Chansung

Chansung's hands were sweating as he climbed out of his SUV at Jea's house. During the ten minute ride over, he'd gone over all the possible things she could want to discuss. None of them were good.

It crossed his mind that Jea could want to move on with her life and give him full custody of Jay. Having his son full-time was his heart's greatest wish. Nothing would make him happier. If Jea gave him full custody, it meant he'd be free to make all decisions concerning Jay without having to get Jea's say so, permission, more like. Over the years, she'd done nothing but make his life and Jay's, by extension, miserable.

Last year, Jay showed an interest in playing soccer in the Seoul Youth League. It was for four and five year olds to teach them the very basics of the game as well as team building and sportsmanship. Chansung had eagerly filled out the permission slip and had taken Jay shopping for knee pads and new sneakers. He'd never seen his son so excited about anything non-dinosaur related before, until Jea dropped the hammer and refused to sign on the dotted line. She claimed soccer was too dangerous for Jay to play. Chansung was crushed when Jay's enthusiasm turned to tears.

He shook his head, offering a silent prayer that whatever Jea had to tell him would make his life with Jay better rather than worse.

Wiping his sweat-soaked hands on the of his pants, he rang the doorbell. Moments later, his prune-faced ex-wife opened the door.

"Chansung, come in." Jea greeted coldly, not bothering to hold the door open for him.

Rolling his eyes, Chansung followed dutifully behind her, like a Labrador retriever, through what used to be their house.  They'd bought the cute two-bedroom ranch-style house with help from Jea's parents right before Jay was born which was the reason Jea kept the house in the divorce. Money definitely talks.

"Where's Jay?"

"Not here." Jea didn't bother to turn around, instead stalking toward the fridge where she grabbed a bottle of wine. Without offering Chansung any, she poured out what looked like half the bottle into a deep glass. 

"Why am I here, Jea? It sure as hell isn't to watch you drink. God knows I did enough of that while we were married."

She glared at him, her eyes icy "I wouldn't have had to drink so much if my husband didn't like choking on ."

"Jesus Christ, Jea! You're nothing but class." Chansung raked his hands through his hair, sick of her well-rehearsed theatrics after only five minutes of being here "What do you want?"

"Jaebeom." she said simply, before taking a large gulp from her glass.

"Jay? You already won joint-custody which you don't take advantage of now. I'm sure as hell not giving you extra time with him just so you can disappoint him more." Chansung had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach thanks to the purely evil look on his ex-wife's face.

"Jongkook asked me to marry him. We're moving to his house in Greenwich, Connecticut in America. He's a stockbroker on Wall Street, you know." a sharp smile spilt Jea's face in two. It reminded Chansung of the devilish clown in the television movie version of Stephen King's It, only Jea didn't have blood dripping from her perfectly white teeth. Yet...

"Congrats. I'm sure you and Soongsook will be completely miserable together." Chansung knew he should just keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't resist getting one dig in at Jea.

"Jongkook." Jea glared at him. 

"Jongkook, Soongsook, I don't give a . I wish you all the happiness in the world, but..." Chansung took a deep breath to steady his nerves "...you're not taking my son on the other side of the world away from me."

"Our son, don't you mean?" Jea took another deep drink from her glass before pouring the rest of the bottle into her now empty glass.

"Give me a break, Jea." Chansung was trying to hold on to his patience "You haven't given a damn about Jay since the moment you found out you were pregnant."

"You ruined my life!" Jea exploded, her icy eyes nearly black with rage.

Chansung barked out a rough laugh "I ruined your life? If memory serves, you're the one who begged to have with me at that frat party back at Simmons."

Jea snorted "I guess even a limp-dicked like you can get it up once, huh?"

Chansung felt his blood start to boil. Language like this was nothing new from Jea. He should be used to her venom by now, but those words still hurt "Call me whatever you want, but you're not taking Jay away from me." the anger in his belly turned to stone-cold fear.  Jea's parents had a lot of money and they'd be able to afford the best team of lawyers to help her win the custody case. 

"Watch me. No judge in this country is going to give custody of a little boy to a flaming homo."

"When did you become such a hateful ?" Chansung couldn't resist asking. He should have just left the house, quit while he was ahead, but Jea had put the fear of God into him and now the fight was on.

"The day one of your swimmers had a sense of direction."

