[changmin/yunho] thunderstorms and sunny days
title : thunderstorms and sunny days
pairing : changmin/yunho
rating : pg-13
words : 4894
summary : the love story between a thundercloud and a sun.
a/n : inspired by a picture prompt from kpop_olymfics. a happy story meant to make you smile and nothing more :)
The babies in this town are born with clouds over their heads. And like how a penis can first be seen twenty-three weeks into a pregnancy, a small cloud begins to form exactly at ten weeks and by fifteen, the full shape and type are detectable.
Similar in ways to inheriting a high nose bridge or eye color, clouds are also hereditary and the Shim family is known for their rather good cloud genes, that is until the birth of their only son. Mrs. Shim has large eyes and a cute cloud that’s as white and puffy, almost as perfect as they come. Mr. Shim is the proud owner of a strong cloud, the kind that provides perfect cover for a hot, summer’s day. So it only makes sense for their son to be born with the best of both worlds, maybe a good sized cloud with a healthy amount of yearly rainfall.
On February 18th, a beautiful baby boy named Changmin is born and a good sized cloud accompanies him. It’s a little on the dark side and drizzling already by the time Changmin’s been cleaned and sleeping in his tiny hospital bed. It’s fairly normal though for a baby’s cloud to be storm-like post birth but by the time he’s ready to be taken home and is still raining, they know that something is wrong.
It’s not a medical disorder nor can the doctor actually pinpoint what is wrong because it’s not as if Changmin is sick, it’s his cloud that needs fixing and unfortunately for him, clouds aren’t made of moldable clay and they’re not shapeable.
In a town so obsessed with clouds, it’s not surprising that the Shim’s only son is stared at everywhere he goes. Changmin’s second grade teacher actually walks in a does a double take, a real honest to god double take when she sees Changmin’s thunderstorm cloud.
On the first day of fifth grade, as an ice breaker game of sorts, the teacher tells them all to stand up in front of the class and introduce themselves to their classmates for the rest of the year.
“I’m a cumulus, my name is Jaejoong and I think that mayonnaise goes with pretty much everything. It enhances the way my bread tastes and I love it.”
Cumulus clouds are the perfect clouds. They’re the kind that are only seen during the fairest of spring days, those big puffy ones that look more like cotton that can be plucked straight out from the sky. Ergo Jaejoong is perfect, except he’s not. It’s just his cloud that is.
Changmin’s best friend is a weirdo and it’s not so bad that Jaejoong’s hair color is a really interesting shade of orange, it’s just that Jaejoong’s cloud color is a bit like a rainbow. He had hated the way everyone was judged by the color and shape of their clouds so one day over the summer, he’d gotten his hands on dye. All it took was an hour for Jaejoong to go from being admired for his beautiful and pure cloud to being talked about for his eclectic and neon colored puffball that sits above his head.
“Heechul and stratus.”
A stratus is a rather flat cloud. It’s featureless and kind of plain which is why Changmin thinks Heechul dresses the way he does. Heechul’s calls it bohemian chic with a hawaiian tendency and Jaejoong calls it bohemian drunk. Heechul’s the kind of person who’ll match a bumblegum pink shirt circa 1930 with a pair of Jaejoong’s jeans, without telling him he’s borrowing them. The thing with a stratus too is that it looks all wispy and non-threatening but they range in color from dark grey to pure white and Heechul? Well he’s usually on the dark grey side of things.
Heechul is actually Changmin’s best friend only because they live next door to one another. Changmin’s always been one of those quiet and shy kids who keeps his thoughts to himself because he’s wary of how he’s looked at and not interested in sharing his thoughts anyway with people so concerned with the height of their clouds. Heechul moved in when he was three and when they barreled into each other while riding their tricycles, Changmin somehow ended up being the one that carried a smirking Heechul all the way to his home to get his finger bandaged before carrying him home.
“I’m Changmin and I’m a cumulonimbus.”
In other words, a thunderstorm cloud. Changmin’s the only one in all of town who has a cloud that’s always dark with a high possibility of rainfall. His humidity is always above seventy and that just sucks. It’s not even that he’s sad because unlike a normal cloud, his emotions don’t necessarily control his cloud. Not necessarily because if he’s happy, his cloud doesn’t actually get lighter or turn white. When he’s upset though, like the time a kid had told on him because he’d accidentally sneezed and struck him with a thunder bolt, he’ll flash flood. It’s horrible.
- - -
“You’re dripping,” Heechul informs Changmin when he squeaks into the booth.
“I think he realizes that,” Jaejoong says when Changmin gives them both a surly look.
But Heechul ignores him and waves his hand at the waitress so they can finally order, “You could at least have dried yourself out before coming here. You’re getting water everywhere. And I prefer my fries to be dry when I eat them, thanks.”
“I rained on the way over,” Changmin finally says after ordering himself a chocolate milkshake, “despite what you may think, I don’t have a deep affection for squishy shoes and wet briefs.”
It continues from there, typical friendly banter of “well aren’t you just a regular wet nap” and “would you like to be struck by my lightning?” until Heechul finally knocks Changmin in the head with a wad of napkins so he can “at least be useful and sop up the water”.
“My cousin is visiting,” Heechul says halfway through his quesadilla, “he’s coming Tuesday and I need a ride to go pick him up.”
Jaejoong snorts and nearly chokes on the thick cheese coating his fries, “Well then your highness can pick between my red bicycle or Changmin’s green one. His has a back seat, mine doesn’t.”
None of them own cars. It’s not that they’re not old enough to own cars, it’s just that they’re hard to drive considering how difficult it is to see through the cloud wedged between the windshield and your face.
Heechul scowls at Jaejoong and turns to speak in Changmin’s general direction, “He’s taking the bus at seven-thirty from his town so he’s due to be here by nine. You will meet me there at eight.”
Meeting at eight, a full hour before his cousin even gets to town means they’re going to be shopping. Somehow without even having agreed to it, Changmin finds himself with the obligation
just promised to meet Heechul early in the day to meet a cousin he has no interest to meet. That is, until he hears about his cloud or his lack of one.
