Chapter Text
Stephen had spent a fair bit of time considering what his absence in Gray’s life could have meant. It could have meant Gray moving on and finding someone else, it could have meant suffering the same cruelty and turmoil Stephen had been subjected to, it even could have meant just a small hiccup to Gray’s inevitable success later in life. While he may have been the only significant relationship Gray had in middle school, that didn’t necessarily mean Stephen and all he encompassed would be his defining moment.
Nowhere in all his myriad of possible outcomes did Stephen think Gray would turn to delinquency.
They’d relocated back to what looked to be their hangout spot, though it was new to Stephen. It was a small, abandoned office building, kept in otherwise good shape if one ignored the draft and occasional spiderweb. It looked exactly like what a delinquent hangout would look like, save for the lack of cigarette smoking and the addition of what seemed to be guitar equipment.
Stephen had been pushed into a plush, if ratty-looking, chair across from Gray. The others moved about the room with the ease and confidence of people who were very familiar with the area, pulling out assorted odds-and-ends to entertain themselves with and trade quiet conversations with each other as Stephen had his attention arrested by Gray.
“He’s looking a little pale… Should we get him a soda?”
That concerned observation came from Gerard, to Stephen’s surprise. In fact, he hadn’t realized the others had even been listening in as Gray had slowly and tentatively tried to explain why exactly he was so used to beating people’s heads in to Stephen.
“No, just… Just give me a moment,” Stephen said haltingly, hoping to ward off any awkward attempts at consoling him.
Gray was not a master storyteller, but he’d managed to get the main gist across to Stephen despite that: ever since entering Eunjang High, Gray had made a name for himself by repeatedly getting involved in fights - and winning them.
Eunjang’s White Mamba. It was an oddly fitting moniker for Gray Yeon, and from what Stephen had seen of the one-sided slaughter that took place only an hour previous, it was well-deserved. Fleeting moments that Stephen had never really considered before suddenly came to the forefront of his mind as the new information slotted itself neatly into his worldview: the way Gray’s schoolmates tended to avoid him with fear in their eyes, the way Eugene or Rowan would tense up if someone looked at either Gray or Stephen just a bit too long or with too much hostility, the way Lily Nam and Julia Chae acted a bit too quickly to defuse situations that could so easily ramp up into something more aggressive.
People weren’t worried about earning the ire of powerhouses like Ben Park or Gerard Jin if they insulted Gray - they were worried about Gray himself. Terrified of him, in a way Stephen had never seen before, not even in the way their classmates back in Byuksan had been so scared of incurring Oswald Yang’s wrath.
Gray himself had wiped the blood off his knuckles with the ease of long practice, whispered something into the ear of the only guy he’d left conscious that had caused the boy to pale and promise to stay out of the area. Gray had looked dangerous in a way that only the truly experienced could - and Stephen was having trouble understanding why.
Gray enjoyed studying. He enjoyed learning, and beating Stephen in video games, and getting good grades in everything. At what point did Gray learn to enjoy fighting?
“Right, okay…” Stephen had to process this fast. “Gray’s… Gray’s good at fighting, so much so that he has a reputation in this area… Actually, you all do…”
That would mean that this area was under Eunjang’s control, right? Stephen didn’t know that much about gang activities, but territories were supposed to be a big thing for them, weren’t they? Not to mention what that one guy - Hwangmo - had been muttering about…
Stephen’s eyes flashed over the other members of Gray’s…gang? They still looked like a weird bunch, and from such constant exposure, Stephen really wouldn’t consider them frightening - but apparently, this was the group in charge? Ben was supposedly #1 ranked on the Shuttle Patch, which Rowan had finally explained to be a fighter ranking, and Gray was actually #3 on that list.
Did that make Ben the leader of the group? Stephen could see it, maybe, but Ben acted more like an older brother or a particularly dopey dad rather than a gang leader. Gray could probably do it if he wanted to, but he didn’t seem like he’d bother with it, and there was no way Gerard, Teddy, or Alex were leading given how often they were harassed by the others in the group.
Wait - was Eugene the leader? No way…
No, wait, what did it matter who was leader? All Stephen needed to worry about was Gray. So Gray’s part of a gang, he thought. That’s… That’s fine. I can work with that.
Stephen felt determination line his shoulders. When he really thought about it, it wasn’t so bad; yes, the criminal element of the whole thing was a little worrying, but well - Stephen wasn’t exactly the poster child of good ethics and morality anymore. Gray could hold his own in a fight now, which while also worrying, was very attractive; Gray might have been terrifying as he beat up those thugs earlier but he also looked pretty hot doing it.
