On The Red Couch (SMM Universe) YunJae: Chapter Thirty
Title: On The Red Couch ♥
Pairing: YunJae (with some YooSu and Min7en)
Chapter: Thirty
Chapter Rating: R
Genre: Slash/Relationship
Author: wedspawn
Part One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Se7en, 8, 9, 10, 11
Part Two: 12, 13 (Extremely Mature Content), 14, 15, 16, Comments Regarding Storyline , Se7enteen, 18, 19, 20, 21 (Lemon)
Part Three: 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, Twenty-Se7en (LEMON), 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 (LEMON), 33, 34, 35, 36, Thirty-Se7en, 38, 39, 40 (Final)
Summary: Hot Korean boys. Sex. Dancing and some angry words. Not necessarily in that order. Not necessarily in each section. Final Book in SMM series.
To the Dong Bang boys, airport delays were something nearly as frequent as being served foreign food someone expected them to eat with a smile on their face. Losing his temper would be unseemly. Both Yunho and Jaejoong knew that wearing a public face came with a steep price, bound by invisible threads of social courtesies as if they were puppets of an unseen malevolent master.
Although frequent and expected, it still didn’t make dragging their luggage back and forth any easier.
Jaejoong packed light, a simple duffel and a bag. Yunho went a bit heavier, his suitcase a bulky weight in his left hand that he dragged behind him by its retractable handle. The elevator ride up was quiet, a comfortable silence filled with hot glances and murmured loves. Once inside the apartment, they left the luggage by the door, hoping to catch the next plane in the morning. Their manager knew of their plans, thoughtfully extending their time off and Jaejoong was glad to collapse on the couch, wriggling his toes against the cool wooden floor.
“Do you know where Changmin is?” Yunho asked, coming down the hall. “He’s not in his room.”
Jaejoong’s heart skipped up into his throat, a skittering frightful thing. He shook his head and dug through his bag for his phone but by the time he found his cell, Yunho was already in the kitchen and dialing up their youngest. For a second, Jaejoong had a brief fantasy that Min wouldn’t answer or that he’d somehow fallen asleep some place in the apartment that Yunho hadn’t looked but his blood chilled to a stop when he heard Yunho’s anger burst open.
“We came home and found you weren’t here.” Jae winced at the heat in Yunho’s voice. “Where the fuck are you, Changmin and who the hell is lover?”
Jaejoong considered his options. He could call Se7en and ask the man to leave Japan but the airport was fogged in so he’d not get far. He’d just worked through the end of his choices, coming up with an insane plan to seduce Yunho from his phone call using a skimpy black thong and caramel sauce when Yunho stalked into the living room, his cheeks flushed red.
“Dongsaeng, did you hear me?” His voice was sharp and Yunho glared at the patio door as if the glass pane could give him answers. “Where are you?”
The seduction option was out. Yunho wouldn’t see him even if he’d stripped naked and danced in front of him. Sighing heavily, Jaejoong mentally braced himself for Yunho’s next outburst. He tried to shush his lover, concerned about the rise in Yunho’s colour.
“Is that why you’re not here? Because we’re supposed to be in Okinawa?” Yunho asked, waving off Jaejoong’s shushing. “Where are you? Answer me, Changmin.”
Whatever was going on at the other end of the phone wasn’t making Yunho any happier. The tap of his bare foot began, a sure sign of Yunho trying to control his temper. His chest broadened, taking a deep breathe to calm himself.
“Come home now, Minnie-ah.” Yunho gritted his teeth, catching Jaejoong’s eye. The leader exhaled, pursing his lips at his lover in a sign of extreme annoyance. “You’re too young to be out like this. Tell whoever you’re with that you’re leaving. I’ll come get you.”
“Dong-wook? Is that fucking Dong-Wook?” He spat, almost choking on his own tongue. “Is that Choi Dong-Wook I hear?”
Jaejoong stood quickly, ready to intervene if Yunho needed mouth to mouth. His lover narrowed his eyes, glancing at Jaejoong standing at the end of the couch. “Did you know he was seeing Choi?”
