Only Human 19/33
Title: Only Human
Pairings: MinSu, YunChun, Kangin/Kyuhyun
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Changmin suspects the only place in the world where demons and humans live in peace is in danger, but apart from Heechul he is the only one. He is also the only demon to openly declare his love for a human slave.
Warnings: Supernatural, Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even the power to make people orgasm just by running my fingertips over their skin for a few seconds. I do in my mind though.
For cerinityks ♥
Poster by markieyumeutau ♥
Kyuhyun looked into Changmin’s eyes for a while.
“This is about Junsu.”
Changmin didn’t deny that. It was, in two ways. He wanted Junsu to stay and he wanted him to live long. Hope that Kyuhyun might be able to help him with both things flamed up in his heart.
Something changed in Kyuhyun’s face. “You really care about him.”
Changmin didn’t think he’d ever given anyone a reason to doubt that, but Kyuhyun had obviously formed his own negative opinion on demons a long time ago.
Changmin would never put Junsu through anything like what happened with Kyuhyun’s mother. “I love him.”
Kyuhyun looked into his eyes for a little longer. “Yes, I believe you do.” He turned away and looked at a group of humans training on the other side of the field. “And that’s why I’m sorry that I can’t help you.”
Changmin hoped that Kyuhyun just didn’t know what exactly he wanted, but that hope was crushed by Kyuhyun’s next words.
“I’m not fully human, I know that. The reason I reached this age is that I’m different from Junsu, which automatically means that he won’t.”
“You can’t.. You can’t know that. He might change.”
Kyuhyun turned back to look at him. “You don’t change during your life, not that much. You’re born a certain way and that’s it. Blame fate if you want.”
Changmin wished he hadn’t heard that, wouldn’t start to think it over and wouldn’t start to believe it could be true, but Kyuhyun didn’t stop.
“My father was a demon, and I hate the part of me that’s like him, but it’s there, and useful.” He motioned towards the damaged rocks. “Junsu’s parents were both human.”
Changmin still didn’t understand, and his curiosity won over the desire to cover his ears and walk away. “How, how are you so.. human?”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Because I’m half human too. It’s really not that hard to understand. The way you were born, created, now that’s complicated, unnatural.”
“I’m..”
Kyuhyun sighed. “What do you do after you've impregnated a woman, or a ‘female human’ as you'd probably call her. I’m sure they taught you something about that, what is it?”
Without having to think Changmin recited what he’d learned so many years ago. “When you notice your slave is pregnant, you drain all her energy and replace it with your own, at least five times during the first months.”
Kyuhyun nodded and crossed his arms. “Why?”
Changmin gasped when he realised where this was going, but this was what he’d learned when he was so young, too young to doubt an adult’s words, and it had always made so much sense to him. The information was right there in his mind.
“Because otherwise the child will die, as a human isn’t strong enough to help create it. You create your own demon child in her stomach and she will carry it and it will feed off her energy.”
Heechul had just told him that this was nonsense, that the child did always take more from the mother than just her energy, but still, it would be more demon than human.
Kyuhyun scoffed. He spread his arms and looked down at his body. “A demon and a human can create a child together just fine, without the infusing with demon energy crap.”
Changmin knew he should have realised earlier, way earlier, around the time Heechul told him about suspecting demons and humans to be so alike.
“My mother only fed me human food from the day I was born,” Kyuhyun said, “but I tried it once, with an enemy, to take his energy, and it worked. I’m not very good at it and I hated myself for having the ability, but I do.”
Changmin was still processing this information.
“I can also feel the difference between a human and a demon,” Kyuhyun continued, “and I heal faster than others. I think I would have looked worse after years in that cellar if I didn’t.”
“It also explains why you and Kangin both felt your bond that strongly already the first time you met,” Changmin thought aloud.
Kyuhyun immediately turned away again. “Don’t mention that. What do you even know about it? What I feel or not?”
This time Changmin crossed his arms. “You can’t deny you felt something.”
Kyuhyun didn’t react.
“We’re not forcing anything onto you, is that how you feel? This is your choice.”
Kyuhyun laughed bitterly. “Choice? You made it sound like fate before.”
Changmin thought for a while. “Fate has something to do with it, but it’s not all.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You can keep rejecting Kangin. It won’t kill you and the world won’t end, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll make you happier. I think you’re naturally attracted to him, as he is to you. You’ll have a very hard time finding someone you’re as compatible with as him.”
Kyuhyun stared at the ground and Changmin remembered why he’d come to talk with him in the first place.
