rumor has it - part two
Real-life with a twist. When Yunho and Changmin withdrew their lawsuit, it gave many fans the impression that their Rising Gods of the East had suddenly turned on each other. What, then, was the real story behind all the rumors?
Pairings: mild Yunjae, mild Yoosu, Homin
Rated: PG-14 for drama, violence, very slight mature content, angst angst angst
It seems like, once they start promoting full-time, Yunho’s inner leader is suddenly switched on.
He artfully spins a moving story about the hardships he’d gone through after the lawsuit, about starting promotions again “to protect the name of TVXQ”, something that management had agreed he should say so that the fans wouldn’t be suspicious. Naturally, they’re asked constantly about JYJ and the lawsuit, and Yunho always responds calmly, saying in true leader-sshi fashion that he hopes JYJ can resolve their issues with SM and come back soon.
The interviews always then turn to the topic of their relationship with each other. Changmin tries to respond neutrally, saying that they’ve grown closer and understand each other better, while Yunho takes advantage of the opportunity to stir up the fans’ feelings by saying that Changmin’s like his wife.
Every single time, Changmin seethes mentally, putting on an appropriate grimace, but he can’t help but feel flattered that Yunho cares about him so much.
Changmin usually lets Yunho answer questions regarding JYJ-it’s only fitting for his image as the leader-but that one time after he hears about Jaejoong announcing to his fans that JYJ is still a part of Dong Bang Shin Ki, he has to voice his thoughts, comparing JYJ to geese that have broken away from the flock. “How can they still consider themselves part of the flock?” he asks rhetorically, making sure later that Junsu and Yoochun know he wasn’t talking about them.
The fans seem happy that Changmin is openly reprimanding JYJ, with only a few exceptions, but out of the corner of his eye, he sees the disapproving look in Yunho’s eyes. It’s the last time he voices his opinions about JYJ in public.
Gradually, reporters stop asking about JYJ, though judging from the content of online blogs, the lawsuit is still a heavily discussed and hotly contested topic. Not to mention all the posts dedicated to the famous ‘YunJae couple’, now separated but still very much in love (never mind the growing ‘HoMin couple’), according to the songs that Shinjiroh Inoue very kindly keeps writing for them, pictures of Yunho looking old and tired, and Jaejoong tweeting about how depressed he is and writing songs professing his undying love and apologizing for leaving.
Changmin snorts to himself, after looking around to make sure that Yunho is nowhere in sight. It’s amusing how much faith the fans have in the love between Yunho and Jaejoong If only they knew, he thinks it’s the same love that led to their beloved band’s breakup.
e turns off his computer monitor and goes to look for Yunho to ask him if he wants dinner now or later. After going through two empty bedrooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen, he finds Yunho standing on the balcony, dressed in far too little for the April weather. Before Yunho notices him, he ducks back into his bedroom to grab a sweater, and then sneaks up on the other man.
Yunho’s yelp is muffled by the wool as Changmin tugs the sweater over his head, ignoring how it’s making Yunho’s hair stick up at odd angles. Yunho pouts at him and Changmin laughs at how much Yunho looks like a little kid, though he doesn’t miss the wearied slump of Yunho’s posture and the bags under his eyes. “Do you want dinner now, hyung?”
“No thanks,” Yunho replies, turning away to look out over the city skyline. “I’m not hungry.”
Changmin frowns at him. “You didn’t have lunch either. How can you not be hungry?”
“Maybe I just don’t need to eat all the time like you do,” Yunho retorts, but his teasing tone falls flat and Changmin is just a little bit worried now.
He turns Yunho around to face him, holding Yunho’s chin up forcefully when Yunho tries to look at the ground. “Are you sick or something?”
“I’m fine,” Yunho insists, trying to pull away.
Suddenly it clicks, and Changmin thinks that maybe the fans aren’t too far off after all. “You’re depressed, aren’t you, hyung?” he says, a bit bluntly.
Yunho sighs and abruptly slumps forward in Changmin’s arms, and the younger man staggers at the shift in weight, noting that Yunho feels much lighter than he should. “I just...I don’t know, I feel so tired and empty all the time and I feel like nothing’s working out for me.”
Changmin wraps his arms around Yunho, gently, reaching up to stroke his hair. “What are you talking about? Our songs are promoting so much better than even Lee Sooman sunsaengnim expected and our fans are still loyal to us, what more do you need?”
