Lost Boys [8/11]
Title: Lost Boys
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 8/11
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: Deep inside of him, Changmin knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, lest he should hear things he wouldn’t want to know, but his curiosity is piqued and he props himself up on one arm (careful not to touch the bruised side of his face), and strains to hear the two oldest men’s voices as they bob and linger in the dark.
---
Eight
It’s Junsu who lets out a yelp at the sight of his face, and Yoochun who gathers fresh snow from outside to pack into a piece of cloth so he can apply it to the swollen area. “Who did it?” Yunho asks, looking absolutely furious as he crosses from the bedroom area and into the main room where Changmin is sitting. Jaejoong’s name is on the tip of his tongue, but it comes out of his mouth as “I got mugged”.
“I’ll kill ‘em,” Yoochun growls. He turns towards Junsu who’s examining the bruise. “Junsu, you shouldn’t have let him go!”
“I can take care of myself!” Changmin says, his cheeks suddenly hot as the stress from his and Jaejoong’s argument is transferred. “I’m not a child and I would like it if you guys would stop treating me like one!” Yunho places a hand on his shoulder.
“Enough. Enough,” Yunho says, his voice low and commanding. “Yoochun only meant well. You don’t know these streets as well as we do and we’re just worried.” Changmin frowns, but doesn’t push. He’s crossed a line, he knows, and a pang of guilt tears at him.
“I’m sorry,” he says after a beat, and Yunho squeezes his shoulder. He looks at Junsu, now fully regretful about the wasted food. “Junsu hyung…I lost the rice too. I’m sorry.” He expects to be scolded, but Junsu only smiles at him like his own mother would (or used to). “It’s okay. At least you’re okay. I have some nice French bread anyway, a bit stale but still good. And DongChul hyung gave me some apricot jam a while ago. It’s okay.” And it is.
When Jaejoong comes home late that night he hears Yunho stand up from his position on the floor and walk quietly out to the main room. Changmin got mugged today, he hears, and he expects Jaejoong to lie or at least throw at Yunho one of his signature sarcastic remarks, but there’s an uneasy pause. He didn’t get mugged, Yunho. I hit him, is muttered and Changmin hears Yunho splutter, ask for an explanation. Jaejoong gives none, only a He’s a good kid, just doesn’t know what he says sometimes. Have you taken your medicine, Yunho-yah?
Deep inside of him, Changmin knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, lest he should hear things he wouldn’t want to know, but his curiosity is piqued and he props himself up on one arm (careful not to touch the bruised side of his face), and strains to hear the two oldest men’s voices as they bob and linger in the dark.
Don’t change the subject, Jae.
Did you or didn’t you?
Why do you bully him so much? And what the hell are you wearing? You’re going to freeze to death.
Don’t get started on me and anyway why are you fucking taking his side? You don’t even know him, Yunho!
He’s just lost his mother, he told me. I know he’s a kid who’s lost and lonely…Wear my coat.
I don’t want it. Anyway if that’s his only problem we should take him to a fucking playground.
What happened, Jaejoong, really?
Look, I’m cold and tired so can we not do this NOW? Have you eaten? I know the kid lost the rice but I got paid a little extra today for doing a few extra blocks so I got some kimbap-
A pause, and Yunho’s voice changes. Jae…
Shut up, don’t be apologizing now. We’ve already talked about this. The people who can work, work and those who can’t don’t…
I’m still sorry.
Shut up and just eat. There’s nothing to be sorry for.
Everything drifts into silence, but Changmin is confused.
He’s got issues, he thinks, remembering the weight of Jaejoong’s fist against his face as he eases himself back onto his back to sleep, covering himself with the heavy (but quite smelly) overcoat he’s been using as a blanket for some nights now. He remembers the odd gleam in Jaejoong’s eyes when he’d been pinned against the wall. But he’s not such a bad guy. Maybe.
Be kind, darling, his mother used to say. Always. And he falls asleep singing under his breath the song she used to sing.
Life goes on.
He and Jaejoong have reached some sort of truce. He’s grown tired of fighting, tired of the constant strain he has to bear whenever the older man is around, tired of being annoyed and frustrated whenever Jaejoong neglects him or doesn’t show any signs of gratitude or remorse. He stretches his patience and keeps his distance, not bothering to pressure himself to know anything else about the older boy and convincing himself that he doesn’t care either way.
