Remind Me (part 1, chapter 7)
Chapter 7 - We All Begin
Jaejoong and Yoochun both wake up at the same time the next morning and eye each other questionably from their respective beds. They both want to know what the other's been up to, but neither are quite ready to tell. So instead they get up, get ready, and Yoochun doesn't press Jaejoong for where he was last night and Jaejoong doesn't demand to know Yoochun's whereabouts the previous morning and afternoon.
"You - you're eating breakfast with us today?" Jaejoong’s surprised when Yoochun follows him out the door.
"What day is it?" Yoochun asks.
Jaejoong scrunches up his face in annoyance. It's an unfair question, honestly, he's been freakin' displaced in an alternate reality, trying to bring the four people who mean the world to him together, and Yoochun wants to know the damn DAY of the week! Jaejoong growls, counts in his head, then realizes, "Oh, it's Saturday."
"Yeah, and after breakfast we've all got to get to the pool so that we can cheer on our swim team."
"There's a swim meet today?" Jaejoong’s eyes go big. “Was that why Yunho was at the pool last night unwinding?”
“What?”
“Nothing!” Jaejoong claps excitedly. "Just that Yunho's on the swim team!"
"Yes, I know, he's the captain." Yoochun replies, patting Jaejoong on the head. "Let's go, I want to eat and get to the pool early so that we can get good seats, it gets crowded pretty fast."
Changmin just rolls his eyes when he opens his dorm room door and sees a bouncing Jaejoong and grinning Yoochun. "Why am I up this early on a Saturday morning again?"
"Because there's a swim meet, Changmin-ah! And Yunho’s team captain!" The smile is just not going to disappear from Jaejoong’s face any time soon. "LSM Prep, fighting!!"
"Bite me." Changmin mutters, shutting his door behind him as the three of them head for the dining hall.
"LSM Girls' School cheerleaders will be there too." Yoochun reminds the maknae. "Hot girls in short skirts, Min."
Changmin’s corresponding grin is slow and just this side of lecherous. "Hwang Bo-noona, my reason for living."
"Hwang Bo-noona?" Jaejoong stops bouncing. He looks between Yoochun and Changmin in shock. "LSM Girls' School?"
"Why do you look so surprised by that?" Changmin stares at him, then turns to Yoochun. "Why does he look so surprised by that?"
Yoochun coughs loudly, staring meaningfully at Jaejoong. "Um, yeah, LSM Girls' school, the one right across the lake."
"Oh...oh, right." Jaejoong tries to play along. "The lake."
"More like a stream. You can literally step from one embankment to the next." Changmin snorts. "If that's a lake then I'm an idol pop star."
Jaejoong chokes on absolutely nothing when he hears the youngest say that.
Changmin frowns, alarmed. "Hyung, what is wrong with you?"
Yoochun whacks Jaejoong's back hastily and denies, denies, denies. "Nothing's wrong with him!"
"Idol...star...TVXQ...and - and, Hwang Bo-noona..." Jaejoong wheezes out. "Hyunjoongie...Got Married."
"Yeah, the whole school knows he wants to marry her." Changmin rolls his eyes, then clears his throat when Yoochun glares at him. "Sorry, Jaejoong-hyung, I know he's your friend. Um, but, I mean, I'm pretty sure she likes Yunho-hyung, anyway."
Jaejoong eventually regains his composure and takes that piece of information in. He looks at Yoochun, and the way the younger boy bites his lips and grimaces is all the confirmation Jaejoong needs.
"So that could be why he hates Yunho so much." Jaejoong thinks aloud.
"More than likely." Yoochun affirms. "I take it you know her in your world too."
Jaejoong nods.
"Is she as cool in your world as she is here?"
Jaejoong nods again. "Probably."
Yoochun smiles.
"In your world?" Changmin repeats, as they enter the dining hall. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Oh, look, Min." Yoochun points to the line of students carrying their food trays to their tables. "It's pancakes today."
Jaejoong loves how easily distracted Changmin can be sometimes, with the right motivation. When they arrive at their table Yoochun is, of course, surprised to see Hyunjoong and Seunghyun already sitting there. The introductions are awkward, as expected, mostly because Hyunjoong and Yoochun like each other about as much as a paper cut to the middle finger being swabbed down with alcohol, and neither of them bother to hide it.
