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109: Epilogue Part 13: Why Are You Here?
🕑 Added 2021-09-12 20:13:13 +0000 UTC“Inho.” Stephen’s voice managed to cram anger, frustration, and a demand for information all into a single word.
Inho hung his head shamefully, resenting the situation that had set him at odds with Stephen again. But only for a moment, then he squared his shoulders and stood to face his lover. “He’ll be fine,” he said with a sweeping gesture to indicate Connor in the bed beside him. “He’s just dehydrated and had the flu.”
“Yes, I saw your text.” Stephen’s cold gaze searched Connor’s unconscious form briefly before snapping back to land heavily on Inho’s face. “Why are you here?”
Inho repressed a nervous shrug, “We’re classmates at school.”
“And why am I finding out about this now?” Stephen arched an eyebrow in harsh reproach. At the corner of his clenched jaw, a vein twitched.
“It didn’t come up.” Inho hid his tingling hands in his back pockets and swallowed past a dry lump in his throat. “We’re friends now. But he thought you’d be weird about it if we told you. He’s probably right.”
Stephen frowned, “This is what’s weird,” He puffed out a sigh, not appeased with the explanation, “We can talk about this at home, where’s the–”
The curtains rattled as another person entered.
“Ah, Inho, right?” Lucas stepped in and greeted Inho with a short nod. “Thanks for coming in with him. Sorry, I’m here so late–…?” Lucas’ face stiffened with shock when he recognized Stephen, the younger brother he hadn’t seen in a decade.
Inho panicked and stepped between them. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed an expression on Stephen’s face that he’d never seen before– like he’d been doused in ice water, then slapped in the face. A snarl quickly hid whatever feeling he had at the reunion. “Nice of you to finally show up,” Stephen said, his voice was smooth but lower than usual, heavy with tension. “Really, A+ parenting.”
Lucas gaped, he was still wearing his paramedic uniform, “I was at a car accident when I heard from Lily, I–” He collected himself. “Anyway, what are you doing here? Have you been in contact with my son?” His voice was getting louder, “And you!” He jabbed a finger in Inho’s direction, “Who are you really?”
Stephen put a possessive hand on Inho’s shoulder, “He’s my partner.”
Lucas’ face contorted in disgust, and Inho flinched, “You filthy little liar… you were in my house!”
Stephen’s hand tightened on Inho’s shoulder, and Inho knew the list of sins he’d have to repent for was mounting.
“How about, instead of talking to him, you shut the fu–”
“How about you do this somewhere else?” Inho turned to herd Stephen in front of him, and with a hand on each of their shoulders, he hustled them both past the curtain line. Lucas shrugged his hand off violently as if he were contagious in some way, and Inho rolled his eyes and ripped the curtains shut before resuming his silent vigil at Connor’s side.
Had he really wanted Connor’s family to show up just a moment ago? Stephen must have known he’d run into Lucas here, but he’d come anyway. Inho chewed his lip and wondered idly if he’d come for Connor, or because Inho was the one who called him. Connor’s face was scrunching up in his sleep and Inho pitied him. He knew what it was like to be nobody’s priority, and if Inho could spot it as an outsider, then Connor was probably hypersensitive to the sting. An only child with parents that condemned his very nature, and though Stephen cared about him, he was terrible at showing it. Was that why Connor’s personality was so twisted?
Stephen and Lucas’ voices were rising and they were trading the kind of deep-cutting and painful insults that only family can.
Inho ignored them. He could comfort Stephen later, but this wasn’t his fight to get involved in.
Connor’s face wriggled again and he blinked open heavy eyes at last. He didn’t ask where he was, just gazed up dreamily and smiled.
Inho reached out and ruffled his sweat-damp hair, “You alright, kiddo?”
Connor nodded, and blinked slowly a few more times, “I was dreaming.” His voice was gentle and sticky with sleep, and he leaned his face into Inho’s hand before he could pull it away. “Your hand feels nice. It’s cold,” He mumbled softly.
Inho pressed his palm to Connor’s cheek, and grinned down at him, “Look at you, all cuddly instead of bitey for once.”
Connor smiled back at him, “That’s because you’re here, and I–”
There was a scuffle outside the curtains, and a nurse started shouting something about people trying to sleep.
“For fuck’s sake,” Inho muttered, then rifled through his jacket pocket till he found his headphones. “It’s loud here, but you’re safe.” He held up the headphones. “You should sleep. Can I play you some music?”
