Un Passage Sous Terrain Chapter 3
Title: Un Passage Sous Terrain
Pairings: Jaemin
Rating: PG-NC17
Summary: After a ride on the subway, Jae gets more than he bargained for.
Chapter 3
Frazzled as he was, Jaejoong believed Changmin’s words that he wouldn’t harm him. As rough and coarse-around-the-edges as the vampire was he was still humane and half-way decent.
But Jaejoong couldn’t get the picture of him half-naked in his mind. In his memory he could still trace the muscles on the other’s stomach, the tan skin, the sweats on those long legs. He shivered, arguing with himself over how desperate he was sounding. He talked himself out of liking Min and called it a desperate attempt of his insane mind.
Miraculously, Jaejoong manages to fall asleep again in the strange environment, a strange apartment, a stranger’s bed.
In an hour or so Changmin returns from his nightly stroll, first red eyes glowing in the room, then the rest of him materializing out of thin air like a Cheshire cat. He makes sure to materialize at the other end of the room, away from the bed so he doesn’t scare the other again. He figured the human had taken enough scaring for the day.
‘Some mate’ his mind thinks bitterly. Changmin fights down his growl.
While on his hunt tonight, he was more troubled and frustrated than usual, taking down one, two robbers in the alley mercilessly. He sighs. He acknowledges his mate had problems. With permanently transforming, at least.
But why? He could feel the other’s bond, sense the other sleeping soundly, but other than that there was nothing else. He doubted Jaejoong could yet sense him or feel anything, which frustrated him. Mates were supposed to already know the fundamentals of being and the basics about each other- name, age, sub/dom; the whole point of the bond and relationship was to help each other’s abilities grow, to learn together, evolve, grow closer to one another becoming inseparable, one.
He wasn’t about to be the crux and the only one trying to make this bond work. If the human kept resisting, sooner or later he would snap and throw him out to fend for himself or let the others devour him. He was used to being alone anyway, he’d learn to ignore the ache in him telling him he was missing something. Ever since a long time ago, he was always missing a part of him.
He carelessly tugs off the shirt with one hand, pulling down his jeans with the other leaving them all in a pile by the corner, not caring he was clad only in boxers. From thin air materialized the pair of gray sweats he wore before and he slipped into them.
He looks out at the full moon shining through the window brightly. His eyes were angry, flaring bright red asking the moon why, why. Why out of all others must he be stuck with this mate. He was strongest, smartest, one of the powerful ones. Why have a mate that countered everything he was?
His eyes scan the jagged, rough terrain he knew well enough already- each crater each mountain- and they soften, thinking of how the moon has gone through so much, more than he ever would. A wave of nostalgia washes over him as it does each time he looks at the moon, reminding him of where he came from, never letting him forget.
Newly subdued and humbled, he turns his back to the moonlight and softly pads over to the bed. Quietly he raises the corner of the sheet and slides under, Jaejoong’s back to him. Changmin scoots up closer the other but not exactly touching, trying to gain as much warmth as he could. For too long he had slept in an empty, cold bed. It was about time he became a bit selfish.
Jaejoong was awake, ever since he felt Changmin enter the room again. He kept silent, merely listening to what the other would do. When Changmin slipped under the covers, Jae didn’t deny the shiver that coursed through his body. When he felt how cold Changmin felt, no body heat radiating from him, he worried.
‘I’m going to hate myself in the morning’ he thinks grimly.
Jaejoong waits until the other’s breaths have evened out before turning around to face Changmin. He bites his lip, seeing the other’s serene face and relaxed features. Something starts to gnaw within him, make him worry and wonder about what the other was thinking about, what he was hiding. He silently wondered if it was this bond between them that was causing him to start acting like a worried mother cat.
‘It will be alright...whatever it is, it will be alright’ Jae thinks as he watches Changmin sleep. Min sighs in his sleep. ‘...for our sake, it will be alright. I hope.’
The two don’t wake up until the day has already past, sun setting already near dusk. Changmin blinks open his eyes first, stretching out his arms and legs and arching his back up off the mattress. He feels something heavy against his stomach as his hand brushes against hair. He looks down and nearly falls off the bed at seeing Jaejoong sleeping against him.
Eyes wide he stares down, trying to process how on earth he wound up sleeping like that when he was sure the other’s back was turned to him. Jaejoong stirs and blinks open his eyes sleepily. He yawns and tries to nuzzle into his pillow. Changmin feels that warm breath against his stomach and when Jaejoong’s lips touch his skin, a shock zinged through his body. But Jae merely frowns when his ‘pillow’ shivers and flinches under him.
