Trust Me
Yunho tapped his foot fretfully against the driver’s seat, fidgeting nervously on the expensive leather. Why wasn’t Jaejoong back yet? How long does it take to drop a stupid spider in an alley and come back? Yunho was sure something had happened to him, something unimaginably terrible. He stared out the window, his hand gripping the door handle for dear life. He could already imagine the boy following some stranger back to their home, because they were being ‘nice’. What if he fell and hurt himself? What if evil aliens abducted him? What if he was being mugged for his money? He doesn’t even HAVE any money!
Yoochun watched his boss dig himself into a metaphorical grave of worry, and smirked knowingly. Yunho’s emotions had always been painfully obvious on his face. Yoochun had noticed all the signs. The butler had seen this coming ever since his boss had carried the kid on his back into the mansion and to the main guest room, refusing to let anyone else touch him. Jaejoong had seemed about two seconds away from dropping dead then.
“What’s taking him so long? It’s a freaking spider for crying out loud!” Impatience, check.
“It’s only been three minutes. Maybe he found a nice house for Spy at the back of the alley.” He sniggered when his boss shot him a glare. Irritability, check.
“Shut up. There shouldn’t be spiders in this car in the first place. Where is he, anyway? Is he building the damn thing a house?” Unwarranted anger, check.
“Maybe you should go check on-” Yoochun wasn’t done talking when Yunho flung himself out of the car and slammed the door loudly. The butler smirked again. “Reckless behaviour, check.” He laughed loudly to himself as Yunho stormed down the sidewalk towards the alley. “This is going to be the most fun I’ve had in a while.”
Yunho had a bad feeling about this. His feeling worsened when he neared the small alley and heard a very deep voice grumbling a few feet from the mouth of the alley. It wasn’t Jaejoong’s voice. He rushed into the side street, and froze at the entrance. A fit dark haired thug was pressing the boy into the wall, slowly unzipping his oversized coat. “You smell like heaven.” The man growled, his lips almost brushing against Jaejoong’s ear. “I wonder what you taste like.”
“Get the hell away from him!” Yunho shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the short alley.
He hadn’t noticed the other two men standing guard on either side of the thug, his attention having been riveted towards Jaejoong, but when they all turned towards him in one sinuous precise movement he realized that three against one weren’t exactly odds he could work with. The dark haired man smirked and let out a short bark-like laugh. “So the boyfriend makes a grand entrance.” He smirked at Yunho, before turning back to Jaejoong. “What do you think angel? Should we give him a show?”
“I… I don’t understand.” Jaejoong shook his head in confusion. “I don’t want to play anymore, let me go please.”
“Shh…” The man caressed the boy’s cheek with a dirty finger, and he whimpered uncomfortably.
“Don’t you touch him!” Yunho bellowed, walking forward. The other thugs moved away from the wall and stood in front of him. It was almost comical how the one on the left was tall and fat, while the other was short and thin. If this were a different, less life-threatening situation Yunho would have laughed.
“What are you going to do tough guy?” The short one stepped up, probably to make Yunho move back, but he stood his ground. “What? What? You think you can just walk in here and interrupt the boss? Little bastard.” Yunho didn’t bother to mention that he was at least a foot taller than the man.
He ignored the tiny man, instead scanning the path for something he could use as a weapon. His uncle had made him take Judo classes as a kid. You never know when you’re going to have to beat the crap out of some idiot. Although he kept up his classes and physique, this wasn’t going to be easy. “What a pussy. He’s not even going to answer, is he?” The big guy took a swing at him, and Yunho dropped down and kicked his legs out from underneath him, using the same opportunity to grab a discarded bottle off the asphalt, and shot back up to hold it right under the skinny boy’s neck.
Jaejoong shrieked loudly, and Yunho swivelled his head towards him for fear that he was in danger, but the boy was staring at him with wide frightened eyes, the same look he had when Yunho’d freed him from the golden cage. Was he afraid of him? “Jaejoong…” He pushed the short man aside, and he bumped into the rising fat guy who fell over once again. He reached his hand towards Jaejoong, and then noticed the dark haired thug had flipped a switch blade open under his throat. Jaejoong was breathing heavily, and shuddering as he tried to escape the gleaming knife, eyes never leaving Yunho’s. The angel felt scared and confused. He’d watched Yunho fight, hurt people, and had felt somehow safe. But that didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t understand the thoughts in his mind, and he was scared of the blade digging into his throat. It was all a confusing jumble. He looked at Yunho, somehow trusting that the man would save him.
“Not so brave now are you, tough guy?” The thug grinned at Yunho, making Jaejoong shiver uncomfortably. Was he going to cut Yunho too? “Take one more step and I’ll cut this little angel’s pretty, pretty face.” Jaejoong bit his lower lip, and tried to move back again. How did the man figure out what he was? No one was supposed to know! The man sighed sadly. “It would be a shame to scar something so pretty.” He drew slow circle over his cheek with the knife, and the angel whimpered in fear.
“Let him go. I don’t want any trouble.”
“That’s too bad. I love trouble.” He grinned and licked the edge of the switch-blade. He pulled the knife away from Jaejoong to point it at Yunho. “See-”
The man’s wrist was twisted backwards and the knife fell to the floor, so quick he barely saw it. Jaejoong blinked in confusion. He saw the dark haired man fall to the ground, but he hadn’t seen how. Before he could figure it out, Jaejoong was grabbed by the hand and dragged away. He stumbled after Yunho as the man ran past the other two thugs, leaving them behind. Yunho ran to his black car quickly. He opened the door, and made Jaejoong slide in ahead of him. The thugs, stood at the mouth of the alley, their heads swivelling around as if they were looking for them. Yunho shut the door behind him and ordered his butler to drive. “To where?” Yoochun had grumbled, unaware of their situation.
