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Juho stared up at the flickering overhead light. He could imagine someone trying to pass secret messages through it in code.
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you too,” he murmured softly to the face that his mind had conjured in front of him, all soft cheeks, gentle smile, and understanding eyes, “You’ll wait for me, right?”
That was his biggest fear that some other man might replace him while he was locked away in this cage. Seven years was a long time for anybody. A lot could happen.
“Who are you talking to?”
Juho turned his head to glare at Jonggyu. Purple, green, and white spots danced in his vision, and he blinked them away. “None of your goddamned business,” he snarled.
“Geez, sorry,” Jonggyu raised his hands in surrender, “I was only asking. It’s not like none of the rest of us have wives or girlfriends on the outside. I was just curious, because you never have visitors.”
“Probably because his lover is a man,” Daesun said smugly.
A shock of alarm shot through Juho’s chest. How did he know? Had they been seen?
“Really?” Cheol looked at him with wide-eyed curiosity, “I’ve never known a real gay.”
“For fuck’s sake!” Juho sat up, “I’m not some attraction at a zoo. Anyway, I’m bi, if you have to know."
“I wish I was bi. You not only have all fish in the sea, but can go fishing in the ocean, lakes, rivers, or anywhere else there’s water.”
“God!” Juho groaned, “can we not talk about my sexuality?”
“I’ve got a new topic,” Daesun smirked, “I heard through the grapevine that the police finally decided to take a look at Crystal Sun, and we're getting some company soon. You wanna join the welcoming committee, Zuho?”
Juho’s pulse sped up a few beats too fast. Surely, he hadn’t figured it out. This had to be a coincidence. He maintained a calm exterior while trying to tamp down the anxiety that started to rise.
“Hell no,” he affected a disinterested tone, “I’m not risking a trip to solitary for the sake of beating up some pansy-assed gangbangers. They’re not worth the skin off my knuckles.”
Daesun studied him slowly before letting out a chuckle. “Classic,” he said finally, “I suppose it’s your talent in cost-benefit analysis that has gotten you as far as you have in the organization despite your… other flaws. Too bad it will never be enough to take you to the top.”
God, Juho wanted to throttle the man, but attacking one of their own would be unforgivable within the ranks of Dragon’s Gate, and that was a risk he’d never be able to take. He’d given too much of himself to the organization – his family, really. It was a brotherhood that had accepted him when he’d been nothing, no one. It was just his luck that he was stuck sharing a cell with his least favorite brother, the one who always seemed to have it out for him.
He opted to ignore the needling and lay back down to rest. He wasn’t going to risk anything to make the next six years of his sentence any worse than it had to be.
***
Juho looked up from his book as Jonggyu returned from his work detail. “You’re late,” he observed.
“Yeah,” Jonggyu agreed with a smile, “You missed the excitement. Daesun and some of the other guys from your gang tried to beat up the new inmate. He wiped the floor with them. Daesun has a broken nose, and Jonghoon was completely knocked unconscious and got himself a trip to the hospital. You’d think they’d know better than to mess with an actual mob boss.”
Juho’s breath caught in his throat. “This is the one from Crystal Sun?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what they said.”
Fuck.
A tsunami of conflicting emotions crashed into him. How on earth was he supposed to handle this development?
Despite the advance warning, Juho felt completely unprepared when Jaeyoon stepped into the prison yard after his stint in solitary confinement. It must have been the nearly a year of separation doing a number on him, because suddenly Jaeyoon was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen in his life. He couldn’t understand how any of the other inmates weren’t staring in awe. Sure, there were a few curious glances at the man who had taken down four Dragon’s Gate members, but the gazes didn’t hold nearly the reverence he deserved.
Jaeyoon’s eyes flicked across the yard, finally landing on Juho. The smallest hint of a smile graced his face before his eyes moved on, ignoring his presence the entire rest of their time outside.
If it had been hard being away from his lover before, it was torture now. To have him so close yet have to feign disinterest or even antagonism towards him, it was unspeakably onerous. His stomach flipped like a schoolgirl with a crush every time he remembered that Lee Jaeyoon was trapped within these walls with him.
