Alis Grave Nil (1/?)
Title: Alis Grave Nil [1/?]
Author: nicotine_gum
Pairings: Yunjae, Minjae, Yoosu
Rating: PG-NC17
Summary: Loving someone isn’t always easy, and loving Yunho is even harder. How do you reach someone who doesn’t want to be reached? How do you compete with the dead?
Disclaimer: Based loosely on the manga Bokura Ga Ita (僕等がいた) and its movie adaptation featuring Toma Ikuta who made me want to cuddle him one moment, and kill him the next (boys -.-). Also, I have to warn you that there will be a mix of Korean and Japanese phrases here because I am useless and confusing like that. And uh, first fic in like 2 years? And a chaptered one at that. What the hell was I thinking?
Alis Grave Nil
Nothing is heavy to those who have wings
Chapter One.
“It was a dark and stormy night. The kind that gives you the heebee jeebies because everything was shaking and the wind was howling and the lights were flickering in the house and you-” Yoochun paused as he caught the look on his teacher’s face. “Yes sir?”
Yamamoto sensei resisted the urge to facepalm. “Mr Park, I told you to read the story, not add your comments to it.”
Yoochun smiled sheepishly, trying to ignore the chortling boy sitting diagonally in front of him as well as the general snickering from the rest of the class. He had a bit of a reputation as a class clown in his first year, and it looked like second year wasn’t going to be any different. Oh well. Lesser people had tried, and lesser people had done much worse.
“And for your information, ‘heebee jeebies’ is not a word, even though we all know what it means,” his teacher corrected.
“Understood sir, I’ll try it again, this time without my illustrious comments.” For some reason, this brought more laughter to the class.
Even his teacher was trying hard not to crack a smile. “I think that’s enough for now. Thank you Yoochun, please take your seat.”
The moment he did, he kicked the chair in front of him lightly.
The boy turned around, a mildly annoyed expression his face. “What is it?”
“Tell that bugger sitting next to you to stop laughing! It wasn’t even that funny!” he hissed, eyes directed to the front of the class to make sure he didn’t get caught talking.
“Tell him yourself, and why do you have to kick my chair?”
Yoochun stuck his right leg out, “It’s too short to reach him or trust me I would’ve!”
The boy stared at him for a few moments before he turned back around to the front, completely ignoring Yoochun’s request. Yoochun rolled his eyes at the turned back before deciding to rip a page off his notebook to throw at the silently giggling boy. His aim had obviously improved, because the ball hit its target square in the back.
Jaejoong whipped around in his direction, eyes still twinkling with mirth. Yoochun childishly stuck a tongue out at the other boy and woe, that was the precise moment Yamamoto sensei turned his attention to the back of the class and caught him in the act.
“Park Yoochun…” he began, not quite knowing what to make of the jokester, and coming to the realization that this was what he was going to have to deal with the rest of the year. “I will see you after class,” he finished.
Yoochun headdesked.
-
“Hyung!”
Jaejoong looked up from his phone to see his younger twin brother running down the hallway before coming to a skid next to him.
“Junsu, how many times have I told you not to run in the hallway?” he admonished lightly.
“First time this year!” the other boy chirped happily, and what could Jaejoong say in the face of such happiness? Junsu was warm, sunny and vibrant and he was Jaejoong’s personal ray of sunshine.
He sighed in helplessness.
“Where’s Chunnie?” Junsu asked, immediately noticing the other boy’s absence. Yoochun and Jaejoong were in the same class, but even if they weren’t, the two were hardly ever without each other. It was a strange sight to not see them together, especially on the first day back at school.
The question set Jaejoong into a fit of giggling, Junsu looking on in confusion.
“Hyung?”
Jaejoong shook his head, trying to get his laughter under control. “Yoochun’s with Yamamoto sensei.”
The look of horror mixed with amusement on Junsu’s face was too much, and sent him into another laughing fit.
“Already?” there was even a hint of awe in his voice. Oh, Junsu and his hero-worshipping at its best.
