Junho

The temporary custody hearing was set for 10:00am on Thursday morning. Junho had been given permission to take Tuesday through Thursday as personal days so he could serve his duties as Jay's Guardian ad Litem. He hated being away from his other students, but Jay needed him more.

Both he and the Hwangs had agreed that the best place for Jay was home with them until the business of who hurt him had been laid to rest. Junho knew with his entire heart that Chansung was innocent, but only the judge could reunite them as a family.

It had been hard, but Junho had complied with Doctor Horvejkul's request that he not ask Jay who had hurt him. Junho had been around five year olds long enough to know Jay would tell him what happened when he was ready. In the meantime, they'd spent all day Tuesday playing outside and doing art projects at the kitchen table.

Junho was cleaning up the mess they had made while Narsha was in Jay's room reading books with him.

"He's out like a light." Narsha grinned, walking back into the kitchen. She took her usual seat at the kitchen table.

"I ran him ragged outside this morning and he's probably still sore from..." Junho couldn't bear to say it. Every time he thought about the marks on Jay's back, he thought he was going to throw up.

"How about some tea?" Narsha moved to stand back up. 

"Absolutely, but I'm making it." Junho grinned and headed toward the stove. Once the burner was under the kettle, he grabbed a couple of mugs from the drain board.

"Thanks, Junho." Narsha settled back into her chair "Have you heard from Chansung yet?"

Junho shook his head, not bothering to turn around. Once he and Jay were settled in last night, Kwanghee had gone down to the police station to see Chansung. It turned out he hadn't been arrested on any charges and was allowed to go back to his apartment. He'd texted Chansung several times, but hadn't gotten a response yet.

Narsha shook her head "My son's always been a stubborn boy."

Junho snorted "This is more than being stubborn. He's hurt. When Jongup called last night he told me that Chansung thinks I didn't stand up for him in front of that cop yesterday." Junho grabbed the whistling kettle off the stove and poured the hot water into two mugs, before carrying them to the table.

Narsha nodded, accepting a steaming mug from Junho "Nothing you could have said would have made a difference to that cop, Junho. They need to eliminate Chansung as a suspect based on hard evidence, not based on the glowing praise of his boyfriend."

Junho burst out laughing "How do you know my praise would have been glowing?" it would have been, but how did Narsha know that? 

Narsha rolled her eyes "Oh, please! I'm not blind! I see the way you look at him."

"How do I look at him?" Junho knew exactly how Chansung looked at him, like the sun rose and set on him. At least he did until last night.

Narsha grabbed an earl grey teabag out of the caddy on the table "Just like I look at my Kwanghee, like Chansung's the love of your life."

"Fine. I'll give you that. He is the love of my life. I'm just afraid I've lost him forever." this situation was hard enough when they were just dealing with Jea's custody suit, but now with Jay being hurt, Chansung had lost his shared custody until at least Thursday, possibly longer, if the judge couldn't decide who was best suited to have Jay.

"Did Jay say anything about who hurt him while you've been reading to him?" Junho had been thinking over what Doctor Horvejkul said about not asking Jay directly who'd hurt him but instead to find another way to get Jay to tell him, but so far he hadn't figured out the right thing to say.

"No, not a blessed peep." Narsha set her mug down on the table "He kept asking if his Daddy was safe."

Junho shook his head "It sounds like whoever did this told Jay that if he tattled about who hurt him, they'd hurt Chansung." 

"It's not bad enough they hurt him and burst his little bubble of childhood innocence, they had to go and scare the daylights out of him too!" anger burned in Narsha's eyes.

"Doctor Horvejkul said something about finding a backdoor way to ask Jay what happened, instead of asking him directly. Do you think if we ask if he's afraid you or I will hurt Chansung, that it might get him to open up about who Jay's afraid of himself?”

"It's possible." Narsha tilted her head to the side, seemingly studying Junho "I wonder what Chansung's theory is?"

"Did Kwanghee-ssi say anything about that when he got back from the police station last night?" Junho had sat and listened to what Kwanghee had to say when he got back to the house, but he'd gotten the feeling Kwanghee wanted to speak with his wife alone and had excused himself to go to bed. When he'd gotten up this morning, Kwanghee was gone, leaving a note saying he was off to spend time with his camera.