There were worse things they could be involved in. As far as Stephen had seen, the Eunjang gang wasn’t very criminally active; they didn’t really mug people, launder money, or get involved in drugs or anything. That would be hard with a group that had both Ben Park and Rowan Im, so as a whole, they were at least managing to keep up a civic-minded appearance.
“Alright, it’s fine,” Stephen decided. In retrospect, this actually worked out in his favor; the only people capable of keeping up a running blackmail folder for the group would be Gray or Eugene Gale, which meant Stephen’s skillset would be a necessity. “This is good. Great, even!”
Gray stared at him.
“It…is?” Ben questioned him tentatively, looking very unsure.
Stephen nodded more emphatically. “Yes. I have no problem with being a gangster’s wife. Husband.”
“What?”
“Gangste– We’re not a gang!”
Eugene gave him a very flat look, “Why did you automatically marry yourself in?”
Stephen ignored Eugene. Obviously Stephen would get involved, so long as Gray was still among their number; his hobby of terrorizing his former middle school classmates would have to be put on hold, though it already had been for the past several months since he’d been so busy tangling himself in Gray’s life. Stephen would have to make some changes and adjustments in his future plans to account for his newfound life of crime, but he was sure he could still convince Gray that a college degree would be worth having - if only to have better education credentials to their name when the stakes really amped up.
His blackmail folder would have to increase substantially to make room for all the new threats, and he’d have to spend a fair bit of time strategizing how to bring every new addition to their knees should they cross paths with Eunjang. It was unfortunate that Stephen would be wasting time at Jungsan High, but that was only for half a year more; after they’d graduated high school, he could move forward on formalizing a process and probably help Gray manage the accounting behind their gang.
“Stephen.”
It was a small group now, but if Ben and the others wanted, they could definitely grow it. Stephen wasn’t all too enthused about getting involved in business or politics - that’s what had brought down Oswald Yang’s father, after all - but there should be ways to act as a force of good, even as a gang. They were already treated very nicely by all the shopowners where Eugene’s aunt’s vet clinic was located, so maybe Stephen could suggest community service as a gang pastime. Ben and Alex would go for it, at least. There was still–
“Stephen.”
Stephen jolted out of his thoughts. It occurred to him Gray had been calling to him for a minute there, but he’d been going so deep down the rabbit hole that his boyfriend had to grab his hand to get his attention.
“Sorry, just thinking,” Stephen said, rubbing his thumb over the back of Gray’s hand. “What were you saying, Gray?”
Gray’s gaze was very focused and calm; a nice contrast to the others, who had now moved on to arguing with each other over what exactly made people a gang in the first place and how well they fit that definition.
“Stephen,” Gray said, with the sort of intensity to his voice that made Stephen just a little bit horny. “We are not a gang.”
Stephen blinked. “But… you said you routinely get into fights?”
And win them, but that didn’t seem to be either here nor there. Stephen just hoped Gray wasn’t hurt in any of these fights, because if someone did manage to get the edge over his boyfriend, Stephen was going to make them regret ever looking in Gray’s direction.
“That’s just the school culture,” Gray stated. In the background, Rowan nodded sagely in agreement. “We don’t go out of our way to pick fights or mark territory. You saw that earlier with those guys from Ganghak, right?”
This was true; the three boys from Ganghak High had left without harassment earlier, and there’d never really been a time when Ben and the others acted all macho when they saw students from other schools acting like idiots nearby. Aside from today’s altercation with those four thugs, they’d never even been involved in a fight in Stephen’s presence.
“If idiots are going to bother you, though,” Gray continued, voice turning just that bit more silken, stirring immediate interest in Stephen’s lower regions. “Then of course I’m going to fuck them up.”
Stephen couldn’t stop himself any longer - he leaned forward and kissed Gray.
“God damn it!”
“This is a PDA-free zone, you bastards!”
“I think we just learned a little too much about Stephen’s kinks…”
Stephen pulled away from Gray’s lips though could not move his eyes away from Gray’s pleased, if surprised, face. “Gerard, shut up.”
“Uh… so I guess everything’s okay?” Ben asked, red face turned away from them like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to give them privacy or worry about mediating.
Stephen waved him off. “Yes, everything’s fine - you guys aren’t a gang, Gray’s still really hot, and Alex is insanely jealous that I manned up and got a boyfriend while he can’t even confess to his own obvious crush.”
Alex let out an indignant squawk, which was immediately choked off when Ben turned a wide-eyed look on him. “You have a crush on someone, Gogo?!”
Gray snorted quietly as Alex spluttered and failed to choke out anything more than flailing, incoherent responses to that. As the others’ attention was neatly diverted over to Alex’s red-faced embarrassment, Gray leaned closer to Stephen in order to place a light kiss to the small cut on his lip.
“Too bad,” Gray murmured to him, the smile on his face heart-stoppingly teasing. “You’d have made a good gangster’s wife.”