It's still so strange to Jaejoong, the fact that here Yoochun and Hyunjoong don't get along. He's grateful for Changmin, who is still so unfailingly single-minded at times, since the younger boy completely disregards the obvious tension and shoves Yoochun down into a seat with a, “Hyung, sit down already, I’m hungry!”
Once the maknae has seated himself, he immediately launches into conversation with Seunghyun. The younger two had discovered yesterday that they actually have a lot of common interests, like food, girls, and porn, specifically Japanese hentai manga.
"That is some good sh -"
"Seunghyun-ah," Hyunjoong interrupts. "They're cartoons."
"Pssh," Seunghyun snickers. "Sh-yeah! Hot cartoons!"
Changmin high-fives him and they both cackle like the perverted hormonal teenage males they are, and make plans to check-out each other's collections at a later date. Hyunjoong and Yoochun both call them perverted hormonal teenage males at the same time, then glare at each other, while Jaejoong doesn’t pay any attention to any of them as he searches the dining hall for Yunho.
"Where's Yunho?"
"Oh, he doesn't eat before a meet. Just snacks on bananas and stuff." Changmin fills in. "He's usually too nervous."
"That makes sense." Jaejoong allows, but he still feels a little disappointed. After all, he'd wanted to wish Yunho good luck.
Hyunjoong, who had been sitting beside Jaejoong, pushes up from his seat with an angry puff of breath. "I don't feel well." He states, refusing to look at any of them. "I'm going back to my room."
“But, Hyunjoongie, the swim meet!” Jaejoong cries, as the other boy stalks away.
None of them really know what to do as they watch Hyunjoong leave the dining hall; and Jaejoong feels bad for this Hyunjoong, he really does, because it's clear that the other boy and the Jaejoong-shi that belongs here are, indeed, best friends. But Jaejoong wants his family back - wants Yunho and Yoochun and Junsu and Changmin - and he's so close to getting that, that he just can't stop now, no matter whom it might hurt.
"He probably needs some time to cool off. We'll talk to him later, Hyung, and figure all of this out together." Seunghyun reassures, reaching across the table and patting Jaejoong’s hand.
Jaejoong glances over at Seunghyun and realizes that neither of them are actually sorry for what's been happening. Since Jaejoong arrived in this world, Seunghyun had always been the one more open to other people outside of their "superior" trio. And if the other boy was anything like Jeajoong's Seunghyun, then the younger boy was just mellow by nature and genuinely liked people. Seunghyun would probably have a lot more friends in this world, Jaejoong imagines, if it weren't for Hyunjoong and the Jaejoong-shi that belonged here.
Jaejoong tries to smile. "Yeah, we'll talk to him later."
Yoochun loops and arm around Jaejoong's shoulder and squeezes. Changmin doesn't say anything, but Jaejoong catches him slipping his pudding cup onto Seunghyun's plate and feels a light kick to his shin under the table and knows it's Changmin's way of offering his support too
~~~
When they get to the pool, Jaejoong expects Yoochun to lead them into the front row of the bleachers, but he doesn't. Instead, he walks them all the way to the top row.
"Hyung," Changmin whines, voicing Jaejoong's confusion out loud. "Why are going so far away? Don’t we usually sit in the front row, right behind the cheerleaders?"
"Oh, um," Yoochun stops and turns back to look at Changmin, a blush spreading suspiciously over his cheeks. "Sure, Minnie, why don't you and Seunghyun-shi do that, then? I - I'm going to sit at the top, check out the view from there."
"Okay!" Changmin and Seunghyun wave goodbye and start back down the stairs, too busy thinking about girls in revealing uniforms to question Yoochun’s behavior.
Jaejoong is not hampered by such diversions however, and fixes Yoochun with a look. "What's going on Yoochunnie?"
"N - nothing." Yoochun stutters.
Jaejoong's eyes narrow and he crosses his arms across his chest in preparation for an impromptu inquisition. "Tell me - ”
"Yoochun-ah!"
Jaejoong turns at the voice, jaw slackening in surprise.
"Yoochun-ah!" Junsu cries, bounding over to the other two boys with a smile. "You're finally here. Come on, I saved you a seat."
"Junsu-yah." Jaejoong breathes, gaze skittering to Yoochun in bewilderment. He feels the slow dawning of revelation creeping across his mind.
"Sunbae," Junsu bows politely. "Are you sitting with us too? There's more than enough room."
Jaejoong can't bring himself to do much more but stare and nod.
