Wherever You Will Go
Title: Wherever You Will Go
Pairing/Characters: YunJae, Changmin, Yoochun, Junsu
Word Count: 2,569
Genre: Angst, Romance
Rating: PG-13
Summary: (Part three of the 'Where' series, sequel to Where I Can't Follow) Yunho and Jaejoong, Jaejoong and Yunho, they were like magnets; they always had been.
A/N: This won't really make sense if you haven't read the previous fics! The plot-bunnies decided they wanted some humour as I was writing this, so I tried... hopefully it comes across alright >.< I'd appreciate any feedback or thoughts you have c:
11:58 PM
It was their night off. They had decided to spend it peacefully watching a movie together, and Changmin had claimed the ridiculously comfortable armchair as his own. Normally this was Yunho’s preferred spot, but Changmin had called in the favour Yunho owed him after he had cleaned up their filthy apartment last week. This meant Yunho was currently sprawled out over the couch, his long legs sticking awkwardly over the end of the armrest, with his feet propped up on a pillow that had been placed on top of the side-table.
Changmin was just contemplating getting up for more snacks when the chime of the door denying access to someone outside went off. He glanced over curiously, as did his hyung. He would have shrugged it off as an intoxicated neighbour who had come to the wrong door, but then it chimed again. And then once more, as the person outside tried to enter using the keypad.
Perturbed, he glanced over at Yunho who also bore a confused expression on his face.
“We should probably-” Changmin broke off, turning toward the front hall at the sound of a thud against their front door, “check that out.”
“And by ‘we,’ you mean me?” Yunho said exasperatedly, one eyebrow raised.
“Of course,” Changmin replied, matter-of-factly.
"Seriously, sometimes I wonder which one of us is the hyung,” Yunho muttered, hauling himself up from the couch with a hard-done-by sigh.
“I don’t,” Changmin grinned cheekily at his hyung.
“Brat!”
A swift hand smacked the back of Changmin’s head. The brief pain Changmin felt was worth seeing the genuine smile that had broken out across his hyung’s face.
-----
11:59 PM
After smacking the ever impertinent Changmin, Yunho strode to the door with annoyance at being disturbed on his night off. He’d be relieved if it was just someone who’d overindulged, better that than his manager wanting god knows what in the middle of the night. With his luck, it would probably turn out to be crazy stalker fans who would try to kidnap him. If that was the case, Changmin would save him. Yunho looked back at his dongsaeng sitting smugly, phone in hand, in Yunho’s favourite chair. Well, probably.
After he arrived at the door, Yunho turned the lock. He would have reached down to open the door except it was already swinging open, rather quickly, all on its own. Before he could move out of the way, the edge of the door hit Yunho and he stumbled backward hissing with pain and clutching his forehead. A resounding thump followed by the smashing of the door into the wall caused Yunho’s eyes to fly open, the pain in his head forgotten.
There was a body on his floor; a man who lay face down on the tile. He was bundled in a black winter jacket with a fur-lined hood that was pulled up over his head, with stylishly ripped jeans and dark boots on his lower half. Seeing that the man appeared to be unconscious, Yunho suspected he was probably drunk. He sighed, feeling burdened; this sort of thing always seemed to happen to him. Yunho moved closer to turn the unconscious man over, but paused when he saw a black travel suitcase in the hall.
‘Who goes out drinking with a suitcase?’ Yunho wondered, standing still in his confusion. He ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the man on the floor and then back to the suitcase sitting out in the corridor.
Footsteps approached from the living room.
“Hyung, what was that noise? Is everything- Woah!” Changmin flew past Yunho, crouching down and poking curiously at person lying in their hallway, “Is he okay, do you think?” he asked, now looking at Yunho.
“I don’t know,” Yunho replied slowly, “For now, let’s just get him inside before anyone sees,” he stepped over to the doorway and grabbed the suitcase, bringing it into the apartment.
Changmin carefully rolled the man over and positioned himself behind the body. Placing his hands under the man’s armpits, he pulled him fully into the apartment. Yunho placed the modestly sized suitcase next to their shoes while Changmin rose to close the door. Yunho turned and leaned over to check on their visitor, and found himself frozen in place.
Yunho nearly stopped breathing as he gazed down, dumbfounded. Kim Jaejoong lay on the floor; pale as ivory but for the sickly flush that rose in his cheeks. A sheen of sweat glinted on Jaejoong’s brow and his chest rose and fell sharply with raspy and laboured breath.
Changmin peered curiously over his hyung’s shoulder and spoke, wide eyed, the only word he thought could possibly sum up their current situation.
“Shit.”
-----
12:40 AM
Yunho sat on the edge of his bed, beside Jaejoong who was still unconscious. He gazed worriedly at the thermometer in his hand which was flashing 39.4°C. He glanced over at Changmin, who watched silently near the foot of the bed.
“This is really bad, Min-ah.” Yunho spoke quietly, “His fever is already 39°C. What do we do?”
Yunho placed the thermometer on the bedside table next to a bowl filled with cool water and a damp cloth, “If his fever gets any higher he’ll need to go to a hospital,” he laid his hand on Jaejoong’s burning forehead and watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest with concern.
