How To Save A Life (Part 1/4)
Title: How To Save A Life
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Length: 1/4
Summary: Jae is a delinquent, Yunho is a handicapped youth. Can this unlikely duo find some common ground? (Yea, I don't really know what to write here just yet.) This is a friendship fic, absolutely NO ROMANCE whatsoever.
The Hearing…
“I hereby order you to two years probation and six months community service.”
Shit!
Jaejoong ground his teeth as he glared at the judge, his gaze shooting invisible daggers at her robed figure.
Judge Park lowered her glasses and looked back at the petulant youth with stern, unforgiving eyes.
“Young man… I would like to impress upon you the severity of your situation.”
Jae rolled his eyes.
Judge Park pounded her gavel. “Mr. Kim! This is the last time you will appear before me. If you’re arrested again, there will be no hearing, you will automatically be sentenced to a juvenile detention facility until your twenty-first birthday.”
She paused so that he could absorb the severity of her words.
“Need I remind you that next year you will turn eighteen, from which point any crime you are arrested for will no longer be heard in family court and you will be sentenced to jail? No more community service, no probation, not even a juvenile detention center. Jail. Prison. Hard time. A permanent record.”
She paused again to look at the boy, seeing that her words were having little to no impact at all.
“You’re a smart boy, Mr. Kim, and you have potential. I don’t know why you insist on throwing your life away.”
She pounded her gavel again and rose. “Court is adjourned.”
Jae swallowed his temper and turned to his lawyer, not hearing a word the man was saying, not caring enough to listen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mother watching him, pale-faced, eyes strained with worry, hands twisting together at her middle, still dressed in her nurse’s uniform. She’d come straight from work, after her night shift, to his hearing. A pang of guilt struck his heart, making him sick to his stomach. His mother was the only person who mattered to him, the only person who he regretted hurting and disappointing by his actions. Yet, he wouldn’t stop. He didn’t know why he did the things he did, he just couldn’t help himself.
“Why do you do this? You’re on a path of self destruction. This isn’t what daddy would’ve wanted for you.”
He heard his mother’s voice in his head often, usually right before he did something stupid. He might pause, he might hesitate, but he never stopped. He didn’t care to. He knew that it should worry him how little he cared about his life or what happened to him but it didn’t. He’d given up a long time ago.
The Meeting...
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jae muttered.
“Jae!” his mother admonished sharply. “Watch your language.”
“Sorry,” he gritted out.
“The judge decided that this was the best punishment for you. Perhaps you will learn to appreciate all that you have going for you when you spend time with those who aren’t as fortunate.”
“I seriously doubt spending time with a bunch of fucking retards will help change my outlook on life,” he retorted.
His mother glared at him but said nothing as the woman in charge of the place, he’d missed her name, started to speak from the front of the room.
“Firstly, we here at The Lighthouse would like to welcome the newest members of our family.”
There was a round of applause, which had Jae rolling his eyes at the corniness of it. He glanced next to him and saw another kid, a fellow troublemaker, doing the same.
Smiling gaily, the woman quieted the room by raising a hand and continued. “Although society may have turned its back on you, deemed you miscreants…
“Miscreants?” Jae repeated, amused.
“…we here at Lighthouse believe that it is never too late to turn over a new leaf, to start anew. Though we may be surrounded by darkness, we all have within us a beacon of light. We just need to find that light and follow it and it will lead us back to all that is good and righteous. It is never too late to heed the light.”
Jae groaned inwardly. “Heaven save me from this hippie bullshit,” he muttered.
An elbow in the ribs from his very annoyed mother had him grinding his teeth.
The woman clapped eagerly. “Now, we’ve entered the fun part of our little gathering. You each have a nametag with a unique design on the background. Within both groups, the Lighthouse residents and the visitors, our new friends, there is a member with the same corresponding design. Those with the same design will be partners from today onward. Usually we work in groups but this year, we decided to do something different. We want to encourage individual responsibility, both for our residents and our visitors. So at the sound of my whistle, let’s play a game of ‘find the matching pair.’ Are you ready? Let’s go!”
