Happy Holidays jaehee18! Exchange fic: "In the Winter, Two Warm Hearts"
To: jaehee18
Title: In the Winter, Two Warm Hearts
Rating: G
Genres: romance, fluff, slight angst, highschool!au
Word count: ~7k
Summary: Sometimes, it’s better not to assume things. Miscommunication can only follow. A high school story about falling in love, with a sprinkle of misunderstandings on the side.
Author’s Notes: I know you wanted other stuff but I gave you fluff instead. Kind of. Forgive me. T-T Also, this fic was loosely inspired by the manga Kimi ni Todoke. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Belle, Alicia and Lyn for being awesome people.
“Hey, make sure to keep an eye out for the movers,” Mrs. Jung told her son. Yunho nodded absentmindedly, shooting a smile over his shoulder before going back to sorting through the boxes that lay piled up in his new room. “I’m going to go greet my new boss now.” His mom patted him affectionately before leaving his room.
“Bye, mom! Come back safe!” he yelled after her, sticking his head into a now-practically-empty box. She yelled back some muffled thanks before the front door opened and closed.
Twenty minutes later, after looking through the last part of the box, Yunho got up from the floor, dusting his pants off. He groaned; it honestly felt like his bones were creaking.
“Oh, boy,” he muttered to himself. “I’m getting old.” He’d been sitting for at least two hours just looking through the few boxes that he had put in their car. The rest of the boxes, however, were coming in later with the movers; it made his joints ache in protest just thinking about it.
Rubbing his eyes while he stifled a yawn, he walked over to the window. It was almost night time now. He stared through the glass, gazing at the nearest neighbor’s house. Leaning his forehead against the cool surface, he wondered who his new neighbors were.
The window across from his was pitch-black.
His last neighbors had been a nice old couple who had been married for about sixty years, give or take. Their own children had long since left the house, so they took it upon themselves to practically adopt him into their family, spoiling him during his birthday and during holidays. When he had minor arguments with his mom, he used to go over to them seeking comfort and advice all the time. It will be hard without them, Yunho thought.
His other neighbors had been a married couple with a son who apparently idolized Yunho. The parents had always apologized whenever Moonbin attached himself to Yunho, but Yunho didn’t mind - he loved teaching new things to the little brat.
”Hyung!” Moonbin cried, his face gross with tears and snot. “I don’t want you to go!”
Yunho smiled, pulling his face away from the glass. It’d be a shame that he wouldn’t be able to witness Moonbin growing up into a fine young man Yunho was sure he’d become, but he was sure he’d be able to see the little twerp again someday. It was bound to come sooner or later.
Dragging himself from the window, he whistled a cheerful little tune as he walked down to the first floor. He was a little bit hungry, but they didn’t have anything to eat (and in all honesty, they didn't even have their fridge yet). He paused on the last stair, contemplating. Maybe he could find a convenience store nearby...except for the fact that he was supposed to be watching for the movers.
Well, his little adventure to find some food shouldn’t take long, anyway.
If he remembered correctly, before he had moved away, there had been a store just a few blocks down. He’d get some cheap snacks and see if they had any of his mom’s favorites. Yunho grinned. She’d definitely forgive him for sneaking out if he bought her something.
The house was devoid of furniture, so Yunho quickly spotted where he’d left his coat. It lay pitifully on the wooden floor, looking so dejected and out of place in the spacious room that Yunho got an insane urge to laugh at it. He huffed in amusement, swooping down to grab it before toeing on his shoes. He checked to see if he still had the extra key in his pocket, and then he was out the door.
It was colder than he remembered. All the memories he had of this place were the warm, summer days when he played outside and got dirty playing baseball with the other boys. He shivered, shoving his hands as far down into the coats’ pockets as possible. His breath came out in puffs of foggy air, and his ears actually felt red. He hoped he’d get used to the cold soon; it would suck feeling like this every time he ventured out at night.
“Hmm, am I supposed to turn left here?” Yunho wondered out loud, stopping in confusion as he stared at the two opposite roads. “Or am I supposed to keep going straight?” Screwing up his face in confusion, Yunho slowly swung his head around, measuring each option. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all...
“Do you need some help?” The voice came from behind him. Yunho wheeled around, practically having a heart attack. A guy around his age stared back at him, looking confused. Yunho exhaled, a puff of white steam exploding in front of his face.
“Sorry about that,” Yunho apologized, grinning as he put a hand to his chest. “You gave me quite a scare there. But yeah, help would be nice!” The guy didn’t answer, instead opting to continue staring. Yunho’s scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Well, do you know where the convenience store is?”
The guy blinked, pointing to the right. “Go right here and keep going straight. You should see it a few blocks down.”
Thank God! Yunho thought to himself. So he wasn’t going crazy after all! Beaming now, he thanked the other vigorously.
The guy’s face slowly transformed then, his lips twitching up into one of the prettiest smiles Yunho had ever seen. He looked almost angelic. Bewitched by the sight, Yunho didn’t even realize he’d stopped breathing until the stranger said, “No problem,” and walked away.
Yunho stared after him. He blinked once, twice, and then turned around and dazedly made his way to the store.
“Welcome back, you asshole!”
Yunho laughed when he was practically dogpiled on. A few guys reached out to playfully hit him or mess up his hair. Shim Changmin pounced on him and put him in a headlock at the first chance, giving him the expected noogie.
Some things just never changed.
Untangling himself from the group of boys, Yunho friendly thumped a few on the back. The faces he had grown up with had definitely changed while he had been gone, but not to the point of unfamiliarity. He could identify every single person surrounding him.
“Shim Changmin!” he said in mock outrage, glaring up at the younger boy. “Since when did you get taller than me?”
“I’ve always been taller, hyung,” Changmin said, smirking. He straightened his posture arrogantly. Yunho barked out a laugh of amusement.
“We all know that’s not true,” he said, rolling his eyes playfully.
“Why does it even matter; you two are going to be the tallest in school anyway,” one boy muttered.
“Little people, representin’!” Kim Jonghyun said, sticking his hand high up in the air. He looked proud. Well, it seemed like Jonghyun had gotten over his short complex while Yunho had been gone.
“Ayy,” a few boys shouted, giving Jonghyun a high-five. It was so nostalgic and just so them that Yunho couldn’t resist breaking out into laughter.
“You guys didn’t change a bit,” he said, wiping a few imaginary tears away from the corners of his eyes. He’d thought it would be harder getting into the groove of things when he moved back, but he had to admit that notion was pleasantly wrong. He was welcomed with open arms, if anything.
“So what class are you in?” Changmin asked Yunho. The group slowly moved from the first floor, a few splitting off to go to their classes early as they walked to the stairs. A few girls seemed to recognize him, smiling and waving in his direction. He smiled and waved back before turning to Changmin.
“Ah, wait a second,” Yunho said, rummaging around in his bag for his schedule. When he found it, he handed it over to Changmin, watching as the younger scanned it with critical eyes.
“We have the same homeroom!” Changmin finally said, smiling.
One guy piped up, “I heard that the Ice Prince has the same homeroom as you two.” The group broke out into quiet murmurs.
Ice Prince? Yunho asked himself in confusion as the rest of the guys gossiped. He watched the way they talked animatedly to each other as they told stories about the so-called "Ice Prince," with each one becoming more ridiculous than the last. Well, maybe they had changed a little. During his early middle school years here before he had moved away, none of his friends had been even remotely interested in rumors. It seemed like that had changed. His last high school had been like this too - rumors seemed to control everything behind the scenes. He frowned when he and Changmin received a few pats of encouragement.
“I heard he’d frozen someone after staring at him for ten seconds,” one guys whispered. Yunho snorted out loud.
“Does that even make sense?” Yunho asked the group, completely unamused and unimpressed with them. He glanced at Changmin, who gave him an apologetic shrug. Rolling his eyes, Yunho excused himself, grabbed Changmin and marched up the stairs. He’d rather not deal with all of that his first day back.
When they got into homeroom, Yunho found himself surrounded by old classmates. Kim Junsu was the first to spot him, giving a war-cry before launching himself at the taller student. Yunho caught him, playfully wrestling with his old friend as the rest of his old classmates realized who he was. They circled around him in excitement, most of them talking all at once, asking him questions like, “How does it feel being back?” or “Did you miss us?” He grinned, replying to all of them good-naturedly before lifting his eyes to glance around the classroom. Their chatter faded when he noticed one other person in the class.
It was the boy who had given him directions to the convenience store. Yunho could still remember how beautiful and genuine the boy’s smile had been, even a few weeks later.
