Heaven and Hell 2/?
Title: Heaven and Hell 2/?
Pairings: Jaemin, more later
Rating: Overall NC-17, this chapter is PG-13
Genre: AU (Fantasy)
Word Count: 3276
Disclaimer: I wish I had the Power to make DBSK obey my every word. If wishes were horses...I’d have a whole fricking herd.
Summary: In a world where heaven and hell exist, angel Jaejoong falls for human Changmin, but that’s just the beginning of his troubles.
Previous Chapters:
1~Rendered Speechless
This fic is dedicated to hitsuki37, as part of our (insanelolipanda and I) end of the deal. You will love all OTP in time. Trust us. You will. All it takes is one step at a time, dear.
~~~
I spent the entirety of the next week pestering Junsu non-stop about HIM.
I tried to stop myself...for the first few days. Then I just gave up. Usually Junsu was the talkative one, but now I couldn’t seem to keep myself from talking a mile a minute.
“I swear, Su, I couldn’t even think straight. It just happened, and I can’t believe I was so stupid, I forgot to ask for his damn name, it would have taken two seconds...How am I such an IDIOT?”
Su was trying to tune me out, I could tell. He stared pointedly at the thin ribbon of water he was manipulating in the space between his spread hands, causing it to ripple as it changed color, shifting from a shade of pink to a lavender tint.
I just kept talking. It was if my mouth had a mind of its own--in the paralyzed state that my actual mind had found itself in ever since my first meeting with HIM, it hadn’t worked properly at all. “I mean, I don’t think I was even thinking. At all. All I could think about was those lips, that body. Holy shit, that body, Su. Those legs. You should have seen him, Su, you would’ve--”
It seemed like Junsu had finally reached his limit--to be honest, I had been talking for what seemed like hours. The stream of water suddenly disintegrated, raining tiny drops of yellow into the ground beneath his feet. He turned to me, and, with a expression of utter frustration, said, “Jae, would it be possible for you to shut up?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he quickly held up his hands, stopping me from uttering a sound. “Okay, okay, I guess not. Just go find this guy tomorrow then! You’ll be on Patrol again right? And checking out the hot guys is all you do anyways.”
I was only slightly offended by that last remark. It’s not like I could help it if there weren’t any demons in the human world these days. “What? Of course that’s not all I do. I mean, I’m always checking for any sign of Power. And I...uh...actually...” I trailed off. I actually couldn’t think of anything else I really did.
Junsu smiled triumphantly. “See?”
I sighed and didn’t even bother trying to redeem myself. He knew me all too well. “But what am I supposed to do? Just show up at the Bolero again and say, ‘Hey, I know I was really creepy last week when I was here, but can I ask for your name and number?’ Yeah, I don’t think that will go over too well...”
Junsu rolled his eyes at me. “No, dumbass. You talk to him first. Start up a conversation. Undo the creep impression you gave him from last week. It would be a good idea to know him first before you fuck him, don’t you think? You don’t want another Siwon situation, do you?”
I shuddered at the very mention of the name. The guy had been all dreamy looks and muscles to die for. I had more or less jumped him at first sight, but after a night of the most amazing sex I’d ever had in my life, the guy had turned into the most domineering bastard boyfriend ever. Not that I mind being domineered in bed (far from it), but in daily life, being told that I couldn’t see any of my friends (apart from Junsu--not even Siwon would dare to piss off the son of God) or live my life as I wanted got really annoying really fast.
When he had tried to use his measly Power of water to try and punish me for going out one night, I had finally had enough. Suffice it to say that the bastard had been left collapsed on the ground outside my front door, considerably short of breath. My Power can be used for more than to tell the wind where to go, you know--I can control all air.
“No fucking way is he going to be another Siwon. I can feel it. You should have seen the way he was so nervous around me...he’s so damn cute, you have no idea--”
Junsu sighed. “Jae...just go find him again tomorrow, okay? Talk to him. Get to know him. But for now, please, please, PLEASE shut up.”
