burned love
Burned Love
♥ DBSK - Yunho/Jaejoong; NC17; Romance Angst Drama;
beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
plot bunny by: tvxq_luv (she deleted her journal, but i still thank you for this plot!)
banner: sesshy18( ;____; sam also deleted her lj and i don't really know if she has a new one or not but thank you, so very much, for the beautiful banner.)
an: i am… so dearly sorry. i just.. i really pretty much just left the yunjae fandom for approximately 4 years. well, i didn't really "leave" i just loved yunjae in my heart without actually expressing it through fanfics or whatever. to explain myself would take way too long and it's not interesting whatsoever. i kinda wrote a bit of an explanation in my fanfic archive and my future plans for writing. anyways, without further adieu, on to the story!
점화된 사랑
05
Jaejoong keeps his eyes downcast as he walks to his next class, chemistry. It was not at all surprising to say that Jaejoong absolutely loathes the class, almost as much as he hates P.E. Not only was the material hard for him to understand, but it was full of all the people that bother him the most. The ones that taunt him behind his back as if because he wore so much clothing it somehow deters his basic reasoning skills and hearing abilities.
Nevertheless, he arrives on time for his class and situates himself at the back corner of the room. He was the first one in and he reaches into his backpack to withdraw another book to read since his other novel was unceremoniously taken away from him by that guy, Jung Yunho. He shuts his eyes, willing the images that inevitably floats to the surface of his consciousness. And lo and behold, he remembers explicitly the event that occurred just the other day. The ones of Yunho seeing the burn marks that were painted beautifully on his body.
He listens silently as footsteps approach the door to the lab, loud chattering of his fellow students reverberating against the walls and slowly all the seats in the lab begin to fill up. Thankfully the stool beside him remains empty and he was able to occupy a table to himself. The teacher, Mr. Park, arrives next, sparing no moment before he went on about last night's homework, the one he didn't do yet again, and watches carefully to see if anybody reacts to him in a different manner than before. After a few moments, he realizes that nothing much has changed, they all pay him no mind, he could be juggling eight pins in the air and blowing fire and yet nobody would notice him, which was exactly the way he likes it.
Jaejoong picks up his novel, Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski, and resumes where he left off. Thirty minutes in and Jaejoong, along with the rest of his classmates look up immediately at the door, which is flung ajar by a very disheveled Jung Yunho. There were bits of laughter that erupts within the classroom as well as looks of confusion and the chemistry teacher gives Yunho a pointed stare to which Yunho profusely apologizes for being late, yet again. Yunho is late to almost all of his classes and by the time pigs learn to fly, which is not in the foreseeable future, Yunho will finally come to class on time. Jaejoong's body grows tense and he pretends to focus on his book but out of his peripheral vision, he watches Yunho as he slowly but surely catches sight of Jaejoong and makes his way over to him.
Was Yunho always in this class? How come Jaejoong never took notice of him? And how many other classes did he share with Yunho? 'Shit, why does he have to come near me.' Jaejoong nearly burns the pages of his book by the intensity of his staring at the shapes of the letters on the pages but not at all processing the words. Most of his attention was on the tall body that was standing way too close for comfort to his own.
"Jaejoongah, is this seat taken?" Yunho asks quietly as he did not want to be yelled at by his teacher for disrupting the lesson for a second time. If he wasn't already staring at Jaejoong, he might've missed the minute nod Jaejoong gives him in response.
Shrugging off his backpack, Yunho sits on the stool beside the blond and takes out his notebook and writing utensils. Jaejoong inches a little farther away from Yunho as he accidentally knocks knees with him and resumes reading his novel to distract himself from the ever exuberant Jung Yunho. He tries to will his heartbeat to steady but it was extremely hard for Jaejoong since Yunho was in such close proximities to him.
Yunho can easily tell everybody about Jaejoong's burns, he can reveal it and life will just get that much harder for Jaejoong. He will be questioned about it by his teachers and about his living environment and if Jaejoong is in any danger. It may even end up involving the police and he can't do that, he won't be able to deal with that especially because nobody was at fault. His mother had done nothing wrong, she was just troubled and Jaejoong was being a nuisance. It was fine, it was all fine.
Almost as if Yunho can feel the tension radiating off of Jaejoong's stiff body, he quickly scribbles on a scrap piece of paper and nudges it towards Jaejoong. He watches as the blond glances at it once and then returns to reading his book. Yunho frowns, taking the scrap piece of paper back again and scratching off his previous message; he writes a new one to him.
Hi :)
What's wrong Joongie?
Jaejoong stifles an aggravated sigh and, with a flick of his wrist, sent the scrap of paper across the table and onto the ground. That, along with Yunho's stool screeching against the floor and him getting up from his seat to pick the paper up again, catches the attention of the easily annoyed Mr. Park.
"Yunho, is something the matter?" He asks, hands crossed over his chest. All the other students turn around to look at an ever smiling Yunho and Jaejoong, who looks like he wants the earth to swallow him whole as he unconvincingly pretends to be reading his novel.
"Nope, not at all, Sir." Yunho grins at his teacher with his 1000 kilowatt smile. The chemistry teacher gives Yunho one last shake of his head and continues with the lesson, bringing the students' attentions back to the board. Yunho glances at Jaejoong, who seems not at all deterred by the commotion and fully focused on his novel, and he frowns again. Unwilling to give up, Yunho continues writing messages to Jaejoong and each time, Jaejoong would either ignore him completely or flick it away from him.
Jaejoong was nearing the brink of insanity as his eyes kept darting back from the clock to the pages of his book. He is so distracted and annoyed by Yunho's constant disruptions that he didn't notice that he was reading the same paragraph over and over again. Jaejoong didn't even bother looking at the messages Yunho was writing him, he didn't care for what Yunho had to say, all he wants is to be left alone.
Like a call sent from heaven, Jaejoong relishes in the sound of the bell ringing and the bustling and chattering of students who want nothing more than to get out of class. Jaejoong immediately stands up and begins shoving his belongings into his bag, ignoring Yunho who keeps trying to get his attention, and almost running out of the class. Jaejoong tries to speed walk through the halls to get away from Yunho as fast as possible but the basketball player soon catches up to him, cornering him.
"Jaejoong, why are you ignoring me?" Yunho asks and Jaejoong dares not look at Yunho in the eyes. He remains silent, playing with the zipper of his jacket. Yunho sighs deeply, realizing that Jaejoong will still not speak to him. Reaching into his backpack, Yunho withdraws the novel he had taken from Jaejoong the other day. "Here." Yunho hands the book to Jaejoong who, pausing for a moment, takes the book from his hands. "Sorry for taking it. I was only kidding."
Jaejoong only nods in response and a silence falls over them. Yunho thinking of ways to get Jaejoong to speak to him and Jaejoong, who wants to be very well away from him. He opens and closes his mouth several times, like a fish out of water, trying to rack his mind in ways of convincing Jaejoong to come have dinner with him and his mom. Even though it was a long stretch, Yunho needs to find someway in getting Jaejoong to open up to him especially after discovering why Jaejoong wears so many layers of clothing.
"Yunho… please, let me go." Jaejoong whispers, feeling a bit nauseous from Yunho's body looming over him. Why wouldn't he understand that Jaejoong didn't want to be Yunho's friend? Why wouldn't he just leave him alone? "Please. Just let me go." He repeats, chancing a glance up at Yunho.
Yunho's brain is a scattered mess because he does not want to let Jaejoong go without saying what he had to say but on the other hand, he didn't want to continue to make Jaejoong feel as uncomfortable as he does. So, with a heavy sigh, Yunho moves away from Jaejoong and watches as he quickly walks away, the crowds of people hovering in the halls blocking his view of Jaejoong's retreating form.
Changmin rolls his eyes and purposefully chucks the basketball a little harder than required but he did not deny the satisfied smirk that stretches across his lips as Yunho curses in pain, glaring at him sharply. This wouldn't have happened if Yunho would actually pay attention to practice and not be constantly occupied staring at the blond sitting on the bench and reading his novel.
"Easy there, Changmin." Yunho mutters, picking up the ball that had bounced away. Yunho dribbles it around idly, eyes slowly but surely returning to the blond boy but he looks back again at Changmin once he hears his groan of annoyance.
"Can you stop staring at the guy and focus for once, Yunho?" Changmin snarls and Yunho almost flinches from Changmin's clipped tone. Yunho can't blame the kid for getting upset, ever since first period Yunho has been looking for Jaejoong and when he does find him, he does nothing but watch him carefully. The entire class Yunho hasn't been playing well because of the blond and it's only natural for his best friend to get frustrated.
"Yeah, sorry." He murmurs in response, willing his mind to stray away from Jaejoong and focus completely on practice. Changmin seems to be responding happily to that as the two of them begin playing a friendly one-on-one game. Yunho was finally, for once, completely lost in his game with Changmin that he didn't notice his fellow classmates huddled in a small group, whispering amongst themselves and stealing glances at Jaejoong. One of the kids, being egged on by all of his friends, dribbles the ball closer to Jaejoong but still a safe distance away so he can scurry back to his group and not be blamed for what was to happen next. Lifting the ball to eye level to take aim, the boy chucks the ball hard and it comes into contact with Jaejoong's chest painfully, knocking the novel out of his hands and the wind from his chest. Jaejoong lets out a groan as he curls into himself from the throbbing pain. The thunderous laughter along with the squeak of the boy's sneakers as he runs back to the group, obviously proud of himself, catches the attention of Yunho.