Connor nodded agreeably, still not fully aware of his surroundings, and Inho leaned over to tuck the wireless headphones into his ears. Connor didn’t need to hear his dad and his uncle acting like fucking assholes while he was sick. Inho scrolled past his usual intense pop music and chose a soft dreamy playlist. Connor snuck his small warm hand into Inho’s where it rested on the edge of the bed and shut his eyes. Inho squeezed it and watched over him as he drifted back to sleep, both of them disregarding the chaos just outside the small square space.
After a while, it was quiet again, or as quiet as an ER ever gets, and Inho found himself drifting off too. Neither Stephen nor Lucas came back, and when the curtain admitted a new person, Inho startled to find Lily watching them both with a carefully neutral expression.
He immediately pulled his hand away from Connors and stood up to cover the motion.
Her dark eyes didn’t miss anything though, and in a quiet voice, she nodded her head between each of them. “Are you two…?”
“What? No! I-I...” Inho stammered, did Connor’s mother know Connor was gay? “I’m Stephen’s… I’m with Stephen.”
She nodded silently and walked over to the head of the bed to press her hand to Connor’s forehead. “I spoke to the doctor already.”
Inho nodded awkwardly, not sure what to do now that Connor’s actual family was here.
She turned towards him, “Inho, right?”
He nodded again.
“Security kicked Lucas and his brother out.”
Inho grimaced, “I see.”
“Stephen is one thing, but Lucas works at this hospital. It would be best if you both leave.”
“Right.” he turned and gathered his things, hesitated a moment, then reclaimed his headphones. They wouldn’t work without him here anyway. Connor didn’t react.
“Thank you for looking after him until now.”
“It’s alright, he um…” Inho had no idea what else to say, “I’ll call him later. Take care.” And, silently wishing Connor luck with his parents, Inho escaped the oppressive atmosphere.
He found Stephen pacing moodily in the parking lot just outside the automatic doors. He snuck his arms inside Stephen’s jacket and around his ribs. After a moment, Stephen relaxed and hugged him back. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” Stephen said quietly into Inho’s hair.
“Yeah,” Inho agreed. “Can we go over it later, though?” he couldn’t bring himself to talk about anything right now, with his heart feeling like a load of lead in his chest.
Stephen squeezed him, “Okay… He’s going to be fine you know. Stop looking like the world is ending.”
Inho sighed and nodded, burying his face deeper in Stephen’s chest, “It’s not that, it’s just… he’s really alone in that family.”
Stephen didn’t answer right away.
“Most families are trash,” he said at last. “The sooner he finds that out and finds new people to call family, the better. That’s what I did. You’re my family now… and I guess that kid too…”
Inho felt a tiny bit better at that, “Yeah. he’s got us now.”
Stephen let go of him and took his hand instead, guiding him to the car, “And he’s an adult now too, he can leave when he’s ready. And meet other people to rely on.”
Inho followed him reluctantly, “You’re right… I just… I hope whoever he meets is nice.”
Stephen snorted, “That kid would eat nice alive. I hope he finds someone just like him.”
They climbed into Stephen’s car and started the long drive home together. Stephen put his right hand on Inho’s knee, and Inho took it, clasping it tightly. With soft words and forgiveness, they comforted each other. When they got home, Stephen’s chocolate lab puppy Bulgogi bounded up and down, greeting them like they’d been gone forever. To Inho, it felt like they had been.
Epilogue Story End.
~~
Author's Note:
Chickadees, the epilogue is finally done, and I have a lot of feelings. As you may know, the KIB Epilogue story is meant to be a sort of prologue for Victory Kiss, which is Connor's story.
Victory Kiss is written with my coauthor Mithril, and is a joint sequel where Connor, now age 21, and the three boys from her book The Victorious connect and have their own romantic trials and tribulations. You will also see Inho and Stephen in there plenty and the long term future of their relationship. (they're still together of course!)
Now that Kiss It Better's main story is finally complete, I can put more focus on Bare Minimum. I'm doing some heavy plot-planning right now, and I'll be coming to you with a regular update schedule on here soon.
Victory Kiss is available for free on Tapas. Min's story Bare Minimum is only on here, if you're only on the Kiss It Better tier, you'll need to swap over to the Bare Minimum one! I hope you'll continue to support all these disaster boys. <3
