track team AU | love triangle | slice of life | slow burn | found family | comedy + longing + insane rizz
JL transferred to Korea's most elite sports university hoping for a fresh start. He didn't expect to be rooming beside the nation's top sprinte...
The rooftop terrace of Nian Club pulsed with bass from below, but the air up here was quieter, cooler. JL leaned against the low glass barrier, rain-softened breeze lifting the ends of his hair. The city sparkled under the clouds. Shanghai, sprawling and fast, just like everything he didn't understand but craved anyway.
Steven stood beside him, hands buried in his coat pockets, posture loose from too many drinks and the heat of the night. His usually chiseled features were softened by the blur of alcohol and rain, but his eyes... those eyes still held the same focused intensity they always did when he looked at JL. They hadn't said much in the last few minutes, just stood there, close enough that their shoulders brushed whenever one of them shifted.
JL took a breath. Maybe too deep.
"Steven," he said, voice lower than he meant. "Are you all right?"
Steven didn't answer right away, just glanced over with a lazy, slightly drunk smile.
In his tailored suit, Steven wasn't just gorgeous, he was devilishly, achingly, unrelentingly hot. The kind of handsomeness that made you forget what you wanted to say mid-sentence.
"You're the one who looks like he's about to jump off the balcony."
JL gave a crooked laugh. "Not jumping. Just thinking."
Steven tilted his head, leaned a fraction closer, like he was reading something off JL's face. "About?"
"You."
That made Steven blink.
"I mean... " JL fumbled, then closed his eyes. "Forget it."
"Too late."
Steven took JL's chin, and softly turned his face towards his. Their chests nearly aligned. Steven was taller, broader. And he smelled faintly like something woody and expensive, with a hint of spice underneath. His hair was slightly damp, falling across his brow like he'd run a hand through it too many times. JL's head tipped forward without thinking... just enough that his forehead brushed against Steven's.
It wasn't intentional. Not really. But it wasn't an accident either.
Steven froze.
JL stayed there, forehead to forehead, breathing shallowly, the edge of Steven's jacket brushing his arm. The tension between them snapped taut like a bowstring.
Steven whispered, "You're very warm."
JL closed his eyes. "You're very solid."
The silence that followed was loaded. Steven's hand came up slowly, like he wasn't sure he had permission, until his fingers ghosted over JL's hip, then settled lightly on his waist. JL's breath hitched. His whole body responded, not with surprise, but with recognition.
"I'm sorry," JL said quietly, not pulling back. "For not seeing you sooner. For letting you carry all that kindness alone. For never thanking you. You were always there. I just... I think I was too afraid to believe someone like you could be real."
Steven's voice dropped, barely audible. "I don't want thanks right now, JL."
"What?"
"I want... you." Steven's voice was husky from drink, and his breath was mingling with JL's.
JL didn't answer. Just leaned in closer until their noses brushed.
Steven exhaled slowly, then shifted his other hand... raised it to JL's jaw, thumb brushing the side of his face, unhurried and reverent. It made JL feel like he was being seen too clearly, too gently. Like someone had cracked his armor without trying.
"You're beautiful," Steven murmured. "You know that, right?"
"No," JL said. "But you make it sound true."
Their mouths were so close now. JL's lips parted slightly, and he felt Steven's breath graze his own.
Steven's heart was pounding. He could feel it, each beat pushing blood through his ears, down his arms, into his fingers. He'd waited so long to touch JL like this, to be this close without anyone watching. And it was too much. But also not enough.
"I'm drunk," Steven said.
JL nodded. "Me too."
Steven's hand slipped to the back of JL's neck, thumb tracing over skin that was somehow both warm and cold from the rain.
"If I kiss you now," Steven said, his voice wrecked, "I might not stop."
JL's voice came out as a whisper. "Maybe don't."
Their lips touched.
Not a crash, not a spark... but a slow, slow unraveling. A question, answered with the heat of need.
Steven kissed like he wanted to memorize every shape. JL kissed like he wanted to forget every other one.
They didn't pull away. They just sank into each other, deeper with every breath. JL's hands curled into Steven's coat. Steven pulled him in like he'd been waiting forever.
The rain misted around them, soft and slow. And there was nothing but each other.
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