a light that's always on: Part I
Title: a light that's always on
Pairing: Yoochun/Changmin
Rating: Explicit
Summary: This is what it takes to save the world: three hunters, a demon and an angel. AU, vaguely inspired by Supernatural.
Author's Notes: The fabulous art is by trolleys, with many many thanks for drawing and letting me include it. Also thanks to ranalore and sleepish for betaing, as well as everyone else who looked this over in its various stages of completeness.
Prologue
The night before Changmin leaves for college, Yoochun drives up to Changmin's house and spends an hour sitting in his car, trying to work up the courage to get out and walk to the front door. It's only the thought that Changmin probably thinks he's got a stalker by now that makes Yoochun pick up his phone eventually. When Changmin answers, Yoochun says, "Hey, open your door? Wanna steal you for a bit."
Yoochun knows Changmin's parents don't like him, that they think he's just the mechanic's kid from down the street who disappears for odd periods of time and leaves their son fretting until he gets back. Worse, sometimes Yoochun takes their son with him, and then their good son comes back with strange scrapes and bruises, though when they ask if Changmin got in a fight, his only answer is, "Not exactly."
The almost-brooding's cut off when Changmin's door opens, and he watches the interaction under the porch light, Changmin's mother's face clearly saying, 'you have to finish your packing', Changmin's waving hands answering, 'I'll just be a minute, it'll get done, I promise.' Then Changmin's trotting down the stairs to the street, giant grin on his face that fades as he pokes his head through the rolled down window and says, perfectly serious but for the crinkle of his eyes, "Thought you were a stalker, you freak, parking outside my house and just staring like that."
Yoochun laughs, reaching over to swat lightly at Changmin's cheek. "Just get in the car, smartass. Got places to go, things to see."
"You are not taking me anywhere!" Changmin says as he slides into the passenger seat. "No expeditions. No adventures. My mom will kill me if I don't finish packing."
"Kind of rhetorical. Today," Yoochun replies, sneaking his hand onto Changmin's knee. Changmin looks down at it with a raised eyebrow, but lets it stay there, which is more than enough for Yoochun. "I'll bring you back before midnight, Cinderella. Don't want you to turn into a pumpkin."
Changmin just blinks at him for a second, then says, "Cinderella doesn't turn into a pumpkin, you twit."
"I know that!" Yoochun says. "Geez. You're hopeless." He takes his hand away from Changmin's knee to put the car into gear. "And I was gonna do something nice for you too, since you're leaving me forever and all."
He startles when one of Changmin's hands lands on his thigh, looking over at Changmin questioningly. "Not forever," Changmin says seriously. "It's just college."
Yoochun nods. "Yeah, I know. Was kidding," he says lightly. Except he wasn't, really. He knows as well as Changmin's parents do that Changmin's too good for him. "But you never know. I might get killed without you to watch my back."
"You manage without me half the time anyway," Changmin points out, thumb rubbing slow circles against the outside of Yoochun's thigh, Changmin's hand bleeding warmth into his skin even through his jeans. "And I'll be back. Promise."
"Okay," Yoochun says quietly, smiling over at Changmin. "You better not do anything stupid without me to watch your back, either."
"I will pretend to be completely normal," Changmin replies, deadpan, and Yoochun bursts out laughing.
"Yeah, good luck with that, alien boy."
Changmin's hand tightens on his leg, suddenly a lot less like comforting and more like threatening. "I can break you with my mind," Changmin reminds, but Yoochun just laughs at him again.
"I'd like to see you try," he says easily, taking a hand off the wheel to put it over Changmin's. "You love me way too much."
Changmin says, "Yeah right," but the way he turns his hand over to squeeze Yoochun's makes the words meaningless.
Yoochun returns the squeeze, turning his eyes back to the road until Changmin says, thoughtful, "Think I recognise this road."
"You damn well should," Yoochun says, smiling. "Almost there. Haven't been here in a while, right?"
"Too long," Changmin replies quietly. "I'd been wondering why."
Yoochun pulls the car off the road at last and puts it into park, leaning over to kiss the corner of Changmin's mouth. "Time never seemed right," he says, almost an apology, before he opens the door and gets out. Changmin follows him, and Yoochun walks around to join him, patting the car's hood lightly before he holds out a hand to Changmin. Lacing their fingers together, Yoochun tugs Changmin towards a barely-visible trail through the grass at the side of the road.
Ten minutes away from the road, the ground dips into a huge, shallow bowl surrounded by trees, full of tall grass and the last of the summer's wildflowers. Walking down into the field, it's as if the rest of the world beyond it ceases to exist. This is where Yoochun kissed Changmin for the first time, the summer after Yoochun turned seventeen and they discovered what was really out there.
"Romantic," Changmin accuses, laughing, as Yoochun pulls him down to the ground. They sprawl out in the grass the way they'd done when they were kids and discovered this place for the first time, counting stars and inventing constellations while Yoochun's father lied to Changmin's parents for them.
Yoochun turns on his side towards Changmin, watching the stars reflected in Changmin's dark eyes. "Gonna miss you," he says, soft.
"Come visit," Changmin answers easily, touching Yoochun's face with a gentle hand. "I'll keep my door open for you."
This has become a little too serious for Yoochun's tastes. "Booty call?" he asks, putting on his best leer.
"... you're hopeless," Changmin says, laughing, the careful touch turning to a shove to Yoochun's shoulder that Yoochun goes with, flopping onto his back again with a wounded expression that Changmin ignores ostentatiously.
"Hey, Changmin?" Yoochun says after a minute of comfortable silence, sitting up again.
Changmin sounds miles away when he answers, and Yoochun sort of hates it. Always has, even before he knew Changmin was leaving him. "Yeah?"
He reaches a hand up to fiddle with the cord strung around his neck. "Wanted to give you something."
"Kind of sudden for a proposal," Changmin teases lightly, but he's sitting up too, and there's something like concern in his eyes.
Yoochun ignores the tease in favour of pulling his necklace off, thumbing the amulet hung at the center of the cord. "You can't give me that," Changmin says, wide-eyed, even before Yoochun speaks. "Your mother-"
"I'm lending it to you," Yoochun answers easily. "Have to keep it safe for me." And maybe it'll keep Changmin safe too, the way it's always done for him.
That earns him a long, intent stare before Changmin nods slowly. "Okay. I'll bring it back to you, I promise."
"With your degree," Yoochun says, leaning forward to drop it over Changmin's head. "It's yours 'til then." He leans back again to watch the stars once more, reaching out to bring Changmin with him. Changmin falls asleep not long after, breathing against his shoulder. Yoochun knows he should wake Changmin, that Changmin's parents are going to give them both hell already for being out this long.
He doesn't, though, just watching Changmin sleep until the fireflies come out and Changmin wakes up of his own accord, sleepy and content enough not to yell. Instead he curls himself in against Yoochun for a lazy kiss, then says, "Take me home, Yoochun. And you'd damn well better help me finish packing, for abducting me this long."
Yoochun laughs like he hasn't been wanting the excuse to stay close to Changmin, and says, "Sure."
Changmin pushes himself to his feet, then holds out his hands, saying, "My turn to steal you now?"
Yoochun smiles and takes them. "You never needed to."
Part I
Yoochun's not sure just what it is that makes him pick that particular weekend to visit Changmin. The last couple of years since Changmin went away to college haven't been as bad as he had feared after all. They've managed with phone calls and weekend visits and, of course, Changmin comes home for his holidays. No matter the crisis, they've had at least one day together every couple of months, and spoken on the phone at least a couple of times a week. It's been enough to keep them going.
In fact, Changmin was home just a couple of weeks before, so Yoochun can't tell why he has this sudden need to see him. He just knows that he does, and finds himself on the road out of town on Friday night without really knowing when he decided to go.
He pulls up outside the house Changmin rents with a couple of friends, and that's when he really knows something's wrong, because the light behind Changmin's curtains flickers strangely - firelight, not electricity, and that's enough to get Yoochun slamming the car into park and hurtling out of his door even before the smell of sulphur hits his nose, telling him that a demon's been here and kicking his fear up another notch. "Changmin!" he yells as he tumbles through the front door (unlocked, why's it unlocked?) and takes the stairs two at a time. There's no reply, but he's got no time to give in to the near-choking terror rising in his throat. He's got to find Changmin.
Yoochun coughs and sputters when he pushes Changmin's door open and the smoke and the sulphur-stench double, but Changmin's in there, he knows it, so he charges in anyway, Changmin's name on his lips again in pure relief at the sight of him, alive, still alive and in one piece. "You idiot," Yoochun yells as he grabs Changmin by the shoulders and wrestles him towards the door despite the way he's almost dead weight in Yoochun's hands. "Promised you weren't going to do anything."
Changmin doesn't reply, his gaze fixed on the flaming figures on his ceiling until Yoochun drags him out of the room and his eyes snap suddenly into focus. "There was-" he starts, but Yoochun cuts him off.
"No time, we've gotta get out of here," Yoochun says, and Changmin lets Yoochun guide them both out of the house. They stumble onto the lawn, and practically into the arms of a figure Yoochun recognises even with smoke-blurred eyes.
