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이젠 다시 돌아가고 싶지 않아
It's a dream. It has to be. J knows that, tells himself that over and over until he can't make his mind form the words anymore. At a certain point, the fear and the horror are too much. That's how it always is. He never feels entirely in his own control when he does it, though he knows he is, he must be, to make these kinds of choices. Still, it feels — felt, really — like his hands do the work on their own, like he's watching from afar. It's a terrible contradiction — to need to be far enough removed from it to keep from losing his nerve, to be enmeshed enough to feel it so it has the required effect. To know the fright in the eyes of someone dying at his hands, palpable enough that he takes what he needs from it, held enough at bay he could keep himself from falling apart after the fact or from stopping before he was done.
It's a little bit different tonight. He sees them in the shadows, hardly more than shadows themselves, hovering at the edges of his vision, but there's no victim before him tonight, no murder to relive. There's just a visceral wrongness, like he's hovering on the edge of understanding, aware they're here and that they aren't. He forgets things even as they happen, and it's the last of it he'll remember when he wakes.
There's a car. It's a worn-down old thing, the best he could afford, but it keeps running in spite of that and the damage he's done to it — did to it, that night, going too fast — but it's not moving now. He's sitting behind the wheel and it's quiet and it's dark, and something is very wrong. It's the smell, he thinks, and it takes him a moment for it to click before he realizes he knows it very, very well. It's been a long time, though, since he smelled it so strongly, the sour metallic bite of blood in the air, flooding the car, inescapable. The window won't roll down, and he leans across the seat to try the other (and he wonders, in the back of his head, why he doesn't just open the door, but he doesn't), but his hands slip, the handle slick. The blood was already there, though. He knows that when he sees it, that it isn't touching the door or the seat when he slips that does it. It was already there — is still there, on his hands, on the steering wheel, mottling the passenger seat. He knows it's there when he turns to look at the backseat — too much, more than there should be, more than there was, and it won't come out, it won't ever come out. It's happening now, but when it happened before, he scrubbed at it until his hands were red, his cheeks and eyes were red, and still he felt sure it was everywhere, seeping between the fibers until the seats were soaked in it. And it's not real, it can't be real, because this didn't happen. S didn't die, he knows that, he's sure of it, but he must have, because no one can bleed that much and live.
That's the part that cuts through the panic, slices so sharp he can feel his skin crawl, his breath stop in his throat. There's too much. Is this a dream or was it a dream to think he fixed things somehow? Was he too late? Did he go too far after all? He's faintly aware of the sounds he's making, sharp gasps as he struggles to catch his breath, high-pitched whimpers of protest. When he leans further into the backseat, he's afraid he'll find a body still there, though he should be able to see it from the driver's seat, but he can't stop himself pitching forward, clutching at the armrest. He never got used to this smell. It grew familiar, but he hates it — in the same faraway manner in which he feels everything but abject despair — and he can't get away from it. The knife shouldn't be here, he knows that, he's absolutely certain of it, but then he's not really sure of anything. He left it in his rooms, he knows he did, but maybe he didn't. There's too much that he's can't say with any real confidence, too many patches of time he can't account for, too many memories he might have made up.
It's dark still and he can't breathe, bent forward instead of back, leaning over the blanket and draped over the knees he's pulled up to his chest. Clutching at the sheet, the sounds he makes are incomprehensible even to himself, almost inhuman, harsh, panicked breaths punching out of him as he struggles to get air past how tight his throat has become, past the sobs that start to shake him as soon as his body is alert enough, well before his mind catches up. He tries to call S's name, terrified he isn't there to respond, but he can't make it come out, can't force his body to turn. If he's alone, if it was real, if it's true, then he'll die like this, struggling for air like some of them did. The thought of that is enough to make some part of him want just to give up and let darkness take him again. "Please," he mumbles, desperate, unable to manage anything else. It's hardly the first time he's woken up (he is awake, isn't he?) in a panic, but not like this, rarely so pronounced and all-encompassing.
