It's Not You, It's Me - Chapter 5 (HoMin)
Title: It's Not You. It's Me.
Pairing: HoMin (Main), YunJae (Side)
Authors: monick87
Length: 5/?
Genre: AU
Warnings: Unbeta'd, just a little angst, and smut later on
Rate: R
Disclaimer: Inspired in the movie by the same name, but with twists.
Summary: Yunho meets Changmin, a young man that could be more than just friends with him...if only he could forget Jaejoong.
Chapter 5
It had been a week since Changmin had had to go to Yunho’s apartment to stop Taepoong’s hemorrhage and 4 days since Junsu had come back to Seoul, and still they didn’t know what exactly the dog had.
At first, Junsu had thought it was some kind of hemophilia, but tests proved him wrong.
In the past week, the poor dog had had 2 more hemorrhages and that was exactly why he’d had 3 blood transfusions. Changmin had personally looked out for the donators and Yunho couldn’t be more grateful because he really didn’t know what he would do without his dog.
“Argh! Fuck!” Changmin screamed out in frustration as he scratched his right upper arm.
“What’s wrong?” Junsu asked, looking up from the book about uncommon blood diseases in dogs. He had been researching about what Taepoong could have, but since he had a lot of clients lately, it had been very difficult.
“I think a fucking tick bit me!” Changmin replied, looking at the red spot on his arm. “It itches like hell!” He groaned.
“Put some alcohol on it if you don’t have lotion,’” Junsu offered. He reached out for Changmin’s arm. “Stop scratching it, you’re only making it bigger,” he pointed at the red bump that was there.
Changmin looked at the red tiny point in the forming bump, and it was after a few seconds that it hit him. “That’s it!” He exclaimed, looking at Junsu. “That is it!” he repeated, pointing at the red spot on his arm.
“I’m a fucking idiot!” Junsu exclaimed, letting go of Changmin and covering his face with his hands. “Why didn’t I think about it before?” He asked sighing.
“I’m gonna call Yunho right now,” Changmin said quickly, as he pulled out his cell phone.
Junsu smirked. “Why don’t you go to his apartment instead? You practically live there,“ he said in a teasing tone.
“I just stayed over like 2 times, dolphin,” Changmin replied annoyed. “Do not exaggerate.”
Junsu laughed out loud. “4 times, Changmin. 4 fucking times in a week,” he stated with a smug grin on his face.
“It was just for Taepoong’s sake,” the younger man replied, denying whatever his friend wanted or not to imply. “I thought dolphins were intelligent animals, but I guess it was too much to ask of you.”
“Why don’t you just admit you like him, Changmin?” Junsu asked. “It’s ok if you do, you know. He’s available and I’m pretty sure he likes you, too.”
“We do like each other, Su. Just not as you like us to. We’re friends…just that, ok?” Changmin argued back. “I’m just fine the way I am now: single. Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna call him,” he added, turning his attention to his cell phone and dialing Yunho’s number.
“Changminnie,” Yunho answered right away. “What’s up?”
“I’ve got good news, Yun!” Changmin said with a smile. “I think we finally know what Taepoong has.”
Junsu looked at his friend’s expression and shook his head a little. Changmin was usually shy and serious at first, whenever he met a person. It took some time to actually get to know the real smart ass, sarcastic and somehow gentle Changmin. Yunho was like the totally opposite of his friend, or at least that was what he thought, and that was exactly why he wondered how come the 2 of them clicked instantly. It seemed almost as if they had known each other since a long time ago.
He watched his friend laugh, and just knew that if he could, he definitely would help those two end up together.
*****
It turned out that Changmin and Junsu were right. After another blood test, they confirmed their suspicions: Taepoong had ehrlichiosis.
Changmin had explained to Yunho that Ehrlichiosis was a tick-borne disease of dogs, caused by the organism Ehrlichia Canis, which symptoms included fever, petechiae, bleeding disorders, vasculitis, lymphadenopathy, discharge from the nose and eyes, edema of the legs and scrotum, weight loss, pale gums due to anemia, bleeding due to thrombocytopenia, dyspnea, coughing, among others. Yunho barely understood what the other had said but nodded nevertheless.
Junsu had prescript doxycycline (which was actually cheap) as the drug of treatment, for two months, and he recommended Yunho to take it as well, since even though the sickness couldn’t pass from dog to human, if a tick bit Taepoong and then Yunho, he would get infected as well.
Yunho did as told religiously and after those 2 months, everything seemed like just a really bad nightmare.
He developed the habit of visiting Changmin and Junsu almost daily, whenever he went out from his apartment to walk Taepoong or when he came back from the studio he worked at as a dancer and choreographer. Yunho always tried to bring the men snacks; he just loved the way Changmin’s mood changed whenever there was food around. And still, Yunho couldn’t believe that that body could ingest the enormous amount of food Changmin usually would.
