Minjun

It rained like Noah would need to build another ark the week after the trip to Chungju. Jun didn't care. The gloomy days matched his mood perfectly.

He'd run on auto-pilot the entire week. He'd gotten himself and Gain out the door to school on time. He picked her up from Hwang Narsha and Kwanghee's house and made dinner. He tried to do it with a smile so Gain wouldn't notice his heart was broken, but to be honest, Jun knew her heart was broken too.

Taecyeon had hit the nail on the head when he'd said how close he and Gain had gotten on the trip. They'd both used that newly forged bond to get them through the week.

After dinner, they'd sat together on the couch with Blackie and silently watched television. Not even the antics of Jake and the Neverland Pirates could make Gain laugh.

His friends, usually so far up his they knew what he'd had for lunch, had been curiously absent. He and Gain had driven back from vacation with Chansung and Junho. They'd known something was up, but with the kids in the car, hadn't said a word.

That weird silence had continued throughout the week. Junho and Ewon were always stopping into his office to chat about something or other. This week, both men had been scarce. He'd only seen them in passing in the hallway.

Not that he could blame them, really. He'd been a sad sack for so long that he guessed his friends were just sick and tired of his sad clown act. He knew how busy Junho's life was with Jay and couldn't really blame him for not being able to spare him any time.

Life without Taecyeon was nearly unbearable. It was odd to feel that after he'd only been seeing Taecyeon for the last month after being without him for the last two years, but it was true.

Taec said Jun didn't need him now that he and Gain were getting along better but Jun couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it that that, but him if he could figure out what it was. He just didn't have the strength to deal with the riddle.

He was about to shut the television off and go to bed when there was a knock at his door. It was past eleven on a school night. Who the hell would be here at this hour?

Jun hauled himself off the couch and over to the front door. A familiar face was standing on the other side "Jongup? What are you doing here?"

Jongup raised a skeptical eyebrow "Rumor has it you're going through a rough patch. I brought brownies." he held up a plastic grocery store sack.

"Come in."  Jun led his brother to the kitchen. Over the last few months, Jongup had stopped in once a week or so to check on him and Gain. That had stopped a few weeks ago when one of his big cases had gone to trial. Jongup was famous for going  underground when a trial was underway.

Jun got the plastic container of brownies out of the bag and managed to crack open the lid "I swear they make these things hard to get into on purpose."

Jongup smiled "Yeah, they make you work for your dessert." he grabbed a brownie and ate half of it in one huge bite "Spill it." 

Jun sighed. He knew damn well what Jongup wanted him to spill. Needing another minute to himself, he grabbed the milk out of the fridge and poured them each a glass.

"It's Taecyeon." Jun said on a sigh.

"No , Sherlock. What the hell happened? The last I knew he was practically living here and you were going off on vacation together."

"Who told you something happened?" he'd bet it was Junho. That man had a heart of gold, but also had a big fricken mouth.

"You did." Jongup said with a mouthful of brownie.

"I did?" Jun hadn't spoken to his brother since before they'd gone to the resort, so unless he'd done it in his sleep, Jongup was wrong.

Jongup took a sip of milk "You'd been texting me pictures like crazy. Christ, sometimes I'd get twenty in a day. I have to tell you, I enjoyed it. My phone would be off when I was in court all day. I loved coming home and turning my phone back on. It would beep like crazy for ten minutes while all the pics you'd sent downloaded.  Then all of a sudden the pictures stopped."

Jun nodded. It made sense. He'd sent a ton of pictures to Jongup and Hwang Narsha while they'd been gone "I don't know how to explain what happened." 

"Use your words, Junnie-hyung." Jongup flashed a smile and reached for another fudgy brownie.

Jun sighed. He tried to marshal his thoughts. He had spent the last week trying to figure out what the hell had happened with Taecyeon. He wasn't any closer to an answer now than he'd been the last day they'd been together "You know how badly I was struggling with Gain?"

"Yeah, poor little thing."

"Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul suggested I call in a speech therapist to work on her lisp. He recommended Taecyeon."

"Even in a big city the world is small. Everyone knows everyone."

"She fell in love with him, Jongup, and would pitch a fit when it was time for him to go home. Of course Hwang Narsha took Taecyeon in like a stray cat."

"No surprise there. Is that why Taecyeon started staying here?"

"Yeah. It was just easier getting Gain to eat dinner and take a bath and go to bed with Taecyeon here. He slept on the couch the whole time."

"But you got closer." it wasn't a question.

"So close that I decided I wanted to give him another chance." why the he'd thought that was a good idea he'd never know. 

"I know how hard you must have thought about it before making that decision."

"You're not upset?"

"Nope! I always liked Taecyeon. I've known all along he was the perfect man for you. Been waiting for you to see it too."

"What do you mean? You were as upset as any of us when Taec cheated on me two years ago."

