Round 1, Challenge #4: "all that is said and done"
Title: all that is said and done
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,030
Summary: The silence was a thick and stately one.
Warnings: Jaejoong may come off as a bit ooc, but I'd like to think him a bit changed by the age of twenty-six.
When all was said and done, their bags packed, their furniture stowed, and Yoochun laughing with tears in his eyes, Jaejoong sat at the kitchen nook with his makeshift family, unsure of what the future held for them. Somehow, though, when he looked across the table to see Yunho tuck Yoochun's wet mane away from his eyes and behind an ear, his chest loosened a little.
The silence was a thick and stately one - no one said word, not for lack of words, but simply because there wasn't anything worth saying. For who could sum up his life as a god rising from the east with any less than a million phrases? The enormity of reality, so all encompassing and brilliant, was a frightening sight to behold. Jaejoong had nothing to say with his mouth, but he was sure his eyes said it all. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you all. Grow up. Be strong. Make me proud.
They sat there, smiling, until a hesitant honk was heard from outside. It was Junsu who stood, smiling sheepishly. "Well, guys. I guess I'll see you all around."
He turned, walked out of the room with hurrying steps. Jaejoong stared at the wooden table in front of him, wondering at the water marks and little imperfections and remembering how that little scrape happened, and how that other mark found its home.
Then he was standing, with Changmin, Yoochun, Yunho, and they were running through the arch, down the hallway, past empty walls just recently stripped bare, to find Junsu standing framed by an open door, tears running down both cheeks, arms folded across his chest.
"I th-thought you guys w-were just going to l-l-let me go - "
It was Yunho who stepped forward, enveloping Junsu in one of his firm hugs, carefully leaving room for Changmin, Yoochun, and finally Jaejoong to follow. They held and squeezed and laughed and cried until Junsu felt steady enough to detangle himself, pull away, and leave, running down the long apartment hallway, calling behind him, "Visit or die!"
Changmin shrugged and picked up his messenger bag, slinging it over a shoulder. "See you around, I guess." Then he, too, was gone.
It was just Jaejoong, Yunho, and Yoochun. Yoochun couldn't stop crying, and Yunho sent Jaejoong a raised eyebrow. Do we kick him out of the apartment or hug him some more?
Jaejoong opted for the latter. The three of them stood in the doorway of what was their home for years, hugging, with Yunho whispering all sorts of nonsense in that fatherly way of his. Finally, Yoochun pulled away, choked down another sob, and blew them both a kiss in goodbye.
It was just Yunho, now. Yunho and Jaejoong.
"I feel like we've just sent our kids to college," Yunho commented wryly, leaning heavily against the doorframe and staring at the spot Yoochun just vacated.
"Or to their wedding night."
They turned to look at each other. To crack a smile. To laugh, long and full as if it were just another morning at the Dong Bang Shin Ki household, as if they hadn't just broken up, as if Junsu and Changmin and Yoochun weren't on their own, from now until the end of eternity.
As if sensing his thoughts, Yunho pulled Jaejoong tightly against his side, burying his nose in Jaejoong's mop of hair, both offering and taking comfort. "Hey, you."
"Yeah?" Jaejoong let himself lean against Yunho's chest and breathe in the scent of Yunho. Yunho Yunho Yunho. Jaejoong would say he would miss this, but there just weren't words for that either.
"Let's go somewhere."
"Where?"
"A trip. You deserve it."
Jaejoong pulled away to stare at Yunho's face, trying to gauge if he was serious or not. "Yunho."
"Jaejoong, please? We both deserve it." Eyes dark with sincerity stared back into Jaejoong's own.
"But where would we go?"
Yunho's face blossomed into a smile. "Anywhere. Anywhere you want to go."
"Then Paris. Par-ree."
It was liberating, that smile.
-----
Yunho found Jaejoong out on the balcony, legs pulled up to his chest, reading a traveler's manual. In his hair nestled a half dozen barrettes. The crisp morning air bit against Yunho's face and bare chest when he opened the sliding glass door; he briefly wondered how long Jaejoong had been sitting out there in nothing but pajamas.
"A penny for your thoughts?" He sat, looping an arm across Jaejoong's shoulders.
Jaejoong turned and pressed a soft kiss to the underside of Yunho's chin, pulling away with an exaggerated grimace. "My thoughts are worth more than a penny. Also, you need to shave."
"Baby, it's six in the morning. And c'mere, s'cold."
