The Tattooist [13a]
Title: The Tattooist
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG-13 for now
Length: Chaptered
Genre: AU, fluff
Warning: Super-mild underage shenanigans. Like so super that really, even if you squint you might not see it. I can't see it myself but eh. Protecting my own ass is a good thing.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the story. I wish I had YunJae and if I had my way, they'd move to New Zealand so they can be MARRIED here
Summary: Nothing has ever fazed him in his life. At 29, he is successfully self-employed, and doing something he loves which means going to work should really be enjoyable. What is that saying? If you work in what you love, you will never work a day in your life? This would be true if not for just one doe-eyed problem…
AN1: Denial is a river in Egypt...
AN2: And this got dropped into my ask.fm and well... CONTROL is canon ;-)
Yunho lets the boy go, watching as Jaejoong stumbles, holding onto his ripped pajamas and heading straight for the bedroom like a bat out of hell.
But he has seen enough. The boy’s arousal is just like the boy himself.
Pink, pouty, pretty.
His grip on the handle of his katana is so tight it is almost painful.
But not as painful as the hardness he is hiding behind the folds of his hakama.
He takes a deep breath, and then turns, heading towards his study. His steps are slow and measured, and very deliberate. He is replaying the footwork of the macabre dance he had just practiced, in his mind, in an effort to distract himself from the beautiful boy and his innocent eyes. The shock in them, and then the panic, and then the kitten bolts.
Yunho has never felt their age difference more acutely than in that very moment.
He sheathes his sword slowly, sliding the katana into its saya. He can feel the tightness of the sheath, and his body reacts to the imagery and he drops his chin, taking a deep breath. He has managed to keep away from the boy for so long, but now the teenager is accessible.
More than accessible.
The teenager is his.
But he is still a boy.
Yunho grips his sword lying in its scabbard, gently using his other hand to raise it till both hands lay underneath the horizontal blade. He bows low, placing the katana back where it belongs, focusing all his frustrated energy on the weapon.
Once he straightens, his expression darkens. He knows he has to get rid of his hakama. He has soiled it with his uncontrolled reaction to the teenager. The garment is not just a means of covering. It has symbolic meaning.
And while the more rational part of his mind points out that he has not gone against any of the principles, Yunho wavers on one of the meanings.
Righteousness.
There is nothing right about seducing an underaged boy.
He takes another deep breath, more than prepared to sleep on the couch. But he has to make sure he hasn’t scared his teenager. Jaejoong has done nothing but be himself, and Yunho finds himself struggling more and more to resist the boy and his innocent reactions. He had not just pointed a blade at him, he had cut the very clothes from his body. If that isn’t the actions of a predator, he has no idea what is. He should have expected Jaejoong not to be wearing underwear but he wasn’t thinking clearly.
Or perhaps he was, because he did feel the boy against his side as he slept with his leg across his body.
Perhaps he didn’t care.
And that bothers him.
”Like father like son, eh?”
His mother was sixteen. Jaejoong is seventeen.
Is he really like his father?
But somehow, despite the age difference, his mother adores the very breath out of his father. Perhaps it’s some weird form of Stockholm Syndrome, since she was given away against her will. Yunho has no idea, but he gives her the benefit of the doubt for she is his mother.
What of Jaejoong then?
The boy is here willingly. Yunho once again gave him a choice back at his sister’s apartment, and the boy had declined. In fact, he had been rather cheerful once they had finally arrived back at the apartment. The teenager had unpacked quickly, taking over whatever remains of Yunho’s drawers, his clothes fitting easily into the remaining space in the middle row.
One drawer in the bottom has been set aside for Jiji, but the remaining six are now filled with an assortment of Jaejoong’s things from his five boxes. Mainly books, and Yunho had offered to get the boy a proper bookcase and a separate desk to be placed in his spacious study.
Jaejoong had declined though, smiling shyly and admitting that he is so used to doing his homework on a couch that he is more than happy to continue doing so as long as he has plump cushions to lean on.
Yunho had added cushions to his mental shopping list.
He doesn’t recall seeing those now-ruined pajamas, but Yunho figures the boy probably unpacked them while he was in the shower.
Yunho sighs, trying to work the day out in his mind. He undresses slowly, his earlier erection now at half mast, and continuing to wilt.
What will he find in his bed? Will Jaejoong still be in it or will he be on the phone calling his sister and asking her to pick him up? Yunho would be more than happy to drop him off.
Control.
What a joke. He clearly has none, because if he had he would not have touched the teenager. And yes, slicing the clothes off him with the point of his katana definitely counts as touching.
He will ignore the satisfaction he gained at ruining the childish pajama set.
He digs in the closet, pulling out a pair of track pants and a teeshirt. This is the closet where he keeps his gym wear, and while he had entered the room in boxers, he is not about to spook the teenager even more than he already has.
Yunho walks slowly back to the bedroom. The apartment is dead silent, and Jaejoong might as well not be there, from the amount of sounds the boy is making.
Or lack thereof.
He pushes the door open, and his heart slows down marginally when he sees the telltale lump on his side of the bed. The wrecked Hamtaro pajamas lie in a heap on the floor, and he uses his foot to push it out of the way, lest Jaejoong gets tangled up in it in the morning. He has no idea whether to just take his leave, now that he knows Jaejoong is ok, or whether he should get into bed.
Unfortunately for him, his body moves before his brain, and he is already pulling the covers aside before he can stop himself.
But stop he does as Jaejoong is slowly exposed to his eyes.
A bare shoulder.
A bare back.
A bare…
Yunho’s hand is frozen, quite unable to believe his eyes. From the steady rise and fall of the boy’s back and the soft snores, he knows that Jaejoong is once again asleep.
Naked.
In his bed.
Yunho is not a fucking saint. What the hell is the matter with this teenager? Does he want to be ravished? Does he want Yunho to lose his mind somewhere between that sweet fucking ass?
And really, any sane adult would replace the covers and walk away.
But clearly Yunho has lost his mental faculties.
He slips slowly between the covers, the idea of removing his own clothes not even crossing his mind as he lays once again, across the wrong side of the bed. He really needs to fix this problem.
But it can wait.
Yunho lies ramrod straight on his back, staring up at the ceiling, each soft exhalation from the boy sending tendrils of desire curling through him. He is a masochist. He has to be. The tattooing has taught him well. Pain is a mental state, and he can fight it or derive pleasure from it.
He closes his eyes, jaw taut, his body so rigid and tense that had he been upright, it might seem as if he is preparing for a fight. He is not going to fucking move from this spot even if it kills him.
Five minutes pass.
And then ten.
The illuminated hands of the clock over the bedroom door mocks him with every interminable minute. Sixty seconds feel longer, much longer. Yunho’s senses are on high alert, and they are tuned in to the gently snoring teenager next to him.
A teenager without a care in the world it seems, able to sleep so peacefully not one foot away from a man trying his damnedest to keep his hands to himself.
An hour passes, the darkness is like a cloak, and Jaejoong’s even breathing like a teasing caress of a lover trying to soothe him to sleep. Yunho finally unclenches his fists slowly, relaxing his body, finally feeling like he is able to manage the need to turn over and possess the boy. He has fought it back and won.
He can survive the night.
Or is it morning now?
Yunho closes his eyes, meditating slowly, focusing on his breathing.
It is barely five minutes when his eyes pop open, as he sighs loudly, after he realises that it is not his own breathing he is focusing on.
It is Jaejoong’s.
He tries once again, breathing in tandem with the boy, and slowly, he slips into a relaxed state, emptying his mind, and freeing his body.
Well, freeing it only so far.
He will not fucking move.
Unfortunately for Yunho, someone has forgotten to tell the teenager not to move.
The tattooist is almost asleep when he suddenly finds a fragrant head on his shoulder, and a nude body half draped over him.
He tenses, as the teenager murmurs in his sleep. Yunho tries to elbow the boy gently off him, and it seems to work at first, till Jaejoong yet again bolts upright, staring right and left, and then right at Yunho.
“I’m hot.”
He kicks off the covers before Yunho can say a word, and then he throws himself across the tortured tattooist. Yunho’s skin is clammy, and this is what the boy is looking for. The cold sweat from earlier appears to appease the sleep addled teenager who moans his appreciation for Yunho’s cool skin, climbing atop the man, sprawling almost completely on him.
Yunho has no idea what to do.
Push the kid off and wake him?
Or allow him to sleep and die of blue balls?
Jaejoong makes the decision for him, sighing in pleasure as he finds the perfect spot for his head under Yunho’s chin, nose buried against Yunho’s chest, just by his right nipple. Inhaling the familiar and comforting scent sends the boy back into dreamland as he snuggles closer to the cool skin, fitting his contours with the hard bed underneath him. Jaejoong is used to sleeping on a futon on the floor, and any bed in comparison is too soft, Yunho’s firm bed included.
