[FIC] Restitution
Title: Restitution
Author: aislinoriel
Rating: R (allusions to smut, language, naughtiness, what else?)
Summary: Light post-lawsuit oneshot. The obvious pairings. Bittersweet Cavity-induing Yunjae. Silly Flirty Yoosu. No-fuss Minfood & Forever OT5. Yunho questions the reality of their relationship. Jaejoong stops avoiding and tries to fix things. Simple math.
Genre: Fluff, Humour, Fail!Angst (my favourite fic trifecta)
Characters: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yoochun/Junsu, Min/Food, (feat. a fickle & skittish spotlight-stealing Jiji)
Author Notes: I'm back from unannounced hiatus and I've churned out this ball of cheese (profoundly dull night at work = writing this pure fangirl self-indulgence.) I am so rusty but I'm happy to be able to write again. Dedicated to a large handful of lovely Yunjae fic writers who have unknowingly helped me submerse in a wistful world of vicarious love and happiness for the past year.
“Jaejoongie,” Yunho murmured in a tone lower than his normal speaking voice.
On his side, Jae managed to get one eye open; arm flung over his head, and made a sound of acknowledgement.
A sigh was to follow. “How did we get here...?”
After a drowsy-dazed moment of contemplating the random question, Jaejoong blinked both eyes and rolled over to set a bleary gaze on the other man. “...my car?” his voice lilting in amusement but was still slightly hoarse from sleep and...previous activities.
“No, I mean, sneaking off to hotels in the night like some adulterous husbands...”
“Oh, that.” Jae closed his eyes again, a sardonic smirk half formed on his kiss-swollen lips.
A moment passed and Yunho had almost resigned to the thought that he wouldn't get an answer to his non-rhetorical question. “Jae-"
“We got to this point through a series of misfortunes and past naiveté,” he summarized simply, “And because you're afraid of Jiji so we can't do it at my place.” Adding levity, he left the truth unspoken, the implicit concern that Yunho clearly had that the concierge wouldn’t be discreet - but the woman had yet to let slip many a…scandalous incident for himself involving less than sober appearances and numerous others which could be considered worse, for sure. Jaejoong trusted her right up there with his sisters. There was a type of trust beyond what could be bought with celebrity income, and while rare when found, he kept it dear.
“Yah,” Yunho made a face half between a pout and a frown, which was basically useless because Jaejoong didn't see it.
“Now,” Jae rolled to get up, standing and stretching out his muscles, “I'm going to shower,” he looked back at Yunho, whose face was a comical and mostly melted off version of pout-frown with a tinge of heat to colour it at the sight of his lover's taut body displayed before him.
“Yah,” he tried again, “I was trying to have a serious conversation,”
Jaejoong had already begun stalking off to the washroom, then paused with a hand on the door frame to peek over his inked shoulder again, “Joining me Yunho-yah?”
At that moment, Yunho could practically hear the cackle in just that hint of evil look, and the teasing tip of pink tongue between teeth.
“Not fair.” He pretended to mope and was soon to follow.
~
“Why are you afraid of his cat?” Changmin asked offhandedly the next day.
“I'm not, she just hates me,” Yunho clarified, “I have the scars to prove it. Anyway, that's not the point, what I was getting at was that he keeps avoiding my questions,” he sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose as his eyes skimmed the week's schedule in his hand.
“Wonder why...” Changmin didn't hold back the facetiousness in his tone as he fiddled with his own papers.
“What?”
“Hyung, it's not like he can be having an easy time managing work and sneaking around with you either, do you really not know why he's not trying to stress out more about how you got this way?” How we all did, was the implicit continuation to his words. Superfluous and unspoken, as always.
Yunho looked up from his seat with unfeigned surprise colouring his expression. He wasn't exactly expecting some sort of, well, defence to come from the younger, for Jaejoong of all people.
With an amused snort, Changmin shrugged, “Seriously,” he turned his attention back to the folder in his hand, “Just suck it up and appreciate what you've got.” He clapped a hand to Yunho's shoulder to add finality, not bothering to spare him another glance.
“Min-ah~” he almost bordered on a whine and it seemed Changmin took that as a cue to leave, flicking the light off on the way out, leaving the older man to brood in the dark of the studio. “Yah!”
~
“It obviously bothers him,” Yoochun mouthed around his unlit cigarette, eyes heavy-lidded with fatigue and the pull of alcohol.
“Yeah, he thinks it doesn't bother me,” taking a swig of his drink, Jaejoong tapped his fingers on the bar top, beginning to chew his lower lip in worry and wishing he had his own cigarette to distract himself with. But he'd promised Yunho he'd cut back, at least one of his vices. The man always worried about his health.
