labels or love? | yunjae | 03/xx
Title: Labels or Love?
Chapter(s): 3/?
Author: sentimentalenvy
Genre: angst, comedy, teeth rotting fluff, romance
Rating: PG-13 - R
Warning(s): language, crude humor, sexual implications/content
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yunho/Yoochun (I love bromance!2U so brace yourself)
Disclaimer: I do not own the known characters in this story.
Synopsis: Being the son and future heir to the most high in fashion company in the industry is a solve-any-problem-with-the-swipe-of-your-credit card easy. Kim Jaejoong practically breathes in the luxurious ‘top of the line’ labels have to offer. He shamelessly lives off of the income of his parents and the young twenty-one year old heir has no need for worries over the economy or anything considered complicated for that matter. That is until his father, the president of the CEO, deems him utterly useless and disowns him which results in leaving the heir falling helplessly into the hands of Jung Yunho, their company’s new contract model.
A/N: I’ve decided to up the rating a little because I’ve realized there’s no way this fic could remain at PG-13 friendly. PG-13 sexual tension is impossible for me to write. They need to do the dirty deed at some point and I’m afraid I may go crazy if they don’t. :’P
“The food’s cold.”
The banging and clattering of the movers moving Jaejoong’s belongings into the flat didn’t come close to breaking the ice that settled upon the two grown men sitting on the bar chairs. The tension was so thick it had the potential to simmer the now room temperature breakfast sitting in between them. Jaejoong fidgeted before the intimidating looking man, poking at the piece of fish he’d timidly put on top his hill of rice.
Why was the guy so grumpy? If anyone was privileged to a foul mood it should be Jaejoong! So much for stealing a mood that was rightfully his. So his sense of direction was probably close to impairment - alright, he was entirely hopeless and north could be south and east may as well be west. The only way he’d ever know is if he read from a map. That is - if he could ever figure out how to read one. Due to unfortunate events, he’d forgotten to charge his new iPhone overnight so he couldn’t use his GPS, but that was exactly the point. He was the one having a bad day!
Given the fact that he’d already had his usual blueberry muffin and Tall Espresso Cappuccino from Starbucks earlier in the morning, he wasn’t feeling hungry at all. In fact, he was all set for unpacking before afternoon rolled around. Wasn’t it proper conduct for Yunho to be helping him unload his stuff right now? Jaejoong mentally sighed. Since Yunho didn’t respond to him, he continued watching the bigger man shovel food into his mouth in big heaps. Someone hand this man a bib. He was a barbarian.
If anyone were to tell him this guy was a model, well Jaejoong wouldn’t necessarily dismiss the thought completely. He’d practically grown up within the agency and he’d seen many potential and veteran models in his life. Yunho did have the height and body for it; however, there was just that something that was a little different about his face. Yunho would be quite attractive if certain angles were worked out. Of course, there were real models that didn’t need to dwell into angle techniques. Jaejoong wasn’t on top of the 411 in regards to KJJ’s selection of models. He’d spotted out several during his rounds of photo shoots but he’d never really paid much attention to anyone he wasn’t working with. He knew for a fact their agency’s models were the best of the best. Retouching to the point of plastic surgery wasn’t worth the effort. It was simple. If you weren’t up to KJJ standards, you weren’t booked at all.
Jung Yunho wasn’t considered horridly unattractive, though. Jaejoong mused to himself, tilting his head slightly, and continued to watch the man nudge a grain of rice back into his mouth with his chopsticks. Alright, so maybe he should drop by at a photoshoot sometime when the taller man wasn’t stuffing his face like a half starved Amazonian man.
“Is it alright if I start unpacking now?” Jaejoong asks hesitantly, eyebrow threatening to twitch off his face if this man continued to ignore him.
“As long as it doesn’t involve interfering with my breakfast, I don’t see why not,” Yunho mumbles around his chopstick, eyes already sliding towards the kimchi among the other cluttered side dishes. It seemed as if nothing changed as Yunho continued to eat while the blonde stared at him in silence. Jaejoong sighed.
“So would you mind helping me out a little?” Every hair on the back of Jaejoong’s neck stood when Yunho swallowed and stared at him rather unsubtle like. Jaejoong made sure to keep his cringe inward because wow. If stares could kill. Well, his stare was pretty much saying Helping you would count as an interruption towards my breakfast, so yes, I do mind. Chilling.
What was it about his personality that made people talk to him like that? Did Appa really have to go through such lengths to have a Grouchy McGroucherson as his flat mate? Yeah, Jaejoong already knew Jung Yunho was a model at their agency even though his father didn’t know a thing about it. Guess one of the advantages of being a Mama’s jewel did come in handy sometimes. If only she held enough authority to prevent him from participating in a suicide mission. There was no way he’d be able to survive alone, and even Umma can only do so much since his actions were apparently heavily monitored.
“A simple yes or no would’ve sufficed.” Jaejoong pouts moodily as he hops off the bar stool, leaving his breakfast untouched, and immediately headed for one of the movers moving his 50 inch flat screen.
“Hey be careful! You’re supposed to support the base with one hand and the corner with the other. It’s common knowledge,” He said, ushering the mover by holding the sides the way he wanted them handled. The tone of his voice was gentle, but the context was often perceived as rude. Jaejoong had been used to the reactions he often gets. He still doesn’t understand why he gets them, but since old habits were hard to break, he never bothered changing them. It wasn’t as if he had a habitual intent on deliberately setting out to hurt people.
“Of course.” The mover responded, most likely momentarily shocked with Jaejoong’s bluntness.
“You’d think movers like yourselves would already have care with fragile items huh? Haha!” Jaejoong joked, not sensing enthusiasm from the lanky man before him.
“I’ll have you know I’ve moved plenty -!” The mover started to protest, but was brushed roughly by a passing co-worker, shaking his head at him as if to tell him it’d be a wise decision not to start anything. The pretty man nearly yelped in panic as he saw his baby jostled in the arms of the shaken mover.
“I apologize, Sir. I’ll handle the television with more care.”
“As well as my other belongings?” He prodded further, needing to ask because one couldn’t trust people by their word nowadays. If it was possible to move these things himself, he would, but even he knew it would be a lot more logical to rely on the help. Like his father had always said - Time is money. The mover’s jaw clenched once and he nodded stiffly.
“Yes. Sir,” the man let out a stuttered breath.
“Thank you - and I saw that.” Jaejoong huffs as he turns around to glance at the passing mover who stopped in his tracks with a dressing table with a mirror attached. “Had you shoved him any harder he could’ve dropped it! And you may have dropped my dressing table during the process. Please handle my things with care because I’m starting to wonder if I can trust you boys.” Seemingly sensing Yunho’s piercing eyes on him, he quickly shuffled away to make sure the rest of his things didn’t end up in a tatters and scratches.
It seemed like the advice on handling things with care fell on deaf ears. Some still handled his things with such brusque manners, setting things down so harshly that Jaejoong had to openly wince at the sound and sighting of scraping and banging of his furniture. It was kind of surprising to see that they hadn’t moved his things into place for him. Well, no matter. Jaejoong was glad for it and he knew he wouldn’t have been satisfied with how they’d been arranged, anyway. Hell, he disapproved from the way they tossed his things instead of setting them down properly like a real professional would have done. Was this punishment flung in as a bonus from Appa? They probably assumed he hadn’t noticed, but the movers snuck him weird looks as they finished, and left after a while of blatant loitering around as if they were waiting for something. Was he missing anything?
Yunho on the other hand was in the middle of washing dishes. He was surprised to see the taller man shutting off the tap and drying his hands quickly with a dish towel before heading out the door to chase them down. Less than five minutes later of chuckles and snickering in the hallway, he came back, shut the door, and continued into the kitchen to wash up. Huh. Well what was that about?
It seemed expectant looks of explanations didn’t work around this man. Yunho was starting to make a habit of ignoring his presence all together. Well there was one extra arrogant man to deal with. How was he supposed to make this experience tolerable now?
Nope. No use in dwelling on the little things. He had to work on fixing up the flat to his liking before job hunting. There was no way he’d get job hunting and flat flourishing finished in half a day. First thing was first - wardrobe. The closet space in his room must’ve been a joke. Weren’t walk in closets supposed to be bigger? He had a whole wing on the other side of the manor that was dedicated to his wardrobe. He knew he shouldn’t be expecting a wing in a bachelor pad but he hadn’t expected such limited space. What was going to happen with the rest of his clothes? Jaejoong groaned inwardly, already having had a bad feeling the moment he stepped foot out of the car. Small flats weren’t entitled to bigger walk-in closets? It seems time is not to be wasted.