She blew the whistle and a flurry of activity began.
The retards, he noticed, seemed to be taking the game seriously, enjoying it even. The convicts, as he thought of himself and his fellow community servicemen and women, stayed where they were, looking as horrified by the prospect as he imagined he did.
Turning to his mother in a last ditch act of desperation, he grabbed her arms, eyes filled with genuine pleading. “Please, don’t make me do this. Anything but this. I promise to be good from now on.”
It was his mother’s turn to roll her eyes. She shrugged him off and slapped him lightly on the arm. “You brought this on yourself. You had many chances to clean up your act and you wasted them. You’re lucky you get to work indoors, idly passing the time with a group of good kids instead of picking up trash around town like I was aiming for. So be a man, suck it up and go find your partner.”
His mother turned away, just as the woman next to her turned in her direction and the two struck up a conversation about their wayward sons.
Realizing that he’d been summarily dismissed, Jae walked off to the furthest, most isolated corner that he could find and propped himself up against the wall. He was damned if he was going to play this stupid game. Let the retard find him.
He’d been standing in his corner slouching, sulking, for a good ten minutes when a kid in a wheelchair rolled up to him. He didn’t pay any attention at first, assuming the kid had just strayed and would eventually find his way back to wherever he had come from, but when the minutes started ticking by and the kid made no effort to leave, he glanced down at the kid and looked him straight in the eye.
“What?”
The kid looked at him for a split second, then his lips spread into a wide smile, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree, nose and eyes scrunched up, hidden beneath the huge glasses he wore.
Sticking out his hand, the kid said, “Hi, I’m Yunho. Jung Yunho. I’ll be your partner this summer.”
Jae looked down at the kid as if he’d just said the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. Slapping his hand away, he pushed off the wall.
“I have no partner. Don’t need one.”
“Everyone has to have a partner,” he was informed. “Miss Crispin said so. Rules are rules.”
“Yeah, well… Miss Crispin’s rules don’t apply to me.”
“They’re for everyone,” Yunho said matter-of-factly.
Jae glared down at the kid. “Not for me, they aren’t. Besides,” he added, “I’m not going to be here long enough to ever need to learn them.”
“I thought all the bad kids were going to be here for the entire summer and beyond. Do you have a shorter sentence?” he asked, genuinely curious.
Jae laughed. “Something like that.”
Yunho frowned. “You sound like you’re up to something. You really shouldn’t cause trouble. Miss Crispin doesn’t like troublemakers.”
“Miss Crispin can kiss my ass.”
Yunho gasped. “You said a bad word! Miss Crispin would be very angry if she heard about this.”
“Would she? Hmm… Well if she doesn’t like it, she can go fuck herself after she finishes kissing my ass.”
Yunho’s eyes widened even more.
“What?” Jae taunted. “Cat got your tongue?”
Yunho frowned again. “You’re not a very nice person, are you? There’s no light in you.”
Jae’s brows furrowed. “You don’t need to tell me that, kid. I know. Trust me.”
Yunho’s expression lit up again. “But it’s not too late. You can find it again. Miss Crispin says it’s never too late to start over.”
“Miss Crispin doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”
“But…”
“Just shut up, would you.”
“That’s very rude.”
“Oh, bite me.”
Day 1…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!” Yunho greeted enthusiastically.
“Don’t talk to me,” he snapped.
“We’re partners, we have to talk to each other.”
“Says who?”
“Says…” Yunho stopped, not having an exact answer for the question.
Jae nodded. “I thought so.”
Day 2…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!”
“Shut up.”
Day 5…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!”
Jae groaned inwardly. He’d gone to bed late and had to wake up early. He didn’t have the strength or the inclination to deal with the kid today but he couldn’t miss any days or he would be in violation of his community service and sentenced to juvenile lockup by default. He wasn’t going to be sent away on a technicality.