“Se7en? That Choi” Jaejoong whistled under his breath. “Damn. Really? I had my money on Hyukjae. Of course maybe you’re talking about Tempo?”
“You knew about this? You knew he was seeing someone? And you know I’m not talking about Choi Seung Hyun! You heard me say Dong-Wook!” Yunho growled. “What the hell is going on? He’s barely old enough to drive much less…”
“Yunho. Yunnie-ah, calm down,” Jaejoong said, exhaling the breath he’d held for too long. It tasted sour, a bitterness flavoured with fear for Min’s heart. “Changmin isn’t… he’s old enough to make his own decisions. They are his choices, Yunnie.”
“They are not just his choices, Joongie,” Yunho gritted his teeth. “Dong-Wook isn’t…”
“He’s not one of us,” Jae replied softly. “You’re frightened for Min because he’s outside of the group? Because we don’t know him well enough to trust him? Is that it?”
“Can you trust him? Do you trust him?” Yunho asked, turning to face his lover. “I can’t let Min destroy us.”
“He would never… do anything to hurt the members, Yunho!”
“He wouldn’t.” The anger in Yunho’s face faded, replaced by something colder and deadlier. “But Se7en might. Suppose he says something about Min? About Min’s relationship with him? Suppose he says something about us? How are we going to protect the members from someone outside of us?”
“Minnie-ah?” Jaejoong spoke over Yunho’s ear. Holding his hand out to his lover, he demanded the phone. “Let me talk to him, Yunnie.”
“No,” Yunho shook his head, turning his attention back to their youngest. “I’m coming to get you, Changmin.”
The conversation disintegrated from Jaejoong’s standpoint. There were tears in Yunho’s eyes, glittering hard diamonds ready to cut into a welling sorrow. “I promised your mother that I’d look out for you, Minnie-ah.”
Just when Jae thought the matter couldn’t get any worse, Yunho said, “I don’t like Choi. How do you know that he’s not doing this because he wanted Jaejoong? And you’re an easy way to get back at me and Joongie-ah?”
“Give me the phone before you make more of an ass out of yourself,” Jae hissed.
“Don’t hang up until I’m done with you.” Yunho barked to Min. “Hold on. Jaejoong wants to talk to you.”
“Minnie-ah,” Jaejoong ignored Yunho pacing the living room and spoke softly to their youngest. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Please, I’m okay. Really.”
“If he says he’s okay then he’s lying,” Yunho growled. “Fucking Se7en seduced him. You know what he’s like. You’ve heard the stories, Jaejoong. He makes a whore look like a nun!”
Jae sighed and begged a moment from Changmin. Pointing to the kitchen, he ordered Yunho out of the living room. “Yunho, stop it. Go make us coffee or tea. Just stop walking around me.”
With Yunho out of the way, it was easier to listen to Changmin tell him about how he felt about Se7en, the tentative steps towards a love steeped in a sweet friendship. Sighing, Jae rubbed at his forehead, the lack of sleep and erupting drama tightening a headache over his temples but he wished it away, needing to listen to their youngest explore his feelings.
“He makes me feel…special, Joongie-ah. I’ve not felt special for a very long time. And never like this.” Changmin’s whisper broke Jae’s soul. It was clear the younger man denied his love for Dong-Wook, even as he confessed it using slanted words. “And even if he breaks my heart, it’s going to be my heart, not any one else’s.”
“You sound like you’re in love, Min.” Jaejoong looked up towards the kitchen area where Yunho stood, his face now white with shock.
Even though he wished love for Changmin, Se7en’s reputation for being a playboy was legendary around the industry. Known for his casual attitude and intense passions, there were strings of broken hearts and unrequited loves left in Se7en’s wake. Jaejoong didn’t want Changmin to join them.
He heard the door close, a hard rattling sound against the frame. A quick spot check on the wall confirmed Jaejoong’s suspicions. Yunho had taken the keys to the rarely used car the company leased for them. The headache tapping on his forehead bloomed, working down around his eyes and back around his head.