“Mmm pillows don’t flinch...” he mutters sleepily.
Slowly again he cracks open his eyes and notes smooth, tan skin. His eyes slowly travel up, up, up to Changmin’s still-shocked face, hands grabbing the mattress at his sides not knowing what to do, trying to control himself from doing anything stupid. Jaejoong blinks again, suddenly registering where he and jerks away with a yell. He plasters himself against the wall, mortified.
“I...I...I...” his eyes roam all over the bed, not meeting Changmin’s eyes. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole.
Changmin kept his hands clutched tight over the sheets because at that moment he was about to eat him whole. He fought down whatever was surfacing in him, mental arguments of dominant and submissive and taking what’s yours. He closes his eyes and remembers his teacher’s words.
‘Patience...Control...To act is easy, but at the right time...’
“It’s ok” Changmin’s reply comes muffled to Jaejoong’s ears. Jaejoong looks up to see Changmin’s hands covering his face. Jae caught a glimpse of his teeth biting down on his lower lip, hard. A deep breath from Min.
“We were both asleep. It happened. Let it go.” He drops his hands and Jaejoong could see his eyes were red. A sudden blink and it was gone.
‘He must really know how to hide his emotions’ Jaejoong thinks.
Changmin quickly gets up and goes to the bathroom, looking for an escape. Mate or not, it was hard to take it slow, easy.
He splashes cold water on his face, but when he looks into the mirror he jolts, seeing Jaejoong standing behind him.
‘Why did you run away?’ Jaejoong thinks.
“We are going to my apartment?” he says.
Changmin looks at him like he has two heads. “What?!?”
“For my belongings. I’m not going to live in your clothes and I do have matters I have to settle.”
Changmin swallows. “Right, right. Yes we’ll go now.”
“Right now? But isn’t the sun still o-”
“The sun is least of our problems. I have no problem with the sun, do you?”
“Hmph. You’re my biggest problem”
Jaejoong stalks past Changmin.
Upon bidding farewell to the landlady and apologizing, Jaejoong realized something was up. She merely waves a hand, chuckling, “It’s alright. I know you’re very busy, business corporation and all. Have a safe flight and I hope you make out in New Zealand!”
‘Business corporation? What business corporation, can’t she see I’m still a student? And New Zealand? What-’
She closes the door on a very baffled looking Jaejoong, clutching his box of belongings. One eyebrow arched he shoots a look at Changmin, but the other only shrugs.
Talking to the people at the internship and the college was just as bad, if not worse. Jaejoong felt like he did when those dreams were coming back to him- the nightmare with the eyes and fangs. He felt as if he was suffocating, slowly going insane.
It’s as if Jaejoong didn’t exist, even up until yesterday. They didn’t have his file, didn’t recognize his face. Records, transcripts, tuition payments, all gone. It’s as if “Jaejoong” had disappeared off the face of the earth, as if Jaejoong died and had no reason at all to be a part of this world anymore.
Jaejoong throws a suspicious look at Changmin as they both nod a ‘thank you’ and leave the building. Going to each of the three places, the people did not bat an eyelash at the tall, dark, clad-in-all-black Changmin who stood next to him. Didn’t even realize when the other’s eyes glowed red nonstop.
“You mind controlled them, didn’t you?” Jaejoong spat at Changmin as soon as the two return to the apartment. He throws down his box to the floor.
“It’s not mind control, more like warped time around-”
“So you did do this?”
Changmin raises an eyebrow. “And? What about i-”
“And? And?!?” Jaejoong seethes, eyes glowing orange. “You’ve made me an alien in my own world now! I’m not a human, I’m not one of your kind, what am I?!? A mutt, what am I?!? You realize I have lost my identity, the only thing connecting me to this world, keeping my sanity in check, reminding me I’m human? No one recognizes me now Changmin no one! What are you trying to do? Isolate me so I can become weak, rely merely on you so you can feel all the more powerful and important?”
By now Changmin could only stare at everything Jaejoong was accusing him of. The latter pulls at his hair desperately. Changmin’s hands immediately reach out, latching onto wrists ordering, “Stop you fool, calm down!”
Jae lets out a laugh and narrows his eyes into slits. “No. You’re the fool, for all your fine magic and skills and the mess you’ve brought me in. You may be much older than me and more experienced in various things but in dealing with people and people’s feelings you are not.”
With his next words, Jaejoong finds the ultimate barb to lodge deep into Changmin’s soul. “For a vampire, you certainly don’t do a good job at taking care of your mate. Since I’ve met you, you have done nothing but fuck up royally.”
