Fated To Love You? ; Chapter 17
Title: Fated To Love You?
Author: oh_thexirony
Genre: Romance, Angst, Fluff, Crack, AU
Length: Chaptered; Chapter 17 ; It just had to be this
Pairing(s): YunhoxJaejoong (mainly) , a side of YoochunxJunsu, KibumxChangmin
Overall Rating : PG - R (will be warned of rating in every individual chapter)
Rating For This Chapter: PG-13 for language
Warning(s) For This Chapter: none
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A/N : After a very long wait, chapter 17 is FINALLY up. I was quite uninspired for the longest time, but I've gotten my inspiration back on track after writing this chapter, and I already have the plot in mind for chapter 18, so that will come soon. As I've said I've been trying to pick up on the pace for the entire story, but I do hope you understand why I'm opting for these few chapters to be slower paced. Do read the small notice at the bottom ^^
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Fated To Love You?; Chapter 17
It just had to be this
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you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
&&
I don't want to go home right now
-
"Ngh."
Pushing his sleep heavy lids open with a groan, Jaejoong ran his tongue briefly over his bottom lip as he shifted from the position his body had curled up into, head lifting from the side of the seat it had come to rest upon. Squinting, the corner of his eyes scrunching up as his gaze roved around the now dim cabin the twenty six year old pushed his legs out in front of him in a stretch as he pushed himself up into an upright position, his palms pressing against the soft leather of the seat. It took a moments hesitation before Jaejoong peered out from behind the slight partition that separated the two seats that were otherwise side by side to find himself staring at Yunho, who had too by the looks of it had fallen asleep with his laptop flipped open and running in front of him. How he had managed to look so innocent and still so young - just like when they were eighteen and without a care in the World - baffled Jaejoong. In the last 6 years, Yunho had changed in the sense that he looked different, that was certain - after all, which boy didn't change as they grew to become men. He, like Jaejoong had grown more polished (although Yunho's jump to becoming 'polished' wasn't as great as that which Jaejoong had made), more mature, and even slightly taller if he dared as much to say and yet the difference lay in the fact that although Jaejoong's features had changed somewhat to become more refined, and even older looking, sharper while retaining their overall look, Yunho's face and features hadn't changed one bit. He was one of those 'baby faces' who looked as they did when they were three and thirty. Turning away as he felt a twitch in his chest - what it was, Jaejoong really couldn't tell, the older man stared down at the dark woolen that had fallen from covering his chest to pool around waist. Gathering a fistful of cloth in his hand, he raised a brow as he stared from his loosely clenched fist to the empty cup of milk that had yet to been cleared.
-
It hadn't entirely been what he had expected, the whole situation, it had been as surprising to Kibum as it had been to Changmin despite the fact that he had been the one who had orchestrated the entire moment. The truth was very plainly that Kibum was attracted to Changmin. It was no secret that Kim Kibum was a huge playboy, with both males and females alike gravitating towards him, and even more of a fact that he accepted them both, though his acceptance to males was more subtle and of a lesser degree than that to females. Sure there were those who disapproved of this particular aspect of Kibum's life but his charm, coupled with the hard facts of what family he came from - resulted in not many, or none at all who dared comment out loud on his choices Changmin aside. It wasn't something he liked very much, the fact that certain people he knew only wanted to be his friend, to get to know him because of whatever benefits they had hoped he could provide them with, but as he had learnt that was how life did tend to work. All Kibum could do, as he had come to realize was to learn to sift out those who only wanted to use him from those who really were his friends. He wasn't sure exactly how he had come to be develop an attraction to Changmin, and he wasn't even sure if it was what you would call 'bona-fide', but over the past few months Kibum had found himself developing a shift in feelings in the way he took to as well as interacted with the other boy. Kibum had always been touchy with Changmin - in fact, Kibum had always been touchy with everyone but that being of 'touchy' with Changmin had changed in recent months, to border from being just friends into appearing to be slightly more. It baffled Kibum to be honest, he was a seventeen year old boy who had never been in any kind of functional relationship, ever, he had always taken girls as they came, dating one, two or even three at one time, juggling them all - making it work for him, tell them he loved them when really his words meant nothing, and yet most ironically, the first time he had wanted to mean something, somehow - he didn't know why, it seemed to mean nothing.
"Fuck this shit."
Throwing the miniature sized soccer ball he had been tossing around in his hands against the wall, Kibum rose from the sofa he was slouched up against a minute ago, his eyes flickering across the clock which hung on the wall in his room : 2.00am. Grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair it had been draped across, Kibum reached for his wallet and phone which he had flung across his bed. He was going to forget, and deal with this rejection in the only way he knew best.
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Dragging his palm down, and over his face, Jaejoong pushed himself back, sinking lower into his seat where he had been shifting around uncomfortably in for the past half an hour. The cup of milk he had earlier had helped in calming him into a peaceful sleep for a few hours but unlike sleeping pills, it sadly didn't possess the ability to lull him into sleep for a whole fifteen hours. Jaejoong had never been much of a heavy sleeper, and never one who needed to sleep a lot either thus explaining how he had (by herculean effort and determination and with help from his extended family) survived his teenage years, juggling a job, good grades and a ten year old child all at once, but it was at times like this did Jaejoong wish his body would desire more sleep. He had always envied Changmin who once asleep, wouldn't wake even if they sky threatened to collapse on them, no matter how tired Jaejoong ever was no matter how much he had done in the day, sleeping past a full 8 hours could be considered a feat for the banker. You see, the uneasy feelings that he felt whenever he had to fly, they accumulated in him, built up in him even if he refused to let it out, to let it show - because being who he was, he just simply could not. Appearance was everything and how would one, or anyone for that matter trust someone with their investments and sums of money when he couldn't even keep himself together? Banking as Jaejoong saw it was all about appearance. The fact that the plane was an enclosed space didn't help much either despite it being a million times better than a lift ever would be, it really only served to heighten his paranoia, making him restless and more uncomfortable than ever.
Chewing down on his bottom lip, Jaejoong's gaze landed on Yunho's open laptop. It's screen had flickered, some fifteen minutes ago, from a typical screen saver page with an icon drifting lazily around various corners of the screen to a pitch black with only a blinking yellow light near the keyboard indicating it had gone into hibernation. Call him crazy, but Jaejoong would very well blame it on the paranoia that had caused him to, in that very moment sit up slowly before reaching over as quietly as he could so as not to wake the younger man to grab the laptop by it's edges before lifting it over and setting it down on the pulled out tray table in front of him. Well this would serve to be interesting entertainment.
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Tapping down twice on the spacebar, the banker reached up to adjust the pair of headphones that he had fitted snugly onto his ears the inflight systems variety of music albums running on repeat (he had tried to start on a movie, but had failed terribly within the first ten minutes of the show with his eyes crying out bloody murder, it was bad enough that he had to face a computer screen for the large portion of the day but surprising all the same that his eyesight wasn't all that bad yet). Staring at the dialog box that flashed up on the screen as it crawled to light, the space between Jaejoong's brows furrowed down as the cursor in the empty white box blinked up at him.
Enter Passcode.
Stroking the keys with his fingers, Jaejoong let his head fall at an angle to his left. Now, what would would Yunho's password be. Eyes roaming the screen in search for a question mark button of sorts where there would hopefully be a hint to just what the answer was, the twenty six year old couldn't help but grin as a speech bubble floated up as he ran his fingers over the trackpad to hover above the empty dialog box.
you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
His eyes can't help but widen slightly, but with a moments hesitation Jaejoong brings his hands to the keys as he begins to tap out a sentence that appears in little black dots on screen before he strikes down on the enter button. Sucking in a breath of air as the dialog box flickers and changes, the words : welcome back, coming up on screen, Jaejoong bites down on a knuckle as he raises a loosely fisted hand to come to rest on his lower lip. It was just a day full of surprises wasn't it.