Jaeyoon’s efforts did not go unnoticed by Juho. He struck up conversations with every person outside of Dragon’s Gate that Juho talked to and found countless ways to pass close enough to brush hands oh so briefly. It was a comfort to see evidence that Jaeyoon had not forsaken him. He ached for the chance to be alone with him, away from the prying eyes of his brothers.
He finally got that chance a couple weeks in, when he noticed that Jaeyoon was lingering under the cold shower, long after the warm water had been turned off and everyone else was deserting the shower room. He took his time getting dressed, pretending to be looking for something missing, whenever someone looked his direction. When everyone had left, he made his move.
“My Yoonie,” he pressed a kiss to Jaeyoon’s shoulder and reached around him to turn off the water.
Slowly, Jaeyoon placed a trembling hand over Juho’s where it rested on the shower valve, tracing his fingers before finally interlacing them and turning to face him.
“Juongie.” Jaeyoon shivered in the cold air, and Juho wrapped a towel around him and pulled him into an embrace.
“What happened? Why are you here?” he reveled in their closeness, even as he felt Jaeyoon’s heart beating through his chest against his own.
“I’m here to take you home.” Jaeyoon took his face in his hands and stared searchingly into his eyes, “God, I’ve missed you.”
It was very nearly the hardest thing Juho had ever done to pull away from that kiss, but he needed clarification.
“Home?”
Jaeyoon grinned, “I’m gonna break you out of this place.”
“W-what? How?” he stammered.
“Don’t worry about it, baby. I’ll take care of everything.”
Panic started to rise in Juho’s chest as his mind began calculating all of the possible outcomes, each one worse than the other.
“Why? It’s too much of a risk. I’m doing fine. I can handle six more years of this.”
“Of course, you can,” Jaeyoon agreed, “but I can’t. And when I think about how things would go back to normal after you’re out… I don’t want that. I want something different, away from the chaos of the streets, far from the judgmental eyes of our families. I don’t want to hide you anymore, my dragon.” He trailed a finger down Juho’s arm, following the winding tail of the dragon tattoo.
“But what if it doesn’t work? They’d extend our sentences, probably separate us too,” Juho felt that he’d probably die if he lost Jaeyoon again. “How long is your sentence anyway?”
“Five.”
Juho’s eye widened, “What? How?”
“I have connections.”
“What kind of connection gets a mob boss only five years in prison?”
“My prosecutor and I, we go way back.”
Juho stared in amazement. This was what it took to become the leader of a massive criminal organization – fostering relationships and manipulating people in strategic positions of power to achieve their own goals.
Fuck, that was hot.
He surged forward, pinning Jaeyoon against the wall with his own body, ravishing his mouth in a punishing kiss.
Jaeyoon gave back as good as he got, their built-up tension exploding into a messy clashing of tongues and teeth until finally settling into a familiar rhythm. Jaeyoon’s fingers curled around the nape of Juho’s neck trying to draw him nearer, but they were already as close as was physically possible, their increasing heart beats palpable between them. Juho melted into the overwhelming sensations. This was home. Him and Jaeyoon together.
When they finally parted and had each regained control of their breathing, Jaeyoon pressed his forehead against Juho’s and whispered in serious and measured tone, “I need to know who I can use to go between us. We can’t rely on being able to meet like this whenever I need to talk to you.
Juho understood completely. He had already given it some thought, when he realized what Jaeyoon was doing, making connections with men he was friendly with.
“Jonggyu,” he said with conviction, “he’s my cell mate and is on your work detail. He’s a good egg, just fell in with the wrong crowd.”
Jaeyoon chuckled, “We’re the wrong crowd, Juho.”
“I mean, I guess you’re right, but you know what I’m talking about. He’s not the kind to take advantage of his friends, like Daesun. Watch out for him. I don’t trust him one bit.”
“Gotcha,” Jaeyoon pressed one last kiss to Juho’s jaw and pulled away reluctantly, “and stop worrying. Hyung has everything under control.”
