baseCODE 4/?
Title: baseCODE 4/?
Pairing: Jaejoong/Junsu, Changmin/Yunho, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Heechul/Yoochun, Leeteuk/Kyuhyun, Siwon/Ryeowook
Rating: R for this chapter
Disclaimer: Not mine to rate track or own. I really wish I could order them to have sex with each other and let me tape it, but ... yeah, can't do that.
Summary: Junsu is a normal twenty-three year old. He has retired from Duty to the People and he's content to spend the next two years relaxing before his Date of Expiration. His biggest fear is that the love he carries for his roommate will be discovered. But Jaejoong is not who he says he is, and Junsu finds himself in a race to save not only Jaejoong's life, but ultimately his own.
This fic is first person from Junsu's POV and it is written in present tense. Chapter titles are quotes from "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare.
Poster credit goes to yceam!!! It's awesome, darling! ♥
Part 4: Not mad, but bound more than a mad man is.
... for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
From Romeo & Juliet
I wake up to the soft touch of a steady hand on my back. I don’t want to wake up.
“Su.”
“Hm?”
“You awake now?”
“Yes.”
“How do you feel?”
“Tired.”
“Still weak?”
I shake my head.
“Okay. Then you need to wake up. Changmin’s been waiting for you.”
I freeze. I feel like Jaejoong has just said I need to meet the Director himself.
Jae chuckles. “Don’t worry. He’s all piss and wind most days. He’s in the kitchen.”
I crawl out of bed and stand up. I sway a bit, but Jae steadies me and he helps me slip on a pair of jeans and a shirt.
“Have you made breakfast?”
“Yes. I’m groveling to Changmin, remember?”
I chuckle. He stays close, an arm around my shoulders as we go down the stairs and into the kitchen. A cocaphy of hellos and inquiries about my health bombard us. I smiled and say I’m fine and still a little weak. Eunhyuk, Donghae, Leeteuk, Changmin, Yunho and a man I don’t recognize are at the table.
Jae waits until I’m sitting at the table next to Eunhyuk, and then goes to get me some food.
Eunhyuk is pouting. “I wanted to play soccer today.”
“Tomorrow,” I promise.
“Maybe,” a man across from me says. I don’t recognize him. But the man next to him is Changmin. Both are staring at me with slightly interested eyes.
Leeteuk leans into him and whispers something in his ear, causing his face to soften. Leeteuk kisses his cheek, and he blushes.
Leeteuk sees my face and says, “Oh, right. You haven’t met yet. This is Cho Kyuhyun.”
I bow my head and say hello.
“Your baseCODE sample is quite interesting,” Changmin says.
Yunho rolls his eyes. “Babe, come on. No scientific talk outside of the lab.”
Changmin ignores him, and continues to stare at me. “It’s simple, comparatively speaking. It’ll be easy to work with. Normally, I’d be able to get a serum ready for you in a few days, now it might take weeks.”
“He doesn’t need it,” Jae says as he sits next to me with food.
Changmin ignores him. It’s unnerving how he stares at me. I don’t want to eat, but Jae nudges me, and I know he’s worried so I eat anyway.
“So what is this baseCODE thing anyway,” I ask. “Ryeowook said it was genes, but-”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Changmin says. “It’s a symbiotic organism. A lichen actually.
“A what?”
“A symbiotic organism. It’s a lichen.” Changmin sighs. “You know what a lichen is?”
“Um, moss on a tree isn’t it?”
“Fungi, but yeah, at least you know something.”
Jae bristles beside me and I smile. “I’m a sports guy, remember. Not a scientist.”
“Fungi!” Eunhyuk suddenly says. “That’s gross.” He scratches the back of his neck.
“It’s fascinating,” Kyuhyun says. “Whoever discovered that it was compatible with human DNA is a genius.”
“Symbiotic,” I say. “That means, like they live off each other, right?”
“Yeah,” Changmin says. “It’s why it hurts so much to remove it. It’s wrapped up with your nerves. The government has us researching ways for them to extend that to neurotic and motor control, but the partnership isn’t that strong. I don’t want that to sound like it’s pointless. It does a lot. You have no idea how much your baseCODE helps you, how much it does to keep you healthy. Without your baseCODE you’re subject to diseases and viruses-“
“And you want to find a way to get rid of it,” Jae mutters.