Junsu came up behind Yoochun, sitting at his side, “What's wrong with him?” he asked over the low rumble of the club around them.
“Relationship drama,” he supplied.
“Ah,” nodding sagely, Junsu asked for no more elaboration.
“Well, it can't bother either of you too much since you're still sleeping together...what, like 4 times a week is it? Some people in normal relationships would kill for that kind of ratio,” Yoochun yelped as he received a slap to the arm from Junsu.
“As if you're normal!” the tenor teasingly motioned to kick him too, as Yoochun's playful hand made to grab his rear in retaliation, but then shifted his attention to Jaejoong, “But wow, 4? Aren't you tired?”
Grasping his glass, Jae downed the remaining vodka in one go, gaze darkening and humour tugging at the corners of his lips, “No more than usual,”
“Braggart,” Yoochun snorted. “Ow babe!” he rubbed his arm as he was hit again by Junsu.
Jaejoong chuckled and rocked his empty glass against the bar top.
“So why not talk to him about how you really feel?” Yoochun suggested, while gesturing for a couple more drinks.
“And what would that accomplish?”
“A feeling of togetherness in your misery?” Junsu offered.
Yoochun scoffed with a laugh, “Always the romantic Su~”
Focusing on one of the several empty bottles in front of them, Jae shrugged, “I'm afraid I guess, if we both acknowledge the truth, the things we can't fix or take back, those things will end what we have now,” it was the most he'd admitted, even to himself. The vulnerable honesty pooling in his dark eyes took his two friends aback.
“Our Jaejoongie~” Yoochun cooed, wrapping an arm over the eldest's shoulders and pulling Junsu in to take part in the comforting hug.
“You know he loves you way too much to end things. He's never wanted to end things. He's probably just insecure because he's always been the one hanging on, more than any of the rest of us,” Yoochun assured in such a soothing and sincere tone, Junsu humming in agreement and Jae just couldn't find it in him to argue, “He's loved you so long that a couple of years of trouble can't undo it. You've both loved each other stupidly and through worse, you'll make it through to the better,”
Yoosu patted him consolingly (if not too hard) on the back until he had to sputter and push them both off; moment ruined, but heart lighter.
~
It was two days later when both their schedules afforded them a chance to meet up again, not completely exhausted.
“Where are we going?” Yunho asked, as if he had already been told and needed reiteration.
“Someplace,” was Jae's vague answer before he hummed softly to himself, tapping his fingers on the wheel.
“A surprise?” he intoned, a bit weary at the notion.
Unveiled mischief appeared with Jaejoong's trademark lopsided smile, mirth wrinkling the corners of his eyes as he chose to give no more of an answer to Yunho's fretting.
Yunho kept staring at him. “Aish...” he muttered, carding fingers through his hair and hoping to god that if this was Jaejoong being 'adventurous' again, it would be someplace with a bed. There were only so many ways one could explain grass stains to their coordi noonas.
With a chuckle, Jae placed a hand on his thigh, soothing the area a bit, “Calm down, we're here.” He pulled away to put down the window, hand reaching to a keypad before the gate opened for them.
To Yunho, it seemed normal enough. In fact, it was way too normal, “Your place?”
“Mm,” Jae bit his lower lip, parking and slipping off his seat belt.
“What about-”
“Jiji's staying at Junsu's,” he supplied with a grin and opened the door, stepping out while leaving Yunho sitting there, still somewhat bewildered.
Snapping out of it as Jaejoong's door closed, he fumbled with his own seat belt before getting out as well, “That's not-” he doubled his already long-stride to follow his lover's gait, Jaejoong already at the elevator to the lobby, “I mean...” words dissolved in his throat as Jae's gaze met his.
“Saeyoung-sshi isn’t at her desk for the next two hours,” he tried to alleviate that concern from his handsome face, “Shall we?” the elevator doors slid open, and Jaejoong waited for him to step in first this time, a bit of insecurity now flickering through his eyes at Yunho's obvious hesitation.
For the life of him, he couldn't formulate any good reason not to, so he didn't bother with an excuse knowing just how dumb it would sound. He felt so silly, thinking before that there was a deeper reason to Jaejoong never bringing him to his place. As if he was a secret but not part of his reality, his actual, tangible life. As if they weren't serious, couldn't be like they were before, as if things had changed too much and feelings had changed too much. He was so stupid. He'd never told Jaejoong how much it bothered him, so he couldn't tell him just how much this meant to him now. Such a fool.
“Yunho-yah?” shifting self-consciously, Jae tugged at the wrist of Yunho's sleeve, taking his silent contemplation almost nearing rejection, “If you don't want to...”
