Just You and Me
The Howling - Part IV: Inevitable
Yunho's eyes followed Jongin as he walked out of the room, and he looked back to Joonmyun in time to catch the discomfort that flitted across his features before he pushed it down. He smiled a little, sympathising with the boys because he still remembered what it'd had been like those first few months. Changmin shifted a little, standing as he met Joonmyun's eyes, before he crossed to sit at the bed with Taemin.
"...The Alpha," Jaejoong said softly, eyes briefly on Changmin before he looked to Joonmyun. "Punishment for...killing him." He didn't need to say the name, Joonmyun would know who he was talking about. The elder smiled weakly, eyeing the hand that was still splinted and bandaged. "Then he took it out on each of us - not as bad as Jongin, though - because we hadn't done our jobs right, apparently."
Yunho shook his head with a sigh. "You have to understand, Joonmyun. When a wolf loses their mate, the one they're bound to, they... lose a part of themselves. Jongin's mother was the Alpha's mate. And when she died... he... lost his grip on sanity. The man who's Alpha, he's not the man we grew up with... I'm not telling you this to scare you, I'm just telling you because you have a right to know what it's like for us to lose our mates, not so you feel any sort of sympathy for that man. Because I know I don't. All I have is pity..."
He trailed off, sighing as he leaned back and rubbed his temple. Though at the sound of the door opening, he looked up, relaxing more when he saw it was Jongin returning with a tub of icecream - not the one that Joonmyun had brought to the bedroom - and five bowls and spoons. He gave the elder males a weak grin, before smiling affectionately at Joonmyun and then adoringly at Taemin.
"...Who wants ice cream?"
It was almost overwhelming how much made sense now: why Jongin hid in his room all the time, why Yoochun had gotten away with what he did, why Jongin was treated like he was. Joonmyun felt sympathy for the boy, and as much as he tried to suppress it, it didn't work, so he gave up and let the emotion run its course. He couldn't help it, not when Jongin had gone through so much hell just to stay alive, but even though he was alive, he wasn't living.
Unless imprisonment was living, then he was nothing more than a prisoner in his own home, trapped within the confines of his room, held down by rules that only served to make him miserable. And there was not one damn thing Joonmyun could do about it. Sure, he could try, but he was absolutely sure that an encounter like that with the alpha would get him killed faster than Jongin could save him, and then the boy would only be subject to a life of lonely misery. Joonmyun couldn't do that to him.
What he could do, however, was attempt to give him what happiness that he could. Joonmyun was pondering this when Jongin walked back in, a newer tub of ice cream in hand, along with bowls and spoons. He looked right past that and saw the weak grin, immediately wondering if he'd heard what had been said; it wouldn't surprise him. It was then, after a took long moment, that he decided what he could do now.
Without a word, Joonmyun pushed himself from his chair and made his way over to Jongin, lips set in mild determination as he plucked the items from his hands and placed them on a table near the boys. He glanced up at Jongin for only a second, an unfamiliar yet sympathetic look in his eyes, and he promptly took the boy's hand before tugging him out of the room and into the hall.
Once he'd closed the door, perhaps a little harder than necessary, he turned to Jongin and gave him a long, hard look before throwing his arms around the taller male's neck and burying his face in his shoulder. Joonmyun had no words at that moment, but he had a feeling that words weren't needed, that one way or another, Jongin would understand.
Jongin hadn't heard the conversations, but he had felt the slight shifts in Joonmyun's emotions, and he had barely a moment to respond before he was being lead back out of the room. He took a moment to realize they were in the hallway, before his breath was all but knocked out of his lungs as Joonmyun threw his arms around his neck.
"J-Joon..." he trailed off, heart beginning to race in his chest as he slid both arms around the boy's waist and let himself sink into the comfort and warmth that Joonmyun had to offer.