~~~
In the end, I did what Junsu had suggested. As usual. He knew me better than I knew myself, most of the time. And he had a good logical streak that counteracted my sometimes spontaneous behavior.
I spent a good hour and a half tearing apart my extensive closet that night, trying to find the perfect thing to wear the next day. Contemplating then discarding one outfit after another was not a new experience for me, but this time I actually couldn’t find anything to wear.
Most of what I owned seemed too sexy for the situation--I really didn’t want to intimidate the guy by showing off my body the way I usually would if I was going out guy hunting...and I really didn’t need anymore more female mobs (They had attacked me before. If there’s anything scarier than a demon, it’s a crowd of hysterical fangirls, angel or human).
The rest of my wardrobe consisted of formal attire I was required to don when I attended classy functions with Junsu and his family. The elites of the angels seemed to love throwing outlandish parties for no reason whatsoever. It was as if they had nothing better to do now that demons weren’t stirring up trouble every other day.
In the end, I had to settle for the least revealing clothes I could find--jeans that hugged close to my thighs and a scoop-necked t-shirt. I probably could have continued searching for hours, but my cat JiJi decided that I needed to feed him, and feed him now.
JiJi was currently my only companion in my overly-large house. Junsu had insisted that I live in style, even though there really wasn’t any need for multiple bedrooms and a enormous living room. I did appreciate the fully equipped kitchen and the grand piano, though. Cooking and music were two of my favorite hobbies--Junsu had been known to show up at my door randomly for dinner, and usually cajoled me into playing something for him afterwards. He claimed that if I really wanted to (or had time to), I could make a decent living on the surface as a pianist or a chef. I usually didn’t really give those statements any credence, though, since most of the time he usually had a few shots of liquor during dinner, and he really doesn’t have the best tolerance.
As I moved around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients for JiJi’s favorite foods (he is one picky cat), he followed my every movement with clear blue eyes. Like most animals, he can’t talk, but for unknown reasons, pets that live in heaven tend to develop a certain perceptive quality that creep out some people. During the Siwon situation, JiJi would glare and hiss at the door for minutes before Siwon even showed up, and Siwon had hated him from the start. When I first noticed this, I should have dumped the good-for-nothing’s ass straight away. Of course I was still being my impulsive self, so didn’t bother to heed JiJi’s warnings. And you know the end to that story.
Apart from his flashes of insight, JiJi tended to be just like any other cat, tainted by angels or no--pushier than anyone else in my life apart from my sisters, wonderfully clever, and a warm ball of comfort in my bed at night.
After JiJi was finally placated, I decided that staring down my closet wouldn’t do any good, so I figured I might as well go to bed now so I could get to the surface early tomorrow morning.
JiJi curled up in his usual spot on the pillow next to my head as soon as I lay down. I listened to him purr contentedly into my ear for a long while before he quieted down, evidently asleep. Usually the sound lulled me into unconsciousness as well, but today my mind was still in overdrive, envisioning one possible scenario after another, each one ending in humiliation or disaster. Even so, I couldn’t get the guy out of my mind, and when I wasn’t thinking about making a public fool out of myself in the middle of Seoul, I was thinking about his smile or his voice. Or his legs. Or his muscles. Or what he would look like without that waiter’s uniform.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.
~~~
I woke up early, the overwhelming desire to meet that guy again overpowering all signs of sleep-deprivation my body was screaming at my brain. Deciding not to bother trying to mess with the whole outfit situation again, I threw on the clothes I had selected the night before and, with a quick goodbye to a disgruntled JiJI, left my house.
Usually, I waited until afternoon to leave for my Patrol, leaving time in the morning to meet with Junsu before his “family time,” but today I couldn’t wait. I knew Su would know what I was up to. It’s not like I hadn’t been talking about today constantly for the past week.