Junsu leads them all the way to the top of the bleachers, the farthest corner on the left. "You can see everything from here.” He says, sitting and waving to someone below. “Oh, there's Hwang Bo-noona."
Jaejoong sees Hwang Bo leading a line of other girls into the pool, they have red and gold cheerleading uniforms on with the large letters "LSM" emblazoned across their chests. She’s still just as tanned with features as exotically different in this world as they are in his world, and she smiles up at them, waving back to Junsu.
"Um, how do you know her?" Jaejoong asks Junsu.
Junsu smiles. "She used to date Yunho-hyung's really good friend, but they broke up a few months ago. The three of them are still good friends, though."
"So she doesn't like him?" Yoochun blurts out.
"You mean does Hwang Bo-noona like Yunho-hyung?" Junsu laughs, that loud unique, eu kyang kyang that Jaejoong had missed so much. "Yoochunnie, you're funny."
The three of them settle into small talk after that, mostly about music and how hard school can be sometimes and a new computer game Junsu just got in the mail from his mother, and does Yoochun want to play it with him sometime? Jaejoong really doesn’t need to ask Yoochun where he was yesterday during breakfast and lunch, because it’s clear from the current conversation that Yoochun was definitely with Junsu. It's no different than how things are in Jaejoong's own world and Jaejoong feels grateful about that for all their sakes.
But then a horn sounds out, and an announcer’s voice comes over the PA system, declaring the start of the swim meet. Jaejoong’s heart lodges in his throat the minute he sees Yunho walk out of the locker rooms with the rest of his teammates, swim cap snug around his hair and goggles hanging loosely around his neck. It stays there for the next three hours, even though Yunho’s not in every race. Because for all the heats that Yunho does participate in, Jaejoong decides that swimming is the best sport EVER, and that when he finally gets back to his own world he is totally going to convince his Yunho of that fact...because this Yunho just freakin' kills it every damn time! That individual medley was one of the most exciting things that Jaejoong had ever witnessed in his life. And Yunho won!!!
Jaejoong jumps up and down with the rest of LSM Prep and the fans, voice hoarse from all his cheering.
"Come on!" Junsu shrieks. "Let's go tell Yunho-hyung congratulations!" He grabs Yoochun's hand, not even bothering with the stairs, but hopping down the bleachers with Yoochun in tow, calling out. "Come on, Jaejoongie-sunbae!"
Jaejoong's just about to follow when he catches sight of Yoochun's face. He's seen that look before. It’s the way his Yoochun looks at his Junsu. Like all the happiness in the world has been captured and condensed into the other male's very existence. It's like being helpless in your own skin, your heart carrying you away to places you'd never go, if you had any control over it. Yoochun doesn’t look at anyone else the way he looks at Junsu. Jaejoong knows, because it’s the same way he looks at Yunho.
We’re all falling into place, Jaejoong thinks, just one more to go.
"Jaejoong-hyung!" Yoochun calls up at him. He and Junsu are waiting restlessly below, Changmin and Seunghyun already with them.
Jaejoong comes back to himself and shouts back, "Coming!" He hurries down the bleachers toward them.
There's a crowd around Yunho that's damn near impossible to fight through, which is understandable since he is, very much, the hero of the hour. But Jaejoong wants to get closer and NOW, and he's not the only one. Junsu huffs out an irritated sigh, opens his mouth and puts his powerful lungs to good use and yells, "YUNHO-HYUNG!"
And Yunho comes to them. It's fascinating to watch as others bow out of his way, almost like parting the Red Sea. Then Yunho's there, hair a flat, messy mop on his head, sweatpants on, but chest bare, and skin still glistening with chlorinated water.
Junsu doesn’t’ seem to care, though, and launches himself into the taller boy's arms, while Yunho stumbles backward with a laugh.
“Junsu-yah, I’m still wet!”
“Doesn’t matter, Hyung, you were so awesome!"
"You really were." Yoochun offers with a cheeky smile, staying a safe distance away from Yunho and bringing his fingers and thumbs together to form a heart. Yunho laughs at that too.
"Yeah, fantastic!" Changmin adds quickly. "But listen, Hyung, you’re good friends with Hwang Bo-noona, right? Seunghyun and I were wondering if you could get her to introduce us to some cheerleaders?"
Seunghyun slaps Changmin in the back of the head. "Sorry about him, Yunho-sunbae. You really were great...but, um, could you?"
