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—⚭⚯⚭— Yongguk wakes up to Jongup humping his leg.Alright, that’s not entirely accurate. Yongguk doesn’t wake up to Jongup humping his leg, because he was never asleep in the first place. Instead, he’s lying in the usual half-conscious daze he finds himself in when they’re out on jobs. In theory, he picks this over sleep because he wants to be prepared to get up and get ready at a moment’s notice. In practice, though, it’s because he gets too stressed to actually pass out.So he’s awake, which makes it really hard to ignore. It’s a fairly standard job, all things considered. It’s breeding season for the kyreshin in this particular region. There would be nothing atypical or otherwise noteworthy about this, but with the ever expanding creep of civilization, the creatures have a bad habit of popping up in the inhabited cities and towns nearby. Their bites tend to be deadly within a matter of minutes even with access to proper medical care. Add to that the fact that they’re more aggressive during mating season, and a good hospital takes at least an hour to get to, and you’ve got an issue.As the most qualified containment unit nearby, it’s naturally fallen on Yongguk and Jongup’s shoulders to make sure the snakes stay where they’re supposed to be, and everyone else stays out. At least for the next few days until people from the conservationist branch of the Bureau can be deployed.It’s a fairly simple series of spells. Yongguk doesn’t even have to be constantly channeling magic to keep the barriers active. As long as he and Jongup are close to each other, and close to the focal point of the spell, he can sort of passively keep everything in line. And, of course, as a side effect, that means the two of them are directly on site in case anything goes horribly wrong. With one of the nearby district groups on standby in case they need back up, and confirmed relief on their way, Yongguk is fairly certain this job will wrap up in the next day or so, and everything will be fine.The only downside, if Yongguk were pressed to pick one, is that he and Jongup are currently kind of roughing it for the handful of days they’ll be in the area. Obviously, the Bureau will shell out for a hotel if there’s one near enough to make it worth it, but this particular location is out in the middle of nowhere enough that the forty-five minute drive to the nearest hunter friendly lodgings wasn’t reasonable. With that off the table, they’ve been left with the tent. Which will never be as nice as an actual bed.But… it’s waterproof, right? They’ve got two sleeping bags. It’s not ideal, but it lets them be as close as they want to the barrier spells. Yongguk can figure it out.If he’s being honest, this isn’t all that bad. Sure, Yongguk’s back is going to hurt like a bitch for a couple of days after lying on the ground without a decent pillow, but he’s been through worse. Much worse. It hasn’t been particularly rainy lately, so they don’t have to deal with it being damp. And they’ve got enough supplies that it’s not nearly the ordeal it seems. Besides, Jongup has always enjoyed camping, so the fact that he’s in a good mood means that Yongguk is in a much better mood than he would be otherwise.As usually happens when they go out camping for a job, he and the felid are sharing a sleeping bag. It’s purely pragmatic, Yongguk would insist, if anyone bothered to ask him about it. They’re both small enough species that the two of them can comfortably cram themselves into one of the Bureau’s massive standard issue sleeping bags. If they share, they can use the second sleeping bag as extra cushioning. On the rare occasions where it gets cold out, cuddling up together helps preserve body heat. And even now, when it’s just shy of being uncomfortably warm, them being this close together means it’s easier for Yongguk to keep the flow of both of their magics constant enough to maintain the barrier spells.It’s just common sense, he would say.Sure, it’s a little cramped. Daehyun and Youngjae have repeatedly said that if they had to share a sleeping bag, or a bed for that matter, they’d kill each other. Meanwhile, Junhong on his own is so big that sharing with anyone else is just unreasonable. But for Yongguk and Jongup? It works.Yongguk has no reason to change anything if it works. So all things considered, it’s not particularly strange for Yongguk to be lying here, semi-awake in the sleeping bag while Jongup cuddles up against him and peacefully snoozes. The dry humping, however, that’s new.He isn’t even sure it’s happening at first. Jongup isn’t squirming around any more than usual, it’s just a subtle shift of his hips and a sleepy rumble in the back of his throat that almost doesn’t draw Yongguk’s attention in the first place. Yeah, Jongup sometimes moves around in his sleep; almost everyone does. It’s not weird. It starts being weird when Jongup unconsciously sinks his claws into the side of Yongguk’s ribcage before pressing his hips very firmly against Yongguk’s thigh. At which point it hits him that the felid is hard, and he instantly jolts wide awake.Outside their tent, the dense white noise of nighttime wildlife presses in on them. Loud enough that it’s able to drown out most other sounds. Yet somehow, even that isn’t nearly enough to mask the little whine that leaves Jongup’s nose as he pushes his face deeper into the side of Yongguk’s neck. It also isn’t enough to hide the slightly strangled exhale Yongguk lets out when Jongup gives a little roll of his hips, so innocent and yet so not at the same time.In fairness to him– as if he needs to justify himself– it’s really hard to ignore. Jongup is currently plastered against Yongguk’s side, one leg thrown over his lap and both arms wrapped around him; one under Yongguk’s head and the other slung across his chest. It’s the sort of position that already had the man all but grinding into Yongguk’s hip, which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be an issue.They’re partners, right? And over the past year and a half Yongguk has gotten comfortable with Jongup touching him. Even if it’s like this, cuddled up together in bed. It’s just that right now, it’s definitely an issue of some kind.For one of them. Possibly both of them. Yongguk’s not sure.It’s not even that much yet, but Jongup is definitely humping him in shallow little thrusts, hips drawing back half an inch before jerking forward once more. The tip of his dick keeps catching on the flap of one of Yongguk’s pockets. And that doesn’t help, because it apparently gives him enough stimulation that the next sound to leave his mouth is undoubtedly a moan. He’s just dreaming, Yongguk is easily able to reason, as he’s made intimately familiar with the exact size and shape of the felid’s dick as it rubs against his leg. He’s only twenty-two. It’s hormones. This is normal. He’ll wake up eventually. But you know, Jongup could stand to wake up soon, because in the meantime whatever dream he’s having is definitely having an effect on his body. And it’s not a subtle one. Even as they lay there, Yongguk can feel Jongup’s dick stiffen further, before he’s bucking his hips again, and letting out another breathy sound. It’s all very quiet, and it’s clearly not intentional, but it’s still happening. And he’s having trouble pretending like it isn’t.Because shit, he feels like he should be. Jongup is having a wet dream right next to him. That sort of thing is embarrassing at any age, and is supposed to be private. If Yongguk were asleep, maybe this would be a different story, but he’s not. Instead he’s thinking wow, felid dicks are shaped differently and what’s he dreaming about and maybe even void, when was the last time I jerked off? Maybe Yongguk should go ahead and wake the man up. Just a quick ‘hey, Jongup, you’re doing this’, to put a stop to things before it can get worse and hopefully prevent most of the inevitable awkwardness. That’s probably the polite way of going about this. The sensible thing to do, even. However mortifying it promises to be for both of them.But… The two of them have been awake for nearly twenty hours at this point. They’re probably going to be working for about the same amount of time tomorrow. Jongup only just got to sleep. It feels cruel to wake him up. Especially for a dream that’s probably going to end on its own anyway in a minute, making this nothing but an awkward joke Yongguk maybe tells the felid when they’re both fully conscious. Unfortunately for Yongguk, it keeps getting worse.Jongup’s dream must be absolutely amazing, because he’s clinging to Yongguk like his life depends on it. What was originally just a couple twitches of his hips is turning into genuine, full-blown dry humping. It’s uncoordinated and stilted and probably not very satisfying, but the felid is far too deep into dreamland to care about that. He’s just desperately following whatever signals his body is giving to him. Trying to chase more of that pleasure; trying to get off.   On my leg, Yongguk thinks faintly, like it needs reiterating. Like he should be thinking about it at all. Fuck, what am I supposed to do? Because the longer he lets it go on, the more nervous he starts to feel about the concept of Jongup waking up. Because void, the man is grinding against Yongguk’s thigh with purpose. Hard enough that it’s definitely giving him some kind of meaningful stimulation. Hard enough that Yongguk is practically incapable of thinking of anything else. He’s trying, he really is doing his best, but there’s only so much he can do. And then Jongup starts to make those sounds, and almost instantly, Yongguk is going rigid where he lies as all of that is now firmly imprinted into his brain.When he moans, the felid’s voice is low and rough with sleep in a way Yongguk wasn’t expecting. And the stutter in his breathing is far more desperate than he’s entirely able to handle and it’s right in his ear. Pressed up against his neck and jaw in a way that has him feeling every one of Jongup’s little exhales, and even has the man’s canines just barely grazing his skin when he twitches. It’s not something Yongguk’s ever heard before. Or imagined, for that matter. So this is an undeniable shock to the system that he wasn’t prepared to get.Jongup, meanwhile, is entirely oblivious to what he’s doing. He just keeps rolling his hips against Yongguk’s thigh, still so uncoordinated, but plenty to have him whimpering with every other breath and also enough to have Yongguk’s focus entirely narrowing in on just that sensation.Right now, the two of them are as stripped down out of their uniforms as they dare when they’re technically still on the field. They’ve taken off everything on top but their undershirts, but Yongguk’s left his cargo pants on, and Jongup has as well. That should be way too much material for either of them to feel anything, but in the dark of their tent, with only the white noise of the wildlife serving as a backing track, basically every one of Yongguk’s senses is currently trained on this. On what he’s feeling. On Jongup.Like this, he’s able to feel in clear and distinct detail the jerky drag of Jongup’s dick up up as his muscles tense and he rolls his hips forward, until he’s pressing his entire length against Yongguk’s thigh. And he’s also able to feel the much quicker drag down as everything unclenches once more, until Yongguk is only really aware of the tip of the man’s dick digging into him. And then the cycle repeats, all the while accompanied by Jongup’s labored, panting breaths. Wake up, Yongguk wills his partner, keeping his eyes shut tight and his lips pressed together as he waits for the felid to realize on his own what he’s doing and stop. Just wake up, I’ll pretend I’m asleep. I promise I won’t ever make us talk about it. And everything will be fine. Because if Yongguk is being honest, he’s never really seen his partner in a sexual light before. Oh sure, the felid and him are close. That’s almost inevitable with a soul bond like this. He knows practically everything about Jongup that there is to know. He has the man’s habits and tells and little unconscious mannerisms memorized to a point he could identify them in his sleep. They’re practically as close as it’s possible for two people to be. They’ve just… never done anything together. Beyond a couple of instances where one of them has walked in on the other jerking off, Yongguk doesn’t think he’s had reason to think of Jongup in the context of sex. Is that a silly thing to say considering he has a piece of the man’s soul in him? Maybe, but up until literally this moment he thought it was pretty reasonable.Now, though; now he’s being forced to reckon with all of that stuff very suddenly, because he can’t get away from it. If he tries to move now, he’s going to wake the man up. If he doesn’t wake Jongup up, he’s pretty sure the felid is going to get off on his thigh. And that’s a concept that has his brain doing a lot of things very fast that he’s not exactly prepared for at three am in the middle of a job when he’s pretty sure Jongup has no fucking clue what he’s doing. He’ll probably stop dreaming soon, Yongguk tells himself, almost desperately. Just give it another minute, and this will all be over before I–  Unexpectedly, Jongup shifts his leg up a little higher along Yongguk’s body, and suddenly, he has to face the undeniable and abundantly evident reality that the felid isn’t the only one who’s hard right now. Because he is too.Sucking in a breath, Yongguk’s head spins as Jongup’s knee grinds gracelessly against his crotch. It’s not comfortable, it doesn’t even feel particularly good, but oh he’s definitely aroused. Straining the front of his cargo pants and being strangled by his boxers and everything. To the point where if Jongup had been awake, this would have been incredibly difficult to conceal or explain away.And Jongup just keeps half kneeing him in the dick as he frantically humps Yongguk’s leg, so clumsy and needy and asleep. He’s asleep! So why is Yongguk reacting like this? Why can’t he even begin to will his boner away?Wildly, Yongguk tries to cast around for the most unsexy thoughts possible. He thinks of scrubbing Daehyun’s drool off of the couch. He thinks of unclogging their sink the other week. He thinks of cleaning pus out of the infection Junhong managed to get in one of his paws. He thinks of literally anything but Jongup next to him. That hot breath on his neck and the tail twitching over him and damnit! Jongup keeps shifting that leg, until the pain of his knee is replaced with the almost satisfying friction of his thigh. Which is worse, because it makes him want more of something he can’t even get. Not without waking the felid up; something he is, at this point, terrified to do.This time when Jongup moans, the desperate little mewl that leaves his mouth almost sounds like he’s saying please, and Yongguk has to dig his nails into the palm of his hand so he doesn’t react because void, why does he sound like that? Why is he doing it right here where Yongguk has to hear it. Where Yongguk has to feel it. Where he has to let it do horrible things to his head. I have to wake him up, Yongguk thinks dizzily, as he feels Jongup pant warm and wet against his ear. I have to, it’s the right thing to do. Otherwise, I’m just taking advantage of him. Though he desperately doesn’t want to, Yongguk grits his teeth before breathing out a quiet, “Jongup?”Unfortunately, or perhaps as he should have expected, the felid doesn’t wake up. If anything, he just groans louder and grinds his dick more firmly into Yongguk’s thigh and fuck, he’s practically trembling with it. He’s just that frantic to get off. I’m never going to be able to look at him the same way again, Yongguk thinks deliriously, as he attempts to disentangle himself from Jongup and just gets more claws in his chest for his troubles. Void, I’m never going to be able to look at myself the same way again. “Jongup, please wake up,” Yongguk says again, more loudly this time. “You– you’re dreaming.”“Ahh– please–” Jongup slurs out and Yongguk is forced to just lie there as whatever blood he’d had left in his brain immediately rushes to his dick. “I need– please.” “Jongup,” Yongguk pushes out, with more volume. “It’s not– it’s me.” To which Jongup just breathes out a soft, “Hyung,” in a sinfully needy tone that’s almost too much for Yongguk to bear. “Need you, Yong– hyung, please–” Oh void, he’s dreaming about me. For better or worse though, Yongguk doesn’t have much time to think about it, because it’s at that precise moment that Jongup finally startles awake, and in the same second, everything sort of freezes. Jongup stops grinding against him. His little stream of whimpers and mewls cut out. Sharply, his breathing hitches, and Yongguk is aware without being told that the man is trying to gauge if he’s awake. Which would under most circumstances be a really easy way to get out of all of this. It’s just the felid’s leg is still pressed against Yongguk’s dick, and even if Jongup hasn’t noticed, Yongguk doesn’t think he’s going to be able to lie his way out of this one.So he opens his mouth, because what else is he supposed to do?“Jongup–” he starts, low and careful.Almost at once, a sharp bolt of distress echoes through their shared bond mark, and Jongup is immediately trying to lurch away. It’s difficult, considering how tangled together they are and the fact they’re sharing the same sleeping bag, but he’s clearly not thinking about that. Instead, he’s just frantically trying to put some distance between their bodies as he chokes out a thin, terrified, “I– I’m sorry.”Instantly, Yongguk is twisting towards the man so he can reach out for Jongup, only for the felid to jerk himself free of his hands. “No, it’s fine,” he attempts to say, but Jongup is already talking over him, his voice high and fearful.“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. I was just– it wasn’t–” He’s clearly unbelievably ashamed, tufted ears pressed flat against his head and tail tucked so completely between his legs that Yongguk is able to feel it vibrating against his calf. “It was an accident. I promise it was an accident.”“You were dreaming, weren’t you,” Yongguk says, in what he hopes is a soothing tone. Unfortunately, Jongup’s only reaction is a jittery, nervous sound, like he’s convinced he’s about to get in trouble.“Yes but– please. Please don’t be mad,” the felid begs, his voice just a little watery. “It won’t happen again, I swear. I’ll– I’ll just go back to sleep, and we can forget about this, and I–”“Jongup, you were dreaming about me.” Instantly, the felid falls silent. He doesn’t try to argue, doesn’t try and claim otherwise. And that palpable silence says more than an answer ever could have. Now that he has a second to process it, Yongguk can’t pretend that the idea of the man doing all of that while thinking about him doesn’t have him fighting to catch his breath, as his dick throbs damningly in his pants.“I’m sorry,” Jongup repeats weakly, as he starts fumbling blindly to escape their shared sleeping bag. “I’ll sleep on the other side of the tent. I’m sorry– I–”Without giving himself time to think twice, one of Yongguk’s hands shoots out, and he easily pulls Jongup back down into the sleeping bag. Away from wherever the felid had been trying to run off to, and firmly on top of himself.For the second time in what feels like as many minutes, Jongup goes completely still. Almost like he thinks if he does, Yongguk won’t notice he’s there. But it’s a little hard for Yongguk to just not notice the feeling of his erection sliding up against the felid’s stomach. And in turn, he’s once again acquainted with the sensation of Jongup’s dick rubbing against his hip.It’s clear the felid’s arousal has flagged slightly, probably from the panic, but it’s not entirely gone, and Yongguk, embarrassingly, is exactly as hard as he was when he had Jongup dry humping his leg. And once they’re both aware of that, everything sort of falls into place, as Jongup’s shaky breathing evens out, and Yongguk gets a hand pressed firmly into the patch of fur just above the felid’s tail.“It’s fine,” he murmurs again, his voice gravely even to his own ears. “Me too, so– let me help you.”Though Jongup doesn’t respond out loud, Yongguk feels a shudder work its way from the nape of the man’s neck down to the tip of his tail before his dick twitches back to life. Letting out a small breath of relief at that, because there’d always been the chance that he was completely misreading this situation and had been about to make a horrible decision, Yongguk easily rolls his hips up against the felid, and at once, he gets a hitch of breath, and Jongup grinding down on him before tightening claws in his shoulders.As a shock of heat rolls down Yongguk’s spine, he temporarily lets his head go blank. If he shifts Jongup down a bit, he can feel the dip of the felid’s hip against the tip of his dick, even through his clothes. If he presses on Jongup’s spine in just the right way, he can practically taste the way the man’s body trembles. It’s slow at first, almost agonizing when his body is demanding something hot and fast and rough, but he gives it time to get better. Gives the two of them time to figure this out.This probably isn’t the most efficient way of going about getting what they want, but for a moment, Yongguk doesn’t care. All he’s thinking about is the wonderful sensation of getting friction on his dick, and the weight of Jongup on top of him as he rolls his hips down against one of Yongguk’s thighs in earnest, his tail shivering as he does. It’s a little inelegant, and it’s a little messy, but that’s fine. This is perfect. It doesn’t take them long to build up some kind of rhythm. Yongguk adjusts his position so he can dig his heels into the ground and better thrust up against Jongup. The felid, meanwhile, braces himself with a hand on Yongguk’s chest and bounces his hips in time with the pace that’s being set, his whole body trembling as he does. Every breath has the lust in the air between them growing, and Yongguk isn’t entirely sure where Jongup’s face is above him, but it feels good. So he keeps going, clinging to the felid the whole time.Now that they’re awake, Jongup is quieter than he was before. He goes from outright whimpers and moans to sharp little exhales of breath, and tiny little grunts that he can’t quite hold back. Yongguk couldn’t possibly have predicted this would do it for him so completely, but it does. Something about how genuine and desperate Jongup is when he’s trying to be quiet has his blood heating up and his nerves fizzling with electricity.Never in a million years would Yongguk have thought the two of them would end up in this position, but he’s not upset that they have. The sharp, lithe lines of Jongup’s body are already familiar to him. The way the man ruts against him is intense but it’s an intensity he understands. There’s no awkwardness or hesitation or fumbling as they try to figure out each other’s bodies. It’s just this. It’s just chasing after that pleasure together in a way that’s somehow exactly what they both need, without ever having to say a word to explain it. It’s the bond mark, Yongguk thinks hazily, as he stares up at the shadows of Jongup’s face and his brain easily supplies the man’s soft features. It’s the bond mark, but it’s so much more than that.Because it’s also the way Jongup’s hair brushes Yongguk’s cheek when he leans down, and it’s the way those claws keep digging into his skin. It’s the way the felid’s thighs fit perfectly under Yongguk’s hands, and the way he shudders and tenses up when Yongguk digs his fingers in. It’s the way that even though they’re not doing much more than grinding against each other through their pants, it’s still good enough to have them both starting to fall apart.He needs more, though, Yongguk realizes, as the unsatisfying scrape of his underwear and cargo pants starts to drive him crazy. He needs to feel Jongup. As impatience clogs the back of his throat, Yongguk finally grunts out a, “Hang on,” under his breath, before twisting them both so they’re laying on their sides once more. In the next second, he’s pushing the sleeping bag and Jongup’s shirt out of the way so he can reach for the man’s pants, and get his hands on the buttons.Briefly, the felid tenses up against him, like he hadn’t been expecting that. Pausing, as he’s again left with that split second of uncertainty that he’s pushed the wrong boundaries and this is all about to sharply go south, Yongguk takes a second to catch his breath before quietly asking, “Can I touch you?”But the worries turn out to be for nothing, because Jongup almost instantly presses himself into Yongguk’s hands with a whisper of, “Please. You can– hyung please.” To which Yongguk swiftly resumes what he was doing.Getting the felid out of his cargo pants entirely is too complicated a task for Yongguk to fight with at the moment, so he doesn’t. Instead, he just fiddles open the buttons that keep the material fastened around Jongup’s tail before pushing them down to mid thigh. Hurriedly, he does the same for his own pants, hands a little less dexterous than he wants them to be. It doesn’t really matter much though, because a second later he’s got his and Jongup’s dicks fisted in one hand, and that’s suddenly all he’s able to focus on.Yongguk’s palm is dry, but that doesn’t stop Jongup from immediately jerking up into his grip and letting out a soft, “Fuck,” as he does. Gritting his teeth against the rough, hot burst of friction, Yongguk strokes them both slowly, and as pleasure curls in his gut, he finds that now that he’s started, he can’t stop. Somehow, this feels even more frantic than what they were doing before. Jongup’s entire body trembles as they move. Yongguk has to keep a hand clamped on the small of the felid’s back to keep them pressed close together. Every time his fist passes over them, the muscles in his thighs and neck tighten sharply, and he can’t quite bite back the low groans that leaves his mouth when they release.Jongup’s dick feels strange against his own, against his fingers. Yongguk has never been intimate with a felid before, and the anatomy is similar, yet distinctly unfamiliar. He’s sharper and tapered differently and ridged in a specific way, but it’s easy enough to get used to. And Yongguk is determined.It helps that the felid makes it clear what feels good; what he wants more of. When Yongguk presses his thumb just right against the head of the man’s dick, he chokes on a mewl. And when Yongguk finds a position that lets him fuck up into his own fist, Jongup’s shudder and muffled curse tell him exactly how much he likes it.Considering this is little more than a rushed, dry hand job, it shouldn’t be nearly enough to actually get either of them off. But Jongup had already worked himself up long before he woke up, and honestly, Yongguk wasn’t far behind him. So this? Rutting against each other while Jongup leaves claw marks in the back of his neck and hisses out profanities in feline bestia somewhere against his chest; this is plenty. It’s enough to have Yongguk feeling a familiar knot start to build up in his gut, and slowly but surely set every inch of his body on fire.The next rough flick of Yongguk’s wrist has pre-cum beading heavily at the tip of Jongup’s dick. Even just that much slickness is enough to make the feeling of his hand against their cocks more comfortable. With each stroke, it gets a little wetter. And as the friction smooths out, becomes more pleasurable, Jongup’s tail curls around Yongguk’s thigh, and his voice finally gets away from him as he starts whimpering again.It’s still so much quieter than it was before, but it sounds like music to Yongguk’s ears. Just Jongup’s little aborted sounds of pleasure that he desperately tries to swallow back, but can’t quite smother entirely. It’s clear he’s getting close, and even though Yongguk isn’t quite there himself, he easily turns his focus on the felid. On making him feel better, and drawing more of those sweet little shivers out of his body.