“Just…talk softly,” he pleaded.
Yunho lowered his voice to a whisper. “Like this? Are you sick? Do you want me to call Miss Crispin?”
He shook his head. “No, no. Don’t call Miss Crispin. Let’s keep this between you and I.”
“You and me,” Yunho corrected.
“Yeah, that.”
“Don’t feel bad. It’s a common misuse of the personal pronouns. People have been doing it for centuries, they get confused between the two. You know…”
Jae groaned again, this time out loud.
Day 10…
Jae stood against the wall at the back of the center, puffing away on a cigarette.
“You know, you aren’t supposed to smoke here,” Yunho pointed out.
“Is that so?” he asked idly.
“A lot of the kids have allergies and respiratory illnesses. You can get into real trouble if you’re caught.”
Jae shrugged. “I guess I’m going to have to take my chances.”
“If Miss Crispin found out…”
Jae looked Yunho straight in the eyes. “How would she find out? Do you plan on telling her?”
Yunho’s eyes widened in surprise. “No!” he cried, shaking his head vehemently. “Miss Crispin said we must never tattle on others.”
“Miss Crispin is right. She’s a wise, wise woman.”
Yunho nodded. “She’s always right.”
“I’m sure…”
“Last…”
“Shut up, retard.”
“That’s not a very nice word.”
“Shut up, Yunho.”
Day 20…
Jae pushed the wheelchair along the path in the park, his eyes flitting between the trees to the kids and the animals gallivanting in the park as he breathed in the cool, fresh air.
It was his and Yunho’s first escapade outside of the center. They were doing really well, Miss Crispin said, and seemed to have bonded even more than she’d ever expected. As such, they deserved a reward. Yunho loved the park and she thought that Jae might appreciate some time away from the center so she’d given them permission to take a stroll. No longer than an hour, she’d warned before they departed.
“How old are you?” Yunho asked.
He’d been playing ‘20 Questions’ by himself since they’d left the center. If he felt like it, Jae indulged him with a response, otherwise, he ignored him.
“17.”
“Hmm…”
“How old are you?” Jae asked, suddenly curious.
“14,” Yunho said proudly.
Jae stopped in his tracks and looked down at the black, shiny head in front of him. “You’re kidding me.”
Yunho shook his head. “No, I am 14.”
He resumed walking. “You look so…”
“Young?” Yunho supplied. “I know. People always say that. I can’t help it.”
“Huh…”
They fell into silence for a few minutes until Yunho broke it with another question.
“What did you get arrested for?”
“This time?”
Yunho gasped. “You’ve been arrested more than once?”
Jae laughed. “You have no idea…”
“Wow…” Yunho breathed in awe.
“I got caught stealing.”
“What did you steal?”
“I don’t even remember.”
“Why did you steal it?”
“Because.”
“Because…?”
“Because I felt like it.”
Yunho sighed. “That’s not a very good reason to do something illegal.”
Jae shrugged. “It’s the only reason I got.”
“Why do you suppose you do the things you do?”
He’d been asked that question many times, had asked himself even more. He never had an answer.
“Time to go back,” he announced, turning Yunho’s chair around.
When Yunho groaned in disappointment, Jae smiled.
Day 31…
Jae walked through the front doors of the center and headed for the row of lockers against the far wall. He placed his bag inside his designated cubby and locked it.
Turning back to the room, he looked around for Yunho, finding it strange that he hadn’t come to him as he usually did as soon as he arrived.
“Oh, good morning Jaejoong,” Miss Crispin greeted, coming out of her office.
He nodded and mumbled a reply.
Realizing that Yunho was nowhere in sight, he cleared his throat and asked, “Did Yunho not come today?”
Miss Crispin’s eyes widened. “Yunho? No, he’s here.” She looked around the room in search of the missing boy, coming up empty just as Jae had. “Hmm…he was here just a minute ago, anxiously awaiting your arrival like he always does,” she added with a smile.
Jae felt his cheeks flush slightly.