"No." Narsha shook her head "He was just telling me how gutted Chansung looked sitting in the police station. His wrists had marks from where the hand cuffs had dug into his skin."

Junho winced. He hated to think of Chansung cuffed and under suspicion.

Reaching out to Junho, Narsha settled her hands on top of his "I know you're both upset. The problem is that you're both upset alone. If he's too stubborn to call or text you back, why don't you go see him? Bring him the artwork Jay made for him. I know he'd love that."

Junho wasn't so sure. Seeing what Jay had been up to without him might just tip Chansung over the edge "Maybe."

"Chansung never eats when he's upset. He loves the chicken enchiladas from Loco Taqueria across the corner..." Narsha took a sip of her tea, not meeting Junho's eyes.

Junho knew when to take a hint "With or without guacamole?"

Chansung

Chansung had barely slept a wink all night. After his father had dropped him off from the police station, he'd just sat on the sofa trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last three days.

He'd spent the morning documenting everything he could remember about Jay when he'd gotten dropped off on Sunday night. Once Chansung had emailed that off to Jongup, the rest of his day was free.

Thankfully, his boss at the library understood that Jay was more important than anything else and didn't mind him taking time off at the last minute. Chansung had earmarked the last week of his vacation for Jay's Christmas break, but if he couldn't convince the judge that Jay's best interests lay with him, then he wouldn't need that time off at Christmas. 

If he did end up winning, he could have his parents watch Jay during Christmas break. Or Junho...Chansung shook his head, sitting up on the couch and burying his face in his hands. Not having Junho by his side to face whatever was to come was gut-wrenching.

His life had been a mess of his own making, but ever since he met Junho, Chansung had started to feel like he was exactly where he was meant to be. After Junho refused to stand up for him last night, he'd started to feel like he'd been wrong about everything. Maybe he was just destined to live his life alone and unloved.

The screeching door buzzer pulled him out of his pity party for one. It was probably his father stopping by to make sure he was okay. He wouldn't be surprised if his mom sent over some food. Chansung's stomach grumbled, as if on command.

Without bothering to ask who was at the door, he hit the unlock button and waited for his father's knock. When it came, he yanked the door open, but was surprised to see it wasn't his dad, but Junho "What are you doing here, Benedict Arnold? Come looking for other secrets you can use to sell me out?"

Junho's smile crumpled. He pushed past Chansung into the apartment, setting down a large, handled, brown paper bag and some paintings on the kitchen table. He took a deep breath before he turned around to face Chansung "I didn't sell you out, Chansung." 

"That's only because the police haven't interviewed you yet." Chansung couldn't help being curious about what Junho brought him. He could smell Mexican spices and knew the paintings had to be from Jay.

Sighing, Junho carded a hand through his hair. He went over to the kitchen cabinet and grabbed two plates and silverware "I'm meeting with the police first thing in the morning and then your parents are next." Junho set the plates down on the table and opened up the bag of food.

Chansung watched while Junho opened two Styrofoam containers. One held enchiladas and the other had squares of deep fried cheese. His mother must have told Junho what his favorite foods were at Loco Taqueria. Junho had another thing coming if he thought some food could cure the rift between them.

"The artwork is from Jay." Junho pointed to the stack of paper he'd left face down on the table before making a plate for Chansung and then for himself.

"I don't remember asking you in or to share dinner with me for that matter." God, Chansung sounded like a drama queen, but he was hurt and he was going to stay hurt until Junho gave him a reason not to be, which of course made him sound like a bigger drama queen.

Junho dug into the bag, pulling out plastic containers of sour cream and salsa. He set a couple in front of Chansung and kept two for himself "You're right. You didn't. I thought you might want to hear about Jay and maybe talk about what to do next." 

"Next? You think there's a next, Junho?" Chansung fisted his hands on his hips.

"Eat first. Yell at me later." Junho raised an eyebrow in challenge and dug in to his enchilada.

Chansung frowned at Junho who was chewing a bite of chicken and looking like he was in heaven. Under other circumstances, he'd guess this would have been heaven for Junho, dinner alone with Chansung with a lot to talk about. He shook his head and gave in to the hypnotic smell of the food.

"I met Doctor Horvejkul last night." Junho offered between bites.

"Why did you meet Jay's pediatrician?" Chansung liked Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul. He'd always been good to Jay and had offered him a lot of good advice about being a single father.