“Not the organism, but the system, because it makes no sense. Some research has been lost or had to have been redone because the researchers have hit their Date of Expiration, and they’ve been killed before they can write everything down. Redoing research sucks.”
“Selfish until the end,” Jae says.
“God, you’re a bastard.”
“And so are you. I’m trying to spend some quality time with my boyfriend-“
“Since when was fucking him senseless considered quality time?” Changmin snaps.
“-and you people keep interrupting us.”
“Wait, so … this lichen,” I say, putting a hand on Jae’s knee to calm him down, “it doesn’t have the same DNA for all of it?”
“No, it’s like human DNA. There are differences, minor but there. It’s why we all look different, why we are taller or shorter. The lichen in your baseCODE is the same. The differences in its DNA come from the density of the pores, the size and length of the cells, and when its bioluminescence changes.”
“Its what?” I ask.
“Its color. The bioluminescence is why it glows a bit. When it turns black, that means it’s through its lifecycle and it’s going to die. But the lichen doesn’t die for five or six or seven or ten years after it turns black. It feeds off the human body as much as the human body feeds off of it. Rumors are that when the human body is over thirty, it weakens because the lichen has died. There’s no data on how long a human body can live without it though.”
I look at Leeteuk and he laughs. “Yes, I am the experiment.”
“One of them,” Changmin says. “But I can’t get anything from the government.”
“Well, duh,” Jae snaps.
“Wait,” I say, “what do you mean?”
Changmin smirks. “You really think our entire government is run by twenty year olds? There are others older who are calling the shots from behind the scenes. Hidden.”
“That’s just a conspiracy theory,” I say.
More than one of them scoffs.
“So the government has you believe. Chaos would run rampant for as often as government officials were changed. Parliament is a smoke screen, a cover. The Prime Minister is a figurehead. A parrot.”
It is hard to believe, but it makes sense.
“It’s why I’m so frustrated,” Changmin says, “because they’re withholding materials I need to continue my research. It’s like they know what I’m doing even though they can’t know what I’m doing since I do all my research here, and you sprinters cover your tracks well.”
“So what happens if you manage to expose it?” I ask.
“I’m not stupid,” Changmin says. “I’m not doing it to undermine the government. I’m not doing it because I want to live forever. I’m doing it because it’s something that needs to be discovered, researched.”
“Why?”
Changmin sighs. “Because it does. If I put a soccer ball in front of you and told you that you couldn’t kick it, and you had to sit there and look at it, would you?”
“But it’s a soccer ball.”
“Exactly my point.”
I think about it for a moment and then nod. “Okay. So, you’re not doing it to undermine the government, but that will be a result of it.”
“A good result,” Leeteuk says with a smile.
“I’m not undermining the government,” Changmin says and smirks at Leeteuk. “Doesn’t mean someone isn’t.”
“What do you need me to do?” I ask and Jae stiffens next to me. I snuggle closer to him.
“I need you to be a sprinter,” Changmin says.
“He-“
I cut Jae off. “But I’m dead and being memorialized.”
“Yeah, just means you’re going to go to smaller towns where people won’t recognize you as easily.”
“Are you kidding?” Eunhyuk says. “People in smaller town idolize him more. He's their hero.”
“You’re not doing anything until you rest,” Jae says.
Changmin shuts his eyes in annoyance and tilts his head to Yunho. Yunho puts his arm around him and Changmin leans against his shoulder. “Can I cut him, please? Please, just a little bit. One line.”
Yunho chuckles and looks over at Jaejoong. “No.”
“Your best friend is annoying,” Changmin says. He kisses Yunho’s jaw and then stands up. “Who’s sprinting tonight?”
“We are,” Donghae says.
Changmin nods. “Okay. Gimsam is tonight.”
“Gimsam,” Eunhyuk says and smacks the table. “I hate Gimsam.”
Donghae giggles. “You just hate it because Key likes to touch you.”
Eunhyuk stands up and takes his and Donghae’s plates to the sink. “You should hate it too.”
“I think it’s funny to watch.”
Their conversation fades as they leave the kitchen. Changmin has disappeared when I look for him again. Leeteuk and Kyuhyun are near the hall to the lab, standing close, holding hands.
“So what is sprinting?” I ask Yunho and Jaejoong.