As of now, Yunho was sitting on his bed. His sister, Jihye, had decided to travel all the way from Gwanju to see how his big brother was after all he had told her that had happened to him in the past year, so she was sitting right next to him.
She had wanted to come by earlier, but unfortunately she couldn’t due work and other stuff she had to attend in their hometown first.
They had talked and talked about everything and anything at all, just having their precious bonding time as siblings. At some point, when Jihye told him she was actually dating someone, he had snapped and demanded to meet the guy, but then he realized he had just made the wrong move.
“So, are you dating someone? Or at least do you like someone?” Jihye asked her brother.
Yunho groaned; he really didn’t want to have this conversation, and much less with his younger sister of all people. “No, I’m not dating anyone,” he said annoyed.
“But, do you like someone?” She insisted patting her brother’s back slightly.
Yunho sighed. He was busted. There was no way on earth he could lie to his precious little sister, not her of all people. “I think I may like someone…” he trailed of.
“It’s Changmin, isn’t it?” She said, getting excited.
Yunho raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Jihye with a confused expression. “How do you know?”
Jihye laughed. “C’mon, Yunho. Do you even realize how much you talk about him? It was pretty obvious, you know,” she answered with a snort. “I want to meet him! Are you going to ask him out?”
Yunho sighed and threw himself back on the bed. “I don’t know, Jihye. I don’t think I’m ready to start dating people, you know. It hadn’t been even a year since we separated. It’s too soon and besides, after spending so much time in a relationship, I don’t think I know how to date anymore,” he confessed, turning his gaze to the picture on the wall of himself and Jaejoong.
“Yun, I know you went through a grief process or sorts” Jihyed said. “And I’m sorry to say this if it hurts you in any way,” she added carefully. “But Jaejoong is not dead. He cheated on you, Yunho. He left you and it had been almost a year since that. I don’t think he deserves that you still take him into consideration, thinking that is too soon to move on. You deserve to fall in love again, and this time with a person that values the treasure you truly are.”
Yunho sit up and kept on looking at the framed photo. “I want to move on. I mean, it’s obvious Jaejoong already had,” he mumbled more to himself than his sister. He got up and reached for the picture. He took the photo out of the silver frame and turned to look at his sister.
“You’re right, Jihye. I deserve to find love,” he said putting the frame on his nightstand table and sitting again beside his sister. “I’m gonna ask Changmin out,” he stated with a smile on his face as he looked down to the photo and tore it in halves.
“Good! But not today because you promised to go with me shopping, ok?” Jihye laughed happily.
Yunho laughed as well and threw the pieces of paper on the nearest trashcan.
*****
Changmin was chopping a garlic clove as he hummed a song that his roommate and best friend, Kyuhyun, had been playing over and over recently, when his cell phone suddenly went off.
He wiped his hands with a napkin and answered it annoyingly with a quick ‘hello’. He just hated to be interrupted when he was trying to make oh so delicious food. It wasn’t as if he was the best cooker ever, but it was his first time trying to cook cream spaghetti and hated to lose concentration.
“Hey, Changmin,” Yunho said somehow happily. “Are you busy or something?”
“Oh, no. I was just starting to make dinner, but it’s ok. What’s up?” Changmin responded, putting his cell phone in between his shoulder and his ear, to keep on his two hands for cooking.
“Well, I was wondering if you like to go out with me next Friday or Saturday to have dinner together?” Yunho asked quickly, trying not to sound nervous, but failing at it miserably.
“As in a date?” Changmin had to ask. He just needed to know!
“Well, yes. As in date…if you don’t mind, of course,” Yunho replied, now sounding more confident than just a few seconds before.
“Ok,” Changmin responded shrugging, even though the other man couldn’t see him.
“Great! Then…I’ll come by tomorrow to the shop so we can set an hour and place,” Yunho offered.
Changmin laughed slightly. He put away the knife, wiped his hands again and grabbed his cell phone. “Ok, then see you tomorrow at work.”
There was an awkward silence and Changmin heard Yunho’s laugh seconds after. “I feel like going back to my teen days. It’ so pathetic! I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize, Yun. I understand,” Changmin replied.
“Then I’m off to have dinner as well. See you tomorrow and have a good dinner!” Yunho said cheerfully.
Changmin laughed and said goodbye as well before hanging up. He leaned back on the counter and sighed, thinking if he had taken the right decision by accepting a date Yunho.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Yunho, because he really did. It was just that he didn’t know what could Yunho look in him after having such a beautiful husband as Jaejoong…
A/N: HoMin is just getting started! I hope you like it! :)
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