A Night In Shanghai 2/2

Apr 05, 2012 00:37

Rating: PG-13
Pairing: YunJae
Genre: AU!Romance
Length: Two-shot
Summary: The night between a flustered flight attendant and an all too observant flyer continues.

=

Jaejoong greets his friend that he happens to be paired up with during the overnight flight again, but grows increasingly irritated by his pestering co-worker.

“I can’t reply to his text until we land,” Jaejoong insists.

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“That’s the rules.”

“The passengers don’t even listen to the rules, just text him back. And kindly say, Yes, I want to see you again-”

Jaejoong throws a towel to Liyin's face, ignoring her briefly as he reheats the trays.

“You’ve been texting back and forth since that night in Shanghai, right?”

“Don’t make it sound like that.”

“Like what?” She asks cluelessly.

“Night in Shanghai, sounds too intimate. We just talked,”

“And that doesn’t?” She counters.

“Aren’t we talking?”

“This is clearly different.” She states, and then she hears the short ding notifying her of someone in need of assistance.

“Aren’t you going to get that?”

“It’s just that guy wanting more peanuts, but anyway! We’re going to have an eight hour layover, that’s enough time isn’t it? For something nice to happen between you two.” She encourages, dismissing the task at hand.

He promptly tunes her out and answers the call in her stead.

-

He’s been to Taipei before, had visited most of the sights, but mainly alone. He was thankful for Yunho being able to understand the written characters and followed alongside of him. “Do you have any plans for us?”

Yunho smiled, “Lunch.”

Wait. He had to eat?

“Soup dumplings, and,” Yunho flipped over the menu at the casual restaurant, glancing at the other man across the table. “Why don’t you get a milk tea boba? Or any of the boba teas-”

“No. I mean, I’m good, just water will do.” Jaejoong insists hastily, Yunho arched an eyebrow.

It wasn’t that he lacked an appetite...

Whitening, brushing, chapstick, whatever it took to make him feel just a little better when speaking with Yunho. His lips were probably at their very best, but he still covered them with his hand, a habit that made it difficult with Yunho asking him to repeat every other sentence and to slow down when he rambled.

“Stop looking away, it makes it difficult to read your lips if I can’t even see them.” Yunho chided lightly.

Jaejoong gradually lowered his hand, wishing he had a pen and paper at hand instead, but knew Yunho often practiced this for the sake of his job. Yet when he did it again, Yunho reached out and held it firmly on the table’s surface.

Jaejoong was just about to protest when he was squarely interrupted by the other man.

With a childish grin, Yunho picked up a steamed dumpling and shoved it into Jaejoong’s slightly parted lips. The flight attendant had attempted to spit it back out, but Yunho pouted, holding both of Jaejoong’s hands down to the table.

“It’s good,” Yunho said. “Just try it.”

Reluctantly, Jaejoong tried to chew as softly as he could. The surge of hot soup spread in his mouth, burning him a little. He tried to take small gasps of air to cool the liquid, but it wasn’t enough.

Yunho released his hands to let him fan himself.

“Are you alright?” Yunho asked playfully.

Jaejoong barely managed to glare at him, a small drop of soup trickling down his chin. Yunho chuckled, reaching over with a napkin to clean it off for him, the warmth of his fingers transmitted through the thin cloth.

For that short moment, Jaejoong stiffened in his seat, breathless.

And to his inner horror, Yunho picked up on it. “If you weren’t so nervous, this date could go by a lot smoother.”

“I am not.”

Yunho is clearly doubtful. “I’m a good judge of character.”

Jaejoong sits back and waits for him to clarify. “Explain.”

“Alright,” Yunho tugs his napkin. “You like me.”

“That’s too upfront.”

“But I know it’s true,” he claims, and Jaejoong urges him to go on. “Because when I said this date, you didn’t correct me-”

Jaejoong abruptly stands up. “I have to call the airline,” He says, leaving as Yunho laughs. “This has nothing to do with this conversation.”

“Of course not.”

Jaejoong left to make his fake phone call, but threw the napkin on Yunho as an added measure.

-

“What are you so shy around him for? Didn’t you already kiss?” Liyin scolds.

Jaejoong puts the cell away a certain distance, slightly regretting who he had chosen to call. He peeks from behind the wall beside the two restrooms, Yunho patiently waiting. “Not exactly.” He admits, thinking back to that day.