Yunho says, “We have contacts who have contacts to get us supplies.”
“That chloro-stuff.”
“Chlorodistropenerol.”
“Yeah. That.”
“It’s the main ingredient Changmin needs,” Yunho says. “It’s like … the nemesis of the DNA in your baseCODE. It’s confusing. But it works, and Changmin needs it. Supplies have run dry, and now that there’s a fresh supply, we’re going to be here less and out in the world more. Hitting up our contacts.”
“Except for me,” Jae says. “Oh, god, I’m going to get so fucking bored.”
“You haven’t cut your hair yet,” I say to Yunho.
Yunho frowns. “I’ll cut it when I have to.”
A crackling voice fills the kitchen and asks Jae and Yunho to go down to the lab.
“I may have to kill him,” Jae says to Yunho.
Yunho laughs. “Sorry, best friend, my money is on Changmin.”
Jae kisses my cheek, tells me to rest and disappears down the hall. I finish my breakfast quickly. It is odd to be alone in such a large room. I go to the living room and sit next to Eunhyuk and Donghae cuddling on the couch. Heechul and Yoochun are in an armchair. Well, Yoochun sits in the armchair. Heechul is in his lap. They are incredibly … affectionate, though there is nothing sweet about the way they kiss or the way Yoochun’s hands grip Heechul’s ass.
Donghae throws a pillow at them. It is ignored and Yoochun twists, settling Heechul more in the chair with him over the older man. Yoochun’s hair falls around his shoulders and I barely pick out the green of his baseCODE under the fringe of hair.
Eunhyuk rolls his eyes at them and he and Donghae cuddle together. Now they are sweet.
“You get used to Heechul and Yoochun making out everywhere,” Eunhyuk says to me. “I walked in on them in the pantry once.” He shivers. “You do not want to know what they were doing with canned peaches.”
“It was hot,” Yoochun suddenly says and continues kissing Heechul.
“So hot,” Heechul mutters.
The kitchen door opens and Jaejoong enters the living room. He goes right to the kissing couple and grabs Yoochun’s hair, yanking hard.
“Ow, fucker,” Yoochun shouts as he follows Jae’s hand, trying to lessen the pressure.
“Go fuck in your room.” He lets go.
Heechul stands up and smirks. “Someone is jealous that I stole the best friend.”
“Shut up,” Jae mutters and shoves Yoochun.
Yoochun kisses Jae’s cheek. “I still love you, darling.”
Heechul takes his hand and says, “Chunnie, don’t do that. I hate it when you do that.”
Yoochun lets himself be led away. “Why? It’s not like I’m still fucking him.”
“Yeah, but I-”
His voice fades upstairs.
I look at Jae who has taken their place on the arm chair. EunHae are not looking at either of us, and there is tension in the air again.
So Yoochun and Jaejoong used to … I blush as I think about it, and then wonder when, because Jae said he was Yunho’s best friend, but Yoochun just said that Jae was his, and I guess you can have more than one best friend, but if he’d only been here for two years, and Jae had been with me for those two years-
I glance at him quickly.
“We’re … uh, going to … yeah.” Donghae gets up and even though Eunhyuk is a bit confused, the two of them disappear upstairs.
I watch Jaejoong. Jaejoong watches TV.
“Do I want to ask?” I ask.
He shrugs. “It was a long time ago.”
“How long is a long time ago?” I ask. “Because the way my brain works is that it’s been within the last two years.”
“The beginning of the last two years. A long time ago, before …”
“Before what?”
“Before I fell in love with you.” He stands up and paces a short circuit.
“I … I don’t know what to say.”
“I need to get out of here. Tell whoever that I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
I stand up. “Where are you going?”
“Out. I don’t know. Some place. I hate being here.”
He walks to the wall that looks like a bookshelf and disappears. I forgot about the hologram.
I sit back down and watch TV. There’s some parade or something, and after a few shots of the crowd, the camera zooms in on a statue. Of me. A soccer ball in my hand. Watching your own commemorative parade is disconcerting to say the least. I turn the TV off and lay back on the couch. I’m tired but I don’t want to go upstairs.
I lie there for a long time before someone comes into the room.
“Hey, kid.”
I open my eyes and look at Leeteuk as he sits next to me. I pull my feet away and curl on my side.
