Incomplete Fic Dump
Here's a bunch of stuff I was working on for the latest Remix_Redux challenge. They're unfinished and will remain that way. Just thought I'd share them anyway for anyone interested in scrapped fic ideas ^.^
Featuring: JunSu/ChangMin, implied DongHae/KyuHyun, cameo by EunHyuk
Notes: Corporate AU, humor.
"Hey, have you heard?"
JunSu tears his eyes from the depressingly long column of account receivables on his laptop and stares, unimpressed, at the person talking to him. "No, but whatever it is I'm sure I'm about to."
DongHae grins mischievously as he clings to the shoulder-height partition that separates their cubicles. "You didn't hear it from me-"
"Of course."
"-but I heard that the old Love Tunnel is about to be converted." DongHae winks and ducks back into his cubicle. He counts to three, and sure enough-
JunSu scrambles to his feet and peers over into DongHae's equally confining cubicle. "What, the old storage closet down the hall?"
"Yup."
JunSu's eyes widens in disbelief. "The one where you and K-" DongHae's cough drowns out the rest of the word "-used to make out?"
"The same one."
"The one where-"
"-hot passionate sex supposedly happens between various combinations of employees during break times or slow hours?" DongHae says, interrupting before JunSu's incredulity could gather momentum. "Yes, that one."
"They can't do that!"
DongHae laughs, thankful that the other guy who shares their room hasn't come back yet. Breaking the news is so much fun. "Technically, they can. Besides, my source said management still hasn't heard the old rumors."
"So what are they turning it into?" JunSu asks, not caring who this supposed 'source' is. Good gossip is good gossip, and almost all gossip can be traced back to HeeChul anyway. "Please tell me there'll be sofas involved."
"We can only wish," DongHae says as he leans back against his chair and stretches. "But I think they're turning it into a satellite office for the I.T. department. I heard Supervisor Jung complaining about how long it takes for the I.T. guys upstairs to send support whenever we have problems here on our floor."
"Huh," JunSu says thoughtfully. "Okay, plus points for productivity, but minus infinity points for over-all fun." He stares back at his laptop. "But on the plus side, I might actually be able to finish my TPS sheets on time."
The door swings open and in walks KyuHyun with an armload of invoice receipts while grumbling somewhat incoherently about incompetent regional representatives who can't keep organized inventories worth shit.
"Hey, have you heard?" DongHae asks as he swivels his chair to follow KyuHyun.
KyuHyun takes a calming breath and, in a voice that loudly proclaims that the day couldn't possibly get any worse, asks, "What now?"
DongHae ignores the negativity. "They're handing over the Love Tunnel to the I.T. guys."
KyuHyun's jaw drops as Murphy's Law hits another homerun on his head. "What, the storage closet down the hall?"
"Correct."
"The one where we used to make out?"
"That exact one."
"They can't do that!"
JunSu remembers something important. "Didn't you tell me you guys kept condoms there?"
DongHae and KyuHyun stare at each other.
An instant later, there's mad scrambling for the door.
~*~
They get there just in the nick of time. Well, depending on the perspective.
"Damn it," KyuHyun hisses.
DongHae stares at the light shining from the tiny gap between the door and the floor. "They weren't supposed to move in until tomorrow."
"Maybe they're checking the place out?" JunSu suggested.
The door opens. DongHae dives behind a potted plant while KyuHyun tries to act natural, as if lounging right outside a closet was his perfect place in the world. JunSu tries to join in.
He really does.
But the longest pair of legs he's ever seen steps out of the closet. And he couldn't stop gawking.
There could have been violin music. There was definitely birdsong, but how two bluebirds managed make an appearance was currently beyond JunSu's mindset. The lights in the hallway dimmed to the silver of moonlight. There were rainbows and sparkles and, against all possibility, butterflies made of rainbows and sparkles. There were fleeting visions of forever as JunSu saw himself getting married in a splendid white ceremony with DongHae and KyuHyun as best men and HyukJae, his best friend, presiding over the wedding, culminating with the echoes of "You may now kiss the legs," and he leans down for the kiss.
Meanwhile, back in the other world, KyuHyun catches one glimpse of JunSu's expression and says, "Better leave the condoms where they are, hyung."
