Running to You | Park Han + JL + Steven | Haneulz + Stejay AU

Chapter 72: The Ones Who Kissed

Like everything he'd tried to bury -- the wanting, the fear, the hope -- had finally broken through the surface.

He sat down heavily on the edge of the bed.

Hands gripping the sheets like they could anchor him.

I love him.

The words landed like a blow.

I fucking love him.

It wasn't a question. It wasn't a maybe. It wasn't a crush or a phase or a lonely-night fantasy.

It was everything.

Every look.

Every fight.

Every time Han had picked up his phone and almost texted.

Every time he trained harder just to feel like he could be someone JL wouldn't leave behind.

Every time he caught JL looking at him like he was something worth breaking for -- and every time he looked away because it hurt too much to hope.

I love him, Han thought again, and I can't do anything about it.

Because JL had walked away.

Because JL loved someone else, too.

And maybe -- maybe -- Han had waited too long.

Maybe he'd spent too much time trying to be invincible, untouchable, perfect. The general. The leader. The one who didn't need.

And now?

He needed.

God, he needed.

Another kiss. Another breath. Another second of that wild, burning closeness.

It was terrifying.

It was freeing.

And it was destroying him.

Han pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Then dragged them down his face and whispered, raw and unsteady:

"I waited too long."

He stared at the door like it might open again.

It didn't.

He should've walked away.

Before the kiss. Before the second one. Before JL had looked at him like he was the only one in the world.

But he hadn't.

Because even now -- even now -- if JL opened that door and whispered his name, Han would follow him again.

Without hesitation.

He rubbed the heel of his hand over his chest, trying to calm the storm there. But it was no use. The tide had come in.

And it was JL.

Always JL.

Han sank down onto the edge of the bed again and let the memories come. Quietly. Uninvited.

That one night. Back at training camp. Rain falling. It was that same night they had pitched forward into the ravine, and brought home dinner. JL had fallen asleep beside him on the floor of the dorm, sleepy from a day of intensive exercise, the moment fraught with things unsaid when they landed on each other, the soft warmth of the dinner and the promise of a day coming to an end. The fire they had sat by the night before, JL's face tilted up to the stars, saying he could see himself belonging.