That's fine. Jaeha has learned his lesson. He is going to believe in Lee Tae-gun. Giving in to despair was a mistake, and it's a mistake he's not going to repeat. Tae-gun is alive. Tae-gun is alive Tae-gun is alive Tae-gun is alive Tae-gun is alive alive alive alive alive!!!!!!!!

He really is starting to feel lightheaded. It's probably the way he's tensing up so badly he's actually not breathing enough. Focus, Kang Jaeha. Tae-gun is alive. Lee Tae-gun is alive, he's fine, and you can just—go back to your life as it was. Your plans continue unimpeded. This was a blip, confluences are scary, but Lee Tae-gun will not die to a dungeon. He slowly relaxes his fingers and leans forward, letting out a long breath and taking in a deep one.

(Tae-gun is alive. Tae-gun is alive. Tae-gun is alive, he's alive, he's alive, he really is, he's alive—)

He grabs his mug of coffee again. The world is alright. The world makes sense.

The first person out of the portal is... not Tae-gun. You can tell by the head of brilliant red hair, stature, and, well. The pair of tits that are just barely hidden behind an ice blur.

She's holding hands with him though.

And when Tae-gun steps out after her, he doesn't look stunning as he usually does. His hair is disheveled, he's wearing nothing but some uncomfortable-looking briefs made of ice that are almost insulting in how little they leave to the imagination, his face is flushed, and the beautiful and perfect smile he usually bears in public has been replaced by a look Jaeha has only seen on Tae-gun in their bedroom, when Tae-gun was in the throes of backlash.

The coffee mug shatters in Jaeha's hand.

The support staff takes a frankly (and quite literally) obscene amount of time to get its shit together, cover the two espers, and bring them out of the public eye and into one of the medical tents, but by then it's too late. That vision, that moment will be registered forever in the historical record, the two espers stepping out of an S-rank dungeon they just destroyed together, holding hands and clearly actively backlashing.

Everything had been working fine. Everything had been going according to plan. Tae-gun wasn't getting any good partners, Jaeha made sure of that. Jaeha isn't getting any good partners, he's also made sure of that; his compatibility with Insoo is very asymmetrical, though Jaeha pretends it isn't, because Jaeha doesn't want anyone else. There's only Tae-gun. He drove other people away, subtly, found other partners for them, pulled strings no one could track.

It was never meant to kill Tae-gun. Another couple of years, that's all Jaeha needed. Another couple of years, and Tae-gun was going to be his again. Tae-gun would remember how much he needs Jaeha, how much Jaeha needs him, how much they need each other. How much they love each other. They'd be together again, and Tae-gun would remember how good it was when they were together.

He knows Tae-gun loved him, and he knows Tae-gun still loves him. He knows this, because he knows Tae-gun better than anyone, better than Tae-gun himself. It was working, it was going to work. They'd be together again, and he'd finally be whole again. There is no Kang Jaeha without Lee Tae-gun, and he was going to have Tae-gun again.

And now this bitch, this bitch shows up and fucks it all up. How much more time did she add to that timeline, with this little stunt of hers? How much longer is she going to make Jaeha have to wait before he can have Tae-gun again?

He knew, when he met her, when he took her measure, that he was going to need to destroy her. From the start it was obvious that she was a threat that wouldn't go away on its own, that he'd need to take action; the question was just which action to take, and it became very soon clear that destruction was the only option. But now he wants it for its own sake. Now, he wants her gone for himself.

"So..."

It's far too late at night for them to be having dinner but they unsurprisingly lost track of time, and they're espers and need to eat to sustain their dissolute lifestyles high caloric consumption.

Fortunately, Tae-gun has actually quite a lot of ready to eat food at his place, so: nom nom nom.

"So?" she asks, looking up from stuffing her face.

"We kind of... I mean, all of the rules. That I said. When we met. They're kind of out the window, now."

"Oh. Yes. They are. You're right, we should make new ones. Uh - okay, what do you want from our partnership now that we've, uh. Done the expected mutual guiding thing?"

"I don't... really know. Um. I mean, the thing I said earlier. About how... you now know. The reason for the, the professionalism thing. Not wanting to get closer. It was to, um. Protect myself." Okay he is actually going to award himself a non-ironic good job star in his brain for succeeding at being emotionally vulnerable like that.

"But I don't think I need to protect myself from you, anymore?"

She beams at him. "Aw. Well, thank you. Though I still absolutely want to respect your boundaries? So. Please tell me things I should avoid for your comfort."

"Yeah. Sure. I just don't really... know..." He can't really think about the time with—him—to draw inspiration from, because he doesn't know how much of it was actually okay. He's going to need to figure it all out again on the go. "...probably everything we did today and yesterday is fine. Um. If you're okay with the, um, the way I was. Being. Not, um, I, if I, I also want to respect your boundaries? But I'm, um, I'm bad at. That. When I'm. Um."

Now it's her turn to stammer and blush.

"Um, n-no complaints, and, um. You seemed pretty, um. Open to whatever I wanted and, and, actively interested in what I wanted and enjoyed? Plus I can actually just, I mean. Set you on fire. If you're doing something I don't like." Cough.

"But also I think my boundaries are more directed at stuff that you might do when you're not backlashing. Like - I had to fight like hell for my IUD, if you wanted that gone, that's not happening? But I expect you to go, 'Oh, that's smart, good thinking,' instead, so."

"oh god I didn't even think of condoms yes absolutely good thinking"

Sporfle.

"Probably the level of backlash I'm dealing with means that any of your little swimmers wouldn't get anywhere?" she snickers, amused. "But yes. I have been in this exact situation before, and good news! I solved it! ... I probably want to check with a medical professional that it didn't get partially melted or something, but. The string is still in there, I checked when I realized the thing about losing the chip."

"Okay. Alright. Good. Um."

"...who did you have to fight? Hideyoshi?"

"Eventually? But mostly it was actually, uh. Japan. You know the statistics about espers running in families, yeah? Well. With the birthrate as it is..." She looks away and shrugs. "A young powerful esper with a stable male partner that she's dating..." She makes a face.

"No. You are not serious. You cannot be serious."

"'It's for the good of the country! Think of the next generation! You'd make a great mother!'" she parrots, clearly quoting from experience. "Nevermind that I'm a fucking combat esper, that should just go on the backburner for a decade or two while I boil water for a while and become a nice domestic housewife. ... That one's more Hideyoshi than the government, admittedly. When I complained about it to him, his response was, 'You know, maybe they have a point,' which. Um. Led to a massive argument and me throwing him out of my silo and our breakup." Food munch. "Ironically once I was certified single, it was much easier to get the paperwork through."

"No. What? No." He is actually having some trouble fathoming this. "Did White Star Guild just... condone this?"

Wow he's actually getting pretty angry about it!

"Ehhh. Yes and no? Not directly in so many words, but. Mysteriously I was being told that I was overreacting and to be patient and understanding and how, like, they would support me if I decided I wanted to take a break from the more dangerous aspects of being an esper, blah blah, blah blah, corporate speak. So. Basically yes."

His reaction is honestly very gratifying.