baseCODE 16/?
Title: baseCODE 16/?
Pairing: Jaejoong/Junsu, Changmin/Yunho, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Heechul/Yoochun, Leeteuk/Kyuhyun, Siwon/Ryeowook
Rating: NC-17 for this chapter
Disclaimer: Not mine to rate track or own. I really wish I could order them to have sex with each other and let me tape it, but ... yeah, can't do that.
Summary: Junsu is a normal twenty-three year old. He has retired from Duty to the People and he's content to spend the next two years relaxing before his Date of Expiration. His biggest fear is that the love he carries for his roommate will be discovered. But Jaejoong is not who he says he is, and Junsu finds himself in a race to save not only Jaejoong's life, but ultimately his own.
This fic is first person from Junsu's POV and it is written in present tense. Chapter titles are quotes from "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare.
Poster credit goes to yceam!!! It's awesome, darling! ♥
Part 16: I talk of dreams / Which are the children of an idle brain / Begot of nothing but vain fantasy
... for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
From Romeo & Juliet
As soon as I enter the kitchen, Jaejoong turns his head and smiles at me and I wince and look away. He’s doing something with something hot and he frowns and says my name, but I duck into the back hall and head downstairs to go see my brother.
Ryeowook smiles a welcome at me and I return it stiffly. He says nothing else, and I pull up a chair and sit by Junho’s bed. There is no longer an IV in his arm. His chest is purpled with bruises.
“Hey, bro,” I say and take his hand.
He smiles at me. “You look stupid with blond hair.”
“It’s better now than when it was orange.”
Junho laughs.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, Ryeowook says I’m still here because of my ribs, and because they don’t have another bed for me yet. Unless I want to bunk with someone named Sungmin. But he says that’s a bad idea.”
I nod. “Sungmin is having some serious issues about suddenly being part of the rebellion.”
“Why are you?”
“Why am I what?”
“Part of this? Just because of Jaejoong?”
“Well, yeah, that’s how it started, but it makes sense. Don’t you think?”
“Maybe if you had more people. You’re such a small group, and …”
“All revolutions start small.”
Junho sighs and tugs on my hand. “I thought you were dead. And then the next day, there are these black coats knocking on my door, and … “
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“It’s not your fault.”
“To me this makes sense, because what have I been doing since I was three? Playing soccer. You’ve been playing baseball. You wanted to dance, do you remember that conversation?”
Junho nods. We whispered in the dark, and revealed our deepest dreams, and we were almost caught.
“In a different world, you could have been a dancer.”
Junho looks away. “What would you have done? In a different world?”
“Piano,” I reply immediately.
“Really?”
“I love it. It’s what I planned on doing during my retirement. Ryeowook has a keyboard here, but I haven’t played it yet. Been busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Jaejoong.”
Junho blushes and then says, “Tell me about him. Now that you can.”
I smile, and then turn my face away, but I tell Junho about my insecurities and Jaejoong, and then about how he and Yoochun had been together. I falter after that, but talking to anyone has helped and I continue blubbering until he knows about everything that happened with Yoochun.
Junho says nothing for a moment and then says, “Yoochun sounds like an asshole. But, he did kill someone to save me. His brain is probably just fucked up right now, Su-ah. Your brain, on the other hand …”
I bury my face in my hands and moan. “I know. I’m fucked.”
Junho chuckles and runs his hands through my hair.
I call Ryeowook in and ask if it’s okay if Junho walks around for a little while. He says only if Junho is on crutches since his ankle is really sore. He goes to grab a pair, and Junho adjusts them to his height. I help Junho stand and pull on a pair of loose pants over his boxers. We walk slowly up the stairs.
Thankfully, Jaejoong is not in the kitchen. He’s not in the living room either. But Heechul and Yoochun are still in their arm chair, making out, and Yoochun’s hand is in Heechul’s sweat pants.
Junho makes a noise and his cheeks tinge with pink. He looks away from them.
I roll my eyes. “You get used to it really fast.” I move to them and I pull what I can of Yoochun’s hair and yank his head back.
He winces. “Fuck, Su-ah, that hurts a lot more with short hair.” He licks his lips, leaving the bottom one shiny. It’s swollen from Heechul’s kisses. I can’t help but stare at it, and lick my lips.
“Oh fuck you too, Ass Boy,” Heechul says and grips Yoochun by the back of the neck and pulls him away. “I get enough of your boyfriend ogling what’s mine.”