“Hyung–” Jongup breathes out, in that same needy tone he’d had when he’d still been asleep. “Hyung, please.” “I’ve got you,” Yongguk reassures in a rumble, as he tries to pull Jongup as close to himself as he can. As he hooks one of the felid’s legs over his hip and presses his forehead between those fluttering ears. “I’m right here.”All it takes are a handful more strokes to pull Jongup to his climax. Practically hiccuping on his own choppy breaths, the felid sinks his claws sharply enough into Yongguk’s back that he’s probably going to leave marks before coming. Over Yongguk’s fist, over their shirts, into his own fur, tail twitching and ears flicking wildly as he does. Though he does his best to hold it back, he lets out what can only be described as a low yowl in the process, another one of those sounds that Yongguk never thought would do it for him, right up until the moment where he realizes that it does. Clenching his teeth, Yongguk continues to stroke them both through Jongup’s orgasm, spreading the man’s cum over his own dick before increasing the pace of his fist. Even when Jongup starts to make pathetic, choked sounds, he keeps going, murmuring an apology as he does. He’s close, he knows he’s close, and he doesn’t want the felid to move just yet. Not when having him here is making this feel so much better.Jongup doesn’t even try to get away, really. Instead he lets Yongguk drag him in; pushes his face into Yongguk’s rune-covered chest and simply shudders with every breath. He’s too warm and he keeps whimpering and his ears are brushing Yongguk’s jaw and it’s overwhelming but he can’t get enough of it. He’s obsessed in a way there aren’t words for.Just a little more of this, he knows. Just a little more of the felid’s body pressed up against his, and the feeling of Jongup’s dick scraping against his own.The whole thing is sticky and oppressively hot and kind of gross, but Yongguk wouldn’t have it any other way. This feels good, good enough that his head is spinning and his nerves are misfiring, and all he can think about is Jongup. The feeling of those claws in his neck and that hot breath against his collarbone, and the man’s fur under the fingers of his free hand. It’s so much, and while in a different situation he may not have been satisfied, in this case it’s everything he needs.All Yongguk manages are another couple swift twists of his wrist before he’s coming as well, burying his face in Jongup’s shoulder as he does. As he spills into the space between their bodies, he hears Jongup let out a soft, breathy sound that he thinks he’s going to have tattooed into his brain forever. That, and the way the felid quietly whispers, “Yongguk–” in a tone that shakes on each syllable.Then just as suddenly as it all began, it’s over, and Yongguk is left holding onto Jongup while they both pant heavily, and he fights to bring his heart rate back down to normal.Even though it’s stuffy and sweaty, there’s something correct about the way the felid’s body heat is pouring over them both. It has Yongguk’s everything settling, as he’s allowed to go still where he is, and exist like this. Pressed up against Jongup, breathing the same air, without any other thought in his head. Content in a specific sort of way.But eventually, the afterglow fades. Pulling a face as his dick starts to soften, Yongguk comes to enough to peel his fingers off himself and Jongup before reaching out of their sleeping bag and wiping his hand off on one of their dirty undershirts. It’s kind of nasty, and they’re both sticky and thoroughly overheated, but it’s better than nothing. And once Yongguk takes a moment to clean them both off more thoroughly, before pulling his pants back up, and helping Jongup adjust his, he feels a little more settled.Once he’s done, there’s a moment where the two of them hesitate. Where they lie there silently in the sleeping bag separated by a handful of inches, and face the distinct possibility that things could get awkward. And judging by the specific twinge of emotion through his bond mark, Yongguk knows if he doesn’t do something, it will.  So… he decidedly doesn’t let that happen. Instead, he wraps an arm around Jongup’s shoulder and pulls them both close together once more. Until they’re in basically the same position they were before, but more deliberately this time. Wrapped around each other, and warm in each other’s arms.Catching the little bit of tension that’s still lingering between Jongup’s shoulder blades, Yongguk carefully asks, “Was that… good?”“Yeah,” the felid breathes, like he’s nervous to admit it.“Good.” Turning his head, Yongguk presses their sweaty foreheads together before murmuring, in a voice that’s a little rougher than it would be normally, “Then we’re fine.”“We’re fine,” Jongup echoes, before tucking his head back into Yongguk’s neck and going still. But he’s relaxed now, which in turn has Yongguk’s own worries bleeding away. It leaves him feeling satisfied and comfortable enough for once that he might be able to get some sleep too.Deciding not to fight it, Yongguk closes his eyes and lets exhaustion swamp his body. He’ll be back awake soon for work anyway. He can let himself have this.Easily, Yongguk settles into Jongup’s body heat, and goes to sleep. —⚭⚯⚭— They don’t talk about it.Mind you, hunters don’t talk about a lot of things. Typically, unless a problem is so glaringly obvious that it physically cannot be ignored, most of the time they’ll just pretend it’s not there. Hopefully until it actually isn’t. When it comes to anything not related to his job, Yongguk is no different. And apparently, neither is Jongup.Despite his best attempts otherwise, things are a little stilted the morning after. There’s cum on one of Yongguk’s undershirts. Their sleeping bag is going to need to be cleaned. And they’ve still got to go to work, despite neither of them getting a lot of sleep. Yet somehow, past all of that, everything else is shockingly normal.Beyond a murmur of, ‘did you sleep well?’ from Yongguk, and an equally quiet, ‘yeah, you?’ from Jongup, the whole thing might as well have not happened at all. To the point where if there wasn’t explicit evidence to the contrary, he might have wondered if he dreamed it all.But it’s fine. Because Jongup isn’t treating him differently, and he’s not treating the felid differently, so having some kind of long conversation about whatever happened between them doesn’t seem necessary. It’ll only make them feel weird about it, probably, and why do that? If it were impeding their work, if one or both of them were upset about it, then this might be a different story. But they’re not, so it’s okay.Admittedly, Yongguk always thought that Jongup would be the type of person to talk about something like this. Whether it needed to be spoken about or not. Which isn’t a judgment of his character either way, mind you. It’s just the felid has always been fairly open as a person. He likes to talk. He’s willing to say when he’s happy, and also when he’s upset. He wears his heart on his sleeve, even in a profession where that sort of openness isn’t common or recommended.So the fact that they fucked, or at least fooled around, and Jongup isn’t saying anything about it, feels a little weird. Like maybe he’s missing a piece of this puzzle, and he should be making a concerted effort to figure out what that piece is.And to a certain extent, he does. Yongguk spends a few days sticking closer to Jongup than he otherwise would. He pays attention to the man’s body language and how he reacts to physical contact and if he’ll hold eye-contact. As much as he’s able, Yongguk tries to figure out how, if at all, Jongup might be treating him differently.But despite him keeping a close eye on things, nothing between them seems to change.Alright, maybe that’s not entirely true. It has changed for Yongguk, at least a little. He’s not treating Jongup any different, he’s not suddenly feeling awkward or weird around the felid, but the fact remains that before this, Yongguk hadn’t seen his partner like that, and now he does. Even if it doesn’t change how they interact with each other, it’s still a change. Yongguk still remembers the day he got bonded to Jongup, well over a year ago now. It’d been an early Thursday morning. He’d been woken up to paperwork and the Bureau telling him that, congratulations, he’s a regional team leader now, and then they’d shepherded him off to a room about the size of your average supply closet. There, they’d put him in front of a fluffy orange felid he’d never met before in his life, and they’d told him this was going to be the person he was about to be bonded to for the rest of his career. As much as a person could be, Yongguk had actually been ready for the whole soul bond thing. Bond marks were standard practice for hunters, especially once you hit regional team status. They’re safe, effective, heavily tested and well documented. Perfect to help elevate the abilities of one person in a way that made them more effective on the field. He’d taken a class on them in the Academy. Three classes actually. Two of them were extracurricular! So yeah, Yongguk had a better idea than most people of exactly what he’d been getting into.Jongup had felt young to him at the time. Just barely old enough to graduate from the Academy, physically built like a hunter and in theory just as well trained as Yongguk was, but emotionally he’d seemed tiny by comparison. Just a kid, really. Not someone who could probably kill another person without hesitation, and had strong enough air elemental magic to land him a spot on a regional team. That being said, Yongguk hadn’t even needed to make it through the entirety of the bonding ritual to know that he and Jongup were going to work well together. Whatever ended up happening with the rest of their team, whoever else was about to be handed to Yongguk, in this, at least, he could be confident. He could be sure about Jongup.And that had been exactly as far as their relationship had ever gone. Mind you, that’s not that surprising. Ex-hunters at the Academy, especially the talkative ones, tend to over-inflate the metrics of how many bonded partners actually end up together in any meaningful sense during their time working together. To listen to some of the teachers, you’d think it was one-hundred percent of them, but the actual number is far lower. Still sizable, but nowhere close to universal. About seventy percent of hunters will, at one point or another, have some kind of sexual interaction with their partner. But only about thirty-five percent of those people will go on to have anything more. And even those statistics are a bit misleading, because ‘something more’ can be as broad as partners sleeping together more than once, or ending up married.Bonded hunters could, in theory, have a perfectly platonic relationship. It wasn’t weird. Actually, it was entirely expected. And after a year and change of solidly being nothing more than friends with Jongup, Yongguk had decided he was perfectly satisfied with exactly that. Because why wouldn’t he be?By his nature, Jongup was a sweet person, but he was sweet with everyone. He paid attention to everyone on the team, and was at least verbally affectionate in a way that every one of them was willing to reciprocate. Occasionally, he enjoyed things like ear scritches and a bit of cuddling with Yongguk, but it never felt like he was trying to make it more than exactly what it was. They were comfortable together as partners, not something more.Jongup never made it seem like he was interested in Yongguk in that way, and in return, Yongguk never thought about it. He simply had no reason to.For all intents and purposes, his little team of six hunters seemed to fall into that thirty percent. A group where, despite the bonds between them being tight, and the relationships close, it was never romantic. They were all just friends. So all of this happening with Jongup has come as an undeniable surprise. Whether it’s a good or bad one is kind of irrelevant. It’s still a change.Statistically speaking though, he supposes he was always more likely to end up as part of that seventy percent.When he looks the situation in a purely rational way, Yongguk is able to admit the encounter between him and Jongup wasn’t particularly earth-shattering. They’d jerked off together. It’d been in the middle of the night and the felid hadn’t even meant to initiate the whole thing in the first place. Theoretically, they could both forget it ever happened and resume acting exactly as they were.Yongguk doesn’t need to keep thinking about it. He doesn’t need to run his hands over his shoulders, long after the marks Jongup left there have faded, and wonder if the man often dreamed about him, or if that’d come as much of a surprise to him as it had to Yongguk. He doesn’t need to be quite so fixated on whether the felid is or isn’t treating him any differently than before. There are so many ways for him to explain away what had happened that Yongguk can’t list them all. And yet he doesn’t take the out. Doesn’t even really consider doing so in the first place, like trying would somehow be disrespectful not only to Jongup, but to himself.Things between him and Jongup stay the same, but Yongguk becomes more aware of what that ‘sameness’ looked like in the first place. He starts noticing things, whether he means to or not, whether he’s actively seeking them out or simply existing. Obviously, he’s always paid attention to Jongup, but this is different. In a way he’s able to pinpoint and categorize within his own thoughts.He notices when the felid has an especially soft look on his face. He’s attuned to when Jongup smiles, when he laughs, and the stupid sounds he makes at Daehyun while they bicker in the kitchen. He puts names to the various trills and purrs and growls that build up in the back of the man’s throat without ever escaping his mouth. Nothing has changed, but maybe something has, and as with a lot of changes in his life, Yongguk decides the easiest path forward is getting used to it. Which he does, he thinks. In as well adjusted and uncomplicated a manner as he can.Yongguk comes to terms with the fact that the way he looks at Jongup will always be different now. He accepts that their relationship is going to forever be a little more complex than coworkers, or even just friends. He makes peace with the knowledge that while their soul bond likely influenced all of this, that’s not all it is.When he takes the time to properly consider their night together, Yongguk decides that, actually, he’d more than just enjoyed it in the moment. Rather, he thinks he’d be willing to do it again. Sure, Jongup has yet to initiate anything further with him, and Yongguk hasn’t tried to approach the felid either, but it’s definitely on the table. Since both of them were okay with it and haven’t made it an issue since it happened. If Jongup weren’t okay with it, he’d probably say something.They don’t talk about it, but Yongguk finds himself thinking about the felid more than normal as he sits up late at night and files paperwork, or when he’s lying awake in bed unable to sleep. Things are the same, but they’re different. And that different is good. At least, he’d like to think it is. Though it serves little actual purpose, Yongguk does find himself, on occasion, trying to judge based on Jongup’s behavior if he’s still thinking about that night. He never put enough thought into it to ask the man outright, but sometimes when Jongup is especially touchy with him; when they’re sharing a bed for a job, or when he has the felid draped next to him while they sit on the couch, Yongguk wonders.He wonders what Jongup thinks of their relationship, he wonders if the man is actively considering pushing it further. It’s difficult to tell, because again, Jongup has always been kind of like this, but Yongguk still reads into things, here and there. He pays more attention to when the felid touches him. He catches more of the fleeting glances his partner sends his way. When they stand close together, Yongguk starts making a point of brushing up against Jongup’s shoulder, just to do it. Just to maybe, in his own way, present that as an option. He has no idea how much of it is being noticed, if any at all, but Jongup never pushes him away, and he takes that as a good sign. In all the ways that matter, the two of them are exactly the same around each other as they were before. If he’s honest with himself, that’s all Yongguk cares about. Even if they never end up fucking again, as long as he still has Jongup by his side, unwaveringly supporting him in whatever they do, he thinks he can handle just about anything else. Between them, and for their team in general.Even as a month of nothing changing slowly slips into two. Even as the possibility that whatever had happened between them would end up being anything other than a one off incident becomes a distant thought, Yongguk still feels alright with the way things are. At the end of the day, Jongup will always be his partner. And when it comes to a connection between two people, a soul bond is about as close to forever as it gets. —⚭⚯⚭— The next time it happens, it’s in a hotel room, and Yongguk is definitely the one to initiate it.Ironically, it happens in much the same way it did the first time. It starts with Yongguk having a dream; a remarkably detailed and vivid dream about Jongup. Specifically, about fucking the felid in his bed back home. Everything is fur and tail and those pretty low moans of Jongup’s that he’s never been able to get out of his head. The man’s skin is flushed and shining with sweat. And it feels so so good, satisfying in the way that giving into a craving you’ve explicitly been denying yourself always is.In his dream, Jongup is hoarsely begging him for more. Completely abandoning any honorifics in favor of repeating his name in those breathless tones. He’s staring at Yongguk with those pretty wide eyes and clinging to his neck and clenching around him so nicely. In the exact way he needs to have Yongguk steadily losing his mind. As he fucks deep into the man and feels the tension in his gut build and build.It feels important to note that Yongguk having dreams like this about Jongup isn’t a new occurrence, but it is a fairly recent one. Before the two of them fucked around that one time, he can only recall having one brief dream about the felid that was even slightly questionable. At this point though, he’s had multiple. And they’re all incredibly explicit, and incredibly graphic. Like now that it’s an option, his brain is running wild with it.He hasn’t brought them up to anyone, not even to Jongup; but every time it happens and he wakes up panting, drenched in sweat, usually with a persistent hard-on that he now has to deal with, he’s forced to face that this is just something that happens to him now. For better or worse. At least until his head recalibrates and moves on.Yongguk’s never tried to make it Jongup’s problem, because obviously the felid doesn’t have any control over what he does or doesn’t dream about, but he’s definitely thought about it. He’s imagined situations similar to that night in the woods, where he pulls Jongup into his bed, or maybe crawls beneath the felid’s sheets, and they touch each other like that again. Nothing exciting, nothing too complicated, just Jongup’s hand instead of his own. And maybe someone to hold after they’re done, even if it is only for a bit.Since they haven’t talked about it, Yongguk isn’t exactly sure where the lines are. But when fucking Jongup in a dream turns into grinding against the man while asleep, the need to discuss it at least on some level suddenly becomes a lot more pressing.It doesn’t even occur to him that it is a dream until he’s waking up and finding himself plastered against Jongup’s back, still rocking his hips against the man’s ass. At which point he stops, takes stock of the situation, and quickly put together what was happening.The air conditioning in here is on full blast, but they’re both sweaty. Yongguk’s sleep pants are practically painted onto his thighs, Jongup’s fur is sticking to his bare chest. He’s still sleep-dazed, but he can remember most of the threads of his dream. He’s also cripplingly aware of the fact that he’s rock-hard and his dick is currently pressed right up alongside the base of Jongup’s tail. In a way that’s putting a dizzying sort of pressure on him.So yeah, he has a pretty good idea of what he was doing.For a moment, he waits to see if Jongup has noticed he’s no longer asleep; if the felid is even awake in the first place. He’s not moving, which would lend credence to the idea that he’s asleep, but Yongguk has spent many nights sleeping next to the man. Perhaps more importantly, he’s spent plenty of nights with Jongup asleep beside him, while he’s still wide awake. Which is to say, he can tell the difference between actually asleep, and awake but perhaps trying not to act like it.Though in theory they’ve been in this position before, and last time it was alright, Yongguk still feels a flicker of doubt run through him, at how it seems like Jongup is trying to pretend he hasn’t noticed anything. Like this isn’t happening. Are things not as okay between them as he thought? Was doing this once okay, but twice is a line too far? Is Jongup simply not in the mood right now, and therefore Yongguk’s dream influenced advances are an annoyance rather than anything else.One way or another, he should move. That, and probably apologize.“Sorry,” he mumbles, voice thick with sleep. “It was a dream. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”He hardly manages to shift back even a couple of inches before Jongup is blindly reaching behind him and grabbing for Yongguk’s shoulder to keep him in place.Instantly stilling, Yongguk lets himself be pulled where the felid wants. The resulting movement has him unintentionally bucking up against Jongup’s ass again, and despite the layers of clothing in the way, it’s still enough to drag a soft groan out of him.