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It had been Jaejoong's seventeen birthday and he had declined the invitation from friends in school to go out to celebrate that night with a few bottles of soju, beer over plates of roasted meat. He had, with much pleading and promise to take a raincheck for his birthday treat from them, managed to somehow wrangle his way out of the outing, barely managing to make it to work at the bookstore on time. He was due for a full afternoon shift, closing duty at 10pm inclusive of his days work that particular night despite it being his birthday - he did need the money after all so covering for a colleague for a month who had to deal with her sick sister who had been hospitalized, and helping out with said sister's family, was actually a gift from God, it really didn't matter if it was his birthday, because as it was he was still young and birthday's of his own they came and went every year.
He had closed the shop at 1000pm, locked up the front door at 1030pm and managed to walk the few blocks back to his apartment within another half an hour, putting him in the lift riding up to his floor by 1103pm that night. He was tired out from the hour of physical education they had in the day where the teacher had decided to put the boys all up to a crazy five kilometer run along with a small snippet of weight training which Jaejoong felt was more than enough to last him a lifetime, and that coupled with the past few hours he had spent straining himself in attempt to read his literature text for the day while pouring over his math class homework, all Jaejoong really wanted to do at that point was to crawl into bed and hope the next day would be less tiring. Trudging the short distance, that at this point in time seemed like forever, from the lift to his front door, the boy shoved the key into the lock before turning it twice to the left and pushing down on the lever before leaning his weight on the heavy thick wood and staggering into his apartment. Closing the door behind him while attempting to pull of both his socks and shoes at the same time, Jaejoong turned to lock shut while sliding the latch into place. At this point in time, he was half mulling over the decision to wait till the next morning before deciding to bathe - well, he had bathed once after physical education class and hadn't broke into sweat otherwise for the entire day.
It had been a pair of hands that had come from behind, sneaking over his shoulders and coming to rest over his eyes. His first instinct had been to tense up in panic, but within seconds Jaejoong knew who it was. The smooth skin of the hands over his eyes, their gentle hold, the smell of peppermint toothpaste and coconut cream shampoo.
"Aren't you afraid I might be some serial rapist, or murderer?" the voices tickles his ear.
"I would gladly submit to you if you were either." Jaejoong can't help but chuckle lightly as the hands pivot him, guiding him to a slow walk.
"Oh, so getting all kinky and disturbing now are we." there is an amused lint to the voice.
"Perhaps." Jaejoong draws out the word, tired feelings gone as he hears a door being nudged open.
"Well I'm sorry that I forget the ten strippers, their poles and an assortment of flavored creams then." Yunho takes his hands away from Jaejoong's eyes and the shorter boy blinks a few times, gaze adjusting back to the dim light and feels a ear splitting grin creep onto his features.
It wasn't an elaborate surprise by any chance, no rose petals scattered over the room, no ten million stands of scented candles, in fact all that there was was simply a cake with a candle and a wrapped box beside it standing on the short table beside his bed.
"Happy Birthday." Yunho's voice is deep and smooth and it makes Jaejoong, even at seventeen years old, want to smile like a five year old on Christmas morning, his insides squirming with joy.
"You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be." is what Jaejoong manages to mutter into Yunho's shoulder as he spins around and throws himself into the younger's embrace. He quotes from Iris, the classic english song that couples very often request for each other on radio. It is disgustingly, maybe even awkwardly sappy but when you're seventeen and in love, you hardly ever do stop to think before acting upon anything. Jaejoong's english is far from perfect - far from the polished cut accent he will earn years later as a means of being forced to partake in countless overseas dealings, it is with the lithe of korean that one who has been brought up with mainly a korean vocabulary and lack of practice in english cannot fully shake off as of yet, but it doesn't fail to make Yunho wrap his arms around the older boy, his face joyous as he whispers back in a considerably better, more well cut accent.
"And I don't want to go home right now." He presses a kiss on Jaejoong's neck, and that night, he doesn't return home - because home was where ever they were together.
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And I don't want to go home right now.
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Shaking himself out of his moment of recollection, Jaejoong cleared his throat before shifting up in his seat. Lowering his hand from his lip back down to the laptop's trackpad once again, he shook his head lightly. He did not need to be thinking of such thoughts at the moment, in fact - they were thoughts that he should not even have had ever called up, thoughts that should not have been brought up in his mind. He had managed to lock them safely away for the good part of six years, with each deal he cut, each meeting he attended, each contract crafted, all pushing them further into the recesses of his mind., and yet now, barely even halfway through a fifteen hour plane ride Jaejoong found them surfacing, fighting once again to be released. No, no he could not let that happen. Fingers drifting across the trackpad as the machine called up its home screen, Jaejoong stared at the picture that spanned the computer's desktop. It was a photo of Yunho and Jiyool, with the father holding onto his daughter who was perched upon his lap, a stuffed rabbit in her hands, both smiling happily into the camera. Jiyool was a beautiful child, and in her face Jaejoong saw bits of Yunho, they had the same eyes, the same nose, but the smile it was stunning, but not Yunho's. Yet even so, the two were obviously related, father and daughter. Jaejoong felt a faint smile flicker onto his face as the photo winked up at him, he wasn't smiling because he was happy Yunho had gotten married and had a daughter, no : Jaejoong was smiling at the scene that had been managed to be captured in the photo on screen, father and child happily together.
It was a scene in Jaejoong's opinion to be treasured, despite the man in picture being one who had hurt him so greatly years ago, for the very simple reason that Jaejoong understood the importance of family, or how important it was to be a parent (or in his own case pseudo parent) to a child along with ensuring that enough time was allocated to the child at hand. Although given his aunt and uncle who he was thankful for having in place of his own parents, it was a fact that Jaejoong had lost his parents, never having gotten to know them at all. One could argue that he was fortunate in that most unfortunate sense as he had lost parents that he never had a chance to know, hence minimizing the hurt and pain one would feel should they have known their parents and then loss them, and Jaejoong would agree. However, it didn't mean he had been able to grow up without the implications of not having his parents : it just wasn't the same having your aunt and uncle as your parents when you knew that they weren't your parents (it had never been their wish to keep from Jaejoong that they weren't his birth parents, they had always been as honest as light to him as anyone could be), when occasions like bring your parent day, or even fathers and mothers day came around the corner, there would have been a part of Jaejoong that felt loss, and out of place. Sure, he made the cards for his aunt and uncle with what was sincerely his love for them - but no matter what it was, it really just wasn't the same. It was because of his very experience while growing up that made him want to look after Changmin to the best of his ability, not only being able to provide him with what was necessary, but also with enough love and care, because Changmin like Jaejoong - had had no parents. Hence Jaejoong understood, as a busy person himself, and he was sure Yunho was equally caught up in work as he was, because which lawyer didn't have to slog his or her guts out, how precious the moment between the man and his daughter was. It was like comparing Jaejoong himself and Changmin side by side, like two relationships between parent and child which were almost identical parallels save the fact age and gender of said children.
It might have been a strange decision to those who didn't understand the complexities behind Jaejoong's life story that a struggling nineteen year old student, whom Jaejoong had been at that time, would choose to add to his burden by taking in a ten year old street hooligan to be his family, but to Jaejoong it had at that time, and it still did make perfect sense, it was the only logical thing for him to have done, and the only thing he would have done at any point in his life. They had become family, and would forever since that day be family to one another, and it was more than what Jaejoong could have hoped or asked for.