As soon as Yunho entered the Eat Me Café, he was nearly pulled aside by none other than Jung Jessica, one of his cousins who served as a part-time waitress. The café was absurdly famous for their scrumptious pastries and amazing caffeinated beverages but it was one of those places where the food was amazing and the services were not. And by not he meant inappropriate. Unfortunately this was the only place that could ever fully satisfy his fix for orgasmic pastries but half the time he never left the café without having his poor ass grabbed or having to deal with an annoying pestering cousin for the latest gossip.
“Do you normally treat your customers with such grace?” He asked, putting much emphasis in heavy sarcasm. It never works but old habits were a bitch. Jessica narrowed her eyes and gave him a pincher grasp to the arm.
“Don’t be a dick.”
The tall man looked away as if vulture claws hadn’t hurt him one bit and shoved big hands into his pockets in disregard. He proceeded to look up into the colorful list of To-go menus written across the boards in various colors of chalk above Jessica’s head. Pretending to be intrigued in something else never really worked since women never gave a shit if their subject of attention was taken with interest or not. And Jessica was no different from the lot.
“So I hear Kim Jaejoong lives with you now.” As expected, Jessica cut to the chase, seemingly ignoring new customers that had walked in right after him.
“Does the description of a part-time waitress include pecking innocent customers to their death or ignoring them on selective intervals on a daily basis?” Yunho asked with blasé eyes still glued to the black board. Hard to say. A part of him would feel guilty if she’d gotten written up and another side of him wanted to high tail it hard with his stuffed cheese croissants. Well logically she’d get herself into trouble if he continued to mind his own business while she verbally harassed him out in open public. Jessica was good at that. She lacked common sense of anything in relation to keeping shit on the down low. In other words, discreet was nonexistent in her persona. And she talked a lot.
“No one gives a shit about part-timers. I won’t get in trouble and don’t pretend like you care,” Jessica growled. “And don’t change the subject. So is it true? Kim Jaejoong is living with you?” Yunho nearly felt that glint of jealousy in her eyes. As if she wanted to have liked to shank him on point.
“Where’d you hear about that?” He grinned impishly, wanting to burst her bubble, but was also still nonetheless curious. These broads were gossip mongrels of a whole ‘nother species. What the hell do women ever do with their time?
“It’s plastered all over Facebook.”
Ah. That.
To hell with social media! Those things were useless! Facebook, Titter…Twitter? Whatever the kids were up to these days. Blogging about what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yunho vaguely remembered having dinner with Changmin the other day. Watching the maknae taking a picture of his empty plate and blogging about how he ate it all made Yunho want to lift the man over his head and throw him through the nearest window.
He’d bet his left nut Jessica was the one behind all the plastering. She most likely just wanted the verbal confirmation.
Stupid social networking. If they were living back in his hometown he’d be going to hell. Word spread in a small town. And fast. The fact that they were in the big city scared the shit out of him because if gossip spread as lethally quick in a big city as a small town, he’d have to be on his guard.
“And people talk.” She continued on, as if those few words had explained all - which it had. “Why is it that you’re lavishing in a lifestyle as a KJJ model, living with a sexy, beautiful man, and making bank while I go to school and wither away in a part time job at Crap on Me Café?”
“’Cause you’re a woman.” A sharp fist hammered into Yunho’s stomach - hard - hinting to him that this said woman refused to take his sexist comment with grace. Tiny woman could pack a punch. Holy shit. Don’t cringe. Do. Not. Cringe.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Jaejoong isn’t that great of a flat mate. Take my word for it.” Yunho wore a tight smile at the thought. Was it wise for him to leave Jaejoong alone for a few hours? He’d doubt it, but he had no choice but to assume he’d be alright. If he stayed another minute with the younger man’s blunt ramblings, fluffy décor, and endless noise of clumsy movement, he’d drive his head through the wall. If there was anything he hated, it was noise. He abhorred noise of any sort. Quiet me time wasn’t welcomed, it was mandatory. Yoochun and Yunho cherished silence and were compatible as flat mates. Under no circumstances were Jaejoong and him ever on the same level.
“None of that matters if he’s sexy.”
“I’ll take the 12 set croissants. Half with green spinach and the other half with crab filling - without the PMS - to go.” Yunho squinted at the board, still pretending to read, but was shocked to his death with a fake maneuver of Jessica’s knee to the groin. She probably spared him because Eat Me Café’s manager was heading towards them right now. Oh no. He preferred having Jessica’s knees to his balls. This woman was an octopus.
“I’ll be back, asshole. We’re not done here.”
Yunho was sure they weren’t. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around for another round of torture. Not even the creamiest pastries could keep him here any longer than he had to. And from the evil look on his cousin’s face, it looked like she was going to take the sweetest long asses of time until she returned with his order.
“Yunhoo~ Daaarling!” The middle aged woman smiled, face infested with Botox squealed, intimidating eyebrows moving up and down as she shuffled over towards him in quick intervals. Yunho’s ass clenched internally at the sight of grasping fingers.
Nope. Definitely not.
Every day chores didn’t exactly fit his job description. Nope, no sir. Scrolling through his iPhone contacts, Jaejoong’s owlish eyes squinted and his eyebrows knitted together in disappointment when he found that none - not any - of his housekeepers answered the home phone. Then it occurred to him that his father must have told them not to answer the phone if he called. The shadiness of it all! Did Appa honestly expect him to seriously live on his own?! How long would it take?!
No. The bigger question was how long his supply of clothes was going to last him. He shuddered at the memory of fiddling with various knobs in a random fashion. The loud rumbling of the machine and rolling of the dryer going on at the same time! It’d taken him nearly 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it off. Normally the sensible thing to do was to buy new clothes. But since Appa closed off his source for money, that idea obviously came to a dead end.
On the slight bright side to this torturing situation, the flat was starting to look livelier from its previous dull state. He glanced around the kitchen with a satisfied nod before bending down to push a box of the previous silverware and items in a box towards the corner of the connected living room. He’d leave these for Yunho to sort out on his own later. He waltzed over towards the next room to freshen the rest of the place up. Of course giving Yunho the respect of his side of the flat, Jaejoong didn’t alter much. He figured if he didn’t see it, then he wouldn’t have to worry about it. Oh, right. And taking up the rest of the space of Yunho’s walk in closet space with his own clothes may have been a slight alteration. He was quite certain the man wouldn’t complain. He didn’t seem like the type to care for much of anything, anyway. Did the man care for anything? It was hard to tell. He never knew how to act around quiet and stoic people.
Yunho held the kind of eerie vibes that pretty much gave you two options to either fuck off or die. Jaejoong let out a distressed sigh in despair. He didn’t exactly have a choice to fuck off and he was afraid of death. So no resolve there.
Speaking of Yunho being not the type to care about much, Jaejoong realized he reminded him of the kind of person who was content with the minimal. He’d noticed that the man’s cell phone wasn’t up to date. He was behind on his décor - not counting the entertainment system of course. Nobody in Korea would get away with not keeping up with technology such as that. And of course, fashion wise, it was mandatory for Yunho to keep up with the fashion trends. Models did have a reputation to uphold after all.
What really puzzled him was that Yunho really didn’t have that many clothes. At most he only used half of his closet space along with what looked like a personal choice of clothing in the far end of his closet. Most of his clothing held t-shirts, jeans, cargo shorts, tennis shoes, and very little of the formal. There were expensive shoes of the casual styles but not nearly as much as there were tennis shoes. And lots of them. Who did he think he was? Forrest Gump?
Jaejoong squatted down and stared at one of a pair of Nikes and stared at the worn edges in curious wonder. He didn’t make a habit of staring at people shoes but curiosity might as well kill the cat. What did this man need with a bunch of tennis shoes for? Models didn’t maintain a habit of keeping old shoes. His eyes squinted against the bright lights decorating the ceiling as he finished hanging the last of his clothes into the other half of Yunho’s closet.
As Jaejoong shut the lights off and closed the closet doors, he stared around the large room and connecting bathroom. The décor could use a whole lot of redecorating and the smell of laundered clothes overpowered the smell of cologne. Which was…kind of nice. Jaejoong peeked over to where Yunho’s table stood by the door. Making a beeline towards the wide square mirror, he stared down at the scattered products. They weren’t in an organized fashion of any sort. They were scattered enough to look cluttered, but not so spread out to look messy. Organized mess, much? A pale hand reached out for the lone bottle of cologne sitting next to a pair of thick rimmed glasses and a case for his contacts. The man only had one bottle of cologne? Eyes traveled onward as he set the bottle down and continued to proceed around the bedroom and walls in wonder.