“Ahh!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. “He must be out back. Some of the older kids were taking some fresh air outside since it’s so warm in here, even with the AC on.”
Jae nodded. “I’ll go look.”
He made his way to the back of the building and down the short hall that led to the garden outside.
“Haha,” someone laughed. “Look at him try to grab for it. Useless piece of shit.”
“Fucking retard,” another voice spoke. “Look at that freaky cripple hand of his.”
“Give it back!”
He recognized Yunho’s voice instantly.
When he rounded the corner to the side of the building, he stopped in his tracks.
Three of the kids who had come into the program with him were in a circle around Yunho. One held a juice box above his head out of his reach.
Yunho, limited by his wheelchair, pathetically held his hand up to the juice box, despite it being impossibly out of reach.
Jae felt anger burn in his gut.
Clearing his throat, he narrowed his eyes in the coldest, meanest expression he could muster. “What’s going on here?”
“Oh, hey Jae,” Kevin, the leader of the misfits, greeted. “Just having some fun with the retard here. Look at him trying to reach for his juice.” He laughed as he held it above Yunho’s head, beyond his feeble grasp. “So pathetic…”
“Give it back,” Jae ordered.
“Huh?” Kevin looked at Jae, his stupid grin still in place as he didn’t fully comprehend the situation.
“I said give him back his juice. Now.”
Kevin frowned. “We’re just having some fun. What’s with you? You hate this place as much as we do. What, are you starting to sympathize with the retards now?”
“Just give him back his juice and get the fuck out of here. Don’t make me repeat myself,” Jae warned.
Jae held his ground as the other boys sized him up. They were three to his one but he had a far worse reputation than the three of them put together. He’d been in fights, had a fighter’s body from years of Taekwondo and could defend himself if need be.
Finally deciding that it wasn’t worth their while, Kevin dropped the juice box unceremoniously into Yunho’s lap, said “Let’s leave these queers alone,” and walked away, brushing Jae’s shoulder as he passed.
He had probably just made three enemies, he knew, and word would get around to the other ‘convicts’. They weren’t all bad, though. Some had actually taken to this big brother/mentoring/rehabilitation program. Regardless of what happened, he knew he would be fine.
Clearing his throat, he walked towards Yunho, kneeling beside him. “You alright?”
Yunho, who was wiping at the juice that had spilled on him when the juice box landed in his lap, smiled up at Jae. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Why didn’t you scream for help or something?” he asked curiously.
Yunho looked at him blankly. “I wasn’t in any danger.”
Jae frowned. “Three guys were just picking on you, I’d call that danger.”
Yunho smiled again. “They’re bullies and they’re mean but they wouldn’t have hurt me.”
Jae’s frown deepened. “You never know… You can’t be too trusting of people in this world.”
“I trust you,” Yunho said simply, and went back to wiping at his clothes.
Jae froze for a moment at the casually spoken yet deeply meaningful words. He felt a strange sensation in his chest but was too afraid to examine it.
Clearing his throat again, he stood. “Yeah, well… And why didn’t you tell them not to call you retard?”
“You call me retard all the time,” Yunho pointed out.
“Yeah, but… You tell me not to call you that all the time as well.”
“And still, you do.”
“Maybe… Anyway, from now on, no one calls you retard but me, okay?”
Yunho cocked his head to the side. “Why?”
Jae sighed. “Just say yes.”
“But…”
“Yunho…” Jae groaned threateningly.
Yunho’s eyes widened. “Okay!” he said hurriedly.
Jae nodded. “Good.” He grabbed Yunho’s juice box and stuck the straw between his lips, sucking in big gulps.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Yunho protested.
“And now it’s mine,” Jae corrected him. “All this talking made me thirsty. It’s your own fault for being such a chatterbox.”
Yunho giggled. “Chatterbox,” he repeated, then squealed with laughter.
Jae smiled slightly. He sat on an overturned pot next to Yunho and turned to look at the garden.
It was beautiful here.