Changmin’s hands still for a moment, then drop from Jaejoong’s wrists. Fury spreads across his face as his eyes widen and he clenches his jaw.
Jaejoong gulps, backing away a few steps realizing he went too far. He sees Min’s chest heave up and down.
‘Patience. Control. Patience. Control. Patience...’ his teacher’s voice seems to rise in desperation.
“I admit I am new to this...” his voice is low. “But ever single action I’ve done, ever since you just had to look up and see me, was for the best. You don’t dare tell me I’ve-”
“Oh yes I dare. You had no right to go ahead and sever the last tie I had linking me to my home. I have a voice, I speak my mind. I would have thought of s- hey, look at me when I talk! Don’t you dare walk away!”
Changmin bites his tongue and tastes blood. Jaejoong’s blood. His blood. Their blood. It tasted like sand. He tries not to explode.
“What do you want human? I am sick and tired of your talk. Whatever I do it doesn’t seem enough. It has merely been one day yet I feel like I want to bash your head in, my head in. I end it here.”
“Where are you going you cowardly bastard?!?” Jaejoong yells at the disappearing form of Changmin’s outline.
“To go cool off. You stay here and don’t you dare fucking trash the place” he snarls.
And with that Changmin vanishes.
Jaejoong lets out a frustrated scream and launches himself at the door, jiggling the knob and cursing when he finds it locked.
“Bastard! Bastard! You run but never face what you do! You make me prisoner for your mistake!”
Hot tears drip down his cheeks but he doesn’t notice. He kicks the door and then walks over to his box, rummaging through it for his cigarettes and lighter.
“Fuck him...I do what I want” he mutters. In heavy, thudding steps he stalks over to the windows, opens one all the way and climbs out onto the fire escape. He sits down on the cold metal and lights his cigarette, smoking slowly. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out- blow the stress from within out along with the smoke.
Breathe...breathe...
He leans his head against the brick wall. Sighing, he murmurs, “I’m exhausted...so fed up. I don’t want this anymore.” His gaze softens as he looks up at the moon in plain view above the other apartments and houses.
He continues staring up at it, thinking silently until he finishes the cigarette. Exhaling the last bit of smoke, he gets up and pats his legs of the stray ashes that might’ve fallen.
“You’re fed up you say...” a foreign voice suddenly says light and amused.
Jaejoong jerks his head up at a figure standing just a foot away- short black hair, pale skin, round cheeks and liquid black eyes.
“Who-who are you?” Jaejoong gulps nervously.
‘That’s right, Changmin said I shouldn’t come out at night...Changmin...’
“No one of importance...now, what do you say we make our escape?”
Jaejoong presses himself against the brick wall, the stranger leaning into his personal space grinning wickedly. He lets out a shaky breath. Inwardly he whimpers and his mind starts to call out to someone.
‘Changm-’
The other chuckles deep from within his throat. Red lips part and he blows into Jaejoong’s face. And everything turns black.
Jaejoong moans, head swirling as if he’d just come out of a huge hungover. He hears someone scoff, sitting in a padded armchair at the foot of the bed. Another bed? Another foreign place?
“About time you woke up, pretty. I didn’t even put that much effort into the spell.”
The stranger dusts imaginary lint off a shoulder. “It’s about time Changmin slipped up...had me stuck around in this ghastly world for an eternity trying to find his whereabouts.”
“You know Changmin? How-”
“The answer to that comes at another time” the stranger touches a finger to Jaejoong’s lips. When did he even get up from the armchair?
“Now,” his gaze hardens. “Tell me where he is.”
He is only met with Jaejoong’s cold gaze. “I have no idea where the fucker went.”
The other laughs incredulously. “A lover’s quarrel? So soon?...but come now. Where is he?”
“I. have no. idea.”
Silence. Then the stranger straightens up and looks down at Jaejoong indifferently.
“Well then...I’ll just have to find out my way.”
Out of nowhere, Jaejoong’s hands fly up, pinned to either side of the headboard by invisible bindings. He sees the dark gaze in the stranger’s eyes and swallows.
“Now...call him. Get him to come.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind Jaejoong knows the stranger must mean telepathy, having heard Changmin speak of it once.
“I...I can’t. I don’t know how.”
The stranger only smirks wider. “You’re only making this harder for yourself...”
Jae’s throat convulses, Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. The other smiles. “Oh come now, I’m sure this is not your first time...Changmin must have played with you a lot seeing what an exotic human you are...”