“To the mall like we’d planned.” Yunho groaned and turned his attentions back to Jaejoong, who was hugging his knees against his chest and staring worriedly out the window. “Hey…” Yunho carefully stretched his hand towards the boy, and gently patted his shoulder. Jaejoong made an effort not to squirm away from the touch, and turned to look at the man’s piercing eyes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” The boy shook his head, his eyes tearing up. “Were you scared?”
The angel nodded. “Why… Why did he do that? Why was he so mean?” He looked at Yunho, expecting an explanation. “You’re not mean to me.”
Yoochun shot him a disbelieving glance through the rear-view mirror. “Is this kid serious?” He scoffed. Yunho shot him a glare. The butler rolled his eyes, and went back to watching the road.
Yunho slid carefully closer to the boy, moving his hand up and down his arm soothingly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” He scooched closer cautiously. “Not all people are like that.”
“You hit them.” He shrugged his shoulder away from Yunho’s touch. “You hurt them, and that’s wrong.” Jaejoong turned away from him and stared unhappily out the window.
Yunho gaped at the odd creature in front of him. It didn’t make any sense at all. This was the demon that’s supposed to bring forth the end of the world? He couldn’t even stand a fistfight. Yunho stared at the back of Jaejoong’s head and frowned. “Jaejoong… I was protecting you.”
“That doesn’t mean you can hurt other people. They were humans like you.” The angel huffed, staring unerringly out the car at the scenery speeding by. “This world doesn’t make any sense.” He sighed sadly.
Yunho felt sorry for the boy. “Listen, Jaejoong.” He gently tugged at Jaejoong’s hand and intertwined their fingers. The younger man looked up at him, biting his lower lip. “Humans aren’t all the same. We all have some bad in us, and some good. Sometimes good people do bad things, and bad people do good things.”
Jaejoong pouted adorably at him. “That doesn’t help me at all. How am I supposed to know who is good and who is bad? How do I know who to trust?”
“That’s something you have to judge by yourself. Don’t worry. You’ll get better at it with time.” Yunho smiled gently, and the angel couldn’t help but smile in return. Time was the one thing he had. He could stay here forever if he wanted. “I can help you.” Yunho nodded.
Jaejoong watched Yunho wearily. “How do I know I can trust you?” He asked him, staring straight into the piercing chocolate coloured depths of Yunho’s eyes.
The man smiled sadly, and softly caressed the angel’s cheek with the back of his hand. “You’ll have to decide that for yourself I guess.” He sighed.
Yoochun parked the car in front of the mall, and blinked at the two of them in his rear view mirror. That had to be one of the weirdest conversations he had ever heard. Was the kid some kind of alien? He watched them stare soulfully into each other’s eyes and cleared his throat, feeling somewhat guilty for disrupting their moment. “Uh… We’re here.”
Yunho reached over the boy and opened the door for him. “After you.” He smiled. Jaejoong stared at the man, before blinking quickly and nodding. He thought maybe his heart wasn’t working right. Was it supposed to be beating that fast?
They spent the rest of the day in the mall. First, they hit the clothing stores, where Yunho made Jaejoong try on outfit after outfit, buying almost everything that was in his size. There was always an incredible amount of green papers coming out of Yunho’s pockets. By lunchtime, the angel was tired. Yunho had left him in the food court with a wad of cotton candy and a big roll of money, to put the hundreds of shopping bags into the car. Jaejoong had bought just about anything that looked delicious and was munching it happily on his table. He watched the people walking by him, trying to decide which of the humans were good and which ones were bad just by looking at them.
His eyes were following this one man who sort of resembled the thug that had put the knife to his neck. The angel was just about to decide that he was bad, when an old lady tripped in front of him and he helped her pick up her groceries. Jaejoong sighed; people are just too hard to read. That’s when he saw them. They were right behind the thug like boy and the old lady, held in mid-air with chicken wire. Jaejoong got off his seat and shuffled quickly towards the costume shop, pressing his face up against the glass like he could go through it.
On display was a pair of small white wings, probably made for a child to wear on Halloween. Jaejoong bit his lower lip sadly. He reached towards his back and patted his shoulder blades, where his wings were tucked in safely. He would probably never spread them again. And his friends in heaven… he’d never see them again either. He turned away from the pretty wings, and returned to his seat, moving his chair so that its back was facing the display.
The angel ate the last of his food, and followed the man who was throwing away his garbage and did the same. “Excuse me, sir.” Jaejoong turned to face a golden headed girl holding a big map. His heart thumped in excitement, but faltered once he noticed the girl’s eyes were a deep blue and not shimmering gold like an angel’s. “Can you tell me how to get to the Nam-San tower?” Jaejoong blinked at her in confusion. “You don’t speak English?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where the tower is.” He bowed his head apologetically. Angels are masters of all languages, even those that are no longer spoken.
“Oh… can you read Korean?” She asked him, pointing at the map. “The guy said it was a thirty minute walk from here, but I can’t read where the exit is. I think there are some cable cars involved or something.”
“I’ll help you.” Jaejoong grinned, deciding for himself that the girl was a good person. He followed the girl out of the mall and walked with her to the tower. The girl was too excited to have found someone that spoke English to be bothered by Jaejoong’s oddly friendly demeanour. Besides, the boy seemed innocent enough.
They made it to the tower together, and the girl thanked him and left to join her worried friends. Jaejoong looked up at the tower, and got an idea. Maybe if he got up high enough to the heavens he’d be able to see the young angel trainees just like him. The tower was a high building on a mountain. It was perfect. He could get help, and go back home.
He stared up at the tower some more. There was no way he could climb all the way up to the peak of the building. He touched his shoulder, biting his lower lip. There was only one way he could make it there. He hid in the forest surrounding the tower, and pulled off his coat. He closed his eyes. Slowly, like a reluctant liquid, the gold poured down his hair and face, giving his porcelain skin a lovely golden glow. There was a gentle tug on his back that made his body arch towards it, and his great glimmering wings spread from his back.