But the man’s hard, muscled body is apparently the perfect bed.
He wriggles one last time, before going completely limp, already back to whatever pleasant dreams he has. Yunho cutting the clothes from him had been a shock, but the boy had not been afraid. He had been embarrassed over his erection more than anything else, and had run off because of it and nothing more. He knows it is a natural occurrence, and nothing to be ashamed about, but to be exposed so suddenly has made him utterly self conscious. The little sleep he had caught the previous day takes its toll almost instantly, and because there is no fear in him, he falls asleep quickly enough. Perhaps his senses are dulled, and he really should have barricaded himself in the room, but Jaejoong has observed Yunho for a very long time, and nothing about the man scares him.
Well, perhaps Yunaconda, but the teenager had been too sleepy to think about that as he fell asleep.
Yunho is in purgatory.
No, that’s too mild.
This must be the ninth level of hell.
Jaejoong’s crotch is right over his, and he can feel the softness of the boy, in complete contrast to his own hardness. He shifts, moving the teenager so he is straddling him, legs falling naturally on either side of his hips. He drops his hand, rubbing up and down the boy’s back. The teenager wasn’t joking about being hot. There is a thin layer of sweat on him and his skin is warm to the touch. Being under someone like this should be uncomfortable, but the teenager’s weight is spread out evenly and the boy is rather skinny to begin with.
The weight is comforting even, as he crosses his wrists over the boy’s back and hugs the oblivious teenager. He feels so right in his arms.
And so wrong.
Jaejoong shifts again, tilting his head up and away from Yunho’s hard nipple that had puckered with each puff of air from his nose and mouth. The man breathes a sigh of relief, as he starts to rub the boy’s bare back once again.
His hands skim lower with every pass, and while aware of his straying hand, Yunho cannot seem to do anything about it. The boy’s skin is so soft and driving him a little crazy, and for the life of him, he cannot seem to be able to pull his hands away. He tells himself that he is just soothing the teenager to sleep, but Jaejoong’s content, even snores prove otherwise.
Keeping the boy asleep does not appear to be a problem.
The problem is that he is naked, and cupping Yunho’s growing heat a little too conveniently.
Yunho sighs loudly, the puff of air blowing up some of Jaejoong’s hair, but the boy doesn’t budge. If he gets any sleep tonight, it will be a fucking miracle.
What has he done to deserve such torture?
A little voice inside him points out that he had a million escape routes and yet he chose to stay.
The boy is safe.
He did not need to move in with him.
He did not need to strip the boy of his clothes.
He could have very easily spent the night on the couch.
He could have left Jaejoong alone in bed the moment he saw his nude body.
And more importantly, their relationship started off as a farce, but Yunho knows full well there is no way he is giving up the boy after two weeks.
He can barely give up the boy after two days.
He is not going to fucking last two weeks.
”… it sounds as if you’ve fallen rather hard.”
His father has never been wrong about him, and Yunho is rather annoyed to realise that his father has recognised the obvious before him.
As Nicole would say, or perhaps Eryn even, the two American girls almost interchangeable in his mind; Denial is a river in Egypt.
He cannot pinpoint a specific moment when it happened. He just knows enough to acknowledge that it happened long before the teenager started working at Mirotic. Not too long, but at least a couple of months.
What kind of intelligent man falls for a teenage boy, whom he mistakenly believed to be sixteen, who used to do nothing but stare at him?
Actually, what kind of man looks at a teenage boy with the eyes of a lover anyway?
Denial is not a river in Egypt. He is living it.
Control? What control? He is a fucking masochist.
All he can do is stare at the ceiling and try and see something other than the fragrant, pliant, body on top of his.
It takes a fair while before Yunho realises that Jaejoong’s body is no longer soft. It is growing harder, digging against his own hardness as it lengthens and fills.
Jaejoong squirms, moaning softly as Yunho finally realises why the boy is suddenly aroused in deep sleep.
His hands are rubbing the boy’s ass, squeezing it even as he parts the butt cheeks and strokes a finger up and down his ass crack.
Yunho stops immediately, but it is too late.
Jaejoong squirms again, moaning throatily.
Yunho groans.
Yes, he is most certainly living in denial.
Denying his body.
Denying his needs.
Denying his instincts.
But had Jaejoong asked, Yunho would not deny him.
He prays the boy will never ask.
xoxxx
Jaejoong is aflutter.
There is no other word to describe it as he dashes around trying to find his things. He looks like he has lost everything and is unsure as to where to start looking.
He is in a right tizzy.
Yunho watches from the kitchen counter, sipping his coffee calmly as the teenager once again disappears into the study. He has gone in and out of the room at least three times now, and he never emerges with anything.
He wants to call out, but the mood is slightly awkward between them. They had both awakened at almost exactly the same time, just before noon. Jaejoong had slid a little lower than where he had first started, during the night. He had woken with both arms wrapped around Yunho’s torso and his cheek against his abdomen, drooling rather embarrassingly, his body firmly between the man’s legs.
In fact, Yunho had woken with his foot lodged up against the boy’s bare ass.
Panic had once again entered those soft brown eyes, but they had emptied almost as soon as Yunho cupped the boy’s cheek, thumbing it gently, whispering that it was alright, as they both roused slowly from their fitful night.
Perhaps it is the fact that Yunho had still been fully clothed, his erection under at least two layers of clothes and therefore not scary, but Jaejoong leans into his hand almost instantly, purring quietly.
Kitten is honestly the perfect description for him.
When Yunho had sat up, the boy had mewled, looking confused and a little bewildered as he tried to crawl into Yunho’s lap. It had taken the teen at least a full minute before he realised that he was stark naked.
That had been amusing.
Jaejoong’s high-pitched squeal of shock, and then the mad scramble for a pillow to cover himself had made Yunho laugh. At his laughter, the embarrassed little kitten had shot off Yunho’s lap, burrowing himself under the covers at the other end of the bed, refusing to come out till Yunho left the room.
Yunho had decided to shower in the other bathroom, and so here he is, drinking coffee, and waiting for the teenager to tell him what’s wrong. They need to be at the shop within the hour, and if Jaejoong doesn’t slow down soon, he is going to have to catch the agitated teenager.
Jaejoong is really in a tizzy. He needs to find all his books, and bring them with him to Mirotic somehow. He has a whole week of school to catch up on, and the rather dire predicament he is in finally sinks into his love hazed mind while in the shower.
A whole week of school.
And then some.
He has exams in a fortnight, and while he is a good student, Jaejoong needs to do very well in these final exams because he has finally decided what he wants to be.
A doctor.
Jaejoong wants to be a doctor.
Thankfully, he already excels in chemistry and calculus, though biology is a bit of a hit and miss with him. Thankfully, there is the option of taking a part credit for the assessments done in the past year, or putting all his eggs in one basket at the final exam. Jaejoong is not a bad student in the subject. Far from it, he is constantly in the top five percent. But he has always simply done the work without thinking too much about it.
Rote learning has its functions.
But now that he wants to be doctor, he has to be more interested in the subject.
Right?
He is already in AP Chemistry and Biology, a rather fortunate happenstance, but he needs more.
Perhaps he can do some extra reading.
Oh no.
Jaejoong’s steps falter as he enters Yunho’s study once again. His AP Biology teacher is the man he punched. Only he will be able to give Jaejoong extra credit for any extra work, and the teenager highly doubts the man will be very cooperative. It is far too late in the year to request a switch to the only other AP class, where the teacher is someone who had taken Jaejoong for the previous two years.
He hears a soft mewl and he turns to find his kitten has trailed in after him. Jaejoong sighs, crouching, waiting for the kitten to come to him before he scoops it up.
As is his habit, he starts talking to the little animal as he strokes it.
“What am I going to do, Jiji? It’s too late for me to apply for a scholarship. There is no way noona can pay for medical school for the whole duration. I know I can probably go to community college first and then apply for a scholarship in second year, but what if I don’t get it? What do failed doctor wannabes become?”
“Tattooists.”
Jaejoong turns, frowning slightly at Yunho, shaking his head because the man makes no sense. “I can’t draw, Yunho. And I really don’t want to poke holes in anyone. Will you keep me employed? Maybe I can work at Mirotic for awhile and save up for medical school. It’s very expensive, isn’t it? Can you afford to hire me? I know the arrangement is only for summer but I probably need a job after summer.”
He sighs as he sits on the large couch in the study, pulling his knees up and placing his kitten on his kneecaps. The kitten wanders off immediately, going down the side of his thigh, little claws digging in but Jaejoong barely feels it as he thinks about his problem. For the first time, he actually feels the weight of his future on his slim shoulders.
And he doesn’t like it one bit. Nothing ever works out for him.
Well, perhaps not nothing, as he shoots glance at Yunho before returning to staring at the pattern on the floor. He frowns as he contemplates his options.
