For You, Always [2]
Pairings: JaeMin
Rating: NC-17
Warnings:boyxboy, and if you're really strict about the definition of incest then... incest.
Summary: Jaejoong is the oldest son but not the heir. Changmin wants nothing but his older brother’s approval. A bond stronger than blood binds them together and brotherly love develops into something more.
A/N: Last chapter of chibi-shinki. I'm not completely happy with it but oh well~
Dedicated to almightyflame
Ever since he could remember, Changmin had always been his Hyung’s shadow. He was always a step behind him, awing at everything his big brother did with childish wonder.
When Jaejoong started going to school Changmin remembered waking up just as one of the maids rapped on Hyung’s door and called for him to wake up. He would lay in bed waiting, ears strained to listen to the faint shuffling sounds inside the adjacent room.
Only after his big brother had passed his room to go downstairs would Changmin peel the covers away and pad on naked feet behind him. Jaejoong was already seated at the table, dressed in his pristine uniform with the starched collar and patent leather shoes, when Changmin made himself known, still dressed in his pajamas and holding a ragged teddy bear under his arm. The stuffed animal had a ‘J’ embroidered on its furry belly, signaling it belonged to his Hyung before Changmin claimed it as his; the matching teddy with a ‘C’ on its belly remaining forever forgotten inside his toy trunk.
Changmin would wait for a maid to approach the table, usually already carrying Jaejoong’s breakfast, to tug at the hem of her skirt-an unspoken signal to be lifted onto his seat.
Once seated, he watched Hyung eat while the latter ignored him, sleepy and grumpy as he was in the mornings. Cook placed a plate of scrambled eggs with toast in front of him, just as Hyung was slicing through his second pancake. That was the only thing Changmin did not admire of his brother; his taste for sugary foods.
After breakfast Jaejoong-Hyung was handed his school bag, already packed with his notebook, colored pencils and lunch. It was until he was at the door, the bag already slung over his shoulders and a foot already outside the house, that he would acknowledge Changmin.
“Bye-bye, Changmin-ah,” he said with a smile before running down the driveway.
“Bye-bye, Hyung!” Changmin would shout after his brother, running behind him until the end of the driveway where his Hyung would disappear from sight after crossing the forged iron gates.
And then came the daily scolding.
“Young master! You can’t run outside without shoes!”
Changmin still remembers the first time he saw his father strike Jaejoong.
It was his first day of school and everyone in the family woke up early that day. Eomma had walked into his room, dismissed the maids and dressed him herself. Once he was wearing his new uniform, Changmin noticed just how uncomfortable it was. The collar made the skin on his neck itchy and the climate was a little too stuffy for the thick jacket. How could Hyung wear it every day?
He must have been tugging at the collar because suddenly Eomma slapped his hand away.
“None of that. Your father is setting the camera downstairs,” she said, urging him down the stairs with a gentle press of her hand against his shoulder.
He tried not to pout when he was made to pose alone with his school bag and then with the whole family while Cook took the picture. Eomma’s slap had stung!
They had breakfast together. Appa was leafing through the daily paper while Eomma read a letter from one of her clubs. Changmin tried to ignore his discomfort long enough to eat, stealing glances at his Hyung from time to time and trying to figure out why he looked so unaffected.
Changmin was almost finished when Appa spoke.
“When you are done, wait in the car for me, Changmin-ah.”
Changmin became scandalized at his father’s words.
“But Appa, I want to walk to school like Jaejoong-Hyung!”
His father shot a look at Jaejoong who ducked his head, pretending not to notice as he shoveled strawberries into his mouth.
“Okay then. Jaejoong, you’ll be walking your brother to school,” he said before returning to his newspaper.
Changmin smiled in glee; however, his Hyung dropped his fork on his plate with a loud clank.
“But Appa-“ he started, clearly annoyed by the new situation.
“You will not disobey me, Jaejoong,” his father said sternly, and Changmin watched as his brother’s shoulders slumped down in defeat.
“No, sir,” Hyung responded reluctantly.
After breakfast, Changmin followed Jaejoong to the door. The foreign weight of his school bag against his back was exhilarating as they walked down the driveway and onto the forged iron gates.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Once the house was out of view, Jaejoong-hyung suddenly stopped and Changmin almost crashed into him. Turning around, his Hyung checked if no one was watching him before addressing Changmin.
“Listen, I can’t be seen arriving to school with you. I will keep walking and you will count until ten before following me, understand?” he commanded, his hands on top of Changmin’s shoulders. “Don’t get any closer than that, and don’t get lost, okay?”