He looked even prettier sitting in the sunlight, Yunho thought to himself, unable to stop staring. The boy’s skin appeared pale in the sunlight, lips full and eyelashes spiky as they rested on high cheekbones. Yunho bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Was the boy sleeping? He hadn’t thought it possible for someone to fall asleep in this kind of noisy environment.
“Hyung, who are you staring at?” Changmin whispered to him. Yunho couldn’t even properly summon any embarrassment, too curious to blush at having been caught staring.
“Who’s that?” Yunho asked, nodding his head to the lone boy.
Changmin seemed to pause, as if confused, before answering, “That’s Kim Jaejoong.”
Yunho had a horrible habit of dragging people with him whenever he did something, with or without their permission. He found himself suddenly indulging in that habit as he dragged Changmin and Junsu over to where Jaejoong sat.
As if sensing people nearing, Jaejoong slowly opened his eyes, tilting his head to glance around the classroom. Yunho paused, hesitating when their eyes met, before grinning and continuing on. Each step he took seemed more meaningful than the next. Something was going to change, he knew.
He stopped when he got to Jaejoong’s desk.
The room went silent. Yunho could almost feel the stares digging into his back. He paid them no heed though, instead watching the way Jaejoong looked up at him, his eyes almost golden in the light streaming in from the windows. Yunho was the only thing reflected in those pools of golden-brown.
It felt surprisingly good.
“Hey,” he said cheerfully. His voice sounded painfully loud in the silent classroom. “Are these seats taken?” Slowly, Jaejoong shook his head, his eyes widening when Yunho took the seat next to him. Yunho gestured for the other two he had dragged to sit down. Changmin and Junsu seemed to waver with indecision for a moment, before shrugging and sitting down in front of them.
The room went back to its regular noise level soon after; Yunho paid no attention to those people who he could hear gossiping about what just happened, instead looking straight at Jaejoong.
“My name is Jung Yunho!” he introduced himself. “You might not remember, but you helped me out a few weeks ago when you gave me directions to a convenience store. Thanks for that!”
As if in a daze, Jaejoong stared at him just a little longer before breathing out slowly. A corner of his lips twitched. “Kim Jaejoong,” he said. His voice was mellow, light, and buoyant. In a nutshell, it was one of the nicest sounding voices Yunho had heard in his life. “I’m glad I could help you out.”
And while Jaejoong wasn’t physically smiling like he had on that cold Wednesday night, Yunho found that the little eye smile Jaejoong did was enough to make up for it.
Just a few days into school and Yunho was already up to his eyeballs in homework. He made it a point to go home every night after soccer practice to study hard; it was his last year to make sure his grades were great enough to get into a good university.
Yunho stretched, walking over to his window. He scratched at his head absentmindedly as he stared at the other window across from his own, noting with surprise that the light in that room was on for once.
Then someone walked in front of the window and Yunho’s eyes widened in surprise. Jaejoong stared back at him, looking about as shocked as Yunho felt.
Yunho blinked once, and then again, before snapping out of it to smile and give a little wave. Jaejoong seemed to waver, indecisive about something, before finally turning a little pink and nodding. Then he skittered out of view.
Anyone else would’ve been peeved at the greeting, but the odd manner that Jaejoong did things only made Yunho smile. He turned away from the window, and went to do his homework feeling oddly rejuvenated.
The next morning, Yunho hurried out from his house and waited outside for Jaejoong, chipper despite not being a morning person. When Jaejoong came out of the house, Yunho got up from where he was squatting. He smiled. Jaejoong paused before he greeted Yunho with just the barest hint of a smile.
“I figured we could walk to school together,” Yunho said, beaming. “Since we’re neighbors and all.”
“Sure,” Jaejoong said.
Their walk to school together kept Yunho in a good mood throughout the entire day, even when he had to do conditioning for soccer. That day, he walked home whistling.
Two months into the school year was enough to get to know Jaejoong, even just a little bit. Yunho slowly built up a small database on Jaejoong, compiling every small fact he learned and storing it away in a secret place even he himself didn’t know about. Jaejoong liked to sleep - he always fell asleep during math (which he always ended up somehow acing anyway). Jaejoong liked to cook - he made his own lunches every day, and had even started making Changmin, Yunho, and Junsu lunches as well. Jaejoong liked music - he wrote measure line after measure line of music notes when class got boring and hummed to himself when he thought no one was listening. Jaejoong liked cats - he owned a black cat named Jiji and had a picture that he kept in his wallet most of the time.
Furthermore, Jaejoong hated bugs - he flinched more times than naught when he saw the pesky little critters near his window area. Jaejoong hated blackboards - and he hated the chalk that wrote on the blackboards even more. Jaejoong hated too much attention - he tended to shy away from praise and averted his eyes when people stared too long. Jaejoong hated it when he was judged for his looks - he wasn’t at all the ‘Ice Prince’ everyone initially assumed.
Of course, maybe that was just Yunho’s take on things. Jaejoong was too warm and kind to ever be the Ice Prince everyone charged him to be.
To Yunho’s relief, it seemed like Changmin and Junsu gradually accepted Jaejoong into their fold as they realized Jaejoong was just a regular guy. He felt jealous when Jaejoong got along with Changmin and Junsu, but Yunho took personal pleasure most of the time in watching Jaejoong come alive while singing melodies with Junsu, or hitting Changmin in exasperation and then babying him after.
A part of him still longed to see that smile again though, directed at him in all its radiant beauty. Sometimes he did stupid things to make Jaejoong laugh, but all the other boy did was stare at him in a confused manner. Though Yunho grinned as everyone roared with laughter around him, inside he wondered if he would ever be graced with Jaejoong’s smile again.
He was beginning to lose hope when the day finally came.
It was so cold, but as Yunho pumped his arms to push himself, he still found himself working up a sweat. He managed to touch the white line before the coach’s whistle blew again, and his body jarred as he made a sharp turn to sprint down the field again. He heard a few muffled curse words from his teammates and wholeheartedly agreed with them.
Even after all these years, he still hated conditioning.
“Last one! Make it great, ladies!” his coach shouted, and Yunho twisted to turn again. He put his all into the last sprint, heart pounding erratically in his chest as he raced against the other soccer players to be the first to finish. The sound of their shoes against the grassy field sounded like war drums as they struggled to go faster, and faster still.
When Yunho crossed the line in a tie with Junsu, he groaned and toppled over, closing his eyes against the sun. His chest heaved in an effort to suck in more air as he raised an arm, resting it over his heated forehead.
A shoe poked him in the stomach a second later. Yunho just groaned again and batted it away with his free hand.
“Get up. You know that lying down after conditioning isn’t going to help you recover,” Junsu said in between his all panting. Yunho struggled to squint an eye open; Junsu didn’t look any better than Yunho felt, and he looked just about ready to collapse. Yunho closed his eye again, making a quick decision.
“Go away,” he panted. “I am staying right here.”
“Fine!” Junsu snapped, the horrible conditioning making his tone sharp. Yunho didn’t let Junsu’s anger get to him; he knew all too well how conditioning affected people’s moods. Yunho listened silently as Junsu stomped away from him.
A second later, some footsteps approached him.
“Coach just gave the signal that we were done for the day,” a boy told him. Yunho grunted, showing that he heard the other.
“I’m just going to catch my breath before I get up,” Yunho said.
“Okay.”
Then he was left alone in the day’s dying sunlight.
When he was finally recovered enough to breathe in deeply, he laid in the field, letting the cold air dry his sweat. Slowly, each drop of sweat cooled to nonexistence, leaving him feeling nice and human again. He still felt a little gross and grimy, but thinking about a shower was enough to make him happy.
At one point, the cold air got to be too much; he began to feel just the slightest bit like he was in a freezer. He shivered, rolling around a few times to try and warm himself up to no avail. It looked like he would have to get up soon. He almost pouted at the thought.
When he heard footsteps nearing him, he frowned in confusion. He thought everyone had left the field already. He grudgingly opened his eyes.
His breath was stolen from him again.
Jaejoong stood in front of him, cradling Yunho’s jacket in his arms as he tentatively gave the tired boy a smile. The setting sun was directly behind Jaejoong, making it hard for Yunho to look straight at him. It cast this brilliant light of purple, pink, and orange around the boy. Jaejoong looked like he was actually glowing.
No matter how much it hurt Yunho’s eyes to stare, he couldn’t stop; he soaked it in, sealing it carefully into a place he’d always be able to remember it.
Jaejoong was stunning.