"Yunho!" Yoochun exclaims, blinking up at him, arm still tight around Changmin's waist, both of them swaying precariously.
Yunho reaches out to steady them, frowning. "What're you doing here?" he asks.
"Could ask the same," Yoochun mutters, letting Yunho take some of their weight as they turn towards the cars, sirens starting to sound in the distance. He's not waiting for an answer, though, more worried about the way Changmin hasn't said a word, the way he's turning more and more limp in the circle of Yoochun's arm.
Luckily Yunho seems to realise that, taking a little more of Changmin's weight and moving a bit faster, until Yoochun can tug the passenger-side door of his car open and push Changmin in. Once Changmin's safely in the seat, Yoochun looks at him for a moment, knows it's with blatant worry that Changmin would berate him for if he was in any state to. Then he turns back to Yunho, keeping one hand on Changmin's shoulder just for the contact, and asks, "So? Last I heard you were working a job in. Alaska, or something."
"That was six months ago," Yunho points out, reaching to pull Yoochun into a hug that Yoochun returns easily, one-armed. Yunho's a friend, someone he trusts to watch their backs even if they don't see each other for months at a time. He's one of them. "Been back for a while now," Yunho continues. "But, yeah, a couple of weeks ago, there started to be some buzz about demonic omens down here, so I thought I'd come check them out. Didn't expect to find the pair of you here too, though." The air still stinks of sulphur, and Yoochun knows Yunho doesn't mean just the physical 'here'.
"Don't think either of us expected - that," Yoochun says with an eloquent gesture to where the flames are starting to get a real hold on the house.
Yunho's about to answer when the fire engines pull up, though Yoochun's attention is more drawn by the way Changmin's starting to shift under his hand. "You can fill me in later," Yunho says, instead of whatever question he was going to ask, and Yoochun nods.
"Hey," he says, turning back to Changmin, and ducking to look at him more closely. He breathes a sigh of relief when Changmin gets out a hoarse, rasping, "Hey," in return.
"You look like shit," Yoochun says helpfully, and he's even more encouraged when Changmin takes a weak swipe at him.
**
It takes a while to sort things out once the fire engines arrive, and Yoochun hovers behind Changmin while Changmin talks to the police and the firemen and tries to hold himself together with annoyed glances in Yoochun's direction. When Changmin starts swaying on his feet again, Yoochun says, "That's enough," wrapping his arm around Changmin's shoulders and steering him away with promises to the policemen that no, of course they won't leave town and this is where they'll be staying. For once, he actually means it. There's Yunho to talk to, and they've got to figure out why a demon would come to visit Changmin. The mere idea of it makes his stomach lurch with fear. He slides a quick glance at Changmin, who'd fallen asleep in the passenger seat the moment Yoochun'd started the car, then turns his attention back to the road.
Yoochun shakes Changmin awake once they reach the motel Yunho'd said he was staying at, and Yoochun's checked them in. "We're here," he says quietly, tugging Changmin out of the car and avoiding his flailing, just-woken limbs. Yoochun pulls Changmin into the room, one arm around Changmin's waist and the other clutching his duffel - he still doesn't know what possessed him to grab a set of Changmin's clothes from his wardrobe too when he left home, but he's really glad he did, now.
Inside the room, Yoochun helps wrestle Changmin out of his smoke-reeking clothes, stripping him down to his boxers. He pauses just long enough to touch the amulet lying against Changmin's chest and steal a simple, reassuring kiss, then nudges Changmin back onto the bed, pulling off his own clothes before he curls up next to Changmin, hoping skin to skin will comfort Changmin as much as it does him. "What happened?" he asks quietly, head laid against Changmin's shoulder for the reassurance of feeling Changmin's chest rise and fall under it.
"Don't really know," Changmin says, equally quiet. "Just got home from the library, went up to my room and... there they were." There's a quiet sort of horror in Changmin's voice that makes Yoochun tighten the arm he's draped over Changmin's chest. For all they've seen, before, it's never been someone they knew, and Yoochun can only imagine what it must be like for Changmin.
"Changmin," he murmurs, doesn't know what else to say but that. Changmin's hand comes up to close over his wrist, the touch telling him that Changmin's lost too.
Yoochun leans over to kiss Changmin's throat, mouth lingering against Changmin's skin. "Sleep," he says quietly. "It'll be better in the morning."
He waits until he's sure Changmin's properly asleep to work himself carefully out of Changmin's arms, breath held when Changmin shifts instinctively towards him, and digs the bag of salt out of his duffel to lay a line in front of every door and window in the room.
Then he curls himself back against Changmin and lets himself fall into a restless, fragmented sleep.
**
Yoochun wakes up with a start, not sure what'd woken him until he lifts his head and realises that Changmin's eyes are open, that Changmin's staring at the ceiling but Yoochun doesn't think Changmin's seeing the plain, stippled plaster at all. He pushes himself up, into Changmin's line of sight. "Don't think about it," he says quietly. Changmin's eyes aren't focusing on him, though, so Yoochun leans a little closer. "Hey, look at me," he says, a touch more sharply, then waits for the slow shudder as Changmin's body relaxes under his, as Changmin's eyes fix on him and he takes a gasping breath.
"I dreamed-" Changmin starts, then whispers, "It was real, wasn't it?"
Yoochun doesn't know what to say to that, just nods silently, then finds, "I'm sorry," falling from his lips.
Changmin ignores it, says, "Yoochun," instead, soft, with something in the sound of it that sets a sharp ache flaring in Yoochun's chest.
Yoochun whispers Changmin's name in reply, the word lost when Changmin leans up the little bit needed to kiss him, not the gentle brush Yoochun'd expected, but something that turns hard and hungry before he quite knows what's going on. He leans back, says Changmin's name again, questioning.
"I-" Changmin says, looking at Yoochun with eyes so wide and dark that Yoochun doesn't know how to deal with it. "Please," Changmin continues, instead of finishing his sentence, and Yoochun nods mutely, leaning back in to kiss Changmin, soft and reassuring but deepening fast. Changmin makes a tiny, relieved noise and Yoochun knows he's made the right call.
With Changmin almost naked already, it's the easiest thing in the world for Yoochun to slide his hand down Changmin's chest, slowly, savouring the familiar texture of Changmin's skin that he almost lost. He makes a quiet noise of his own when Changmin's hands find their way under the waist of his boxers to cup his ass, warm and possessive, pulling him down into the cradle of Changmin's hips. Yoochun slides his own hand into Changmin's boxers, curling snug around Changmin's cock, murmuring Changmin's name at the heat and weight of it in his hand. He doesn't think either of them are in the mood for slow and teasing today, and instead he sets an easy rhythm from the start, rocking down into Changmin to build pleasure for them both.
Changmin doesn't seem to want to stop kissing him, mouth pressing hard and needy against Yoochun's between gasps of air, hips shifting against Yoochun's hand. Yoochun's not making any effort to stop him, returning the kisses with near-equal hunger as he strokes Changmin's cock, hissing against Changmin's mouth when Changmin's nails dig into his skin and make him shudder at the way it redoubles the heat working through him.
Yoochun tightens his hand, twisting on every upstroke, the edge of his thumbnail catching against the slit of Changmin's cock when one of Changmin's hands slides around to mirror the touch. "Changmin," he gasps, the sound lost under the way Changmin cries out. Yoochun can feel how close Changmin is in the way Changmin's body tenses under his, the feeling of it so well-known, and he tries every trick he knows to have Changmin give in to the pleasure of it, to make him forget everything but this.
It takes just a couple more strokes before Changmin's coming under him, rush of heat against his palm as Changmin cries out again, wordless. Changmin's hand doesn't stop moving on him, and Yoochun rocks down into it, the way Changmin looks with his face open with pleasure enough to make Yoochun give in to the sensation, his own climax washing over him. He sags against Changmin, after, tucking his head into the crook of Changmin's neck as he eases his hand out of Changmin's boxers.
"Thank you," Changmin whispers, voice soft and a little ragged around the edges. Yoochun doesn't dignify that with a response immediately, kissing Changmin's skin instead before he reaches to the nightstand, wiping his sticky hand off so he can cuddle in again.
"Don't be an idiot," Yoochun says at last in his best Changmin-voice, and then, "Go back to sleep." He sleeps better this time around, and hopes Changmin does too.
**
In the morning Yunho tells them about the yellow-eyed demon who his father had started hunting 20 years ago, the demon who'd killed his father. Then, with refilled coffee cups in front of them, Changmin tells Yunho about the fire he found out his real parents died in.
"You're one of them," Yunho says wide-eyed, more wonder than horror in his stare. Neither Yoochun nor Changmin really understands what he's talking about until Yunho tells them more about the demon's chosen ones, the psychics that the demon seems to follow almost from birth, though no-one knows why.
Changmin just says, "Guess I am," and proves it by pulling the water jug across the table to him without lifting a finger, the power he'd learnt to use the first time he'd saved Yoochun's life.
"Think three can do better than one?" Yoochun asks, sliding a hand into Changmin's under the table and squeezing even as he raises an eyebrow at Yunho. He's relieved when Changmin squeezes back, echoing the question with a look.
"Hope so," Yunho says, nodding. "I owe that bastard, but I'm pretty sure I can't do it alone."