Or lack thereof.
Yunho is still reeling from Jaejoong’s lack of a reaction to his statement. Most people look side-ways at him when they find out he used to be at medical school. His former classmates barely acknowledge him on the street, thinking themselves far superior to him. The circumstances of his withdrawal had been kept quiet, the word sent out is that he had simply dropped out.
“You don’t think it’s weird that I used to be at medical school and I’m now a tattooist?” Yunho finally speaks because the teenager doesn’t seem inclined too. The boy is hugging his knees and staring at the floor.
Jaejoong looks up, the wrinkle in his brow smoothing out a little as he smiles at Yunho and shakes his head. “Why should it be weird? Your art is beautiful and you have a gift. I think it’s good that you decided to share it. If you were a doctor, you wouldn’t be able to, would you?”
“I guess not,” Yunho’s mouth quirks as he enters his study fully, sitting down next to Jaejoong. He is a little surprised when the boy climbs immediately into his lap, curling against him. But Yunho is not about to look a gift horse in the mouth as he wraps his arms around the thoughtful teenager and hugs him, pressing his mouth against his temple.
“And if you were a doctor, I would never have met you.”
“True.”
“I’m glad you’re a tattooist.”
Yunho chuckles, kissing the boy once again. “I’m glad I’m one too.”
Jaejoong smiles at the affectionate caress. “I like this.”
“What?”
“Snuggling.”
“You didn’t this morning,” Yunho cannot help but tease the boy as he feels the teenager stiffen briefly in his arm before he giggles quietly, slapping Yunho across the back of his wrist.
“You are mean to remind me. I forgot I was naked. I told you I usually sleep naked right? I get really hot at night and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m hot blooded or something.”
Yunho shifts underneath the boy, remembering exactly how hot he had been. Even now, he can still feel the boy’s delicately curved bare ass in the palm of his hand, and his pants are once again starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. He needs to change the subject and fast.
“So you want to be a doctor?”
“I don’t know.” Jaejoong sighs as he starts playing with the buttons on Yunho’s shirt. He loves the man in a shirt. He looks strangely suited to that type of outfit. It is not that Yunho looks any less attractive in a tee shirt or wife beater. In fact, the man is absolutely stupendous and so very masculine in a wife beater. Those biceps with the black dragon, and the hints of his wings and the glimpse of his heart beneath the head of the phoenix. Jaejoong could probably honestly get his first A in art if someone made him draw Yunho’s tattoos. God knows he has stared at them enough.
But there is something about Yunho in a shirt.
It makes him wonder what the older man looks like in a suit.
“You haven’t decided?”
“Well, Jin Hee noona told me I didn’t have to decide now. That I could go to community college and try out different things. I know I don’t want to be an accountant like her or Ahyoung noona when she finally starts working. I definitely don’t want to be a stylist, and I am very sure I don’t want to be an engineer despite my very science heavy timetable. And forget a lawyer. Everyone will just sit and laugh at me in court.”
“No one will laugh at you, babe.” Yunho squeezes the teenager, as the boy scoffs.
“Says the man who laughed at me this morning.”
“It wasn’t in court now, was it? I’d never laugh at you in court.” Yunho’s voice is serious.
Jaejoong looks up and sees the twinkle in the man’s eyes and he huffs again, pouting as he stops playing with Yunho’s buttons, crossing his arms instead. “Now you’re just making fun of me.”
Yunho kisses the boy’s nose. He cannot help it. The kid is adorable when riled or irritated. “Do you want to go to community college?”
“Is there any other option? We don’t have a lot of money.”
“What about scholarships?”
“I think most of the deadlines have passed. I can check it out tomorrow in school, but my biology teacher is going to be a problem.”
“Why do you need your biology teacher?”
“If I want a scholarship to medical school, I will need a recommendation from three teachers, and they have to be from the core subjects.”
“How do you know all this when you had no idea what you wanted to do?”
Jaejoong shrugs. “I always pay attention to scholarship requirements. It just never occurred to me to apply for them yet since Jin Hee noona says it might be best to try out different things in the first year of college before deciding on a vocation since I’d be stuck with it for life.”
“Alright, so the core subjects are chemistry, biology, advanced calculus and biochemisty. A language can also be considered a core subject, especially if it is english or japanese. You said you need three. I count at least four core subjects.”
Jaejoong is staring at Yunho in awe, but the furrow in his brow doesn’t disappear. “Yunho, my japanese is limited to anime. My english is ok but I don’t think it’s ok enough to be considered a core subject. I didn’t take biochem, but I am in the AP classes for chemistry, biology and calculus.”
“Three AP classes?”
“Five. My only non-AP classes are English, Economics and History.”
“What are the remaining two?”
“Statistics and Physics.”
“Kid, you can apply for any scholarship you want. Most people I know only take three, maybe four AP classes, and definitely not completely science biased the way yours is.”
“How many did you take?”
“Five.”
Jaejoong grins, but the smile falters on the edges as he remembers something else his counselor mentioned in junior year. “I’m not diverse enough for college scholarships. I prefer science and I suck at anything remotely artistic. I was told that I’m too unbalanced.”
Yunho’s eyes narrow, wondering if there is a double meaning behind the “unbalanced”. Jaejoong would never think it, but it is Yunho’s business to think it for him. He hauls the teenager closer, wondering how to solve the boy’s predicament. If he’s taking five AP classes, the boy is smart. Book smart, definitely not street smart. The boy is about as far from street smart as humanly possible.
Yunho is both, but then he had to be. The book smart bit just happened by chance. He had his choice of scholarships, not needing any of course, but his subjects were diverse enough that most universities had offered him places.
“How about you make an appointment with your counselor and see what she says?”
“He.”
“Ok, he says.”
“I don’t think he likes me very much,” Jaejoong confesses staring into his lap. “He always looks like he is smelling something bad whenever I’m in the room. I know I don’t smell.”
“Has your noona met him with you?”
Jaejoong shakes his head. “She’s too busy. I don’t want to ask. She already has so much to do.”
“Make an appointment, Jaejoong. I’ll come with you.”
“But-“
“Are we going to have one of our but-no conversations again?”
Jaejoong scowls cutely, flicking Yunho’s nose with his finger. “You didn’t let me finish my sentence. I was going to say but you’re my boyfriend. How does that work?”
Yunho shrugs. “I’ll make it work.”
“Yunho,” Jaejoong starts, as if talking to a child. “My school is not Mirotic you know? They’re not going to jump just because you say jump.”
The older man smirks. “Nicole doesn’t jump either.”
“She does so. She just hops around doing some weird rain dance before doing your bidding, but she always does. I watch her.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you jump when I say jump?” Yunho’s voice grows huskier as he nuzzles against the boy’s cheek, nosing his way down his neck to the bruise he left there yesterday.
“Uh…” Jaejoong is finding it hard to concentrate all of a sudden. One second he is chatting about Mirotic, and the next, he can barely remember his own name.
“Well, kitten?”
Jaejoong shivers as the endearment is whispered against the curve of his ear, feeling every breath deep in his belly. Has he missed a bio class where they talked about this or something? The fact that multiple body parts seem to have a direct line to his cock.
Oh god.
Yunho captures the delicate earlobe between his lips, tugging lightly, licking very, very, very gently up the curve.
The boy trembles and moans in his arms, turning his head and pressing an open mouth against his. The boy once again zeroes in for his piercing, sucking and licking at it. Yunho lifts his hand to gentle his kitten, even as he deepens the kiss. Jaejoong mewls against his mouth, leaning into him as he tries to get closer. The boy is forever trying to get closer, and closer never ever seems to be close enough for him.
For them.
Yunho knows he is once again in trouble, but for the life of him, he cannot summon enough willpower to care. The boy is so amazingly warm and responsive, and the little sounds he is making is driving him insane.
Jaejoong could well be in the middle of a nuclear war, and he wouldn’t notice. Yunho has stolen his concentration so completely, all he can see and feel is the hard man whose lap he is in. He moans raggedly, the sound foreign to his ears as he tries to rub against the older man. He just wants to feel and feel, and feel some more. And then some more again. He slants his mouth fiercely over the older man’s, wanting everything.
The tattooist can feel the passion in the boy’s response, and he knows the kid has no idea what to do with all that energy. He tries gentling his kitten once again, cupping the boy’s cheek to hold him still as he nips at his mouth.
Jaejoong whines in protest at the loss of Yunho’s tongue, but he moves on quickly, licking and tugging at the man’s lip ring instead, tongue flicking continuously at the ball.
Yunho chuckles, pulling back to look at the rosy pout, before lifting his eyes to meet stormy doe eyes. Stormy with passion and want, tinged with confusion. “You like my piercing so much. Do you want one, kitten?”
“I like the way you taste. I like you in my mouth.”