~*~
JunSu tells himself he doesn't have a leg fetish because if he does, he'd certainly have jumped KyuHyun by now. Or maybe it was just because KyuHyun's legs, although superior specimen in their own right, just couldn't compare to this new... discovery.
Yes, even when KyuHyun rolls his pants up whenever he passes by JunSu's spot.
"I should be offended, shouldn't I?" KyuHyun asks DongHae over JunSu's head as he flexes his claves practically right in front of JunSu's face.
DongHae smirks even as he pulls together a presentation of last month's sales performance. "Hey lay off him," he says sternly. "He's a very busy boy and he needs to concentrate."
JunSu knows better than to say thanks. He ticks off the numbers in his head. One. Two-
DongHae swivels his chair and, in a single action, pulls his pant sleeves up and lays a bare calf on JunSu's lap. "Incidentally, 'Su, would you mind rating my own sample against your impeccable standards?"
JunSu takes a deep and nominally calming breath. Then another. And another.
"I'm given to understand that it's not just about length," KyuHyun adds as he drapes his right leg over JunSu's shoulder.
"Fuck this, I'm taking off," JunSu snaps and grabs his jacket amidst teasing hoots and friendly apologies.
~*~
"It's not like I've never seen legs before!" JunSu wails before he downs the shot of tequila rose placed in front of him. The bartender nods knowingly and refreshes the glass. "I stare at someone's legs for a moment and DongHae and KyuHyun have a fucking field day about it! It's not like I made out with anyone in the open." He drinks the liquor without even looking at it.
HyukJae keeps polishing the counter. There weren't any other customers to wait on since a) it's too early for the dinner crowd, and b) the bar was still technically closed.
As JunSu knows very well, there are perks to being friends with the barkeep.
"Why do you think you noticed these legs?" HyukJae asks, saving JunSu hours and money of therapy. Although he personally liked to think it wasn't that different: just trade the couch for a bar and pills for the right kind of drink and there you have it. Inebriation therapy is the way to go.
JunSu glared at him. "You're a bartender, not a fucking psychotherapist. Shut up and pour me a drink."
Of course, clients may see it differently. HyukJae gives him a nonchalant shrug and pours the next shot.
"I mean, it's not like I wanted to notice those legs," JunSu went on. "They were just there. They walked past me and... and how could I not notice them?" He drinks the shot and stares glumly at the empty glass.
"Tell me about these legs," HyukJae asks with feigned disinterest.
JunSu gave in. "They were long and perky and seemed very firm," he mumbled to the counter.
HyukJae pointedly refills the shot glass.
The tension breaks and JunSu gives his first chuckle. "You are such an enabler."
"Isn't that why we're best friends?"
JunSu drains the shot and pulls out his wallet. "That, and because no one else will have you." He winks, drops a few bills on the counter and stalks out of the bar.
~*~
The office was almost empty by the time JunSu returns. There was a note on his laptop with an apology from DongHae, and the long-legged stick figure at the bottom was the work of no one else but KyuHyun. He decides that he'll deal with it later and powers up his laptop. He has work to do, reports to finish, powerpoint slides to design-
Pass codes to enter that his laptop was rejecting.
JunSu stares at the entry screen. He enters his code again, but the response was the same.
"The hell," he mumbles and clicks on the clue icon.
Allow me to push you in the right direction. -KH
~*~
"So you're saying you got locked out of your own computer?"
JunSu was finding it very hard to keep his eyes above waist level.
[End of fic]
Featuring: ChangMin, YooChun
Notes: I.T. AU
"Did you get the memo?" YooChun asks as soon as he enters their office.
ChangMin doesn't bother looking at him. "Is this supposed memo actual, figurative, theoretical, or imaginary?" A soft yet conditionally ominous 'ding!' chimed from the laptop he was working on. "Of course it failed to complete."
YooChun stares. "How many of those have you worked on? Rounded out to the nearest ten."
"Fifty."
"Are you fucking serious?!"
ChangMin turns to face YooChun, eye bags, stress lines and rumpled clothes showing testament to his dedication. "Well, forty-five actually. But you said to round out."
"And you stayed here all night?" YooChun asks, still in disbelief.
"Don't be silly."
"Whew," YooChun whistled in relief. "I thought-"
"I had to go to the Starbucks around the corner for a caffeine fix."
