I'm just not gonna say anything anymore about the duration of this fic. It'll end when it feels like ending.

Anyways here you go, enjoy.

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A Winter Miracle – Chapter 8

Jiyong was sitting in the living room after both he and Seunghyun had finished cleaning the kitchen. The boys had been on the hyper side but luckily Seunghyun had managed to calm them with some warm milk and honey. Right now he was putting the kids to bed, telling them that tomorrow was Christmas Eve and if they continued being brats that Santa wouldn’t bring them anything.

He smiled as he walked around the living room which held pictures of the family. He spotted an older picture of what he assumed were Seunghyun’s parents, adoptive parents, he reasoned as he noticed that they weren’t Korean. The pictures from then on moved in chronological order from the couple being younger to older, then adding a very young Seunghyun until recently with Daesung being in the family pictures.

“Hey.”

“Oh sorry I didn’t mean to be nosy” Jiyong apologized as he turned to see the man standing just a couple of feet away from him.

“It’s okay. The pictures are on the wall for everyone to see, not like you went to dig through my stuff or anything” Seunghyun shrugged as he came closer to Jiyong and looked at the picture the man had been looking at.

“What happened?” Jiyong asked as he looked at Seunghyun.

“It’s fairly obvious isn’t it?” Seunghyun retorted as he went to sit on the couch.

Jiyong sighed and turned to the man “But you’re still not over it.”

“Would you be? You’re parents are safe and healthy in California” Seunghyun glared trying to control his voice. “I know I don’t know what you feel but you can’t just… stop living” Jiyong started off strongly before trailing off to a murmur.

“And what would you suggest I do? I have an eight year old brother. They would have made him a ward of the state, sent him to some foster home if I had gone to UNT (University of North Texas) like my plan had been” Seunghyun said as he covered his face with his hands, “God I hate this. This is my fault if only… if only…”

The tears cascaded down the man’s cheeks as a sob broke out of his throat.

Jiyong ran over and wrapped his arms around the sobbing man holding his head against his chest. “Shhh it’s okay. Let it out” he whispered as he ran his fingers through the thick dark hair “Let it all out. That’s right go ahead and let it all out. I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere” Jiyong rocked Seunghyun as his hands bunched up his shirt as his sobs continued, tears soaking into the fabric of Jiyong’s shirt.

Slowly the sobs subsided followed by sniffling. At that point Jiyong stopped rocking and looked down when the hands fisted into his shirt loosened.

“Feeling better?” he asked quietly as he leaned against the armrest of the couch Seunghyun still pretty much laying on him. “Yeah…” the man answered thickly. “You don’t have to answer this but… why do you think it’s your fault?” Jiyong asked his fingers continuing to thread through the dark hair.

Seunghyun closed his eyes as he took a deep breath “I had just graduated high school and one of my friends was throwing a party at his place. I went. My parents hadn’t wanted me to go but I went anyway. Michael picked me up. It was fun, drinks, food and girls. Probably rivaled prom only without fancy suits and dresses. I ended up getting drunk and I couldn’t find Michael.

I called my parents. They were pissed but they told me to stay where I was at and they’d come get me. They didn’t make it. Some drunk idiot from the party decided to leave, rammed into them head on. There was only one survivor, Daesung. My parents obviously couldn’t leave him alone so they had put him in the car still sleeping.”

Jiyong bit his lip as he eyes stung with tears.

“I woke up at the police station where everyone from the party whose parents hadn’t come get them were sobering up. It’s all a blur from there, getting yelled at, the funeral and then having to face Daesung being taken away from me. I couldn’t do it. They told me if I didn’t want to take care of him that he would be fine in a foster home. He was traumatized from the accident, he never wanted to leave my side, not even when I was meeting with child protective services. So I agreed to take care of him and here I am, in danger of having him taken away from me again.”

Silence over the two of them broken only with an occasional sniffle.

Jiyong wiggled a little before he forced Seunghyun’s face up so he could look at him “I know you don’t want to hear this but I’m going to tell you anyways.” Seunghyun nodded before Jiyong opened his mouth again “It’s not your fault. You did the right thing, you called your parents to come get you. Instead of putting yourself and others in danger. Those people who left the party drunk are at fault, if they hadn’t been idiots your parents would have gotten you and taken you home.”

“But—”

“No, I know, why didn’t I just stay home? And sure you could have stayed home, but it’s not like you were going with people you didn’t know. Your parents knew Michael right? Y’all were besties right?” Seunghyun nodded to the questions that Jiyong was asking “I’m pretty sure that as much as they were mad at you, they were thankful that you had called them to pick you up. And I’m not trying to be cruel here but, you have to move on and live, you can’t change the past.”

“Read that in some book did you?” Seunghyun said softly as he looked down with a watery smile. “Damn right I did” Jiyong affirmed with a smile.

“Thank you Jiyong” Seunghyun finally said after a moment of silence “I’ve been told this before but I guess it never sank in, until now.”

Jiyong smiled and hugged the man “I’m glad.”

Seunghyun moved up so he was able to look clearly at the man’s face. His eyes felt swollen and he felt so unattractive but Jiyong looked so beautiful, serene, bathed in soft light from the lamps in the living room.

“I’m not sure if this is a good idea but… just push me away” Seunghyun whispered as he moved forward and placed his lips over the other man’s. They soft and slightly chapped, probably from the cold but so warm and real.