“You alright?”
“Sort of.”
“Where’s Jaejoong?”
“He left. Said he had to get out of here.”
“Fuck.”
I nod.
“He’s a stubborn man. How did you live with him for two years?”
“I … it’s always been more about me than him. That makes me sound selfish, but he did everything for me. I … I was gone a lot though, at first, I mean. I have games and tournaments to play. He came when he could but-”
“It made it easier for him to be a sprinter.”
“I see that now. What about him and Yoochun?”
“Ah, someone spilled the beans. Heechul, I bet.”
“Yeah.”
“Heechul’s kind of a diva. He wants them both to know that Yoochun is his, but the only one who thinks there’s still something sexual between them is Heechul. But they all get along. They’re all friends. When Jae first lived here he shared a room with Yoochun and the two of them are … like soul mates or something. They hit it off really well. None of us were shocked when they started kissing and stuff, though Yunho bitched to Jaejoong about you all the time. But back then … Jae was still …”
“Waiting for it to all fall apart?” I say.
“Yeah. But trust me, he hasn’t been with Yoochun for a long time. And as soon as Heechul knew the two of them were no longer sleeping with each other, he jumped into Yoochun’s bed. They love each other, but Heechul is incredibly high maintenance. You seem tired.”
“Just my easy simple life going to crazy.”
Leeteuk’s laughs, and once again it makes me smile. “Come on. Let’s watch a movie. I’ve got some classics here.”
||/||\||
Jaejoong returns well into the afternoon. Changmin bitches at him, and he goes right to the kitchen. Even from the living room I can hear cupboard slamming and knives clinking together over Changmin’s shouting.
“Do they always fight like that?” I ask Leeteuk.
Kyuhyun came up a couple hours before, and now the two of them are curled up together.
“Yes,” Leeteuk says with a laugh, “but there’s affection there, too. Jaejoong saved Changmin’s life once, right after they first met. Jae claims he did it more for Yunho than for Changmin, but still, Changmin’s alive now.”
“What happened?”
“Changmin used to run for his own supplies and he got caught up in a tangle of mistrust and someone snitched on him, or not him, but on something, and he had to run from officers. Jaejoong was his backup, and to hear Changmin tell it, Jae waited until he was good and ready before picking him up. Jaejoong says he had a few tails, which he did, but yeah, they’ve always fought, but since then, it’s been more … habit than actual malice.”
“You talk too much,” Changmin says as he comes into the living room. “Junsu, I’m telling you this now while you don’t have Jaejoong hovering over your shoulder. I need you to start sprinting tomorrow. I know it’s dangerous, but it’s always dangerous. You’ll go out with Yoochun, and he’ll tell you what you have to do. Okay?”
I nod.
“Good. Someone page me when dinner’s ready.” He disappears up the stairs, taking them three at a time with his long legs.
Leeteuk and Kyuhyun exchange smirks. “He gets a bit … horny after a shouting match with Jaejoong.”
I sit there for a few more minutes and then get up. “I’m going to go be alone for a bit,” I say.
“You okay?” Leeteuk asks.
I shrug. “Whatever. Tell Jae I’m not hungry.”
Leeteuk looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t and nods. I go up to our room. I cuddle the bear close to me. I’m not surprised when a half hour later, Jae enters, bearing a tray of food.
“Leeteuk says you were tired,” he says, clearly not believing that.
“Yeah,” I say.
“I brought you some food.”
“I’m-” My stomach growls when I catch a whiff of meat.
He grins.
“Fine,” I say and eat the chicken and noodles he brought. Neither of us says anything. Time ticks by and I am really tired, my stomach full. I lay back on the bed and shut my eyes.
“Are you mad at me?” he asks.
“No. Just … confused. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
The bed settles as Jae lies down. His hand runs over my stomach. I turn on my side away from him. He sighs in frustration. “Fine. Whatever.” He gets up and just before he’s at the door, I say his name.
He stops.
“Changmin is sending me sprinting tomorrow with Yoochun. And no matter what you say, I’m going with them.”
His hand shakes on the doorknob. “That’s … fine.”
The door slams behind him.
I hug the bear tighter.
Part 5: These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die
Part 3: Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.
Part 2: O, teach me how I should forget to think.
