[Jaeho] Bittersweet
Title: Bittersweet
Pairing(s): JaeHo
Length: One-shot
Word count: 1600~
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff/Angst
Notes: Inspiration taken from THIS clip ;_;♥ *wibbles*
Fic dedicated to akagasuki, because a)she's awesome and b)we're braintwins XDDD So please check out her lovely piece too~ it's based off the same clip, and any similarities between the two fics are because we're soulmates and because we wrote them while flailing at each other XDDD♥
Much love to melyxcious too for all her help ♥
You watch Ye Eun’s little fingers move deftly over the piano keys, steady and sure even if she can’t see them; yet she seems so small and frail, pressed against your side on the stool, and you can’t help but slip a protective arm around her tiny waist to make sure she doesn’t fall. Yunho’s smiling eyes meet yours for the briefest of moments before he looks down at her and starts singing his line, and you feel a pang in your chest-
Yunho bent over his own 5-years-old daughter while she pounds cheerfully on the piano keys, his deep and warm voice mingling with her childish, silvery one as they sing a nursery rhyme together; he claps when they finally get it right, and she laughs, delighted
-that you can’t really define, because it feels bittersweet, like love and regret and longing all mixed together; and you almost miss your own line when you see Yunho’s radiant smile, the smile of a proud father, and think you’ve never seen him look as beautiful as he does now.
When the song ends and the audience explodes in touched cheers and claps Yunho scoops Ye Eun up in his arms, oblivious of the surprised look of some staff member who was supposed to carry her over to the talk corner; you watch her curl up against his chest a bit rigidly, like a frightened little animal, and you can tell she’s used to be carried around by strangers but that she doesn’t like it.
Yunho seems to sense this too, because he hands you his mic - you were reaching out for it before he even did - and holds her in a more comfortable position. You see him whisper something to her - a soft “Ye Eun-ah” is all you hear before Yunho’s voice is drowned by the buzz of the people around you - but it seems to work, because she winds her little arms around his neck and smiles, patting his back in a clumsy, adorable way; together they look so cute you want to hug them both, right there in front of everyone. Yunho is the kind of person that children, elderly people and animals are attracted to the most, you reflect with a fond smile; they seem to trust him instinctively, because it’s with those weaker than him that Yunho’s gentleness shines through, and you’ve always loved this side of him more than anything else.
Jung Eun-sshi comes over and exchange a few words with Yunho, smiling friendly at him; you have to admit the MC is very pretty, one of those charming, lively women Yunho seem to like best, and the sudden spasm of jealousy that grips your heart at seeing the three of them together like that is both unexpected and surprisingly painful.
Yunho at the amusement park, carrying his daughter in his arms while a beautiful lady walks at his side, her arm around his waist; the little girl - so pretty in her red dress, you think - is pointing at everything with little cries of excitement, her “Daddy, daddy! Look at that!” making Yunho and the woman smile indulgently. They look at each other with love in their eyes, until their daughter tugs at the collar of Yunho’s shirt and pouts, demanding attention-
“Jaejoong-ah, is there something wrong?” Yunho whispers, making you snap out of your musings.
He’s looking at with a questioning frown, Ye Eun still in his arms, and you suddenly realize your hand is gripping the fabric of his shirt so tight your knuckles turned white. You let go with a mumbled apology but he sees the troubled look in your eyes, because he catches your hand and squeezes it briefly, confused but comforting, and you feel bad for always making him worry over your stupid fears.
When you sit down on your assigned seats Yunho turns Ye Eun around so she’s facing the camera, and it comes almost natural to you to lean towards them and adjust the bunched-up hem of her dress; an unconscious smile blossoms at the corner of your lips, and when you look up Yunho is looking back at you, his expression a mirror of your own feelings. Your heart skips a beat when he smiles at you - softly, so softly, in that way that lights up his eyes and makes you want to pinch his cheeks shamelessly.