Plain white walls couldn’t get any whiter. There weren’t any paintings of any sort. No pictures on the walls. He turned around, hand barely knocking down a lone photo on the table. Jaejoong momentarily flailed to keep the framed portrait upright. It was a picture of Yunho and a girl. The boy looked to be in high school. The girl on the other hand, he guessed, was in middle school at the time. He tried to fight the little smile itching on his face at the sight of the youth in Yunho’s adolescent face. Facial features still rock hard at a tender age? Surprise, surprise. He wondered if the girl he was with was a relative. Old girlfriend? Nah. He’d most likely scare em’ away.
With an amused shake of his head, the blonde continued to explore the rest of the expansive room. Bed was made of the finest redwood. Sheets were a crisp and ironed in a simple white and cream. On the other side of the room was a shelf full of books. Not even a manga or a magazine in sight. He glanced back down in front of him to see the built in lamp night stand had literally nothing on top. Probably just needed his phone to wake him up because there wasn’t even an alarm clock. Curiosity prodded him even further as if the gravitational pull of his hand tugged him along. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled open the drawer, the contents having Jaejoong paling. Various bottles of different vitamins, essentials of a first aid kit, heating/cooling pads for injuries, nail clipper, nose hair trimmer…what the hell… He’d expected condoms and lube or…anything that didn’t give him the mental imagery of an old man with arthritis.
Was the man even capable of being intimate with anyone? He couldn’t imagine a woman not being intimidated from the infamous fuck-off vibes. Then again, the man was a guy. Men would give into anything to get laid. Change their façade for a night of a good fuck. Jaejoong cringed. He didn’t know why the thought of sex disturbed him so much. This would be odd to a lot of people because he was a guy. Gay but still a guy, and yes, he naturally only found men attractive, and eye candy was great, but it always ended there. He’d never gone further than a hug and a kiss on the cheek (even cheek kisses was pushing it). He was obsessive with certain things (most specifically sanitation). He also never fancied the idea of being touched either. Even thinking about germs made his stomach turn ten times over. Kissing was unsanitary. With that tongue stuff people did. Ergh…
Random thought. What would Yunho look like in the throes of pleasure? No. New thought. New thought!
He shouldn’t be thinking about crap like that. It’s wrong. And weird. And wrong. Then why was the sudden image of the intimidating man touching him setting his skin on fire? He didn’t even like being touched! Jaejoong shook his head and shoved the drawer shut. No! He wasn’t supposed to be attracted to men that would likely succeed in physically snapping him in half! Knowing said intimidating man, he wouldn’t second guess it!
His feet carried him toward the bathroom (which was not surprising anymore) un-model like with practically scarce items. Like a hotel room. What the heck did Yunho use to protect his skin from sun damages? Products that he modeled from his gigs? Granted not all models use the products that they endorse but he knew for a fact that models took skincare tremendously seriously. Skincare oaths are never broken. It’s practically embedded into the contracts. He didn’t see any additional face products that a model would normally use. Not even sunscreen. By Gods, he really did want to shrivel into a raisin. He peeked into the shower stall to see a bar of soap, a bottle of conditioner, and a bottle of shampoo. He could disregard the absence of a loofa and body wash since Yunho was clearly not gay but wow… he stared at the contents on top of the bathroom counter. It was like his dressing table - scattered in an organized fashion of the barest of essentials.
He wasn’t like any model he’s ever met. Everything he was slowly learning about this guy was opening a door of surprises after the next. Jaejoong felt like he’d stepped into the threshold of another world. Even the manliest of models had the necessities of skincare at most. Surroundings were foreign to him, a masculine feel of simplistic décor. This whole place was nothing like home. So what was it about Yunho’s room that made him feel oddly…comfortable?
It must be the side effects of homesickness. Yeah. That’s it.
“I figured by yesterday you’d have started job hunting already, but it seems you aren’t even capable of that,” Yunho makes the unnecessary remark as Jaejoong continues to glare daggers at his back in utter hate. Dick was too nice of a word for this guy right now. He didn’t even want to wonder what the hell was up with him.
Alright so it’d been a few…two weeks since he’d moved in and he hadn’t gone through any interviews. He had looked through the newspapers though. Marked the ones he was interested in and paper clipped the preferable jobs in order of his liking. Everything was pretty much in order and ready to go. Save for the fact of actually calling them and setting an actual interview date. He was too busy recovering from his flat mate’s dark and icy wrath.
So he was a tad picky in the things he ate. He was a model. They were supposed to watch what they ate. If body imagery didn’t matter then being a model was moot point. His body was his temple. Yunho didn’t exactly eat that unhealthily but there was a definite limit to the intake of carbs and gluten! Jaejoong cringed at the memory of Yunho throwing his hands into the air and leaving the fried fishes for Jaejoong to cook. Was asking for a steamed fish replacement that much of a burden? Of course the older man had arrived with a fit of silent but deadly rage when he came back to burnt coal instead of fish.
And yes, so he’d done a little violating of Yunho’s personal man space with a smidgen of décor of his own. One can only tolerate the sight of bland white walls for so long. The empty closet space was going to be a waste if he hadn’t filled it so Jaejoong didn’t feel a wit guilty about that. And a little potpourri in the bathroom could hardly kill anyone. The way Yunho had gone off on him; he might as well have let his dog loose to be lost and never found again.
Oh no, don’t think about that, Jaejoong. He’d maul you to your death for sure.
“I had my potential list of candidates listed out already!” Even though he knew he was in the wrong, the shorter man huffed with protest. “You saw them on the kitchen counter. I was pretty much set!”
“How do you expect them to know of your intentions of pursuing a position if you aren’t even going to give them a call? They aren’t going to wait on your hand and foot just because you wish it of them.” Jaejoong cringed at the hint of restrained force of Yunho’s tone as if he’d spat out those words. He was a man of few words. And he knew when Yunho spoke this much, he was irritated, mad, or hungry. He was such a man bitch when he was hungry. The man was usually calm (Especially when he was angry. But that kind of calm was a scary calm. A calm that wasn’t calm. A calm that did it’s hardest to restrain the chains holding black death back from snagging you with snapping jaws).
“Yes.” The blonde grudgingly relented for a second, “I know I should have called, but -”
“Yes, you should have.” Yunho dismissively cut off any excuses he may’ve had with much dryness in his tone in which the younger man didn’t miss as plain sarcasm with an addition of end of discussion to top it off. The man had a habit of cutting their conversation short with either dismissive remarks or walking away while Jaejoong was in mid speech. He’d never really stood up for himself completely in front of him because he never really had a chance!
“Why aren’t we taking your car? We should at least be taking the subway or something.” Though he didn’t travel by subway often, at this moment, he would much prefer that than walking all day. Shopping didn’t count because who didn’t like walking for the sake of shopping? Were they really going to walk around all day job hunting?
“Because traveling on foot is another way to fix your impairment of direction. And don’t talk as if we’ve been walking all this time. Taking the bus isn’t equivalent to walking,” Yunho responded without mirth as they continued to walk down the street towards the restaurant that was on the last on Jaejoong’s list. They’d been at it all morning, picking up applications, and while there were people who recognized them everywhere they went, the owners of the store apparently didn’t give a shit about who he was. Again - most likely his father’s plan. He figured that much because the list and newspapers of jobs he marked down were replaced by a list of jobs Yunho had listed out for him to apply for.
He decided not to respond to the irritating man and continued to walk behind him towards their next destination which was a couple of blocks down. He frowned at the idea of working in a restaurant. He wasn’t made to work as a bus boy. A man like him wasn’t made for waiting tables. It wasn’t that he looked down at the job. He was just a klutz in general and if Yunho couldn’t trust him to watch fried fish sitting in a pan, how was the restaurant employees going to handle him when he shattered glasses and bathed customers in their orders?
Jaejoong was lost in his own thoughts as they passed by a near Mc Donald’s. A homeless man in a wheelchair dragged him out of his thoughts as he nearly ran into the man’s legs with his wheelchair.
“Sir!” The blonde yelped in panic and instinctively grabbed Yunho by the arms and dragged the taller man away with him.
“Yah! What the hell are you doing?!” Jaejoong felt the muscles in Yunho’s arm twitch, most likely in discomfort, but he couldn’t help it. He was harassed and nearly mugged to death by a homeless man the last time he was downtown participating in one of his father’s charity drives. Past experiences started to grab his shoulders and shake him like the man had done to him those years ago. It only occurred to him that the grabbing was in fact very real and that the man was grabbing his forearms in a vice grip.