Changmin nodded, his face scrunching up in confusion. Why couldn’t he just walk next to Hyung? That was stupid.
Even so, he counted until ten before following his Hyung and he tried to keep his distance, pausing mid-step whenever he got too close to allow his brother to walk a little farther ahead.
His Hyung stopped at a white house, not as big as theirs but with a nice tended garden and a car in the drive way. A boy about his Hyung’s age came running out the door and greeted Jaejoong-hyung with a weird handshake before his eyes found Changmin.
“Who is the lost puppy?” he asked, amusement laced with irritation palpable in his voice.
“My little brother,” Jaejoong drawled as he rolled his eyes.
The action did not go unnoticed by Changmin who looked down at the floor, his ears burning. Since when was Hyung embarrassed of him?
The boy sniggered. “I have one of those; he doesn’t go to school yet though.”
Jaejoong shrugged and grabbed his friend’s sleeve.
“Let’s go, Yoochun-ah,” he said.
Changmin had no choice but to follow them as they walked away, counting until ten before doing so.
The streets grew more crowded the closer they got to the downtown part of the city. Changmin had trouble to follow his Hyung, sometimes falling so far back that he had to run between people and carts to find him again.
He took a moment to catch his breath after running the length of the whole street with his small legs. He was already sweating and he closed his eyes to wipe his face clean of moisture with his sleeve.
It must have been a second too long because when he opened his eyes his Hyung was nowhere to be seen. He ran in the direction he had last seen his Hyung but he was no longer there.
He turned around, thinking that if he made it back home quickly he could still be taken to school in the car. He looked up and down the street; then he ran back to the corner. Panic settled like a hot stone in his stomach when he realized he could not recognize his surroundings.
It had started to rain by the time Appa’s driver found him. He had found refuge under the slanted roof of a butcher’s shop, fighting for space amongst those without an umbrella. It was already dark out and his stomach rumbled, his lunch long since consumed hours ago.
Tears finally began to fall down his face when he spotted the familiar man coming his way with an umbrella. He wailed loudly when the driver picked him up and walked him back to the car.
Once inside, a coat was draped over his drenched shoulders and it was only then when he noticed Appa was in the car as well. Pressed against his father’s side, Changmin cried the whole ride home.
The moment he stepped into the house Changmin was wrapped in a tight hug. Eomma took off Appa’s coat, replacing it with a warm towel while she ordered the maids to prepare a bath for him and for Cook to make him some chicken soup.
Appa walked past them and over Eomma’s shoulder Changmin saw as he grabbed Jaejoong-hyung by the collar and dragged his struggling brother into his office.
Eomma picked him up, still wrapped in the towel, and carried him towards the stairs. He twisted around when they passed by his father’s office, cranking his neck to look.
In his fury, Appa must have forgotten to close the door because it was partially opened, the warm light from the lamps casting shadows on the two figures inside.
Just before Eomma took him away, Changmin was able to see Appa’s hand connect with Hyung’s cheek; his brother falling to the floor from the blow.
Changmin realized that had most likely hurt more than Eomma’s slap that morning.
That night Changmin tiptoed to his brother’s room. Jaejoong had been sent upstairs with no dinner and would stay grounded until Appa said so.
He pulled the door open slowly so it would not creak and stepped inside Hyung’s dark room. He could barely see the dark lump on the bed but he knew his Hyung was there.
“Jae-Hyung?” he whispered as soon as he reached the bed.
The lump shifted and then the room was bathed in soft light coming from his Hyung’s bedside lamp. Changmin’s eyes widened in shock when he saw the swollen cheek, the hand-shaped red mark against porcelain skin, and the trails of dried tears on his Hyung’s face.
“Changmin-ah,” mumbled Jaejoong, sleepily. “Are you okay?”
Changmin looked at his Hyung like he had grown another head. Hyung was the one that got hit by Appa, not him!
Changmin nodded.
“I didn’t mean to lose you,” his Hyung explained.
“I’m sorry,” Changmin apologized without thinking. It made his brother smile though, so it was okay.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Jaejoong offered and Changmin beamed up at his brother. Rarely would Hyung allow him to sleep with him no matter how much he begged so Changmin was not going to waste such an opportunity.
“Yes!” Changmin squealed, already climbing onto the bed.
“But don’t cling to me!” Jaejoong warned.
It was too late, however, when Changmin’s arms had already snaked around one of his own.
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