[Fic] like buttered bread, we're inseperable | YooSu AU
Title: like buttered bread, we're inseperable
Pairing: YooSu
Length: Oneshot
Genre: Angst/Romance/AU
Rating: PG-13ish?
A/N: Wrote this in a moment of...melancholy/emo feelings. Which I seem to be getting a lot of...oh dear, and I think I just figured out why. *shrugs* (guess it helps to write things out XD). Anyway~ I really liked the concept of this, the "bread and butter" superstition. I don't think execution was that great. :-/ Could have been angstier but I already thought it was angsty enough when I was writing it....I'm such a wimp.
Welcome aboard to flight 598 heading to the French Polynesians and Bora Bora. Good afternoon. This is your captain speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts and bring your trays and seats to their proper positions. We will now begin take off preparations.
Yoochun feels a cold sweat start to break out all over his body. The butterflies crashing around in his stomach make him feel nauseous and he tries to distract himself by gripping harder onto the armrests, his left leg jiggling out of nervous habit.
A few seconds go by before a warm hand is placed on his thigh, effectively stopping the movement, Yoochun’s death grip on the seat transfers into a pair of warm hands. Yoochun turns to his seatmate, ready to tell him he’s changed his mind and wants to get off, but the smile that Junsu offers him and the encouraging squeeze of his trapped hand makes him change his mind.
“Thanks for agreeing to go with me. I know how much you hate flying.”
“Thank my heart, don’t understand why it had to go and fall in love with some crazy man that loves to travel so much.” Yoochun smiles, hoping it doesn’t look too much like a grimace, before moving his other hand to grasp Junsu’s, bringing them to rest over his heart.
“Plus…I am your love, right? Who else is supposed to go with you?”
The laughter that leaves Junsu sends pleasant butterflies throughout his body and the kiss Junsu gives him is enough to wipe away his nerves.
--
It was a third Sunday of the month when Yoochun literally ran into Junsu. He only remembers the day because he was on his way to meet his mother for breakfast, it was their tradition to meet every third Sunday for brunch, and Junsu was just leaving church.
Yoochun had side stepped onto the street, noticing the swell of the dispersing crowd and was intending to avoid it. Instead, he collided into another body. He turned towards the form, about to begin a string of apologies but instead found laughter in a pair of eyes and mischief in the curve of a smile.
--
Yoochun found out earlier on in their relationship that Junsu loved to travel. When asked about the next place he wanted to travel to, Junsu tells him that he’d like to go to Bora Bora. That he’d been saving up his money since he was young. It had always been his wish to take his most beloved there with him one day. Just the two of them.
When Yoochun asked if he’d ever been there before, Junsu replied with a shaking “no” but proceeded to pull out a bound notebook. His dream-book he called it, where he collected pictures of all the places he wanted to travel to, the things he wished to see with his own eyes. Pages and pages filled with colorful magazine cutouts and computer paper print outs. It was starting to fall apart a little and the edges of the pages were worn. Yoochun could tell that Junsu often liked to look through it.
Junsu had dedicated the first ten pages to Bora Bora, to the colorful plants and exotic animals and breathtaking views. But on the last page, he had left it blank, void of any pictures except for a simple scrawled heading up top; My Love and Me.
Yoochun promised himself that day, that he would take Junsu to Bora Bora. Even if he had to die trying. He hated flying.
--
They kissed for the first time on a balmy August afternoon. It was warm and stuffy, but underneath the shade of a large tree, with the slight breeze…
Yoochun had invited Junsu outside for his lunch break. Telling him that being cooped up in the office for too long was just not doing good things for his complexion.
Lunch was takeout sandwiches and bottled lemonade from the downstairs café. Their table and shade provided by the grass beneath their feet and the trees above.
They were laughing and joking and Yoochun doesn’t even remember what it was about, but in pausing to catch their breaths, he looked up to see Junsu’s hair catching the filtered rays and the wind gently teasing his locks, his eyes closed in enjoyment. The sight tugged at something Yoochun doesn’t think exists and he leaned over to capture the content sigh that was upon Junsu’s lips, deepening the kiss further when he was pulled into a sweet embrace.