He sighed contentedly, and looked up at the peak of the tower, fluttering his wings behind him.
Meanwhile, Yunho had returned from the parking lot. His eyes scoured the teeming food court for his dark haired companion. He was nowhere to be seen. “Jaejoong?” He blinked at the crowd, wondering where the kid could have gone off to. He asked a few people if they’d seen the boy, but none of them seemed to know who he was talking about.
He picked up his cell phone and called Yoochun immediately. “Chun… Jaejoong’s gone.” He said, panic seeping into his voice. “Shit, I told him to stay here, and I can’t find him!” Yoochun mumbled something about it being better this way, and Yunho got angry. “It is NOT better! I’m responsible for him! I have to find him.”
“Yunho, I’m sure he’s fine. Please take a deep breath.” Yoochun sighed on the other end of the line. “Did you call for him on the intercom?”
“No.” The man started walking, headed directly to the information booth. “What if he left the mall, Chun? What am I supposed to do then?” He palmed his face in frustration, hanging up and heading right up to the counter and ignoring the long line of people waiting for directions. “Excuse me, Miss.” He called for the lady on the other side of the counter. “I’m sorry, but I lost a friend of mine in the mall. He’s new to the city and doesn’t have a cellphone. Could you call him for me please?” The girl took one thorough look up and down Yunho, and smiled brightly, nodding her head. “Thank you. His name is Jaejoong.” The lady called for him to come to the center. Yunho wrote his phone number on one of the cards on the counter and handed it to the lady. “Here, if he comes here call me on this number. Thank you.”
Yunho stormed away, rushing down the long halls, and looking around conspicuously for anyone who looked like the boy. He mistook two guys and one girl for him, apologizing quickly, before continuing down the hallway. He was back at the food court again, looking left and right crazily. The wing display made him stop in his tracks. Yunho walked towards it, confused as to why he was doing it, but unable to stop himself. He stood in front of the display, and stared at the small white wings, meant for a child’s Halloween costume.
The old lady who owned the shop came out and smiled at him. Yunho bowed to her politely, about to walk away from the store, when she said. “You weren’t the only one admiring these wings.” She smiled. “Do you have a child you want to give these too?”
“Oh, no…” Yunho bowed apologetically. “I’m very sorry. I was just looking for my… my friend.”
The lady nodded. “What does he look like? Maybe I can help you look.” She smiled, hoping to be helpful.
Yunho grinned gratefully. “Thank you. He’s about this high.” He held his hand up to his chin. “He has short black hair, with long bangs, and his eyes are really big and wide.”
“Oh yes. I’ve seen him. He was here about an hour ago. Is he the really pretty boy? He looked like an angel?” The lady smiled happily at the glimmer of hope in Yunho’s eyes when he nodded. “Yes, if it’s the same boy, he was staring at those wings. I was going to talk to him when this foreign girl came up to him and asked him for directions.”
“Really? Did you see where he went?”
The old woman held her chin pensively, trying to remember the conversation that had happened in English. “He left with her, so I assumed they were friends. I think they were talking about going to the Nam San tower, but I can’t be sure.”
Yunho shook the old lady’s hand, and bought the pretty angel wings from her as a thank you. He took off towards the parking lot, before the lady could hand him his change, holding the big bag with the wings gingerly in his left hand. Yoochun saw him storm into the lot and started the car. He got in and told his butler to take him to the tower. “We can’t take the car there.” Yoochun reminded him. “You’re going to have to walk from the station.”
“I know.” Yunho growled tapping his foot against Yoochun’s seat in worry.
“Are you sure he’s there?”
“No, but I was walking around the damn place for an hour and I didn’t see him. This is the best lead I have anyway. I called him at the information center. If he gets there the girl will call me.” He bit his lower lip, fidgeting nervously. “Can’t this go any faster?”
“No. It can’t. Call in a chopper if you’re that nervous about the kid.”
“Shut up.” Yunho grumbled. They made it to the station, and Yunho quickly hopped out following the map that his butler handed him to get to the cable cars. He grumbled to himself all the way to the tower, angrily glaring at the cable car for being so damn slow.
Yunho burst out of the car and quickly started looking around for Jaejoong. There were a group of people standing at the bottom of the tower, gasping and wailing about something he couldn’t understand. “What’s going on?” He asked a foreign girl in his best English.
“There’s a guy stuck up there on the top of the tower! How did he get up there?” She wondered out loud. “We’ve called the police, but they’re stuck at the bottom with no easy way up.” She continued, but Yunho had already disappeared into the tower.
He angrily pressed the button to the elevator. “Come on. Come on.” He growled. The doors dinged open and he stepped in, pressing the button for the highest floor. Yunho had no doubt that it was Jaejoong up there. He either climbed up the damn tower or flew there with his demon powers or whatever, it didn’t matter. The elevator doors opened again, and Yunho rushed out heading to the glass covered walls. “JAEJOONG!” He shouted through the glass, slamming his fist against it. The entire floor was empty, most of the employees and clients having gone down to witness what they assumed to be a suicidal man perched on top of the tower. “JAEJOONG!” He screamed again.
Some glimmering gold, caught his eye, and then Jaejoong’s head made an appearance at the top of the window pane. His eyelashes changed from gold back to black in a blink of an eye. He pressed his hand against the glass. “GET DOWN FROM THERE!” Yunho hollered. “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU GOT UP THERE, BUT YOU BETTER COME DOWN.” Jaejoong looked at him sadly, and mouthed that he couldn’t come down. “WHAT?” The boy’s head disappeared. “NO! COME BACK!”
Jaejoong pouted, hugging his knees to his chest. He sniffled, brushing the pouring tears away. His trip here had been useless. He had screamed and shouted at the heavens, and had even tried to fly over the clouds to get there, but his wings had gotten tired. Nobody had answered. And now he couldn’t even get back down. There were more people crowding the mountain than there had been before. They would see him if he turned back into his natural form.