“So what kind of cloud does this hick cousin of yours have?” Jaejoong asks while stealing a fry off when he doesn’t think Heechul is looking.
Unfortunately, Heechul was and he snatches it back before it’s even halfway to Jaejoong’s mouth, “He’s not a hick. His name is Yunho and he doesn’t have a cloud.”
A pin drops. Changmin’s sure of it and he’s even more sure that it’s been dropped behind the counter because he can actually hear it from where he’s sitting.
“What?” is Jaejoong’s most coherent response, “what did-”
“Oh fuck off, you heard me just fine and you’re not going to bother him about it when he gets here either. Yunho doesn’t have a cloud,” Heechul snaps back, the vein in his neck throbbing just a little.
Changmin understands Heechul’s annoyance and he thinks that maybe this is why even though Heechul’s always complained about how he drips water and hits them with thunder bolts, he’s never once asked him why he has such a heavy cloud. Heechul understands what it’s like to be questioned about something you can’t control and maybe Heechul even understands what it’s like to be prodded and constantly watched. But there’s a question Changmin wants to know even though he doesn’t ask because if Yunho doesn’t have a cloud…
“Then what does he have?” Jaejoong blurts out suddenly, continuing the train of though from Changmin’s head perfectly.
He doesn’t get an answer, just another curse word tossed at him and a five dollar bill that follows to cover for the meal. Heechul leaves without another word and as he’s storming down the block, Changmin notes that his friend’s cloud is just a little darker than when he’d stepped foot in the diner.
- - -
It’s a sun. That’s what Heechul’s cousin Yunho has, a sun. And Changmin can’t stop staring.
He gets jabbed hard in the ribs again by Heechul and it takes a kick to his front wheel that nearly sends him flying into a trash can before he can stop gaping. Then again, the fact that he needs to focus on not falling to his death also helps.
“Stop gawking at him,” Heechul hisses as he waits for Changmin to get back on the bicycle.
Yunho waves his hands frantically at Changmin and shakes his head, “No, no it’s fine! I don’t mind at all. Um, keep staring if you’d like.”
He actually finds it kind of cute how Changmin’s already large eyes are so wide as they stare at him or rather at his sun. Changmin’s so focused on how bright the rays are that he barely realizes how he’s getting whacked at by tree branches or how he’s headed straight for the fire hydrant.
Yunho finds a lot of things cute, like the way puppy dogs will wag their tails when he holds out a piece of bacon or how little kids waddle when they’re first learning to walk. He also finds it cute that when he meets Changmin for the first time, the younger man is actually hailing.
In Changmin’s defense, anyone’s cloud would get more than a little dragged down and heavy after an hour of shopping for a new jacket with Kim Heechul. After thirty minutes of “does this color make my eyes pop” and “does this suit my face more”, Changmin’s already raining steadily. It only gets worse from there, his cloud getting darker and darker by the minute before the atmosphere around Changmin gets colder and then there’s suddenly lightning accompanying the rainfall. By the time Yunho gets out of the bus with his duffel on his shoulder, there are large pellets of frozen rain coming down from Changmin’s cloud.
During dinner that night with the boys, Changmin suddenly starts to rain halfway through dinner and Yunho realizes why no one ever sits next to him in the booth. Jaejoong slides a tiny umbrella towards him, not even bothering to do it under the table but just slamming it down and across, “I’ve always got two on hand,” he says with a smile.
Yunho opens it up hesitantly, not sure what he’s supposed to do with it at all because it’s far too small to fit over both him and his sun when Changmin takes it from his hand and angles it for him so that it’s tilted to his right and therefore blocking the rainfall.
“Happens a lot, I’m sorry,” he apologizes, poking at this macaroni and cheese. Changmin’s cloud just rains randomly and it’s a bitch to deal with because it’ll rain even when he’s not conscious of it, like when he’s sleeping. And he’ll be the first to tell you that there’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning to find yourself floating in water and not on sleeping in your bed anymore. It’s actually worse sometimes when he wakes in the middle of the night because that means he’s got his mouth open and he chokes awake due to the overflowing of water in his mouth.
It’s kind of awkward to eat at a table where three out of the four people seated there currently have umbrellas open but then again, it must be worse for the one that’s raining on everyone’s dinner. That’s why Changmin usually sticks with soup-like dishes. He normally gets a plate of noodles but he really wanted something cheesy for once.
Yunho lowers his umbrella after a while and shakes his head with a bright smile to match his sun, “It’s okay,” he says when Heechul tells him to hold his umbrella higher. “I’m drying already anyway cos of my sun.”
And when Changmin lifts his head up to see, he realizes that it’s true. Yunho’s clothes aren’t even getting that wet and whatever does get sprayed by his rain, actually dries really quickly because of the heat that Yunho’s sun emits. For the first time in his life, Changmin finds someone immune to his rather wet personality and it’s because of a natural, inborn quality. As he begins to find out, when Yunho starts to actually try and befriend him, it’s something even more special.
- - -
Three weeks into Yunho’s stay at Heechul’s, he develops a habit of wandering over to Changmin’s house unannounced, often just strolling right into the backyard where Changmin’s usually reading a book or napping on the hammock. Hammocks are a standard in every household. They’re large and netted and best of all for Changmin, since they have holes, he can’t drown in his sleep.
Seems like on this particular Tuesday, Changmin’s having more a more than usual period of downpour. In fact, Yunho thinks that this is what people mean by the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs”. He grabs Changmin’s book off the floor and starts to read it, eyes drifting to Changmin’s face from time to time, sitting close enough so that he can help the younger man dry off. Changmin’s kind of gorgeous and if he weren’t such a downer to be around, he’d probably be dating a lot more than he has. As it is, he’s only dated twice and each time he was dumped because of the fact that the girls couldn’t get over the musty smell that usually accompanies damp things. That and they told him he was grouchy even on the best of days.
“He’s thunderstorming again,” Jaejoong says, shocking Yunho out of his rather vivid daydream about what he’d do with Changmin if they were alone and if the younger man didn’t rain so much.