...it was perfect.
--
“Bread and what?”
“Bread and butter, silly.”
Junsu returned his hand back to Yoochun’s, clasping their palms and intertwining their fingers, swinging their arms slightly to a beat in his head. It was after a nice meal at their favorite restaurant and the evening weather invited a walk home rather than needing a cab.
Junsu explained that when he was younger he would go out walking with his parents every night. It was a ritual of theirs, a way to get in some exercise and for them to bond. Oftentimes they would spend the whole thirty minute walk in silence, their hands clasped together the whole way. The only time they would break the silence was when it became necessary for them to break their hold, a pole or a person needing to pass between them.
“’Bread and butter’, was what we’d always say. My mother was the first to start this. She said it was a little superstition she learned when she was younger but it had always stuck with her. It’s bad luck to have something get in between you and the person you love. But if you both say ‘bread and butter’ it will help to avert any bad luck that may come to you two.”
“Just ‘bread and butter’?”
“You can’t separate butter from bread once it’s been spread, right?”
“So who’s the bread and who’s the butter?”
“In our relationship? Well obviously you’re the butter, you grease ball.”
--
Yoochun’s family was never overly flowery with words, preferring to show their love in their actions. So when Junsu said “I love you” for the first time, Yoochun was at a loss in how to respond, the words were there, but he seemed unable to say them. So instead of replying, he kissed Junsu, hoping his lips were able to better convey all his love through direct contact.
Later, when he wasn’t quite put on spot and their heart rates had slowed he returned the “I love you,” attached with an apology and an explanation of why he was so tongue-tied earlier.
Junsu just laughed, saying that hearing the words were nice, but he had already known that Yoochun loved him. He just felt the need to say it out loud for himself. Yoochun thought his heart couldn’t feel any fuller. He held Junsu’s hands, cradling them gently with his own before softly brushing the knuckles across his lips.
“I know you say you don’t need to hear me say ‘I love you’, and while I don’t always feel comfortable saying it. I just…” Yoochun then moved their clasped hands down and pressed them to his heart. “This is how I’ll say ‘I love you.’ When words aren’t enough to show you how I feel, I’ll hold you to my heart. ”
Junsu smiled brightly before bringing their intertwined hands over, resting them against his own heart.
--
Yoochun is jolted out of his sleep. How he managed to fall asleep, he’s not even sure. The captain’s voice comes onto the intercom. They had been experiencing a lot of turbulence in the last few hours but every time, the captain and cabin crew would inform them that it was normal and to please not worry. This, however, feels off. Yoochun tries to chalk it up to paranoia but the chill doesn’t quite want to leave his body.
This is your captain speaking. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we will have to make an emergency water landing. Life vests can be found under each passenger’s seat. Please do not be alarmed. I ask that everyone return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts. Cabin crew, prepare for landing.
The plane feels as though it’s caught between a horrible game of keep away; tilting, rocking, back and forth. This time, it’s Junsu who looks terrified. An odd calm had settled over Yoochun during the PA, but he figures it’s for the best. He reaches over, making sure Junsu has his seat belt on and secure before taking the napkin Junsu is nervously twisting around his fingers.
Slowly he grabs onto Junsu’s hands, clasping them in his and brings them to rest on his heart.
“Bread and butter, right?”
Yoochun doesn’t have to turn to look at Junsu to know he has tears in his eyes. Yoochun does too but he doesn’t know what else to say, how else to say all the things he has running around in his head. Yoochun feels Junsu’s hands twitch, as if about to argue. He knows they’re not separated and that this isn’t how the superstition goes and Junsu, only Junsu, would want to argue about something so stupid at this point in time, but he loves him for it anyway. So he clutches on even tighter, hoping Junsu will understand the sentiment behind it, knows that Yoochun’s praying for them to get out of this alive, but if they happen to become…separated, that it’s only temporary, that he’ll find his way back to Junsu and that he’s hoping that Junsu’s going to do the same.
Yoochun knows the message is received when Junsu squeezes once before bringing their hands over to his heart.
His voice is watery but strong when he returns the sentiment.
“Yes. Bread and butter.”