“If you don’t want it ogled, take it upstairs,” I say. “Where’s Jaejoong?”
Heechul frowns and points out the hologram. “Don’t know. He went that way.”
I think about going to find him and then shrug. I show Junho the rest of the place and leave him in the bathroom to take a shower. I put a change of my clothes on the counter, and then go back into my room.
Jaejoong is there, stripping off his shirt. There are nail marks on his back. Vivid red. I slide up behind him and press kisses to them.
He looks behind him and smiles.
“Sorry,” I whisper. It’s not a good enough apology for everything.
He turns in my arms and our lips touch in a soft kiss. “Something’s wrong with you. Why won’t you tell me?”
I bury my face in his neck and shake my head. “It’s nothing.”
Jaejoong sighs. “Too much stress. So you said before.”
“Yeah.”
“I thought that’s what all the sex this afternoon was for. Relieving that stress.”
I sigh and hold him for a long time. His hands run up and down my back. I just want to hold him forever.
A throat clears behind us, and we both turn and look at Junho standing shirtless in the doorway.
“Um, I … I’m hungry, and …”
Jaejoong releases me and says, “Then let’s get you some food.”
I follow them out of the room, and make sure Junho is steady on the stairs. The bruises look a lot worse in the dim light of the stairs.
“Are you sure you don’t have any broken bones?” I ask him.
Junho smiles. “Yes, I’m sure. Remember when I had that collision at home plate? I broke three ribs that day. I know what they feel like.”
I nod.
The day goes by slowly. Junho fits right into our little ragtag group of rebels. He laughs and jokes around with Eunhae. He even manages to pull a smile from Sungmin when the morose scientist joins us all for dinner.
Jaejoong is again overly attentive, and I soak it in. I smile at him, touch him, lay with him and cuddle. Slowly, the ache disappears in my heart, the tightness loosens around my eyes.
I love Jaejoong.
I shouldn’t have to remind myself of that.
|||X|||X|||
Three days pass, and even though we are all shoved into this place, unable to safely leave, I don’t feel crowded. I stay in our room as much as possible, or in Ryeowook and Siwon’s room tinkering on Ryeowook’s piano. I feel only slightly guilty for more or less abandoning my brother, but he’s always been more social than me. He’s always made friends more easily. I’m not surprised when I find him laughing on the couch with Kyuhyun or dancing down stairs with EunHae. My brother is an excellent dancer. And if I’m ever around them I get roped into practicing with them, too.
Jaejoong is restless as are Yunho and Yoochun. They have to get out every now and then. I don’t blame them.
I stare at the hologram a lot.
The only people who dare go into the city are Siwon and EunHae.
Leeteuk has finally decided that it isn’t quite worth it. Not anymore with the curfew being changed all across the country.
Sometimes, sitting in the relative quiet of the basement lab is the only peace I get from my thoughts, my feelings.
Jaejoong’s attentions have not changed. His love hasn’t changed. I’m pretty sure mine have. Sometimes I still can’t look at him.
“You need to talk to him,” Ryeowook says.
I glance at him, eyes not really seeing his worried face. The only other one who knows of what I did with Yoochun is Junho. “Why?” I ask, voice raspy.
“Because it is killing you. He thinks that you’re upset over Yoochun killing someone. That’s what everyone thinks.”
“What do you think?”
Ryeowook smiles. “I think you should talk to him about what is really bothering you before it gets worse and drives a deeper gorge in your relationship.”
I sigh and sit up. Rub my hands over my face. “He won’t ever forgive me.”
“You don’t know that.” Ryeowook sits next to me. “Jaejoong is addicted to you. He loves you enough to die for you. He definitely proved that by risking his life to live with you, to be close to you, to take Changmin’s frog piss and risk discovery every single day. Yes, it gave him a good strategic position to be a runner, but that was all secondary to him. Before he brought you here, he talked about you so much that it felt like we already knew you.”
I smile, and then put my elbows on my knees, face buried in my hands again. “I’m so fucked.”
“Did you have sex with Yoochun?” Ryeowook whispers.
“No, thankfully. Not unless a blow job counts.”
Ryeowook sighs. “Yoochun is alluring. It’s part of who he is. You have to trust in your love of Jaejoong to keep from thinking of him.”
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
Ryeowook smiles. “Nah. I love Siwon. But that … what if … that Yoochun invokes in everyone is inevitable.”
