NORTH POINT (2/4)
Title: N.P.
Author: countingcr0ws
Beta: liltee_jycyj
Pairing/ Characters: Yunjae
Rating: PG
Form: Four-shot ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 )
Genre: AU, Mild Supernatural, Relatively Happy, Romance, Slice of Life
Summary: Jaejoong loses his voice, and he moves back alone to stay with a childhood friend- Yunho, that he has long forgotten.
Inspired by: Banana Yoshimoto's N.P.
'I suppose you're of some use occasionally. I auditioned and got the spot of the piano accompaniment in my new school's choir. Haha.
But I honestly think that I should thank myself more for learning how to side read on my own. Anyway, I'm still mute right now.'
Wheeling himself over on the swivel chair, Yunho sped-read the email Jaejoong had crafted.
'Girlfriend?' He asked, flashing the screen of his phone at his childhood friend, and was instantaneously treated to the same prissy eyebrow raising that he was beginning to nurture a healthy amount of admiration for.
Fingers flying over the keyboard instinctively, Jaejoong continued to hold the other's sceptical gaze with steady indignance.
'Yoochun's a friend I met. He taught me the piano.'
'You're a masochist.' Yunho returned easily on his phone disapprovingly.
Trust Jaejoong to find some way to get himself a spot in a choir even when he couldn't sing.
'!!!!!!! I just like the energy!'
He couldn't help but grimace at how easily Jaejoong had gotten his reference, even though it was vague. Letting it drop anyway, he only sighed helplessly, deciding not to challenge the statement. His childhood friend had showed him a recording of him performing as Danny in 'The Musical Grease' in middle school and at that moment, he had learnt how much Jaejoong loved the stage. The other's face had literally brightened just watching his younger self while he mouthed the lyrics subconsciously, his whole self rapt and animated.
'Yunho thinks that I'm a masochist. Do you agree?'
The younger boy quickly hit the send button even before he had the time to proof read his heartfelt addition.
If he could yelp, he probably would have yelled at his top of his voice. Jumping up, he thumped Yunho's back in alarmed fury.
"I bet he'll agree with me!" Yunho tossed with much difficulty as he defended himself from the rabid cat.
Huffing silently, Jaejoong returned to his laptop, studiously ignoring the other.
"Oh come on, Jaejoongie!" He wheedled pitifully, as he jut his lower lip out further.
"Come on!" He tugged on the other's cotton shirt relentlessly, his voice inflecting as he whined at the other.
"I'm sorry!" He pouted lightly, his lips curling the moment he caught the corner of Jaejoong's mouth rising.
'Fine. I admit that it's a little M but I wanted to do it.'
Nodding agreeably, Yunho drew messy circles around the 'M' childishly before returning to his homework with a twisted satisfaction from having irritated somebody.
Action-sighing in surrender, Jaejoong returned to his computer to craft a message to his parents.
To be absolutely honest, he was thankful that his mother had thought of putting him at Yunho's place. Yunho was the kind of noisy he needed right now, a wall between him and his self deprecating thoughts. Had he been alone, he would have instead been wallowing in self pity and depression, and right now, he was instead slowly coming to terms with his newfound handicap, coping with the understanding that he simply couldn't inject or participate in conversations.
So he instead focused on watching people, watching Yunho's friends Junsu and Changmin bickering good-naturedly and focusing on reading the emotions of people around him. For example, he had noted that Junsu didn't actually mind how Changmin constantly tossed disparaging remarks at him, even though he would protest violently at times.
Life had somehow at some point taken a cinematic take to it, where he felt like he was simply an audience to the happenings around him. It all but lacked the obligatory subtitles and a flashy title.
Finishing the email, he sent it off with a flourish. In all, he had little use of his memo pad with few people talking to him or (intentionally) galling him like Yunho did on a daily basis. Besides, Yunho read him pretty well to speak up for him correctly so often that it made his life extremely simple.
Flopping around in boredom, he finally dug out his physics textbook to read up on the upcoming chapters. The schools that he went to were usually on different paces, and he had developed the habit to read ahead, to consult the grossly underappreciated school teachers who were usually more than happy to assist any enthusiastic student.
It was a little geeky, but he had learnt to give in a little after he moved around so often.
A little hard work for a decent grade.