I started off in same park I had departed from the week before, then ignored all the poor shop aunties as I made a beeline for the Bolero.
I sat down at the same table and waited. As I casually observed the various members of the waitstaff that were circulating around, taking and delivering orders, I realized that the guy wasn’t amongst them. In fact, I didn’t recall any of their faces from any of the times that I had ever been to the café before.
It took me a while to realize why that was. Of course. I should have known. I never really had to think about the notion of working in shifts, since my only “job” was to be Junsu’s companion, unless he had no need of one. Mentally, I smacked myself for being so slow. Waking up so early had been useless.
Well, there really wasn’t anything to do now but wait for the guy to show up. It’s not like I could have waved over the nearest waitress and asked her, “Hey, do you know when the really hot guy who works here comes in for the day?” I’m pretty sure I would get kicked out, and I wasn’t going try to avoid that by using my abilities in the middle of a human shopping district.
For the next few hours, I ended up ordering one cappuccino after another, then switching to bubble tea when I couldn’t stand the taste of coffee anymore. The staff started to give me weird looks since I was just sitting there, staring at them, slowly sipping on my current drink. For hours. They weren’t going to do anything though, I knew--I was a paying customer, and I wasn’t causing them any trouble...yet.
He must have come in through some back door, because one moment he wasn’t there, then the next he was making his way towards me, looking slightly wary and completely adorable. The look on his face clearly said that he recognized me from last time--I couldn’t help but smile at that fact. He remembered me!
When he finally reached my table, neither of us said a word for a while. I stared at him. He looked right back, mouth set in a thin line. The awkward silence stretched out, until I decided to actually do what I had come here to do.
“Uh...so...” I cleared my throat. All those times I had imagined this moment in my head were completely forgotten. Fuck, I was stuttering like girl asking out her biggest crush. Which, now that I thought about it, was basically the situation I found myself in. Just perfect.
“Um...please don’t think I’m weird for asking this...” Shit, like he’s gonna think anything else, especially after I say something like that. What are you doing, Jae?! “...but what’s your name?”
He continued to stare at me. For a moment, I was afraid that he wasn’t going to say anything at all. A wave of relief washed over me when he finally opened his mouth and uttered two syllables--”Changmin.”
“No last name?”
He sighed and said, reluctantly, “Shim. Shim Changmin.”
“Shim Changmin...” I tried out the name, rolling the syllables around on my tongue, as if I could actually feel and taste the words. Saying his name felt oddly...right.
“Changmin-sshi...actually, is it okay if I call you Changmin?” He shrugged noncommittally. I took that as a yes. “My name is Kim Jaejoong. Changmin, could you...sit down for a bit? I want to talk to you about something.”
He looked uneasily at the chair I was gesturing at. I forced myself to laugh a little and said, “Go ahead. I didn’t booby trap it or anything.”
He looked up at me when I said that, as if that really had been his fear. But then he looked away again, towards the opposite corner of the café. “But I have to work...”
I turned my head so that I could see the other waitresses and even the female manager huddled together in that corner, tittering away quietly. When they saw that we were looking, the manager made a shooing motion at Changmin, a knowing look in her eye, obviously telling him that his duties were on hold for the moment. I smirked, and gave them all an exaggerated wink. One of the girls swooned.
I turned back to him. “You were saying...”
He knew he had no excuse now, so he did the reasonable thing and gave up. After sitting down in the chair I had offered, he placed his elbows on the table before speaking. “Okay, so what did you want to talk about?”
I opened my mouth, then realized that I didn’t know how to respond. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate to say something like, “Can we talk about how hot you are?” I would most likely get punched out if I decided to go with, “I want to talk about how bad I want to jump your bones right now.”
Instead, I took the easy (see: lame) way out. “So, how long have you been working here? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before last week.”
He looked at me, surprised at the question. “Well, yeah. Last week was my first week.”
Oh. Figured. “So do you like it here?”