“You’re going to get a cold if you don’t put on layers soon,” Jaejoong told him. His smile faded when Yunho just continued to stare, turning red as he cocked his head in confusion. They stared at each other before Jaejoong finally bent down, waving a hand over Yunho’s eyes in concern. “You didn’t already catch something, did you?”
Yunho blinked, a smile edging past the corners of his lips. He abruptly sat up and Jaejoong, startled, ended up falling backwards onto his butt with an “Oomph!” They stared sheepishly at each other before laughing.
And Jaejoong’s laugh was just about the best thing Yunho had ever heard in his entire life.
“I nominate Jung Yunho for our Class Representative!” Lee Donghae stood up, a devilish smile on his face. Yunho looked up from where he’d been staring at Jaejoong, his eyes widening in confusion and slight terror.
“Wait, what?” he asked, turning his head around and around to make sense of what he’d just heard. He jerked in a spazzy manner when he realized everyone was staring at him. “No!” He waved his arms in the air in futile, shaking his head vigorously. Changmin hunched over in his seat, shoulders shaking as he sat snickering at Yunho.
“I second that!” Junsu suddenly called, a perfect poker face showing nothing but seriousness. Yunho’s eyes practically popped out of his head. Changmin almost fell out of his seat laughing.
“Well, we need one more person to nominate Yunho,” their homeroom teacher said, looking just the slightest bit amused. Yunho whipped his head around, glaring at anyone who even tried to raise their hands. He tried to say, “I will hurt anyone who dares to--” with his eyes, and while that itself didn’t seem to dissuade people from nominating him, the pity they felt for him thankfully kept them from doing anything stupid like making him the Class Representative.
“I want to nominate Yunho,” a voice spoke up, coming from a direction Yunho didn’t expect. He froze, and slowly turned to face where Jaejoong had stood up. The class quieted in shock.
The teacher chuckled, the only one who wasn't surprised at the sudden development. “Seems like you’re the new Class Representative, Yunho,” she said.
Jaejoong slowly sat down, ducking his head under the weight of the stares like it was a physical burden. He faced Yunho sheepishly.
“I think you’ll make a good Representative,” he told Yunho quietly, gracing Yunho with a small smile. His cheeks had just the faintest pink tinge. “Please don’t hate me.”
Yunho looked away, and his cheeks felt a little warm. He sniffed a little, shifting in his seat. He muttered, “I can’t ever hate you.”
And the way Jaejoong brightened made being Class Representative almost okay.
“So, hyung, do you like Jaejoong?” Changmin asked one day. Yunho refrained from spitting out the water he was drinking, instead swallowing it down and breaking out into coughs only a few seconds later.
“I -- what?” Yunho asked after he caught his breath, staring up at Changmin who had a less than impressed expression on his face.
“Do you like Jaejoong?” Changmin repeated, pronouncing each word as if Yunho were dumb. Yunho blinked.
“Well, yeah,” he said slowly. “Otherwise I wouldn’t hang out with him.” Changmin snorted, this time thoroughly unimpressed.
“I meant like like him, hyung.”
“I don’t-” Yunho stopped, frowning. Did he? He gazed blankly at the floor, struggling to find the answer to that question.
A few minutes passed before Changmin walked away quietly, realizing that he wouldn’t be getting an answer anytime soon. Yunho raised his eyes, staring as Changmin walked over to where Jaejoong and Junsu were talking, taking in the way Jaejoong shifted, how he blinked and how he talked and how just everything seemed so soft and beautiful around him.
Yunho swallowed.
That day, Yunho realized he was in love with Jaejoong.
And when he saw Jaejoong peer at him, smiling lightly, some emotion dancing in his eyes, he thought that maybe -- just maybe -- his feelings were returned. Suddenly, nothing seemed to matter.
Yunho smiled back.
Yunho stretched the kinks out from his shoulders, pushing himself up from the desk. The other Class Representatives were already packing their things as Yunho organized the papers in front of him. By the time he shrugged on his jacket, he was the last one left in the classroom -- maybe in the school, even.
He quickly stuffed the papers inside his bag as he walked out of the classroom. Night had already fallen - the air was chilly and the moon was high. Yunho shivered, huddling down into his warm coat as he quickly walked home. The city flared around him, vibrant and full of life despite how late and cold it was. He avoided crashing into people just barely, trying to make himself small. All he wanted was to go home and sleep, and maybe forget all about his new duties as Class Representative.
A flash of a familiar face stopped him in his tracks. He backed up, looking around in confusion for what had caught his attention. Who from his school would even be out at this time?
Not seeing anything, he shrugged, about to start walking again when he finally spotted him. Jaejoong shifted, looking completely in his element as he talked with a guy. He had lost the school uniform, decked out comfortably in jeans and a simple coat. Yunho almost started admiring him, but then Jaejoong laughed, collapsing against the guy he had been talking to in a way he had never done with anyone else.
Something in Yunho froze at the scene.
The guy grinned in response, and bent down to give a quick kiss to Jaejoong’s cheek, and Jaejoong punched him in the shoulder. Then the guy wrapped an arm around Jaejoong’s shoulders and ushered him away.
Their close, walking forms disappeared from his sight.
A few minutes later, when a woman ran into him, Yunho finally turned away and headed home.
“Yunho?”
The sound of his name being called brought Yunho out from his daze, and he looked up from his desk to see Jaejoong eyeing him in worry. Yunho wanted to look away, but he forced himself to smile.
“Hm?” he asked. Jaejoong only seemed to become more concerned.
“Did...you need a piece of paper?” Jaejoong asked him, pausing as if confused.
“Why would I need a piece of paper?” Yunho asked, thrown off by the question. He looked around the classroom in a daze.
“Because we’re writing now...” Jaejoong trailed off. Yunho saw Changmin and Junsu glance back as well, confused at the way Yunho was acting. He paid them no attention, turning away from Jaejoong.
“Oh,” he said quietly, rooting around in his bag to get a piece of paper. “Sorry, I have a piece of paper. Thanks though.”
“Yeah...” Jaejoong murmured, looked bothered. “It’s okay.”
In front of them, Junsu and Changmin shared an uneasy glance.
“What’s going on between you and Jaejoong?” Changmin asked during lunch. Jaejoong had run off to use the restroom during lunch break; the awkward air went with him. However, just when Yunho tried to relax, Changmin just had to have this conversation. Yunho resisted the urge to glare at the younger; he wished Changmin would stop being so nosy sometimes.
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
Junsu looked at him, munching happily on his bread. “I heard Jaejoong-hyung has someone he likes.”
Yunho stilled at that, clenching his fists. He relaxed them a second later. “I’m sure he does,” he said in an even tone, before pushing up from his desk and walking out the classroom.
Changmin stared after Yunho before he looked at Junsu, lips pressed into a thin line. “You are an idiot,” he told the other, shaking his head and leaving as well.
Junsu frowned, looking at all the empty seats around him.
“What did I do?” he whined.
It was amazing how spontaneous but strong emotions were sometimes. By the end of the day, something in Yunho was itching to be made known. He was restless; he couldn’t seem to sit still for longer than a minute. His leg bounced up and down at random intervals and his fingers drummed against the table every so often. Changmin had to glare at him a few times to get him to stop for longer than ten minutes.
When the last bell of the day finally rang, it felt like something had released Yunho. He sighed in relief, shrugging on his jacket. There was no soccer practice after school today; he’d have to walk with Jaejoong home.
He wondered why the thought made him feel sad.
“Are you ready?” Jaejoong asked, not looking him in the eye. His voice was muted. When had Jaejoong started pulling away from him?
“Yeah,” Yunho said, his own voice equally subdued. Or had it been him who started pulling away first?
The walk home was quiet, tense. Yunho found it hard to relax around Jaejoong; his heart was racing for some reason, and his hands were clammy even though it was still cold outside. He couldn’t help glancing at Jaejoong every second only to end up glancing down at the floor. He stepped over a few ants absentmindedly.
When they finally got to their houses, they stood outside awkwardly. One minute passed, maybe two, before Jaejoong finally turned away. Yunho had never hated the sight of a back more than in that one moment.
“Well...” Jaejoong murmured, sounding a little dismal. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Yunho debated with himself, not sure why he was even arguing with himself, before stopping Jaejoong with a “Wait!” Jaejoong stopped, already halfway inside his house. He didn’t turn around.
And all of Yunho’s feelings just came tumbling out.
“You know, at first, when I got to know you, people said that you were an Ice Prince. People called you names, and I didn’t believe them. They told me to not get close to you - that you were surely not friend material. I didn’t regret it for a moment when I decided to not listen to them. Seriously.”
Jaejoong was silent.
