Acceptance
Chapter 18
"I don't want to do it again." Jin murmured, sat between Hwoarang's legs on the floor, resting his head back against the Korean's firm chest. Those lean arms felt good around him. At the moment he was as weak as a child, achy and still ridiculously confused. From across the room, Lei watched him from an armchair, shaking his head a little.
"We need to be sure you can take control on your own, without Hwoarang having to be there to influence you. You can't give up now kid, not when we're starting to make progress."
Hwoarang heaved a sigh, his chin resting on the top of Jin's head, back propped against the side of the couch. He hated seeing him so scared, but he was finding himself agreeing with the cop more often. He didn't want to have to worry about Jin hurting himself or anyone else. Nevertheless, now was the wrong time to talk about it. No agreement would be reached with Jin so exhausted, probably not thinking as clearly as he might after a decent night's sleep. He brushed a few strands of inky black hair away from Jin's face.
"Lei, we can talk about it later, right?" Hwoarang glanced up at the cop with a meaningful look, and Wulong got the message. Forcing a smile, giving them both a nod, he made to depart, with some excuse about not having any doughnuts. Hwoarang almost sniggered. Cops and doughnuts.he could have come up with a better reason, but Jin probably would have realised what was going on anyway.
No sooner had the door shut, than Jin had shifted onto his knees, squirming round to face Hwoarang and locking both arms around his shoulders, burying his face against his neck and sinking heavily against him. The Korean's arms snaked around him, and held him there firmly.
"Hwoarang, I'm so tired." Jin's voice was almost inaudible.
"It'll wear off eventually. We had to give you two doses of tranquilliser, one while you were asleep, in the hopes that you'd change while you were still cuffed, and the other to knock you out when you tried to hurt yourself. And then Lei said something about you always being like this after it happens anyway. I guess it's all just added up." Hwoarang turned his head a little to kiss Jin's cheek, his hands wandering gently up and down his back.
"I wasn't hurting myself. Those wings aren't part of me, they're part of "it"." Jim mumbled stubbornly. He could remember everything clearly, right from when he'd seen Hwoarang sliding across the floor on his back, blood- smeared, and throughout to the point where Lei had administered the tranquilliser. He blinked, frowning for a moment, then pulled back a little to stare at Hwoarang, who looked a tad rumpled, but not at all hurt. Where had the blood come from? "Are you hurt?" The Korean arched a neat brow at the question, until he realised why it was being asked.
"Ketchup." A wolfish little smile. "All over the back of one of my shirts. That'll take some washing, I can tell you."
Jin laughed quietly, arms tightening a little around Hwoarang's shoulders. He'd have felt so guilty if Hwoarang had actually hurt himself for the little show.
"You're a damn good actor. I was terrified. Especially the way you came flying across the floor."
"Well of course I'm good." There was a note of pride in Hwoarang's voice as he spoke, nails sliding gently up his lover's spine. "I've hustled for years. Persuading the idiots you're going to challenge that you can't fight at all is necessary or they wouldn't place so many bets." He paused in his explanation as he felt Jin's hands slide down his sides, provoking a slight grin. Hwoarang was terribly ticklish, and he swiped at those hands playfully, only to find them creeping beneath his rear and giving a rough squeeze before he was hauled up onto Jin's lap. "Hey, what happened to being tired?"
Jin shrugged broad shoulders, then bent his captive backwards until his head and upper back were resting on the couch.
"Never too tired for this, with you." His lips fastened roughly on Hwoarang's neck as he ground up against him. He could feel his lover's pulse fluttering beneath the skin he sucked upon.
"What if Lei comes back?" Jin loved hearing Hwoarang's voice so sultry, so riddled with desire that he almost gasped the words out.
"He won't." Jin breathed heatedly into Hwoarang's ear as the Korean worried his lower lip with even teeth.
And then the door opened. If the situation hadn't been so embarrassing, Hwoarang would have been making some smart-assed "I told you so!" type remark, but he was too busy cringing, awaiting some disapproving comment from the rather shocked cop stood in the doorway.
"You know" - a sigh - "I think the sooner we got you two somewhere a little more private to lurk in the better." Nothing else. No reprimand, no disgust, no embarrassing lecture. Lei simply wandered into the kitchen, reappeared with his forgotten wallet, raising it to them so that they'd see his reason for returning, and slipping out again.
Hwoarang opened one eye, and peered up at Jin, who seemed as baffled as his
furiously blushing lover. Needless to say, the mood had been quite ruined,
and so the Korean dragged himself up to sit on the couch properly, Jin
still kneeling in front of him. It seemed they were doomed to abstinence
for the moment.
Lei was fast asleep on the couch when the pair finally hauled themselves
out of bed the following morning, a half-eaten doughnut still clasped in
one hand, and the TV turned on, volume so low it was barely audible. One
look at the screen was enough to persuade Jin to turn it off. He didn't
like seeing his own face flashed all over the news.
Even that slight movement had been enough to rouse the slumbering cop however, and with a snort he was sat up, doughnut rolling out of his hand as he reached for his gun. He'd fallen asleep with his shoulder holster on.
"I'm impressed. You must be a damn light sleeper." Hwoarang remarked, sinking onto the vacant end of the couch with a yawn as the cop scowled at them both, relaxing.
"Only when I'm looking after a pair of criminals. Never know what kind of visitors may suddenly arrive." He grumbled, running one sugary hand through lank hair. A grimace of distaste curled his upper lip. "I need a shower. And you two are moving out today."
"We are?" This from Jin, who'd slumped into an armchair, still looking weary, though by no means as exhausted as he'd been the previous day.
"Yup. I did some arranging last night. Got the two of you a little apartment to stay in, all nice and confidential, one of the places we use for witness protection stuff. Shouldn't be too shabby." Lei stretched his legs out lazily. Apparently he wasn't feeling quite ready to get up afterall.
"You gonna be keeping an eye on us?" Hwoarang smothered a yawn with long fingers, Lei's laziness apparently rubbing off on him. It was so tempting to go back to bed.
And then something caught his eye. A small, red dot, creeping from one side of the armchair towards the centre of Jin's brow. It didn't take long for him to realise what it was, and before Lei had even started to answer, the Korean had lunged from his seat, tumbling Jin from the chair and onto the floor. A split-second later and there was a blackened hole marring the cushion where Jin's head had been resting.
"Lei, we've got company!" Hwoarang snapped, but the cop was already on his feet, firearm aimed at a crouching black figure that had emerged from the bedroom.
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