Juho believed him.
He knew the odds of success were not in their favor, but Jaeyoon was so confident, so in charge, that his heart rebelled against all rational thought.
He watched with interest from a distance as Jaeyoon networked strategically over the subsequent weeks, collecting his own group of friends.
Daesun was none too pleased that Jonggyu was “fraternizing with the enemy.”
“He’s not my enemy,” Jonggyu corrected, “I’ve got nothing to do with you and your little street rivalry.”
Jaeyoon’s first note finally arrived with a questioning gaze. “Do you know him from the outside?” Jonggyu asked curiously, “I’ve never seen you talk to him.”
Juho could barely suppress his amusement, as he read the extraordinarily explicit love letter, clearly meant as a test and deterrent against snooping.
“Remember when you asked if I had a significant other? Jaeyoon is the most significant person in my life.”
“Oh!” Jonggyu regarded him with surprise and interest, “I guess that explains why you’ve been acting so different recently.”
“Different?” Was it that obvious that something changed when Jaeyoon entered the picture? What if Dragon’s Gate got wind of it?
“Yeah, you’re a lot softer than you have been. You scared the living daylights out of me, when we first met, remember?”
Shit.
“You don’t think Daesun knows, do you?”
“Oh, I think we’d know if he knew.”
As much as Juho believed that to be true, he couldn’t help but feel that the air was different around certain brothers than it had been. He couldn’t tell if he was simply paranoid and that it was his own fear of discovery that was driving the feeling, or if there was something there. Jaeyoon’s correspondence was full of questions about how Dragon’s Gate operated, hierarchy of the members in the prison, and personal information about them. If anyone intercepted those notes, they’d likely think that some sort of espionage was going on. Juho didn’t know how it all connected into the escape plan, but he trusted that Jaeyoon knew what he was doing.
Juho was sure as hell glad that he was on Jaeyoon’s team. He’d had no idea what the man was capable of until the day he returned to discover that Jaeyoon had managed to smuggle a knife into his cell.
A note in Jaeyoon's handwriting, carrying an ominous warning to watch his back, was wrapped around the familiar shape. Familiar, because it was Juho's own favorite knife that was practically an extension of himself. He hadn't seen it since his arrest.
He didn’t have to wait too long for an explanation, because the following day he got pulled from his work detail to help Jaeyoon carry broken equipment to the repair shop.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked, as soon as they were reasonably out of earshot of any other people, “Why would you take that kind of risk?”
“I needed to be sure you had what you needed to protect yourself,” Jaeyoon answered, “You were right about Daesun. He’s collecting support among your members and views you as his chief rival.”
“But why would he…?”
Jaeyoon shot him a quizzical look, “You really don’t know? How do you think I was able to get my hands on your personal… property?”
“Gosh, I don’t know. Magic?” Juho replied sarcastically.
Jaeyoon stopped and studied him intently. “You don’t have to give this up,” he said quietly, “I’ll support you either way, but you should know that you have options.”
“What do you mean?” The seriousness of the tone gave Juho pause.
“I mean, if you stayed, served your sentence, and got out in one piece, you have a really good shot at earning your place at the top. You have some powerful people willing to help you get there. But, if we go through with my original plan, there’s no going back. All your bridges will be burned.”
“Well shit.”
“I… I just wanted you to know what you could be sacrificing to be with me.”
Juho had never seen Jaeyoon look so vulnerable, so unsure, as he waited for an answer.
“Oh God, Yoonie! Do you really think I care about that? And what about you? Aren’t you giving up more?”
“But you’re worth it.”
“And you aren’t?” Juho’s heart ached at the implication. “Sure, I’m scared, but I would do anything to be with you. I’ve known this for a long time.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course, hyung.” If Juho had ever questioned Jaeyoon’s ability to break him out of prison, he was way past that point. After everything he had seen, he could no longer doubt that the man was able to do anything he set his mind to.
“Hang on then just a little longer, then. We’re almost to the point of no return.”
“You aren’t going to tell me the plan?”