“But then my feelings started to change, you know? Something felt different when I started to see you in the mornings, and during class, and in the afternoons when you waited for me to finish soccer practice. Then one day, I saw you out with a guy; you two were hugging and he even kissed you but that was when I realized that I don’t want to be friends anymore,” Yunho said. Wow, it felt really good to get it off his chest. He paused, catching his breath before continuing, “I don’t want to keep tiptoeing around like this. Can we--”
“I get it,” Jaejoong suddenly interrupted. He sounded like he was about to cry. And without another word, Jaejoong turned and disappeared into his house. The door closed silently.
Yunho stood outside, staring at Jaejoong’s door numbly. It felt an awful lot like he’d just gotten rejected.
The next day, Yunho waited outside for Jaejoong at the regular time, determined to not show just how crappy he was feeling to the other boy. However, as more and more time passed without a single sign of Jaejoong, Yunho began to feel worried. Was Jaejoong avoiding him? Yunho wrinkled his nose, shaking his head. The world didn’t revolve around him; maybe Jaejoong had a legitimate reason for not showing up. Maybe the other caught a cold or something?
When he went up to Jaejoong’s house, though, Jaejoong’s mom told him that Jaejoong had left early that morning.
Yunho got to class that day twenty minutes late. And when he sat down in his seat, Jaejoong didn’t look at him even once.
Three weeks passed like that. Jaejoong constantly avoided him, and Yunho slowly stopped trying to catch him. His duties as a Class Representative increased, so he had to leave during breaks to take care of the jobs he’d been assigned; soccer was picking up as well as spring slowly came around the corner. Yunho practically ran himself ragged even when he wasn’t worrying about Jaejoong. Unfortunately, he worried about the other boy and his sudden coldness constantly.
Changmin pulled him out of the classroom one day, with Junsu hovering awkwardly in the background.
“You and Jaejoong are making everything really awkward,” Changmin started, a determined glint coming to life in his eyes. Yunho smothered a groan. Now Changmin really wouldn’t leave him alone. “So you are going to tell me what happened between the two of you right now or I will do something horrendous to you.”
Yunho thought a little about resisting, but then he remembered that it would be pointless anyway. This was Changmin he was talking to; anyone else would’ve taken his excuses, but this one would actually follow through with what he said. He resisted the urge to groan again - why was Changmin so evil?
So he told Changmin everything - he told him about how he saw Jaejoong out with someone, how jealous he was seeing them together; he told him about how he tried to confess, only to get rejected.
“Then he shut the door before I could finish,” he ended lamely. Yunho couldn’t figure out what depressed him more, the fact that he had to explain why things were so awkward between him and Jaejoong, or the fact that the whole recap only took ten minutes.
“How, exactly, did you confess to him?” Changmin asked, his voice strange. Yunho paid no attention to it, glaring at the younger instead.
“Are you trying to strip me of any pride I have left?” Yunho bit out, not liking this one bit.
“You have pride?” Changmin asked, and Yunho deflated. Changmin smiled. “That’s what I thought. So? What did you say while confessing?”
“I just told him about my feelings and how I didn’t want to be just friends,” Yunho said grumpily.
“...” Changmin went oddly silent before asking, “Is that where he closed the door on you?”
“Yeah,” Yunho muttered.
Changmin suddenly rolled his eyes, turning away to leave Yunho alone.
“Hey!” Yunho called after him, confused. “Where are you going?”
Changmin didn’t answer, but Yunho thought he heard the word “idiot” come out of Changmin before he vanished down the hall.
When Yunho got a call from Changmin asking to hang out two days after their strange talk, he didn’t think anything of it. Changmin had some fairly confusing mood swings, and Yunho had stopped questioning it a long time ago.
It was raining when Yunho got outside, so he sprinted the entire way to the restaurant him, Changmin, and Junsu were meeting up at. It was a quaint little food place located about one mile from the school and two miles from his house. When he got there, he stood under the shelter outside, just catching his breath. All the conditioning from soccer was becoming useful, he thought, even though he hated admitting it.
When he finally recovered, he pulled off his top jacket, wincing at how wet it was before pulling the handle open to go inside the building. He searched for his two friends, moving further into the busy restaurant when the initial scan failed.
“Yunho!” Junsu’s voice pierced through all the rest, and Yunho spun around, hand already in the air to wave, when he saw who else was at the table with Junsu and Changmin.
Jaejoong... and his boyfriend.
Yunho pressed his lips in a thin line, feeling oddly betrayed, for just a moment before offering a stiff smile, completing his wave as he headed toward them. Changmin offered him a knowing smile - more of a smirk, really - as he introduced Jaejoong’s boyfriend.
“Yunho, this is Yoochun, Jaejoong’s best friend,” Changmin said. Yunho practically choked on his spit. Changmin turned to Yoochun. “Yoochun, this is Yunho.”
Yoochun offered Yunho a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Yunho breathed as he slid bonelessly into the first chair he could find. He had an insane urge to just start laughing, but he held it in. Instead, he laid his head onto the table, trying to recollect himself from the crazy urges plaguing him. He didn’t want to scare anyone off, after all.
“Is he okay?” he heard Yoochun ask everyone else.
“Yeah, I think he’s just fine,” Changmin replied. Junsu snickered.
It took a lot of thinking on Yunho’s part. His chain of thoughts had started after his talk with Changmin, and they were slowly coming to an end as Yunho chewed thoughtfully on a dumpling. Opposite of him, Jaejoong sat eating his own lunch calmly, taking a bite of food and then washing it down with a sip of water.
Now that he was more open to it, he kept on replaying their last conversation in his head.
”I get it.”
Yunho tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his thighs. Jaejoong got it?
”I get it.”
What did Jaejoong get, exactly? Yunho played around with the rice on his plate, replaying the bits of conversation he could still remember.
”I don’t think we should be friends anymore.”
A thought struck him suddenly. Had Jaejoong thought that Yunho meant to say that they literally shouldn’t have been friends? He frowned. Surely not. And yet, that was the only way Jaejoong’s actions made sense.
If that were the case... well, now he knew why Changmin had called him an idiot. He resisted the urge to slam his head against the table.
No amount of praise in that moment could have made him feel any less dumb.
The rain had stopped by the time they got out. Yunho quickly went to Jaejoong’s side, determined to right the misunderstanding that he had caused as soon as possible. If he let Jaejoong go today, there would still be a chance that Jaejoong would try to continue avoiding him, so as soon as they stood up, Yunho caught Jaejoong by the elbow, gently steering them away from the rest of the group. They hung back, letting the distance between the two groups deepen, until Yunho eventually pulled them to a stop.
“I need to talk to you,” he told Jaejoong seriously.
“Me too,” Jaejoong replied, looking a little doubtful.
A pause. “You go first,” they both said at the same time. They blinked at each other before grins twitched onto their faces, and then they were laughing. Yunho basked in the feeling; he’d missed it -- missed laughing with Jaejoong, missed seeing how Jaejoong’s eyes disappeared because he was just grinning so hard and it felt like Yunho was just so happy that it felt impossible for him to remember all the depression he had gone through to get to where he was at the moment.
“No, seriously, you go first,” Jaejoong said after they both caught their breath. Yunho smiled, his eyes tracing the lovely flush that made Jaejoong’s cheeks the slightest pink before he gazed into Jaejoong’s eyes.
“Alright,” he said. He took a deep breath, calming his suddenly racing heart. “I think you misunderstood what I was saying during our talk last month,” he started, averting his eyes to the ground. “What I said was true - I don’t want to be friends. I want to be something more than friends. I couldn’t stand having all these feelings for you and not doing anything about it.”
He raised his eyes. Jaejoong looked stunned. Yunho rushed along before he lost the nerve to ask what he really wanted. He gave a hesitant smile. “So... Jaejoong, will you be my boyfriend?”
Jaejoong didn’t respond. Yunho swallowed, worrying the inside of his cheek with his teeth as he nervously waited for the answer. Finally, Jaejoong moved, pinching himself.
“Nope, it hurts,” Jaejoong muttered, much to Yunho’s confusion. Jaejoong looked at him in the eye, and the hope shining on his face just made Yunho want to hug him and never let go. “I’m not dreaming right now? This is really happening?”
Yunho broke out into a large grin, shaking his head. His chapped lips hurt from his sudden smile, but he didn’t care. He was ecstatic, giddy and just all-around happy, and it was just about the best feeling in the world. “No,” he said, “I promise this isn’t a dream right now.”
“Then would it be too much if I accepted?” Jaejoong asked, biting his bottom lip.
“Not at all,” Yunho said, laughing. “I’d prefer if you accepted, actually.”