Gray’s reputation was apparently the last holdout between Stephen and the not-gang of Eunjang, because after that unceremonious reveal, he found himself pulled even more into not just hanging out with them as Gray’s arm candy - but also pulled into any and all pastimes they were doing outside of school. Stephen’s pride - initially ruffled that he hadn’t realized Gray was an infamous Eunjang thug - was soothed by the fact that the Eunjang boys really were friendly people.
Actually, they may be a little too friendly; between the owner of their favorite chicken, that one street of shop owners who kept giving them freebies, the offhand reverence nearly every wannabe-thug in Eunjang treated them to - Stephen honestly wondered how he had missed it for so long. (Of course, his attention had been zeroed in on Gray, who proved to be a very eye-catching distraction.) There were even times when they met those who fell more along the lines of the boys from Ganghak, who treated Ben and the others with the same camaraderie lined with some sort of wry acceptance, a result of some shared experience with the ‘Seongnam Incident’.
The reference to this particular incident continued to elude Stephen, even after Rowan and Alex treated him to the vast world of Shuttle Patch. Stephen had been inundated with data, stats, and accompanying videos about the who’s who of high school gangsters - Ben Park at the top of the list, with Gray only a couple of spots away. The myriad of photos and videos of Gray mid-fight was both concerning and exhilarating; apparently, Gray was known to be a fighter who used anything at his disposal, belt or brick. Alex may have actually been a bit too giddy when describing his first fight on Gray’s side, and how the shorter boy basically beat the shit out of a guy named Helmet.
This was what made the ‘Seongnam Incident’ such an oddity; no one in Gray’s group talked about it. Even the ever-effusive Rowan remained quiet on the subject, not giving Stephen anything more than how the incident put Ben at the top of the Shuttle Patch Ranking and earned the rest of them various spots in the Top 20 - with the exception of Eugene, who was not a listed fighter at all.
Eugene was possibly the strangest aspect of it all. He wasn’t a fighter, but it was clear in the way the others hemmed and hawed over the subject, either glancing at Eugene with concern or just avoiding looking in his direction altogether, that he played a significant role in the incident that had even well-known thugs like Wolf Keum knowing his name.
Bringing up the Seongnam Incident with Gray was the deadest end of them all, and the one that eventually got Stephen to stop asking. The silver-haired boy had brushed it off with all the studied disinterest of someone not wanting to delve into those memories, words cut and dry: “It’s in the past.”
But this was the part of Gray’s past that Stephen didn’t know, and it hurt it bit, to not be privy to it. The Seongnam Incident, and Eugene Gale…and Donald Na.
“Stephen, are you going to continue sulking or are you gonna play pool?”
Stephen glowered up at the face hovering well above his own, valiantly not using the pool cue still in his hand as a flyswatter and smacking the other boy above him; this should really show just how mature he was, especially since Alex was so kindly asking to get smacked. Bastard.
“I’m not sulking, I’m thinking,” Stephen replied. “I understand that’s new for you, Alex, so I’ll forgive your confusion.”
“You’re such a little bitch when Gray isn’t here,” Alex observed candidly, flicking Stephen in the forehead. Given that Alex spent half his time in brawls, the flick actually hurt; Stephen winced in pain, shooting the scarred boy an exaggerated wounded look which went ignored. “Get up and play pool, I need someone to wipe the floor with that actually has money to bet.”
“All you do is gamble,” Stephen sniffed. “You’re a bloodsucker. You’ve drained poor Teddy and Rowan, now you’re moving on to me… You really have no moral compass.”
“I don’t want to hear that from the guy who took blackmail pics of those idiots who harassed Gray yesterday.”
The idiots in question were some small-time, nobody thugs who took one look at Stephen and Gray holding hands and tried to start something that Gray easily finished. Alex and the others would have been none the wiser about the whole thing, but Stephen had been taking pics of the thugs’ school IDs - just in case! - so they were able to come up on the scene just as Stephen finished with the last guy’s ID and pulled up his social media profile to hold over his head.
In Stephen’s defense, he knew such macho idiots would hate to have pictures of their defeat posted to their social media where they dedicated endless hours to impress upon others how tough they were, so Stephen was just making sure he and Gray had a little more insurance. It was better than Gray breaking their bones, and really, the wannabe thugs were already so dramatic with just a few scrapes and bruises.
Stephen jerked upright from where he had been laying slouched atop one of the pool hall’s sofas.“Actually, now that you bring that up, Gray didn’t look as annoyed as I thought he would after getting hassled," he said, turning a dark look on Alex. “Almost like he was used to it.”
Alex took a step back, suddenly looking very interested in playing pool with anyone but Stephen.