It's a little bit different tonight. He sees them in the shadows, hardly more than shadows themselves, hovering at the edges of his vision, but there's no victim before him tonight, no murder to relive. There's just a visceral wrongness, like he's hovering on the edge of understanding, aware they're here and that they aren't. He forgets things even as they happen, and it's the last of it he'll remember when he wakes.
There's a car. It's a worn-down old thing, the best he could afford, but it keeps running in spite of that and the damage he's done to it — did to it, that night, going too fast — but it's not moving now. He's sitting behind the wheel and it's quiet and it's dark, and something is very wrong. It's the smell, he thinks, and it takes him a moment for it to click before he realizes he knows it very, very well. It's been a long time, though, since he smelled it so strongly, the sour metallic bite of blood in the air, flooding the car, inescapable. The window won't roll down, and he leans across the seat to try the other (and he wonders, in the back of his head, why he doesn't just open the door, but he doesn't), but his hands slip, the handle slick. The blood was already there, though. He knows that when he sees it, that it isn't touching the door or the seat when he slips that does it. It was already there — is still there, on his hands, on the steering wheel, mottling the passenger seat. He knows it's there when he turns to look at the backseat — too much, more than there should be, more than there was, and it won't come out, it won't ever come out. It's happening now, but when it happened before, he scrubbed at it until his hands were red, his cheeks and eyes were red, and still he felt sure it was everywhere, seeping between the fibers until the seats were soaked in it. And it's not real, it can't be real, because this didn't happen. S didn't die, he knows that, he's sure of it, but he must have, because no one can bleed that much and live.
That's the part that cuts through the panic, slices so sharp he can feel his skin crawl, his breath stop in his throat. There's too much. Is this a dream or was it a dream to think he fixed things somehow? Was he too late? Did he go too far after all? He's faintly aware of the sounds he's making, sharp gasps as he struggles to catch his breath, high-pitched whimpers of protest. When he leans further into the backseat, he's afraid he'll find a body still there, though he should be able to see it from the driver's seat, but he can't stop himself pitching forward, clutching at the armrest. He never got used to this smell. It grew familiar, but he hates it — in the same faraway manner in which he feels everything but abject despair — and he can't get away from it. The knife shouldn't be here, he knows that, he's absolutely certain of it, but then he's not really sure of anything. He left it in his rooms, he knows he did, but maybe he didn't. There's too much that he's can't say with any real confidence, too many patches of time he can't account for, too many memories he might have made up.
It's dark still and he can't breathe, bent forward instead of back, leaning over the blanket and draped over the knees he's pulled up to his chest. Clutching at the sheet, the sounds he makes are incomprehensible even to himself, almost inhuman, harsh, panicked breaths punching out of him as he struggles to get air past how tight his throat has become, past the sobs that start to shake him as soon as his body is alert enough, well before his mind catches up. He tries to call S's name, terrified he isn't there to respond, but he can't make it come out, can't force his body to turn. If he's alone, if it was real, if it's true, then he'll die like this, struggling for air like some of them did. The thought of that is enough to make some part of him want just to give up and let darkness take him again. "Please," he mumbles, desperate, unable to manage anything else. It's hardly the first time he's woken up (he is awake, isn't he?) in a panic, but not like this, rarely so pronounced and all-encompassing.
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This is a particularly good something else. He lifts his head at once. Dark though it is, he finds S's mouth quickly, instinctively. Instinctive, too, is the way his hand moves a little more firmly on S, if no faster, as he leans in to kiss him. He doesn't wait, either, to deepen it, but he's gentle all the same. There's need here and desire, but there's no urgency tonight, not in this. He wants a space for softness, a space simply to love each other. They need that, too. They need that more. And as distracted as he got by S's neck, this is better still. Kissing S just feels right — feels safe and like home and still exciting all bundled into one. That's something he's found over and over again in the times they've been together; there's comfort in knowing each other so well and in knowing they still have things to learn, excitement in discovery and familiarity both. It feels, right now, a little like being younger, too impatient to take their time to find a better position, too caught up in each other, tempered by the sweetness of not being in any rush at all. If nothing else, J is secure in this, in them. At a time like this, that still feels like a miracle. For so long, he didn't have this at all.