And seeing Jaejoong’s smile was like falling in love all over again.
Title: In the Winter, Two Warm Hearts
Rating: G
Genres: romance, fluff, slight angst, highschool!au
Word count: ~7k
Summary: Sometimes, it’s better not to assume things. Miscommunication can only follow. A high school story about falling in love, with a sprinkle of misunderstandings on the side.
Author’s Notes: I know you wanted other stuff but I gave you fluff instead. Kind of. Forgive me. T-T Also, this fic was loosely inspired by the manga Kimi ni Todoke. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Belle, Alicia and Lyn for being awesome people.
“Hey, make sure to keep an eye out for the movers,” Mrs. Jung told her son. Yunho nodded absentmindedly, shooting a smile over his shoulder before going back to sorting through the boxes that lay piled up in his new room. “I’m going to go greet my new boss now.” His mom patted him affectionately before leaving his room.
“Bye, mom! Come back safe!” he yelled after her, sticking his head into a now-practically-empty box. She yelled back some muffled thanks before the front door opened and closed.
Twenty minutes later, after looking through the last part of the box, Yunho got up from the floor, dusting his pants off. He groaned; it honestly felt like his bones were creaking.
“Oh, boy,” he muttered to himself. “I’m getting old.” He’d been sitting for at least two hours just looking through the few boxes that he had put in their car. The rest of the boxes, however, were coming in later with the movers; it made his joints ache in protest just thinking about it.
Rubbing his eyes while he stifled a yawn, he walked over to the window. It was almost night time now. He stared through the glass, gazing at the nearest neighbor’s house. Leaning his forehead against the cool surface, he wondered who his new neighbors were.
The window across from his was pitch-black.
His last neighbors had been a nice old couple who had been married for about sixty years, give or take. Their own children had long since left the house, so they took it upon themselves to practically adopt him into their family, spoiling him during his birthday and during holidays. When he had minor arguments with his mom, he used to go over to them seeking comfort and advice all the time. It will be hard without them, Yunho thought.
His other neighbors had been a married couple with a son who apparently idolized Yunho. The parents had always apologized whenever Moonbin attached himself to Yunho, but Yunho didn’t mind - he loved teaching new things to the little brat.
”Hyung!” Moonbin cried, his face gross with tears and snot. “I don’t want you to go!”
Yunho smiled, pulling his face away from the glass. It’d be a shame that he wouldn’t be able to witness Moonbin growing up into a fine young man Yunho was sure he’d become, but he was sure he’d be able to see the little twerp again someday. It was bound to come sooner or later.
Dragging himself from the window, he whistled a cheerful little tune as he walked down to the first floor. He was a little bit hungry, but they didn’t have anything to eat (and in all honesty, they didn't even have their fridge yet). He paused on the last stair, contemplating. Maybe he could find a convenience store nearby...except for the fact that he was supposed to be watching for the movers.
Well, his little adventure to find some food shouldn’t take long, anyway.
If he remembered correctly, before he had moved away, there had been a store just a few blocks down. He’d get some cheap snacks and see if they had any of his mom’s favorites. Yunho grinned. She’d definitely forgive him for sneaking out if he bought her something.
The house was devoid of furniture, so Yunho quickly spotted where he’d left his coat. It lay pitifully on the wooden floor, looking so dejected and out of place in the spacious room that Yunho got an insane urge to laugh at it. He huffed in amusement, swooping down to grab it before toeing on his shoes. He checked to see if he still had the extra key in his pocket, and then he was out the door.
It was colder than he remembered. All the memories he had of this place were the warm, summer days when he played outside and got dirty playing baseball with the other boys. He shivered, shoving his hands as far down into the coats’ pockets as possible. His breath came out in puffs of foggy air, and his ears actually felt red. He hoped he’d get used to the cold soon; it would suck feeling like this every time he ventured out at night.
“Hmm, am I supposed to turn left here?” Yunho wondered out loud, stopping in confusion as he stared at the two opposite roads. “Or am I supposed to keep going straight?” Screwing up his face in confusion, Yunho slowly swung his head around, measuring each option. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all...
“Do you need some help?” The voice came from behind him. Yunho wheeled around, practically having a heart attack. A guy around his age stared back at him, looking confused. Yunho exhaled, a puff of white steam exploding in front of his face.
“Sorry about that,” Yunho apologized, grinning as he put a hand to his chest. “You gave me quite a scare there. But yeah, help would be nice!” The guy didn’t answer, instead opting to continue staring. Yunho’s scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Well, do you know where the convenience store is?”
The guy blinked, pointing to the right. “Go right here and keep going straight. You should see it a few blocks down.”
Thank God! Yunho thought to himself. So he wasn’t going crazy after all! Beaming now, he thanked the other vigorously.
The guy’s face slowly transformed then, his lips twitching up into one of the prettiest smiles Yunho had ever seen. He looked almost angelic. Bewitched by the sight, Yunho didn’t even realize he’d stopped breathing until the stranger said, “No problem,” and walked away.
Yunho stared after him. He blinked once, twice, and then turned around and dazedly made his way to the store.
“Welcome back, you asshole!”
Yunho laughed when he was practically dogpiled on. A few guys reached out to playfully hit him or mess up his hair. Shim Changmin pounced on him and put him in a headlock at the first chance, giving him the expected noogie.
Some things just never changed.
Untangling himself from the group of boys, Yunho friendly thumped a few on the back. The faces he had grown up with had definitely changed while he had been gone, but not to the point of unfamiliarity. He could identify every single person surrounding him.
“Shim Changmin!” he said in mock outrage, glaring up at the younger boy. “Since when did you get taller than me?”
“I’ve always been taller, hyung,” Changmin said, smirking. He straightened his posture arrogantly. Yunho barked out a laugh of amusement.
“We all know that’s not true,” he said, rolling his eyes playfully.
“Why does it even matter; you two are going to be the tallest in school anyway,” one boy muttered.
“Little people, representin’!” Kim Jonghyun said, sticking his hand high up in the air. He looked proud. Well, it seemed like Jonghyun had gotten over his short complex while Yunho had been gone.
“Ayy,” a few boys shouted, giving Jonghyun a high-five. It was so nostalgic and just so them that Yunho couldn’t resist breaking out into laughter.
“You guys didn’t change a bit,” he said, wiping a few imaginary tears away from the corners of his eyes. He’d thought it would be harder getting into the groove of things when he moved back, but he had to admit that notion was pleasantly wrong. He was welcomed with open arms, if anything.
“So what class are you in?” Changmin asked Yunho. The group slowly moved from the first floor, a few splitting off to go to their classes early as they walked to the stairs. A few girls seemed to recognize him, smiling and waving in his direction. He smiled and waved back before turning to Changmin.
“Ah, wait a second,” Yunho said, rummaging around in his bag for his schedule. When he found it, he handed it over to Changmin, watching as the younger scanned it with critical eyes.
“We have the same homeroom!” Changmin finally said, smiling.
One guy piped up, “I heard that the Ice Prince has the same homeroom as you two.” The group broke out into quiet murmurs.
Ice Prince? Yunho asked himself in confusion as the rest of the guys gossiped. He watched the way they talked animatedly to each other as they told stories about the so-called "Ice Prince," with each one becoming more ridiculous than the last. Well, maybe they had changed a little. During his early middle school years here before he had moved away, none of his friends had been even remotely interested in rumors. It seemed like that had changed. His last high school had been like this too - rumors seemed to control everything behind the scenes. He frowned when he and Changmin received a few pats of encouragement.
“I heard he’d frozen someone after staring at him for ten seconds,” one guys whispered. Yunho snorted out loud.
“Does that even make sense?” Yunho asked the group, completely unamused and unimpressed with them. He glanced at Changmin, who gave him an apologetic shrug. Rolling his eyes, Yunho excused himself, grabbed Changmin and marched up the stairs. He’d rather not deal with all of that his first day back.
When they got into homeroom, Yunho found himself surrounded by old classmates. Kim Junsu was the first to spot him, giving a war-cry before launching himself at the taller student. Yunho caught him, playfully wrestling with his old friend as the rest of his old classmates realized who he was. They circled around him in excitement, most of them talking all at once, asking him questions like, “How does it feel being back?” or “Did you miss us?” He grinned, replying to all of them good-naturedly before lifting his eyes to glance around the classroom. Their chatter faded when he noticed one other person in the class.
It was the boy who had given him directions to the convenience store. Yunho could still remember how beautiful and genuine the boy’s smile had been, even a few weeks later.