“I want to,” Yunho was surprised at how desperate, how raw his own voice sounded, as though with disuse, as if it was the first time he'd really said anything in, well, ages. Maybe it was.
“Then why...?” releasing his grip on Yunho's jacket, his feet shuffled below him but brought him nowhere, so Yunho closed the distance with a couple steps, pressing a hand to the small of his back and ushering them both into the elevator in a half-embrace that would've been awkward if it wasn't so common to them.
“I'm stupid,” he murmured, explanatory, into the space between them, watching as Jaejoong reached to deftly press the code to take them to his penthouse, eyes trained on his apparently interesting shoes.
“I love you,” Jae's lips twitched in what Yunho considered only the sweetest way as his eyes flickered up to him, his voice soft and playing Yunho's heart strings like they were sixteen again, looking at each other like it could be the last time they'd get to.
“I know,” Yunho swallowed thickly, and didn't give a damn for the CC camera monitoring them as he lent in to capture those full lips, thumbing along Jaejoong's jaw and stealing his breath for the nth time.
~
“Will you stop talking about how Kim Dongjun looks like our lovechild?” Yoochun snorted, eyes squinted from laughter.
“But he does!” Junsu insisted, pausing the show and pointing at the evidentiary image on the screen, in all seriousness.
“He looks like you; I'll give you that, more than Junho even. So the logical conclusion would be he's the lovechild of you and some chick since science hasn't quite bridged the whole two-dick reproduction thing yet. But also science hasn't bridged the whole time paradox thing since you'd have to have had him at like age 4.”
Appearing at the doorway, Jaejoong paused, tugging off his jacket. “That had to be the worst time to enter the room,”
Junsu, mid-smacking Yoochun with a throw pillow, rebuffed matter-of-factually, “No, the worst would've been when we were having sex on the couch,”
Involuntarily shuddering, Jaejoong just shook his head, not paying attention to the two anymore now that Yoochun's hands had found their way under Junsu's shirt and were tickling the usual raucous laughter from him.
“Here Jiji~” Jaejoong bent down to scoop the cat out from where she was hiding under a chair, probably traumatized from earlier events.
“So, how'd it go?” Yoochun asked from where he'd wrestled Junsu over his lap, pillows out of reach.
Cradling Jiji in his arms, Jaejoong shrugged nonchalantly, but his content expression belayed the truth. “It went well.”
“I'd guessed, from the hickey I can see sticking out of your shirt,” Yoochun grinned most greasily, and gave a pat to Junsu's ample bottom as the younger wiggled to turn and look for himself.
“Uhyahyahya! Hyung, what are you guys? Sixteen?” Junsu chirped, quite amused by the purplish lovebite so obvious on Jae's pale skin.
Rubbing a hand over the juncture of his shoulder and neck, Jaejoong grinned, not really embarrassed, “Something like that.”
“You look happy,” Yoochun grinned to match his, feeling vicariously warm and fuzzy. Junsu shifted around him to join the moment, fascinated by the expressions worn by the soulmates.
“What happened exactly?” Junsu asked curiously.
“Nothing. Everything. Something,” Jaejoong sighed, letting Jiji down as she began to squirm. It seemed his enigmatic answer was all they were going to get as he grabbed his jacket. “Thanks for taking Jiji for me,”
“You're welcome for coming~” Junsu said in English along with something else - no doubt ridiculous - Jaejoong couldn't make out that had Yoochun doubled over, clutching a cushion and dying with silent laughter because it was apparently that funny.
Shaking his head, Jaejoong reminded them to come for breakfast the next day as payment to which they muttered and wheezed an affirmative, possibly not even listening to him, so he thought that was his cue to make an exit, jacket over one arm and cat in the other. He honestly doubted the other two even noticed him leave, and chuckled as the door clicked behind him before turning to head to the elevator up to his place.
Stopping with a shock, he encountered - almost ran into - Yunho in the hallway, leaning against the wall to the right of Junsu's door. He almost lost the fidgeting Jiji from his grip that moment, “Yunho-yah...I thought you left?”
The man in question stepped closer, extracting Jiji from Jae's arms and giving the nonplussed cat a scratch behind her ears. It seemed to distract her long enough to forget to scratch him, violently, as she so liked to. “I thought we should get on better terms,” he said by way of explanation, but addressed Jiji, “Since we'll have to learn to live in harmony,” he lowered his voice, but not enough to be inaudible to Jaejoong, “For our master's sake,” he grinned.
Jae couldn't help but smirk and hide a laugh behind his hand, “Master huh? I like that,” he tugged at the neck of Yunho's shirt, dragging him forward with Jiji between him. He gave him a peck and he'd intended to do more before the cat hissed from below.