Part 1: I must be gone and live or stay and die.
.
Pairing: Jaejoong/Junsu, Changmin/Yunho, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Heechul/Yoochun, Leeteuk/Kyuhyun, Siwon/Ryeowook
Rating: R for this chapter
Disclaimer: Not mine to rate track or own. I really wish I could order them to have sex with each other and let me tape it, but ... yeah, can't do that.
Summary: Junsu is a normal twenty-three year old. He has retired from Duty to the People and he's content to spend the next two years relaxing before his Date of Expiration. His biggest fear is that the love he carries for his roommate will be discovered. But Jaejoong is not who he says he is, and Junsu finds himself in a race to save not only Jaejoong's life, but ultimately his own.
This fic is first person from Junsu's POV and it is written in present tense. Chapter titles are quotes from "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare.
Poster credit goes to yceam!!! It's awesome, darling! ♥
Part 4: Not mad, but bound more than a mad man is.
... for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
From Romeo & Juliet
I wake up to the soft touch of a steady hand on my back. I don’t want to wake up.
“Su.”
“Hm?”
“You awake now?”
“Yes.”
“How do you feel?”
“Tired.”
“Still weak?”
I shake my head.
“Okay. Then you need to wake up. Changmin’s been waiting for you.”
I freeze. I feel like Jaejoong has just said I need to meet the Director himself.
Jae chuckles. “Don’t worry. He’s all piss and wind most days. He’s in the kitchen.”
I crawl out of bed and stand up. I sway a bit, but Jae steadies me and he helps me slip on a pair of jeans and a shirt.
“Have you made breakfast?”
“Yes. I’m groveling to Changmin, remember?”
I chuckle. He stays close, an arm around my shoulders as we go down the stairs and into the kitchen. A cocaphy of hellos and inquiries about my health bombard us. I smiled and say I’m fine and still a little weak. Eunhyuk, Donghae, Leeteuk, Changmin, Yunho and a man I don’t recognize are at the table.
Jae waits until I’m sitting at the table next to Eunhyuk, and then goes to get me some food.
Eunhyuk is pouting. “I wanted to play soccer today.”
“Tomorrow,” I promise.
“Maybe,” a man across from me says. I don’t recognize him. But the man next to him is Changmin. Both are staring at me with slightly interested eyes.
Leeteuk leans into him and whispers something in his ear, causing his face to soften. Leeteuk kisses his cheek, and he blushes.
Leeteuk sees my face and says, “Oh, right. You haven’t met yet. This is Cho Kyuhyun.”
I bow my head and say hello.
“Your baseCODE sample is quite interesting,” Changmin says.
Yunho rolls his eyes. “Babe, come on. No scientific talk outside of the lab.”
Changmin ignores him, and continues to stare at me. “It’s simple, comparatively speaking. It’ll be easy to work with. Normally, I’d be able to get a serum ready for you in a few days, now it might take weeks.”
“He doesn’t need it,” Jae says as he sits next to me with food.
Changmin ignores him. It’s unnerving how he stares at me. I don’t want to eat, but Jae nudges me, and I know he’s worried so I eat anyway.
“So what is this baseCODE thing anyway,” I ask. “Ryeowook said it was genes, but-”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Changmin says. “It’s a symbiotic organism. A lichen actually.
“A what?”
“A symbiotic organism. It’s a lichen.” Changmin sighs. “You know what a lichen is?”
“Um, moss on a tree isn’t it?”
“Fungi, but yeah, at least you know something.”
Jae bristles beside me and I smile. “I’m a sports guy, remember. Not a scientist.”
“Fungi!” Eunhyuk suddenly says. “That’s gross.” He scratches the back of his neck.
“It’s fascinating,” Kyuhyun says. “Whoever discovered that it was compatible with human DNA is a genius.”
“Symbiotic,” I say. “That means, like they live off each other, right?”
“Yeah,” Changmin says. “It’s why it hurts so much to remove it. It’s wrapped up with your nerves. The government has us researching ways for them to extend that to neurotic and motor control, but the partnership isn’t that strong. I don’t want that to sound like it’s pointless. It does a lot. You have no idea how much your baseCODE helps you, how much it does to keep you healthy. Without your baseCODE you’re subject to diseases and viruses-“
“And you want to find a way to get rid of it,” Jae mutters.