“Jaejoong!” Yunho’s muffled voice came from the room again, and Jaejoong sighed. How had he found him, anyway? Was he psychic? “Jaejoong, please come back down! It’s not safe up there. I don’t know how you got up there, but you have to come down.”
“I can’t! If I come down they’ll see me.” He told Yunho.
“What? Jaejoong I can’t hear you!” He tapped the window again. Jaejoong bit his lower lip in thought. He needed to come down, and Yunho would help him. Yunho always helped him. He helped him out of the cage, and gave him food, and clothes, and more food. He liked the food a lot. “Jaejoong? Are you still there?”
He let go of his knees, and wrapped his legs on the long pole sticking out of the building to lean over and look through the window. Yunho sighed in relief. “Are you… Are you crying? Jaejoong, come down, please.”
The angel pressed his mouth against the glass and shouted at the top of his voice. “I CAN’T! THEY’LL SEE ME!”
Yunho blanched. They’d see him? As in… his demon form? He bit his lower lip, and looked up at the dark-haired boy, pegged to the window. “Move away from the glass.” He said, and blinked when Jaejoong nodded, having heard him through the thick glass even though he hadn’t raised his voice, and pulled away. Yunho looked around for something heavy enough to shatter the window. Big decorative rocks were put in a row at the entrance of a restaurant. He grabbed the biggest one and threw it with all his strength against the glass, and groaned when it didn’t break. He noticed it had cracked though. He tossed another rock at the window and it shattered. Millions of sharp pieces pouring down onto the ground like rain. There was a loud wind howling into the room with the place opened. “Jaejoong-ah! Come in through the window.” Jaejoong’s head appeared again. “CAREFUL! You’ll cut yourself on the glass!”
The angel bit his lower lip and looked at Yunho uncertainly. He’d still have to return to his real form to get into the room without risking falling all the way down to the ground. Not that that would’ve killed him. “I don’t want you to see.”
Yunho moved closer to the window, and held out his arms. “Trust me. I’ll catch you.”
“I don’t…” Jaejoong shook his head. He looked at Yunho again. Did he trust this man? “You won’t… You won’t tell anybody?”
“Of course not! It’ll be our secret, okay? I promise I’ll never tell anybody. Now come down.” Yunho begged, his eyes riveted on Jaejoong’s form. The boy closed his eyes and sighed. Yunho gasped in shock. The black of his hair was melting away, replaced by shiny blond. His eyebrows, and eyelashes followed then his skin glowed golden. Yunho took a step back in awe, when Jaejoong opened his gilded eyes.
The angel dropped from the ceiling, and Yunho moved to catch him before he fell on the shards of glass. Jaejoong swooped up, his big wings brushing against the shards of glass still clinging to the ceiling and dripping liquid gold. Gently he let his body drop in Yunho’s still outstretched arms. The man was staring at him dumbstruck. He folded his wings back into his body, returning to his human appearance.
The man walked forward out of the glass shards and fell on his knees. His eyebrows knitted together. “You’re an angel.” He whispered.
“You… You can’t tell anybody… It’s a secret.” Jaejoong reminded him. “Nobody’s allowed to know.”
Thoughts jumbled and mixed in his mind, leaving Yunho with a blinding headache. Why would his uncle cage an angel? Why would he lie and tell him Jaejoong was a demon? He pushed away the questions. He’d think of them later. “Are you okay? Why did you … why did you fly up there?” He asked the boy.
“I… I wanted to see them.” Jaejoong teared up, burying his face in Yunho’s chest. “I can’t go back anymore.” He sobbed, his frame shaking from his cries.
Yunho held him close to his body and patted his back soothingly. “Shh… it’s going to be okay.” He pushed himself off the floor to walk to the elevators, when they opened, letting in the people who were watching from the ground. More people came in from the stairs.
“You saved him!” Someone screamed. “He’s a hero.” The crowd erupted in loud applause. Ignoring them, Yunho walked through the people, holding Jaejoong against him protectively. He went into the elevator.
“Please give him some space. He needs his air.” Yunho told the people that tried to crowd the elevator. He pressed the ‘doors close’ button and they stayed back, taking out their cellphones and cameras to take pictures they’d probably send to the local newspaper. The doors finally closed. “Why… Why didn’t they answer?” He asked the angel. Jaejoong sobbed again, and hid his face in Yunho’s neck. “I mean… Don’t they… aren’t they angels too? Shouldn’t they…”
“It doesn’t work like that.” Jaejoong shook his head. “I knew it wouldn’t work, but I had to try.” He cried, tears streaming into Yunho’s shirt.
“I’m sorry…” Yunho mumbled unsure what to say. He adjusted Jaejoong in his arms, just as the elevators dinged and opened for them. He walked to the receptionist in the lobby, and gave him his number, assuring the man that he would pay for the broken window.
On their way home, Jaejoong had cried himself to sleep on Yunho’s lap. The man stroked his black hair. “What was he doing up there?” Yoochun asked him from the driver’s seat.
“Trying to see heaven.” Yunho smiled slowly, running his fingers in the silken hair.
Yoochun squinted at him through the rear view mirror. “What is he?”
“Hmm?” Yunho looked up from the angelic face to his driver. “What do you mean?”
“Come on.” Yoochun rolled his eyes. There was a bump on the road that made the entire car jump. Jaejoong stirred, but didn’t seem to have woken up. “I’m not deaf. I could hear you talk. You were saying things like he’s not even human.” Yunho rolled his eyes like what his butler was saying was absolutely ridiculous. “Don’t roll your eyes at me Jung! What is he?”
Yunho sighed, looking down at the sleeping figure in his lap. He wouldn’t break his promise. “Chun, I can tell you that right now, Jaejoong is absolutely human. He’s just a little bit confused. That’s all.”