“I’m fucked,” I repeat.
Ryeowook gives me a shove. “Talk to him. Being honest is better than this form of self-torture. Jaejoong loves you, no matter what you’ve done.”
I sigh and nod. “Thanks, Wookie.”
There are footsteps on the stairs and Eunhyuk smiles when he sees us. “Leeteuk has called a meeting of everyone to figure out what to do next.”
A distraction. Thank god. I get up, and Ryeowook gets up. The three of us head upstairs. In the kitchen, everyone is squishing into the table. Sungmin stays standing, leaning against one wall, and Yoochun is, as always, sitting in Heechul’s lap. I don’t look at them and sit between Jaejoong and my brother.
Jaejoong smiles at me and kisses my cheek, and I find Junho’s hand under the table. He squeezes. We haven’t talked about my confession about Yoochun, but I know if I let it go for much longer, he is going to bring it up.
“So I have a theory,” Leeteuk says when everyone is settled.
“About what?” Changmin says.
“Everything.” He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Junho. “Do you recognize him at all?”
Junho shakes his head. “Nope.”
I glance at it. “I do. He was on the porch. One of the ones with the black baseCODE.”
“What?” Leeteuk says.
I turn the picture toward me and nod. “When Yoochun and I first went out. He was on the porch.”
Yoochun leans over the table and I turn it for him to look at. “Yeah. He was there.”
“Well, now it’s not a theory,” Leeteuk says. “Fuck.”
“We can’t read your mind,” Heechul says and pulls Yoochun back to his lap.
Leeteuk spares him a glare and then passes the picture around the table. “That is Yang Yoseob. And I’m pretty sure he’s behind most of this.”
“What?” Changmin demanded. And Kyuhyun and Sungmin’s eyes go wide.
“My theory was that he’s probably alive and working for the government. And now we know that he is alive, which means that he is working for the government, since he’s my age.”
There is silence and then Donghae asks, “Who is Yang Yoseob?”
“He was one of the most brilliant biomedical engineers of our time,” Changmin answers. “I took over some of his baseCODE research. He’s the one who decided it would be a great idea to hook the baseCODE more firmly into our nervous system and see if a person could be controlled. When I was fifteen, I found a single page of notes in his files that mentioned the possibility of extending the life of the lichen in your baseCODE. Giving a researcher something like that is like giving Junsu an open goal and eighteen penalty shots.”
“Impossible?” Kyuhyun said.
“Unrealistic?” Sungmin provided.
Changmin glared at them. “Opportunistic. I had it figured out in less than a year.”
Leeteuk looked at him and then said, “What if Yoseob left that there on purpose?”
“What?”
Leeteuk sighed.
“Cat’s out of the bag,” Heechul sang.
“Ten years ago, Yoseob approached parliament with this idea that he could probably figure out a way to make people live longer. He wouldn’t be destroying the baseCODE system, he argued, just extending it a bit. He didn’t know that there were already people who were alive whose baseCODEs were black. I was part of parliament back then, and I didn’t want to die. I knew a few others who didn’t want to die, but it wasn’t something you announced to the world. I knew that the parliament would put a stop to this research, and they did and told Yoseob to do what he was supposed to do and make it so the government could control us through our baseCODEs. They experimented with implanting computer chips, making baseCODEs organic technological devices instead of biological.”
“This pisses me off,” Changmin said. “He’s still alive.”
“Looks like it.”
“Then he needs to get his ass here and help me figure out a way around having to depend on chlorodistropenerol.”
“Again, unrealistic,” Kyuhyun says.
“Fuck you,” Changmin snaps. “He’s wasting his life puttering after government officials. Think of everything he could have done in the last ten years!”
“So what does this mean?” Siwon asks.
“It means we’re fucked,” Heechul says.
“No, it doesn’t,” Leeteuk says. “Look. Yoseob was one of those that was supposed to come here with me. We had it planned, but Kangin didn’t trust him.”
“Who’s Kangin?” Junho asks.
Leeteuk’s eyes cloud over for a moment and then he says, “Kangin is the one that helped me build this place, the one that put in all the electronic equipment to keep it hidden. One night, we … we were bringing Yoseob here, and he kept acting all nervous, and … well, Kangin stopped the car just outside the city and refused to go further. We argued and …” Leeteuk stops talking and then whispers, “Yoseob had ratted us out, and Kangin was killed a few days later. Yoseob was retired and Changmin took over his research. We were both nearing out Date of Expiration, and Yoseob had to have known about Changmin’s research. There’s no way he didn’t. Not now.”
