Second Chances (Chapter 17)
Title: Second Chances
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: Main: YunJae; Secondary: JaeMin, HoMin
Rating: NC-17
Length: Chaptered
Summary: After Changmin's death, how are Jae and Yunho going to cope with their grief and their increasing attraction to each other?
AN: So in my battle with LJ to make the fonts bigger for you guys, I accidentally deleted the entire post so all the comments are gone... Why does LJ hate me so much?! Anyway, sorry bout that guys and sorry it's so late... Read the entire thing over and start from scratch maybe? :)
They were on the road by 4:30am, the start of their ninety minute drive to the coast.
They’d gone to bed at 9:00pm. After the long night and morning he’d had, then the even longer day at work, Yunho found that, for once, he could fall asleep without making love to Jae. He was so exhausted that he’d barely managed to tuck Jae beneath his chin before he’d drifted off. When Jae awoke at 2:30am, he was still sound asleep. By the time he’d come down to the kitchen at 3:45, most of the cooking was done and Jae was packing the dishes into coolers and thermoses to keep them warm on the long drive. They’d showered quickly, dressed, loaded up the car and set off.
Since they were having breakfast at the beach and it was a long drive to the coast, Jae had sliced up egg rolls he’d specially made for the journey and he fed Yunho, and himself, as they drove along, also holding a cup of coffee to Yunho’s lips to wake him up since he could tell that Yunho was still half asleep and a car accident was not the way he intended to go. He’d planned to be a pretty corpse and have an open-casket funeral and he wasn’t going to let Yunho jeopardize that.
Yunho had estimated that there would be moderate traffic on the road since Saturday was a work day for many but once they got out of the city, the roads were clear. Eerily so. At one point, Jae clocked ten minutes as the longest period they went without passing another car. So when forty-five minutes into their drive, they started seeing the coast, Jae was both excited and alarmed. It was still too dark. The sun was set to rise at 6:30. They’d expected to arrive around 6:00, which would be dark but not as dark as it currently was at 5:40 when they pulled up to the deserted parking lot at the beach. There was literally no one around.
“We’re here,” Yunho announced, stifling a yawn.
Jae stared skeptically out of the window. The sky was starting to lighten a bit but it was still far too dark for any sane person to go wandering around, especially in unknown surroundings.
“Maybe we should stay in the car until…”
Yunho laughed, unlocking and opening his door, much to Jae’s dismay. At Jae’s startled gasp, he turned to him and teased, “Is my Princess afraid of the dark?”
Jae scowled. “No, I’m not. I’m just being practical. We don’t know this area and it’s just shy of pitch black. We should stay here until there’s more light out.”
Yunho closed the door and turned fully towards Jae. He smiled gently. “Joongie… Don’t we have a flashlight? And a lamp? Isn’t this why you brought them, just in case they were needed?”
Jae nodded.
“Do you doubt that I can protect you if need be?”
Jae rolled his eyes. “I told you, I can protect myself.”
Yunho’s smile widened in amusement. “Fine. Well, do you doubt that you could protect us if something actually did happen?”
Jae chewed his bottom lip. “No...”
“Then stop being paranoid,” he scolded softly. He pressed a kiss to Jae’s forehead then opened his door again, climbing out before Jae had a chance to protest this time.
Sighing in resignation, Jae opened his door and climbed out.
They unloaded the car, Jae taking the picnic basket with the blanket and china and holding the small antique oil lamp up high so it illuminated the area in front of and immediately around them while Yunho carried the cooler with the food. Yunho led the way, Jae silently following and becoming more anxious as Yunho led them almost to the end of the beach, around an outcropping of rock that gave them the illusion of privacy.
“It’s a bit far, don’t you think?” he ventured.
Yunho laughed but said nothing, lowering the cooler to the sand.
“I mean, if someone were to sneak up on us and we had to race back to the car, we have quite a way to go. And we’ll have to leave all our stuff behind. I’m rather attached to some of these things, you know. Like…”
Yunho sighed, turned to Jae and took his face in his hands. “Please…Shut up.” He kissed him softly, slowly then stepped back, smiling as he watched the dazed expression on Jae’s face. That was always one guaranteed way to silence him.
When his head eventually cleared, Jae took a deep breath and told himself to stop being such a wimp. He set the basket down and took out the large blanket, spreading it neatly across the sand. Yunho took the lamp and set it on one end of the blanket while he sprawled across the other. Jae sat beside him, drawing his knees up to his chin while he stared out at the sea. The gentle whoosh of the waves was very soothing and though he still felt somewhat anxious about the dark, his nerves had calmed considerably.
“What do we do now?” he asked absently, not really expecting a reply since he thought Yunho had probably fallen asleep.
“I don’t know…” Yunho drawled lazily. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around Jae and pulled him to him, fastening his lips to his ear and tugging. “But I could think of something.”
Jae gasped, turning to look at him. “I thought you were sleepy. You were still yawning when we got here.”
Yunho lowered him to the blanket and rolled on top of him, spreading his thighs with his knees.
“I guess the coffee finally kicked in,” he said. He ground his growing hardness into Jae’s crotch. “I’m wide awake now.”
Jae cocked his head to the side. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in pointing out that we’re on a public beach and will most definitely have our asses thrown in jail for life if we’re discovered having sex.”
“No point whatsoever,” Yunho replied without hesitation.
Jae sighed, twining his arms around Yunho’s neck. “Then I guess I better enjoy it since it very well may be my last.”
Yunho smiled and lowered his mouth to Jae’s. He felt the beast within raise its head, registering the feel of Jae’s body against his, yielding to his weight, the taste of him on his tongue. It would be so easy to ravage and possess, so easy because he was used to it and Jae never stopped him, always gave way to his intense passions. But he found that this time, he wanted to take things slow. He wanted to savor the feel of Jae’s soft lips against his, the smoothness of his skin against his palm when he eventually touched him, he wanted Jae to be on the brink before he joined them together, not drive him to madness with every thrust of his body. He wanted to worship him like he should have every time they’d made love and he didn’t care that they were on the beach or that daylight was approaching. He wanted to do it now.
He took his time with the kiss, massaging Jae’s lips with his own for what seemed like ages before his tongue finally ventured into the warm inner recesses of his mouth. He could taste the coffee on his tongue and that slight sweetness that was inherently Jae. When Jae’s fingers threaded in his hair and he sought to deepen the kiss, quicken the speed of it, he resisted, keeping the pace slow and languid. When he’d had his fill of Jae’s mouth, he slid his lips to the side of his neck nibbling his way down to the pulse that beat rapidly there. He suckled the spot, knowing that it was one of Jae’s most sensitive areas, and was rewarded with a soft moan, Jae’s hips pushing up into him. Jae was now equally as hard as he was.