Heechul nods, popping out from the other side of Yunho and adds, “That’s because it’s monsoon season.”
“Monsoon season? Changmin has a monsoon season?”
“Yeah, if you stick around long enough you’ll see. He’s got more than the standard four seasons. During the winter time, he actually blizzards every once in a while if it gets cold enough. It’s kind of cool because you can build a snowman on his shoulder if he’s in a deep enough sleep. Or an igloo, I like igloos.”
Jaejoong’s actually the one who came up with the labeling of Changmin’s so-called seasons. It’s monsoon season during the summer months, especially in July because that’s when it gets the most humid and Changmin’ll rain like he sweats, which is in copious amounts.
“No, I think hurricane season is the best,” Jaejoong says, “hurricane season is nice. For brief periods of time, you actually get to see a calmer Changmin. He’s really nice during hurricane season,” he adds.
Heechul snorts, “He’s also extra pissy during hurricane season. He gets hormonal, the kind of hormonal pregnant ladies get when deciding between a pink baby room or a blue one.”
Changmin wakes then, gurgling a little like he’s prone too and coughing out a spark of electricity that probably would’ve hit Yunho if it weren’t for Jaejoong who so usefully helped him out by shoving his head to the left.
“Morning sunshine, the earth says hello,” Jaejoong says with a smile and Changmin would mumble back an insult if it weren’t for the fact that he’s currently a little too close to Yunho’s sun.
This is the real reason why everyone is told to wear sunglasses during the eclipse because if you stare at such bright intensity and infinite warmth for too long of a time, you just might find yourself falling in love.
- - -
People gawk at Yunho all the time and he’s used to it by now but that doesn’t mean he likes the fact that he’s stared at everywhere he goes. And the worse part about it all is that he’s not garnering attention for his looks, he’s getting them because of his sun and that’s out of his control.
Yunho doesn’t love his sun but he doesn’t hate it either. It’s the kind of relationship that most have with a younger sister or brother. On the good days, Yunho really loves his sun and on the bad ones, his sun is an eyesore he wishes he could make disappear.
There’s also the fact that having a sun isn’t a peachy as most would think. Everyone expects that Yunho’s life is bright and happy just because his sun is perpetually shining but what they don’t think about are the side effects to being around something that is perpetually shining.
Yunho’s got skin issues. Not the kind where he breaks out into hives and he doesn’t have many pimples either but what he does have is severely dry skin. It’s the result of having to spend literally twenty-four hours a day seven days a week under direct sunlight. Sunburn though, is the least of his worries. Yunho is either alway tanned or he’s red but that’s only when his skin peels. Sunburn is the least of his worries because apparently, moisturizing properly is his top priority.
It all started with the question “what’s the SPF of your moisturizer” that Yunho had unfortunately responded to with a very blank stare and an even more obvious, “huh?” . Now he’s on a shopping trip with Heechul for day lotion, night lotion and something called a cleansing facial mask that he’s supposed to use at least twice a week. It’s not so bad though, at least Changmin’s there too.
“Sorry about this,” Yunho says softly, the two of them trailing a good two feet behind Heechul. It’s not safe to get this close when the older man is on a moisturizing warpath.
“Ah, that’s okay,” Changmin says with a shrug, a light blush on his cheeks.
The only reason he’s here with Yunho is because Jaejoong managed to find out about the little crush he has on Yunho and he of course told Heechul who for some reason is trying to get them together. Changmin’s not fooled into thinking that Heechul is actually doing it because he wants them together and he’s right in not thinking that way. Heechul’s just amused in how his two dongsaengs act around each other. And that’s completely flustered and awkwardly adorable.
Take for example what happens when Changmin’s hand brushes against Yunho’s as they’re walking through the department stores.
“Sorry! Oh wow, I’m so sorry. I was just reaching- um, I was just getting uh, sorry.”
Yunho’s hand twitches and he shakes his head to ward off further apologies from Changmin’s lips, “It’s okay, really.” He’s about to say something else when Changmin cuts in before he can and what he hears leaves him kind of speechless and really red in the face.
“I think your hands are really soft.”
Heechul grins from where he’s standing and he turns after waiting an appropriate three minutes for them to blush simultaneously and look at everything but each other, “Scented or not? SPF 35 or 45?”
Yunho mumbles an answer back in return and leaves it up to Heechul, confused enough that he actually looks Changmin in the eye and gives him a semi-miserable look. It’s that look that propels Changmin into action.
“Come on,” he says, reaching for Yunho’s hand, “let’s go.”
“Go where? I can’t just leave him here alone! He’s my cousin and-,” Yunho blinks at Changmin and looks down to where the younger man’s hand is wrapped around his wrist, “how do we do this?”
Changmin grins at Yunho and gestures for them to get closer to Heechul, “I don’t have a lot of control over my cloud but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any control.”
They get close enough so and once they do, Changmin grabs a slip of paper sprayed with some kind of men’s cologne, sniffing it a few times and letting go of Yunho’s hand to run directly behind Heechul. He nearly stuffs the piece of paper up his nose and inhales it whole before he feels the itch in his nostrils. Changmin throws the paper away and taps Heechul on the shoulder before he sneezes loud enough for it to be heard across the mall. Like all his sneezes, this one comes with a sudden downpour and a bolt of thunder that strikes so close to where Heechul’s standing that the hair on the left side of his head is singed. Heechul drops the moisturizers on the spot and makes for the bathrooms. Mission accomplished.
Changmin pays for the moisturizers anyway and they leave together. As soon as they’re outside of the mall, Yunho slowly and bravely reaches for Changmin’s hand and laces them together. He whispers a soft, “my hero” and kisses Changmin on the cheek. And that’s that.
By the end of the month, the two of them are inseparable. It should’ve been obvious how well a dark cloud like Changmin would match with such a bright sun like Yunho but they just never considered it. There’s less stormy days in Changmin’s personal forecast and when he does rain, it’s actually welcomed because it keeps Yunho’s skin moist.