“It’s fine,” Jongup breathes, his words just a little shaky; his tone different than normal in a very specific way. “You– you can keep going, it’s fine.”At that soft invitation, Yongguk pauses for a heartbeat, before pressing himself back up against Jongup’s back. He doesn’t even think about it, not really. He just does. Because he’s tired, and he’s horny, and the slight curve of the felid’s ass feels really good against his cock. In a way that’s making the disorientation of waking up a lot easier to deal with.“You sure?” he thinks to murmur into the nape of Jongup’s neck. Where his fur is at its softest and the general musk of body wash and felid tends to linger most strongly.“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jongup says thinly, and it’s only as he regains a little more coherency that Yongguk is able to identify the slight desperation that lingers in the man’s voice. Like he’s not the only one who’s incredibly turned on right now. Like that part is entirely mutual.At the thought, a bolt of heat runs through him and he clumsily worms a hand under Jongup’s body. Over his bare stomach, down the little happy trail that always seems to poke up over the top of his pants, no matter how often he shaves it. Right down between the felid’s legs, where he finds that, yes, Jongup is also hard right now.Practically the moment Yongguk cups him through his shorts, Jongup let out a stifled little whine. Taking that as all the encouragement he needs, he squeezes the man’s dick, before getting a good hold on his waist and snapping his hips down against Jongup’s ass.Even though he’s still half-asleep, tied down by the lingering threads of his dream, Yongguk is still able to put enough force behind his movements to temporarily flatten Jongup into the mattress. Fighting to get an elbow under him, the felid grabs for the pillow by his head and yanks it closer, like he’s trying to stifle the moan that bubbles out of his chest. In return, Yongguk just leans closer, to make sure he doesn’t miss a single sound that escapes Jongup’s lips.It’s slow at first. He’s still trying to work out something that feels good for him but also works for Jongup. The sheets are in the way, and it’s dark, and Jongup is digging his claws hard into the bones of his wrist, but he finally manages to drag the man’s hips up into an angle that works. Pressing his dick into the cleft of the man’s ass cheeks, Yongguk rocks his hips forward hard enough and fast enough to have them both shivering, and Jongup squeezing out a quiet plea of, “Fuck, more.” So Yongguk does his best to try and give him more. He palms the felid’s dick through his sleep shorts and uses the momentum of his own hips to give the man some friction. It isn’t really jerking him off, and maybe that’s what he should be doing, but his brain is muddled, and Jongup’s hips keep twitching into his fingers, and the pressure and heat against his own dick every time the other man shifts is nothing short of heavenly. Sure, Yongguk could take the time to properly undress them both. He could dig through his supplies to find some kind of lotion and take his time with it, or at the very least ask Jongup what he’d prefer, but this is about all he has the brain power to do at the moment. Currently, the only thought in his head is that he really wants to get off, and having the very person he was just dreaming about underneath him whimpering is all Yongguk needs. Hell, it’s more than he needs, but he’s definitely not about to complain.Unlike the first time they did this, when it was so close to pitch black that Yongguk couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face, there’s enough ambient light in the hotel room that he can actually see Jongup. Can see the lines of his shoulders and his twitching ears and can make out the way his muscles are tensing, instead of having to go off touch alone. The felid has always been nicer to look at than your average hunter, but in that moment, Yongguk finds himself genuinely appreciating it. More so than he normally bothers to.Because Jongup is pretty. With his long orange fur, and his big, green-gold eyes and his pointy little teeth. Even face down like this, Yongguk finds himself appreciating the definition in the man’s musculature. The way it all tapers down into a slim waist, and a fluffy tail. He’s also able to appreciate the way the felid’s pajama pants are hugging his ass, and exactly how it looks with the bulge of his dick rubbing against it. Groaning at the sight, Yongguk picks up his pace and shivers at the rough, electric friction. It’s too hot with the sheets still bunched around them, and Jongup’s knees keep slipping on the mattress, but it’s all so intoxicating that he doesn’t care. He just rests his forehead against Jongup’s back and focuses on the sensations rolling through him.With a little adjusting, he manages to find the correct angle that has the tip of his dick catching against the pucker of Jongup’s entrance before sliding up past his tail. And when he puts enough force behind it, it feels just as good as jerking off. Better, because he’s got someone else’s body heat beneath him, and he can feel the way that Jongup shudders every time he thrusts against him. It’s not fucking the man like he was in his dream, but they’re not really at a place to work something like that out, so this is going to have to do.Like this, Yongguk is able to feel Jongup’s body pressed against him; the patch of fur between his shoulder blades, and the way his tail shivers every time Yongguk moves. Physically, the two of them have about the same amount of mass on their bodies, but when he’s bent over Jongup, he feels like he’s able to dwarf the felid. And Jongup makes it worse with the way he curls his shoulders in. The way he tucks himself under Yongguk and lets himself be used without question. Like he wants it just as much.He must, if the way he’s frantically rutting into Yongguk’s hand is anything to go by. It’s nothing even remotely coordinated, but it still has him panting into his pillow, and clinging to whatever bits of Yongguk he can reach. His wrist, his arm, and eventually the back of his neck. His claws sink in. Welcoming the sting of pain, Yongguk imagines the marks that will be there in the morning and curses under his breath.They can’t kiss like this, but Yongguk finds himself needing to do something with his mouth. So he finds a patch of Jongup’s neck that isn’t covered in fur and bites into it. In a way that isn’t nearly as careful as it should be, even though they have work tomorrow, and apart from their usual hunter’s leathers, there’s nothing Jongup is going to be able to do to cover up that bruise.But in the moment, it doesn’t matter, because Jongup lets out a hoarse noise the moment Yongguk puts any pressure behind his teeth, and instantly starts begging, “That, do that. Bite me please.” Grunting against Jongup’s heated skin, Yongguk does as he’s been bid and bites. Wherever he can reach, with reckless disregard for how tightly he’s clamping his jaw down. At the same time, he pistons his hips into the felid’s ass with renewed vigor, until Jongup’s knees are trembling with the effort of keeping him aloft. Felids as a species don’t typically sweat much, but Yongguk can feel the dampness of the man’s skin. He can feel the way Jongup’s body jerks every time he rolls his dick forward just right, and he can feel the way the felid’s breath is stuttering in his throat with every inhale. Part of him is aware this isn’t all that much, that they could be doing so much more, but his nerves are tingling and there’s fire building in his gut and actually, this is plenty. As Yongguk rolls forward in a particularly sharp thrust, he feels the arm Jongup’s got propped up underneath him tremble and give way. It has the felid’s body shunting forward, causing them to briefly lose momentum. Instead of pausing, or giving Jongup a moment to readjust, Yongguk just lets go of the man’s dick so he can grab for his tail instead, so he can pull them back into a better position. Despite the whimper it drags out of Jongup.Shivering hard, thighs twitching, Jongup gives up on trying to keep his face out of the mattress and instead desperately reaches between his legs, shoving his sleep shorts down and out of the way so he can fist his own dick. Considering his hand is right there, it’s easy enough for Yongguk to find the ties in the back of Jongup’s pants. To yank on the ratty laces right above his tail and–Suddenly, he’s being presented with Jongup’s bare ass, which feels a hell of a lot better than rutting against the man’s sleep shorts had. Like this, Yongguk is better able to feel the felid through his own pajama pants, able to get smoother, more consistent friction on his dick. And the change has them both cursing, as Jongup attempts to push himself more firmly against Yongguk’s cock, and Yongguk presses his forehead against Jongup’s shoulder so he can steady himself once more. “Hyung–” Jongup whines and void does Yongguk’s head spin at how punched out the man’s tone is. Just barely coherent, on the verge of pleading, his whole body shivering with that single word.“Yeah?” If Yongguk’s voice shakes, that’s his business. His and no one else’s.“Feels good,” the felid slurs, like he needs Yongguk to know that. “You– feels so good.” Snapping his hips forward, sliding his dick directly between Jongup’s ass cheeks, Yongguk asks, “Like this?” even as he repeats the action, tightening the grip he’s got on Jongup’s tail until he’s pretty sure it’s going to bruise.  “Yes,” the man pants into the mattress, pitchy and desperate. “Yes, yes, like that. Please–”Yongguk doesn’t even try to resist the man begging for him. Instead, he gives Jongup exactly what he wants. Even though this has been kind of a mess since the start, and he’s not sure which way is up or down anymore, he still ruts up against the felid’s ass, and gives himself over to the desire currently raging in his gut.He’s not actually fucking Jongup, but at this point it feels like he is. Maybe not the precise sensations, but the deliberateness and weight of each roll of his hips is firing all the right signals in his brain. It’s the softness of Jongup’s skin and the way the sweat is beading at Yongguk’s hairline, and the way it feels to have the felid in his hands. Vulnerable in a way they weren’t last time. Raw and close and so so good.Swiftly, Yongguk builds his rhythm up once more, fucking up against Jongup hard and fast. He can feel the shape of the man’s entrance through his thin pajamas. The burn of cloth against sensitive skin is starting to hurt. It’s got a familiar tension coiling in his gut and building up on the inside of his thighs. So he chases it, mindless in his need for more. Pulling at the base of Jongup’s tail again, Yongguk earns himself a louder, shuddering cry from the man that he doesn’t even attempt to bite back. Though he hasn’t been particularly loud, Jongup’s voice still sounds wrecked, throaty and broken and so incredibly desperate. He wishes he could hear more of it, but he’ll take what he can get. Because those sounds are almost more precious, for how often Jongup holds them back. Vaguely, Yongguk is aware that like this, he’s not going to last forever. He was already unbelievably horny before he woke up, and this has been a lot. And the way Jongup keeps pressing up against him, almost like he wishes Yongguk were actually inside him, is driving him crazy. As he thinks of all the other things they could do. All the other ways he could have the felid that’d feel even better than this right now.Void, Yongguk wants what he saw in his dream. He wants Jongup on his bed, back in their base, with the lights on so he can see the man’s face, and maybe no one else around so they can be as loud as they want. He wants to fuck the felid nice and slow, until the only word left on his tongue is Yongguk’s name. He wants to be able to give Jongup everything, without worrying about shit like work in the morning, or not having enough time, or having to hold back for one reason or another.It’s not something they’ve ever talked about, and it’s definitely a big step from whatever this is, but he still wants it. And if Jongup wants it too–But Yongguk can’t hold onto that thought right now. Instead, everything is heat and friction and the press of Jongup’s tail against his dick, and the frantic sounds that are spilling out of the man’s mouth as he jerks himself off beneath Yongguk.It only takes a couple minutes more of rough rutting against Jongup before Yongguk’s orgasm creeps up on him. He feels it seizing up between his shoulder blades, and stuttering the pace of his hips as the pleasure almost becomes too much to bear. Until he’s letting go of Jongup’s tail so he can brace himself with a hand beside the man’s head, and close his eyes against the rush of sensations that are crashing over him.Distantly, it occurs to him that he’s about to make a mess, and it would probably make more sense if he pulls back and just jerks himself off into his hand or a tissue, instead of whatever he’s doing here. The rest of him is too far gone to give a shit, so he keeps going. Just gets his teeth in Jongup’s shoulder and bites down until the felid is letting out a pathetic mewl, choking out his name in a way that’s music to his ears.All Yongguk manages are a couple more sharp thrusts before he’s coming, spilling into his sleep shorts and groaning into Jongup’s neck as he does. It should probably be embarrassing, creaming his pants like a fucking teenager, but it feels so good that he can’t make himself care. All he can think about is riding out his release, and rocking against Jongup’s ass until they’re both damp and sticky with it.For a moment, the only thing Yongguk has the energy to do is bask in the afterglow. As his muscles unknot and the stress leaves his body and his dick pulses weakly against Jongup’s ass. Then he hears the felid whimper under him, and just enough of his higher brain functions kick back in to realize that the other man still hasn’t come yet, and he should do something about that.“Shit,” Yongguk mumbles, as he practically peels himself off of Jongup and sits back on his heels. “Hang on.”As the sheets fall away completely, exposing them both, Yongguk is able to see the state he’s left Jongup in. The man is shivering against the mattress, tail twitching wildly, ears flattened against his head. Their combined sweat has his fur standing up at weird angles. Some of the cum that managed to escape Yongguk’s sleep pants is smeared on the pale skin of the felid’s ass. His hand is still shoved between his thighs, but he seems to be trembling too much to do anything with it.Like he’s suddenly too aware of Yongguk’s eyes on him, Jongup makes a pathetic sound in the back of his throat before curling in on himself, collapsing to the mattress as he tries to get a better grip on his dick.“Do you need help?” Yongguk asks, voice a rumble.“I– I can handle it,” Jongup says between heavy breaths, as he shudders sharply before starting to move his fist again. “I’m– It’s fine.” That’s what he says, but Yongguk catches the desperate wobble in Jongup’s voice, so he ignores the man’s words. Instead, he looms over the felid once more before pushing him onto his back, forcing Jongup to not only expose himself, but also make direct, unavoidable eye-contact.Jongup’s face is flushed. Even in the deep shadows of the hotel room, Yongguk can see the splotchy color not just on his cheeks, but also on his throat and down his chest. His lips are bitten raw, his eyes are wide. There’s clear embarrassment on his face at being seen like this, but it bleeds into desire the longer Yongguk stares at him. Like even though he wants to hide, the rest of him just wants to beg for more.Eyes dropping to the felid’s swollen cock, its sharper head and still unfamiliar ridges and the way it’s nestled against a patch of white fur, Yongguk sucks in a breath before repeating, “Let me help you,” just in case Jongup didn’t catch the desire in his voice the first time.This time, Jongup doesn’t try to argue. He just whimpers as Yongguk climbs on top of him, straddling his thighs before getting a hand around the felid’s dick. With absolutely no hesitation or thought for anything else. Jongup fits nicely into his palm. Like this, Yongguk is able to properly appreciate it. The slight curve and the way the head feels under his thumb, and the way Jongup trembles when he’s touched. He looks so open and pretty like this that Yongguk can’t help the smile that crosses his face. Even though it probably looks stupid.Jongup is trusting him with this, and he’s happy for the chance to make his partner feel good.Stroking the felid once, slow and experimental, Yongguk carefully watches the way the man’s features twist. He was right, it is better when he can see Jongup, and he almost wishes he had enough time to draw this out. But it’s the middle of the night and he’s already spent, and actually, seeing Jongup enjoy himself is plenty.The pace Yongguk sets is slow, deliberate. Dry at first, until he spits into his palm to at least temporarily solve that problem. With his legs pinned down like this, Jongup can’t really move; can’t buck his hips up into Yongguk’s touch or try to get away from it, and it’s clear that even the illusion of helplessness does something to the man. Has his cheeks darkening further, and his breath coming out in choppy, almost squeaky bursts.“Faster,” Jongup begs, as he trembles under Yongguk’s hand. “I– I need– fuck, faster. More.” Obliging him, Yongguk strokes him with more purpose, until Jongup’s pre-cum is easing the slide of his fist, and the sound of it becomes almost damningly loud in the otherwise silent hotel room. Though he’s clearly trying to bite it back, the felid’s voice rises with it; weak, bitchy moans that he attempts to swallow down only for them to escape out through his nose.It’s clear how much this is doing for Jongup, how completely it’s scrambling his brain. His eyes are unfocused, his back keeps arching just enough to bring his shoulders off the mattress. He can’t squirm so instead he shakes, so evidently desperate for more, and yet too busy sinking his canines into his bottom lip to voice it. And Yongguk loves watching it; drinks in the image like he’ll be able to commit every piece to memory.He feels like he’s suspended in a moment of time, with Jongup’s thighs tensing up where they’re pinned down and his stomach twitching and his cock throbbing between Yongguk’s fingers. It feels just disconnected enough from their day to day life together that it’s surreal, and yet at the same time it’s so messy and urgent and inelegant that nothing has ever felt so real. So immediate and present and deserving of every ounce of his focus.His shorts are sticking uncomfortably to his crotch and thighs. Jongup’s tail is tangled too hot around one of his legs. His mouth is dry and his throat scratches and all he cares about is the look on the felid’s face. The want in those big eyes. The sheer, unbridled honesty.“Feels good?” Yongguk murmurs, the gravel in his voice thick and heavy.“I– f-fuck–” Face scrunching up, Jongup strains under Yongguk’s weight. His claws grab for whatever they can reach; the sheets, the pillows, Yongguk’s thighs. “Hyung–” “I know,” Yongguk assures the man, as he drags his thumb through the mess beading at the tip of Jongup’s erection. “You’re pretty like this.”Apparently, that’s a little too much for Jongup to handle. As Yongguk flicks his wrist in just the right way and drags a hiccuping moan out of the man, he twists his face away and slings an arm over his eyes. Chuckling at the show of embarrassment, Yongguk leans forward over Jongup, watching as his throat bobs, and he again tries to roll his hips up into the hand on his dick.Even trying to hide like he is, it’s obvious just how good Jongup feels, how much he wants it. His eyes are covered, but his ears are vibrating, and his chest is heaving, as his muscles flex and release under Yongguk’s weight. It’s such a beautiful display that Yongguk is left hoping he can see it again. However much Jongup will allow. Whatever he can get.As he jerks the man off, Yongguk uses his free hand to stroke over Jongup’s sides, up his rib cage and over his chest. The way he shivers at the contact is unmistakable; even though he’s trembling already, it’s easy to pick out those individual little jolts. Paying attention to each twitch, each whimper, Yongguk pushes his fingers through Jongup’s chest fluff, and thumbs over one of the man’s nipples, until he gets a throaty curse from the felid’s lips.Pressing his arm more firmly over his face, Jongup visibly sinks his canines into his bottom lip, clearly trying to keep himself quiet. It sort of works, but the reedy little whines he can’t stop are just as intoxicating. They have Yongguk twitching in his soiled pajama pants with interest, even though he just came. Even though this is supposed to be entirely about Jongup.As more pre-cum dribbles down over his knuckles, Yongguk intentionally fists Jongup more firmly, pumping the man’s dick rough and quick. Almost at once, the felid is practically jerking up off the bed, the sudden movement sharp enough that it manages to lift Yongguk with it. Jongup’s undoubtedly strong enough that he could throw Yongguk off of him if he actually wanted to. Which means the fact that he isn’t is as good as him deliberately surrendering to this.And it’s sweet. It’s so sweet. Even in a situation like this that’s nothing but harsh breaths and filthy, fast touching, Yongguk can’t help but marvel at the importance of that trust. How much it means to him that Jongup is willing to give it.As he thinks it, Yongguk glances at Jongup’s bond mark. The same crossed spiral that sits on his own chest. Thoughtlessly, he rubs his thumb over that outer circle of runes, and as he does a strangled whisper of, “Yongguk,” leaves Jongup’s lips.It’s clear the felid isn’t going to last much longer. He’s doing everything he can to fuck Yongguk’s fist at this point. Even though it’s putting clear strain on his muscles, and it isn’t getting him very far, he’s just that desperate. Every tendon in his neck is pulled taught, shining with sweat in what little light there is. When Yongguk again flicks at one of the felid’s nipples, the sound he lets out is almost a sob. As everything in his body pulls tighter and tighter, and Yongguk keeps working over his swollen cock with single-minded purpose.“Come on,” Yongguk breathes, voice nearly as wrecked as Jongup’s is. “Just for me. I’ve got you, you can let go. Just–”He doesn’t even get to finish the sentence before Jongup’s orgasm hits him, and he’s coming with a thoroughly pathetic sound over Yongguk’s fist. Slowing his stroking somewhat, he works the felid through his high as gently as he can. Until he’s no longer spilling white over Yongguk’s fingers. Until he’s just whimpering and twitching, and finally going limp on the bed.For a second, they stay like that, Yongguk still sitting on the felid’s thighs, and Jongup trying to get his breathing back under control. They’re both a mess, and Yongguk is half-hard again just from getting the other man off, but it’s still nice. A perfect moment of peace.Then Jongup is making a sound of complaint in the back of his throat, and Yongguk is carefully peeling his fingers off of the man’s dick before wiping his palm off on his ruined pajama pants.“You’re heavy,” Jongup slurs out, raspy voice pitching in a whine.Chuckling, Yongguk obligingly unseats himself from Jongup’s lap before taking stock of his own situation. He needs a shower, at the very least. He probably needs to throw these shorts away too, if only because he’s not sure he’s going to be able to get the stains out of them. Shit, I liked these pants. Did I even bring anything else to wear to bed? Oh well, a fresh pair of boxers will have to do. Anything is better than the tacky, drying mess of cum that his crotch is right now.Yongguk fully intends to get up and deal with all of that while he’s still coherent, but before he does, he turns to Jongup and quietly asks, “You okay?”Inhaling, ears twitching, Jongup pulls his arm away from his face and mumbles, “Yeah, just– gross. Dirty.”“You want to take a shower first?” Yongguk offers, holding out a hand for his partner. “Or… we can share?”“No, it’s fine.” Not quite meeting Yongguk’s eyes, Jongup makes a rumbly clicking sound in the back of his throat before decidedly rolling over. “I’ll worry about it in the morning.”