“No…No! Don’t touch me!” He stressed in a wince and fiercely ripped his grip from the man’s prying grasp. He backed away towards the oncoming traffic of the street but was in no conscience to notice. It was when Yunho grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the street that he’d noticed he was still shaking and shifting away from the scruffy looking man. While giving the man a threatening glare, he subconsciously kept scrubbing at his arms in fierce motions. He tried his hardest to give off defensive vibes, hoping the man would get the hint and leave.
“Please, would you spare some change? I’m so very hungry.” The man muttered, staring pleadingly into Yunho’s face and apparently seemed to get the hint that the blonde wanted nothing to do with him.
“Yunho, let’s go.” Jaejoong tugged at the sleeve of the taller man’s sweater and pulled at him in hard tugs to get him to pull away. Yunho continued to stand his ground. No matter how hard he tried to push and pull, Yunho wouldn’t budge an inch. His heart rate accelerated and he kept giving the homeless man quick glances as if the man in the wheelchair would attack at any moment. Apparently sending him threatening looks didn’t help, because he was now apparently relying on Yunho for help. No surprise there. Seeing as how Yunho didn’t exactly object or give him a response it was no wonder he was still sitting there waiting for an answer.
Seeing a muscle tick in the Yunho’s jaw, his eyes widened in disbelief and horror when he dug into his jeans and pulled out his wallet to give the homeless man several bills. The man seemed to wear the same expression as him as he accepted the money graciously and Jaejoong nearly fell to his knees as Yunho let this man hug him at the waist and kiss his hand before rolling away towards the Mc Donald’s restaurant.
“What…what were you thinking?” He turned towards Yunho and pushed the tall man by the shoulders. It would make him feel slightly better if the man even took a freaking step back. “He could’ve hurt you!”
He knew better than to start any argument with the guy but it made him so angry that this man didn’t do jack shit helping him out with the situation back there. Jaejoong clearly showed signs of distress and panic and Yunho didn’t do anything, knowing he caught onto the signs Jaejoong was so obviously showing, and the man did nothing.
“What was he going to do, Jaejoong? Get out of his wheelchair and stab me?” Again with the sarcasm and Jaejoong had had enough.
“Don’t joke about that! What if he wasn’t a handicap? He could’ve hurt you! You can’t trust those people!” He yelled, knowing he caught the attention of by passers but casted the thought aside.
“Those people? Do you hear yourself?” Yunho’s eyebrows furrowed together in agitation as he stared Jaejoong down. “Look at you - looking down at even the harmless of people who are so blatantly desperate for help that they’re actually resorting to begging.”
“It’s not like that. It’s not what it looks like-”
“It’s exactly what it looked like.” There it was again. The end of discussion tone and for once, out of frustration and anger, Jaejoong wanted to slug him when auburn haired man turned around and continued to walk forward as if he was nothing but a piece of shit on the street. And yes, to by passers he probably did look like shit to people by yelling and scrubbing himself clean from a homeless man’s touches.
“Hey! You aren’t doing that to me again!” Yelling at Yunho’s back never worked or even gained a twitch of a reaction from the man, so Jaejoong ran after him. He gripped at Yunho’s arm and pulled him back, shocked at the fact that he actually succeeded and Yunho halted to a stop. “I know what that looked like, but don’t go assuming things, because I’m not that kind of person.”
“You aren’t? Then what kind of person are you?”
The question was exactly what Jaejoong wanted to answer but the damn lump in his throat refused to go away. How was he going to explain his past to Yunho when the man was staring him down with a judgmental look on his face? Would he even understand? He highly doubted it. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever gave him the time of day to truly express himself or let him explain anything (whatever the matter may be). It was always about sitting there and looking pretty while everyone planned out your life for you and made your decisions for you. He always felt trapped throughout his life and that didn’t change.
The idea of Yunho disapproving him and misunderstanding every one of his actions had his chest tightening and he wanted the ground to swallow him whole and keep him there. He always knew Yunho probably hating him and he realized knowing and hearing it voiced out was a huge difference in comparison to his sensitivity. As tough and carefree as Jaejoong was on the outside, he really was the opposite. Yunho was putting him on the spot and he was starting to panic.
“It’s c-complicated -” He stuttered.
“I’m sure it is. It always is when it comes to you.” Yunho’s voice was low and gravelly as he continued giving him the icy stare, and Jaejoong was sure he wanted to die. “You make everything complicated when it doesn’t need to be. When it isn’t. You’re so incredibly sheltered which explains why you’re so shallow minded, ignorant, and incapable of looking after yourself. You may have your hopeless moments at times but I hadn’t ever expected a lack of humanity from you of all people.”
“I think of no such thing!” Jaejoong protested, shaking his head bitterly, feeling his chest tightening even further as he struggled to appear that Yunho hadn’t fazed him one bit. If only the damned asthma wasn’t interfering with his façade right now, he’d be doing a better job. Every breath was a struggle but he couldn’t stand the idea of letting Yunho see his weakness. It was already bad enough that he thought of him as one already. “The homeless - he - I -”
“You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You were given a privileged life and you still whine about the unfortunate circumstances of how terrible your life is. You’ve been given anything money could buy and yet you still have the audacity to turn away a man in need. You’re so spoiled….” Yunho spoke as if it was discomforting for him to say it. Exactly as those words were like a knife in Jaejoong’s gut right now.
“I’m not…” Jaejoong protested, trying to sound defensive, but cringed when his protest had come out as a quiet whine. Trying to swallow, he barely got another word out before Yunho interrupted him once more.
“You act as if I should feel sorry for you. As if you feel sorry for yourself. And frankly, I’m getting rather sick of it.” The tone in his voice was crisp and dismissive once again. Jaejoong didn’t realize he was still clinging onto Yunho’s arm until the taller man slid his arm up and away, walking away from Jaejoong the same way he’d walked away from the homeless man earlier before. Not once in Kim Jaejoong’s life had anyone ignored his needs - up until now. Yunho of all people, the one he had no choice but to rely on while his family had cut ties with him (most specifically his father), had officially deemed him utterly useless saw him as an asshole that wasn’t capable of compassion. Strangely enough it didn’t bug him if anyone else had misunderstood him because he always had the mentality that as long as he understood himself, and knew what was real, nothing else mattered. But knowing that Yunho had misunderstood him and hated him for it had him desperately reaching out and trying to explain. That is, if he could.
Jaejoong wheezed for breath and cursed his disease as his throat started closing up by the second. Reaching into his bag and he fumbled furiously for his inhaler and paled in horror that he’ d idiotically forgotten it back at the flat on the kitchen counter. Yunho had lectured him earlier this morning about not screwing around with the laundry machine as he still didn’t know how to use it. Jaejoong dreaded mopping the suds off the floor that had flowed out of the overflowing laundry machine. Damn it, he couldn’t do anything right and he feared Yunho was right for the most part.
Knowing it was hopeless calling out to the man’s now further retreating back, he felt his knees weakening as his kneecap hit the floor in an aching thud. Jaejoong had his hands thrown out in front of him to maintain his balance and no matter how hard he tried to call out to Yunho, the man didn’t seem to pay him no heed, probably disregarded his whining for the usual. Every breath he took was a pain, and his vision was starting to swim, knowing it wasn’t only from tears. He was going to pass out again. His heart accelerated double time as he caught a glimpse of the homeless man from earlier, yelling and rolling towards him with his bag of food in his lap.
No…no…no! Stay away from me! Stay…stay away…! Jaejoong wanted to scream and kick for him to go away. The man was probably going to try and give him payback from his cruelty from earlier. He shook his head repetitively as the man rolled on closer by the second. It was like the last time. Except this time he lacked his inhaler and he was an easy target with no one to come to his aid.
At this point he was already wishing for darkness to take him, and as if God had answered his silent prayer, he was swallowed into the shroud of black.
A/N: FINALLY! I always seem to start these Author’s Notes with this nowadays. -_- Apparently updating is like having my limbs severed and diced because…well when was it this hard to update?! ;( I had the beginning of this chapter written out months ago. I had the ideas plotted out and everything too! It’s just the actual work of getting to it. I feel like Jaejoong with his job hunting. @_@ Guess I need to learn a thing or two about getting off my ass and getting shit done! Anyway, please grace me with your pleasant comments? Oh and Siwon isn't in this chapter but you can bet your ass he'll be in the next to amuse you all. :3 Anywaay...it's 2 in the AM right now. I'm so sleepy. TT~TT
PS: I know it's been awhile since I've been around LJ but I hate these new upgrades. :( Especially with posting. So ugly...