The angel bit his lower lip to hide a smile, and kept his eyes closed.
~~~
A/N: Yes... I'm updating this one... I'm as shocked as you are!! *sobs* ENJOY... ur aloud to bash me for being a loser and taking 40 million gillion yrs to update this.
Yoochun watched his boss dig himself into a metaphorical grave of worry, and smirked knowingly. Yunho’s emotions had always been painfully obvious on his face. Yoochun had noticed all the signs. The butler had seen this coming ever since his boss had carried the kid on his back into the mansion and to the main guest room, refusing to let anyone else touch him. Jaejoong had seemed about two seconds away from dropping dead then.
“What’s taking him so long? It’s a freaking spider for crying out loud!” Impatience, check.
“It’s only been three minutes. Maybe he found a nice house for Spy at the back of the alley.” He sniggered when his boss shot him a glare. Irritability, check.
“Shut up. There shouldn’t be spiders in this car in the first place. Where is he, anyway? Is he building the damn thing a house?” Unwarranted anger, check.
“Maybe you should go check on-” Yoochun wasn’t done talking when Yunho flung himself out of the car and slammed the door loudly. The butler smirked again. “Reckless behaviour, check.” He laughed loudly to himself as Yunho stormed down the sidewalk towards the alley. “This is going to be the most fun I’ve had in a while.”
Yunho had a bad feeling about this. His feeling worsened when he neared the small alley and heard a very deep voice grumbling a few feet from the mouth of the alley. It wasn’t Jaejoong’s voice. He rushed into the side street, and froze at the entrance. A fit dark haired thug was pressing the boy into the wall, slowly unzipping his oversized coat. “You smell like heaven.” The man growled, his lips almost brushing against Jaejoong’s ear. “I wonder what you taste like.”
“Get the hell away from him!” Yunho shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the short alley.
He hadn’t noticed the other two men standing guard on either side of the thug, his attention having been riveted towards Jaejoong, but when they all turned towards him in one sinuous precise movement he realized that three against one weren’t exactly odds he could work with. The dark haired man smirked and let out a short bark-like laugh. “So the boyfriend makes a grand entrance.” He smirked at Yunho, before turning back to Jaejoong. “What do you think angel? Should we give him a show?”
“I… I don’t understand.” Jaejoong shook his head in confusion. “I don’t want to play anymore, let me go please.”
“Shh…” The man caressed the boy’s cheek with a dirty finger, and he whimpered uncomfortably.
“Don’t you touch him!” Yunho bellowed, walking forward. The other thugs moved away from the wall and stood in front of him. It was almost comical how the one on the left was tall and fat, while the other was short and thin. If this were a different, less life-threatening situation Yunho would have laughed.
“What are you going to do tough guy?” The short one stepped up, probably to make Yunho move back, but he stood his ground. “What? What? You think you can just walk in here and interrupt the boss? Little bastard.” Yunho didn’t bother to mention that he was at least a foot taller than the man.
He ignored the tiny man, instead scanning the path for something he could use as a weapon. His uncle had made him take Judo classes as a kid. You never know when you’re going to have to beat the crap out of some idiot. Although he kept up his classes and physique, this wasn’t going to be easy. “What a pussy. He’s not even going to answer, is he?” The big guy took a swing at him, and Yunho dropped down and kicked his legs out from underneath him, using the same opportunity to grab a discarded bottle off the asphalt, and shot back up to hold it right under the skinny boy’s neck.
Jaejoong shrieked loudly, and Yunho swivelled his head towards him for fear that he was in danger, but the boy was staring at him with wide frightened eyes, the same look he had when Yunho’d freed him from the golden cage. Was he afraid of him? “Jaejoong…” He pushed the short man aside, and he bumped into the rising fat guy who fell over once again. He reached his hand towards Jaejoong, and then noticed the dark haired thug had flipped a switch blade open under his throat. Jaejoong was breathing heavily, and shuddering as he tried to escape the gleaming knife, eyes never leaving Yunho’s. The angel felt scared and confused. He’d watched Yunho fight, hurt people, and had felt somehow safe. But that didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t understand the thoughts in his mind, and he was scared of the blade digging into his throat. It was all a confusing jumble. He looked at Yunho, somehow trusting that the man would save him.
“Not so brave now are you, tough guy?” The thug grinned at Yunho, making Jaejoong shiver uncomfortably. Was he going to cut Yunho too? “Take one more step and I’ll cut this little angel’s pretty, pretty face.” Jaejoong bit his lower lip, and tried to move back again. How did the man figure out what he was? No one was supposed to know! The man sighed sadly. “It would be a shame to scar something so pretty.” He drew slow circle over his cheek with the knife, and the angel whimpered in fear.
“Let him go. I don’t want any trouble.”
“That’s too bad. I love trouble.” He grinned and licked the edge of the switch-blade. He pulled the knife away from Jaejoong to point it at Yunho. “See-”
The man’s wrist was twisted backwards and the knife fell to the floor, so quick he barely saw it. Jaejoong blinked in confusion. He saw the dark haired man fall to the ground, but he hadn’t seen how. Before he could figure it out, Jaejoong was grabbed by the hand and dragged away. He stumbled after Yunho as the man ran past the other two thugs, leaving them behind. Yunho ran to his black car quickly. He opened the door, and made Jaejoong slide in ahead of him. The thugs, stood at the mouth of the alley, their heads swivelling around as if they were looking for them. Yunho shut the door behind him and ordered his butler to drive. “To where?” Yoochun had grumbled, unaware of their situation.
“To the mall like we’d planned.” Yunho groaned and turned his attentions back to Jaejoong, who was hugging his knees against his chest and staring worriedly out the window. “Hey…” Yunho carefully stretched his hand towards the boy, and gently patted his shoulder. Jaejoong made an effort not to squirm away from the touch, and turned to look at the man’s piercing eyes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” The boy shook his head, his eyes tearing up. “Were you scared?”
