The Five Legends [Ch.4]
The Five Legends
AU/Romance/Drama
Bandfic with Yunho/Jaejoong and some Yoochun/Junsu.
PG-13
4/?
Summary: In the Korean music business, there were five young men who were called the future of Korea’s music. Although only in their early twenties, they already were rising legends ready to take over the world. In fact, Japan, Korea, and most of Asia were under their spell already, and all that remained was the Western world. However, due to the language barrier, most believed that they wouldn’t be able to take over the Western music scene. But due to the plan of one man, the five men came together to become not five separate legends, but to form one myth, one legend, which would one day, be able to rule the world’s music and go down in history.
Prologue&Chapter 1 | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
Chapter Four
“Yoochun! Do you need help with that?” Jaejoong saw him trying to carry his keyboard into the study room they shared with Yunho and rushed to help him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Jaejoong-hyung. It’s not that heavy, actually.” Yoochun gave him a shy smile. He was a bit more open now than he was before, thought Jae. After Jae voluntarily asked Yoochun if he would mind sharing a room with him, for some reason, he became much friendlier.
Today was the day they all moved into their new apartment. A few days earlier when Hansook brought them here to orientate them with how the apartment looked like, Junsu had gone crazy when faced with the prospect of sharing a room with Jaejoong. Poor Hansook, he had been helpless at trying to calm Junsu down. Jaejoong had given up trying to reason with him and had simply turned to Yoochun asking, “Do you want to share a room with me?”
Yoochun had looked surprised, but when he accepted, the look on his face suggested that he accepted with pleasure.
And after it was decided that Junsu was rooming with Yunho and Changmin, the problem of who was sharing a study room with whom was raised. Fortunately, before Junsu could start screaming again, Yunho had asked if he could share the bigger study room with Jaejoong and Yoochun. Jaejoong had found it hard to refuse when the request came with such a charming smile. He had accepted in a daze, his mind had been wondering what other expressions Yunho could make. Yoochun had agreed with surprising alacrity.
“Hey, Yunho-hyung, where should I put my keyboard?” Yoochun asked of Yunho who was standing in the already crowded study room. Unpredictably, everyone turned out to own a keyboard, whether or not it was used. Jaejoong didn’t know how, but they had ended up using the smaller study room. Now, with three keyboards, two computers with two monitors for each person, various speakers, chairs, composing equipment for Yoochun, and three rather tall people, it was becoming a hassle to try to find space for everything.
“How about here?” Yunho pointed to a place that was still empty near a corner of the room. It was about the only space left.
“Ok. Thanks, hyung.” As Yoochun moved to put his keyboard down, he accidentally knocked over his monitor. “Ah! My monitor!” He moved to pick it up, but before he could reach it, Yunho had leaned over and picked up it from the ground.
“Just put your keyboard down, Yoochun, before you hit somebody with it,” Yunho laughed. Yoochun gave him a sheepish smile and moved to obey him. “Jaejoong, what are you smiling at?” Yunho had turned to face Jaejoong.
Jaejoong had unconsciously smiled when looking at the scene in front of him. When he was helping Yoochun, Yunho had seemed like an appa figure. “Ah, nothing.” He flushed under Yunho’s direct gaze.
“Really? Then do you just smile for no reason at all then?” teased Yunho.
“No! Of course not! I’m not that random!”
“Then what were you smiling about?” pursued Yunho, grinning now.
“I… I was smiling about how you seemed like an appa.” Jae fixed his eyes to the monitor right behind Yunho.
“…”
After several seconds of silence, Jaejoong risked a glance at Yunho’s face. His grin had frozen in place while his eyes had opened wide in shock. The sight was so funny; Jaejoong couldn’t help bursting into laughter so loud, it surprised Yoochun who was still setting up his keyboard.
“What are you laughing about now?” asked Yunho in amused exasperation. As soon as Jaejoong had started laughing, he had snapped out of his shock.
