a mere speck of dust in the air he was. Minho couldn't find any energy in himself to throw any snarky comments at the blonde. 

It'd been a whole hour since Minho had said anything. Felix wasn't used to Minho's silence, and as much as he hated to admit it, he missed the older male's mean comments and annoying voice. Minho's silence and blank stare at the wall worried him to say the least. Minho was a tough guy, and not even Felix could get him this shaken up.

Why did Felix even care? He shook his head as he stood up from the catch where Minho and Chan remained seated, Minho cuddling into Chan's side. He looked at his phone and back at them, saying, "It's time for me to go I guess, I'll see you tomorrow?".

It was more directed to Chan than it was to Minho, but the dark haired male didn't mind. His feline eyes seemed to forever glare at Felix, and they never left him even as he walked out of the living room.

Once Minho heard the door click open and then close, he let out a heavy sigh, turning towards Chan. "Why'd his parents leave him with you?", his voice was quiet as he reached up to run his fingers through the curly mess that was Chan's hair. Chan remained quiet, seemingly contemplating whether to tell Minho or not.

"He's my cousin", Chan starts, his arm tightening around Minho's waist, "I'm basically babysitting him until his parents come back from a business trip". Minho nodded, but the way he fidgeted and bit his lip told Chan there was something more. The younger male finally spoke again, "It must be hard".

"Hard?"

Chan looked at the younger man with confusion. "What do you mean hard?", he questioned. Minho's face flushes with embarrassment, "Like– isn't he unpleasant to be around?". Chan chuckled as he pulled the younger closer to him until he was laying against his chest, hooking his chin over his head.

"He's not that bad Minkins, he's just..having it hard".

"What do you mean?"

A sigh left Chan's mouth as he looked around the room, his eyes unsure and lips pursed into a thin line. Minho kept his mouth shut though the urge to add to his question was strong. Chan clearly didn't want to answer his question, and Minho was worried he'd crossed a line there.

Silence soon settled down on them, before Chan's voice began, "His parents were never good to him. They hurt him in the worst ways possible, and completely tore his childhood apart", he paused, taking a deep breath in. Minho looked at him with a soft gaze, he blindly looked for the older man's hand and held it tightly. Chan smiled, but the smile fell as soon as it's there, and he continued.

"His family had a sick old custom where their eldest son would be the next to continue the bloodline, the only one to get married and reproduce, but to do that, the son had to be trained. Felix, was their eldest son, and so his father, he– he beat him, starved him, and did so much to him just to fucking train him. It was pure torture, Minho! He even did it when I was there..and his mother just watched and did nothing. They isolated him from the world, emotionally distanced from him and punished him for the smallest things– even when he cried! That's why he sees normal people and supernaturals as inferior to him, that's why he behaves like a damn asshole. He still lives with his parents, but now that he's over 18 and there's a possibility of him calling the cops on them, they stopped the training, deeming him worthy enough of marriage already. The 'business trips' they go on are actually trips to look for a wife for him. I know this doesn't excuse his behavior– but his parents fucked him up so much Minho.."

Chan had tears in his eyes by the time he finished. He looked at Minho with so much sadness in his face, and Minho's heart ached. A part of him wanted to forgive Felix, now that he knew why he was such a dickhead, but another, much more petty and angry side of him still wanted to punch him in the face every time he saw him.

"Oh..well I guess I don't wanna murder him that much anymore", Minho whispered. Chan barked out a laugh as he sat up, stretching, "Yeah, yeah, you and your murder tendencies". He looked down at the watch around his wrist, the one Minho bought him a few months ago, "I should go now, I still have to make dinner for Lix and I".

Minho and Chan bid farewell to each other, and with one last hug, Minho watched Chan's back as he walked out the door and got into his car. The older man waved to him and Minho reciprocated it, a small smile on his face. He waited until Chan began driving away, the engine roaring, getting distant second by second. He closed the door and leaned with his back against it, exhaling shakily.