‘First time? What on earth is this insane...’ Jaejoong’s eyes dart back and forth as the stranger lowers himself onto the other’s body.
Jaejoong squeezes his eyes shut, muscles twitching as the stranger’s hand lightly ran down his chest only to reach up and tear the tank in two. He draws in a shaky breath trying hard not to cry.
Jaejoong could feel the other’s crooked smile as he pressed kisses on chest and abs.
Not Changmin, not Changmin. He was nothing like Changmin. Changmin would never do this.
Fingers rub up and down Jaejoong’s legs but he only shivers and keeps his eyes firmly shut. It’s only when he suddenly feels the sweats being ripped off his legs that his mind seems to explode in one loud yell.
‘CHANGMIN!’
Moments later a loud BANG is heard. Jaejoong’s eyes fly open and he sees Changmin standing in the gaping hole where the door was supposed to be.
A black aura swirls around him, eyes blood-red staring at the scene. Jaejoong’s tears, his fear, his tank and sweats scattered over the floor, the familiar figure acting so goddamned nonchalant about the whole thing-
“Yoochun you fucking bastard!”
With an uninterested sigh, Yoochun sits up away from Jaejoong. As soon as Jaejoong feels the binds on him released his chin trembles and with another yell of “Changmin!” stumbles off the bed and tries to run.
Jaejoong’s legs had turned to jelly from the sheer terror and helplessness he felt when Changmin wasn’t there, past argument forgotten. He collapses in a heap at Changmin’s feet, knees unable to hold him up and Changmin catches him and supports him up.
“What have you done to my mate?” he spits.
“Your mate??” Yoochun’s voice and eyebrows rise incredulously as one before he laughs, long and loud, rolling onto his back. “And here I thought you had taken a human lover. Ohh a human mate...”
Changmin snarls, long and low. Jaejoong trembles, moving to hide behind Changmin’s tall frame. Even with Changmin this mad, the other wasn’t showing any signs of fear...
Yoochun’s composed himself and staring intently and serious at Changmin, states, “I came here to warn you. Do not think you can escape by hiding here. I need you back at the homeland-”
“What do you mean ‘you need me’? You know better than I how my own kind shunned me, I don’t need your people-”
“More and more are flooding here Changmin. It upsets the balance. You don’t want innocent people like your mate to get hurt, do you? After all, we were never meant to come here.”
Changmin opens his mouth to retaliate but remembers the shivering Jaejoong pressed against his back.
“No. We talk about this later. Now that you know where to find me,” he adds the last part dryly, noting how Yoochun quirked the side of his mouth.
“I wouldn’t have been able to, without your little mate”
Changmin grabs Jaejoong and starts to materialize out of Yoochun’s apartment. Before they disappear altogether, Yoochun’s voice echoes to them, “And by the way, Changmin. Might I suggest that you claim your mate and fast. A pretty thing such as him would leave many others wanting to take a bite.” The echoing laughter makes Jaejoong curl in on himself and Changmin snarl again.
That night neither of them could sleep, their backs turned to each other on the bed. Jaejoong fists the pillow and bites his lip, remembering the short, heated words exchanged as soon as they got back.
”You fool, what did you do to lead him here? As soon as I turn my back for a moment you disappear, do you have any idea how worr-”
“I’m sorry alright I'm sorry! I made a mistake! I...I please, you think I wanted him to take me? If you hadn’t come when I called I...I...”
Changmin grabbed him then, so tight he couldn’t breathe. Jaejoong felt sudden relief and hot tears pool in his eyes as he broke down. He barely registered Changmin’s lips against his cheeks, licking those tears away. But when lips touched lips he tasted them- salty tears and comfort.
‘Tomorrow we start. I will teach you all the skills that I know.’ Changmin channeled as he looked down at Jaejoong. Finally, their telepathy link was in place...they were connected in some way now.
After a moment, Jaejoong’s reply sounded. ‘Yes...tomorrow.’
With a sigh, Jaejoong turns so he faces Changmin’s back.
‘Changmin...’ he softly conveys to the other, the pads of his fingers sliding slowly down the other’s back. ‘...I’m sorry. I said hurtful words, spat at you, made you the villain. I’m sorry...I’m willing to start anew with my identity...although I know it won’t be easy.’ With a sigh, he turns around again.
Changmin doesn’t reply. He flips over so he now faces Jaejoong’s back. Without a word he shifted closer until chest touched back and he wrapped arms around Jaejoong’s waist. Jaejoong’s hands closed around his own tightly.