YooChun goes back to staring.
"But when they closed, I had to settle for the nearby 7-11." ChangMin points to the small stack of paper cups in tell-tale green and orange. "You know, their coffee isn't half bad when you give it a shot. It doesn't taste quite like engine oil as you proposed."
YooChun carefully lays a palm on ChangMin's forehead. It's a testament to how out of it ChangMin really is that he doesn't even budge in protest. "You're sticky and sweaty, you're this close to running a fever-" he raises his hand to his nose "-and you stink. What brilliant reason did you have for staying here overnight?" YooChun tugs the laptop from ChangMin's unresisting hands and sets it precariously on a teetering pile of upgraded ones.
ChangMin grabs his head and just gives himself time to breathe. "We needed to get all these upgrades done by the weekend. In case you forgot, that's two days from now."
"One."
"What?"
"Tomorrow's the weekend," YooChun explains with the tones of worry beginning to creep in. "And you're so out of it you're not even snarky."
"See? All the more reason to be urgent."
"Forget this, I'm calling for help."
"Yeah, get the guys from executive support to pitch in a few hours of actual work for a change," ChangMin calls out as YooChun rounds a corner.
[End of fic]
Pairings: YooChun/YunHo
Notes: 2nd Person POV, YooChun-centric, pre-DBSK
You know when it all began. Or when it began for you, at least.
Once upon a time, during days of endless dancing and competitive singing, back when you were but an awkward trainee and Dong Bang Shin Ki was nothing more than a faint glimpse of an impossible dream... something began then. You'd gotten used to bouts of loneliness and endless insecurities interspersed with rare cheer whenever JaeJoong was around. You kept wondering if you'll ever stop thinking if coming back to Korea was a mistake, that maybe Virginia isn't that bad after all. But more often were the worries that you're just fooling yourself that you could do this, that you could be - dare you use the word? - an idol.
And during all that, you'd always felt those eyes following your every move; eyes which were very different from judging coaches or paranoid co-trainees.
Even back then, YunHo was already different.
~*~
"Your ex-bandmate has been staring at me for the past five minutes," you tell JaeJoong flatly during lunch break.
JaeJoong's head whips around so fast it's a wonder his neck doesn't pop. You both see YunHo startle, blush, and immerse himself in conversation with the other ex-Four Seasons.
"Hyung, your lack of subtlety is a legend in its own right," you say with an exaggerated sigh.
JaeJoong shrugs and goes back to eating his hot sauce. Not hot sauce with anything. Just hot sauce. "I got him to stop, didn't I?"
You nod glumly. You wonder if you should tell JaeJoong that you don't actually mind.
~*~
Dong Bang Shin Ki is announced behind closed doors. The company has big plans for you. There's talk about albums, concerts abroad, additional training, images that completely clash with your personalities... and the five of you living together.
You greet the news with an overwhelming surge of nervousness. You're not ready for this, you tell yourself repeatedly. Your soon-to-be image sucks, your skin hasn't cleared up, your voice still cracks at the higher notes, nobody will notice you between the beautiful JaeJoong, the cute ChangMin, the flexible JunSu, and the macho YunHo... You'll just be the tag-along who's simply there to balance it all down.
"It's not a big deal," JaeJoong tells you guardedly as you walk down the suddenly too bright hallway back to the training studios. You remember that it's the second time he's been promised all that, and you forgive him for adding a bit of realism to your worries.
But there's another guy like that. You resolve to talk to him one of these days.
~*~
But it's harder than it looks.
He's a nice guy, everyone knows that, but... it's just harder than it looks.
~*~
Somehow, you never got the vibe that he wasn't welcome in YunHo's bed.
Sure, everyone got to try cuddling with YunHo, but there always came a point when he reminded them that they had five beds for a reason. Like when JaeJoong seriously considered amping the YunJae fanservice up to eleven and decided that the best way to get comfortable was to cuddle throughout the night. Or when JunSu punched ChangMin a bit too hard when he lost at Mortal Kombat and was overcome with regret and repentance. Or when ChangMin tried to get back at JunSu by edging him out of what sympathies he could get.
YunHo had told JaeJoong that talent comes first, fanservice second. Had told JunSu to man up and apologize for hitting too hard. Had told ChangMin that one of the fastest ways to lose friends was to pit them against each other. Had showed them that he cared, but there were boundaries.