“Alex,” Stephen called sweetly, latching one unyielding hand on the other male’s shoulder. “Is Gray getting bullied because of us? Because of our relationship?”
Alex refused to look at him. What was it about Stephen that people thought if they didn’t look directly at him, they could pretend they were the ones in control? Jeremy Park had the same delusional problem.
“Uh… ‘bullying’ Gray would be next to impossible….” Alex began hesitantly.
Stephen stared him down. “But?”
“But, uh… There were some idiots who thought they could get one over on him because, uh, you know…” Alex trailed off, the expression on his face darkening at some recalled memory. “Fucking idiots. He’s still Gray Yeon. At least they’ll remember that now.”
Stephen felt his heartbeat going a mile a minute. He thought he could handle this; hell; he’d already planned out contingencies for when his own schoolmates and teachers happened to learn about his relationship with Gray. The most he thought he’d face from Gray’s side would be one or two shuttle friends disliking it, and with the introduction of Ben’s group and their open-mindedness, Stephen had discarded his worries altogether.
He hadn’t factored in his boyfriend being so infamous in the area, nor that by being in a relationship with Stephen, it would be seen as a weakness.
Stephen felt the creeping fingers of panic steep into his thoughts. This was just like Byuksan Middle School, wasn’t it? Merely by association with Stephen, Gray was being put at risk; all because Stephen wanted to be selfish and have Gray to himself again, he’d gone and put the other in danger.
His heart hammered harder in his chest, a familiar thought flashing through his mind: I’ve got to keep their attention on me and off Gray.
His head throbbed.
“Wh– Stephen!” Alex caught him before he could do much more than sway forward, hands catching his shoulders with a surprisingly gentle strength. Worry was a rictus over his face, taking on most of Stephen’s weight even as his eyes glanced around wildly. “Shit, man, are you okay?-- Teddy, Rowan! Pull over a chair for him!”
It wasn’t long before Stephen found himself stuffed onto one of the pool hall’s armchairs, three nervous boys fluttering around him and the one employee handing him a cup of water with a worried twist to her mouth. The throbbing in his head (originating from the scar he’d been given after his head met the ground floors below) was slowly ebbing away, but the phantoms of that day so long ago were enough to wrack his body with tremors.
Stephen’s memories of Gray were muddled with the memories he had of Oswald Yang and his cronies. However, the more time he spent with Gray, the more time he spent talking with him, kissing him, listening to the brusque way Gray saw the world - the more Stephen wanted to remember Gray at the beginning of their relationship. Stephen wanted all of Gray - their beginning, their middle, and even their distant end. The fact that so much of that start was mired in pain and humiliation was embittering; it felt as if some part of Gray had been taken from him.
When Stephen tried to remember who he was before the fall, it hurt - but more than that, it scared him. The second-hand stories from people like Jeremy Park and Zachary Young could almost sound like someone else, the memories from his parents more like far-gone wishes; Stephen had felt no real need to live up to the image they had of him, because chances were that image had been idealized from the start.
Gray had never superimposed such an image on him. Gray did not talk about their middle school days unless prompted, but even those were small tidbits, an off-hand comment here or there that made sense for the Stephen in the here and now. Things like Stephen never being able to beat Gray in video games, or about Stephen’s “lame” taste in accessories (and Gray acted like his was so much better, even though he had - an admittedly rather cool - giant safety pin on his keychain), or about how sick he was of always eating Chinese food.
There were quiet moments where sometimes Stephen could imagine Gray thinking back to those times: when Stephen avoided mentioning any of their former classmates, when Stephen’s complexion went wan as the pain in his bad knee resurfaced during an especially rainy date, when Gray’s hand had accidentally brushed across the scar on Stephen’s head as Stephen kissed his way down his chest.
Stephen kissed Gray more insistently then, in some way trying to distract them both from those memories, but maybe also as a reminder: this was Stephen in the now, this less kind, less naive boy who used blackmail to protect himself and acted like a greedy, petulant child when it came to Gray Yeon.
Selfish, greedy Stephen Ahn - who wanted Gray all to himself, even if that meant hurting Gray in the process.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know– we were just talking, and then he just kind of…lost focus? I think his head hurts.”
Cool hands pressed against the sides of Stephen’s face, tilting it up from where he’d hung it in an attempt to relieve the pain in his temples. His eyes rose to meet pink-purple, and though he knew he shouldn’t, he felt relief sweep down his spine at the concerned look in Gray’s eyes.
“Stephen, does it still hurt?” Gray asked, one thumb brushing over Stephen’s cheek gently.
There were so many things Stephen wanted to say. He was good at talking, after all, and being able to convince others had been one of his strong suits. “I’m fine, don’t worry,” Stephen said, pulling on a smile he could not really feel. “It’s gonna be alright–”
Gray’s expression shuttered.
