Chapter 121
The rhythmic, muted ticking of the designer wall clock in Raiven's master bedroom was the only sound breaking the early morning silence, until the heavy mattress shifted. Haru groaned softly as he felt Raiven begin to stir beside him. The gray dawn was just barely bleeding through the gaps in the blackout curtains, casting a dim, ethereal slate shadow across the room. Instinctively, Haru reached out, his strong forearm hooking around Raiven's waist to pull him flush against his chest, refusing to let the cold morning air claim the space between them.
A tired, soft sigh escaped Raiven's lips, his back pressing into Haru's warmth.
"Haru, I have to go," Raiven whispered, his voice thick with sleep and the lingering weight of a brutal work week. He let out another soft, breathy sigh, his shoulders dropping against the plush pillows.
"Just five more minutes," Haru begged. The words were muffled as he buried his face deeper into the crook of Raiven's neck, inhaling the familiar, comforting scent of sandalwood and clean skin. He tightened his grip, his long legs tangling with Raiven's beneath the heavy down comforter, pinning them both to the bed.
Raiven tried to maintain his resolve, but he couldn't stop the sudden, profound wave of warmth that flooded his chest. Looking down at his hands, he chuckled softly. It was impossible to resist the sight of his handsome, usually stoic boyfriend clinging to him with such uncharacteristic, stubborn desperation.
"How did you get so clingy?" Raiven murmured, turning his head slightly to plant a soft kiss on Haru's messy, dark hair. He circled his own arms around Haru's forearms, leaning back into the embrace.
Haru had arrived incredibly late the night before. By the time his taxi had pulled up to the luxury apartment complex, the city had long fallen silent. He had found Raiven already passed out from pure exhaustion, the bedside lamp turned off. Moving with caution in the absolute dark, Haru had slipped out of his clothes and slithered into the bed, careful not to disturb his partner's hard-earned rest.
Logically, Haru could have gone back to his own apartment after wrapping up his schedule. His own bed was waiting, and his schedule was still packed. But as he had stood under the neon streetlights after Alice dropped him off, the reality of how much he missed Raiven had hit him like a physical weight. He simply didn't want to sleep alone.
Now, Haru breathed him in deeply, the warm friction of his lips making Raiven's skin tingle with a sharp, electric current. Raiven exhaled a shaky breath, his smile widening as Haru pressed a slow, deliberate peck against the sensitive skin just beneath his ear.
"You really want me to be late, don't you?"
"I missed you," Haru whispered against his skin, following the statement with another soft, lingering peck.
Raiven's breath caught in his throat. A quiet, stunned stillness settled into his lungs. Over the past few months, Haru had slowly, meticulously dismantled his fortress, opening up to him piece by piece until he could casually, effortlessly admit to missing him in the quiet of the morning. For a man carrying the heavy, instincts of Sunghoon, that vulnerability was a monumental surrender.
It had been a full, agonizing week since they last shared a room. Raiven had been entirely swallowed by the frantic preparations for his official solo debut, locked in constant meetings with creative directors, stylists, and the meticulous Mr. Kim. Haru, on the other hand, had been thrust right back into the show biz after returning from the mountains. The moment his feet touched the pavement in Seoul, Alice had him booked for back-to-back interviews, magazine spreads, and heavy script-reading sessions for two new acting projects he had recently signed onto.
He had been sitting alone in his quiet living room the previous night, staring at the script pages, when a sudden, overwhelming wave of loneliness had taken root. He didn't just want to text; he wanted to see Raiven. He wanted to feel the physical grounding of his presence and show him absolute, silent support before his debut launch the next day.
For his solo debut, Raiven had chosen a path that completely defied standard K-pop industry conventions. Instead of launching his music through an exclusive indoor showcase or a tightly controlled press conference, he had booked an entire public park in the heart of the city. He had arranged a sprawling festival landscape complete with gourmet food trucks, live acoustic stages, and interactive art installations for his fans. But the most striking element was the ticketing system. In order to secure a pass to the site, fans didn't pay a vendor; they were required to make a direct donation to a verified medical charity fund dedicated to cancer research and patient support.