Pulling his gaze away from the picture that spanned the entire screen, Jaejoong shifted the cursor to come to the start button where he drew up the entire list of software. It had been his intention to call up Yunho's drive list and flick through his files, seeing if there was anything worth looking at. Sure it wasn't very profession, nor something a grown twenty six year old would do or something anyone would approve off, but Jaejoong didn't care. Besides, this wasn't your average situations that two people would be in, Jaejoong and Yunho had history and thus, by Jaejoong's case and argument, everything was already different and this meant that there were no rules involved. Flipping open the drive list, the banker's gaze came to rest upon the folder labeled 'photos'. It wouldn't hurt to look would it, sure it could be called, or rather was an invasion of privacy, but to hell with that - Yunho owed him at least that much or more, didn't he?
Tapping down twice on the folder, highlighting it before it expanded to reveal subsets of folders, Jaejoong skimmed over the entire selection. They were mostly photos of Yunho and Jiyool from when she was an infant, all the way up to the five year old child she now was. Father and daughter in the snow, father and daughter on the beach, in the garden - everywhere. She was a lucky child by the looks of it, someone who had gotten in her few short years to already experience so much, to be so loved. Oh yes, loved, there was no denying it, that despite however cruel the side of Yunho which Jaejoong had once seen, had once been presented with, he was a good father, someone who did really love his daughter. It was obvious from the expression in his eyes, the one which the photos had managed to capture.
"How are you such a different person here." Jaejoong muttered to himself as he pushed the headphones off his head, sliding them to hang on his neck.
This was looking to be more and more like the Yunho Jaejoong once knew, the Yunho that he had once been so head over heels in love with. How he had become the Yunho who had went off to America, fell in love with a girl before deciding to marry her and have a child with her, Jaejoong did not know. Closing the windows which he had opened, not wanting to probe any further, Jaejoong reached over to place the laptop back in the position he had removed it from. Turning his head to watch the sleeping lawyer, Jaejoong couldn't help but let a slight sigh escape his lips. He wouldn't deny it, there was a part of him who wanted to believe that Yunho's recent advancements were real, that wanted to believe Jaejoong once again meant something to Yunho - but that, that was all hard to believe, after six years of nothing, after being broken so ruthlessly, that part of him wasn't big. It was like the saying went, once bitten twice shy, besides, it was too coincidental. Yunho wanting Jaejoong back right after he came back, divorced from America? It sounded like a rebound plan to him and although once upon a time, when he was younger, Jaejoong might have fallen straight into that, now he was different, older, more mature and stronger, it was something he wasn't about to do. In fact, Jaejoong had no intention of giving Yunho another chance, there was no denying that the feelings that seemed to be surfacing in recent days, weeks were all screaming at Jaejoong to relent, but that, that just wasn't something that was even in the vicinity of possible at current, he wasn't that stupid and neither that forgiving. To be honest, there was a part of Jaejoong that hated Yunho, that harbored a great, immense anger to the lawyer. It was a part of him that refused, come what may, to ever speak to Yunho again, a part of him that wanted to throw Yunho from the top of the highest building in the World and walk away and as Jaejoong saw it, it was natural and a part of everything, even a part of him that still burned with both humiliation and hurt.
"Jae.." it was a half incoherent mutter that made Jaejoong freeze, his shoulders tensing up, the pit of his stomach dropping and rising again all in a second - he had been caught in the act.
"I was only tryi-" Jaejoong rushes his words out as he makes to turn, only to find himself coming just centimeters close to Yunho's face. Jaejoong holds his breath as he stares at the other man's closed eyes, Yunho's head had fallen, cheek slumped against the partition that separates the two seats. So he wasn't awake after all, just talking in his sleep. Thoughts of a moment ago forgotten in that instance, Jaejoong finds himself staring down at the other's lips that are just inches away from his own. He can smell Yunho's aftershave, his shampoo and everything that is just him. Drawing his eyes up to the lawyer's closed ones, Jaejoong blinks once, twice and he pulls away slightly startled. Insanity was what this was, pulling the headphones off his neck only to throw them down into his seat, he pushed open the clasp of his seatbelt before rising into a stand. Eyes darting briefly around the dim cabin where most passengers were either deep in sleep, or had their eyes fixed on the monitor in front of each of their seats, Jaejoong ran a hand through his hair. He needed desperately to walk around, to get away from the space that was making him do stupid irrational things even if it was just for a second. Sliding out of his seat space, the man pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans before starting on a slow walk down the aisle.
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3:00AM
Staring at the analog words on the clock positioned on his study table through half lidded eyes, Changmin groaned as he shifted in bed onto his side. He had been rudely awoken by the vibrations coming from his bedside table, his phone had been ringing for the past two minutes and didn't seem as if it were going to stop anytime soon. Initially he had tried to ignore it, but who was he kidding, it was almost impossible to fall back asleep when there was a buzzing noise that was as irritating as hell close to your left side hearing range. Raising a hand that came down on the wooden set of drawers with a thump, Changmin grabbed a hold onto the phone, fumbling with the device, he pressed down on the answer button, placing the phone to his ear.
" 'lo?" his voice is a hoarse, sleepy sound.
"Changminnnnnn." the voice on the other end slurs and Changmin finds his eyes snapping open.
"Kibum?" It wouldn't have been his choice of reply given the events that had happened earlier in the night, but having just woken up, Changmin's brain mouth filter didn't seem to be in top working condition.
"I'm at the cluuuub, there are soo many people here who want me, they don't pu-push me away like y-you did, they aren't re-re-rejecting me. They LOVE me!" the voice on the other line slurs, repeating each word more than once at times, his sentences not in proper grammatical running order, with the last part shouted out in excited proclamation.
"Well thats good for you, why don't you go have a nice life and don't ever call again." Changmin's voice is laced with sarcasm and anger. Yanking the battery door away from the phone, the teenager pulled the small black rectangle out from the back of the device before chucking all parts of his phone onto the ground. Flipping around onto his other side, Changmin squeezed his eyes shut, still seething with obvious anger. If Kibum wanted to throw himself into a club, at a thousand other whores just like him after treating Changmin like one, well there, he could - Changmin honestly didn't give a fuck.
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It was a sudden jerk of the plane that jolted Yunho out of his sleep. Eyes opening, he sat up lifting his head from the side partition it had been resting against while rubbing the back of his neck. He hated sleeping on planes, it had to be the most uncomfortable situation to be in, ever. Turning his head to look into the seat beside him, Yunho felt a twitch of panic, it was empty, with just Jaejoong's jacket, his earphones and blanket. It wasn't like Yunho to be this worried, not for a fellow peer who had vanished for a moments time on a plane with it being highly likely that all he had done was to have gotten up to head for the toilet, but this was Jaejoong. Jaejoong who did not take to flying well, Jaejoong who hadn't had the best of experiences with enclosed spaces, Jaejoong from the little of what Yunho had seen in this time together so far - who was acting like a n irrational child - something he guessed so much that partially resulted in the banker having to be stuck with him.
Fumbling with the clasp on his seatbelt, Yunho tugged down the end of his sweater as he stood, gaze roaming around the dim cabin. Flicking his wrist up to reveal his watch, he made attempt to push down the hair that was standing at the back of his head with his other hand, it was 4:30am by time in Seoul. Making his way towards the front of the plane where the toilets were located, Yunho rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he was going to make attempt to find Jaejoong.
-
He could see shadows, movement that light from the only normally lit part of the plane at current was casting on the carpeted floor coming from the hidden mini kitchen space. Straining his ears as he jutted his head forward slightly to listen to the voices that followed a muffled peal of laughter, Yunho frowned lightly as a familiar warm, deeper toned laughter stood out from a peal of giggles. Inching forward, to come to a stop before the entrance into the small space, Yunho pushed his head forward to peer around the door. What in the World was this?