Yoochun smiles across the table at Yunho, nodding, then finds a real laugh when Changmin says quietly, "One for all?"
"All for one," Yoochun replies, nodding again, and putting his free hand over Yunho's in the middle of the table, his smile widening when Changmin's hand lands on top of his.
**
All the other bad things in the world don't just go away because they've got this new problem, though. There are still vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters, and once a family of plain, ordinary humans worse than all those nightmares put together. Yoochun breaks his arm escaping from them, Yunho nearly drowns saving a child from a vengeful ghost, and Changmin walks through it all nearly unscathed. Yoochun can see the way the guilt of it eats at Changmin, the way it never did before. It's obvious in the way Changmin barely leaves Yunho's bedside for the two weeks Yunho spends in hospital, the way Changmin keeps trying to do things for Yoochun even when his arm's long healed. But no matter how hard Yoochun thinks, he can never quite seem to come up with the right words. "It's not your fault," doesn't seem to work any more, neither does reminding Changmin that he's not the reason they're hurt. Yoochun's almost at his wits' end with it, and the jobs don't stop coming, every moment between them filled with trying to trace the yellow-eyed demon and find a weapon that they can use against him.
Even with Yunho's father's research, it takes them over three months just to track down something that has a chance of killing a demon. It's three months where Changmin seems perfectly all right for weeks at a time, then all at once Yoochun will realise he's been talking for ten minutes and Changmin hasn't said a word, and when he looks over Changmin will be wearing that faraway face that Yoochun hates so much. He hates it even more now that he knows it means Changmin's thinking about the burning house again, and the friends who died for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes Yoochun can distract Changmin, and sometimes he can't; he doesn't like it one bit, either way. He likes even less the way Changmin looks after calling his parents, and he doesn't know if he should be relieved or not that the calls get further and further apart.
In the end, the weapon they find isn't even the one they'd been looking for - they'd been tracking stories of a gun that Samuel Colt had forged a century and a half ago, but the leads turned cold, and eventually they found the gun, with no bullets and no way to make more. That day, it was Changmin who insisted there had to be some other way, something that would still work. Some way to make more bullets, some other weapon - if there's this, he'd argued, surely there must be more. Yunho and Yoochun had let Changmin persuade them, but they hadn't thought it would be soon, if ever. Then, barely three days after, they find themselves cornered by seven demons. And not just any demons - the seven deadly sins, Lust and Wrath and Gluttony and all the rest come to horrific life.
Yoochun looks into Pride's eyes, hearing the other six coming towards them, and thinks for just one second, 'This is it. Our luck's finally run out.' Then there's a knife appearing through Pride's chest, a horrible static crackle coming from his throat and Yoochun thinks it's the most beautiful sound he's ever heard because even though he's never seen a demon die before he thinks this is what it must look like.
The knife's held snug in the hand of a slim man, shorter than any of them, nothing very imposing at all. Yoochun barely registers pale skin and dark eyes - a little too dark, maybe? - before Changmin's grabbing his hand and saying, "Come on, Yoochun. Run!"
**
**
His name is Junsu, and he's a demon. Yoochun's pretty sure that makes him essentially untrustworthy. But Junsu claims to be on their side and Changmin won't let Yoochun just take the knife because of that. Even Yunho seems willing to give Junsu the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that he saved their life when he didn't have to.
Yoochun doesn't say anything about how much he doesn't like the way Changmin looks at Junsu, and the way Junsu looks back. He knows it'll just make him sound like a jealous boyfriend and he's not, he tells himself. He's just worried - afraid, his brain interjects - worried about what Junsu's got planned for Changmin, and the way Changmin seems almost willing to listen to him, the way Changmin doesn't seem to care that he's a demon.
"It's not like I'm not... something, myself," Changmin points out, when Yoochun tries to talk to him about it.
Yoochun looks back at Changmin, wide-eyed, shaking his head automatically. "That's different," he says, reaching out to put a hand on Changmin's arm. Changmin shrugs it off. He's never done that before, and Yoochun's heart lurches sickeningly in his chest.
"Not as different as you think, Yoochun," Changmin says, looking back at Yoochun. "I think he really wants to help. I think he can teach me."
Yoochun bites his lip on all the other things he wants to say. He can't say them when Changmin's looking at him like that, like Changmin's suddenly seeing a part of Yoochun that's completely incomprehensible to him. Instead, Yoochun drops his eyes, can't help but catch the glint of light from the amulet he'd given Changmin the day before Changmin went to college, to keep him safe. It still hadn't stopped the demon coming for Changmin. He hadn't stopped that, so maybe this is all his own fault anyway.
He's too lost in his own thoughts to notice Changmin reaching for him, and startles when Changmin's hand lands on his shoulder, eyes lifting automatically. "I'm sorry," Changmin says quietly, and Yoochun wants to believe him so much. "I just. I wish you'd be okay with this. I want to find out what I can do. Want to find out if I can help people better, if I can figure out a way to stop him."
Yoochun hesitates, can't bring himself to say no when Changmin's eyes are pleading with him to understand, but he can't pretend that he's okay with it. He can't tell Changmin to go and learn how to use powers that a demon gave him, from another demon, even if those powers have saved his life a couple of times.
"There's got to be another way," he says, shaking his head. "Isn't that what you said when we found the gun? And now there's the knife. We'll find something, Changmin."
"Maybe this is the other way," Changmin says. "Maybe this is the only way."
They're going in circles, and Yoochun can't think of anything else to do. "Be careful," he says softly, as close as he'll get to acceptance.
"It'll be okay," Changmin says, soft and certain, and Yoochun wants to believe him so much. "Trust me, okay?"
Yoochun nods at that, reluctant, because he does trust Changmin, with his life and everything else, but they all know how tricky demons are, and he doesn't trust Junsu at all.
Changmin reaches for him again, draws him in, and Yoochun goes with it, arms sliding around Changmin's waist as he tucks himself against Changmin. "I promise," Changmin murmurs, just before he leans down to kiss Yoochun gently. "I won't let anything happen."
**
That's how things are for another four months, Changmin learning to move objects with his mind and other things that Yoochun doesn't ask too much about, because if he knows, he might have to try to stop him. Yoochun spends more time with Yunho while Changmin's with Junsu, to keep himself from going crazy thinking about it.
Once, while they're burying the body that used to house another demon that wouldn't tell them what they needed to know, Yoochun says, almost to himself, "Don't know if I'm doing the right thing, Yunho." He doesn't look up, doesn't even acknowledge that he's said the words.
There's a pause, long enough that Yoochun's not sure that Yunho even heard him, and the sound of Yunho's spade cutting into the ground doesn't falter. Then Yunho says, "It's not your choice," almost as quiet as Yoochun has been.
Yoochun looks up at that, startled. "What?"
"It's his," Yunho says, catching Yoochun's eyes. "Can't make it for him."
"I know," Yoochun says, knowing Yunho has a point and hating to admit it all the same. "But I just."
Yunho nods, sympathy obvious, and pulls Yoochun into a hug when the job's done. Yoochun lets himself curl into Yunho and take a little comfort in the way Yunho is solid and warm and feels nothing like Changmin for all that they're almost the same height, trying not to think about Changmin and whoever used to own the body that Junsu's in.
**
Yoochun kisses Changmin hello and goodbye, still, but they haven't done more than that in weeks, both of them exhausted when they crawl into bed, too tired for more than just curling into each other. Yoochun thinks he's grateful that at least they still do that, that Changmin hasn't given him up entirely for Junsu's company.
Then one night, between jobs, Yoochun goes out with Yunho and lets himself drink too much, then a little more, enough that he feels floaty and disconnected, not entirely himself. Enough that the worry and the ache of knowing what Changmin's probably doing right now fades a little. He flirts outrageously with the girl behind the bar, the dark-haired businesswoman at the corner table, the man who buys him his eighth drink - or tenth, but who's counting? Anyone, in fact, who'll stay still long enough.
But it's Yunho he kisses in the alley behind the bar, pushing him up against the wall and pressing their mouths together hard and demanding. Yunho lets Yoochun kiss him, doesn't fight him off, even lets his tongue slide against Yoochun's when Yoochun presses closer. Afterwards, though, Yunho pushes Yoochun back with hands gentle against his shoulders. Yoochun doesn't recognise the look on Yunho's face until much later, when he's much more sober. "Not like this," Yunho says softly. "If that's what you want, try one of the people in there." Yoochun lets Yunho take him back to the motel instead, the rooms still dark and empty, lets Yunho pour him into bed and tuck the covers around him, gentler than Yoochun had expected.
It'd been sympathy, Yoochun realises in the morning, once the hangover's worn off a bit. Not pity, which he'd been half-afraid it would be, but something he thinks he can accept.
Changmin had come back at some point after Yoochun passed out, Changmin's head beside Yoochun's on the pillow when Yoochun woke up and dashed for the bathroom. Yoochun tries to tell Changmin about what had happened, but Changmin's busy getting dressed to track down another lead, and Yoochun can't seem to get the right words together before he leaves.
