Meet You There [5/?]
Title: Meet You There
Pairings: Jaeho, Yoosu
Length: Chapter fic
Author: rainbowpebbles
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Humour, Fluff, Angst (not in any particular order)
Summary: Sequel to A World of Colour. Who said that the road after the first kiss would ever be smooth?
Yunho had been sitting on the same plastic chair for three hours already. It was close approaching twelve midnight. The stars were out, shining brightly, their light seeming to reach in through the windows, but stopping short of the bright red light that remained lit above the doors of the operating theatre.
Yoochun was seated beside him, offering him silent comfort while sipping a cup of much needed coffee. Yoochun had to drink two cups of coffee by himself: Yunho had rejected the cup that Yoochun had bought for him. It seemed like his throat had closed up on itself. He couldn’t drink, he couldn’t eat. Not when Joongie was still in danger.
Junsu was still comforting Eunhyuk, who had Donghae sitting on his other side, their hands clasped together tightly. Once in a while, Yunho could hear Eunhyuk whisper some small insecurity out loud, and Junsu would be quick to calm him down. They seem so close, Yunho thought to himself. It’s like they were brothers in another lifetime.
And there was Heechul, sitting at the end of the plastic chairs, furthest away from Yunho, his eyes staring at the floor near the operating theatre. He hadn’t said a word since his earlier outburst. Yoochun nearly tackled him to the floor to prevent him from attacking Young Saeng (they had found out his name from the doctor later) and when he finally realized that there was nothing he could do, he had lapsed into another silence.
The creak of a door.
Yunho immediately stood up and the others were quickly to respond, all eyes cast upon the doors of the operating theatre. The same doctor came through the doors, looking weary.
“How is he?”
“Where’s Joongie!?”
“Is he alright? Is he gonna be okay?”
The doctor raised both hands in an attempt to put an end to all the questions fired at him. “Alright, alright, calm down. I have to explain the situation to you first.”
Everyone immediately shushed.
The doctor took a breath. And then he began.
“Like what I said earlier. The patient has serious head trauma, two broken ribs and a punctured left lung. We also discovered a fractured right hip.” He paused. “But what worries us the most is the head injury.”
Questions began flooding out again, each one demanding to know how serious the injuries were. The doctor waited for them to cease before he continued.
“We managed to get Mr. Kim into a somewhat stable condition. However…we are unable to guarantee when he will wake up, and what his mental state will be like when he does. For now all we can do is to put him under careful observation in the ICU. Hopefully when his injuries get better and his body recovers from the shock, he will wake up. But there’s no telling when this will happen; it may take days, or months, or even years.”
The doctor was finally met with silence.
A small voice spoke up. Eunhyuk. “Can we see him?”
The doctor nodded. “He’s out of the danger zone, so you can see him. The nurses are still cleaning him up in the operating theatre-”
And then suddenly, the nurses pushed out a person, so covered in bandages and tubes and wires that he was barely recognizable.
Junsu and Eunhyuk immediately rushed over, both crying at the sight of the pale face. Both of Jaejoong’s eyes seemed to be glued shut, and his breathing was shallow; one of the nurses was pushing a machine at the side that seemed to help him to breathe. The nurses quickly ushered Jaejoong past the group, moving quickly but gently down the corridor. Junsu and Eunhyuk immediately followed them, while Donghae hesitated before running after the crying duo.
Yunho’s heart had stopped beating at the sight of his beloved, deathly pale and barely alive.
Joongie.
You made it.
His eyes filled with tears, but he immediately blinked them away. I have to be at his side.
He needs me.
As much as I need him.
He turned immediately to follow Jaejoong down the corridor when he found that he was stopped by a human barrier. By the name of Kim Heechul.
Yunho swallowed, his throat dry. “Hyung…hyung please…”
“No.” Heechul’s stony gaze was set on Yunho’s face. “You stay away. Don’t even think about getting near Joongie.”
Behind him Yoochun gasped. “You can’t do that to him! That’s his boyfriend lying there!”
Heechul looked at Yoochun. “And WHY is he lying there? If someone had picked him up from the centre, or if someone had even bothered to CALL Jaejoong, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened!”
Yoochun wanted to argue back; about how unfair an accusation that was, and how it wasn’t Yunho hyung’s fault that his schedule was packed like that, and how if Yunho hyung was to be blamed, Heechul hyung should shoulder some of the responsibility as well: all these words were all on the tip of his tongue, but he was interrupted by none other than the one he was ready to defend.
“It’s okay, Yoochun.”
Yoochun stared. “What?”
“He’s right. It is my fault.”
“I’m glad we finally agreed on that.”
