[[ Your author doesn't have time for creative titles tonight. *gives hearts instead* ]]
The Howling - Part IV: Inevitable
For the first time in his life, Jongin felt like a proper teenager. His heart fluttered in his chest as Joonmyun sat back down on the bed, his eyes unable to shift away from the elder male, his fingers curling into his legs as he struggled to keep his smile small, not wide and grinning like he wanted it to be. Although he knew the elder had been through maybe just as much hell as what he'd been in, things felt so much better with him close.
Maybe... what the elders had been saying were true. That he and Joonmyun were bonded with something stronger than anything else. things would be okay now, right? now that they were back together...
Together. That was what they were, right? Pursing his lips, he held out his hands, closing his fingers around the edge of the bowl as Joonmyun passed it to him. "Thank you, hyung. I'm glad you're feeling better. I think I was feeling just as bad as you were; but I'm feeling a whole lot better now too..." Thanks to you. Because you returned to me...
He was silent for a while afterwards, eating small spoonfuls of the soup and making soft noises every so often as he closed his eyes. He only opened them again when he felt the fingers brush warmth and electricity across his arm, and he looked up at Joonmyun in shock as the boy stood. He relaxed a moment later, nodding a little as he smiled.
"Mm... Don't take too long. You should eat while it's still warm..." he murmured, setting the bowl down in his lap and balancing it carefully as he reached for one of the buns so he could break a piece off. He watched Joonmyun leave the room, before he carefully climbed of his bed, placing his bowl back on the tray before he picked up the tub of icecream and crossed to the fridge to put it in the freezer so it didn't melt. When he was done, he straightened and sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair as he turned to look at a spot on the floor.
Although clean, he could still see the body, could still see the blood... could still see the /thing/ he'd become when Joonmyun had been threatened. And it scared him. Scared him more than anything in the world.It scared him that he'd lose himself to that... that thing, not quite man, not quite wolf. He knew it scared Kai too, knew it scared his wolf counterpart to have such rage within him. And he knew that it was only Joonmyun who seemed to be able to soothe him.
But he was still so scared that he might lose himself, and Joonmyun.
Folding his arms across his chest, he frowned, losing himself in his thoughts. In his current state of mind, he might not even have noticed if Joonmyun returned.
In the kitchen, Joonmyun had begun explaining his idea to Sunny, but he'd barely gottcen halfway through before she stopped him and agreed to help. Then he went on to ask if one of the boy could help as well, and she waved him off again, staying that she'd ask one of them for assistance. After giving the girl a gentle hung, Joonmyun continued on, giving her details which she jotted down on a pad of paper she'd pulled from under the counter.
As grateful as he was to have help in this, Joonmyun felt bad for asking for such a big thing when he knew he wouldn't be able to help much. He would help if he could, but Jongin wasn't likely to want to leave him for too long. Sunny didn't seem to mind though, if the smile on her face and the questions she asked gave anything away. By the time they finished, she had two pages of notes and a determined grin on her face.
After more thanks and another hug, Joonmyun headed back to Jongin's room, a wide smile on his face and a flutter in his chest. Just outside the door, he had to stop to take a breath to calm himself before making his way back inside. He found Jongin standing in the middle of the room, arms folded across his chest, a perplexed expression on his face.
"Jongin? Is something wrong?" Joonmyun was quiet, hesitant as he entered the room and shut the door behind him, not bothering with the lock because it was no longer necessary. Slowly, he approached the boy, reaching out and giving him a soft pat on the shoulder as he grinned. "Hey, you alright?"
Still lost in his thought, Jongin really didn't notice Joonmyun had steped into the room until he felt the elder's soft, warm touch on his skin, and he blinked, his eyes refocusing as he looked up at Joonmyun with a confused look, before he smiled and shook his head.
"No, everything's fine," he replied, lifting his hand to cover the one on his shoulder before he tilted his head to one side. "Everything is just... fine, Joonmyun." Now that you're back. Now that you're with me again.
He blinked again, noticing the grin on the elder's features, and narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion. "What's going on? What's with the grin? What are you planning, huh?" He teased as he made his way back to the bed, fixing up the hem of his sweats before he climbed up and sat back beside the pillows. He reached for his soup, not even bothering ith the spoon as he lifted the bowl to his lips and took a long mouthful before he grinned in delight.