Yunho gives his amused consent and reaches out to rub consolingly at Changmin’s abused head. Junsu slips out of Yunho’s arms and back to Yoochun's side like that's his rightful place. Jaejoong becomes aware of their positions, the unconscious arrangement of the five of them into a circle. There’s a sudden static in the air, a charge felt by all of them as their gazes roam across each other’s faces. No one invades on their moment, almost as if an invisible shield has gone up around them, not even Seunghyun dares to intrude. The other boy stands slightly outside of their sphere, mystified and unmoving. Jaejoong knows what this is. It’s the power of the five of them together.
“It’s happening.” Jaejoong involuntarily mutters to himself. The five of them...together. He’s so happy he wants to cry. He’s so happy he just wants to go home.
“Did you say something?” Yunho asks.
“Um, no,” Jaejoong blushes. “I…just…you were, um…the swim meet…you were really wonderful. Really.”
“Thank you.” Yunho replies sincerely, gaze locking onto Jaejoong.
And it's this odd kind of moment where all the noise around them seems to fade away and Jaejoong's entire universe contracts and refocuses until all that he can see is Yunho.
“You’re welcome.” Jaejoong's chest tightens in a way he can't explain.
"And thanks for coming to watch the meet." Yunho offers a small smile. It's a little silly and a lot sweet and very much like Yunho himself.
Jaejoong likes that smile a lot. Hell, he LURVS it! "That was one of the best experiences of my life." Jaejoong absolutely means that.
“Good enough to make you want to come to more of my swim meets?” Yunho questions with that same silly smile.
“Do I not come to your swim meets?” Jaejoong wonders aloud.
Seunghyun coughs exaggeratedly into his hands and, just like that, the universe unfolds itself to its rightful size, opening up again to include the rest of humanity and all its obtrusive clamor. Jaejoong blinks out of the moment and feels a little bit better when he notices that Yunho looks just as disoriented as he feels.
“See, this is that brain damage thing I was telling you about before.” Seunghyun nudges Changmin in the side as they both regard Jaejoong uncertainly. “So, is this going to be, like, a permanent thing or something?”
“I do not have brain damage!” Jaejoong glares. He turns to Yoochun. “Yoochun-ah, tell them!”
“He doesn’t have brain damage. He’s actually Jaejoong from another reality and he got sent here to unite me, Changminnie, Junsu-yah, and Yunho-hyung together. Oh, along with him, of course, because we’re the best boy band in the world where he’s from.”
Jaejoong gapes at the younger boy like he can’t believe Yoochun just said that. The other four gape at him too because, well, they can’t believe he just said that.
“Um, is brain damage contagious?” Seunghyun asks warily.
“No, Yoochun-hyung was like that before he befriended Jaejoong-hyung.” Changmin reassures.
“Yah!” Yoochun yells.
“You’re funny, Yoochun-ah.” Junsu giggles.
The younger four then get into this weird mock-fight-cheer thing, where Yoochun jumps on Changmin’s back and Junsu laughs hysterically, while Seunghyun shouts profane encouragements all in English, only nobody knows who he’s actually rooting for.
Yunho leans over and whispers to Jaejoong. “So, right now, it looks more like our dongsaeng-deul are the ones with the brain damage and not you.”
Jaejoong shivers involuntarily at the feel of the warm breath across his sensitive ears, but looks up at Yunho, very much concerned. “Have I seriously never come to any your meets before?”
Yunho honestly doesn’t understand why Jaejoong even needs to ask the question, but he answers carefully, “Well, this is the first time I’ve seen you at one.”
“Why is that?” Jaejoong bites his lip anxiously.
Yunho shrugs. “I really don’t know, but since you’re the one that started this rivalry, maybe you could tell me.”
Jaejoong shakes his head sadly. “I really wish I could.” He feels fingers on his elbow, then the soft trailing of them down his forearm, until Yunho’s hand is wrapped around his own.
Yunho squeezes once. “Yeah, me too.”
Yunho’s skin is still damp and a little clammy from the swimming pool, but their hands fit together in this world just as naturally as they do in Jaejoong’s own world. Jaejoong wants to spend some time just wallowing in that sensation, but he isn’t given the chance.
Just over Yunho’s shoulder, Jaejoong can see the advancing figure of Hyunjoong and the bleak expression on his friend's face.
“Jaejoong-ah,” Hyunjoong bites out angrily, scowling down at Jaejoong and Yunho’s linked hands. “We need to talk.”
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, JJ's secret to be revealed in the next one!!
