The Devil I Know | Jaeyong

6: Truth

The car pulls up on an open green lawn, wheels crunching over dirt and gravel, and Jaehyun clenches his jaw as they slow to an end. Without pause, he unbuckles his belt and swings the door open to step out. And then, for a brief moment, he stops to take in just exactly where the fuck they are. Streamers and fairy lights hang from the walls of the house in front of them, and the lawn they've parked on has been trashed. People linger outside, trickling out of the packed house like a bad leak. A guy faces a tree next to the back yard, with his pants pulled down and head tipped back as he relieves himself. It's a typical scene. Jaehyun looks away and breathes in the dark, foggy air. Smoke. Weed. Alcohol. Drugs. He'd recognise them anywhere. He's come too close to them not to. He's been through his brother's stash too many times to count. And he's had them prescribed for years by Dr. Byun. But without even stepping inside, he knows that the ones here aren't the type he'd ever mess with — and Taeyong shouldn't, either.

Jaehyun tightens his fist and slams the car door shut before motoring forward with fire under his feet. Blind fury pushes him forward, and he leaves Johnny behind, but it doesn't take long for the other Alpha to catch up. Johnny jogs up beside him, and then they're in line with each other, side by side, like toy soldiers. The closer they get to the house, the tighter that forever-wound corkscrew in Jaehyun's chest turns, and his mind grows fuzzy. It's hard to keep the darkness trying to clamber in at the edges at bay, and soon, he might just give up trying. The music coming from inside the house is deafening, matching the pulse in Jaehyun's ears. They make their way through the door without opposition. Nobody stops them, and Jaehyun sees why before he even steps in. The party's in full swing despite being past 1am, and people are different degrees of drunk or losing their minds. The entryway is a tight fit, and the living room is crowded from corner to corner so that he can barely fucking breathe. And he already can't. Jaehyun's chest burns as his eyes whisk around the darkness, looking for his target.

"So, what's the plan?" Johnny says, nearly drowned out by the sound of EDM music, but Jaehyun hears him loud and clear.

"Whose party is this?" Jaehyun asks instead.

Johnny's question goes unanswered because, the truth is, he doesn't have one. He's come in here with one intention and one intention alone; get Taeyong. And he won't be leaving the place until he finds him.

"Jackson Wang's," Johnny murmurs next to him. "Grad student still hosting a party for highschoolers. Can't get rid of his glory days."

Glory days.

Jaehyun plays those two words back in his head like a broken record. He knows Jackson. Who doesn't? Jackson was in highschool back when Jaejoon was, too, and he'd heard about his parties second-hand. In better times, they'd each had glory days of their own. But things had changed, Jackson hadn't gotten scouted after a couple underage misdemeanours, and neither he nor Jaejoon were letting go of the past. Old habits died hard and stuck to people like thorns on roses. But maybe it was time to change the cycle. Maybe it was time for Jaehyun to do what they never could and let go of the past.

"Let's split up," Johnny says, nodding in the direction of a swarming kitchen. A wave of cheers go off at a game of beer pong. "I'll check out that area, and you check out the living room. If neither of us find him, we'll meet upstairs and go searching there."

Jaehyun nods and looks away as Johnny leaves.

"He's got to be around here somewhere," Johnny mutters as he lopes through the crowd. Somehow, it almost sounds like a prayer.

Jaehyun cycles forward alone, and the wheels keep turning as he searches for Taeyong. He can usually spot Taeyong from a mile away. If it's not by his scent, it's by the way his body is magnetised to Taeyong's in any room they're in. It's by the way they hover around each other, circling in mutual orbits. But, right now, Taeyong's disappeared from his sphere. Each second he goes without spotting him pulls at the muscles wound around Jaehyun's bones until they're taut. One more minute and they'll snap. But then, like a gift heaven-sent, he spots someone in the crowd that should have the answers he's looking for. Jaehyun pushes forward, tearing a path straight down ahead. He crosses the living room, makes it to the other side, and yanks his target back with their shirt in hand. Yuta jerks back, and his scent spoils as he turns around like he's ready to jump at whoever touched him. He comes face to face with Jaehyun, and Jaehyun watches in real time as Yuta's spine straightens from shock. He takes a split second to drink Yuta in. His dumbstruck expression. His drink spilling over his hand. And the faded black eye Johnny gave him weeks ago in their dorm rooms when Yuta kept running his mouth after their game of Truth or Dare.