Despite missing what happened, it wasn't hard to put two and two together and Yunho runs over to Jaejoong's side and kneels down, making sure not to touch him. "Jae, are you okay?" Jaejoong has his head bowed still and he's breathing a little hard, but he nods in response. Yunho then turns his attention to the accused group whose laughter has simmered down once Yunho got involved. "Who did it?" He barks out in anger as his blood curdles, fists in tight balls. When nobody responds, Yunho gets up to find out himself when a voice stops him in his tracks.
"Yunho, forget about it." Jaejoong whispers, his face a little red. His eyes are watery from the impact of the ball hitting him in the chest and he lets out a shuddered breath. Yunho looks to be debating whether or not he should listen to Jaejoong, deciding that it'd be better to take care of Jaejoong first. Giving one last glare to the accused group, Yunho turns around and picks up Jaejoong's book off the ground and hands it to him.
"Are you sure you're okay, Jaejoong?" Yunho asks, sitting on the bench a few inches away from the blond so as not to make him uncomfortable. Jaejoong nods again, fixing the creases of the bent pages of his book but Yunho isn't convinced. "Come on, let's get you to the nurse."
Yunho readies himself for Jaejoong's decline but surprisingly the blond gets up without a peep. He spares no moment and begins to exit the gym. "Changmin, I've got to take Jaejoong to the infirmary. I'll talk to you later!" Yunho waves back at Changmin but he turns around a second too fast to see the anger in Changmin's eyes as Yunho leads the way to the infirmary followed by Jaejoong.
Once out of the gym, Yunho notices that Jaejoong isn't walking with him anymore and he turns around to see the blond standing in one spot, watching him. "What is it, Jaejoongah?" Yunho asks, eyebrows furrowing as he makes his way back to Jaejoong.
"I don't want to go to the nurse. I'm fine…. I just don't want to go back to class." Jaejoong mutters, and Yunho can't blame him. Why would he want to go back when his own classmates would purposefully hurt him. But Yunho wasn't sure if Jaejoong was really okay though.
"Are you sure you're fine? Does your chest still hurt?" Yunho queries, stepping marginally closer to Jaejoong. It goes without notice as Jaejoong slowly nods, a bit unsure if he was truly fine.
"Yeah… I think I am." Jaejoong pauses, "Thank you."
Those two words shouldn't affect him as much as they do and, ignoring the beat of his heart picking up in speed, Yunho laughs awkwardly, shrugging as if it was no skin off his back, which it wasn't because Yunho would definitely do it again for the blond. "So, you want to skip class?" Yunho suggests, waggling his eyebrows at Jaejoong.
"I will, but you should go back. They won't notice if I'm gone but they will for you." Jaejoong says and Yunho is still a bit surprised how talkative Jaejoong is being with him. Yunho should probably take notes that in order to get somebody to speak with you, you shouldn't annoy them.
"Nah, I wasn't really feeling up for practice today." Yunho says and motions for Jaejoong to lead the way to wherever he desires, Yunho following him an inch behind. It was better this way, he thinks, this way he could stare at Jaejoong unabashedly and the blond wouldn't feel uncomfortable with eyes on him. The more Yunho studies Jaejoong, despite all the layers of clothing he wears, he can tell that Jaeoong has a very thin frame. He wonders about the burn marks on Jaejoong's skin, was he born this way? Did something happen to him? It couldn't be that he was born with it because Changmin told him it was only three years ago that it began. Yunho was unbelievably confused and it's not as if Jaejoong owes him any answers anyways, they're not even friends, they're just-
"Yunho, can I ask you a question?" Jaejoong looks back at him, fiddling with the edges of his gloves. Yunho nods his head, silent, unable to form words because Jaejoong, the one who he has consistently bothered with multitudes of questions, most of which Jaejoong ignored, was asking him a question. "Were you always in my chemistry class or…."
Yunho laughs again, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Actually… I just recently transferred in." Jaejoong pauses and then continues walking so that the two of them were now side by side. "Mr. Park knows me from last year physics as the guy who comes late to school even on late starts." Jaejoong smiles a little at that, remembering Mr. Park consistently glaring at Yunho throughout chemistry class.
'He really isn't a morning person,' Jaejoong muses, secretly studying Yunho. He takes note that the auburn haired male is actually ridiculously good looking that it has to be a sin. It makes him feel a little uncomfortable in his own skin knowing he would never look or feel as beautiful as Yunho does.
Yunho, catching sight of Jaejoong's smile, could very well die happily at that moment because not only was he having a conversation with Jaejoong but he is also making the blond smile. He must've done something great in his past life like saving a few thousands of people to deserve this wonderful feeling of making Jaejoong smile.
The two of them are out of the school now, a warm breeze of air tickling the ends of Jaejoong's bangs. "Oh, because I sit in the back all the time and I never noticed you were in my class." Yunho absentmindedly walks a little closer to Jaejoong, feeling the sleeves of his jacket brush against the skin on his arm a few times. "Someone like you is hard to miss."
Jaejoong turns his head a little to see Yunho give him an amused but equally confused look as he cocks his head to the side. "And what do you mean by that?" Jaejoong surprises himself again as his lips involuntarily spread into a big smile. He realizes that talking with Yunho lifts this insurmountable weight off his heart he forgot was there, he feels a bit like he's flying. 'It feels nice…' Jaejoong thinks to himself. 'He's actually not as bad as I thought he was.'
"You have a loud personality." Jaejoong quips and there's this fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach that he chalks up to a bad breakfast when Yunho gives him this lopsided grin. The two of them turn a corner and they're a few blocks away from Jaejoong's street. The blond is surprised at how far they've come.
"True, but a loveable one. Am I right or am I right?" Yunho asks, cocking an eyebrow at Jaejoong. And when Jaejoong lets out a soft laugh, nudging him slightly with his elbow, Yunho realizes that he is unbelievably in love with Jaejoong. Jaejoong doesn't answer his question though, only gives him this look that tells him he thinks Yunho's insides are probably made out of cheese.
"Why'd you transfer in?" Jaejoong wonders, the two of them reach an intersection and, after looking both ways, they cross the street. Yunho swallows thickly, 'Definitely not going to tell you I transferred in because I wanted to be with you.'
"Uh, it's a prerequisite for what I want to pursue in university. I didn't do Grade 11 chemistry last year so I have to take it now." Yunho looks around at his surroundings, not really recognizing the area. It was full of small houses that look a little too old, a little too beaten down, as if with one strong wind and it'll collapse on itself. "Hey, Jaejoongah, where are we going?"
Realization dawns on Jaejoong and he looks apologetic. "My house. Sorry, I should've told you before. You've walked all this way and-"
"No, it's okay! I don't mind walking you home. I have a bus pass anyways." Yunho quickly adds in, easing Jaejoong's guilt away. He really did want to walk Jaejoong home and it couldn't have ended any better because they were actually conversing like friends. "Hey, Jaejoong?"
The blond hums in response, keeping his eyes downcast. Yunho scratches his head again, his embarrassed habit, and what he says next surprises Jaejoong even though it shouldn't. "Sorry for being so annoying. I just wanted to, you know, be your friend."
"Yeah... it's okay, I understand." Did Yunho forget all about him seeing the burn marks on his neck? Was Yunho actually being sincere in wanting to be his friend? 'Well...it doesn't seem like he told anybody at school about my burns. That has to mean something, right?'
Jaejoong finally stops in front of a small house and Yunho notices that it wasn't a very pretty looking place nor was the area as a whole all too welcoming. He wonders if this neighbourhood is safe, ignoring the worry that is blossoming in a corner of his heart. "Well, I guess it's time to part ways." Yunho says, flashing Jaejoong a huge smile, which the blond reciprocates with a smaller one.
"Yeah… sorry for making you walk me home." Jaejoong says, opening the gate to his house.
"Jaejoong, for making you suffer through my annoying tendencies, it's the least I can do for a friend." Yunho says, and then he catches himself. "We are... friends, right?" It was stupid how his heart was beating uncontrollably for something as menial as asking someone if they're friends. And really, who does that anymore? He mentally berates himself for sounding so lame. But it was all worth it when Jaejoong gives him a definitive nod and instead of his heart slowing, it only picks up speed because, 'Wow, Jaejoong and I are friends...'
He watches as Jaejoong turns around to give him one last wave before he closes the gate and walks up the porch. He fumbles with finding his keys in his pockets but finally withdraws it. Just as Jaejoong was opening his door to step inside, Yunho calls back to him. "Hey, Jaejoongah! Come over for dinner tonight."