“I like it well enough. The pay is decent, the hours are flexible, the location is nice. Though sometimes there are some strange customers who stare at me too much...”
I winced at the obvious accusation. “Yeah about that...sorry about last week. I...um...well. I couldn’t help it.”
“You couldn’t help what?” He crossed his arms over his chest. I noticed that motion looked very natural--like he did it often. Then I imagined what that chest would look like without the uniform covering it. It took every bit of willpower I possessed to push the image to the back of my mind and concentrate on the conversation.
“Well, I couldn’t help but...stare at you. Do you have any idea how attractive you are?” So much for trying to keep the topic neutral.
“...I’ve been told.”
“Well, you are. I’m not ashamed to say that I think it’s love at first sight, at least for me.” Or, at least, lust at first sight. I wasn’t going to say that out loud though.
He actually looked slightly flattered. “Well, thanks, I guess...was it...Jaejoong-sshi...?”
I smiled a little. I already loved the way my name sounded when he said it. “If I’m going to call you Changmin, you should call me Jaejoong.”
“Well then, thanks...Jaejoong.”
Another awkward silence. He fiddled with the string of the half-apron that the waitstaff all wore. I stirred my mostly empty cup of bubble tea with the straw.
I decided to just blurt it out. What else was there to do? “Changmin...do you want to get lunch with me sometime?”
He froze, the string slipping from between his suddenly stiff fingers. “Wh-wh-what?!”
How was I going to say this? Before I could even answer that question, my mouth was moving on its own again. “Well...I know that we’ve more or less just met, but I really want to get to know you better. You don’t have to consider this...a date, or anything. Just a chance to get to know each other. I can feel it, you know...the way you attract me...it’s more than anything I’ve felt before. It’s seems more like...destiny. I know you might think this sounds stupid, but I believe in stuff like that, and--”
“Okay, okay, fine.”
“--I really think--wait. Did you just agree?”
He rolled his eyes. “Is there another meaning to the word ‘fine’?”
I could feel the smile spread across my face--it felt like it was going to split my face in half. I didn’t care though...he had actually just agreed to go on a date with me! Or well...lunch?
I barely restrained myself from jumping across the table and giving him a hug. Not appropriate, I reminded myself. Not to mention that the Bolero’s staff, along with a quite a few of the customers, were watching our little tête-à-tête with some interest.
We agreed to meet in front of the Bolero at 11AM in one week, since his shift started at 1PM, then go down to a different café that we both knew for our little...what? I racked my brain for a bit, but failed to come up with a different word, so I decided to just call it a date, even though I had just told Changmin that it wasn’t a date. I mean, where’s the harm in that?
Saying goodbye was yet another awkward affair. After I left the money for the latest bubble tea under the empty cup, we both stood up, but then ended up just staring at each other again.
It seemed that generally I was the one who liked to break the silence, so why stop now? “Uh...so. I guess...I guess I’ll see you in a week then?”
“Yeah. A week.”
I waved as I walked out of the café, then made my way down the street, walking as nonchalantly as possible, despite the excitement. As soon as I turned the corner, though, and knew I was out of sight, I couldn’t stop myself from pumping a fist in the air and shouting, “YES! I HAVE A DATE!”
Various middle-aged ladies up and down the street turned to stare, even though I hadn’t spoken in Korean. A little cat who had been napping on a nearby fruit stand nearly fell off in fright.
I barely noticed. I was almost skipping the entire way back to the park, where I didn’t even bother looking around for bystanders before I let the air take me back home.
As soon as I burst through my front door, I pounced on JiJi, who had been napping in a patch of sun on the floor, and yelled, “I’M GOING ON A DATE WITH SHIM CHANGMIN!”
My cat just looked at me. His message was painfully clear--“Would it be possible for you to shut up?”
~~~
A/N: Hehehe...awk!Jaemin. Hope this chapter wasn’t too boring...next chapter will hopefully be more exciting...
Legit leaving for school today...updates will get slower D: sorry...
