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

Chapter 86: For the First Time

"Bedroom," JL managed between kisses, voice hoarse with want.

Han didn't hesitate. His hands found JL's waist with firm confidence, lifting him into his arms. This was not the fragile act of months past, not the careful cradling of an invalid too weak to stand -- this was a lover's claim. JL clung to Han's shoulders, heart hammering, body alight with the heady mix of safety and surrender.

They moved together with a careful urgency, as though they were walking into something sacred. The hallway blurred around them, their breath shallow, the weight of the moment coiling tighter with every step.

When they reached the bed, Han set JL down with reverence. For a heartbeat, JL hesitated -- sudden uncertainty flashing in his wide, dark eyes. His chest rose and fell, the vulnerability of being fully seen trembling beneath his ribcage.

"I don't know if I..." JL began, his voice small. "My body isn't the same. My legs, the way I look now -- "

Han silenced him with a kiss that was fierce and certain.

"Look at me," Han said, his hands framing JL's face with infinite tenderness. "This is the most beautiful you have ever looked. This is the most I have ever loved you. This is the most you have ever loved me."

JL's eyes filled with tears, but these were tears of wonder rather than pain.

"Are you sure?" JL whispered.

Han smiled softly, thumb tracing his cheek. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

 JL, sensing the weight of Han's desire beneath the tenderness, let the smallest smile pull at his lips -- a soft, vulnerable curve that made Han's breath stutter. God, he was beautiful. Those long lashes, wide dark eyes shining, soft mouth, elfin jaw -- everything made Han ache.

JL's voice came out soft but steady, thick with need, as he whispered: "Then take me, Han. I am yours."

That one sentence stole the air from Han's lungs. 

Something in his eyes darkened, and his hands slid over JL's skin as he whispered, almost like a growl, "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that."

They undressed each other slowly, hands trembling as they relearned the sacred map of one another. Han's palms cupped JL's shoulders -- his ribs, his waist --breathing him in as if grounding himself in the truth that JL was here, alive, standing strong beneath his hands. Every inch of JL's skin radiated both fragility and resilience, and in Han's gaze, JL felt beautiful in a way that no mirror could ever give him.

JL's breath shook as Han kissed each scar softly, reverently, like small prayers offered to the spaces where pain once lived. Neither spoke. Words felt too small for the enormity of what pulsed between them.

But then, as their bodies pressed together for the first time, JL exhaled, voice trembling:

"I've dreamed of this -- of being in your arms. Of being with you."

Han kissed him slowly, voice thick with rising heat:

"You're home now. You're mine. Always."

When they finally came together, their bodies aligned like pieces that had been waiting a lifetime to fit again. The tension of almost two years gone by since they first met, on that first, fateful day --  unraveled in slow, aching waves -- not rushed, not desperate, but deliberate, as though each thrust, each touch, each press of skin was stitching together all the moments they had spent waiting. JL's legs trembled slightly, muscles still rebuilding, and Han steadied him with careful hands, guiding him with tenderness wrapped in devotion.