8 | 9 | 10 | Afterward | 11 |
Jaejoong and Yoochun both wake up at the same time the next morning and eye each other questionably from their respective beds. They both want to know what the other's been up to, but neither are quite ready to tell. So instead they get up, get ready, and Yoochun doesn't press Jaejoong for where he was last night and Jaejoong doesn't demand to know Yoochun's whereabouts the previous morning and afternoon.
"You - you're eating breakfast with us today?" Jaejoong’s surprised when Yoochun follows him out the door.
"What day is it?" Yoochun asks.
Jaejoong scrunches up his face in annoyance. It's an unfair question, honestly, he's been freakin' displaced in an alternate reality, trying to bring the four people who mean the world to him together, and Yoochun wants to know the damn DAY of the week! Jaejoong growls, counts in his head, then realizes, "Oh, it's Saturday."
"Yeah, and after breakfast we've all got to get to the pool so that we can cheer on our swim team."
"There's a swim meet today?" Jaejoong’s eyes go big. “Was that why Yunho was at the pool last night unwinding?”
“What?”
“Nothing!” Jaejoong claps excitedly. "Just that Yunho's on the swim team!"
"Yes, I know, he's the captain." Yoochun replies, patting Jaejoong on the head. "Let's go, I want to eat and get to the pool early so that we can get good seats, it gets crowded pretty fast."
Changmin just rolls his eyes when he opens his dorm room door and sees a bouncing Jaejoong and grinning Yoochun. "Why am I up this early on a Saturday morning again?"
"Because there's a swim meet, Changmin-ah! And Yunho’s team captain!" The smile is just not going to disappear from Jaejoong’s face any time soon. "LSM Prep, fighting!!"
"Bite me." Changmin mutters, shutting his door behind him as the three of them head for the dining hall.
"LSM Girls' School cheerleaders will be there too." Yoochun reminds the maknae. "Hot girls in short skirts, Min."
Changmin’s corresponding grin is slow and just this side of lecherous. "Hwang Bo-noona, my reason for living."
"Hwang Bo-noona?" Jaejoong stops bouncing. He looks between Yoochun and Changmin in shock. "LSM Girls' School?"
"Why do you look so surprised by that?" Changmin stares at him, then turns to Yoochun. "Why does he look so surprised by that?"
Yoochun coughs loudly, staring meaningfully at Jaejoong. "Um, yeah, LSM Girls' school, the one right across the lake."
"Oh...oh, right." Jaejoong tries to play along. "The lake."
"More like a stream. You can literally step from one embankment to the next." Changmin snorts. "If that's a lake then I'm an idol pop star."
Jaejoong chokes on absolutely nothing when he hears the youngest say that.
Changmin frowns, alarmed. "Hyung, what is wrong with you?"
Yoochun whacks Jaejoong's back hastily and denies, denies, denies. "Nothing's wrong with him!"
"Idol...star...TVXQ...and - and, Hwang Bo-noona..." Jaejoong wheezes out. "Hyunjoongie...Got Married."
"Yeah, the whole school knows he wants to marry her." Changmin rolls his eyes, then clears his throat when Yoochun glares at him. "Sorry, Jaejoong-hyung, I know he's your friend. Um, but, I mean, I'm pretty sure she likes Yunho-hyung, anyway."
Jaejoong eventually regains his composure and takes that piece of information in. He looks at Yoochun, and the way the younger boy bites his lips and grimaces is all the confirmation Jaejoong needs.
"So that could be why he hates Yunho so much." Jaejoong thinks aloud.
"More than likely." Yoochun affirms. "I take it you know her in your world too."
Jaejoong nods.
"Is she as cool in your world as she is here?"
Jaejoong nods again. "Probably."
Yoochun smiles.
"In your world?" Changmin repeats, as they enter the dining hall. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Oh, look, Min." Yoochun points to the line of students carrying their food trays to their tables. "It's pancakes today."
Jaejoong loves how easily distracted Changmin can be sometimes, with the right motivation. When they arrive at their table Yoochun is, of course, surprised to see Hyunjoong and Seunghyun already sitting there. The introductions are awkward, as expected, mostly because Hyunjoong and Yoochun like each other about as much as a paper cut to the middle finger being swabbed down with alcohol, and neither of them bother to hide it.
It's still so strange to Jaejoong, the fact that here Yoochun and Hyunjoong don't get along. He's grateful for Changmin, who is still so unfailingly single-minded at times, since the younger boy completely disregards the obvious tension and shoves Yoochun down into a seat with a, “Hyung, sit down already, I’m hungry!”