"You're just a big whiny thing, aren't you?" Jaejoong smiled and leaned against Yunho, letting Yunho wrap the loveseat futon around the both of them.
Yunho grinned, cheeky and sweet like he did when he was eighteen. "At least I'm big in the all places that count?"
They were twenty-six, old with rusty joints and cracked hands, much too old to be having any sort of fun, but Yunho had a funny way of convincing Jaejoong otherwise. "I like the barrettes," Yunho commented at length. "They add character."
Jaejoong smiled as he pressed his face against the nook where Yunho's neck met his shoulder. "You'll be distressed to find out that I didn't add them for character. It's windy in Paris, and I couldn't find any bobby pins. Not to mention, the shampoo was sub par."
"I'll complain to management."
"You will do no such thing."
"I will, if you ask me to. I'd move mountains for you, love."
At this, they both laughed. Jaejoong bumped his forehead against Yunho's shoulder, still grinning, and said, "I think something in Paris's drinking water is getting to you. You are a handful - more than usual, anyway."
"A handful, yes -"
"No more dirty jokes!"
Yunho stood, raising his hands above his head to stretch out his back. "You're no fun, but let me take you out to breakfast anyway." He held out a hand to assist Jaejoong.
"You only love me for my good looks."
Smiling, Jaejoong let himself be pulled into a quick, chaste kiss. He pulled away before Yunho's hands could wander. "You mentioned breakfast?"
"Kim Jaejoong, I love you for your good looks, among a variety of other things. Be rest assured."
"Kiss me and I will not mention it again from this day forward."
-----
Over a breakfast of fresh fruits, baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, napoleons, and éclairs (Yunho was feeling a bit excessive), they decided that they should've brought Yoochun along as a translator. That way, while they still wouldn't understand anything, the French would at least have been more humorous than awkward.
"What do you think they're doing?" Jaejoong asked, making a point of fixing his gaze on the buildings across the street while peeling his orange.
Yunho looked up from his pastries. "Mphff?"
"Them. The kids."
After swallowing, Yunho paused to run the back of his hand across his mouth, grinning at Jaejoong's wince. "They're adults, not kids. And, huh. Changmin might be reading a book, or sleeping. Probably sleeping. Yoochun is probably still crying … I really hope someone is keeping him hydrated. And Junsu - who knows? Singing. Making for himself a career in music? Selling his smile to old ladies?"
Jaejoong gave Yunho a pointed look over his coffee, waving an orange peel in his general direction. "I was being serious."
"And so was I."
Their waiter came by to ask them if they needed anything, or at least that was what Yunho figured he was asking. Yunho just smiled and shook his head.
"Yunho. I miss them."
"As do I."
"But you don't understand. I miss them."
"Jaejoong." Yunho reached across the table to take Jaejoong's hand in his own, squeezing it. "We spent eight years worrying over what they were eating and if they were sleeping correctly or taking care of themselves. I think they can, baby. We went to Paris on a selfish whim, and it's going to stay a selfish whim, okay?"
Jaejoong pulled his hand away, crossing both arms across his chest with a frown. "I can’t believe you, Jung Yunho, are telling me, Kim Jaejoong, to be selfish. That's all I've been my entire life."
"You know that's not true." Yunho offered his hand, palm up. "Come on, don't be like that."
Without much thought, Jaejoong slipped his fingers between Yunho's. "It's true," he said quietly. "Every day I think of all these things I should have done and all these things I shouldn't have done, and maybe if I substituted all those things I did do for all those things I should've done, I wouldn't miss them so much."
"So you feel guilty."
"Maybe." He shrugged.
"I don't think love is about counting all the good things you do for me and all those bad things you do to me, Jaejoong."
"Oh, don't lecture me about love -"
"No." Yunho tightened his hold on Jaejoong's hand. "Hey, look at me. I will, because we are twenty-six, and two years ago we decided that we loved each other more than the safety of the kids' careers. If that wasn't selfish, I don't know what is. But I love you, and love is selfless."
"Yunho." Jaejoong's eyes were shuttered. "That made. No. Fucking. Sense." He laughed, dry and hollow.
"Neither does love."
At length: "This makes sense."
"Yeah."
"Can we go to the Eiffel Tower?"
"Of course."
-----
They flew back home two weeks earlier than they were supposed to, claiming that Paris was boring, and had nothing special to offer. The flight was awful, long and tedious, though Jaejoong spent most of it sleeping with his head on Yunho's shoulder.