But not to you.
~*~
You were different kinds of manly, you realized one day.
YunHo was the rapper. The street dancer. A man among men. He commanded the stage through the sheer power that coursed through his body. He practically sizzled with barely-contained lightning with every perfect pop and lock, with every twist and thrust, with every unforgiving full-bodied jerk and leers that were impossible to resist. Confident. Indestructible. But, whenever he thought he was alone, uncertain if he did the right thing.
And you were you. Casanova. The ladies' man. The one whose soul was as alluring as his voice. The one people thought had not any strength, but only because you used it ever so subtly. The artist. The musician. The mysterious one. The one who knew how to use weakness to an advantage.
To both of you, all of life was a stage. To YunHo, it meant having to put up a façade of imperturbability and invincibility, and never letting anyone see the rivulets of uncertainty that etched themselves deeper every day. To you, it meant there was one soul whom you failed to remember he should touch before all else. It meant seeing who YunHo truly was.
A leader. A human leader.
[End of fic]
Pairings: YooChun/YunHo
Notes: Basically the same timeline as above, approached from a different perspective.
"You have one minute to tell me why you're isolating yourself from the rest of the world in this god forsaken little corner of the dance studio," JaeJoong says in a single breath as slumps down to tug the oversized earphones off YooChun's head.
YooChun growls his displeasure at being interrupted, but JaeJoong is his only friend at the moment and he can't be so anti-social every time. He notices the smile on JaeJoong's face. It isn't the kind of smile that promises comfort over soju and cigarettes; instead, it's the kind that has 'or else' etched all over it. "Or else what?" YooChun asks, wanting to get things over with.
"I didn't say 'or else'."
It's all over your face, YooChun doesn't say. He opts for, "When people say 'you have one minute to do this,' it's customary to follow up with an 'or else'."
JaeJoong leans closer and raises his eyebrows to show off the full effect of his unblinking stare. "Do I need to add an 'or else'?"
YooChun cringes. Up close and personal, JaeJoong's beauty takes on a supernatural effect. A vampiric effect. "No," he sighs. Figures that the only friend he's made so far also happens to scare the crap out of him.
[End of fic]
Anyway, back to Survivability...
Featuring: JunSu/ChangMin, implied DongHae/KyuHyun, cameo by EunHyuk
Notes: Corporate AU, humor.
"Hey, have you heard?"
JunSu tears his eyes from the depressingly long column of account receivables on his laptop and stares, unimpressed, at the person talking to him. "No, but whatever it is I'm sure I'm about to."
DongHae grins mischievously as he clings to the shoulder-height partition that separates their cubicles. "You didn't hear it from me-"
"Of course."
"-but I heard that the old Love Tunnel is about to be converted." DongHae winks and ducks back into his cubicle. He counts to three, and sure enough-
JunSu scrambles to his feet and peers over into DongHae's equally confining cubicle. "What, the old storage closet down the hall?"
"Yup."
JunSu's eyes widens in disbelief. "The one where you and K-" DongHae's cough drowns out the rest of the word "-used to make out?"
"The same one."
"The one where-"
"-hot passionate sex supposedly happens between various combinations of employees during break times or slow hours?" DongHae says, interrupting before JunSu's incredulity could gather momentum. "Yes, that one."
"They can't do that!"
DongHae laughs, thankful that the other guy who shares their room hasn't come back yet. Breaking the news is so much fun. "Technically, they can. Besides, my source said management still hasn't heard the old rumors."
"So what are they turning it into?" JunSu asks, not caring who this supposed 'source' is. Good gossip is good gossip, and almost all gossip can be traced back to HeeChul anyway. "Please tell me there'll be sofas involved."
"We can only wish," DongHae says as he leans back against his chair and stretches. "But I think they're turning it into a satellite office for the I.T. department. I heard Supervisor Jung complaining about how long it takes for the I.T. guys upstairs to send support whenever we have problems here on our floor."
"Huh," JunSu says thoughtfully. "Okay, plus points for productivity, but minus infinity points for over-all fun." He stares back at his laptop. "But on the plus side, I might actually be able to finish my TPS sheets on time."