Once the maknae has seated himself, he immediately launches into conversation with Seunghyun. The younger two had discovered yesterday that they actually have a lot of common interests, like food, girls, and porn, specifically Japanese hentai manga.
"That is some good sh -"
"Seunghyun-ah," Hyunjoong interrupts. "They're cartoons."
"Pssh," Seunghyun snickers. "Sh-yeah! Hot cartoons!"
Changmin high-fives him and they both cackle like the perverted hormonal teenage males they are, and make plans to check-out each other's collections at a later date. Hyunjoong and Yoochun both call them perverted hormonal teenage males at the same time, then glare at each other, while Jaejoong doesn’t pay any attention to any of them as he searches the dining hall for Yunho.
"Where's Yunho?"
"Oh, he doesn't eat before a meet. Just snacks on bananas and stuff." Changmin fills in. "He's usually too nervous."
"That makes sense." Jaejoong allows, but he still feels a little disappointed. After all, he'd wanted to wish Yunho good luck.
Hyunjoong, who had been sitting beside Jaejoong, pushes up from his seat with an angry puff of breath. "I don't feel well." He states, refusing to look at any of them. "I'm going back to my room."
“But, Hyunjoongie, the swim meet!” Jaejoong cries, as the other boy stalks away.
None of them really know what to do as they watch Hyunjoong leave the dining hall; and Jaejoong feels bad for this Hyunjoong, he really does, because it's clear that the other boy and the Jaejoong-shi that belongs here are, indeed, best friends. But Jaejoong wants his family back - wants Yunho and Yoochun and Junsu and Changmin - and he's so close to getting that, that he just can't stop now, no matter whom it might hurt.
"He probably needs some time to cool off. We'll talk to him later, Hyung, and figure all of this out together." Seunghyun reassures, reaching across the table and patting Jaejoong’s hand.
Jaejoong glances over at Seunghyun and realizes that neither of them are actually sorry for what's been happening. Since Jaejoong arrived in this world, Seunghyun had always been the one more open to other people outside of their "superior" trio. And if the other boy was anything like Jeajoong's Seunghyun, then the younger boy was just mellow by nature and genuinely liked people. Seunghyun would probably have a lot more friends in this world, Jaejoong imagines, if it weren't for Hyunjoong and the Jaejoong-shi that belonged here.
Jaejoong tries to smile. "Yeah, we'll talk to him later."
Yoochun loops and arm around Jaejoong's shoulder and squeezes. Changmin doesn't say anything, but Jaejoong catches him slipping his pudding cup onto Seunghyun's plate and feels a light kick to his shin under the table and knows it's Changmin's way of offering his support too
~~~
When they get to the pool, Jaejoong expects Yoochun to lead them into the front row of the bleachers, but he doesn't. Instead, he walks them all the way to the top row.
"Hyung," Changmin whines, voicing Jaejoong's confusion out loud. "Why are going so far away? Don’t we usually sit in the front row, right behind the cheerleaders?"
"Oh, um," Yoochun stops and turns back to look at Changmin, a blush spreading suspiciously over his cheeks. "Sure, Minnie, why don't you and Seunghyun-shi do that, then? I - I'm going to sit at the top, check out the view from there."
"Okay!" Changmin and Seunghyun wave goodbye and start back down the stairs, too busy thinking about girls in revealing uniforms to question Yoochun’s behavior.
Jaejoong is not hampered by such diversions however, and fixes Yoochun with a look. "What's going on Yoochunnie?"
"N - nothing." Yoochun stutters.
Jaejoong's eyes narrow and he crosses his arms across his chest in preparation for an impromptu inquisition. "Tell me - ”
"Yoochun-ah!"
Jaejoong turns at the voice, jaw slackening in surprise.
"Yoochun-ah!" Junsu cries, bounding over to the other two boys with a smile. "You're finally here. Come on, I saved you a seat."
"Junsu-yah." Jaejoong breathes, gaze skittering to Yoochun in bewilderment. He feels the slow dawning of revelation creeping across his mind.
"Sunbae," Junsu bows politely. "Are you sitting with us too? There's more than enough room."
Jaejoong can't bring himself to do much more but stare and nod.
Junsu leads them all the way to the top of the bleachers, the farthest corner on the left. "You can see everything from here.” He says, sitting and waving to someone below. “Oh, there's Hwang Bo-noona."
