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

Chapter 86: For the First Time

As their rhythm built, Han's breath hitched. He leaned in, voice low and thick with possession, whispered directly into JL's ear:

"That's it, baby. Just like that. You're mine."

JL gasped, breath breaking apart at the word --  at the heat curling through him at hearing Han call him baby for the very first time.

"Oh god..." he moaned.

Han's eyes darkened, his voice dropping into something deeper -- fully unrestrained now, lips brushing JL's ear as his rhythm deepened:

"My baby. My JL. Mine."

They moved with slow reverence, bodies singing what words never fully could, until the tension inside them broke like waves over shore, their pleasure cresting together as a culmination of everything they had endured.

Afterward, they lay tangled together in the golden light filtering through the bedroom window, still panting, flushed, and full.

JL's breath came soft and warm as he nestled into Han's chest, voice heavy with sleep, barely more than a whisper as he trailed lazy kisses along Han's neck:

"I belong to you. I love you, my Hannie."

Han's breath stuttered, chest tightening as though JL had reached in and taken hold of his very heart. His arms wrapped tighter around JL's body, almost trembling now, overcome by how deeply he loved him -- how completely JL owned him in that moment. 

His voice dropped, rough and steady as his lips pressed into JL's hair, every word soaked in love and possession:

"And I belong to you."

For the first time in months, the future stretched ahead of them, bright and limitless, and full of every possibility.

* * *

Three weeks later, the commotion reached them near the end of JL's afternoon training session.

There was a buzz rippling across the campus -- voices rising, fingers pointing, phones lifting. Steven turned toward the disturbance -- and his breath stopped.

An impossibly beautiful boy emerged from the crowd like something that had stepped out of a photograph. Tall and ethereal, his silver hair catching the sunlight in ways that seemed to defy physics, he moved with the kind of otherworldly grace that made everyone around him seem slightly less real by comparison. His skin was so pale it appeared almost luminescent, and his features possessed the sharp, perfect symmetry typically reserved for computer-generated fantasy characters.

But Felix only had eyes for Steven.

He walked straight through the crowd as if no one else existed, his steps easy, casual, confident. People moved around him automatically, instinctively parting for him. The noise and commotion faded into background static as he approached, leaving only the sound of Steven's heartbeat thundering in his ears.

Felix's voice was warm, playful, teasing -- unmistakably familiar.

"Why are you always so sad when I see you, Steven Kim?"

Steven almost laughed -- almost. But his gaze flicked instinctively toward the track, where JL was finishing his run, Han beside him like always.

JL glanced up first, catching Steven's gaze across the distance. For a moment, they simply looked at each other -- and JL's face softened into a smile full of love. Not the complicated, tangled love they once shared, but something purer now -- grateful, warm, free.

Then Han's eyes followed, meeting Steven's next. And in that brief, wordless exchange: gratitude. Respect. Brotherhood. The closing of a chapter.

Steven nodded back, steady.

Felix saw it all, reading the unspoken with sharp, quiet awareness. When Steven turned back to him, Felix's voice softened. 

"I didn't hear from you," he said, his smile tilting as he spoke. "So I thought, might as well take matters into my own hands." 

Felix shrugged with a playful grin. "I guess a text would've been easier. But here I am."

Here I am.

Steven's chest tightened. The words were simple. But they landed like something sacred.

"Tell me," Felix said. "Tell me everything."

And Steven did.

He told the whole story -- the fear, the fight, the waiting, the weight. The choices he made. The cost. The love that demanded all of him.

Felix listened. Really listened. Quiet, steady, his eyes never leaving Steven's face. Not rushing, not judging. Just... there. Fully.

When Steven finally finished, he exhaled like something heavy had finally slipped off his shoulders.

Felix stepped in closer, voice low  -- but with a glint of teasing warmth in his eyes. 

"Well, that's enough of that."

Then, without hesitation, he reached out his hand -- palm open, inviting, sure. 

"I think you'd better come with me, then."

Steven blinked, caught between surprise and something that made his heart race.

"You want me to come with you?" he asked softly.

Felix's smile widened, warm and certain, voice dropping just slightly as he teased:

"I didn't fly halfway across the world just to leave without you, Steven Kim."

Steven blinked, breath catching at the words. For a moment, all the air left his chest -- and then his heart kicked hard against his ribs, racing.

God. 

He came for me.

For the first time in too long, he felt chosen. Wanted. Seen.

The sky behind them melted into soft gold as the sun dipped lower.

Then Steven smiled -- real, surprised, wide -- and took Felix's waiting hand.

●●● END ●●●