“Are you always so unprepared for the cold?” Yunho asked with a raised brow, watching as Jaejoong shivered slightly beside him.

The flight attendant pursed his lips, glaring at him from the corner of his eye. “I have all my thicker jackets in my luggage. My next flight is in less than an hour or so,” He argued, taking a look around their surroundings. “It’s actually not as bad as I expected. The skies are pretty clear.”

Yunho shook his head, Jaejoong’s quivering lips disrupting his reading. He gave up halfway, knowing that what the other man was saying was probably nothing more than a defense of his lack of self-consideration.

He pulled Jaejoong back into the airport doors, slowly unlatching his scarf from his neck.

“Next time, keep an extra jacket on you,” Yunho lectured.

Jaejoong took a step back, taking hold of Yunho’s wrists. “Keep it,” he said, “it’s really not that cold. I’ll be back on the plane soon, anyways.”

The other man would have none of it, not even bothering to read his lips, and tossed the scarf over his head, wrapping it around him securely. “You have to watch your health,” Yunho told him, “you’ve got a tiring job, you wouldn’t want to get sick.”

Something inside Jaejoong’s chest tugged, any words he had left stuck at the pit of his stomach, where warmth began spreading. “Thank you,” he said, smiling gently.

Yunho met eyes with Jaejoong, his line of sight gradually focusing on his lips again. He smiled, shaking his head, as he reached out to him again. After placing two warm packets into the Jaejoong’s hands, he took the front of the scarf and fluffed it out, pulling it up just enough so that it covered up to Jaejoong’s nose.

The next action was unexpected, a pleasant surprise.

Jaejoong barely blinked when Yunho leaned forward, his breath warm against his own cheek. They were close, so close that Jaejoong was afraid to breathe. Only in situations like this was he grateful that Yunho could not hear because, if he could, he would definitely be able to hear the drumming of his heart in his chest.

There was a soft pressure against his lips. When Yunho pulled back, Jaejoong swallowed hard on the breath he had been holding.

“I can’t stay with you until you leave,” Yunho said apologetically, “I have a meeting that I can’t miss. Have a safe trip, Jaejoong.”

The attendant nodded, waving as he watched the other man slowly disappear into a cab beyond the doors. He lifted a hand to the scarf, grasping the soft, cotton material tightly in his fingers. It smelled like Yunho; it was as warm as Yunho’s breath against his cheek.

At that time Jaejoong hadn’t known, but the reason Yunho had covered his mouth was not because of the fact that he was afraid to kiss him directly, but because he didn’t want to see Jaejoong’s lips.

He didn’t want to see Jaejoong say goodbye.

And the kiss-- that kiss was not just a gesture, it was confirmation. A promise for something more.

Still, such a promise lingered in Jaejoong’s thoughts, and he seemed more uncertain every instance they had met up.

With his job as an architect, Yunho was on constant travel around Asia. Jaejoong was in the same predicament,

“What kind of relationship do we have? Are we only in a relationship when we happen to be in the same country? The same city?” Jaejoong had asked straightforwardly. Months had passed since that first meeting as they met in the airport gate of yet another city, with only minutes to spare before each of their departing flights.

He enjoyed every moment, every aspect, but his concerns earned the best of him during their times apart.

Yunho signs him a message.

Jaejoong blinks, “I don’t understand.” Yunho turns at the abrupt vibrations to see the masses standing for his flight, but Jaejoong holds him firmly back and mouths. "Wait! I don't get it."

Yunho doesn’t translate his answer and averted his eyes whenever Jaejoong attempted to ask. There was just some meanings he felt verbal speech couldn't address.

Jaejoong soon gives up as Yunho leaves for the final boarding.

During an overnight flight with the passengers fast asleep, Jaejoong digs his sign language textbook out of his bag and struggles to match each gesture with its meaning. Until finally, he manages,

“It’s one without borders.”

-

On the Ferris wheel, Jaejoong is looking at the city lights, marveling at the view.

“You really do like this city.” Yunho observes.

Jaejoong gives a small smile, he had often raved about it in their many chats. “It’s been my favorite for so long now, even if it changes, it might still be.”

Through the reflection, he could see Yunho quietly looking out.

“What’s wrong?” Jaejoong asks.

“Just wondering. About two separate matters.” Yunho begins, habitually signing his words as he speaks. “I’ve been wondering what it’d be like to live in the same city, without having to constantly be on call.”