The hands cradling his face were pulled away. Stephen felt ice grip his heart, automatically latching on to Gray’s hand before the other could fully move. He ran his words back, not understanding what he could have said or done to put such a look on Gray’s face, and he felt sick because of it.
“Gray,” Stephen choked out.
Gray did not shake him off. He had paused, looking at Stephen’s face, but whatever he saw got him to release a small sigh. He retook Stephen’s hand in his own, and then pulled him up and out of his chair. “We’ll be leaving early,” Gray said, nodding goodbye to the others as he picked up both his and Stephen’s bags. “See you tomorrow.”
Stephen could only follow obediently, scared of saying something else that disappointed Gray.
It was late by the time they’d gotten back to Stephen’s apartment. The headache and the nausea had faded almost completely, leaving Stephen instead with a dull heartsickness aching from his chest. He watched mutely as Gray tossed their bags onto his desk chair, toeing off his shoes and slipping on his house slippers - the ones Stephen had purchased for him months ago, dark blue with little cartoon bunnies on them. Stephen had a matching red pair, and these were the ones Gray pulled out for him before leaving him to grab a cup of water.
Stephen watched him from his own entryway for a bit, unmoving, until Gray brought the water cup over to Stephen’s bedside table and then turned to look at him. The silent cue was enough; Stephen stepped into his house slippers and trekked slowly across his apartment, until he was close enough for Gray to tug him forward and gently push him to sit on the edge of the bed. The water was handed to him in short order, along with two aspirin pills, and he swallowed them under Gray’s unwavering eyes.
Once he set the water aside, he felt one cold hand brush gentle fingers through the fringe of his hair. Stephen leaned into the touch, looking up into Gray’s face, then wound his arms around the shorter boy’s waist and rested the side of his head against the flat of Gray’s chest. Gray didn’t say anything, just gently carding his fingers through Stephen’s hair rhythmically, occasionally scraping light fingernails up his nape in a way that elicited pleasurable goosebumps along Stephen’s skin.
“Alex said you’re getting into more fights because of me,” Stephen finally said, in an even a tone as he could muster. He didn’t turn to look up, content with having half his face buried in Gray’s chest, though he could not help but wind his arms a little tighter around that slim waist.
Gray’s fingers never stopped their ministrations. “It’s not just because of us,” Gray said, a hint of correction in the last word. “Every now and then, idiots get ideas to test me. They learn quick, just not long.”
There was mocking derision in that last statement. It piqued Stephen’s interest whenever Gray spoke more callously, language falling into disrespectful casual speech and mired with curses. Stephen wondered if that was how Gray spoke back in middle school, or if this was something he’d picked up from his time in Eunjang. As with most things with Gray, Stephen only wanted more and more; he wanted Gray’s rough words, his coldly-barbed tongue - but he also wanted Gray’s gentle hands, his soft touch and needy moans.
“Stephen, does your head still hurt?”
Stephen could not help but smile. “...Yes,” he lied, unwinding his arms to trail one hand up Gray’s back, fingers following the length of his spine with relish. “Kiss it better for me?”
Gray’s hands left his hair, but there was only a soft snort from above before they found his chin, tilting his head up to meet Gray’s eyes. Stephen knew he was smiling, could not even bother to feign pain or pull a pout to his lips, but Gray only leaned down to kiss him. It wasn’t long before Stephen was deepening it, hand flat against Gray’s back to nudge him closer, the other trying to tug him forward so that Gray could rest his weight on Stephen’s lap.
To his disappointment, Gray resisted the implied urging, instead pulling back and using his thumb to wipe away the thin trail of saliva their kiss had left behind. Stephen caught his hand in his own, holding it closer to his mouth to suck in one pale digit. Gray’s breath stuttered a little in reaction, pink-purple eyes gaining that intense heat that Stephen could feel shoot straight to his groin, and he sucked just that bit harder on the finger in his mouth.
Gray pulled his hand away. It was the second time Gray had pulled away from him now, and Stephen felt a bolt of panic. “Gray,” Stephen said, though he couldn’t tell if it had come out pleading or questioning. Gray hadn’t sounded angry about getting pulled into fights - at least, not angry with Stephen - but if that was the case, then why was he pulling away from Stephen now?
Some part of Stephen was always worried that Gray would decide he wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t that same bright boy from before that so many people missed, and unlike the others, Gray had more reason to want that boy back. For the past several months, Stephen had spent so much time with Gray - enough time to really get to know each other, to figure out the little nuances that now made up Stephen Ahn and Gray Yeon. What if, after all of that– Gray had decided this was a version of Stephen he didn’t want anymore.