‘I...I l...’ he starts. ‘... ... ... thank you... ... ... thank you.’
Pairings: Jaemin
Rating: PG-NC17
Summary: After a ride on the subway, Jae gets more than he bargained for.
Chapter 3
Frazzled as he was, Jaejoong believed Changmin’s words that he wouldn’t harm him. As rough and coarse-around-the-edges as the vampire was he was still humane and half-way decent.
But Jaejoong couldn’t get the picture of him half-naked in his mind. In his memory he could still trace the muscles on the other’s stomach, the tan skin, the sweats on those long legs. He shivered, arguing with himself over how desperate he was sounding. He talked himself out of liking Min and called it a desperate attempt of his insane mind.
Miraculously, Jaejoong manages to fall asleep again in the strange environment, a strange apartment, a stranger’s bed.
In an hour or so Changmin returns from his nightly stroll, first red eyes glowing in the room, then the rest of him materializing out of thin air like a Cheshire cat. He makes sure to materialize at the other end of the room, away from the bed so he doesn’t scare the other again. He figured the human had taken enough scaring for the day.
‘Some mate’ his mind thinks bitterly. Changmin fights down his growl.
While on his hunt tonight, he was more troubled and frustrated than usual, taking down one, two robbers in the alley mercilessly. He sighs. He acknowledges his mate had problems. With permanently transforming, at least.
But why? He could feel the other’s bond, sense the other sleeping soundly, but other than that there was nothing else. He doubted Jaejoong could yet sense him or feel anything, which frustrated him. Mates were supposed to already know the fundamentals of being and the basics about each other- name, age, sub/dom; the whole point of the bond and relationship was to help each other’s abilities grow, to learn together, evolve, grow closer to one another becoming inseparable, one.
He wasn’t about to be the crux and the only one trying to make this bond work. If the human kept resisting, sooner or later he would snap and throw him out to fend for himself or let the others devour him. He was used to being alone anyway, he’d learn to ignore the ache in him telling him he was missing something. Ever since a long time ago, he was always missing a part of him.
He carelessly tugs off the shirt with one hand, pulling down his jeans with the other leaving them all in a pile by the corner, not caring he was clad only in boxers. From thin air materialized the pair of gray sweats he wore before and he slipped into them.
He looks out at the full moon shining through the window brightly. His eyes were angry, flaring bright red asking the moon why, why. Why out of all others must he be stuck with this mate. He was strongest, smartest, one of the powerful ones. Why have a mate that countered everything he was?
His eyes scan the jagged, rough terrain he knew well enough already- each crater each mountain- and they soften, thinking of how the moon has gone through so much, more than he ever would. A wave of nostalgia washes over him as it does each time he looks at the moon, reminding him of where he came from, never letting him forget.
Newly subdued and humbled, he turns his back to the moonlight and softly pads over to the bed. Quietly he raises the corner of the sheet and slides under, Jaejoong’s back to him. Changmin scoots up closer the other but not exactly touching, trying to gain as much warmth as he could. For too long he had slept in an empty, cold bed. It was about time he became a bit selfish.
Jaejoong was awake, ever since he felt Changmin enter the room again. He kept silent, merely listening to what the other would do. When Changmin slipped under the covers, Jae didn’t deny the shiver that coursed through his body. When he felt how cold Changmin felt, no body heat radiating from him, he worried.
‘I’m going to hate myself in the morning’ he thinks grimly.
Jaejoong waits until the other’s breaths have evened out before turning around to face Changmin. He bites his lip, seeing the other’s serene face and relaxed features. Something starts to gnaw within him, make him worry and wonder about what the other was thinking about, what he was hiding. He silently wondered if it was this bond between them that was causing him to start acting like a worried mother cat.
‘It will be alright...whatever it is, it will be alright’ Jae thinks as he watches Changmin sleep. Min sighs in his sleep. ‘...for our sake, it will be alright. I hope.’
The two don’t wake up until the day has already past, sun setting already near dusk. Changmin blinks open his eyes first, stretching out his arms and legs and arching his back up off the mattress. He feels something heavy against his stomach as his hand brushes against hair. He looks down and nearly falls off the bed at seeing Jaejoong sleeping against him.
Eyes wide he stares down, trying to process how on earth he wound up sleeping like that when he was sure the other’s back was turned to him. Jaejoong stirs and blinks open his eyes sleepily. He yawns and tries to nuzzle into his pillow. Changmin feels that warm breath against his stomach and when Jaejoong’s lips touch his skin, a shock zinged through his body. But Jae merely frowns when his ‘pillow’ shivers and flinches under him.