He continued his journey downward, sliding Jae’s coat off his shoulders a bit and pushing his sweater up to his chest. Jae shivered. The breeze was cold so he didn’t want to completely undress him but he also didn’t intend to leave any part of Jae’s body unattended. Jae’s nipples were rock hard, not like they weren’t usually anyway, and he closed his mouth over one, sucking gently as Jae’s hand continued to fist and unclench in his hair. He moved to the other nipple, teasing it with his teeth before swallowing it up like he had its twin. It was so rigid and pointy, stimulating the nerve endings of his tongue as he laved at it over and over. It was an incredibly erotic sensation.
Releasing the nub, he kissed and licked his way down to Jae’s navel, dipping his tongue into the sensitive circle. Jae groaned and Yunho looked up to see his head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, his lips parted, tongue peeking out at the corner. He was so beautiful…and so damn sexy. Yunho felt himself swell even more, making him aware of the uncomfortable restrictiveness of his jeans. Usually by this point, both he and Jae would be completely nude and he’d probably already be buried deep within Jae’s tight heat but not this time. Instead, he found himself at the waistband of Jae’s jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping it. He grabbed the waist of Jae’s jeans and his boxers, raised up slightly and pulled them all the way down to the tops of Jae’s stylish, fur-trimmed boots. He adjusted himself so that Jae’s jean-trapped legs lay on the backs of his thighs then turned back to the feast before his eyes.
Jae was standing proud, fully erect. His mouth watered as the memory of Jae on his tongue came rushing back. It had been so long since he’d tasted him. Not wanting to prolong the wait further, he stuck his tongue out and swiped it across Jae’s slit, from tip to the flat middle, almost moaning in ecstasy as he tasted the tangy saltiness of his precum. Wanting more, he closed his lips around Jae’s thick head and sucked. Jae moaned loudly, bucking his hips upward and he felt more of Jae’s shaft slip into his mouth. He drew up to the tip again, then slid back down until he felt the tip of Jae’s cock hit the back of his throat. He repeated the process over and over, reveling in Jae’s moans and how the flow of his leaking slit grew heavier as he himself grew closer to orgasm.
“Yunnie,” Jae moaned just then.
Yunho felt himself respond, his cock twitching in his pants as it thickened yet again at Jae’s cry of need. It wanted desperately to give Jae what he longed for but Yunho wasn’t ready yet. Instead, he quickened his pace, suctioning his mouth tighter around Jae’s shaft, paying special attention to the sensitive tip with his tongue. The hand that had risen to fondle his testicles, slid down to his tight entrance, stroking him playfully there.
Jae trembled at the touch.
Lifting off his cock entirely, Yunho spat onto two of his fingers, coated them thoroughly with his saliva, then placed them at Jae’s entrance yet again. He took Jae back into his mouth and, watching his face intently, slowly slid his middle finger all the way in. Jae’s back arched off the ground and Yunho tasted a considerable flood of precum as Jae thrust into his mouth again. He was close, so close. Extricating his finger, he placed both slick fingers at Jae’s tunnel this time and ever so slowly, pushed his way in. He felt Jae tense beneath him, around him, the muscles surrounding his fingers gripping them tight as they forced their way in against the resistance. He had never penetrated Jae without lube before, not even with his fingers, so he spared a glance at his face to make sure that he was okay. The tension was slowly draining from his face and body and only when Yunho felt him completely relax did he start working his fingers in and out of Jae’s tight hole.
Jae didn’t last much longer after that.
Yunho had only pumped his fingers in a couple of times, his mouth still suctioning tightly around Jae’s head, when he erupted in Yunho’s mouth. Yunho’s throat worked furiously to swallow the heavy load of Jae’s cream while Jae’s fingers gripped his hair, thrusting into his mouth as he rode the waves of his orgasm. Only after Jae had gone still, his cock soft in his mouth, did Yunho extricate his fingers and slide off of Jae’s penis. He looked up at his lover and found him breathing heavily, his skin flushed with a light sheen of perspiration that glistened under the gold light from the lamp. His red nipples were still perky, his pretty cock laying soft against the smooth skin of his lower abdomen.
He was truly a sight to behold.
Lowering himself onto Jae’s body, Yunho tenderly stroked his cheek, brushing a damp lock of hair off of his forehead.
“Are you okay?”
Still unable to speak, Jae nodded, leaning into Yunho’s touch.
Yunho kissed his lips lightly, tracing the full curve of his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue until Jae opened for him.
Jae could taste the muskiness of his essence on Yunho’s tongue. He’d become quite familiar with it since Yunho was prone to kissing him after pleasuring him orally.
Their tongues lazily romped together, taking their time as if they were on a deserted island that they had all to themselves, not a public beach with the sun set to rise any minute now.
The silken glide of Jae’s tongue against his reminded Yunho of how it felt to move inside of him, slow, slick, hot, and when he found himself grinding into Jae’s crotch, he knew that his body would be ignored no longer.
Sitting back on his haunches, he unzipped his jeans and freed his throbbing erection, smiling as he saw Jae’s eyes widen when his gaze fastened on it, his tongue snaking out to wet his lips in anticipation. He pulled out the ever-present small bottle of lube from his pocket and squeezed some into his palm, coating his hardness liberally.
“You know…” Jae began, watching him, his voice low and husky. “One of these days I’m going to remember to ask you about this never-ending stash of lube you seem to have.”
Yunho grinned. He repositioned himself between Jae’s legs, gripping his thighs and bringing them up behind him to wrap them high around his waist and back. He palmed his erection and aligned himself with Jae’s entrance.
“If ever we’re making love and you can even think straight enough to ask me a question about lube…” He thrust forward, releasing his shaft as he slid smoothly into Jae’s hot, tight cavern, eliciting a low groan from Jae as his eyes rolled back into his head. “Then clearly I’m not doing it right.”
“Thankfully…” he continued, allowing himself to slip out of Jae as he pulled his hips back, pressing down on Jae’s knees to spread his thighs as far as they would go within the constraints of the jeans at his ankles, “…today is not that day.” He plunged forward, thrusting all of him deep inside Jae’s tight sheath.