So much for slowing down. Jaejoong’s words have just fanned the flames, and Yunho claims the boy’s mouth yet again with a pained groan, murmuring harshly against his mouth.
“I want you, Jaejoong. I want to make you mine.”
“I’m already yours.”
“Not completely, kitten.”
Jaejoong whines as Yunho once again pulls away, knowing if he keeps kissing the teen, he will have him on the fucking couch and he cannot have that.
Control.
He says the word out loud though, and the teenager nuzzles against his mouth, trying to get him to kiss him again.
“Control what?”
“You, kitten. You’re uncontrollable.”
Jaejoong draws back with a pout. “Am not.”
“You are. Don’t argue with me,” Yunho chuckles, knowing full well the boy is going to protest.
Jaejoong doesn’t disappoint, bristling as he is distracted purposefully by the older man though he does not realise this.
They bicker for a few minutes, as Yunho tries to calm his body, all the while teasing Jaejoong well past the boy’s endurance. The teenager finally gets up with a disgusted huff, storming out of the room, everything forgotten in the face of his irritation with Yunho.
Left alone, Yunho stares across the room at his katana. The weapon is beginning to turn into his only symbol for survival. Jaejoong is much, much, much too responsive. What kills him though is the fact that the boy is so beautifully innocent. His lack of fear is because he trusts him, and his body’s reactions are for Yunho alone.
Jaejoong returns to the study, kitten in tow as he plops heavily down in Yunho’s lap. His dull expression doesn’t change at the grunt the older man makes, though he is content when a tattooed arm wraps around him, pulling him close. Yunho in a shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his forearms is definitely his new favourite outfit on the man.
He ignores Yunho, talking to his kitten once again.
“Jiji, I’m going to take your litter box with us, ok? Then you can wee whenever you want.”
“No.”
Jaejoong continues on, as if the no never happened. “You have to forgive grouchy bear, because he doesn’t know how to handle kittens. He seems to think being all grouchy is going to work, but kittens like to be petted, right cutie?” He brings the kitten up and nuzzles it. The little grey kitten bops him on the nose again but Jaejoong takes it in stride. “Kittens like to be kissed and snuggled and stroked.”
Yunho is getting the feeling that he is being subtly reprimanded.
“Kittens don’t like to be growled at,” and he scratches the kitten under its chin, finally getting the his baby cat to purr. “Awwww,” he coos. “You sound like a little engine.” He continues to scratch, his voice dropping to a whisper as he leans heavily against Yunho. “Kittens like to be loved. They want to feel loved and cherished, and not like a plaything. Kittens have feelings too…”
Yunho is feeling like a giant ass right about now. He had only thought to distract the boy to calm his body, but that had been completely selfish of him. He wants to kiss the teenager and apologise, but he has a feeling kissing is not really what the boy wants right now.
Jaejoong continues to scratch the kitten, who has tired of it. It turns, and is now actively trying to bite at Jaejoong’s fingers, chasing them this way and that as the teenager plays with him. His voice continues as a soft whisper as he watches his kitten play. “People like teasing kittens, but it hurts the kitten’s feelings. Kittens are not stupid, and can be taught. Kittens are not uncontrollable…kittens just want to be controlled gently.”
Controlled gently? Yunho’s eyebrow arches as he rubs his hand up and down the teenager’s back. Jaejoong has tucked his head underneath his chin and he cannot see his face.
His words though, float back up towards him, still in a whisper.
“The kitten wants to belong…the kitten has never belonged anywhere and now the kitten finally feels like it belongs, but grouchy bear is trying to push the kitten away.”
Jaejoong lifts Jiji till he is eye level, and he kisses the kitten quickly on the nose, before staring into its startling blue eyes. “Look at this poor little kitten. He’s heartbroken.”
Yunho chances a look at the ball of fluff, and he sees no heartbreak in those blue eyes. But he can hear it in the whispers of the other kitten.
“The kitten belongs to grouchy bear…why doesn’t grouchy bear want it?”
Jaejoong’s voice is sad as he drops the kitten into his lap, watching as it scampers off, toppling down his leg and onto the couch, and then from there, navigating his way to the floor.
Yunho tilts his head down, nuzzling against the boy’s fragrant hair. He is smelling like cinnamon hot chocolate again, and his mouth waters instantly. But nothing else in his body reacts, fully contrite at the sad words of the beautiful teenager.
“Grouchy bear doesn’t want to scare the kitten away.”
“It’s a very brave kitten.”
“How brave?”
“This kitten sleeps with the bear. It’s very brave.”
“What if the bear wants to bite the kitten?”
“Then the kitten will bite back…gently.” Jaejoong adds as an afterthought. He pulls Yunho’s arm into his lap and he starts to trace patterns on the inked skin. He snuggles further against Yunho’s broad chest, inhaling the man’s musky crisp scent.
“What if the bear…” Yunho almost chokes on the words. This is what the teenager has done to him. He is talking like…he doesn’t even have the words. “What if the bear wants to…uh…have the kitten.”
“You sound so silly.”
Yunho growls, squeezing the teenager. “You are a minx.”
“I thought I was a kitten?”
“You are a lot of different animals.”
“Does this mean I get to spray you?”
Yunho groans, the visual just a little too much for him right now. “Jaejoong, you are not an animal.”
“You just said I’m several animals. Make up your mind.”
“I want you.”
“I want you too.”
“No…I want you.” Yunho places emphasis on the words, and Jaejoong pulls back, looking into his eyes.
“How do you want me?”
“I want to touch you, and stroke you, and pet you…”
Jaejoong’s eyes don’t waver, staring into Yunho’s, his countenance serious as his fingers play with the collar of Yunho’s shirt.
“Like a kitten?”
“Can we stop with the animals?”
Jaejoong smiles slightly, his fingers dancing up over Yunho’s collar to caress the man’s throat and neck. “You really are a grouchy bear.”
“Do you know the legend of the kumiho?”
“The one where it turns into a beautiful girl who seduces men and eats their heart?”
Yunho’s eyebrow goes up and Jaejoong chuckles.
“I take history remember? We had a module on myths.”
“Are you really as innocent as you look?”
Jaejoong sighs, as his fingers dip into Yunho’s collar, tracing down the front as he starts to unbutton his shirt. “I am. I just take everyone literally. It is far easier than trying to figure out any double meanings. I know the kids in school laugh at me because of it, but I think I’d rather stay ignorant than have to wonder about triple or quadruple layers to words. School is hard enough without trying to read in between everyone’s lines.”
“What about my lines?”
“You’re always honest with me.”
“Can I be honest now?”
Jaejoong nods, tugging at Yunho’s shirt to expose his heart. His fingers trace the outline of the lifelike design, and Yunho all but forgets what he wanted to say.
The silence stretches, as Jaejoong moves back a little more, his breath catching in his throat at the beauty of the man he can call his. Yunho is not what anyone would consider traditionally beautiful, but to Jaejoong, he is everything.
He leans back yet again, to give him room to bend as he drops his head to press a soft kiss against Yunho’s heart. This time his lips linger, pressing against the warm skin, and he can feel Yunho’s racing heartbeat against his lips.
Yunho does not move, waiting, the blood pounding in his ears. He can practically feel the contours of Jaejoong’s pout. What is the boy doing?
Jaejoong smiles against the pounding heart, lifting his head to gaze into Yunho’s dark almond eyes. “I think you need a doctor.”
“Why is that?”
“Your heart rate is much too rapid for it to be healthy. I counted.”
“I’m very healthy.”
“I thought so. But that doesn’t explain why you have the pulse of a race horse.”
“Fatigue?”
Jaejoong grins, tilting his head as he stares at the older man. “And here I thought you’d never lie to me.”
“I’m trying to be honest…”
“Try harder.”
“I’m already hard.”
Jaejoong’s eyes drop back down to the heart. He can feel Yunho against his thigh. There is no need to read in between the lines.
“Can a doctor help with your condition?”
“Not a doctor…” Yunho’s voice is a hoarse whisper as he stares into the flushed face of the teenager in his lap. And despite the tinge of colour to his skin, the teenager is still looking serene and unafraid. “Maybe a kumiho might be able to take me out of my misery.”
“I’m a kumiho.”
“Yes, you are.”
Jaejoong places his slightly clammy palm against Yunho’s heart, and he looks back up at the man. “But I don’t want to eat your heart.”
“You don’t have to eat it, for it to be yours.”
Jaejoong finally falters, biting his lip, not quite believing what he’s hearing. “I…I don’t?”
“It’s already yours, my kumiho.”
Jaejoong lets out a soft cry, throwing his arms around Yunho’s neck as he presses his mouth against the older man’s.
“Please…please let me be your kumiho for real. I have your heart, I want the rest.”
Denial is a river in Egypt...