“Mmm pillows don’t flinch...” he mutters sleepily.
Slowly again he cracks open his eyes and notes smooth, tan skin. His eyes slowly travel up, up, up to Changmin’s still-shocked face, hands grabbing the mattress at his sides not knowing what to do, trying to control himself from doing anything stupid. Jaejoong blinks again, suddenly registering where he and jerks away with a yell. He plasters himself against the wall, mortified.
“I...I...I...” his eyes roam all over the bed, not meeting Changmin’s eyes. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole.
Changmin kept his hands clutched tight over the sheets because at that moment he was about to eat him whole. He fought down whatever was surfacing in him, mental arguments of dominant and submissive and taking what’s yours. He closes his eyes and remembers his teacher’s words.
‘Patience...Control...To act is easy, but at the right time...’
“It’s ok” Changmin’s reply comes muffled to Jaejoong’s ears. Jaejoong looks up to see Changmin’s hands covering his face. Jae caught a glimpse of his teeth biting down on his lower lip, hard. A deep breath from Min.
“We were both asleep. It happened. Let it go.” He drops his hands and Jaejoong could see his eyes were red. A sudden blink and it was gone.
‘He must really know how to hide his emotions’ Jaejoong thinks.
Changmin quickly gets up and goes to the bathroom, looking for an escape. Mate or not, it was hard to take it slow, easy.
He splashes cold water on his face, but when he looks into the mirror he jolts, seeing Jaejoong standing behind him.
‘Why did you run away?’ Jaejoong thinks.
“We are going to my apartment?” he says.
Changmin looks at him like he has two heads. “What?!?”
“For my belongings. I’m not going to live in your clothes and I do have matters I have to settle.”
Changmin swallows. “Right, right. Yes we’ll go now.”
“Right now? But isn’t the sun still o-”
“The sun is least of our problems. I have no problem with the sun, do you?”
“Hmph. You’re my biggest problem”
Jaejoong stalks past Changmin.
Upon bidding farewell to the landlady and apologizing, Jaejoong realized something was up. She merely waves a hand, chuckling, “It’s alright. I know you’re very busy, business corporation and all. Have a safe flight and I hope you make out in New Zealand!”
‘Business corporation? What business corporation, can’t she see I’m still a student? And New Zealand? What-’
She closes the door on a very baffled looking Jaejoong, clutching his box of belongings. One eyebrow arched he shoots a look at Changmin, but the other only shrugs.
Talking to the people at the internship and the college was just as bad, if not worse. Jaejoong felt like he did when those dreams were coming back to him- the nightmare with the eyes and fangs. He felt as if he was suffocating, slowly going insane.
It’s as if Jaejoong didn’t exist, even up until yesterday. They didn’t have his file, didn’t recognize his face. Records, transcripts, tuition payments, all gone. It’s as if “Jaejoong” had disappeared off the face of the earth, as if Jaejoong died and had no reason at all to be a part of this world anymore.
Jaejoong throws a suspicious look at Changmin as they both nod a ‘thank you’ and leave the building. Going to each of the three places, the people did not bat an eyelash at the tall, dark, clad-in-all-black Changmin who stood next to him. Didn’t even realize when the other’s eyes glowed red nonstop.
“You mind controlled them, didn’t you?” Jaejoong spat at Changmin as soon as the two return to the apartment. He throws down his box to the floor.
“It’s not mind control, more like warped time around-”
“So you did do this?”
Changmin raises an eyebrow. “And? What about i-”
“And? And?!?” Jaejoong seethes, eyes glowing orange. “You’ve made me an alien in my own world now! I’m not a human, I’m not one of your kind, what am I?!? A mutt, what am I?!? You realize I have lost my identity, the only thing connecting me to this world, keeping my sanity in check, reminding me I’m human? No one recognizes me now Changmin no one! What are you trying to do? Isolate me so I can become weak, rely merely on you so you can feel all the more powerful and important?”
By now Changmin could only stare at everything Jaejoong was accusing him of. The latter pulls at his hair desperately. Changmin’s hands immediately reach out, latching onto wrists ordering, “Stop you fool, calm down!”
Jae lets out a laugh and narrows his eyes into slits. “No. You’re the fool, for all your fine magic and skills and the mess you’ve brought me in. You may be much older than me and more experienced in various things but in dealing with people and people’s feelings you are not.”
With his next words, Jaejoong finds the ultimate barb to lodge deep into Changmin’s soul. “For a vampire, you certainly don’t do a good job at taking care of your mate. Since I’ve met you, you have done nothing but fuck up royally.”