Chapter(s): 3/?
Author: sentimentalenvy
Genre: angst, comedy, teeth rotting fluff, romance
Rating: PG-13 - R
Warning(s): language, crude humor, sexual implications/content
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yunho/Yoochun (I love bromance!2U so brace yourself)
Disclaimer: I do not own the known characters in this story.
Synopsis: Being the son and future heir to the most high in fashion company in the industry is a solve-any-problem-with-the-swipe-of-your-credit card easy. Kim Jaejoong practically breathes in the luxurious ‘top of the line’ labels have to offer. He shamelessly lives off of the income of his parents and the young twenty-one year old heir has no need for worries over the economy or anything considered complicated for that matter. That is until his father, the president of the CEO, deems him utterly useless and disowns him which results in leaving the heir falling helplessly into the hands of Jung Yunho, their company’s new contract model.
A/N: I’ve decided to up the rating a little because I’ve realized there’s no way this fic could remain at PG-13 friendly. PG-13 sexual tension is impossible for me to write. They need to do the dirty deed at some point and I’m afraid I may go crazy if they don’t. :’P
“The food’s cold.”
The banging and clattering of the movers moving Jaejoong’s belongings into the flat didn’t come close to breaking the ice that settled upon the two grown men sitting on the bar chairs. The tension was so thick it had the potential to simmer the now room temperature breakfast sitting in between them. Jaejoong fidgeted before the intimidating looking man, poking at the piece of fish he’d timidly put on top his hill of rice.
Why was the guy so grumpy? If anyone was privileged to a foul mood it should be Jaejoong! So much for stealing a mood that was rightfully his. So his sense of direction was probably close to impairment - alright, he was entirely hopeless and north could be south and east may as well be west. The only way he’d ever know is if he read from a map. That is - if he could ever figure out how to read one. Due to unfortunate events, he’d forgotten to charge his new iPhone overnight so he couldn’t use his GPS, but that was exactly the point. He was the one having a bad day!
Given the fact that he’d already had his usual blueberry muffin and Tall Espresso Cappuccino from Starbucks earlier in the morning, he wasn’t feeling hungry at all. In fact, he was all set for unpacking before afternoon rolled around. Wasn’t it proper conduct for Yunho to be helping him unload his stuff right now? Jaejoong mentally sighed. Since Yunho didn’t respond to him, he continued watching the bigger man shovel food into his mouth in big heaps. Someone hand this man a bib. He was a barbarian.
If anyone were to tell him this guy was a model, well Jaejoong wouldn’t necessarily dismiss the thought completely. He’d practically grown up within the agency and he’d seen many potential and veteran models in his life. Yunho did have the height and body for it; however, there was just that something that was a little different about his face. Yunho would be quite attractive if certain angles were worked out. Of course, there were real models that didn’t need to dwell into angle techniques. Jaejoong wasn’t on top of the 411 in regards to KJJ’s selection of models. He’d spotted out several during his rounds of photo shoots but he’d never really paid much attention to anyone he wasn’t working with. He knew for a fact their agency’s models were the best of the best. Retouching to the point of plastic surgery wasn’t worth the effort. It was simple. If you weren’t up to KJJ standards, you weren’t booked at all.
Jung Yunho wasn’t considered horridly unattractive, though. Jaejoong mused to himself, tilting his head slightly, and continued to watch the man nudge a grain of rice back into his mouth with his chopsticks. Alright, so maybe he should drop by at a photoshoot sometime when the taller man wasn’t stuffing his face like a half starved Amazonian man.
“Is it alright if I start unpacking now?” Jaejoong asks hesitantly, eyebrow threatening to twitch off his face if this man continued to ignore him.
“As long as it doesn’t involve interfering with my breakfast, I don’t see why not,” Yunho mumbles around his chopstick, eyes already sliding towards the kimchi among the other cluttered side dishes. It seemed as if nothing changed as Yunho continued to eat while the blonde stared at him in silence. Jaejoong sighed.
“So would you mind helping me out a little?” Every hair on the back of Jaejoong’s neck stood when Yunho swallowed and stared at him rather unsubtle like. Jaejoong made sure to keep his cringe inward because wow. If stares could kill. Well, his stare was pretty much saying Helping you would count as an interruption towards my breakfast, so yes, I do mind. Chilling.
What was it about his personality that made people talk to him like that? Did Appa really have to go through such lengths to have a Grouchy McGroucherson as his flat mate? Yeah, Jaejoong already knew Jung Yunho was a model at their agency even though his father didn’t know a thing about it. Guess one of the advantages of being a Mama’s jewel did come in handy sometimes. If only she held enough authority to prevent him from participating in a suicide mission. There was no way he’d be able to survive alone, and even Umma can only do so much since his actions were apparently heavily monitored.
“A simple yes or no would’ve sufficed.” Jaejoong pouts moodily as he hops off the bar stool, leaving his breakfast untouched, and immediately headed for one of the movers moving his 50 inch flat screen.
“Hey be careful! You’re supposed to support the base with one hand and the corner with the other. It’s common knowledge,” He said, ushering the mover by holding the sides the way he wanted them handled. The tone of his voice was gentle, but the context was often perceived as rude. Jaejoong had been used to the reactions he often gets. He still doesn’t understand why he gets them, but since old habits were hard to break, he never bothered changing them. It wasn’t as if he had a habitual intent on deliberately setting out to hurt people.
“Of course.” The mover responded, most likely momentarily shocked with Jaejoong’s bluntness.
“You’d think movers like yourselves would already have care with fragile items huh? Haha!” Jaejoong joked, not sensing enthusiasm from the lanky man before him.
“I’ll have you know I’ve moved plenty -!” The mover started to protest, but was brushed roughly by a passing co-worker, shaking his head at him as if to tell him it’d be a wise decision not to start anything. The pretty man nearly yelped in panic as he saw his baby jostled in the arms of the shaken mover.
“I apologize, Sir. I’ll handle the television with more care.”
“As well as my other belongings?” He prodded further, needing to ask because one couldn’t trust people by their word nowadays. If it was possible to move these things himself, he would, but even he knew it would be a lot more logical to rely on the help. Like his father had always said - Time is money. The mover’s jaw clenched once and he nodded stiffly.
“Yes. Sir,” the man let out a stuttered breath.
“Thank you - and I saw that.” Jaejoong huffs as he turns around to glance at the passing mover who stopped in his tracks with a dressing table with a mirror attached. “Had you shoved him any harder he could’ve dropped it! And you may have dropped my dressing table during the process. Please handle my things with care because I’m starting to wonder if I can trust you boys.” Seemingly sensing Yunho’s piercing eyes on him, he quickly shuffled away to make sure the rest of his things didn’t end up in a tatters and scratches.
It seemed like the advice on handling things with care fell on deaf ears. Some still handled his things with such brusque manners, setting things down so harshly that Jaejoong had to openly wince at the sound and sighting of scraping and banging of his furniture. It was kind of surprising to see that they hadn’t moved his things into place for him. Well, no matter. Jaejoong was glad for it and he knew he wouldn’t have been satisfied with how they’d been arranged, anyway. Hell, he disapproved from the way they tossed his things instead of setting them down properly like a real professional would have done. Was this punishment flung in as a bonus from Appa? They probably assumed he hadn’t noticed, but the movers snuck him weird looks as they finished, and left after a while of blatant loitering around as if they were waiting for something. Was he missing anything?
Yunho on the other hand was in the middle of washing dishes. He was surprised to see the taller man shutting off the tap and drying his hands quickly with a dish towel before heading out the door to chase them down. Less than five minutes later of chuckles and snickering in the hallway, he came back, shut the door, and continued into the kitchen to wash up. Huh. Well what was that about?
It seemed expectant looks of explanations didn’t work around this man. Yunho was starting to make a habit of ignoring his presence all together. Well there was one extra arrogant man to deal with. How was he supposed to make this experience tolerable now?
Nope. No use in dwelling on the little things. He had to work on fixing up the flat to his liking before job hunting. There was no way he’d get job hunting and flat flourishing finished in half a day. First thing was first - wardrobe. The closet space in his room must’ve been a joke. Weren’t walk in closets supposed to be bigger? He had a whole wing on the other side of the manor that was dedicated to his wardrobe. He knew he shouldn’t be expecting a wing in a bachelor pad but he hadn’t expected such limited space. What was going to happen with the rest of his clothes? Jaejoong groaned inwardly, already having had a bad feeling the moment he stepped foot out of the car. Small flats weren’t entitled to bigger walk-in closets? It seems time is not to be wasted.
