Love is Measured in Donuts 1/?
Title: Love is Measured in Donuts 1/?
Pairing: Yunho/Junsu
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine to seduce with donuts and sweetness.
Summary: Junsu is late for class and meets Yunho who learns his secrets and ends up liking him anyway.
Warning: FLUFFY! AgeGap!Fic, with 29-year-old Junsu and 18-year-old Yunho
A/N: This is where I've disappeared to and I've decided that I'm going to stop trying to write one-shots. :)
Part One: The First Donut: March
Junsu moved through the halls as quickly as possible with a backpack threatening to split open and the twinge in his knee acting up. He tried not to limp. He hated limping. He hated feeling weak or incapable. He passed classrooms full of students, teachers lecturing from the front. Some looked at him as he staggered past their door.
Professor Park was going to be so upset that he was late. He might not even let Junsu into the class. Ten minutes late. Fuck.
Junsu sped his steps. The door to his classroom was open and Junsu turned. But it twisted his knee unpleasantly and Junsu gasped, practically falling into the classroom, only keeping himself upright by latching onto the first desk inside the door. He felt his cheeks flush and expected the chuckles from his classmates for his very graceful entrance.
Silence.
Junsu looked up.
The classroom was empty save for one kid in the back row, a laptop on his desk, headphones over his ears.
What the fuck?
His body shook, and he sat heavily in the chair he’d fallen onto. He winced, trying to rub the ache out of his muscles.
“You didn’t get the email either?” the other asked.
Junsu jumped, startled at the voice in the silence, and then winced again. He shook his head. “No. I haven’t even been online yet today.”
“Yeah, I checked it as soon as I saw the room was empty.” The guy stood up and carried his laptop to where Junsu was sitting. He set it on the desk and pointed.
On the school’s website, on his class page, was an email from Professor Park saying that he was not feeling well and to read the next chapter in the book and do the English exercises at the end for the next class period.
The kid took his laptop back and sat next to Junsu. “He says he not feeling well, but I heard he was out with some gorgeous blond guy trading shots of soju all night.”
Junsu blinked over at him and then groaned and put his head on the desk.
The guy laughed. “Rough morning?”
Junsu moaned. “Yes.”
“Do you have another class today?”
“Nope. Just this one. My other classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays.”
“You could have slept in.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The guy laughed. “You should go find a couch and take a nap, Junsu-shi.”
Junsu lifted his head and then frowned. The guy had long hair that brushed his shoulders, some of it was twisted into sparkling clips and in braids. He wore tight, ripped up jeans, VANS on his feet, a loose t-shirt from a Japanese rock band, fat headphones around his neck. There were leather and metal bracelets on both wrists and silver chains around his neck. He had three piercings in the ear Junsu could see, and a barbell glittered above his eyebrow.
“I’m sorry,” Junsu said. “I don’t remember your name.”
The kid smiled at him, teeth a little crooked and said, “Jung Yunho.”
“What are you studying?”
Yunho’s smile widened. “Right now? Whatever I can, but my father is insistent that I focus on business. Family of lawyers and such.”
Junsu nodded. He knew about family pressure. His family was one full of entertainers.
“I don’t know though. I like law. I love watching my father in a courtroom and everything. It may not be for me though. He’s letting me ‘find myself,’ although I’m sure he’s just humoring me.”
“What do you like to do?”
“Dance,” Yunho said. “Music. I can’t sing very well, but I do love to dance.”
Junsu’s heart tightened. He had loved to dance, too. Before.
“What about you, Junsu-shi?” Yunho asked.
“Oh, um ... I’m studying music. I can sing.”
“Lucky.”
“Business, too. I’d like to work for a music producer or open my own studio and train artists.”
“Ah, that would be so cool!” Yunho said with a wistful sigh. “Maybe I’ll do that instead.”
“But you can’t sing.”
“For dancing. Hey! You can work on their singing and I can work on their dancing. We can be partners!”
Junsu smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Sure.”