Click Next up top ^ to move onto the next part.
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Length: 1/4
Summary: Jae is a delinquent, Yunho is a handicapped youth. Can this unlikely duo find some common ground? (Yea, I don't really know what to write here just yet.) This is a friendship fic, absolutely NO ROMANCE whatsoever.
The Hearing…
“I hereby order you to two years probation and six months community service.”
Shit!
Jaejoong ground his teeth as he glared at the judge, his gaze shooting invisible daggers at her robed figure.
Judge Park lowered her glasses and looked back at the petulant youth with stern, unforgiving eyes.
“Young man… I would like to impress upon you the severity of your situation.”
Jae rolled his eyes.
Judge Park pounded her gavel. “Mr. Kim! This is the last time you will appear before me. If you’re arrested again, there will be no hearing, you will automatically be sentenced to a juvenile detention facility until your twenty-first birthday.”
She paused so that he could absorb the severity of her words.
“Need I remind you that next year you will turn eighteen, from which point any crime you are arrested for will no longer be heard in family court and you will be sentenced to jail? No more community service, no probation, not even a juvenile detention center. Jail. Prison. Hard time. A permanent record.”
She paused again to look at the boy, seeing that her words were having little to no impact at all.
“You’re a smart boy, Mr. Kim, and you have potential. I don’t know why you insist on throwing your life away.”
She pounded her gavel again and rose. “Court is adjourned.”
Jae swallowed his temper and turned to his lawyer, not hearing a word the man was saying, not caring enough to listen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mother watching him, pale-faced, eyes strained with worry, hands twisting together at her middle, still dressed in her nurse’s uniform. She’d come straight from work, after her night shift, to his hearing. A pang of guilt struck his heart, making him sick to his stomach. His mother was the only person who mattered to him, the only person who he regretted hurting and disappointing by his actions. Yet, he wouldn’t stop. He didn’t know why he did the things he did, he just couldn’t help himself.
“Why do you do this? You’re on a path of self destruction. This isn’t what daddy would’ve wanted for you.”
He heard his mother’s voice in his head often, usually right before he did something stupid. He might pause, he might hesitate, but he never stopped. He didn’t care to. He knew that it should worry him how little he cared about his life or what happened to him but it didn’t. He’d given up a long time ago.
The Meeting...
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jae muttered.
“Jae!” his mother admonished sharply. “Watch your language.”
“Sorry,” he gritted out.
“The judge decided that this was the best punishment for you. Perhaps you will learn to appreciate all that you have going for you when you spend time with those who aren’t as fortunate.”
“I seriously doubt spending time with a bunch of fucking retards will help change my outlook on life,” he retorted.
His mother glared at him but said nothing as the woman in charge of the place, he’d missed her name, started to speak from the front of the room.
“Firstly, we here at The Lighthouse would like to welcome the newest members of our family.”
There was a round of applause, which had Jae rolling his eyes at the corniness of it. He glanced next to him and saw another kid, a fellow troublemaker, doing the same.
Smiling gaily, the woman quieted the room by raising a hand and continued. “Although society may have turned its back on you, deemed you miscreants…
“Miscreants?” Jae repeated, amused.
“…we here at Lighthouse believe that it is never too late to turn over a new leaf, to start anew. Though we may be surrounded by darkness, we all have within us a beacon of light. We just need to find that light and follow it and it will lead us back to all that is good and righteous. It is never too late to heed the light.”
Jae groaned inwardly. “Heaven save me from this hippie bullshit,” he muttered.
An elbow in the ribs from his very annoyed mother had him grinding his teeth.
The woman clapped eagerly. “Now, we’ve entered the fun part of our little gathering. You each have a nametag with a unique design on the background. Within both groups, the Lighthouse residents and the visitors, our new friends, there is a member with the same corresponding design. Those with the same design will be partners from today onward. Usually we work in groups but this year, we decided to do something different. We want to encourage individual responsibility, both for our residents and our visitors. So at the sound of my whistle, let’s play a game of ‘find the matching pair.’ Are you ready? Let’s go!”
