[Fic Exchange] Momentary Delusion
The five of them had always talked about going back one day.
They never did, not together anyways, never managed to get an organized trip together back to those islands with the bright, oh-so-beautiful sky. Things always managed to get in the way now that they had grown past the time of being international idols. They took longer talking about planning to coordinate vacations than they did taking them, only ever finding the time for each other by happenstance.
And that’s how it was between Changmin and Junsu.
They had stayed together, a couple in front of the public’s eyes, private status as attached to one another easily mistaken in the public’s ‘all seeing’ eyes. It had been a very long time since they’d first claimed love of any sort of the other and time had taken it’s toll. They’d gotten used to each other.
A habit formed of loving carefully.
It was only when they started fighting, long nights spent yelling instead of sleeping or cuddling and talking that the others intervened. Changmin and Junsu were still ‘family’ and if there was one thing the five of them still knew how to do for each other, it was to help hold each other up.
And, by the powers that be, Jaejoong, Yunho, and Yoochun were determined to hold their dongsaeng’s relationship up.
-
A quiet, too-peaceful morning dawned after a particularly bad fight that left them both stewing sleeplessly on opposite ends of their apartment, wishing they’d said nothing at all. The doorbell rang quietly, as if afraid to disturb their quiet reflections, but Changmin worked up his courage first to answer it, blinking at the people on the other side.
Jaejoong rolled his eyes at the younger man, pushing past him into the apartment with Yoochun and Yunho in tow.
“You look like shit, Min. Where’s Su?”
Changmin shut the door, pointedly averting his gaze and he said nothing in response to Jaejoong’s question, choosing instead move into the kitchen and make a fresh pot of coffee.
The eldest three conferred quietly and split up, working together to get the youngest two in a room together without distractions. It wasn’t a very hard task to accomplish; the apartment was small and both youngest men were too tired to really argue with the arrangement as the three oldest as they were guided into the living room and seated on the couch.
Yunho, Yoochun, and Jaejoong sat themselves down opposite the two, weary of the way Changmin and Junsu sat at opposite ends of the loveseat.
“You two…” Yunho started, massaging his temples a bit, “are driving us insane. Look at you. When we were all still together, you two were so in love, what’s happened?”
Junsu huffed a bit, turning his head away, frustrated with the situation himself, ‘We’ve grown apart, I guess. It happens.”
Changmin sent him a withering glance, “It’s just the same tired shit over and over again, hyung.”
There was a quite murmur of ‘morons,’ no doubt from Jaejoong while Yoochun tossed an envelope of plane tickets on the couch between Junsu and Changmin.
“You two are going on vacation. Tomorrow. It’s already final, we’re escorting you there ourselves, so you can’t get out of this- don’t even try. We’ve pulled some strings- indefinite hiatus while you two sort yourselves out.. or else.”
Without further ado, the three eldest stood, making their way to the door. Jaejoong- the last one out- looked back, “I’d pack warm. I hear Bora Bora is nice this time of year.”
And with a cheery little click of the door, Jaejoong left them sitting together awkwardly on the couch wondering just what the hell was going on.
-
As expected, the others weren’t kidding. Not in the slightest. Before Changmin and Junsu knew it, they were packed, dressed and otherwise set to get on a plane. as expected, they were unceremoniously tossed into Yoochun’s car and driven at a most-likely-less-than-legal speed limit.
As expected, they soon found themselves stranded at a classy hotel in the middle of beautiful Bora Bora with the instructions of ‘get back together happily ever after or else.’
For the first three days, they ignored the simple missive and did only the barest of minimums in contact. They slept in the one bed in the hotel room at some of the same hours. They bumped into each other in the bathroom and the lobby. They ate together sometimes.
Business as usual.
Then the fourth day dawned, and something clicked.
-
Somehow, they’d managed to avoid each other for a good part of the morning and the afternoon, but luck intervened at dinner.
Changmin had been wandering around the neighborhood when he reached a classier bar that he remembered sneaking into when they were much younger men. For old time’s sake, he pushed through the doors and wandered around.
It honestly wasn’t so different from most bars except that the stage acts were usually decent and audible in all corners of the bar and everything was a little more contained but as Changmin’s eyes shifted over to the actual bar area, he realized that the way that people behaved was not very changed.
There was a man draped over the counter, inching closer and closer to Junsu who looked uncomfortable but did his best not to show it. Changmin felt twin pangs of guilt and anger.
Junsu did not often go to bars, particularly not when they were away and the fact that he was there instead of holed up in the hotel room said something about how comfortable he was with Changmin at the moment. the man that was invading Junsu’s personal space level on the other hand- he was heading for a beating.
Changmin strode over to the bar before he even realized that his feet had carried him there and he none-to-politely plucked Junsu from the man’s clutches, kissing him like they hadn’t kissed for months.
By the way that Junsu smiled up at him afterwards, they both knew that things could only go up from there.
-
They pretended for four weeks that they were still recovering the bits of their relationship, but much of it was an excuse to laze under the sun with each other and play like children on the beach.
They learned to cherish every moment of the day together again, every night spent curled up under the sheets, teasing each other in good spirit and sneaking hands under clothing
They uncovered the love they’d always shared that had been hidden temporarily.
And at the end, they knew, they had the others to thank for enforced vacation.
-
“So, how did it go?”
Jaejoong’s cellphone number, but no doubt were the other two huddled around it with him.
Junsu fit himself against Changmin’s chest and let the younger man’s arms fall over him while he turned the speakerphone on his phone on.
“Stunning. Remind us to let you set up our vacations again hyung.”
“Damn straight!” Yoochun hollered somewhere from the background and Changmin and Junsu chuckled from where they were, sharing a sweet kiss.
The phone in Junsu’s hand even dropped and bounced under the couch, forgotten while they lost themselves in each other.
(“Guys? Changmin? Junsu? Are you two doing naughty things? Dongsaengs, I know you can hear me! Urgh! Don’t do this with us on the phone-“
“-Practice safe sex and don’t mind Yunho, guys. He forgets he isn’t the leader anymore sometimes-“
“-You owe us. I hope you two know that! Argh! Forget you!”
Click.
All’s well that, well, hasn’t ended yet.)