Yoochun has shyly approached him, asking him if he would please teach him how to read and write and maybe do a bit of math properly. “I plan to go back to school,” Yoochun says, pieces of stray paper and stubby pencils in his hands. “Jaejoong and Yunho hyung said when there’s enough money I can. I just want to learn all I can for now, if you don’t mind.” So during the quiet hours of the morning Changmin sits down with him in the bedroom and teaches him the basics, and it isn’t long before he realizes that Yoochun actually has potential and he advances into teaching him things that are nearly at par with what he’s currently taking up in school. Sometimes Jaejoong spots them, stops and watches quietly. When Changmin looks up he walks away, but later there might be a bit of a snack (pieces of fruit, or, if they’re lucky, a small chocolate bar they divide between the two of them) waiting for them at the kitchen table. “He used to teach me,” Yoochun explains. “Jaejoong hyung’s a smart one too.” Changmin, unable to hold his curiosity in any longer, dares to ask him once where Jaejoong came from, but Yoochun only answers with a shrug. “I met him on the streets. He was already a wily one, but nearly always getting in trouble with the law. He calmed down a bit after we met up with Junsu and Yunho hyung. We’ve been friends for quite some time now, five years or so,” and Changmin has no choice but to leave it at that.
The days when Yunho is ill are the only times when Changmin agrees for Jaejoong to order him about. He goes to the convenience store (albeit with Junsu) which is ten minutes away despite the ongoing snowstorm and buys warm tea, kimbap and some fruit with money they’ve pooled. He sits by Yunho’s side at ungodly hours of the night to help quell a stubborn fever and then without complaint allows himself to be shaken awake by Yoochun when it’s his turn once more. When Yunho’s stomach starts hurting again and there’s nothing they can do, Changmin stays silent as Jaejoong yells at him and calls him names because he knows Jaejoong feels as helpless as they all do, and he’s learned by now that the eldest doesn’t like feeling helpless, especially when it comes to Yunho (More than once he’s caught Jaejoong through cracked doorways forcing a smile while holding onto Yunho’s hand; “It’ll be okay, Yunho-yah, just go to sleep and everything will be fine in the morning” before he storms off, his eyes red and his teeth biting hard onto his lower lip, the moment Yunho closes his eyes). When Yunho gets better he’s the first to apologize for Jaejoong’s behavior (“He’s stubborn and stupid but he really doesn’t mean to be mean…”) because the latter never does, and somehow Changmin finds it easier to forgive the eldest that way. He hasn’t forgotten about the camera, but by now has resigned himself to the (painful) fact that he’s probably never going to get it back.
They celebrate Junsu’s twenty-first birthday with as much revelry as they can muster. Jaejoong for once is pleasant enough for Changmin to withstand the whole day, and Yoochun manages to convince Junsu’s boss to grant them a small but decent cake that they decorate with small, half-finished birthday candles (“From last year,” Yoochun explains). They sing loudly and off-key (because Yunho insists on someone doing a second voice when no one actually knows how) and divide the cake neatly and fairly, allowing themselves to play only with a bit of the icing that they use to smear on Junsu’s face when he’s not looking before ducking out of the way, laughing, before he can manage to do the same. Changmin gives Junsu his nearly brand-new wool coat (excavated from the bottom of his backpack; he hasn’t worn it since his third day as a runaway) which he’s managed to clean with a bit of help from Yunho. Jaejoong’s eyebrows rise at the sight of the gift, while Junsu lets out an excited squeak. “I won’t be using it anymore,” Changmin says, because he doesn’t intend to stay as long now. The days are counting down and he’s sure the police are still on the lookout, though with less enthusiasm. He suspects he won’t be recognized at the airport anyway given he’s lost so much weight and his hair has grown long. Junsu puts the coat on right away and gives him a grateful peck on the cheek.
He still has dreams from time to time, of his mother and how she left him, of his father and the phony speech he gave during her funeral, of a big house on a mountain where he had a soft bed and servants and plenty of food, and he would wake up from them, panting and gasping, tears still drying on his cheeks, but there would always be someone who would be quick enough to hold his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. It’s all right, Changmin-ah. Do you want to talk about it? And he would shake his head. No hyung, I’m all right. Because he is and he goes back to sleep, only to wake up under a warm shaft of morning sunlight, feeling better than he has in years. It hurts him to think that he’s eventually leaving them, but knows it’s the best thing to do. He has to move on like he promised to do. He can’t stay, even now that he has reasons to (Junsu has already started making big plans about creating his own little bakery with Changmin’s help; Yoochun is urging for the two of them to go to school together; Yunho has long gone into the habit of cutting everything into five; and Jaejoong…well Jaejoong at least is not always yelling at him anymore).
But still he waits. Just a little more time, he says, Just a little more time.