Gray stopped pulling away, seeming to freeze in place - either because of the tone in Stephen’s voice or the look in his eyes. Whatever it was, it had those cool fingers back on Stephen’s face, and then Gray was placing a soft kiss to his forehead as if in apology.
“I didn’t want you to worry, so I didn’t tell you,” Gray said, placing another kiss to Stephen’s brow. “I’m not trying to shut you out. I just… I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Get hurt again. The words were obvious in the air, though unvoiced. For the first time, it occurred to Stephen that maybe - maybe he wasn’t the only one who had been hurt by their time in Byuksan. Gray had borne witness, on some level, to the abuse and humiliation Stephen had suffered - and the possibility that Stephen may be subjected to even a fraction of that would be horrendous to someone like Gray.
Maybe, just like Stephen - Gray was greedy for him too.
“Then I guess we’re both being dumb,” Stephen murmured, pulling Gray in for another kiss.
They were both scared to put the other in harm’s way - but simultaneously too selfish to keep the other out of their life. Stephen didn’t think he could go back to pretending to be something other than who he was now, couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to leave Gray behind. The months he’d spent recovering, the weeks he’d burned putting his former assailants through hell - all of that paled in comparison to the time he spent as Gray Yeon’s lover.
Gray met his kiss with equal hunger. It was unreserved, almost vicious, cold fingers wrapped like steel on his shoulders before sliding over his collar and down to the buttons on his shirt. Gray kissed the corner of his mouth, the tip of his chin, the hollow of his throat; hands unfastened the buttons of his shirt, pulling it open so that Gray’s mouth could trail down his chest.
Heat burned in his belly as Gray went lower and lower, until he’d pulled Stephen’s legs apart and slotted himself between his knees. Pale hands undid his belt, then the button and zipper of his trousers, and Stephen had to lean back on his hands so that Gray could tug his pants and boxers further down and out of the way.
Stephen’s breath felt caught in his throat. The image of Gray on his knees, between Stephen’s legs, one hand wrapped around the base of Stephen’s cock and the other softly kneading his balls– it was enough to get the blood to rush south and swell the head of Stephen’s cock. But when Gray leaned forward, kiss-bruised lips wrapping around that engorged head, warm and wet tongue sliding along the slit - Stephen could not help but groan in pleasure, upper body rocking upwards so that he could slide his hands through Gray’s hair and cradle the back of his head.
Stephen wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He knew what his body wanted to do; namely, hold Gray’s head in place and fuck himself to orgasm in that wonderfully warm mouth. But this was Gray’s first time giving him a blow job and Stephen’s first time receiving one, so he held himself still as Gray moved.
The first few minutes were agonizing in their teasing pleasure. Gray’s inexperience was belied with the concentrated look on his face, one hand pumping at the base of Stephen’s cock as he worked his mouth up and down at the top. It was a bit out of synch and almost painfully not enough, but then Gray’s eyes narrowed a bit and suddenly he’d managed to take in an extra few inches.
Stephen could have sobbed at the feeling. Gray pulled back, saliva shining from the length he’d managed, and then he bobbed his head forward again and took more. Stephen could feel Gray’s tongue sliding along the underside of his cock, could feel the barest scrape of teeth as he pulled back; Stephen’s fingernails accidentally scraped at the nape of Gray’s neck when he suddenly sucked more on the head, tongue running around the edge before probing at the slit at the top.
Stephen moaned as he was sucked back into Gray’s mouth. It was more rhythmic this time, Gray’s head bobbing back and forth between Stephen’s legs, and Stephen could feel the thin trails of saliva sliding down his cock and off the balls Gray’s hand was still carefully massaging. It was harder to keep his own hand in check, so much so that Gray ended up reaching up and grabbing both of Stephen’s hands, pressing them back down onto the edge of the mattress in a silent order to keep them there.
Stephen’s fingers dug into the mattress as Gray’s hands rested on his inner thighs, keeping Stephen’s legs carefully spread as his mouth resumed its place. This time, there was no hesitancy; Gray took Stephen’s cock deeper into his mouth than ever before, pulling up only halfway before swallowing it back in.
The nerves of Stephen’s body only seemed to exist in the length Gray had between his lips, every ending alight with obscene amounts of pleasure. Stephen had never felt this good before, had never felt this vulnerable before; with every inch Gray swallowed down, Stephen felt more and more of himself unravel. His wits and senses had fled in favor of the boy between his thighs, the words that sat ever-ready on his tongue leaving with the thin trail of saliva from the corner of his mouth.
When Stephen came, his hands were wrapped tightly in the edge of the mattress, Gray’s hair brushing at his inner thighs as he spilled into that warmth. His bones felt like jelly and he couldn’t help but sink back onto his bed, breath heavy as the wet contours of Gray’s mouth and throat seemed to swallow his every drop.