**
**
Once, Yoochun walks into their motel room to find Junsu in there, no sign of Changmin. He's just a beat slow in turning to walk right back out again, and the door slams shut behind him without a hand touching it. The handle won't turn when he reaches for it, and he turns back to Junsu with automatic fear and rage tangled together in his chest, the emotions only sharpening when he sees that Junsu's eyes are black. "What the fuck-" he starts, but Junsu cuts him off.
"Sit down and listen to me," Junsu says, but Yoochun's not about to listen to anything a demon says, especially not a demon that's been taking Changmin from him every day for the last two months.
"I don't have to listen to anything you say," Yoochun says, and he can hear the bitterness in his own voice. "Go tell it to Changmin."
"Changmin doesn't need to hear this," Junsu replies, moving closer, a wave of his hand pressing Yoochun back against the door without any need for a touch. "You do."
Yoochun fumes wildly, but he's pinned, and he sags against the invisible hands holding him after a moment. "Say it, then," he grits out.
"Your prejudice is going to get us all killed," Junsu says, and his voice isn't pulling any punches. "We don't have much time, and if we spend any more of it indulging your stupidity, Changmin's never going to learn what he needs to. He's the only one who's got a chance of killing Azazel, and my knife just isn't going to cut it." He laughs then, at the pun, and the sound is simultaneously compelling and chilling, to Yoochun.
"Demons lie," Yoochun says stubbornly, shaking his head.
"I want to live as much as you do. As much as Changmin does," Junsu says, taking another step closer. "Azazel will kill me for this, for what I've taught him already." Junsu lifts a hand to Yoochun's cheek then, the touch almost gentle, and something about it makes Yoochun shiver, nothing like repulsion. "Help me help him."
Yoochun shakes his head, but Junsu's hand forces his chin up, his eyes meeting Junsu's despite his best efforts. They're not black any more, and there's something human in the back of them, something pleading with Yoochun to understand. Yoochun wants to deny it, but he can't help thinking that maybe it's not the echoes of whoever's body Junsu's in. Maybe it's Junsu.
Junsu says then, like he read Yoochun's mind: "I used to be like you, once."
"Like me?" Yoochun echoes, despite himself.
"Human," Junsu says, quiet. "In love. Enough to sell my soul for them." His eyes are very, very dark, nothing like demon-black, and Yoochun stares for a long moment before Junsu takes a step back suddenly and the force holding him back loosens. Yoochun scrambles for the door, slamming it shut again behind him like it'll keep out all the things that Junsu said, but it's far too late for that.
**
Yoochun tries not to think about it in the week that follows, though he has pretty mixed success, with the way he keeps running into Junsu. He thinks Junsu might just be doing it on purpose, trying to make Yoochun face the things Junsu had said that day. Then, suddenly, it all becomes a moot point anyway.
Azazel's demons and their human leader find them in yet another motel between jobs, on a day that seemed much like any other. Yoochun's cleaning bug-lady slime off his knife while Yunho cleans his guns, Junsu and Changmin in the corner talking about something Yoochun tells himself he doesn't want to know while Junsu puts together spell-pouches that he claims will hide them better.
Then, suddenly, Junsu's and Changmin's heads snap up, half a word out of Changmin's mouth - "Somethi-" - before the night sky outside goes pitch-black, the room's light seeming a feeble flicker in the face of the sudden, unnatural darkness.
"What-" Yoochun starts, before the noise starts, a static screech that Yoochun knows a little too well by now.
"Demons." Junsu says what they're all thinking. What they all already know. "They're here."
Yunho's gun's already back together, Yoochun scrambling for the rocksalt-loaded shotgun that he's taken to keeping in reach for months now. None of it's going to be any use, if there're as many as he thinks, but that doesn't mean they're not going to try their best to send as many of the bastards back to hell as they can.
Yoochun brings the gun up to face the door just as it bursts open, just has time to stare at the young woman in the doorway, to think, 'She's human,', before she waves a hand and swats him and Yunho out of the way as if they're nothing at all.
After that, Yoochun loses track of Changmin a little, can't see him through everything that's going on. Still, he can hear it, can hear Changmin putting Junsu's lessons to good use, the crackles of Junsu's knife getting one more demon out of the fray interspersed with the scream of exorcism, faster than should be possible.
Everything goes very quiet between one breath and the next, Yoochun turning from one demon to face the next to realise - there are none left. Somehow, they've beaten them back. But then he turns a little more and sees the woman - the human - pulling her knife out of Changmin's back, sees the triumphant smile on her face just before Yunho's next bullet takes her square in the chest.
Even before Yoochun flings himself across the room to Changmin, he knows it's too late. He wraps his arms around Changmin all the same, hands tight against the wound in Changmin's back as if he can keep Changmin together with nothing more than that, eyes travelling from Changmin's face to the amulet on Changmin's chest that hasn't stopped this happening to him. "Do something!" Yoochun yells, at Yunho, at Junsu. At anyone, but then Changmin's hand reaches up to touch his cheek lightly. It's like the touch's magnetic, and Yoochun turns back to Changmin's face, whispering Changmin's name.
"Yoochun," Changmin says. "Don't-" Whatever he was going to say, he doesn't get to finish it, his eyes falling shut then and his body going limp in Yoochun's arms.
**
There's a demon who can be summoned to crossroads, if you know how. If you're desperate enough to give your soul up for something you can't get any other way.
Yoochun knows that if Changmin were alive, he'd stop him, he'd tell him that this isn't worth Yoochun's soul, that the demons wouldn't ever let either of them off light - they've done too much damage. But Changmin's not here, Changmin can't say anything anymore, and Yoochun would give anything, do anything, to get him back.
"One month," the demon says, cruel, half-gleeful smile stretching his face into a rictus. Yoochun tries not to think how much it looks like that nameless woman's face after she'd knifed Changmin. He doesn't argue, though, doesn't point out that everyone else who'd made this deal had got a decade with their hearts' desire.
"Okay," Yoochun says. "Changmin lives, and I get one month."
"Can't wait to see you in hell," the demon says, but Yoochun just turns his back and walks away, knows he's just signed away his soul and can't bring himself to care.
**
Changmin shouts and curses when he finds out what Yoochun's done, customary composure shattered beyond recognition. Yoochun lies and says he's got a year, knows that Changmin will try to find a way to break the deal, and that'd mean Changmin will die again. Yoochun knows that makes him a coward, but it's the one thing he knows he can't face. "It's okay," he lies again. "We've got time. We'll figure it out." Yoochun catches the look Changmin casts at Junsu, as close as Changmin ever gets to pleading, but Junsu simply shakes his head and Changmin turns back to drop his head against Yoochun's shoulder with a choked sound in his throat.
Yoochun keeps trying to take new jobs, wants to do as much good as he can in the time he's got left, so much less than the others think. Sometimes, from the looks Junsu gives him, Yoochun wonders if Junsu does know, but he never quite gets around to asking, can't quite think of the words. Yunho and Junsu have taken to disappearing together at odd intervals anyway, and Yoochun wonders if they think the reason's really still a secret. Either way Yunho doesn't seem harmed in any way. In fact, he seems happier, and for that, and for the too-close knowledge of what might have made Junsu become what he is, Yoochun's almost willing to give Junsu the benefit of the doubt.
Changmin, though, takes to spending every day up to his neck in books, looking for a way to save Yoochun. Yoochun wonders if he should be happy that the lessons with Junsu have come to an end, or at least a pause, ever since Junsu said he didn't know a way to save Yoochun. Either way, Changmin doesn't seem willing to accept how things are, any more than he was when they couldn't find a weapon to fight Azazel, and Yoochun's more glad than ever that Changmin doesn't know just how little time he really has. And maybe he regrets, just a little, that Changmin is too caught in his search to spend much time with him, but Yoochun thinks that as long as Changmin's alive, he doesn't need anything else.
**
The day the hellhounds come for Yoochun, it's just him and Changmin, Yunho and Junsu off together again. Yoochun's known they're coming for hours, the way the world sharpens around him a warning he's never felt before but recognises all the same.
When Changmin's head snaps up from his book, eyes going wide, Yoochun knows that the baying he hears isn't just in his head any more. They're almost here. He stands to take the step over to Changmin, can almost see the thoughts flickering through his head - 'They're not supposed to be here!' and 'We're supposed to have more time,' and 'You lied to me.' "I'm sorry," Yoochun breathes, chest feeling tight and eyes prickling at the look of betrayal that settles on Changmin's face. "I had to." He leans down then, kisses Changmin and tries not to think 'last kiss', even though he knows that's how it's going to be.
"You're a bastard," Changmin whispers after, quiet and furious, sadness under it.
"I know," Yoochun says. There's scratching at the door now, and Yoochun speaks faster. "I still had to. Couldn't let you-" He cuts off, wraps his arms around Changmin, one last loving touch before he lifts his hand behind Changmin's back and presses just right, Changmin's eyes widening for a second before they fall shut and he goes limp, unconscious in Yoochun's arms. For once, he's done his research. He knows the hellhounds won't hurt anyone but him, as long as no-one else gets in their way.
Yoochun lowers Changmin to the floor carefully, then stands again, walks over to the door. With one hand on the doorknob, he takes off the protective witch-bag Junsu'd made them all, swallowing as the baying and scratching redoubles. "Come get me, then," he says, and opens the door.