As soon as Yunho entered the Eat Me Café, he was nearly pulled aside by none other than Jung Jessica, one of his cousins who served as a part-time waitress. The café was absurdly famous for their scrumptious pastries and amazing caffeinated beverages but it was one of those places where the food was amazing and the services were not. And by not he meant inappropriate. Unfortunately this was the only place that could ever fully satisfy his fix for orgasmic pastries but half the time he never left the café without having his poor ass grabbed or having to deal with an annoying pestering cousin for the latest gossip.
“Do you normally treat your customers with such grace?” He asked, putting much emphasis in heavy sarcasm. It never works but old habits were a bitch. Jessica narrowed her eyes and gave him a pincher grasp to the arm.
“Don’t be a dick.”
The tall man looked away as if vulture claws hadn’t hurt him one bit and shoved big hands into his pockets in disregard. He proceeded to look up into the colorful list of To-go menus written across the boards in various colors of chalk above Jessica’s head. Pretending to be intrigued in something else never really worked since women never gave a shit if their subject of attention was taken with interest or not. And Jessica was no different from the lot.
“So I hear Kim Jaejoong lives with you now.” As expected, Jessica cut to the chase, seemingly ignoring new customers that had walked in right after him.
“Does the description of a part-time waitress include pecking innocent customers to their death or ignoring them on selective intervals on a daily basis?” Yunho asked with blasé eyes still glued to the black board. Hard to say. A part of him would feel guilty if she’d gotten written up and another side of him wanted to high tail it hard with his stuffed cheese croissants. Well logically she’d get herself into trouble if he continued to mind his own business while she verbally harassed him out in open public. Jessica was good at that. She lacked common sense of anything in relation to keeping shit on the down low. In other words, discreet was nonexistent in her persona. And she talked a lot.
“No one gives a shit about part-timers. I won’t get in trouble and don’t pretend like you care,” Jessica growled. “And don’t change the subject. So is it true? Kim Jaejoong is living with you?” Yunho nearly felt that glint of jealousy in her eyes. As if she wanted to have liked to shank him on point.
“Where’d you hear about that?” He grinned impishly, wanting to burst her bubble, but was also still nonetheless curious. These broads were gossip mongrels of a whole ‘nother species. What the hell do women ever do with their time?
“It’s plastered all over Facebook.”
Ah. That.
To hell with social media! Those things were useless! Facebook, Titter…Twitter? Whatever the kids were up to these days. Blogging about what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yunho vaguely remembered having dinner with Changmin the other day. Watching the maknae taking a picture of his empty plate and blogging about how he ate it all made Yunho want to lift the man over his head and throw him through the nearest window.
He’d bet his left nut Jessica was the one behind all the plastering. She most likely just wanted the verbal confirmation.
Stupid social networking. If they were living back in his hometown he’d be going to hell. Word spread in a small town. And fast. The fact that they were in the big city scared the shit out of him because if gossip spread as lethally quick in a big city as a small town, he’d have to be on his guard.
“And people talk.” She continued on, as if those few words had explained all - which it had. “Why is it that you’re lavishing in a lifestyle as a KJJ model, living with a sexy, beautiful man, and making bank while I go to school and wither away in a part time job at Crap on Me Café?”
“’Cause you’re a woman.” A sharp fist hammered into Yunho’s stomach - hard - hinting to him that this said woman refused to take his sexist comment with grace. Tiny woman could pack a punch. Holy shit. Don’t cringe. Do. Not. Cringe.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Jaejoong isn’t that great of a flat mate. Take my word for it.” Yunho wore a tight smile at the thought. Was it wise for him to leave Jaejoong alone for a few hours? He’d doubt it, but he had no choice but to assume he’d be alright. If he stayed another minute with the younger man’s blunt ramblings, fluffy décor, and endless noise of clumsy movement, he’d drive his head through the wall. If there was anything he hated, it was noise. He abhorred noise of any sort. Quiet me time wasn’t welcomed, it was mandatory. Yoochun and Yunho cherished silence and were compatible as flat mates. Under no circumstances were Jaejoong and him ever on the same level.
“None of that matters if he’s sexy.”
“I’ll take the 12 set croissants. Half with green spinach and the other half with crab filling - without the PMS - to go.” Yunho squinted at the board, still pretending to read, but was shocked to his death with a fake maneuver of Jessica’s knee to the groin. She probably spared him because Eat Me Café’s manager was heading towards them right now. Oh no. He preferred having Jessica’s knees to his balls. This woman was an octopus.
“I’ll be back, asshole. We’re not done here.”
Yunho was sure they weren’t. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around for another round of torture. Not even the creamiest pastries could keep him here any longer than he had to. And from the evil look on his cousin’s face, it looked like she was going to take the sweetest long asses of time until she returned with his order.
“Yunhoo~ Daaarling!” The middle aged woman smiled, face infested with Botox squealed, intimidating eyebrows moving up and down as she shuffled over towards him in quick intervals. Yunho’s ass clenched internally at the sight of grasping fingers.
Nope. Definitely not.
Every day chores didn’t exactly fit his job description. Nope, no sir. Scrolling through his iPhone contacts, Jaejoong’s owlish eyes squinted and his eyebrows knitted together in disappointment when he found that none - not any - of his housekeepers answered the home phone. Then it occurred to him that his father must have told them not to answer the phone if he called. The shadiness of it all! Did Appa honestly expect him to seriously live on his own?! How long would it take?!
No. The bigger question was how long his supply of clothes was going to last him. He shuddered at the memory of fiddling with various knobs in a random fashion. The loud rumbling of the machine and rolling of the dryer going on at the same time! It’d taken him nearly 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it off. Normally the sensible thing to do was to buy new clothes. But since Appa closed off his source for money, that idea obviously came to a dead end.
On the slight bright side to this torturing situation, the flat was starting to look livelier from its previous dull state. He glanced around the kitchen with a satisfied nod before bending down to push a box of the previous silverware and items in a box towards the corner of the connected living room. He’d leave these for Yunho to sort out on his own later. He waltzed over towards the next room to freshen the rest of the place up. Of course giving Yunho the respect of his side of the flat, Jaejoong didn’t alter much. He figured if he didn’t see it, then he wouldn’t have to worry about it. Oh, right. And taking up the rest of the space of Yunho’s walk in closet space with his own clothes may have been a slight alteration. He was quite certain the man wouldn’t complain. He didn’t seem like the type to care for much of anything, anyway. Did the man care for anything? It was hard to tell. He never knew how to act around quiet and stoic people.
Yunho held the kind of eerie vibes that pretty much gave you two options to either fuck off or die. Jaejoong let out a distressed sigh in despair. He didn’t exactly have a choice to fuck off and he was afraid of death. So no resolve there.
Speaking of Yunho being not the type to care about much, Jaejoong realized he reminded him of the kind of person who was content with the minimal. He’d noticed that the man’s cell phone wasn’t up to date. He was behind on his décor - not counting the entertainment system of course. Nobody in Korea would get away with not keeping up with technology such as that. And of course, fashion wise, it was mandatory for Yunho to keep up with the fashion trends. Models did have a reputation to uphold after all.
What really puzzled him was that Yunho really didn’t have that many clothes. At most he only used half of his closet space along with what looked like a personal choice of clothing in the far end of his closet. Most of his clothing held t-shirts, jeans, cargo shorts, tennis shoes, and very little of the formal. There were expensive shoes of the casual styles but not nearly as much as there were tennis shoes. And lots of them. Who did he think he was? Forrest Gump?
Jaejoong squatted down and stared at one of a pair of Nikes and stared at the worn edges in curious wonder. He didn’t make a habit of staring at people shoes but curiosity might as well kill the cat. What did this man need with a bunch of tennis shoes for? Models didn’t maintain a habit of keeping old shoes. His eyes squinted against the bright lights decorating the ceiling as he finished hanging the last of his clothes into the other half of Yunho’s closet.
As Jaejoong shut the lights off and closed the closet doors, he stared around the large room and connecting bathroom. The décor could use a whole lot of redecorating and the smell of laundered clothes overpowered the smell of cologne. Which was…kind of nice. Jaejoong peeked over to where Yunho’s table stood by the door. Making a beeline towards the wide square mirror, he stared down at the scattered products. They weren’t in an organized fashion of any sort. They were scattered enough to look cluttered, but not so spread out to look messy. Organized mess, much? A pale hand reached out for the lone bottle of cologne sitting next to a pair of thick rimmed glasses and a case for his contacts. The man only had one bottle of cologne? Eyes traveled onward as he set the bottle down and continued to proceed around the bedroom and walls in wonder.