Jongup shook his head "I was upset that you were upset. I was more angry at you that you wouldn't hear him out."

Jun nodded "I was such a jerk."

"I'm glad you can see that now. So what happened when you told Taecyeon you wanted to try again?"

Jun rubbed the heel of his hand against his battered heart "He wasn't sure. Said he wanted to see what happened when we were on vacation. He thought I was bringing him on the trip to ease the way with Gain."

"Were you?" Jongup sounded like he was cross-examining Jun.

"No! I wanted to spend time with him." all he'd wanted to do was spend every hour of every day with Taecyeon. 

"Did he know that?" Jongup raised an eyebrow in question.

Jun sighed. He was more tired that he'd ever been in his life and he wasn't in the mood to be treated like he was on the witness stand "I don't know."

"Thanks to all the pics you sent me, I know what a great time Gain had and how close the two of you have gotten. So maybe Taecyeon thought his job here was done."

"He said something like that." it had cut him to the bone to hear Taec say that very thing.

"And what did you say to him?" Jongup's voice was softer, less attorney and more little brother.

"Nothing, I just got pissed off that he'd spent the week being so close to me and now he was dropping me like a hot rock."

Jongup stood up and pulled Jun in for a hug "You're my brother and I love you, but let's just say strong communication skills are not your strong suit."

"Damn it, Jongup!" Jun struggled to free himself. He needed his brother's love and support right now. What he didn't need was a lecture. He'd already spent the last week beating himself up. 

"We both know I'm right. You never asked Taecyeon to stay, right? Ditto with not telling him you loved him, yes?" Jongup sounded like he already knew the answers to his questions.

"I didn't do either of those things." what a fool he'd been. If he'd spent more time listening to what Taecyeon had really been trying to say instead of getting angry, things might have turned out differently.

Jongup's eyes bugged open in shock "You let him go without a fight? Or even an explanation?"

Jun shook his head. He could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes. He held his brother tighter and cried on his shoulder "I've lost him again, Jongup."

"Now you're just being dramatic. You need to see him. Talk to him. Listen to him."

"What if he won't listen?" Jun wouldn't blame Taecyeon one bit if he didn't.

"It's pretty obvious he's still in love with you. He'll listen." Jongup kissed the side of Jun's head "And if he doesn't, we'll just sue him."

Jun started to laugh. Jongup was the youngest brother but he was more mature than Miryo and Jun combined but he still made his position as the youngest of the siblings clear. It felt good to have a plan. He knew he couldn't spend the rest of his life mooning over Taecyeon. He'd do what Jongup said and would call Taec in the morning. 

Taecyeon

Taecyeon was startled awake by a knock on his door. No one ever came to visit him at his apartment and besides, it was a Friday. Everyone he knew was working. As he stumbled out of bed he tried to remember if he'd ordered anything online and to the best of his knowledge, he hadn't, so it couldn't be the UPS man.

He pressed the microphone button "Who is it?"

"Meals on Wheels!" Hwang Narsha's cheery voice called back through the intercom.

Hitting the button to release the door lock, Taecyeon ran to the bathroom to run a comb through his hair and quickly brush his teeth. Narsha was knocking on his door just as he ran back into the kitchen. He opened the door for her.

"Christ, look what the cat dragged in." Narsha grabbed his chin, moving it from side to side "Scratch that, not even the cat would drag you in, Taecyeon. My poor baby." Narsha breezed past him and set a bag of groceries on the counter.

"Come on in, Narsha." Taecyeon grumped.

Narsha wheeled around "Go take a shower. I'll make you breakfast and then we can talk." 

"Why are you here?" Taecyeon figured now that Jun was out of his life, all of his friends were too. The last person, aside from Jun, he ever would expect to show up on his doorstep was Hwang Narsha.

"Just because you and Minjun are being stupid doesn't mean I have to join in too, now does it?" Narsha fisted her hands on her hips.

Taecyeon snorted. Narsha was always a straight shooter "No, ma'am."

"That's a good boy. Now shoo." Narsha turned around and started unpacking the food. It looked to Taecyeon like she'd brought enough to feed an army.

"I don't know exactly why you're here, Narsha, but thank you. I could use a hot meal."

"I can see that, Taecyeon, and you're welcome." 

When Taecyeon stepped out of the shower fifteen minutes later, he could smell bacon cooking. Even when things at home had been good, his mother had never been the type to make a big breakfast, not like Narsha was doing for him.

He toweled himself off, shaved his scruffy week old beard and found some reasonably clean sweats and an only slightly wrinkled t-shirt to wear. 

When he walked back into the kitchen, he could see the table had been set for two. A pitcher of orange juice sat in the middle of it and was flanked by a plate of hot buttered toast.

"Thank you for shaving. That beard was offensive." Narsha wrinkled her nose "Do you like your eggs sunny side up or scrambled?"