Changmin’s hands still for a moment, then drop from Jaejoong’s wrists. Fury spreads across his face as his eyes widen and he clenches his jaw.
Jaejoong gulps, backing away a few steps realizing he went too far. He sees Min’s chest heave up and down.
‘Patience. Control. Patience. Control. Patience...’ his teacher’s voice seems to rise in desperation.
“I admit I am new to this...” his voice is low. “But ever single action I’ve done, ever since you just had to look up and see me, was for the best. You don’t dare tell me I’ve-”
“Oh yes I dare. You had no right to go ahead and sever the last tie I had linking me to my home. I have a voice, I speak my mind. I would have thought of s- hey, look at me when I talk! Don’t you dare walk away!”
Changmin bites his tongue and tastes blood. Jaejoong’s blood. His blood. Their blood. It tasted like sand. He tries not to explode.
“What do you want human? I am sick and tired of your talk. Whatever I do it doesn’t seem enough. It has merely been one day yet I feel like I want to bash your head in, my head in. I end it here.”
“Where are you going you cowardly bastard?!?” Jaejoong yells at the disappearing form of Changmin’s outline.
“To go cool off. You stay here and don’t you dare fucking trash the place” he snarls.
And with that Changmin vanishes.
Jaejoong lets out a frustrated scream and launches himself at the door, jiggling the knob and cursing when he finds it locked.
“Bastard! Bastard! You run but never face what you do! You make me prisoner for your mistake!”
Hot tears drip down his cheeks but he doesn’t notice. He kicks the door and then walks over to his box, rummaging through it for his cigarettes and lighter.
“Fuck him...I do what I want” he mutters. In heavy, thudding steps he stalks over to the windows, opens one all the way and climbs out onto the fire escape. He sits down on the cold metal and lights his cigarette, smoking slowly. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out- blow the stress from within out along with the smoke.
Breathe...breathe...
He leans his head against the brick wall. Sighing, he murmurs, “I’m exhausted...so fed up. I don’t want this anymore.” His gaze softens as he looks up at the moon in plain view above the other apartments and houses.
He continues staring up at it, thinking silently until he finishes the cigarette. Exhaling the last bit of smoke, he gets up and pats his legs of the stray ashes that might’ve fallen.
“You’re fed up you say...” a foreign voice suddenly says light and amused.
Jaejoong jerks his head up at a figure standing just a foot away- short black hair, pale skin, round cheeks and liquid black eyes.
“Who-who are you?” Jaejoong gulps nervously.
‘That’s right, Changmin said I shouldn’t come out at night...Changmin...’
“No one of importance...now, what do you say we make our escape?”
Jaejoong presses himself against the brick wall, the stranger leaning into his personal space grinning wickedly. He lets out a shaky breath. Inwardly he whimpers and his mind starts to call out to someone.
‘Changm-’
The other chuckles deep from within his throat. Red lips part and he blows into Jaejoong’s face. And everything turns black.
Jaejoong moans, head swirling as if he’d just come out of a huge hungover. He hears someone scoff, sitting in a padded armchair at the foot of the bed. Another bed? Another foreign place?
“About time you woke up, pretty. I didn’t even put that much effort into the spell.”
The stranger dusts imaginary lint off a shoulder. “It’s about time Changmin slipped up...had me stuck around in this ghastly world for an eternity trying to find his whereabouts.”
“You know Changmin? How-”
“The answer to that comes at another time” the stranger touches a finger to Jaejoong’s lips. When did he even get up from the armchair?
“Now,” his gaze hardens. “Tell me where he is.”
He is only met with Jaejoong’s cold gaze. “I have no idea where the fucker went.”
The other laughs incredulously. “A lover’s quarrel? So soon?...but come now. Where is he?”
“I. have no. idea.”
Silence. Then the stranger straightens up and looks down at Jaejoong indifferently.
“Well then...I’ll just have to find out my way.”
Out of nowhere, Jaejoong’s hands fly up, pinned to either side of the headboard by invisible bindings. He sees the dark gaze in the stranger’s eyes and swallows.
“Now...call him. Get him to come.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind Jaejoong knows the stranger must mean telepathy, having heard Changmin speak of it once.
“I...I can’t. I don’t know how.”
The stranger only smirks wider. “You’re only making this harder for yourself...”
Jae’s throat convulses, Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. The other smiles. “Oh come now, I’m sure this is not your first time...Changmin must have played with you a lot seeing what an exotic human you are...”