“How old are you?” Yunho asked suddenly.
“Twenty-nine.”
Yunho’s eyes went wide. “What? Really?”
Junsu nodded. “Yep.”
“Wow. Sorry. I’ve been ... a bit ... disrespectful. Sorry. I ...”
“It’s okay. I know I look a lot younger.”
“You do! You look my age!”
“How old are you?”
“Almost nineteen.”
That explained his enthusiasm. Junsu had been happy about everything when he was eighteen.
“How come you’re in college and you’re twenty-nine?”
Junsu sighed. He really did not want to talk about this, but Yunho was looking at him with an open face, not judgmental like most who asked him that question.
“I ... I had a football scholarship right out of high school. I took it, but I was signed onto a league right afterwards, so I didn’t go to college.”
“Wow, you play football?”
“Played. I got hurt during my military service and yeah, I can’t play anymore and I have to do something, so school it is.”
“What happened?”
Junsu sighed.
“You don’t want to talk about it, okay, I get that. I would hate it if I suddenly couldn’t dance. Like ... it’s like life is just gone.”
Junsu tried to swallow.
“Fuck, that was insensitive too, sorry Junsu-shi.”
Junsu forced himself to smile at Yunho. “It’s okay. We were doing stupid drills. Easy dumb footwork that I could do in my sleep. But the guy next to me fell over and knocked me down and ... It was just the perfect angle to snap my shin and mess up my knee. I couldn’t stand for almost six months. It took a year for me to walk without crutches.”
“God, man, I’m sorry. That’s horrible.”
Junsu nodded. “I’ve mostly made my peace with it. It’s been three years.”
“I’ve seen you limp though. It still hurts.”
“Sometimes.”
“Should we get out of here? I told myself I would use this time to get my math homework done, but I’ve been playing on the Internet instead.”
Junsu smiled. “Yeah. I fell asleep at my desk, slept through my alarm. It’s been a crappy morning.”
Yunho laughed and stood up. He took his laptop back to the desk he’d been at. Junsu watched him pack up his things and then grab the longboard that was leaning against the wall.
“Let’s go! If we’re lucky, the cafe in the lobby will still have donuts.”
Junsu didn’t even ponder refusing. He stood up, wincing at the insistent tug of pain at his knee, but lopped his bag over his shoulder.
Yunho opened his mouth and then shut it quickly.
Junsu wondered what he was going to say. Probably see if he needed help. People asked him that all the time.
Yunho turned the lights out behind them and then walked at Junsu’s pace down the hall.
“Oh my god, I love this song,” Yunho said suddenly and twisted his body around and through a series of dance steps down the empty hall.
Junsu wanted to join him because he loved the catchy song from SHINee blaring through Yunho’s headphones too, but he didn’t. He watched as Yunho popped and slid and turned in fluid motions, whispering the words, conscious of the classrooms. They hit the stairs, Junsu going slowly with his hand on the railing. Yunho barely seemed to notice, but he stopped at the landing and continued dancing until Junsu had caught up. He did the same at the bottom of the stairs, too.
random side note: if you've never seen yunho dance live, i'm so sorry. it's quite an experience that must be seen to believe
Yunho smiled at him, without the usual impatience Junsu saw when he was with others. The cafe was busy, but Yunho twisted around the tables quickly and snagged an empty square table that sat against the wall overlooking a busy sidewalk.
“Do you want coffee?” Yunho asked, shouting over others.
Junsu fought a blush as attention went to him and his obvious limping. He shook his head.
Yunho frowned and watched as Junsu approached the table. “Tea?”
Junsu was going to say no again, but he nodded. Tea sounded great after his shitty morning. He sat down gingerly, wincing at the stab of pain as his knee bent. He had rushed too much this morning. And for nothing. He watched as Yunho looked at the boxes of tea displayed on the countertop, biting his lower lip.
Well, maybe not for nothing.
Yunho nodded and practically bounced back to the table.
Bounced. Smiling, excited, full of energy.
Junsu smiled back.