“I thought you wrote that was the best part of this job, always on the move.” That was what attracted Jaejoong to his own career path as well.

“It was, it is; but my priorities are a little different now.” Yunho replies thoughtfully. ”I’d like to be serious with you, but maybe you wouldn’t think we were.”

Jaejoong took that mildly into offense, “I thought you were a good judge of character?”

Yunho lightly shrugs, “You might surprise me.”

Jaejoong shifts momentarily and prompts, “And the second thing.”

“What’d it be like to kiss you.” He admits quietly, focusing his attention solely on him. “Do I have to keep wondering?”

No, Jaejoong mouths, his voice caught in his throat. He has his head lowered, preventing Yunho from looking. When Yunho asks him to repeat, Jaejoong keeps his head still.

Yunho then bends in, craning his neck to get Jaejoong to face him, when the latter kisses him chastely.

“Did I surprise you?” Jaejoong asks after. Yunho couldn’t process his mouthed question, bewildered. Jaejoong took that as a yes.

Taipei was still his favorite city.

-

“Even if we did meet one another in South Korea, you live in Incheon, I live in Busan, it’s not that close.” Jaejoong texts by the gates. “The ride over is over three hours, with traffic is even worse.”

“If I moved there, it wouldn’t be so bad,” Yunho’s text reads.

“Your job is centered there, I couldn’t ask you too.” Jaejoong texts back. For a while, he doesn’t get a second text and begins typing his own. “I can move anywhere with an airport.”

“You’d be willing?”

“If you ask nicely.” He types playfully as he turns off his phone, boarding his plane.

Jaejoong doesn’t read the next message until his shift ends in Malaysia, when he finally gets a short ding on his cell.

“Please?” It read.

Jaejoong chuckles quietly, covering his mouth but quickly lowers it by habit. “I’ll look in the area then.”

“Live in my street.” Yunho suggests during a silent webcam that night, Jaejoong settles in his casual clothes for the night, sitting on the hotel bed with his towel drying his damp hair.

“Are you going to ask me to live in your apartment complex too?” Jaejoong types jokingly. He waits for an answer, through the lagging video he sees Yunho contemplating the thought.

Yunho’s stretching with his arms behind his head, laying on the bed of his own hotel room.

“My view’s better than that of Taipei.”

Jaejoong pauses his hand on the keyboard, looking down before responding. “How do I know if I believe you?”

Yunho’s lips curve upward, relieved that Jaejoong wasn’t put off by his offer. “You’d have to come and see for yourself.”

Sly as ever.

Jaejoong visits Yunho’s city, finds it just as robust and lively as Busan. He keeps visiting until he finds himself co-signing the lease and steps into the new airport, even larger than the one he worked for before.

He’s too often distracted from properly enjoying the view as he sits across from Yunho, miserably practicing his signing as Yunho fails to hide his snickering, earning an occasional nudge or two.

The flight attendant unconsciously speaks less at home as time passes, their conversations coming by easier to him, adjusting as his settings change.

He enjoys flying still, but finds he enjoys the ground just as much.

=The End=

~~

A/N: Random side story!

There was absolutely nothing romantic about laying on a cemented balcony just outside the hotel room when their layovers coincide, its floor prickling his skin, but he was surprise to find it sort of was. Their date concluding there as the two remained embraced, with Yunho planting kisses every so often.

Jaejoong stops him however to Yunho's discontent. A single look from Jaejoong's eyes display the admiration he held for the view, and so Yunho pulled back and allowed Jaejoong to sit up and lean against the glass balcony.

Jaejoong's eyes scanned it with subtle cheer, held and relaxing in the tranquil scene, when it was interrupted by an odd noise. Jaejoong furrowed his eyebrows and slowly looked back, concerned by the sound in Yunho's throat. Something sort of like a grunt.

He tapped his fingers on Yunho's wrist, signing to ask what was wrong. Yunho glanced his way a second more before forcing him back around.

"I neej do kiyou."

He declared it so hastily that Jaejoong couldn't process what had been said. Yet Yunho kissed Jaejoong once more, supple and sweet, and the latter finally understood the jumbled phrase.

He could enjoy the view after, he supposed.

A/N: Towards Yunho's abrupt incoherency, even hearers stumble over their words when hasty, I can attest to it, ^^

length: twoshot, pairing: yunjae

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