‘First time? What on earth is this insane...’ Jaejoong’s eyes dart back and forth as the stranger lowers himself onto the other’s body.
Jaejoong squeezes his eyes shut, muscles twitching as the stranger’s hand lightly ran down his chest only to reach up and tear the tank in two. He draws in a shaky breath trying hard not to cry.
Jaejoong could feel the other’s crooked smile as he pressed kisses on chest and abs.
Not Changmin, not Changmin. He was nothing like Changmin. Changmin would never do this.
Fingers rub up and down Jaejoong’s legs but he only shivers and keeps his eyes firmly shut. It’s only when he suddenly feels the sweats being ripped off his legs that his mind seems to explode in one loud yell.
‘CHANGMIN!’
Moments later a loud BANG is heard. Jaejoong’s eyes fly open and he sees Changmin standing in the gaping hole where the door was supposed to be.
A black aura swirls around him, eyes blood-red staring at the scene. Jaejoong’s tears, his fear, his tank and sweats scattered over the floor, the familiar figure acting so goddamned nonchalant about the whole thing-
“Yoochun you fucking bastard!”
With an uninterested sigh, Yoochun sits up away from Jaejoong. As soon as Jaejoong feels the binds on him released his chin trembles and with another yell of “Changmin!” stumbles off the bed and tries to run.
Jaejoong’s legs had turned to jelly from the sheer terror and helplessness he felt when Changmin wasn’t there, past argument forgotten. He collapses in a heap at Changmin’s feet, knees unable to hold him up and Changmin catches him and supports him up.
“What have you done to my mate?” he spits.
“Your mate??” Yoochun’s voice and eyebrows rise incredulously as one before he laughs, long and loud, rolling onto his back. “And here I thought you had taken a human lover. Ohh a human mate...”
Changmin snarls, long and low. Jaejoong trembles, moving to hide behind Changmin’s tall frame. Even with Changmin this mad, the other wasn’t showing any signs of fear...
Yoochun’s composed himself and staring intently and serious at Changmin, states, “I came here to warn you. Do not think you can escape by hiding here. I need you back at the homeland-”
“What do you mean ‘you need me’? You know better than I how my own kind shunned me, I don’t need your people-”
“More and more are flooding here Changmin. It upsets the balance. You don’t want innocent people like your mate to get hurt, do you? After all, we were never meant to come here.”
Changmin opens his mouth to retaliate but remembers the shivering Jaejoong pressed against his back.
“No. We talk about this later. Now that you know where to find me,” he adds the last part dryly, noting how Yoochun quirked the side of his mouth.
“I wouldn’t have been able to, without your little mate”
Changmin grabs Jaejoong and starts to materialize out of Yoochun’s apartment. Before they disappear altogether, Yoochun’s voice echoes to them, “And by the way, Changmin. Might I suggest that you claim your mate and fast. A pretty thing such as him would leave many others wanting to take a bite.” The echoing laughter makes Jaejoong curl in on himself and Changmin snarl again.
That night neither of them could sleep, their backs turned to each other on the bed. Jaejoong fists the pillow and bites his lip, remembering the short, heated words exchanged as soon as they got back.
”You fool, what did you do to lead him here? As soon as I turn my back for a moment you disappear, do you have any idea how worr-”
“I’m sorry alright I'm sorry! I made a mistake! I...I please, you think I wanted him to take me? If you hadn’t come when I called I...I...”
Changmin grabbed him then, so tight he couldn’t breathe. Jaejoong felt sudden relief and hot tears pool in his eyes as he broke down. He barely registered Changmin’s lips against his cheeks, licking those tears away. But when lips touched lips he tasted them- salty tears and comfort.
‘Tomorrow we start. I will teach you all the skills that I know.’ Changmin channeled as he looked down at Jaejoong. Finally, their telepathy link was in place...they were connected in some way now.
After a moment, Jaejoong’s reply sounded. ‘Yes...tomorrow.’
With a sigh, Jaejoong turns so he faces Changmin’s back.
‘Changmin...’ he softly conveys to the other, the pads of his fingers sliding slowly down the other’s back. ‘...I’m sorry. I said hurtful words, spat at you, made you the villain. I’m sorry...I’m willing to start anew with my identity...although I know it won’t be easy.’ With a sigh, he turns around again.
Changmin doesn’t reply. He flips over so he now faces Jaejoong’s back. Without a word he shifted closer until chest touched back and he wrapped arms around Jaejoong’s waist. Jaejoong’s hands closed around his own tightly.
‘I...I l...’ he starts. ‘... ... ... thank you... ... ... thank you.’