He looked even prettier sitting in the sunlight, Yunho thought to himself, unable to stop staring. The boy’s skin appeared pale in the sunlight, lips full and eyelashes spiky as they rested on high cheekbones. Yunho bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Was the boy sleeping? He hadn’t thought it possible for someone to fall asleep in this kind of noisy environment.
“Hyung, who are you staring at?” Changmin whispered to him. Yunho couldn’t even properly summon any embarrassment, too curious to blush at having been caught staring.
“Who’s that?” Yunho asked, nodding his head to the lone boy.
Changmin seemed to pause, as if confused, before answering, “That’s Kim Jaejoong.”
Yunho had a horrible habit of dragging people with him whenever he did something, with or without their permission. He found himself suddenly indulging in that habit as he dragged Changmin and Junsu over to where Jaejoong sat.
As if sensing people nearing, Jaejoong slowly opened his eyes, tilting his head to glance around the classroom. Yunho paused, hesitating when their eyes met, before grinning and continuing on. Each step he took seemed more meaningful than the next. Something was going to change, he knew.
He stopped when he got to Jaejoong’s desk.
The room went silent. Yunho could almost feel the stares digging into his back. He paid them no heed though, instead watching the way Jaejoong looked up at him, his eyes almost golden in the light streaming in from the windows. Yunho was the only thing reflected in those pools of golden-brown.
It felt surprisingly good.
“Hey,” he said cheerfully. His voice sounded painfully loud in the silent classroom. “Are these seats taken?” Slowly, Jaejoong shook his head, his eyes widening when Yunho took the seat next to him. Yunho gestured for the other two he had dragged to sit down. Changmin and Junsu seemed to waver with indecision for a moment, before shrugging and sitting down in front of them.
The room went back to its regular noise level soon after; Yunho paid no attention to those people who he could hear gossiping about what just happened, instead looking straight at Jaejoong.
“My name is Jung Yunho!” he introduced himself. “You might not remember, but you helped me out a few weeks ago when you gave me directions to a convenience store. Thanks for that!”
As if in a daze, Jaejoong stared at him just a little longer before breathing out slowly. A corner of his lips twitched. “Kim Jaejoong,” he said. His voice was mellow, light, and buoyant. In a nutshell, it was one of the nicest sounding voices Yunho had heard in his life. “I’m glad I could help you out.”
And while Jaejoong wasn’t physically smiling like he had on that cold Wednesday night, Yunho found that the little eye smile Jaejoong did was enough to make up for it.
Just a few days into school and Yunho was already up to his eyeballs in homework. He made it a point to go home every night after soccer practice to study hard; it was his last year to make sure his grades were great enough to get into a good university.
Yunho stretched, walking over to his window. He scratched at his head absentmindedly as he stared at the other window across from his own, noting with surprise that the light in that room was on for once.
Then someone walked in front of the window and Yunho’s eyes widened in surprise. Jaejoong stared back at him, looking about as shocked as Yunho felt.
Yunho blinked once, and then again, before snapping out of it to smile and give a little wave. Jaejoong seemed to waver, indecisive about something, before finally turning a little pink and nodding. Then he skittered out of view.
Anyone else would’ve been peeved at the greeting, but the odd manner that Jaejoong did things only made Yunho smile. He turned away from the window, and went to do his homework feeling oddly rejuvenated.
The next morning, Yunho hurried out from his house and waited outside for Jaejoong, chipper despite not being a morning person. When Jaejoong came out of the house, Yunho got up from where he was squatting. He smiled. Jaejoong paused before he greeted Yunho with just the barest hint of a smile.
“I figured we could walk to school together,” Yunho said, beaming. “Since we’re neighbors and all.”
“Sure,” Jaejoong said.
Their walk to school together kept Yunho in a good mood throughout the entire day, even when he had to do conditioning for soccer. That day, he walked home whistling.
Two months into the school year was enough to get to know Jaejoong, even just a little bit. Yunho slowly built up a small database on Jaejoong, compiling every small fact he learned and storing it away in a secret place even he himself didn’t know about. Jaejoong liked to sleep - he always fell asleep during math (which he always ended up somehow acing anyway). Jaejoong liked to cook - he made his own lunches every day, and had even started making Changmin, Yunho, and Junsu lunches as well. Jaejoong liked music - he wrote measure line after measure line of music notes when class got boring and hummed to himself when he thought no one was listening. Jaejoong liked cats - he owned a black cat named Jiji and had a picture that he kept in his wallet most of the time.
Furthermore, Jaejoong hated bugs - he flinched more times than naught when he saw the pesky little critters near his window area. Jaejoong hated blackboards - and he hated the chalk that wrote on the blackboards even more. Jaejoong hated too much attention - he tended to shy away from praise and averted his eyes when people stared too long. Jaejoong hated it when he was judged for his looks - he wasn’t at all the ‘Ice Prince’ everyone initially assumed.
Of course, maybe that was just Yunho’s take on things. Jaejoong was too warm and kind to ever be the Ice Prince everyone charged him to be.
To Yunho’s relief, it seemed like Changmin and Junsu gradually accepted Jaejoong into their fold as they realized Jaejoong was just a regular guy. He felt jealous when Jaejoong got along with Changmin and Junsu, but Yunho took personal pleasure most of the time in watching Jaejoong come alive while singing melodies with Junsu, or hitting Changmin in exasperation and then babying him after.
A part of him still longed to see that smile again though, directed at him in all its radiant beauty. Sometimes he did stupid things to make Jaejoong laugh, but all the other boy did was stare at him in a confused manner. Though Yunho grinned as everyone roared with laughter around him, inside he wondered if he would ever be graced with Jaejoong’s smile again.
He was beginning to lose hope when the day finally came.
It was so cold, but as Yunho pumped his arms to push himself, he still found himself working up a sweat. He managed to touch the white line before the coach’s whistle blew again, and his body jarred as he made a sharp turn to sprint down the field again. He heard a few muffled curse words from his teammates and wholeheartedly agreed with them.
Even after all these years, he still hated conditioning.
“Last one! Make it great, ladies!” his coach shouted, and Yunho twisted to turn again. He put his all into the last sprint, heart pounding erratically in his chest as he raced against the other soccer players to be the first to finish. The sound of their shoes against the grassy field sounded like war drums as they struggled to go faster, and faster still.
When Yunho crossed the line in a tie with Junsu, he groaned and toppled over, closing his eyes against the sun. His chest heaved in an effort to suck in more air as he raised an arm, resting it over his heated forehead.
A shoe poked him in the stomach a second later. Yunho just groaned again and batted it away with his free hand.
“Get up. You know that lying down after conditioning isn’t going to help you recover,” Junsu said in between his all panting. Yunho struggled to squint an eye open; Junsu didn’t look any better than Yunho felt, and he looked just about ready to collapse. Yunho closed his eye again, making a quick decision.
“Go away,” he panted. “I am staying right here.”
“Fine!” Junsu snapped, the horrible conditioning making his tone sharp. Yunho didn’t let Junsu’s anger get to him; he knew all too well how conditioning affected people’s moods. Yunho listened silently as Junsu stomped away from him.
A second later, some footsteps approached him.
“Coach just gave the signal that we were done for the day,” a boy told him. Yunho grunted, showing that he heard the other.
“I’m just going to catch my breath before I get up,” Yunho said.
“Okay.”
Then he was left alone in the day’s dying sunlight.
When he was finally recovered enough to breathe in deeply, he laid in the field, letting the cold air dry his sweat. Slowly, each drop of sweat cooled to nonexistence, leaving him feeling nice and human again. He still felt a little gross and grimy, but thinking about a shower was enough to make him happy.
At one point, the cold air got to be too much; he began to feel just the slightest bit like he was in a freezer. He shivered, rolling around a few times to try and warm himself up to no avail. It looked like he would have to get up soon. He almost pouted at the thought.
When he heard footsteps nearing him, he frowned in confusion. He thought everyone had left the field already. He grudgingly opened his eyes.
His breath was stolen from him again.
Jaejoong stood in front of him, cradling Yunho’s jacket in his arms as he tentatively gave the tired boy a smile. The setting sun was directly behind Jaejoong, making it hard for Yunho to look straight at him. It cast this brilliant light of purple, pink, and orange around the boy. Jaejoong looked like he was actually glowing.
No matter how much it hurt Yunho’s eyes to stare, he couldn’t stop; he soaked it in, sealing it carefully into a place he’d always be able to remember it.
Jaejoong was stunning.
“You’re going to get a cold if you don’t put on layers soon,” Jaejoong told him. His smile faded when Yunho just continued to stare, turning red as he cocked his head in confusion. They stared at each other before Jaejoong finally bent down, waving a hand over Yunho’s eyes in concern. “You didn’t already catch something, did you?”