Part II
Pairing: Yoochun/Changmin
Rating: Explicit
Summary: This is what it takes to save the world: three hunters, a demon and an angel. AU, vaguely inspired by Supernatural.
Author's Notes: The fabulous art is by trolleys, with many many thanks for drawing and letting me include it. Also thanks to ranalore and sleepish for betaing, as well as everyone else who looked this over in its various stages of completeness.
Prologue
The night before Changmin leaves for college, Yoochun drives up to Changmin's house and spends an hour sitting in his car, trying to work up the courage to get out and walk to the front door. It's only the thought that Changmin probably thinks he's got a stalker by now that makes Yoochun pick up his phone eventually. When Changmin answers, Yoochun says, "Hey, open your door? Wanna steal you for a bit."
Yoochun knows Changmin's parents don't like him, that they think he's just the mechanic's kid from down the street who disappears for odd periods of time and leaves their son fretting until he gets back. Worse, sometimes Yoochun takes their son with him, and then their good son comes back with strange scrapes and bruises, though when they ask if Changmin got in a fight, his only answer is, "Not exactly."
The almost-brooding's cut off when Changmin's door opens, and he watches the interaction under the porch light, Changmin's mother's face clearly saying, 'you have to finish your packing', Changmin's waving hands answering, 'I'll just be a minute, it'll get done, I promise.' Then Changmin's trotting down the stairs to the street, giant grin on his face that fades as he pokes his head through the rolled down window and says, perfectly serious but for the crinkle of his eyes, "Thought you were a stalker, you freak, parking outside my house and just staring like that."
Yoochun laughs, reaching over to swat lightly at Changmin's cheek. "Just get in the car, smartass. Got places to go, things to see."
"You are not taking me anywhere!" Changmin says as he slides into the passenger seat. "No expeditions. No adventures. My mom will kill me if I don't finish packing."
"Kind of rhetorical. Today," Yoochun replies, sneaking his hand onto Changmin's knee. Changmin looks down at it with a raised eyebrow, but lets it stay there, which is more than enough for Yoochun. "I'll bring you back before midnight, Cinderella. Don't want you to turn into a pumpkin."
Changmin just blinks at him for a second, then says, "Cinderella doesn't turn into a pumpkin, you twit."
"I know that!" Yoochun says. "Geez. You're hopeless." He takes his hand away from Changmin's knee to put the car into gear. "And I was gonna do something nice for you too, since you're leaving me forever and all."
He startles when one of Changmin's hands lands on his thigh, looking over at Changmin questioningly. "Not forever," Changmin says seriously. "It's just college."
Yoochun nods. "Yeah, I know. Was kidding," he says lightly. Except he wasn't, really. He knows as well as Changmin's parents do that Changmin's too good for him. "But you never know. I might get killed without you to watch my back."
"You manage without me half the time anyway," Changmin points out, thumb rubbing slow circles against the outside of Yoochun's thigh, Changmin's hand bleeding warmth into his skin even through his jeans. "And I'll be back. Promise."
"Okay," Yoochun says quietly, smiling over at Changmin. "You better not do anything stupid without me to watch your back, either."
"I will pretend to be completely normal," Changmin replies, deadpan, and Yoochun bursts out laughing.
"Yeah, good luck with that, alien boy."
Changmin's hand tightens on his leg, suddenly a lot less like comforting and more like threatening. "I can break you with my mind," Changmin reminds, but Yoochun just laughs at him again.
"I'd like to see you try," he says easily, taking a hand off the wheel to put it over Changmin's. "You love me way too much."
Changmin says, "Yeah right," but the way he turns his hand over to squeeze Yoochun's makes the words meaningless.
Yoochun returns the squeeze, turning his eyes back to the road until Changmin says, thoughtful, "Think I recognise this road."
"You damn well should," Yoochun says, smiling. "Almost there. Haven't been here in a while, right?"
"Too long," Changmin replies quietly. "I'd been wondering why."
Yoochun pulls the car off the road at last and puts it into park, leaning over to kiss the corner of Changmin's mouth. "Time never seemed right," he says, almost an apology, before he opens the door and gets out. Changmin follows him, and Yoochun walks around to join him, patting the car's hood lightly before he holds out a hand to Changmin. Lacing their fingers together, Yoochun tugs Changmin towards a barely-visible trail through the grass at the side of the road.
Ten minutes away from the road, the ground dips into a huge, shallow bowl surrounded by trees, full of tall grass and the last of the summer's wildflowers. Walking down into the field, it's as if the rest of the world beyond it ceases to exist. This is where Yoochun kissed Changmin for the first time, the summer after Yoochun turned seventeen and they discovered what was really out there.
"Romantic," Changmin accuses, laughing, as Yoochun pulls him down to the ground. They sprawl out in the grass the way they'd done when they were kids and discovered this place for the first time, counting stars and inventing constellations while Yoochun's father lied to Changmin's parents for them.
Yoochun turns on his side towards Changmin, watching the stars reflected in Changmin's dark eyes. "Gonna miss you," he says, soft.
"Come visit," Changmin answers easily, touching Yoochun's face with a gentle hand. "I'll keep my door open for you."
This has become a little too serious for Yoochun's tastes. "Booty call?" he asks, putting on his best leer.
"... you're hopeless," Changmin says, laughing, the careful touch turning to a shove to Yoochun's shoulder that Yoochun goes with, flopping onto his back again with a wounded expression that Changmin ignores ostentatiously.
"Hey, Changmin?" Yoochun says after a minute of comfortable silence, sitting up again.
Changmin sounds miles away when he answers, and Yoochun sort of hates it. Always has, even before he knew Changmin was leaving him. "Yeah?"
He reaches a hand up to fiddle with the cord strung around his neck. "Wanted to give you something."
"Kind of sudden for a proposal," Changmin teases lightly, but he's sitting up too, and there's something like concern in his eyes.
Yoochun ignores the tease in favour of pulling his necklace off, thumbing the amulet hung at the center of the cord. "You can't give me that," Changmin says, wide-eyed, even before Yoochun speaks. "Your mother-"
"I'm lending it to you," Yoochun answers easily. "Have to keep it safe for me." And maybe it'll keep Changmin safe too, the way it's always done for him.
That earns him a long, intent stare before Changmin nods slowly. "Okay. I'll bring it back to you, I promise."
"With your degree," Yoochun says, leaning forward to drop it over Changmin's head. "It's yours 'til then." He leans back again to watch the stars once more, reaching out to bring Changmin with him. Changmin falls asleep not long after, breathing against his shoulder. Yoochun knows he should wake Changmin, that Changmin's parents are going to give them both hell already for being out this long.
He doesn't, though, just watching Changmin sleep until the fireflies come out and Changmin wakes up of his own accord, sleepy and content enough not to yell. Instead he curls himself in against Yoochun for a lazy kiss, then says, "Take me home, Yoochun. And you'd damn well better help me finish packing, for abducting me this long."
Yoochun laughs like he hasn't been wanting the excuse to stay close to Changmin, and says, "Sure."
Changmin pushes himself to his feet, then holds out his hands, saying, "My turn to steal you now?"
Yoochun smiles and takes them. "You never needed to."
Part I
Yoochun's not sure just what it is that makes him pick that particular weekend to visit Changmin. The last couple of years since Changmin went away to college haven't been as bad as he had feared after all. They've managed with phone calls and weekend visits and, of course, Changmin comes home for his holidays. No matter the crisis, they've had at least one day together every couple of months, and spoken on the phone at least a couple of times a week. It's been enough to keep them going.
In fact, Changmin was home just a couple of weeks before, so Yoochun can't tell why he has this sudden need to see him. He just knows that he does, and finds himself on the road out of town on Friday night without really knowing when he decided to go.
He pulls up outside the house Changmin rents with a couple of friends, and that's when he really knows something's wrong, because the light behind Changmin's curtains flickers strangely - firelight, not electricity, and that's enough to get Yoochun slamming the car into park and hurtling out of his door even before the smell of sulphur hits his nose, telling him that a demon's been here and kicking his fear up another notch. "Changmin!" he yells as he tumbles through the front door (unlocked, why's it unlocked?) and takes the stairs two at a time. There's no reply, but he's got no time to give in to the near-choking terror rising in his throat. He's got to find Changmin.
Yoochun coughs and sputters when he pushes Changmin's door open and the smoke and the sulphur-stench double, but Changmin's in there, he knows it, so he charges in anyway, Changmin's name on his lips again in pure relief at the sight of him, alive, still alive and in one piece. "You idiot," Yoochun yells as he grabs Changmin by the shoulders and wrestles him towards the door despite the way he's almost dead weight in Yoochun's hands. "Promised you weren't going to do anything."
Changmin doesn't reply, his gaze fixed on the flaming figures on his ceiling until Yoochun drags him out of the room and his eyes snap suddenly into focus. "There was-" he starts, but Yoochun cuts him off.
"No time, we've gotta get out of here," Yoochun says, and Changmin lets Yoochun guide them both out of the house. They stumble onto the lawn, and practically into the arms of a figure Yoochun recognises even with smoke-blurred eyes.
"Yunho!" Yoochun exclaims, blinking up at him, arm still tight around Changmin's waist, both of them swaying precariously.