-
Staring up as a head pushed its way forward to peek inside the space he was standing in, surrounded by five stewardess, Jaejoong raised a brow as he caught sight of Jung Yunho's face.
"Mr Jung, what may we do for you?" a stewardess, Yuri, the prettiest and nearest to the entrance- if Jaejoong remembered her name right, patted down the side of her immaculately styled hair before straightening up as she turned to face Yunho, herself slightly flustered from the conversation they had just been having but quickly regaining composure. It was after all, what they were trained to do.
Jaejoong had after three rounds up and down the aisle come to find the little alcove where the flight staff stood around when they had nothing on their hands. They had been slightly stunned upon catching sight of him, but quickly snapped out of it, asking him if he needed anything, to which he gave the reply that he was bored and had quickly become engaged in conversation with them. He had caught sight of a few eyelids batting one too many times at him, a few hands placed on his arm and lingering for what was a second too long, but ignoring that, they were pretty interesting conversationalist - which explained how he had let an hour and a half slip past him without knowing.
"I-uh-I was wondering if I could get a bottle of water." fumbling with his words for a moment, before settling on an excuse, Yunho's gaze darted from Jaejoong to the stewardess.
"Of course Sir, if you would just hold on one second." smiling as she complied with a nod, the stewardess started to reach upwards, straining her hands to reach up, while tip toeing as far as her heels would let her in attempt to reach for the bottles of water that stood upon the shelf above.
"Here, let me." Jaejoong cut in as he watched her, placing a hand lightly on her waist to draw her attention. He wasn't in any way helping her because it was Yunho who asked, no in fact Jaejoong had more than one motive in volunteering his services. First, it was only gentlemanly that he offer to help - sure he wasn't part of the crew and didn't need to offer his help, but being nice did go a long way, plus it wasn't like getting a bottle of water which was in a place far more within his reach was an impossible feat. In addition, part of him wanted to deal with Yunho, Jaejoong wasn't sure how he was going to accomplish such a feat by helping retrieve a bottle of water, but somehow he would find a way to shove the little, otherwise unimportant act in the other man's face. It was the only way Jaejoong could keep himself safe and in check.
Reaching up easily to grab the bottle of water of the shelf, he handed it back to the stewardess before shooting her a wide grin followed by a wink, angling his body in such a way where he was certain Yunho would be able to catch sight of his actions. The collective intake of breathe around the small space almost went unnoticed by the banker, his gaze flickering towards Yunho as if he were watching, waiting for a reaction.
-
Watching as the touch, the wink and the grin all were executed with such expertise, Yunho bit down on the inside of his cheek before forcing a smile at the stewardess as she handed him the bottle of water, not without however, shooting a coy look at Jaejoong to which he responded with a low chuckle. He could feel it bubbling beneath the surface, something clenching in his chest - the hint of jealousy was what it was.
"Thank you." Yunho muttered through a tight lipped smile as he caught Jaejoong's eye before turning sharply on his heel to head back to his seat, all prior concerns forgotten - well the man was fine and well after all wasn't he.
-
"If you need any help, I could show you around New York if you like, after all its just a drive up from washington." the stewardess, Yuri speaks her voice with a hint of being flirtatious as she smiles from beneath her lashes at Jaejoong as she walks down the dim aisle with him back to his seat/
"I just might take you up on that offer." Jaejoong laughs as he comes to a stop beside his seat. He can see Yunho typing away at his laptop, fingers jabbing at the keys and Jaejoong knows Yunho is listening.
"Well why don't I give you my number and you can give me a call, I'll be grounded in New York for two weeks."
"That would great."
The moment the words are out from Jaejoong's mouth, she grabs his hand (much to his surprise) and pulls a pen from the pocket of her skirt. Turning his palm upwards to face the ceiling, she pens down her number with a flourish before running a thumb over the palm of his hand and smiling up at him.
"I'll be waiting for your call." she smiles, the hint of promise in her eyes before turning to return to her fellow colleagues all whom she is sure are both seething with jealousy and excitement - dying to know what had transpired. She had always known a career as a flight attendant would one day bring great promise.
-
"Well you better be taking down that number before the ink vanishes from your hand, wouldn't want to loose the number of a pretty girl now would you." Yunho's voice is calm and quiet, just slightly audible over the clicking sound of his typing, but there is an edge to it, an edge that is too polite.
"I was in fact planning on doing just that." Jaejoong responds, his voice equally measures as he makes a show out of pulling his leather carry on out from the storage space beneath the seat where he had shoved it into at the start of the flight before pulling out his phone. Pressing down on the center button of the device which he had switched previously to flight mode, Jaejoong reads out each digit of the phone number, not loudly, but loud enough for Yunho to overhear as he keys it into his phone, before entering the girl's name and pressing down on save.
"I didn't know you changed your type." is what Yunho says and causes Jaejoong to pause midway in nudging his bag back into the space after having thrown his phone back in.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know everything about you."
"Then you would know that she is my type because not my type would just be categorized into bastard." Jaejoong shoots back calmly, his voice laced with sting as he turns to glare pointedly at the lawyer, as if to reinforce the weight of his words.
"I'm not a bastard." Yunho stops typing as he turns to face Jaejoong.
"I didn't say you were one, you said it." the older responds simply as he settles back into his chair before folding his hands in front of him while pulling the woolen blanket back up to his waist.
Sitting up, his features twisting into an annoyed grimace Yunho leaned over the separation of the two chairs, his face inches away from Jaejoong's.
"If I was a bastard, who do you think would have gotten you that blanket? What did you think I really needed a bottle of water when I went back there? I was looking for you because you just vanished from your seat the moment I woke up, I was concerned for you." he hisses out, hand gripping the low partition between the two chairs.
"Well for you information Mr Jung, I don't need you to be concerned for me, I can take care of myself thank you very much, I don't need you to bother at all, not one bit because to me you are nothing more than the lawyer I hired t-"
"-well if you didn't need anyone to be concerned for you I think you would remember to be the right type of medicine without forgetting about your allergies that could jolly well result in a life threatening situation, and you remember that incident in the elevator a few weeks ago? Yeah I think you need someone to care."
Glaring at the lawyer at the sound of his words, Jaejoong reached out to shove the man away as he grabbed up the blanket he had arranged comfortably over his legs before balling it up in his hands and shoving it at the younger man. The elevator incident - speaking of that was the last straw.
"Take back your bloody blanket, I don't need you to do anything for me, I can do it on my own." voice rising a little too loud, Jaejoong made to stand only to feel gravity pull him down as a hand grabbed his arm, sending him crashing into a warm body. Before even managing to make even the slightest sound of protest, Jaejoong felt his own lips meet a slightly chapped, very warm pair of lips. Opening his eyes which he had closed upon impact, Jaejoong found himself staring straight into those of Jung Yunho.
"I-" pulling back in a frantic motion, Jaejoong recoiled, pressing himself against the side of his seat nearest to the aisle as he stared slightly dumbfounded at the younger man. Of all the cliche, awkward, television drama worthy moments that could happen - it just had to be this.
"Here take your blanket, you've used it already, I'll go get one of my own." standing in an awkward rush as Yunho tossed the wool back to the shocked banker, the lawyer shot out of his seat and headed towards the front of the plane once again, a faint smile slipping onto his features once he was three seats away from his own, back turned towards Jaejoong. Of all the things that could have happened - it was this, lady luck was definitely on his side.