“Alright,” Yongguk allows easily.Because he gets it. It’s late, and they were sleeping before all of this. He doesn’t blame the felid for wanting to get back to sleep. Still, he takes the time to reach over and pats Jongup’s hip once before slipping out of bed and wandering off towards the bathroom.By the time he gets back, clean and thankfully changed into a new pair of underwear, Jongup has re-situated his clothes and curled up on his side of the bed. Briefly, Yongguk considers snuggling up to the man, and maybe falling back into some of that contented afterglow that he’d felt earlier, but… Jongup seems to actually be asleep. They can cuddle when they’re home. Not on a job like this.Pulling the sheets back over himself, Yongguk finds a cleaner part of the mattress before closing his eyes and allowing himself to drift. Just like the first time they did this, he finds that sleep comes easier now. However temporarily, he’s allowed to excise the stress from his body, and just exist like this. Happy.With Jongup snoring only a handful of inches away from his back, Yongguk passes out. —⚭⚯⚭— After that, Yongguk sort of assumes that he and Jongup are… involved. He’s not exactly sure what labels to put on it. Calling it a thing makes it sound like they’ve discussed it, and they haven’t. But pretending like it’s not there feels more disingenuous, so he’s picking the path of least resistance. He and Jongup have something going on. Everything past that, Yongguk figures he’ll disentangle later.Much like the first time, the morning after is a little awkward, but only in that their hotel room kind of smells like sex, and Jongup has to take an early shower he normally wouldn’t bother with. Other than that, they’re fine. Jongup still babbles to Yongguk about whatever pops into his head as he gets ready, and they still help each other with the straps of their leathers. In every way that matters, it’s like the start of any other day on the clock. There is a moment right after Jongup steps out of the bathroom, where he’s only wearing a fresh pair of underwear and his bare back is on display, that Yongguk spaces out tracing the bite marks he’d left on the man’s shoulders. They’re bruised and dark and he’s pretty sure he can make out teeth marks in a couple of them; they probably hurt. Yet he fixates on them, remembering the precise sounds Jongup had let out when he’d put them there.Jongup had sounded so pretty, so vulnerable. In a way that he usually isn’t; usually has no reason to be. Even standing here in front of Yongguk mostly naked as he digs through his duffel bag as his wet tail swishes behind him, the felid isn’t anywhere near as exposed or open as he’d been last night. But he had been. And the image of that side of Jongup is now seared into his mind forever.Then Jongup’s yanking his undershirt down over his back, and Yongguk’s focus is broken. Probably, he should say something about the whole thing, properly acknowledge what happened and express his enjoyment of it at the very least. But one thing leads to another, and they’re getting a call from the local team they’ve been working with, and Yongguk loses track of it. Jongup seems to think everything is fine. If he doesn’t have an issue to raise, then neither does Yongguk. Logically, it follows that if this is going to be something they do sometimes, there’s something between them.Yongguk knows it’s a little vague, a little up in the air, but that’s not exactly surprising. Hunters are notoriously bad at commitment, or at least, verbally admitting they’re committed. He and Jongup have bond marks on their chests, how much more committed do you want to get? How much more permanent does it need to be? Putting a name to it isn’t going to change anything.But at least in the privacy of his own head, Yongguk tries to categorize it. Because he likes whatever it is, and as far as he can tell, Jongup does too.They haven’t talked about it, but like the first time, nothing’s really changed. Jongup still treats him exactly like he did before. They’re just as close, just as comfortable with each other. Work is still going smoothly, and the two of them still fall asleep in the same room– or in the same bed– every night. Nothing comes through their bond mark to suggest that Jongup isn’t completely fine with what’s happened between them.If anything, Yongguk thinks they’ve gotten closer. Maybe not in any big ways, but he speaks more tenderly to the felid than he used to. He’s quicker to forgo the option of personal space if the two of them can sit pressed close together. Jongup touches him more familiarly these days, like it isn’t even occurring to him that he’s doing it. And Yongguk reciprocates, wherever he feels it’s correct to do so.And all of it fits so perfectly into the rest of his life that it only feels right to keep going. Like that’s how it was always meant to end up.So tentatively, Yongguk assumes that he and Jongup are together now. Not just as a hunter pair, but as… boyfriends. Or whatever other juvenile word you want to use to describe it.It sounds silly, and Yongguk’s still not quite sure it fits. ‘Partners’ still feels the most natural to say, and if Jongup pressed him on it, he thinks that’s the term he’d use, but things for him have definitely shifted. This is something now, something he’s at least moderately serious about. And for him, putting a label on it, at least in his head, feels fine.If he’s being honest, he never expected that he would fall into that thirty-five percent statistic, but it’s not like he wasn’t briefed on it. This was part of the coursework at the Academy, an entire unit of the mandatory class on bond marks. The instructors had been blunt. You might end up in a relationship with your partner. They won’t be the same species as you, and they may not even be the gender you thought you were interested in. But it’s fine and normal, so you don’t have to worry.Yongguk’s not worried. He likes Jongup. He likes spending time with the man, he likes talking to him, and he likes working with him. More recently, he likes fucking him. Sure, it’s only happened twice, but he actively wants it to happen again. And even if they haven’t talked about it and never do, he’s confident Jongup feels the same way.He thinks it would be nice, sometime soon, to actually take Jongup to bed properly. When they’re not working, and he doesn’t have to rush things, and they’re both able to fully enjoy the experience. Yongguk doesn’t have any specific time frame on the idea, and he doesn’t intend to push Jongup into anything, but if the situation arises…He’s not going to hesitate.So yeah, Yongguk is comfortable with his relationship with Jongup. Even if it’s still new, even if is still couched in the terms of them being on the same team, and being bonded together, that doesn’t mean nothing. Clearly someone thought they worked well enough together to be partners, to exist as part of each other’s souls. That’s not a small thing.And maybe– maybe Yongguk is okay with the idea that it goes beyond that.If he’s being honest, Yongguk has never spent time thinking about having a relationship before. For one, he’s a hunter. Before that, he was simply too young to consider it in any real and meaningful way. He went to the Academy when he was sixteen. No one’s thinking about relationships in that sort of environment.But okay, maybe the fact he never thought about it even after graduation makes sense. This isn’t the sort of job that attracts people who want to settle down. Who want safety and stability and a life that doesn’t revolve almost exclusively around their work. Once you get past local teams, most hunters are constantly on the move. Sure, district teams usually get to go home at night, but even that’s not a guarantee. As a regional hunter? Yongguk spends more time outside of their base than he does in it.It goes beyond that though. There’s a sense of permanence that comes with a relationship that he’s never fully been able to connect to. The idea that there can be something or someone outside of himself that isn’t going to change, or at least, not change so completely as to be unrecognizable. In this line of work, even your team isn’t infallible. The only one you can one-hundred percent control is yourself. Everything else is liable to be ripped away from you at a moment’s notice, and the Academy drills that into your head. To the point where you start to expect it, instead of simply dreading it.Getting out of that mindset is nigh impossible, even when faced with a person entirely disconnected from hunting and the Bureau. Because you become cripplingly aware of just how tenuous promises of forever can be. A hunter will always come prepackaged with the grim knowledge that they might not make it back one day. Without warning, or perhaps even a good reason.Void, that’s not even touching the fact that most hunters don’t make fantastic relationship material in the first place. Yongguk understands that his job is to protect civilians, to put basically everyone else before himself, not just as a nice sentiment, but a concrete promise to lay down life and limb for practically any stranger that crosses his path. And because of that, it could be said he cares about those civilians more than your average person. To a certain degree, that assumption might even be correct.But even just making it through the Academy is enough to make it clear that as a hunter, you’re not like those civilians you’ve sworn protect. Even other branches of the Bureau live lives that are completely alien to a hunter. You have this self-sacrificial attitude and willingness to do anything just to see a job through beat so deeply into you that it becomes hard to relate to people who don’t already get it. Who think there should be a reasonable point where you say ‘no, I’m not doing that’, and put your own survival first.Finding someone who is willing to settle down with a person like that; who is willing to handle the incredibly specific cocktail of mental illnesses and blind commitment and borderline suicidality that most hunters come with is rare. And the Bureau isn’t quiet about that fact. They have statistics. They’re willing to explain in cold and thorough detail just how unlikely it is for a regional hunter like Yongguk to settle down. Just in case that’s enough to make someone want to back out. While they still can. Even if it’s not something you were already prepared for going into the Academy, you certainly come out believing that the rest of your life is probably going to be hard, and always a bit lonely.Yongguk made his peace with that years ago. He accepted that he was sacrificing that particular avenue of happiness in favor of putting this job above anything else. It might sound insane to an outsider, but to him it’s always made perfect sense.And now here’s Jongup, his partner. Someone who already understands exactly what he’s going through because the felid is going through it too. Someone who isn’t going anywhere because they’re quite literally soul bonded together. It makes the idea of a relationship, or even just having someone to come home for, a lot easier to fathom.Settling down and getting comfortable might not be in Yongguk’s nature, but in this small part of his life, he finds himself doing exactly that. Over the course of the next month and change, the way he thinks about his life as a hunter and his place within this world shifts. It’s not a lot, never so much that he even needs to voice it out loud, but it happens. Even though he’s always felt comfortable here, within his team and in his position as its leader, this becomes a new sort of security.Yongguk has Jongup.That’s allowed to mean something.Retrospectively, he probably should’ve known it was a little too good to be true.The pleasant little fantasy he’s created for himself comes crashing down around his ears on an otherwise normal Wednesday. For once, Yongguk has a day off, a brief moment where he’s not on a job, isn’t even on call for a job, and isn’t buried under so much paperwork that he feels duty-bound to dedicate every bit of his time to it. Instead, he gets to look forward to an almost thirty-two hours where he’s blissfully, miraculously, free.The other two pairs on his team aren’t so lucky. Junhong and Himchan got called out a few hours ago to serve as backup for the bestia specialist team doing work on the border of their region. They may not even have to do anything to help, but someone needed to go out there, and the situation had looked volatile enough that it’d been an easy choice to send out the eliminations hunters instead of someone else. Just in case, you know. Youngjae and Daehyun, meanwhile, are on a proper job of their own, combing through a weird dead zone that’s popped up a few hours south of their base. As so often happens, something magical had gone off, and someone needs to figure out why it happened, and if whatever caused it is still around. In theory, they should be back within the next day or so, but with a job like that, who knows. They might be back tonight. It could take them a week. It might take them longer.Without anything else pressing on the radar, and a freshly completed job of their own under their belt, Yongguk and Jongup are both home free. Which means that, after submitting his reports, and doing a second read through of all his recent emails to make sure every bit of possible paperwork has been filled out and reviewed, Yongguk has time on his hands.So far, he’s been spending this blessed free time watching TV and catching up on the reports from the nearby local teams. For a bit there, Jongup had been hanging out on the couch with him, eating the poorly made fried chicken Youngjae had attempted to cook a couple of days ago and keeping mostly to himself. But sometime in the past hour, he’d wandered away to their bedroom, and Yongguk had let him go. He still had two episodes of his drama taped, after all, just waiting to be watched. He was allowed to take some time for himself.But now that those episodes are over, and the reports he’s reading are getting increasingly rote and uninteresting, Yongguk decides he might as well go bother Jongup. With their schedule clear, maybe they can spare the time to go out somewhere. Not any place fancy, sure, but perhaps to one of the local bars. Somewhere where they won’t be responsible for making their own dinner. In the interests of being lazy, if nothing else.Yongguk doesn’t even think twice about making his way down the hall to his and Jongup’s shared room and simply pushing open the door. Because it’s his space too, and because they’re partners who don’t really hide anything from each other, and– well, why would he hesitate? He’s got no particular reason to even consider doing so.He finds himself developing at least one reason a second later, however, when he steps through the doorway only to find Jongup naked and panting on his bed, dick in hand and an absolutely gorgeous look on his flushed face.Abruptly, Yongguk has to recalibrate because it’s a lot to take in all at once. The felid is tangled up in his sheets, though they do nothing to preserve his modesty. There’s a still open bottle of lube sitting beside him on the mattress. He’s got his legs spread wide, in a way that gives Yongguk a full view of everything. From the swollen head of the man’s dick to the trail of lube that’s dripped down over his balls, to where his shivering tail is just barely covering his entrance and it’s a lot. Especially all at once, when he wasn’t prepared for it.For a moment, Yongguk just stands there, taking in every single detail of what he’s looking at. Then he’s lifting his gaze to Jongup’s face, and making eye-contact with the felid. Jongup, meanwhile, simply stares back, too startled to do anything but freeze up. That, and swallow back the thin, quiet whimper that threatens to escape him.Patiently, Yongguk waits to see if Jongup is going to make the first move. Then, after fifteen seconds of silence and a moment’s consideration, he takes another step into the room and closes the door behind him.As a little bit of his higher thought process clearly returns to him, Jongup makes a small, undignified squeaking sound through his nose and frantically scrambles to drag his sheets up and over his body. It’s too late, Yongguk has definitely seen everything that’s there, but the attempt is still made. And though he maybe shouldn’t, he finds himself smiling fondly at the show of embarrassment. As if he’s never seen Jongup naked before. As if he hasn’t had his hands on the man’s dick already.“Looks like you were busy,” Yongguk says softly, with a bemused little twitch of his lips.“I– I thought you were focusing on your show,” Jongup blurts out, as he draws his knees back together and his ears twitch back against his head. “I’m sorry, I– I was being too loud, wasn’t I? I didn’t mean to interrupt–”“Hey, it’s fine,” Yongguk assures him, cutting Jongup’s nervous babbling off before it can go too far. “Don’t worry, you weren’t being too loud. And even if you were… I’m not going to be upset.”As he speaks, Yongguk’s eyes drag again over what bits of the felid’s body are still uncovered. His chest, his shoulders, the defined lines of his neck. Even more so than he did last time they were in a position like this, Yongguk finds himself appreciating just how pretty Jongup is. Especially when he’s got that dazed, desire filled look on his face and in his eyes. It’s erotic in a way that has Yongguk’s blood heating up as well. It occurs to him as he stands there that, for once, they’re alone. And they’re not working. And they’re not going to be working. They’re actually home, with access to their own beds. If they wanted to do something together, like actually fuck instead of giving each other rushed hand jobs in the middle of the night, this would be the time.“I, uh…” Voice trembling slightly, Jongup shifts his arms until it’s clear that, despite the sheets, he’s trying to cover his crotch. “I was kind of in the middle of something. Um… something I was enjoying. So if– if whatever you need isn’t super pressing, maybe you could leave for a few more minutes and– and let me finish…” “I don’t have to leave,” Yongguk suggests easily, as he draws another step closer to Jongup’s bed. “I can help you, if you want.”If Yongguk expected Jongup to immediately cave, he’s sorely disappointed. Instead, the felid’s tail puffs up where it’s escaped his sheets, and the nervousness in his eyes spikes. “No, it’s fine! You don’t– it doesn’t really have anything to do with you. And you were doing other stuff! Clearly.”“It could have something to do with me,” Yongguk offers, with a little tilt of his head and a pointed drop of his eyes towards the felid’s crotch. “I wouldn’t mind.”Actually, just the thought is getting him excited. As a familiar type of heat drips down the length of his spine, and his thoughts get a little fuzzier around the edges than they would be normally. Yongguk hasn’t been pushy with Jongup, but the situation is right here, presenting itself. Jongup is already hard. Yongguk probably will be too, if given a couple minutes. Again, they’re alone. This is as close to ideal as it’s possible for them to get.But Jongup is still shaking his head, his ears are pressing down flatter against his head as further mortification twists his face. “I– look, I know you’re trying to be nice, but it’s okay.” He laughs, kind of, or he at least tries to. “Just because we do most things together doesn’t mean you have to be involved in me jerking off.”“It’s not an imposition.” Lifting his eyes back up to Jongup’s face, as something in his voice catches in his brain, Yongguk tips his head to the side and gives the felid a reassuring smile. “I know I don’t have to, but I’m offering.”“Well, you don’t need to offer. Because you were busy! And I’m good.” Trying to inject his voice with a little more force, Jongup struggles to sit upright, to make himself look a little more presentable. “I’m just trying to get off, it doesn’t have to be a whole thing.” Though Yongguk should have probably put the pieces together then and there, in the moment, he’s too focused on soothing Jongup’s nerves to catch the hard edge lingering in the felid’s voice. And so, like an idiot, he keeps pushing. Because both times they’ve done this before, this has been alright. Jongup’s just trying not to inconvenience him, nothing more; being shy, like usual.Why would it be anything more serious than that?Taking yet another step forward, until he’s almost at the foot of Jongup’s bed, Yongguk dips his head and promises, “I won’t make it a whole thing. I just figured since you’re already here, and I’m here, we might as well–”“I don’t want your help.”The words, coupled with the vehemence in Jongup’s tone that wasn’t there a second ago, completely take Yongguk by surprise. Instantly, he’s drawing back, as uncertainty as well as the dawning realization that he’s done something wrong start to cloud his head.“I– sorry, I was just–”“Clearly, I’m in the middle of something private,” the felid hisses, sharply cutting him off. “I don’t know why you couldn’t put that together when you walked in, hyung, but maybe try to figure it out now. Please?”Opening his mouth, suddenly unsure of where to look, Yongguk tries to say, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, or– I just thought that, you know, since we’re–”“Since we’re partners, we just do this?” Jongup snaps, in a tone that’s far harsher than anything Yongguk would have expected. Especially when he’s still desperately trying to figure out where he went wrong.“Well, yeah.” Though he doesn’t make eye-contact with the felid, he does look at a point over his shoulder. “Since– since we’ve done stuff before, and–”“Just because we fucked around before doesn’t mean this is your job. I know we’re partners, but this doesn’t actually have anything to do with you.” Jongup sounds genuinely upset, to the point where Yongguk can feel it through his bond mark. “I told you I don’t want your help, so get out. At least until I’m done.”“Then what was all of that before?” Yongguk asks before he can stop himself, past a tongue that feels too thick for his mouth, and a jumble of a thousand other questions that have turned his brain to static. “When we– when I–”“It’s different when it’s dark and you can pretend I’m someone else,” Jongup says shortly, his upper lip curling away from his tiny canines. “Don’t pretend like it’s not.”And all Yongguk can do is quietly ask, “Who were you imagining I was?”Jongup doesn’t answer. He just flattens his ears against his head and draws his knees a little tighter to his chest.Yongguk isn’t even sure how he’s supposed to react. He just knows that his body suddenly feels too full of himself, and his heart is beating loudly enough that he can hear it in his ears. When he exhales, it’s like he can’t draw the right amount of oxygen back into his lungs. Trying just makes it ache, makes it hurt soul deep. He feels like there’s so much more he could be saying, but… he shouldn’t, right? Because Jongup has made himself perfectly clear, and continuing to stand here invading the felid’s personal space is wrong of him. He’s crossing a line he shouldn’t be. He needs to stop doing that. He needs to never do it again.“Sorry,” he mumbles for a second time, turning away from his partner so he can give the man some privacy. So he won’t be tempted to look at something that, apparently, he’s not actually allowed to see. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I won’t do it again. Just–”Why is he having trouble breathing? Why does his throat hurt, if he hasn’t been doing anything to make it ache.