You stutter your way throughout the rest of the talk segment, and your bandmates laugh at you indulgently and pat your back - because they know you well enough to guess what’s going through your mind - while the other guests and the MC joke about how spacey Kim Jaejoong seems to be, today.
“Did you fall in love with her?” someone asks at a certain point, laughing, but they’re much closer to the truth than they think. You can’t take your eyes off them, Yunho and Ye Eun, off the perfect picture they make, and when she feels around his face delicately and feeds him chocolate you feel tears of love prickle the bridge of your nose and rise to sting your eyes.
Yunho sitting with his daughter on his lap, telling her stories of beautiful princesses and noble knights and fierce dragons while she looks up at him with wide eyes; Yunho giving her piggyback rides in the garden of his house or cradling her to sleep; Yunho, whose biggest dream is to have a loving wife and twenty-five kids; Yunho, who deserves all that because he’s made for it, even if the happiness you see on his face breaks your heart.
You rest your cheek on your hand, furtively wiping away the tears pooling at the corner of your eyes, and shy away from the look of the camera in an uncharacteristic way, afraid that the way you are looking at them - at him - would betray you.
You excuse yourself and run backstage as soon as you’re allowed to, leaving the others back to chat with the MC, but you know he has followed you as soon as you hear footsteps behind you.
“Jaejoong?” he asks tentatively, but you don’t turn around; you walk faster, sinking your fingernails into your palms to keep yourself from crying, and wish he wouldn’t be so damn caring, for once, and that he’d leave you alone.
“Jaejoong, stop,” he says, and his fingers curl around your wrist, gentle but firm; his other hand rests on your shoulder and turns you around, but you stare at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asks quietly, worry lining his voice; warm fingers lift your chin until you’re staring into his eyes, and your heart breaks a little more at the concern you see there.
“It’s nothing, I’m just tired,” you reply with a nonchalant shrug. “I think you’ll be a great dad one day, Yunho.”
You try to smile at him, but your voice quivers and breaks on the last words, and a tear rolls down your cheek before you have the time to pull yourself together and fight it back. You feel your cheeks flare up in embarrassment; Yunho is one of the very few people who can see you cry, but you hate to show him your weak side nonetheless - the result of too many years spent feeling upset over people looking at you and automatically assuming you are the frail, delicate one.
Understanding flashes in his eyes - he knows what’s going on with you, both because he knows you too well and because it’s not the first time it happens - and guilt grips your heart like an icy hand. You hate making him go through this every time, because there’s nothing the two of you can do: you try not to think about the future too much, but the fear of him eventually leaving you to start the life he’s always wanted lurks at the back of your mind all the time, unwanted and terrifying.
“Jaejoongie,” he whispers softly, tenderly, and you look up at him, feeling very much like an ugly wreck with you tear-streaked cheeks and puffy eyes and trembling lips. He cups your face in his hands, caresses your cheeks with slightly calloused fingers, wipes your tears away with the loving care he used with Ye Eun, the same he always uses when he touches you.
“I love you,” he says, looking at you with that serious, honest gaze he always has when he really means something. Your heart clenches painfully at his words, because you know all that’s been left unsaid behind them, and all you can do is nod wordlessly and bite back a sob.
When his lips brush across your wet cheek you let your eyes flutter shut with a grateful sigh, let him kiss away the tears and pet your hair and hold you against him until you stop shaking; he presses butterfly kisses over your closed eyelids, your forehead, down to the tip of your nose, and when you feel his warm breath tickle your lips you open your eyes and kiss him back.
The kiss is unhurried, languid, almost chaste; he tastes like chocolate and tears, and you wonder if that lingering sweetness will be enough to cover the bitterness on your lips. He smiles against your mouth and keeps kissing you, again and again until you can’t feel the salt of your tears anymore.
“We’ll find a way,” he murmurs, his gaze soft and full of love despite the wistfulness you can feel in his voice, “and I’m sure you’ll be a great dad too.”
He cradles you gently in his arms and you nestle against him, letting him be the strong one, this time around.