"Whatever is easiest. No, wait, sunny side up, please." Taecyeon found his first smile in what felt like a month "Thanks, Narsha. Not just for making me breakfast, but for getting me out of bed."

Narsha nodded and cracked an egg into the frying pan "When Chansung was married to Jea, I sat by and watched while she hurt my son and grandson with her selfish ways."

Jun had told him the story about how Jea felt that having Jay ruined her chance at being a hard-hitting newswoman. Instead, what she'd ended up hitting hard was the bottle and was now in a Texas rehab getting her life back together.

"I didn't want to be one of those mothers who stepped in and meddled in her son's life."

"I'm sure Chansung appreciated that." Taec had no idea where Narsha was going with this conversation.

"Actually, he told me years later that he'd wished I'd stepped in to save him and Jay from that woman." Narsha took a deep breath and slid three perfect eggs onto a plate which she set in front of Taecyeon "Those words haunt me to this day."

"Narsha, I'm so sorry." Taec reached out to set his hand on top of hers.

"Thank you, dear boy, but the point I'm trying to make here is that the days of me standing by and watching someone else I love get hurt are over."

Her words pulled Taecyeon up short "I-I..."

"Minjun told me about your falling out with your parents."

"Of course he did." Taec rolled his eyes.

"I don't love my son or my son-in-law-to-be one bit less because they're gay. Same goes for you. I'm not your mother, Taecyeon, but I'd like to be."

Taec's fork clattered against his plate "I don't know what to say, Narsha. Jun and I aren't together. We might not ever be and Junho is his friend."

"Now that is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Who cares who is friends with who." she fisted her hands on her hips and gave Taec a hard look "As for you and Jun not being together, that's why I'm here."

Taec mashed a piece of toast into the yolk of an egg. He understood where Narsha was coming from, wanting the people in her life to be happy in love, but he just didn't see a way for that to happen between him and Jun "He walked away from me, Narsha."

"The way I heard it, you walked away from him too." she raised an eyebrow in challenge "Besides, who cares?"

"Who cares, is starting to sound like a mantra." Taec grinned.

Narsha laughed "It might just be. You boys were having a ball up in the mountains. What happened to end it?"

Narsha was the first person to ask that question. Nichkhun had hugged him and promised to be there for him and Ewon had just shaken his head. No one offered any advice "We agreed to use the week away as a test run, of sorts."

"Sounded to me like you both crossed the finish line as winners. What happened to throw you both off into a ditch?"

"Jun never said what he wanted to happen next between us." it still killed him that Jun was content to just let their week end and then had the nerve to get mad at him for walking away.

"Did you tell him what you wanted to happen next?"

"No. I figured his non-answer was an answer."

"God, you boys are stupid." Narsha shook her head. 

Taec burst out laughing "Thanks, Narsha. Good talk."

"You have no idea what Minjun wanted to happen next, right?"

"Right."

"What if he wants you and by walking away, you broke his heart?"

"Jun's fine. He's got Gain."

Narsha blew out a sigh "Jun isn't fine, Taecyeon."

"What do you mean?"

"Junho said he looks like . He isn't eating and it doesn't look like he's been sleeping very well. None of the boys know what to do to help him. They don't know what to do to help you either."

Taec was stunned. Why would the other guys want to help him?

"What's worse is that Gain's struggling too."

That got Taecyeon's attention "What do you mean she's struggling?"

"That little girl saw both of you as her parents. She might not have been calling you guys 'Daddy' but you were her family. She's lost her spirit, Taecyeon. She didn't even do that after her mother died. All of the yelling and fighting with Minjun was her way of trying to control a situation she had no control over. Now she's just given up. Kind of like you and Jun..."

Taecyeon's heart broke all over again. He'd figured Gain wouldn't miss him at all "I don't know what to do."

"Do you love him?"

Taec nodded, feeling tears pricking at the back of his eyes "I always have."

"And I know you love our Gainoo."

"More than my own life."

"So call him. I know you're hurt and its possible Jun might not want to talk to you, but you need to try." Narsha wrapped her arms around Taec's shoulders "Do you want to know what I see?  I see two men who are crazy in love with each other, but neither of you are willing to fight for that love."

He knew Narsha was right. It had been on the tip of his tongue to tell Jun how much he loved him on that last day in Chungju, but he'd been too afraid to say it. He reached back into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone "I'll do better than calling him, I'll go by the school and ask him to have dinner with me."

"That's my boy." Narsha hugged him again. 

"What if he says no or won't see me?" Taec felt the old doubt start to creep back in.

Narsha whacked the back of his head "You fight for him."

"I will." what was the worst that could happen? He was already alone and missing Jun and Gain so bad it was hard to catch his breath. He'd fight and fight hard for the man he loved and the little girl he wanted to be his own.