Yunho wasn't sure who told Changmin, Junsu, and Yoochun that they were coming home, but as they climbed the stairs to their apartment, dragging their luggage behind them, they were greeted by three frightfully familiar faces.
"Hyung!"
Somehow, Jaejoong's fatigue evaporated. The luggage was left in the hallway, and the five of them took purchase on an old, fraying couch that had been with them for years.
"It's like old times," Yoochun murmured, head in Yunho's lap.
Junsu laughed, high-pitched and wonderful. "Don't cry, big boy."
They sat in relative silence. Quite suddenly, Jaejoong started to cry.
"What - "
"Jaejoong - "
"Hyung - "
No one really knew what to say, so everyone opted to say nothing. They just gathered Jaejoong within four pairs of hands and held him.
Finally, Jaejoong said, "We have an extra guest room. Just one. But it'll just be like old times - Yoochun, Junsu, and Changmin in one room, Yunho and I in the other. Come visit us, yeah? Yunho is boring company. I - h - he's so boring it drives me to tears. He's just so goddamn boring." Here, Jaejoong started to cry again.
Three heads swiveled to glare at a stunned Yunho, who mouthed, Just let him.
So they let him.
By some trick of fate, Yoochun didn't start crying, and Jaejoong got over himself. They resumed life as normal, with Jaejoong taking command in the kitchen, Junsu and Changmin fighting over the Wii, Yoochun at the piano, and Yunho playing overseer.
At the end of the day, the kids, as they would forever be called, left with full stomachs. Jaejoong made them promise to visit, maybe tomorrow or the day after, but no later than that, and Yunho and Jaejoong stood at their open door, watching them walk away.
Without words, Yunho took Jaejoong's hand and led him inside, closing the door behind them with a soft click. They made their way to the bedroom and snuggled in with their new sheets, Jaejoong tucked neatly beneath Yunho's chin.
"I love you, yeah?"
"Yeah. You, too. Thank you for - you know."
-----
The kids returned the next morning, bright and early, and Yunho and Jaejoong almost didn't hear their knocking, too absorbed in themselves to hear or care.
The teasing was endless.
But Yunho and Jaejoong would have it no other way.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,030
Summary: The silence was a thick and stately one.
Warnings: Jaejoong may come off as a bit ooc, but I'd like to think him a bit changed by the age of twenty-six.
When all was said and done, their bags packed, their furniture stowed, and Yoochun laughing with tears in his eyes, Jaejoong sat at the kitchen nook with his makeshift family, unsure of what the future held for them. Somehow, though, when he looked across the table to see Yunho tuck Yoochun's wet mane away from his eyes and behind an ear, his chest loosened a little.
The silence was a thick and stately one - no one said word, not for lack of words, but simply because there wasn't anything worth saying. For who could sum up his life as a god rising from the east with any less than a million phrases? The enormity of reality, so all encompassing and brilliant, was a frightening sight to behold. Jaejoong had nothing to say with his mouth, but he was sure his eyes said it all. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you all. Grow up. Be strong. Make me proud.
They sat there, smiling, until a hesitant honk was heard from outside. It was Junsu who stood, smiling sheepishly. "Well, guys. I guess I'll see you all around."
He turned, walked out of the room with hurrying steps. Jaejoong stared at the wooden table in front of him, wondering at the water marks and little imperfections and remembering how that little scrape happened, and how that other mark found its home.
Then he was standing, with Changmin, Yoochun, Yunho, and they were running through the arch, down the hallway, past empty walls just recently stripped bare, to find Junsu standing framed by an open door, tears running down both cheeks, arms folded across his chest.
"I th-thought you guys w-were just going to l-l-let me go - "
It was Yunho who stepped forward, enveloping Junsu in one of his firm hugs, carefully leaving room for Changmin, Yoochun, and finally Jaejoong to follow. They held and squeezed and laughed and cried until Junsu felt steady enough to detangle himself, pull away, and leave, running down the long apartment hallway, calling behind him, "Visit or die!"
Changmin shrugged and picked up his messenger bag, slinging it over a shoulder. "See you around, I guess." Then he, too, was gone.
It was just Jaejoong, Yunho, and Yoochun. Yoochun couldn't stop crying, and Yunho sent Jaejoong a raised eyebrow. Do we kick him out of the apartment or hug him some more?