The door swings open and in walks KyuHyun with an armload of invoice receipts while grumbling somewhat incoherently about incompetent regional representatives who can't keep organized inventories worth shit.
"Hey, have you heard?" DongHae asks as he swivels his chair to follow KyuHyun.
KyuHyun takes a calming breath and, in a voice that loudly proclaims that the day couldn't possibly get any worse, asks, "What now?"
DongHae ignores the negativity. "They're handing over the Love Tunnel to the I.T. guys."
KyuHyun's jaw drops as Murphy's Law hits another homerun on his head. "What, the storage closet down the hall?"
"Correct."
"The one where we used to make out?"
"That exact one."
"They can't do that!"
JunSu remembers something important. "Didn't you tell me you guys kept condoms there?"
DongHae and KyuHyun stare at each other.
An instant later, there's mad scrambling for the door.
~*~
They get there just in the nick of time. Well, depending on the perspective.
"Damn it," KyuHyun hisses.
DongHae stares at the light shining from the tiny gap between the door and the floor. "They weren't supposed to move in until tomorrow."
"Maybe they're checking the place out?" JunSu suggested.
The door opens. DongHae dives behind a potted plant while KyuHyun tries to act natural, as if lounging right outside a closet was his perfect place in the world. JunSu tries to join in.
He really does.
But the longest pair of legs he's ever seen steps out of the closet. And he couldn't stop gawking.
There could have been violin music. There was definitely birdsong, but how two bluebirds managed make an appearance was currently beyond JunSu's mindset. The lights in the hallway dimmed to the silver of moonlight. There were rainbows and sparkles and, against all possibility, butterflies made of rainbows and sparkles. There were fleeting visions of forever as JunSu saw himself getting married in a splendid white ceremony with DongHae and KyuHyun as best men and HyukJae, his best friend, presiding over the wedding, culminating with the echoes of "You may now kiss the legs," and he leans down for the kiss.
Meanwhile, back in the other world, KyuHyun catches one glimpse of JunSu's expression and says, "Better leave the condoms where they are, hyung."
~*~
JunSu tells himself he doesn't have a leg fetish because if he does, he'd certainly have jumped KyuHyun by now. Or maybe it was just because KyuHyun's legs, although superior specimen in their own right, just couldn't compare to this new... discovery.
Yes, even when KyuHyun rolls his pants up whenever he passes by JunSu's spot.
"I should be offended, shouldn't I?" KyuHyun asks DongHae over JunSu's head as he flexes his claves practically right in front of JunSu's face.
DongHae smirks even as he pulls together a presentation of last month's sales performance. "Hey lay off him," he says sternly. "He's a very busy boy and he needs to concentrate."
JunSu knows better than to say thanks. He ticks off the numbers in his head. One. Two-
DongHae swivels his chair and, in a single action, pulls his pant sleeves up and lays a bare calf on JunSu's lap. "Incidentally, 'Su, would you mind rating my own sample against your impeccable standards?"
JunSu takes a deep and nominally calming breath. Then another. And another.
"I'm given to understand that it's not just about length," KyuHyun adds as he drapes his right leg over JunSu's shoulder.
"Fuck this, I'm taking off," JunSu snaps and grabs his jacket amidst teasing hoots and friendly apologies.
~*~
"It's not like I've never seen legs before!" JunSu wails before he downs the shot of tequila rose placed in front of him. The bartender nods knowingly and refreshes the glass. "I stare at someone's legs for a moment and DongHae and KyuHyun have a fucking field day about it! It's not like I made out with anyone in the open." He drinks the liquor without even looking at it.
HyukJae keeps polishing the counter. There weren't any other customers to wait on since a) it's too early for the dinner crowd, and b) the bar was still technically closed.
As JunSu knows very well, there are perks to being friends with the barkeep.
"Why do you think you noticed these legs?" HyukJae asks, saving JunSu hours and money of therapy. Although he personally liked to think it wasn't that different: just trade the couch for a bar and pills for the right kind of drink and there you have it. Inebriation therapy is the way to go.
JunSu glared at him. "You're a bartender, not a fucking psychotherapist. Shut up and pour me a drink."
Of course, clients may see it differently. HyukJae gives him a nonchalant shrug and pours the next shot.
"I mean, it's not like I wanted to notice those legs," JunSu went on. "They were just there. They walked past me and... and how could I not notice them?" He drinks the shot and stares glumly at the empty glass.