Changmin also discovers a few things about himself through the course of their relationship. Such as how even though he sneezes thunderbolts, when he’s being fucked into the mattress and screaming Yunho’s name, his cloud does nothing but watch alongside with Yunho’s sun. It’s a good twenty minutes of blissful rainless silence.
- - -
“How are our resident lovebirds doing?” Jaejoong asks once he gets inside the diner.
Heechul doesn’t even bother to answer the question, waving his hands wordlessly across the booth where Yunho’s currently whispering something into Changmin’s ear that makes him smile like a fool in love.
“I see they’re doing well…”
Heechul nods and offers Jaejoong a spoonful of his french onion soup, “Do you like it?” Jaejoong licks his lips and reaches for the spoon and soup that Heechul offers. The older man never asks if anyone likes his food unless he doesn’t want it. It’s a little on the salty side but it’s free food. At least Jaejoong thinks it’s free.
Changmin shifts so he’s no longer sitting on top of Yunho and reaches for a fry, staring back at his best friends, “What? Just say it.”
Jaejoong shrugs and leans against Heechul, a smile on both of their faces, “Nothing, you guys look good together. That’s all.”
Yunho’s hand in Changmin’s hair stills and he pulls away enough so that his temple is no longer pressed against Changmin’s head, “Thanks.”
“Disgustingly good,” Heechul adds a beat later
“Thanks,” Changmin scowls this time.
- - -
Everything goes well for them and that really should’ve been the first sign that things would go wrong soon enough. Changmin’s life has never been perfect before and Yunho’s life is far from it as well.
At the end of the summer, Yunho makes plans to go home for a few weeks just to pack up his things and move into a place that he and Changmin have picked out together. It was only supposed to be a two week trip that somehow lasts for two months before Yunho finally picks up the phone to speak to Changmin for the last time.
“I can’t move in,” he says over the phone, his tone so low and quiet that Changmin knows he’s not kidding.
“Why not?”
“My parents- Changmin, I’m sorry about this. You know I love you, I’ll work around this, I promise. I just need some time.”
What can Changmin say to that but yes? Some time turns out to be a year and no matter how hard they both try to keep the romance going, it just doesn’t work. Nearly two years after they first met, they end the relationship and it all happens so easily that it terrifies Changmin. He goes from happily in love to depressingly in love and single.
- - -
“You gave my cousin clouds,” Heechul hisses into Changmin’s face.
Jaejoong stands between them quickly and sighs, “Is that what they’re calling STDs nowadays?”
“I did not-”
“My aunt says that Yunho’s sun has been fading.”
Changmin blanches at that and tugs Jaejoong by the hair until he can see Heechul’s face clearly. “What? How can his sun be fading?”
Heechul crosses his arms and narrows his eyes into a glare, “It happens sometimes. Just like how your cloud didn’t try to choke and drown you when you two were sleeping together. His sun is fading.”
“I don’t get what-”
“Don’t make me repeat myself again. His sun is fading. There are clouds now.”
Jaejoong interrupts before Changmin can get any more distraught, he’s forgotten his umbrella at home today and he really doesn’t want to get poured on today. He’s wearing his new suede boots and suede and water do not go together.
“So what you’re saying is that Yunho’s partly sunny now?” Jaejoong manages to hold his laughter in for a good minute before he snorts, “That’s ridiculous.”
Changmin turns away and instead of going to lecture, he walks all the way back home and grabs his sperm bank, a gag gift from Heechul once he and Yunho really got together. It holds all the money he has in the world and he thinks that it’d be enough to cover the bus fare to Yunho’s.
Fifteen plus years of being best friends with Heechul and it seems that Changmin still doesn’t know the older man that well. Heechul is a bitch and a diva but he’s also a damn good actor. A few hours earlier, the conversation had been pretty much the same except it happened over the phone and left an even more distraught Yunho in its wake.
“He’s got the hailstones.”
“The what?” Yunho nearly yells into the phone, hand gripped onto the receiver so tightly that his skin is actually cracking.
“Hailstones. He’s flooded the entire apartment,” Heechul murmurs, “he just can’t stop. His cloud has tripled in size and he’s literally drenching everyone within a two feet circumference with his rain. And you know how his rain is usually warm? Well it’s cold now. Freezing rain. It’s kind of like when he first met you, remember how he was hailing? It’s basically that except a lot bigger. It’s hailstones.”
Yunho hangs up on him after that and if Heechul’s done the math right, his cousin should be on the next bus to town and right now, Changmin should be getting to the bus terminal just in time to see Yunho get off. The thing about Heechul is that besides being a bitch and a diva and a damn good actor, he’s also a honor student in calculus.
- - -
“Can I have one bus ticket to-” Changmin’s saying as he pulls out all the coins and bills he’s managed to break out of his bank.
“Changmin-ah?”
He turns and finds himself staring at just the person he’d been buying a ticket to go see and the money goes flying. It’s almost like a cheesy romantic comedy and Changmin rushes into Yunho’s arms, throwing his own to loop around Yunho’s neck as he breathes the older man in.
“Heechul said your sun is fading-” “Heechul said you’ve got hailstones-”
Changmin pulls away, cheeks suspiciously wet with something that isn’t rain and smiles, “Heechul said, huh?” He laughs and brushes the very tips of their noses together, lips only a short centimeter away from Yunho’s, “Are you here to stay?”
“Yeah,” Yunho whispers back, “I am.”
Heechul watches from the entrance with Jaejoong at his side. He’ll tolerate the two of them fighting over things when they’re over petty issues such as whose element does more damage to the sheets but when it’s over something that’ll jeopardize their futures together, he won’t stand for it.
“They just needed a little reminding, that’s all,” Jaejoong says quietly, smiling as he leans against Heechul.
The older man snorts and then nods, “And this’ll be the last time I help them out. I’ve already done it once and twice is my limit.”