“It’s your decision, think about it, but there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”
Kyuhyun shifted his attention back to his bow, picking up a new arrow. “If it’s about asking Junsu to stay in the city, the answer is no.”
Changmin clenched his fists. “Why not? Do you still hate me? What did I ever do to you? Why won’t you help me?”
Kyuhyun turned around and pointed his arrow at him. Changmin had a shield up in under a second.
Kyuhyun smiled and lowered his bow. “Fast, but not fast enough. If I’d wanted to hurt you I could have.”
Changmin glared at him. He knew that. Yunho had always beaten him in speed.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I don’t hate you, as long as you’re good to Junsu, and I would ask him for you, but there's just no point. He wants to do this, he’s a good warrior, and he has his pride. He wants to protect you just as much as you want to keep him out of danger. I’m sorry, but if you can’t convince him, no one can.”
Changmin had known that. Deep down he also knew that he’d have felt hurt if Kyuhyun would have been able to get Junsu to stay while he couldn’t. But he still hated it, the idea of Junsu leaving him.
“But if it helps, I’m going with him. I’ll look after him like he will look after me," Kyuhyun said. "Just as friends,” he added.
Kyuhyun aimed his arrow at the only undamaged rock and let it go. This time Changmin had prepared himself and he’d sent out a shield the moment Kyuhyun turned and raised his bow. It was quite far away and hard to control, but this was his speciality.
The arrow never reached the rock, but splintered in mid-air, metres before it, with a sound of thunder that echoed against the surrounding buildings.
Kyuhyun gasped and spun around, shooting Changmin a suspicious look.
“I’d rather look after him myself,” Changmin said, “but thank you. Your ability is impressive.”
If Kyuhyun had been a full demon, that arrow might have been able to pierce Changmin’s energy. It had still been a powerful blow though, which was at least a bit reassuring.
But Changmin didn’t feel very reassured. Realising that Junsu wasn’t going to stay by his side for this fight and realising that the chance of them growing old together was practically nonexistent were sad things of two different levels.
He still had hope. He wasn’t going to give up and he knew he wouldn’t until the day Junsu died. There had to be a way. But Kyuhyun had just made it harder.
He had to think of a way to distract himself and rearrange his thoughts until he was able to look at Junsu again and bear the reaction that would cause in his heart.
The only thing that came to mind was finding Kangin and telling him that he at least knew more about why Kyuhyun had wanted nothing to do with him.
Kangin was alone in his house and when Changmin looked at him he actually considered taking him to Heechul’s little infirmary.
While Changmin told him everything he now knew about Kyuhyun, Kangin still looked desperate.
“So the reason he hates demons is a wound that goes deep and he doesn’t like the idea of destined mates. He already hated me for letting him go. This only makes it worse.”
Changmin sighed. “He doesn’t hate you, I’m sure. About what happened at the selection, he was just as confused by what he felt at the time, I think that if your roles had been reversed he might have done the same.”
“He hates me,” Kangin muttered, staring at the floor. Changmin almost slapped him.
“Fine. Believe that. So what if he does? What are you going to do about it?”
A pained sound left Kangin’s throat. “You make it sound like there’s something I can do.”
“Have you even tried to talk to him again?”
Kangin shook his head.
“You should. And just by being close to him you might already make his feelings so strong he has to admit they’re real.”
Kangin whimpered and Changmin rolled his eyes. “You’re not trying to tell me you’re actually his father, are you?”
Kangin shot up. “Of course not!”
“Well, go tell him that, it would at least be a start.”
Changmin stood up. “Just.. do something.”
He was more passionate about this than he would have if the only reason had been Kangin being a friend.
He was jealous, and it made him angry.
Kangin and Kyuhyun were idiots. They had everything, a bond and both of them a demon-enough physique to reach the same age, and they weren’t exploiting that and showing eternal gratitude to fate like Changmin would have done.
It was four days later that Heechul suddenly decided and announced that they were ready.
Changmin knew that they couldn’t afford to lose much time, but this was too sudden.
Junsu had asked him what was wrong multiple times during the past few days, and he seemed to be getting angry about it too, asking if Changmin didn’t trust him enough to tell him what was bothering him.
That hurt, but so did the promise Junsu had demanded him to make, and he feared that if he talked about this, Junsu would ask him to repeat it.
But he could say what was wrong right now, and he did, clutching Junsu to his chest and inhaling his scent. “Please don’t go.”
Junsu’s arms tightened around him until their bodies were pressed against each other so tightly that Changmin thought they had moulded together.
“I’ll come back,” Junsu whispered.
“Yes, but you have to get ready now,” Heechul said. He turned to Yunho who sat next to Yoochun’s bed. “And you too.” After that he left the room, most likely to prepare the most complicated part of his plan.
