Epilogue #2
“And you do most the writing, and spend hours up here with me, putting it all together, and doing all the PR with Mi Hi, and the accounting. Yohei is our negotiator. Geun’s our artist. Su-jin’s getting good with being a front man. We all have jobs.”
“Ack, accounting. Do not remind me.”
Jaewoong grinned. “Still in court with all that stuff?”
“I’m not sure we’ll ever be out of court. It’s going to be years. The forensic accountants say they’ve barely started in, what with all the new records that were recovered in the raids.”
Jaewoong shook his head. “Sorry, man. I don’t know what to say. I’m just glad I’m only dealing with some of that.”
Jaewoong put Habibi up on his shoulders. Jun put the little guy’s water bottle in the pocket of Jaewoong’s cargo pants so he wouldn’t lose it, and they parted on the bottom steps.
Collin was just inside the old foyer space, signing off on product demos with contractors.
Jun left him to it with a nod of his head and wandered into the sanctuary.
He already had new music videos planned for when the space was finished.
Currently, it was in total chaos. Most of the floor was gone, only a few old sections being left on purpose in their ruined states.
Plywood had been laid down between support beams here and there for walkways.
Everywhere else was open to the floor below, exposed beams, pipes, and wiring on display.
Steel framing had been set down, some of it all the way into the ground below the foundation to support the new floors that would be the base of the performing space.
The structure for green space columns that would punctuate the performance space were already in place.
It looked like all the structural elements were finished, or nearly finished.
Jun peered up at the ceiling, now closed with glass and grinned. They were so, so much closer.
“Thought I saw you.” Jun looked up to see Collin jogging towards him. “Damian’s downstairs.”
“Should I go through the side door, or can I go through here?”
Collin nodded to the sanctuary. “Just stay on the plywood path and wear this. Actually, follow me. I’m going that way.”
Jun took the hard hat and put it on. “How’s it going?”
Collin smiled a little, looking tired but satisfied. “The sanctuary should be open for the winter holidays. Only the sanctuary, but we’ll also have the new upper level entrance open and the lower foyer will be closed except for the elevator section. So we’ll be that far.”
“Don’t downplay it,” Jun looked around. It looked nothing like a space almost ready to be used, but if Collin said so, he was going to believe him. He’d been right about pretty much everything else. “Just this space alone is a massive piece of work.”
Collin grinned, bashful and tired. They made it to the other end of the sanctuary. The side door to the grass was open. Richard, safety gear wrapped around his face, was pulling pews apart just outside the door. He had a pile of old nails in a coffee can beside his feet.
Jun shoulder bumped Collin gently. “There’s your master. I’m going to go find Damian.”
“He’s with Jackson and Rory.”
Jun raised an eyebrow. “Perfect, I’ll get to meet them, finally.”
Jun jogged down the stairs behind the old altar space. He passed one locked door as he navigated the basement. Nondescript, but closed nonetheless. He paused, staring at it. Should he? If he touched it, he knew it would be locked. Likely triple locked.
Jun swallowed and bowed his head for a moment. Today wasn’t the day to try again. But he would, soon. He went past the door and into the warren of half demolished old classrooms and hallways with their overhead exposed to the construction above.
Two unfamiliar men were with Damian, right in the middle of it all.
A lot of the walls had been pulled down as they’d checked the supports for the levels above or sank in new ones.
Jun kicked a bit of dry wall out of the way.
They really needed to finish clearing out the last of the old walls and carpeting .
Damian leaned against one of the new support pillars, hands in his pockets, listening to the man with shoulder length dirty blond hair.
The man had a Stetson in one hand and looked like someone who worked out and worked with his body for a living.
As Jun approached, he turned. His eyes crinkled up into a warm smile above his neatly trimmed mustache.
The man beside him had darker hair, cut into shorter, tousled lengths.
Like the other man, he wore jeans, but instead of a vest and button-down shirt he had a band T-shirt and a double looped leather bracelet with buckles. Spicy friendship indeed.
“Jun, this is Jackson,” Damian said, straightening up and waving towards the man holding the Stetson. “And his submissive, Rory,” he gestured to the darker-haired man.
Rory blushed. Jackson offered his hand. Jun shook it, giving as firm as he got. The man was strong but he didn’t try to overpower. Jun offered his hand to Rory. The darker haired man blushed and accepted, shaking with the same firmness, if less eye contact.