Words are cheap and feelings can be masked. The heart will lie to protect itself but it’s hard to deceive people when the sun is no longer shining and the thunderstorms start. Heechul thinks that Changmin and Yunho are made for each other and if all it takes is a few carefully exaggerated sentences, then he’ll do it. Anything for the lovebirds.
pairing : changmin/yunho
rating : pg-13
words : 4894
summary : the love story between a thundercloud and a sun.
a/n : inspired by a picture prompt from kpop_olymfics. a happy story meant to make you smile and nothing more :)
The babies in this town are born with clouds over their heads. And like how a penis can first be seen twenty-three weeks into a pregnancy, a small cloud begins to form exactly at ten weeks and by fifteen, the full shape and type are detectable.
Similar in ways to inheriting a high nose bridge or eye color, clouds are also hereditary and the Shim family is known for their rather good cloud genes, that is until the birth of their only son. Mrs. Shim has large eyes and a cute cloud that’s as white and puffy, almost as perfect as they come. Mr. Shim is the proud owner of a strong cloud, the kind that provides perfect cover for a hot, summer’s day. So it only makes sense for their son to be born with the best of both worlds, maybe a good sized cloud with a healthy amount of yearly rainfall.
On February 18th, a beautiful baby boy named Changmin is born and a good sized cloud accompanies him. It’s a little on the dark side and drizzling already by the time Changmin’s been cleaned and sleeping in his tiny hospital bed. It’s fairly normal though for a baby’s cloud to be storm-like post birth but by the time he’s ready to be taken home and is still raining, they know that something is wrong.
It’s not a medical disorder nor can the doctor actually pinpoint what is wrong because it’s not as if Changmin is sick, it’s his cloud that needs fixing and unfortunately for him, clouds aren’t made of moldable clay and they’re not shapeable.
In a town so obsessed with clouds, it’s not surprising that the Shim’s only son is stared at everywhere he goes. Changmin’s second grade teacher actually walks in a does a double take, a real honest to god double take when she sees Changmin’s thunderstorm cloud.
On the first day of fifth grade, as an ice breaker game of sorts, the teacher tells them all to stand up in front of the class and introduce themselves to their classmates for the rest of the year.
“I’m a cumulus, my name is Jaejoong and I think that mayonnaise goes with pretty much everything. It enhances the way my bread tastes and I love it.”
Cumulus clouds are the perfect clouds. They’re the kind that are only seen during the fairest of spring days, those big puffy ones that look more like cotton that can be plucked straight out from the sky. Ergo Jaejoong is perfect, except he’s not. It’s just his cloud that is.
Changmin’s best friend is a weirdo and it’s not so bad that Jaejoong’s hair color is a really interesting shade of orange, it’s just that Jaejoong’s cloud color is a bit like a rainbow. He had hated the way everyone was judged by the color and shape of their clouds so one day over the summer, he’d gotten his hands on dye. All it took was an hour for Jaejoong to go from being admired for his beautiful and pure cloud to being talked about for his eclectic and neon colored puffball that sits above his head.
“Heechul and stratus.”
A stratus is a rather flat cloud. It’s featureless and kind of plain which is why Changmin thinks Heechul dresses the way he does. Heechul’s calls it bohemian chic with a hawaiian tendency and Jaejoong calls it bohemian drunk. Heechul’s the kind of person who’ll match a bumblegum pink shirt circa 1930 with a pair of Jaejoong’s jeans, without telling him he’s borrowing them. The thing with a stratus too is that it looks all wispy and non-threatening but they range in color from dark grey to pure white and Heechul? Well he’s usually on the dark grey side of things.
Heechul is actually Changmin’s best friend only because they live next door to one another. Changmin’s always been one of those quiet and shy kids who keeps his thoughts to himself because he’s wary of how he’s looked at and not interested in sharing his thoughts anyway with people so concerned with the height of their clouds. Heechul moved in when he was three and when they barreled into each other while riding their tricycles, Changmin somehow ended up being the one that carried a smirking Heechul all the way to his home to get his finger bandaged before carrying him home.
“I’m Changmin and I’m a cumulonimbus.”
In other words, a thunderstorm cloud. Changmin’s the only one in all of town who has a cloud that’s always dark with a high possibility of rainfall. His humidity is always above seventy and that just sucks. It’s not even that he’s sad because unlike a normal cloud, his emotions don’t necessarily control his cloud. Not necessarily because if he’s happy, his cloud doesn’t actually get lighter or turn white. When he’s upset though, like the time a kid had told on him because he’d accidentally sneezed and struck him with a thunder bolt, he’ll flash flood. It’s horrible.
- - -
“You’re dripping,” Heechul informs Changmin when he squeaks into the booth.
“I think he realizes that,” Jaejoong says when Changmin gives them both a surly look.
But Heechul ignores him and waves his hand at the waitress so they can finally order, “You could at least have dried yourself out before coming here. You’re getting water everywhere. And I prefer my fries to be dry when I eat them, thanks.”
“I rained on the way over,” Changmin finally says after ordering himself a chocolate milkshake, “despite what you may think, I don’t have a deep affection for squishy shoes and wet briefs.”
It continues from there, typical friendly banter of “well aren’t you just a regular wet nap” and “would you like to be struck by my lightning?” until Heechul finally knocks Changmin in the head with a wad of napkins so he can “at least be useful and sop up the water”.
“My cousin is visiting,” Heechul says halfway through his quesadilla, “he’s coming Tuesday and I need a ride to go pick him up.”
Jaejoong snorts and nearly chokes on the thick cheese coating his fries, “Well then your highness can pick between my red bicycle or Changmin’s green one. His has a back seat, mine doesn’t.”
None of them own cars. It’s not that they’re not old enough to own cars, it’s just that they’re hard to drive considering how difficult it is to see through the cloud wedged between the windshield and your face.
Heechul scowls at Jaejoong and turns to speak in Changmin’s general direction, “He’s taking the bus at seven-thirty from his town so he’s due to be here by nine. You will meet me there at eight.”
Meeting at eight, a full hour before his cousin even gets to town means they’re going to be shopping. Somehow without even having agreed to it, Changmin finds himself with the obligation
just promised to meet Heechul early in the day to meet a cousin he has no interest to meet. That is, until he hears about his cloud or his lack of one.