She blew the whistle and a flurry of activity began.
The retards, he noticed, seemed to be taking the game seriously, enjoying it even. The convicts, as he thought of himself and his fellow community servicemen and women, stayed where they were, looking as horrified by the prospect as he imagined he did.
Turning to his mother in a last ditch act of desperation, he grabbed her arms, eyes filled with genuine pleading. “Please, don’t make me do this. Anything but this. I promise to be good from now on.”
It was his mother’s turn to roll her eyes. She shrugged him off and slapped him lightly on the arm. “You brought this on yourself. You had many chances to clean up your act and you wasted them. You’re lucky you get to work indoors, idly passing the time with a group of good kids instead of picking up trash around town like I was aiming for. So be a man, suck it up and go find your partner.”
His mother turned away, just as the woman next to her turned in her direction and the two struck up a conversation about their wayward sons.
Realizing that he’d been summarily dismissed, Jae walked off to the furthest, most isolated corner that he could find and propped himself up against the wall. He was damned if he was going to play this stupid game. Let the retard find him.
He’d been standing in his corner slouching, sulking, for a good ten minutes when a kid in a wheelchair rolled up to him. He didn’t pay any attention at first, assuming the kid had just strayed and would eventually find his way back to wherever he had come from, but when the minutes started ticking by and the kid made no effort to leave, he glanced down at the kid and looked him straight in the eye.
“What?”
The kid looked at him for a split second, then his lips spread into a wide smile, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree, nose and eyes scrunched up, hidden beneath the huge glasses he wore.
Sticking out his hand, the kid said, “Hi, I’m Yunho. Jung Yunho. I’ll be your partner this summer.”
Jae looked down at the kid as if he’d just said the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. Slapping his hand away, he pushed off the wall.
“I have no partner. Don’t need one.”
“Everyone has to have a partner,” he was informed. “Miss Crispin said so. Rules are rules.”
“Yeah, well… Miss Crispin’s rules don’t apply to me.”
“They’re for everyone,” Yunho said matter-of-factly.
Jae glared down at the kid. “Not for me, they aren’t. Besides,” he added, “I’m not going to be here long enough to ever need to learn them.”
“I thought all the bad kids were going to be here for the entire summer and beyond. Do you have a shorter sentence?” he asked, genuinely curious.
Jae laughed. “Something like that.”
Yunho frowned. “You sound like you’re up to something. You really shouldn’t cause trouble. Miss Crispin doesn’t like troublemakers.”
“Miss Crispin can kiss my ass.”
Yunho gasped. “You said a bad word! Miss Crispin would be very angry if she heard about this.”
“Would she? Hmm… Well if she doesn’t like it, she can go fuck herself after she finishes kissing my ass.”
Yunho’s eyes widened even more.
“What?” Jae taunted. “Cat got your tongue?”
Yunho frowned again. “You’re not a very nice person, are you? There’s no light in you.”
Jae’s brows furrowed. “You don’t need to tell me that, kid. I know. Trust me.”
Yunho’s expression lit up again. “But it’s not too late. You can find it again. Miss Crispin says it’s never too late to start over.”
“Miss Crispin doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”
“But…”
“Just shut up, would you.”
“That’s very rude.”
“Oh, bite me.”
Day 1…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!” Yunho greeted enthusiastically.
“Don’t talk to me,” he snapped.
“We’re partners, we have to talk to each other.”
“Says who?”
“Says…” Yunho stopped, not having an exact answer for the question.
Jae nodded. “I thought so.”
Day 2…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!”
“Shut up.”
Day 5…
“Good-morning Jaejoong!”
Jae groaned inwardly. He’d gone to bed late and had to wake up early. He didn’t have the strength or the inclination to deal with the kid today but he couldn’t miss any days or he would be in violation of his community service and sentenced to juvenile lockup by default. He wasn’t going to be sent away on a technicality.