TBC
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 8/11
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: Deep inside of him, Changmin knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, lest he should hear things he wouldn’t want to know, but his curiosity is piqued and he props himself up on one arm (careful not to touch the bruised side of his face), and strains to hear the two oldest men’s voices as they bob and linger in the dark.
---
Eight
It’s Junsu who lets out a yelp at the sight of his face, and Yoochun who gathers fresh snow from outside to pack into a piece of cloth so he can apply it to the swollen area. “Who did it?” Yunho asks, looking absolutely furious as he crosses from the bedroom area and into the main room where Changmin is sitting. Jaejoong’s name is on the tip of his tongue, but it comes out of his mouth as “I got mugged”.
“I’ll kill ‘em,” Yoochun growls. He turns towards Junsu who’s examining the bruise. “Junsu, you shouldn’t have let him go!”
“I can take care of myself!” Changmin says, his cheeks suddenly hot as the stress from his and Jaejoong’s argument is transferred. “I’m not a child and I would like it if you guys would stop treating me like one!” Yunho places a hand on his shoulder.
“Enough. Enough,” Yunho says, his voice low and commanding. “Yoochun only meant well. You don’t know these streets as well as we do and we’re just worried.” Changmin frowns, but doesn’t push. He’s crossed a line, he knows, and a pang of guilt tears at him.
“I’m sorry,” he says after a beat, and Yunho squeezes his shoulder. He looks at Junsu, now fully regretful about the wasted food. “Junsu hyung…I lost the rice too. I’m sorry.” He expects to be scolded, but Junsu only smiles at him like his own mother would (or used to). “It’s okay. At least you’re okay. I have some nice French bread anyway, a bit stale but still good. And DongChul hyung gave me some apricot jam a while ago. It’s okay.” And it is.
When Jaejoong comes home late that night he hears Yunho stand up from his position on the floor and walk quietly out to the main room. Changmin got mugged today, he hears, and he expects Jaejoong to lie or at least throw at Yunho one of his signature sarcastic remarks, but there’s an uneasy pause. He didn’t get mugged, Yunho. I hit him, is muttered and Changmin hears Yunho splutter, ask for an explanation. Jaejoong gives none, only a He’s a good kid, just doesn’t know what he says sometimes. Have you taken your medicine, Yunho-yah?
Deep inside of him, Changmin knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, lest he should hear things he wouldn’t want to know, but his curiosity is piqued and he props himself up on one arm (careful not to touch the bruised side of his face), and strains to hear the two oldest men’s voices as they bob and linger in the dark.
Don’t change the subject, Jae.
Did you or didn’t you?
Why do you bully him so much? And what the hell are you wearing? You’re going to freeze to death.
Don’t get started on me and anyway why are you fucking taking his side? You don’t even know him, Yunho!
He’s just lost his mother, he told me. I know he’s a kid who’s lost and lonely…Wear my coat.
I don’t want it. Anyway if that’s his only problem we should take him to a fucking playground.
What happened, Jaejoong, really?
Look, I’m cold and tired so can we not do this NOW? Have you eaten? I know the kid lost the rice but I got paid a little extra today for doing a few extra blocks so I got some kimbap-
A pause, and Yunho’s voice changes. Jae…
Shut up, don’t be apologizing now. We’ve already talked about this. The people who can work, work and those who can’t don’t…
I’m still sorry.
Shut up and just eat. There’s nothing to be sorry for.
Everything drifts into silence, but Changmin is confused.
He’s got issues, he thinks, remembering the weight of Jaejoong’s fist against his face as he eases himself back onto his back to sleep, covering himself with the heavy (but quite smelly) overcoat he’s been using as a blanket for some nights now. He remembers the odd gleam in Jaejoong’s eyes when he’d been pinned against the wall. But he’s not such a bad guy. Maybe.
Be kind, darling, his mother used to say. Always. And he falls asleep singing under his breath the song she used to sing.
Life goes on.
He and Jaejoong have reached some sort of truce. He’s grown tired of fighting, tired of the constant strain he has to bear whenever the older man is around, tired of being annoyed and frustrated whenever Jaejoong neglects him or doesn’t show any signs of gratitude or remorse. He stretches his patience and keeps his distance, not bothering to pressure himself to know anything else about the older boy and convincing himself that he doesn’t care either way.