“Are you saying he knows?”
Leeteuk nods. “He has to know. And he’s the one giving the government information. I knew Changmin’s life was in danger, but not so much that they were going to kill him, but he was definitely being watched back then.”
“Fortunately,” Yunho says, “my boyfriend is smarter than anyone else and he knew that.”
Changmin sighs. “Yes, I knew that, but I didn’t know it was because they wanted to manipulate my baseCODE research. Not until Leeteuk contacted me and told me.”
“So now they know that we can change the color of the baseCODE and not just for a few years, but permanently with the right dose of chlorodistropenerol-infused Frog Piss,” Kyuhyun says. “But they don’t think that Changmin is doing it, because Changmin does all of his research here, but obviously it’s being done, since there are rebels out there, and some supplies were missing, so the government just decides that Sungmin and I are doing it and now all three of us are dead. Great.”
“But Yoseob died?” Eunhyuk says.
“Yes,” Leeteuk says. “His death was announced, and the government promised that the research he started on the baseCODE system had not died with him. But of course, to the public, that meant, the research on making the baseCODE system help the human body as much as it can.”
“This is confusing,” Junho mutters.
“Yeah, just a bit,” I add.
“So let’s make sure we have everything straight,” Leeteuk says.
Heechul groans, “I hate it when you think out loud.”
Leeteuk ignores him. “Yoseob is working with the government, as is Seunghyun who was the prime minister during the time Yoseob was working on baseCODE research. Yoseob, whether intentionally or unintentionally, left a page of notes behind that sparked Changmin’s creative side-”
“Genius side,” Changmin mutters.
“-and Changmin starts running basic experiments that Yoseob had never done, discovering that with the right materials you can change the color of your baseCODE.”
“I wish you’d stop saying it that way and say prolong its life. It is a living organism,” Sungmin said.
Leeteuk continues like no one had interrupted. “Yoseob, aware of this possibility, alerts the authorities, but before that, I alert Changmin and tell him about this place where he can do his research unobserved. Because of this Changmin is able to perfect his Frog Piss, and Yoseob can’t prove that Changmin is doing any of this. Because of the missing supplies in the lab, suspicion then falls to Sungmin and Kyuhyun who are the lead scientists in improving the health benefits of the baseCODE system. Weeks before our Date of Expiration, I come here to hide out with Kangta and Kangin. Kangta and a few others go further from the city. Yoseob sells us out just the day before I had convinced Kangin to let him. Kangin is killed and then I hide here and organize a group of people with different colored baseCODEs to help gather supplies for our brilliant scientist.”
“Changmin meets the love of his life and bam, here I am,” Yunho says. “Best part of the story.”
Changmin snorts. “Giving yourself too much credit.”
Yunho grins. “Then maybe you better teach me a lesson.”
Leeteuk rolls his eyes.
“Okay, so now what?” Siwon asks.
Leeteuk looks at Heechul and then at Jaejoong. “They’re probably going to wait for us to slip up. I need someone to check Kangin’s systems. Any of you know any electronics experts that can be trusted?”
EunHae exchange a look.
“What?”
“Well, there’s always Yesung,” Donghae says. “He wasn’t formally trained, but he’s pretty much amazing.”
“And he doesn’t live in the middle of the city,” Eunhyuk adds. “It’ll be easy to convince him.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-two, about to be retired.”
“Retired from what?”
“His day job is a music producer,” Eunhyuk says. “His night job is hacking into computer programs and overriding the systems. Just for fun.”
Leeteuk nods. “He’ll do.”
“Don’t kidnap him,” Sungmin snaps.
Part 17: Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs
Part 15: swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon / that monthly changes in her circled orb
Part 14: it will be of more price / Being spoke behind your back, than to your face
Part 13: Young men's love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes
Part 12: Did my heart love til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty til this night
Part 11: A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear/ As will disperse itself through all the veins / Part 10: Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms / Part 9: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again / Part 8: we shall not scape a brawl; For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring /Part 7: Fortune, fortune, be fickle fortune, but do not keep him long but send him back. / Part 6: For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death. / Part 5: These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die. / Part 4: Not mad, but bound more than a mad man is / Part 3: Prick love for pricking and you beat love down. / Part 2: O, teach me how I should forget to think. / Part 1: I must be gone and live or stay and die.