“Just…talk softly,” he pleaded.
Yunho lowered his voice to a whisper. “Like this? Are you sick? Do you want me to call Miss Crispin?”
He shook his head. “No, no. Don’t call Miss Crispin. Let’s keep this between you and I.”
“You and me,” Yunho corrected.
“Yeah, that.”
“Don’t feel bad. It’s a common misuse of the personal pronouns. People have been doing it for centuries, they get confused between the two. You know…”
Jae groaned again, this time out loud.
Day 10…
Jae stood against the wall at the back of the center, puffing away on a cigarette.
“You know, you aren’t supposed to smoke here,” Yunho pointed out.
“Is that so?” he asked idly.
“A lot of the kids have allergies and respiratory illnesses. You can get into real trouble if you’re caught.”
Jae shrugged. “I guess I’m going to have to take my chances.”
“If Miss Crispin found out…”
Jae looked Yunho straight in the eyes. “How would she find out? Do you plan on telling her?”
Yunho’s eyes widened in surprise. “No!” he cried, shaking his head vehemently. “Miss Crispin said we must never tattle on others.”
“Miss Crispin is right. She’s a wise, wise woman.”
Yunho nodded. “She’s always right.”
“I’m sure…”
“Last…”
“Shut up, retard.”
“That’s not a very nice word.”
“Shut up, Yunho.”
Day 20…
Jae pushed the wheelchair along the path in the park, his eyes flitting between the trees to the kids and the animals gallivanting in the park as he breathed in the cool, fresh air.
It was his and Yunho’s first escapade outside of the center. They were doing really well, Miss Crispin said, and seemed to have bonded even more than she’d ever expected. As such, they deserved a reward. Yunho loved the park and she thought that Jae might appreciate some time away from the center so she’d given them permission to take a stroll. No longer than an hour, she’d warned before they departed.
“How old are you?” Yunho asked.
He’d been playing ‘20 Questions’ by himself since they’d left the center. If he felt like it, Jae indulged him with a response, otherwise, he ignored him.
“17.”
“Hmm…”
“How old are you?” Jae asked, suddenly curious.
“14,” Yunho said proudly.
Jae stopped in his tracks and looked down at the black, shiny head in front of him. “You’re kidding me.”
Yunho shook his head. “No, I am 14.”
He resumed walking. “You look so…”
“Young?” Yunho supplied. “I know. People always say that. I can’t help it.”
“Huh…”
They fell into silence for a few minutes until Yunho broke it with another question.
“What did you get arrested for?”
“This time?”
Yunho gasped. “You’ve been arrested more than once?”
Jae laughed. “You have no idea…”
“Wow…” Yunho breathed in awe.
“I got caught stealing.”
“What did you steal?”
“I don’t even remember.”
“Why did you steal it?”
“Because.”
“Because…?”
“Because I felt like it.”
Yunho sighed. “That’s not a very good reason to do something illegal.”
Jae shrugged. “It’s the only reason I got.”
“Why do you suppose you do the things you do?”
He’d been asked that question many times, had asked himself even more. He never had an answer.
“Time to go back,” he announced, turning Yunho’s chair around.
When Yunho groaned in disappointment, Jae smiled.
Day 31…
Jae walked through the front doors of the center and headed for the row of lockers against the far wall. He placed his bag inside his designated cubby and locked it.
Turning back to the room, he looked around for Yunho, finding it strange that he hadn’t come to him as he usually did as soon as he arrived.
“Oh, good morning Jaejoong,” Miss Crispin greeted, coming out of her office.
He nodded and mumbled a reply.
Realizing that Yunho was nowhere in sight, he cleared his throat and asked, “Did Yunho not come today?”
Miss Crispin’s eyes widened. “Yunho? No, he’s here.” She looked around the room in search of the missing boy, coming up empty just as Jae had. “Hmm…he was here just a minute ago, anxiously awaiting your arrival like he always does,” she added with a smile.
Jae felt his cheeks flush slightly.