“But hyung…hyung… please…you have to let me see him, at least let me-”
“No.”
And with that, Heechul turned and left, leaving Yoochun and Yunho standing alone in the deserted corridor.
~*~
Changmin checked the SMS on his phone once more. Room 510. He looked up to check the ward number on the door he was facing. Bingo.
He gently pushed the door to the private ward open.
Junsu was asleep, curled slightly on the sofa at the side of the room against the wall, Yoochun’s familiar black leather jacket draped over his frame. Changmin had to smile at the sight. Junsu hyung looked like such a baby when he was asleep. Not that Changmin would ever tell that to his face, anyway.
The soft beeping of a heart monitor drew Changmin’s attention to the figure on the bed. He was not shocked at the number of tubes and wires attached to that one person. With so many injuries…it’s not really surprising. Head injury, broken ribs, punctured lung, fractured hip… Despite being mentally prepared to see this sight, his heart ached a little knowing that it was his hyung lying down on the bed. What did he do to deserve this…
And beside Jaejoong, Yunho slept while seated on a chair drawn up to the side on the bed. Changmin noticed that one hand clasped Jaejoong’s tightly as if it were his lifeline. Even in the darkness of the room he could see Yunho’s brows furrowed slightly, as if he was having a nightmare.
Yoochun approached him, the upper half of his body clad in a black, simple long-sleeved shirt. “Hey.”
“Hey to you too. What happened?”
Yoochun sighed. “I’ll skip over the car crash. I’ll skip over the part where Heechul hyung nearly pummeled the guy who was stalking Jaejoong hyung. And yeah, I think I’ll skip over the part where Heechul hyung basically told Yunho to throw himself off a cliff.” Yoochun counted the events off his fingers. “Other than that, yeah sure. We’ve been having one hell of a party.”
Changmin punched his arm. “Alright, alright, I get it. You’ve been through a lot.” He looked around. “Where are the rest?”
“Eunhyuk managed to persuade Heechul hyung to go home. He was actually trying to buy Yunho hyung some time to spend with Jaejoong hyung. Donghae sent the both of them home.”
Changmin nodded. “And how’s…Yunho hyung?”
Yoochun shook his head. “Not doing well. He really does believe that everything is his fault. Most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in years. I always knew he wasn’t that bright but I never expected him to be so stupid either. How in the world is one supposed to know when your boyfriend is about to get hit down by a car?”
“Heechul hyung accused him of that?”
“Yep.” Yoochun turned to look at the sleeping Junsu. “But I know that if Yunho had the chance, he would have gladly thrown himself in front of that car.” He looked back at Changmin. “Just as I would have done for Junsu.”
The door to the ward opened slightly and a frightened, pale face looked in.
Yoochun immediately hissed. “You!”
Changmin looked puzzled. “Who is he?”
“Heo Young Saeng. The one who caused Jaejoong hyung to run across the road and get hit down by a car. He had to push him away ’cause the dolt was standing in the middle of the road.”
Changmin turned to the figure who was still standing at the doorway. “What do you want?”
“I…I just wanted to see if he was fine.”
Yoochun immediately started. “Hmm…do you want me to tick of the list of how many injuries he has? Let’s start of with the most important: the head injury! The one that may cause him to NEVER wake up-”
“Enough, Yoochun hyung.” He pointed to Junsu, who had stirred slightly because of the increasing volume. “Let’s settle this outside.”
Yoochun immediately stalked outside, Changmin following him. Changmin saw Yoochun blinking rapidly at the sudden glaring light of the corridor.
“How long has this been happening?”
Young Saeng blinked. “What?”
Changmin rephrased his question slightly. “How long have you been…following Jaejoong hyung around?”
Young Saeng shifted uncomfortably. “I can’t really remember.”
Yoochun snorted. “Likely story. Guess that’s what can be expected from someone who couldn’t even tell that you’re not supposed to stand in the middle of the road-”
Changmin waved for Yoochun to be silent. “A more honest answer, please.”
The other was silent for a while. “A-about a year, I guess.”
A year? That’s even before Yunho hyung met Jaejoong hyung…
“Why were you standing in the middle of the road?”
“Because he was too stu-”
“Yoochun hyung, enough snarky comments already!”
Yoochun fell silent, sulking a little.
Changmin questioned again. “Why were you standing in the middle of the road?”
“I…” Young Saeng looked uncertain. “I don’t know. I panicked, I guess. It was the first time in a year where Jaejoong had actually noticed my presence.”
From the corner of his eye, Changmin saw Yoochun biting his lip to prevent himself from saying anything sarcastic.
