Chapter Text
There was something about Yoon Jeonghan that demanded to be indulged.
Something in the way his body trembled with excitement when he got what he wanted. Something in the high pitched laughter he let out when he was delighted, head thrown back and pretty, little mouth wide and grinning. Something in the way he looked at you, eyes full of adoration, like you were his whole world.
And Seungcheol, sweet, loyal, dutiful Seungcheol, had gone to great lengths to make sure that Jeonghan was indulged.
Looking at him now, through centimetres of soundproof glass, Seungcheol still can't bring himself to regret any part of it. Even if it means rotting away in prison for the better part of his life.
There’s no anger, anymore. Only a simmering resentment that he’d been so easy to fool in the first place.
Choi Seungcheol is a lot of things, but no one has ever had grounds to call him stupid. Yet, somehow, Jeonghan had managed to wrap him around his little finger. He'd climbed the ranks from a petty drug dealer and occasional rentboy to Seungcheol's most trusted confidant, amassed a fortune in money and assets Seungcheol had willingly showered him with, and then one day Seungcheol's empire had fallen apart and Yoon Jeonghan was the only one that had managed to escape unscathed.
He supposes that’s why he’s here, now, two years into Seungcheol’s 25-year prison sentence, to rub his victory in his face.
Seungcheol's eyes rest on the hand the C.O. has on Jeonghan's back as he explains how visitation works. Jeonghan's eyes are wide and deceptively innocent, but the C.O. eats it up, his ageing eyes carrying the indulgent softness Jeonghan brings out in men that find him precious.
He supposes he used to look at Jeonghan that way. Supposes he still does.
He rests his cuffed hands on the worn table in front of him and waits impatiently for Jeonghan to finish playing with the guard, and snorts in amusement when the C.O. finally walks away, all the way out the door until Jeonghan is the only one on the other side of the glass.
Seungcheol raises his hands and unhooks the phone from where it hangs on the wall by the glass, bringing it to his ears. On the other side, Jeonghan does the same.
"Long time no see, angel." His throat feels scratchy and raw as he speaks, sore from lack of use. He hasn't been talking much over the past couple of years."Glad to see you're still you, even after all the bullshit."
He'd intended for it to come out mocking, a jab at Jeonghan's relentless manipulation, but it just sounds relieved. Jeonghan's eyes instantly well up with tears, lower lip trembling as he starts letting out choked sobs.
Seungcheol has to stop himself from jerking forward, hands still aching to reach out and dry his tears, crocodile or not.
Funny how two years of moving on can be undone with just a few pretend sobs. Or, Seungcheol muses, perhaps it’s more pathetic than funny.
The door to Seungcheol's side of the visitation room opens, a C.O. popping his head in and saying something Seungcheol can't pick up on with Jeonghan sobbing in his ear. He overhears the guard behind him sigh and sees him walk toward the door through the corner of his eye.
Jeonghan's tears dry up the same instant the door closes behind the two guards, leaving them completely alone.
"I missed you, Cheollie." Jeonghan says, no trace of sadness in his voice, leaning forward toward the dirty glass separating them, eyes roaming greedily over every inch of Seungcheol he can see."Prison treating you well?"
"Well enough," he decides to humour him. He tells himself it's only for old time's sake."Would've been better with you here to keep me company, though."
Jeonghan hums, resting his chin in one of his palms.
"Orange isn't really my colour."
"We both know you look good in anything" His tone is deadpan, but that doesn't make the statement any less true.
"Ah, Cheollie," Jeonghan sighs wistfully."Always know just what to say to make my heart flutter."
"That why you finally decided to visit? Missed my sweet talking, Hani?"
Jeonghan ignores his question, gaze now trained on the metal cuffs around his wrists, eyes following the long chain coming off the cuffs and leading down under the table where it circles his waist.”Are those really necessary?”
He looks down at the cuffs, flexes his forearms a bit to hear the metal circling his wrists jingle. He looks up at Jeonghan again, shrugs.”It’s protocol.”
Jeonghan wrinkles his nose and Seungcheol has to stop himself from smiling.
“They don’t hurt, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He smirks, and he prides himself on it only being slightly forced.”I’m considered too dangerous to walk around freely.”
This draws an actual laugh out of the other man, and Seungcheol revels in the sound, despite the mocking tone it carries. There’s not a tonne of laughter in high security prisons, and Jeonghan’s laugh has always been his favourite, so Seungcheol will take what he can get.
“You? Dangerous?”
“What’s with the tone?” He leans back in his chair, reclines as much as the chains restricting him will allow.”I was an important member of a notorious crime empire, after all.”
"Don't flatter yourself, it was your father's empire." Jeonghan scoffs, clearly unimpressed by Seungcheol’s attempt at bragging."You were just an underling, we both know that. Nothing more than a mildly useful drug trafficker."
He is right, of course. Seungcheol might have been the son of the head of a crime syndicate, but that hardly granted him many advantages. His father had never granted him anything he didn’t think he’d earned. Jeonghan was supposed to be his way of proving himself, a last ditch attempt at earning his father’s approval. He’d prove he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty and send the message that you didn’t steal from Choi Seungcheol and get away with it. Turns out Jeonghan would get away with stealing more than a few grand worth of drugs.