- - -
"Oh god! I can't believe it! Dude!" Jaejoong jumped up in the middle of manipulating his fingers, to look at his roommate.
"Dude, stop it!" Yunho balled the other's hand into a fist in frustration, as he closed the sign-language tabs on the browser violently.
"The heck! You're not permanently mute and what's the point of learning it!" He watched as signs of protest crossed the other's features.
"No, you're not going to be able to communicate with anyone at all. Nobody knows enough sign-language to understand you."
Oh right. Jaejoong felt his shoulders slump in defeat as he sank lower into the seat.
"You're not going to be friendless, alright. And you're going to get your voice back. You're just having a situation. Stop it." He all but slapped the other's miserable face.
"You are going to get back your voice." He enunciated carefully, holding the other's eyes with absolute determination as he ensured that the italics hit home.
Nodding mutely (what else), he looked into Yunho's eyes that were filled with an inordinate amount of conviction that he lacked. Surrendering, he wrapped his arms around Yunho's waist in search of comfort.
He wanted to ask if Yunho could promise that it would happen, but it was a too big a promise for anyone to bear, so he just held on tightly while the tears of helplessness fell softly, as a pair of hands smoothed his hair comfortingly.
- - - - -
He jerked awake suddenly, his body acting on a reflex, the distinct dream of falling still fresh in his mind.
"Are you alright?" Came a groggy voice, and Jaejoong shut his eyes instinctively as the bedlight came on.
Finally adjusting to the light behind his lids, he slowly opened it once more to apologize when he stopped.
Yunho was yellow. Not Yellow Yellow, but Yunho was emanating a yellowish-kind of glow. Leaning in closer, he noted how it was rimmed with green and a little blue.
He blinked quickly, in a futile attempt to dispel the odd aura surrounding his friend, ignoring the odd impression of déjà vu as Yunho looked at him anxiously.
'How do you feel?' He scrawled messily, his words pressing onto one another.
"Tired, just really tired." Yunho managed after a hearty yawn, his eyes scanning the older boy's face questioningly.
Nodding slowly, Jaejoong bit his lips as he smoothed the sheets awkwardly.
'I'm sorry. Bad dream.'
Yunho just smiled as he turned to switch the light off, and Jaejoong watched quietly as the green faded from the pale yellow as the room returned back to a uniform black.
Yeah. He was really tired too.
- - -
"Jaejoong, it's your turn."
He wiggled upwards as he felt the blanket being pulled from underneath him. It was times like this that he wished that he could still speak, so that he could yell at Yunho.
Yunho grinned as he watched his childhood friend burrow into his pillow, reminiscent of their sleepovers where the younger Jaejoong had constantly refused to get up.
It was better now, but Jaejoong still had his days.
"Get up!" He yelled in mock anger as he reached to smack his friend's behind, only to receive an irritated kick.
Action sighing, Jaejoong finally gave in unwillingly to the nudgings as he sat up groggily, finger combing his bed hair backwards, unknowingly messing it further.
Holy shit. Yunho was mainly bright yellow with a layer of white and a little pink. He jerked a little as he reached for his memo pad. Looking at his unintelligible handwriting at the latest page, he looked back at Yunho who had returned to a pale yellow with green.
Yesterday night had really happened.
He pointed at his words once more.
"Yeah you asked me that yesterday night."
'No! Now!' He action-sighed agitatedly as he watched Yunho's brows knit even closer.
"Worried, Jae. Really worried." He crawled onto the bed slowly to sit with his friend who looked incredibly small on the expansive bed.
Jaejoong closed his mouth slowly. Maybe green was worry.
Maybe he was going crazy.
Maybe his eyes were failing him too.
"Are you okay? What happened? Is it the bad dream?" He asked in hushed tones, and Jaejoong watched as the green intensified.
Rubbing his thumb nail nervously, he wondered where to begin.
'Na. Just disoriented.' He deflected with an unrivalled messy script, quickly stumbling off the bed with a hasty smile that he didn't quite feel.
- - - - -
Everybody was pale yellow, he decided, scrawling as inconspicuously as he could in his history notes, conscious of Yunho's eyes watching him.
He angled the paper a little further away from Yunho's roaming eyes.
Bright yellow was probably happiness, judging from Junsu's perpetual aura.
Blue was probably fatigue, he decided as he watched his new classmate Leeteuk alternating between nodding off and attempting to sit upright.