Yunho shrugs helplessly in Changmin’s arms. “I feel like I’m being overworked,” he sighs, and Changmin feels a painful clenching in his chest. “I’m tired all the time and they still make us perform even when it’s like, one in the morning.”
“It’ll be okay,” Changmin says, because he has no idea what else to say. “You’ll get used to it. You did before.”
Yunho mutters something that doesn’t sound like agreement, and buries his face in Changmin’s neck. “Changmin ah...”
“Yes, hyung?” Changmin makes the mistake of taking a deep breath and the smell of Yunho’s cologne hits him full force, making his head spin with longing.
Yunho removes his face from Changmin’s neck and glances up at him through his eyelashes, his topaz eyes dark. “Promise me you won’t leave me, Changmin ah.”
Something in Changmin’s chest implodes and he holds Yunho tighter. “I will never leave you.”
Yunho smiles finally, and allows Changmin to take him back inside for ramyeon and katsudon.
The two of them settle into a comfortable routine, their success almost rivaling that of the old TVXQ. They perform around the world with SMTOWN tours and Changmin’s chest swells with pride when the audience flashes red without fail upon the entrance of the ‘Kings’.
Yunho’s chosen for 'Kim Yuna’s Kiss and Cry', a survival audition program in which ten celebrities and ten professional skaters form couples and challenge each other in figure skating. Changmin is nervous and Yunho even more so, but his innate grace doesn’t fail him on the ice.
One episode, Changmin’s permitted to bring a friend (Kyuhyun, naturally) and come watch Yunho perform. Yunho is, as always, perfect, spinning effortlessly across the ice as his eyes search the crowd for Changmin. He smiles and winks when his gaze falls on Changmin and Changmin grins back, working up his courage to blow a kiss towards him and make it look like a simple thumbs-up.
Unfortunately, Yunho withdraws from the show because of the leg injury that he’d sustained during training. Changmin scolds him for getting hurt but takes care of him anyway, and he heals quicker than expected, just in time to finish up the last round of promotions. Afterwards, they’re scheduled to go to China, to Shanghai, in December and Changmin is dismayed to find out that Jaejoong is holding his own fanmeet the day after TVXQ’s.
“Junsu yah,” Changmin demands over the phone, none too happy. “Tell me exactly why Jaejoong decided to schedule his fanmeet in Shanghai theday after ours?”
“Sorry,” the older man says, sounding genuinely repentant. “I’m busy with Elisabeth and Yoochun’s filming Rooftop Prince, the fans were asking for him to do something.”
“But the day after ours?” Changmin presses, pacing now. “Really?”
There’s silence on the line for a few seconds, before Junsu sighs. “I know you don’t want to hear this, Changmin ah, but you’re not the only one who was affected by Yunho hyung’s injury. The past couple of years have been really hard on Jaejoong hyung too, you know. He misses Dong Bang Shin Ki.”
“It’s his own fault,” Changmin insists, but then he thinks of the whispers he’d heard, of Jaejoong refusing to eat, refusing to sleep, losing an unhealthy amount of weight, drinking far too much as if he’s trying to forget something, and he can’t be too cold. He sighs. “Sorry, Junsu hyung. I don’t really mean that, you know that right?”
He can practically see Junsu’s raised eyebrow. The last time Changmin called him hyung was somewhere around seven years ago. “It’s okay, dongsaeng,” Junsu says, sounding much lighter. “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll talk to you again soon, okay?”
“Sure thing,” Changmin replies, smiling, and hangs up.
Shanghai is quite nice, much cleaner than Beijing, and the fans are refreshingly respectful. But then, the night before they’re due to return to Korea, Changmin wakes in the middle of the night, cursing when he realizes that the other bed is empty. He sits up and turns on the light, noticing that Yunho’s shoes by the door are gone too, though his cellphone is still sitting on the table between the two beds. Groaning, he pulls on some clothes and heads out, almost dialing Junsu’s number before his head catches up with him.
Shit, he thinks Of all the times for Yunho to run off by himself, it had to b now?
He goes out onto the street, still debating whether or not calling Jaejoong is worth it. After several minutes of walking around and still no sign of Yunho, he decides that at the very least, two heads are better than one.
“Hello?” Jaejoong answers, sounding tired but perfectly alert even though it’s almost two in the morning, and Changmin winces when he realizes that maybe those insomnia rumors were true.