.
Pairing: Jaejoong/Junsu, Changmin/Yunho, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Heechul/Yoochun, Leeteuk/Kyuhyun, Siwon/Ryeowook
Rating: NC-17 for this chapter
Disclaimer: Not mine to rate track or own. I really wish I could order them to have sex with each other and let me tape it, but ... yeah, can't do that.
Summary: Junsu is a normal twenty-three year old. He has retired from Duty to the People and he's content to spend the next two years relaxing before his Date of Expiration. His biggest fear is that the love he carries for his roommate will be discovered. But Jaejoong is not who he says he is, and Junsu finds himself in a race to save not only Jaejoong's life, but ultimately his own.
This fic is first person from Junsu's POV and it is written in present tense. Chapter titles are quotes from "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare.
Poster credit goes to yceam!!! It's awesome, darling! ♥
Part 16: I talk of dreams / Which are the children of an idle brain / Begot of nothing but vain fantasy
... for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
From Romeo & Juliet
As soon as I enter the kitchen, Jaejoong turns his head and smiles at me and I wince and look away. He’s doing something with something hot and he frowns and says my name, but I duck into the back hall and head downstairs to go see my brother.
Ryeowook smiles a welcome at me and I return it stiffly. He says nothing else, and I pull up a chair and sit by Junho’s bed. There is no longer an IV in his arm. His chest is purpled with bruises.
“Hey, bro,” I say and take his hand.
He smiles at me. “You look stupid with blond hair.”
“It’s better now than when it was orange.”
Junho laughs.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, Ryeowook says I’m still here because of my ribs, and because they don’t have another bed for me yet. Unless I want to bunk with someone named Sungmin. But he says that’s a bad idea.”
I nod. “Sungmin is having some serious issues about suddenly being part of the rebellion.”
“Why are you?”
“Why am I what?”
“Part of this? Just because of Jaejoong?”
“Well, yeah, that’s how it started, but it makes sense. Don’t you think?”
“Maybe if you had more people. You’re such a small group, and …”
“All revolutions start small.”
Junho sighs and tugs on my hand. “I thought you were dead. And then the next day, there are these black coats knocking on my door, and … “
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“It’s not your fault.”
“To me this makes sense, because what have I been doing since I was three? Playing soccer. You’ve been playing baseball. You wanted to dance, do you remember that conversation?”
Junho nods. We whispered in the dark, and revealed our deepest dreams, and we were almost caught.
“In a different world, you could have been a dancer.”
Junho looks away. “What would you have done? In a different world?”
“Piano,” I reply immediately.
“Really?”
“I love it. It’s what I planned on doing during my retirement. Ryeowook has a keyboard here, but I haven’t played it yet. Been busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Jaejoong.”
Junho blushes and then says, “Tell me about him. Now that you can.”
I smile, and then turn my face away, but I tell Junho about my insecurities and Jaejoong, and then about how he and Yoochun had been together. I falter after that, but talking to anyone has helped and I continue blubbering until he knows about everything that happened with Yoochun.
Junho says nothing for a moment and then says, “Yoochun sounds like an asshole. But, he did kill someone to save me. His brain is probably just fucked up right now, Su-ah. Your brain, on the other hand …”
I bury my face in my hands and moan. “I know. I’m fucked.”
Junho chuckles and runs his hands through my hair.
I call Ryeowook in and ask if it’s okay if Junho walks around for a little while. He says only if Junho is on crutches since his ankle is really sore. He goes to grab a pair, and Junho adjusts them to his height. I help Junho stand and pull on a pair of loose pants over his boxers. We walk slowly up the stairs.
Thankfully, Jaejoong is not in the kitchen. He’s not in the living room either. But Heechul and Yoochun are still in their arm chair, making out, and Yoochun’s hand is in Heechul’s sweat pants.
Junho makes a noise and his cheeks tinge with pink. He looks away from them.
I roll my eyes. “You get used to it really fast.” I move to them and I pull what I can of Yoochun’s hair and yank his head back.
He winces. “Fuck, Su-ah, that hurts a lot more with short hair.” He licks his lips, leaving the bottom one shiny. It’s swollen from Heechul’s kisses. I can’t help but stare at it, and lick my lips.
“Oh fuck you too, Ass Boy,” Heechul says and grips Yoochun by the back of the neck and pulls him away. “I get enough of your boyfriend ogling what’s mine.”