Heechul had a few books, really old books, that told of a time demon’s had experimented with their abilities and discovered new ones, before the war and chaos destroyed most of their hard work.
Changmin hadn’t known about the existence of those books until a week ago. Apparently Heechul had been trying to understand them for centuries.
There had been healers, who performed miracles concerning people’s life force. The last of them they had known in person, but he had been an old man, very old even for a demon, and he’d never given away any of his secrets. At least not that Changmin knew. Maybe Heechul was hiding something, as it turned out he'd been keeping a lot to himself, but if he was, that meant it wasn’t relevant right now.
There had also been demons who had the ability to control nature. They didn’t really control it, but they had found ways to combine their energy with not just a stick or a sword or an arrow, but with fire and wind and water.
And Heechul had translated the old language and performed his own experiments.
The group that would attempt to sneak out of the city consisted of two thirds of the human warriors, led by Junsu, and a couple of demons.
It wasn’t very big, but big enough that they would be noticed by the enemy however quiet they moved and however well they hid within the landscape.
They wouldn’t even have a place to hide in the landscape, as they would leave the city over the great open fields, from that point where the shield was powered.
There would be a distraction. The humans and demons that stayed behind would attack the enemy and make it look like an attempt to break out by force. It wouldn’t be at the opposite side of the shield, but close enough that the ones guarding the fields might leave their posts to help.
Still, they couldn’t hope for the fields to be completely abandoned, and that was why they needed Heechul. Heechul who claimed he’d discovered a way to create a thick blanket of fog that stretched out for hundreds of metres, big enough to hide an army until it reached the hills.
They would do it in the morning, when there was a smaller chance that the demons who knew the area would still get lost themselves, and they would create fog all around the city to make it seem natural.
It was a plan, the best they had, and it might even work.
They would all work together and give it all they had. Heechul would create the fog with the few others he’d taught how it worked, Junsu and Kyuhyun would hide in it and leave, Yunho would join the fight that would cause a distraction and a group of demons would keep up the shield and make sure to let survivors back in afterwards.
And Changmin would sit in the palace. He would sit in the palace, far away from everything, and wait.
“You’re thinking of coming after me,” Junsu said against his neck, “or at least joining the fight.”
Changmin’s breath hitched. “Please don’t tell me to stay and do nothing, please don’t.”
Junsu pulled back and Changmin wanted to protest and just keep hugging him until it was all over. But he didn’t, because he couldn’t force Junsu to do what everybody was forcing him to do and just watch. He knew how much that hurt and he couldn't hurt Junsu.
“Please,” Junsu returned, “please don’t get anywhere near the edge. Please keep away from danger. For me.”
Changmin looked into his eyes and knew he shouldn’t have, because before he knew it, he was nodding. But if Junsu had asked him to make it a promise, he might have refused.
Junsu didn’t. He smiled and buried into Changmin’s neck again. “We don’t have much time,” he whispered.
Changmin shivered and pulled him closer.
Behind them, Yoochun had pulled Yunho onto his bed and curled himself around him. “Please come back.”
Yoochun said it softly, but Changmin heard and his heart clenched. He shouldn’t just worry about Junsu. If everything went well, Yunho’s task would be the most dangerous.
He looked and saw Yunho hold Yoochun, still very careful, and press a gentle kiss to his lips. The bruises on Yoochun’s body had disappeared and the cuts were healing. His ribs still hurt, but only when he laughed or moved too much.
“I’ll come back,” Yunho said, “if you get better soon so I can claim my reward for helping to save the city.”
Yoochun clutched at his shoulders and pressed closer, wincing a bit but ignoring it. “Claim your reward now.”
Yunho took his wrists and carefully lowered him back to the bed. He breathed his words against Yoochun’s neck. “Do you want me to tie you up and play with you until you’re begging for me to fuck you?”
Yoochun whimpered and tried to arch up but Yunho held his lower body down with a leg.
“Do you want me to fuck you so long and hard that you can’t keep yourself up anymore but you still come whenever I want and touch you in the right way?”
Yoochun moaned helplessly. Unable to press closer. “Please,” he said with another whimper, “and punish me when I don’t bring you enough pleasure, please, master.”
Yunho smiled, cupped Yoochun’s cheek and kissed him deeply. “I will, when your body is healthy and I’ll be the one controlling your pleasure and pain.”
Yoochun made a sound like he was holding back a sob. “But you need energy too.”
Yunho kissed his forehead. “I’ll take a little bit, is that okay? But you need it to heal.”