Jaejoong opted for the latter. The three of them stood in the doorway of what was their home for years, hugging, with Yunho whispering all sorts of nonsense in that fatherly way of his. Finally, Yoochun pulled away, choked down another sob, and blew them both a kiss in goodbye.
It was just Yunho, now. Yunho and Jaejoong.
"I feel like we've just sent our kids to college," Yunho commented wryly, leaning heavily against the doorframe and staring at the spot Yoochun just vacated.
"Or to their wedding night."
They turned to look at each other. To crack a smile. To laugh, long and full as if it were just another morning at the Dong Bang Shin Ki household, as if they hadn't just broken up, as if Junsu and Changmin and Yoochun weren't on their own, from now until the end of eternity.
As if sensing his thoughts, Yunho pulled Jaejoong tightly against his side, burying his nose in Jaejoong's mop of hair, both offering and taking comfort. "Hey, you."
"Yeah?" Jaejoong let himself lean against Yunho's chest and breathe in the scent of Yunho. Yunho Yunho Yunho. Jaejoong would say he would miss this, but there just weren't words for that either.
"Let's go somewhere."
"Where?"
"A trip. You deserve it."
Jaejoong pulled away to stare at Yunho's face, trying to gauge if he was serious or not. "Yunho."
"Jaejoong, please? We both deserve it." Eyes dark with sincerity stared back into Jaejoong's own.
"But where would we go?"
Yunho's face blossomed into a smile. "Anywhere. Anywhere you want to go."
"Then Paris. Par-ree."
It was liberating, that smile.
-----
Yunho found Jaejoong out on the balcony, legs pulled up to his chest, reading a traveler's manual. In his hair nestled a half dozen barrettes. The crisp morning air bit against Yunho's face and bare chest when he opened the sliding glass door; he briefly wondered how long Jaejoong had been sitting out there in nothing but pajamas.
"A penny for your thoughts?" He sat, looping an arm across Jaejoong's shoulders.
Jaejoong turned and pressed a soft kiss to the underside of Yunho's chin, pulling away with an exaggerated grimace. "My thoughts are worth more than a penny. Also, you need to shave."
"Baby, it's six in the morning. And c'mere, s'cold."
"You're just a big whiny thing, aren't you?" Jaejoong smiled and leaned against Yunho, letting Yunho wrap the loveseat futon around the both of them.
Yunho grinned, cheeky and sweet like he did when he was eighteen. "At least I'm big in the all places that count?"
They were twenty-six, old with rusty joints and cracked hands, much too old to be having any sort of fun, but Yunho had a funny way of convincing Jaejoong otherwise. "I like the barrettes," Yunho commented at length. "They add character."
Jaejoong smiled as he pressed his face against the nook where Yunho's neck met his shoulder. "You'll be distressed to find out that I didn't add them for character. It's windy in Paris, and I couldn't find any bobby pins. Not to mention, the shampoo was sub par."
"I'll complain to management."
"You will do no such thing."
"I will, if you ask me to. I'd move mountains for you, love."
At this, they both laughed. Jaejoong bumped his forehead against Yunho's shoulder, still grinning, and said, "I think something in Paris's drinking water is getting to you. You are a handful - more than usual, anyway."
"A handful, yes -"
"No more dirty jokes!"
Yunho stood, raising his hands above his head to stretch out his back. "You're no fun, but let me take you out to breakfast anyway." He held out a hand to assist Jaejoong.
"You only love me for my good looks."
Smiling, Jaejoong let himself be pulled into a quick, chaste kiss. He pulled away before Yunho's hands could wander. "You mentioned breakfast?"
"Kim Jaejoong, I love you for your good looks, among a variety of other things. Be rest assured."
"Kiss me and I will not mention it again from this day forward."
-----
Over a breakfast of fresh fruits, baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, napoleons, and éclairs (Yunho was feeling a bit excessive), they decided that they should've brought Yoochun along as a translator. That way, while they still wouldn't understand anything, the French would at least have been more humorous than awkward.
"What do you think they're doing?" Jaejoong asked, making a point of fixing his gaze on the buildings across the street while peeling his orange.
Yunho looked up from his pastries. "Mphff?"
"Them. The kids."
After swallowing, Yunho paused to run the back of his hand across his mouth, grinning at Jaejoong's wince. "They're adults, not kids. And, huh. Changmin might be reading a book, or sleeping. Probably sleeping. Yoochun is probably still crying … I really hope someone is keeping him hydrated. And Junsu - who knows? Singing. Making for himself a career in music? Selling his smile to old ladies?"