“If you don’t want it ogled, take it upstairs,” I say. “Where’s Jaejoong?”
Heechul frowns and points out the hologram. “Don’t know. He went that way.”
I think about going to find him and then shrug. I show Junho the rest of the place and leave him in the bathroom to take a shower. I put a change of my clothes on the counter, and then go back into my room.
Jaejoong is there, stripping off his shirt. There are nail marks on his back. Vivid red. I slide up behind him and press kisses to them.
He looks behind him and smiles.
“Sorry,” I whisper. It’s not a good enough apology for everything.
He turns in my arms and our lips touch in a soft kiss. “Something’s wrong with you. Why won’t you tell me?”
I bury my face in his neck and shake my head. “It’s nothing.”
Jaejoong sighs. “Too much stress. So you said before.”
“Yeah.”
“I thought that’s what all the sex this afternoon was for. Relieving that stress.”
I sigh and hold him for a long time. His hands run up and down my back. I just want to hold him forever.
A throat clears behind us, and we both turn and look at Junho standing shirtless in the doorway.
“Um, I … I’m hungry, and …”
Jaejoong releases me and says, “Then let’s get you some food.”
I follow them out of the room, and make sure Junho is steady on the stairs. The bruises look a lot worse in the dim light of the stairs.
“Are you sure you don’t have any broken bones?” I ask him.
Junho smiles. “Yes, I’m sure. Remember when I had that collision at home plate? I broke three ribs that day. I know what they feel like.”
I nod.
The day goes by slowly. Junho fits right into our little ragtag group of rebels. He laughs and jokes around with Eunhae. He even manages to pull a smile from Sungmin when the morose scientist joins us all for dinner.
Jaejoong is again overly attentive, and I soak it in. I smile at him, touch him, lay with him and cuddle. Slowly, the ache disappears in my heart, the tightness loosens around my eyes.
I love Jaejoong.
I shouldn’t have to remind myself of that.
|||X|||X|||
Three days pass, and even though we are all shoved into this place, unable to safely leave, I don’t feel crowded. I stay in our room as much as possible, or in Ryeowook and Siwon’s room tinkering on Ryeowook’s piano. I feel only slightly guilty for more or less abandoning my brother, but he’s always been more social than me. He’s always made friends more easily. I’m not surprised when I find him laughing on the couch with Kyuhyun or dancing down stairs with EunHae. My brother is an excellent dancer. And if I’m ever around them I get roped into practicing with them, too.
Jaejoong is restless as are Yunho and Yoochun. They have to get out every now and then. I don’t blame them.
I stare at the hologram a lot.
The only people who dare go into the city are Siwon and EunHae.
Leeteuk has finally decided that it isn’t quite worth it. Not anymore with the curfew being changed all across the country.
Sometimes, sitting in the relative quiet of the basement lab is the only peace I get from my thoughts, my feelings.
Jaejoong’s attentions have not changed. His love hasn’t changed. I’m pretty sure mine have. Sometimes I still can’t look at him.
“You need to talk to him,” Ryeowook says.
I glance at him, eyes not really seeing his worried face. The only other one who knows of what I did with Yoochun is Junho. “Why?” I ask, voice raspy.
“Because it is killing you. He thinks that you’re upset over Yoochun killing someone. That’s what everyone thinks.”
“What do you think?”
Ryeowook smiles. “I think you should talk to him about what is really bothering you before it gets worse and drives a deeper gorge in your relationship.”
I sigh and sit up. Rub my hands over my face. “He won’t ever forgive me.”
“You don’t know that.” Ryeowook sits next to me. “Jaejoong is addicted to you. He loves you enough to die for you. He definitely proved that by risking his life to live with you, to be close to you, to take Changmin’s frog piss and risk discovery every single day. Yes, it gave him a good strategic position to be a runner, but that was all secondary to him. Before he brought you here, he talked about you so much that it felt like we already knew you.”
I smile, and then put my elbows on my knees, face buried in my hands again. “I’m so fucked.”
“Did you have sex with Yoochun?” Ryeowook whispers.
“No, thankfully. Not unless a blow job counts.”
Ryeowook sighs. “Yoochun is alluring. It’s part of who he is. You have to trust in your love of Jaejoong to keep from thinking of him.”
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
Ryeowook smiles. “Nah. I love Siwon. But that … what if … that Yoochun invokes in everyone is inevitable.”
“I’m fucked,” I repeat.