“We’re talking about the dungeon,” Damian said.
“I figured.” Jun waved at the space around them. “Otherwise, I’d be worried. This place has really been trashed all over again.”
“The bin comes tomorrow. It’ll be cleared out soon.”
Jun nodded. “So, what are the ideas?”
Jackson chuckled and Rory groaned.
“Hypatia wants a gallery area,” Damian said. “Someplace rope riggers and others can show off living art work. We were thinking this space, here, in the front, down the center, leading up to the altar space.”
“Are we lowering the altar space from above, or recreating it?” Jun asked. It had been a debate.
“We’re reclaiming some of the materials and recreating it in the same location, just a floor below, then we can open the ceiling up down here to part of the above to create a vaulted space with art and light,” Damian said.
Jun leaned into him, looking back at the area Damian was waving towards.
Damian kissed the side of his head and put an arm around his waist. He was a little slow and careful, as had become his habit while avoiding the bruising left behind beneath the bullet-proof vest. Jun pressed in closer, reminding Damian that he was healed.
There was some discoloration left, but multiple doctors had cleared him for exercise and sexual play.
The internal bruising was practically gone and so was the pain.
Damian tightened his grip and Jun relaxed.
“It’s going to be a really big space,” Rory said.
Jun smirked. “Us primals need somewhere to run when it’s cold.”
Jackson snorted and Rory blushed again.
“Are you putting in a race track?” he asked.
Jun shook his head. “Obstacle course.”
“You knew about this!” Rory turned to Jackson. “This is why you were so excited about this place.”
Jackson smirked, putting his thumbs through his belt. “I told you I wanted some midwinter bacon, pet.”
Rory grumbled and moved in closer, mortified.
“Does he always embarrass this easily?” Jun asked, nodding at Rory and speaking to Jackson.
“Being embarrassed is his kink,” Jackson put an arm around Rory and pulled him in front of him so he could wrap his arms around his sub.
Protective, but still not letting him hide his pink face.
He kissed the side of Rory’s head. “I make sure to embarrass him publicly at least once a month. I’d invite you to our next dinner party but Damian says you’re going to be away. ”
“Yeah, the tour,” Jun shrugged. “Maybe next time?”
“Of course.”
Jackson and Damian made plans to have Jackson bring in one of his friends to make dungeon furniture. They all went up afterwards. Jackson and Rory head off to enjoy the city for the evening. Damian and Jun went looking for Richard and Collin.
Collin was helping Richard clean up from breaking down the pews. They were almost ready to leave. Richard was sweaty, a bit dirty, and happy with a job well done.
“That’s so much good wood,” Richard told Damian.
“Do not let Jaewoong or Gigi hear you say that,” Jun said. “You’ll never hear the end of it.”
Collin spluttered, trying not to laugh.
An hour later, back at The Residency, Jun tried, unsuccessfully, to focus on packing.
It had been months since he’d been to the Estate.
This time, Damian was going to make good on one of his promises.
They were going to have a proper hunt. And all Jun’s forgotten nerves about the event were in full swing.
What if Damian was disappointed? What if it wasn’t everything they’d build it up to be over the months and months of delays and waiting?
At the other end of the closet, Damian was filling his suitcase. Jun looked down at his bag, thinking.
“DaSu?”
“Yes?” Damian looked up in the middle of folding a pair of pants.
“With what we’re doing, how many clothes do I need?”
Damian smirked. “You need at least once set, so I can cut it off of you.”
Jun growled. “If you catch me. You have to do that first.”
“We both know I will.” Damian put the pants down and came over to Jun, pulling him close by his waist. “After I catch you, you won’t need much.”
Jun flushed and looked down, which meant he was seeing Damian’s hands around his waist. And that did not help his fantasies subside at all.
“Need to talk about it, wolfling?”
Jun leaned in. “Scared. Nervous. Want it. Also…gah, what are you going to do to me? I know you’re going to embarrass me. I always end up becoming another person, once you, well, catch me.”
Damian cradled Jun close. “And I always bring you back. You’re my wolfling. As much as I love you as my pet, I love my wolf too.”
Jun bit Damian lightly. “Don’t forget it.”
“You won’t let me.” Damian kissed Jun’s forehead. “Would you rather I pack for you?”
“Please.”
“Then don’t look. Go get Artemis ready too, and help émeric.”
“All right. I haven’t done my skin care stuff or….”