“It’s safer that you don’t know.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Of course, I do. I just want to make sure you can plead enough ignorance, just in case.”
Juho’s stomach flipped at the first expression of doubt by Jaeyoon that the plan might not work. He reached out and squeezed his hand reassuringly.
“When we get out of here, let’s go somewhere where we can see the stars at night,” Juho said softly, “I miss being able to go to the countryside and look at the constellations. You can’t see the stars from Nambu prison.”
“Anything for you, baby,” the softness of Jaeyoon’s expression matched his tone, “I promise, we will be watching the Perseids come August.”
***
“Inspection!”
Juho’s heart pounded in fear as he scrambled to his feet and the guards entered his cell. A glance at Daesun’s smug expression and his heart sank. They knew. Daesun must have found it and ratted him out. The way the guards started with his belongings confirmed it.
“Inmate 7496, is this yours?”
The knife dangled between the guard’s fingers. There was no denying it, not when his name was engraved on the fucking handle. Had Jaeyoon seriously not considered that problem?
“Where did you get this? How did you get it in here?”
Juho gritted his teeth, wincing at the raised voices. Nothing he could say would satisfy them. Even if he betrayed Jaeyoon and told the truth, there was no way they would believe him.
He dropped his gaze, unable to bear the gloating from Daesun, as one of the guards handcuffed him and dragged him out the door.
Now what.
Juho slid down the wall in his new cell. So much for Jaeyoon’s escape plan. There was no way he’d be let out of solitary any time soon, and he’d clearly had a timetable he was working on.
I’m sorry, Yoonie. I screwed it up.
How long would he be stuck here? A month? Two? The rest of his sentence? Would his sentence be extended? He felt sick. Of course, Daesun would snoop through his things. Why wouldn’t he, when he was apparently trying to remove him as a rival. He should have anticipated that. He tried to consider what he could have done differently to prevent this outcome, but his mind was useless, only able to think of Jaeyoon’s disappointment. If they weren’t able to escape, that would mean Jaeyoon would be stuck serving his full sentence.
Fuck.
The days dragged so much slower than Juho had ever imagined possible with nothing to do but eat, sleep, and think. There was only so long that he could extend mealtime, even if he only ate one grain of rice at a time, and his thoughts were too miserable to dwell on, so he spent most of the time sleeping or trying to sleep.
On the fifth day the door to his cell clicked open.
“Inmate 7496, you’re being transferred.”
Juho shook off the sleepiness, as he tried to process the words. He hadn’t considered that outcome. He got to his feet slowly.
“Hurry up. We haven’t got all day,” the guard snapped.
There was something about that voice. He looked up to see Jaeyoon in the doorway, wearing a guard’s uniform and holding a pair of handcuffs.
“Damn,” Juho breathed.
Jaeyoon grinned, “Come on, babe. Let’s get out of here, while everyone is busy.”
“Busy?” Juho felt dizzy from the sudden turn of circumstances, as he let Jaeyoon snap the handcuffs on him.
“Yeah, we’re missing the great Dragon’s Gate civil war of Nambu prison. Too bad, really, I would have liked to take out a few of them myself, but I’ll settle with you.”
“So, this was all part of your plan? The isolation cell and everything?”
“Shhh, wait ‘till we’re out. Just stay quiet and follow my lead.” Jaeyoon escorted him down nearly empty hallways, buzzing through locked doors, as if he belonged there. When they reached the front desk, he passed over a sheet of paper to the secretary.
“Transfer,” he said shortly, turning away and leaning against the counter casually.
The lady looked over the form and at Juho. She stamped the form.
“Hang on, let me make a copy for you,” she left and returned with a copy of the transfer and the bag of Juho’s belongings, which she handed over to Jaeyoon. “Sounds like you’re missing all the excitement,” she remarked.
“Yeah, lucky me,” he smiled, “Thank you,” and he led Juho straight out the front doors of the prison into a waiting van.
“I can’t believe you pulled it off,” the driver said, “I thought for sure you’d rot in there.”
Jaeyoon laughed, “Juho, meet our resident optimist. Hwiyoung, let’s get out of here, before they realize we’re missing.”