The angel nodded. “Why… Why did he do that? Why was he so mean?” He looked at Yunho, expecting an explanation. “You’re not mean to me.”
Yoochun shot him a disbelieving glance through the rear-view mirror. “Is this kid serious?” He scoffed. Yunho shot him a glare. The butler rolled his eyes, and went back to watching the road.
Yunho slid carefully closer to the boy, moving his hand up and down his arm soothingly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” He scooched closer cautiously. “Not all people are like that.”
“You hit them.” He shrugged his shoulder away from Yunho’s touch. “You hurt them, and that’s wrong.” Jaejoong turned away from him and stared unhappily out the window.
Yunho gaped at the odd creature in front of him. It didn’t make any sense at all. This was the demon that’s supposed to bring forth the end of the world? He couldn’t even stand a fistfight. Yunho stared at the back of Jaejoong’s head and frowned. “Jaejoong… I was protecting you.”
“That doesn’t mean you can hurt other people. They were humans like you.” The angel huffed, staring unerringly out the car at the scenery speeding by. “This world doesn’t make any sense.” He sighed sadly.
Yunho felt sorry for the boy. “Listen, Jaejoong.” He gently tugged at Jaejoong’s hand and intertwined their fingers. The younger man looked up at him, biting his lower lip. “Humans aren’t all the same. We all have some bad in us, and some good. Sometimes good people do bad things, and bad people do good things.”
Jaejoong pouted adorably at him. “That doesn’t help me at all. How am I supposed to know who is good and who is bad? How do I know who to trust?”
“That’s something you have to judge by yourself. Don’t worry. You’ll get better at it with time.” Yunho smiled gently, and the angel couldn’t help but smile in return. Time was the one thing he had. He could stay here forever if he wanted. “I can help you.” Yunho nodded.
Jaejoong watched Yunho wearily. “How do I know I can trust you?” He asked him, staring straight into the piercing chocolate coloured depths of Yunho’s eyes.
The man smiled sadly, and softly caressed the angel’s cheek with the back of his hand. “You’ll have to decide that for yourself I guess.” He sighed.
Yoochun parked the car in front of the mall, and blinked at the two of them in his rear view mirror. That had to be one of the weirdest conversations he had ever heard. Was the kid some kind of alien? He watched them stare soulfully into each other’s eyes and cleared his throat, feeling somewhat guilty for disrupting their moment. “Uh… We’re here.”
Yunho reached over the boy and opened the door for him. “After you.” He smiled. Jaejoong stared at the man, before blinking quickly and nodding. He thought maybe his heart wasn’t working right. Was it supposed to be beating that fast?
They spent the rest of the day in the mall. First, they hit the clothing stores, where Yunho made Jaejoong try on outfit after outfit, buying almost everything that was in his size. There was always an incredible amount of green papers coming out of Yunho’s pockets. By lunchtime, the angel was tired. Yunho had left him in the food court with a wad of cotton candy and a big roll of money, to put the hundreds of shopping bags into the car. Jaejoong had bought just about anything that looked delicious and was munching it happily on his table. He watched the people walking by him, trying to decide which of the humans were good and which ones were bad just by looking at them.
His eyes were following this one man who sort of resembled the thug that had put the knife to his neck. The angel was just about to decide that he was bad, when an old lady tripped in front of him and he helped her pick up her groceries. Jaejoong sighed; people are just too hard to read. That’s when he saw them. They were right behind the thug like boy and the old lady, held in mid-air with chicken wire. Jaejoong got off his seat and shuffled quickly towards the costume shop, pressing his face up against the glass like he could go through it.
On display was a pair of small white wings, probably made for a child to wear on Halloween. Jaejoong bit his lower lip sadly. He reached towards his back and patted his shoulder blades, where his wings were tucked in safely. He would probably never spread them again. And his friends in heaven… he’d never see them again either. He turned away from the pretty wings, and returned to his seat, moving his chair so that its back was facing the display.
The angel ate the last of his food, and followed the man who was throwing away his garbage and did the same. “Excuse me, sir.” Jaejoong turned to face a golden headed girl holding a big map. His heart thumped in excitement, but faltered once he noticed the girl’s eyes were a deep blue and not shimmering gold like an angel’s. “Can you tell me how to get to the Nam-San tower?” Jaejoong blinked at her in confusion. “You don’t speak English?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where the tower is.” He bowed his head apologetically. Angels are masters of all languages, even those that are no longer spoken.
“Oh… can you read Korean?” She asked him, pointing at the map. “The guy said it was a thirty minute walk from here, but I can’t read where the exit is. I think there are some cable cars involved or something.”
“I’ll help you.” Jaejoong grinned, deciding for himself that the girl was a good person. He followed the girl out of the mall and walked with her to the tower. The girl was too excited to have found someone that spoke English to be bothered by Jaejoong’s oddly friendly demeanour. Besides, the boy seemed innocent enough.
They made it to the tower together, and the girl thanked him and left to join her worried friends. Jaejoong looked up at the tower, and got an idea. Maybe if he got up high enough to the heavens he’d be able to see the young angel trainees just like him. The tower was a high building on a mountain. It was perfect. He could get help, and go back home.
He stared up at the tower some more. There was no way he could climb all the way up to the peak of the building. He touched his shoulder, biting his lower lip. There was only one way he could make it there. He hid in the forest surrounding the tower, and pulled off his coat. He closed his eyes. Slowly, like a reluctant liquid, the gold poured down his hair and face, giving his porcelain skin a lovely golden glow. There was a gentle tug on his back that made his body arch towards it, and his great glimmering wings spread from his back.
He sighed contentedly, and looked up at the peak of the tower, fluttering his wings behind him.