“Come on,” Junsu whispered into Changmin’s ear, and he led him to their room.
Changmin immediately pushed him onto the bed and crawled over him to press their bodies together. Junsu’s hands moved over his back and settled on his ass when Changmin rolled his hips down and sucked on a piece of skin on Junsu’s neck.
Junsu moaned and bucked his hips up to create more friction even as he whispered breathlessly, asking Changmin to stop. “No... no.. time. Gather.. have to.. lead.”
Changmin growled into Junsu’s neck and cursed Heechul in his head. Maybe they didn’t have time for sex, and he didn’t want to rush because it was important that Junsu could walk comfortably in a few hours, but he could at least bring him pleasure.
He moved a hand between their bodies and opened Junsu’s pants enough to slide it in, all the while pressing kisses to Junsu’s shoulders and neck and face.
He wrapped his fingers around Junsu’s heated erection and stroked a few times, a feeling of pride filling him when Junsu squeezed his eyes shut moaned loudly, moving his hips again.
Changmin moved his hand to lie flat against Junsu’s hip, the tips of his fingers on his thigh.
“I love you,” he whispered against Junsu’s lips, and he released a small wave of energy to vibrate through his skin.
Junsu’s mouth fell open before he cried out his pleasure. He arched his back and his entire body shook as he came, his fingers digging into Changmin’s arms.
Changmin smiled and kissed his fluttering eyes, his cheeks, his moist lips and sweaty neck as Junsu moaned through the aftershocks caused by Changmin’s once again stroking hand.
Finally Changmin pulled his hand back and slid down Junsu’s body. He pressed a kiss to his stomach as he closed his pants and sat up.
Junsu took a deep breath, eyes still closed. “I’ll return the favour when I get back,” he said.
“I’ll take you up on that,” Changmin replied, swallowing his sadness, because before Junsu could get back he would have to leave. Now.
Junsu stood up. “I should probably go, get everyone ready. You should stay here. I love you.”
Changmin stood up too and looked at him, silently asking him to stay for the last time.
Junsu closed his eyes. He opened them when Changmin took his moon heart. “Changmin?”
Changmin touched the white stone with his finger and concentrated. “You’ll need my energy more than I do,” he said.
One of Junsu’s hands came up and touched his wrist, as a way to show affection and to thank him, but after a while its grip tightened. “Min? Don’t drain yourself too much.”
Changmin shook his head, but he imagined Junsu, surrounded by enemies, while he sat here and looked through a window at a blue, cloudless sky, wondering what was happening out there.
Junsu definitely needed his energy more. He had no use for it himself.
A few minutes later his head went light and his knees buckled.
“Changmin!” Junsu supported him and led him back to the bed. “Are you okay?”
Changmin sat down and took a deep breath, waving Junsu’s worry away. “I’m fine, just a bit tired.”
The attraction he felt to Junsu’s energy was overwhelming now. He had to fight his body’s instinct to take some back.
Junsu furrowed his brow and kissed him softly. “I really have to go now.”
“No... wait.” Changmin had difficulty raising his arm, but eventually his fingers were back around the small pendant hanging against Junsu’s chest. “I have to..”
He used the last of what he had to create a little shield. The white stone sucked it in and in the next second it lost its glow, turning greyish and cold. Junsu gasped and took it from his hands, trying to get it to react to his touch.
“I s-..” Changmin closed his eyes and cleared his head. “I sealed my energy, because if they feel it on you, you’ll turn into a target. If you need it, you just have to add a little bit of your own, not just a touch, but some energy, and the seal will be released.”
Junsu looked at the moon heart and nodded, but he looked a bit sad.
“I’m sorry, but it’s safer like this,” Changmin said softly. “It’s cold, but it’s still me in there, a big part of me. You’ll still carry me with you.”
Junsu smiled and wrapped his fingers around the pendant. “I’ll protect it with my life.”
Changmin wanted to protest and say that it was supposed to protect him, not the other way around. An image of finding Junsu’s dead body and rolling it over to find the necklace in a clenched, bloodstained fist flashed through his mind.
But Junsu leaned forward and he had to use all his strength to return the kiss.
“I love you,” Junsu whispered, pressing their foreheads together. He stood up, turned around, and left.
Changmin’s vision blurred as he watched Junsu’s back. He struggled with his legs and eventually managed to get them under him.
He didn’t make it far before he felt a sharp stinging pain in his knees indicating that his muscles had given up.
His upper body started to fall forward too and he caught one last glimpse of the door Junsu had disappeared through moments ago before everything went black.