"Tell me about these legs," HyukJae asks with feigned disinterest.
JunSu gave in. "They were long and perky and seemed very firm," he mumbled to the counter.
HyukJae pointedly refills the shot glass.
The tension breaks and JunSu gives his first chuckle. "You are such an enabler."
"Isn't that why we're best friends?"
JunSu drains the shot and pulls out his wallet. "That, and because no one else will have you." He winks, drops a few bills on the counter and stalks out of the bar.
~*~
The office was almost empty by the time JunSu returns. There was a note on his laptop with an apology from DongHae, and the long-legged stick figure at the bottom was the work of no one else but KyuHyun. He decides that he'll deal with it later and powers up his laptop. He has work to do, reports to finish, powerpoint slides to design-
Pass codes to enter that his laptop was rejecting.
JunSu stares at the entry screen. He enters his code again, but the response was the same.
"The hell," he mumbles and clicks on the clue icon.
Allow me to push you in the right direction. -KH
~*~
"So you're saying you got locked out of your own computer?"
JunSu was finding it very hard to keep his eyes above waist level.
[End of fic]
Featuring: ChangMin, YooChun
Notes: I.T. AU
"Did you get the memo?" YooChun asks as soon as he enters their office.
ChangMin doesn't bother looking at him. "Is this supposed memo actual, figurative, theoretical, or imaginary?" A soft yet conditionally ominous 'ding!' chimed from the laptop he was working on. "Of course it failed to complete."
YooChun stares. "How many of those have you worked on? Rounded out to the nearest ten."
"Fifty."
"Are you fucking serious?!"
ChangMin turns to face YooChun, eye bags, stress lines and rumpled clothes showing testament to his dedication. "Well, forty-five actually. But you said to round out."
"And you stayed here all night?" YooChun asks, still in disbelief.
"Don't be silly."
"Whew," YooChun whistled in relief. "I thought-"
"I had to go to the Starbucks around the corner for a caffeine fix."
YooChun goes back to staring.
"But when they closed, I had to settle for the nearby 7-11." ChangMin points to the small stack of paper cups in tell-tale green and orange. "You know, their coffee isn't half bad when you give it a shot. It doesn't taste quite like engine oil as you proposed."
YooChun carefully lays a palm on ChangMin's forehead. It's a testament to how out of it ChangMin really is that he doesn't even budge in protest. "You're sticky and sweaty, you're this close to running a fever-" he raises his hand to his nose "-and you stink. What brilliant reason did you have for staying here overnight?" YooChun tugs the laptop from ChangMin's unresisting hands and sets it precariously on a teetering pile of upgraded ones.
ChangMin grabs his head and just gives himself time to breathe. "We needed to get all these upgrades done by the weekend. In case you forgot, that's two days from now."
"One."
"What?"
"Tomorrow's the weekend," YooChun explains with the tones of worry beginning to creep in. "And you're so out of it you're not even snarky."
"See? All the more reason to be urgent."
"Forget this, I'm calling for help."
"Yeah, get the guys from executive support to pitch in a few hours of actual work for a change," ChangMin calls out as YooChun rounds a corner.
[End of fic]
Pairings: YooChun/YunHo
Notes: 2nd Person POV, YooChun-centric, pre-DBSK
You know when it all began. Or when it began for you, at least.
Once upon a time, during days of endless dancing and competitive singing, back when you were but an awkward trainee and Dong Bang Shin Ki was nothing more than a faint glimpse of an impossible dream... something began then. You'd gotten used to bouts of loneliness and endless insecurities interspersed with rare cheer whenever JaeJoong was around. You kept wondering if you'll ever stop thinking if coming back to Korea was a mistake, that maybe Virginia isn't that bad after all. But more often were the worries that you're just fooling yourself that you could do this, that you could be - dare you use the word? - an idol.
And during all that, you'd always felt those eyes following your every move; eyes which were very different from judging coaches or paranoid co-trainees.
Even back then, YunHo was already different.
~*~
"Your ex-bandmate has been staring at me for the past five minutes," you tell JaeJoong flatly during lunch break.
JaeJoong's head whips around so fast it's a wonder his neck doesn't pop. You both see YunHo startle, blush, and immerse himself in conversation with the other ex-Four Seasons.