Green was definitely concern, judging how Yunho had been green for ages while he tried to sneak less than discreet glances at him.
Orange was concentration? He filled in tentatively as he watched Changmin listening attentively, taking notes meticulously in between thoughtful nods.
He had developed a ton of theories regarding his situation, but the most comforting one was that it was a situational gift he had developed after weeks of watching people.
Shrugging to himself, he tuned back to the monotonous drone of the lesson, a chapter of which his old school had previously covered, as he studiously ignored the distinct throbbing in his head.
- - - - -
"Here. Hold my hand."
Jaejoong looked blankly at the other, as he noted the slight pink in Yunho's aura, before looking back at the offered palm.
"There's a crowd, Jaejoongie. You'll get lost. And you wouldn't be able to shout for me or speak to me over the phone." He looked at the other seriously as he wiggled his slim fingers with the intention to seem inviting but unknowingly failing miserably (Yunho just looked like a perverted paedophile coercing a kid to follow him, in his opinion).
Jaejoong deliberated for a moment as he assessed the situation. He did indeed have the tendency to stop at any shop he liked, and the mall was oddly packed today.
Which meant that the possibly of losing Yunho was high.
But he could still text, right?
Weighing his options for the last time, he finally took Yunho's warm hand in his and he watched Yunho's aura becoming a blinding yellow while the unknown pink spread a little further as they braved the throng of crowd.
Why was Yunho so happy? He couldn't help but wonder with a frown as he looked at Yunho's strong back while they wandered about the mall searching for a suitable present for Mrs Jung's birthday.
As they walked past more rows of shops, he started to realise that maybe Yunho was probably more of Hyunjoong's (a friend from his last, last school) style of shopping- the type who shopped with a purpose.
He suddenly wished that Yoochun was around so they could visit the stores one at a time. Jutting his bottom lip a little, he simply came to a stop.
Yunho tugged at their linked hands for a moment before turning about in question.
"You saw something?" He asked almost excitedly, and Jaejoong action-sighed, as he rolled his eyeballs. He could just simply do with a few more clothes. But that was kind of seeing something, right? So he just smiled widely as he pulled Yunho towards the H&M store with a nod.
"Are we getting like a dress or something?" He couldn't help but ask curiously as he followed Jaejoong's skilled manoeuvre while he peered at the bright lights and the throngs of girls milling about the endless racks and tables.
"This place is a madhouse," he breathed wondrously as he quickly turned away from the sight of a girl trying on a shirt without taking off her original one, in the far corner.
People were so eager to throw their money away in exchange for overpriced pieces of fabrics designed by a wealthy multinational corporation, stitched together by workers in backward countries that earned mere cents per hour, to satisfy their endless want for more; more thing, more material goods that did nothing for the gaping hole within them.
He all but trailed along clumsily after his more than adept friend.
"Jaejoong, what do you-"
"Yunho?"
He responded immediately, turning towards the direction, his attention diverted.
"Yunho! I knew it was you! I recognized you from the back! You lost your way?" Ara laughed easily as she pulled Yunho closer towards the rack by the elbow, away from the main path.
He shifted embarrassingly as he scratched his head nervously. It felt like he was caught by his friend's parents ransacking the pantry in the middle of the night during a sleepover. The kind of shy embarrassment that didn't kill, but spontaneously turned you pink.
Especially after him constantly waxing about sweatshop labour and all that.
"Er I was looking for my mother's present with my-" he started as he finally noted his empty hand.
Shit. He bounded away without thinking twice.
"Jaejoong! Jaejoongie!" He called out frantically as he combed the seemingly endless shelves, ignoring the mixture of irritated and confused stares in his direction. The shelves seemed to multiply and the shop seemed like an endless maze with dizzying spotlights.
He nearly collapsed in exasperation when he spotted his childhood friend shifting his fringe in front of a common mirror unconcernedly.
"Oh god Jaejoongie!" He crushed the smaller boy in a tight embrace in gratefulness.
"Oh god. I thought I'd lost you forever."
Jaejoong flapped his arms awkwardly at his sides. He had spotted Yunho in the mirror and was about to try on the new fashion glasses that he had picked out to show his friend, when he suddenly found himself barrelled into a hug.