When Gray finally pulled off of him, the cold between his legs felt sinful. With half-lidded eyes, he watched Gray rock back onto his heels, swiping one hand over his mouth before looking up to search for Stephen’s face. Their eyes met, Gray pulling himself up and onto the bed, half-kneeled beside Stephen and hovering just above him.
Stephen reached up, wrapping his hand around the back of Gray’s neck. “Kiss me,” he said, more a plea than a command in tone.
“I just swallowed your–”
The rest of Gray’s words were cut off as Stephen pulled him down, pressing their lips together and forcing his tongue into that well-used mouth. A bitter taste hit his tongue, unpleasant at first, but there was something heady and hot about tasting himself in Gray’s mouth. It felt intimate, possessive; Stephen had spilled into that warm mouth, had been swallowed down that throat and sunk into Gray’s belly.
No one else had ever been tied so closely into Gray. No one else ever would, so long as Stephen still lived.
When the kiss broke, Stephen had managed to get his hands under Gray’s shirt. Before he could fully tug it off, Gray moved away, one hand cupping Stephen’s cheek to give him one more kiss. “I’ll be right back,” he promised with another kiss to Stephen’s brow. “Let me just… Use the bathroom.”
Gray fairly fled to the bathroom, stopping only long enough to dig through his backpack for a small, black pouch. As the door shut and the faucet turned on, Stephen finally roused himself up into a sitting position. His body was still overheated slightly and the kiss had managed to make him semi-hard, but he didn’t want to jerk off if Gray was coming back to continue where they’d left off.
Instead, Stephen kicked off the rest of his pants from where they’d gotten tied at his ankle, and then pulled off his shirt to throw into the same heap at the foot of the bed. After a moment, he got up to pull off the comforter, folding it up and setting it aside. He fluffed the pillows, then sat back down at the edge of the bed and took another sip of water.
It took longer than expected for Gray to emerge from the bathroom, so much so that Stephen wondered if he was having second thoughts. The idea was enough to kill his erection, but that was a problem soon fixed when Gray stepped out - clothed only in Stephen’s robe, which hung loosely off that slender frame, Gray’s skin flushed underneath.
Stephen felt himself swallow dryly. Gray was moving back towards him, but at the last few feet, seemed to lose his nerve and slowed down. Stephen didn’t stand, but he opened his arms in invitation - an invitation readily accepted as Gray crossed those last few feet between them, falling into Stephen’s embrace.
Stephen kissed everything in reach: Gray’s chest, his collarbone, his chin and nose and lips. The robe, tied so loosely, fell open and off the moment Stephen’s hands pulled them just slightly, and then skin met skin. Stephen pulled Gray to him, and then he rose only to push Gray fully down onto the bed, Stephen crawling up between his legs to hover above him.
Stephen leaned down to kiss Gray once again, hands trailing over that open expanse of skin that he’d come to know so well. Gray was beautiful when he was open like this, when he allowed himself to feel pleasure, when he allowed himself to be vulnerable in Stephen’s hands. Stephen mouthed at Gray’s neck, kissed down his chest, scraped a fingernail tantalizingly over Gray’s nipples, mouthed the smooth patch of skin under Gray’s belly button.
Gray’s cock was hard and heavy, the tip partially leaking clear fluid that Stephen licked off in passing. Gray jerked underneath him with a moan, hands fisted in the sheets, so Stephen rewarded him with a kiss to his swelling balls before continuing to mouth at his inner thigh. With a careful bit of maneuvering, Stephen got his hands underneath Gray’s knees and pushed them up until they rested nearly parallel with his chest, exposing the curve of his round buttocks and the dip between the cheeks.
Stephen spent a moment just looking. The little pucker was more wet than expected, slick with a substance that shined like oil under the dim lighting of the room. It was just a bit wider than expected too, contracting with Gray’s every stuttered breath, and it took Stephen only seconds to piece together why Gray had spent so long in the bathroom.
“You… You prepared yourself?” Stephen glanced up, awe in his voice.
Gray had averted his gaze, cheeks alight in a dark blush. “I read… That guys use…”
He couldn’t finish that sentence, but Stephen could understand him well enough. Affection, deep and mirthful, welled up inside him. The ever-proud Gray Yeon had read up on gay sex, thoroughly enough to not only know how it works - but invested enough to buy preparation products. The man who had made a name for himself in the streets around Eunjang, infamous enough to pale the faces of men three times his size - that same man could then lock himself away in Stephen’s bathroom, fingers prodding and prying at the ring of muscle in preparation.
Had anyone ever loved Stephen as much as Gray Yeon so clearly does?