"Sihyun-ah," he murmurs against his mouth, taking a moment to draw in a slow, deep breath. "Love you."
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This is. Being with J is the easiest thing in the world; it always has been. Even when they were younger and first figuring this out, awkwardly fumbling through sex, the part that actually involved them being together was always practically second nature, as if, even then, they were like pieces slotting into place, finding where they belonged. For him, no matter how bad things were for a while, that feeling has never once faded. He kisses J now like by doing so, he could hold onto that, keep the two of them right here, where they're supposed to be. Maybe he can. He really does believe, if only because he has to, that their finding each other here wasn't an accident or a coincidence but something that was meant to happen, their bond too strong for them to be kept apart.
"I love you," he echoes, voice just a bit strained now, but deeply, unmistakably earnest. There may only be so much longer he can feasibly last with the way J is touching him, but he means to hold out while he can, to make the absolute most of it and then make it just as good for J in turn. They both need that, he's pretty sure. "Fuck, I love you so much."
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This is right. The way S holds him is so right, steady and firm and gentle and loving, his hand a comforting weight at J's chest. "I'm so lucky," he murmurs, rough from being hushed. "So lucky to be yours." He nips lightly at S's lower lip, more tug than bite, and kisses him again, slow and deep. After the frenzy this night has been, the panic and hurt and fear, the moments when he could barely breathe, he's grateful for this, too. It's nice just to slow down and let himself get wrapped up in this moment, passionate as ever, but much more relaxed than he's been since he woke.
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On one hand, sex is just sex. On the other, at a time like this, after the night they've had, it's as if it's representative of that fact. Even the slight awkwardness of the position doesn't detract from how good it feels to be tangled up together, his breath catching in his throat as J's teeth tug at his lip. "Mine," he agrees, soft and heated and affectionate, half-muffled into the kiss. "Like I'm yours." Were it not the middle of the night, he would want to slow down even more, to stop and kiss J all over, to run his hands over every inch of skin. For now, though, this is plenty, the beat of J's heart under his palm steady and grounding. "Feels so good."
He can only last so long and he knows it, acutely aware of a familiar tension gradually building. That's all the more reason to make the absolute most of it.
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It's still enough to pull a small sound from him, muffled and wanting. They belong to and with each other. There's no greater comfort than that. By all rights, he should be unlovable and alone — or, really, dead. He shouldn't be here to have this. But he is, and even if the impulse to believe he doesn't deserve this is still there, he's gotten better at pushing it aside most of the time. It should be harder than it is tonight, he thinks, but it really isn't. S has given him a chance, yet again, to start looking at his life from a different angle, to consider that he might deserve more kindness than he's given himself till now.
In comparison, giving S a good handjob is next to meaningless, but he's still going to do so, following S's cues. "Yeah?" he murmurs, not drawing away, nose brushing against S's. "Just wanna make you feel good. Feel loved."
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Still, he's hardly about to rush through this. He feels much too good for that, a soft whine in his throat as he steals another kiss. "You are," he says, "you do." He almost adds always, but he has just enough awareness to hold it back. As far as he's concerned, it's true, but he knows that J would likely refute it, and S has no interest in ruining the mood like that, not now that they've finally found a little peace, albeit through sex. To him, though, even when he's been crying in bed in the middle of the night, thinking about how J tried to kill him and did kill himself, just being with J at all makes him happy, too. He never wants to lose sight of how fucking lucky he is. He doesn't think he ever could.
Rather than saying any of that, he whimpers, needy and encouraging. "Getting — getting closer."
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And thinking that makes him realize he really didn't, because this isn't going to do much, this position, to keep them from needing to wash off. It'll be easier, though. They won't need to shower, and that's good enough.
Much more pressing is this, the way S feels in his hand, the way he sounds. Even if he hadn't said as much, J could hear from his voice how close he's getting, which means deciding how much longer he wants to drag this out. It wouldn't be difficult, nor a hardship, to keep S hovering a little more, edge him until he's bordering on desperate. Right now, when he very much wants the reminder of how thoroughly alive they both are and how good he can make S feel, it's tempting. Still, this is about as tender as a handjob can get, and it's late. That kind of thing can wait for later, maybe even tomorrow.