"He was there to put Jay at ease at the hospital. The ER docs thought it would help Jay to have a familiar face with him. While your parents were getting Jay dressed after Nichkhun gave the all-clear, he showed me the pictures of Jay's back and said something amazing."

Chansung rolled his eyes in spite of how good the fried cheese tasted "What? Did he ask you out?"

Junho sighed heavily "No, if you must know, he's had a crush on you for years. What he showed me was a handprint on Jay's back. I held my hand up to it and the hand that did this to Jay is much smaller than mine. Your hands are much bigger than mine, which is how Nichkhun and I both came to the conclusion that you weren't the one who hurt Jay."

Chansung dropped his fork with a loud clank against his plate "It took a picture for you to be convinced that I didn't hurt Jay?" defeat etched Chansung's voice. If the man that he loved had needed physical proof of his innocence, then that meant Junho had considered him a suspect too. Chansung didn't know whether to cry or kick Junho out of his apartment.

He stood up from the table so forcefully that his chair turned over and crashed to the floor "You actually thought I could do this to Jay?"  Chansung could feel his control slipping away. Anger burned in his gut which felt like it was twisting around itself.

Junho set his fork down gently and looked up at Chansung. His black eyes looked muddy and sad "I never thought you hurt Jay. It's just not in you to do anything like this to your son. The police need more than glowing words from your boyfriend. They need hard proof of your innocence and this is it, Chansung."

Chansung stood watching Junho. His boyfriend didn't look like he'd gotten a lot of sleep last night. Junho looked ten years older than he had at the hospital. As angry as he was right now, he could see the toll all of this was taking on Junho.

Standing up from the table, Junho pushed his chair back in "Don't forget to look at the pictures Jay painted for you." 

"I don't want pity artwork from my son." he did, but he wasn't going to tell Junho how much it meant to him that his son was thinking of him today.

"For Christ's sake, it isn't pity artwork. Jay loves you. He misses you." Junho folded his hands into his back pockets and rocked back on his heels "We both do."

Chansung's brown eyes swam in tears. His father had told him last night that Junho was taking personal time off work to be with Jay. It meant the world to him that Junho was there for his son, but damn it, why couldn't Junho have said something, anything to that cop?

"I read to him last night before bed, all of the books that are his favorites to read with you. Jay keeps telling me I'm reading the stories wrong. He says I keep leaving out the dinosaur roars." Junho roared.

Chansung swiped at his tears, unmoved by Junho's story.

"I know you're mad at me, but our love is stronger than your anger. We're gonna get through this and be a family when it's over." Junho turned toward the door.

"A family?" Chansung sounded incredulous "You hung me out to dry with that cop when he was accusing me of hurting Jay. You stood there like a stump and didn't say a word to stick up for me or defend me." 

Junho turned back, reaching out for Chansung's hand, not letting go when his lover tried to pull away "I was just as angry as you were. I wanted to punch that cop out for even thinking you could have hurt Jay. More than that, I wanted to wrap my hands around Jea's neck and choke that out, but one of us had to be there for Jay."

"Oh, and you thought that would be you?" Chansung's free hand fisted at his side. He was really being petty treating Junho like this, but he was hurting and wanted Junho to hurt too.

"You're not thinking with your right mind." Junho let Chansung go this time when he jerked his hand away.

"Oh no?" anger burned so hot in Chansung's gut he thought he could breathe fire like one of Junho's dragons.

"No." Junho agreed "Since Jay won't say who hurt him, there was no way the cops were going to send him home with either one of you. They needed statements from you and Jea. I don't know if you know this, but another officer showed up a few minutes after you left and he took Jea with him. I would also assume they want to talk to Jongkook since he was with Jay all weekend."

"That ing bastard. I bet it was him. Why would another man want to raise my son?"

"I do." Junho said simply "I love you, Chansung. I'll be here for as long as you'll let me. All I want to do is start our life together and it seems like one roadblock after another keeps getting thrown in our way."

Chansung raised an eyebrow "Doesn't that tell you we're not meant to be?"

Junho shook his head sadly "No, it means our love is worth fighting for. I'll see you when you come to that conclusion for yourself."

Chansung watched Junho walk away from him and shut the door on his way out. He wanted to believe Junho's words, but right now his heart was so broken over the loss of Jay, that he just didn't have the strength to fight for their love.