Jaejoong quickly closes the door to his house, in case his mother was sleeping inside, and walks down the stairs of his porch to the gate where Yunho stood. "I can't, Yunho. My mom…" Jaejoong trails off, obviously uncomfortable as he plays with the ends of his jacket so Yunho quickly cuts in, shrugging his shoulders.
"No worries, next time then." He waves goodbye to Jaejoong and the blond waves back, watching Yunho's retreating form until he turns the corner and is out of sight. Sighing, Jaejoong feels his own heartbeat finally slow down now that Yunho was gone and heads back inside his house.
'Yunho and I are friends now...'
Yunho watches as Hyang-soon throws her head back, laughing as Ki-Woon continues to make those exceptionally lame jokes that apparently is to her fancy but Yunho, having a much tasteful humour, has on a straight face. He stabs his fork into a potato and masticates on it slowly, a little apprehensive at how the food tastes since Hyang-soon isn't the best of cooks. Well, she hardly has time to sleep much less cook for herself and her son. Usually they order take-out or Yunho is invited to Changmin's house where he eats most of his meals. Changmin's mother loves Yunho and dotes on him whenever he comes over.
'I should really call Changmin up and apologize….' Yunho muses to himself, his thoughts inevitably floating to the blond boy he saw a few hours ago. 'This dinner would've been a lot enjoyable if I had Jaejoong here to distract me.'
"Yunho, why didn't you bring Jaejoong over?" Hyang-soon asks, sipping on her wine. Yunho gives his mom a glare for speaking about Jaejoong in front of her boyfriend because-
"Oh, who's Jaejoong?" Ki-Woon wonders, turning his attention towards Yunho. The auburn-haired male inwardly rolls his eyes and sighs, his mother purposefully did this so the two of them could "bond" even though that was the last thing Yunho wants to do.
"Just this guy I like…" Yunho trails off, hoping it ends there but of course, Ki-Woon, who also wants to score brownie points with his mother, pretends to be interested in his life and continues to barrage him with questions.
"Hmm, does he go to the same school as you?"
"Obviously." Hyang-soon clearly didn't like Yunho giving her boyfriend rude and deadpan answers because she gives him a light kick on the shin underneath the table and Yunho, baring his teeth at his mother in anger, reluctantly adds on, "he's a year younger than me though." She seems to be happy with that as she smiles at him, urging him to continue on.
"Oh, wow. So how did you guys meet?"
Yunho stifles his groan of frustration and answers Ki-Woon, a little more respectfully this time. "My best friend is the same age as him. Jaejoong and I also have gym and chemistry class together."
"Chemistry? I thought you hated chemistry, Yunho." Hyang-soon adds, eyebrows raised in confusion.
Yunho laughs a little, scratching the back of his head, a clear habit he has whenever he gets embarrassed. "Ah, well, you see….I kind of transferred in so I could be with Jaejoong." And he kind of feels that the two adults subsequent laughter was because they thought he was desperate. Which, in sense, he was. He was desperately in love with Jaejoong. He quickly fell in love with Jaejoong's rare smiles and laughter, wanting nothing more than to be the cause of Jaejoong's happiness forevermore. It was a bit scary how just this morning in chemistry class he was merely interested in becoming Jaejoong's friend but after finally being able to converse with Jaejoong, no matter how trivial their discussion was, he made Yunho's heart beat inexplicably faster.
He could not blame all the people in their school who has ever fallen for Jaejoong, he can't blame Changmin for falling in love with Jaejoong before too because the blond has this inexorable gravitational pull for everybody's hearts. The aura that surrounds Jaejoong is entirely dangerous because, if anybody stares at him for too long, they are submerged in a sea of wanton and are left to drown.
"That's adorable, Yunho." Ki-Woon coos and Yunho grumbles underneath his breath. He doesn't need Ki-Woon calling him adorable like he was some sort of pre-teen with a benign crush.
Yunho quickly stuffs the remaining bits of his dinner, downing his glass of water to help him swallow down the dry and tasteless food (he wouldn't tell his mom that though), and excuses himself from the table. He says goodbye to Ki-Woon thankfully, and runs upstairs to his room, jumping happily into bed. Whipping out his phone from his pocket, Yunho speed dials Changmin's number, and waits as the phone continues to ring.
"Hello?" Changmin says in his usual boring drawl, almost like it was painful for him to say a single syllable much less two.
"Hey, Changmin."
A beat of silence.
"What is it, Yunho?" Changmin asks coldly and Yunho feels like the shittiest person in the world for causing Changmin's anger.
"I'm sorry for ditching you today but those jerk-offs hurt Jaejoong-"
"So why does that matter to you?" Changmin retorts, cutting Yunho off. This honestly could not continue on like this. Yunho was tired of having arguments with Changmin over the blond.
"Changmin, do you still like Jaejoong?" There's rustling on the other end of the line along with his best friend's soft breathing. Yunho patiently waits as Changmin mulls the question over. His heart is beating a little too painfully in his chest as he hopes and prays that Changmin was just annoyed at Yunho for spending a little more time with Jaejoong than with him and not because Changmin actually still likes Jaejoong.
"Yeah, I guess I do." And Yunho closes his eyes, shaking his head. This was the worst possible case that could happen. He can't tell Changmin now that he is absolutely in love with Jaejoong as well. What was he suppose to do? "But it seems like you also like him-"
"Yeah, as a friend." Yunho swallows the lump in his throat. "I like him as a friend, Changmin." He clarifies again and there's a sigh of relief on the other end of the line.
"Oh, well, that's good. I thought you had also fallen for him." Yunho pretends to laugh, saying how that was a bit ridiculous since he just started talking to the guy. "So is he okay? You know, from getting hit by the ball."
"Uh, yeah. Yeah he's good. He didn't want to go to the nurse though so like, we just both skipped the rest of our classes." Yunho says and Changmin hums in response. "I walked him to his house and yeah, that was about it. He's actually a pretty cool guy."
"So, what did you guys talk about?"
"Um, nothing really. Stupid shit and whatever. He asked me why I transfer-" Yunho stops himself there, mentally cursing himself for letting that out. Now Changmin will wonder why he transferred into Jaejoong's chemistry class. That was a bit of an odd thing to do for somebody you just wanted to be friends with. Why would Yunho go to such lengths just to be the blond's friend? "Uh, never mind."
"What? You transferred?"
'Shit, now what?' Yunho berates himself, letting out a deep breath. "Yeah, I um, I transferred into his chemistry class."
"Uh, why? You suck at chemistry."
"I just needed it as a prerequisite for one of my university courses."
"Yunho, you want to be a professional basketball player. And you're getting a full scholarship to go to university for basketball. You definitely don't need chemistry." Changmin retorts and Yunho is getting more than a little annoyed at Changmin now.
"Whatever, Changmin. I just want to keep my options open." He says but it's quite obvious Changmin already caught on as to the real reason why Yunho transferred into Jaejoong's chemistry class. Thankfully he lets the subject go.
"So how was dinner with your mom's boyfriend?"
Yunho groans, "He's such a tool! I really don't understand what my mom sees in him. It has to be that he has a big penis, it just has to be because nobody can like the guy for his lame personality and his equally lame jokes."
"I'm guessing you were an asshole to him during dinner?" Changmin laughs, extremely well-aware how Yunho can be around people he hates or is annoyed of. Generally Yunho is a fun and loving guy but he is too protective over the people he cares for, especially his mom. Yunho has very high standards and if the people he cares for are messing around with others that are clearly not good enough, he doesn't mask his hatred towards those "cretins" as he so lovingly calls them.
He was probably the sole reason Changmin and Hyang-soon remaining single for so long.
"I wish. Mom kept kicking me under the table and she even told me beforehand to shut up and be nice to the guy. I really don't-" Yunho pauses, straining to hear Hyang-soon's voice calling out to him. "What, mom? I'm on the phone! Hey, Changmin," There was another pause as Yunho yells to Hyang-soon that he'll come downstairs in a moment. "I gotta go, man. Mom's calling me for some reason. I hope the tool is gone by now."
"Yeah, hopefully. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye." Yunho hangs up his phone and slides it back into his pockets. He gets up from his bed and walks back downstairs to see his mother leisurely sitting on the couch, her legs stretched in front of her and crossed at the ankles. The dining table, which they never use unless guests come over, has been tidied up and to Yunho's great happiness, the tool has left their home.
Hyang-soon gives him a sloppy smile and pats the spot beside her. Yunho was sure she was mad at him for leaving so abruptly from dinner but it seems like she was okay with it or she snogged Ki-Woon so hard that all sense fell from her brain and out from her left ear. Yunho nevertheless sits beside her in the same manner as she was, nudging her in the shoulder. He lifts his arms around her and Hyang-soon rests her head on his shoulder, shifting her body so she was curled up against him.
"What's up?" Yunho asks, absentmindedly combing his fingers through her hair.
Hyang-soon lets out a sigh, looking up at Yunho from underneath her lashes. "Man, I really like this guy."
"Me too." Yunho agrees, letting out a sigh himself. Hyang-soon pulls back at that, giving her son a dirty look.