“Not the organism, but the system, because it makes no sense. Some research has been lost or had to have been redone because the researchers have hit their Date of Expiration, and they’ve been killed before they can write everything down. Redoing research sucks.”
“Selfish until the end,” Jae says.
“God, you’re a bastard.”
“And so are you. I’m trying to spend some quality time with my boyfriend-“
“Since when was fucking him senseless considered quality time?” Changmin snaps.
“-and you people keep interrupting us.”
“Wait, so … this lichen,” I say, putting a hand on Jae’s knee to calm him down, “it doesn’t have the same DNA for all of it?”
“No, it’s like human DNA. There are differences, minor but there. It’s why we all look different, why we are taller or shorter. The lichen in your baseCODE is the same. The differences in its DNA come from the density of the pores, the size and length of the cells, and when its bioluminescence changes.”
“Its what?” I ask.
“Its color. The bioluminescence is why it glows a bit. When it turns black, that means it’s through its lifecycle and it’s going to die. But the lichen doesn’t die for five or six or seven or ten years after it turns black. It feeds off the human body as much as the human body feeds off of it. Rumors are that when the human body is over thirty, it weakens because the lichen has died. There’s no data on how long a human body can live without it though.”
I look at Leeteuk and he laughs. “Yes, I am the experiment.”
“One of them,” Changmin says. “But I can’t get anything from the government.”
“Well, duh,” Jae snaps.
“Wait,” I say, “what do you mean?”
Changmin smirks. “You really think our entire government is run by twenty year olds? There are others older who are calling the shots from behind the scenes. Hidden.”
“That’s just a conspiracy theory,” I say.
More than one of them scoffs.
“So the government has you believe. Chaos would run rampant for as often as government officials were changed. Parliament is a smoke screen, a cover. The Prime Minister is a figurehead. A parrot.”
It is hard to believe, but it makes sense.
“It’s why I’m so frustrated,” Changmin says, “because they’re withholding materials I need to continue my research. It’s like they know what I’m doing even though they can’t know what I’m doing since I do all my research here, and you sprinters cover your tracks well.”
“So what happens if you manage to expose it?” I ask.
“I’m not stupid,” Changmin says. “I’m not doing it to undermine the government. I’m not doing it because I want to live forever. I’m doing it because it’s something that needs to be discovered, researched.”
“Why?”
Changmin sighs. “Because it does. If I put a soccer ball in front of you and told you that you couldn’t kick it, and you had to sit there and look at it, would you?”
“But it’s a soccer ball.”
“Exactly my point.”
I think about it for a moment and then nod. “Okay. So, you’re not doing it to undermine the government, but that will be a result of it.”
“A good result,” Leeteuk says with a smile.
“I’m not undermining the government,” Changmin says and smirks at Leeteuk. “Doesn’t mean someone isn’t.”
“What do you need me to do?” I ask and Jae stiffens next to me. I snuggle closer to him.
“I need you to be a sprinter,” Changmin says.
“He-“
I cut Jae off. “But I’m dead and being memorialized.”
“Yeah, just means you’re going to go to smaller towns where people won’t recognize you as easily.”
“Are you kidding?” Eunhyuk says. “People in smaller town idolize him more. He's their hero.”
“You’re not doing anything until you rest,” Jae says.
Changmin shuts his eyes in annoyance and tilts his head to Yunho. Yunho puts his arm around him and Changmin leans against his shoulder. “Can I cut him, please? Please, just a little bit. One line.”
Yunho chuckles and looks over at Jaejoong. “No.”
“Your best friend is annoying,” Changmin says. He kisses Yunho’s jaw and then stands up. “Who’s sprinting tonight?”
“We are,” Donghae says.
Changmin nods. “Okay. Gimsam is tonight.”
“Gimsam,” Eunhyuk says and smacks the table. “I hate Gimsam.”
Donghae giggles. “You just hate it because Key likes to touch you.”
Eunhyuk stands up and takes his and Donghae’s plates to the sink. “You should hate it too.”
“I think it’s funny to watch.”
Their conversation fades as they leave the kitchen. Changmin has disappeared when I look for him again. Leeteuk and Kyuhyun are near the hall to the lab, standing close, holding hands.
“So what is sprinting?” I ask Yunho and Jaejoong.