Jae arched gracefully, his breath catching on a gasp as he contracted involuntarily around Yunho. A shudder ran through his body. Pleasure, in the form of tiny, electrical volts, raced along his nerve endings. Yunho was doing something to him but he didn’t know what. They’d made love so many times, each time different and now, there was yet another new element, a new texture to their lovemaking. Yunho had been so gentle and attentive before and now, even in search of his own pleasure, all of his moves were ultimately executed to take Jae to new heights as well. Sometimes Yunho’s lovemaking was a driving force, a whirlwind of pleasure, an assault on the senses. This time, he was teasing it out of Jae. It was like he’d sat and plotted how to eke out every moan, every cry and gasp of delight.
Yunho was close, right on the verge of spilling his seed deep within his lover, but he wanted Jae to come with him. He always wanted Jae with him.
Burying his face in Jae’s neck, he whispered, “Come with me.”
Jae shook his head, not bothering to open his eyes. His first orgasm had been so strong, he didn’t think he had it in him to cum again so soon, no matter how great it felt having Yunho filling him up.
Yunho plunged in deep and held, rocking his hips back and forth so that Jae would feel nothing but the way he stretched him, filled him, how his thick head bumped against his source of pleasure. He reached between them and closed his fingers around Jae’s semi-erect cock, gently stroking him from the base of his shaft to the silky tip of his head, fingering his slit when he felt it respond to his touch by leaking its sticky fluid.
“Clearly your body disagrees with you,” he teased. He kissed Jae’s neck, trailing bites and nibbles up to his lips. He teased his lips the way he teased his body and when they parted for him, he continued to tease them, chewing the full curves until they were red and swollen.
Pulling his hips back, he plunged in deeply again, holding back a groan this time as Jae contracted around him on his inward glide to home base.
“Jae. Baby, look at me,” he ordered, his voice still soft and tender.
Jae shook his head.
“Baby… Open your eyes. The sun’s rising.”
And sure enough, it was. Yunho didn’t think Jae had realized just how light it had become since his eyes had been squeezed shut ever since he entered him.
“Look at the sunrise, baby.”
Yunho watched Jae open his eyes, saw the surprised, delighted pleasure on his face as it registered in his brain.
Jae looked over Yunho’s shoulder at the sun rising on the horizon, then his gaze shifted to the man in front of him, inside of him. With the red-orange sky framed behind him, off-setting the masculine angles of his handsome, pleasure-filled face, the breadth of his shoulders, Jae thought it was the loveliest sight he’d ever beheld.
“Beautiful…” he whispered, his voice filled with awe.
Yunho couldn’t hold back any longer. The look of pure rapture and naked reverence on Jae’s face when he looked at him sent him over the edge. He buried his face in Jae’s neck as he pumped into him, releasing his load.
Yunho’s climax set off Jae’s as jet after jet of hot cream tickled his pleasure spot, taking him to a smooth, gentle peak, a small amount of his cum spilling out into Yunho’s hand where he still gripped him.
Jae wrapped his arms around Yunho, holding him tightly as he kissed him behind the ear. He didn’t think he could love him any more than he did in that moment.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Yunho whispered into his neck.
Jae’s heart skipped a beat. Yunho’s words sounded like heaven to his ears.
Suddenly, Jae had a strong urge to confess his feelings to Yunho, to spill just how deeply his feelings for him ran, how long they’d existed, but he bit down on his tongue, holding back the words. There was such a thing as too much, he knew. Telling Yunho he loved him was one thing but admitting that that love spanned half his life would be a bit of an overshare at this point. He knew that Yunho wasn’t ready for that… and he feared that it might make him seem obsessive instead of devoted, make Yunho question his love, the sincerity and sanity of it, rather than accept it.
“Sounds like heaven,” he murmured instead, reiterating his thoughts.
Yunho kissed his neck. “When I’m with you, inside you, I feel like I’m already there.”
Jae allowed himself a small smile, inwardly squealing like a school girl whose crush had just asked her out. There was a warmth emitting from the area where his heart was and there were butterflies in his stomach. Only Yunho could reduce him to such a state.
Swallowing his joy, he said, “We’ve officially succeeded in breaking quite a few laws without getting caught. Now, let’s not push our luck.” When a loud growl emitted from Yunho’s stomach, he laughed and gently pushed at his shoulders. “And someone needs to be fed apparently.”
Yunho groaned, not wanting to leave the warmth of Jae’s embrace or his body, but he knew he was right. Kissing Jae’s neck again, he pulled out of him and rolled over to the side.
They cleaned up quickly with the wipes that Jae had had the foresight to bring along, then settled down on the blanket to eat the wide spread that Jae had prepared for them.
Breakfast consisted of casual conversation, feeding each other, on more than one occasion eating from each other’s lips, which almost led to a repeat of their earlier activity when Yunho let himself get carried away. Jae never forgot where they were, however, and stopped him before he too lost his senses. The beach was no longer deserted, a smattering of early morning visiters having appeared, but they were further down the beach closer to the parking lot so Jae and Yunho were able to enjoy their seclusion and indulge in each other without fear of being discovered.
After breakfast, they decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the nearby town. They packed up the basket and cooler then leisurely made their way down the beach to the parking lot, hand in hand.
Yunho couldn’t help noticing the admiring looks and smiles of the people they passed and he laughed inwardly. With the hood of his coat pulled over his head, Jae looked like a very beautiful young lady. He imagined they were thinking what an attractive couple they made and absently wondered how they would react if they knew the truth.
Once they reached the car, they put their picnic gear away, climbed in and set off for the small seaside town fifteen minutes away. Using a map from Yunho’s glove compartment, Jae decided that the town was small enough for them to explore in a day so he had Yunho park in the middle of the long main street so they could make their way to one end, then the other before winding their way back to the middle. Yunho thought it made more sense to proceed in a linear fashion, starting at one end, making their way to the other, then back to the starting point without any overlaps but he kept his opinion to himself. It was Jae’s day. He was just the driver.
Yunho thought that they would just walk the stretch of the street, browsing in the windows perhaps, but Jae insisted on going into every little shop, oohing and ahhing over what they had to offer. Shopping with Jae was a novel experience for Yunho. He was used to only going into the stores he had to, buying what was necessary, then going about his business. Min had been much the same way. Jae was the complete opposite. He went in, looked through everything, asked questions of the sales clerks and, more often than not, walked back out empty handed. Yunho couldn’t see the logic in it. Wasn’t the point of shopping to shop? To locate items you wanted or needed and purchase them? What was the point of looking through a bunch of stuff if you had no intention of buying anything?