"Yunho, I think Ki-Woon is a little too old for you." Yunho blinks at her a couple times then shakes his head, making a face at her.
"Ew, mom. I meant Jaejoong." Yunho pretends to shudder and Hyang-soon laughs, giving him a light punch to the chest. "Ki-Woon is a douche anyways."
"Wow, that's my boyfriend you're talking about, mister." She pouts and Yunho still doesn't like thinking that such a guy was dating his mom. She really deserves better. "How was my cooking though? Do you think it tasted good? I felt there was not enough salt."
'No amount of salt in the world could save that dish, mom.' Yunho thinks to himself, not that he could ever tell his mom that without getting a beat down from her. Women are weird. They say they want feedback no matter if it was positive or negative but when it is negative, they start getting angry at you and proceed in kicking the living shit out of you. "Yeah, it was amazing." Yunho laughs, giving his mom a thumbs up for extra emphasis. She seems to be happy with that, giving him a smug smile.
"Of course it was. I cooked it! Now only if you weren't here, we could've had sex and made the night end perfectly." She laughs at Yunho's mockingly hurt expression, pinching his cheeks.
"Thanks, mom. I truly feel blessed to have such a loving and doting mother like you. Let me just go pray to all the Gods of every religion to show how thankful I am." Yunho pretends to get up but Hyang-soon just pulls him back down again, laughing even harder in mirth.
"You know I'm joking, babe. So give me the details with Jaejoong. I'm just dying to hear about it!" Hyang-soon all but squeals, nails digging into his shirt as she shakes him about. Yunho is almost terrified she'll shake him so hard all his beautiful knowledge that he has accumulated over the years will bounce around in his skull and break. 'If knowledge is able to be broken.'
Yunho grabs onto her wrists and pulls them free from his shirt that she has stretched out in all the wrong places and he places her hands in her lap, gingerly letting go in case she pounces back on him. "Okay…" He says hesitantly, watching her warily as she has this scary fangirl gleam in her eyes and a very large and creepy smile on her face. "We are going to talk about this nice and calmly, okay? You can't kill me with your fangirl antics. I am your beautiful and amazing son not some disproportionatelybig hands on a big body with a small head yaoi character in some manga."
"Yunho, shut up and just tell me." She still has the smile on her face but her voice is dark and impatient. He gulps, deciding not to test her again.
"Okay, okay. So… I walked Jaejoong home today and became friends-" Yunho plugs his ears as Hyang-soon lets out a scream of delight, clapping her hands like a seal. She gets on her knees, hands clasped together under her chin as she grins even bigger, urging him to continue. "And I asked him to come over but clearly, as you can see, he didn't come."
"At least you made some progress. How did this even happen? I thought you said he thought you were an annoying doofus jock who doesn't know how to woo boys."
Yunho scrunches his eyebrows in thought. "But… But I didn't say that."
Hyang-soon shrugs, "You didn't. But that's what you are."
He rolls his eyes at her albeit still smiling amusedly at her. "Again, thanks for that my loving and doting mom."
"You're welcome. Now please, continue."
Yunho sighs, thinking back from the beginning of the day. So much has happened that it didn't seem real. "Uh, well… I told you at dinner how I transferred into his chemistry class. But it's not because I need it but because I just wanted to have another class with him. We have none aside from gym because he's in grade 11 and I'm in grade 12."
"Oh yeah, I forgot he was a year younger than you. That makes it even cuter." Hyang-soon says dreamily, probably thinking of the many situations like these that were written in her mangas.
"Yeah, so he sits in the back and there was an empty seat beside him. So I obviously sat there. Uh, well… remember the other day how I took his book and he freaked out on me before I could return it to him."
Hyang-soon glowers at him, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I remember. You're still an asshole for doing that."
"Well I tried talking to him about it in class but my dickwad of a teacher, Mr. Park, kept getting mad at me for interrupting the class."
"Naturally."
"Excuse me but he should've known that I was trying to woo Jaejoong and his stupid chemistry can wait." Yunho retorts back, dreading the thought of going to chemistry class again tomorrow. The pain he goes through for love. He should probably try to get to class earlier if he doesn't want Mr. Park on his case all day tomorrow. "Anyways, I wrote him notes but Jaejoong just ignored me throughout the whole time. He didn't even bother looking at what I had written once! Ah, he hurts me so deeply with his coldness." Yunho dramatically holds onto his chest as if he was suffering from deep heartache.
Hyang-soon laughs, elbowing him in his chest. "Spare the melodramatics, Yunho. I really want to meet Jaejoong, he seems like he needs a big hug."
"Uh, no. You wouldn't want to do that. He doesn't like it when people touch him. I learned the hard way. But it was weird, when I was walking him home, I made an effort to keep my hands to myself and not walk so close to him but he actually initiated some… touching. Like he had no problem nudging me with his elbow when I made him laugh."
"You made him laugh?" She says incredulously as if it was up there on the most shocking discovery ever, right beside finding out that fishes can't breathe air.
Yunho gives his mom this look as if to say, and you're surprised? "Well, yeah. I am a funny guy."
"But I thought he hated you."
The auburn haired male groans. "Mom, you'd understand if you stopped interrupting me. Okay, so chemistry class ended and Jaejoong does what he does best and tries to run away from me. I'm one of the best offense for a reason, so I easily catch up to him. I give him his book back but he still doesn't like me at this point and leaves before I could even say anything else to him. Then, we had gym class and I don't know, I guess Changmin was mad that I wasn't paying attention to him or something but I couldn't help it. I had so much to say to Jaejoong and he won't even let me get a word in edgewise."
"Does Changmin know that you like Jaejoong?" Hyang-soon asks and Yunho's a bit tentative if he should tell her that Changmin also likes Jaejoong.
"Well, no. But he likes him still."
Hyang-soon makes a shocked noise, shaking her head in horror. "No. That can't be! This is the worst possible thing to ever happen!"
Yunho nods his head, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know. I didn't bother telling him that I liked Jaejoong as well, I just said that I wanted to be friends with him."
Hyang-soon deflates then, feeling absolutely terrible for her son. "Oh Yunho…"
He shrugs, not wanting to think what he can do to solve this monumental problem. "Yeah, I know. It sucks. But what can I do?"
"You can tell him the truth? That you also like Jaejoong. I mean, it doesn't seem like Jaejoong has any feelings for him." Hyang-soon suggests but Yunho just shakes his head.
"I don't know, mom. I feel bad though because Changmin really likes Jaejoong but then again, so do I. Jaejoong already rejected Changmin before and from then on, he has hated Jaejoong."
Hyang-soon makes a face at that. "He shouldn't hate somebody just because they rejected him."
"Yeah…I agree. Well most people hate Jaejoong because they think he's super cocky and now that he has recently started dressing weirdly, they bully him at times."
She furrows her eyebrows in concern and Yunho sees that she's no longer in a joking mood, fists clenched in her lap. It makes him happy inside seeing his mom already growing a soft spot for Jaejoong. "What do you mean, Yunho?"
"Today in gym class there were a couple of kids that egged another guy on to hit Jaejoong with a basketball really hard." Hyang-soon gasps but Yunho continues on. "Yeah, I was pretty riled up when I found out what happened. I didn't really see who did it and I would've found out but Jaejoong stopped me. Changmin might've seen, I don't really know but when I went to go take Jaejoong to the infirmary, he looked pissed."
"I have to have a talk with that boy. He should've been there to help Jaejoong as well." Hyang-soon tsks, not liking how Changmin was dealing with the situation of his unrequited love.
"The good thing that came out of that was that Jaejoong and I got to know each other a little bit since he didn't want to go to the infirmary and instead wanted to skip class. I skipped class with him." Hyang-soon gives him a pointed look and Yunho shrugs, "All in the name of love, mom. I walked him home but he lives in a really creepy area. I'm not sure but I think it was around Namdaemun?"
"Oh yes, that's not a very good area. Uh, so going back to what you said before, what do you mean Jaejoong dresses weirdly?" Hyang-soon queries and Yunho shifts around on the sofa until he was comfortable.
"He dresses with long sleeve shirts or jackets along with scarves and mitts in this weather."
"Oh, that is odd. Why do you think he does that?" Hyang-soon asks and Yunho isn't sure whether or not he should tell his mom but he knows she wouldn't do anything hasty when they both hardly know anything of what happened to Jaejoong.
"Well, the day I took his book and I tried to return it to him, I saw a bit of his neck because the scarf wasn't on properly. And he uh, he has… burn marks on his neck." Yunho watches as a myriad of emotions wash over Hyang-soon's face and she has her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Looking a bit helpless and confused, she settles back into the couch, worrying her lips between her teeth in thought.
After awhile, Hyang-soon finally opens her mouth, staring at Yunho in complete seriousness. "Yunho, you have to find out what happened to him. I'm afraid… I'm afraid for him, Yunho."
Yunho can only nod his head in agreement, that odd throbbing he felt the first time he saw the burn marks returns to him, only increasing tenfold now that his mother seems to also be worried deeply for Jaejoong. 'Don't worry, mom. Nothing will happen to Jaejoong now that I'm here.'