Yoochun chose that moment to exit the classroom, properly chastised and looking somewhat repentant - that was, until he spotted the twins waiting for him outside and his entire countenance lighted up. “Dolphin! Jaejae!” he rushed them, pulling both into a hug and dramatically recounting ‘the worst moment of his life’. Junsu, ever the angel, patted his back comfortingly while Jaejoong stood immobile, knowing the moment would pass and Yoochun would soon be moving on to other things.
True to pattern, not even 25 seconds later, Yoochun pulled away and asked, “Want to grab something on the way home? I’m starving!”
-
They were munching on sausages and taking their time when Jaejoong remembered his mom’s text telling him to grab some eggs on his way home.
“Eggs,” he told Junsu and Yoochun when he suddenly turned and walked into a convenience store. They followed after him wordlessly, heading over to the snacks section while Jaejoong browsed the aisles.
“Can I help you?”
He looked up to see a boy much taller than him, holding a crate filled with egg cartons. Without thinking, he reached over and grabbed one. “Thanks,” he smiled, “I was looking for that.”
The boy smiled back at him, nodding politely before continuing down the aisle. Jaejoong stared after him, only just realizing that he recognized him from somewhere.
“Jung Yunho…?” he called after the boy, who stopped in his tracks and turned around. “I’m Kim Jaejoong, I’m in your class this year.”
Yunho stared at him for a while before shrugging, “I know.”
“Ah, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you right away!” he apologized hurriedly, “My memory’s pretty bad.”
Yunho grinned, and Jaejoong smacked himself mentally, because oh my god, how could he not recognize his own classmate? “It’s okay. Listen, I have to get back to work, so I’ll see you in class okay?”
“Sure,” Jaejoong agreed easily, catching sight of his brother and Yoochun waving at him from outside the store, now munching on a pack of chips. He left Yunho to it, and walked to the cashier who was a pretty woman with a nice smile.
“Ah, you’re from Chungju?” she said, recognizing his uniform. “There’s quite a lot of you here today.”
Jaejoong chuckled, and cocked his head at the two boys outside who started waving madly at him, “I’m with them.”
“Ah,” she giggled, catching his amusement at his friends’ antics. “My brother goes there too.”
“Ah!” he nodded, “I bumped into him earlier. I hope he’s not too mad that I didn’t recognize him straight away but I’m really bad with faces and names.”
The woman looked confused. “But Min’s got track training today.” A murderous look settled on her face, “Unless he lied to me to get out of working! That little - I will strangle him when I see him!”
It was Jaejoong’s turn to look confused. “Min? I don’t know who that is but isn’t your brother Yunho?”
The woman laughed, murderous intent completely gone. “Oh goodness no! I have my hands full with Changmin already, and as much as I think of Yunho as another younger brother, I’m glad he isn’t really!” She shook her head, glossy hair falling in beautiful waves over her shoulder before she suddenly extended her hand across the counter. “I’m Choi Sooyoung, Shim Changmin’s older and more beautiful sister.”
“More beautiful than who?” came a snarky reply.
Without batting an eyelash, Sooyoung gestured airily at the newcomer who was dressed in a tracksuit and carrying a duffle bag. “Than you of course, Changminnie, bane of my existence.”
The boy scoffed, “I’m glad that’s the case because god forbid if I was beautiful much less more beautiful than a girl.” He said the word ‘girl’ with such contempt it made Jaejoong giggle. He turned to Jaejoong upon hearing his laugh, “What are you-” he started, but never finished his sentence, lost for words as he recognized that gorgeous face. Because how ironic was it that here stood the guy who was quite possibly more beautiful than any girl?
“Hi,” Jaejoong greeted, “I just met your sister, she’s very nice!”
“Aren’t you a cutie,” cooed Sooyoung, “can I adopt you?”
“Jaejoong hyung! What’s taking you so long?” Junsu whined, entering the store, empty bag of chips in his hand.
“Yah, stop flirting with girls Jae,” Yoochun was right behind him, eyes directed downwards at… Jaejoong shook his head. He wasn’t going to think about that.