Chapter 20
Chapter 18 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 10
Chapter 9 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 - Prologue
Pairings: MinSu, YunChun, Kangin/Kyuhyun
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Changmin suspects the only place in the world where demons and humans live in peace is in danger, but apart from Heechul he is the only one. He is also the only demon to openly declare his love for a human slave.
Warnings: Supernatural, Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even the power to make people orgasm just by running my fingertips over their skin for a few seconds. I do in my mind though.
For cerinityks ♥
Poster by markieyumeutau ♥
Kyuhyun looked into Changmin’s eyes for a while.
“This is about Junsu.”
Changmin didn’t deny that. It was, in two ways. He wanted Junsu to stay and he wanted him to live long. Hope that Kyuhyun might be able to help him with both things flamed up in his heart.
Something changed in Kyuhyun’s face. “You really care about him.”
Changmin didn’t think he’d ever given anyone a reason to doubt that, but Kyuhyun had obviously formed his own negative opinion on demons a long time ago.
Changmin would never put Junsu through anything like what happened with Kyuhyun’s mother. “I love him.”
Kyuhyun looked into his eyes for a little longer. “Yes, I believe you do.” He turned away and looked at a group of humans training on the other side of the field. “And that’s why I’m sorry that I can’t help you.”
Changmin hoped that Kyuhyun just didn’t know what exactly he wanted, but that hope was crushed by Kyuhyun’s next words.
“I’m not fully human, I know that. The reason I reached this age is that I’m different from Junsu, which automatically means that he won’t.”
“You can’t.. You can’t know that. He might change.”
Kyuhyun turned back to look at him. “You don’t change during your life, not that much. You’re born a certain way and that’s it. Blame fate if you want.”
Changmin wished he hadn’t heard that, wouldn’t start to think it over and wouldn’t start to believe it could be true, but Kyuhyun didn’t stop.
“My father was a demon, and I hate the part of me that’s like him, but it’s there, and useful.” He motioned towards the damaged rocks. “Junsu’s parents were both human.”
Changmin still didn’t understand, and his curiosity won over the desire to cover his ears and walk away. “How, how are you so.. human?”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Because I’m half human too. It’s really not that hard to understand. The way you were born, created, now that’s complicated, unnatural.”
“I’m..”
Kyuhyun sighed. “What do you do after you've impregnated a woman, or a ‘female human’ as you'd probably call her. I’m sure they taught you something about that, what is it?”
Without having to think Changmin recited what he’d learned so many years ago. “When you notice your slave is pregnant, you drain all her energy and replace it with your own, at least five times during the first months.”
Kyuhyun nodded and crossed his arms. “Why?”
Changmin gasped when he realised where this was going, but this was what he’d learned when he was so young, too young to doubt an adult’s words, and it had always made so much sense to him. The information was right there in his mind.
“Because otherwise the child will die, as a human isn’t strong enough to help create it. You create your own demon child in her stomach and she will carry it and it will feed off her energy.”
Heechul had just told him that this was nonsense, that the child did always take more from the mother than just her energy, but still, it would be more demon than human.
Kyuhyun scoffed. He spread his arms and looked down at his body. “A demon and a human can create a child together just fine, without the infusing with demon energy crap.”
Changmin knew he should have realised earlier, way earlier, around the time Heechul told him about suspecting demons and humans to be so alike.
“My mother only fed me human food from the day I was born,” Kyuhyun said, “but I tried it once, with an enemy, to take his energy, and it worked. I’m not very good at it and I hated myself for having the ability, but I do.”
Changmin was still processing this information.
“I can also feel the difference between a human and a demon,” Kyuhyun continued, “and I heal faster than others. I think I would have looked worse after years in that cellar if I didn’t.”
“It also explains why you and Kangin both felt your bond that strongly already the first time you met,” Changmin thought aloud.
Kyuhyun immediately turned away again. “Don’t mention that. What do you even know about it? What I feel or not?”
This time Changmin crossed his arms. “You can’t deny you felt something.”
Kyuhyun didn’t react.
“We’re not forcing anything onto you, is that how you feel? This is your choice.”
Kyuhyun laughed bitterly. “Choice? You made it sound like fate before.”
Changmin thought for a while. “Fate has something to do with it, but it’s not all.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You can keep rejecting Kangin. It won’t kill you and the world won’t end, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll make you happier. I think you’re naturally attracted to him, as he is to you. You’ll have a very hard time finding someone you’re as compatible with as him.”
Kyuhyun stared at the ground and Changmin remembered why he’d come to talk with him in the first place.
“It’s your decision, think about it, but there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”
Kyuhyun shifted his attention back to his bow, picking up a new arrow. “If it’s about asking Junsu to stay in the city, the answer is no.”