♥ DBSK - Yunho/Jaejoong; NC17; Romance Angst Drama;
beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
plot bunny by: tvxq_luv (she deleted her journal, but i still thank you for this plot!)
banner: sesshy18( ;____; sam also deleted her lj and i don't really know if she has a new one or not but thank you, so very much, for the beautiful banner.)
an: i am… so dearly sorry. i just.. i really pretty much just left the yunjae fandom for approximately 4 years. well, i didn't really "leave" i just loved yunjae in my heart without actually expressing it through fanfics or whatever. to explain myself would take way too long and it's not interesting whatsoever. i kinda wrote a bit of an explanation in my fanfic archive and my future plans for writing. anyways, without further adieu, on to the story!
점화된 사랑
05
Jaejoong keeps his eyes downcast as he walks to his next class, chemistry. It was not at all surprising to say that Jaejoong absolutely loathes the class, almost as much as he hates P.E. Not only was the material hard for him to understand, but it was full of all the people that bother him the most. The ones that taunt him behind his back as if because he wore so much clothing it somehow deters his basic reasoning skills and hearing abilities.
Nevertheless, he arrives on time for his class and situates himself at the back corner of the room. He was the first one in and he reaches into his backpack to withdraw another book to read since his other novel was unceremoniously taken away from him by that guy, Jung Yunho. He shuts his eyes, willing the images that inevitably floats to the surface of his consciousness. And lo and behold, he remembers explicitly the event that occurred just the other day. The ones of Yunho seeing the burn marks that were painted beautifully on his body.
He listens silently as footsteps approach the door to the lab, loud chattering of his fellow students reverberating against the walls and slowly all the seats in the lab begin to fill up. Thankfully the stool beside him remains empty and he was able to occupy a table to himself. The teacher, Mr. Park, arrives next, sparing no moment before he went on about last night's homework, the one he didn't do yet again, and watches carefully to see if anybody reacts to him in a different manner than before. After a few moments, he realizes that nothing much has changed, they all pay him no mind, he could be juggling eight pins in the air and blowing fire and yet nobody would notice him, which was exactly the way he likes it.
Jaejoong picks up his novel, Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski, and resumes where he left off. Thirty minutes in and Jaejoong, along with the rest of his classmates look up immediately at the door, which is flung ajar by a very disheveled Jung Yunho. There were bits of laughter that erupts within the classroom as well as looks of confusion and the chemistry teacher gives Yunho a pointed stare to which Yunho profusely apologizes for being late, yet again. Yunho is late to almost all of his classes and by the time pigs learn to fly, which is not in the foreseeable future, Yunho will finally come to class on time. Jaejoong's body grows tense and he pretends to focus on his book but out of his peripheral vision, he watches Yunho as he slowly but surely catches sight of Jaejoong and makes his way over to him.
Was Yunho always in this class? How come Jaejoong never took notice of him? And how many other classes did he share with Yunho? 'Shit, why does he have to come near me.' Jaejoong nearly burns the pages of his book by the intensity of his staring at the shapes of the letters on the pages but not at all processing the words. Most of his attention was on the tall body that was standing way too close for comfort to his own.
"Jaejoongah, is this seat taken?" Yunho asks quietly as he did not want to be yelled at by his teacher for disrupting the lesson for a second time. If he wasn't already staring at Jaejoong, he might've missed the minute nod Jaejoong gives him in response.
Shrugging off his backpack, Yunho sits on the stool beside the blond and takes out his notebook and writing utensils. Jaejoong inches a little farther away from Yunho as he accidentally knocks knees with him and resumes reading his novel to distract himself from the ever exuberant Jung Yunho. He tries to will his heartbeat to steady but it was extremely hard for Jaejoong since Yunho was in such close proximities to him.
Yunho can easily tell everybody about Jaejoong's burns, he can reveal it and life will just get that much harder for Jaejoong. He will be questioned about it by his teachers and about his living environment and if Jaejoong is in any danger. It may even end up involving the police and he can't do that, he won't be able to deal with that especially because nobody was at fault. His mother had done nothing wrong, she was just troubled and Jaejoong was being a nuisance. It was fine, it was all fine.
Almost as if Yunho can feel the tension radiating off of Jaejoong's stiff body, he quickly scribbles on a scrap piece of paper and nudges it towards Jaejoong. He watches as the blond glances at it once and then returns to reading his book. Yunho frowns, taking the scrap piece of paper back again and scratching off his previous message; he writes a new one to him.
Hi :)
What's wrong Joongie?
Jaejoong stifles an aggravated sigh and, with a flick of his wrist, sent the scrap of paper across the table and onto the ground. That, along with Yunho's stool screeching against the floor and him getting up from his seat to pick the paper up again, catches the attention of the easily annoyed Mr. Park.
"Yunho, is something the matter?" He asks, hands crossed over his chest. All the other students turn around to look at an ever smiling Yunho and Jaejoong, who looks like he wants the earth to swallow him whole as he unconvincingly pretends to be reading his novel.
"Nope, not at all, Sir." Yunho grins at his teacher with his 1000 kilowatt smile. The chemistry teacher gives Yunho one last shake of his head and continues with the lesson, bringing the students' attentions back to the board. Yunho glances at Jaejoong, who seems not at all deterred by the commotion and fully focused on his novel, and he frowns again. Unwilling to give up, Yunho continues writing messages to Jaejoong and each time, Jaejoong would either ignore him completely or flick it away from him.
Jaejoong was nearing the brink of insanity as his eyes kept darting back from the clock to the pages of his book. He is so distracted and annoyed by Yunho's constant disruptions that he didn't notice that he was reading the same paragraph over and over again. Jaejoong didn't even bother looking at the messages Yunho was writing him, he didn't care for what Yunho had to say, all he wants is to be left alone.
Like a call sent from heaven, Jaejoong relishes in the sound of the bell ringing and the bustling and chattering of students who want nothing more than to get out of class. Jaejoong immediately stands up and begins shoving his belongings into his bag, ignoring Yunho who keeps trying to get his attention, and almost running out of the class. Jaejoong tries to speed walk through the halls to get away from Yunho as fast as possible but the basketball player soon catches up to him, cornering him.
"Jaejoong, why are you ignoring me?" Yunho asks and Jaejoong dares not look at Yunho in the eyes. He remains silent, playing with the zipper of his jacket. Yunho sighs deeply, realizing that Jaejoong will still not speak to him. Reaching into his backpack, Yunho withdraws the novel he had taken from Jaejoong the other day. "Here." Yunho hands the book to Jaejoong who, pausing for a moment, takes the book from his hands. "Sorry for taking it. I was only kidding."
Jaejoong only nods in response and a silence falls over them. Yunho thinking of ways to get Jaejoong to speak to him and Jaejoong, who wants to be very well away from him. He opens and closes his mouth several times, like a fish out of water, trying to rack his mind in ways of convincing Jaejoong to come have dinner with him and his mom. Even though it was a long stretch, Yunho needs to find someway in getting Jaejoong to open up to him especially after discovering why Jaejoong wears so many layers of clothing.
"Yunho… please, let me go." Jaejoong whispers, feeling a bit nauseous from Yunho's body looming over him. Why wouldn't he understand that Jaejoong didn't want to be Yunho's friend? Why wouldn't he just leave him alone? "Please. Just let me go." He repeats, chancing a glance up at Yunho.
Yunho's brain is a scattered mess because he does not want to let Jaejoong go without saying what he had to say but on the other hand, he didn't want to continue to make Jaejoong feel as uncomfortable as he does. So, with a heavy sigh, Yunho moves away from Jaejoong and watches as he quickly walks away, the crowds of people hovering in the halls blocking his view of Jaejoong's retreating form.
Changmin rolls his eyes and purposefully chucks the basketball a little harder than required but he did not deny the satisfied smirk that stretches across his lips as Yunho curses in pain, glaring at him sharply. This wouldn't have happened if Yunho would actually pay attention to practice and not be constantly occupied staring at the blond sitting on the bench and reading his novel.
"Easy there, Changmin." Yunho mutters, picking up the ball that had bounced away. Yunho dribbles it around idly, eyes slowly but surely returning to the blond boy but he looks back again at Changmin once he hears his groan of annoyance.
"Can you stop staring at the guy and focus for once, Yunho?" Changmin snarls and Yunho almost flinches from Changmin's clipped tone. Yunho can't blame the kid for getting upset, ever since first period Yunho has been looking for Jaejoong and when he does find him, he does nothing but watch him carefully. The entire class Yunho hasn't been playing well because of the blond and it's only natural for his best friend to get frustrated.
"Yeah, sorry." He murmurs in response, willing his mind to stray away from Jaejoong and focus completely on practice. Changmin seems to be responding happily to that as the two of them begin playing a friendly one-on-one game. Yunho was finally, for once, completely lost in his game with Changmin that he didn't notice his fellow classmates huddled in a small group, whispering amongst themselves and stealing glances at Jaejoong. One of the kids, being egged on by all of his friends, dribbles the ball closer to Jaejoong but still a safe distance away so he can scurry back to his group and not be blamed for what was to happen next. Lifting the ball to eye level to take aim, the boy chucks the ball hard and it comes into contact with Jaejoong's chest painfully, knocking the novel out of his hands and the wind from his chest. Jaejoong lets out a groan as he curls into himself from the throbbing pain. The thunderous laughter along with the squeak of the boy's sneakers as he runs back to the group, obviously proud of himself, catches the attention of Yunho.
