Page 93 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16
Jaewoong laughed outright. “Oh, Su-jin called. He promised pictures. Taking his family to Disneyland Shanghai tomorrow.”
“Are they being any nicer to him?” Jun grimaced. Su-jin’s family hadn’t been thrilled about Jun coming out as gay. They’d been even less thrilled about Jun putting their relative in danger by being part of the operation to take down the Merchari. They’d taken the stance that Jun had done it as a publicity stunt and they wanted Su-jin to leave 5N and be a solo idol. Su-jin had refused. This trip was supposed to soothe things over. Su-jin was desperately hopeful. The rest of 5N were not.
Secretly, Yohei had a visa to China in case the rest of the band decided Su-jin needed back up. Geun had done the same. Yohei was point man, though, because Geun was still taking things easy.
“I think they like the trip, but…” Jaewoong shrugged, not looking hopeful.
Jun pressed his lips together and looked away. Jaewoong knew his thoughts. Su-jin’s family were a mix of old, traditional, and dependent and young, without authority, and dependent. Su-jin was caught in the middle. Because he had money—comparatively—and reputation, the other cousins in his generation who might have otherwise stepped in considered it Su-jin’s responsibility to support the elders.
The front door of the Parsonage burst open. Geun, carrying Dana on his back, loped out. Jun and Jaewoong leaned away from each other. Geun ran down the steps between them, Dana waving her arm like she was cracking a whip. Ash, Alice, and Maribel jogged down after him.
“Wait up, Dana,” Alice yelled. “Your horse is too fast.”
“Her horse is too tall,” Ash muttered. He waved at Jun and Jaewoong and hauled ass to catch up to Alice and Geun.
“Where are they off to?” Jun asked. A car had stopped at the corner and Alice was opening the door to get in.
“Something about a surprise for Linda,” Jaewoong said. “Ash said they’re climbing the walls, so maybe house hunting? They need a bigger place.”
Jun hugged himself. Linda might want to move, but he hoped Richard didn’t have any such ideas. He liked The Residency exactly the way it was. If they needed space, they could always go up to the Estate like they were going to do that evening, or come here. Eventually, he and Damian had plans to have a permanent room in the dungeon section of the Church, some place to sleep if they played late or had business on the St. Elmo campus. As it was, he and Damian had slept at the Parsonage a few times as Damian took time to be more involved in the large, ongoing project that was St. Elmo’s renewal. If Richard and Émeric had allowed it, Collin would have started sleeping there as well, but his doms wouldn’t hear of it. If he worked too late, they collected him personally. Or Jun and Damian hauled him home before they needed to.
Which was fun, on occasion. Collin was never a brat on purpose, but he could get very engrossed in his work and forget to take care of himself. Richard never let that slide.
Jun nodded towards Geun, just getting into the car and closing the door. “So, any update on all that?”
Jaewoong groaned and rolled his eyes. “Unless you’ve heard something I haven’t, no.”
They exchanged grimaces.
“You’d think they’d talk to you,” Jaewoong said.
“We have to give them time.”
“I’m going to have kids before the three of them talk that out, whatever it is.”
“Dude, you’re fixated on this kids thing!”
Jaewoong grinned. “It really works you all up. Why would I drop it?”
Jun shook his head, refusing to take the bait again. “Geun bought Su-jin new pajamas.”
“And Yohei bought Geun shoes. Shoes. I don’t get it.” Jaewoong shook his head. He started cleaning Habibi’s shirt off, brushing cracker dust down onto the steps.
“Unless it gets awkward, I’m going to give them their space.” Jun helped Jaewoong stand up and took Habibi so Jaewoong could straighten himself out. Habibi kicked his feet and promptly lost a shoe. Jaewoong ran down the steps and retrieved it.
“They’re doing the least awkward-awkward-not-talking about it in the history of not talking about shit. Sorry, not talking about stuff. I mean stuff.”
Jun laughed. Not swearing around the kids was hard.
Jaewoong huffed as he put Habibi’s shoe back on. “It’s almost like they’re just letting themselves forget about it. I can’t forget, but they are.”
“Damian and I took time figuring things out.”
“You had an ocean between you.”
“Still, I think I needed that time to come to terms with everything. It’s not like we were allowed to have lives.”
“You’re not wrong.” Jaewoong checked his phone. “Me and the little guy have to get over to the cafeteria. The kids are going to be there soon.”