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3~First Date
Pairings: Jaemin, more later
Rating: Overall NC-17, this chapter is PG-13
Genre: AU (Fantasy)
Word Count: 3276
Disclaimer: I wish I had the Power to make DBSK obey my every word. If wishes were horses...I’d have a whole fricking herd.
Summary: In a world where heaven and hell exist, angel Jaejoong falls for human Changmin, but that’s just the beginning of his troubles.
Previous Chapters:
1~Rendered Speechless
This fic is dedicated to hitsuki37, as part of our (insanelolipanda and I) end of the deal. You will love all OTP in time. Trust us. You will. All it takes is one step at a time, dear.
~~~
I spent the entirety of the next week pestering Junsu non-stop about HIM.
I tried to stop myself...for the first few days. Then I just gave up. Usually Junsu was the talkative one, but now I couldn’t seem to keep myself from talking a mile a minute.
“I swear, Su, I couldn’t even think straight. It just happened, and I can’t believe I was so stupid, I forgot to ask for his damn name, it would have taken two seconds...How am I such an IDIOT?”
Su was trying to tune me out, I could tell. He stared pointedly at the thin ribbon of water he was manipulating in the space between his spread hands, causing it to ripple as it changed color, shifting from a shade of pink to a lavender tint.
I just kept talking. It was if my mouth had a mind of its own--in the paralyzed state that my actual mind had found itself in ever since my first meeting with HIM, it hadn’t worked properly at all. “I mean, I don’t think I was even thinking. At all. All I could think about was those lips, that body. Holy shit, that body, Su. Those legs. You should have seen him, Su, you would’ve--”
It seemed like Junsu had finally reached his limit--to be honest, I had been talking for what seemed like hours. The stream of water suddenly disintegrated, raining tiny drops of yellow into the ground beneath his feet. He turned to me, and, with a expression of utter frustration, said, “Jae, would it be possible for you to shut up?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he quickly held up his hands, stopping me from uttering a sound. “Okay, okay, I guess not. Just go find this guy tomorrow then! You’ll be on Patrol again right? And checking out the hot guys is all you do anyways.”
I was only slightly offended by that last remark. It’s not like I could help it if there weren’t any demons in the human world these days. “What? Of course that’s not all I do. I mean, I’m always checking for any sign of Power. And I...uh...actually...” I trailed off. I actually couldn’t think of anything else I really did.
Junsu smiled triumphantly. “See?”
I sighed and didn’t even bother trying to redeem myself. He knew me all too well. “But what am I supposed to do? Just show up at the Bolero again and say, ‘Hey, I know I was really creepy last week when I was here, but can I ask for your name and number?’ Yeah, I don’t think that will go over too well...”
Junsu rolled his eyes at me. “No, dumbass. You talk to him first. Start up a conversation. Undo the creep impression you gave him from last week. It would be a good idea to know him first before you fuck him, don’t you think? You don’t want another Siwon situation, do you?”
I shuddered at the very mention of the name. The guy had been all dreamy looks and muscles to die for. I had more or less jumped him at first sight, but after a night of the most amazing sex I’d ever had in my life, the guy had turned into the most domineering bastard boyfriend ever. Not that I mind being domineered in bed (far from it), but in daily life, being told that I couldn’t see any of my friends (apart from Junsu--not even Siwon would dare to piss off the son of God) or live my life as I wanted got really annoying really fast.
When he had tried to use his measly Power of water to try and punish me for going out one night, I had finally had enough. Suffice it to say that the bastard had been left collapsed on the ground outside my front door, considerably short of breath. My Power can be used for more than to tell the wind where to go, you know--I can control all air.
“No fucking way is he going to be another Siwon. I can feel it. You should have seen the way he was so nervous around me...he’s so damn cute, you have no idea--”
Junsu sighed. “Jae...just go find him again tomorrow, okay? Talk to him. Get to know him. But for now, please, please, PLEASE shut up.”