Despite missing what happened, it wasn't hard to put two and two together and Yunho runs over to Jaejoong's side and kneels down, making sure not to touch him. "Jae, are you okay?" Jaejoong has his head bowed still and he's breathing a little hard, but he nods in response. Yunho then turns his attention to the accused group whose laughter has simmered down once Yunho got involved. "Who did it?" He barks out in anger as his blood curdles, fists in tight balls. When nobody responds, Yunho gets up to find out himself when a voice stops him in his tracks.
"Yunho, forget about it." Jaejoong whispers, his face a little red. His eyes are watery from the impact of the ball hitting him in the chest and he lets out a shuddered breath. Yunho looks to be debating whether or not he should listen to Jaejoong, deciding that it'd be better to take care of Jaejoong first. Giving one last glare to the accused group, Yunho turns around and picks up Jaejoong's book off the ground and hands it to him.
"Are you sure you're okay, Jaejoong?" Yunho asks, sitting on the bench a few inches away from the blond so as not to make him uncomfortable. Jaejoong nods again, fixing the creases of the bent pages of his book but Yunho isn't convinced. "Come on, let's get you to the nurse."
Yunho readies himself for Jaejoong's decline but surprisingly the blond gets up without a peep. He spares no moment and begins to exit the gym. "Changmin, I've got to take Jaejoong to the infirmary. I'll talk to you later!" Yunho waves back at Changmin but he turns around a second too fast to see the anger in Changmin's eyes as Yunho leads the way to the infirmary followed by Jaejoong.
Once out of the gym, Yunho notices that Jaejoong isn't walking with him anymore and he turns around to see the blond standing in one spot, watching him. "What is it, Jaejoongah?" Yunho asks, eyebrows furrowing as he makes his way back to Jaejoong.
"I don't want to go to the nurse. I'm fine…. I just don't want to go back to class." Jaejoong mutters, and Yunho can't blame him. Why would he want to go back when his own classmates would purposefully hurt him. But Yunho wasn't sure if Jaejoong was really okay though.
"Are you sure you're fine? Does your chest still hurt?" Yunho queries, stepping marginally closer to Jaejoong. It goes without notice as Jaejoong slowly nods, a bit unsure if he was truly fine.
"Yeah… I think I am." Jaejoong pauses, "Thank you."
Those two words shouldn't affect him as much as they do and, ignoring the beat of his heart picking up in speed, Yunho laughs awkwardly, shrugging as if it was no skin off his back, which it wasn't because Yunho would definitely do it again for the blond. "So, you want to skip class?" Yunho suggests, waggling his eyebrows at Jaejoong.
"I will, but you should go back. They won't notice if I'm gone but they will for you." Jaejoong says and Yunho is still a bit surprised how talkative Jaejoong is being with him. Yunho should probably take notes that in order to get somebody to speak with you, you shouldn't annoy them.
"Nah, I wasn't really feeling up for practice today." Yunho says and motions for Jaejoong to lead the way to wherever he desires, Yunho following him an inch behind. It was better this way, he thinks, this way he could stare at Jaejoong unabashedly and the blond wouldn't feel uncomfortable with eyes on him. The more Yunho studies Jaejoong, despite all the layers of clothing he wears, he can tell that Jaeoong has a very thin frame. He wonders about the burn marks on Jaejoong's skin, was he born this way? Did something happen to him? It couldn't be that he was born with it because Changmin told him it was only three years ago that it began. Yunho was unbelievably confused and it's not as if Jaejoong owes him any answers anyways, they're not even friends, they're just-
"Yunho, can I ask you a question?" Jaejoong looks back at him, fiddling with the edges of his gloves. Yunho nods his head, silent, unable to form words because Jaejoong, the one who he has consistently bothered with multitudes of questions, most of which Jaejoong ignored, was asking him a question. "Were you always in my chemistry class or…."
Yunho laughs again, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Actually… I just recently transferred in." Jaejoong pauses and then continues walking so that the two of them were now side by side. "Mr. Park knows me from last year physics as the guy who comes late to school even on late starts." Jaejoong smiles a little at that, remembering Mr. Park consistently glaring at Yunho throughout chemistry class.
'He really isn't a morning person,' Jaejoong muses, secretly studying Yunho. He takes note that the auburn haired male is actually ridiculously good looking that it has to be a sin. It makes him feel a little uncomfortable in his own skin knowing he would never look or feel as beautiful as Yunho does.
Yunho, catching sight of Jaejoong's smile, could very well die happily at that moment because not only was he having a conversation with Jaejoong but he is also making the blond smile. He must've done something great in his past life like saving a few thousands of people to deserve this wonderful feeling of making Jaejoong smile.
The two of them are out of the school now, a warm breeze of air tickling the ends of Jaejoong's bangs. "Oh, because I sit in the back all the time and I never noticed you were in my class." Yunho absentmindedly walks a little closer to Jaejoong, feeling the sleeves of his jacket brush against the skin on his arm a few times. "Someone like you is hard to miss."
Jaejoong turns his head a little to see Yunho give him an amused but equally confused look as he cocks his head to the side. "And what do you mean by that?" Jaejoong surprises himself again as his lips involuntarily spread into a big smile. He realizes that talking with Yunho lifts this insurmountable weight off his heart he forgot was there, he feels a bit like he's flying. 'It feels nice…' Jaejoong thinks to himself. 'He's actually not as bad as I thought he was.'
"You have a loud personality." Jaejoong quips and there's this fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach that he chalks up to a bad breakfast when Yunho gives him this lopsided grin. The two of them turn a corner and they're a few blocks away from Jaejoong's street. The blond is surprised at how far they've come.
"True, but a loveable one. Am I right or am I right?" Yunho asks, cocking an eyebrow at Jaejoong. And when Jaejoong lets out a soft laugh, nudging him slightly with his elbow, Yunho realizes that he is unbelievably in love with Jaejoong. Jaejoong doesn't answer his question though, only gives him this look that tells him he thinks Yunho's insides are probably made out of cheese.
"Why'd you transfer in?" Jaejoong wonders, the two of them reach an intersection and, after looking both ways, they cross the street. Yunho swallows thickly, 'Definitely not going to tell you I transferred in because I wanted to be with you.'
"Uh, it's a prerequisite for what I want to pursue in university. I didn't do Grade 11 chemistry last year so I have to take it now." Yunho looks around at his surroundings, not really recognizing the area. It was full of small houses that look a little too old, a little too beaten down, as if with one strong wind and it'll collapse on itself. "Hey, Jaejoongah, where are we going?"
Realization dawns on Jaejoong and he looks apologetic. "My house. Sorry, I should've told you before. You've walked all this way and-"
"No, it's okay! I don't mind walking you home. I have a bus pass anyways." Yunho quickly adds in, easing Jaejoong's guilt away. He really did want to walk Jaejoong home and it couldn't have ended any better because they were actually conversing like friends. "Hey, Jaejoong?"
The blond hums in response, keeping his eyes downcast. Yunho scratches his head again, his embarrassed habit, and what he says next surprises Jaejoong even though it shouldn't. "Sorry for being so annoying. I just wanted to, you know, be your friend."
"Yeah... it's okay, I understand." Did Yunho forget all about him seeing the burn marks on his neck? Was Yunho actually being sincere in wanting to be his friend? 'Well...it doesn't seem like he told anybody at school about my burns. That has to mean something, right?'
Jaejoong finally stops in front of a small house and Yunho notices that it wasn't a very pretty looking place nor was the area as a whole all too welcoming. He wonders if this neighbourhood is safe, ignoring the worry that is blossoming in a corner of his heart. "Well, I guess it's time to part ways." Yunho says, flashing Jaejoong a huge smile, which the blond reciprocates with a smaller one.
"Yeah… sorry for making you walk me home." Jaejoong says, opening the gate to his house.
"Jaejoong, for making you suffer through my annoying tendencies, it's the least I can do for a friend." Yunho says, and then he catches himself. "We are... friends, right?" It was stupid how his heart was beating uncontrollably for something as menial as asking someone if they're friends. And really, who does that anymore? He mentally berates himself for sounding so lame. But it was all worth it when Jaejoong gives him a definitive nod and instead of his heart slowing, it only picks up speed because, 'Wow, Jaejoong and I are friends...'
He watches as Jaejoong turns around to give him one last wave before he closes the gate and walks up the porch. He fumbles with finding his keys in his pockets but finally withdraws it. Just as Jaejoong was opening his door to step inside, Yunho calls back to him. "Hey, Jaejoongah! Come over for dinner tonight."