AN: Yes, I was a little creative with the whole education system. I am a smidgen too lazy to look it up, and I apologise for this shortcoming. Just suspend your disbelief ;-)
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG-13 for now
Length: Chaptered
Genre: AU, fluff
Warning: Super-mild underage shenanigans. Like so super that really, even if you squint you might not see it. I can't see it myself but eh. Protecting my own ass is a good thing.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the story. I wish I had YunJae and if I had my way, they'd move to New Zealand so they can be MARRIED here
Summary: Nothing has ever fazed him in his life. At 29, he is successfully self-employed, and doing something he loves which means going to work should really be enjoyable. What is that saying? If you work in what you love, you will never work a day in your life? This would be true if not for just one doe-eyed problem…
AN1: Denial is a river in Egypt...
AN2: And this got dropped into my ask.fm and well... CONTROL is canon ;-)
Yunho lets the boy go, watching as Jaejoong stumbles, holding onto his ripped pajamas and heading straight for the bedroom like a bat out of hell.
But he has seen enough. The boy’s arousal is just like the boy himself.
Pink, pouty, pretty.
His grip on the handle of his katana is so tight it is almost painful.
But not as painful as the hardness he is hiding behind the folds of his hakama.
He takes a deep breath, and then turns, heading towards his study. His steps are slow and measured, and very deliberate. He is replaying the footwork of the macabre dance he had just practiced, in his mind, in an effort to distract himself from the beautiful boy and his innocent eyes. The shock in them, and then the panic, and then the kitten bolts.
Yunho has never felt their age difference more acutely than in that very moment.
He sheathes his sword slowly, sliding the katana into its saya. He can feel the tightness of the sheath, and his body reacts to the imagery and he drops his chin, taking a deep breath. He has managed to keep away from the boy for so long, but now the teenager is accessible.
More than accessible.
The teenager is his.
But he is still a boy.
Yunho grips his sword lying in its scabbard, gently using his other hand to raise it till both hands lay underneath the horizontal blade. He bows low, placing the katana back where it belongs, focusing all his frustrated energy on the weapon.
Once he straightens, his expression darkens. He knows he has to get rid of his hakama. He has soiled it with his uncontrolled reaction to the teenager. The garment is not just a means of covering. It has symbolic meaning.
And while the more rational part of his mind points out that he has not gone against any of the principles, Yunho wavers on one of the meanings.
Righteousness.
There is nothing right about seducing an underaged boy.
He takes another deep breath, more than prepared to sleep on the couch. But he has to make sure he hasn’t scared his teenager. Jaejoong has done nothing but be himself, and Yunho finds himself struggling more and more to resist the boy and his innocent reactions. He had not just pointed a blade at him, he had cut the very clothes from his body. If that isn’t the actions of a predator, he has no idea what is. He should have expected Jaejoong not to be wearing underwear but he wasn’t thinking clearly.
Or perhaps he was, because he did feel the boy against his side as he slept with his leg across his body.
Perhaps he didn’t care.
And that bothers him.
”Like father like son, eh?”
His mother was sixteen. Jaejoong is seventeen.
Is he really like his father?
But somehow, despite the age difference, his mother adores the very breath out of his father. Perhaps it’s some weird form of Stockholm Syndrome, since she was given away against her will. Yunho has no idea, but he gives her the benefit of the doubt for she is his mother.
What of Jaejoong then?
The boy is here willingly. Yunho once again gave him a choice back at his sister’s apartment, and the boy had declined. In fact, he had been rather cheerful once they had finally arrived back at the apartment. The teenager had unpacked quickly, taking over whatever remains of Yunho’s drawers, his clothes fitting easily into the remaining space in the middle row.
One drawer in the bottom has been set aside for Jiji, but the remaining six are now filled with an assortment of Jaejoong’s things from his five boxes. Mainly books, and Yunho had offered to get the boy a proper bookcase and a separate desk to be placed in his spacious study.
Jaejoong had declined though, smiling shyly and admitting that he is so used to doing his homework on a couch that he is more than happy to continue doing so as long as he has plump cushions to lean on.
Yunho had added cushions to his mental shopping list.
He doesn’t recall seeing those now-ruined pajamas, but Yunho figures the boy probably unpacked them while he was in the shower.
Yunho sighs, trying to work the day out in his mind. He undresses slowly, his earlier erection now at half mast, and continuing to wilt.
What will he find in his bed? Will Jaejoong still be in it or will he be on the phone calling his sister and asking her to pick him up? Yunho would be more than happy to drop him off.
Control.
What a joke. He clearly has none, because if he had he would not have touched the teenager. And yes, slicing the clothes off him with the point of his katana definitely counts as touching.
He will ignore the satisfaction he gained at ruining the childish pajama set.
He digs in the closet, pulling out a pair of track pants and a teeshirt. This is the closet where he keeps his gym wear, and while he had entered the room in boxers, he is not about to spook the teenager even more than he already has.
Yunho walks slowly back to the bedroom. The apartment is dead silent, and Jaejoong might as well not be there, from the amount of sounds the boy is making.
Or lack thereof.
He pushes the door open, and his heart slows down marginally when he sees the telltale lump on his side of the bed. The wrecked Hamtaro pajamas lie in a heap on the floor, and he uses his foot to push it out of the way, lest Jaejoong gets tangled up in it in the morning. He has no idea whether to just take his leave, now that he knows Jaejoong is ok, or whether he should get into bed.
Unfortunately for him, his body moves before his brain, and he is already pulling the covers aside before he can stop himself.
But stop he does as Jaejoong is slowly exposed to his eyes.
A bare shoulder.
A bare back.
A bare…
Yunho’s hand is frozen, quite unable to believe his eyes. From the steady rise and fall of the boy’s back and the soft snores, he knows that Jaejoong is once again asleep.
Naked.
In his bed.
Yunho is not a fucking saint. What the hell is the matter with this teenager? Does he want to be ravished? Does he want Yunho to lose his mind somewhere between that sweet fucking ass?
And really, any sane adult would replace the covers and walk away.
But clearly Yunho has lost his mental faculties.
He slips slowly between the covers, the idea of removing his own clothes not even crossing his mind as he lays once again, across the wrong side of the bed. He really needs to fix this problem.
But it can wait.
Yunho lies ramrod straight on his back, staring up at the ceiling, each soft exhalation from the boy sending tendrils of desire curling through him. He is a masochist. He has to be. The tattooing has taught him well. Pain is a mental state, and he can fight it or derive pleasure from it.
He closes his eyes, jaw taut, his body so rigid and tense that had he been upright, it might seem as if he is preparing for a fight. He is not going to fucking move from this spot even if it kills him.
Five minutes pass.
And then ten.
The illuminated hands of the clock over the bedroom door mocks him with every interminable minute. Sixty seconds feel longer, much longer. Yunho’s senses are on high alert, and they are tuned in to the gently snoring teenager next to him.
A teenager without a care in the world it seems, able to sleep so peacefully not one foot away from a man trying his damnedest to keep his hands to himself.
An hour passes, the darkness is like a cloak, and Jaejoong’s even breathing like a teasing caress of a lover trying to soothe him to sleep. Yunho finally unclenches his fists slowly, relaxing his body, finally feeling like he is able to manage the need to turn over and possess the boy. He has fought it back and won.
He can survive the night.
Or is it morning now?
Yunho closes his eyes, meditating slowly, focusing on his breathing.
It is barely five minutes when his eyes pop open, as he sighs loudly, after he realises that it is not his own breathing he is focusing on.
It is Jaejoong’s.
He tries once again, breathing in tandem with the boy, and slowly, he slips into a relaxed state, emptying his mind, and freeing his body.
Well, freeing it only so far.
He will not fucking move.
Unfortunately for Yunho, someone has forgotten to tell the teenager not to move.
The tattooist is almost asleep when he suddenly finds a fragrant head on his shoulder, and a nude body half draped over him.
He tenses, as the teenager murmurs in his sleep. Yunho tries to elbow the boy gently off him, and it seems to work at first, till Jaejoong yet again bolts upright, staring right and left, and then right at Yunho.
“I’m hot.”
He kicks off the covers before Yunho can say a word, and then he throws himself across the tortured tattooist. Yunho’s skin is clammy, and this is what the boy is looking for. The cold sweat from earlier appears to appease the sleep addled teenager who moans his appreciation for Yunho’s cool skin, climbing atop the man, sprawling almost completely on him.
Yunho has no idea what to do.
Push the kid off and wake him?
Or allow him to sleep and die of blue balls?
Jaejoong makes the decision for him, sighing in pleasure as he finds the perfect spot for his head under Yunho’s chin, nose buried against Yunho’s chest, just by his right nipple. Inhaling the familiar and comforting scent sends the boy back into dreamland as he snuggles closer to the cool skin, fitting his contours with the hard bed underneath him. Jaejoong is used to sleeping on a futon on the floor, and any bed in comparison is too soft, Yunho’s firm bed included.