“–next time I guess just put a sock on the door or something. Or warn me. This is my room too, so–” Grabbing the handle of the door, Yongguk quickly pulls it open before clearing his throat. “I– I’ll leave you alone. Sorry.”He doesn’t wait to see if Jongup has anything else to say to him. Instead, Yongguk steps out of the room and closes the door. Intent on being literally anywhere else than right there. —⚭⚯⚭— He and Jongup don’t talk as much after that.Obviously, they don’t stay away from each other altogether. The two of them are on the same team, they’re bonded. When they’re working, it’s as a pair. There’s very little either of them can do to actually avoid each other.But despite that being the case, Yongguk can immediately tell the two of them are… distant.It’s not in any big ways, he’s pretty sure the rest of their team doesn’t even notice, but he’s hyper aware of the shift. Jongup doesn’t talk to him as much as he used to. When they’re all hanging out in the living room, the felid always finds somewhere else to sit, and someone else to cuddle with. When they’re in their room together at night, Jongup acts like Yongguk isn’t there. And for his part, Yongguk makes himself scarce as well.He finds reasons to get out of their base more than he normally would. He keeps the jobs they do together as professional and businesslike as possible. He makes a point of handling his usual load of paperwork alone, instead of seeking out the felid for company. Whenever he’s got a good reason to, Yongguk tries to keep another one of their teammates as a buffer between them, even when it’s entirely unnecessary.Yongguk starts knocking on his own bedroom door, whenever he goes in. Even if he knows Jongup isn’t in the house. Even if he just left the man in a different room. But he can’t quite make himself stop, and once the habit is formed, it sticks.Just as quickly as managed to invent those nice comfortable delusions surrounding his and Jongup’s relationship, it all comes tumbling down around his ears. All of those things that he’d assumed meant something more– the little glances, and the bits of physical contact, and them just being close to each other– is seen for what it actually is. The two of them are partners, have been partners for a year and a half now. Of course they’re comfortable with each other. Of course they’re close. It would be weirder if they weren’t.He’d just been reading into all of it because he wanted to. Because it was nice to believe that Jongup wanted him like that, that they could have found something in their relationship beyond a Bureau mandated colleague. But there hadn’t been anything special. The fact that he thought there was just goes to show how new to all of this Yongguk really is. Even though he’s been a leader for a year, he’s still incredibly wet around the ears.And the worst part is that in addition to mourning this thing he never had, now Yongguk has lost the rest of that bond with Jongup as well. To the point where he’s genuinely unsure if he’s even going to get it back.For the most part, it doesn’t affect how the two of them work. They still go out on jobs together, and things still get things done. The two of them are exactly as effective as they were before. This isn’t really some world ending calamity that’s going to result in their team falling apart, or something else like that.But it’s bad enough that Yongguk can feel the strain on his bond mark. It doesn’t sour, but the magic within it is definitely reacting to the wedge that’s been driven between the two of them. His chest hurts enough that he pulls out the standard issue bond ointment they’d been given when the marks were first created to try and soothe the ache. It doesn’t help, Yongguk had been worried about that, but he feels like he’s got to do something. Yongguk never realized just how much he’d come to lean on Jongup until the man just isn’t there anymore. Oh sure, they still sleep in the same bedroom, and eat the same meals, and exist on the same team, but the felid doesn’t reach out for Yongguk like he used to. Jongup doesn’t keep him updated on the little silly details of his day-to-day life, or ask him to spend time together when they’re off the clock. Even though Yongguk is desperately trying to act like everything is fine, and he’s not taking this way harder than he should, the fact that Jongup is never around hurts. And he’s not sure when it’s going to stop hurting.To a certain degree, he tries to rationalize it. Tries to tell himself that this is no one’s fault but his own, and that he can handle it, and that if he gives it a week, maybe two, everything will go back to normal. Jongup will stop avoiding him. They can pretend like none of it ever happened. That’s what hunters are good at, right? They’re good at sweeping things under the rug. This will be no different.But it feels different to him. It feels like, intentionally or unintentionally, he’d offered up an important piece of himself to Jongup, expecting the man to reciprocate. And instead of that, he had it all thrown back in his face. In a way that he perhaps should have seen coming, but absolutely didn’t.Because he and Jongup never really did talk about it, did they? They fucked that first time, and hadn’t said a word. And then they’d fucked again to much the same results. Jongup had been right to get upset with Yongguk for thinking it meant something more. Who the fuck would assume complete radio silence meant that things were going anywhere. That he and the felid were any closer than they’d been before any of it happened at all.It was a stupid thing to think, and now he’s paying the price. Now, he gets to lose even the good things that he had originally, simply because he was too greedy and couldn’t be satisfied with what Jongup was actually willing to give him. Another week passes. A third quickly creeps up over the horizon. Things between him and Jongup don’t improve. He just gets used to dealing with it, until, much to his horror, the distance between them and the ever present ache in his chest start to feel normal. Yongguk doesn’t even consider that there’s something he can do about the situation until it’s being brought up to him by Junhong of all people, while the two of them are drinking together one night.It’s one of those days where they aren’t alone in the house, but everyone else is sort of busy, so they might as well be. Himchan is watching TV in the living room. Daehyun and Youngjae theoretically went out to get the grocery shopping done, and have somehow not managed to make it back home even by nine pm. Jongup, meanwhile, is in his and Yongguk’s room. Which, by process of elimination, leaves Yongguk and Junhong to scavenge for food and, after exchanging matching raised eyebrows and a silent shrug, they end up sharing a few beers over their leftover curry.Yongguk is quiet. He knows he’s being quiet, but he sort of expects that silence to be taken at face value. Because he’s always quiet. But then Junhong makes some sort of comment about how he’s acting like somebody died, and in response, the worst possible question pops out of Yongguk’s mouth, too fast for him to fully process it. That is until it’s already left his lips, and he’s hearing it for the first time right along with Junhong.“Have you and Himchan ever fucked?”For a second, all Junhong can do is laugh at him incredulously. The fae has a big laugh, almost everything about him is big. It also sounds just a little unsettling, but Yongguk has long since gotten used to that part. Then, once the man gets himself back under control again, he looks at his leader and goes, “Him? Fuck no. Hilarious that you’d think so though.”“Ah–” Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Yongguk shifts in his seat and tightens his grip around his bottle of beer. “I wasn’t trying to–”“No, no. Wild question but no. We aren’t. We haven’t.” Gesturing widely with a tentacle, the displacer pokes at one of his massive canines with his tongue before admitting, “Actually, we kind of worked all of that out when we first became partners. Like, he’s fine, but he ain’t that fine. And you know, mixing work and play… No thanks.”Nodding, Yongguk curls in his shoulders. He’s been thinking for a bit now that it was stupid of him to ever assume that he and Jongup could have a relationship. Not even just whether the felid would want one or not, but the likelihood of it even happening in the first place. If Junhong and Himchan aren’t like that, then that confirms to Yongguk that no one on his team is involved. Which makes him the weird one.
Fuck, why did I ever think–
Abruptly, Junhong gasps, drawing Yongguk’s attention. “Oh my void, wait wait, hold on, are you and Jongup together?”When Yongguk’s only response is a startled look up at the fae, Junhong’s tiny fuzzy ears twitch forward in delight, and a wide Cheshire grin stretches his face. “Holy shit, I fucking called it. I knew it. You two had to be fucking, it was like– the only explanation.”“Junhong–”“Shit, congratulations by the way,” the displacer says, as his tentacle comes around and pats Yongguk on the back. “I hope you’re both happy. Careful not to be too rough with him, we are so employed all the time. Or… have him be careful with you? I dunno, man, that might not be my business.”“Junhong,” Yongguk tries again, only for the man to bulldoze over him completely, as he dramatically slumps back in his chair and throws a hand over his face. “Oh, and I’ll bet that I’m the last person you’re telling too.” he says, like it’s a travesty that he’s been left out of the loop. “Because I bet Daehyun and Youngjae have already figured it out, and you probably told Himchan, so–”“Actually, we’re not together,” Yongguk pushes out, before Junhong can continue to unintentionally make him feel worse. “Not– not anymore.”Going still, smile frozen on his face, Junhong sobers instantly and mutters, “Well… That wasn’t on my bingo card.”“Sorry, didn’t mean to get your hopes up,” Yongguk mutters half-heartedly, as he turns his beer around between his palms. “Not– not that I know why you would have assumed we’d get together in the first place.”“What happened?” the displacer asks, leaning forward over the table and giving Yongguk a concerned look. “Like– was whatever you guys had serious, or–”“I think I’m blowing it out of proportion, actually,” Yongguk admits bitterly, with what’s almost a smile. “We just fucked around a couple times. We didn’t even talk about it. It was never serious.”“But it’s not happening anymore?” Junhong clarifies, as he takes a long sip from his own drink.“I don’t think it was happening to begin with,” Yongguk says with a short, mirthless laugh. “He wasn’t– I don’t think he was actually interested in me in the first place? And I guess I assumed a lot of things about our relationship I shouldn’t have. It’s my fault really.”“I mean, if you fucked, he had to be at least a little interested,” Junhong ventures, clearly still trying to piece together the story without saying something that makes Yongguk shut down. “Right?”“I was just convenient,” Yongguk mutters, his voice thinning as he says it. “Or… Pushy. I don’t know.” As it hits him that this shouldn’t be a problem he puts onto one of his teammates, someone who wasn’t even involved, Yongguk shakes his head and straightens up. “Forget I said anything. I just– I thought maybe if you had experience with this sort of situation, I’d ask for advice, but since you don’t–”“No no, I’m invested now,” Junhong says, waving off Yongguk’s attempts to backpedal. “I was wondering why Jongup was lying on my floor crying all the time, but I guess this would do it, huh.”Sickeningly, Yongguk’s stomach sinks. “He was?”“Alright, maybe I’m exaggerating,” the displacer says, holding out a hand. “He wasn’t crying, he was just sniffling and looking like he was going to cry. And besides– it was a while ago! Like, a couple times a few months ago. And maybe last week.”The knowledge that Yongguk’s fuck up has had such a dramatic effect on Jongup is upsetting to say the least. He’s been trying to deal with it on his own, trying not to make things weird or uncomfortable for the felid. At least, no more weird and uncomfortable than it already was. And he’s been failing. More importantly, he’s been making his partner miserable, something he never wanted to do. A couple months ago too… which implies Jongup’s quite possibly regretted all the instances of them fucking around, and not just this most recent disaster. He never said anything. Why didn’t he say anything? “Shit,” Yongguk says out loud, putting his head in his hands.“Not to get all up in your business or anything, but what happened?” Junhong asks, as his tail lashes behind him. “Was the sex bad? Did you say something shitty to him?”Making a sound under his breath, Yongguk gestures vaguely. “I don’t know. We– we just fooled around a couple of times while on jobs. We didn’t really talk about it. I assumed that meant we had something going on, but obviously Jongup thought different.”“You assumed.” Junhong repeats, his eyebrows almost getting lost in his hairline.“Well, yeah.” Coloring, Yongguk looks anywhere but at the displacer. “Seventy percent of hunters sleep with their partners, and we slept together twice, which means statistically–” “Assuming you have a boyfriend because it’s statistically likely is craaaazy,” Junhong crows, tipping back in his chair. His tentacle wraps around the nearby counter, keeping him from going over backwards. “So what happened? Why didn’t it work out?”“I accidentally tried to pressure him into something and he snapped at me.”Junhong’s face falls. “Damn.”“Yeah,” Yongguk mutters, dipping his head so he can run a stressed hand through his hair.“But you’ve apologized to him, yeah?” Junhong clarifies, as he slowly lowers the legs of his chair back down to the cracked tile. “And he’s forgiven you because you’re still close even if things got a little complicated for a bit there.”When Yongguk just grimaces, the displacer pulls a face. “Man, you’re better than that. If you’ve got him fucked up like that you owe it to him to fix it.”“I want to,” Yongguk assures Junhong. “But… I haven’t had a chance to.” Junhong makes a sound through his teeth. “Oh wait, you haven’t talked about it at all, have you?” “No,” Yongguk admits, as shame builds up like a bad taste in the back of his throat. “I– I really don’t think he wants to, considering how he reacted to the whole thing. So I’ve been trying to give him space.”“Damn, and here I thought the vibes being ass recently was my imagination.” Junhong shakes his head. “You know, I really never assumed it would be the two of you who’d be this messy, I would have pegged Daehyun and Youngjae for that sort of thing.”“Are they…” Briefly pulled out of his own spiraling, Yongguk gives Junhong a surprised look. “What’s going on with them?”“They’re fucking?” Junhong says, like he’s equally confused by the thought that Yongguk doesn’t already know. “They are?”“Dude–” Shaking his head, Junhong puts a tentacle over his mouth and looks to the side. “Am I just up in everyone’s business?”“I thought they hated each other,” Yongguk defends weakly, holding his beer bottle to his chest.“Oh they do, they’re just also–” Making an inventively crude gesture with both hands and his tentacle, Junhong tips his head to the side. “Y’know.”Yongguk doesn’t know.Like he can sense that, Junhong quickly waves a hand. “But back to you. I’m honestly impressed you got yourself into this.”“Thanks.” Mouth twitching down, Yongguk stares at the ancient grain in their wooden table. Somehow, the knowledge that even Daehyun and Youngjae of all people have managed to make this work is only making him more depressed. Because how could he have gotten it wrong? How could he have been so stupid– Giving Yongguk what can only be described as a pitying look, the displacer finally put his hands flat on the table and says, “Well, when I was your age–”“When you were my age, we were in the Academy together. It was only two years ago,” Yongguk says, talking over Junhong with an unimpressed stare. “Also, you still don’t know your right from your left most days, so don’t give me that shit.”“Sorry, my bad. Just trying to help.” Despite the sour mood, Junhong still manages to crack a grin. “I was just going to say that it looks like you’ve gotten yourself into a mess, but I bet if you talk to Jongup, you can fix it.”“Are you sure about that?” Yongguk asks, with an unconvinced twitch of his mouth. “If he’s crying on your floor, I don’t think he wants anything to do with me.” “No, you gotta trust me here, he’s just bad at this,” Junhong tells him, smacking the table several times for emphasis. “We’ll just have to corner him, and then he won’t have a choice not to speak to you.”“That’s just going to make things worse,” Yongguk says with a pained grimace. “Please don’t do that.” “Actually, I think kidnapping would help,” Junhong says stoutly, puffing out his chest. “It’d at least get you guys over this.”“We live together,” Yongguk reminds the displacer with a sigh. “How would you even–”“Exactly, which makes the kidnapping easier,” Junhong agrees. “I mean, look at him, he’s not that big. I can probably just scoop him up and put him somewhere. We’ve got a crawlspace, that’s almost a basement. We can pretend it’s a basement for a few hours at least.”“No.”“Alright, the attic then–”“We’re not doing any of that,” Yongguk says firmly, summoning up his ‘leader voice’ despite the fact they’re not working, and he’s a few beers deep into drinking.Thankfully, it’s enough to get Junhong to relent. “Fine fine, no kidnapping. But– you gotta talk to him, man. I’m serious.”“I know, I just don’t know what I’m going to say,” Yongguk mutters, as he rubs at the back of his neck. “They didn’t teach me this at the Academy.”“They don’t teach us a lot of things at the Academy,” Junhong says with a snort. “Kind of unsure why you fucking Jongup has anything to do with that place.” “Well, that part was actually in the handbook,” Yongguk points out, with a little shrug. “They had a whole chapter on it.”“Dude, come on,” Junhong groans. “You can’t be serious.”“I told you there were statistics,” Yongguk defends, crossing his arms and pursing his lips together.“And you’re not a statistic,” Junhong says shortly. “Neither is Jongup.”“I mean, technically, everyone is a statistic,” Yongguk starts, only for the displacer to lash his tail against the leg of the table loudly, jolting him into silence.“Just talk to him,” Junhong says, with a little twist of his mouth that makes his canines press more prominently against his upper lip. “We’ve got a job to do? If you guys get too weird with each other, you’re going to fuck it up, so don’t do that.” “I’ll try not to,” Yongguk promises quietly, as he stares at his beer. “And…” Hesitating for a bit, Junhong lets out a strangled sigh. “I know things are maybe a little bit weird right now between you guys or whatever, but you know Jongup loves you, right? Like– this isn’t going to change that. If you feel like it is, you’re wrong. Trust me, you’re wrong.”Yongguk stays silent. From behind them both, the sound of the front door banging open and Youngjae and Daehyun’s loud bickering fills the air. Distantly, he thinks he hears several heavy things being dropped. Which means he should probably go intervene, if only so they still have groceries by the end of tonight. Because void knows those two can’t be trusted.Before he can get up though, Junhong clears his throat. Glancing up at the man, Yongguk catches the expectant look in those blue-black eyes, and wilts a little.“I’ll fix it,” he assures the displacer, with as much conviction as he dares. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out. “You will,” Junhong decides, reaching across the table with a tentacle and stealing Yongguk’s half-finished beer. “I know you will.”
No matter what, Jongup will always be your partner.
Giving Junhong one last firm nod, Yongguk gets out of his chair and heads towards the living room. —⚭⚯⚭— It takes all of two days after that for Yongguk to find the time to talk to Jongup.Admittedly, he’s still kind of tempted to put it off. He’s apprehensive, nervous that saying too much too soon will make everything worse. At the same time, Yongguk worries that he won’t handle it well and that irrespective of how Jongup takes it, he’ll still be miserable and useless over the whole thing. It’s something that feels like a very real possibility, but embarrasses him to even think about.He wants to be well adjusted about all of this. He will be, it’s just the process is probably going to hurt.Still, despite his uncertainty, when the opportunity presents itself in the form of yet another several day long excursion for a job, Yongguk takes it. Because at this point, he’s just ready for it to be over. It’s another one of those standard jobs, the kind that Yongguk has done so many of, they’re as easy as breathing. There’s been a magic related incident within one of the tiny towns in his region. A district team has already gone in and cleaned up most of the mess. But until they can get a reconstructionist team on the site to put everything back together, the whole place needs to be kept under quarantine. And Yongguk, with his better than average barrier spells and the fact that he’s the most highly trained containment officer in the area, has been assigned the job.All he and Jongup have to do is stay outside the area, keep an eye on the runic barrier, and deal with anything that tries to get in or out.It’s a somewhat grueling day. Yongguk spends from about four in the morning to around midnight opening and closing doors in his spell to help survivors get out and aid get in. In theory, it sounds like an easy thing to do. It’s his and Jongup’s magic after all; if anybody would be familiar with it and how exactly to best manipulate it, it would be him. But barrier spells like this are tricky to undo. Their whole purpose is to be difficult to poke holes in. So doing so, opening up temporary gates and then successfully closing them again, is complicated.But it hadn’t been dangerous, and Yongguk is good enough at this that it’s not difficult. Just exhausting. He and Jongup had spent a little bit of time within the barrier, making sure everything was going well, but that’s as close to actual danger as they’ve gotten. The rest of it has been magically draining and nothing more.Even when it comes to that, they’ve borne the weight of magic expenditure together, as they often do. With Jongup funneling magic into Yongguk through their bond mark, and Yongguk using it to power the spell. Even if things have been rocky between them, even if conversation has been stilted, and unmet glances more common than not, they still function as a perfectly cohesive unit. Yongguk’s fuck ups haven’t been enough to take that from them.But, with another district pair having been called in to relieve them, Yongguk and Jongup are finally getting a moment to rest. It’s not a comfortable rest, they’re stuck camping again, but it is at least a moment where they can sit down and do nothing. For only a handful of hours, sure, but they’re hunters. They’re used to functioning on little to no sleep.Unfortunately, the atmosphere in Yongguk and Jongup’s tent is tense. Just like it has been for the other handful of jobs they’ve worked recently. Things have been fine while they’re working. Cordial, perhaps even friendly. But now that they’re alone, and there are no other hunters or Bureau personnel to serve as a buffer, he and Jongup have lapsed into thick silence once more. Even though Yongguk knows damn well they’re both still awake, neither of them have been willing to cross that gap. But tonight, for some reason, more so than the long three weeks before, Yongguk is tired of it. He’s tired of the silence, he’s tired of the awkwardness, he’s tired of this distance between him and Jongup that never existed until he fucked up and put it there. He just wants things between them to be okay again, and this painful tension is bad enough that he’s willing to go to whatever lengths he has to in order to fix it.He knows now that the relationship he envisioned between himself and the felid was nonsense. Wishful thinking, and possibly something worse. He knows he’s never going to have that, and he’s accepted it. It sucks, and his chest aches, and thinking about it makes him hate himself and the fact he hurt Jongup by pushing him to do things he wasn’t comfortable with. But Yongguk at least wants what he had back. He wants his partner. He wants Jongup laughing with him, and chattering with him, and not so scared to touch him that it makes day-to-day life difficult to navigate. He wants that company and companionship and a shoulder to lean on, when everything else gets difficult. Yongguk knows that it might take him a while– if it ever happens at all– to fully gain that trust back, but he doesn’t think he can stand this, the silence and the lingering guilt, a second longer.It’s been occurring to Yongguk recently, in these past few weeks, just how difficult and lonely his job actually is. It never really hit him before, because he’s always had Jongup, and beyond that, he’s always had his team. This is making him realize how heavily he was relying on all of that to make the rest of life as a hunter worth it. Because in a lot of ways, it’s not. Not without something to keep you going.That’s all he was hoping for, really, with this thing with Jongup. Someone to come home to. Even if they’re never going to be together, not in any way past the bond marks on their chest, Yongguk firmly believes that the felid can still be that person. Can still be enough to drag him through the rest of the muck and grime and bullshit, no matter how much it hurts, and no matter how hard it gets.So whatever mistakes he’s asked to own up to, whatever pride he has to swallow, whatever bridges he has to rebuild, he’s willing to do it.Much like it’s been for the past few jobs they’ve done, Yongguk and Jongup are sleeping in separate sleeping bags. In theory, it’s not that big a deal, but it’s different than how they were doing it, and so he can’t stand the change. Yongguk’s simultaneously too warm and too cold. His back hurts, a combination of hard work today and not enough cushioning beneath him. Jongup is quiet where he’s lying on the other side of the tent, but his breathing isn’t steady enough for him to be asleep.Though it’s too dark to be able to see his hand in front of his face, when he turns, Yongguk can sort of imagine the outline of Jongup’s body. The size and shape of the lump he puts in his sleeping bag, the twitch of his ears as specific sounds rise above the general rumble of wildlife outside. The way he’s probably facing away from Yongguk, even though there isn’t anything to see over there.Yongguk has done a lot of difficult things in his life. This, shockingly even to him, isn’t one of them. “You still awake?”He’s not sure what tone of voice he should be using, so he settles with exactly what he has. Sort of flat, tired, and neutral. It probably doesn’t give much away about what he’s thinking, but hopefully also won’t be read as him being hostile. Because he’s genuinely not trying to be. He just doesn’t want Jongup to ignore him. To try and keep sweeping all of this under the rug, and make it worse than it already is.For a moment, he’s convinced he’s going to have to repeat himself, be more insistent in his attempts to get the felid’s attention. But after about thirty seconds of silence, Jongup shifts in his sleeping bag, and quietly responds.