He vaguely made out some crazed worry about him being 'lost.' It hardly made any sense, but Yunho seemed so worried (needlessly so, if you asked him) and his embrace was so warm and comforting, he decided to indulge Yunho a little as he circled his arms around the small of Yunho's back conveniently- kind of like an arm-rest.
Yunho was a pretty good hugger, if he had to rate the embrace. It was the wide and generous kind that made you feel like you had an anchor even amidst a hurricane (not that there was any hurricanes. Right now, he probably had the nicest fashion glasses in the world).
"Don't do this to me anymore alright. Don't run away." He finally drew back and Jaejoong didn't try to argue.
Not only was it impossible for him to do so (and he did not run away, alright?), but Yunho's aura was almost completely green (Yunho was worried. Big-time worried). He couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he quickly offered his hand to the other to hold, before withdrawing it once more. Quickly pushing on the round glasses that were black rimmed at the top and frameless at the bottom, Jaejoong beamed proudly as he nodded enthusiastically at the other.
Yunho only shook his head wryly, bleeding into a perplexing pink once more as he removed the glasses, pinched the nose bridge a little closer, before replacing it on his face.
"You look cute," he commented approvingly as he shifted the other's fringe a little.
"Oh gosh. That's where you are."
Yunho suddenly jumped as Ara reappeared. "You suddenly just ran away, I had a shock." She looked questioningly at the bespectacled boy.
Oh right.
"Ara, Jaejoong. Jaejoong's my childhood friend that's staying with me. Jaejoong, Ara." He introduced them both easily and he couldn't help but note how his childhood friend seemed to peer at the other curiously.
"Do you know each other?" He asked awkwardly.
A quick shake of head from Jaejoong.
"Well, okay then. We're looking for my mother's present, so we'd better get going now. Sorry for taking up your time, Ara. It was nice meeting you." He smiled politely at the other.
"Oh gosh, no. You definitely didn't. Say, we should really meet up some other day for tea or something."
Yunho only nodded vaguely, excusing himself quickly as he picked his friend's hand.
After combing the first floor and coming up with nothing that would fit his mother, they decided to progress to the second floor.
'How are you related to Ara?' Yunho sped read from the phone's screen as they rode the escalator.
Transferring his weight to his left feet as he tilted his head subconsciously in thought, he tried to find the right words to explain the situation, when they reached the second level.
"I... we... she..." he sighed heavily as he reorganized his thoughts. “I... well, Ara's from the girl school opposite ours. You know, the one Jihye's going to. Anyway, during Valentine's Day, everybody in our school would kind of come earlier because the girls would approach the guys they liked with gifts. I don't even know how they do it. Like we're from different schools and all, and they don't see us and stuff... but well, Ara kind of came up to me and confessed." He rubbed his elbow awkwardly with a grimace.
"I'm really not good at things like that, I mean I only face guys every day in our school and all that, but Junsu was so excited, so I accepted." He pulled a skirt out from the rack idly before returning it back in distaste.
"But I guess in love, or should I say, in the game of love, everyone has to start on the same footing for it to work. She had liked me for a while, whereas I had nothing for her. And I could feel her trying so hard, but she loved me so much more that I couldn't even come close. It took me a week to realise, and a week for me to muster the courage to apologize." He moved on to another rack as he watched Jaejoong fiddle with his spectacles.
"She's nice. She's really nice. It guess it really helped that she understood where I was coming from. She got over it, and we still do talk occasionally." He smiled wistfully as he blanched at a glittery dress. Definitely not for his mother.
Jaejoong bit his lips silently. For some odd reason, he wanted to ask how far they had gone. It was partly curiosity, and a bitter feeling that he couldn't decipher.
Watching the way Ara had looked at Yunho, he knew clearly that she hadn't 'got(ten) over it,' like Yunho seemed to assume. She had radiated so much pink and yellow around Yunho that it astounded him so much, he couldn't even look away from the burst of colours.
And if her expression (that Yunho was too blind to decipher) was any indication, pink only meant one thing- love.
- - - - -
A/N: BA DUM! *deep, exaggerated voice* LOVE! This is it, man, this is it.
And that's it. That's the extent of supernaturalcism you'll get in the whole of NP. Kinda weak, right? Well, I do agree.
And Jaejoong just forgot about Yunho because he was too young then plus he shifted too much. The loss of voice's due to stress, and only the aura-seeing thing is the only thing to do with the genre.
Leave a comment, thank you!