Yunho says, “We have contacts who have contacts to get us supplies.”
“That chloro-stuff.”
“Chlorodistropenerol.”
“Yeah. That.”
“It’s the main ingredient Changmin needs,” Yunho says. “It’s like … the nemesis of the DNA in your baseCODE. It’s confusing. But it works, and Changmin needs it. Supplies have run dry, and now that there’s a fresh supply, we’re going to be here less and out in the world more. Hitting up our contacts.”
“Except for me,” Jae says. “Oh, god, I’m going to get so fucking bored.”
“You haven’t cut your hair yet,” I say to Yunho.
Yunho frowns. “I’ll cut it when I have to.”
A crackling voice fills the kitchen and asks Jae and Yunho to go down to the lab.
“I may have to kill him,” Jae says to Yunho.
Yunho laughs. “Sorry, best friend, my money is on Changmin.”
Jae kisses my cheek, tells me to rest and disappears down the hall. I finish my breakfast quickly. It is odd to be alone in such a large room. I go to the living room and sit next to Eunhyuk and Donghae cuddling on the couch. Heechul and Yoochun are in an armchair. Well, Yoochun sits in the armchair. Heechul is in his lap. They are incredibly … affectionate, though there is nothing sweet about the way they kiss or the way Yoochun’s hands grip Heechul’s ass.
Donghae throws a pillow at them. It is ignored and Yoochun twists, settling Heechul more in the chair with him over the older man. Yoochun’s hair falls around his shoulders and I barely pick out the green of his baseCODE under the fringe of hair.
Eunhyuk rolls his eyes at them and he and Donghae cuddle together. Now they are sweet.
“You get used to Heechul and Yoochun making out everywhere,” Eunhyuk says to me. “I walked in on them in the pantry once.” He shivers. “You do not want to know what they were doing with canned peaches.”
“It was hot,” Yoochun suddenly says and continues kissing Heechul.
“So hot,” Heechul mutters.
The kitchen door opens and Jaejoong enters the living room. He goes right to the kissing couple and grabs Yoochun’s hair, yanking hard.
“Ow, fucker,” Yoochun shouts as he follows Jae’s hand, trying to lessen the pressure.
“Go fuck in your room.” He lets go.
Heechul stands up and smirks. “Someone is jealous that I stole the best friend.”
“Shut up,” Jae mutters and shoves Yoochun.
Yoochun kisses Jae’s cheek. “I still love you, darling.”
Heechul takes his hand and says, “Chunnie, don’t do that. I hate it when you do that.”
Yoochun lets himself be led away. “Why? It’s not like I’m still fucking him.”
“Yeah, but I-”
His voice fades upstairs.
I look at Jae who has taken their place on the arm chair. EunHae are not looking at either of us, and there is tension in the air again.
So Yoochun and Jaejoong used to … I blush as I think about it, and then wonder when, because Jae said he was Yunho’s best friend, but Yoochun just said that Jae was his, and I guess you can have more than one best friend, but if he’d only been here for two years, and Jae had been with me for those two years-
I glance at him quickly.
“We’re … uh, going to … yeah.” Donghae gets up and even though Eunhyuk is a bit confused, the two of them disappear upstairs.
I watch Jaejoong. Jaejoong watches TV.
“Do I want to ask?” I ask.
He shrugs. “It was a long time ago.”
“How long is a long time ago?” I ask. “Because the way my brain works is that it’s been within the last two years.”
“The beginning of the last two years. A long time ago, before …”
“Before what?”
“Before I fell in love with you.” He stands up and paces a short circuit.
“I … I don’t know what to say.”
“I need to get out of here. Tell whoever that I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
I stand up. “Where are you going?”
“Out. I don’t know. Some place. I hate being here.”
He walks to the wall that looks like a bookshelf and disappears. I forgot about the hologram.
I sit back down and watch TV. There’s some parade or something, and after a few shots of the crowd, the camera zooms in on a statue. Of me. A soccer ball in my hand. Watching your own commemorative parade is disconcerting to say the least. I turn the TV off and lay back on the couch. I’m tired but I don’t want to go upstairs.
I lie there for a long time before someone comes into the room.
“Hey, kid.”
I open my eyes and look at Leeteuk as he sits next to me. I pull my feet away and curl on my side.
