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Thomas swallowed, looking down at Seong and not surprised that his feet had taken him to stand directly in front of the man.
Seong was looking up at him. His face exhausted but full of patience, patience to wait for as long as Thomas needed.
There were quite a few things Thomas wanted to do. Most of them involved crawling into Seong’s lap, to make Seong hold him again like he had in front of the warehouse. Some ended there, some went further. Some were as innocent as dragging the man down to the bed so they could both get the sleep they desperately needed. Some had the same dragging to start but no sleep. He pushed those ones away, guilt eating at his chest as he noticed a red band on Seong’s wrist. “You have my watch,” he murmured, pointing at it.
Seong looked down, for a second as surprised to see the watch as Thomas was. Then he let out a short laugh. “I do,” he said, pulling it off his wrist. “I- I was handed it before it could get… sticky.”
Thomas took the watch in his fingers, turning it in his hand. “You used my app.”
“We did,” he agreed. “That buddy system feature you added was extremely useful to know when to move to the next part of things.” He looked up at Thomas. “You are one hell of a software engineer, Thomas O’Malley. Companies are going to be chomping at the bit to get their hands on your skills.”
Thomas felt himself smile as he put the watch in his pocket instead of on his wrist. “You always say things like that,” he pointed out, making himself sit next to Seong instead of on him.
“That would be because unlike some of my associates, I swore off blatantly lying to people over the last five years,” Seong said, his hand resting next to Thomas on the bed without touching him. “So I tell the truth most of the time even if I’m not honest.”
Thomas heard himself laugh. “There’s one way of putting it,” he said, his head resting on Seong’s shoulder. Under his ear, he felt Seong tense briefly then relax, his head leaning against Thomas’s silently. Thomas closed his eyes, listening to Seong’s breathing slow, catching the sounds of the TV on in the other room. I should ask where Danny went, he thought, already dreading the answer. “Where’s… um…”
“Danny stepped out into the living room,” Seong said softly, something in his voice that Thomas was too tired to figure out. “I can go get him if you-”
“No,” Thomas said, turning his face into Seong’s shoulder as the pain threatened to overwhelm him again. “Don’t do that. I don’t want to talk to him.”
Seong’s hand wrapped around the back of his neck, warm, comforting. “You two had a fight…”
Thomas whimpered softly. “I don’t know if you can call it a fight when the other person-” His voice broke and he shifted closer to Seong. “He got angry at me for how I handled Peacock and Paradox,” he breathed. “He wouldn’t look at me and when he did, he accused me of guessing and risking his future. He tried to shove me and I-” he swallowed. “I just refused to engage with him. I don’t want to even look at him. All I can see is that hate.” He sighed, feeling himself relax into Seong as those fingers brushed through his damp hair. “All I can see,” he murmured, “is someone who doesn’t know what I risked for his future. Who won’t ever know how very fucked up I actually am. Who won’t be there when I need him.”
Seong gathered Thomas into his chest gently. “I’m so sorry, Thomas,” he murmured, his lips pressing against Thomas’s temple, his hand on his cheek. “You didn’t deserve that. You don’t have to do anything. We’ll be leaving the island soon. If you still want to go home-”
“I do,” Thomas said immediately. “I didn’t want to come here in the first place. I was just fine going to a lake house instead of the ocean.” He felt his stomach lurch as he finally admitted it. Anger filled where the aching had been as he remembered all the talks between the four of them, how Danny dominated the conversations and pushed for “an island paradise” instead of the lake. The irrational urge to blame Danny for all of this tried to claw up his throat and he twisted his face into Seong’s hand, inhaling the gentle spice of gochujang and ginger. “Were you making kimchi?”
“Jeon,” he said quietly. “We were making a bunch of them when you called. That was why I didn’t pick up right away. I was cutting vegetables.”
“Have I had jeon before,” Thomas asked, frowning as he tried to put an image to the dish.
“There was baechujeon that first breakfast I made you,” he said, kissing Thomas’s temple again. “The cabbage pan fried with a batter?”
Thomas tried to remember, that meal felt so very long ago and yet like it was just that morning. “I can’t seem to remember that one.”
Seong chuckled, kissing him again. “That’s okay. I’ll make it for you again.”
“When we get home,” Thomas asked hopefully.
“I think I can arrange that,” Seong breathed, squeezing him tighter.
Leave or Stay
The local man seemed to have made quick friends with Kevin and Mark. That wasn’t very surprising to Thomas. Kevin and Mark could make friends with a pin cushion, particularly if they talk about sports.
They were sitting in the living room, watching a soccer game when Seong and Thomas finally stepped out, Seong carrying Thomas’s bag for him.
“Thomas,” Kevin said, standing up as his eyes darted from him to the bag, “what’s-”
“Everyone have a seat,” Felinus said, stepping in from the balcony. “We have a few things to go over and not a lot of time to do it in.”
Kevin glanced between Thomas and Felinus but slowly sat back down on the couch.
“Ten minutes,” Seong promised Thomas quietly, gently pressing him towards the chair.
Thomas sighed, sitting down and pulling his knees up to his chest, unable to care about his shoes being on the cushion. His eyes closed, not wanting to have to avoid Kevin’s and Mark’s worried looks.