Yunho reaches out to steady them, frowning. "What're you doing here?" he asks.
"Could ask the same," Yoochun mutters, letting Yunho take some of their weight as they turn towards the cars, sirens starting to sound in the distance. He's not waiting for an answer, though, more worried about the way Changmin hasn't said a word, the way he's turning more and more limp in the circle of Yoochun's arm.
Luckily Yunho seems to realise that, taking a little more of Changmin's weight and moving a bit faster, until Yoochun can tug the passenger-side door of his car open and push Changmin in. Once Changmin's safely in the seat, Yoochun looks at him for a moment, knows it's with blatant worry that Changmin would berate him for if he was in any state to. Then he turns back to Yunho, keeping one hand on Changmin's shoulder just for the contact, and asks, "So? Last I heard you were working a job in. Alaska, or something."
"That was six months ago," Yunho points out, reaching to pull Yoochun into a hug that Yoochun returns easily, one-armed. Yunho's a friend, someone he trusts to watch their backs even if they don't see each other for months at a time. He's one of them. "Been back for a while now," Yunho continues. "But, yeah, a couple of weeks ago, there started to be some buzz about demonic omens down here, so I thought I'd come check them out. Didn't expect to find the pair of you here too, though." The air still stinks of sulphur, and Yoochun knows Yunho doesn't mean just the physical 'here'.
"Don't think either of us expected - that," Yoochun says with an eloquent gesture to where the flames are starting to get a real hold on the house.
Yunho's about to answer when the fire engines pull up, though Yoochun's attention is more drawn by the way Changmin's starting to shift under his hand. "You can fill me in later," Yunho says, instead of whatever question he was going to ask, and Yoochun nods.
"Hey," he says, turning back to Changmin, and ducking to look at him more closely. He breathes a sigh of relief when Changmin gets out a hoarse, rasping, "Hey," in return.
"You look like shit," Yoochun says helpfully, and he's even more encouraged when Changmin takes a weak swipe at him.
**
It takes a while to sort things out once the fire engines arrive, and Yoochun hovers behind Changmin while Changmin talks to the police and the firemen and tries to hold himself together with annoyed glances in Yoochun's direction. When Changmin starts swaying on his feet again, Yoochun says, "That's enough," wrapping his arm around Changmin's shoulders and steering him away with promises to the policemen that no, of course they won't leave town and this is where they'll be staying. For once, he actually means it. There's Yunho to talk to, and they've got to figure out why a demon would come to visit Changmin. The mere idea of it makes his stomach lurch with fear. He slides a quick glance at Changmin, who'd fallen asleep in the passenger seat the moment Yoochun'd started the car, then turns his attention back to the road.
Yoochun shakes Changmin awake once they reach the motel Yunho'd said he was staying at, and Yoochun's checked them in. "We're here," he says quietly, tugging Changmin out of the car and avoiding his flailing, just-woken limbs. Yoochun pulls Changmin into the room, one arm around Changmin's waist and the other clutching his duffel - he still doesn't know what possessed him to grab a set of Changmin's clothes from his wardrobe too when he left home, but he's really glad he did, now.
Inside the room, Yoochun helps wrestle Changmin out of his smoke-reeking clothes, stripping him down to his boxers. He pauses just long enough to touch the amulet lying against Changmin's chest and steal a simple, reassuring kiss, then nudges Changmin back onto the bed, pulling off his own clothes before he curls up next to Changmin, hoping skin to skin will comfort Changmin as much as it does him. "What happened?" he asks quietly, head laid against Changmin's shoulder for the reassurance of feeling Changmin's chest rise and fall under it.
"Don't really know," Changmin says, equally quiet. "Just got home from the library, went up to my room and... there they were." There's a quiet sort of horror in Changmin's voice that makes Yoochun tighten the arm he's draped over Changmin's chest. For all they've seen, before, it's never been someone they knew, and Yoochun can only imagine what it must be like for Changmin.
"Changmin," he murmurs, doesn't know what else to say but that. Changmin's hand comes up to close over his wrist, the touch telling him that Changmin's lost too.
Yoochun leans over to kiss Changmin's throat, mouth lingering against Changmin's skin. "Sleep," he says quietly. "It'll be better in the morning."
He waits until he's sure Changmin's properly asleep to work himself carefully out of Changmin's arms, breath held when Changmin shifts instinctively towards him, and digs the bag of salt out of his duffel to lay a line in front of every door and window in the room.
Then he curls himself back against Changmin and lets himself fall into a restless, fragmented sleep.
**
Yoochun wakes up with a start, not sure what'd woken him until he lifts his head and realises that Changmin's eyes are open, that Changmin's staring at the ceiling but Yoochun doesn't think Changmin's seeing the plain, stippled plaster at all. He pushes himself up, into Changmin's line of sight. "Don't think about it," he says quietly. Changmin's eyes aren't focusing on him, though, so Yoochun leans a little closer. "Hey, look at me," he says, a touch more sharply, then waits for the slow shudder as Changmin's body relaxes under his, as Changmin's eyes fix on him and he takes a gasping breath.
"I dreamed-" Changmin starts, then whispers, "It was real, wasn't it?"
Yoochun doesn't know what to say to that, just nods silently, then finds, "I'm sorry," falling from his lips.
Changmin ignores it, says, "Yoochun," instead, soft, with something in the sound of it that sets a sharp ache flaring in Yoochun's chest.
Yoochun whispers Changmin's name in reply, the word lost when Changmin leans up the little bit needed to kiss him, not the gentle brush Yoochun'd expected, but something that turns hard and hungry before he quite knows what's going on. He leans back, says Changmin's name again, questioning.
"I-" Changmin says, looking at Yoochun with eyes so wide and dark that Yoochun doesn't know how to deal with it. "Please," Changmin continues, instead of finishing his sentence, and Yoochun nods mutely, leaning back in to kiss Changmin, soft and reassuring but deepening fast. Changmin makes a tiny, relieved noise and Yoochun knows he's made the right call.
With Changmin almost naked already, it's the easiest thing in the world for Yoochun to slide his hand down Changmin's chest, slowly, savouring the familiar texture of Changmin's skin that he almost lost. He makes a quiet noise of his own when Changmin's hands find their way under the waist of his boxers to cup his ass, warm and possessive, pulling him down into the cradle of Changmin's hips. Yoochun slides his own hand into Changmin's boxers, curling snug around Changmin's cock, murmuring Changmin's name at the heat and weight of it in his hand. He doesn't think either of them are in the mood for slow and teasing today, and instead he sets an easy rhythm from the start, rocking down into Changmin to build pleasure for them both.
Changmin doesn't seem to want to stop kissing him, mouth pressing hard and needy against Yoochun's between gasps of air, hips shifting against Yoochun's hand. Yoochun's not making any effort to stop him, returning the kisses with near-equal hunger as he strokes Changmin's cock, hissing against Changmin's mouth when Changmin's nails dig into his skin and make him shudder at the way it redoubles the heat working through him.
Yoochun tightens his hand, twisting on every upstroke, the edge of his thumbnail catching against the slit of Changmin's cock when one of Changmin's hands slides around to mirror the touch. "Changmin," he gasps, the sound lost under the way Changmin cries out. Yoochun can feel how close Changmin is in the way Changmin's body tenses under his, the feeling of it so well-known, and he tries every trick he knows to have Changmin give in to the pleasure of it, to make him forget everything but this.
It takes just a couple more strokes before Changmin's coming under him, rush of heat against his palm as Changmin cries out again, wordless. Changmin's hand doesn't stop moving on him, and Yoochun rocks down into it, the way Changmin looks with his face open with pleasure enough to make Yoochun give in to the sensation, his own climax washing over him. He sags against Changmin, after, tucking his head into the crook of Changmin's neck as he eases his hand out of Changmin's boxers.
"Thank you," Changmin whispers, voice soft and a little ragged around the edges. Yoochun doesn't dignify that with a response immediately, kissing Changmin's skin instead before he reaches to the nightstand, wiping his sticky hand off so he can cuddle in again.
"Don't be an idiot," Yoochun says at last in his best Changmin-voice, and then, "Go back to sleep." He sleeps better this time around, and hopes Changmin does too.
**
In the morning Yunho tells them about the yellow-eyed demon who his father had started hunting 20 years ago, the demon who'd killed his father. Then, with refilled coffee cups in front of them, Changmin tells Yunho about the fire he found out his real parents died in.
"You're one of them," Yunho says wide-eyed, more wonder than horror in his stare. Neither Yoochun nor Changmin really understands what he's talking about until Yunho tells them more about the demon's chosen ones, the psychics that the demon seems to follow almost from birth, though no-one knows why.
Changmin just says, "Guess I am," and proves it by pulling the water jug across the table to him without lifting a finger, the power he'd learnt to use the first time he'd saved Yoochun's life.
"Think three can do better than one?" Yoochun asks, sliding a hand into Changmin's under the table and squeezing even as he raises an eyebrow at Yunho. He's relieved when Changmin squeezes back, echoing the question with a look.
"Hope so," Yunho says, nodding. "I owe that bastard, but I'm pretty sure I can't do it alone."