Prev Chap | Next Chap
Author: countingcr0ws
Beta: liltee_jycyj
Pairing/ Characters: Yunjae
Rating: PG
Form: Four-shot ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 )
Genre: AU, Mild Supernatural, Relatively Happy, Romance, Slice of Life
Summary: Jaejoong loses his voice, and he moves back alone to stay with a childhood friend- Yunho, that he has long forgotten.
Inspired by: Banana Yoshimoto's N.P.
'I suppose you're of some use occasionally. I auditioned and got the spot of the piano accompaniment in my new school's choir. Haha.
But I honestly think that I should thank myself more for learning how to side read on my own. Anyway, I'm still mute right now.'
Wheeling himself over on the swivel chair, Yunho sped-read the email Jaejoong had crafted.
'Girlfriend?' He asked, flashing the screen of his phone at his childhood friend, and was instantaneously treated to the same prissy eyebrow raising that he was beginning to nurture a healthy amount of admiration for.
Fingers flying over the keyboard instinctively, Jaejoong continued to hold the other's sceptical gaze with steady indignance.
'Yoochun's a friend I met. He taught me the piano.'
'You're a masochist.' Yunho returned easily on his phone disapprovingly.
Trust Jaejoong to find some way to get himself a spot in a choir even when he couldn't sing.
'!!!!!!! I just like the energy!'
He couldn't help but grimace at how easily Jaejoong had gotten his reference, even though it was vague. Letting it drop anyway, he only sighed helplessly, deciding not to challenge the statement. His childhood friend had showed him a recording of him performing as Danny in 'The Musical Grease' in middle school and at that moment, he had learnt how much Jaejoong loved the stage. The other's face had literally brightened just watching his younger self while he mouthed the lyrics subconsciously, his whole self rapt and animated.
'Yunho thinks that I'm a masochist. Do you agree?'
The younger boy quickly hit the send button even before he had the time to proof read his heartfelt addition.
If he could yelp, he probably would have yelled at his top of his voice. Jumping up, he thumped Yunho's back in alarmed fury.
"I bet he'll agree with me!" Yunho tossed with much difficulty as he defended himself from the rabid cat.
Huffing silently, Jaejoong returned to his laptop, studiously ignoring the other.
"Oh come on, Jaejoongie!" He wheedled pitifully, as he jut his lower lip out further.
"Come on!" He tugged on the other's cotton shirt relentlessly, his voice inflecting as he whined at the other.
"I'm sorry!" He pouted lightly, his lips curling the moment he caught the corner of Jaejoong's mouth rising.
'Fine. I admit that it's a little M but I wanted to do it.'
Nodding agreeably, Yunho drew messy circles around the 'M' childishly before returning to his homework with a twisted satisfaction from having irritated somebody.
Action-sighing in surrender, Jaejoong returned to his computer to craft a message to his parents.
To be absolutely honest, he was thankful that his mother had thought of putting him at Yunho's place. Yunho was the kind of noisy he needed right now, a wall between him and his self deprecating thoughts. Had he been alone, he would have instead been wallowing in self pity and depression, and right now, he was instead slowly coming to terms with his newfound handicap, coping with the understanding that he simply couldn't inject or participate in conversations.
So he instead focused on watching people, watching Yunho's friends Junsu and Changmin bickering good-naturedly and focusing on reading the emotions of people around him. For example, he had noted that Junsu didn't actually mind how Changmin constantly tossed disparaging remarks at him, even though he would protest violently at times.
Life had somehow at some point taken a cinematic take to it, where he felt like he was simply an audience to the happenings around him. It all but lacked the obligatory subtitles and a flashy title.
Finishing the email, he sent it off with a flourish. In all, he had little use of his memo pad with few people talking to him or (intentionally) galling him like Yunho did on a daily basis. Besides, Yunho read him pretty well to speak up for him correctly so often that it made his life extremely simple.
Flopping around in boredom, he finally dug out his physics textbook to read up on the upcoming chapters. The schools that he went to were usually on different paces, and he had developed the habit to read ahead, to consult the grossly underappreciated school teachers who were usually more than happy to assist any enthusiastic student.
It was a little geeky, but he had learnt to give in a little after he moved around so often.
A little hard work for a decent grade.
- - -
"Oh god! I can't believe it! Dude!" Jaejoong jumped up in the middle of manipulating his fingers, to look at his roommate.