Pairing(s): JaeHo
Length: One-shot
Word count: 1600~
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff/Angst
Notes: Inspiration taken from THIS clip ;_;♥ *wibbles*
Fic dedicated to akagasuki, because a)she's awesome and b)we're braintwins XDDD So please check out her lovely piece too~ it's based off the same clip, and any similarities between the two fics are because we're soulmates and because we wrote them while flailing at each other XDDD♥
Much love to melyxcious too for all her help ♥
You watch Ye Eun’s little fingers move deftly over the piano keys, steady and sure even if she can’t see them; yet she seems so small and frail, pressed against your side on the stool, and you can’t help but slip a protective arm around her tiny waist to make sure she doesn’t fall. Yunho’s smiling eyes meet yours for the briefest of moments before he looks down at her and starts singing his line, and you feel a pang in your chest-
Yunho bent over his own 5-years-old daughter while she pounds cheerfully on the piano keys, his deep and warm voice mingling with her childish, silvery one as they sing a nursery rhyme together; he claps when they finally get it right, and she laughs, delighted
-that you can’t really define, because it feels bittersweet, like love and regret and longing all mixed together; and you almost miss your own line when you see Yunho’s radiant smile, the smile of a proud father, and think you’ve never seen him look as beautiful as he does now.
When the song ends and the audience explodes in touched cheers and claps Yunho scoops Ye Eun up in his arms, oblivious of the surprised look of some staff member who was supposed to carry her over to the talk corner; you watch her curl up against his chest a bit rigidly, like a frightened little animal, and you can tell she’s used to be carried around by strangers but that she doesn’t like it.
Yunho seems to sense this too, because he hands you his mic - you were reaching out for it before he even did - and holds her in a more comfortable position. You see him whisper something to her - a soft “Ye Eun-ah” is all you hear before Yunho’s voice is drowned by the buzz of the people around you - but it seems to work, because she winds her little arms around his neck and smiles, patting his back in a clumsy, adorable way; together they look so cute you want to hug them both, right there in front of everyone. Yunho is the kind of person that children, elderly people and animals are attracted to the most, you reflect with a fond smile; they seem to trust him instinctively, because it’s with those weaker than him that Yunho’s gentleness shines through, and you’ve always loved this side of him more than anything else.
Jung Eun-sshi comes over and exchange a few words with Yunho, smiling friendly at him; you have to admit the MC is very pretty, one of those charming, lively women Yunho seem to like best, and the sudden spasm of jealousy that grips your heart at seeing the three of them together like that is both unexpected and surprisingly painful.
Yunho at the amusement park, carrying his daughter in his arms while a beautiful lady walks at his side, her arm around his waist; the little girl - so pretty in her red dress, you think - is pointing at everything with little cries of excitement, her “Daddy, daddy! Look at that!” making Yunho and the woman smile indulgently. They look at each other with love in their eyes, until their daughter tugs at the collar of Yunho’s shirt and pouts, demanding attention-
“Jaejoong-ah, is there something wrong?” Yunho whispers, making you snap out of your musings.
He’s looking at with a questioning frown, Ye Eun still in his arms, and you suddenly realize your hand is gripping the fabric of his shirt so tight your knuckles turned white. You let go with a mumbled apology but he sees the troubled look in your eyes, because he catches your hand and squeezes it briefly, confused but comforting, and you feel bad for always making him worry over your stupid fears.
When you sit down on your assigned seats Yunho turns Ye Eun around so she’s facing the camera, and it comes almost natural to you to lean towards them and adjust the bunched-up hem of her dress; an unconscious smile blossoms at the corner of your lips, and when you look up Yunho is looking back at you, his expression a mirror of your own feelings. Your heart skips a beat when he smiles at you - softly, so softly, in that way that lights up his eyes and makes you want to pinch his cheeks shamelessly.