But the man’s hard, muscled body is apparently the perfect bed.
He wriggles one last time, before going completely limp, already back to whatever pleasant dreams he has. Yunho cutting the clothes from him had been a shock, but the boy had not been afraid. He had been embarrassed over his erection more than anything else, and had run off because of it and nothing more. He knows it is a natural occurrence, and nothing to be ashamed about, but to be exposed so suddenly has made him utterly self conscious. The little sleep he had caught the previous day takes its toll almost instantly, and because there is no fear in him, he falls asleep quickly enough. Perhaps his senses are dulled, and he really should have barricaded himself in the room, but Jaejoong has observed Yunho for a very long time, and nothing about the man scares him.
Well, perhaps Yunaconda, but the teenager had been too sleepy to think about that as he fell asleep.
Yunho is in purgatory.
No, that’s too mild.
This must be the ninth level of hell.
Jaejoong’s crotch is right over his, and he can feel the softness of the boy, in complete contrast to his own hardness. He shifts, moving the teenager so he is straddling him, legs falling naturally on either side of his hips. He drops his hand, rubbing up and down the boy’s back. The teenager wasn’t joking about being hot. There is a thin layer of sweat on him and his skin is warm to the touch. Being under someone like this should be uncomfortable, but the teenager’s weight is spread out evenly and the boy is rather skinny to begin with.
The weight is comforting even, as he crosses his wrists over the boy’s back and hugs the oblivious teenager. He feels so right in his arms.
And so wrong.
Jaejoong shifts again, tilting his head up and away from Yunho’s hard nipple that had puckered with each puff of air from his nose and mouth. The man breathes a sigh of relief, as he starts to rub the boy’s bare back once again.
His hands skim lower with every pass, and while aware of his straying hand, Yunho cannot seem to do anything about it. The boy’s skin is so soft and driving him a little crazy, and for the life of him, he cannot seem to be able to pull his hands away. He tells himself that he is just soothing the teenager to sleep, but Jaejoong’s content, even snores prove otherwise.
Keeping the boy asleep does not appear to be a problem.
The problem is that he is naked, and cupping Yunho’s growing heat a little too conveniently.
Yunho sighs loudly, the puff of air blowing up some of Jaejoong’s hair, but the boy doesn’t budge. If he gets any sleep tonight, it will be a fucking miracle.
What has he done to deserve such torture?
A little voice inside him points out that he had a million escape routes and yet he chose to stay.
The boy is safe.
He did not need to move in with him.
He did not need to strip the boy of his clothes.
He could have very easily spent the night on the couch.
He could have left Jaejoong alone in bed the moment he saw his nude body.
And more importantly, their relationship started off as a farce, but Yunho knows full well there is no way he is giving up the boy after two weeks.
He can barely give up the boy after two days.
He is not going to fucking last two weeks.
”… it sounds as if you’ve fallen rather hard.”
His father has never been wrong about him, and Yunho is rather annoyed to realise that his father has recognised the obvious before him.
As Nicole would say, or perhaps Eryn even, the two American girls almost interchangeable in his mind; Denial is a river in Egypt.
He cannot pinpoint a specific moment when it happened. He just knows enough to acknowledge that it happened long before the teenager started working at Mirotic. Not too long, but at least a couple of months.
What kind of intelligent man falls for a teenage boy, whom he mistakenly believed to be sixteen, who used to do nothing but stare at him?
Actually, what kind of man looks at a teenage boy with the eyes of a lover anyway?
Denial is not a river in Egypt. He is living it.
Control? What control? He is a fucking masochist.
All he can do is stare at the ceiling and try and see something other than the fragrant, pliant, body on top of his.
It takes a fair while before Yunho realises that Jaejoong’s body is no longer soft. It is growing harder, digging against his own hardness as it lengthens and fills.
Jaejoong squirms, moaning softly as Yunho finally realises why the boy is suddenly aroused in deep sleep.
His hands are rubbing the boy’s ass, squeezing it even as he parts the butt cheeks and strokes a finger up and down his ass crack.
Yunho stops immediately, but it is too late.
Jaejoong squirms again, moaning throatily.
Yunho groans.
Yes, he is most certainly living in denial.
Denying his body.
Denying his needs.
Denying his instincts.
But had Jaejoong asked, Yunho would not deny him.
He prays the boy will never ask.
xoxxx
Jaejoong is aflutter.
There is no other word to describe it as he dashes around trying to find his things. He looks like he has lost everything and is unsure as to where to start looking.
He is in a right tizzy.
Yunho watches from the kitchen counter, sipping his coffee calmly as the teenager once again disappears into the study. He has gone in and out of the room at least three times now, and he never emerges with anything.
He wants to call out, but the mood is slightly awkward between them. They had both awakened at almost exactly the same time, just before noon. Jaejoong had slid a little lower than where he had first started, during the night. He had woken with both arms wrapped around Yunho’s torso and his cheek against his abdomen, drooling rather embarrassingly, his body firmly between the man’s legs.
In fact, Yunho had woken with his foot lodged up against the boy’s bare ass.
Panic had once again entered those soft brown eyes, but they had emptied almost as soon as Yunho cupped the boy’s cheek, thumbing it gently, whispering that it was alright, as they both roused slowly from their fitful night.
Perhaps it is the fact that Yunho had still been fully clothed, his erection under at least two layers of clothes and therefore not scary, but Jaejoong leans into his hand almost instantly, purring quietly.
Kitten is honestly the perfect description for him.
When Yunho had sat up, the boy had mewled, looking confused and a little bewildered as he tried to crawl into Yunho’s lap. It had taken the teen at least a full minute before he realised that he was stark naked.
That had been amusing.
Jaejoong’s high-pitched squeal of shock, and then the mad scramble for a pillow to cover himself had made Yunho laugh. At his laughter, the embarrassed little kitten had shot off Yunho’s lap, burrowing himself under the covers at the other end of the bed, refusing to come out till Yunho left the room.
Yunho had decided to shower in the other bathroom, and so here he is, drinking coffee, and waiting for the teenager to tell him what’s wrong. They need to be at the shop within the hour, and if Jaejoong doesn’t slow down soon, he is going to have to catch the agitated teenager.
Jaejoong is really in a tizzy. He needs to find all his books, and bring them with him to Mirotic somehow. He has a whole week of school to catch up on, and the rather dire predicament he is in finally sinks into his love hazed mind while in the shower.
A whole week of school.
And then some.
He has exams in a fortnight, and while he is a good student, Jaejoong needs to do very well in these final exams because he has finally decided what he wants to be.
A doctor.
Jaejoong wants to be a doctor.
Thankfully, he already excels in chemistry and calculus, though biology is a bit of a hit and miss with him. Thankfully, there is the option of taking a part credit for the assessments done in the past year, or putting all his eggs in one basket at the final exam. Jaejoong is not a bad student in the subject. Far from it, he is constantly in the top five percent. But he has always simply done the work without thinking too much about it.
Rote learning has its functions.
But now that he wants to be doctor, he has to be more interested in the subject.
Right?
He is already in AP Chemistry and Biology, a rather fortunate happenstance, but he needs more.
Perhaps he can do some extra reading.
Oh no.
Jaejoong’s steps falter as he enters Yunho’s study once again. His AP Biology teacher is the man he punched. Only he will be able to give Jaejoong extra credit for any extra work, and the teenager highly doubts the man will be very cooperative. It is far too late in the year to request a switch to the only other AP class, where the teacher is someone who had taken Jaejoong for the previous two years.
He hears a soft mewl and he turns to find his kitten has trailed in after him. Jaejoong sighs, crouching, waiting for the kitten to come to him before he scoops it up.
As is his habit, he starts talking to the little animal as he strokes it.
“What am I going to do, Jiji? It’s too late for me to apply for a scholarship. There is no way noona can pay for medical school for the whole duration. I know I can probably go to community college first and then apply for a scholarship in second year, but what if I don’t get it? What do failed doctor wannabes become?”
“Tattooists.”
Jaejoong turns, frowning slightly at Yunho, shaking his head because the man makes no sense. “I can’t draw, Yunho. And I really don’t want to poke holes in anyone. Will you keep me employed? Maybe I can work at Mirotic for awhile and save up for medical school. It’s very expensive, isn’t it? Can you afford to hire me? I know the arrangement is only for summer but I probably need a job after summer.”
He sighs as he sits on the large couch in the study, pulling his knees up and placing his kitten on his kneecaps. The kitten wanders off immediately, going down the side of his thigh, little claws digging in but Jaejoong barely feels it as he thinks about his problem. For the first time, he actually feels the weight of his future on his slim shoulders.
And he doesn’t like it one bit. Nothing ever works out for him.
Well, perhaps not nothing, as he shoots glance at Yunho before returning to staring at the pattern on the floor. He frowns as he contemplates his options.
Or lack thereof.