"If the day you got pregnant with our son turned you so ing bitter, why do you want full custody of Jay so badly?"

Jea gulped down another long sip of wine before leveling her fuzzy gaze at her ex-husband "I want to raise Jay in a normal family with a mom and a dad. I want Jay to be raised Catholic. There are better schools in Connecticut than there are here in Seoul. Jongkook will be a better father to Jay than you could ever be, but the biggest reason I want Jay away from you is so that he doesn't turn out to be a worthless -pirate like you."

Junho

Junho was relaxing in front of the television with an episode of Hawaii Five-0 on netflix. He'd started marathoning the revamped version of the show a week ago and now was hopelessly hooked.

The new Steve McGarrett was on legs with his cocky swagger and endless confidence. Junho wouldn't have minded being roughly frisked and submitting to a body cavity search if McGarrett were conducting it. Junho snorted when his started perking up at that idea. Down boy...

His continued to rise in his black flannel sleep pants. McGarrett was interrogating a dirt-bag suspect hard. Junho relaxed back into his four year old sectional, palming his growing while the television suspect got his.

Junho's fingers twitched as he slid them up his pants and beneath the waistband. They had just grazed his head when the text chime on his phone dinged.

"Damn it." Junho muttered, pulling his hand out of his pants and reaching forward for his phone which sat on the coffee table.

'Need a friend' Junho's heart started hammering in his chest when he noticed the message was from Chansung. What he couldn't figure out was if Chansung's text was a statement or a question.

'Hey, man!' Junho typed back. He was so excited to finally hear back from Chansung after he'd given the other man his phone number yesterday.

'Come over?'

Junho's jumped in his pants and it had nothing to do with the now shirtless McGarrett on his television screen '10 mins.' Junho hastily typed back before bolting from the couch, peeling off his ratty tee shirt as he moved toward his bedroom.

Tossing his shirt toward the hamper, he shucked out of his sleep pants and reached for a clean pair of jeans and a Red Sox tee.

Two minutes later, Junho was buckling his seatbelt and pulling out of his driveway. Having grown up in Seoul, he knew exactly where Chansung's apartment was and where to find free resident parking.

The rioting butterflies in his stomach were tempered by Junho not really being sure why Chansung invited him over at 8:00pm on a Monday night. He was definitely leaning toward Chansung needing a friend himself rather than asking if Junho needed company.

Easing his truck into a free parking spot, he hopped out of the cab and hurried toward Chansung's brick apartment building. His hands were shaking when he reached out to press the buzzer.

"Junho?" Chansung's voice sounded slurred.

"Yeah, it's me." was Chansung drunk? When the door buzzed, Junho pulled it open and headed up the stairs. Junho's heart squeezed in his chest. What could have gone so wrong since they'd said goodbye together yesterday afternoon? Jea...Junho shivered. She was the only thing that he could think of that would send Chansung into this kind of distress. 

Rapping on the door marked '5' Junho held his breath waiting for Chansung to answer.

The door yanked open and Junho's heart broke at what he saw. Chansung's hair was a mess, his eyes ringed red. He was still dressed for work in dark dress pants and a wrinkled white button down, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Junho's crush looked like he'd just lost his best friend.

"Junho!" Chansung squeaked, pulling the startled man into his arms while kicking the door shut behind them.

Junho held on tight, wrapping his arms around Chansung's broad shoulders. He caught a whiff of Chansung's clean scent, Ivory soap, Junho thought it was, and held on tighter.

Chansung's grip was strong around Junho's waist and Junho could feel his friend's hot breath against the side of his neck "I'm here, Chansung. I'm here." he didn't know what else to say. All he could think to do was keep holding Chansung. The details would come out later.

"Lost him, Junho." Chansung muttered into the hollow of Junho's throat.

"Lost who? Jay?" Junho fought against the rising panic roiling in his gut.

Chansung nodded, sniffing loudly against Junho's shoulder "Gonna take him away from me. Raise him in a normal family." 

Normal family? Junho's panic turned instantly to anger. Was Jea intimating that a gay father or a gay couple wasn't a normal family? He took a steadying deep breath, not wanting to make any assumptions.

Junho pulled back from the twin bands of iron that were Chansung's arms. His brown eyes, usually dancing in delight were filled with pain and new tears were threatening to spill. Chansung was a mess "Why don't we sit down and you'll tell me what happened? Then we can figure out what to do next, hmm?" Junho offered Chansung a steady smile.