Jaejoong sees Hwang Bo leading a line of other girls into the pool, they have red and gold cheerleading uniforms on with the large letters "LSM" emblazoned across their chests. She’s still just as tanned with features as exotically different in this world as they are in his world, and she smiles up at them, waving back to Junsu.
"Um, how do you know her?" Jaejoong asks Junsu.
Junsu smiles. "She used to date Yunho-hyung's really good friend, but they broke up a few months ago. The three of them are still good friends, though."
"So she doesn't like him?" Yoochun blurts out.
"You mean does Hwang Bo-noona like Yunho-hyung?" Junsu laughs, that loud unique, eu kyang kyang that Jaejoong had missed so much. "Yoochunnie, you're funny."
The three of them settle into small talk after that, mostly about music and how hard school can be sometimes and a new computer game Junsu just got in the mail from his mother, and does Yoochun want to play it with him sometime? Jaejoong really doesn’t need to ask Yoochun where he was yesterday during breakfast and lunch, because it’s clear from the current conversation that Yoochun was definitely with Junsu. It's no different than how things are in Jaejoong's own world and Jaejoong feels grateful about that for all their sakes.
But then a horn sounds out, and an announcer’s voice comes over the PA system, declaring the start of the swim meet. Jaejoong’s heart lodges in his throat the minute he sees Yunho walk out of the locker rooms with the rest of his teammates, swim cap snug around his hair and goggles hanging loosely around his neck. It stays there for the next three hours, even though Yunho’s not in every race. Because for all the heats that Yunho does participate in, Jaejoong decides that swimming is the best sport EVER, and that when he finally gets back to his own world he is totally going to convince his Yunho of that fact...because this Yunho just freakin' kills it every damn time! That individual medley was one of the most exciting things that Jaejoong had ever witnessed in his life. And Yunho won!!!
Jaejoong jumps up and down with the rest of LSM Prep and the fans, voice hoarse from all his cheering.
"Come on!" Junsu shrieks. "Let's go tell Yunho-hyung congratulations!" He grabs Yoochun's hand, not even bothering with the stairs, but hopping down the bleachers with Yoochun in tow, calling out. "Come on, Jaejoongie-sunbae!"
Jaejoong's just about to follow when he catches sight of Yoochun's face. He's seen that look before. It’s the way his Yoochun looks at his Junsu. Like all the happiness in the world has been captured and condensed into the other male's very existence. It's like being helpless in your own skin, your heart carrying you away to places you'd never go, if you had any control over it. Yoochun doesn’t look at anyone else the way he looks at Junsu. Jaejoong knows, because it’s the same way he looks at Yunho.
We’re all falling into place, Jaejoong thinks, just one more to go.
"Jaejoong-hyung!" Yoochun calls up at him. He and Junsu are waiting restlessly below, Changmin and Seunghyun already with them.
Jaejoong comes back to himself and shouts back, "Coming!" He hurries down the bleachers toward them.
There's a crowd around Yunho that's damn near impossible to fight through, which is understandable since he is, very much, the hero of the hour. But Jaejoong wants to get closer and NOW, and he's not the only one. Junsu huffs out an irritated sigh, opens his mouth and puts his powerful lungs to good use and yells, "YUNHO-HYUNG!"
And Yunho comes to them. It's fascinating to watch as others bow out of his way, almost like parting the Red Sea. Then Yunho's there, hair a flat, messy mop on his head, sweatpants on, but chest bare, and skin still glistening with chlorinated water.
Junsu doesn’t’ seem to care, though, and launches himself into the taller boy's arms, while Yunho stumbles backward with a laugh.
“Junsu-yah, I’m still wet!”
“Doesn’t matter, Hyung, you were so awesome!"
"You really were." Yoochun offers with a cheeky smile, staying a safe distance away from Yunho and bringing his fingers and thumbs together to form a heart. Yunho laughs at that too.
"Yeah, fantastic!" Changmin adds quickly. "But listen, Hyung, you’re good friends with Hwang Bo-noona, right? Seunghyun and I were wondering if you could get her to introduce us to some cheerleaders?"
Seunghyun slaps Changmin in the back of the head. "Sorry about him, Yunho-sunbae. You really were great...but, um, could you?"