He unlocked Juho’s cuffs, and they changed into fresh sets of clothes in the backseat while Hwiyoung drove them to an apartment, where Jaeyoon said they would hide out for a while until the manhunt calmed down enough for them to leave the city.
The apartment was well stocked with everything they’d need, so that leaving would be unnecessary, not that Juho would have wanted to step out of their new sanctuary, now that he got a taste of domesticity with Jaeyoon. Hell, the first week, they barely left the bedroom, finally having the luxury to spend exploring each other in ways they had never had time for in past encounters.
“If we had to stay right here forever, I wouldn’t mind one bit,” Juho mused out loud.
“What about your stars?” Jaeyoon reminded him, “I thought you wanted to move to the countryside to see them.”
“You’re the only star I need,” Juho gently pushed him down into the mattress and pressed a constellation of kisses onto his neck and chest, “The brightest star. My sun.”
“But I promised you the Perseids.”
“Fuck the Perseids,” Juho growled, annoyed that Jaeyoon wouldn't let up on the topic.
“Well, I’m not spending my birthday cooped up in this tiny apartment,” Jaeyoon pouted. “You can stay here, if you'd like, but I'm going to Europe. I've got a wedding to attend.”
“Why would you go halfway around the world just for a wedding at a time like this? That's way too much of a risk.”
“Oh,” Jaeyoon sighed, “that’s disappointing.” He pushed Juho off of him and reached into the drawer in his nightstand. “I was hoping you'd come with me, but I suppose I can just return these.” He held out two rings, onyx and diamonds studded into matching platinum bands.
Juho stared at him, at the rings, trying to process the situation.
“What are you trying to say?” he said slowly.
“I want to know, Baek Juho, will you marry me?”
It was the easiest decision Juho had ever made.
*** Epilogue ***
The sand was still warm under foot, despite the time of night, having soaked up the heat of the August sun all day long. Juho wiggled his toes into the sand, enjoying the sensation, as he waited on the bartender. He glanced back at where Jaeyoon lay stretched out on a blanket under a palm tree, face directed to the heavens. The full moon illuminated the sky nearly as much as the sun had, making it possible to pick up on his husband’s contemplative expression.
My husband.
He didn’t know how long the honeymoon period was supposed to last, but it had already been several months, and he still thrilled at that title. They weren’t exactly on vacation anymore. Jaeyoon could only handle so much of retirement before he contacted Taeyang and offered to oversee Crystal Sun’s international holdings, letting the new boss focus on more pressing domestic issues. So, after their wedding in Malta, it had been off to one place after another, checking on a club here, casino there, restaurants, hotels… Juho had had no idea just how extensive of a reach the organization had. Jaeyoon insisted that it was all for the purpose of laundering their money, but Juho recognized the level of care and attention he gave to the various businesses and their employees as something more.
They had decided to park here at this resort a little longer than typical, after celebrating Jaeyoon’s birthday, to get a good view of the Perseid showers, far from the lights and pollution of cities. Juho found it endearing, Jaeyoon’s dedication to keeping this promise. It may not matter to him, but it was clearly something Jaeyoon cared about, delivering on a commitment made when the future was uncertain.
The bartender set the drinks on the counter. Juho thanked him and headed back to the beach. A sheepish grin spread across Jaeyoon’s face as he stood up to greet him under the palm tree. He slipped an arm around Juho’s waist and kissed him.
“So, I fucked up,” Jaeyoon announced, taking his drink from Juho’s hand.
Juho quirked an eyebrow, “I didn’t know that was possible.” They settled back down on the blanket. Juho pulled his husband close and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. “You’re perfect,” he murmured.
“I didn’t check the moon phases. We won’t see any meteors with the moon this bright.”
“Hmm,” Juho sighed contentedly, “S’okay. There’s always next year, and the year after that. We’ve got the rest of our lives to see them.”
“I guess you're right,” Jaeyoon paused stroking his hair to press a kiss to Juho’s temple. “You're my everything. I'm never letting you go.”