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!&' as usual, long comments are loved and thank you so much to everyone who has been encouraging me to update this fic, it really motivated me, so please do keep commenting, I love you guys so much : ' ) ♥ ♥
Author: oh_thexirony
Genre: Romance, Angst, Fluff, Crack, AU
Length: Chaptered; Chapter 17 ; It just had to be this
Pairing(s): YunhoxJaejoong (mainly) , a side of YoochunxJunsu, KibumxChangmin
Overall Rating : PG - R (will be warned of rating in every individual chapter)
Rating For This Chapter: PG-13 for language
Warning(s) For This Chapter: none
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A/N : After a very long wait, chapter 17 is FINALLY up. I was quite uninspired for the longest time, but I've gotten my inspiration back on track after writing this chapter, and I already have the plot in mind for chapter 18, so that will come soon. As I've said I've been trying to pick up on the pace for the entire story, but I do hope you understand why I'm opting for these few chapters to be slower paced. Do read the small notice at the bottom ^^
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Fated To Love You?; Chapter 17
It just had to be this
-
you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
&&
I don't want to go home right now
-
"Ngh."
Pushing his sleep heavy lids open with a groan, Jaejoong ran his tongue briefly over his bottom lip as he shifted from the position his body had curled up into, head lifting from the side of the seat it had come to rest upon. Squinting, the corner of his eyes scrunching up as his gaze roved around the now dim cabin the twenty six year old pushed his legs out in front of him in a stretch as he pushed himself up into an upright position, his palms pressing against the soft leather of the seat. It took a moments hesitation before Jaejoong peered out from behind the slight partition that separated the two seats that were otherwise side by side to find himself staring at Yunho, who had too by the looks of it had fallen asleep with his laptop flipped open and running in front of him. How he had managed to look so innocent and still so young - just like when they were eighteen and without a care in the World - baffled Jaejoong. In the last 6 years, Yunho had changed in the sense that he looked different, that was certain - after all, which boy didn't change as they grew to become men. He, like Jaejoong had grown more polished (although Yunho's jump to becoming 'polished' wasn't as great as that which Jaejoong had made), more mature, and even slightly taller if he dared as much to say and yet the difference lay in the fact that although Jaejoong's features had changed somewhat to become more refined, and even older looking, sharper while retaining their overall look, Yunho's face and features hadn't changed one bit. He was one of those 'baby faces' who looked as they did when they were three and thirty. Turning away as he felt a twitch in his chest - what it was, Jaejoong really couldn't tell, the older man stared down at the dark woolen that had fallen from covering his chest to pool around waist. Gathering a fistful of cloth in his hand, he raised a brow as he stared from his loosely clenched fist to the empty cup of milk that had yet to been cleared.
-
It hadn't entirely been what he had expected, the whole situation, it had been as surprising to Kibum as it had been to Changmin despite the fact that he had been the one who had orchestrated the entire moment. The truth was very plainly that Kibum was attracted to Changmin. It was no secret that Kim Kibum was a huge playboy, with both males and females alike gravitating towards him, and even more of a fact that he accepted them both, though his acceptance to males was more subtle and of a lesser degree than that to females. Sure there were those who disapproved of this particular aspect of Kibum's life but his charm, coupled with the hard facts of what family he came from - resulted in not many, or none at all who dared comment out loud on his choices Changmin aside. It wasn't something he liked very much, the fact that certain people he knew only wanted to be his friend, to get to know him because of whatever benefits they had hoped he could provide them with, but as he had learnt that was how life did tend to work. All Kibum could do, as he had come to realize was to learn to sift out those who only wanted to use him from those who really were his friends. He wasn't sure exactly how he had come to be develop an attraction to Changmin, and he wasn't even sure if it was what you would call 'bona-fide', but over the past few months Kibum had found himself developing a shift in feelings in the way he took to as well as interacted with the other boy. Kibum had always been touchy with Changmin - in fact, Kibum had always been touchy with everyone but that being of 'touchy' with Changmin had changed in recent months, to border from being just friends into appearing to be slightly more. It baffled Kibum to be honest, he was a seventeen year old boy who had never been in any kind of functional relationship, ever, he had always taken girls as they came, dating one, two or even three at one time, juggling them all - making it work for him, tell them he loved them when really his words meant nothing, and yet most ironically, the first time he had wanted to mean something, somehow - he didn't know why, it seemed to mean nothing.
"Fuck this shit."
Throwing the miniature sized soccer ball he had been tossing around in his hands against the wall, Kibum rose from the sofa he was slouched up against a minute ago, his eyes flickering across the clock which hung on the wall in his room : 2.00am. Grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair it had been draped across, Kibum reached for his wallet and phone which he had flung across his bed. He was going to forget, and deal with this rejection in the only way he knew best.
-
Dragging his palm down, and over his face, Jaejoong pushed himself back, sinking lower into his seat where he had been shifting around uncomfortably in for the past half an hour. The cup of milk he had earlier had helped in calming him into a peaceful sleep for a few hours but unlike sleeping pills, it sadly didn't possess the ability to lull him into sleep for a whole fifteen hours. Jaejoong had never been much of a heavy sleeper, and never one who needed to sleep a lot either thus explaining how he had (by herculean effort and determination and with help from his extended family) survived his teenage years, juggling a job, good grades and a ten year old child all at once, but it was at times like this did Jaejoong wish his body would desire more sleep. He had always envied Changmin who once asleep, wouldn't wake even if they sky threatened to collapse on them, no matter how tired Jaejoong ever was no matter how much he had done in the day, sleeping past a full 8 hours could be considered a feat for the banker. You see, the uneasy feelings that he felt whenever he had to fly, they accumulated in him, built up in him even if he refused to let it out, to let it show - because being who he was, he just simply could not. Appearance was everything and how would one, or anyone for that matter trust someone with their investments and sums of money when he couldn't even keep himself together? Banking as Jaejoong saw it was all about appearance. The fact that the plane was an enclosed space didn't help much either despite it being a million times better than a lift ever would be, it really only served to heighten his paranoia, making him restless and more uncomfortable than ever.
Chewing down on his bottom lip, Jaejoong's gaze landed on Yunho's open laptop. It's screen had flickered, some fifteen minutes ago, from a typical screen saver page with an icon drifting lazily around various corners of the screen to a pitch black with only a blinking yellow light near the keyboard indicating it had gone into hibernation. Call him crazy, but Jaejoong would very well blame it on the paranoia that had caused him to, in that very moment sit up slowly before reaching over as quietly as he could so as not to wake the younger man to grab the laptop by it's edges before lifting it over and setting it down on the pulled out tray table in front of him. Well this would serve to be interesting entertainment.
-
Tapping down twice on the spacebar, the banker reached up to adjust the pair of headphones that he had fitted snugly onto his ears the inflight systems variety of music albums running on repeat (he had tried to start on a movie, but had failed terribly within the first ten minutes of the show with his eyes crying out bloody murder, it was bad enough that he had to face a computer screen for the large portion of the day but surprising all the same that his eyesight wasn't all that bad yet). Staring at the dialog box that flashed up on the screen as it crawled to light, the space between Jaejoong's brows furrowed down as the cursor in the empty white box blinked up at him.
Enter Passcode.
Stroking the keys with his fingers, Jaejoong let his head fall at an angle to his left. Now, what would would Yunho's password be. Eyes roaming the screen in search for a question mark button of sorts where there would hopefully be a hint to just what the answer was, the twenty six year old couldn't help but grin as a speech bubble floated up as he ran his fingers over the trackpad to hover above the empty dialog box.
you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
His eyes can't help but widen slightly, but with a moments hesitation Jaejoong brings his hands to the keys as he begins to tap out a sentence that appears in little black dots on screen before he strikes down on the enter button. Sucking in a breath of air as the dialog box flickers and changes, the words : welcome back, coming up on screen, Jaejoong bites down on a knuckle as he raises a loosely fisted hand to come to rest on his lower lip. It was just a day full of surprises wasn't it.