“Aish, Jiji-yah, don't be like that,” Jae said sternly but he never had any bite in his tone.
“I'll win you over if it's the last thing I do,” Yunho vowed, scruffing the fur on her neck.
Jaejoong promptly took Jiji back and rescued his boyfriend before he could be clawed to death.
~
The next morning, after showering, Yunho stretched out on his stomach across Jae's bed, cat before him, hoping to call a truce. Leaning down to one of the cat's (peevishly) twitching ears, he whispered, “I'm thankful to you for keeping our Jaejoongie company all the times he's been lonely,” he pet her head softly. She seemed to be tolerating him, if only barely and Yunho took it as a huge victory.
Jae strode in the room, shirt unbuttoned and he didn't know what Yunho was doing but he looked adorable like that, whispering to a cat. Something about Yunho with children or animals always turned him to mush.
Yunho's phone next to him rumbled to life, and that was enough to spook Jiji off to one of her many hiding places. Expecting it, he answered with a clipped greeting, “Yes?”
“I'm here to pick you up,” was the brisk reply.
Yunho stood, looking out of one of Jaejoong's heavily tinted floor to ceiling windows, he spied Changmin's car on the street below.
While putting his earrings in, Jae chimed in, “Is that Changmin? Tell him to come up, I'll make breakfast,” he offered no extra preamble, running a hand fleetingly across Yunho's t-shirt covered abdomen as he moved to the kitchen.
“Jaejoong says-” his attempt to pass on the offer was cut short as his phone chimed, indicating the call ended. “Little-” pouting, he heading after Jaejoong, “He hung up on me,” he stared at the handphone incredulously.
Jae just smile knowingly from where he'd begun placing things from to the fridge to the counter, wondering how Yunho could make sulking look so cute. The man never failed to be full of aegyo.
Yunho felt a bit upset, as though he should feel hurt in lieu of Jaejoong (as the other had done for him countless times in the past), who could very well and plausibly be hiding his own feelings behind that winning smile. But he could say nothing, instead sitting at a bar stool and watching as Jaejoong began working his usual magic at the stove and zoned out a little.
He held his phone limply in his hand, waiting for an impatient SMS from Changmin, but instead sound came from Jaejoong's buzzer. Moving past the still-unresponsive figure of his adorable boyfriend, Jae answered, screen flickering on to show the enigmatic expression of their youngest and wisest.
Instead of a hello, long time no anything - “I heard breakfast,” was the first thing Changmin said to him. Those three little words, Jaejoong thought were the second most wonderful he'd ever heard; coincidentally in the span of the last three days. “The ajumma gave me the elevator code without asking for it,” he added wryly.
With a whimsical and loud laugh, Jaejoong welcomed him, “Come on up~” he keyed in his door entry.
The video screen went dark once more as Yunho came up beside him, hand pressed at the small of his back. His previous dazed expression was replaced with wonderment, as though even he couldn't comprehend the situation. Looking at him through the happy tears springing to his eyes, Jaejoong thought he'd never looked more handsome.
~
A bit under an hour later saw the three seated (on those embarrassing chairs of Jaejoong's) around the table, food spread before them and atmosphere not nearly that awkward, considering.
It may have had something to do with the swift and appreciative and familiar way Changmin was inhaling the food - as though he were a starving man upon a feast, and Jaejoong hid his pleased grin behind his hand, and Yunho was just happy at how right and normal it all was. He couldn't explain the feeling but he was sure he didn't need to because it was mutually felt in the room.
They ate in mostly comfortable silence, a few words exchanged to pass dishes, or complimentary grunts at the long-missed tastes, and Jaejoong was just glowing. Homin seemed too content to notice when Jaejoong's door clicked open once more and only really shifted their attention when the eldest got up.
When he greeted the two unmistakable others - “You guys are eating without us!?” Junsu cried plaintively, Jaejoong seemed to pass the threshold of possible expressions - his face appeared to reach an unreadable state.
While Changmin snarked around his chopsticks - “Yeah, we're forming JYC. Sorry you two had to find out this way.”
Yoochun, half-crying, half-laughing, draped himself over Changmin.
Changmin scoffed but didn't push him away, continuing to chew his long-awaited breakfast.
Yunho stood, affectionately patting Junsu's back before they both went to Yoomin's side, just being close and there and it was wonderful.
Jaejoong's breath caught, then he hiccupped, grabbed his phone and snapped a picture of the priceless moment, then was dragged to join.
An indignant sound sprang from Changmin before they gave him space to continue eating comfortably. By then, Jiji was on the table and had to be shooed off and away from the kalbi.
Yunho snuck a little piece to her under the table.
She ate it and then scratched him.
&&&