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It wasn't uncommon for them to sit silently on the sofa most nights. They were comfortable with each other, not much to talk about past the ten year mark, and they'd crossed that over a decade ago, so silently sitting and watching the latest blockbuster to come to streaming TV wasn't outside of a Thursday night...or a Friday, Saturday, Sunday-
“JungJae...” Turning his gaze, almost reluctantly, from the onscreen image, Lee JungJae regarded his de facto husband in the low watt living room lighting, not uttering to show he'd heard him but hardly having to after this amount of time, “...I know what you've been doing.” How rightly apt that it was a horror movie they had been watching, a psychological thriller that was yet to manage such a stop on his heart as this, Jung WooSung couldn't have caught him more off guard if he'd tried.
“...W-what?” He wanted to sound casual about it, hoping to bluff his way out but it seemed as though he had no hands to play with.
“I know where you were last night,” His heart began to thump like a jackrabbit's, a dry feeling in his throat as WooSung failed still to turn from the television screen, a near casual smile on his lips if what he were saying wasn't so unnerving, “I know who you were doing too.” It was almost crude, in a way, to refer to it as such, but it wasn't like JungJae was in any condition to bring this point up. If he'd had words to attempt a verbal escape, he'd suddenly run out of them.
“...W-WooSung...I-”
“I think we should talk about this.” The anxiety inducing soundtrack now felt like it had been scored just for this moment, WooSung waiting to strike and JungJae helpless to sit in wait for the attack. The thought of running had crossed his mind, his fight or flight response in overdrive the moment the words had first passed his life partner's heart-shaped lips but it was obvious WooSung would already be anticipating such an escape. He'd already figured out everything else thus far, it was no stretch that his nonchalant arm positioning was also a part of the plan. If he was foolish, he'd be caught in a second by his boyfriend's vice grip, if he gave in too quickly he might lose what little hope he had of making it through this alive, “Will you talk about this, JungJae?” Now that he had turned to meet his gaze JungJae felt he could no longer look away, trapped by the darkened eyes, stuck in a game of cat and mouse with no other recourse but to let himself be hunted down.
“...I-I-”
“Uh uh,” His wrist was now being grasped but the hold was weak, soft almost, “Not here...” If he attempted to throw him off guard his actions alone were enough, JungJae glancing down as if the spell of WooSung's stare had been temporarily reprieved, to note this contact between them. The only happening returning his look to that of his husband's being the next words spoken, his tone now low and sultry, “...in the bedroom.” The paralysis of his throat was back. No thoughts coming to mind let alone an argument, if JungJae indeed had any to give, as he was led towards their shared quarters, “We've got a lot to talk about, JungJae.” WooSung's soft voice was honey, the private tone less commonly shared dripping from JungJae's sizeable ears as his mind went blank and his body willing, “...I think we could even talk all night, just like we used to...” As they reached the darkened doorway the gap between them closed, their bodies closer than they'd been in months before WooSung asked a question that begged no answers, “...are you up for that?” For his prior fear from discovery, JungJae's acceptance of his partner's lips against his neck wasn't even tremulous, only the groan that escaped his throat bore the mark of his internal twisting and, as his eyes fell closed from the action, he felt the lust of sex take over.
“Mh...JungJae...” He'd sat up so suddenly as to have woken the man sleeping across from him in the bed, even across that vast gap he had managed to rock the boat enough to stir WooSung from his peaceful slumber, “...what is it...?” The annoyance in his tired voice was hard to miss, particularly since he wasn't in any way attempting to mask or cover it. His husband so tested his patience on a regular day, it wasn't unfathomable that he couldn't allow him to sleep through the night either.
“I...I-I had a nightmare.” WooSung scoffed as his head settled further back into his hard pillow, JungJae's own as soft as his head if he thought he was going to indulge a more than grown man over a simple night time disturbance.
“Well then don't watch those scary movies before bed.” The rustling of the covers was enough to further irate him. JungJae's inability to understand when he was pushing too hard had taken a toll on their domesticity the past few years and that was something WooSung would prefer to ignore.
“It wasn't like that.” His hopes for at least a half continued night of rest were seemingly crumbling before his tightly squeezed eyes, JungJae unable to comprehend his position as he turned from his own, now seated, and put a proportionately large hand against his arm, “Can I tell you about it?...it was about us.”
The emphasis was enough to startle whatever lingering hopes of sleep WooSung's body had left into leaving him all at once, his eyes opening again as he felt a pit beginning to form inside his reclined, well-toned stomach.
“...go on.”
“Well, I-...” Risking a glance upwards, he could see as the other man's fret was worn right on the surface of his handsome, youthful face, “...WooSung...I-I have a confession to make.” It wasn't as though he hadn't been expecting it, the pit growing up from his stomach and towards his chest in reverse response to how he was moving his body into an upright position, he wanted them to be on even ground when he heard this, “I...” His gaze was avoiding, ringlet of curled fringe falling just shy of his hooded eyes and a pensive expression laying across his shaped lips. The words seemed to come just after WooSung expected them, almost like an echo to his own fears as they reverberated in his head, “...I've been cheating.”
“...Oh.” The room went silent for the moment. JungJae's breathing seeming to be the only lingering sound as WooSung realized he was holding his own, on the verge of another response before he was stopped in his tracks by the shaky inhale.
“I-I can't believe what an ass I am...”
“JungJae?” His head turned quickly to the questioned word, tears sparkling in his eyes and regret showing in every visible line of his visage.
“You deserve better, WooSung, so much better.” The pit was yet to recede, but something in the delivery of his lover's words was keeping its growth at bay as they locked eyes for what felt like the first time in months, “I can't believe I did this to you, I want to beg for your forgiveness but I don't think I deserve it.” As a hand fell to his thigh atop the soft blanket covers, WooSung felt something stirring so different from how his sleep had been initially disturbed, “You're so good to me...you're too good for me...”
“...JungJae...” On the surface it felt wrong to accept his kiss, wrong to want him after what he'd admitted but inside, that same desire was beginning to peak.
“There'll never be anyone else again, I promise...” It wasn't as though he'd accepted the other man's apology yet but there just didn't seem time in order to protest, “you're all I need, WooSung...” Lips pressed together, hands where there hadn't been hands in so long it felt foreign. This was more than WooSung could disapprove of silently, more than he could attempt to rationalize in his weaker moments and detest when his thoughts took on a harsher tone. This was something he thought he and JungJae had forgotten, “...I love you.”
He never liked to wake abruptly, but it was both a blessing and a curse that JungJae could seemingly sleep through anything as WooSung practically threw him from his own body in order to sit from the sudden shock. What was the meaning of it, this dream-no , this nightmare ...They'd only slept together once and yet here he was, planning out not only a life, but one that involved infidelity and resent? It was a safe enough bet to think, as he slipped from under the covers wearing only his Umbro t-shirt and a pair of Nike socks to go into the next room and rewind the VHS tape they'd thoughtlessly left to run to its end in the machine, that this was the last time he would be watching a romantic drama before going to bed.