“Shit,” Jae muttered. It was one of the few English words he knew by heart and its coarseness felt good on his throat. Warning Changmin, he told the younger man he loved him and hung up. His temper felt unsatisfied so he fed it again, cursing hard and long. “Stubborn, fucking asshole.”
Yunho was gone and Jaejoong’s gut told him he’d left to kill Se7en.
#
His rage never went cold. It burned hot and poured from him like liquid rock from the depths of an angry world. When Yunho stood across of Se7en, his gut clenched in around a block of ice and the chill of his rage spread through him, creeping along his nerves like winding frost into his limbs.
Se7en moved about his kitchen, its whiteness too bright for Yunho’s tired eyes. Weary from the aborted trip to the airport, fatigue dragged at Yunho’s body but the callous way Se7en tapped tea leaves into a strainer and dipped the steep into hot water.
The punch to Se7en’s face felt good. Even as the blow jarred up Yunho’s arm and rocked his shoulder, it felt damned good to punch the smug smile from the other man’s face. From the expression on Se7en’s face, he’d not been prepared for the hit and for a moment, Yunho felt a shred of guilt about hitting a man unprepared for it.
Then he remembered the shivering in Jaejoong’s body when his lover crossed over to join Yunho’s team and the anger flared up again, fresh and new in the cold of his nerves. Torn free from Se7en’s arms, Jaejoong collapsed his shoulders against Yunho, clinging to the other man and leeching some warmth from Yunho’s body.
No, the punch felt damned good. And Yunho’s fist itched to do it again. Even when the pain across his knuckles finally registered.
Surprisingly, Se7en didn’t strike back. The other man merely looked up at him from where he landed, sprawled amid a tumble of segmented shelves. Standing looked painful for Se7en and when he touched the swell on his cheek, Yunho’s ego crowed in triumph and took flight.
A very short lived flight when Se7en stood in front of him and muttered, “I’m going to be Changmin’s lover for as long as he’ll let me. I think I’m in love with him, Yunho. And I don’t want to let him go.”
#
He sat in the car, staying at the curbside and rested his head on the steering wheel. The car was comfortable and Yunho debated climbing into the back seat and sleeping off the night’s drama but Jaejoong probably was still awake and fretting. Especially, Yunho gritted his teeth in guilt, after he left his cell phone in Jae’s hands and stormed out the door.
His nose was filled with the scent of leather, the car’s seat slightly damp from his damp jeans. Outside, the rain continued to hammer at the city, sometimes with soft taps and other times with harsh sheets but the sky never broke open to show the stars. Fog rose up around him, streamers of steam from the street’s warm gutters and it cloaked the car from view, hiding it against the side of the building.
The tap on the window scared the melancholy out of him and Yunho jumped, hitting his head on the door frame. Jaejoong pressed his face up close to the passenger side window, huddled under a hoodie and pointing at the depressed door lock. Fumbling, Yunho popped the locks open, holding his hand out for Jaejoong to grab. Helping his lover into the car, he pulled the sodden sweat jacket from Jae’s body and tossed it into the back seat.
“The rain is cold,” Jae said, a shiver racking his body. His lips were edged with blue and alarmingly, he seemed whiter than usual. “It almost feels like snow.”
“Come here,” The bucket seats didn’t allow much room to cradle his lover and Yunho cursed, turning around to pull the wet jacket onto the floor. “Get in the back seat. I’ll turn on the heater and join you in a second.”
Crawling between the seats, Jae tumbled into the back, holding his hands over the heater vent as he used his heels to work his sneakers off. Frowning at his damp socks, he yanked those off as well, moving out of the way when Yunho crawled behind with him.
“Okay, now come here,” Yunho said, pulling Jaejoong in close. The singer was too thin, in Yunho’s opinion. His wrist bones were too visible and when Yunho slid his hands under Jae’s shirt, he could feel his ribs. “You need to eat more, baby.”
“I eat plenty,” Jae grumbled. “I’m just working harder than I’m eating.”