“Jaejoong hyung, this is Changmin,” he says, and braces himself.
“Why are you calling?” Jaejoong demands harshly. “Thought you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore?”
“Sorry,” Changmin says quickly, before Jaejoong can get himself worked up. “It’s just...Yunho hyung wandered off by himself and I can’t find him.”
He can practically hear the snide thoughts in Jaejoong’s head, but what the older man says instead is, “I’ll help you look,” and hangs up before Changmin can say anything else.
They comb the area for almost an hour, Jaejoong studiously ignoring Changmin every time they cross paths, and finally Changmin trudges back to his hotel, taking the stairs.
He almost gets a heart attack when he opens the door and sees someone sitting on the bed, before he realizes it’s Yunho.
“Yah!” he exclaims, not sure whether to feel relieved or angry.
Yunho looks appropriately sheepish, and Changmin shakes his head, stepping back out into the hallway briefly to call Jaejoong and tell him he’s found Yunho.
“Good,” Jaejoong replies curtly, and hangs up, but Changmin can hear the relief in his voice.
He steps back into the bedroom and smacks Yunho on the back of the head. “You almost gave me a heart attack, pabo yah,” he scolds. “What were you thinking, running off like that?”
Yunho clings onto Changmin’s arm. “I won’t do it again, Changminnie, I promise,” he says, fixing Changmin with his perfected puppy-dog eyes.
Changmin growls half-heartedly, unable to stay angry with that look on Yunho’s face, and lays down again, Yunho’s hands still warm on his biceps as he refuses to let go. “Whatever, hyung,” Changmin says with a perfect air of indifference.
“I had a bad dream,” Yunho murmurs quietly, laying his head on Changmin’s shoulder.
Changmin rolls over to face him, tugging the covers up over them and wrapping his free arm around Yunho’s shoulders. “Wanna talk about it?” he asks gently.
Yunho shakes his head, snuggling closer to Changmin. “’s fine,” he mumbles. “As long as you’re here.”
“O-okay,” Changmin stutters out, breathing unevenly as his heart pounds at the proximity. “I guess you can, uh, sleep here then.”
Yunho sighs in contentment and curls up, his breathing slowing as he falls asleep.
Changmin wakes early the next morning tucked into Yunho’s arms-somehow their positions had gotten switched around in their sleep-and curses silently when he feels an uncomfortable tightness in his pants. He extricates himself from Yunho, careful not to wake him; they get little enough sleep as it is. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he turns the shower to the coldest setting and shivers under the spray for a few minutes as he wills his arousal to wane.
He’s your leader, for goodness’ sake, is brain scolds. This is so, so wrong, Changmin.
Changmin rolls his eyes and pictures himself tying up his conscience and gagging it.
He steps back out of the bathroom, towel around his hips, and finds Yunho up and dressed, stumbling around packing loose items into their suitcases. Smiling fondly at the familiar sight, he gets dressed, trying to dry his hair with his (wet) towel before Yunho hands him the hairdryer. Their fingers brush as Changmin takes it from him, and to his utter mortification, he can feel the tips of his large ears going red.
Yunho, thankfully, doesn’t comment, and Changmin makes a run for the bathroom.
Maybe it’s because he’s just hyper-aware, having woken up pressed against the man he’d loved for longer than he’d been performing on stage, and with an erection no less, but every little movement that Yunho makes on the way home seems exaggerated. Changmin can’t help but notice every time Yunho uncrosses his legs and crosses them again, or how he licks his lips before turning to ask Changmin if he wants a drink or snack.
I’m so screwed, e thinks, breathing a sigh of relief when Yunho finally dozes off. But maybe he’s a masochist or just selfish, because he climbs into bed with Yunho again that night and Yunho presses up against him willingly enough.
“Maybe we should move into a smaller apartment,” Yunho says after a month has gone by and Changmin hasn’t touched his own bed at all. “It’ll cost less, and we obviously don’t need two bedrooms anymore...”
Changmin nods absently, busy editing telescope photographs so he can analyze the spectral lines and element composition of Shedir-the brightest star in Cassiopeia-for his astronomy midterm. At Yunho’s suggestion, after finishing his degree in performing arts at Kyunghee, he’d enrolled in nearby Konkuk University for a degree in astrophysics. It’s much harder than he expected, but he enjoys the challenge.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Yunho slink away, clearly a bit discontent that Changmin’s not paying attention to him. A long time ago, if this had happened, Changmin wouldn’t have cared, but now he finds himself feeling bad for ignoring Yunho You’ve gone soft, e scolds himself, and tells the computer program to graph the temperature curve for the star.