You stutter your way throughout the rest of the talk segment, and your bandmates laugh at you indulgently and pat your back - because they know you well enough to guess what’s going through your mind - while the other guests and the MC joke about how spacey Kim Jaejoong seems to be, today.
“Did you fall in love with her?” someone asks at a certain point, laughing, but they’re much closer to the truth than they think. You can’t take your eyes off them, Yunho and Ye Eun, off the perfect picture they make, and when she feels around his face delicately and feeds him chocolate you feel tears of love prickle the bridge of your nose and rise to sting your eyes.
Yunho sitting with his daughter on his lap, telling her stories of beautiful princesses and noble knights and fierce dragons while she looks up at him with wide eyes; Yunho giving her piggyback rides in the garden of his house or cradling her to sleep; Yunho, whose biggest dream is to have a loving wife and twenty-five kids; Yunho, who deserves all that because he’s made for it, even if the happiness you see on his face breaks your heart.
You rest your cheek on your hand, furtively wiping away the tears pooling at the corner of your eyes, and shy away from the look of the camera in an uncharacteristic way, afraid that the way you are looking at them - at him - would betray you.
You excuse yourself and run backstage as soon as you’re allowed to, leaving the others back to chat with the MC, but you know he has followed you as soon as you hear footsteps behind you.
“Jaejoong?” he asks tentatively, but you don’t turn around; you walk faster, sinking your fingernails into your palms to keep yourself from crying, and wish he wouldn’t be so damn caring, for once, and that he’d leave you alone.
“Jaejoong, stop,” he says, and his fingers curl around your wrist, gentle but firm; his other hand rests on your shoulder and turns you around, but you stare at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asks quietly, worry lining his voice; warm fingers lift your chin until you’re staring into his eyes, and your heart breaks a little more at the concern you see there.
“It’s nothing, I’m just tired,” you reply with a nonchalant shrug. “I think you’ll be a great dad one day, Yunho.”
You try to smile at him, but your voice quivers and breaks on the last words, and a tear rolls down your cheek before you have the time to pull yourself together and fight it back. You feel your cheeks flare up in embarrassment; Yunho is one of the very few people who can see you cry, but you hate to show him your weak side nonetheless - the result of too many years spent feeling upset over people looking at you and automatically assuming you are the frail, delicate one.
Understanding flashes in his eyes - he knows what’s going on with you, both because he knows you too well and because it’s not the first time it happens - and guilt grips your heart like an icy hand. You hate making him go through this every time, because there’s nothing the two of you can do: you try not to think about the future too much, but the fear of him eventually leaving you to start the life he’s always wanted lurks at the back of your mind all the time, unwanted and terrifying.
“Jaejoongie,” he whispers softly, tenderly, and you look up at him, feeling very much like an ugly wreck with you tear-streaked cheeks and puffy eyes and trembling lips. He cups your face in his hands, caresses your cheeks with slightly calloused fingers, wipes your tears away with the loving care he used with Ye Eun, the same he always uses when he touches you.
“I love you,” he says, looking at you with that serious, honest gaze he always has when he really means something. Your heart clenches painfully at his words, because you know all that’s been left unsaid behind them, and all you can do is nod wordlessly and bite back a sob.
When his lips brush across your wet cheek you let your eyes flutter shut with a grateful sigh, let him kiss away the tears and pet your hair and hold you against him until you stop shaking; he presses butterfly kisses over your closed eyelids, your forehead, down to the tip of your nose, and when you feel his warm breath tickle your lips you open your eyes and kiss him back.
The kiss is unhurried, languid, almost chaste; he tastes like chocolate and tears, and you wonder if that lingering sweetness will be enough to cover the bitterness on your lips. He smiles against your mouth and keeps kissing you, again and again until you can’t feel the salt of your tears anymore.
“We’ll find a way,” he murmurs, his gaze soft and full of love despite the wistfulness you can feel in his voice, “and I’m sure you’ll be a great dad too.”
He cradles you gently in his arms and you nestle against him, letting him be the strong one, this time around.