When they were halfway up the street, they came to a vintage store. Or rather, Jae alerted him of the vintage store by his excited squeals. Yunho sighed and resigned himself to another five to ten minutes of browsing... Until he heard exactly what had caught Jae’s attention.
“Look at those wigs, Yunnie! Aren’t they cool? Very retro ‘80s, don’t you think? I want to try them on.”
Yunho froze. Jae was going to actually try on the wigs? In public? Had he lost his mind?
“Come Yun!” he urged, grabbing Yunho’s arm to pull him into the store.
Yunho was rooted to the spot, however, and his arm slipped out of Jae’s grasp. Jae turned to him and saw the utter disbelief on his face. Rolling his eyes, he continued into the store and went straight up to the wigs.
Yunho finally managed to shake himself out of his stupor. Slowly, hesitatantly, he walked until he’d crossed the threshold of the entrance but made no move to continue further in. He watched as Jae sifted through the assortment of wigs, picking out the ones he wanted to try on. He chanced a glance at the middle-aged woman behind the counter and flushed when he saw that her face was set in disapproving lines, her eyes focused intently on Jae. He was pretty sure she knew who, or rather what, they were and he was mortified.
“This is fabulous!” Jae exclaimed, adjusting the blond wig on his head.
Oh no!, Yunho groaned inwardly.
When the woman’s eyes swung to his, he wondered if he’d actually groaned out loud instead.
“How much is this?” Jae inquired, walking up to the counter carelessly, as if he were talking about the weather.
The woman grunted a figure, her words too chewed up for Yunho to hear from where he stood. He glanced at Jae’s face and was surprised to see him smiling at the clerk despite her stern expression.
Jae glanced over his shoulder and winked at Yunho before refocusing on the clerk.
“You know…” he started, deftly reaching a hand out and stroking a lock of the woman’s curly, black hair, much to her and Yunho’s surprise. “I was right!” he continued. “It’s just as soft as it looks. You have wonderful hair, darling.”
The woman’s eyes had gone wide when Jae touched her hair but now they crinkled at the corners as a blush stained her cheeks, a hand raising to her mouth to cover a shy smile.
“Aww, aren’t you cute?” he cooed. “But seriously, darling, your hair is fabulous! Do you know how many women would kill for hair like yours? Maybe they already have!” He chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, smiling wider when she giggled in response.
“If you ever decide to cut your hair, you should let me know. I’ll be here in the snap of a finger to sweep it all up and cart it off to have it made into a wig for myself.”
Still smiling, the woman dropped her hand to the table, fiddling with a piece of paper there as she seemed to think something over. Mustering her courage, she cleared her throat.
“Are you…” She trailed off, blushing again.
Jae cocked a brow. “Am I what?” He knew very well what she was asking but he wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
“Are you…” She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Are you a gay?”
Jae felt like bursting with laughter at her phrasing but didn’t want to startle the woman so instead, he tossed a length of blond hair over his shoulder and winked at her. “Can’t you tell?”
Her blush deepened but she seemed to have gotten the courage to ask more questions. Gesturing to Yunho, she said, “Is he your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know…” Jae glanced at Yunho mischievously. “Yunnie, are you my boyfriend? This nice lady wants to know.”
Yunho blushed furiously, both embarrassed and somewhat resentful at being put on the spot like that.
Jae turned back to the woman. “He’s shy so forgive him. But isn’t he gorgeous?”
She nodded her agreement.
For the next five or so minutes, she asked him all sorts of typical questions that one would expect from someone whose only exposure to homosexuality was what they saw on television and when she heard that he lived in New York, she wanted to know everything about his fabulous life there so he put on a show for her. She was harmless, Jae thought, and at least she had warmed up to him. Some people would have done their damnedest to run him out of the store if they knew what he was so he appreciated her friendliness enough to humor her. She was probably just lonely, perhaps bored in this mundane life she led, and he was the most interesting thing to happen to her in a while, perhaps ever. He was vain enough to think so.
By the time he left the store, he’d bought the blond wig, a coppery red and a more sedate auburn, which he wore as he sashayed out of the store, much to ByungLin’s [he’d learned her name and quite a bit about her family during their short chat] delight. He’d also been given a sizeable discount for his troubles.
Yunho shook his head, laughing as they made their way down the street, Jae’s arm looped through the crook of his elbow. Only Jae could charm his way into an apparent homophobe’s heart the way he had. By the time they’d walked out, ByungLin had been gushing over how perfect they looked together. Yunho shook his head again. They’d definitely made a convert.
“See,” Jae said. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Yunho chuckled. “I suppose not.”
“You mustn’t be so afraid to step outside your comfort zone, Yunnie. You have to… Hey!” Jae exclaimed, his words breaking off as his LV purse was dragged off his shoulder and down his arm before he had a chance to react.
“Oh, hell no, he did not just steal my Louis!” Jae swore, watching the slight figure running down the walkway. He thrust his purchases at Yunho. “Hold this.” Without another word, he took off after the thief at an impressive speed, leaving Yunho staring behind him dumfounded while his brain struggled to catch up.
Jae wove in and out of the scattered bodies on the sidewalk, his gaze focused on the fleeting figure. He was gaining ground, thankfully. He couldn’t tell how old the person was but he knew that it was a man, slight build, dark hair and he could tell from his unsteady movements that his energy was flagging.
Should’ve ducked into a side-street, dumbass.
What kind of thief ran straight down the sidewalk when they knew they were being pursued? Weren’t they supposed to duck into alleys and run through stores to escape and stuff? Or had he watched too many movies and real thieves were actually a lot more simple-minded? Because clearly, this one was no genius.
He gauged the distance between them and when it had closed sufficiently, when the thief was about ten feet away, he allowed himself to speed up just a fraction and took a flying leap, bringing his leg up and planting it squarely in the middle of the thief’s back. While the thief went skidding across the pavement, he landed in a crouch. His sensei would be so proud.
Standing, he dusted himself off and walked up to the thief, who still lay sprawled on the hard concrete.
“I’ll be taking this back, thank you,” he said cheerily as he bent to relieve the thief of his spoils.
He turned just as Yunho caught up with him, his eyes wide in amazement at what he’d just seen.