It doesn’t take them long to get their moving request approved, and Yunho’s had his eye on a quaint little place a few blocks further from the company building. Changmin wrinkles his nose at the fact that the bedcovers are pink, but decides that relative to everything annoying that he’s had to deal with since he debuted, this probably doesn’t even register on the scale.
Although, the fans’ squeals when they finally figure out that yes, Yunho and Changmin do share a bed-and even better, the bed is pink, exclamation mark-are significantly more obnoxious.
Life settles down for the most part, and the fans are quick to pick up on the fact that Yunho’s cheeks are rounder, his eyes are happier now, and he laughs with more liveliness. He apparently also has no problem with doing aegyo out in public, and although Changmin thinks it’s somewhat nauseating, it lightens his heart to see that Yunho is enjoying himself.
JYJ is quite successful as well, and though Changmin won’t ever admit it out loud, he’s proud of his bandmates, and happy for them. Junsu wins the Musical Popularity Award three years in a row, and even Changmin will admit that he’s definitely deserved it. Yoochun’s dramas are highly popular and though Changmin scowls privately when Yoochun overworks himself, he’s glad that Yoochun’s talent is so publicly recognized. Jaejoong is constantly praised for his songwriting skills, as well as his acting, which has improved rather a lot since their banjun drama days, and Changmin finds that just a little of his resentment towards the eldest has begun to fade.
Yunho doesn’t really try to keep up with JYJ, other than what he hears from casual mentions by friends and colleagues like Donghae and Hyukjae, and Changmin feels selfish for keeping it that way. He doesn’t talk about the others in the context of their present activities, only mentioning them when retelling those memories that Yunho doesn’t remember.
SM unleashes a new boy band, EXO, who are split into two subgroups targeting two different markets-Korea and China-a promotional tactic that SM had once considered for Dong Bang Shin Ki as well. Changmin laughs when he remembers that they’d wanted to put him and Jaejoong in the same subgroup with the Chinese member they’d wanted to add. Management had sometimes been a bit blind.
Yunho takes such a liking to EXO that Changmin feels a bit jealous, though he supposes it is true that EXO are closer to Yunho’s mental age. The fans conveniently think he’s just trolling his hyung when he says this, but they don’t know that he’s actually telling the truth.
Most of EXO don’t know about Yunho’s amnesia, given that they weren’t in the company when the other idols were informed, and they practically worship him, having heard numerous stories of the rising gods of the east. To them, Yunho acts as the wisdom-filled, all-powerful sunbaenim that they all worship, helping them through their debut even though TVXQ is busy with the Tone tour, and giving them advice. Changmin holds the other handset, or peers over Yunho’s shoulder at the video chat, adding his own advice whenever he feels that Yunho’s left out something.
Sehun asks them, privately, about a topic that neither of them have brought up since that time Yunho got drunk. “Sunbae-deul, I think I’m in love with my bandmate,” he says with a lisp, trying to hide any emotion in his tone the same way Changmin does.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Yunho says immediately, and flicks a glance at Changmin when he thinks the maknae isn’t looking.
Sehun glances back over his shoulder to make sure there’s absolutely no one within earshot. “Jonginnie is already taken,” he whispers.
Changmin inhales sharply.
Yunho looks at him worriedly, but continues talking to Sehun. “Who’s he dating?” he asks, with all the manner of a teenage girl gossiping about her friends. Changmin is well aware, though, that Jongin is the one that Yunho’s closest to-the one that reminds Yunho the most of himself.
Sehun pauses, takes a deep breath. “Luhannie hyung. My...my best friend.”
Changmin relaxes a bit, tells himself to breathe in and out calmly. “Sehun ah...Sehun ah, you can speak informally to me, okay?”
Sehun nods mutely.
“I’ll tell you a little secret, Sehun ah,” Changmin continues, hoping to comfort the boy. “I was once in your situation, too. Well, the man who was dating the one I love wasn’t my best friend. So maybe I don’t know exactly how you feel right now, but I would say that you should value friendship more than love. If you have to lose Luhan’s friendship to get Jongin’s love, it’s not worth it.” He pauses. “Sorry if that doesn’t really help,” he adds sheepishly.