-
It had been Jaejoong's seventeen birthday and he had declined the invitation from friends in school to go out to celebrate that night with a few bottles of soju, beer over plates of roasted meat. He had, with much pleading and promise to take a raincheck for his birthday treat from them, managed to somehow wrangle his way out of the outing, barely managing to make it to work at the bookstore on time. He was due for a full afternoon shift, closing duty at 10pm inclusive of his days work that particular night despite it being his birthday - he did need the money after all so covering for a colleague for a month who had to deal with her sick sister who had been hospitalized, and helping out with said sister's family, was actually a gift from God, it really didn't matter if it was his birthday, because as it was he was still young and birthday's of his own they came and went every year.
He had closed the shop at 1000pm, locked up the front door at 1030pm and managed to walk the few blocks back to his apartment within another half an hour, putting him in the lift riding up to his floor by 1103pm that night. He was tired out from the hour of physical education they had in the day where the teacher had decided to put the boys all up to a crazy five kilometer run along with a small snippet of weight training which Jaejoong felt was more than enough to last him a lifetime, and that coupled with the past few hours he had spent straining himself in attempt to read his literature text for the day while pouring over his math class homework, all Jaejoong really wanted to do at that point was to crawl into bed and hope the next day would be less tiring. Trudging the short distance, that at this point in time seemed like forever, from the lift to his front door, the boy shoved the key into the lock before turning it twice to the left and pushing down on the lever before leaning his weight on the heavy thick wood and staggering into his apartment. Closing the door behind him while attempting to pull of both his socks and shoes at the same time, Jaejoong turned to lock shut while sliding the latch into place. At this point in time, he was half mulling over the decision to wait till the next morning before deciding to bathe - well, he had bathed once after physical education class and hadn't broke into sweat otherwise for the entire day.
It had been a pair of hands that had come from behind, sneaking over his shoulders and coming to rest over his eyes. His first instinct had been to tense up in panic, but within seconds Jaejoong knew who it was. The smooth skin of the hands over his eyes, their gentle hold, the smell of peppermint toothpaste and coconut cream shampoo.
"Aren't you afraid I might be some serial rapist, or murderer?" the voices tickles his ear.
"I would gladly submit to you if you were either." Jaejoong can't help but chuckle lightly as the hands pivot him, guiding him to a slow walk.
"Oh, so getting all kinky and disturbing now are we." there is an amused lint to the voice.
"Perhaps." Jaejoong draws out the word, tired feelings gone as he hears a door being nudged open.
"Well I'm sorry that I forget the ten strippers, their poles and an assortment of flavored creams then." Yunho takes his hands away from Jaejoong's eyes and the shorter boy blinks a few times, gaze adjusting back to the dim light and feels a ear splitting grin creep onto his features.
It wasn't an elaborate surprise by any chance, no rose petals scattered over the room, no ten million stands of scented candles, in fact all that there was was simply a cake with a candle and a wrapped box beside it standing on the short table beside his bed.
"Happy Birthday." Yunho's voice is deep and smooth and it makes Jaejoong, even at seventeen years old, want to smile like a five year old on Christmas morning, his insides squirming with joy.
"You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be." is what Jaejoong manages to mutter into Yunho's shoulder as he spins around and throws himself into the younger's embrace. He quotes from Iris, the classic english song that couples very often request for each other on radio. It is disgustingly, maybe even awkwardly sappy but when you're seventeen and in love, you hardly ever do stop to think before acting upon anything. Jaejoong's english is far from perfect - far from the polished cut accent he will earn years later as a means of being forced to partake in countless overseas dealings, it is with the lithe of korean that one who has been brought up with mainly a korean vocabulary and lack of practice in english cannot fully shake off as of yet, but it doesn't fail to make Yunho wrap his arms around the older boy, his face joyous as he whispers back in a considerably better, more well cut accent.
"And I don't want to go home right now." He presses a kiss on Jaejoong's neck, and that night, he doesn't return home - because home was where ever they were together.
-
And I don't want to go home right now.
-
Shaking himself out of his moment of recollection, Jaejoong cleared his throat before shifting up in his seat. Lowering his hand from his lip back down to the laptop's trackpad once again, he shook his head lightly. He did not need to be thinking of such thoughts at the moment, in fact - they were thoughts that he should not even have had ever called up, thoughts that should not have been brought up in his mind. He had managed to lock them safely away for the good part of six years, with each deal he cut, each meeting he attended, each contract crafted, all pushing them further into the recesses of his mind., and yet now, barely even halfway through a fifteen hour plane ride Jaejoong found them surfacing, fighting once again to be released. No, no he could not let that happen. Fingers drifting across the trackpad as the machine called up its home screen, Jaejoong stared at the picture that spanned the computer's desktop. It was a photo of Yunho and Jiyool, with the father holding onto his daughter who was perched upon his lap, a stuffed rabbit in her hands, both smiling happily into the camera. Jiyool was a beautiful child, and in her face Jaejoong saw bits of Yunho, they had the same eyes, the same nose, but the smile it was stunning, but not Yunho's. Yet even so, the two were obviously related, father and daughter. Jaejoong felt a faint smile flicker onto his face as the photo winked up at him, he wasn't smiling because he was happy Yunho had gotten married and had a daughter, no : Jaejoong was smiling at the scene that had been managed to be captured in the photo on screen, father and child happily together.
It was a scene in Jaejoong's opinion to be treasured, despite the man in picture being one who had hurt him so greatly years ago, for the very simple reason that Jaejoong understood the importance of family, or how important it was to be a parent (or in his own case pseudo parent) to a child along with ensuring that enough time was allocated to the child at hand. Although given his aunt and uncle who he was thankful for having in place of his own parents, it was a fact that Jaejoong had lost his parents, never having gotten to know them at all. One could argue that he was fortunate in that most unfortunate sense as he had lost parents that he never had a chance to know, hence minimizing the hurt and pain one would feel should they have known their parents and then loss them, and Jaejoong would agree. However, it didn't mean he had been able to grow up without the implications of not having his parents : it just wasn't the same having your aunt and uncle as your parents when you knew that they weren't your parents (it had never been their wish to keep from Jaejoong that they weren't his birth parents, they had always been as honest as light to him as anyone could be), when occasions like bring your parent day, or even fathers and mothers day came around the corner, there would have been a part of Jaejoong that felt loss, and out of place. Sure, he made the cards for his aunt and uncle with what was sincerely his love for them - but no matter what it was, it really just wasn't the same. It was because of his very experience while growing up that made him want to look after Changmin to the best of his ability, not only being able to provide him with what was necessary, but also with enough love and care, because Changmin like Jaejoong - had had no parents. Hence Jaejoong understood, as a busy person himself, and he was sure Yunho was equally caught up in work as he was, because which lawyer didn't have to slog his or her guts out, how precious the moment between the man and his daughter was. It was like comparing Jaejoong himself and Changmin side by side, like two relationships between parent and child which were almost identical parallels save the fact age and gender of said children.
It might have been a strange decision to those who didn't understand the complexities behind Jaejoong's life story that a struggling nineteen year old student, whom Jaejoong had been at that time, would choose to add to his burden by taking in a ten year old street hooligan to be his family, but to Jaejoong it had at that time, and it still did make perfect sense, it was the only logical thing for him to have done, and the only thing he would have done at any point in his life. They had become family, and would forever since that day be family to one another, and it was more than what Jaejoong could have hoped or asked for.