“Told you I could take care of myself,” Jae said smugly, patting his Louis lovingly. He glanced down at the thief. “I suppose we should call the police or something…”
Chapter 17b
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: Main: YunJae; Secondary: JaeMin, HoMin
Rating: NC-17
Length: Chaptered
Summary: After Changmin's death, how are Jae and Yunho going to cope with their grief and their increasing attraction to each other?
AN: So in my battle with LJ to make the fonts bigger for you guys, I accidentally deleted the entire post so all the comments are gone... Why does LJ hate me so much?! Anyway, sorry bout that guys and sorry it's so late... Read the entire thing over and start from scratch maybe? :)
They were on the road by 4:30am, the start of their ninety minute drive to the coast.
They’d gone to bed at 9:00pm. After the long night and morning he’d had, then the even longer day at work, Yunho found that, for once, he could fall asleep without making love to Jae. He was so exhausted that he’d barely managed to tuck Jae beneath his chin before he’d drifted off. When Jae awoke at 2:30am, he was still sound asleep. By the time he’d come down to the kitchen at 3:45, most of the cooking was done and Jae was packing the dishes into coolers and thermoses to keep them warm on the long drive. They’d showered quickly, dressed, loaded up the car and set off.
Since they were having breakfast at the beach and it was a long drive to the coast, Jae had sliced up egg rolls he’d specially made for the journey and he fed Yunho, and himself, as they drove along, also holding a cup of coffee to Yunho’s lips to wake him up since he could tell that Yunho was still half asleep and a car accident was not the way he intended to go. He’d planned to be a pretty corpse and have an open-casket funeral and he wasn’t going to let Yunho jeopardize that.
Yunho had estimated that there would be moderate traffic on the road since Saturday was a work day for many but once they got out of the city, the roads were clear. Eerily so. At one point, Jae clocked ten minutes as the longest period they went without passing another car. So when forty-five minutes into their drive, they started seeing the coast, Jae was both excited and alarmed. It was still too dark. The sun was set to rise at 6:30. They’d expected to arrive around 6:00, which would be dark but not as dark as it currently was at 5:40 when they pulled up to the deserted parking lot at the beach. There was literally no one around.
“We’re here,” Yunho announced, stifling a yawn.
Jae stared skeptically out of the window. The sky was starting to lighten a bit but it was still far too dark for any sane person to go wandering around, especially in unknown surroundings.
“Maybe we should stay in the car until…”
Yunho laughed, unlocking and opening his door, much to Jae’s dismay. At Jae’s startled gasp, he turned to him and teased, “Is my Princess afraid of the dark?”
Jae scowled. “No, I’m not. I’m just being practical. We don’t know this area and it’s just shy of pitch black. We should stay here until there’s more light out.”
Yunho closed the door and turned fully towards Jae. He smiled gently. “Joongie… Don’t we have a flashlight? And a lamp? Isn’t this why you brought them, just in case they were needed?”
Jae nodded.
“Do you doubt that I can protect you if need be?”
Jae rolled his eyes. “I told you, I can protect myself.”
Yunho’s smile widened in amusement. “Fine. Well, do you doubt that you could protect us if something actually did happen?”
Jae chewed his bottom lip. “No...”
“Then stop being paranoid,” he scolded softly. He pressed a kiss to Jae’s forehead then opened his door again, climbing out before Jae had a chance to protest this time.
Sighing in resignation, Jae opened his door and climbed out.
They unloaded the car, Jae taking the picnic basket with the blanket and china and holding the small antique oil lamp up high so it illuminated the area in front of and immediately around them while Yunho carried the cooler with the food. Yunho led the way, Jae silently following and becoming more anxious as Yunho led them almost to the end of the beach, around an outcropping of rock that gave them the illusion of privacy.
“It’s a bit far, don’t you think?” he ventured.
Yunho laughed but said nothing, lowering the cooler to the sand.
“I mean, if someone were to sneak up on us and we had to race back to the car, we have quite a way to go. And we’ll have to leave all our stuff behind. I’m rather attached to some of these things, you know. Like…”
Yunho sighed, turned to Jae and took his face in his hands. “Please…Shut up.” He kissed him softly, slowly then stepped back, smiling as he watched the dazed expression on Jae’s face. That was always one guaranteed way to silence him.
When his head eventually cleared, Jae took a deep breath and told himself to stop being such a wimp. He set the basket down and took out the large blanket, spreading it neatly across the sand. Yunho took the lamp and set it on one end of the blanket while he sprawled across the other. Jae sat beside him, drawing his knees up to his chin while he stared out at the sea. The gentle whoosh of the waves was very soothing and though he still felt somewhat anxious about the dark, his nerves had calmed considerably.
“What do we do now?” he asked absently, not really expecting a reply since he thought Yunho had probably fallen asleep.
“I don’t know…” Yunho drawled lazily. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around Jae and pulled him to him, fastening his lips to his ear and tugging. “But I could think of something.”
Jae gasped, turning to look at him. “I thought you were sleepy. You were still yawning when we got here.”
Yunho lowered him to the blanket and rolled on top of him, spreading his thighs with his knees.
“I guess the coffee finally kicked in,” he said. He ground his growing hardness into Jae’s crotch. “I’m wide awake now.”
Jae cocked his head to the side. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in pointing out that we’re on a public beach and will most definitely have our asses thrown in jail for life if we’re discovered having sex.”
“No point whatsoever,” Yunho replied without hesitation.
Jae sighed, twining his arms around Yunho’s neck. “Then I guess I better enjoy it since it very well may be my last.”
Yunho smiled and lowered his mouth to Jae’s. He felt the beast within raise its head, registering the feel of Jae’s body against his, yielding to his weight, the taste of him on his tongue. It would be so easy to ravage and possess, so easy because he was used to it and Jae never stopped him, always gave way to his intense passions. But he found that this time, he wanted to take things slow. He wanted to savor the feel of Jae’s soft lips against his, the smoothness of his skin against his palm when he eventually touched him, he wanted Jae to be on the brink before he joined them together, not drive him to madness with every thrust of his body. He wanted to worship him like he should have every time they’d made love and he didn’t care that they were on the beach or that daylight was approaching. He wanted to do it now.
He took his time with the kiss, massaging Jae’s lips with his own for what seemed like ages before his tongue finally ventured into the warm inner recesses of his mouth. He could taste the coffee on his tongue and that slight sweetness that was inherently Jae. When Jae’s fingers threaded in his hair and he sought to deepen the kiss, quicken the speed of it, he resisted, keeping the pace slow and languid. When he’d had his fill of Jae’s mouth, he slid his lips to the side of his neck nibbling his way down to the pulse that beat rapidly there. He suckled the spot, knowing that it was one of Jae’s most sensitive areas, and was rewarded with a soft moan, Jae’s hips pushing up into him. Jae was now equally as hard as he was.