“I don’t believe you.” Cradling the singer in his lap, he settled a string of gentle butterfly kisses along Jae’s lower lip. “We’ll get you something to eat before we go to bed.”
“Is it going to be a long time before we go to bed?” Jae tilted his head, resting against Yunho’s shoulder. With his back against the other man’s chest, he snuggled in, putting his hands on Yunho’s arms when they wrapped around him.
“Yeah, I think so,” Yunho said. “I think we need to talk… about a lot of things.”
“Are you pissed off?” The rain made Jaejoong sleepy but the heat of his lover behind him woke up parts of him he rather liked.
“Yeah,” He admitted softly. “Surprisingly, not as pissed off as I was a little while ago but still pissed off. How long have you known about Se7en and Minnie-ah?”
“Um,” Jae counted off the weeks, losing track after a few months. Time blurred behind their activities and he had to stop and think about what day it was. “I don’t know. A long time. Changmin doesn’t know. The only reason Se7en does is … because I called him to ask him what he was doing. I saw them and I got… scared for Changmin.”
“Ah,” Yunho drawled. “Deceit, your name is Jaejoong. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Ouch,” Jae winced. “Because you’d act… crazy and drive off to kill Dong-Wook?”
“I didn’t kill him,” The other man countered. “Min probably laid him out. He looked pretty pissed off when I left.”
“You left him there? Aish.” Hissing, Jaejoong puffed his lips out.
“He wanted to be left there,” Yunho protested when Jae hit his leg. “He’s a big boy. He’s been sneaking out and having sex with Dong-Wook! Well almost sex. I don’t know. I don’t want to know.”
“You’re going to have to get over that,” His lover said. “Changmin… Se7en thinks he is in love with Min. I think Min loves him back.”
“No.” Shaking his head, he tightened his grip on his lover’s slender body. “No, Min can’t be in love with Dong-Wook.”
“Because Se7en’s a guy?”
“Yes,” Yunho yelped when Jae’s teeth sank into his arm. “Hey, I have opinions. And I’m still pissed off you didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t tell you because… I wanted Min to have… a secret. His own secret.” Jaejoong explained, his tongue lapping up the wet he’d left on Yunho’s skin. “He needs some room to be… Changmin. Everything we are is boxed up into these preformed packages and Min… he doesn’t fit into his. He is looking to find himself and that means, maybe falling in love. Even if it is Choi Dong-Wook.”
“I don’t want it to be Choi Dong-Wook,” Yunho grumbled. “I kind of hoped Changmin would… find a nice girl who loved him. Someone sweet who nodded when he said something and acted like he hung the moon for her. I didn’t want him to fall in love with another man. I didn’t want that for Changmin. I wanted… him to love.. different.”
“Different than us?” Jae heard his voice falter, an icy sheet in the cold rain.
“Yeah.” Yunho kissed the back of his lover’s head.
“Are you ashamed of me?” It hurt to ask but the words needed to be said. They hung there between them, bloated heavy things that tore into Yunho’s heart with prickly spears. “Is that what you mean?”
“I had a lot of time to think when I drove around, lost because I couldn’t find how to get home. So I’m going to tell you what I think and how I feel,” He said, holding the stiff, too tight body of his lover. “And if I get the words wrong, please understand that… I’m trying. I’m trying very hard to be honest with you.”
“Okay,” Jae replied. “I’ll try.”
“Good, because it’s all we’ve got, baby,” Yunho said, shifting in the seat. “I mean, different. Different as in… a woman. Yes, I hoped he would love a woman. Not because I’m ashamed of you. I love you. We both know why we have to stay … hidden. You agreed to that.”
“True.” Cocking his head, he moulded himself further into Yunho’s sloping form. “Okay, I’ll agree to that.”
“Too late. You already did,” He replied. “Lean your head to the side. I need a kiss.”
“If we start that, you’ll not continue explaining why loving Dong-Wook is wrong,” Jae said but he tilted his head anyway, moaning when Yunho’s tongue pushed past his lips and tangled around his own. His slumbering length woke up again, filling with want in response to Yunho’s fingers roaming over his chest. Yunho’s fingernails found Jae’s nipples, plucking them to a ripe peak as he took a deeper possession of his lover’s mouth.