Yunho is still reeling from Jaejoong’s lack of a reaction to his statement. Most people look side-ways at him when they find out he used to be at medical school. His former classmates barely acknowledge him on the street, thinking themselves far superior to him. The circumstances of his withdrawal had been kept quiet, the word sent out is that he had simply dropped out.
“You don’t think it’s weird that I used to be at medical school and I’m now a tattooist?” Yunho finally speaks because the teenager doesn’t seem inclined too. The boy is hugging his knees and staring at the floor.
Jaejoong looks up, the wrinkle in his brow smoothing out a little as he smiles at Yunho and shakes his head. “Why should it be weird? Your art is beautiful and you have a gift. I think it’s good that you decided to share it. If you were a doctor, you wouldn’t be able to, would you?”
“I guess not,” Yunho’s mouth quirks as he enters his study fully, sitting down next to Jaejoong. He is a little surprised when the boy climbs immediately into his lap, curling against him. But Yunho is not about to look a gift horse in the mouth as he wraps his arms around the thoughtful teenager and hugs him, pressing his mouth against his temple.
“And if you were a doctor, I would never have met you.”
“True.”
“I’m glad you’re a tattooist.”
Yunho chuckles, kissing the boy once again. “I’m glad I’m one too.”
Jaejoong smiles at the affectionate caress. “I like this.”
“What?”
“Snuggling.”
“You didn’t this morning,” Yunho cannot help but tease the boy as he feels the teenager stiffen briefly in his arm before he giggles quietly, slapping Yunho across the back of his wrist.
“You are mean to remind me. I forgot I was naked. I told you I usually sleep naked right? I get really hot at night and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m hot blooded or something.”
Yunho shifts underneath the boy, remembering exactly how hot he had been. Even now, he can still feel the boy’s delicately curved bare ass in the palm of his hand, and his pants are once again starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. He needs to change the subject and fast.
“So you want to be a doctor?”
“I don’t know.” Jaejoong sighs as he starts playing with the buttons on Yunho’s shirt. He loves the man in a shirt. He looks strangely suited to that type of outfit. It is not that Yunho looks any less attractive in a tee shirt or wife beater. In fact, the man is absolutely stupendous and so very masculine in a wife beater. Those biceps with the black dragon, and the hints of his wings and the glimpse of his heart beneath the head of the phoenix. Jaejoong could probably honestly get his first A in art if someone made him draw Yunho’s tattoos. God knows he has stared at them enough.
But there is something about Yunho in a shirt.
It makes him wonder what the older man looks like in a suit.
“You haven’t decided?”
“Well, Jin Hee noona told me I didn’t have to decide now. That I could go to community college and try out different things. I know I don’t want to be an accountant like her or Ahyoung noona when she finally starts working. I definitely don’t want to be a stylist, and I am very sure I don’t want to be an engineer despite my very science heavy timetable. And forget a lawyer. Everyone will just sit and laugh at me in court.”
“No one will laugh at you, babe.” Yunho squeezes the teenager, as the boy scoffs.
“Says the man who laughed at me this morning.”
“It wasn’t in court now, was it? I’d never laugh at you in court.” Yunho’s voice is serious.
Jaejoong looks up and sees the twinkle in the man’s eyes and he huffs again, pouting as he stops playing with Yunho’s buttons, crossing his arms instead. “Now you’re just making fun of me.”
Yunho kisses the boy’s nose. He cannot help it. The kid is adorable when riled or irritated. “Do you want to go to community college?”
“Is there any other option? We don’t have a lot of money.”
“What about scholarships?”
“I think most of the deadlines have passed. I can check it out tomorrow in school, but my biology teacher is going to be a problem.”
“Why do you need your biology teacher?”
“If I want a scholarship to medical school, I will need a recommendation from three teachers, and they have to be from the core subjects.”
“How do you know all this when you had no idea what you wanted to do?”
Jaejoong shrugs. “I always pay attention to scholarship requirements. It just never occurred to me to apply for them yet since Jin Hee noona says it might be best to try out different things in the first year of college before deciding on a vocation since I’d be stuck with it for life.”
“Alright, so the core subjects are chemistry, biology, advanced calculus and biochemisty. A language can also be considered a core subject, especially if it is english or japanese. You said you need three. I count at least four core subjects.”
Jaejoong is staring at Yunho in awe, but the furrow in his brow doesn’t disappear. “Yunho, my japanese is limited to anime. My english is ok but I don’t think it’s ok enough to be considered a core subject. I didn’t take biochem, but I am in the AP classes for chemistry, biology and calculus.”
“Three AP classes?”
“Five. My only non-AP classes are English, Economics and History.”
“What are the remaining two?”
“Statistics and Physics.”
“Kid, you can apply for any scholarship you want. Most people I know only take three, maybe four AP classes, and definitely not completely science biased the way yours is.”
“How many did you take?”
“Five.”
Jaejoong grins, but the smile falters on the edges as he remembers something else his counselor mentioned in junior year. “I’m not diverse enough for college scholarships. I prefer science and I suck at anything remotely artistic. I was told that I’m too unbalanced.”
Yunho’s eyes narrow, wondering if there is a double meaning behind the “unbalanced”. Jaejoong would never think it, but it is Yunho’s business to think it for him. He hauls the teenager closer, wondering how to solve the boy’s predicament. If he’s taking five AP classes, the boy is smart. Book smart, definitely not street smart. The boy is about as far from street smart as humanly possible.
Yunho is both, but then he had to be. The book smart bit just happened by chance. He had his choice of scholarships, not needing any of course, but his subjects were diverse enough that most universities had offered him places.
“How about you make an appointment with your counselor and see what she says?”
“He.”
“Ok, he says.”
“I don’t think he likes me very much,” Jaejoong confesses staring into his lap. “He always looks like he is smelling something bad whenever I’m in the room. I know I don’t smell.”
“Has your noona met him with you?”
Jaejoong shakes his head. “She’s too busy. I don’t want to ask. She already has so much to do.”
“Make an appointment, Jaejoong. I’ll come with you.”
“But-“
“Are we going to have one of our but-no conversations again?”
Jaejoong scowls cutely, flicking Yunho’s nose with his finger. “You didn’t let me finish my sentence. I was going to say but you’re my boyfriend. How does that work?”
Yunho shrugs. “I’ll make it work.”
“Yunho,” Jaejoong starts, as if talking to a child. “My school is not Mirotic you know? They’re not going to jump just because you say jump.”
The older man smirks. “Nicole doesn’t jump either.”
“She does so. She just hops around doing some weird rain dance before doing your bidding, but she always does. I watch her.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you jump when I say jump?” Yunho’s voice grows huskier as he nuzzles against the boy’s cheek, nosing his way down his neck to the bruise he left there yesterday.
“Uh…” Jaejoong is finding it hard to concentrate all of a sudden. One second he is chatting about Mirotic, and the next, he can barely remember his own name.
“Well, kitten?”
Jaejoong shivers as the endearment is whispered against the curve of his ear, feeling every breath deep in his belly. Has he missed a bio class where they talked about this or something? The fact that multiple body parts seem to have a direct line to his cock.
Oh god.
Yunho captures the delicate earlobe between his lips, tugging lightly, licking very, very, very gently up the curve.
The boy trembles and moans in his arms, turning his head and pressing an open mouth against his. The boy once again zeroes in for his piercing, sucking and licking at it. Yunho lifts his hand to gentle his kitten, even as he deepens the kiss. Jaejoong mewls against his mouth, leaning into him as he tries to get closer. The boy is forever trying to get closer, and closer never ever seems to be close enough for him.
For them.
Yunho knows he is once again in trouble, but for the life of him, he cannot summon enough willpower to care. The boy is so amazingly warm and responsive, and the little sounds he is making is driving him insane.
Jaejoong could well be in the middle of a nuclear war, and he wouldn’t notice. Yunho has stolen his concentration so completely, all he can see and feel is the hard man whose lap he is in. He moans raggedly, the sound foreign to his ears as he tries to rub against the older man. He just wants to feel and feel, and feel some more. And then some more again. He slants his mouth fiercely over the older man’s, wanting everything.
The tattooist can feel the passion in the boy’s response, and he knows the kid has no idea what to do with all that energy. He tries gentling his kitten once again, cupping the boy’s cheek to hold him still as he nips at his mouth.
Jaejoong whines in protest at the loss of Yunho’s tongue, but he moves on quickly, licking and tugging at the man’s lip ring instead, tongue flicking continuously at the ball.
Yunho chuckles, pulling back to look at the rosy pout, before lifting his eyes to meet stormy doe eyes. Stormy with passion and want, tinged with confusion. “You like my piercing so much. Do you want one, kitten?”
“I like the way you taste. I like you in my mouth.”
So much for slowing down. Jaejoong’s words have just fanned the flames, and Yunho claims the boy’s mouth yet again with a pained groan, murmuring harshly against his mouth.