“They have all the normal kinds of teas and then they have orange and lemon and this rose stuff. I think I saw a thing called English something. I don’t know. Most of it is in English.”
Junsu smiled. “Most places have chamomile tea, just get me that.”
“Okay.” Yunho bounced back to the counter, head bobbing to the music still coming from his headphones. Junsu watched a little longer and then cleared his throat and pulled out his English book. He was attempting to understand some obscure English idioms when Yunho plopped down in the seat next to him. He had a tray laden with four donuts, and two cups, one small and one large.
“I didn’t know what kind of donut you wanted,” he said, putting the smaller cup in front of Junsu, “and it was my turn in line so I couldn’t come and ask, but I just bought four that I like, so whatever two you choose, I can eat the other ones.”
Junsu smiled at him and then looked down at the choices. He wasn’t actually planning on eating a donut. He rarely ate sweets. He had to stay healthy, keep in shape. He took the one that looked like it had the least amount of sugar in it.
“Good, this one is my favorite!” Yunho picked up one coated in sugar and took a bite. A red goo glopped from the middle onto his hand. He smiled (mouth closed), swallowed the bite and licked his hand clean. Junsu stared at him for a long moment and then laughed. He took a bite of his own donut and then a sip of the tea to balance out the sweetness.
A very familiar song thudded quietly through Yunho’s headphones. Junsu winced and looked back at his English book.
“I love this song,” Yunho said with a gasp and tried to dance in the confines of his chair.
Junsu winced again and tapped his finger on the table to the beat.
“Do you know this song, Junsu-shi?”
“Yeah. It’s good.” Junsu did not look at him and took another bite of his donut. He watched people walk by outside.
The absolute lack of movement across from him turned Junsu’s attention back to Yunho. For the first time, he was completely still, staring at him in shock, mouth open.
Junsu made a face and looked back outside.
“Oh my god, you’re--”
“Lower your voice,” Junsu hissed.
“--you’re Zuno’s brother,” he finished in a whisper. “Oh god, I knew you looked familiar. I’ve seen you in family pictures and stuff that he tweets.”
Junsu looked down at the table top and sipped at his tea.
“Sorry, just ... that’s so cool!”
“Yeah, well, he’s just Junho, the same kid I’ve always played pranks with, fought with, and joked around with.”
Junsu took another bite of the donut.
“Wow.”
“Please don’t call me half of a celebrity.”
“No way. It’s just ... I mean, you know as a fan that these people are human, but it’s just ... weird to get an actual example of that. I’ll shut up now.” Yunho shoved half a chocolate donut into his mouth.
Junsu smiled at the over-exaggerated, wide puppy eyes Yunho focused on him as he ate his donut.
“So tell me about your family,” Junsu said.
Yunho swallowed the chocolate in his mouth and used a napkin to wipe off his lips. “I have a younger sister. She’s still in high school. She wants to study fashion. My parents are both lawyers, and yeah, that’s you know. That’s it.”
“Do you have any pets?”
“Taepoong!” Yunho almost shouted, and then his smile fell. “I miss him a lot. He’s my best friend, which seems lame, but dogs are just happy, you know?”
Junsu nodded. “Yeah, I know. I have three cats. I like it when I get home and they are there to meow at me.”
“Do you live on campus?”
“No, I live with my family. Our apartment isn’t far from here.”
“Cool, cool. I’m from Gwangju, so I’m living in the dorms. It’s pretty cool. My roommate is this awesome guy named Jaejoong. He’s from the country, too and we both have this accent. It’s fun to speak to each other in it when others are around because it’s hard for them to understand. It’s almost like another language!”
Junsu laughed and nodded. “People accuse Junho and I of speaking our own language. We’re twins; we can communicate with looks or gestures sometimes. It frustrates people a lot.”
“It sounds fun! Maybe you can meet Jaejoong one day.”
Junsu knew that was a hint for him to say the same thing about Junho, but he didn’t feel inclined to promise anything when it came to his brother. He had always been a bit overprotective.