Ryeowook gives me a shove. “Talk to him. Being honest is better than this form of self-torture. Jaejoong loves you, no matter what you’ve done.”
I sigh and nod. “Thanks, Wookie.”
There are footsteps on the stairs and Eunhyuk smiles when he sees us. “Leeteuk has called a meeting of everyone to figure out what to do next.”
A distraction. Thank god. I get up, and Ryeowook gets up. The three of us head upstairs. In the kitchen, everyone is squishing into the table. Sungmin stays standing, leaning against one wall, and Yoochun is, as always, sitting in Heechul’s lap. I don’t look at them and sit between Jaejoong and my brother.
Jaejoong smiles at me and kisses my cheek, and I find Junho’s hand under the table. He squeezes. We haven’t talked about my confession about Yoochun, but I know if I let it go for much longer, he is going to bring it up.
“So I have a theory,” Leeteuk says when everyone is settled.
“About what?” Changmin says.
“Everything.” He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Junho. “Do you recognize him at all?”
Junho shakes his head. “Nope.”
I glance at it. “I do. He was on the porch. One of the ones with the black baseCODE.”
“What?” Leeteuk says.
I turn the picture toward me and nod. “When Yoochun and I first went out. He was on the porch.”
Yoochun leans over the table and I turn it for him to look at. “Yeah. He was there.”
“Well, now it’s not a theory,” Leeteuk says. “Fuck.”
“We can’t read your mind,” Heechul says and pulls Yoochun back to his lap.
Leeteuk spares him a glare and then passes the picture around the table. “That is Yang Yoseob. And I’m pretty sure he’s behind most of this.”
“What?” Changmin demanded. And Kyuhyun and Sungmin’s eyes go wide.
“My theory was that he’s probably alive and working for the government. And now we know that he is alive, which means that he is working for the government, since he’s my age.”
There is silence and then Donghae asks, “Who is Yang Yoseob?”
“He was one of the most brilliant biomedical engineers of our time,” Changmin answers. “I took over some of his baseCODE research. He’s the one who decided it would be a great idea to hook the baseCODE more firmly into our nervous system and see if a person could be controlled. When I was fifteen, I found a single page of notes in his files that mentioned the possibility of extending the life of the lichen in your baseCODE. Giving a researcher something like that is like giving Junsu an open goal and eighteen penalty shots.”
“Impossible?” Kyuhyun said.
“Unrealistic?” Sungmin provided.
Changmin glared at them. “Opportunistic. I had it figured out in less than a year.”
Leeteuk looked at him and then said, “What if Yoseob left that there on purpose?”
“What?”
Leeteuk sighed.
“Cat’s out of the bag,” Heechul sang.
“Ten years ago, Yoseob approached parliament with this idea that he could probably figure out a way to make people live longer. He wouldn’t be destroying the baseCODE system, he argued, just extending it a bit. He didn’t know that there were already people who were alive whose baseCODEs were black. I was part of parliament back then, and I didn’t want to die. I knew a few others who didn’t want to die, but it wasn’t something you announced to the world. I knew that the parliament would put a stop to this research, and they did and told Yoseob to do what he was supposed to do and make it so the government could control us through our baseCODEs. They experimented with implanting computer chips, making baseCODEs organic technological devices instead of biological.”
“This pisses me off,” Changmin said. “He’s still alive.”
“Looks like it.”
“Then he needs to get his ass here and help me figure out a way around having to depend on chlorodistropenerol.”
“Again, unrealistic,” Kyuhyun says.
“Fuck you,” Changmin snaps. “He’s wasting his life puttering after government officials. Think of everything he could have done in the last ten years!”
“So what does this mean?” Siwon asks.
“It means we’re fucked,” Heechul says.
“No, it doesn’t,” Leeteuk says. “Look. Yoseob was one of those that was supposed to come here with me. We had it planned, but Kangin didn’t trust him.”
“Who’s Kangin?” Junho asks.
Leeteuk’s eyes cloud over for a moment and then he says, “Kangin is the one that helped me build this place, the one that put in all the electronic equipment to keep it hidden. One night, we … we were bringing Yoseob here, and he kept acting all nervous, and … well, Kangin stopped the car just outside the city and refused to go further. We argued and …” Leeteuk stops talking and then whispers, “Yoseob had ratted us out, and Kangin was killed a few days later. Yoseob was retired and Changmin took over his research. We were both nearing out Date of Expiration, and Yoseob had to have known about Changmin’s research. There’s no way he didn’t. Not now.”