Yoochun smiles across the table at Yunho, nodding, then finds a real laugh when Changmin says quietly, "One for all?"
"All for one," Yoochun replies, nodding again, and putting his free hand over Yunho's in the middle of the table, his smile widening when Changmin's hand lands on top of his.
**
All the other bad things in the world don't just go away because they've got this new problem, though. There are still vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters, and once a family of plain, ordinary humans worse than all those nightmares put together. Yoochun breaks his arm escaping from them, Yunho nearly drowns saving a child from a vengeful ghost, and Changmin walks through it all nearly unscathed. Yoochun can see the way the guilt of it eats at Changmin, the way it never did before. It's obvious in the way Changmin barely leaves Yunho's bedside for the two weeks Yunho spends in hospital, the way Changmin keeps trying to do things for Yoochun even when his arm's long healed. But no matter how hard Yoochun thinks, he can never quite seem to come up with the right words. "It's not your fault," doesn't seem to work any more, neither does reminding Changmin that he's not the reason they're hurt. Yoochun's almost at his wits' end with it, and the jobs don't stop coming, every moment between them filled with trying to trace the yellow-eyed demon and find a weapon that they can use against him.
Even with Yunho's father's research, it takes them over three months just to track down something that has a chance of killing a demon. It's three months where Changmin seems perfectly all right for weeks at a time, then all at once Yoochun will realise he's been talking for ten minutes and Changmin hasn't said a word, and when he looks over Changmin will be wearing that faraway face that Yoochun hates so much. He hates it even more now that he knows it means Changmin's thinking about the burning house again, and the friends who died for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes Yoochun can distract Changmin, and sometimes he can't; he doesn't like it one bit, either way. He likes even less the way Changmin looks after calling his parents, and he doesn't know if he should be relieved or not that the calls get further and further apart.
In the end, the weapon they find isn't even the one they'd been looking for - they'd been tracking stories of a gun that Samuel Colt had forged a century and a half ago, but the leads turned cold, and eventually they found the gun, with no bullets and no way to make more. That day, it was Changmin who insisted there had to be some other way, something that would still work. Some way to make more bullets, some other weapon - if there's this, he'd argued, surely there must be more. Yunho and Yoochun had let Changmin persuade them, but they hadn't thought it would be soon, if ever. Then, barely three days after, they find themselves cornered by seven demons. And not just any demons - the seven deadly sins, Lust and Wrath and Gluttony and all the rest come to horrific life.
Yoochun looks into Pride's eyes, hearing the other six coming towards them, and thinks for just one second, 'This is it. Our luck's finally run out.' Then there's a knife appearing through Pride's chest, a horrible static crackle coming from his throat and Yoochun thinks it's the most beautiful sound he's ever heard because even though he's never seen a demon die before he thinks this is what it must look like.
The knife's held snug in the hand of a slim man, shorter than any of them, nothing very imposing at all. Yoochun barely registers pale skin and dark eyes - a little too dark, maybe? - before Changmin's grabbing his hand and saying, "Come on, Yoochun. Run!"
**
**
His name is Junsu, and he's a demon. Yoochun's pretty sure that makes him essentially untrustworthy. But Junsu claims to be on their side and Changmin won't let Yoochun just take the knife because of that. Even Yunho seems willing to give Junsu the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that he saved their life when he didn't have to.
Yoochun doesn't say anything about how much he doesn't like the way Changmin looks at Junsu, and the way Junsu looks back. He knows it'll just make him sound like a jealous boyfriend and he's not, he tells himself. He's just worried - afraid, his brain interjects - worried about what Junsu's got planned for Changmin, and the way Changmin seems almost willing to listen to him, the way Changmin doesn't seem to care that he's a demon.
"It's not like I'm not... something, myself," Changmin points out, when Yoochun tries to talk to him about it.
Yoochun looks back at Changmin, wide-eyed, shaking his head automatically. "That's different," he says, reaching out to put a hand on Changmin's arm. Changmin shrugs it off. He's never done that before, and Yoochun's heart lurches sickeningly in his chest.
"Not as different as you think, Yoochun," Changmin says, looking back at Yoochun. "I think he really wants to help. I think he can teach me."
Yoochun bites his lip on all the other things he wants to say. He can't say them when Changmin's looking at him like that, like Changmin's suddenly seeing a part of Yoochun that's completely incomprehensible to him. Instead, Yoochun drops his eyes, can't help but catch the glint of light from the amulet he'd given Changmin the day before Changmin went to college, to keep him safe. It still hadn't stopped the demon coming for Changmin. He hadn't stopped that, so maybe this is all his own fault anyway.
He's too lost in his own thoughts to notice Changmin reaching for him, and startles when Changmin's hand lands on his shoulder, eyes lifting automatically. "I'm sorry," Changmin says quietly, and Yoochun wants to believe him so much. "I just. I wish you'd be okay with this. I want to find out what I can do. Want to find out if I can help people better, if I can figure out a way to stop him."
Yoochun hesitates, can't bring himself to say no when Changmin's eyes are pleading with him to understand, but he can't pretend that he's okay with it. He can't tell Changmin to go and learn how to use powers that a demon gave him, from another demon, even if those powers have saved his life a couple of times.
"There's got to be another way," he says, shaking his head. "Isn't that what you said when we found the gun? And now there's the knife. We'll find something, Changmin."
"Maybe this is the other way," Changmin says. "Maybe this is the only way."
They're going in circles, and Yoochun can't think of anything else to do. "Be careful," he says softly, as close as he'll get to acceptance.
"It'll be okay," Changmin says, soft and certain, and Yoochun wants to believe him so much. "Trust me, okay?"
Yoochun nods at that, reluctant, because he does trust Changmin, with his life and everything else, but they all know how tricky demons are, and he doesn't trust Junsu at all.
Changmin reaches for him again, draws him in, and Yoochun goes with it, arms sliding around Changmin's waist as he tucks himself against Changmin. "I promise," Changmin murmurs, just before he leans down to kiss Yoochun gently. "I won't let anything happen."
**
That's how things are for another four months, Changmin learning to move objects with his mind and other things that Yoochun doesn't ask too much about, because if he knows, he might have to try to stop him. Yoochun spends more time with Yunho while Changmin's with Junsu, to keep himself from going crazy thinking about it.
Once, while they're burying the body that used to house another demon that wouldn't tell them what they needed to know, Yoochun says, almost to himself, "Don't know if I'm doing the right thing, Yunho." He doesn't look up, doesn't even acknowledge that he's said the words.
There's a pause, long enough that Yoochun's not sure that Yunho even heard him, and the sound of Yunho's spade cutting into the ground doesn't falter. Then Yunho says, "It's not your choice," almost as quiet as Yoochun has been.
Yoochun looks up at that, startled. "What?"
"It's his," Yunho says, catching Yoochun's eyes. "Can't make it for him."
"I know," Yoochun says, knowing Yunho has a point and hating to admit it all the same. "But I just."
Yunho nods, sympathy obvious, and pulls Yoochun into a hug when the job's done. Yoochun lets himself curl into Yunho and take a little comfort in the way Yunho is solid and warm and feels nothing like Changmin for all that they're almost the same height, trying not to think about Changmin and whoever used to own the body that Junsu's in.
**
Yoochun kisses Changmin hello and goodbye, still, but they haven't done more than that in weeks, both of them exhausted when they crawl into bed, too tired for more than just curling into each other. Yoochun thinks he's grateful that at least they still do that, that Changmin hasn't given him up entirely for Junsu's company.
Then one night, between jobs, Yoochun goes out with Yunho and lets himself drink too much, then a little more, enough that he feels floaty and disconnected, not entirely himself. Enough that the worry and the ache of knowing what Changmin's probably doing right now fades a little. He flirts outrageously with the girl behind the bar, the dark-haired businesswoman at the corner table, the man who buys him his eighth drink - or tenth, but who's counting? Anyone, in fact, who'll stay still long enough.
But it's Yunho he kisses in the alley behind the bar, pushing him up against the wall and pressing their mouths together hard and demanding. Yunho lets Yoochun kiss him, doesn't fight him off, even lets his tongue slide against Yoochun's when Yoochun presses closer. Afterwards, though, Yunho pushes Yoochun back with hands gentle against his shoulders. Yoochun doesn't recognise the look on Yunho's face until much later, when he's much more sober. "Not like this," Yunho says softly. "If that's what you want, try one of the people in there." Yoochun lets Yunho take him back to the motel instead, the rooms still dark and empty, lets Yunho pour him into bed and tuck the covers around him, gentler than Yoochun had expected.
It'd been sympathy, Yoochun realises in the morning, once the hangover's worn off a bit. Not pity, which he'd been half-afraid it would be, but something he thinks he can accept.
Changmin had come back at some point after Yoochun passed out, Changmin's head beside Yoochun's on the pillow when Yoochun woke up and dashed for the bathroom. Yoochun tries to tell Changmin about what had happened, but Changmin's busy getting dressed to track down another lead, and Yoochun can't seem to get the right words together before he leaves.