Sehun smiles at him, just a slight curve of his thin lips, but it warms Changmin’s heart nevertheless. “It’s fine, sunb-hyung,” he says. “Sometimes knowing what not to do is better than knowing what to do.”
Changmin agrees wholeheartedly. He rather likes this Sehun kid already; he reminds Changmin a lot of his younger self. Maybe he should be part of the Kyuline, e chuckles to himself.
The Tone tour finishes impressively, with three consecutive concerts in Tokyo Dome. Changmin tries not to think about the last time he was here, tries not to imagine three certain other bodies dancing around the stage with them, and instead waves at the fans, teasing them as he’s grown accustomed to doing over the past few years. Yunho cries when he sees the ‘white ocean’ for “Still”, overwhelmed by the unfailing support of the Japanese fans, something they still haven’t found back home in Korea. Changmin teases him onstage just enough to make him smile again, waiting until they go backstage to pull Yunho into his arms and wipe away his tears.
Later, back in their Tokyo apartment, Yunho kisses him again, still tasting of salt and adrenaline, and Changmin decides he doesn’t care anymore, and kisses back.
Changmin’s been selected to star in his first Japanese movie, and Yunho flies back to Korea alone, at his own insistence. After Changmin finishes filming, he joins Yunho in Korea, taking a couple weeks off before beginning work on their second album as two, as promised.
Things are a little awkward between them for a while, both of them doing their best to avoid the topic of their relationship, until the day they’re invited to be on Joo Byung Jin’s Talk Concert with a few labelmates. Hyukjae, in particular, seizes the opportunity to reveal several ‘secrets’ about Yunho and Changmin’s relationship-how Changmin nags at Yunho about the littlest things and Yunho obeys Changmin’s every command anyway-and the others laugh.
They take a short break for water and Changmin thinks Yunho’s forgotten that the cameras are still rolling, because the leader leans over to rub at something on Changmin’s cheek, murmuring quietly to him that there’s a spot where his makeup is a tiny bit smudged-not enough for the cameras to pick up on, but enough for Yunho to be bothered by it.
Changmin freezes at the feel of Yunho’s warm fingertips tracing along his cheekbone, and he forces himself not to meet Yunho’s eyes, to remain stoic, but Yunho turns his head just far enough so that the camera won’t pick up his expression and pouts, asking Changmin why he looks so stiff and uptight, and Changmin can’t help the small smile that spreads across his lips.
When they get home Changmin throws all caution to the winds and presses Yunho up against the wall, kissing him senseless, and Yunho moans, all but dragging Changmin to the (pink) bed and straddling the maknae’s narrow hips.
Yunho kisses him again, soft and chaste, before they both doze off, and Changmin can’t remember ever being happier in his life.
The album is coming along well (and meanwhile, Changmin hears that JYJ has released their second English album) and their fans are extremely excited, as it’s been almost a year and a half since they released their last Korean album.
They’re practicing the choreography one day when Changmin spins a little too far and bumps into Yunho, causing the other man to lose his balance and hit his head on the edge of the filing cabinet standing in the corner of the room.
Changmin’s not even aware that he’s screaming until half of EXO comes running in from the room down the hall, Chanyeol almost tripping over Kyungsoo in shock when he sees Changmin crouched on the floor, hands splattered with blood as he cradles Yunho in his arms. Jongin grabs the nearest cellphone-Baekhyun’s-and Changmin hears him talking to emergency services, words coming out so fast in his panic that Changmin can’t understand them.
The ambulance pulls up in less than three minutes and Joonmyun gets Changmin down the stairs to the street, helping support Yunho’s weight. The paramedics force Changmin out of the ambulance despite his sobbing protests, and Sehun grabs his arm and drags him to Kyungsoo’s car, trailing the ambulance to the hospital.
There’s a dizzying sense of déjà vu sweeping over him as he bursts into the waiting room, pacing back and forth while Sehun keeps a close eye on him. The instant the doctor steps into the waiting room, Changmin pounces on him, demanding to be taken to Yunho’s room.
Yunho is sleeping peacefully with a thick bandage around his head, the various machines beeping steadily, and Changmin heaves a sigh of relief. He sits down on the bed, reaching out to trace Yunho’s cheekbone gently. After a few quiet minutes, Yunho stirs, turns his head into Changmin’s touch, his lips parting even though his eyes don’t open.