Stephen bent his head down low, licking one wet stripe up across that puckered hole. Gray jerked under his hands with a gasp, his startled “Wha… ” choked off as Stephen held him still and dipped his head back down between those cheeks.
The taste of skin and soap teased lightly at Stephen’s tongue as he swept it up and down over the hole. He could feel the muscles in Gray’s thighs contracting in his hands, taut with tension, Gray’s movements becoming more stuttered as Stephen continued to lavish that pucker with his tongue. When it seemed like Gray was almost back in control of his movements, Stephen opened his mouth wider - pushing his tongue in just a bit.
The sound Gray let out was one Stephen had never heard before - a breathy sort of moan, as if it had been punched out of him. Stephen lapped more at the puckered skin, hands tight on Gray’s trembling thighs, and when Gray could finally manage out a panting “Stephen…” - that was when Stephen dipped his tongue back in, only this time he did not let up.
Stephen felt high with power as Gray writhed under him. The deeper he pushed his tongue, the more sounds his usually-quiet boyfriend let out; when he managed to get his mouth situated more fully over Gray’s hole, lightly sucking on it, Gray nearly screamed at the sensation. He cut himself off quickly enough, but Stephen only fucked his tongue back in and out until Gray could only manage unintelligible moans.
Stephen’s jaw ached a bit from how long he had it open, but he paid it no mind, fully given to his task of taking Gray apart with pleasure. He chanced a glance up and nearly came again at the sight of Gray looking so wholly undone: his pale hands had twisted so hard into the sheets that he’d pulled them clean off the mattress, his upper body flushed red, pink-purple eyes unfocused and dazed with pleasure. A thin trail of saliva was leaking from the corner of his mouth, but Gray was in no right state of mind to care for it, moans ripped out of him so continuously that he looked like he might cry from it.
Stephen pushed forward, pushed his tongue deeper into that crevice - over and over, until Gray’s sobbing moans finally gave way to a choked scream, his balls tight and swelling at the top of Stephen’s head as he came. His entire body was wracked with fine tremors, more and more hot liquid gushing out as Stephen continued to fuck him on his tongue.
When the last bit of it finished dripping out and Gray was reduced to labored breathing, Stephen pulled his mouth away and pulled Gray’s trembling legs back down to lay atop the bed. He kissed Gray’s thigh, then the tip of his spent cock, before pulling it - soft and weeping - into his mouth to lick the fluids off.
Gray’s panting turned into soft mewls, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. “Too much,” he managed out, though his hands remained fisted in the bedsheets, his eyes unseeing. “Stephen, it’s too much…”
Stephen let the now semi-hard erection pop out from his lips. “Does it hurt, Gray?”
“No, it doesn’t hurt,” Gray panted. “But… it’s too much …”
Stephen wrapped one warm hand around that erection, pumping it lightly as he kissed the tip. “Oh, it feels too good? Is that what it is, Gray?” he asked, words velvety and soft. He licked up the salty underside of the shaft, then around the head. “Am I making you feel too good?”
Gray couldn’t answer, could only moan as Stephen took him back into his mouth. His jaw was really aching now but Stephen found he couldn’t care less, reaching one hand down to fist himself as he swallowed as much of Gray’s generous length as he could. Moans and gasps of “Stephen,” “good,” and “too much ” were the only things Gray could manage, and when he came for the second time, it was Stephen’s name on his lips. Stephen was soon to follow, hand pumping his own erection in frantic movements until he was spilling onto the tangled sheets below as Gray's come hit the back of his throat.
Stephen tried to swallow what he could, but he ended up spitting out most of it onto the bathroom robe, wiping his mouth and hands with the dry part. He looked back over his handiwork: Gray was trembling, lying prone and panting atop the half-undone sheets, eyes closed and his chest a mess of semen. Stephen laid one hand against Gray’s still-pink cheek, Gray leaning into it silently but senses too scattered to do much of anything else.
Stephen carefully wiped at the mess on Gray’s chest, placing a soothing kiss to Gray’s forehead when he let out a small whimper as Stephen carefully cleaned at his over-stimulated cock. The smell of sweat and sex hung heavy and thick in the air, but Stephen didn’t mind as he tossed the used bathrobe to the floor and laid beside Gray, pulling the smaller male to rest comfortably in his arms.
“I love you, Gray,” Stephen said, mouth brushing against the top of that head of silver hair. “You really should make me your gangster wife.”
Gray blinked slowly in confusion, before realization dawned and Stephen found himself laughing outright as one pale hand swatted at his shoulder. Stephen reached back up to trap that arm back in his embrace, snickering when Gray gave up and just rested lazily in his arms with a look too content to be a proper sulk.
When Stephen’s laughter finally died away, Gray wrapped his arms around Stephen in return, the message obvious.
I love you too.