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“Don’t cry,” Thomas pleaded with him, raising onto his toes to kiss just under Seong’s left eye, then the right. “I’m here. I’m okay. Please.”
Seong shuddered out something between a laugh and a sob, his eyes closing. “I thought I lost you,” he murmured as Thomas dropped back to his heels, their foreheads pressing together. They breathed in together. Closer than either of them had ever dared before.
“You didn’t,” Thomas said, staring into those dark eyes. “We beat him. We made it out. That’s all that matters, right?”
Another shuddered breath of sound brushed against Thomas’s lips, a reminder of how very close they were. “Yeah. That’s all that matters.”
Fingers moved through Thomas’s hair before returning to his face and brushing away his own tears.
“We should go,” Seong murmured. “Your- they’re all worried about you.”
A deep aching pain filled Thomas as he suddenly remembered Danny, how they had left things last night. “I want to go home,” he whimpered without meaning to. He didn’t want to talk to Danny or Kevin or Mark or anyone about anything. He wanted to stay in Seong’s embrace and feel those fingers brush away all of his anxiety and fears and the bad memories, to not think about anything except the moment.
“I know,” Seong murmured, wiping away more tears. “We’re going to go home. We just need to tie up a few loose ends, okay? You don’t have to do anything. Just stay close, okay?”
Thomas nodded, choking on another sob but reluctantly letting his hands drop from Seong’s back.
The Time You Need
“Thomas!”
Felinus caught Danny as the baseball player ran for the door, picking him up around his waist and carrying him back into the room over his shoulder. “Give him a minute,” he said in a low voice.
Seong looked up at Danny as he pressed Thomas into the room. Thomas hadn’t been able to tell him what all had happened between them hanging up last night and now, but it had been clear enough that it had been upsetting. Thomas didn’t deserve to be any more upset than he already was.
But Danny’s eyes were bloodshot and puffy and he looked ready to cry again as Felinus carried him back into the living room.
Good, something in him snarled. Let him cry! He didn’t protect Thomas so he deserves to be in pain.
“Thomas needs a shower,” Felinus told the room at large, basically dropping Danny back on his feet. “Once he’s done and ready, we can discuss what has happened and what your options are. Until then, everyone just be patient.”
Danny’s jaw tightened as Thomas and Seong walked towards one of the rooms.
“Sure,” the leaner of the three, Mark, said. “Take as long as you need, Thomas. We’ll be right here when you’re ready.”
Thomas lifted a hand silently, acknowledging Mark’s words without looking around. Seong opened the door for him and stepped within. Behind them, Danny crossed the room and entered as well before Seong could shut the door. He had considered slamming the door in Danny’s face, but that seemed childish and petty.
“Go ahead and get the shower going,” Seong told him, his lips near Thomas’s ear.
“I’ll get you a change of clothes,” Danny added, at least not trying to get between Seong and Thomas or trying to touch Thomas.
Thomas nodded silently, his head still down and deep inside of the hood he had pulled up before they had gotten out of the van. He kicked his shoes off next to the vanity and walked into the bathroom, closing the door silently behind him.
Seong and Danny didn’t look at each other until they heard the shower switch on. Danny’s eyes hardened as he met Seong’s eyes.
“Why are you here?” he whispered harshly, walking over to the closet and pulling out a duffle bag.
“Because I come when Thomas calls,” Seong shot back at him. “And I always will.” Liar.
Danny glared at him. “I would have gone-”
Seong chuckled softly. “And done what? Gotten yourself hurt or worse? What could you have done, Danny? Besides being frozen at knife point, again.”
The young man flinched and Seong could find it in him to feel bad about the low blow. “That’s not fa-”
“What about this world is fair, Danny,” Seong growled at him. “What is fair about what has happened here? You seem to think that I am the enemy here.”
“You are the enemy,” Danny snapped loudly. He sucked in air suddenly, his eyes darting towards the bedroom then bathroom doors.