He continued his journey downward, sliding Jae’s coat off his shoulders a bit and pushing his sweater up to his chest. Jae shivered. The breeze was cold so he didn’t want to completely undress him but he also didn’t intend to leave any part of Jae’s body unattended. Jae’s nipples were rock hard, not like they weren’t usually anyway, and he closed his mouth over one, sucking gently as Jae’s hand continued to fist and unclench in his hair. He moved to the other nipple, teasing it with his teeth before swallowing it up like he had its twin. It was so rigid and pointy, stimulating the nerve endings of his tongue as he laved at it over and over. It was an incredibly erotic sensation.
Releasing the nub, he kissed and licked his way down to Jae’s navel, dipping his tongue into the sensitive circle. Jae groaned and Yunho looked up to see his head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, his lips parted, tongue peeking out at the corner. He was so beautiful…and so damn sexy. Yunho felt himself swell even more, making him aware of the uncomfortable restrictiveness of his jeans. Usually by this point, both he and Jae would be completely nude and he’d probably already be buried deep within Jae’s tight heat but not this time. Instead, he found himself at the waistband of Jae’s jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping it. He grabbed the waist of Jae’s jeans and his boxers, raised up slightly and pulled them all the way down to the tops of Jae’s stylish, fur-trimmed boots. He adjusted himself so that Jae’s jean-trapped legs lay on the backs of his thighs then turned back to the feast before his eyes.
Jae was standing proud, fully erect. His mouth watered as the memory of Jae on his tongue came rushing back. It had been so long since he’d tasted him. Not wanting to prolong the wait further, he stuck his tongue out and swiped it across Jae’s slit, from tip to the flat middle, almost moaning in ecstasy as he tasted the tangy saltiness of his precum. Wanting more, he closed his lips around Jae’s thick head and sucked. Jae moaned loudly, bucking his hips upward and he felt more of Jae’s shaft slip into his mouth. He drew up to the tip again, then slid back down until he felt the tip of Jae’s cock hit the back of his throat. He repeated the process over and over, reveling in Jae’s moans and how the flow of his leaking slit grew heavier as he himself grew closer to orgasm.
“Yunnie,” Jae moaned just then.
Yunho felt himself respond, his cock twitching in his pants as it thickened yet again at Jae’s cry of need. It wanted desperately to give Jae what he longed for but Yunho wasn’t ready yet. Instead, he quickened his pace, suctioning his mouth tighter around Jae’s shaft, paying special attention to the sensitive tip with his tongue. The hand that had risen to fondle his testicles, slid down to his tight entrance, stroking him playfully there.
Jae trembled at the touch.
Lifting off his cock entirely, Yunho spat onto two of his fingers, coated them thoroughly with his saliva, then placed them at Jae’s entrance yet again. He took Jae back into his mouth and, watching his face intently, slowly slid his middle finger all the way in. Jae’s back arched off the ground and Yunho tasted a considerable flood of precum as Jae thrust into his mouth again. He was close, so close. Extricating his finger, he placed both slick fingers at Jae’s tunnel this time and ever so slowly, pushed his way in. He felt Jae tense beneath him, around him, the muscles surrounding his fingers gripping them tight as they forced their way in against the resistance. He had never penetrated Jae without lube before, not even with his fingers, so he spared a glance at his face to make sure that he was okay. The tension was slowly draining from his face and body and only when Yunho felt him completely relax did he start working his fingers in and out of Jae’s tight hole.
Jae didn’t last much longer after that.
Yunho had only pumped his fingers in a couple of times, his mouth still suctioning tightly around Jae’s head, when he erupted in Yunho’s mouth. Yunho’s throat worked furiously to swallow the heavy load of Jae’s cream while Jae’s fingers gripped his hair, thrusting into his mouth as he rode the waves of his orgasm. Only after Jae had gone still, his cock soft in his mouth, did Yunho extricate his fingers and slide off of Jae’s penis. He looked up at his lover and found him breathing heavily, his skin flushed with a light sheen of perspiration that glistened under the gold light from the lamp. His red nipples were still perky, his pretty cock laying soft against the smooth skin of his lower abdomen.
He was truly a sight to behold.
Lowering himself onto Jae’s body, Yunho tenderly stroked his cheek, brushing a damp lock of hair off of his forehead.
“Are you okay?”
Still unable to speak, Jae nodded, leaning into Yunho’s touch.
Yunho kissed his lips lightly, tracing the full curve of his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue until Jae opened for him.
Jae could taste the muskiness of his essence on Yunho’s tongue. He’d become quite familiar with it since Yunho was prone to kissing him after pleasuring him orally.
Their tongues lazily romped together, taking their time as if they were on a deserted island that they had all to themselves, not a public beach with the sun set to rise any minute now.
The silken glide of Jae’s tongue against his reminded Yunho of how it felt to move inside of him, slow, slick, hot, and when he found himself grinding into Jae’s crotch, he knew that his body would be ignored no longer.
Sitting back on his haunches, he unzipped his jeans and freed his throbbing erection, smiling as he saw Jae’s eyes widen when his gaze fastened on it, his tongue snaking out to wet his lips in anticipation. He pulled out the ever-present small bottle of lube from his pocket and squeezed some into his palm, coating his hardness liberally.
“You know…” Jae began, watching him, his voice low and husky. “One of these days I’m going to remember to ask you about this never-ending stash of lube you seem to have.”
Yunho grinned. He repositioned himself between Jae’s legs, gripping his thighs and bringing them up behind him to wrap them high around his waist and back. He palmed his erection and aligned himself with Jae’s entrance.
“If ever we’re making love and you can even think straight enough to ask me a question about lube…” He thrust forward, releasing his shaft as he slid smoothly into Jae’s hot, tight cavern, eliciting a low groan from Jae as his eyes rolled back into his head. “Then clearly I’m not doing it right.”
“Thankfully…” he continued, allowing himself to slip out of Jae as he pulled his hips back, pressing down on Jae’s knees to spread his thighs as far as they would go within the constraints of the jeans at his ankles, “…today is not that day.” He plunged forward, thrusting all of him deep inside Jae’s tight sheath.