“Yeah, I’m still up.” Here, Yongguk feels himself hesitate. There’s a voice in his head telling him to back out while he still can, and not open the lid on a box of things he’d rather not think about. But sheer will-power and conviction alone overrides that second of cowardice, and he continues to speak. Soft and steady, entirely sincere.“We need to talk.” Registering how vague that is, he clarifies, “About what’s going on between us. While we have a moment to ourselves.”Jongup shifts again. In the dark with nothing else to distract him, Yongguk is able to hear the slight hitch in the felid’s breathing, even over the wildlife outside. “What– what do we have to talk about? Everything’s fine.”“No it isn’t,” Yongguk says flatly, and he doesn’t try to hold back the sigh that leaves him. “You know it isn’t.”Clearly nervous, at least to some degree, Jongup blusters, “It’s because we haven’t been hanging out as much, isn’t it? I promise I’m not– not avoiding you anything, it’s just–”Clenching his teeth around the swift, sharp pain in his chest, Yongguk tries to interrupt. “Jongup–”“No, no, you don’t have to worry about it,” Jongup insists, his voice pitching at the end of his sentence. “We’re fine. It’s fine. I can be better about it. I promise.”“Jongup, it’s not alright and I–” Faltering for just a second, Yongguk forces himself to push on. “And I want to apologize.”The felid falls silent. Like he knows he’s not going to be able to deflect, or change the subject. And in the wake of his voice, the tent feels entirely too big. Like Yongguk is attempting to bridge the ocean, instead of the maybe two feet of space between their bed rolls.“Oh,” Jongup says at last, thinly.Tightening one hand into a fist where it lies at his side, Yongguk closes his eyes before carefully saying, “I fucked up. Bad. I pushed your boundaries without realizing it, and when you tried to tell me, I didn’t take the hint. I thought–” Stopping himself, Yongguk shakes his head and says, “It doesn’t matter what I thought. What I did was wrong, and I’m sorry.” It’s hard to say, his stomach hurts, but he knows he has to. The truth is never pretty, and it very rarely feels good to put it out there, but this is his partner. Jongup deserves to be treated right. He deserves to have everything Yongguk can offer him, even the things that are hard, or in this case, at his expense.Besides, it’s his fault. If nothing else, he needs to own that.“It’s fine.” And this time when Jongup speaks, it’s in a much smaller voice. Just a little frail, but clearly as sincere as he’s able to manage. Hearing the tremble in it, Yongguk purses his lips and opens his eyes once more.“Thank you for saying that, but it’s not fine. I hurt you. And… I know it’s not affecting our work much, but you’ve been avoiding me. And I don’t– I never meant to make you feel like you had to be uncomfortable around me. Or that you couldn’t trust me.”“I do trust you.” At least here, Yongguk can hear the firmness in Jongup’s voice. Like there was never any doubt in his mind about it. “It’s just… It’s fine, but I don’t think we should do anything like– like that again.”It’s precisely what Yongguk had expected. And honestly, at this point, whether he gets to fuck Jongup again or not is the least of his concerns. For all of his faults, and he feels cripplingly aware of them these days, he’s not that shallow. This has always been about more than just what he can get out of the felid physically.“No, we shouldn’t.” Drawing in a breath, Yongguk forces himself to unclench his fist, one finger at a time, before adding, “I’m sorry it happened in the first place.”“I started it,” Jongup says with a tinny laugh, like he’s trying desperately to lighten the mood. “I was the one who– who had that dream and threw myself at you. You were just– you were trying to help.” It was never just me trying to help, but– “I shouldn’t have pushed you any further,” Yongguk says, as he watches the darkness of their tent play tricks on his eyes, convincing him of colors and shapes that aren’t really there. “I’m the older one here. I’m the leader of this team. I should’ve known better. I do know better. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that.”“I– I wouldn’t say you were taking advantage of me,” Jongup tries to reassure him, even though his tone makes it clear that he’s not saying everything he wants to say. “It was just– we made a mistake. That’s all.”The skin of Yongguk’s neck and jaw prickles. He can’t quite draw breath, but then, maybe he’s not trying hard enough. “I don’t know if calling it a mistake is accurate.” At least, not for me. “Well then– it’s because of the bond marks, right?” Jongup tries instead, with another small laugh. “You know how it is, our souls are tied together. Some signals are bound to get crossed eventually. It’s nothing we can’t move on from.”Thinking back to that first time, of hearing Jongup call for him while dreaming, and realizing in a rush that it meant something to him, the muscles in Yongguk’s face lock up and he stiltedly admits, “Actually, it had more to do with the fact that I thought you were genuinely interested in me.”The tent goes silent again. Yongguk can’t even hear Jongup’s breathing, not over the rush of blood in his own head.“But you aren’t,“ he continues, as it occurs to him how bitter that sounded. “I realize now I was wrong about that. And that’s fine, you don’t have to be. But it was never the bond mark for me, because I–”It’s then, in the middle of his sentence, lying there with his voice caught in his throat, that Yongguk realizes. That it hits him he’s in love with Jongup. And the reason all of this hurts so much is because these emotions are deep, and genuine, and aren’t mutual. And they never were.Probably, Yongguk should shut his mouth and not keep talking; not make all of this worse. But in the moment, those words sit so heavy and thick on his tongue that he can’t help but say it. Just so he can set it free. Just so he doesn’t get buried under the secret forever.“I’m in love with you. It did mean something to me. But that’s not– it’s not your problem.” A faint smile crosses his face as he says it, painful but somehow at the same time real. “Just because you’re my partner doesn’t mean you owe me you.” He means it too. He thinks he can survive being the only one. He thinks he can live knowing that he’s in love and Jongup isn’t. It’ll never feel good, but if he can get back at least some part of what they had, maybe it won't hurt so bad. Maybe he can teach himself to not think about it, until one day, it goes away for good.In time, it’ll fade. Into a fleeting memory instead of this mass in his chest. Besides, it’s okay to love your teammates. Just because it’s romantic now doesn’t mean it will be forever. He won’t let this be the rest of his life.Eventually, Yongguk will get over it. Like he’s expected to do. He’ll try to keep the things he hopes for more reasonable in the future, and he won’t be so stupid as to believe he can have everything that he wants. He’ll remember this, next time. He’ll let it teach him one of those lessons the Academy couldn’t.He won’t hold it against Jongup that two nights of fumbled groping in the dark didn’t end up meaning anything. Because why would it? Why would he ever think it did.“I’m sorry,” he mumbles again, past the inevitable tightness swelling in his throat. “For… yeah. Sorry.”The silence stretches. Working his jaw around it, Yongguk forces out a breath through his nose before twisting in his sleeping bag so he’s facing the side of the tent. It doesn’t matter much, it’s too dark to see anything, but any distance he can put between himself and Jongup is better than nothing. Even if it already feels like there’s a chasm there. Enough self-pity. You’re a hunter, act like it. He’s trying. He just didn’t think it’d be this damn hard.“We’ve got work tomorrow,” he says, just to say something. Just to hear something other than his own shallow breathing in the tent. “We have to be up before dawn. We should sleep while we can.”Yongguk won’t be sleeping, of course, but maybe Jongup will. Maybe one of them will get some proper relief out of all of this being over.He’s just about to close his eyes and at least pretend to rest, when the rune lamp they’ve got in their tent blazes to life, and the area around them is flooded with light. Temporarily blinded by it, thoroughly disoriented, Yongguk starts to turn to find out what’s wrong when a sudden weight lands on top of him. Heavy enough to drive the air from his lungs, heavy enough to have him fighting with his sleeping bag in an attempt to free himself.Before he can actually get anywhere, he’s being forcefully rolled onto his back. Until he’s left looking blearily up at Jongup, who is crouching on his chest and staring at him with wild eyes. As his ears vibrate, and all the fur on his tail stands on end. “Do you mean that?”“I– what?”“I said do you mean that.” Jongup’s claws sink into his shoulders. His gaze keeps darting between Yongguk’s eyes, like he’s looking for the lie. “Because– because I thought you were doing all of that because you felt like you had to. And not because–” His voice cracks, thinning out into a desperate whisper. “Do you mean it?”“Of course I mean it,” Yongguk croaks, as he stares up at his partner. “Why the fuck would I ever–”And he doesn’t get to finish that sentence, because Jongup is practically dragging him up off the ground and crushing their mouths together in a frantic kiss.For a split second, Yongguk is too disoriented to reciprocate. He’s startled, he’s still reeling, he’s completely overwhelmed. All he’s able to process is think that Jongup’s mouth is soft, and his teeth are a little sharp, and they’re kissing. This is actually happening. And it’s frantic and messy and sudden and– Void, Jongup is kissing him.Apparently, his lack of a response momentarily worries the felid, because he pulls back a heartbeat later to look at Yongguk with wide, shiny eyes and ask in a whisper, “Is this okay?”“I thought you didn’t–” Breathless, Yongguk rests his forehead against Jongup’s. “You said you didn’t want this.”“Hyung, I want you so bad it’s been driving me crazy,” Jongup tells him, claws practically tearing holes in his shirt. “You said you loved me, so– so is this okay?” To which Yongguk gets a hand on the back of Jongup’s neck and drags him back in. Because yes, unequivocally yes, this is okay.Jongup tastes like the field rations they ate earlier. He kisses like he’s starving. Like he’s been desperate to get his hands on Yongguk. In contrast, Yongguk coaxes the man into going slower. Into savoring this. Into feeling every bit of their mouths moving against each other. Mind you, he’s not trying to be chaste about it. Almost the second Jongup parts his lips, he’s dipping his tongue between them, tracing over those sharp canines. Enjoying the deep purr he pulls from the man’s chest. It’s just that Yongguk wants to remember every bit of it. To commit this moment into the depths of his memory, where even time won’t be able to pull it out.Eventually, Jongup seems to get the message. He unclenches his hands from the front of Yongguk’s shirt and slings his arms around his neck instead. He tips his head to the side a bit, so their noses aren’t smushed together. He let out a shivery breath into Yongguk’s mouth, and the relief in it is almost tangible.Breathlessly, they pull apart and look at each other. Jongup’s cheeks are flushed. Yongguk is still having trouble accepting the fact that this is happening at all. But Jongup’s hair is soft when he tangles his fingers in it, and the little smile the felid gives him before leaning back in is sweet and settling.Without even really thinking about it, Yongguk lets Jongup take over the kiss. Lets the man pull him in exactly how he wants, and flick his tongue into the inside of Yongguk’s mouth. It’s a little rougher than a human tongue, but not enough to be unpleasant. Just different. Another little thing that he’s getting to learn about his partner.Biting at Jongup’s bottom lip before sucking on it, Yongguk slips his hands down the man’s spine to tug him more securely into his lap. Instead of continuing to crush him like he has been, Jongup’s thighs naturally part for Yongguk as he comfortably seats himself, and the angle of their kisses shifts. If anything, the change lights a fire in Yongguk’s gut, the sort that has him pulling Jongup closer, until their bodies are pressed against each other, as much as his sleeping bag will allow.Void, in this heat, the felid’s body temperature is almost oppressive, but Yongguk welcomes it. The way it smothers him, the way it overwhelms him. The way it narrows down to just this. Just Jongup in his arms. Finally.
Finally.
Making a sound in the back of throat, Yongguk pulls away just enough that he can press almost frantic kisses to Jongup’s cheeks, to the corners of his mouth, along his jaw, before working his way down to the felid’s neck. Anything he can reach, anything that’ll help him believe that this is real. Letting out a breath at that, Jongup catches his claws in the back of Yongguk’s shirt and whispers out a soft “Hyung–”“What do you want? What– what do you need?” Yongguk asks, between trailing open mouth kisses along Jongup’s throat. Down to where the fur starts trailing up from his back and over his shoulders. “Anything.”“You,” the felid whispers, in a desperate enough tone that Yongguk feels in his chest. “Please? I– I’ve been thinking about it. Since the first time. Before.”Exhaling sharply at that little admission, Yongguk’s hands slip down from Jongup’s waist to his hips, before digging his thumbs in ever so slightly. “You know, you could’ve just asked. I would have said yes.”“I am asking,” Jongup whines, as he tilts his head back to bare his neck and presses himself into Yongguk’s hands. “I’m asking right now.”Yongguk almost clarifies that he meant before. Before their fight, and any time after the first time. Possibly before even that. But he doesn’t. Because he’s too busy latching his mouth onto the soft spot at the crook of Jongup’s shoulder, and rolling the man’s skin between his teeth hard enough that he leaves a mark. One that he knows people are going to be able to see for days. Which is such a stupid and unnecessarily possessive thing to do, but he can’t quite help himself. Not right now.Besides, Jongup seems to love it. Based on the way he arches into Yongguk, as a strangled sound leaves his lips. He’s always had a pretty voice, but Yongguk can’t pretend he doesn’t love it like this. A little throaty and a little hoarse and all for him. Well, him and the poor district hunters in the tent nearby.As the thought occurs to him– the mildly guilty realization that at the moment they aren’t as alone as he’d like them to be– Yongguk pulls back and murmurs, “You’re going to have to be quiet.” Sucking in a breath that Yongguk can feel in the way the man’s chest expands, Jongup gives a whine of complaint. “I don’t care.”“I care,” Yongguk says firmly, even as he sweeps his hands down Jongup’s ass and thighs, squeezing appreciatively at the muscle he finds there. “Just for tonight. Once we get back to our base, we’ll have our room. But for now–”Visibly debating, as his already hazy gaze flicks from Yongguk’s mouth to his eyes then back down to his mouth, Jongup finally swallows and says, “Yeah. Yeah I’ll be quiet. Just– please touch me?”Though he should probably be more careful, more contentious and considerate, he still caves. Instantly, without any need for further convincing.They’re both still wearing most of their work clothes, as they usually do while on long jobs like this, but Yongguk doesn’t really let that stop him. He worms his way under Jongup’s shirt, so he can run his hands over the felid’s sides. Over his ribs and his stomach and along the trail of fur that cuts down the middle of his chest. In return, Jongup stifles a little whine before finding his mouth once more, kissing him frantically, as his fingers worm their way into Yongguk’s hair.He’s a little obsessed with how easily Jongup melts into his hands, how eager he is to have Yongguk pressed up against him. Where before, this had been marked with uncertainty– shyness and hesitation– now the felid seems to know what he wants. And he’s more than happy to take it, pulling at Yongguk’s shirt with his free hand while he sucks at Yongguk’s bottom lip. It’s just a little overwhelming, but it’s perfect.It’s all Yongguk can think about.Inevitably, the sleeping bag ends up getting in their way, but it’s a fairly simple matter for Yongguk to scoot back. To disentangle himself enough that he can tug Jongup on top of him, without so many layers in the way. Sure, they’re both still wearing their cargo pants, but like this, Yongguk can feel the way the felid’s dick is starting to stiffen up and press against his stomach. Letting out an appreciative hum, at the knowledge that Jongup already wants him this bad, even from just a handful of kisses, Yongguk brings up a knee, and lets the resulting shift in their position draw a needy sound from the felid’s chest.Even after everything that’s happened this evening, he can’t lie, he wants Jongup too. Maybe their conversation should have stressed him out too much to focus on anything else, but Yongguk is quickly discovering that’s not the case. With every whine that escapes Jongup, and every time the felid shifts in his lap.As the felid’s canines sink into his lip, in a way he knows is going to leave a mark, Yongguk worms his hands under the waistband of Jongup’s work pants. The man’s skin is hot to the touch, almost unbearably so. And practically the moment Yongguk gets a hand on his ass, the man is already grinding their lower bodies together, with a small, desperate noise that he attempts to smother with another kiss.It feels good, the man’s weight pressing down on top of him. Giving a soft, appreciative groan of his own, Yongguk feels his own dick twitching to life under Jongup. He swears he’s almost lightheaded with how quickly all of this is getting to him. Not even because he’s pent up or anything; it’s just the sheer relief of having Jongup here again. Wanting him, begging for him, being unapologetically straightforward that this is something he’s choosing, not just something that’s happening to him in the moment. Yongguk didn’t realize how much of a difference that would make for him, but he can’t pretend like it’s not spreading like wildfire through his veins. The heady thought that Jongup is here for him. Not for someone else. Not because he has to be. But because he wants Yongguk just as bad as Yongguk wants him.Void, he’s almost dizzy with how swiftly the blood rushes to his dick at the thought. Tightening his fingers on Jongup’s ass, he bucks up against the man before pulling back just enough to look him in the eyes. To see those flushed cheeks, and dilating pupils, and the spit glistening on his lips. Jongup looks like sin. And this is his now. Actually his, and not just his in the moment.Before Yongguk can get too emotional about it, too overwhelmed, he shoves his face into the crook of Jongup’s neck, and lets that mounting pressure in his chest bloom until it’s filling every corner of his body with pure, sweet desire. “Yongguk,” Jongup groans, bracing his knees so he can grind their erections against each other with more force. “You– I–”“Easy,” Yongguk murmurs against Jongup’s mouth, as the felid’s claws dig into his scalp, and he bounces his hips more frantically. “I’m here, you have me.”“Can– can I see you?” the felid whispers, tail practically vibrating as he tugs at Yongguk’s shirt. “Please.”And oh, he can’t pretend like the way Jongup says those words doesn’t have his dick twitching in his pants. The man must notice too, because his fingers are instantly tangling in the hem of Yongguk’s shirt, as he starts pulling the thin material up and over his stomach. Even though Yongguk could argue that they’re on a job, and they probably shouldn’t take this too far, he’s instantly caving to the look on Jongup’s face. The glaze in his eyes, and the pleading jut of his bottom lip. “Yeah, gimme a moment.”Practically the moment Yongguk has his shirt up and over his head, Jongup is slowing the shallow roll of his hips so he can greedily run his hands up Yongguk’s torso. The felid’s claws prick at his skin, leaving a faint tingling in their wake. Having the man touch him like this isn’t completely foreign, they’re partners after all, but in this context it’s completely different. Something that has Yongguk sucking in a heavy breath, and struggling to keep his eyes open. “Void you’re so hot,” Jongup murmurs, as his fingers dip into the lines and curves of Yongguk’s runes. There’s something electric about how he traces them with practiced dexterity, like he’s memorized every one. Like he knew them long before he was ever allowed to touch. And that buzzing under Yongguk’s skin only multiplies when the felid reaches his bond mark, before looking up at him with hazy eyes.“It’s yours,” Yongguk rumbles, fully aware that the words are stupid and cheesy, but also able to feel the wave of want that rolls through that soul bond so strongly it could’ve brought him to his knees. It’s almost dizzying, how powerful those shared emotions are in the moment; almost as palpable as when they were first bonded. And in his mind just as important, if not more so.“Let me–” Unable to quite get the words out, as Jongup’s fingers brush over the edge of his bond mark and send what might as well be an electric current jolting through his body, Yongguk reaches for the man’s shirt. And Jongup eagerly lets him, allowing himself to be stripped without question; without a second thought. Yongguk tries to do so carefully, tries to be considerate and take his time, but it’s almost impossible to keep himself that tightly reigned in. He feels like he needs this, needs Jongup. More than he needs the breath in his lungs. And the felid reacts so beautifully to that desperation, arching his back just a little the moment Yongguk tosses his shirt away, as though to show off. Void, he really is pretty. With the rune lamp growing bright beside them, Yongguk is able to appreciate every bit of it. Every muscle, every wisp of orange fur, every silvery scar. He’s able to slide his hands up and over the felid’s chest before pressing his thumb against Jongup’s bond mark. Until he can feel it under his own skin. Until the felid is surging forward, and messily connecting their mouths once again.The feeling of Jongup’s bare skin against his own has heat flooding his system. It has Yongguk doing everything he can to pull the felid closer; to run his hands over every inch of the man he can reach before settling a palm on the small of the man’s back. Right above his shivering tail. Like he knows exactly where Yongguk’s thoughts have gone, Jongup starts rocking their hips together once more, not enough to be fully satisfying, but at least enough to give them something. The friction against his dick is electrifying, settling into Yongguk’s nerves like fire. As his thoughts fog over, he does his best to steady Jongup. To get some traction of his own against the floor of their tent and buck his hips up against the man. And even just that slow, languid grind has Yongguk’s eyes fluttering closed, and Jongup’s breath hitching in his chest.Pulling away from the felid’s mouth once more, Yongguk’s lips slip down over the man’s neck. Over his collarbone, and down his chest. In this position, there’s only so much he can reach, but he wants it all. He wants to run his mouth along every inch of Jongup’s body. To hear the man moan out his name, in a place where they can be as loud as they want. Yet at the same time, this? The shivering breaths and small whimpers; it’s a special kind of intoxicating all on its own.