Pulling his gaze away from the picture that spanned the entire screen, Jaejoong shifted the cursor to come to the start button where he drew up the entire list of software. It had been his intention to call up Yunho's drive list and flick through his files, seeing if there was anything worth looking at. Sure it wasn't very profession, nor something a grown twenty six year old would do or something anyone would approve off, but Jaejoong didn't care. Besides, this wasn't your average situations that two people would be in, Jaejoong and Yunho had history and thus, by Jaejoong's case and argument, everything was already different and this meant that there were no rules involved. Flipping open the drive list, the banker's gaze came to rest upon the folder labeled 'photos'. It wouldn't hurt to look would it, sure it could be called, or rather was an invasion of privacy, but to hell with that - Yunho owed him at least that much or more, didn't he?
Tapping down twice on the folder, highlighting it before it expanded to reveal subsets of folders, Jaejoong skimmed over the entire selection. They were mostly photos of Yunho and Jiyool from when she was an infant, all the way up to the five year old child she now was. Father and daughter in the snow, father and daughter on the beach, in the garden - everywhere. She was a lucky child by the looks of it, someone who had gotten in her few short years to already experience so much, to be so loved. Oh yes, loved, there was no denying it, that despite however cruel the side of Yunho which Jaejoong had once seen, had once been presented with, he was a good father, someone who did really love his daughter. It was obvious from the expression in his eyes, the one which the photos had managed to capture.
"How are you such a different person here." Jaejoong muttered to himself as he pushed the headphones off his head, sliding them to hang on his neck.
This was looking to be more and more like the Yunho Jaejoong once knew, the Yunho that he had once been so head over heels in love with. How he had become the Yunho who had went off to America, fell in love with a girl before deciding to marry her and have a child with her, Jaejoong did not know. Closing the windows which he had opened, not wanting to probe any further, Jaejoong reached over to place the laptop back in the position he had removed it from. Turning his head to watch the sleeping lawyer, Jaejoong couldn't help but let a slight sigh escape his lips. He wouldn't deny it, there was a part of him who wanted to believe that Yunho's recent advancements were real, that wanted to believe Jaejoong once again meant something to Yunho - but that, that was all hard to believe, after six years of nothing, after being broken so ruthlessly, that part of him wasn't big. It was like the saying went, once bitten twice shy, besides, it was too coincidental. Yunho wanting Jaejoong back right after he came back, divorced from America? It sounded like a rebound plan to him and although once upon a time, when he was younger, Jaejoong might have fallen straight into that, now he was different, older, more mature and stronger, it was something he wasn't about to do. In fact, Jaejoong had no intention of giving Yunho another chance, there was no denying that the feelings that seemed to be surfacing in recent days, weeks were all screaming at Jaejoong to relent, but that, that just wasn't something that was even in the vicinity of possible at current, he wasn't that stupid and neither that forgiving. To be honest, there was a part of Jaejoong that hated Yunho, that harbored a great, immense anger to the lawyer. It was a part of him that refused, come what may, to ever speak to Yunho again, a part of him that wanted to throw Yunho from the top of the highest building in the World and walk away and as Jaejoong saw it, it was natural and a part of everything, even a part of him that still burned with both humiliation and hurt.
"Jae.." it was a half incoherent mutter that made Jaejoong freeze, his shoulders tensing up, the pit of his stomach dropping and rising again all in a second - he had been caught in the act.
"I was only tryi-" Jaejoong rushes his words out as he makes to turn, only to find himself coming just centimeters close to Yunho's face. Jaejoong holds his breath as he stares at the other man's closed eyes, Yunho's head had fallen, cheek slumped against the partition that separates the two seats. So he wasn't awake after all, just talking in his sleep. Thoughts of a moment ago forgotten in that instance, Jaejoong finds himself staring down at the other's lips that are just inches away from his own. He can smell Yunho's aftershave, his shampoo and everything that is just him. Drawing his eyes up to the lawyer's closed ones, Jaejoong blinks once, twice and he pulls away slightly startled. Insanity was what this was, pulling the headphones off his neck only to throw them down into his seat, he pushed open the clasp of his seatbelt before rising into a stand. Eyes darting briefly around the dim cabin where most passengers were either deep in sleep, or had their eyes fixed on the monitor in front of each of their seats, Jaejoong ran a hand through his hair. He needed desperately to walk around, to get away from the space that was making him do stupid irrational things even if it was just for a second. Sliding out of his seat space, the man pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans before starting on a slow walk down the aisle.
-
3:00AM
Staring at the analog words on the clock positioned on his study table through half lidded eyes, Changmin groaned as he shifted in bed onto his side. He had been rudely awoken by the vibrations coming from his bedside table, his phone had been ringing for the past two minutes and didn't seem as if it were going to stop anytime soon. Initially he had tried to ignore it, but who was he kidding, it was almost impossible to fall back asleep when there was a buzzing noise that was as irritating as hell close to your left side hearing range. Raising a hand that came down on the wooden set of drawers with a thump, Changmin grabbed a hold onto the phone, fumbling with the device, he pressed down on the answer button, placing the phone to his ear.
" 'lo?" his voice is a hoarse, sleepy sound.
"Changminnnnnn." the voice on the other end slurs and Changmin finds his eyes snapping open.
"Kibum?" It wouldn't have been his choice of reply given the events that had happened earlier in the night, but having just woken up, Changmin's brain mouth filter didn't seem to be in top working condition.
"I'm at the cluuuub, there are soo many people here who want me, they don't pu-push me away like y-you did, they aren't re-re-rejecting me. They LOVE me!" the voice on the other line slurs, repeating each word more than once at times, his sentences not in proper grammatical running order, with the last part shouted out in excited proclamation.
"Well thats good for you, why don't you go have a nice life and don't ever call again." Changmin's voice is laced with sarcasm and anger. Yanking the battery door away from the phone, the teenager pulled the small black rectangle out from the back of the device before chucking all parts of his phone onto the ground. Flipping around onto his other side, Changmin squeezed his eyes shut, still seething with obvious anger. If Kibum wanted to throw himself into a club, at a thousand other whores just like him after treating Changmin like one, well there, he could - Changmin honestly didn't give a fuck.
-
It was a sudden jerk of the plane that jolted Yunho out of his sleep. Eyes opening, he sat up lifting his head from the side partition it had been resting against while rubbing the back of his neck. He hated sleeping on planes, it had to be the most uncomfortable situation to be in, ever. Turning his head to look into the seat beside him, Yunho felt a twitch of panic, it was empty, with just Jaejoong's jacket, his earphones and blanket. It wasn't like Yunho to be this worried, not for a fellow peer who had vanished for a moments time on a plane with it being highly likely that all he had done was to have gotten up to head for the toilet, but this was Jaejoong. Jaejoong who did not take to flying well, Jaejoong who hadn't had the best of experiences with enclosed spaces, Jaejoong from the little of what Yunho had seen in this time together so far - who was acting like a n irrational child - something he guessed so much that partially resulted in the banker having to be stuck with him.
Fumbling with the clasp on his seatbelt, Yunho tugged down the end of his sweater as he stood, gaze roaming around the dim cabin. Flicking his wrist up to reveal his watch, he made attempt to push down the hair that was standing at the back of his head with his other hand, it was 4:30am by time in Seoul. Making his way towards the front of the plane where the toilets were located, Yunho rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he was going to make attempt to find Jaejoong.
-
He could see shadows, movement that light from the only normally lit part of the plane at current was casting on the carpeted floor coming from the hidden mini kitchen space. Straining his ears as he jutted his head forward slightly to listen to the voices that followed a muffled peal of laughter, Yunho frowned lightly as a familiar warm, deeper toned laughter stood out from a peal of giggles. Inching forward, to come to a stop before the entrance into the small space, Yunho pushed his head forward to peer around the door. What in the World was this?