Meanwhile, Yunho had returned from the parking lot. His eyes scoured the teeming food court for his dark haired companion. He was nowhere to be seen. “Jaejoong?” He blinked at the crowd, wondering where the kid could have gone off to. He asked a few people if they’d seen the boy, but none of them seemed to know who he was talking about.
He picked up his cell phone and called Yoochun immediately. “Chun… Jaejoong’s gone.” He said, panic seeping into his voice. “Shit, I told him to stay here, and I can’t find him!” Yoochun mumbled something about it being better this way, and Yunho got angry. “It is NOT better! I’m responsible for him! I have to find him.”
“Yunho, I’m sure he’s fine. Please take a deep breath.” Yoochun sighed on the other end of the line. “Did you call for him on the intercom?”
“No.” The man started walking, headed directly to the information booth. “What if he left the mall, Chun? What am I supposed to do then?” He palmed his face in frustration, hanging up and heading right up to the counter and ignoring the long line of people waiting for directions. “Excuse me, Miss.” He called for the lady on the other side of the counter. “I’m sorry, but I lost a friend of mine in the mall. He’s new to the city and doesn’t have a cellphone. Could you call him for me please?” The girl took one thorough look up and down Yunho, and smiled brightly, nodding her head. “Thank you. His name is Jaejoong.” The lady called for him to come to the center. Yunho wrote his phone number on one of the cards on the counter and handed it to the lady. “Here, if he comes here call me on this number. Thank you.”
Yunho stormed away, rushing down the long halls, and looking around conspicuously for anyone who looked like the boy. He mistook two guys and one girl for him, apologizing quickly, before continuing down the hallway. He was back at the food court again, looking left and right crazily. The wing display made him stop in his tracks. Yunho walked towards it, confused as to why he was doing it, but unable to stop himself. He stood in front of the display, and stared at the small white wings, meant for a child’s Halloween costume.
The old lady who owned the shop came out and smiled at him. Yunho bowed to her politely, about to walk away from the store, when she said. “You weren’t the only one admiring these wings.” She smiled. “Do you have a child you want to give these too?”
“Oh, no…” Yunho bowed apologetically. “I’m very sorry. I was just looking for my… my friend.”
The lady nodded. “What does he look like? Maybe I can help you look.” She smiled, hoping to be helpful.
Yunho grinned gratefully. “Thank you. He’s about this high.” He held his hand up to his chin. “He has short black hair, with long bangs, and his eyes are really big and wide.”
“Oh yes. I’ve seen him. He was here about an hour ago. Is he the really pretty boy? He looked like an angel?” The lady smiled happily at the glimmer of hope in Yunho’s eyes when he nodded. “Yes, if it’s the same boy, he was staring at those wings. I was going to talk to him when this foreign girl came up to him and asked him for directions.”
“Really? Did you see where he went?”
The old woman held her chin pensively, trying to remember the conversation that had happened in English. “He left with her, so I assumed they were friends. I think they were talking about going to the Nam San tower, but I can’t be sure.”
Yunho shook the old lady’s hand, and bought the pretty angel wings from her as a thank you. He took off towards the parking lot, before the lady could hand him his change, holding the big bag with the wings gingerly in his left hand. Yoochun saw him storm into the lot and started the car. He got in and told his butler to take him to the tower. “We can’t take the car there.” Yoochun reminded him. “You’re going to have to walk from the station.”
“I know.” Yunho growled tapping his foot against Yoochun’s seat in worry.
“Are you sure he’s there?”
“No, but I was walking around the damn place for an hour and I didn’t see him. This is the best lead I have anyway. I called him at the information center. If he gets there the girl will call me.” He bit his lower lip, fidgeting nervously. “Can’t this go any faster?”
“No. It can’t. Call in a chopper if you’re that nervous about the kid.”
“Shut up.” Yunho grumbled. They made it to the station, and Yunho quickly hopped out following the map that his butler handed him to get to the cable cars. He grumbled to himself all the way to the tower, angrily glaring at the cable car for being so damn slow.
Yunho burst out of the car and quickly started looking around for Jaejoong. There were a group of people standing at the bottom of the tower, gasping and wailing about something he couldn’t understand. “What’s going on?” He asked a foreign girl in his best English.
“There’s a guy stuck up there on the top of the tower! How did he get up there?” She wondered out loud. “We’ve called the police, but they’re stuck at the bottom with no easy way up.” She continued, but Yunho had already disappeared into the tower.
He angrily pressed the button to the elevator. “Come on. Come on.” He growled. The doors dinged open and he stepped in, pressing the button for the highest floor. Yunho had no doubt that it was Jaejoong up there. He either climbed up the damn tower or flew there with his demon powers or whatever, it didn’t matter. The elevator doors opened again, and Yunho rushed out heading to the glass covered walls. “JAEJOONG!” He shouted through the glass, slamming his fist against it. The entire floor was empty, most of the employees and clients having gone down to witness what they assumed to be a suicidal man perched on top of the tower. “JAEJOONG!” He screamed again.
Some glimmering gold, caught his eye, and then Jaejoong’s head made an appearance at the top of the window pane. His eyelashes changed from gold back to black in a blink of an eye. He pressed his hand against the glass. “GET DOWN FROM THERE!” Yunho hollered. “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU GOT UP THERE, BUT YOU BETTER COME DOWN.” Jaejoong looked at him sadly, and mouthed that he couldn’t come down. “WHAT?” The boy’s head disappeared. “NO! COME BACK!”
Jaejoong pouted, hugging his knees to his chest. He sniffled, brushing the pouring tears away. His trip here had been useless. He had screamed and shouted at the heavens, and had even tried to fly over the clouds to get there, but his wings had gotten tired. Nobody had answered. And now he couldn’t even get back down. There were more people crowding the mountain than there had been before. They would see him if he turned back into his natural form.
“Jaejoong!” Yunho’s muffled voice came from the room again, and Jaejoong sighed. How had he found him, anyway? Was he psychic? “Jaejoong, please come back down! It’s not safe up there. I don’t know how you got up there, but you have to come down.”