Jiyong exhaled shakily as he closed his eyes, responding to the soft kiss. It was brief and soft and he had been wanting to feel this man’s lips on his for so long already. It’s only two days Jiyong, he thought to himself as he placed his hand on Seunghyun’s neck putting slight pressure on him.

Not feeling any type of rejection Seunghyun leaned forward and taking Jiyong’s lower lip between his own laving it with his tongue. He felt rusty, it had been so long since he had kissed anyone this way but Jiyong wasn’t protesting and god did it fill him with warmth hearing the man moan softly and his hands move from his neck to his hair.

Pulling away he looked down at Jiyong whose cheeks were stained red his eyes shining brightly.

“You didn’t push me away” Seunghyun murmured as moved his hand to caress Jiyong’s cheek.

“I didn’t want to” Jiyong moved into the caress “In fact I’ve wanted to kiss you since fore—yesterday” he smiled as he moved so he was more comfortably pressed against the armrest of the couch. “Oh really? Because I’m pretty sure I looked like crap yesterday.” Jiyong giggled at the man “It’s true but I have read enough romance books to look past someone’s grungy morning looks or in your case stiff shouldered and in pain and grungy look.”

Seunghyun chuckled as he sniffed slightly his nose still wanting to drain itself from his earlier bout of tears. Reaching over awkwardly he pulled the box of tissues on the coffee table closer to them and pulled out a couple and blew his nose. “Well I guess I have to thank all those romance authors… wait you didn’t edit any of those teen romance books did you?”

Jiyong shook his head and giggled as his cheeks stained pink once more “Maybe a couple, trust me they are not the ones that are popular right now. But I don’t have a set genre, if I like the manuscript I’ll take it on, it’s how I work. I’ve done a couple historical fiction, some mystery, some romance and a couple of self-help books.” “Is that why you’re so good at fixing me?” Seunghyun asked as he sat up, laying on Jiyong was starting to aggravate his stiff shoulder.

“No. I assume I’m good at fixing you because I like you and you like me” Jiyong grinned as he sat up following Seunghyun “Is your shoulder bothering you?” Seunghyun didn’t answer but instead grabbed Jiyong’s hand and pulled him close. “Stop worrying about me so much. You might just make me fall for you” he said and pulled him into another kiss.

“I fail to see where the problem is” Jiyong said softly as he inhaled sharply kissing the man back again.

Silence settled over the kissing couple broken slightly when one of them would pull away to gasp for breath.

“Please don’t make me fall for you. You’ll eventually have to leave and if I fall for you I don’t know what I’ll do” Seunghyun murmured once they had pulled away and he buried his face into Jiyong’s neck. “What about me?” Jiyong asked turning his head to bury it into Seunghyun’s hair “What if I fall for you what then?”

“I don’t know” Seunghyun answered honestly.

Closing his eyes Jiyong wrapped his arms around Seunghyun keeping his nose buried into Seunghyun’s soft hair.

“Let’s go to sleep” Jiyong suggested “Do your arm exercises and then go to sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.”

Seunghyun nodded and the two untangled themselves from each other.

Turning off the lights in the living room and making sure the door was locked the two headed to the master bedroom. And Jiyong watched as Seunghyun did most of the routine himself right up until it came to do the arm exercises.

Jiyong stepped in reading the instructions and then helped him frowning when Seunghyun would hiss in pain but was adamant on not taking any painkillers.

When they were done Jiyong helped Seunghyun put on a shirt and then helped to tuck him in. “Goodnight, I’m leaving the door open so the kids can come in here if they need to” Jiyong murmured and then turned off the lamp.

Seunghyun grabbed Jiyong’s hand stopping him from leaving “Stay with me.”

It wasn’t a request nor a question.

Jiyong took a deep breath and nodded “Okay.” Feeling the hand leave his he turned “Let me put something else on okay.”

Seunghyun nodded in the dark and Jiyong quickly left and went to his suitcase to get a pair of soft sleep pants. He was wearing sweats but they were much too hot for him to sleep in. He quickly changed and made his way back into the bedroom. Carefully climbing into the bed he felt Seunghyun reach out and grab his hand.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jiyong stayed awake until he knew heard Seunghyun breathing deeply letting out soft snores. He let go of the man’s hand and moved closer and propped himself up on one elbow and reached out with one hand to lightly touch the man’s face.

“You’re so beautiful… you telling me not to make you fall for me when you’re the one making me fall for you…” Jiyong whispered softly so only he could hear. “Selfish prick… no you’re not I’m just being stupid. I’m the one who will have to leave eventually… not you. I’m sorry. I need to stop, but…I can’t. I’m starting to not want to leave here… leave you.”

Jiyong dropped his hand when Seunghyun turned in his sleep to face him, still fast asleep.

“I don’t know what I’ll do when all this ice and snow finally clears up” Jiyong said as he moved to lay down sharing Seunghyun’s pillow. “I don’t want to go” he murmured as he turned around his back facing Seunghyun and curling up under the warm blankets. A single tear slipped down his cheek when the man behind him snuffled in his sleep and wrapped his arm around his waist. I’m such an idiot, he thought as he began drifting into sleep, such a stupid idiot.

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As always comments are love and I enjoy them. 8) I might actually be able to update a little more frequently now since this is finals week for me. I should be studying right now but... I'm not. 8P Anyways I'll probably update again after finals. Thank you.