-
Staring up as a head pushed its way forward to peek inside the space he was standing in, surrounded by five stewardess, Jaejoong raised a brow as he caught sight of Jung Yunho's face.
"Mr Jung, what may we do for you?" a stewardess, Yuri, the prettiest and nearest to the entrance- if Jaejoong remembered her name right, patted down the side of her immaculately styled hair before straightening up as she turned to face Yunho, herself slightly flustered from the conversation they had just been having but quickly regaining composure. It was after all, what they were trained to do.
Jaejoong had after three rounds up and down the aisle come to find the little alcove where the flight staff stood around when they had nothing on their hands. They had been slightly stunned upon catching sight of him, but quickly snapped out of it, asking him if he needed anything, to which he gave the reply that he was bored and had quickly become engaged in conversation with them. He had caught sight of a few eyelids batting one too many times at him, a few hands placed on his arm and lingering for what was a second too long, but ignoring that, they were pretty interesting conversationalist - which explained how he had let an hour and a half slip past him without knowing.
"I-uh-I was wondering if I could get a bottle of water." fumbling with his words for a moment, before settling on an excuse, Yunho's gaze darted from Jaejoong to the stewardess.
"Of course Sir, if you would just hold on one second." smiling as she complied with a nod, the stewardess started to reach upwards, straining her hands to reach up, while tip toeing as far as her heels would let her in attempt to reach for the bottles of water that stood upon the shelf above.
"Here, let me." Jaejoong cut in as he watched her, placing a hand lightly on her waist to draw her attention. He wasn't in any way helping her because it was Yunho who asked, no in fact Jaejoong had more than one motive in volunteering his services. First, it was only gentlemanly that he offer to help - sure he wasn't part of the crew and didn't need to offer his help, but being nice did go a long way, plus it wasn't like getting a bottle of water which was in a place far more within his reach was an impossible feat. In addition, part of him wanted to deal with Yunho, Jaejoong wasn't sure how he was going to accomplish such a feat by helping retrieve a bottle of water, but somehow he would find a way to shove the little, otherwise unimportant act in the other man's face. It was the only way Jaejoong could keep himself safe and in check.
Reaching up easily to grab the bottle of water of the shelf, he handed it back to the stewardess before shooting her a wide grin followed by a wink, angling his body in such a way where he was certain Yunho would be able to catch sight of his actions. The collective intake of breathe around the small space almost went unnoticed by the banker, his gaze flickering towards Yunho as if he were watching, waiting for a reaction.
-
Watching as the touch, the wink and the grin all were executed with such expertise, Yunho bit down on the inside of his cheek before forcing a smile at the stewardess as she handed him the bottle of water, not without however, shooting a coy look at Jaejoong to which he responded with a low chuckle. He could feel it bubbling beneath the surface, something clenching in his chest - the hint of jealousy was what it was.
"Thank you." Yunho muttered through a tight lipped smile as he caught Jaejoong's eye before turning sharply on his heel to head back to his seat, all prior concerns forgotten - well the man was fine and well after all wasn't he.
-
"If you need any help, I could show you around New York if you like, after all its just a drive up from washington." the stewardess, Yuri speaks her voice with a hint of being flirtatious as she smiles from beneath her lashes at Jaejoong as she walks down the dim aisle with him back to his seat/
"I just might take you up on that offer." Jaejoong laughs as he comes to a stop beside his seat. He can see Yunho typing away at his laptop, fingers jabbing at the keys and Jaejoong knows Yunho is listening.
"Well why don't I give you my number and you can give me a call, I'll be grounded in New York for two weeks."
"That would great."
The moment the words are out from Jaejoong's mouth, she grabs his hand (much to his surprise) and pulls a pen from the pocket of her skirt. Turning his palm upwards to face the ceiling, she pens down her number with a flourish before running a thumb over the palm of his hand and smiling up at him.
"I'll be waiting for your call." she smiles, the hint of promise in her eyes before turning to return to her fellow colleagues all whom she is sure are both seething with jealousy and excitement - dying to know what had transpired. She had always known a career as a flight attendant would one day bring great promise.
-
"Well you better be taking down that number before the ink vanishes from your hand, wouldn't want to loose the number of a pretty girl now would you." Yunho's voice is calm and quiet, just slightly audible over the clicking sound of his typing, but there is an edge to it, an edge that is too polite.
"I was in fact planning on doing just that." Jaejoong responds, his voice equally measures as he makes a show out of pulling his leather carry on out from the storage space beneath the seat where he had shoved it into at the start of the flight before pulling out his phone. Pressing down on the center button of the device which he had switched previously to flight mode, Jaejoong reads out each digit of the phone number, not loudly, but loud enough for Yunho to overhear as he keys it into his phone, before entering the girl's name and pressing down on save.
"I didn't know you changed your type." is what Yunho says and causes Jaejoong to pause midway in nudging his bag back into the space after having thrown his phone back in.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know everything about you."
"Then you would know that she is my type because not my type would just be categorized into bastard." Jaejoong shoots back calmly, his voice laced with sting as he turns to glare pointedly at the lawyer, as if to reinforce the weight of his words.
"I'm not a bastard." Yunho stops typing as he turns to face Jaejoong.
"I didn't say you were one, you said it." the older responds simply as he settles back into his chair before folding his hands in front of him while pulling the woolen blanket back up to his waist.
Sitting up, his features twisting into an annoyed grimace Yunho leaned over the separation of the two chairs, his face inches away from Jaejoong's.
"If I was a bastard, who do you think would have gotten you that blanket? What did you think I really needed a bottle of water when I went back there? I was looking for you because you just vanished from your seat the moment I woke up, I was concerned for you." he hisses out, hand gripping the low partition between the two chairs.
"Well for you information Mr Jung, I don't need you to be concerned for me, I can take care of myself thank you very much, I don't need you to bother at all, not one bit because to me you are nothing more than the lawyer I hired t-"
"-well if you didn't need anyone to be concerned for you I think you would remember to be the right type of medicine without forgetting about your allergies that could jolly well result in a life threatening situation, and you remember that incident in the elevator a few weeks ago? Yeah I think you need someone to care."
Glaring at the lawyer at the sound of his words, Jaejoong reached out to shove the man away as he grabbed up the blanket he had arranged comfortably over his legs before balling it up in his hands and shoving it at the younger man. The elevator incident - speaking of that was the last straw.
"Take back your bloody blanket, I don't need you to do anything for me, I can do it on my own." voice rising a little too loud, Jaejoong made to stand only to feel gravity pull him down as a hand grabbed his arm, sending him crashing into a warm body. Before even managing to make even the slightest sound of protest, Jaejoong felt his own lips meet a slightly chapped, very warm pair of lips. Opening his eyes which he had closed upon impact, Jaejoong found himself staring straight into those of Jung Yunho.
"I-" pulling back in a frantic motion, Jaejoong recoiled, pressing himself against the side of his seat nearest to the aisle as he stared slightly dumbfounded at the younger man. Of all the cliche, awkward, television drama worthy moments that could happen - it just had to be this.
"Here take your blanket, you've used it already, I'll go get one of my own." standing in an awkward rush as Yunho tossed the wool back to the shocked banker, the lawyer shot out of his seat and headed towards the front of the plane once again, a faint smile slipping onto his features once he was three seats away from his own, back turned towards Jaejoong. Of all the things that could have happened - it was this, lady luck was definitely on his side.
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!&' as usual, long comments are loved and thank you so much to everyone who has been encouraging me to update this fic, it really motivated me, so please do keep commenting, I love you guys so much : ' ) ♥ ♥