Seungcheol lets his eyes roam over Jeonghan’s figure once more. Not much has changed, he’s a little skinnier, and his hair is shorter, but while Seungcheol feels like he’s aged a decade, Jeonghan is still angel-faced and pretty.
“Why are you here, Jeonghan?” It comes out as a sigh, two years worth of questions culminating in one, tired breath.
Jeonghan's face goes blank. His eyes empty and unfocused for a few long, painful seconds, before he refocuses back on Seungcheol. There is a sadness there, now, a vulnerability Seungcheol wasn’t expecting.
"You always took such good care of me." He says, his voice small.
The rational part of Seungcheol is screaming at him that this is an act, that Jeonghan is doing the same thing he did all those years ago, playing him for the fool they both know he is. It’s a losing battle, of course. Seungcheol had always belonged to Jeonghan. Ever since the first time he saw him, bruised, bloodied and bound up on Jihoon’s basement floor, Yoon Jeonghan had had him wrapped around his little finger.
“You in trouble, angel?”
He sighs, the exhaustion Seungcheol feels now mirrored in the other man.
“No more than usual,” his eyes meet Seungcheol’s, guarded once more.”Jihoonie’s been helping me out.”
When he hears the name fall from Jeonghan’s lips he wants to laugh. He’d long suspected Jeonghan had managed to recruit people into his little takeover, he’d just never thought his best friend had been one of them.
“Just when I think you can’t surprise me further.” He leans forward again, resting his elbows in front of him.”Was he the one who killed my father?”
Jeonghan snorts, shrugs his shoulders and gives a playful grin. It’s all the confirmation Seungcheol needs. He thinks, briefly, that he should feel hurt, but his heart doesn’t drop, his eyes don’t water and his stomach doesn’t knot itself in discomfort. He gives a half smile, he’s mostly proud of them. His father had been an asshole, anyway.
They spend the next few minutes in silence, content to just listen to each other breathing. Seungcheol makes sure to refresh his mental image of the man opposite him, committing every new detail of him to memory. He wonders if Jeonghan does the same with him.
Seungcheol’s not sure how much time they spend in silence, but eventually he sees the door on the other side of the glass open, the C.O. from before stepping back inside.
Jeonghan’s demeanor changes the same moment he hears the door open, the transformation catching Seungcheol off guard. His eyes lose their sharpness, going round and glassy, his eyebrows become upturned and his mouth gets pulled into a lovely little pout.
When he turns around the guard’s gaze softens and Seungcheol almost rolls his eyes. To think he’d ever bought Jeonghan’s act.
The C.O. says something and Jeonghan turns back to him, looking displeased.
“I guess this is goodbye, then.” Seungcheol’s tone is bitter, but he realises he doesn’t mind the candidness. It feels final. Jeonghan had showed him his true colours, and while Seungcheol had gone into this thinking he’d been here to gloat, he now wonders if this was a final farewell.
Jeonghan doesn’t say anything, only leans forward all the way until his face is up against the glass. His eyes are closed and Seungcheol watches, transfixed, as his pink, petal lips press up against the yellowed surface. Seungcheol raises a hand to the glass and lets his fingers rest over where Jeonghan’s lips are. His heart clenches in his chest.
They only stay that way for a few seconds, Jeonghan eventually leaning back in his chair again, eyes open and locked with Seungcheol.
"Goodbye." He breathes quietly into the receiver before putting it back in its place on the side of the booth.
As Seungcheol watches Jeonghan scoot his chair back and stand up an intense panic overcomes him. His body grows cold, desperation clawing its way up his throat.
"Jeonghan!" He shouts into the receiver."Hani, wait!"
He lets the receiver fall from his hands and stands up, banging on the window as well as he can with his hands cuffed.
He only gets a few punches in before a C.O. is in the room, trying to pull him back from the window. Seungcheol manages to shove the guard off of him, paying the fallen man no mind as he returns to the yellowed window.
Jeonghan can’t leave him. Not again. Seungcheol can’t let him leave again.
He watches the C.O. on the other side put his hand on Jeonghan's back as he leads him to the door, his punches becoming more forceful and his voice turning hoarse as he keeps shouting his name.
The door opens behind him and Seungcheol can hear the stomping of more guards rushing in. Someone grabs at him and starts pulling him back, but his focus is on Jeonghan.
He’s standing by the door, ready to walk right out of Seungcheol’s life forever, when he turns around.
Their eyes meet.
Jeonghan smiles. It’s faint, nothing more than a gentle twitch of his lips, but his eyes hold a promise.
The fight leaves Seungcheol. His body goes limp and the guards have him subdued within seconds, wide smile on his face.
Later, as he’s escorted to solitary for resisting the C.O.s, the guard he’d shoved to the ground gives him a nasty black eye and a busted lip, but it hardly affects his mood.
It hadn’t been a goodbye, after all.