Jae arched gracefully, his breath catching on a gasp as he contracted involuntarily around Yunho. A shudder ran through his body. Pleasure, in the form of tiny, electrical volts, raced along his nerve endings. Yunho was doing something to him but he didn’t know what. They’d made love so many times, each time different and now, there was yet another new element, a new texture to their lovemaking. Yunho had been so gentle and attentive before and now, even in search of his own pleasure, all of his moves were ultimately executed to take Jae to new heights as well. Sometimes Yunho’s lovemaking was a driving force, a whirlwind of pleasure, an assault on the senses. This time, he was teasing it out of Jae. It was like he’d sat and plotted how to eke out every moan, every cry and gasp of delight.
Yunho was close, right on the verge of spilling his seed deep within his lover, but he wanted Jae to come with him. He always wanted Jae with him.
Burying his face in Jae’s neck, he whispered, “Come with me.”
Jae shook his head, not bothering to open his eyes. His first orgasm had been so strong, he didn’t think he had it in him to cum again so soon, no matter how great it felt having Yunho filling him up.
Yunho plunged in deep and held, rocking his hips back and forth so that Jae would feel nothing but the way he stretched him, filled him, how his thick head bumped against his source of pleasure. He reached between them and closed his fingers around Jae’s semi-erect cock, gently stroking him from the base of his shaft to the silky tip of his head, fingering his slit when he felt it respond to his touch by leaking its sticky fluid.
“Clearly your body disagrees with you,” he teased. He kissed Jae’s neck, trailing bites and nibbles up to his lips. He teased his lips the way he teased his body and when they parted for him, he continued to tease them, chewing the full curves until they were red and swollen.
Pulling his hips back, he plunged in deeply again, holding back a groan this time as Jae contracted around him on his inward glide to home base.
“Jae. Baby, look at me,” he ordered, his voice still soft and tender.
Jae shook his head.
“Baby… Open your eyes. The sun’s rising.”
And sure enough, it was. Yunho didn’t think Jae had realized just how light it had become since his eyes had been squeezed shut ever since he entered him.
“Look at the sunrise, baby.”
Yunho watched Jae open his eyes, saw the surprised, delighted pleasure on his face as it registered in his brain.
Jae looked over Yunho’s shoulder at the sun rising on the horizon, then his gaze shifted to the man in front of him, inside of him. With the red-orange sky framed behind him, off-setting the masculine angles of his handsome, pleasure-filled face, the breadth of his shoulders, Jae thought it was the loveliest sight he’d ever beheld.
“Beautiful…” he whispered, his voice filled with awe.
Yunho couldn’t hold back any longer. The look of pure rapture and naked reverence on Jae’s face when he looked at him sent him over the edge. He buried his face in Jae’s neck as he pumped into him, releasing his load.
Yunho’s climax set off Jae’s as jet after jet of hot cream tickled his pleasure spot, taking him to a smooth, gentle peak, a small amount of his cum spilling out into Yunho’s hand where he still gripped him.
Jae wrapped his arms around Yunho, holding him tightly as he kissed him behind the ear. He didn’t think he could love him any more than he did in that moment.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Yunho whispered into his neck.
Jae’s heart skipped a beat. Yunho’s words sounded like heaven to his ears.
Suddenly, Jae had a strong urge to confess his feelings to Yunho, to spill just how deeply his feelings for him ran, how long they’d existed, but he bit down on his tongue, holding back the words. There was such a thing as too much, he knew. Telling Yunho he loved him was one thing but admitting that that love spanned half his life would be a bit of an overshare at this point. He knew that Yunho wasn’t ready for that… and he feared that it might make him seem obsessive instead of devoted, make Yunho question his love, the sincerity and sanity of it, rather than accept it.
“Sounds like heaven,” he murmured instead, reiterating his thoughts.
Yunho kissed his neck. “When I’m with you, inside you, I feel like I’m already there.”
Jae allowed himself a small smile, inwardly squealing like a school girl whose crush had just asked her out. There was a warmth emitting from the area where his heart was and there were butterflies in his stomach. Only Yunho could reduce him to such a state.
Swallowing his joy, he said, “We’ve officially succeeded in breaking quite a few laws without getting caught. Now, let’s not push our luck.” When a loud growl emitted from Yunho’s stomach, he laughed and gently pushed at his shoulders. “And someone needs to be fed apparently.”
Yunho groaned, not wanting to leave the warmth of Jae’s embrace or his body, but he knew he was right. Kissing Jae’s neck again, he pulled out of him and rolled over to the side.
They cleaned up quickly with the wipes that Jae had had the foresight to bring along, then settled down on the blanket to eat the wide spread that Jae had prepared for them.
Breakfast consisted of casual conversation, feeding each other, on more than one occasion eating from each other’s lips, which almost led to a repeat of their earlier activity when Yunho let himself get carried away. Jae never forgot where they were, however, and stopped him before he too lost his senses. The beach was no longer deserted, a smattering of early morning visiters having appeared, but they were further down the beach closer to the parking lot so Jae and Yunho were able to enjoy their seclusion and indulge in each other without fear of being discovered.
After breakfast, they decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the nearby town. They packed up the basket and cooler then leisurely made their way down the beach to the parking lot, hand in hand.
Yunho couldn’t help noticing the admiring looks and smiles of the people they passed and he laughed inwardly. With the hood of his coat pulled over his head, Jae looked like a very beautiful young lady. He imagined they were thinking what an attractive couple they made and absently wondered how they would react if they knew the truth.
Once they reached the car, they put their picnic gear away, climbed in and set off for the small seaside town fifteen minutes away. Using a map from Yunho’s glove compartment, Jae decided that the town was small enough for them to explore in a day so he had Yunho park in the middle of the long main street so they could make their way to one end, then the other before winding their way back to the middle. Yunho thought it made more sense to proceed in a linear fashion, starting at one end, making their way to the other, then back to the starting point without any overlaps but he kept his opinion to himself. It was Jae’s day. He was just the driver.
Yunho thought that they would just walk the stretch of the street, browsing in the windows perhaps, but Jae insisted on going into every little shop, oohing and ahhing over what they had to offer. Shopping with Jae was a novel experience for Yunho. He was used to only going into the stores he had to, buying what was necessary, then going about his business. Min had been much the same way. Jae was the complete opposite. He went in, looked through everything, asked questions of the sales clerks and, more often than not, walked back out empty handed. Yunho couldn’t see the logic in it. Wasn’t the point of shopping to shop? To locate items you wanted or needed and purchase them? What was the point of looking through a bunch of stuff if you had no intention of buying anything?