“Ah, crap!” Yunho said and stood up. “I have math class in five minutes.”
He eyed the last donut, and Junsu laughed. “Eat it. I won’t. This first one was too much for me.”
“Thanks, Junsu-shi.” Yunho grabbed his bag, his long board, and the donut. “See you in English class on Thursday!” he called and scurried away in a flurry of limbs and energy.
Junsu watched him until he disappeared out a door and around a building. He looked at his half-eaten donut and sighed. He shook off the guilt. One donut in almost four years was not going to kill him. He finished it and his tea before putting his things back in his bag. He stood up and had to pause, hand on the table. Pain shot up his knee and he mentally cursed. The first step almost had him collapsing. He shut his eyes, willing for strength, but knew he would not make it home on his own.
With a heavy sigh, he put all of his weight on one foot and fished his phone from his pocket. He called his mother to come and pick him up.
---
Yunho ended up being a constant in his life. One he could not shake. One that he did not want to shake. A mess of noise and energy in his otherwise controlled life. That Thursday, he fell into English class almost ten minutes late, apologizing and breathless. It made Junsu smile and then smile even more when he sat next to Junsu in the front row instead of going to the back where he normally sat. Professor Park had not been happy, but allowed Yunho to stay. After that, he always sat next to Junsu in English class, shared his textbook, brought him donuts that he only felt marginally bad not always eating.
Junsu met the beautiful, blond Kim Jaejoong the first time he went to Yunho’s dorm room and the two of them tried not to laugh as Yunho hastily scurried about, trying to clean up his side of the room, while saying, “It’s not always this messy,” and Jaejoong was nodding and mouthing “It’s always this messy” over his head.
Junsu liked everything about Yunho, but the thing he liked most is that Yunho never treated him like he was disabled, even when Junsu had to use a crutch to get around. Yunho never offered to carry his things. Yunho never winced at him in sympathy. Yunho never stopped himself from dancing in front of Junsu just because Junsu couldn’t join in.
Part 2: The Songwriter
.
Pairing: Yunho/Junsu
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine to seduce with donuts and sweetness.
Summary: Junsu is late for class and meets Yunho who learns his secrets and ends up liking him anyway.
Warning: FLUFFY! AgeGap!Fic, with 29-year-old Junsu and 18-year-old Yunho
A/N: This is where I've disappeared to and I've decided that I'm going to stop trying to write one-shots. :)
Part One: The First Donut: March
Junsu moved through the halls as quickly as possible with a backpack threatening to split open and the twinge in his knee acting up. He tried not to limp. He hated limping. He hated feeling weak or incapable. He passed classrooms full of students, teachers lecturing from the front. Some looked at him as he staggered past their door.
Professor Park was going to be so upset that he was late. He might not even let Junsu into the class. Ten minutes late. Fuck.
Junsu sped his steps. The door to his classroom was open and Junsu turned. But it twisted his knee unpleasantly and Junsu gasped, practically falling into the classroom, only keeping himself upright by latching onto the first desk inside the door. He felt his cheeks flush and expected the chuckles from his classmates for his very graceful entrance.
Silence.
Junsu looked up.
The classroom was empty save for one kid in the back row, a laptop on his desk, headphones over his ears.
What the fuck?
His body shook, and he sat heavily in the chair he’d fallen onto. He winced, trying to rub the ache out of his muscles.
“You didn’t get the email either?” the other asked.
Junsu jumped, startled at the voice in the silence, and then winced again. He shook his head. “No. I haven’t even been online yet today.”
“Yeah, I checked it as soon as I saw the room was empty.” The guy stood up and carried his laptop to where Junsu was sitting. He set it on the desk and pointed.
On the school’s website, on his class page, was an email from Professor Park saying that he was not feeling well and to read the next chapter in the book and do the English exercises at the end for the next class period.
The kid took his laptop back and sat next to Junsu. “He says he not feeling well, but I heard he was out with some gorgeous blond guy trading shots of soju all night.”