"Dude, stop it!" Yunho balled the other's hand into a fist in frustration, as he closed the sign-language tabs on the browser violently.
"The heck! You're not permanently mute and what's the point of learning it!" He watched as signs of protest crossed the other's features.
"No, you're not going to be able to communicate with anyone at all. Nobody knows enough sign-language to understand you."
Oh right. Jaejoong felt his shoulders slump in defeat as he sank lower into the seat.
"You're not going to be friendless, alright. And you're going to get your voice back. You're just having a situation. Stop it." He all but slapped the other's miserable face.
"You are going to get back your voice." He enunciated carefully, holding the other's eyes with absolute determination as he ensured that the italics hit home.
Nodding mutely (what else), he looked into Yunho's eyes that were filled with an inordinate amount of conviction that he lacked. Surrendering, he wrapped his arms around Yunho's waist in search of comfort.
He wanted to ask if Yunho could promise that it would happen, but it was a too big a promise for anyone to bear, so he just held on tightly while the tears of helplessness fell softly, as a pair of hands smoothed his hair comfortingly.
- - - - -
He jerked awake suddenly, his body acting on a reflex, the distinct dream of falling still fresh in his mind.
"Are you alright?" Came a groggy voice, and Jaejoong shut his eyes instinctively as the bedlight came on.
Finally adjusting to the light behind his lids, he slowly opened it once more to apologize when he stopped.
Yunho was yellow. Not Yellow Yellow, but Yunho was emanating a yellowish-kind of glow. Leaning in closer, he noted how it was rimmed with green and a little blue.
He blinked quickly, in a futile attempt to dispel the odd aura surrounding his friend, ignoring the odd impression of déjà vu as Yunho looked at him anxiously.
'How do you feel?' He scrawled messily, his words pressing onto one another.
"Tired, just really tired." Yunho managed after a hearty yawn, his eyes scanning the older boy's face questioningly.
Nodding slowly, Jaejoong bit his lips as he smoothed the sheets awkwardly.
'I'm sorry. Bad dream.'
Yunho just smiled as he turned to switch the light off, and Jaejoong watched quietly as the green faded from the pale yellow as the room returned back to a uniform black.
Yeah. He was really tired too.
- - -
"Jaejoong, it's your turn."
He wiggled upwards as he felt the blanket being pulled from underneath him. It was times like this that he wished that he could still speak, so that he could yell at Yunho.
Yunho grinned as he watched his childhood friend burrow into his pillow, reminiscent of their sleepovers where the younger Jaejoong had constantly refused to get up.
It was better now, but Jaejoong still had his days.
"Get up!" He yelled in mock anger as he reached to smack his friend's behind, only to receive an irritated kick.
Action sighing, Jaejoong finally gave in unwillingly to the nudgings as he sat up groggily, finger combing his bed hair backwards, unknowingly messing it further.
Holy shit. Yunho was mainly bright yellow with a layer of white and a little pink. He jerked a little as he reached for his memo pad. Looking at his unintelligible handwriting at the latest page, he looked back at Yunho who had returned to a pale yellow with green.
Yesterday night had really happened.
He pointed at his words once more.
"Yeah you asked me that yesterday night."
'No! Now!' He action-sighed agitatedly as he watched Yunho's brows knit even closer.
"Worried, Jae. Really worried." He crawled onto the bed slowly to sit with his friend who looked incredibly small on the expansive bed.
Jaejoong closed his mouth slowly. Maybe green was worry.
Maybe he was going crazy.
Maybe his eyes were failing him too.
"Are you okay? What happened? Is it the bad dream?" He asked in hushed tones, and Jaejoong watched as the green intensified.
Rubbing his thumb nail nervously, he wondered where to begin.
'Na. Just disoriented.' He deflected with an unrivalled messy script, quickly stumbling off the bed with a hasty smile that he didn't quite feel.
- - - - -
Everybody was pale yellow, he decided, scrawling as inconspicuously as he could in his history notes, conscious of Yunho's eyes watching him.
He angled the paper a little further away from Yunho's roaming eyes.
Bright yellow was probably happiness, judging from Junsu's perpetual aura.
Blue was probably fatigue, he decided as he watched his new classmate Leeteuk alternating between nodding off and attempting to sit upright.