“Guys, this is Shim Changmin, he’s our classmate from class,” Jaejoong introduced, almost proudly because this was probably the first time in his life he could recognize and remember someone’s name at first try (though granted, Sooyoung had clued him in quite heavily).
“If I’m your classmate that means I’m from your class,” Changmin couldn’t help but say, his natural snarkiness coming out.
“You!” Yoochun pointed at Changmin dramatically, “I know you! You’re the guy that sits in front of me in class and wouldn’t tell Jaejoong to shut up like I asked you to!”
Changmin rolled his eyes and swatted the offending hand away from his face. “It’s rude to tell people to shut up. Besides, you kicked my chair, why should I listen to you?”
“Why did you kick his chair?” Jaejoong asked.
“To tell him to tell you to stop laughing at me!”
“I don’t sit in front of you just so you can kick my chair and pass on your messages.”
“Will you get over it?! I didn’t even kick it that hard!”
“Are you going to apologize?” When Yoochun shook his head defiantly, Changmin shrugged, transferring his duffle bag to his other shoulder, “I see no reason why I should get over it then.”
“You…”
Jaejoong and Junsu stared at each other, a little unsure of what to do. It wasn’t like Yoochun to be so antagonistic with someone, much less someone they’d just met today, so Junsu did the only thing he could think of.
“Hi my name is Kim Junsu and this is Kim Jaejoong and yes we’re twins, and hyung is older than me by a few minutes even though he usually doesn’t act like it and I have to take care of him all the time. Nice to meet you all!”
Jaejoong offered them a weak smile.
-
“That wasn’t like you, Chun,” Jaejoong commented as they continued on their way back home after that unexpected interlude.
“I don’t like that guy,” he huffed, arms crossed stubbornly across his chest. “I don’t see why he’s such a big deal anyway. Him and that Jung Yunho.”
“Eh?”
“I mean, the girls are always going on and on about them. Weren’t you listening this morning? Changmin this, Changmin that. Yunho this, Yunho that.” He shuddered in mock disgust, “And we’re stuck with them this year. Great. Wonderful. God save us all.”
Junsu blinked. “Are you jealous? You want the girls to talk about you is that it?”
Yoochun scowled at him. “Of course not. It’s just that I really don’t see what the fuss is about.”
“Anyway, Junsu you’re continuing on with soccer aren’t you?” Jaejoong interrupted. “Maybe I should join a sport too.”
Both Yoochun and Junsu cringed.
“Bad idea Jae,” Yoochun quickly said, Junsu nodding furiously in agreement, “you’ve got two left feet, and two left hands and just two of everything… remember the last time you tried to play badminton?”
They cringed again at the memory.
Jaejoong absently reached down to rub at his knee. “Yeah, no more badminton. But I’m pretty fast though! If it was just running, I could probably do it!”
Yoochun didn’t look entirely convinced. “You still have to do hurdles and all that. And think of baton passing!”
Junsu glared at him, “I think hyung will be good at it! You should go for it hyung!”
Jaejoong was lost in thought. “Or swimming. I’m pretty good at it.”
At this, Yoochun grinned. “Oh yeah, you kick some serious butt in the pool.”
“And quite literally too,” Jaejoong smiled that smile, the one that made Yoochun worry about the next words coming out of his mouth, “I recall that time when you peed in the pool…”
“And Jaejoong hyung beat you up so bad…” Junsu added, an identical smile on his face.
“I really had to go, okay?” Yoochun protested, “That was years ago, why are we talking about it now?”
“You brought it up, Chun,” Jaejoong said lightly.
“I was trying to be encouraging with your choice of sport,” Yoochun sniffed, “but look where it got me.”
“Painful memories?” He laughed at the pout that decorated his best friend’s face. “Come on, we better hurry up, mom will want the eggs to cook dinner. You’re staying for dinner right?”
“Please,” Yoochun shoved Jaejoong lightly and laughed when he stumbled, “like you even have to ask.”
-