Yunho blinked, a smile edging past the corners of his lips. He abruptly sat up and Jaejoong, startled, ended up falling backwards onto his butt with an “Oomph!” They stared sheepishly at each other before laughing.
And Jaejoong’s laugh was just about the best thing Yunho had ever heard in his entire life.
“I nominate Jung Yunho for our Class Representative!” Lee Donghae stood up, a devilish smile on his face. Yunho looked up from where he’d been staring at Jaejoong, his eyes widening in confusion and slight terror.
“Wait, what?” he asked, turning his head around and around to make sense of what he’d just heard. He jerked in a spazzy manner when he realized everyone was staring at him. “No!” He waved his arms in the air in futile, shaking his head vigorously. Changmin hunched over in his seat, shoulders shaking as he sat snickering at Yunho.
“I second that!” Junsu suddenly called, a perfect poker face showing nothing but seriousness. Yunho’s eyes practically popped out of his head. Changmin almost fell out of his seat laughing.
“Well, we need one more person to nominate Yunho,” their homeroom teacher said, looking just the slightest bit amused. Yunho whipped his head around, glaring at anyone who even tried to raise their hands. He tried to say, “I will hurt anyone who dares to--” with his eyes, and while that itself didn’t seem to dissuade people from nominating him, the pity they felt for him thankfully kept them from doing anything stupid like making him the Class Representative.
“I want to nominate Yunho,” a voice spoke up, coming from a direction Yunho didn’t expect. He froze, and slowly turned to face where Jaejoong had stood up. The class quieted in shock.
The teacher chuckled, the only one who wasn't surprised at the sudden development. “Seems like you’re the new Class Representative, Yunho,” she said.
Jaejoong slowly sat down, ducking his head under the weight of the stares like it was a physical burden. He faced Yunho sheepishly.
“I think you’ll make a good Representative,” he told Yunho quietly, gracing Yunho with a small smile. His cheeks had just the faintest pink tinge. “Please don’t hate me.”
Yunho looked away, and his cheeks felt a little warm. He sniffed a little, shifting in his seat. He muttered, “I can’t ever hate you.”
And the way Jaejoong brightened made being Class Representative almost okay.
“So, hyung, do you like Jaejoong?” Changmin asked one day. Yunho refrained from spitting out the water he was drinking, instead swallowing it down and breaking out into coughs only a few seconds later.
“I -- what?” Yunho asked after he caught his breath, staring up at Changmin who had a less than impressed expression on his face.
“Do you like Jaejoong?” Changmin repeated, pronouncing each word as if Yunho were dumb. Yunho blinked.
“Well, yeah,” he said slowly. “Otherwise I wouldn’t hang out with him.” Changmin snorted, this time thoroughly unimpressed.
“I meant like like him, hyung.”
“I don’t-” Yunho stopped, frowning. Did he? He gazed blankly at the floor, struggling to find the answer to that question.
A few minutes passed before Changmin walked away quietly, realizing that he wouldn’t be getting an answer anytime soon. Yunho raised his eyes, staring as Changmin walked over to where Jaejoong and Junsu were talking, taking in the way Jaejoong shifted, how he blinked and how he talked and how just everything seemed so soft and beautiful around him.
Yunho swallowed.
That day, Yunho realized he was in love with Jaejoong.
And when he saw Jaejoong peer at him, smiling lightly, some emotion dancing in his eyes, he thought that maybe -- just maybe -- his feelings were returned. Suddenly, nothing seemed to matter.
Yunho smiled back.
Yunho stretched the kinks out from his shoulders, pushing himself up from the desk. The other Class Representatives were already packing their things as Yunho organized the papers in front of him. By the time he shrugged on his jacket, he was the last one left in the classroom -- maybe in the school, even.
He quickly stuffed the papers inside his bag as he walked out of the classroom. Night had already fallen - the air was chilly and the moon was high. Yunho shivered, huddling down into his warm coat as he quickly walked home. The city flared around him, vibrant and full of life despite how late and cold it was. He avoided crashing into people just barely, trying to make himself small. All he wanted was to go home and sleep, and maybe forget all about his new duties as Class Representative.
A flash of a familiar face stopped him in his tracks. He backed up, looking around in confusion for what had caught his attention. Who from his school would even be out at this time?
Not seeing anything, he shrugged, about to start walking again when he finally spotted him. Jaejoong shifted, looking completely in his element as he talked with a guy. He had lost the school uniform, decked out comfortably in jeans and a simple coat. Yunho almost started admiring him, but then Jaejoong laughed, collapsing against the guy he had been talking to in a way he had never done with anyone else.
Something in Yunho froze at the scene.
The guy grinned in response, and bent down to give a quick kiss to Jaejoong’s cheek, and Jaejoong punched him in the shoulder. Then the guy wrapped an arm around Jaejoong’s shoulders and ushered him away.
Their close, walking forms disappeared from his sight.
A few minutes later, when a woman ran into him, Yunho finally turned away and headed home.
“Yunho?”
The sound of his name being called brought Yunho out from his daze, and he looked up from his desk to see Jaejoong eyeing him in worry. Yunho wanted to look away, but he forced himself to smile.
“Hm?” he asked. Jaejoong only seemed to become more concerned.
“Did...you need a piece of paper?” Jaejoong asked him, pausing as if confused.
“Why would I need a piece of paper?” Yunho asked, thrown off by the question. He looked around the classroom in a daze.
“Because we’re writing now...” Jaejoong trailed off. Yunho saw Changmin and Junsu glance back as well, confused at the way Yunho was acting. He paid them no attention, turning away from Jaejoong.
“Oh,” he said quietly, rooting around in his bag to get a piece of paper. “Sorry, I have a piece of paper. Thanks though.”
“Yeah...” Jaejoong murmured, looked bothered. “It’s okay.”
In front of them, Junsu and Changmin shared an uneasy glance.
“What’s going on between you and Jaejoong?” Changmin asked during lunch. Jaejoong had run off to use the restroom during lunch break; the awkward air went with him. However, just when Yunho tried to relax, Changmin just had to have this conversation. Yunho resisted the urge to glare at the younger; he wished Changmin would stop being so nosy sometimes.
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
Junsu looked at him, munching happily on his bread. “I heard Jaejoong-hyung has someone he likes.”
Yunho stilled at that, clenching his fists. He relaxed them a second later. “I’m sure he does,” he said in an even tone, before pushing up from his desk and walking out the classroom.
Changmin stared after Yunho before he looked at Junsu, lips pressed into a thin line. “You are an idiot,” he told the other, shaking his head and leaving as well.
Junsu frowned, looking at all the empty seats around him.
“What did I do?” he whined.
It was amazing how spontaneous but strong emotions were sometimes. By the end of the day, something in Yunho was itching to be made known. He was restless; he couldn’t seem to sit still for longer than a minute. His leg bounced up and down at random intervals and his fingers drummed against the table every so often. Changmin had to glare at him a few times to get him to stop for longer than ten minutes.
When the last bell of the day finally rang, it felt like something had released Yunho. He sighed in relief, shrugging on his jacket. There was no soccer practice after school today; he’d have to walk with Jaejoong home.
He wondered why the thought made him feel sad.
“Are you ready?” Jaejoong asked, not looking him in the eye. His voice was muted. When had Jaejoong started pulling away from him?
“Yeah,” Yunho said, his own voice equally subdued. Or had it been him who started pulling away first?
The walk home was quiet, tense. Yunho found it hard to relax around Jaejoong; his heart was racing for some reason, and his hands were clammy even though it was still cold outside. He couldn’t help glancing at Jaejoong every second only to end up glancing down at the floor. He stepped over a few ants absentmindedly.
When they finally got to their houses, they stood outside awkwardly. One minute passed, maybe two, before Jaejoong finally turned away. Yunho had never hated the sight of a back more than in that one moment.
“Well...” Jaejoong murmured, sounding a little dismal. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Yunho debated with himself, not sure why he was even arguing with himself, before stopping Jaejoong with a “Wait!” Jaejoong stopped, already halfway inside his house. He didn’t turn around.
And all of Yunho’s feelings just came tumbling out.
“You know, at first, when I got to know you, people said that you were an Ice Prince. People called you names, and I didn’t believe them. They told me to not get close to you - that you were surely not friend material. I didn’t regret it for a moment when I decided to not listen to them. Seriously.”
Jaejoong was silent.
