Free of Charge // Baekchen

Ignite

Chapter Twenty-Six: Ignite

ignite: to arouse; to provoke; to burn

~*~

Jongdae's relationship with his father could have been worse, in his opinion at least. His father, whenever he was around that is, avoided Jongdae. It was a childish act, but one that Jongdae preferred over the other possibilities. Nothing remarkably changed; his father spent long hours at the office and if Jongdae was home, the brunet would simple coop himself in his bedroom. However, it was the comfort of each other's presence that vanished. Now, Jongdae felt odd and out of place whenever he saw his father, the heavy feeling of dread gnawing on his heart.

It went without question that Baekhyun should avoid Jongdae's place. Jongdae didn't know if his mother revealed to his father that Baekhyun was the one, but Jongdae was positive his father knew by now. In fact, a surprise visit from Jongdeok confirmed Jongdae's suspicions. Jongdae was busy doing his laundry when Jongdeok randomly popped in one day.

"You like guys?" Jongdeok had asked with a straight face. "I heard from Dad." Jongdae didn't reply, not like he needed to since Jongdeok continued, "What happened? You're still alive and you're still dating Baekbeom's little brother, so it couldn't have been that horrible."

"Are you kidding me? Don't talk unless you've experienced it yourself."

"I can't, I'm not gay."

"Why are you here?" Jongdae demanded, slamming the dryer's door shut. "Are you supposed to give me the 'you're just going through a phase' talk? If you are, don't waste your breath. Leave me alone." He lifted his basket and shouldered past Jongdeok into his bedroom.

"Sorry, little bro, but that's not why I'm here."

Jongdae set his basket on the floor and began hanging and tossing clothes into his closet. As much as he liked his brother, whenever Jongdeok showed up, it made Jongdae on edge. There was always a reason why Jongdeok made an appearance. "I have a phone. You have a phone. Why don't you just call instead of taking up space in my room?"

"Kyungsoo called me over, said he wanted to talk, but I don't see him."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Jongdae gestured to the door as he violently shook a t-shirt before retrieving an unused hanger. Shaking his head, Jongdeok went to open the door. A nervous Kyungsoo greeted him and together they stepped into Jongdae's bedroom.

"Hey, Kyungsoo. You didn't tell me you were coming over," Jongdae said as he continued hanging his shirts and jackets while throwing the rest into his drawer in their respective compartments, too lazy to fold any of his pants.

"Yeah," was all Kyungsoo said. "I didn't feel comfortable..." Kyungsoo's eyes flickered to Jongdeok for half a second before he made his way to the bed. Kyungsoo coughed and cleared his throat before placing his hands over his lap, "I just thought... it would be better if someone else heard, and who better than the younger brother?"

"How serious is this?" Jongdeok said.

"Umm, well, the other night I heard that you were the last person with the bag at Yoonkyu."

"Me?" Jongdeok asked incredulously. "I was nowhere near that bag. Who told you that?"

"No, I overheard him, he said that they gave you the bag before he left because you said you would return it. He thought that you were high off drugs or--"

"Who?"

"T-Tae-- Lee Taemin."

"I never even talked to him that night."