Junsu blinked over at him and then groaned and put his head on the desk.
The guy laughed. “Rough morning?”
Junsu moaned. “Yes.”
“Do you have another class today?”
“Nope. Just this one. My other classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays.”
“You could have slept in.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The guy laughed. “You should go find a couch and take a nap, Junsu-shi.”
Junsu lifted his head and then frowned. The guy had long hair that brushed his shoulders, some of it was twisted into sparkling clips and in braids. He wore tight, ripped up jeans, VANS on his feet, a loose t-shirt from a Japanese rock band, fat headphones around his neck. There were leather and metal bracelets on both wrists and silver chains around his neck. He had three piercings in the ear Junsu could see, and a barbell glittered above his eyebrow.
“I’m sorry,” Junsu said. “I don’t remember your name.”
The kid smiled at him, teeth a little crooked and said, “Jung Yunho.”
“What are you studying?”
Yunho’s smile widened. “Right now? Whatever I can, but my father is insistent that I focus on business. Family of lawyers and such.”
Junsu nodded. He knew about family pressure. His family was one full of entertainers.
“I don’t know though. I like law. I love watching my father in a courtroom and everything. It may not be for me though. He’s letting me ‘find myself,’ although I’m sure he’s just humoring me.”
“What do you like to do?”
“Dance,” Yunho said. “Music. I can’t sing very well, but I do love to dance.”
Junsu’s heart tightened. He had loved to dance, too. Before.
“What about you, Junsu-shi?” Yunho asked.
“Oh, um ... I’m studying music. I can sing.”
“Lucky.”
“Business, too. I’d like to work for a music producer or open my own studio and train artists.”
“Ah, that would be so cool!” Yunho said with a wistful sigh. “Maybe I’ll do that instead.”
“But you can’t sing.”
“For dancing. Hey! You can work on their singing and I can work on their dancing. We can be partners!”
Junsu smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Sure.”
“How old are you?” Yunho asked suddenly.
“Twenty-nine.”
Yunho’s eyes went wide. “What? Really?”
Junsu nodded. “Yep.”
“Wow. Sorry. I’ve been ... a bit ... disrespectful. Sorry. I ...”
“It’s okay. I know I look a lot younger.”
“You do! You look my age!”
“How old are you?”
“Almost nineteen.”
That explained his enthusiasm. Junsu had been happy about everything when he was eighteen.
“How come you’re in college and you’re twenty-nine?”
Junsu sighed. He really did not want to talk about this, but Yunho was looking at him with an open face, not judgmental like most who asked him that question.
“I ... I had a football scholarship right out of high school. I took it, but I was signed onto a league right afterwards, so I didn’t go to college.”
“Wow, you play football?”
“Played. I got hurt during my military service and yeah, I can’t play anymore and I have to do something, so school it is.”
“What happened?”
Junsu sighed.
“You don’t want to talk about it, okay, I get that. I would hate it if I suddenly couldn’t dance. Like ... it’s like life is just gone.”
Junsu tried to swallow.
“Fuck, that was insensitive too, sorry Junsu-shi.”
Junsu forced himself to smile at Yunho. “It’s okay. We were doing stupid drills. Easy dumb footwork that I could do in my sleep. But the guy next to me fell over and knocked me down and ... It was just the perfect angle to snap my shin and mess up my knee. I couldn’t stand for almost six months. It took a year for me to walk without crutches.”
“God, man, I’m sorry. That’s horrible.”
Junsu nodded. “I’ve mostly made my peace with it. It’s been three years.”
“I’ve seen you limp though. It still hurts.”
“Sometimes.”
“Should we get out of here? I told myself I would use this time to get my math homework done, but I’ve been playing on the Internet instead.”
Junsu smiled. “Yeah. I fell asleep at my desk, slept through my alarm. It’s been a crappy morning.”
Yunho laughed and stood up. He took his laptop back to the desk he’d been at. Junsu watched him pack up his things and then grab the longboard that was leaning against the wall.