“I– I want more,” Jongup pleads, biting his lip to keep the sound from getting too loud. “Please. Please.” As much as Yongguk would love to take his time, has been dreaming about that very thing, this really isn’t the place. It’s not the time. And honestly, he’s having trouble holding himself back; not taking absolutely everything that’s being offered to him right here and right now.So Yongguk gives in to Jongup’s begging. He finds the snaps of the felid’s cargo pants and pulls them open before pushing the material down over Jongup’s ass and thighs. Eagerly, Jongup helps, briefly rolling off of Yongguk’s lap so he can yank the clothing off entirely. And even though it’s rushed and fumbling, Yongguk can’t help but let out a breath at the sight of the other man stripping for him like this.Jongup is beautiful, from his tanned skin to his strong thighs to every hard earned muscle of his body. He’s got freckles on his hips that Yongguk had forgotten were there. The scars on his legs and toned stomach meanwhile are familiar; he thinks he can name where the felid got every one. And inevitably, Yongguk’s gaze trails lower, over the white fur that meanders down from Jongup’s navel, all the way to the curled, fluffy thatch above his dick.Even from just this much, Jongup is hard and flushed, the feline ridges of his cock catching the glow from the rune lamp beside them. There’s pre-cum beading at his tip, and for just a second his tail twitches up, as though to cover himself, before he catches Yongguk’s stare and deliberately swishes it away. There’s something mesmerizing about that, about the heavy, needy look that Jongup is giving him. How trusting it is, and at the same time how impatient and desperate.“C’mere,” Yongguk murmurs, voice thick in his throat.With a shiver, Jongup obediently rolls onto his hands and knees before crawling into Yongguk’s lap once more.Yongguk doesn’t make nearly the show of taking off his own pants that Jongup did. Instead, he swiftly pops the buttons before shoving them out of the way enough he can get to his dick. Of course, Jongup is more than happy to help. The moment he realizes what’s going on, his hands are there instead, practically leaving holes in the material as he yanks it down Yongguk’s thighs before cupping him through his boxers.Breath hitching at the way Jongup palms him, Yongguk can’t help but buck up into the touch. Straddling one of his thighs, the felid puts more pressure behind his hand. Just enough to make that heat already coiling in Yongguk’s gut to swell up. Though he’s got enough control over himself to swallow down the moan that tries to bubble up, he can’t hide the way he tenses; the way the tendons in his neck pull tight.“Ah– fuck.” Lids fluttering, at the teasing yet heavenly feeling of Jongup’s hand on him, Yongguk reaches for the man and yanks him closer. Until he can feel the felid’s dick grinding into his leg, and hear the soft whimper that leaves those bruised lips at the sensation. “Hyung,” Jongup whines, right against Yongguk’s neck. Damp and hot. “Yongguk.” “I’m right here,” Yongguk murmurs, wrapping his fingers around Jongup’s tail as he again rolls up into the hand still on his dick. “Promise.”Shivering, tail practically vibrating, Jongup jerks his hips forward again, dragging his erection against the tensed muscles of Yongguk’s thigh. Huffing as the felid’s palm grinds into him in the process, Yongguk closes his eyes against the sensation. The sparking pleasure, and the overwhelming heat of Jongup’s body. As the man whimpers and shudders in his hold.Tugging on the felid’s tail, Yongguk drags a particularly sharp whine from Jongup’s throat. Pretty and high and needy and too loud for where they are. Humming at the sound, he presses a hand to the back of the man’s head, stifling the noise against his shoulder. “Shhh,” he soothes, even as he tenses up his leg against Jongup’s dick. “They’re going to hear you.”Making a strangled sound of complaint that he attempts to swallow back, Jongup whispers, “I know I know, I– I’m trying.”“You’re doing alright,” Yongguk hums, rubbing between Jongup’s fluffy ears before sliding his fingers down to the nape of his neck. Almost at once, he can feel the tension in the man’s shoulders loosen and slip away. “Do you need me to–”“No I’ve got it,” Jongup insists breathlessly, as he shifts his hand up and his claws press against Yongguk’s abdomen. “I– please.”As he finally runs out of whatever patience he had to draw this out, Jongup instantly goes back to trying to rid Yongguk of his clothes. He fumbles slightly, but he manages eventually. Yanking at the waistband of Yongguk’s boxers, dragging them down with his pants, Jongup lets out an unmistakable purr before wrapping eager fingers around Yongguk’s dick.Even just Jongup’s dry palm on his cock is enough to make Yongguk curse thickly, and tighten his hand over one of the man’s bare thighs. Encouraged by his reaction, Jongup shifts a little further into Yongguk’s lap, until he can wrap a hand around both of them, and tighten his grip. Until a spark of pure pleasure zips up Yongguk’s spine.“Can I–?” Jongup breathes, his voice practically trembling in his throat as he pumps their erections once. Dry, and slow, and so fucking good. “Can I– Yongguk please.” “Whatever you want,” Yongguk croaks, as he tightens his grip on Jongup, until his fingers are leaving white indents where he presses against the man’s skin. “Anything, just–”He doesn’t get to finish what he was saying, because Jongup choses that moment to actually start stroking them both, with the kind of speed and sharpness that only comes from uncontrollable desperation, and that completely strips him of any other thoughts. The felid’s touch is rough. His palm chafes against sensitive skin. Hell, it kind of hurts as much as it feels good, but that doesn’t stop Yongguk from groaning and dragging the man closer with a hand on his back. Right where fur curls up from between Jongup’s shoulder blades.Jongup’s hand isn’t as big as his. He can’t quite wrap his fingers around both of them, but he makes up for it with the way he jerks his hips, fucking shallowly into his own palm and against Yongguk. The scrape of the felid’s dick against his is almost too much for him to handle, but he wants it. He craves it. He needs as much of Jongup as he’s able to get, in whatever way he can get it.As Jongup jerks them off, Yongguk lets his mouth roam over the man’s neck. Over his jaw and his Adam’s apple, and the precise place where his pulse is close enough to the skin that Yongguk can taste it. Every time he catches Jongup’s skin with his teeth, the felid hisses and jerks against him. Every time he leaves another red mark on the man’s throat, it earns him another whimper, and Jongup trying to press, if possible, even closer.“I can’t– fuck.” Making a whiny, frustrated noise in the back of his throat, Jongup briefly pulls his hand away from their dicks so he can spit into his palm. Thoughtlessly, Yongguk runs a soothing hand down the felid’s spine to help relieve some of the tension, before rumbling deep in his chest with approval when the felid wraps fingers around them both once more. Tight and damp.This time, the friction is better. The burn of dry skin is replaced by a smoother pleasure, one that has Yongguk’s eyes sliding closed. Letting out his own trilling sound of satisfaction, Jongup quickens the pace of his hand, and buries his face into Yongguk’s shoulder.Everything about this is messy and wanting. Jongup’s breath spills hot and shaky down Yongguk’s chest. Yongguk can hear his heartbeat thudding in his ears. When he gets a hand back on Jongup’s ass and bucks up against him, he instantly gets a muffled moan, and the felid begging him to, “Void, do– do that again.”He doesn’t even begin to hesitate. Bracing his heels against the ground, getting a hand behind him to steady himself, Yongguk rolls his hips up into Jongup’s palm, as fast and sharp as he can. It’s difficult to set any kind of pace, especially in this position, but he does his best. And Jongup doesn’t seem to care that it’s not perfect. No, he’s too busy wrapping an arm around Yongguk’s neck, and digging his claws in as he continues to frantically work his fist over both of them.Through the lust filled haze of it all, Yongguk can feel the felid’s claws catching on sensitive skin every now and then. But he swears those brief sparks of pain only make the rest of it better. It only serves to sharpen his focus on the heat of Jongup’s body against his, and the unmistakable tension starting to build up in his shoulder blades. As he loses himself to the pleasure.Seeking out the felid’s mouth once more, Yongguk grinds up against the man, as hard as he’s able, and eats the whimpers off those soft lips before they’re able to escape into the rest of the tent. Their kisses miss more than they connect, but it’s more about having Jongup close than anything else. Where he can touch, where he can taste, where he can experience the man’s arousal almost as strongly as his own.It’s not enough. Yongguk’s not sure anything could possibly be enough. But this is all they have the space for, so he eagerly takes what he can get, and promises himself that he’ll be able to properly satisfy all of those cravings later. When he’s not worried about accidentally sharing Jongup with a bunch of unsuspecting district hunters.Jerking his own hips forward, Jongup tries his best to keep up with Yongguk, sharply sinking those canines into his bottom lip once again. It may cover up the sounds he makes, but it does nothing to hide the way his dick spits up pre-cum, as a shiver rolls through his body. The slickness of it eases the burn of drying saliva in the best way possible, and has a familiar fire mounting deep in Yongguk’s gut.“I– I need–” Pulling back slightly, Jongup gives Yongguk a wild-eyed look, one that has his pupils practically vibrating. “Yongguk–”“What do you need,” Yongguk rumbles, continuing to buck his hips up against Jongup even when the man’s hand stutters and slows. “Just tell me.”Whimpering, more loudly than he probably means to, Jongup grits his teeth before begging, “I need you. Hyung, I need you inside me, please.” The words alone are enough to have Yongguk’s cock pulsing in Jongup’s fingers, and a groan leaving his mouth. Because yeah, that’s what he wants too. That’s exactly what he wants. But a second later, common sense kicks back in and he’s reaching for Jongup’s cheek, with an apologetic twitch of his mouth. “We’re in the middle of a job,” he croaks out, his voice unstable and rough. “I can’t in good conscience–”“Then do it in bad conscience,” Jongup demands. Without hesitation, he presses his body up against Yongguk’s; sweat soaked skin sticking to tangled fur. “Please, I want you so bad.”“I want you too,” Yongguk assures the felid. “But I don’t have lube, or condoms, and we’re in a tent in the middle of the woods, and–”“I don’t care.” Fisting a hand in Yongguk’s hair, Jongup fiercely says, “I have been waiting for this for months. No, longer. I don’t care if I’m sore tomorrow. I don’t care if we don’t have any of the right stuff, I just–” Choking on a whimper that gets stuck somewhere deep in his throat, Jongup presses their foreheads together. “Yongguk please.” Exhaling sharply, Yongguk feels the resistance he’d been putting up crumbling. Void, he’s got Jongup begging for him, pulse fluttering frantically against his own, eyes wide and desperate. He should be responsible. He should insist they wait.He doesn’t.Instead, Yongguk crashes their mouths together in a kiss that he hopes communicates just how much he needs Jongup too before pulling back just enough to murmur, “Turn around. Try and get comfortable.”Chest heaving as he realizes he’s getting what he wants, Jongup scrambles to comply. His hind paws get a little tangled in the process, and his tail smacks Yongguk across the face. But once the two of them settle back down, the felid is splayed out head down, ass up in front of Yongguk, while he kneels between the man’s spread knees. It takes him a second to recalibrate at the sight, because void does Jongup look pretty presenting himself like this, but he manages to pull himself together. Just enough to stop staring uselessly.Stroking a hand down the man’s spine, Yongguk gently pulls aside Jongup’s tail to get better access to his entrance. “You’re gorgeous,” he hums, pressing a kiss to one of Jongup’s ass cheeks.Letting out a pleased rumble that echoes deep in his throat, Jongup looks back over his shoulder at Yongguk and lets his tongue flick over his canines. “You don’t have to be gentle, if you don’t want to be,” he assures him, with the sort of delirious look in those big eyes that suggests just how much he means it. “I can take whatever you give me, don’t worry.”Rubbing his hands over Jongup’s thighs, digging his thumbs into the tensed muscles until the felid relaxes somewhat, Yongguk firmly tells him, “Even if you can take it, I want to be careful.”Shivering, as Yongguk’s fingers slide further up the backs of his legs before dipping between his ass cheeks, Jongup all but whines, “That’s– that’s fine too. You can have me however you want, just– just please don’t make me wait.”Even if he’d had all the time in the world, Yongguk doesn’t think he could’ve resisted Jongup begging like that. With his tail twitching and his claws biting into Yongguk’s sleeping bag, and his voice already rough in his throat. So instead of resisting, Yongguk just gives him what he wants. Because if he’s honest, he wants it just as bad.Spitting onto his fingers, wishing as he does that he had something a little better to do this with, Yongguk massages around Jongup’s entrance with his index finger. Almost at once, the felid is making a sound that can only be described as a mewl before backing up into his touch. Without thinking, Yongguk holds the man where he is, and gets a thin sound of complaint in return.“I’ll beg.” Jongup’s voice is unsteady, but he still finds it in himself to sound incredibly serious. “If you want me to, I’ll start begging. Just– oh void. Void, yes.” Sinking that first finger inside of the felid, Yongguk watches dazedly as Jongup shudders in his grip and shoves his face into the sleeping bag. The man is tight, his body is unbelievably hot. Head spinning a bit, as his dick throbs unhelpfully between his legs, Yongguk manages to whisper, “Relax,” before starting to move his hand.Hiccuping on a moan that he desperately tries to keep quiet, Jongup practically melts for Yongguk. He doesn’t fully relax, but he clearly tries to. He bears down on the intrusion and twitches his tail out of the way and attempts to encourage Yongguk to go faster. To give him more, like taking things slow is almost worse than not getting what he wants at all.Even though it’d be so easy to rush this, Yongguk resolutely takes his time. He pulls his finger back out so he can massage around Jongup’s hole before rubbing spit-slick fingers over the man’s perineum. Then he’s pushing that digit back in and twisting it just so, until he drags another muffled groan from Jongup’s mouth. “Faster,” Jongup pleads, his chest heaving like even that single word is almost impossible to get out. “Yongguk–”“You can have patience,” Yongguk tells the felid, as he builds up a steady pace with his finger, slowly loosening the man up. Until he’s not clenching so tightly, and his thighs aren’t trembling nearly so much. “I swear, I’m going to fuck you, just wait.”“I know, it’s just– fuck.” Jolting in Yongguk’s hands, as he crooks his finger inside of the man, Jongup’s ears twitch back against his head before he’s all but babbling, “More, I want more.” Exhaling sharply, Yongguk hurries to comply. Pulling his hand back for a moment, he spits on his fingers again before pressing two fingers up against Jongup’s entrance. Instantly, he gets a trill from the felid, and the man’s tail nearly smacking him in the face again.“Please,” Jongup breathes, straining against the hand Yongguk still has clamped around the back of a thigh in an attempt to get closer. To fuck himself on Yongguk’s fingers. “Please, please– Hyung, I–”“I’ve got you,” Yongguk tells Jongup, as he pushes those two digits into the felid, slow and careful. “I promise I’ve got you.”It’s beautiful, how Jongup instinctively lets himself be vulnerable for Yongguk. Even though the lack of proper lube is probably making this process more uncomfortable than it would be otherwise, he still takes it perfectly. He arches his spine and presses his chest into the sleeping bag, and lets a wanting rumble build up in the back of his throat. He still tries to convince Yongguk to give him more, like it’s all he can think about.Too captivated to do anything else, Yongguk instantly caves. He presses his fingers deeper into Jongup before scissoring them gently. He can feel the momentary flare of discomfort through their bond mark, but it quickly fades, giving way to a warm buzzing that settles into his own nerves right along with the felid. Unconsciously tightening his grip on Jongup’s thigh, Yongguk gradually picks up the pace of his hand, keeping it as steady as ever, while still trying to help the other man enjoy himself. He can tell it’s working. The felid’s whole body is flushing under his touch. His breath is coming in quick, shallow gasps. He’s biting his lip in what’s clearly an attempt to stay quiet. And when Yongguk’s eyes fall between the man’s legs, he can see Jongup’s dick, heavy and swollen between his thighs. Leaking pre-cum onto the sleeping bag beneath him.“Does it feel good?” Yongguk asks, almost winded himself at just how perfectly Jongup’s body is reacting to him.“Yes, yes.” Rolling his hips back into Yongguk’s hand, fucking himself on the fingers inside him, Jongup’s hind paws curl and he pants out, “I’ve wanted your fingers inside me for so long.” Sucking in a sharp breath, at the way a bolt of heat rocks through him at those words, Yongguk crooks his fingers inside Jongup and murmurs, “You have?”“You have no idea,” Jongup breathes, as he keeps rocking back on Yongguk’s hand. “When you walked in on me a couple weeks ago, that– that’s what I was imagining. Exactly like this. I just wanted you so bad.”Marveling for a second at the way Jongup is practically doing the work of opening himself up for him, with the frantic way he keeps twitching his hips, Yongguk fervently promises, “You don’t have to imagine anymore. You can have me whenever you want.”Jongup makes an attempt to answer, but the next jerk of his hips back onto Yongguk’s fingers has him managing to brush up against a particular bundle of nerves, and almost at once the man’s voice is completely failing him. Repeating the motion, like he can’t help himself, Jongup’s knees shake as he chokes out, “Fuck. Oh fuck–” Honing in on those reactions, Yongguk adjusts the angle of his fingers and strokes over Jongup’s prostate once more. “Like that?” he asks, like he isn’t perfectly capable of seeing just how much even that amount of teasing is affecting the felid. “Yes,” Jongup moans, shoving his face deeper into the sleeping bag in a desperate attempt to muffle his voice. “Just like that. Please.”Like this, it’s easy for Yongguk to keep hitting that spot, as he scissors his fingers and massages at the man’s soft insides. And it’s rewarding to do, as he watches Jongup fall apart in his hands, completely lost to the pleasure rolling over him. Within a matter of minutes, the felid’s whole body is trembling as he squirms in Yongguk’s grip. His breathing is so choppy it’s coming out in small squeaks, ones that Yongguk can’t help but drink in, even though it risks the two of them being overheard. When the man turns his head to the side and looks up at Yongguk, that punched out, hazy expression is almost enough to take his breath away.Unable to stop himself, Yongguk leans over Jongup’s back so he can press messy, open mouthed kisses over the felid’s shoulder blades. He can feel the thin sheen of sweat that’s standing out on the man’s skin. Despite how little most bestia sweat in general, it’s clear Jongup is too worked up for that to matter. The slight dampness has him glowing in the rune lamp, turning his skin to pure gold.As he sucks a harsh mark into Jongup’s back, as close to the nape of the man’s neck as he can get without ending up with a mouthful of fur, Yongguk picks up the pace of the fingers he has inside the felid. With unrelenting precision, he grinds them into Jongup’s prostate, dragging whine after whine from the man’s throat. At this point, he’s certain the hunters in the nearby tents are able to hear them, but he can’t quite make himself care enough to slow down. He’s too enthralled by how perfectly Jongup is falling apart for him; too overwhelmed by the waves of pure lust that are being transferred through their bond mark.When a particularly hard jab at Jongup’s sweet spot has the man’s knees collapsing, Yongguk is instantly shifting his grip to hold the man aloft. It’s intoxicating, having the felid rely on him like this. So desperate for literally anything Yongguk will give him. So completely open and trusting that it takes his breath away. Void, he swears he’s dizzy with how much of the blood in his body is currently in his dick. Despite his protests to the contrary, Yongguk wants to fuck Jongup. So much that it’s driving him insane. At the same time though, having the felid fall apart with just his hand is so beautiful that it’s almost impossible to convince himself to stop. Not when he’s already pushed Jongup this far.“Hyung, I– I–” Making a thick, frantic sound in the back of his throat, Jongup scrambles to get a hand between his legs so he can fist his own dick. Yongguk can feel the way the man clenches around his fingers the moment he grips himself, as a heavy shiver races up the length of his spine.“Are you okay?” Yongguk murmurs, as he tightens his hold on Jongup’s hip and continues to work his fingers over the man’s prostate.“Yes but I– I’m close,” Jongup half sobs, as he begins to stroke himself with uncoordinated flicks of his wrist. “I’m so close.” “Do you want me to keep going?” Yongguk asks, already knowing the answer even before the question has fully left his lips.“Yes, yes please keep going,” Jongup pleads, as his tail vibrates against Yongguk’s chest. “I– I’m so– I need it.”Almost growling at the tremble in Jongup’s voice, the sheer desperation for more of this, more of him, Yongguk immediately complies. Biting at Jongup’s shoulder, he strokes over the man’s prostate several more times with just the right amount of pressure, before pulling his hand back and pushing in a third finger. Deeper and deeper, until he’s able to curl all of them right against the felid’s sweet spot.With a broken cry, Jongup’s whole body jerks in Yongguk’s grip as he cums. Tightening sharply around the hand inside of him, almost fully collapsing onto the sleeping bag, the felid groans out Yongguk’s name. Turning it into three syllables, then five, as his body shudders, and cum splatters white against the bedding beneath him. Humming low in his throat, as a burst of undeniable satisfaction rolls through him, Yongguk continues to gently massage over Jongup’s prostate, coaxing the waves of the man’s orgasm out of him. Shivering with every additional bit of stimulation, the tension in the felid’s body slowly drains away. Until he’s going pliant and limp in Yongguk’s hands. Spent and happy, and all but purring as he settles down on the sleeping bag.Pulling his fingers out of Jongup, shushing the small noise of complaint it gets him, Yongguk carefully rolls the man over so he can look him in the eyes. The felid’s gaze is unfocused. His lips are bitten red. The flush on his face has worked its way down to his stomach. His fluffy ears are twitching sporadically against his head. But when they make eye-contact, he smiles, and reaches for Yongguk. “You’re so good to me,” Jongup slurs, as he pulls Yongguk down into a hug. “That was perfect.”As he’s drawn down against the felid’s body, Yongguk is acutely reminded of how hard he still is, as his dick presses up against the crease of Jongup’s thigh. Doing his best to stifle the groan that tries to leave him, Yongguk gives Jongup an apologetic look. “Sorry, I just– it’s–”“You’re still going to fuck me, right?” Jongup asks, not letting Yongguk finish whatever he’d been about to say.Pulling back slightly, so he can brace himself above the felid’s body, Yongguk looks down at the man through hazy eyes. “Are– are you sure? I don’t want to push you.”“I want to be pushed,” Jongup tells him, catching the back of Yongguk’s neck and digging in his claws. “You said you were gonna fuck me, don’t– don’t change your mind now. Please.”