~~~
In the end, I did what Junsu had suggested. As usual. He knew me better than I knew myself, most of the time. And he had a good logical streak that counteracted my sometimes spontaneous behavior.
I spent a good hour and a half tearing apart my extensive closet that night, trying to find the perfect thing to wear the next day. Contemplating then discarding one outfit after another was not a new experience for me, but this time I actually couldn’t find anything to wear.
Most of what I owned seemed too sexy for the situation--I really didn’t want to intimidate the guy by showing off my body the way I usually would if I was going out guy hunting...and I really didn’t need anymore more female mobs (They had attacked me before. If there’s anything scarier than a demon, it’s a crowd of hysterical fangirls, angel or human).
The rest of my wardrobe consisted of formal attire I was required to don when I attended classy functions with Junsu and his family. The elites of the angels seemed to love throwing outlandish parties for no reason whatsoever. It was as if they had nothing better to do now that demons weren’t stirring up trouble every other day.
In the end, I had to settle for the least revealing clothes I could find--jeans that hugged close to my thighs and a scoop-necked t-shirt. I probably could have continued searching for hours, but my cat JiJi decided that I needed to feed him, and feed him now.
JiJi was currently my only companion in my overly-large house. Junsu had insisted that I live in style, even though there really wasn’t any need for multiple bedrooms and a enormous living room. I did appreciate the fully equipped kitchen and the grand piano, though. Cooking and music were two of my favorite hobbies--Junsu had been known to show up at my door randomly for dinner, and usually cajoled me into playing something for him afterwards. He claimed that if I really wanted to (or had time to), I could make a decent living on the surface as a pianist or a chef. I usually didn’t really give those statements any credence, though, since most of the time he usually had a few shots of liquor during dinner, and he really doesn’t have the best tolerance.
As I moved around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients for JiJi’s favorite foods (he is one picky cat), he followed my every movement with clear blue eyes. Like most animals, he can’t talk, but for unknown reasons, pets that live in heaven tend to develop a certain perceptive quality that creep out some people. During the Siwon situation, JiJi would glare and hiss at the door for minutes before Siwon even showed up, and Siwon had hated him from the start. When I first noticed this, I should have dumped the good-for-nothing’s ass straight away. Of course I was still being my impulsive self, so didn’t bother to heed JiJi’s warnings. And you know the end to that story.
Apart from his flashes of insight, JiJi tended to be just like any other cat, tainted by angels or no--pushier than anyone else in my life apart from my sisters, wonderfully clever, and a warm ball of comfort in my bed at night.
After JiJi was finally placated, I decided that staring down my closet wouldn’t do any good, so I figured I might as well go to bed now so I could get to the surface early tomorrow morning.
JiJi curled up in his usual spot on the pillow next to my head as soon as I lay down. I listened to him purr contentedly into my ear for a long while before he quieted down, evidently asleep. Usually the sound lulled me into unconsciousness as well, but today my mind was still in overdrive, envisioning one possible scenario after another, each one ending in humiliation or disaster. Even so, I couldn’t get the guy out of my mind, and when I wasn’t thinking about making a public fool out of myself in the middle of Seoul, I was thinking about his smile or his voice. Or his legs. Or his muscles. Or what he would look like without that waiter’s uniform.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.
~~~
I woke up early, the overwhelming desire to meet that guy again overpowering all signs of sleep-deprivation my body was screaming at my brain. Deciding not to bother trying to mess with the whole outfit situation again, I threw on the clothes I had selected the night before and, with a quick goodbye to a disgruntled JiJI, left my house.
Usually, I waited until afternoon to leave for my Patrol, leaving time in the morning to meet with Junsu before his “family time,” but today I couldn’t wait. I knew Su would know what I was up to. It’s not like I hadn’t been talking about today constantly for the past week.
I started off in same park I had departed from the week before, then ignored all the poor shop aunties as I made a beeline for the Bolero.