“I want you, Jaejoong. I want to make you mine.”
“I’m already yours.”
“Not completely, kitten.”
Jaejoong whines as Yunho once again pulls away, knowing if he keeps kissing the teen, he will have him on the fucking couch and he cannot have that.
Control.
He says the word out loud though, and the teenager nuzzles against his mouth, trying to get him to kiss him again.
“Control what?”
“You, kitten. You’re uncontrollable.”
Jaejoong draws back with a pout. “Am not.”
“You are. Don’t argue with me,” Yunho chuckles, knowing full well the boy is going to protest.
Jaejoong doesn’t disappoint, bristling as he is distracted purposefully by the older man though he does not realise this.
They bicker for a few minutes, as Yunho tries to calm his body, all the while teasing Jaejoong well past the boy’s endurance. The teenager finally gets up with a disgusted huff, storming out of the room, everything forgotten in the face of his irritation with Yunho.
Left alone, Yunho stares across the room at his katana. The weapon is beginning to turn into his only symbol for survival. Jaejoong is much, much, much too responsive. What kills him though is the fact that the boy is so beautifully innocent. His lack of fear is because he trusts him, and his body’s reactions are for Yunho alone.
Jaejoong returns to the study, kitten in tow as he plops heavily down in Yunho’s lap. His dull expression doesn’t change at the grunt the older man makes, though he is content when a tattooed arm wraps around him, pulling him close. Yunho in a shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his forearms is definitely his new favourite outfit on the man.
He ignores Yunho, talking to his kitten once again.
“Jiji, I’m going to take your litter box with us, ok? Then you can wee whenever you want.”
“No.”
Jaejoong continues on, as if the no never happened. “You have to forgive grouchy bear, because he doesn’t know how to handle kittens. He seems to think being all grouchy is going to work, but kittens like to be petted, right cutie?” He brings the kitten up and nuzzles it. The little grey kitten bops him on the nose again but Jaejoong takes it in stride. “Kittens like to be kissed and snuggled and stroked.”
Yunho is getting the feeling that he is being subtly reprimanded.
“Kittens don’t like to be growled at,” and he scratches the kitten under its chin, finally getting the his baby cat to purr. “Awwww,” he coos. “You sound like a little engine.” He continues to scratch, his voice dropping to a whisper as he leans heavily against Yunho. “Kittens like to be loved. They want to feel loved and cherished, and not like a plaything. Kittens have feelings too…”
Yunho is feeling like a giant ass right about now. He had only thought to distract the boy to calm his body, but that had been completely selfish of him. He wants to kiss the teenager and apologise, but he has a feeling kissing is not really what the boy wants right now.
Jaejoong continues to scratch the kitten, who has tired of it. It turns, and is now actively trying to bite at Jaejoong’s fingers, chasing them this way and that as the teenager plays with him. His voice continues as a soft whisper as he watches his kitten play. “People like teasing kittens, but it hurts the kitten’s feelings. Kittens are not stupid, and can be taught. Kittens are not uncontrollable…kittens just want to be controlled gently.”
Controlled gently? Yunho’s eyebrow arches as he rubs his hand up and down the teenager’s back. Jaejoong has tucked his head underneath his chin and he cannot see his face.
His words though, float back up towards him, still in a whisper.
“The kitten wants to belong…the kitten has never belonged anywhere and now the kitten finally feels like it belongs, but grouchy bear is trying to push the kitten away.”
Jaejoong lifts Jiji till he is eye level, and he kisses the kitten quickly on the nose, before staring into its startling blue eyes. “Look at this poor little kitten. He’s heartbroken.”
Yunho chances a look at the ball of fluff, and he sees no heartbreak in those blue eyes. But he can hear it in the whispers of the other kitten.
“The kitten belongs to grouchy bear…why doesn’t grouchy bear want it?”
Jaejoong’s voice is sad as he drops the kitten into his lap, watching as it scampers off, toppling down his leg and onto the couch, and then from there, navigating his way to the floor.
Yunho tilts his head down, nuzzling against the boy’s fragrant hair. He is smelling like cinnamon hot chocolate again, and his mouth waters instantly. But nothing else in his body reacts, fully contrite at the sad words of the beautiful teenager.
“Grouchy bear doesn’t want to scare the kitten away.”
“It’s a very brave kitten.”
“How brave?”
“This kitten sleeps with the bear. It’s very brave.”
“What if the bear wants to bite the kitten?”
“Then the kitten will bite back…gently.” Jaejoong adds as an afterthought. He pulls Yunho’s arm into his lap and he starts to trace patterns on the inked skin. He snuggles further against Yunho’s broad chest, inhaling the man’s musky crisp scent.
“What if the bear…” Yunho almost chokes on the words. This is what the teenager has done to him. He is talking like…he doesn’t even have the words. “What if the bear wants to…uh…have the kitten.”
“You sound so silly.”
Yunho growls, squeezing the teenager. “You are a minx.”
“I thought I was a kitten?”
“You are a lot of different animals.”
“Does this mean I get to spray you?”
Yunho groans, the visual just a little too much for him right now. “Jaejoong, you are not an animal.”
“You just said I’m several animals. Make up your mind.”
“I want you.”
“I want you too.”
“No…I want you.” Yunho places emphasis on the words, and Jaejoong pulls back, looking into his eyes.
“How do you want me?”
“I want to touch you, and stroke you, and pet you…”
Jaejoong’s eyes don’t waver, staring into Yunho’s, his countenance serious as his fingers play with the collar of Yunho’s shirt.
“Like a kitten?”
“Can we stop with the animals?”
Jaejoong smiles slightly, his fingers dancing up over Yunho’s collar to caress the man’s throat and neck. “You really are a grouchy bear.”
“Do you know the legend of the kumiho?”
“The one where it turns into a beautiful girl who seduces men and eats their heart?”
Yunho’s eyebrow goes up and Jaejoong chuckles.
“I take history remember? We had a module on myths.”
“Are you really as innocent as you look?”
Jaejoong sighs, as his fingers dip into Yunho’s collar, tracing down the front as he starts to unbutton his shirt. “I am. I just take everyone literally. It is far easier than trying to figure out any double meanings. I know the kids in school laugh at me because of it, but I think I’d rather stay ignorant than have to wonder about triple or quadruple layers to words. School is hard enough without trying to read in between everyone’s lines.”
“What about my lines?”
“You’re always honest with me.”
“Can I be honest now?”
Jaejoong nods, tugging at Yunho’s shirt to expose his heart. His fingers trace the outline of the lifelike design, and Yunho all but forgets what he wanted to say.
The silence stretches, as Jaejoong moves back a little more, his breath catching in his throat at the beauty of the man he can call his. Yunho is not what anyone would consider traditionally beautiful, but to Jaejoong, he is everything.
He leans back yet again, to give him room to bend as he drops his head to press a soft kiss against Yunho’s heart. This time his lips linger, pressing against the warm skin, and he can feel Yunho’s racing heartbeat against his lips.
Yunho does not move, waiting, the blood pounding in his ears. He can practically feel the contours of Jaejoong’s pout. What is the boy doing?
Jaejoong smiles against the pounding heart, lifting his head to gaze into Yunho’s dark almond eyes. “I think you need a doctor.”
“Why is that?”
“Your heart rate is much too rapid for it to be healthy. I counted.”
“I’m very healthy.”
“I thought so. But that doesn’t explain why you have the pulse of a race horse.”
“Fatigue?”
Jaejoong grins, tilting his head as he stares at the older man. “And here I thought you’d never lie to me.”
“I’m trying to be honest…”
“Try harder.”
“I’m already hard.”
Jaejoong’s eyes drop back down to the heart. He can feel Yunho against his thigh. There is no need to read in between the lines.
“Can a doctor help with your condition?”
“Not a doctor…” Yunho’s voice is a hoarse whisper as he stares into the flushed face of the teenager in his lap. And despite the tinge of colour to his skin, the teenager is still looking serene and unafraid. “Maybe a kumiho might be able to take me out of my misery.”
“I’m a kumiho.”
“Yes, you are.”
Jaejoong places his slightly clammy palm against Yunho’s heart, and he looks back up at the man. “But I don’t want to eat your heart.”
“You don’t have to eat it, for it to be yours.”
Jaejoong finally falters, biting his lip, not quite believing what he’s hearing. “I…I don’t?”
“It’s already yours, my kumiho.”
Jaejoong lets out a soft cry, throwing his arms around Yunho’s neck as he presses his mouth against the older man’s.
“Please…please let me be your kumiho for real. I have your heart, I want the rest.”
Denial is a river in Egypt...
AN: Yes, I was a little creative with the whole education system. I am a smidgen too lazy to look it up, and I apologise for this shortcoming. Just suspend your disbelief ;-)