Changmin clenched his fists. “Why not? Do you still hate me? What did I ever do to you? Why won’t you help me?”
Kyuhyun turned around and pointed his arrow at him. Changmin had a shield up in under a second.
Kyuhyun smiled and lowered his bow. “Fast, but not fast enough. If I’d wanted to hurt you I could have.”
Changmin glared at him. He knew that. Yunho had always beaten him in speed.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I don’t hate you, as long as you’re good to Junsu, and I would ask him for you, but there's just no point. He wants to do this, he’s a good warrior, and he has his pride. He wants to protect you just as much as you want to keep him out of danger. I’m sorry, but if you can’t convince him, no one can.”
Changmin had known that. Deep down he also knew that he’d have felt hurt if Kyuhyun would have been able to get Junsu to stay while he couldn’t. But he still hated it, the idea of Junsu leaving him.
“But if it helps, I’m going with him. I’ll look after him like he will look after me," Kyuhyun said. "Just as friends,” he added.
Kyuhyun aimed his arrow at the only undamaged rock and let it go. This time Changmin had prepared himself and he’d sent out a shield the moment Kyuhyun turned and raised his bow. It was quite far away and hard to control, but this was his speciality.
The arrow never reached the rock, but splintered in mid-air, metres before it, with a sound of thunder that echoed against the surrounding buildings.
Kyuhyun gasped and spun around, shooting Changmin a suspicious look.
“I’d rather look after him myself,” Changmin said, “but thank you. Your ability is impressive.”
If Kyuhyun had been a full demon, that arrow might have been able to pierce Changmin’s energy. It had still been a powerful blow though, which was at least a bit reassuring.
But Changmin didn’t feel very reassured. Realising that Junsu wasn’t going to stay by his side for this fight and realising that the chance of them growing old together was practically nonexistent were sad things of two different levels.
He still had hope. He wasn’t going to give up and he knew he wouldn’t until the day Junsu died. There had to be a way. But Kyuhyun had just made it harder.
He had to think of a way to distract himself and rearrange his thoughts until he was able to look at Junsu again and bear the reaction that would cause in his heart.
The only thing that came to mind was finding Kangin and telling him that he at least knew more about why Kyuhyun had wanted nothing to do with him.
Kangin was alone in his house and when Changmin looked at him he actually considered taking him to Heechul’s little infirmary.
While Changmin told him everything he now knew about Kyuhyun, Kangin still looked desperate.
“So the reason he hates demons is a wound that goes deep and he doesn’t like the idea of destined mates. He already hated me for letting him go. This only makes it worse.”
Changmin sighed. “He doesn’t hate you, I’m sure. About what happened at the selection, he was just as confused by what he felt at the time, I think that if your roles had been reversed he might have done the same.”
“He hates me,” Kangin muttered, staring at the floor. Changmin almost slapped him.
“Fine. Believe that. So what if he does? What are you going to do about it?”
A pained sound left Kangin’s throat. “You make it sound like there’s something I can do.”
“Have you even tried to talk to him again?”
Kangin shook his head.
“You should. And just by being close to him you might already make his feelings so strong he has to admit they’re real.”
Kangin whimpered and Changmin rolled his eyes. “You’re not trying to tell me you’re actually his father, are you?”
Kangin shot up. “Of course not!”
“Well, go tell him that, it would at least be a start.”
Changmin stood up. “Just.. do something.”
He was more passionate about this than he would have if the only reason had been Kangin being a friend.
He was jealous, and it made him angry.
Kangin and Kyuhyun were idiots. They had everything, a bond and both of them a demon-enough physique to reach the same age, and they weren’t exploiting that and showing eternal gratitude to fate like Changmin would have done.
It was four days later that Heechul suddenly decided and announced that they were ready.
Changmin knew that they couldn’t afford to lose much time, but this was too sudden.
Junsu had asked him what was wrong multiple times during the past few days, and he seemed to be getting angry about it too, asking if Changmin didn’t trust him enough to tell him what was bothering him.
That hurt, but so did the promise Junsu had demanded him to make, and he feared that if he talked about this, Junsu would ask him to repeat it.
But he could say what was wrong right now, and he did, clutching Junsu to his chest and inhaling his scent. “Please don’t go.”
Junsu’s arms tightened around him until their bodies were pressed against each other so tightly that Changmin thought they had moulded together.
“I’ll come back,” Junsu whispered.
“Yes, but you have to get ready now,” Heechul said. He turned to Yunho who sat next to Yoochun’s bed. “And you too.” After that he left the room, most likely to prepare the most complicated part of his plan.