Green was definitely concern, judging how Yunho had been green for ages while he tried to sneak less than discreet glances at him.
Orange was concentration? He filled in tentatively as he watched Changmin listening attentively, taking notes meticulously in between thoughtful nods.
He had developed a ton of theories regarding his situation, but the most comforting one was that it was a situational gift he had developed after weeks of watching people.
Shrugging to himself, he tuned back to the monotonous drone of the lesson, a chapter of which his old school had previously covered, as he studiously ignored the distinct throbbing in his head.
- - - - -
"Here. Hold my hand."
Jaejoong looked blankly at the other, as he noted the slight pink in Yunho's aura, before looking back at the offered palm.
"There's a crowd, Jaejoongie. You'll get lost. And you wouldn't be able to shout for me or speak to me over the phone." He looked at the other seriously as he wiggled his slim fingers with the intention to seem inviting but unknowingly failing miserably (Yunho just looked like a perverted paedophile coercing a kid to follow him, in his opinion).
Jaejoong deliberated for a moment as he assessed the situation. He did indeed have the tendency to stop at any shop he liked, and the mall was oddly packed today.
Which meant that the possibly of losing Yunho was high.
But he could still text, right?
Weighing his options for the last time, he finally took Yunho's warm hand in his and he watched Yunho's aura becoming a blinding yellow while the unknown pink spread a little further as they braved the throng of crowd.
Why was Yunho so happy? He couldn't help but wonder with a frown as he looked at Yunho's strong back while they wandered about the mall searching for a suitable present for Mrs Jung's birthday.
As they walked past more rows of shops, he started to realise that maybe Yunho was probably more of Hyunjoong's (a friend from his last, last school) style of shopping- the type who shopped with a purpose.
He suddenly wished that Yoochun was around so they could visit the stores one at a time. Jutting his bottom lip a little, he simply came to a stop.
Yunho tugged at their linked hands for a moment before turning about in question.
"You saw something?" He asked almost excitedly, and Jaejoong action-sighed, as he rolled his eyeballs. He could just simply do with a few more clothes. But that was kind of seeing something, right? So he just smiled widely as he pulled Yunho towards the H&M store with a nod.
"Are we getting like a dress or something?" He couldn't help but ask curiously as he followed Jaejoong's skilled manoeuvre while he peered at the bright lights and the throngs of girls milling about the endless racks and tables.
"This place is a madhouse," he breathed wondrously as he quickly turned away from the sight of a girl trying on a shirt without taking off her original one, in the far corner.
People were so eager to throw their money away in exchange for overpriced pieces of fabrics designed by a wealthy multinational corporation, stitched together by workers in backward countries that earned mere cents per hour, to satisfy their endless want for more; more thing, more material goods that did nothing for the gaping hole within them.
He all but trailed along clumsily after his more than adept friend.
"Jaejoong, what do you-"
"Yunho?"
He responded immediately, turning towards the direction, his attention diverted.
"Yunho! I knew it was you! I recognized you from the back! You lost your way?" Ara laughed easily as she pulled Yunho closer towards the rack by the elbow, away from the main path.
He shifted embarrassingly as he scratched his head nervously. It felt like he was caught by his friend's parents ransacking the pantry in the middle of the night during a sleepover. The kind of shy embarrassment that didn't kill, but spontaneously turned you pink.
Especially after him constantly waxing about sweatshop labour and all that.
"Er I was looking for my mother's present with my-" he started as he finally noted his empty hand.
Shit. He bounded away without thinking twice.
"Jaejoong! Jaejoongie!" He called out frantically as he combed the seemingly endless shelves, ignoring the mixture of irritated and confused stares in his direction. The shelves seemed to multiply and the shop seemed like an endless maze with dizzying spotlights.
He nearly collapsed in exasperation when he spotted his childhood friend shifting his fringe in front of a common mirror unconcernedly.
"Oh god Jaejoongie!" He crushed the smaller boy in a tight embrace in gratefulness.
"Oh god. I thought I'd lost you forever."
Jaejoong flapped his arms awkwardly at his sides. He had spotted Yunho in the mirror and was about to try on the new fashion glasses that he had picked out to show his friend, when he suddenly found himself barrelled into a hug.