Plain white walls couldn’t get any whiter. There weren’t any paintings of any sort. No pictures on the walls. He turned around, hand barely knocking down a lone photo on the table. Jaejoong momentarily flailed to keep the framed portrait upright. It was a picture of Yunho and a girl. The boy looked to be in high school. The girl on the other hand, he guessed, was in middle school at the time. He tried to fight the little smile itching on his face at the sight of the youth in Yunho’s adolescent face. Facial features still rock hard at a tender age? Surprise, surprise. He wondered if the girl he was with was a relative. Old girlfriend? Nah. He’d most likely scare em’ away.
With an amused shake of his head, the blonde continued to explore the rest of the expansive room. Bed was made of the finest redwood. Sheets were a crisp and ironed in a simple white and cream. On the other side of the room was a shelf full of books. Not even a manga or a magazine in sight. He glanced back down in front of him to see the built in lamp night stand had literally nothing on top. Probably just needed his phone to wake him up because there wasn’t even an alarm clock. Curiosity prodded him even further as if the gravitational pull of his hand tugged him along. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled open the drawer, the contents having Jaejoong paling. Various bottles of different vitamins, essentials of a first aid kit, heating/cooling pads for injuries, nail clipper, nose hair trimmer…what the hell… He’d expected condoms and lube or…anything that didn’t give him the mental imagery of an old man with arthritis.
Was the man even capable of being intimate with anyone? He couldn’t imagine a woman not being intimidated from the infamous fuck-off vibes. Then again, the man was a guy. Men would give into anything to get laid. Change their façade for a night of a good fuck. Jaejoong cringed. He didn’t know why the thought of sex disturbed him so much. This would be odd to a lot of people because he was a guy. Gay but still a guy, and yes, he naturally only found men attractive, and eye candy was great, but it always ended there. He’d never gone further than a hug and a kiss on the cheek (even cheek kisses was pushing it). He was obsessive with certain things (most specifically sanitation). He also never fancied the idea of being touched either. Even thinking about germs made his stomach turn ten times over. Kissing was unsanitary. With that tongue stuff people did. Ergh…
Random thought. What would Yunho look like in the throes of pleasure? No. New thought. New thought!
He shouldn’t be thinking about crap like that. It’s wrong. And weird. And wrong. Then why was the sudden image of the intimidating man touching him setting his skin on fire? He didn’t even like being touched! Jaejoong shook his head and shoved the drawer shut. No! He wasn’t supposed to be attracted to men that would likely succeed in physically snapping him in half! Knowing said intimidating man, he wouldn’t second guess it!
His feet carried him toward the bathroom (which was not surprising anymore) un-model like with practically scarce items. Like a hotel room. What the heck did Yunho use to protect his skin from sun damages? Products that he modeled from his gigs? Granted not all models use the products that they endorse but he knew for a fact that models took skincare tremendously seriously. Skincare oaths are never broken. It’s practically embedded into the contracts. He didn’t see any additional face products that a model would normally use. Not even sunscreen. By Gods, he really did want to shrivel into a raisin. He peeked into the shower stall to see a bar of soap, a bottle of conditioner, and a bottle of shampoo. He could disregard the absence of a loofa and body wash since Yunho was clearly not gay but wow… he stared at the contents on top of the bathroom counter. It was like his dressing table - scattered in an organized fashion of the barest of essentials.
He wasn’t like any model he’s ever met. Everything he was slowly learning about this guy was opening a door of surprises after the next. Jaejoong felt like he’d stepped into the threshold of another world. Even the manliest of models had the necessities of skincare at most. Surroundings were foreign to him, a masculine feel of simplistic décor. This whole place was nothing like home. So what was it about Yunho’s room that made him feel oddly…comfortable?
It must be the side effects of homesickness. Yeah. That’s it.
“I figured by yesterday you’d have started job hunting already, but it seems you aren’t even capable of that,” Yunho makes the unnecessary remark as Jaejoong continues to glare daggers at his back in utter hate. Dick was too nice of a word for this guy right now. He didn’t even want to wonder what the hell was up with him.
Alright so it’d been a few…two weeks since he’d moved in and he hadn’t gone through any interviews. He had looked through the newspapers though. Marked the ones he was interested in and paper clipped the preferable jobs in order of his liking. Everything was pretty much in order and ready to go. Save for the fact of actually calling them and setting an actual interview date. He was too busy recovering from his flat mate’s dark and icy wrath.
So he was a tad picky in the things he ate. He was a model. They were supposed to watch what they ate. If body imagery didn’t matter then being a model was moot point. His body was his temple. Yunho didn’t exactly eat that unhealthily but there was a definite limit to the intake of carbs and gluten! Jaejoong cringed at the memory of Yunho throwing his hands into the air and leaving the fried fishes for Jaejoong to cook. Was asking for a steamed fish replacement that much of a burden? Of course the older man had arrived with a fit of silent but deadly rage when he came back to burnt coal instead of fish.
And yes, so he’d done a little violating of Yunho’s personal man space with a smidgen of décor of his own. One can only tolerate the sight of bland white walls for so long. The empty closet space was going to be a waste if he hadn’t filled it so Jaejoong didn’t feel a wit guilty about that. And a little potpourri in the bathroom could hardly kill anyone. The way Yunho had gone off on him; he might as well have let his dog loose to be lost and never found again.
Oh no, don’t think about that, Jaejoong. He’d maul you to your death for sure.
“I had my potential list of candidates listed out already!” Even though he knew he was in the wrong, the shorter man huffed with protest. “You saw them on the kitchen counter. I was pretty much set!”
“How do you expect them to know of your intentions of pursuing a position if you aren’t even going to give them a call? They aren’t going to wait on your hand and foot just because you wish it of them.” Jaejoong cringed at the hint of restrained force of Yunho’s tone as if he’d spat out those words. He was a man of few words. And he knew when Yunho spoke this much, he was irritated, mad, or hungry. He was such a man bitch when he was hungry. The man was usually calm (Especially when he was angry. But that kind of calm was a scary calm. A calm that wasn’t calm. A calm that did it’s hardest to restrain the chains holding black death back from snagging you with snapping jaws).
“Yes.” The blonde grudgingly relented for a second, “I know I should have called, but -”
“Yes, you should have.” Yunho dismissively cut off any excuses he may’ve had with much dryness in his tone in which the younger man didn’t miss as plain sarcasm with an addition of end of discussion to top it off. The man had a habit of cutting their conversation short with either dismissive remarks or walking away while Jaejoong was in mid speech. He’d never really stood up for himself completely in front of him because he never really had a chance!
“Why aren’t we taking your car? We should at least be taking the subway or something.” Though he didn’t travel by subway often, at this moment, he would much prefer that than walking all day. Shopping didn’t count because who didn’t like walking for the sake of shopping? Were they really going to walk around all day job hunting?
“Because traveling on foot is another way to fix your impairment of direction. And don’t talk as if we’ve been walking all this time. Taking the bus isn’t equivalent to walking,” Yunho responded without mirth as they continued to walk down the street towards the restaurant that was on the last on Jaejoong’s list. They’d been at it all morning, picking up applications, and while there were people who recognized them everywhere they went, the owners of the store apparently didn’t give a shit about who he was. Again - most likely his father’s plan. He figured that much because the list and newspapers of jobs he marked down were replaced by a list of jobs Yunho had listed out for him to apply for.
He decided not to respond to the irritating man and continued to walk behind him towards their next destination which was a couple of blocks down. He frowned at the idea of working in a restaurant. He wasn’t made to work as a bus boy. A man like him wasn’t made for waiting tables. It wasn’t that he looked down at the job. He was just a klutz in general and if Yunho couldn’t trust him to watch fried fish sitting in a pan, how was the restaurant employees going to handle him when he shattered glasses and bathed customers in their orders?
Jaejoong was lost in his own thoughts as they passed by a near Mc Donald’s. A homeless man in a wheelchair dragged him out of his thoughts as he nearly ran into the man’s legs with his wheelchair.
“Sir!” The blonde yelped in panic and instinctively grabbed Yunho by the arms and dragged the taller man away with him.
“Yah! What the hell are you doing?!” Jaejoong felt the muscles in Yunho’s arm twitch, most likely in discomfort, but he couldn’t help it. He was harassed and nearly mugged to death by a homeless man the last time he was downtown participating in one of his father’s charity drives. Past experiences started to grab his shoulders and shake him like the man had done to him those years ago. It only occurred to him that the grabbing was in fact very real and that the man was grabbing his forearms in a vice grip.