Changmin sighed. “Alright. I guess the damage has already been done. It’s too late to play the blame game now. But,” Changmin looked at Young Saeng sharply. “If anything untoward does happen to Jaejoong hyung, be prepared to answer for it.”
~*~
Changmin didn’t sleep a wink for the remainder of the night, or rather, morning. He spent the time on a chair in the corner of the ward, sipping cups of surprisingly good coffee from the nearby vending machine. It was just one of those rare times where sleep couldn’t overpower his consciousness. And so, he decided to stay awake, simply watching his hyungs sleep.
Changmin had asked Young Saeng to return home first, but not without getting his contact numbers and address. Changmin figured that his presence here would prove to be a bad thing, seeing as it would only get some people (a/n: Heechul*cough cough*) more agitated. Which, in turn, would not improve the conditions at all.
Yoochun had finally succumbed to sleep, joining Junsu on the sofa in the ward. He had admitted that the two of them had been working on a big project for a jewelry company for 2 days without rest, and they were in the midst of doing the finishing touches for the advertisement when they found out what had happened to Jaejoong hyung. The duo had immediately abandoned their work to make it to the hospital.
Yunho hadn’t moved an inch since the last night, with the exception of his facial muscles relaxing slightly more. Jaejoong, obviously, hadn’t moved either. This particular couple had been almost fossil-like in their sleep, while…
Yoochun and Junsu looked like they were wrestling.
Watching the two of them attempt to share a small sofa brought Changmin entertainment for that night.
When Yoochun first joined Junsu on the sofa, he had attempted to curve his body along the shape of Junsu’s curled-in position. What he did not expect was for Junsu to suddenly straighten out one hour after he first laid down, causing his knees to get knocked by the back of Junsu’s and his chin meeting the top of Junsu’s head.
And that was not the end of it.
Changmin nearly laughed out loud when he saw Yoochun trying to hug Junsu in his sleep, only to get Junsu’s arm slapped over his face, resulting in Yoochun pouting slightly. I should take pictures of this, Changmin thought to himself. Blackmail.
Currently the both of them were on the floor, after a tussle with the blanket aka Yoochun’s black leather jacket. The jacket was now tossed across the floor, the couple’s limbs entangled, Junsu’s head tucked neatly under Yoochun’s chin. It was a sight that Changmin couldn’t help smiling at.
The door suddenly opened, and Changmin nearly leapt out of his seat.
“Heechul hyung…”
Heechul’s eyes focused on Jaejoong and Yunho, his line of vision drifting from Jaejoong’s pale face to their joined hands, and finally to Yunho.
Changmin stood up, ready to prevent Heechul from disturbing his hyung. Heechul noticed, and quickly spoke to assure him.
“It’s ok, Changmin.” His eyes softened as he looked towards the couple again. “I don’t blame him anymore.”
Changmin let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that, hyung.”
The two of them lapsed into silence, until Heechul suddenly spoke up. “You know, I never really realized how young Yunho actually was.”
“Huh?”
Heechul continued, voicing his thoughts. “He’s actually 11 days younger than Joongie. He’s so young…but I always forget that. It’s just that…he’s the president of Jung Corporation, for goodness sake, and he’s always given me the impression that he’s so capable…I just…I just-”
“Never thought that actually he was still a kid too?”
Heechul nodded. “I was angry last night. Too angry to notice that he had terrible eyebags under his eyes, too angry to realize that it was impossible for him to take time off his schedule, especially when I knew you weren’t around to help him. I shouldn’t have blamed him.” He drew in a breath. “It wasn’t his fault.”
“He already thinks that it is.”
“I know.” Heechul looked at Changmin. “All I can hope for is for Joongie to wake up, and then we can put this nightmare behind us and move on. Then maybe I wouldn’t feel so guilty myself.”
Changmin smiled. “We all make mistakes sometimes, hyung. If we didn’t then we wouldn’t be human.”
Heechul laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess so. Though I seriously have to learn how to control my temper a little.”
A comfortable silence reigned for a while. Until…
Junsu suddenly kicked Yoochun very hard in his sleep, causing the latter to scramble around blindly on the floor for a while before he stood up, half-awake.
Yoochun rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Who’s your favourite Ninja Turtle?”
Changmin smirked. “Well, good morning to you too. I take it you want breakfast?”
End of chapter five.
A/N: hehe. There wasn’t really a point to this chapter. It was just sort of a filler. Kill me now XD
I’m sorry!!! I really rushed this one out cause I’m going for a 3 day camp starting tomorrow, and I wanted to post another chapter before I left for no-internet-land. More stuff will happen in the next chapter, bear with me a little.
I may not be able to reply all comments immediately, but I shall do so when I return!! Then you will see more regular updates as well, I hope (:
Comments are loved!! :D