Jaejoong quickly closes the door to his house, in case his mother was sleeping inside, and walks down the stairs of his porch to the gate where Yunho stood. "I can't, Yunho. My mom…" Jaejoong trails off, obviously uncomfortable as he plays with the ends of his jacket so Yunho quickly cuts in, shrugging his shoulders.
"No worries, next time then." He waves goodbye to Jaejoong and the blond waves back, watching Yunho's retreating form until he turns the corner and is out of sight. Sighing, Jaejoong feels his own heartbeat finally slow down now that Yunho was gone and heads back inside his house.
'Yunho and I are friends now...'
Yunho watches as Hyang-soon throws her head back, laughing as Ki-Woon continues to make those exceptionally lame jokes that apparently is to her fancy but Yunho, having a much tasteful humour, has on a straight face. He stabs his fork into a potato and masticates on it slowly, a little apprehensive at how the food tastes since Hyang-soon isn't the best of cooks. Well, she hardly has time to sleep much less cook for herself and her son. Usually they order take-out or Yunho is invited to Changmin's house where he eats most of his meals. Changmin's mother loves Yunho and dotes on him whenever he comes over.
'I should really call Changmin up and apologize….' Yunho muses to himself, his thoughts inevitably floating to the blond boy he saw a few hours ago. 'This dinner would've been a lot enjoyable if I had Jaejoong here to distract me.'
"Yunho, why didn't you bring Jaejoong over?" Hyang-soon asks, sipping on her wine. Yunho gives his mom a glare for speaking about Jaejoong in front of her boyfriend because-
"Oh, who's Jaejoong?" Ki-Woon wonders, turning his attention towards Yunho. The auburn-haired male inwardly rolls his eyes and sighs, his mother purposefully did this so the two of them could "bond" even though that was the last thing Yunho wants to do.
"Just this guy I like…" Yunho trails off, hoping it ends there but of course, Ki-Woon, who also wants to score brownie points with his mother, pretends to be interested in his life and continues to barrage him with questions.
"Hmm, does he go to the same school as you?"
"Obviously." Hyang-soon clearly didn't like Yunho giving her boyfriend rude and deadpan answers because she gives him a light kick on the shin underneath the table and Yunho, baring his teeth at his mother in anger, reluctantly adds on, "he's a year younger than me though." She seems to be happy with that as she smiles at him, urging him to continue on.
"Oh, wow. So how did you guys meet?"
Yunho stifles his groan of frustration and answers Ki-Woon, a little more respectfully this time. "My best friend is the same age as him. Jaejoong and I also have gym and chemistry class together."
"Chemistry? I thought you hated chemistry, Yunho." Hyang-soon adds, eyebrows raised in confusion.
Yunho laughs a little, scratching the back of his head, a clear habit he has whenever he gets embarrassed. "Ah, well, you see….I kind of transferred in so I could be with Jaejoong." And he kind of feels that the two adults subsequent laughter was because they thought he was desperate. Which, in sense, he was. He was desperately in love with Jaejoong. He quickly fell in love with Jaejoong's rare smiles and laughter, wanting nothing more than to be the cause of Jaejoong's happiness forevermore. It was a bit scary how just this morning in chemistry class he was merely interested in becoming Jaejoong's friend but after finally being able to converse with Jaejoong, no matter how trivial their discussion was, he made Yunho's heart beat inexplicably faster.
He could not blame all the people in their school who has ever fallen for Jaejoong, he can't blame Changmin for falling in love with Jaejoong before too because the blond has this inexorable gravitational pull for everybody's hearts. The aura that surrounds Jaejoong is entirely dangerous because, if anybody stares at him for too long, they are submerged in a sea of wanton and are left to drown.
"That's adorable, Yunho." Ki-Woon coos and Yunho grumbles underneath his breath. He doesn't need Ki-Woon calling him adorable like he was some sort of pre-teen with a benign crush.
Yunho quickly stuffs the remaining bits of his dinner, downing his glass of water to help him swallow down the dry and tasteless food (he wouldn't tell his mom that though), and excuses himself from the table. He says goodbye to Ki-Woon thankfully, and runs upstairs to his room, jumping happily into bed. Whipping out his phone from his pocket, Yunho speed dials Changmin's number, and waits as the phone continues to ring.
"Hello?" Changmin says in his usual boring drawl, almost like it was painful for him to say a single syllable much less two.
"Hey, Changmin."
A beat of silence.
"What is it, Yunho?" Changmin asks coldly and Yunho feels like the shittiest person in the world for causing Changmin's anger.
"I'm sorry for ditching you today but those jerk-offs hurt Jaejoong-"
"So why does that matter to you?" Changmin retorts, cutting Yunho off. This honestly could not continue on like this. Yunho was tired of having arguments with Changmin over the blond.
"Changmin, do you still like Jaejoong?" There's rustling on the other end of the line along with his best friend's soft breathing. Yunho patiently waits as Changmin mulls the question over. His heart is beating a little too painfully in his chest as he hopes and prays that Changmin was just annoyed at Yunho for spending a little more time with Jaejoong than with him and not because Changmin actually still likes Jaejoong.
"Yeah, I guess I do." And Yunho closes his eyes, shaking his head. This was the worst possible case that could happen. He can't tell Changmin now that he is absolutely in love with Jaejoong as well. What was he suppose to do? "But it seems like you also like him-"
"Yeah, as a friend." Yunho swallows the lump in his throat. "I like him as a friend, Changmin." He clarifies again and there's a sigh of relief on the other end of the line.
"Oh, well, that's good. I thought you had also fallen for him." Yunho pretends to laugh, saying how that was a bit ridiculous since he just started talking to the guy. "So is he okay? You know, from getting hit by the ball."
"Uh, yeah. Yeah he's good. He didn't want to go to the nurse though so like, we just both skipped the rest of our classes." Yunho says and Changmin hums in response. "I walked him to his house and yeah, that was about it. He's actually a pretty cool guy."
"So, what did you guys talk about?"
"Um, nothing really. Stupid shit and whatever. He asked me why I transfer-" Yunho stops himself there, mentally cursing himself for letting that out. Now Changmin will wonder why he transferred into Jaejoong's chemistry class. That was a bit of an odd thing to do for somebody you just wanted to be friends with. Why would Yunho go to such lengths just to be the blond's friend? "Uh, never mind."
"What? You transferred?"
'Shit, now what?' Yunho berates himself, letting out a deep breath. "Yeah, I um, I transferred into his chemistry class."
"Uh, why? You suck at chemistry."
"I just needed it as a prerequisite for one of my university courses."
"Yunho, you want to be a professional basketball player. And you're getting a full scholarship to go to university for basketball. You definitely don't need chemistry." Changmin retorts and Yunho is getting more than a little annoyed at Changmin now.
"Whatever, Changmin. I just want to keep my options open." He says but it's quite obvious Changmin already caught on as to the real reason why Yunho transferred into Jaejoong's chemistry class. Thankfully he lets the subject go.
"So how was dinner with your mom's boyfriend?"
Yunho groans, "He's such a tool! I really don't understand what my mom sees in him. It has to be that he has a big penis, it just has to be because nobody can like the guy for his lame personality and his equally lame jokes."
"I'm guessing you were an asshole to him during dinner?" Changmin laughs, extremely well-aware how Yunho can be around people he hates or is annoyed of. Generally Yunho is a fun and loving guy but he is too protective over the people he cares for, especially his mom. Yunho has very high standards and if the people he cares for are messing around with others that are clearly not good enough, he doesn't mask his hatred towards those "cretins" as he so lovingly calls them.
He was probably the sole reason Changmin and Hyang-soon remaining single for so long.
"I wish. Mom kept kicking me under the table and she even told me beforehand to shut up and be nice to the guy. I really don't-" Yunho pauses, straining to hear Hyang-soon's voice calling out to him. "What, mom? I'm on the phone! Hey, Changmin," There was another pause as Yunho yells to Hyang-soon that he'll come downstairs in a moment. "I gotta go, man. Mom's calling me for some reason. I hope the tool is gone by now."
"Yeah, hopefully. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye." Yunho hangs up his phone and slides it back into his pockets. He gets up from his bed and walks back downstairs to see his mother leisurely sitting on the couch, her legs stretched in front of her and crossed at the ankles. The dining table, which they never use unless guests come over, has been tidied up and to Yunho's great happiness, the tool has left their home.
Hyang-soon gives him a sloppy smile and pats the spot beside her. Yunho was sure she was mad at him for leaving so abruptly from dinner but it seems like she was okay with it or she snogged Ki-Woon so hard that all sense fell from her brain and out from her left ear. Yunho nevertheless sits beside her in the same manner as she was, nudging her in the shoulder. He lifts his arms around her and Hyang-soon rests her head on his shoulder, shifting her body so she was curled up against him.
"What's up?" Yunho asks, absentmindedly combing his fingers through her hair.
Hyang-soon lets out a sigh, looking up at Yunho from underneath her lashes. "Man, I really like this guy."
"Me too." Yunho agrees, letting out a sigh himself. Hyang-soon pulls back at that, giving her son a dirty look.