The hug settled his nerves, easing his discomfort from the past few days. It was as if the boy's touch settled him, warm and soft and protective. Jongin's eyes closed as he pressed his face into the boy's shoulder, breathing in his scent.
"I'm glad you came back," he whispered against the boy's skin, his hold tightening just a little bit on the elder's waist as he breathed out. "...to me."
"I'm sorry." That was all Joonmyun thought he'd be able to manage at the moment, lest he risk losing complete control of himself. And he wasn't even sure what he was sorry for. They way the boy had grown up wasn't his fault, but he was still sympathetic; what the alpha and Yoochun did to him wasn't his fault either, but it didn't mean that it was something he approved of.
Almost instantly, he relaxed into Jongin's arms, muscles no longer tense as he fit perfectly into the boy's comforting hold. It was perfect, almost too-perfect, how they fit together, like two pieces of a puzzle coming together, and Joonmyun wanted to cry. He'd never felt this way about someone before; even when he and Baekhyun had been together, it hadn't been anything like this.
"There's something about you, Jongin," he murmured against the bare skin of the boy's shoulder. "It might just be the imprinting-" though, Joonmyun felt it was more than that "-but there's something about you and I don't think I could ever try to leave you again." Joonmyun tightened his grip on Jongin, pulling himself closer and turning his head to bury his face in the crook of the boy's neck.
After a few long minutes, he finally pulled back, but only enough to look up at Jongin. "Can we go somewhere? Just you and me. It doesn't have to be anything special, just somewhere where we don't have to worry about anyone else."
Jongin's breath hitched and he curled his fingers just a little tighter into Joonmyun's waist, not enough to hurt, but enough that he was sure - Kai was sure - that Joonmyun wasn't going to go anywhere. A smile met his lips, a smile he pressed into Joonmyun's shoulder as the elder spoke.
Before Joonmyun had shown up, Jongin had been ready to let go, ready to give into the role that had been prepared for him, one that might've eventually let him take over the pack and get rid of those people who had spent their lives hurting him. And then... he'd tried to escape, then he'd found Joonmyun, then everything changed. He changed. Joonmyun changed him, for the better.
Jongin felt Joonmyun speak before he heard him, felt the gentle tickle of a voice against his skin, and a shiver ran down the length of his spine as he spoke, and the younger had to resist the urge to pull back until Joonmyun was. The next words took him a few moments to process, before he actually realized what he'd said.
"...Yes, there is..." His voice was soft, an almost husky rasp as he swallowed and smiled. He dropped his arms from around Joonmyun's waist and carefully slid his fingers into the elder's grip. "Come on..."
Turning, he tugged lightly on Joonmyun's hand and led him towards the end of the hallway where the doorway and staircase leading outside into the gardens was. He knew a place where they could be alone.
Joonmyun was reluctant to pull away, put he wouldn't complain, not when Jongin's fingers slipped between his own to grasp his hand, grip firm but gentle. While he'd come to terms with the fact that touching Jongin was going to light up fireworks under his skin, it still felt different each time, more intense, and he wondered how long it would be before one of them lost control.
He fell into step beside Jongin as he tugged him down the hall. Joonmyun didn't need to be told where Jongin was taking him, because he knew the path well enough. Still, he didn't remove his hand from the boy's grip, wantingneedingcraving that comfort that it offered.
Outside, he stopped and looked out over the gardens, grinning softly at the sight of the flowers in their mid-spring bloom; in the bright, harsh light of the setting sun, everything looked eerily gorgeous. The trees and plants and leaves all cast long shadows across the ground, golden light bouncing off everything else, illuminating the place in a sparkling gold.
The air was the same as he remembered, fresh, crisp, clean, and better than the air in town even at the end of the day. It was beautiful, breath taking, but Joonmyun didn't want to stand around all evening, so he gave Jongin's had a light squeeze, one that told him to lead the way.
Okay guise! There is a new feature and I'm going to abuse the hell out of it! WOOOO!
Comments