“No…No! Don’t touch me!” He stressed in a wince and fiercely ripped his grip from the man’s prying grasp. He backed away towards the oncoming traffic of the street but was in no conscience to notice. It was when Yunho grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the street that he’d noticed he was still shaking and shifting away from the scruffy looking man. While giving the man a threatening glare, he subconsciously kept scrubbing at his arms in fierce motions. He tried his hardest to give off defensive vibes, hoping the man would get the hint and leave.
“Please, would you spare some change? I’m so very hungry.” The man muttered, staring pleadingly into Yunho’s face and apparently seemed to get the hint that the blonde wanted nothing to do with him.
“Yunho, let’s go.” Jaejoong tugged at the sleeve of the taller man’s sweater and pulled at him in hard tugs to get him to pull away. Yunho continued to stand his ground. No matter how hard he tried to push and pull, Yunho wouldn’t budge an inch. His heart rate accelerated and he kept giving the homeless man quick glances as if the man in the wheelchair would attack at any moment. Apparently sending him threatening looks didn’t help, because he was now apparently relying on Yunho for help. No surprise there. Seeing as how Yunho didn’t exactly object or give him a response it was no wonder he was still sitting there waiting for an answer.
Seeing a muscle tick in the Yunho’s jaw, his eyes widened in disbelief and horror when he dug into his jeans and pulled out his wallet to give the homeless man several bills. The man seemed to wear the same expression as him as he accepted the money graciously and Jaejoong nearly fell to his knees as Yunho let this man hug him at the waist and kiss his hand before rolling away towards the Mc Donald’s restaurant.
“What…what were you thinking?” He turned towards Yunho and pushed the tall man by the shoulders. It would make him feel slightly better if the man even took a freaking step back. “He could’ve hurt you!”
He knew better than to start any argument with the guy but it made him so angry that this man didn’t do jack shit helping him out with the situation back there. Jaejoong clearly showed signs of distress and panic and Yunho didn’t do anything, knowing he caught onto the signs Jaejoong was so obviously showing, and the man did nothing.
“What was he going to do, Jaejoong? Get out of his wheelchair and stab me?” Again with the sarcasm and Jaejoong had had enough.
“Don’t joke about that! What if he wasn’t a handicap? He could’ve hurt you! You can’t trust those people!” He yelled, knowing he caught the attention of by passers but casted the thought aside.
“Those people? Do you hear yourself?” Yunho’s eyebrows furrowed together in agitation as he stared Jaejoong down. “Look at you - looking down at even the harmless of people who are so blatantly desperate for help that they’re actually resorting to begging.”
“It’s not like that. It’s not what it looks like-”
“It’s exactly what it looked like.” There it was again. The end of discussion tone and for once, out of frustration and anger, Jaejoong wanted to slug him when auburn haired man turned around and continued to walk forward as if he was nothing but a piece of shit on the street. And yes, to by passers he probably did look like shit to people by yelling and scrubbing himself clean from a homeless man’s touches.
“Hey! You aren’t doing that to me again!” Yelling at Yunho’s back never worked or even gained a twitch of a reaction from the man, so Jaejoong ran after him. He gripped at Yunho’s arm and pulled him back, shocked at the fact that he actually succeeded and Yunho halted to a stop. “I know what that looked like, but don’t go assuming things, because I’m not that kind of person.”
“You aren’t? Then what kind of person are you?”
The question was exactly what Jaejoong wanted to answer but the damn lump in his throat refused to go away. How was he going to explain his past to Yunho when the man was staring him down with a judgmental look on his face? Would he even understand? He highly doubted it. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever gave him the time of day to truly express himself or let him explain anything (whatever the matter may be). It was always about sitting there and looking pretty while everyone planned out your life for you and made your decisions for you. He always felt trapped throughout his life and that didn’t change.
The idea of Yunho disapproving him and misunderstanding every one of his actions had his chest tightening and he wanted the ground to swallow him whole and keep him there. He always knew Yunho probably hating him and he realized knowing and hearing it voiced out was a huge difference in comparison to his sensitivity. As tough and carefree as Jaejoong was on the outside, he really was the opposite. Yunho was putting him on the spot and he was starting to panic.
“It’s c-complicated -” He stuttered.
“I’m sure it is. It always is when it comes to you.” Yunho’s voice was low and gravelly as he continued giving him the icy stare, and Jaejoong was sure he wanted to die. “You make everything complicated when it doesn’t need to be. When it isn’t. You’re so incredibly sheltered which explains why you’re so shallow minded, ignorant, and incapable of looking after yourself. You may have your hopeless moments at times but I hadn’t ever expected a lack of humanity from you of all people.”
“I think of no such thing!” Jaejoong protested, shaking his head bitterly, feeling his chest tightening even further as he struggled to appear that Yunho hadn’t fazed him one bit. If only the damned asthma wasn’t interfering with his façade right now, he’d be doing a better job. Every breath was a struggle but he couldn’t stand the idea of letting Yunho see his weakness. It was already bad enough that he thought of him as one already. “The homeless - he - I -”
“You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You were given a privileged life and you still whine about the unfortunate circumstances of how terrible your life is. You’ve been given anything money could buy and yet you still have the audacity to turn away a man in need. You’re so spoiled….” Yunho spoke as if it was discomforting for him to say it. Exactly as those words were like a knife in Jaejoong’s gut right now.
“I’m not…” Jaejoong protested, trying to sound defensive, but cringed when his protest had come out as a quiet whine. Trying to swallow, he barely got another word out before Yunho interrupted him once more.
“You act as if I should feel sorry for you. As if you feel sorry for yourself. And frankly, I’m getting rather sick of it.” The tone in his voice was crisp and dismissive once again. Jaejoong didn’t realize he was still clinging onto Yunho’s arm until the taller man slid his arm up and away, walking away from Jaejoong the same way he’d walked away from the homeless man earlier before. Not once in Kim Jaejoong’s life had anyone ignored his needs - up until now. Yunho of all people, the one he had no choice but to rely on while his family had cut ties with him (most specifically his father), had officially deemed him utterly useless saw him as an asshole that wasn’t capable of compassion. Strangely enough it didn’t bug him if anyone else had misunderstood him because he always had the mentality that as long as he understood himself, and knew what was real, nothing else mattered. But knowing that Yunho had misunderstood him and hated him for it had him desperately reaching out and trying to explain. That is, if he could.
Jaejoong wheezed for breath and cursed his disease as his throat started closing up by the second. Reaching into his bag and he fumbled furiously for his inhaler and paled in horror that he’ d idiotically forgotten it back at the flat on the kitchen counter. Yunho had lectured him earlier this morning about not screwing around with the laundry machine as he still didn’t know how to use it. Jaejoong dreaded mopping the suds off the floor that had flowed out of the overflowing laundry machine. Damn it, he couldn’t do anything right and he feared Yunho was right for the most part.
Knowing it was hopeless calling out to the man’s now further retreating back, he felt his knees weakening as his kneecap hit the floor in an aching thud. Jaejoong had his hands thrown out in front of him to maintain his balance and no matter how hard he tried to call out to Yunho, the man didn’t seem to pay him no heed, probably disregarded his whining for the usual. Every breath he took was a pain, and his vision was starting to swim, knowing it wasn’t only from tears. He was going to pass out again. His heart accelerated double time as he caught a glimpse of the homeless man from earlier, yelling and rolling towards him with his bag of food in his lap.
No…no…no! Stay away from me! Stay…stay away…! Jaejoong wanted to scream and kick for him to go away. The man was probably going to try and give him payback from his cruelty from earlier. He shook his head repetitively as the man rolled on closer by the second. It was like the last time. Except this time he lacked his inhaler and he was an easy target with no one to come to his aid.
At this point he was already wishing for darkness to take him, and as if God had answered his silent prayer, he was swallowed into the shroud of black.
A/N: FINALLY! I always seem to start these Author’s Notes with this nowadays. -_- Apparently updating is like having my limbs severed and diced because…well when was it this hard to update?! ;( I had the beginning of this chapter written out months ago. I had the ideas plotted out and everything too! It’s just the actual work of getting to it. I feel like Jaejoong with his job hunting. @_@ Guess I need to learn a thing or two about getting off my ass and getting shit done! Anyway, please grace me with your pleasant comments? Oh and Siwon isn't in this chapter but you can bet your ass he'll be in the next to amuse you all. :3 Anywaay...it's 2 in the AM right now. I'm so sleepy. TT~TT
PS: I know it's been awhile since I've been around LJ but I hate these new upgrades. :( Especially with posting. So ugly...