“Are you crazy? We can’t take him. It would be on the front page of every newspaper and website in an instant. We’ll have to call someone else to take him,” Changmin jumped up and paced anxiously at the end of the bed.
Yunho removed his hand and rose from the mattress before crouching down next to Jaejoong’s bag which Changmin had brought into Yunho’s room and left on the floor by the bed. He began to pull Jaejoong’s things out of the zippered pockets, one by one. He placed the items in haphazard piles on the floor beside the bag, until finally he found Jaejoong’s cell phone. He held it up to show Changmin who had been observing him curiously from the corner of the bed.
“If - if we have to we’ll call someone, okay?” Yunho returned to his place on the side of the bed and placed the phone on the bed-side table, “I don’t know if any of his family is even in Seoul anymore, so it will have to be either Yoochun-ah or Junsu-yah.”
Changmin scowled.
“Don’t,” Yunho spoke firmly, “Don’t pretend like you’re still angry with them, I know you miss them too.”
“I’m not -” Changmin began, “I’m angry because you’re just - you’re acting like it never happened. Jaejoong-hyung shows up out of nowhere in the middle of the night, after everything, and he’s already back in your bed with you hovering over him like nothing’s changed!” he stood stiffly, arms crossed.
“He’s sick, Changmin!” Yunho stood angrily, his eyes meeting Changmin’s coldly.
“I know,” Changmin stared right back at Yunho, “But we both know you’ll take him back in a second if he’s willing.”
Yunho’s anger visibly deflated. “I love him,” he said helplessly as he sat heavily onto the bed.
“I know,” Changmin sat beside him and placed his arm around Yunho’s slumped shoulders.
Yunho’s hand reached over to squeeze Changmin’s knee. The younger man responded by rubbing his hand on Yunho’s back in a soothing motion. Changmin wasn’t the most physically affectionate person, but Yunho could always count on him because Changmin just seemed to know whenever he needed someone to lean on. They sat together on the bed in comfortable silence, until Changmin saw fit to ruin their brotherly moment.
“Sometimes, I really am the hyung of this relationship,” Changmin said, only half-joking.
“Yah!” Yunho mercilessly shoved Changmin off the end of the bed.
-----
7:52 AM
Changmin opened Yunho’s door and looked at his hyungs sleeping peacefully on the bed. Jaejoong’s fever had broken just before 3 AM, after which Changmin had returned to his own room to get some sleep. When he left, Yunho had still been sitting beside Jaejoong on the bed, but Yunho had obviously crawled in under the covers at some point because he was now draped around Jaejoong as though he were a blanket.
It was like looking back in time. The two men were so wrapped up in one another that it was near impossible to tell where one ended and the other began and the distance between them for the past few years hadn’t changed it even a little. Changmin had always admired their inexplicable, unwavering connection, but it was bad as often as it was good. Yunho and Jaejoong, Jaejoong and Yunho. They were like magnets, they always had been. They attracted each other in one moment as forcefully as they repelled each other in the next. He honestly wasn’t surprised they had come full circle, right back to where they belonged.
On the bedside table, Jaejoong’s phone lit up with an incoming call. Not wanting the noise to disturb his hyungs, Changmin rushed into the room and quickly snatched the cell phone from the table. Changmin exited the room with the ringing phone in hand and answered the call in the kitchen.
“Jaejoong’s phone,” he spoke, deciding it was probably smarter not to say who was speaking since he didn’t know who might be on the other end of the call.
“Uh,” nervous laughter travelled through the phone, “Where is Jaejoong-hyung? Can you give him the phone?”
It was Junsu, the evil maknae’s favourite victim. Changmin’s smile was somewhat sinister as he sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.
“Ah, he’s... occupied,” Changmin spoke in an insinuating tone, deepening his voice so it wouldn’t be too obvious who he was.
Then again, this was Junsu he was talking to. The self-proclaimed most gullible member probably wouldn’t figure out that Changmin was just teasing him.
“W-What? What is that supposed to mean?” Junsu squeaked, alarmed, “What are you doing to him?”
Changmin stifled his laugh behind his hand. “Me? Nothing...” he trailed off.
Junsu was getting worked up, just like Changmin knew he would. Changmin leaned back in the chair, balancing on the back two legs, a wide grin on his lips and his eyes mismatched in his amusement. He’d missed this.
Changmin could hear scuffling on the other end of the phone.
“Junsu-yah, give me the phone!”
Ah, too bad. Yoochun was about to ruin his fun. The maknae pouted and let the chair fall down onto four legs once more.
“What is going on?” Yoochun sounded grumpy, like he’d woken up quite recently, “Put Jaejoong on.”
“Mm. Don’t want to.” Changmin rose and began to rummage through the contents of the fridge.
“What the hell is your problem - Wait, Changmin-ah?” behind Yoochun, Junsu squawked in outrage at having been tricked, “Why do you have Jaejoong’s phone?” Yoochun questioned.
“Ah, hyung. That’s not the right question,” Changmin sing-songed the phrase in a way he knew would be sure to annoy Yoochun.