“Jaejoongie?” he whispers.
Changmin freezes, then snatches his hand away and bolts back to the waiting room.
Most of SM is crammed into the waiting room and Changmin doesn’t care who sees him cry anymore, running straight for Kyuhyun and almost knocking his best friend’s chair over as he tumbles into his lap, hands fisting weakly in Kyuhyun’s shirt.
He feels Kyuhyun tense with fear underneath him, a hand coming up to rub his back. “Changminnie? What’s wrong?”
“He remembers,” Changmin sobs. “He remembers..”
Kyuhyun is at a loss for words.
The crowd starts muttering in hushed voices and Changmin looks up just as a familiar slight figure pushes his way through, trailed by two others. He gets to his feet, refusing to look weak.
“Let me see him,” Jaejoong demands, his voice rough with tears.
“You have no right to be here,” Changmin counters calmly, despite the tears drying on his face.
“Changmin sshi,” Hyukjae speaks up, hesitantly, but Junsu kicks him in the shin and he shuts up.
“Don’t talk to me about rights maknae,” Jaejoong hisses, stepping closer.
“Hospital rules, not mine,” Changmin says coolly, taking another step closer as well. “Visitors are limited to family and friends. Seeing as you are neither, I can’t let you in.”
Jaejoong punches him.
Yoochun jumps in the way before Changmin can return the blow, fixing him with that look that immediately makes him feel like a chastised maknae again. “You’re hiding something from us, Changmin ah,” he remarks, dark eyes scrutinizing Changmin’s face. He’d always been able to see straight through Changmin.
Changmin curls his fingers into fists. “Fine. Go see him then.”
Jaejoong pushes roughly past him, and Changmin looks down so he doesn’t have to meet his eyes. He realizes that Yunho’s blood is still staining his skin.
Junsu finds him in the bathroom later, as he’s scrubbing furiously at his hands and wondering if the stain will ever go away. “Changmin ah,” Junsu says gently, covering Changmin’s hands with his own to stop his desperate motions.
Changmin shakes his head, trying to break free of Junsu’s grip. “Don’t touch me,” he says brokenly. “I’m tainted.”
“Changmin ah,” Junsu says again, “you’re bleeding.”
He cleans Changmin’s hands for him, tenderly, but when Changmin flexes his fingers he still thinks he sees Yunho’s blood on them. He shudders.
“Yunho hyung’s talking to Jaejoong hyung alone right now,” Junsu tells him as they leave the bathroom and sit down on the bench outside Yunho’s room, unwilling to face the crowd in the waiting room again. “Said he had some important things to tell him.”
“I knew this would happen,” Changmin mumbles, mostly to himself. But he can’t help but taste a sharp bitterness in the back of his throat as he feels his heart-only just freshly, barely healed-break yet again.
“Don’t be like this,” Junsu tries to reassure him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “You were the only one taking care of Yunho hyung for over three years, he won’t easily forget that.”
Changmin almost breaks down, leaning his head on Junsu’s shoulder. “Is it wrong that I don’t want to just be his maknae anymore? That I don’t want to just be the one who puts up with his shit when no one else does?”
“Of course not,” Junsu says immediately, rubbing his back soothingly. “You deserve better, Changmin ah.”
Changmin huffs out a sigh, burying his face even further into Junsu’s shirt. “Now that I know what it’s like for him to love me, I don’t want to lose it. Is that too selfish of me?”
Junsu strokes his hair. “It’s about time you were happy, Minnie ah,” he says quietly. “Yunho hyung won’t just forget you now, trust me.”
“I love you so much,” Changmin blurts out, muffled by Junsu’s shirt, and Junsu chuckles, pulling Changmin closer.
“Don’t let Yoochunnie hear that,” he teases.
“Too late,” Yoochun jokes as he rounds the corner. “Maknae yah, are you trying to steal my boyfriend or what?”
“Don’t worry, I know how to share,” Changmin replies easily, but he still sounds heartbroken.
Yoochun sits down on Changmin’s other side and wraps a heavy arm around his waist. Changmin lets out a shaky sigh, swiping quickly at his eyes before turning to nudge at Yoochun’s cheek with his forehead, like a cat. “Thanks, hyung.”