Yunho gives his amused consent and reaches out to rub consolingly at Changmin’s abused head. Junsu slips out of Yunho’s arms and back to Yoochun's side like that's his rightful place. Jaejoong becomes aware of their positions, the unconscious arrangement of the five of them into a circle. There’s a sudden static in the air, a charge felt by all of them as their gazes roam across each other’s faces. No one invades on their moment, almost as if an invisible shield has gone up around them, not even Seunghyun dares to intrude. The other boy stands slightly outside of their sphere, mystified and unmoving. Jaejoong knows what this is. It’s the power of the five of them together.
“It’s happening.” Jaejoong involuntarily mutters to himself. The five of them...together. He’s so happy he wants to cry. He’s so happy he just wants to go home.
“Did you say something?” Yunho asks.
“Um, no,” Jaejoong blushes. “I…just…you were, um…the swim meet…you were really wonderful. Really.”
“Thank you.” Yunho replies sincerely, gaze locking onto Jaejoong.
And it's this odd kind of moment where all the noise around them seems to fade away and Jaejoong's entire universe contracts and refocuses until all that he can see is Yunho.
“You’re welcome.” Jaejoong's chest tightens in a way he can't explain.
"And thanks for coming to watch the meet." Yunho offers a small smile. It's a little silly and a lot sweet and very much like Yunho himself.
Jaejoong likes that smile a lot. Hell, he LURVS it! "That was one of the best experiences of my life." Jaejoong absolutely means that.
“Good enough to make you want to come to more of my swim meets?” Yunho questions with that same silly smile.
“Do I not come to your swim meets?” Jaejoong wonders aloud.
Seunghyun coughs exaggeratedly into his hands and, just like that, the universe unfolds itself to its rightful size, opening up again to include the rest of humanity and all its obtrusive clamor. Jaejoong blinks out of the moment and feels a little bit better when he notices that Yunho looks just as disoriented as he feels.
“See, this is that brain damage thing I was telling you about before.” Seunghyun nudges Changmin in the side as they both regard Jaejoong uncertainly. “So, is this going to be, like, a permanent thing or something?”
“I do not have brain damage!” Jaejoong glares. He turns to Yoochun. “Yoochun-ah, tell them!”
“He doesn’t have brain damage. He’s actually Jaejoong from another reality and he got sent here to unite me, Changminnie, Junsu-yah, and Yunho-hyung together. Oh, along with him, of course, because we’re the best boy band in the world where he’s from.”
Jaejoong gapes at the younger boy like he can’t believe Yoochun just said that. The other four gape at him too because, well, they can’t believe he just said that.
“Um, is brain damage contagious?” Seunghyun asks warily.
“No, Yoochun-hyung was like that before he befriended Jaejoong-hyung.” Changmin reassures.
“Yah!” Yoochun yells.
“You’re funny, Yoochun-ah.” Junsu giggles.
The younger four then get into this weird mock-fight-cheer thing, where Yoochun jumps on Changmin’s back and Junsu laughs hysterically, while Seunghyun shouts profane encouragements all in English, only nobody knows who he’s actually rooting for.
Yunho leans over and whispers to Jaejoong. “So, right now, it looks more like our dongsaeng-deul are the ones with the brain damage and not you.”
Jaejoong shivers involuntarily at the feel of the warm breath across his sensitive ears, but looks up at Yunho, very much concerned. “Have I seriously never come to any your meets before?”
Yunho honestly doesn’t understand why Jaejoong even needs to ask the question, but he answers carefully, “Well, this is the first time I’ve seen you at one.”
“Why is that?” Jaejoong bites his lip anxiously.
Yunho shrugs. “I really don’t know, but since you’re the one that started this rivalry, maybe you could tell me.”
Jaejoong shakes his head sadly. “I really wish I could.” He feels fingers on his elbow, then the soft trailing of them down his forearm, until Yunho’s hand is wrapped around his own.
Yunho squeezes once. “Yeah, me too.”
Yunho’s skin is still damp and a little clammy from the swimming pool, but their hands fit together in this world just as naturally as they do in Jaejoong’s own world. Jaejoong wants to spend some time just wallowing in that sensation, but he isn’t given the chance.
Just over Yunho’s shoulder, Jaejoong can see the advancing figure of Hyunjoong and the bleak expression on his friend's face.
“Jaejoong-ah,” Hyunjoong bites out angrily, scowling down at Jaejoong and Yunho’s linked hands. “We need to talk.”
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, JJ's secret to be revealed in the next one!!
8 | 9 | 10 | Afterward | 11 |