Haru had gradually discovered that Raiven quietly funneled a staggering portion of his wealth into various charitable foundations. It was a beautiful contradiction that Haru frequently pondered. From an outside perspective, Raiven had grown up entirely insulated from societal struggle. His family possessed more than enough generational wealth to send him to the most prestigious elite academies and private talent schools, shielding him from the raw, gritty realities of life. Yet, the desire to do good, to use his massive platform to shield others from pain, ran deep within his marrow.
"How about we shower together?" Raiven suggested, breaking the quiet reverie as he brushed a thumb against Haru's cheek.
"That way, I won't be quite as late, and you get your five minutes."
Haru slowly opened his dark eyes, a soft, indulgent smile gracing his features. He nodded slightly against the pillow, his eyelids still heavy with residual fatigue.
As Raiven sat up and pulled the heavy comforter away, Haru let his head fall back, watching his boyfriend move. He found himself wondering, with a detached sort of amusement, if other ordinary couples bathed together as frequently as they did, or if their constant need for physical proximity was considered strange. He quickly tossed the analytical thought out of his head. It didn't matter. As he felt Raiven's hands gently help him strip away his remaining undergarments, the lingering chill of the bedroom evaporated under the sheer comfort of being handled so tenderly while he was still half-asleep.
They walked into the spacious, marble-tiled bathroom, the air instantly thickening with a dense, billowing cloud of warm steam as the rainfall shower head roared to life. Haru stood quietly, leaning his lower back against the sleek counter, watching their reflections in the large, fogging mirror. Raiven stepped up behind him, dispensing a rich, aromatic shampoo into his palms before working it into Haru's thick, dark hair. His long fingers massaged Haru's scalp with a practiced, soothing pressure that made Haru close his eyes in pure bliss.
"I am so proud of you," Haru said softly, his eyes opening to lock onto Raiven's gaze through the mirror, a genuine, unvarnished smile curving his lips.
Raiven paused for a fraction of a second, looking up at the glass, his eyes softening dramatically at the sudden praise. "You are?"
"I brag about you often," Haru stated, his tone shifting into something slightly playful, though his eyes remained entirely sincere. "Not in a condescending way, of course. Just... stating facts about how incredible my partner is."
"You do?" Raiven asked, a low, dangerous rumble returning to his chest. He rinsed his hands quickly under the warm stream, grabbing a soapy loofah. Stepping fully into Haru's space, he brought his arms around Haru's chest from behind, using the friction of the soapy mesh to wash his skin, deliberately pulling Haru's back flush against his chest.
"Yeah," Haru breathed out, the word coming out distinctly breathy as his eyes dropped to track the movement of Raiven's hands against his torso.
"Who did you brag to?" Raiven asked, his voice dropping into a sultry, quiet whisper as he leaned down to press an open-mouthed kiss against the column of Haru's neck. At the same time, his hand guided the slick, warm loofah lower, letting it brush with agonizing slowness against the top of Haru's thigh, dangerously close to his member.
"I... can't recall," Haru let out, the words fracturing into a quiet, breathless moan as he felt Raiven's hand ditch the loofah completely, his bare, soap-slicked palm crushing directly up against him. Haru was already intensely sensitive from the morning warmth, and through the close contact of their bodies, he could feel that Raiven was already hard and raring to go.
Unable to take the passive positioning any longer, Haru turned around in the space, meeting Raiven face-to-face as the heavy torrent of water from the shower head poured over their shoulders, plastering their hair to their foreheads. Haru circled his arms tightly around Raiven's neck, pulling him down into a deep, bruising kiss that tasted of clean water and mint. Raiven groaned into the kiss, his large hands anchoring firmly around Haru's waist to hold him steady against the wet tiles.
Haru's right hand slid down between their bodies, his fingers grouping both of their erect cocks together, pressing the heat of their skin directly against one another before he began to stroke them in tandem. They were both too large to comfortably hold with a single hand, the friction intense and immediate. Operating on pure instinct, Haru reached back up with his left hand, grabbing Raiven's wrist and pulling his hand down, instructing him through touch to wrap his fingers directly over his own.
"Where did you learn this?" Raiven moaned against his lips, his nose nuzzling frantically into the curve of Haru's jawline as their synchronized hands began to move along the slick shafts.