“So what kind of cloud does this hick cousin of yours have?” Jaejoong asks while stealing a fry off when he doesn’t think Heechul is looking.
Unfortunately, Heechul was and he snatches it back before it’s even halfway to Jaejoong’s mouth, “He’s not a hick. His name is Yunho and he doesn’t have a cloud.”
A pin drops. Changmin’s sure of it and he’s even more sure that it’s been dropped behind the counter because he can actually hear it from where he’s sitting.
“What?” is Jaejoong’s most coherent response, “what did-”
“Oh fuck off, you heard me just fine and you’re not going to bother him about it when he gets here either. Yunho doesn’t have a cloud,” Heechul snaps back, the vein in his neck throbbing just a little.
Changmin understands Heechul’s annoyance and he thinks that maybe this is why even though Heechul’s always complained about how he drips water and hits them with thunder bolts, he’s never once asked him why he has such a heavy cloud. Heechul understands what it’s like to be questioned about something you can’t control and maybe Heechul even understands what it’s like to be prodded and constantly watched. But there’s a question Changmin wants to know even though he doesn’t ask because if Yunho doesn’t have a cloud…
“Then what does he have?” Jaejoong blurts out suddenly, continuing the train of though from Changmin’s head perfectly.
He doesn’t get an answer, just another curse word tossed at him and a five dollar bill that follows to cover for the meal. Heechul leaves without another word and as he’s storming down the block, Changmin notes that his friend’s cloud is just a little darker than when he’d stepped foot in the diner.
- - -
It’s a sun. That’s what Heechul’s cousin Yunho has, a sun. And Changmin can’t stop staring.
He gets jabbed hard in the ribs again by Heechul and it takes a kick to his front wheel that nearly sends him flying into a trash can before he can stop gaping. Then again, the fact that he needs to focus on not falling to his death also helps.
“Stop gawking at him,” Heechul hisses as he waits for Changmin to get back on the bicycle.
Yunho waves his hands frantically at Changmin and shakes his head, “No, no it’s fine! I don’t mind at all. Um, keep staring if you’d like.”
He actually finds it kind of cute how Changmin’s already large eyes are so wide as they stare at him or rather at his sun. Changmin’s so focused on how bright the rays are that he barely realizes how he’s getting whacked at by tree branches or how he’s headed straight for the fire hydrant.
Yunho finds a lot of things cute, like the way puppy dogs will wag their tails when he holds out a piece of bacon or how little kids waddle when they’re first learning to walk. He also finds it cute that when he meets Changmin for the first time, the younger man is actually hailing.
In Changmin’s defense, anyone’s cloud would get more than a little dragged down and heavy after an hour of shopping for a new jacket with Kim Heechul. After thirty minutes of “does this color make my eyes pop” and “does this suit my face more”, Changmin’s already raining steadily. It only gets worse from there, his cloud getting darker and darker by the minute before the atmosphere around Changmin gets colder and then there’s suddenly lightning accompanying the rainfall. By the time Yunho gets out of the bus with his duffel on his shoulder, there are large pellets of frozen rain coming down from Changmin’s cloud.
During dinner that night with the boys, Changmin suddenly starts to rain halfway through dinner and Yunho realizes why no one ever sits next to him in the booth. Jaejoong slides a tiny umbrella towards him, not even bothering to do it under the table but just slamming it down and across, “I’ve always got two on hand,” he says with a smile.
Yunho opens it up hesitantly, not sure what he’s supposed to do with it at all because it’s far too small to fit over both him and his sun when Changmin takes it from his hand and angles it for him so that it’s tilted to his right and therefore blocking the rainfall.
“Happens a lot, I’m sorry,” he apologizes, poking at this macaroni and cheese. Changmin’s cloud just rains randomly and it’s a bitch to deal with because it’ll rain even when he’s not conscious of it, like when he’s sleeping. And he’ll be the first to tell you that there’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning to find yourself floating in water and not on sleeping in your bed anymore. It’s actually worse sometimes when he wakes in the middle of the night because that means he’s got his mouth open and he chokes awake due to the overflowing of water in his mouth.
It’s kind of awkward to eat at a table where three out of the four people seated there currently have umbrellas open but then again, it must be worse for the one that’s raining on everyone’s dinner. That’s why Changmin usually sticks with soup-like dishes. He normally gets a plate of noodles but he really wanted something cheesy for once.
Yunho lowers his umbrella after a while and shakes his head with a bright smile to match his sun, “It’s okay,” he says when Heechul tells him to hold his umbrella higher. “I’m drying already anyway cos of my sun.”
And when Changmin lifts his head up to see, he realizes that it’s true. Yunho’s clothes aren’t even getting that wet and whatever does get sprayed by his rain, actually dries really quickly because of the heat that Yunho’s sun emits. For the first time in his life, Changmin finds someone immune to his rather wet personality and it’s because of a natural, inborn quality. As he begins to find out, when Yunho starts to actually try and befriend him, it’s something even more special.
- - -
Three weeks into Yunho’s stay at Heechul’s, he develops a habit of wandering over to Changmin’s house unannounced, often just strolling right into the backyard where Changmin’s usually reading a book or napping on the hammock. Hammocks are a standard in every household. They’re large and netted and best of all for Changmin, since they have holes, he can’t drown in his sleep.
Seems like on this particular Tuesday, Changmin’s having more a more than usual period of downpour. In fact, Yunho thinks that this is what people mean by the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs”. He grabs Changmin’s book off the floor and starts to read it, eyes drifting to Changmin’s face from time to time, sitting close enough so that he can help the younger man dry off. Changmin’s kind of gorgeous and if he weren’t such a downer to be around, he’d probably be dating a lot more than he has. As it is, he’s only dated twice and each time he was dumped because of the fact that the girls couldn’t get over the musty smell that usually accompanies damp things. That and they told him he was grouchy even on the best of days.
“He’s thunderstorming again,” Jaejoong says, shocking Yunho out of his rather vivid daydream about what he’d do with Changmin if they were alone and if the younger man didn’t rain so much.