Heechul had a few books, really old books, that told of a time demon’s had experimented with their abilities and discovered new ones, before the war and chaos destroyed most of their hard work.
Changmin hadn’t known about the existence of those books until a week ago. Apparently Heechul had been trying to understand them for centuries.
There had been healers, who performed miracles concerning people’s life force. The last of them they had known in person, but he had been an old man, very old even for a demon, and he’d never given away any of his secrets. At least not that Changmin knew. Maybe Heechul was hiding something, as it turned out he'd been keeping a lot to himself, but if he was, that meant it wasn’t relevant right now.
There had also been demons who had the ability to control nature. They didn’t really control it, but they had found ways to combine their energy with not just a stick or a sword or an arrow, but with fire and wind and water.
And Heechul had translated the old language and performed his own experiments.
The group that would attempt to sneak out of the city consisted of two thirds of the human warriors, led by Junsu, and a couple of demons.
It wasn’t very big, but big enough that they would be noticed by the enemy however quiet they moved and however well they hid within the landscape.
They wouldn’t even have a place to hide in the landscape, as they would leave the city over the great open fields, from that point where the shield was powered.
There would be a distraction. The humans and demons that stayed behind would attack the enemy and make it look like an attempt to break out by force. It wouldn’t be at the opposite side of the shield, but close enough that the ones guarding the fields might leave their posts to help.
Still, they couldn’t hope for the fields to be completely abandoned, and that was why they needed Heechul. Heechul who claimed he’d discovered a way to create a thick blanket of fog that stretched out for hundreds of metres, big enough to hide an army until it reached the hills.
They would do it in the morning, when there was a smaller chance that the demons who knew the area would still get lost themselves, and they would create fog all around the city to make it seem natural.
It was a plan, the best they had, and it might even work.
They would all work together and give it all they had. Heechul would create the fog with the few others he’d taught how it worked, Junsu and Kyuhyun would hide in it and leave, Yunho would join the fight that would cause a distraction and a group of demons would keep up the shield and make sure to let survivors back in afterwards.
And Changmin would sit in the palace. He would sit in the palace, far away from everything, and wait.
“You’re thinking of coming after me,” Junsu said against his neck, “or at least joining the fight.”
Changmin’s breath hitched. “Please don’t tell me to stay and do nothing, please don’t.”
Junsu pulled back and Changmin wanted to protest and just keep hugging him until it was all over. But he didn’t, because he couldn’t force Junsu to do what everybody was forcing him to do and just watch. He knew how much that hurt and he couldn't hurt Junsu.
“Please,” Junsu returned, “please don’t get anywhere near the edge. Please keep away from danger. For me.”
Changmin looked into his eyes and knew he shouldn’t have, because before he knew it, he was nodding. But if Junsu had asked him to make it a promise, he might have refused.
Junsu didn’t. He smiled and buried into Changmin’s neck again. “We don’t have much time,” he whispered.
Changmin shivered and pulled him closer.
Behind them, Yoochun had pulled Yunho onto his bed and curled himself around him. “Please come back.”
Yoochun said it softly, but Changmin heard and his heart clenched. He shouldn’t just worry about Junsu. If everything went well, Yunho’s task would be the most dangerous.
He looked and saw Yunho hold Yoochun, still very careful, and press a gentle kiss to his lips. The bruises on Yoochun’s body had disappeared and the cuts were healing. His ribs still hurt, but only when he laughed or moved too much.
“I’ll come back,” Yunho said, “if you get better soon so I can claim my reward for helping to save the city.”
Yoochun clutched at his shoulders and pressed closer, wincing a bit but ignoring it. “Claim your reward now.”
Yunho took his wrists and carefully lowered him back to the bed. He breathed his words against Yoochun’s neck. “Do you want me to tie you up and play with you until you’re begging for me to fuck you?”
Yoochun whimpered and tried to arch up but Yunho held his lower body down with a leg.
“Do you want me to fuck you so long and hard that you can’t keep yourself up anymore but you still come whenever I want and touch you in the right way?”
Yoochun moaned helplessly. Unable to press closer. “Please,” he said with another whimper, “and punish me when I don’t bring you enough pleasure, please, master.”
Yunho smiled, cupped Yoochun’s cheek and kissed him deeply. “I will, when your body is healthy and I’ll be the one controlling your pleasure and pain.”
Yoochun made a sound like he was holding back a sob. “But you need energy too.”
Yunho kissed his forehead. “I’ll take a little bit, is that okay? But you need it to heal.”