Forehead resting against S's, he moves his hand just a little faster, pressing an off-center kiss to S's lips. "That's right," he murmurs, "good. You sound so pretty like this, darling."
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"Feels so good," he murmurs against J's mouth, barely pulling away to draw a breath before he's kissing him again. Simple as all of this might be — and ill-advised, for that matter, in the middle of the night when they're both exhausted — he still can't get enough. "Fuck, that's perfect."
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"So perfect for me," he adds, a mumble against S's mouth, an amendment that hopefully will block any disagreement, if S still has the presence of mind for those. If J draws back from this moment, there's so much he doesn't know or understand, so much he hasn't yet processed, and he doesn't know where to start. He'd rather stay here, focused on S and one of the only things in the world he's sure of, which is that he wants to make this man happy in whatever ways he can. "Love you so much, Sihyun-ah."
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Even that is hard to think about, though, when J is touching him like this, when he can tell he's getting closer, unable to drag this out for any longer. "Love you," he whispers in response, hushed and intent, and then it's only a couple of moments more before he comes, a soft, choked moan in his throat when he does, body trembling as he slumps forward, breathless, against J. "Fuck," is all he manages next, mumbled into J's shoulder. It's as descriptive as he can currently get.
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Of course, now that S has come, J realizes that he has the same problem he's had many times before, which is not thinking this through enough to know what to do with himself now. He doesn't want to get this mess on the bed — though that might be a lost cause, really — but he doubts S wants it on his clothes either. Still, it might as well be that, he figures. They can changes clothes easier than they can change their sheets. He wraps his other arm around S as well, gently stroking his back. "Love you." He won't move to dislodge S from his lap; that's up to S. J doesn't want to assume he isn't now too tired for that.
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It doesn't need to be. Head still resting on J's shoulder, he turns it just enough to lean in and press a few absent, lazy kisses to the side of J's neck, something he doesn't need to see to be able to do. Even now, at once trying to catch his breath and start thinking clearly again and figure out their next move, he knows the way J feels well enough to act on instinct, savoring both the warmth of J's skin under his lips and the steady movement of J's hand against his back, the gentlest anchor.
"You next," he murmurs, still the slightest bit slurred, but sure. "Should we switch? I don't know what would be best."
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"You sure, darling?" he asks anyway, turning his head to kiss whatever he can find, S's hair and his cheek. "You don't have to." He knows S probably doesn't feel beholden, exactly, but he's likely to want to even if he's too tired for it. "I don't know what would be best either. I think we already made a mess." He doesn't really care, though. Even if they end up too tired to change the sheets, well, at least they're on top of them. They can just toss the blanket aside and keep each other warm if they have to. It wouldn't be the first time. "But we can just sleep if you're too tired."
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"Silly," he says, quiet and impossibly fond. "Of course I'm not too tired. We can change and sleep after." That still doesn't solve the problem of how to do this, but they'll figure something out. They always do. Nosing at J's neck, he hums, thoughtful. "You could sit in my lap instead. Or I could go down on you."
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He tips his head away, a pointed hint, his neck more exposed where S is. "You're silly," he counters. "I just don't want you falling asleep with my dick in your mouth." He's not sure that that's the offer he wants to take, actually, but it's the funnier mental image. Still, he takes S at his word on this. Besides, he doesn't really want S to go to sleep and leave him to handle this on his own, because being awake and tired but still too alert to sleep because of having to deal with his stupid dick would just lead to being awake and sad, trying to sort through all they've talked about tonight while far too tired to do so.
He waits a moment more, trying to think about what he actually wants here, which is very difficult when he mostly just wants S to touch him. As incredibly tempting as the blowjob is, J decides, there's always tomorrow. Tonight, he wants to be close, tangled up in each other, as if being able to kiss S will keep him safe — keep both of them safe, really. "But I wanna sit in your lap," he adds once he's sure.