“Ah, that’s better,” Yunho growled, licking at the edges of Jae’s mouth before pulling away. “I’ve been wanting to do that for hours now.”
“We could have been doing more than that if you’d stayed,” Jaejoong pointed out, a satisfied glow warming his belly. “Instead, you ran off to yell at Se7en but continue, I want to know why you think Min should love…differently than we do.”
Yunho debated telling Jaejoong about punching the other man in the face but decided to leave that part of the encounter out. Jae didn’t deserve to be the only one with secrets. “Changmin’s… private. He’s a private person. If he finds joy, I don’t want him to hide it. And no, I didn’t want him loving a man. I know how hard it is. I didn’t want that for him. I didn’t want him to feel the pain we feel.”
“His family isn’t…” Jaejoong twisted slightly, looking up at Yunho’s face. “His family is more progressive. They would never turn him aside…”
“Like ours have?” Yunho asked, unable to keep the bitterness from his tone. “It’s the first thing I thought of, Joongie-ah. I didn’t want Changmin to crawl back to his parent when Dong-Wook hurts him…when Dong-Wook hurts us.”
“You’re so certain that Se7en is going to expose us. Why?”
“Because he’s careless,” The man answered. “Because he loves people… not just women but men too. Tell me you’ve not heard the stories about him. You’re friends with Tempo and Ji. Can you tell me they haven’t boasted about Se7en’s fuck-and-dump stories?”
“No, we haven’t talked about…” Jaejoong looked guilty, hiding his face and Yunho pounced.
“You did talk about Se7en with them,” He bit back an angry retort. “You asked about him when you found out about he and Min hooking up.”
“A little bit,” The singer admitted, his hair falling into his eyes. “But that was a long time ago. He’s been…celibate for months now. Ever since he’s been seeing Min.”
“Months?” Yunho took hold of Jae’s chin and turned his head until he could stare into the man’s grey-veiled eyes. “Months? The whole time you knew?”
“I didn’t know for that long,” Jae pulled himself free of his lover’s grip, slapping away Yunho’s hand. “Stop being an asshole.”
“People probably wonder how I hold onto my sanity being around you,” Yunho kept his curses low, ruffling Jae’s hair with his words. His temper still burned a hole in his stomach. The presence of Jae on him made the world warmer, softened in the rain and blurred on the edges but his worries still floated in his mind. “I’m worried. I don’t trust Dong-Wook. He… he’ll know about us. Hell, he probably knows about us. About… shit, Jaejoong!”
“You tell lovers things. I do, at least. I don’t know about you sometimes,” He said, hissing when Jae pinched his the skin on his wrist. “Min will tell him things about the group… about how we are. Things we don’t want him to know. Things we don’t want anyone to know.”
“We have to trust Changmin,” Jae whispered, shaking his head. “I have to trust Dong-Wook. We do. He has as much to lose as we do, even if he is more cavalier about his loves than we are.”
Yunho sighed and shook his head, doubting Jae’s faith. “How do you suppose he has much to lose? He can break us apart. He can bring Dong Bang Shin Ki down.”
“No one can bring us down,” Jae replied, the fire of his soul burning in his eyes. “We’ll be the first ones to know if Dong-Wook betrays Changmin’s trust and we’ll be the first ones to act on that betrayal. I learned a lot of things from Kimura… from what he did but I found out how much I love all of you and how far I will go to protect you.”
“Me too, baby,” Yunho agreed, kissing the beauty mark on Jae’s throat. “Anything for you. Anything for the others.”
“Anything,” Jae murmured, resolute and firm. “And that includes making sure Dong-Wook pays if he hurts Changmin. I promise you, lover, he will be very sorry. We will make him wish he were dead. He will pray for it.”
“You frightens me when you talk like that, baby,” He grinned, pulling Jaejoong down until the singer was stretched out on the wide back seat. “And scarily enough, it kind of turns me on too.”