“Come on,” Junsu whispered into Changmin’s ear, and he led him to their room.
Changmin immediately pushed him onto the bed and crawled over him to press their bodies together. Junsu’s hands moved over his back and settled on his ass when Changmin rolled his hips down and sucked on a piece of skin on Junsu’s neck.
Junsu moaned and bucked his hips up to create more friction even as he whispered breathlessly, asking Changmin to stop. “No... no.. time. Gather.. have to.. lead.”
Changmin growled into Junsu’s neck and cursed Heechul in his head. Maybe they didn’t have time for sex, and he didn’t want to rush because it was important that Junsu could walk comfortably in a few hours, but he could at least bring him pleasure.
He moved a hand between their bodies and opened Junsu’s pants enough to slide it in, all the while pressing kisses to Junsu’s shoulders and neck and face.
He wrapped his fingers around Junsu’s heated erection and stroked a few times, a feeling of pride filling him when Junsu squeezed his eyes shut moaned loudly, moving his hips again.
Changmin moved his hand to lie flat against Junsu’s hip, the tips of his fingers on his thigh.
“I love you,” he whispered against Junsu’s lips, and he released a small wave of energy to vibrate through his skin.
Junsu’s mouth fell open before he cried out his pleasure. He arched his back and his entire body shook as he came, his fingers digging into Changmin’s arms.
Changmin smiled and kissed his fluttering eyes, his cheeks, his moist lips and sweaty neck as Junsu moaned through the aftershocks caused by Changmin’s once again stroking hand.
Finally Changmin pulled his hand back and slid down Junsu’s body. He pressed a kiss to his stomach as he closed his pants and sat up.
Junsu took a deep breath, eyes still closed. “I’ll return the favour when I get back,” he said.
“I’ll take you up on that,” Changmin replied, swallowing his sadness, because before Junsu could get back he would have to leave. Now.
Junsu stood up. “I should probably go, get everyone ready. You should stay here. I love you.”
Changmin stood up too and looked at him, silently asking him to stay for the last time.
Junsu closed his eyes. He opened them when Changmin took his moon heart. “Changmin?”
Changmin touched the white stone with his finger and concentrated. “You’ll need my energy more than I do,” he said.
One of Junsu’s hands came up and touched his wrist, as a way to show affection and to thank him, but after a while its grip tightened. “Min? Don’t drain yourself too much.”
Changmin shook his head, but he imagined Junsu, surrounded by enemies, while he sat here and looked through a window at a blue, cloudless sky, wondering what was happening out there.
Junsu definitely needed his energy more. He had no use for it himself.
A few minutes later his head went light and his knees buckled.
“Changmin!” Junsu supported him and led him back to the bed. “Are you okay?”
Changmin sat down and took a deep breath, waving Junsu’s worry away. “I’m fine, just a bit tired.”
The attraction he felt to Junsu’s energy was overwhelming now. He had to fight his body’s instinct to take some back.
Junsu furrowed his brow and kissed him softly. “I really have to go now.”
“No... wait.” Changmin had difficulty raising his arm, but eventually his fingers were back around the small pendant hanging against Junsu’s chest. “I have to..”
He used the last of what he had to create a little shield. The white stone sucked it in and in the next second it lost its glow, turning greyish and cold. Junsu gasped and took it from his hands, trying to get it to react to his touch.
“I s-..” Changmin closed his eyes and cleared his head. “I sealed my energy, because if they feel it on you, you’ll turn into a target. If you need it, you just have to add a little bit of your own, not just a touch, but some energy, and the seal will be released.”
Junsu looked at the moon heart and nodded, but he looked a bit sad.
“I’m sorry, but it’s safer like this,” Changmin said softly. “It’s cold, but it’s still me in there, a big part of me. You’ll still carry me with you.”
Junsu smiled and wrapped his fingers around the pendant. “I’ll protect it with my life.”
Changmin wanted to protest and say that it was supposed to protect him, not the other way around. An image of finding Junsu’s dead body and rolling it over to find the necklace in a clenched, bloodstained fist flashed through his mind.
But Junsu leaned forward and he had to use all his strength to return the kiss.
“I love you,” Junsu whispered, pressing their foreheads together. He stood up, turned around, and left.
Changmin’s vision blurred as he watched Junsu’s back. He struggled with his legs and eventually managed to get them under him.
He didn’t make it far before he felt a sharp stinging pain in his knees indicating that his muscles had given up.
His upper body started to fall forward too and he caught one last glimpse of the door Junsu had disappeared through moments ago before everything went black.
Chapter 20
Chapter 18 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 10
Chapter 9 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 - Prologue