“Player,” Junsu laughs from behind him. “Whose boyfriend are you trying to steal, exactly?”
Changmin smiles innocently at him.
They sit there for a while, the maknae being cuddled protectively by his hyung-deul as if they think they can protect him from everything. Then Jaejoong steps out of Yunho’s room, his gaze falling immediately on Changmin. “Yunho would like to talk to you,” he says, flatly.
Surprised, Changmin shrugs out of Yoochun and Junsu’s embrace, stepping hesitantly past Jaejoong and into the room.
Yunho’s half-lying down, propped up by a stack of pillows. He looks up, noticing Changmin hovering by the door, and smiles. “Hey,” he says lightly, and it breaks Changmin’s heart.
Blinking back his tears, Changmin approaches the bed cautiously. “How much do you remember now, hyung?”
“Everything, I think,” Yunho answers, and Changmin notices that he sounds older, closer to twenty-seven than nineteen.
“That’s good,” Changmin says, trying to smile.
Yunho reaches out and touches Changmin’s cheek gently where Jaejoong had hit him. “What happened?” he asks protectively. “Who hurt you?”
Your boyfriend.. ldquo;No one, I just...” Changmin trails off, seeing the skeptical look on Yunho’s face. “Nothing,” he says finally. “It’s nothing.”
Yunho frowns slightly. “Changminnie, I think you and Jaejoong should have a little talk first.”
“But hyung-” Changmin tries to protest. He doesn’t miss the lack of the affectionate suffix on Jaejoong’s name, nor the suffix on his own, but he forces himself not to hope for anything.
“No buts,” Yunho says firmly, and Changmin is completely thrown off that suddenly, he’s no longer the only one giving orders. “Go talk to him.”
Changmin is rather unwilling, but listens to Yunho as he’s always done. Jaejoong eyes him distrustfully and strides away to an empty storage room, letting Changmin in first before locking the door behind him. Changmin tries not to shiver in fear. I’m still stronger than him, aren’t I?
“So,” Jaejoong says, leaning against the door. His pretty hazel eyes are like chips of ice.
“Yunho hyung told me to come talk to you,” Changmin tells him, wondering why he feels cornered all of a sudden.
Jaejoong smiles thinly. “He won’t tell you himself, then?”
Changmin shakes his head hesitantly. “What’s going on between you two?” he ventures, hoping they’re not just being hormonal again. He’d experienced enough of the two of them over seven years to last several lifetimes.
Jaejoong’s eyes drop to the ground, and he suddenly looks incredibly vulnerable. “Yunho’s officially breaking up with me,” he says, voice shaking.
“Oh,” Changmin says, for lack of anything else to say. “Okay.”
Jaejoong rolls his eyes. “Pabo,” he scolds, but it’s without any of his previous icy anger, only heartbreak and resignation. “You still don’t get it, do you? He’s breaking up with me because he’s in love with you.”
“W-what?” Changmin stutters out, the room seeming to spin around him.
“You heard me right, maknae.”
Changmin still doesn’t know what to say and Jaejoong sighs. “You better treat him well, okay? Because if you don’t, you’ll have me to answer to.”
“I-I promise.”
Jaejoong unlocks the door and lets him go back to Yunho’s room.
Yunho smiles, reaches out and interlaces his fingers with Changmin’s, and Changmin sits down on the bed, gently stroking Yunho’s hair.
“Changmin ah,” Yunho murmurs, as if he’s unsure what to start talking about. “Thank you for taking care of me so well over the past three years. I know it was hard for you.”
“It wasn’t, really,” Changmin reassures him, a bit awkwardly.
Yunho half-smiles. “Thank you for that as well, then.” He pauses. “I’m really not doing this right, am I?” he says sheepishly.
Changmin shrugs. “I wouldn’t know.”
Yunho chuckles quietly, wrapping his free hand around the back of Changmin’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss. “There, is that better?”
“I wonder what the fans would say,” Changmin muses, “about the sudden lack of YunJae fanservice and the sudden increase of HoMin fanservice.”
“Just say Yunho appa got a divorce and found a new umma for the family,” Yunho suggests, giving Changmin a peck on the nose just because he can.
Changmin blushes, much to his own embarrassment. “The new umma is not as nice as the old one,” he warns jokingly. “He nags all the time and makes fun of the baby dolphin.”
Yunho waves a hand dismissively. “I got used to it a long time ago.”