Title: Rejuvenation
Characters: Yunho, Jaejoong,
Pairing: YunJae
Length: Drabble
Rating: G
Genre: Non-AU AU (if there exists such a thing OTL)
Summary: Jaejoong is about to get the biggest surprise of his military life.
A/N1: Heavily inspired by all the rumours flooding us about Yunho and Jaejoong's activities. I do hope all of them are true, because, seriously, it's about time that the two of them meet in public already.
A/N2: Credit to Sara (saramoonwolf.tumblr.com) who made this lovely GIF I've used here. You're really amazing, Sara!
Jaejoong walked into the mess for breakfast, desperately trying to hide his yawns behind his hand.
“Rough night, Jaejoong-shi?” asked his friend in sympathy, holding out a bowl of rice.
Jaejoong mumbled his thanks and proceeded to empty about half the bowl in a single breath. “That just made me feel loads better. I finally understood why Changmin loves food so much,” he sighed. “Thank you for the food. Yeah, everyone in the band was up till about 3 am practicing for the music festival, and I had to stay up even longer to practice for the October event as well. I swear I will have to tape my eyelids open or something.” Jaejoong flopped his head on the table, exhaustion flooding his entire body.
“Jaejoong-shi, you’d better sit up. Our commanding officer is here.”
Jaejoong sat up with a monumental effort, struggling to look poised and aware as befit a soldier of the Korean army. He stared straight ahead, as the commanding officer of his division walked towards the podium situated at the head of the table.
“Everyone, listen carefully. We have fellow soldiers with us from the 26th division. They are here to collaborate with us and participate in the upcoming festivals. I expect you all to extend them every courtesy. Guests, please come in.”
Jaejoong watched as a line of soldiers marched in upon hearing the commanding officer’s words, and then rubbed his eyes as surreptitiously as he could, unable to believe his eyes. He could only see the backs of the new soldiers from the 26th division, but he was prepared to swear that one particular back looked extremely familiar to him.
“Thank you for your kind words of welcome, we hope to do our best here,” said a deep, very familiar voice.
Jaejoong dropped his chopsticks into his rice bowl with a loud clatter, which was fortunately masked by the sound of the new men saluting their commanding officer with a loud yell of “Loyalty!”
“Welcome, Squadron Commander Jung Yunho,” Jaejoong felt his eyes growing impossibly larger as he heard the words and watched as the soldiers turned around to face the men seated in the mess. He was finding it difficult to breathe as he struggled to move his gaze from the boots of the soldiers to look up at the beloved face he hadn’t seen in such a long time.
“Jaejoong-shi? Is something wrong?”
Jaejoong shook himself, trying to hold on to some semblance of poise. “Fine…I’m fine.” His eyes moved higher, immediately fixing on the one person he would always be able to point out, from even a million miles away.
Beautiful doe eyes looked into warm almond ones.
Jaejoong felt his cheeks bloom with colour and watched as Yunho gave him a tiny barely noticeable smug smile before marching back out of the mess hall.
“I hope they’re as good as their reputation,” muttered his friend.
“Don’t worry,” said Jaejoong in a daze. “Now that Yunho is here, life in the barracks is going to be a lot more fun.”
His friend looked up at him in surprise. “Do you know him then?”
Jaejoong was spared the necessity of answering the question by the sound of another soldier approaching their table.
“Private First Class Kim Jaejoong?”
“Yes”
“Our Squadron Leader has asked for someone from your division to assist him in his duties here, and your commanding officer suggested your name. Follow me, please”
Jaejoong leaped up immediately, all exhaustion forgotten.
“But Jaejoong-shi, weren’t you absolutely exhausted about five minutes ago?” said his friend, clearly surprised at the sudden energy with which he stood up.
Jaejoong smiled down at him, allowing his smile to reflect every bit of the happiness that had been flooding his body ever since he’d made eye contact with Yunho.
“Not anymore. I'm not. I’ve been rejuvenated.”