“We have work in the morning,” Yongguk points out, even though his dick is throbbing against Jongup’s leg, as his body reacts to the man’s words alone. “I don’t want to–” “Fuck work,” Jongup says, managing to enunciate each word perfectly. “Besides, I know you want me. I can feel it.”He accompanies that statement with a roll of his hips up against Yongguk. Slow and tired, but enough to drag a groan out of both of them. Steadying himself with a forearm braced beside Jongup’s head, Yongguk pants out, “Are you sure? If you need me to, I can wait.”Meeting Yongguk’s eyes, Jongup’s pupils dilate. “I can’t.” Then he’s dragging Yongguk in again for another messy, heated kiss that immediately has any resistance he ever even though about putting up crumbling to pieces.Though Jongup should be worn out, Yongguk can practically taste the desperation in the man’s breath. In the way he pushes his tongue into Yongguk’s mouth and lets out a moan that shakes him to his core. Struggling to hold himself in check, even though it feels almost impossible to do, he takes a second to just fall into that kiss. As he runs his hands over the felid’s thighs, and works the remaining tremors out of the man’s muscles.Pulling back slightly, Yongguk presses several soft kisses to Jongup’s cheeks and jaw before sitting back on his heels. Propping himself up on shaky elbows, Jongup watches him dazedly, with those pretty gold-green eyes of his. “You– you’re going to–”“Yeah,” Yongguk confirms, clearing his throat to rid it of the tremor in that single word. “Yeah, I’m going to fuck you.”Relaxing somewhat, as a relieved purr echoes up from his chest, Jongup slumps back against the sleeping bag. Invitingly, he parts flushed thighs a little wider, and stares up at Yongguk with such undeniable adoration that it takes his breath away. “However you want me,” he whispers, lashes fluttering over his cheeks. “I’m yours.”Giving a short, jerky nod, Yongguk mutters, “Just give me a minute,” before backing up and quickly doing his best to strip out of his pants. He fumbles slightly in the process, he’s having trouble staying focused, but it doesn’t matter. Because a moment later, he’s back between the felid’s thighs, and that’s all he can think about.Reaching out, he settles his hands on Jongup’s knees, before slowly sliding his palms further up the man’s legs. Sighing at the sensation, the felid’s eyes flutter closed, and he unconsciously leans into Yongguk’s touch. “You’re going to make me feel so good,” he rumbles, the words still a little slurred around the edges. “I haven’t already?” Yongguk can’t help but tease, as he pushes the man’s legs far enough apart to see his entrance. Jongup’s rim is slightly puffy from his earlier ministrations. As he stares, it twitches invitingly, something that’s accompanied by a soft whine from Jongup.“You have, but–” Attempting to squirm closer, the muscles of his abdomen tightening as he does, the felid lets out a quiet groan. “I want more. I want you inside me.”It’s tempting to give Jongup exactly what he’s asking for. To position himself between the felid’s legs and fuck him just like this. But even now, even dazed with lust and desperate for more, Yongguk wants to be more careful than that.Spitting on his fingers once more, Yongguk murmurs, “I’ll give you what you want soon, I promise.” Leaning over the felid, he lets his eyes roam over the man for a second before prodding at the man’s entrance with three fingers. “Relax.”Almost the moment he pushes his fingers back in, Jongup’s face contorts, and he tries and fails to squirm his way out of Yongguk’s grip. “Come on,” he groans, eyes opening once more so he can shoot Yongguk an almost accusatory stare. “I want your dick in me.”“Just a little more,” Yongguk reassures Jongup, making a point of massaging at his hips; pressing a thumb into the dip of his pelvis. “I want to make sure you’re ready for me.”“I already am,” Jongup insists, breathing quickening once more as Yongguk strokes at his insides, deliberate and gentle. “I can take you. Please.”Pressing a kiss to one of the man’s knees, Yongguk simply pushes his fingers in deeper. “You can hold on for a little longer.”For all of Jongup’s complaining, he instantly surrenders to Yongguk’s touch. Backing up into the hand inside of him, even though he’s probably too sensitive to fully handle it, a soft moan leaves the man’s parted lips. A second later, he’s covering his mouth with a hand, as a much louder sound tries to escape him.“You can make as much noise as you want when we’re home,” Yongguk promises, as he scissors his fingers inside of Jongup. The slick sound they make every time thrusts them back in is eating at his brain stem, making his nerves practically vibrate. “Once we have some privacy, you can–”“Just hurry up,” Jongup begs through his fingers, voice muffled but no less desperate. “I can’t– Yongguk please.” Picking up the pace of his hand, Yongguk does his best to make sure the felid is properly prepared. This may be rushed and frantic, and kind of a mess, but he doesn’t want to hurt his partner. Heaven forbid he do something like that. Not when this is his first time getting to have Jongup like this.Maybe it’s stupid and sentimental, but he wants this to be perfect. Because he loves this man. More than he can fully put into words.Jongup must be able to feel that swell of emotion through their bond mark, because at once his eyes are on Yongguk, and despite how unfocused they are, that love is being reflected back at him. So clear and unequivocal that he has to wonder how he didn’t see it before. How he could ever have possibly believed that Jongup didn’t feel the same. Even for a second. “I think you’re ready,” Yongguk croaks, as he pulls his fingers out of Jongup once more.Nodding in agreement, the felid’s tail twitches and he reaches for Yongguk. He’s already half-hard again. There’s desire in every line of his body. He’s still covering his mouth, but the rest of his face betrays exactly how much he’s feeling. “Please,” he whispers again, as Yongguk looms over him. “Please.” At this point, Yongguk doesn’t think he could hold himself back a moment longer. Slicking himself up with another glob of spit as best as he can, grabbing for Jongup’s hip as he does, he lines himself up and presses the tip of his dick against the felid’s entrance. Pausing just long enough to watch a shiver roll up Jongup’s spine, Yongguk lets out a shaky breath before finally pushing in.Though it’s insanely difficult to hold back, he tries to go slow. He gives Jongup as much time as he needs to adjust, sinking in inch by inch, waiting for a couple breaths between each one. He can see the strain it’s putting on the man. Despite taking all of that time to open the felid up, the man’s face is still pinched in focus as Yongguk gradually presses in. His breath comes a little harder. His tail vibrates against Yongguk’s leg.“Are you okay?” Yongguk pants out, as he finally seats himself fully inside of the man.“You’re big,” is all Jongup manages, as he fights to catch his breath. “I– void. You’re so big.”He swears it’s taking every ounce of willpower he has not to come on the spot, surrounded by the tight heat of Jongup’s insides. Yet he forces himself to stay still. Gently, he leans over the felid and brushes the stray hairs out of the man’s face. “I’ll go slow,” he promises, voice gravely and frayed around the edges. “Don’t.” Abruptly wrapping his legs around Yongguk’s back, Jongup catches him by the shoulder and pushes out, “Don’t go slow. I want– I want all of you. Hyung– Yongguk, please fuck me.”When he’s got Jongup begging for him like that, how is he to even begin to say no?Pulling out, until just the tip of his dick is inside Jongup, Yongguk swiftly snaps his hips forward. The heat and pressure around his dick is heavenly, enough that it pulls a low groan out from his chest. And almost at once, Yongguk can feel Jongup’s hind paws curling, and see the felid’s ears twitching wildly at the sensation.Almost bending the man in half, Yongguk leans over Jongup, close enough to brush a kiss over the man’s forehead, then one of his cheeks. Attempting to gentle his grip on one narrow hip, just for long enough to rub soothing circles into it, he breathes out, “Is– is this alright?”“Yes,” Jongup whimpers, claws threatening to pierce Yongguk’s skin. “Yes, I need– I need it.” Though he knows he’s not going quite as fast as Jongup probably wants, Yongguk builds up a steady pace, as he thrusts into the felid. If he actually cuts loose right now, he’s going to completely lose it, so he makes up for how slow he is by fucking as deeply into Jongup’s body as he can. Hard and deliberate, so the man can feel every bit of Yongguk that he’s taking.Jongup doesn’t stop begging for more, but his voice does start to fail as Yongguk keeps up that roll of his hips. His stomach trembles. His thighs shake. His eyes go glassy and unfocused, and with every other breath, he lets out strangled moans that are, on their own, enough to light Yongguk’s body on fire.As often as Yongguk’s daydreamed about doing this in a place that’s special and sacred and safe, fucking Jongup out here in the middle of a forest is doing something dangerous to Yongguk’s brain chemistry. They’re exposed, and they have to stay quiet, but that just makes him hyper aware of every labored breath that Jongup drags into his lungs. Every twitch and clench of the man’s hole around his dick. Every burst of trust and affection and overwhelming need that rolls through their shared bond.He can feel Jongup’s erection sliding against his stomach, hardening further with every thrust. It’s undeniable proof that what he’s doing is making the other man feel good, and that lights up something important in him. The knowledge that Jongup is feeling this just as much as Yongguk is. That he’s just as desperate.Shifting slightly, Yongguk plants a hand beside the felid’s head before leaving messy, open-mouthed kisses along the man’s bared neck. Over his chest, across his ribs and over the thatch of fur that runs over his sternum. He swears there’s simply too much emotion to be contained by his body, so it spills out into his actions. It’s in the way he grips Jongup’s waist tightly enough to bruise, like if he doesn’t, the man is going to get away from him. It comes out in his voice, as he breathes out soft, shaking curses into the other man’s skin with every jerk of his hips.After waiting for so long, after taking all of this so incredibly slow, actually being inside of Jongup is almost more than Yongguk can handle. He can feel a familiar tension building in his shoulders. In the backs of his thighs and deep in his gut. But he wants this to last as long as possible, so he clings onto every bit of self-control he has. As he picks up his pace, and draws another cry– too loud, too sharp– from Jongup’s swollen lips.“You’re so deep.” The felid’s voice is little more than a low yowl, even as he desperately tries to press his hand more firmly over his mouth to hold back the noise. “Void– Y-Yongguk.” “You’re taking me well,” Yongguk murmurs, voice hardly more than a rumble. “It feels so good inside of you.”Jongup tries to answer, but all that comes out is a pathetic mewl. Absolutely taken by the sound, by the sight of the man’s face contorting with pleasure, Yongguk does his best to go faster. To make the man feel even better than he is right now. No matter how much strain he has to put on his own body to do it.Once he’s built up that rhythm, Yongguk finds it impossible to slow down. It’s drier than he wants it to be, he can feel the way his cock is catching at Jongup’s rim with every thrust, but if anything that bit of friction just makes it better. Certainly Jongup seems to love it, based on the way he won’t stop clenching around Yongguk, and pulling him in as close as he’s able. Like any amount of space between them is too much.Honestly, it’s overwhelming. Yongguk feels surrounded by the felid, his body and soft fur, and the slide of skin against skin. It’s almost more than he can take, and yet he craves more of it. Even if it’s going to make him lose his mind.Shifting how he’s holding Jongup slightly, Yongguk gets his lips over their shared bond mark. Like this, he can feel the man’s heart beating frantically in his chest, and he swears it’s thundering right alongside his own. With each successive kiss he places there, the connection gets stronger, until he thinks he can feel an echo of what Jongup is feeling, in a strange, doubled mirror of the sensations coursing through his own body. It’s at once intoxicating and enough to fry his nerves. Until he thinks he’s shaking as much as the felid is, and his head is buzzing with nothing but the man beneath him.“Need– I need more,” Jongup chokes out, as one of his hands catches in Yongguk’s hair and tugs at it frantically. “Please– please.” Unable to resist Jongup’s words, the wild edge to his voice, Yongguk obliges. Pulling back somewhat reluctantly from the man’s bond mark, he takes a second to adjust the angle of his thrusts. Searching for that spot inside of Jongup that’ll make him lose his mind. That’ll have him falling apart just like he did earlier, so pretty and perfect in Yongguk’s hands.He knows when he finds it, because the moment he brushes over Jongup’s prostate, the man’s back is arching, and he’s letting out a strangled curse in feline bestia that thins out at the end into a whine. Unable to look away from the man, from his heaving chest and flushed face and vibrating, tufted ears, Yongguk repeats that same motion, and feels the pressure in his own gut mounting at the way Jongup’s whole body shakes and shivers beneath him. “Void,” Jongup groans into his own palm, as he fumbles to roll his hips back against Yongguk’s. To chase more of that mind-numbing pleasure. “Void, void– just like that.”Without question, Yongguk does as he’s been bid. He sits back on his heels and grabs for the back of one of Jongup’s thighs and pistons into the felid with renewed force, making sure to nail the man’s sweet spot with every thrust. And letting go like this and giving into all the desire and the lust swimming around in his veins feels just as good as he knew it would. To the point where he thinks he’s going to become addicted to it.Jongup certainly seems like he’s enjoying himself. Loudly enough that they might as well give up on the pretense of being quiet all together. The felid is actively biting his hand at this point, hard enough that his canines are drawing blood, but it does nothing to hide the way Yongguk’s name keeps tripping off of his tongue, or the groans that keep leaving him. He looks entirely overwhelmed by what’s happening, and yet he’s still acting like he wants to be pushed further. And he’s trusting that Yongguk will give that to him, even if it seems like he can’t quite handle it.Maybe under other circumstances, Yongguk would’ve tried to be more gentle. Tried to treat Jongup with as much care and love as the felid deserves, but at that moment, he’s too far gone himself to hold back. Instead he just keeps up the desperate pace of his hips, until his head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton, and every nerve in his body is singing Jongup’s name.“You’re so beautiful,” Yongguk pushes out, as he stares down at the white indents he’s leaving against Jongup’s golden skin. “Do you have any idea–?”Arching his back, tipping his chin up as he does, Jongup pulls his hand away from his mouth just long enough to pant out, “Just for you. It’s all for you.”Even though it might make him selfish, Yongguk wants that. He wants this to be his forever. For as long as the two of them are still alive. As long as they’re fighting together and working together, existing as part of one another’s soul, he wants this to be his.He can’t get the words out, but he thinks Jongup must be able to feel them, because even through the haze of sex and pleasure, the man manages an open-mouthed smile. All red lips and sharp teeth and dazed, watery eyes. Like he wants Yongguk to know just how much he means it. How much he wants this. As affection and arousal swell and burn through his insides, Yongguk grabs for Jongup’s waist once more. Pressing his thumbs into the divots of the man’s hips, he lets everything narrow down into fucking Jongup hard and fast. Without care for anything else. Just to see more of that adoring look in the felid’s eyes, and feel the electricity between them spark and grow.He can tell Jongup is already in the process of coming apart again. His dick is flushed dark and bobbing between his legs. He’s dripping pre-cum into his already matted fur, and the muscles in his thighs are spasming with every thrust. It’s such a wanton display that Yongguk almost feels like he shouldn’t be watching. And yet he can’t tear his eyes away. Can’t do anything but stare at the man below him with wonder and love.“Yongguk– I–” Sucking in a heaving, trembling breath, Jongup bites his lip on the pitchy whimper that tries to leave him. He keeps squirming, his whole body jolting every time Yongguk drags his dick over the man’s prostate. “I– I’m–”Putting more pressure on Jongup’s hips, if only to keep him still, Yongguk breathes out, “Does it feel good? Are you–”“Yes, yes,” Jongup stutters out, as tears well up at his lash line and slip down the sides of his face. “It feels so good. I– I can’t– Yongguk.” “You don’t have to hold on,” Yongguk promises, even as he angles his hips just a little further so he can slam directly into the felid’s prostate. “Just let it happen, just let go. I’ve got you.”Frantically reaching for his own dick with clumsy, uncoordinated fingers, Jongup attempts to weakly bounce his hips in time with each of Yongguk’s thrusts, bringing them together more sharply. “I’m close,” he sobs, as his eyes squeeze shut and his tail twitches up and around Yongguk’s back. “I’m so so close.”“Then come for me,” Yongguk rumbles.Like that’s really all he needed, Jongup’s body seizes up, and he lets out a pitiful cry as he comes. He makes a mess of himself in the process, stringing white up through his fur, over his stomach, and over his own fist. And Yongguk just keeps fucking him through it, only letting up a bit so he can watch as Jongup completely crumbles and comes apart for him.Inevitably, as the man snatches tight around his dick, Yongguk’s pace is forced to stutter. Cursing, as the tension between his shoulder blades draws so tight it’s almost painful, and the pressure in his gut mounts, Yongguk bites out a desperate, “I’m sorry, I can’t–” before hunching over Jongup and fucking the man with swift, frantic thrusts. No longer just trying to make the felid feel good, and instead chasing his own release.He can hear Jongup whimpering below him, no doubt oversensitive and worn through, but he doesn’t stop. Instead, he leans down close enough that he can mouth at Jongup’s chest, and sink his teeth into the crook of the man’s neck. Hard enough to leave a mark. Hard enough that it’ll likely take days to heal. Everyone will be able to see it,   Yongguk thinks, as the pleasure rolling like fire through his veins mounts to a fever pitch, and his thoughts all blur together into the shape of the felid before him. Everyone will know he’s mine. Jongup’s name escaping him in a low, gravely groan, Yongguk only manages a handful more messy, rough thrusts before the tension in his body is snapping and he’s coming. He can’t even bring himself to care that it’s going to make a mess, and that he’s not wearing a condom, and that he probably should’ve thought this through better. All he cares about is the way Jongup snatches tight around him, and everything fades out into a mind numbing buzz of colors and lights, as he rides out his orgasm in the felid’s arms.For a moment, all of the stress and worry and the heartache of the past few weeks simply drops away from Yongguk’s body. Instead, all he’s aware of is his heartbeat, and the ringing in his ears, as his body slowly slowly settles back down. Leaving him with nothing but a warm, contented glow in his chest, tingling through every one of his nerves.When he finally comes back to, he’s lying on top of Jongup, cheek pressed against the felid’s chest fluff. For once, the man isn’t whining that he’s too heavy, or attempting to push him away. He’s just rubbing absent patterns into Yongguk’s shoulders, and purring low in his throat. A happy, contented rumble that Yongguk doesn’t have the vocal cords to mimic, but in that moment kind of wished he did.“I love you,” Jongup whispers, voice thin and hoarse, but still somehow enough to be heard.“I love you too,” Yongguk murmurs, nuzzling deeper into Jongup’s chest.Letting out a breath, Jongup gets his other arm around Yongguk’s back and drags him into a hug. Chuckling in response, Yongguk returns the favor, curling his arms around Jongup’s waist and drawing the man tight to his body. Until there’s not an ounce of space between them, and even the worst of the voices in Yongguk’s head have gone quiet. Allowing him to enjoy this without reservation.Of course, it doesn’t last forever. At some point, the mild discomfort of Jongup twitching around his softening, oversensitive dick gets to be a bit too much, and he has to move so he can pull out. But even then, he doesn’t try to get up entirely. Instead, he flips their positions and pulls Jongup on top of himself instead. Going willingly, the felid curls up in his arms with a tired trill that settles warm in his stomach.“You know,” Jongup begins, the words slightly slurred. “I feel like we made this way more complicated than it needed to be.”“Yeah,” Yongguk mutters, his voice little more than a wheeze. “Maybe. Just a bit.”“Sorry,” Jongup whispers, pushing his nose into the side of Yongguk’s neck. As he does, one of his fuzzy ears flicks against Yongguk’s cheek. “That was kind of my fault.”“It would’ve helped if I just talked to you,” Yongguk huffs, as he runs a hand down Jongup’s back. The man’s fur is tangled and damp. He’s desperately going to need a shower the moment they have access to one- that and a brush- but for now, he resolves not to worry about it. “It’s just that you never said you didn’t like us fooling around, so I assumed you were okay with it.”“You never said you did want it,” Jongup points out, propping himself up on an elbow so he can look Yongguk in the eyes. His expression is soft, bemused at both of their expense. “I assumed you were forcing yourself. Or… something like that.”“I wouldn’t have done that.” Lacing his fingers through Jongup’s fur, Yongguk gives the man a rueful smile. “Even for you.”“I just didn’t want to be an afterthought.” Like he’s ashamed to even be admitting it, Jongup’s eyes drop to Yongguk’s chest. “I wanted this, but it meant too much to me to handle it being one-sided.”“It always meant something to me,” Yongguk whispers. “Always.” “That seemed too good to be true,” Jongup says, with a brittle laugh that has his eyes scrunching up into pained crescent moons. “So I decided it wasn’t.” “If I hadn’t wanted you, I would have told you,” Yongguk says thickly, pressing his fingers into the small of Jongup’s back. “You’re my partner, you deserve me being honest.”“Which means you’re going to talk to me about things like this from now on, right?” Jongup clarifies, sticking out his bottom lip. “So I don’t have to guess. Please.”“I promise,” Yongguk murmurs, as he draws Jongup up into another tender hug. “From now on.”They end up cuddling like that for a while longer, until Yongguk catches Jongup yawning, and decides they’ve stayed up plenty late enough. Unfortunately, they still have work in the morning, the sort they can’t just call off from. All of this aside, the Bureau waits for no one. Not even if it feels like it should. Though he doesn’t particularly want to move, Yongguk forces himself to disentangle from the felid and dig up a couple sanitation wipes from their bags to clean themselves up with. He knows it’s not perfect, they’re going to need hot showers as soon as they get back to the base, but it’s better than nothing. And it’ll definitely make work for the next couple of days a lot more bearable.Jongup whines and squirms a little bit as he’s being cleaned up, but for the most part he submits to Yongguk’s attentions. He seems too tired to actually fight it, and if the soft trills he keeps letting out are anything to go by, he enjoys a little bit of pampering. Even in this context.Yongguk doesn’t try to fully redress them, but he does find clean underwear for them both before dragging Jongup’s sleeping bag over to his own and coaxing the felid to crawl inside of it. Then he picks it up, Jongup and all, and sets it down on the thoroughly dirtied one.“This’ll be cleaner,” he reasons, as he smooths Jongup’s hair out of his face before fiddling with the rune lamp.“Next time we’ll do this in a bed,” Jongup tells him without hesitation, even as he curls up under the durable standard black nylon of the sleeping bag flap. “You promised.”“And I intend to keep that promise,” Yongguk assures the felid, plunging the tent back into darkness before wiggling his way down into the space beside Jongup.Within a matter of seconds, Jongup is tangled around Yongguk’s body once more. It’s just like how it used to be, just like how it should be. Practically drowning in the other man’s body heat, and curled up as close together as is physically possible, Yongguk is able to relax. Completely and without worry.It feels right. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get over just how right all of this feels.“So we’re dating?” Yongguk asks sleepily, as Jongup shoves his face into the side of his neck.“Sounds good to me, if it sounds good to you,” Jongup purrs, before twitching his tail over Yongguk’s thigh.It does. Statistically likely or not, to Yongguk, it sounds perfect.Satisfied and comfortable, in all of the ways he’s decided matter, Yongguk decidedly wraps an arm around Jongup’s waist, and lets himself drift off to sleep. —⚭⚯⚭—