He vaguely made out some crazed worry about him being 'lost.' It hardly made any sense, but Yunho seemed so worried (needlessly so, if you asked him) and his embrace was so warm and comforting, he decided to indulge Yunho a little as he circled his arms around the small of Yunho's back conveniently- kind of like an arm-rest.
Yunho was a pretty good hugger, if he had to rate the embrace. It was the wide and generous kind that made you feel like you had an anchor even amidst a hurricane (not that there was any hurricanes. Right now, he probably had the nicest fashion glasses in the world).
"Don't do this to me anymore alright. Don't run away." He finally drew back and Jaejoong didn't try to argue.
Not only was it impossible for him to do so (and he did not run away, alright?), but Yunho's aura was almost completely green (Yunho was worried. Big-time worried). He couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he quickly offered his hand to the other to hold, before withdrawing it once more. Quickly pushing on the round glasses that were black rimmed at the top and frameless at the bottom, Jaejoong beamed proudly as he nodded enthusiastically at the other.
Yunho only shook his head wryly, bleeding into a perplexing pink once more as he removed the glasses, pinched the nose bridge a little closer, before replacing it on his face.
"You look cute," he commented approvingly as he shifted the other's fringe a little.
"Oh gosh. That's where you are."
Yunho suddenly jumped as Ara reappeared. "You suddenly just ran away, I had a shock." She looked questioningly at the bespectacled boy.
Oh right.
"Ara, Jaejoong. Jaejoong's my childhood friend that's staying with me. Jaejoong, Ara." He introduced them both easily and he couldn't help but note how his childhood friend seemed to peer at the other curiously.
"Do you know each other?" He asked awkwardly.
A quick shake of head from Jaejoong.
"Well, okay then. We're looking for my mother's present, so we'd better get going now. Sorry for taking up your time, Ara. It was nice meeting you." He smiled politely at the other.
"Oh gosh, no. You definitely didn't. Say, we should really meet up some other day for tea or something."
Yunho only nodded vaguely, excusing himself quickly as he picked his friend's hand.
After combing the first floor and coming up with nothing that would fit his mother, they decided to progress to the second floor.
'How are you related to Ara?' Yunho sped read from the phone's screen as they rode the escalator.
Transferring his weight to his left feet as he tilted his head subconsciously in thought, he tried to find the right words to explain the situation, when they reached the second level.
"I... we... she..." he sighed heavily as he reorganized his thoughts. “I... well, Ara's from the girl school opposite ours. You know, the one Jihye's going to. Anyway, during Valentine's Day, everybody in our school would kind of come earlier because the girls would approach the guys they liked with gifts. I don't even know how they do it. Like we're from different schools and all, and they don't see us and stuff... but well, Ara kind of came up to me and confessed." He rubbed his elbow awkwardly with a grimace.
"I'm really not good at things like that, I mean I only face guys every day in our school and all that, but Junsu was so excited, so I accepted." He pulled a skirt out from the rack idly before returning it back in distaste.
"But I guess in love, or should I say, in the game of love, everyone has to start on the same footing for it to work. She had liked me for a while, whereas I had nothing for her. And I could feel her trying so hard, but she loved me so much more that I couldn't even come close. It took me a week to realise, and a week for me to muster the courage to apologize." He moved on to another rack as he watched Jaejoong fiddle with his spectacles.
"She's nice. She's really nice. It guess it really helped that she understood where I was coming from. She got over it, and we still do talk occasionally." He smiled wistfully as he blanched at a glittery dress. Definitely not for his mother.
Jaejoong bit his lips silently. For some odd reason, he wanted to ask how far they had gone. It was partly curiosity, and a bitter feeling that he couldn't decipher.
Watching the way Ara had looked at Yunho, he knew clearly that she hadn't 'got(ten) over it,' like Yunho seemed to assume. She had radiated so much pink and yellow around Yunho that it astounded him so much, he couldn't even look away from the burst of colours.
And if her expression (that Yunho was too blind to decipher) was any indication, pink only meant one thing- love.
- - - - -
A/N: BA DUM! *deep, exaggerated voice* LOVE! This is it, man, this is it.
And that's it. That's the extent of supernaturalcism you'll get in the whole of NP. Kinda weak, right? Well, I do agree.
And Jaejoong just forgot about Yunho because he was too young then plus he shifted too much. The loss of voice's due to stress, and only the aura-seeing thing is the only thing to do with the genre.
Leave a comment, thank you!
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