Jaejoong gave Yunho a pointed look over his coffee, waving an orange peel in his general direction. "I was being serious."
"And so was I."
Their waiter came by to ask them if they needed anything, or at least that was what Yunho figured he was asking. Yunho just smiled and shook his head.
"Yunho. I miss them."
"As do I."
"But you don't understand. I miss them."
"Jaejoong." Yunho reached across the table to take Jaejoong's hand in his own, squeezing it. "We spent eight years worrying over what they were eating and if they were sleeping correctly or taking care of themselves. I think they can, baby. We went to Paris on a selfish whim, and it's going to stay a selfish whim, okay?"
Jaejoong pulled his hand away, crossing both arms across his chest with a frown. "I can’t believe you, Jung Yunho, are telling me, Kim Jaejoong, to be selfish. That's all I've been my entire life."
"You know that's not true." Yunho offered his hand, palm up. "Come on, don't be like that."
Without much thought, Jaejoong slipped his fingers between Yunho's. "It's true," he said quietly. "Every day I think of all these things I should have done and all these things I shouldn't have done, and maybe if I substituted all those things I did do for all those things I should've done, I wouldn't miss them so much."
"So you feel guilty."
"Maybe." He shrugged.
"I don't think love is about counting all the good things you do for me and all those bad things you do to me, Jaejoong."
"Oh, don't lecture me about love -"
"No." Yunho tightened his hold on Jaejoong's hand. "Hey, look at me. I will, because we are twenty-six, and two years ago we decided that we loved each other more than the safety of the kids' careers. If that wasn't selfish, I don't know what is. But I love you, and love is selfless."
"Yunho." Jaejoong's eyes were shuttered. "That made. No. Fucking. Sense." He laughed, dry and hollow.
"Neither does love."
At length: "This makes sense."
"Yeah."
"Can we go to the Eiffel Tower?"
"Of course."
-----
They flew back home two weeks earlier than they were supposed to, claiming that Paris was boring, and had nothing special to offer. The flight was awful, long and tedious, though Jaejoong spent most of it sleeping with his head on Yunho's shoulder.
Yunho wasn't sure who told Changmin, Junsu, and Yoochun that they were coming home, but as they climbed the stairs to their apartment, dragging their luggage behind them, they were greeted by three frightfully familiar faces.
"Hyung!"
Somehow, Jaejoong's fatigue evaporated. The luggage was left in the hallway, and the five of them took purchase on an old, fraying couch that had been with them for years.
"It's like old times," Yoochun murmured, head in Yunho's lap.
Junsu laughed, high-pitched and wonderful. "Don't cry, big boy."
They sat in relative silence. Quite suddenly, Jaejoong started to cry.
"What - "
"Jaejoong - "
"Hyung - "
No one really knew what to say, so everyone opted to say nothing. They just gathered Jaejoong within four pairs of hands and held him.
Finally, Jaejoong said, "We have an extra guest room. Just one. But it'll just be like old times - Yoochun, Junsu, and Changmin in one room, Yunho and I in the other. Come visit us, yeah? Yunho is boring company. I - h - he's so boring it drives me to tears. He's just so goddamn boring." Here, Jaejoong started to cry again.
Three heads swiveled to glare at a stunned Yunho, who mouthed, Just let him.
So they let him.
By some trick of fate, Yoochun didn't start crying, and Jaejoong got over himself. They resumed life as normal, with Jaejoong taking command in the kitchen, Junsu and Changmin fighting over the Wii, Yoochun at the piano, and Yunho playing overseer.
At the end of the day, the kids, as they would forever be called, left with full stomachs. Jaejoong made them promise to visit, maybe tomorrow or the day after, but no later than that, and Yunho and Jaejoong stood at their open door, watching them walk away.
Without words, Yunho took Jaejoong's hand and led him inside, closing the door behind them with a soft click. They made their way to the bedroom and snuggled in with their new sheets, Jaejoong tucked neatly beneath Yunho's chin.
"I love you, yeah?"
"Yeah. You, too. Thank you for - you know."
-----
The kids returned the next morning, bright and early, and Yunho and Jaejoong almost didn't hear their knocking, too absorbed in themselves to hear or care.
The teasing was endless.
But Yunho and Jaejoong would have it no other way.