Haru didn't have the breath or the time to reply. The moment Raiven's fingers tightened and took over the pace, a sharp, violent shudder tore through Haru's entire frame, his knees buckling slightly. His own grip on Raiven's cock grew faster, frantic and desperate, matched entirely by the rapid, shallow gasps escaping Raiven's lips. The grip on Haru's waist tightened until it was almost bruising, pinning him to the wall.
"Fuck," Raiven cursed aloud, a raw, uncharacteristic moan tearing from his throat as the friction pushed them both dangerously close to the precipice.
Both of their movements accelerated into a frantic, blurred rhythm, the heat between their thighs contrasting sharply with the cool spray of the water.
"Cum with me," Haru moaned, his fingers digging into the muscles of Raiven's neck as his head fell back against the marble wall, his eyes rolling shut.
A second later, they came violently together, a intense, blinding release that left them both paralyzed in the heat of the spray. They stood locked in the embrace for a long time, the heavy torrent of the shower instantly sweeping the evidence down the drain, leaving only the sound of their ragged breathing echoing in the tiled room.
"We shouldn't bathe together anymore," Haru mouthed after a long moment, his chest heaving as he tried to pull air back into his lungs.
Raiven blinked away the water droplets from his eyelashes, a lazy, satisfied smirk spreading across his face. "Why?"
"I simply can't control myself around you," Haru breathed out honestly, running a wet hand through his hair to push it away from his face.
Raiven stood upright, his expression softening into something incredibly tender as he reached out, cupping Haru's jaw and pulling him in for a slow, sweet, and deeply affectionate kiss.
"Then don't," Raiven breathed against his lips.
Haru let out a soft, dry chuckle, leaning his forehead against Raiven's shoulder. "Don't you think our sex life is a little too active?"
"What does that even mean?" Raiven asked, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion as he turned off the faucet, the sudden silence in the bathroom making their voices sound intimate and loud.
"Think about it," Haru said, grabbing a towel from the rack and wrapping it around his waist. "Whenever we meet... we just came back from a vacation where you were practically living under my skin, and the moment we get any spare time, we're right back at it."
Raiven grabbed his own towel, stepping out of the stall behind him. "Wouldn't it be weirder if I wasn't attracted to my own boyfriend? I want to fuck you every single chance I get, Haru. That's how it's supposed to be."
"Aren't you being a bit too greedy?" Haru countered, a bright, undeniable flush creeping up his cheeks as he stepped toward the sink.
Deep down, though, Haru knew Raiven was entirely right. Comparing this relationship to his previous, fragmented encounters during his past life as Sunghoon, the difference was staggering. Back then, intimacy had felt like a performance to maintain appearances.
With Raiven, it was a volatile, magnetic necessity. Did that mean he had never truly been attracted to anyone in his past? The realization was bizarre, proving just how much this current life was changing the very foundation of who he was.
Raiven stepped up behind him at the mirror, pulling Haru back in for another lingering kiss, his hands resting gently on his hips.
This time, Haru pulled away after a few seconds, though he couldn't hide the soft smile on his face. He patted Raiven's chest playfully.
"You seriously need to get ready now," he said with a low chuckle, heading toward the bathroom exit. "Finish up quickly and get dressed before Mr. Kim calls you."
Raiven smiled quietly, leaning against the counter as he watched his boyfriend's retreating back disappear into the bedroom.
By the time Raiven had dried his hair, styled it into his signature, sharp debut look, and dressed in his high-end wardrobe, Haru had already shifted gears. He had changed into a comfortable, dark gray workout tracksuit and had navigated the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast. A pot of seasoned rice, soft rolled omelets, and a mild soup were laid out neatly on the island counter.
Raiven sat down on the barstool and began to eat enthusiastically, his shoulders visibly relaxing. For the past seven days, every single meal he had consumed had been taken standing up in a practice room or while reviewing legal documents in a moving van.
Having a hot, home-cooked meal prepared by the person he loved felt like luxury.
"Will you come to the park today?" Raiven asked after swallowing a piece of the omelet, his eyes rising to lock onto Haru's with a quiet, expectant vulnerability. Despite his global fame, he still craved Haru's approval more than the crowd's.
Haru walked over, leaning down to press a soft, lingering kiss against Raiven's forehead, his hand resting gently on his shoulder.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Haru said softly, his voice full of absolute certainty. "Eat up. I'll be right there in the front row."