Title: The Way I Danced With You
Author: Merci
Source: Tekken
Pairing: Hwoarang/Steve
Summary: Moving on to another dance partner is not as easy as Hwoarang thought it would be.
Warnings: Yaoi, angst
Disclaimer: I am making no profit from this fanfiction. I do not own Tekken, Hwoarang, or Steve.
Notes: I wrote this after seeing a post on tumblr that had Hwoarang and Steve and a link to Careless Whisper by George Michaels. It got me thinking about Hwoarang moving on after Jin and... this came about.
Hwoarang's boot skidded over the train yard gravel. Something felt off in his mind, but he didn't have time to dwell on it, because Steve Fox stood opposite him, arm extended in an invitation to fight. An invitation Hwoarang rarely turned down from anyone. He seemed to know how to pull the Korean along, as the trains roared past and the fighters moved, fists and feet driving past defenses and crashing into them in a battle that was sweaty and brutal and full of a bit more testosterone than Hwoarang had expected. He almost fell into his familiar rhythm of kicks and punches, but Steve didn't move the right way…
His fighting style was different.
His footwork
His eyes weren't focused like...
His mind seemed to shift back to the last time he'd seen Jin.
Their last fight.
He hadn't known it at the time, but it was their last goodbye.
Jin had been inaccessible after that. Up high in his tower. Above. And no matter how much Hwoarang bellowed and screamed to him from below, Jin didn't hear him.
Or he ignored.
This was the first time since then that Hwoarang had sparred with someone other than Baek. Steve had invited him out for practice, but it had quickly turned into something more. Something deeper that Hwoarang couldn't put his finger on, but it was there and tangible and it felt so...wrong.
His feet stumbled over the gravel and he dropped low, ducking just short of a powerful jab that would have caught him in the jaw. Hwoarang tried to catch himself, but he fell, sprawling out and slamming his shoulder against one of the iron rails.
"Hwoarang! Are you okay, there?" Steve asked, dropping out of his stance and coming over to check on him.
"Y-eah, I'm fine," Hwoarang lied, rubbing his shoulder and scrambling to his feet. There was something missing from this fight. Something he'd taken for granted with Jin, and now-
Steve's right hook caught him, knocking his thoughts to the back of his head and pummeling him into the ground again.
"Shit!" Hwoarang cursed as he hit the ground. Why the hell was he thinking of Jin?
It was hard to pretend.
"You've got no rhythm," Steve offered when Hwoarang had dragged himself to his feet, hesitating before raising his fists again. "Did you want to keep going, or... go back to my place?"
He should have known better.
But why pass on an invitation from such an attractive friend?
And as he stepped inside Hwoarang could feel his past crumbling inside him.
Steve's warm body crushed the part of Jin that still lived inside.
The real Jin.
Before this world destruction shit started.
Hwoarang pushed harder against Steve, crushing their mouths together and grinding their bodies together.
He'd never be with Jin again.
He'd waited so long, but every day seemed to lead Jin further from him. He'd done nothing wrong, and the bastard had cut him off.
"Oy!" Steve cried out, cursing as he pulled back and wiped at the blood on his lip. "What was that for?"
Hwoarang panted and looked at his friend, at the blood on his lip, at the heat in his eyes. He felt him. Wanted him. The feeling of being wanted, his feelings reciprocated without the baggage. As he leaned forward to lick at Steve's lip, and whisper apologies, Hwoarang decided to just forget everything. Push it out and live in the moment. He wanted this.
Jin wasn't there.
He wouldn't be there again.
Steve was.
It wouldn't be for long, but it would be long enough.
If Hwoarang could live that lie. A lie of happiness and belonging… and believe it.
That lie would be kinder than the truth.
Because Jin had pushed him away.
Because Hwoarang wasn't strong enough to stand by him.