“I can’t! If I come down they’ll see me.” He told Yunho.
“What? Jaejoong I can’t hear you!” He tapped the window again. Jaejoong bit his lower lip in thought. He needed to come down, and Yunho would help him. Yunho always helped him. He helped him out of the cage, and gave him food, and clothes, and more food. He liked the food a lot. “Jaejoong? Are you still there?”
He let go of his knees, and wrapped his legs on the long pole sticking out of the building to lean over and look through the window. Yunho sighed in relief. “Are you… Are you crying? Jaejoong, come down, please.”
The angel pressed his mouth against the glass and shouted at the top of his voice. “I CAN’T! THEY’LL SEE ME!”
Yunho blanched. They’d see him? As in… his demon form? He bit his lower lip, and looked up at the dark-haired boy, pegged to the window. “Move away from the glass.” He said, and blinked when Jaejoong nodded, having heard him through the thick glass even though he hadn’t raised his voice, and pulled away. Yunho looked around for something heavy enough to shatter the window. Big decorative rocks were put in a row at the entrance of a restaurant. He grabbed the biggest one and threw it with all his strength against the glass, and groaned when it didn’t break. He noticed it had cracked though. He tossed another rock at the window and it shattered. Millions of sharp pieces pouring down onto the ground like rain. There was a loud wind howling into the room with the place opened. “Jaejoong-ah! Come in through the window.” Jaejoong’s head appeared again. “CAREFUL! You’ll cut yourself on the glass!”
The angel bit his lower lip and looked at Yunho uncertainly. He’d still have to return to his real form to get into the room without risking falling all the way down to the ground. Not that that would’ve killed him. “I don’t want you to see.”
Yunho moved closer to the window, and held out his arms. “Trust me. I’ll catch you.”
“I don’t…” Jaejoong shook his head. He looked at Yunho again. Did he trust this man? “You won’t… You won’t tell anybody?”
“Of course not! It’ll be our secret, okay? I promise I’ll never tell anybody. Now come down.” Yunho begged, his eyes riveted on Jaejoong’s form. The boy closed his eyes and sighed. Yunho gasped in shock. The black of his hair was melting away, replaced by shiny blond. His eyebrows, and eyelashes followed then his skin glowed golden. Yunho took a step back in awe, when Jaejoong opened his gilded eyes.
The angel dropped from the ceiling, and Yunho moved to catch him before he fell on the shards of glass. Jaejoong swooped up, his big wings brushing against the shards of glass still clinging to the ceiling and dripping liquid gold. Gently he let his body drop in Yunho’s still outstretched arms. The man was staring at him dumbstruck. He folded his wings back into his body, returning to his human appearance.
The man walked forward out of the glass shards and fell on his knees. His eyebrows knitted together. “You’re an angel.” He whispered.
“You… You can’t tell anybody… It’s a secret.” Jaejoong reminded him. “Nobody’s allowed to know.”
Thoughts jumbled and mixed in his mind, leaving Yunho with a blinding headache. Why would his uncle cage an angel? Why would he lie and tell him Jaejoong was a demon? He pushed away the questions. He’d think of them later. “Are you okay? Why did you … why did you fly up there?” He asked the boy.
“I… I wanted to see them.” Jaejoong teared up, burying his face in Yunho’s chest. “I can’t go back anymore.” He sobbed, his frame shaking from his cries.
Yunho held him close to his body and patted his back soothingly. “Shh… it’s going to be okay.” He pushed himself off the floor to walk to the elevators, when they opened, letting in the people who were watching from the ground. More people came in from the stairs.
“You saved him!” Someone screamed. “He’s a hero.” The crowd erupted in loud applause. Ignoring them, Yunho walked through the people, holding Jaejoong against him protectively. He went into the elevator.
“Please give him some space. He needs his air.” Yunho told the people that tried to crowd the elevator. He pressed the ‘doors close’ button and they stayed back, taking out their cellphones and cameras to take pictures they’d probably send to the local newspaper. The doors finally closed. “Why… Why didn’t they answer?” He asked the angel. Jaejoong sobbed again, and hid his face in Yunho’s neck. “I mean… Don’t they… aren’t they angels too? Shouldn’t they…”
“It doesn’t work like that.” Jaejoong shook his head. “I knew it wouldn’t work, but I had to try.” He cried, tears streaming into Yunho’s shirt.
“I’m sorry…” Yunho mumbled unsure what to say. He adjusted Jaejoong in his arms, just as the elevators dinged and opened for them. He walked to the receptionist in the lobby, and gave him his number, assuring the man that he would pay for the broken window.
On their way home, Jaejoong had cried himself to sleep on Yunho’s lap. The man stroked his black hair. “What was he doing up there?” Yoochun asked him from the driver’s seat.
“Trying to see heaven.” Yunho smiled slowly, running his fingers in the silken hair.
Yoochun squinted at him through the rear view mirror. “What is he?”
“Hmm?” Yunho looked up from the angelic face to his driver. “What do you mean?”
“Come on.” Yoochun rolled his eyes. There was a bump on the road that made the entire car jump. Jaejoong stirred, but didn’t seem to have woken up. “I’m not deaf. I could hear you talk. You were saying things like he’s not even human.” Yunho rolled his eyes like what his butler was saying was absolutely ridiculous. “Don’t roll your eyes at me Jung! What is he?”
Yunho sighed, looking down at the sleeping figure in his lap. He wouldn’t break his promise. “Chun, I can tell you that right now, Jaejoong is absolutely human. He’s just a little bit confused. That’s all.”
The angel bit his lower lip to hide a smile, and kept his eyes closed.
~~~
A/N: Yes... I'm updating this one... I'm as shocked as you are!! *sobs* ENJOY... ur aloud to bash me for being a loser and taking 40 million gillion yrs to update this.