“Ahh!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. “He must be out back. Some of the older kids were taking some fresh air outside since it’s so warm in here, even with the AC on.”
Jae nodded. “I’ll go look.”
He made his way to the back of the building and down the short hall that led to the garden outside.
“Haha,” someone laughed. “Look at him try to grab for it. Useless piece of shit.”
“Fucking retard,” another voice spoke. “Look at that freaky cripple hand of his.”
“Give it back!”
He recognized Yunho’s voice instantly.
When he rounded the corner to the side of the building, he stopped in his tracks.
Three of the kids who had come into the program with him were in a circle around Yunho. One held a juice box above his head out of his reach.
Yunho, limited by his wheelchair, pathetically held his hand up to the juice box, despite it being impossibly out of reach.
Jae felt anger burn in his gut.
Clearing his throat, he narrowed his eyes in the coldest, meanest expression he could muster. “What’s going on here?”
“Oh, hey Jae,” Kevin, the leader of the misfits, greeted. “Just having some fun with the retard here. Look at him trying to reach for his juice.” He laughed as he held it above Yunho’s head, beyond his feeble grasp. “So pathetic…”
“Give it back,” Jae ordered.
“Huh?” Kevin looked at Jae, his stupid grin still in place as he didn’t fully comprehend the situation.
“I said give him back his juice. Now.”
Kevin frowned. “We’re just having some fun. What’s with you? You hate this place as much as we do. What, are you starting to sympathize with the retards now?”
“Just give him back his juice and get the fuck out of here. Don’t make me repeat myself,” Jae warned.
Jae held his ground as the other boys sized him up. They were three to his one but he had a far worse reputation than the three of them put together. He’d been in fights, had a fighter’s body from years of Taekwondo and could defend himself if need be.
Finally deciding that it wasn’t worth their while, Kevin dropped the juice box unceremoniously into Yunho’s lap, said “Let’s leave these queers alone,” and walked away, brushing Jae’s shoulder as he passed.
He had probably just made three enemies, he knew, and word would get around to the other ‘convicts’. They weren’t all bad, though. Some had actually taken to this big brother/mentoring/rehabilitation program. Regardless of what happened, he knew he would be fine.
Clearing his throat, he walked towards Yunho, kneeling beside him. “You alright?”
Yunho, who was wiping at the juice that had spilled on him when the juice box landed in his lap, smiled up at Jae. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Why didn’t you scream for help or something?” he asked curiously.
Yunho looked at him blankly. “I wasn’t in any danger.”
Jae frowned. “Three guys were just picking on you, I’d call that danger.”
Yunho smiled again. “They’re bullies and they’re mean but they wouldn’t have hurt me.”
Jae’s frown deepened. “You never know… You can’t be too trusting of people in this world.”
“I trust you,” Yunho said simply, and went back to wiping at his clothes.
Jae froze for a moment at the casually spoken yet deeply meaningful words. He felt a strange sensation in his chest but was too afraid to examine it.
Clearing his throat again, he stood. “Yeah, well… And why didn’t you tell them not to call you retard?”
“You call me retard all the time,” Yunho pointed out.
“Yeah, but… You tell me not to call you that all the time as well.”
“And still, you do.”
“Maybe… Anyway, from now on, no one calls you retard but me, okay?”
Yunho cocked his head to the side. “Why?”
Jae sighed. “Just say yes.”
“But…”
“Yunho…” Jae groaned threateningly.
Yunho’s eyes widened. “Okay!” he said hurriedly.
Jae nodded. “Good.” He grabbed Yunho’s juice box and stuck the straw between his lips, sucking in big gulps.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Yunho protested.
“And now it’s mine,” Jae corrected him. “All this talking made me thirsty. It’s your own fault for being such a chatterbox.”
Yunho giggled. “Chatterbox,” he repeated, then squealed with laughter.
Jae smiled slightly. He sat on an overturned pot next to Yunho and turned to look at the garden.
It was beautiful here.
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