“You alright?”
“Sort of.”
“Where’s Jaejoong?”
“He left. Said he had to get out of here.”
“Fuck.”
I nod.
“He’s a stubborn man. How did you live with him for two years?”
“I … it’s always been more about me than him. That makes me sound selfish, but he did everything for me. I … I was gone a lot though, at first, I mean. I have games and tournaments to play. He came when he could but-”
“It made it easier for him to be a sprinter.”
“I see that now. What about him and Yoochun?”
“Ah, someone spilled the beans. Heechul, I bet.”
“Yeah.”
“Heechul’s kind of a diva. He wants them both to know that Yoochun is his, but the only one who thinks there’s still something sexual between them is Heechul. But they all get along. They’re all friends. When Jae first lived here he shared a room with Yoochun and the two of them are … like soul mates or something. They hit it off really well. None of us were shocked when they started kissing and stuff, though Yunho bitched to Jaejoong about you all the time. But back then … Jae was still …”
“Waiting for it to all fall apart?” I say.
“Yeah. But trust me, he hasn’t been with Yoochun for a long time. And as soon as Heechul knew the two of them were no longer sleeping with each other, he jumped into Yoochun’s bed. They love each other, but Heechul is incredibly high maintenance. You seem tired.”
“Just my easy simple life going to crazy.”
Leeteuk’s laughs, and once again it makes me smile. “Come on. Let’s watch a movie. I’ve got some classics here.”
||/||\||
Jaejoong returns well into the afternoon. Changmin bitches at him, and he goes right to the kitchen. Even from the living room I can hear cupboard slamming and knives clinking together over Changmin’s shouting.
“Do they always fight like that?” I ask Leeteuk.
Kyuhyun came up a couple hours before, and now the two of them are curled up together.
“Yes,” Leeteuk says with a laugh, “but there’s affection there, too. Jaejoong saved Changmin’s life once, right after they first met. Jae claims he did it more for Yunho than for Changmin, but still, Changmin’s alive now.”
“What happened?”
“Changmin used to run for his own supplies and he got caught up in a tangle of mistrust and someone snitched on him, or not him, but on something, and he had to run from officers. Jaejoong was his backup, and to hear Changmin tell it, Jae waited until he was good and ready before picking him up. Jaejoong says he had a few tails, which he did, but yeah, they’ve always fought, but since then, it’s been more … habit than actual malice.”
“You talk too much,” Changmin says as he comes into the living room. “Junsu, I’m telling you this now while you don’t have Jaejoong hovering over your shoulder. I need you to start sprinting tomorrow. I know it’s dangerous, but it’s always dangerous. You’ll go out with Yoochun, and he’ll tell you what you have to do. Okay?”
I nod.
“Good. Someone page me when dinner’s ready.” He disappears up the stairs, taking them three at a time with his long legs.
Leeteuk and Kyuhyun exchange smirks. “He gets a bit … horny after a shouting match with Jaejoong.”
I sit there for a few more minutes and then get up. “I’m going to go be alone for a bit,” I say.
“You okay?” Leeteuk asks.
I shrug. “Whatever. Tell Jae I’m not hungry.”
Leeteuk looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t and nods. I go up to our room. I cuddle the bear close to me. I’m not surprised when a half hour later, Jae enters, bearing a tray of food.
“Leeteuk says you were tired,” he says, clearly not believing that.
“Yeah,” I say.
“I brought you some food.”
“I’m-” My stomach growls when I catch a whiff of meat.
He grins.
“Fine,” I say and eat the chicken and noodles he brought. Neither of us says anything. Time ticks by and I am really tired, my stomach full. I lay back on the bed and shut my eyes.
“Are you mad at me?” he asks.
“No. Just … confused. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
The bed settles as Jae lies down. His hand runs over my stomach. I turn on my side away from him. He sighs in frustration. “Fine. Whatever.” He gets up and just before he’s at the door, I say his name.
He stops.
“Changmin is sending me sprinting tomorrow with Yoochun. And no matter what you say, I’m going with them.”
His hand shakes on the doorknob. “That’s … fine.”
The door slams behind him.
I hug the bear tighter.
Part 5: These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die
Part 3: Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.
Part 2: O, teach me how I should forget to think.
Part 1: I must be gone and live or stay and die.
.