I sat down at the same table and waited. As I casually observed the various members of the waitstaff that were circulating around, taking and delivering orders, I realized that the guy wasn’t amongst them. In fact, I didn’t recall any of their faces from any of the times that I had ever been to the café before.
It took me a while to realize why that was. Of course. I should have known. I never really had to think about the notion of working in shifts, since my only “job” was to be Junsu’s companion, unless he had no need of one. Mentally, I smacked myself for being so slow. Waking up so early had been useless.
Well, there really wasn’t anything to do now but wait for the guy to show up. It’s not like I could have waved over the nearest waitress and asked her, “Hey, do you know when the really hot guy who works here comes in for the day?” I’m pretty sure I would get kicked out, and I wasn’t going try to avoid that by using my abilities in the middle of a human shopping district.
For the next few hours, I ended up ordering one cappuccino after another, then switching to bubble tea when I couldn’t stand the taste of coffee anymore. The staff started to give me weird looks since I was just sitting there, staring at them, slowly sipping on my current drink. For hours. They weren’t going to do anything though, I knew--I was a paying customer, and I wasn’t causing them any trouble...yet.
He must have come in through some back door, because one moment he wasn’t there, then the next he was making his way towards me, looking slightly wary and completely adorable. The look on his face clearly said that he recognized me from last time--I couldn’t help but smile at that fact. He remembered me!
When he finally reached my table, neither of us said a word for a while. I stared at him. He looked right back, mouth set in a thin line. The awkward silence stretched out, until I decided to actually do what I had come here to do.
“Uh...so...” I cleared my throat. All those times I had imagined this moment in my head were completely forgotten. Fuck, I was stuttering like girl asking out her biggest crush. Which, now that I thought about it, was basically the situation I found myself in. Just perfect.
“Um...please don’t think I’m weird for asking this...” Shit, like he’s gonna think anything else, especially after I say something like that. What are you doing, Jae?! “...but what’s your name?”
He continued to stare at me. For a moment, I was afraid that he wasn’t going to say anything at all. A wave of relief washed over me when he finally opened his mouth and uttered two syllables--”Changmin.”
“No last name?”
He sighed and said, reluctantly, “Shim. Shim Changmin.”
“Shim Changmin...” I tried out the name, rolling the syllables around on my tongue, as if I could actually feel and taste the words. Saying his name felt oddly...right.
“Changmin-sshi...actually, is it okay if I call you Changmin?” He shrugged noncommittally. I took that as a yes. “My name is Kim Jaejoong. Changmin, could you...sit down for a bit? I want to talk to you about something.”
He looked uneasily at the chair I was gesturing at. I forced myself to laugh a little and said, “Go ahead. I didn’t booby trap it or anything.”
He looked up at me when I said that, as if that really had been his fear. But then he looked away again, towards the opposite corner of the café. “But I have to work...”
I turned my head so that I could see the other waitresses and even the female manager huddled together in that corner, tittering away quietly. When they saw that we were looking, the manager made a shooing motion at Changmin, a knowing look in her eye, obviously telling him that his duties were on hold for the moment. I smirked, and gave them all an exaggerated wink. One of the girls swooned.
I turned back to him. “You were saying...”
He knew he had no excuse now, so he did the reasonable thing and gave up. After sitting down in the chair I had offered, he placed his elbows on the table before speaking. “Okay, so what did you want to talk about?”
I opened my mouth, then realized that I didn’t know how to respond. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate to say something like, “Can we talk about how hot you are?” I would most likely get punched out if I decided to go with, “I want to talk about how bad I want to jump your bones right now.”
Instead, I took the easy (see: lame) way out. “So, how long have you been working here? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before last week.”
He looked at me, surprised at the question. “Well, yeah. Last week was my first week.”
Oh. Figured. “So do you like it here?”
“I like it well enough. The pay is decent, the hours are flexible, the location is nice. Though sometimes there are some strange customers who stare at me too much...”