"You should drink the rest of your soup before it goes cold. Then... would you like to visit Taemin with me? I think he'd be happy to have you back.... He got really attached to you in that short while..." He placed the empty bowl back down on the tray, sitting with his hands resting between his semi folded legs as he smiled slightly at Joonmyun.
With the way Jongin seemed to hesitate the second time, Joonmyun wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but he knew he had to trust him; it was just like before, and Joonmyun had to trust that he knew what he was doing, that when he said he was okay he really was okay. So, he merely nodded and grinned softly, but his grin faded as soon as Jongin noticed.
Was there something to be noticed? Joonmyun had tried hard to keep his expression from showing that he was planning something, but he wasn't always the best as masking things. Maybe he didn't have to mask it though; he could just tell Jongin that he'd find out in a few days, and it was nothing too big. It wouldn't be lying either, because in Joonmyun's eyes, this was only repaying a fraction of what Jongin had given him.
He didn't answer the teasing questions -- and he wouldn't answer them unless Jongin became too much of a pest -- as he walked over and sat back down on the edge of the bed. After watching Jongin for a moment, Joonmyun reached for the bowl he'd left earlier and went back to eating. At the mention of Taemin, he nodded. "I think that'd be good. He'd probably be surprised to see me, hm?" It wasn't really a question, because he knew the boy would be surprised, but he'd be happy.
But Joonmyun didn't want to see him just because it would make him happy, but also because he wanted to see how the boy was doing. He didn't know how things were going for Taemin now, not after what had happened with Yoochun. Taemin was still just a kid, and Joonmyun only hoped that it wasn't holding him back too much from being just that.
The younger male couldn't help but chuckle at the way Joonmyun's grin faded just a little, and he finished the rest of his bun with an amused hum before nodding. "Taeminnie would probably be surprised," he agreed, smiling again as he watched Joonmyun carefully.
"I'm sorry... that you couldn't stay with Baekhyun," he said after a moment of silence, dropping his gaze to his fingers as he wiggled them before slowly curling each one into his palm. He really did feel bad, but... how was he supposed to say anything when Joonmyun had come back willingly.
After just another moment, he straightened and climbed off the bed, stretching his limbs before he tilted his head towards Joonmyun with a gentle smile before he rested his hands on his hips. "Come on... we should go say hi to Taemin before he goes back to sleep. And... don't worry, he's doing okay. Better than I thought he'd be doing; though he doesn't come out of his room all that often. But he'll be happy to see you..."
He pursed his lips as he watched Joonmyun, unable to stop himself from smiling as he let his eyes rest on his mate.
At the mention of Baekhyun, Joonmyun glanced up, worry lacing his featured for a brief second before he looked away and set his bowl down. Truthfully, he'd been too concerned with trying to get back Jongin at the time to think of how anyone back home would have reacted; he imagined that Baekhyun would panic, read the note, panic more, and then cry, while his parents were only likely to worry and then call the younger boy for updates, only to be disappointed because he didn't know, would never know.
"Don't apologize," Joonmyun replied quietly, looking back up and offering a gentle smile. "I made the choice to come back, and everyone else... they've just going to have to deal with it." He was an adult and he could do what he wanted without feeling like he was being babysat. It might not have been the most logical choice, to throw himself, quite literally, back into the wolves den, but Joonmyun knew to some extent that staying away might have killed him.
When Jongin moved from the bed, Joonmyun didn't hesitate to follow. He was eager to go see Taemin, but more than anything, he wanted to spend time out of this room whenever he got the chance. The memories were too much at the moment -- it was a wonder he'd been able to keep his head on straight for this long -- and he'd been cooped up for too many days over the past month.
Joonmyun stepped closer to Jongin, reaching out to link their fingers together before tugging him out of the room. There he went again, trying possibly too hard to make things feel like they were okay; it was awkward now, but it would go away after a while, right? Right -- or, at least, he could hope so.
Okay guise! There is a new feature and I'm going to abuse the hell out of it! WOOOO!
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