Chansung nodded and seemed to pull away reluctantly from Junho. It gave him his first chance to look around Chansung and Jay's apartment. It was small, but neat with an eat-in kitchen and gorgeous bare brick walls. There was a red plaid sofa with a coffee table dividing the kitchen from the living room. On the table, Junho could see a bottle of what looked like coconut rum. Against the far wall was a small television stand and a large basket filled with Jay's toys. Junho could see colorful plastic dinosaurs spilling out onto the floor.

Junho watched as Chansung arranged himself on the sofa, resting his head back against it and his hands against his eyes. Following Chansung's lead, Junho sat to his friend's right side, turning his body to face his friend. With a shaking hand, Junho reached out to take one of Chansung's.

Grabbing on like a lifeline, Chansung threaded their fingers together "Got a text from the rotten commanding me to her house." Chansung paused, reaching his left hand toward the bottle of Malibu rum before seeming to think better of it.

Junho stayed silent, waiting for Chansung to continue with the story.

"She's gettin' married." Chansung barked out a rough laugh "Never thought I'd see the day when someone would want to marry that sour-faced witch in high heels."

Junho nodded, reaching up to brush a stray lock of bright blond hair off of Chansung's forehead.

Chansung turned, the harsh, angry look on his face softening "God, you have the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen. Like the warm starless night sky kind of type, not the cold and lonely darkness tyoe." Chansung reached his free hand out to Junho's face.

Junho shuddered under his touch. He knew the dreamy look and poetic bent of Chansung's words were the rum talking. Even still, the words were magical.

"Saw a documentary on sky once. All of the filler shots were of the sky during the night. Your eyes are that color, Starless night. A man could fly in eyes like that, Junho."

Junho mentally swooned. If he had been standing when Chansung spoke about his eyes, he would have landed in a heap on the floor, for sure. As it was now, his heart was hammering in his chest while his thickened in his jeans. 

As flattered as Junho was at Chansung's flowery words, words he'd never forget if he lived to be one hundred, he needed to steer the conversation back to what happened with the Wicked Witch of the North. Before Junho could open his mouth to speak, his host moved closer.

Chansung scraped his thumb along Junho's jaw line, his lips in concert with his feather-light touch.  Leaning forward, Chansung closed his eyes while pulling Junho's lips closer to his own.

Junho knew Chansung was about to kiss him. He wanted to feel Chansung's lips on his more than he wanted his next breath, but not like this, with Chansung reeking of Malibu and desperation "Chansung, no."

Chansung jerked away, stumbling to his feet before spinning back around to face Junho. The look on his face was calm. His brown eyes no longer burned with need and lust "You're a good man, Junho. A good friend. Any other man would have taken me up on my distraction and tumbled into bed with me."

Junho's jerked hard in his pants. His wanted to do just that and get lost in the sweet velvet heat that was Chansung's mouth, but thankfully, at the moment, Junho's head with the brain was the one in charge "You're a good man too, Chansung." it was the reason Junho had raced over here with no notice at all on a school night "Finish the story, then we can figure out what comes next."

Seemingly calmed by Junho, Chansung turned to face his friend "Her new man, Soongsook.” Chansung snorted "Who the names their kid Soongsook?" 

Not bothering to wait for an answer, Chansung plowed on "He's some kind of hot shot stock market guy in New York City. Has a huge ing house in Greenwich, Connecticut." Chansung paused long enough to mimic taking a sip of tea, his pinkie finger up high in the air.

Junho snorted. He knew the type.

"She wants to take my boy away from me, because..." Chansung took a shuddering breath, seeming to be fighting for control of his emotions "Because I'm gay." tears tumbled from Chansung's brown eyes "Says Jay deserves to be raised in a normal family with a mother and a father and not two pirates."

Junho burst out laughing. He couldn't help it. In his mind he could see a mental picture of him and Chansung dressed up like Captain Jack Sparrow and Chansung asking what happened to the rum.

Much to Junho's surprise, Chansung started to laugh too, bracing his hands on his knees.

Junho scrambled to his feet, knowing the laughter would be short-lived. He set his hands on Chansung's broad shoulders.

Chansung took a hitching breath "I can't lose him, Junho. I'd die without my son."

Junho pulled his friend into his arms knowing in his heart Chansung meant every word he'd just said.