“Let’s go! If we’re lucky, the cafe in the lobby will still have donuts.”
Junsu didn’t even ponder refusing. He stood up, wincing at the insistent tug of pain at his knee, but lopped his bag over his shoulder.
Yunho opened his mouth and then shut it quickly.
Junsu wondered what he was going to say. Probably see if he needed help. People asked him that all the time.
Yunho turned the lights out behind them and then walked at Junsu’s pace down the hall.
“Oh my god, I love this song,” Yunho said suddenly and twisted his body around and through a series of dance steps down the empty hall.
Junsu wanted to join him because he loved the catchy song from SHINee blaring through Yunho’s headphones too, but he didn’t. He watched as Yunho popped and slid and turned in fluid motions, whispering the words, conscious of the classrooms. They hit the stairs, Junsu going slowly with his hand on the railing. Yunho barely seemed to notice, but he stopped at the landing and continued dancing until Junsu had caught up. He did the same at the bottom of the stairs, too.
random side note: if you've never seen yunho dance live, i'm so sorry. it's quite an experience that must be seen to believe
Yunho smiled at him, without the usual impatience Junsu saw when he was with others. The cafe was busy, but Yunho twisted around the tables quickly and snagged an empty square table that sat against the wall overlooking a busy sidewalk.
“Do you want coffee?” Yunho asked, shouting over others.
Junsu fought a blush as attention went to him and his obvious limping. He shook his head.
Yunho frowned and watched as Junsu approached the table. “Tea?”
Junsu was going to say no again, but he nodded. Tea sounded great after his shitty morning. He sat down gingerly, wincing at the stab of pain as his knee bent. He had rushed too much this morning. And for nothing. He watched as Yunho looked at the boxes of tea displayed on the countertop, biting his lower lip.
Well, maybe not for nothing.
Yunho nodded and practically bounced back to the table.
Bounced. Smiling, excited, full of energy.
Junsu smiled back.
“They have all the normal kinds of teas and then they have orange and lemon and this rose stuff. I think I saw a thing called English something. I don’t know. Most of it is in English.”
Junsu smiled. “Most places have chamomile tea, just get me that.”
“Okay.” Yunho bounced back to the counter, head bobbing to the music still coming from his headphones. Junsu watched a little longer and then cleared his throat and pulled out his English book. He was attempting to understand some obscure English idioms when Yunho plopped down in the seat next to him. He had a tray laden with four donuts, and two cups, one small and one large.
“I didn’t know what kind of donut you wanted,” he said, putting the smaller cup in front of Junsu, “and it was my turn in line so I couldn’t come and ask, but I just bought four that I like, so whatever two you choose, I can eat the other ones.”
Junsu smiled at him and then looked down at the choices. He wasn’t actually planning on eating a donut. He rarely ate sweets. He had to stay healthy, keep in shape. He took the one that looked like it had the least amount of sugar in it.
“Good, this one is my favorite!” Yunho picked up one coated in sugar and took a bite. A red goo glopped from the middle onto his hand. He smiled (mouth closed), swallowed the bite and licked his hand clean. Junsu stared at him for a long moment and then laughed. He took a bite of his own donut and then a sip of the tea to balance out the sweetness.
A very familiar song thudded quietly through Yunho’s headphones. Junsu winced and looked back at his English book.
“I love this song,” Yunho said with a gasp and tried to dance in the confines of his chair.
Junsu winced again and tapped his finger on the table to the beat.
“Do you know this song, Junsu-shi?”
“Yeah. It’s good.” Junsu did not look at him and took another bite of his donut. He watched people walk by outside.
The absolute lack of movement across from him turned Junsu’s attention back to Yunho. For the first time, he was completely still, staring at him in shock, mouth open.
Junsu made a face and looked back outside.
“Oh my god, you’re--”
“Lower your voice,” Junsu hissed.
“--you’re Zuno’s brother,” he finished in a whisper. “Oh god, I knew you looked familiar. I’ve seen you in family pictures and stuff that he tweets.”
