Red Revenge ✓ tk

I'd have to bear this weight by myself

"How was school darling?"

The door slammed shut behind Jeongguk's back, his mood immediately darkening the whole kitchen. Taehyung noticed the change in atmosphere and turned to look at his little one, the soup on the stove bubbling away as he turned the temperature down. "What's wrong?"

Jeongguk let his backpack drop to the floor, the sad thud echoing through the room. The boy in the dark hoodie was trembling, his reddened cheeks stained with tears and it made something in Taehyung break to see his boyfriend this way.

He tried one last time. "Darling?"

Without saying anything Jeongguk charged towards him and bumped against Taehyung's chest, his body shaking as it was enveloped in his boyfriend's warm embrace. Soft sobs began to erupt out of his body and Taehyung squeezed him tighter out of fear. He did not know what had made Jeongguk behave this way.

Not even after finding Jeongguk beaten and bruised, fresh out of the hospital, had he felt this way. When his boyfriend had been crying back then, he was aware of the cause and the reason of the tears. It was physical pain, pain that had been caused by highschool bullies who didn't know any better.

This pain wasn't visible and so Taehyung was left to hold Jeongguk tightly into his embrace, awaiting the explanation he wanted to hear. When Jeongguk didn't seem to calm down at all, Taehyung took him to the couch and laid himself down with his boyfriend's weight on top of him, the boy still crying his heart out.

Taehyung ran his fingers through the boy's hair, slowly sliding the hood from his head while his other hand pressed soothing circles on the boy's back to help him calm down. After what seemed like hours but must've only been minutes, the cries stopped and only sniffles were the only thing heard.

"Darling", the older man spoke softly, fingers running through the dark entangled locks. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

It was a question Taehyung often didn't get an answer to. Jeongguk was a closed book, didn't like telling others his problems even if it was his boyfriend asking for them.

So it was a shot in the dark when he had asked the question. And it was only then that he realized that Jeongguk had been holding onto his phone all of this time, the device stuck in the boy's white fingers as he clutched it tightly.

With slow movements Taehyung reached for the phone and slipped it out of the boy's grasp, Jeongguk's body seemingly relaxing as the device was finally out of his reach. Taehyung squinted his eyes when the device lit up and without thinking he typed in the code, wondering what would be that horrid to make his boyfriend act like this.

A video on Instagram showed up, posted by an anonymous meme account. The video was filmed in a dark parking lot and it was crowded with a lot of people. The person filming was shaking the phone around and trying to zoom into a certain person who was flat on the ground, blood dripping down his cheeks.

With a realization that made him sick to the stomach he recognized the person being beaten into the ground as the boy in his arms. He recognized the cries of pain that left the phone to be the voice of his lover. His hands acted on instant as he shut down the phone and threw it onto the other couch where it landed with a faint thud.

The boy in his arms had started trembling again, light whimpering could be heard passing through his slotted mouth. "Jeongguk." The older man hugged the boy closer, his heart heavy with emotions he couldn't all decipher.

He knew he wanted to hurt those jocks. He wanted to rip them to shreds to what they did to his lovely boyfriend. But he was aware of Jeongguk's temper as well. He knew how the boy loved getting into fights and winding people up.

Jeongguk too had beaten kids to the ground. This time it had been him receiving the punches. With a thought so wicked it scared Taehyung, he realized that maybe this was the turning point which would make Jeongguk stop fighting others over nothing. After all, they had had countless of quarrels between them before when Jeongguk was suspended again or receiving detention for his poor behavior towards his peers.

It made his heart crack. He was aware that thinking like this made him a terrible boyfriend.

All things aside, this wasn't the thing he should be addressing.

The video. The fact anyone had dared filming the fight and the way Jeongguk was defenseless in every way possible. He had been outnumbered, hurt and put online to be harassed and embarrassed.

"We have to report them." Taehyung's low growl filled the air. "The principal has to see this and suspend them. They were dumb enough to let it get leaked online and I'll make them pay for it."

"What if they won't?", Jeongguk croaked out, it being the first actual words he had spoken after returning home. "I've been such an asshole to everyone around me. What if I deserve this?"

Taehyung dropped his head as his hands gripped onto the other's hoodie. "You're not the sweetest boy Jeongguk and neither are you innocent. We both know that. But this, this is too much. You can't take revenge on someone by ganging up on him and beating him into the hospital while filming the whole thing."

He let out an aggravated sound.

"What I'm trying to say is that whatever you think about this, whatever doubt you get into that silly little head of yours and make yourself believe it, I'll tell you otherwise. You didn't deserve this Jeongguk."

The smaller boy let out a soft huff and squished his wet cheek against Taehyung's chest. "You're just saying that because you love me."

A dry chuckle left Taehyung's mouth. "I do love you but that's not the point. The point is that you didn't deserve this kind of treatment and I'm going to take this to principal if you want it or not."

"But--"

The older man shushed him. "No buts. Except for your adorable little butt." He pinched the boy's bum who whined at the sensation.

It was silent for a few seconds. Both unsure where to go from here. Did they talk about this some more or did they try to relieve the tension? Taehyung was unsure what to do until Jeongguk spoke up.

"You horny old man." A giggle though hunted with a certain sadness left his lips.

Taehyung gasped. "Who are you calling old? Last time I checked my stamina exceeded yours."

Jeongguk rolled off the couch at this and jumped up, his mood taking a turn. "Last time I checked I still outrun you. Last to the kitchen is a grandpa!"

He dashed towards the kitchen where the soup had been simmering and Taehyung was left to stare at his boyfriend tapping the kitchen door to signal his win.

And at that, Taehyung had diverted the situation and Jeongguk had pushed the eminent problem to the back of his head like he always did.

Tonight he could just pretend to be okay. But once he would set foot into the outside world, left his sanctuary, the pain would rush back in again.

At least he had Taehyung. As he stared at his boyfriend's face, cracking a joke and smiling as sweet as candy, Jeongguk felt his heart squeeze with love.

I'm so insecure about this story i'm so insecure about this story i'm so insecure about this story i'm so insecure about this story my plot is so weak omg what is this why are you reading this ;-;