“Are you saying he knows?”
Leeteuk nods. “He has to know. And he’s the one giving the government information. I knew Changmin’s life was in danger, but not so much that they were going to kill him, but he was definitely being watched back then.”
“Fortunately,” Yunho says, “my boyfriend is smarter than anyone else and he knew that.”
Changmin sighs. “Yes, I knew that, but I didn’t know it was because they wanted to manipulate my baseCODE research. Not until Leeteuk contacted me and told me.”
“So now they know that we can change the color of the baseCODE and not just for a few years, but permanently with the right dose of chlorodistropenerol-infused Frog Piss,” Kyuhyun says. “But they don’t think that Changmin is doing it, because Changmin does all of his research here, but obviously it’s being done, since there are rebels out there, and some supplies were missing, so the government just decides that Sungmin and I are doing it and now all three of us are dead. Great.”
“But Yoseob died?” Eunhyuk says.
“Yes,” Leeteuk says. “His death was announced, and the government promised that the research he started on the baseCODE system had not died with him. But of course, to the public, that meant, the research on making the baseCODE system help the human body as much as it can.”
“This is confusing,” Junho mutters.
“Yeah, just a bit,” I add.
“So let’s make sure we have everything straight,” Leeteuk says.
Heechul groans, “I hate it when you think out loud.”
Leeteuk ignores him. “Yoseob is working with the government, as is Seunghyun who was the prime minister during the time Yoseob was working on baseCODE research. Yoseob, whether intentionally or unintentionally, left a page of notes behind that sparked Changmin’s creative side-”
“Genius side,” Changmin mutters.
“-and Changmin starts running basic experiments that Yoseob had never done, discovering that with the right materials you can change the color of your baseCODE.”
“I wish you’d stop saying it that way and say prolong its life. It is a living organism,” Sungmin said.
Leeteuk continues like no one had interrupted. “Yoseob, aware of this possibility, alerts the authorities, but before that, I alert Changmin and tell him about this place where he can do his research unobserved. Because of this Changmin is able to perfect his Frog Piss, and Yoseob can’t prove that Changmin is doing any of this. Because of the missing supplies in the lab, suspicion then falls to Sungmin and Kyuhyun who are the lead scientists in improving the health benefits of the baseCODE system. Weeks before our Date of Expiration, I come here to hide out with Kangta and Kangin. Kangta and a few others go further from the city. Yoseob sells us out just the day before I had convinced Kangin to let him. Kangin is killed and then I hide here and organize a group of people with different colored baseCODEs to help gather supplies for our brilliant scientist.”
“Changmin meets the love of his life and bam, here I am,” Yunho says. “Best part of the story.”
Changmin snorts. “Giving yourself too much credit.”
Yunho grins. “Then maybe you better teach me a lesson.”
Leeteuk rolls his eyes.
“Okay, so now what?” Siwon asks.
Leeteuk looks at Heechul and then at Jaejoong. “They’re probably going to wait for us to slip up. I need someone to check Kangin’s systems. Any of you know any electronics experts that can be trusted?”
EunHae exchange a look.
“What?”
“Well, there’s always Yesung,” Donghae says. “He wasn’t formally trained, but he’s pretty much amazing.”
“And he doesn’t live in the middle of the city,” Eunhyuk adds. “It’ll be easy to convince him.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-two, about to be retired.”
“Retired from what?”
“His day job is a music producer,” Eunhyuk says. “His night job is hacking into computer programs and overriding the systems. Just for fun.”
Leeteuk nods. “He’ll do.”
“Don’t kidnap him,” Sungmin snaps.
Part 17: Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs
Part 15: swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon / that monthly changes in her circled orb
Part 14: it will be of more price / Being spoke behind your back, than to your face
Part 13: Young men's love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes
Part 12: Did my heart love til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty til this night
Part 11: A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear/ As will disperse itself through all the veins / Part 10: Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms / Part 9: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again / Part 8: we shall not scape a brawl; For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring /Part 7: Fortune, fortune, be fickle fortune, but do not keep him long but send him back. / Part 6: For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death. / Part 5: These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die. / Part 4: Not mad, but bound more than a mad man is / Part 3: Prick love for pricking and you beat love down. / Part 2: O, teach me how I should forget to think. / Part 1: I must be gone and live or stay and die.
.