"Hyung, your lack of subtlety is a legend in its own right," you say with an exaggerated sigh.
JaeJoong shrugs and goes back to eating his hot sauce. Not hot sauce with anything. Just hot sauce. "I got him to stop, didn't I?"
You nod glumly. You wonder if you should tell JaeJoong that you don't actually mind.
~*~
Dong Bang Shin Ki is announced behind closed doors. The company has big plans for you. There's talk about albums, concerts abroad, additional training, images that completely clash with your personalities... and the five of you living together.
You greet the news with an overwhelming surge of nervousness. You're not ready for this, you tell yourself repeatedly. Your soon-to-be image sucks, your skin hasn't cleared up, your voice still cracks at the higher notes, nobody will notice you between the beautiful JaeJoong, the cute ChangMin, the flexible JunSu, and the macho YunHo... You'll just be the tag-along who's simply there to balance it all down.
"It's not a big deal," JaeJoong tells you guardedly as you walk down the suddenly too bright hallway back to the training studios. You remember that it's the second time he's been promised all that, and you forgive him for adding a bit of realism to your worries.
But there's another guy like that. You resolve to talk to him one of these days.
~*~
But it's harder than it looks.
He's a nice guy, everyone knows that, but... it's just harder than it looks.
~*~
Somehow, you never got the vibe that he wasn't welcome in YunHo's bed.
Sure, everyone got to try cuddling with YunHo, but there always came a point when he reminded them that they had five beds for a reason. Like when JaeJoong seriously considered amping the YunJae fanservice up to eleven and decided that the best way to get comfortable was to cuddle throughout the night. Or when JunSu punched ChangMin a bit too hard when he lost at Mortal Kombat and was overcome with regret and repentance. Or when ChangMin tried to get back at JunSu by edging him out of what sympathies he could get.
YunHo had told JaeJoong that talent comes first, fanservice second. Had told JunSu to man up and apologize for hitting too hard. Had told ChangMin that one of the fastest ways to lose friends was to pit them against each other. Had showed them that he cared, but there were boundaries.
But not to you.
~*~
You were different kinds of manly, you realized one day.
YunHo was the rapper. The street dancer. A man among men. He commanded the stage through the sheer power that coursed through his body. He practically sizzled with barely-contained lightning with every perfect pop and lock, with every twist and thrust, with every unforgiving full-bodied jerk and leers that were impossible to resist. Confident. Indestructible. But, whenever he thought he was alone, uncertain if he did the right thing.
And you were you. Casanova. The ladies' man. The one whose soul was as alluring as his voice. The one people thought had not any strength, but only because you used it ever so subtly. The artist. The musician. The mysterious one. The one who knew how to use weakness to an advantage.
To both of you, all of life was a stage. To YunHo, it meant having to put up a façade of imperturbability and invincibility, and never letting anyone see the rivulets of uncertainty that etched themselves deeper every day. To you, it meant there was one soul whom you failed to remember he should touch before all else. It meant seeing who YunHo truly was.
A leader. A human leader.
[End of fic]
Pairings: YooChun/YunHo
Notes: Basically the same timeline as above, approached from a different perspective.
"You have one minute to tell me why you're isolating yourself from the rest of the world in this god forsaken little corner of the dance studio," JaeJoong says in a single breath as slumps down to tug the oversized earphones off YooChun's head.
YooChun growls his displeasure at being interrupted, but JaeJoong is his only friend at the moment and he can't be so anti-social every time. He notices the smile on JaeJoong's face. It isn't the kind of smile that promises comfort over soju and cigarettes; instead, it's the kind that has 'or else' etched all over it. "Or else what?" YooChun asks, wanting to get things over with.
"I didn't say 'or else'."
It's all over your face, YooChun doesn't say. He opts for, "When people say 'you have one minute to do this,' it's customary to follow up with an 'or else'."
JaeJoong leans closer and raises his eyebrows to show off the full effect of his unblinking stare. "Do I need to add an 'or else'?"
YooChun cringes. Up close and personal, JaeJoong's beauty takes on a supernatural effect. A vampiric effect. "No," he sighs. Figures that the only friend he's made so far also happens to scare the crap out of him.
[End of fic]
Anyway, back to Survivability...