Yoochun has shyly approached him, asking him if he would please teach him how to read and write and maybe do a bit of math properly. “I plan to go back to school,” Yoochun says, pieces of stray paper and stubby pencils in his hands. “Jaejoong and Yunho hyung said when there’s enough money I can. I just want to learn all I can for now, if you don’t mind.” So during the quiet hours of the morning Changmin sits down with him in the bedroom and teaches him the basics, and it isn’t long before he realizes that Yoochun actually has potential and he advances into teaching him things that are nearly at par with what he’s currently taking up in school. Sometimes Jaejoong spots them, stops and watches quietly. When Changmin looks up he walks away, but later there might be a bit of a snack (pieces of fruit, or, if they’re lucky, a small chocolate bar they divide between the two of them) waiting for them at the kitchen table. “He used to teach me,” Yoochun explains. “Jaejoong hyung’s a smart one too.” Changmin, unable to hold his curiosity in any longer, dares to ask him once where Jaejoong came from, but Yoochun only answers with a shrug. “I met him on the streets. He was already a wily one, but nearly always getting in trouble with the law. He calmed down a bit after we met up with Junsu and Yunho hyung. We’ve been friends for quite some time now, five years or so,” and Changmin has no choice but to leave it at that.
The days when Yunho is ill are the only times when Changmin agrees for Jaejoong to order him about. He goes to the convenience store (albeit with Junsu) which is ten minutes away despite the ongoing snowstorm and buys warm tea, kimbap and some fruit with money they’ve pooled. He sits by Yunho’s side at ungodly hours of the night to help quell a stubborn fever and then without complaint allows himself to be shaken awake by Yoochun when it’s his turn once more. When Yunho’s stomach starts hurting again and there’s nothing they can do, Changmin stays silent as Jaejoong yells at him and calls him names because he knows Jaejoong feels as helpless as they all do, and he’s learned by now that the eldest doesn’t like feeling helpless, especially when it comes to Yunho (More than once he’s caught Jaejoong through cracked doorways forcing a smile while holding onto Yunho’s hand; “It’ll be okay, Yunho-yah, just go to sleep and everything will be fine in the morning” before he storms off, his eyes red and his teeth biting hard onto his lower lip, the moment Yunho closes his eyes). When Yunho gets better he’s the first to apologize for Jaejoong’s behavior (“He’s stubborn and stupid but he really doesn’t mean to be mean…”) because the latter never does, and somehow Changmin finds it easier to forgive the eldest that way. He hasn’t forgotten about the camera, but by now has resigned himself to the (painful) fact that he’s probably never going to get it back.
They celebrate Junsu’s twenty-first birthday with as much revelry as they can muster. Jaejoong for once is pleasant enough for Changmin to withstand the whole day, and Yoochun manages to convince Junsu’s boss to grant them a small but decent cake that they decorate with small, half-finished birthday candles (“From last year,” Yoochun explains). They sing loudly and off-key (because Yunho insists on someone doing a second voice when no one actually knows how) and divide the cake neatly and fairly, allowing themselves to play only with a bit of the icing that they use to smear on Junsu’s face when he’s not looking before ducking out of the way, laughing, before he can manage to do the same. Changmin gives Junsu his nearly brand-new wool coat (excavated from the bottom of his backpack; he hasn’t worn it since his third day as a runaway) which he’s managed to clean with a bit of help from Yunho. Jaejoong’s eyebrows rise at the sight of the gift, while Junsu lets out an excited squeak. “I won’t be using it anymore,” Changmin says, because he doesn’t intend to stay as long now. The days are counting down and he’s sure the police are still on the lookout, though with less enthusiasm. He suspects he won’t be recognized at the airport anyway given he’s lost so much weight and his hair has grown long. Junsu puts the coat on right away and gives him a grateful peck on the cheek.
He still has dreams from time to time, of his mother and how she left him, of his father and the phony speech he gave during her funeral, of a big house on a mountain where he had a soft bed and servants and plenty of food, and he would wake up from them, panting and gasping, tears still drying on his cheeks, but there would always be someone who would be quick enough to hold his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. It’s all right, Changmin-ah. Do you want to talk about it? And he would shake his head. No hyung, I’m all right. Because he is and he goes back to sleep, only to wake up under a warm shaft of morning sunlight, feeling better than he has in years. It hurts him to think that he’s eventually leaving them, but knows it’s the best thing to do. He has to move on like he promised to do. He can’t stay, even now that he has reasons to (Junsu has already started making big plans about creating his own little bakery with Changmin’s help; Yoochun is urging for the two of them to go to school together; Yunho has long gone into the habit of cutting everything into five; and Jaejoong…well Jaejoong at least is not always yelling at him anymore).
But still he waits. Just a little more time, he says, Just a little more time.
TBC