“But then my feelings started to change, you know? Something felt different when I started to see you in the mornings, and during class, and in the afternoons when you waited for me to finish soccer practice. Then one day, I saw you out with a guy; you two were hugging and he even kissed you but that was when I realized that I don’t want to be friends anymore,” Yunho said. Wow, it felt really good to get it off his chest. He paused, catching his breath before continuing, “I don’t want to keep tiptoeing around like this. Can we--”
“I get it,” Jaejoong suddenly interrupted. He sounded like he was about to cry. And without another word, Jaejoong turned and disappeared into his house. The door closed silently.
Yunho stood outside, staring at Jaejoong’s door numbly. It felt an awful lot like he’d just gotten rejected.
The next day, Yunho waited outside for Jaejoong at the regular time, determined to not show just how crappy he was feeling to the other boy. However, as more and more time passed without a single sign of Jaejoong, Yunho began to feel worried. Was Jaejoong avoiding him? Yunho wrinkled his nose, shaking his head. The world didn’t revolve around him; maybe Jaejoong had a legitimate reason for not showing up. Maybe the other caught a cold or something?
When he went up to Jaejoong’s house, though, Jaejoong’s mom told him that Jaejoong had left early that morning.
Yunho got to class that day twenty minutes late. And when he sat down in his seat, Jaejoong didn’t look at him even once.
Three weeks passed like that. Jaejoong constantly avoided him, and Yunho slowly stopped trying to catch him. His duties as a Class Representative increased, so he had to leave during breaks to take care of the jobs he’d been assigned; soccer was picking up as well as spring slowly came around the corner. Yunho practically ran himself ragged even when he wasn’t worrying about Jaejoong. Unfortunately, he worried about the other boy and his sudden coldness constantly.
Changmin pulled him out of the classroom one day, with Junsu hovering awkwardly in the background.
“You and Jaejoong are making everything really awkward,” Changmin started, a determined glint coming to life in his eyes. Yunho smothered a groan. Now Changmin really wouldn’t leave him alone. “So you are going to tell me what happened between the two of you right now or I will do something horrendous to you.”
Yunho thought a little about resisting, but then he remembered that it would be pointless anyway. This was Changmin he was talking to; anyone else would’ve taken his excuses, but this one would actually follow through with what he said. He resisted the urge to groan again - why was Changmin so evil?
So he told Changmin everything - he told him about how he saw Jaejoong out with someone, how jealous he was seeing them together; he told him about how he tried to confess, only to get rejected.
“Then he shut the door before I could finish,” he ended lamely. Yunho couldn’t figure out what depressed him more, the fact that he had to explain why things were so awkward between him and Jaejoong, or the fact that the whole recap only took ten minutes.
“How, exactly, did you confess to him?” Changmin asked, his voice strange. Yunho paid no attention to it, glaring at the younger instead.
“Are you trying to strip me of any pride I have left?” Yunho bit out, not liking this one bit.
“You have pride?” Changmin asked, and Yunho deflated. Changmin smiled. “That’s what I thought. So? What did you say while confessing?”
“I just told him about my feelings and how I didn’t want to be just friends,” Yunho said grumpily.
“...” Changmin went oddly silent before asking, “Is that where he closed the door on you?”
“Yeah,” Yunho muttered.
Changmin suddenly rolled his eyes, turning away to leave Yunho alone.
“Hey!” Yunho called after him, confused. “Where are you going?”
Changmin didn’t answer, but Yunho thought he heard the word “idiot” come out of Changmin before he vanished down the hall.
When Yunho got a call from Changmin asking to hang out two days after their strange talk, he didn’t think anything of it. Changmin had some fairly confusing mood swings, and Yunho had stopped questioning it a long time ago.
It was raining when Yunho got outside, so he sprinted the entire way to the restaurant him, Changmin, and Junsu were meeting up at. It was a quaint little food place located about one mile from the school and two miles from his house. When he got there, he stood under the shelter outside, just catching his breath. All the conditioning from soccer was becoming useful, he thought, even though he hated admitting it.
When he finally recovered, he pulled off his top jacket, wincing at how wet it was before pulling the handle open to go inside the building. He searched for his two friends, moving further into the busy restaurant when the initial scan failed.
“Yunho!” Junsu’s voice pierced through all the rest, and Yunho spun around, hand already in the air to wave, when he saw who else was at the table with Junsu and Changmin.
Jaejoong... and his boyfriend.
Yunho pressed his lips in a thin line, feeling oddly betrayed, for just a moment before offering a stiff smile, completing his wave as he headed toward them. Changmin offered him a knowing smile - more of a smirk, really - as he introduced Jaejoong’s boyfriend.
“Yunho, this is Yoochun, Jaejoong’s best friend,” Changmin said. Yunho practically choked on his spit. Changmin turned to Yoochun. “Yoochun, this is Yunho.”
Yoochun offered Yunho a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Yunho breathed as he slid bonelessly into the first chair he could find. He had an insane urge to just start laughing, but he held it in. Instead, he laid his head onto the table, trying to recollect himself from the crazy urges plaguing him. He didn’t want to scare anyone off, after all.
“Is he okay?” he heard Yoochun ask everyone else.
“Yeah, I think he’s just fine,” Changmin replied. Junsu snickered.
It took a lot of thinking on Yunho’s part. His chain of thoughts had started after his talk with Changmin, and they were slowly coming to an end as Yunho chewed thoughtfully on a dumpling. Opposite of him, Jaejoong sat eating his own lunch calmly, taking a bite of food and then washing it down with a sip of water.
Now that he was more open to it, he kept on replaying their last conversation in his head.
”I get it.”
Yunho tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his thighs. Jaejoong got it?
”I get it.”
What did Jaejoong get, exactly? Yunho played around with the rice on his plate, replaying the bits of conversation he could still remember.
”I don’t think we should be friends anymore.”
A thought struck him suddenly. Had Jaejoong thought that Yunho meant to say that they literally shouldn’t have been friends? He frowned. Surely not. And yet, that was the only way Jaejoong’s actions made sense.
If that were the case... well, now he knew why Changmin had called him an idiot. He resisted the urge to slam his head against the table.
No amount of praise in that moment could have made him feel any less dumb.
The rain had stopped by the time they got out. Yunho quickly went to Jaejoong’s side, determined to right the misunderstanding that he had caused as soon as possible. If he let Jaejoong go today, there would still be a chance that Jaejoong would try to continue avoiding him, so as soon as they stood up, Yunho caught Jaejoong by the elbow, gently steering them away from the rest of the group. They hung back, letting the distance between the two groups deepen, until Yunho eventually pulled them to a stop.
“I need to talk to you,” he told Jaejoong seriously.
“Me too,” Jaejoong replied, looking a little doubtful.
A pause. “You go first,” they both said at the same time. They blinked at each other before grins twitched onto their faces, and then they were laughing. Yunho basked in the feeling; he’d missed it -- missed laughing with Jaejoong, missed seeing how Jaejoong’s eyes disappeared because he was just grinning so hard and it felt like Yunho was just so happy that it felt impossible for him to remember all the depression he had gone through to get to where he was at the moment.
“No, seriously, you go first,” Jaejoong said after they both caught their breath. Yunho smiled, his eyes tracing the lovely flush that made Jaejoong’s cheeks the slightest pink before he gazed into Jaejoong’s eyes.
“Alright,” he said. He took a deep breath, calming his suddenly racing heart. “I think you misunderstood what I was saying during our talk last month,” he started, averting his eyes to the ground. “What I said was true - I don’t want to be friends. I want to be something more than friends. I couldn’t stand having all these feelings for you and not doing anything about it.”
He raised his eyes. Jaejoong looked stunned. Yunho rushed along before he lost the nerve to ask what he really wanted. He gave a hesitant smile. “So... Jaejoong, will you be my boyfriend?”
Jaejoong didn’t respond. Yunho swallowed, worrying the inside of his cheek with his teeth as he nervously waited for the answer. Finally, Jaejoong moved, pinching himself.
“Nope, it hurts,” Jaejoong muttered, much to Yunho’s confusion. Jaejoong looked at him in the eye, and the hope shining on his face just made Yunho want to hug him and never let go. “I’m not dreaming right now? This is really happening?”
Yunho broke out into a large grin, shaking his head. His chapped lips hurt from his sudden smile, but he didn’t care. He was ecstatic, giddy and just all-around happy, and it was just about the best feeling in the world. “No,” he said, “I promise this isn’t a dream right now.”
“Then would it be too much if I accepted?” Jaejoong asked, biting his bottom lip.
“Not at all,” Yunho said, laughing. “I’d prefer if you accepted, actually.”
And seeing Jaejoong’s smile was like falling in love all over again.