Heechul nods, popping out from the other side of Yunho and adds, “That’s because it’s monsoon season.”
“Monsoon season? Changmin has a monsoon season?”
“Yeah, if you stick around long enough you’ll see. He’s got more than the standard four seasons. During the winter time, he actually blizzards every once in a while if it gets cold enough. It’s kind of cool because you can build a snowman on his shoulder if he’s in a deep enough sleep. Or an igloo, I like igloos.”
Jaejoong’s actually the one who came up with the labeling of Changmin’s so-called seasons. It’s monsoon season during the summer months, especially in July because that’s when it gets the most humid and Changmin’ll rain like he sweats, which is in copious amounts.
“No, I think hurricane season is the best,” Jaejoong says, “hurricane season is nice. For brief periods of time, you actually get to see a calmer Changmin. He’s really nice during hurricane season,” he adds.
Heechul snorts, “He’s also extra pissy during hurricane season. He gets hormonal, the kind of hormonal pregnant ladies get when deciding between a pink baby room or a blue one.”
Changmin wakes then, gurgling a little like he’s prone too and coughing out a spark of electricity that probably would’ve hit Yunho if it weren’t for Jaejoong who so usefully helped him out by shoving his head to the left.
“Morning sunshine, the earth says hello,” Jaejoong says with a smile and Changmin would mumble back an insult if it weren’t for the fact that he’s currently a little too close to Yunho’s sun.
This is the real reason why everyone is told to wear sunglasses during the eclipse because if you stare at such bright intensity and infinite warmth for too long of a time, you just might find yourself falling in love.
- - -
People gawk at Yunho all the time and he’s used to it by now but that doesn’t mean he likes the fact that he’s stared at everywhere he goes. And the worse part about it all is that he’s not garnering attention for his looks, he’s getting them because of his sun and that’s out of his control.
Yunho doesn’t love his sun but he doesn’t hate it either. It’s the kind of relationship that most have with a younger sister or brother. On the good days, Yunho really loves his sun and on the bad ones, his sun is an eyesore he wishes he could make disappear.
There’s also the fact that having a sun isn’t a peachy as most would think. Everyone expects that Yunho’s life is bright and happy just because his sun is perpetually shining but what they don’t think about are the side effects to being around something that is perpetually shining.
Yunho’s got skin issues. Not the kind where he breaks out into hives and he doesn’t have many pimples either but what he does have is severely dry skin. It’s the result of having to spend literally twenty-four hours a day seven days a week under direct sunlight. Sunburn though, is the least of his worries. Yunho is either alway tanned or he’s red but that’s only when his skin peels. Sunburn is the least of his worries because apparently, moisturizing properly is his top priority.
It all started with the question “what’s the SPF of your moisturizer” that Yunho had unfortunately responded to with a very blank stare and an even more obvious, “huh?” . Now he’s on a shopping trip with Heechul for day lotion, night lotion and something called a cleansing facial mask that he’s supposed to use at least twice a week. It’s not so bad though, at least Changmin’s there too.
“Sorry about this,” Yunho says softly, the two of them trailing a good two feet behind Heechul. It’s not safe to get this close when the older man is on a moisturizing warpath.
“Ah, that’s okay,” Changmin says with a shrug, a light blush on his cheeks.
The only reason he’s here with Yunho is because Jaejoong managed to find out about the little crush he has on Yunho and he of course told Heechul who for some reason is trying to get them together. Changmin’s not fooled into thinking that Heechul is actually doing it because he wants them together and he’s right in not thinking that way. Heechul’s just amused in how his two dongsaengs act around each other. And that’s completely flustered and awkwardly adorable.
Take for example what happens when Changmin’s hand brushes against Yunho’s as they’re walking through the department stores.
“Sorry! Oh wow, I’m so sorry. I was just reaching- um, I was just getting uh, sorry.”
Yunho’s hand twitches and he shakes his head to ward off further apologies from Changmin’s lips, “It’s okay, really.” He’s about to say something else when Changmin cuts in before he can and what he hears leaves him kind of speechless and really red in the face.
“I think your hands are really soft.”
Heechul grins from where he’s standing and he turns after waiting an appropriate three minutes for them to blush simultaneously and look at everything but each other, “Scented or not? SPF 35 or 45?”
Yunho mumbles an answer back in return and leaves it up to Heechul, confused enough that he actually looks Changmin in the eye and gives him a semi-miserable look. It’s that look that propels Changmin into action.
“Come on,” he says, reaching for Yunho’s hand, “let’s go.”
“Go where? I can’t just leave him here alone! He’s my cousin and-,” Yunho blinks at Changmin and looks down to where the younger man’s hand is wrapped around his wrist, “how do we do this?”
Changmin grins at Yunho and gestures for them to get closer to Heechul, “I don’t have a lot of control over my cloud but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any control.”
They get close enough so and once they do, Changmin grabs a slip of paper sprayed with some kind of men’s cologne, sniffing it a few times and letting go of Yunho’s hand to run directly behind Heechul. He nearly stuffs the piece of paper up his nose and inhales it whole before he feels the itch in his nostrils. Changmin throws the paper away and taps Heechul on the shoulder before he sneezes loud enough for it to be heard across the mall. Like all his sneezes, this one comes with a sudden downpour and a bolt of thunder that strikes so close to where Heechul’s standing that the hair on the left side of his head is singed. Heechul drops the moisturizers on the spot and makes for the bathrooms. Mission accomplished.
Changmin pays for the moisturizers anyway and they leave together. As soon as they’re outside of the mall, Yunho slowly and bravely reaches for Changmin’s hand and laces them together. He whispers a soft, “my hero” and kisses Changmin on the cheek. And that’s that.
By the end of the month, the two of them are inseparable. It should’ve been obvious how well a dark cloud like Changmin would match with such a bright sun like Yunho but they just never considered it. There’s less stormy days in Changmin’s personal forecast and when he does rain, it’s actually welcomed because it keeps Yunho’s skin moist.