Junsu looked down at the table top and sipped at his tea.
“Sorry, just ... that’s so cool!”
“Yeah, well, he’s just Junho, the same kid I’ve always played pranks with, fought with, and joked around with.”
Junsu took another bite of the donut.
“Wow.”
“Please don’t call me half of a celebrity.”
“No way. It’s just ... I mean, you know as a fan that these people are human, but it’s just ... weird to get an actual example of that. I’ll shut up now.” Yunho shoved half a chocolate donut into his mouth.
Junsu smiled at the over-exaggerated, wide puppy eyes Yunho focused on him as he ate his donut.
“So tell me about your family,” Junsu said.
Yunho swallowed the chocolate in his mouth and used a napkin to wipe off his lips. “I have a younger sister. She’s still in high school. She wants to study fashion. My parents are both lawyers, and yeah, that’s you know. That’s it.”
“Do you have any pets?”
“Taepoong!” Yunho almost shouted, and then his smile fell. “I miss him a lot. He’s my best friend, which seems lame, but dogs are just happy, you know?”
Junsu nodded. “Yeah, I know. I have three cats. I like it when I get home and they are there to meow at me.”
“Do you live on campus?”
“No, I live with my family. Our apartment isn’t far from here.”
“Cool, cool. I’m from Gwangju, so I’m living in the dorms. It’s pretty cool. My roommate is this awesome guy named Jaejoong. He’s from the country, too and we both have this accent. It’s fun to speak to each other in it when others are around because it’s hard for them to understand. It’s almost like another language!”
Junsu laughed and nodded. “People accuse Junho and I of speaking our own language. We’re twins; we can communicate with looks or gestures sometimes. It frustrates people a lot.”
“It sounds fun! Maybe you can meet Jaejoong one day.”
Junsu knew that was a hint for him to say the same thing about Junho, but he didn’t feel inclined to promise anything when it came to his brother. He had always been a bit overprotective.
“Ah, crap!” Yunho said and stood up. “I have math class in five minutes.”
He eyed the last donut, and Junsu laughed. “Eat it. I won’t. This first one was too much for me.”
“Thanks, Junsu-shi.” Yunho grabbed his bag, his long board, and the donut. “See you in English class on Thursday!” he called and scurried away in a flurry of limbs and energy.
Junsu watched him until he disappeared out a door and around a building. He looked at his half-eaten donut and sighed. He shook off the guilt. One donut in almost four years was not going to kill him. He finished it and his tea before putting his things back in his bag. He stood up and had to pause, hand on the table. Pain shot up his knee and he mentally cursed. The first step almost had him collapsing. He shut his eyes, willing for strength, but knew he would not make it home on his own.
With a heavy sigh, he put all of his weight on one foot and fished his phone from his pocket. He called his mother to come and pick him up.
---
Yunho ended up being a constant in his life. One he could not shake. One that he did not want to shake. A mess of noise and energy in his otherwise controlled life. That Thursday, he fell into English class almost ten minutes late, apologizing and breathless. It made Junsu smile and then smile even more when he sat next to Junsu in the front row instead of going to the back where he normally sat. Professor Park had not been happy, but allowed Yunho to stay. After that, he always sat next to Junsu in English class, shared his textbook, brought him donuts that he only felt marginally bad not always eating.
Junsu met the beautiful, blond Kim Jaejoong the first time he went to Yunho’s dorm room and the two of them tried not to laugh as Yunho hastily scurried about, trying to clean up his side of the room, while saying, “It’s not always this messy,” and Jaejoong was nodding and mouthing “It’s always this messy” over his head.
Junsu liked everything about Yunho, but the thing he liked most is that Yunho never treated him like he was disabled, even when Junsu had to use a crutch to get around. Yunho never offered to carry his things. Yunho never winced at him in sympathy. Yunho never stopped himself from dancing in front of Junsu just because Junsu couldn’t join in.
Part 2: The Songwriter
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