**
**
Once, Yoochun walks into their motel room to find Junsu in there, no sign of Changmin. He's just a beat slow in turning to walk right back out again, and the door slams shut behind him without a hand touching it. The handle won't turn when he reaches for it, and he turns back to Junsu with automatic fear and rage tangled together in his chest, the emotions only sharpening when he sees that Junsu's eyes are black. "What the fuck-" he starts, but Junsu cuts him off.
"Sit down and listen to me," Junsu says, but Yoochun's not about to listen to anything a demon says, especially not a demon that's been taking Changmin from him every day for the last two months.
"I don't have to listen to anything you say," Yoochun says, and he can hear the bitterness in his own voice. "Go tell it to Changmin."
"Changmin doesn't need to hear this," Junsu replies, moving closer, a wave of his hand pressing Yoochun back against the door without any need for a touch. "You do."
Yoochun fumes wildly, but he's pinned, and he sags against the invisible hands holding him after a moment. "Say it, then," he grits out.
"Your prejudice is going to get us all killed," Junsu says, and his voice isn't pulling any punches. "We don't have much time, and if we spend any more of it indulging your stupidity, Changmin's never going to learn what he needs to. He's the only one who's got a chance of killing Azazel, and my knife just isn't going to cut it." He laughs then, at the pun, and the sound is simultaneously compelling and chilling, to Yoochun.
"Demons lie," Yoochun says stubbornly, shaking his head.
"I want to live as much as you do. As much as Changmin does," Junsu says, taking another step closer. "Azazel will kill me for this, for what I've taught him already." Junsu lifts a hand to Yoochun's cheek then, the touch almost gentle, and something about it makes Yoochun shiver, nothing like repulsion. "Help me help him."
Yoochun shakes his head, but Junsu's hand forces his chin up, his eyes meeting Junsu's despite his best efforts. They're not black any more, and there's something human in the back of them, something pleading with Yoochun to understand. Yoochun wants to deny it, but he can't help thinking that maybe it's not the echoes of whoever's body Junsu's in. Maybe it's Junsu.
Junsu says then, like he read Yoochun's mind: "I used to be like you, once."
"Like me?" Yoochun echoes, despite himself.
"Human," Junsu says, quiet. "In love. Enough to sell my soul for them." His eyes are very, very dark, nothing like demon-black, and Yoochun stares for a long moment before Junsu takes a step back suddenly and the force holding him back loosens. Yoochun scrambles for the door, slamming it shut again behind him like it'll keep out all the things that Junsu said, but it's far too late for that.
**
Yoochun tries not to think about it in the week that follows, though he has pretty mixed success, with the way he keeps running into Junsu. He thinks Junsu might just be doing it on purpose, trying to make Yoochun face the things Junsu had said that day. Then, suddenly, it all becomes a moot point anyway.
Azazel's demons and their human leader find them in yet another motel between jobs, on a day that seemed much like any other. Yoochun's cleaning bug-lady slime off his knife while Yunho cleans his guns, Junsu and Changmin in the corner talking about something Yoochun tells himself he doesn't want to know while Junsu puts together spell-pouches that he claims will hide them better.
Then, suddenly, Junsu's and Changmin's heads snap up, half a word out of Changmin's mouth - "Somethi-" - before the night sky outside goes pitch-black, the room's light seeming a feeble flicker in the face of the sudden, unnatural darkness.
"What-" Yoochun starts, before the noise starts, a static screech that Yoochun knows a little too well by now.
"Demons." Junsu says what they're all thinking. What they all already know. "They're here."
Yunho's gun's already back together, Yoochun scrambling for the rocksalt-loaded shotgun that he's taken to keeping in reach for months now. None of it's going to be any use, if there're as many as he thinks, but that doesn't mean they're not going to try their best to send as many of the bastards back to hell as they can.
Yoochun brings the gun up to face the door just as it bursts open, just has time to stare at the young woman in the doorway, to think, 'She's human,', before she waves a hand and swats him and Yunho out of the way as if they're nothing at all.
After that, Yoochun loses track of Changmin a little, can't see him through everything that's going on. Still, he can hear it, can hear Changmin putting Junsu's lessons to good use, the crackles of Junsu's knife getting one more demon out of the fray interspersed with the scream of exorcism, faster than should be possible.
Everything goes very quiet between one breath and the next, Yoochun turning from one demon to face the next to realise - there are none left. Somehow, they've beaten them back. But then he turns a little more and sees the woman - the human - pulling her knife out of Changmin's back, sees the triumphant smile on her face just before Yunho's next bullet takes her square in the chest.
Even before Yoochun flings himself across the room to Changmin, he knows it's too late. He wraps his arms around Changmin all the same, hands tight against the wound in Changmin's back as if he can keep Changmin together with nothing more than that, eyes travelling from Changmin's face to the amulet on Changmin's chest that hasn't stopped this happening to him. "Do something!" Yoochun yells, at Yunho, at Junsu. At anyone, but then Changmin's hand reaches up to touch his cheek lightly. It's like the touch's magnetic, and Yoochun turns back to Changmin's face, whispering Changmin's name.
"Yoochun," Changmin says. "Don't-" Whatever he was going to say, he doesn't get to finish it, his eyes falling shut then and his body going limp in Yoochun's arms.
**
There's a demon who can be summoned to crossroads, if you know how. If you're desperate enough to give your soul up for something you can't get any other way.
Yoochun knows that if Changmin were alive, he'd stop him, he'd tell him that this isn't worth Yoochun's soul, that the demons wouldn't ever let either of them off light - they've done too much damage. But Changmin's not here, Changmin can't say anything anymore, and Yoochun would give anything, do anything, to get him back.
"One month," the demon says, cruel, half-gleeful smile stretching his face into a rictus. Yoochun tries not to think how much it looks like that nameless woman's face after she'd knifed Changmin. He doesn't argue, though, doesn't point out that everyone else who'd made this deal had got a decade with their hearts' desire.
"Okay," Yoochun says. "Changmin lives, and I get one month."
"Can't wait to see you in hell," the demon says, but Yoochun just turns his back and walks away, knows he's just signed away his soul and can't bring himself to care.
**
Changmin shouts and curses when he finds out what Yoochun's done, customary composure shattered beyond recognition. Yoochun lies and says he's got a year, knows that Changmin will try to find a way to break the deal, and that'd mean Changmin will die again. Yoochun knows that makes him a coward, but it's the one thing he knows he can't face. "It's okay," he lies again. "We've got time. We'll figure it out." Yoochun catches the look Changmin casts at Junsu, as close as Changmin ever gets to pleading, but Junsu simply shakes his head and Changmin turns back to drop his head against Yoochun's shoulder with a choked sound in his throat.
Yoochun keeps trying to take new jobs, wants to do as much good as he can in the time he's got left, so much less than the others think. Sometimes, from the looks Junsu gives him, Yoochun wonders if Junsu does know, but he never quite gets around to asking, can't quite think of the words. Yunho and Junsu have taken to disappearing together at odd intervals anyway, and Yoochun wonders if they think the reason's really still a secret. Either way Yunho doesn't seem harmed in any way. In fact, he seems happier, and for that, and for the too-close knowledge of what might have made Junsu become what he is, Yoochun's almost willing to give Junsu the benefit of the doubt.
Changmin, though, takes to spending every day up to his neck in books, looking for a way to save Yoochun. Yoochun wonders if he should be happy that the lessons with Junsu have come to an end, or at least a pause, ever since Junsu said he didn't know a way to save Yoochun. Either way, Changmin doesn't seem willing to accept how things are, any more than he was when they couldn't find a weapon to fight Azazel, and Yoochun's more glad than ever that Changmin doesn't know just how little time he really has. And maybe he regrets, just a little, that Changmin is too caught in his search to spend much time with him, but Yoochun thinks that as long as Changmin's alive, he doesn't need anything else.
**
The day the hellhounds come for Yoochun, it's just him and Changmin, Yunho and Junsu off together again. Yoochun's known they're coming for hours, the way the world sharpens around him a warning he's never felt before but recognises all the same.
When Changmin's head snaps up from his book, eyes going wide, Yoochun knows that the baying he hears isn't just in his head any more. They're almost here. He stands to take the step over to Changmin, can almost see the thoughts flickering through his head - 'They're not supposed to be here!' and 'We're supposed to have more time,' and 'You lied to me.' "I'm sorry," Yoochun breathes, chest feeling tight and eyes prickling at the look of betrayal that settles on Changmin's face. "I had to." He leans down then, kisses Changmin and tries not to think 'last kiss', even though he knows that's how it's going to be.
"You're a bastard," Changmin whispers after, quiet and furious, sadness under it.
"I know," Yoochun says. There's scratching at the door now, and Yoochun speaks faster. "I still had to. Couldn't let you-" He cuts off, wraps his arms around Changmin, one last loving touch before he lifts his hand behind Changmin's back and presses just right, Changmin's eyes widening for a second before they fall shut and he goes limp, unconscious in Yoochun's arms. For once, he's done his research. He knows the hellhounds won't hurt anyone but him, as long as no-one else gets in their way.
Yoochun lowers Changmin to the floor carefully, then stands again, walks over to the door. With one hand on the doorknob, he takes off the protective witch-bag Junsu'd made them all, swallowing as the baying and scratching redoubles. "Come get me, then," he says, and opens the door.
Part II