Changmin also discovers a few things about himself through the course of their relationship. Such as how even though he sneezes thunderbolts, when he’s being fucked into the mattress and screaming Yunho’s name, his cloud does nothing but watch alongside with Yunho’s sun. It’s a good twenty minutes of blissful rainless silence.
- - -
“How are our resident lovebirds doing?” Jaejoong asks once he gets inside the diner.
Heechul doesn’t even bother to answer the question, waving his hands wordlessly across the booth where Yunho’s currently whispering something into Changmin’s ear that makes him smile like a fool in love.
“I see they’re doing well…”
Heechul nods and offers Jaejoong a spoonful of his french onion soup, “Do you like it?” Jaejoong licks his lips and reaches for the spoon and soup that Heechul offers. The older man never asks if anyone likes his food unless he doesn’t want it. It’s a little on the salty side but it’s free food. At least Jaejoong thinks it’s free.
Changmin shifts so he’s no longer sitting on top of Yunho and reaches for a fry, staring back at his best friends, “What? Just say it.”
Jaejoong shrugs and leans against Heechul, a smile on both of their faces, “Nothing, you guys look good together. That’s all.”
Yunho’s hand in Changmin’s hair stills and he pulls away enough so that his temple is no longer pressed against Changmin’s head, “Thanks.”
“Disgustingly good,” Heechul adds a beat later
“Thanks,” Changmin scowls this time.
- - -
Everything goes well for them and that really should’ve been the first sign that things would go wrong soon enough. Changmin’s life has never been perfect before and Yunho’s life is far from it as well.
At the end of the summer, Yunho makes plans to go home for a few weeks just to pack up his things and move into a place that he and Changmin have picked out together. It was only supposed to be a two week trip that somehow lasts for two months before Yunho finally picks up the phone to speak to Changmin for the last time.
“I can’t move in,” he says over the phone, his tone so low and quiet that Changmin knows he’s not kidding.
“Why not?”
“My parents- Changmin, I’m sorry about this. You know I love you, I’ll work around this, I promise. I just need some time.”
What can Changmin say to that but yes? Some time turns out to be a year and no matter how hard they both try to keep the romance going, it just doesn’t work. Nearly two years after they first met, they end the relationship and it all happens so easily that it terrifies Changmin. He goes from happily in love to depressingly in love and single.
- - -
“You gave my cousin clouds,” Heechul hisses into Changmin’s face.
Jaejoong stands between them quickly and sighs, “Is that what they’re calling STDs nowadays?”
“I did not-”
“My aunt says that Yunho’s sun has been fading.”
Changmin blanches at that and tugs Jaejoong by the hair until he can see Heechul’s face clearly. “What? How can his sun be fading?”
Heechul crosses his arms and narrows his eyes into a glare, “It happens sometimes. Just like how your cloud didn’t try to choke and drown you when you two were sleeping together. His sun is fading.”
“I don’t get what-”
“Don’t make me repeat myself again. His sun is fading. There are clouds now.”
Jaejoong interrupts before Changmin can get any more distraught, he’s forgotten his umbrella at home today and he really doesn’t want to get poured on today. He’s wearing his new suede boots and suede and water do not go together.
“So what you’re saying is that Yunho’s partly sunny now?” Jaejoong manages to hold his laughter in for a good minute before he snorts, “That’s ridiculous.”
Changmin turns away and instead of going to lecture, he walks all the way back home and grabs his sperm bank, a gag gift from Heechul once he and Yunho really got together. It holds all the money he has in the world and he thinks that it’d be enough to cover the bus fare to Yunho’s.
Fifteen plus years of being best friends with Heechul and it seems that Changmin still doesn’t know the older man that well. Heechul is a bitch and a diva but he’s also a damn good actor. A few hours earlier, the conversation had been pretty much the same except it happened over the phone and left an even more distraught Yunho in its wake.
“He’s got the hailstones.”
“The what?” Yunho nearly yells into the phone, hand gripped onto the receiver so tightly that his skin is actually cracking.
“Hailstones. He’s flooded the entire apartment,” Heechul murmurs, “he just can’t stop. His cloud has tripled in size and he’s literally drenching everyone within a two feet circumference with his rain. And you know how his rain is usually warm? Well it’s cold now. Freezing rain. It’s kind of like when he first met you, remember how he was hailing? It’s basically that except a lot bigger. It’s hailstones.”
Yunho hangs up on him after that and if Heechul’s done the math right, his cousin should be on the next bus to town and right now, Changmin should be getting to the bus terminal just in time to see Yunho get off. The thing about Heechul is that besides being a bitch and a diva and a damn good actor, he’s also a honor student in calculus.
- - -
“Can I have one bus ticket to-” Changmin’s saying as he pulls out all the coins and bills he’s managed to break out of his bank.
“Changmin-ah?”
He turns and finds himself staring at just the person he’d been buying a ticket to go see and the money goes flying. It’s almost like a cheesy romantic comedy and Changmin rushes into Yunho’s arms, throwing his own to loop around Yunho’s neck as he breathes the older man in.
“Heechul said your sun is fading-” “Heechul said you’ve got hailstones-”
Changmin pulls away, cheeks suspiciously wet with something that isn’t rain and smiles, “Heechul said, huh?” He laughs and brushes the very tips of their noses together, lips only a short centimeter away from Yunho’s, “Are you here to stay?”
“Yeah,” Yunho whispers back, “I am.”
Heechul watches from the entrance with Jaejoong at his side. He’ll tolerate the two of them fighting over things when they’re over petty issues such as whose element does more damage to the sheets but when it’s over something that’ll jeopardize their futures together, he won’t stand for it.
“They just needed a little reminding, that’s all,” Jaejoong says quietly, smiling as he leans against Heechul.
The older man snorts and then nods, “And this’ll be the last time I help them out. I’ve already done it once and twice is my limit.”
Words are cheap and feelings can be masked. The heart will lie to protect itself but it’s hard to deceive people when the sun is no longer shining and the thunderstorms start. Heechul thinks that Changmin and Yunho are made for each other and if all it takes is a few carefully exaggerated sentences, then he’ll do it. Anything for the lovebirds.