When they were halfway up the street, they came to a vintage store. Or rather, Jae alerted him of the vintage store by his excited squeals. Yunho sighed and resigned himself to another five to ten minutes of browsing... Until he heard exactly what had caught Jae’s attention.
“Look at those wigs, Yunnie! Aren’t they cool? Very retro ‘80s, don’t you think? I want to try them on.”
Yunho froze. Jae was going to actually try on the wigs? In public? Had he lost his mind?
“Come Yun!” he urged, grabbing Yunho’s arm to pull him into the store.
Yunho was rooted to the spot, however, and his arm slipped out of Jae’s grasp. Jae turned to him and saw the utter disbelief on his face. Rolling his eyes, he continued into the store and went straight up to the wigs.
Yunho finally managed to shake himself out of his stupor. Slowly, hesitatantly, he walked until he’d crossed the threshold of the entrance but made no move to continue further in. He watched as Jae sifted through the assortment of wigs, picking out the ones he wanted to try on. He chanced a glance at the middle-aged woman behind the counter and flushed when he saw that her face was set in disapproving lines, her eyes focused intently on Jae. He was pretty sure she knew who, or rather what, they were and he was mortified.
“This is fabulous!” Jae exclaimed, adjusting the blond wig on his head.
Oh no!, Yunho groaned inwardly.
When the woman’s eyes swung to his, he wondered if he’d actually groaned out loud instead.
“How much is this?” Jae inquired, walking up to the counter carelessly, as if he were talking about the weather.
The woman grunted a figure, her words too chewed up for Yunho to hear from where he stood. He glanced at Jae’s face and was surprised to see him smiling at the clerk despite her stern expression.
Jae glanced over his shoulder and winked at Yunho before refocusing on the clerk.
“You know…” he started, deftly reaching a hand out and stroking a lock of the woman’s curly, black hair, much to her and Yunho’s surprise. “I was right!” he continued. “It’s just as soft as it looks. You have wonderful hair, darling.”
The woman’s eyes had gone wide when Jae touched her hair but now they crinkled at the corners as a blush stained her cheeks, a hand raising to her mouth to cover a shy smile.
“Aww, aren’t you cute?” he cooed. “But seriously, darling, your hair is fabulous! Do you know how many women would kill for hair like yours? Maybe they already have!” He chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, smiling wider when she giggled in response.
“If you ever decide to cut your hair, you should let me know. I’ll be here in the snap of a finger to sweep it all up and cart it off to have it made into a wig for myself.”
Still smiling, the woman dropped her hand to the table, fiddling with a piece of paper there as she seemed to think something over. Mustering her courage, she cleared her throat.
“Are you…” She trailed off, blushing again.
Jae cocked a brow. “Am I what?” He knew very well what she was asking but he wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
“Are you…” She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Are you a gay?”
Jae felt like bursting with laughter at her phrasing but didn’t want to startle the woman so instead, he tossed a length of blond hair over his shoulder and winked at her. “Can’t you tell?”
Her blush deepened but she seemed to have gotten the courage to ask more questions. Gesturing to Yunho, she said, “Is he your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know…” Jae glanced at Yunho mischievously. “Yunnie, are you my boyfriend? This nice lady wants to know.”
Yunho blushed furiously, both embarrassed and somewhat resentful at being put on the spot like that.
Jae turned back to the woman. “He’s shy so forgive him. But isn’t he gorgeous?”
She nodded her agreement.
For the next five or so minutes, she asked him all sorts of typical questions that one would expect from someone whose only exposure to homosexuality was what they saw on television and when she heard that he lived in New York, she wanted to know everything about his fabulous life there so he put on a show for her. She was harmless, Jae thought, and at least she had warmed up to him. Some people would have done their damnedest to run him out of the store if they knew what he was so he appreciated her friendliness enough to humor her. She was probably just lonely, perhaps bored in this mundane life she led, and he was the most interesting thing to happen to her in a while, perhaps ever. He was vain enough to think so.
By the time he left the store, he’d bought the blond wig, a coppery red and a more sedate auburn, which he wore as he sashayed out of the store, much to ByungLin’s [he’d learned her name and quite a bit about her family during their short chat] delight. He’d also been given a sizeable discount for his troubles.
Yunho shook his head, laughing as they made their way down the street, Jae’s arm looped through the crook of his elbow. Only Jae could charm his way into an apparent homophobe’s heart the way he had. By the time they’d walked out, ByungLin had been gushing over how perfect they looked together. Yunho shook his head again. They’d definitely made a convert.
“See,” Jae said. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Yunho chuckled. “I suppose not.”
“You mustn’t be so afraid to step outside your comfort zone, Yunnie. You have to… Hey!” Jae exclaimed, his words breaking off as his LV purse was dragged off his shoulder and down his arm before he had a chance to react.
“Oh, hell no, he did not just steal my Louis!” Jae swore, watching the slight figure running down the walkway. He thrust his purchases at Yunho. “Hold this.” Without another word, he took off after the thief at an impressive speed, leaving Yunho staring behind him dumfounded while his brain struggled to catch up.
Jae wove in and out of the scattered bodies on the sidewalk, his gaze focused on the fleeting figure. He was gaining ground, thankfully. He couldn’t tell how old the person was but he knew that it was a man, slight build, dark hair and he could tell from his unsteady movements that his energy was flagging.
Should’ve ducked into a side-street, dumbass.
What kind of thief ran straight down the sidewalk when they knew they were being pursued? Weren’t they supposed to duck into alleys and run through stores to escape and stuff? Or had he watched too many movies and real thieves were actually a lot more simple-minded? Because clearly, this one was no genius.
He gauged the distance between them and when it had closed sufficiently, when the thief was about ten feet away, he allowed himself to speed up just a fraction and took a flying leap, bringing his leg up and planting it squarely in the middle of the thief’s back. While the thief went skidding across the pavement, he landed in a crouch. His sensei would be so proud.
Standing, he dusted himself off and walked up to the thief, who still lay sprawled on the hard concrete.
“I’ll be taking this back, thank you,” he said cheerily as he bent to relieve the thief of his spoils.
He turned just as Yunho caught up with him, his eyes wide in amazement at what he’d just seen.
“Told you I could take care of myself,” Jae said smugly, patting his Louis lovingly. He glanced down at the thief. “I suppose we should call the police or something…”
Chapter 17b