"Yunho, I think Ki-Woon is a little too old for you." Yunho blinks at her a couple times then shakes his head, making a face at her.
"Ew, mom. I meant Jaejoong." Yunho pretends to shudder and Hyang-soon laughs, giving him a light punch to the chest. "Ki-Woon is a douche anyways."
"Wow, that's my boyfriend you're talking about, mister." She pouts and Yunho still doesn't like thinking that such a guy was dating his mom. She really deserves better. "How was my cooking though? Do you think it tasted good? I felt there was not enough salt."
'No amount of salt in the world could save that dish, mom.' Yunho thinks to himself, not that he could ever tell his mom that without getting a beat down from her. Women are weird. They say they want feedback no matter if it was positive or negative but when it is negative, they start getting angry at you and proceed in kicking the living shit out of you. "Yeah, it was amazing." Yunho laughs, giving his mom a thumbs up for extra emphasis. She seems to be happy with that, giving him a smug smile.
"Of course it was. I cooked it! Now only if you weren't here, we could've had sex and made the night end perfectly." She laughs at Yunho's mockingly hurt expression, pinching his cheeks.
"Thanks, mom. I truly feel blessed to have such a loving and doting mother like you. Let me just go pray to all the Gods of every religion to show how thankful I am." Yunho pretends to get up but Hyang-soon just pulls him back down again, laughing even harder in mirth.
"You know I'm joking, babe. So give me the details with Jaejoong. I'm just dying to hear about it!" Hyang-soon all but squeals, nails digging into his shirt as she shakes him about. Yunho is almost terrified she'll shake him so hard all his beautiful knowledge that he has accumulated over the years will bounce around in his skull and break. 'If knowledge is able to be broken.'
Yunho grabs onto her wrists and pulls them free from his shirt that she has stretched out in all the wrong places and he places her hands in her lap, gingerly letting go in case she pounces back on him. "Okay…" He says hesitantly, watching her warily as she has this scary fangirl gleam in her eyes and a very large and creepy smile on her face. "We are going to talk about this nice and calmly, okay? You can't kill me with your fangirl antics. I am your beautiful and amazing son not some disproportionatelybig hands on a big body with a small head yaoi character in some manga."
"Yunho, shut up and just tell me." She still has the smile on her face but her voice is dark and impatient. He gulps, deciding not to test her again.
"Okay, okay. So… I walked Jaejoong home today and became friends-" Yunho plugs his ears as Hyang-soon lets out a scream of delight, clapping her hands like a seal. She gets on her knees, hands clasped together under her chin as she grins even bigger, urging him to continue. "And I asked him to come over but clearly, as you can see, he didn't come."
"At least you made some progress. How did this even happen? I thought you said he thought you were an annoying doofus jock who doesn't know how to woo boys."
Yunho scrunches his eyebrows in thought. "But… But I didn't say that."
Hyang-soon shrugs, "You didn't. But that's what you are."
He rolls his eyes at her albeit still smiling amusedly at her. "Again, thanks for that my loving and doting mom."
"You're welcome. Now please, continue."
Yunho sighs, thinking back from the beginning of the day. So much has happened that it didn't seem real. "Uh, well… I told you at dinner how I transferred into his chemistry class. But it's not because I need it but because I just wanted to have another class with him. We have none aside from gym because he's in grade 11 and I'm in grade 12."
"Oh yeah, I forgot he was a year younger than you. That makes it even cuter." Hyang-soon says dreamily, probably thinking of the many situations like these that were written in her mangas.
"Yeah, so he sits in the back and there was an empty seat beside him. So I obviously sat there. Uh, well… remember the other day how I took his book and he freaked out on me before I could return it to him."
Hyang-soon glowers at him, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I remember. You're still an asshole for doing that."
"Well I tried talking to him about it in class but my dickwad of a teacher, Mr. Park, kept getting mad at me for interrupting the class."
"Naturally."
"Excuse me but he should've known that I was trying to woo Jaejoong and his stupid chemistry can wait." Yunho retorts back, dreading the thought of going to chemistry class again tomorrow. The pain he goes through for love. He should probably try to get to class earlier if he doesn't want Mr. Park on his case all day tomorrow. "Anyways, I wrote him notes but Jaejoong just ignored me throughout the whole time. He didn't even bother looking at what I had written once! Ah, he hurts me so deeply with his coldness." Yunho dramatically holds onto his chest as if he was suffering from deep heartache.
Hyang-soon laughs, elbowing him in his chest. "Spare the melodramatics, Yunho. I really want to meet Jaejoong, he seems like he needs a big hug."
"Uh, no. You wouldn't want to do that. He doesn't like it when people touch him. I learned the hard way. But it was weird, when I was walking him home, I made an effort to keep my hands to myself and not walk so close to him but he actually initiated some… touching. Like he had no problem nudging me with his elbow when I made him laugh."
"You made him laugh?" She says incredulously as if it was up there on the most shocking discovery ever, right beside finding out that fishes can't breathe air.
Yunho gives his mom this look as if to say, and you're surprised? "Well, yeah. I am a funny guy."
"But I thought he hated you."
The auburn haired male groans. "Mom, you'd understand if you stopped interrupting me. Okay, so chemistry class ended and Jaejoong does what he does best and tries to run away from me. I'm one of the best offense for a reason, so I easily catch up to him. I give him his book back but he still doesn't like me at this point and leaves before I could even say anything else to him. Then, we had gym class and I don't know, I guess Changmin was mad that I wasn't paying attention to him or something but I couldn't help it. I had so much to say to Jaejoong and he won't even let me get a word in edgewise."
"Does Changmin know that you like Jaejoong?" Hyang-soon asks and Yunho's a bit tentative if he should tell her that Changmin also likes Jaejoong.
"Well, no. But he likes him still."
Hyang-soon makes a shocked noise, shaking her head in horror. "No. That can't be! This is the worst possible thing to ever happen!"
Yunho nods his head, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know. I didn't bother telling him that I liked Jaejoong as well, I just said that I wanted to be friends with him."
Hyang-soon deflates then, feeling absolutely terrible for her son. "Oh Yunho…"
He shrugs, not wanting to think what he can do to solve this monumental problem. "Yeah, I know. It sucks. But what can I do?"
"You can tell him the truth? That you also like Jaejoong. I mean, it doesn't seem like Jaejoong has any feelings for him." Hyang-soon suggests but Yunho just shakes his head.
"I don't know, mom. I feel bad though because Changmin really likes Jaejoong but then again, so do I. Jaejoong already rejected Changmin before and from then on, he has hated Jaejoong."
Hyang-soon makes a face at that. "He shouldn't hate somebody just because they rejected him."
"Yeah…I agree. Well most people hate Jaejoong because they think he's super cocky and now that he has recently started dressing weirdly, they bully him at times."
She furrows her eyebrows in concern and Yunho sees that she's no longer in a joking mood, fists clenched in her lap. It makes him happy inside seeing his mom already growing a soft spot for Jaejoong. "What do you mean, Yunho?"
"Today in gym class there were a couple of kids that egged another guy on to hit Jaejoong with a basketball really hard." Hyang-soon gasps but Yunho continues on. "Yeah, I was pretty riled up when I found out what happened. I didn't really see who did it and I would've found out but Jaejoong stopped me. Changmin might've seen, I don't really know but when I went to go take Jaejoong to the infirmary, he looked pissed."
"I have to have a talk with that boy. He should've been there to help Jaejoong as well." Hyang-soon tsks, not liking how Changmin was dealing with the situation of his unrequited love.
"The good thing that came out of that was that Jaejoong and I got to know each other a little bit since he didn't want to go to the infirmary and instead wanted to skip class. I skipped class with him." Hyang-soon gives him a pointed look and Yunho shrugs, "All in the name of love, mom. I walked him home but he lives in a really creepy area. I'm not sure but I think it was around Namdaemun?"
"Oh yes, that's not a very good area. Uh, so going back to what you said before, what do you mean Jaejoong dresses weirdly?" Hyang-soon queries and Yunho shifts around on the sofa until he was comfortable.
"He dresses with long sleeve shirts or jackets along with scarves and mitts in this weather."
"Oh, that is odd. Why do you think he does that?" Hyang-soon asks and Yunho isn't sure whether or not he should tell his mom but he knows she wouldn't do anything hasty when they both hardly know anything of what happened to Jaejoong.
"Well, the day I took his book and I tried to return it to him, I saw a bit of his neck because the scarf wasn't on properly. And he uh, he has… burn marks on his neck." Yunho watches as a myriad of emotions wash over Hyang-soon's face and she has her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Looking a bit helpless and confused, she settles back into the couch, worrying her lips between her teeth in thought.
After awhile, Hyang-soon finally opens her mouth, staring at Yunho in complete seriousness. "Yunho, you have to find out what happened to him. I'm afraid… I'm afraid for him, Yunho."
Yunho can only nod his head in agreement, that odd throbbing he felt the first time he saw the burn marks returns to him, only increasing tenfold now that his mother seems to also be worried deeply for Jaejoong. 'Don't worry, mom. Nothing will happen to Jaejoong now that I'm here.'