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He doesn't want to think about that now, wants to focus instead on the way J feels and sounds under infinitely preferable circumstances like these. His own orgasm does, admittedly, have him feeling a little drowsier than before, but it isn't so much that he can't get J off in turn. They both need this, he suspects, a chance to hold each other for a while, to be reminded in the most unmistakable way possible that they made it, that they're here and together.
"Okay," he says, quiet and fond. "I promise I won't fall asleep yet." The difficult part is bringing himself to move when he feels good and safe and warm perched in J's lap like this. As much as he might like to, though, it would be too needlessly complicated to stay in this position, so with one more brief kiss, he finally, slowly makes himself draw back, sitting beside J and immediately beckoning him closer, any distance seeming like too much under the circumstances. It's a shame they won't be able just to lie down and go back to sleep after this, but they'll have to make it as quick as possible when they get changed and move any blankets they need to off the bed. "Come here."
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It's just a pause and then he slides onto his knees, turning to face S, tugging his underwear down. Getting out of them is a clumsy affair, but they're going to have to change anyway, and he wants to give S all the access he could possibly need. Once that's done, he slips the rest of the way forward, easing himself onto S's lap, hands resting at S's shoulders as he leans in to kiss him. It doesn't take very long, but it's sort of dizzying, moving in the darkness, everything just shadow and breath and fabric and a tension tugging at his spine, a desire to be touched and to be held. It's sort of oddly vulnerable, being here in just his shirt, and he wonders if S feels that way all the time, but he's too tired to hold onto that thought. Anyway he's been much more vulnerable in much worse ways tonight already. However turned on he might be, this is actually the comforting part of the night. "No sleeping yet," he cautions, softly teasing, leaning his forehead against S's. "I love you."
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That and, of course, he would have to pull away, which he has no desire to do. Instead, he nods in agreement, a gesture he suspects will be more felt than seen, though it's been long enough that he isn't totally sightless in the dark now. "No sleeping," he echoes, hushed and gentle. His hands move as he speaks, sliding up the outside of J's thighs and hips, one moving around to the small of his back as the other slips between them to wrap around J's dick. S strokes him slowly at first, but steadily, leaning in for another kiss as he does, though he keeps it soft, pressing another to the corner of J's mouth, then his cheek, then close to his ear. "I love you."
He's said it countless times; he'll say it countless more. Maybe it's overkill, but he doesn't think so. Tonight, if anything, it seems painfully necessary, a reminder in its own right that they're here and safe, that what he feels for J could never change.
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"I love you," he murmurs a few moments later, his mouth catching up to his brain. "Sihyun-ah..." He's been so caught up in trying to stay present, trying to make sure all they've discussed and learned tonight doesn't creep in, but because that mostly took the form of focusing on S and making him feel good, he didn't quite realize he needed to relax until he started to relax. "Ah, fuck, that feels good. You feel good."
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Right now, he isn't thinking much about sleeping or about the time, too focused on what he's doing. Even if touching J is practically instinct, he still wants to make it as good as he can, to give J a temporary respite from all the other shit they've been dealing with. Maybe this is a strange way to be getting his boyfriend to relax, but he doesn't really think it is. Anyway, if it works, it works, and he's hopeful that this will. "That's it," he murmurs, the words slightly muffled against J's neck when he ducks his head to press a kiss there, though he lifts it again a moment later, finding J's mouth with his own. His hand keeps the same steady pace; despite the hour, this isn't the time to rush. "That's all I want. To make you feel good."
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"I do," he says, mostly air, lips brushing S's cheek before he kisses him again. Under his palm, he can feel the steady beat of S's heart, faint through the fabric but strong enough to be palpable all the same. "Always make me feel so good, darling." It's true in a way that's much bigger than this moment, and J's pretty sure that's not clear in his words. To be fair, he's hardly at his most articulate, tired from lack of sleep and crying, head light, entirely wrapped up in how it feels to have S touching him like this, firm and steady and just how he likes. "Not just like this. In every way." Even now, he's too aware of how, for a long while, that wasn't true, and he made that clear then. He has to make it clear now that he was wrong.