Changmin frowned into the nearly empty fridge, and then glared at it as if he could intimidate it into making food appear. Through the speaker, he could hear the sound of someone knocking on a door. “Are you in Jaejoong’s apartment right now?”
“Nope. You’re getting closer to the right question,” Changmin teased, closing the refrigerator with resignation.
Yoochun paused, “If you’re not here, then where are you? And where is Jaejoong?”
Suddenly, Changmin had a wonderful idea.
“Before I tell you, promise me you’ll bring breakfast,” he bargained.
Yoochun gaped open-mouthed at Jaejoong’s front door, “You haven’t changed at all, have you? Seriously, do you ever think of anything other than food?”
“Of course. I am capable of thinking about more than one thing at a time, you on the other hand...” Changmin drawled the insult in a lazy tone.
Yoochun scrubbed a hand over his face with a sigh. “Fine, fine. Now tell me where you are.”
Changmin clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “You should bring lots; Yunho-hyung is here too. I want - do you have a pen and paper handy?”
Yoochun felt like he was about to start pulling his hair out.
-----
8:04 AM
Jaejoong didn’t know how long he had been lying there committing every sensation to memory, but it was not a short while. He felt so warm and comfortable that he was terrified to open his eyes and have another beautiful, wonderful dream melt away. They always did. Yunho’s scent, citrus shampoo mixed with something earthy and uniquely Yunho, was all around him. Jaejoong breathed long and deep, savouring it all. The warm arm around his shoulders, the hair tickling his face, the hand tightly clasping his own; they all felt so painfully real that he wished he could sleep forever and never leave this place.
Gradually, he began to notice that this dream wasn’t fading like his other dreams. Cautiously, he opened one eye. Skin; Yunho’s chest rose and fell smoothly below the pair of hands that were linked tightly together atop his heart. Jaejoong’s other eye flew open. His hand which was held within Yunho’s twitched and clung tighter to the smooth chest. The warm hand resting on his shoulder slid down to his hip and under his t-shirt to rub gentle circles on his lower back.
“Hey,” Yunho’s deep morning-voice greeted him.
Jaejoong lifted his eyes to meet Yunho’s. The love he saw there made his heart break and soar at the same time.
“Tell me - this is real,” Jaejoong swallowed, “It has to be real.”
Yunho raised Jaejoong’s hand by their interlocked fingers and pressed it tenderly to his lips.
“Yunho-yah,” despite Jaejoong’s best efforts, the endearment came out as a half sob, “Yunho-yah. I -” he was interrupted by Yunho.
“It’s okay, Jaejoongie,” Yunho pressed a kiss to Jaejoong’s forehead, “You don’t have to say anything; I know. You... said a lot of things last night before your fever broke.”
Jaejoong pulled their hands to his own lips this time.
“I’m sorry. I’m so -“
“There’s nothing more you need to say, right now. I forgive you,” Yunho rose up on his elbow and looked down at Jaejoong.
Jaejoong could see himself reflected in Yunho’s eyes. He wished he could capture it somehow, to take a picture, because he had never felt as beautiful as he did in this moment. Gone were the lies, the stress, and the emptiness in his smiles. He looked tired and rumpled, and radiantly happy.
“Yunho-yah,” Jaejoong whispered. He felt humbled by how easily Yunho had forgiven him, but, in a way he wasn’t surprised because Yunho had the biggest, kindest heart of anyone Jaejoong had ever known.
"I just want to hold you for a while. We’ll do the talking later, okay?” Yunho could see his own reflection in Jaejoong’s eyes and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen himself look so young and carefree.
Jaejoong let go of Yunho’s hand to grasp the nape of his neck, pulling him in until their lips met in a tender embrace that quickly became passionate. Yunho’s hand gripped Jaejoong’s hip firmly and tugged him closer, his left leg sliding smoothly between Jaejoong’s thighs. Jaejoong’s groan of approval was caught in Yunho’s mouth.
“Yah, hyung-deul! I leave you guys alone for ten minutes you’re already sucking each other’s faces off,” Changmin suddenly shouted from the doorway, one hand covering his eyes while the other still held Jaejoong's cell phone, “You’ll have to save it for later, YooSu are going to be here any minute.”
He closed the door just in time; only a moment later, a violently thrown pillow whacked into the wooden surface, right where Changmin’s face had been.
A/N 2: In case anyone was wondering why I chose to use some Korean words in the fic, it is because they don't really have equivalents in English. The age hierarchy in English-speaking countries is not as important and less structured than that of Korea, so I feel that words such as 'hyung,' 'dongsaeng,' and 'maknae' have no suitable translation to English. The same goes for addressing people (ie. '-shi,' '-ah'). In English you might use a shortened version of someone's name or a nickname even if you aren't that close with someone, but in Korean I feel the meaning behind the way people address one another is more strongly implied and adds depth to the conversation without really saying anything at all.
TLDR: I used some Korean terms because I felt they portrayed the relationships better than the English translation of them could have.
Also, in case anyone didn't know, 'hyung-deul' is just the plural of 'hyung,' used when addressing more than one hyung at the same time.