I winced at the obvious accusation. “Yeah about that...sorry about last week. I...um...well. I couldn’t help it.”
“You couldn’t help what?” He crossed his arms over his chest. I noticed that motion looked very natural--like he did it often. Then I imagined what that chest would look like without the uniform covering it. It took every bit of willpower I possessed to push the image to the back of my mind and concentrate on the conversation.
“Well, I couldn’t help but...stare at you. Do you have any idea how attractive you are?” So much for trying to keep the topic neutral.
“...I’ve been told.”
“Well, you are. I’m not ashamed to say that I think it’s love at first sight, at least for me.” Or, at least, lust at first sight. I wasn’t going to say that out loud though.
He actually looked slightly flattered. “Well, thanks, I guess...was it...Jaejoong-sshi...?”
I smiled a little. I already loved the way my name sounded when he said it. “If I’m going to call you Changmin, you should call me Jaejoong.”
“Well then, thanks...Jaejoong.”
Another awkward silence. He fiddled with the string of the half-apron that the waitstaff all wore. I stirred my mostly empty cup of bubble tea with the straw.
I decided to just blurt it out. What else was there to do? “Changmin...do you want to get lunch with me sometime?”
He froze, the string slipping from between his suddenly stiff fingers. “Wh-wh-what?!”
How was I going to say this? Before I could even answer that question, my mouth was moving on its own again. “Well...I know that we’ve more or less just met, but I really want to get to know you better. You don’t have to consider this...a date, or anything. Just a chance to get to know each other. I can feel it, you know...the way you attract me...it’s more than anything I’ve felt before. It’s seems more like...destiny. I know you might think this sounds stupid, but I believe in stuff like that, and--”
“Okay, okay, fine.”
“--I really think--wait. Did you just agree?”
He rolled his eyes. “Is there another meaning to the word ‘fine’?”
I could feel the smile spread across my face--it felt like it was going to split my face in half. I didn’t care though...he had actually just agreed to go on a date with me! Or well...lunch?
I barely restrained myself from jumping across the table and giving him a hug. Not appropriate, I reminded myself. Not to mention that the Bolero’s staff, along with a quite a few of the customers, were watching our little tête-à-tête with some interest.
We agreed to meet in front of the Bolero at 11AM in one week, since his shift started at 1PM, then go down to a different café that we both knew for our little...what? I racked my brain for a bit, but failed to come up with a different word, so I decided to just call it a date, even though I had just told Changmin that it wasn’t a date. I mean, where’s the harm in that?
Saying goodbye was yet another awkward affair. After I left the money for the latest bubble tea under the empty cup, we both stood up, but then ended up just staring at each other again.
It seemed that generally I was the one who liked to break the silence, so why stop now? “Uh...so. I guess...I guess I’ll see you in a week then?”
“Yeah. A week.”
I waved as I walked out of the café, then made my way down the street, walking as nonchalantly as possible, despite the excitement. As soon as I turned the corner, though, and knew I was out of sight, I couldn’t stop myself from pumping a fist in the air and shouting, “YES! I HAVE A DATE!”
Various middle-aged ladies up and down the street turned to stare, even though I hadn’t spoken in Korean. A little cat who had been napping on a nearby fruit stand nearly fell off in fright.
I barely noticed. I was almost skipping the entire way back to the park, where I didn’t even bother looking around for bystanders before I let the air take me back home.
As soon as I burst through my front door, I pounced on JiJi, who had been napping in a patch of sun on the floor, and yelled, “I’M GOING ON A DATE WITH SHIM CHANGMIN!”
My cat just looked at me. His message was painfully clear--“Would it be possible for you to shut up?”
~~~
A/N: Hehehe...awk!Jaemin. Hope this chapter wasn’t too boring...next chapter will hopefully be more exciting...
Legit leaving for school today...updates will get slower D: sorry...
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3~First Date