“Your, your f-face,” gasped Jaejoong with tears streaming down his face, “the look on your face!” He doubled up, almost hysterical with laughter.
Yunho shared an amused glance with Yoochun who had laid down his keyboard in order to watch Jaejoong laugh. Yunho flashed a smile at Yoochun and made tickling motions at Jaejoong’s back. Yoochun grinned, nodded, and stood up to stand next to Yunho.
They stealthily crept up on Jaejoong, who was still laughing, and waited for him to turn around. Several minutes passed before his laughter finally began to die down. They waited patiently; they knew he would turn around eventually.
“Ah… Sorry. The look on your face was just too hilarious, I couldn’t help laughing…” giggled Jaejoong, wiping his tears away as he turned around. Before he could say anything else, though, Yunho and Yoochun pounced on him, tickling him everywhere they could reach as they fell onto the floor. “Ah! What are you guys doing?! Ah!!”
As Yunho and Yoochun tickled Jaejoong, the sounds of their laughter resonated within the small room.
~*~
“Oh…” moaned Jaejoong, “my stomach hurts…”
It was ten minutes later, and they were sprawled out on the flour, limbs on top of each others, with their faces flushed.
“Ha, that’s what you get for calling me an appa.” Yunho turned his head to look into Jae’s eyes.
“But hyung, you kind of did seem like an appa,” came Yoochun’s voice, muffled by his arm covering his face.
“Yoochun! Not you too!” cried Yunho in dismay while Jaejoong laughed at him. “I know, my sister always said she had two appas from the time I was old enough to nag at her,” he sighed in defeat.
“See, it’s not just me and Yoochun,” teased Jaejoong, his eyes alight with laughter.
Yunho decided to change the subject and asked, “Where are Changmin and Junsu? I thought they would notice the noise we made and decide to see what happened.”
“Maybe they thought we were being possessed and didn’t want to be infected,” said Jaejoong cheekily.
Another idea struck Yunho at Jaejoong’s words, and looking into his eyes, it seemed like the same idea had appeared in his mind. They grinned simultaneously and chorused, “Hey, Yoochun!”
Yoochun’s head looked up from his arm and stared in shock at the identical evil grins on his two hyungs’ faces. “…Yes?” he asked hesitantly.
“We just had an idea…”
~*~
“Oh good, the noise finally died down.” Changmin pulled off his reading glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wonder what they were doing… Hey Junsu-hyung, what do you think…”
His words trailed off as he noticed Junsu was asleep. Seeing how deeply he slept, Changmin yawned and decided to give in to his eyes’ demand.
~*~
Junsu was woken from a wonderful dream of him being the most charismatic person to ever live by a heavy body landing on him. “God, Junho, get off me. You’re heavy.”
“Who’s Junho?” he heard.
“My twin brother. Now, Junho, can you please get off me? I want to keep sleeping.” Laughter. Why did it sound like there were four people laughing instead of one? Wait… If someone had asked him who was Junho, then… who was on top of him? He slowly cracked open his eyes and peered into eyes that were definitely not Junho’s eyes. “AH!” he shrieked. “Who are you and what are you doing on top of me?!”
“Calm down, Junsu,” laughed Yunho, “it’s just Yoochun.”
“Yoochun… right. That’s right, we just moved in this morning.” Groaning, Junsu pushed Yoochun off of him. “God, you’re heavy, Yoochun. By the way, what are you doing sitting on top of me?” he asked politely.
“I don’t know. I just felt like sitting on you,” smiled Yoochun innocently.
“Ehm… Ok.” Junsu blinked several times, trying to understand why a sane person would want to sit on a sleeping person when there were perfectly servable chairs in the room while trying to ignore how the said person’s smile was extremely cute and made him want to smile along.
“Oh, it’s almost dinner time!” exclaimed Changmin. “Who knows how to cook?”
Everyone but Jaejoong stayed silent. “I do. Don’t you guys know how to cook?”
Everybody laughed awkwardly before saying that most of their food when they were still living alone either came from take out or their relatives.
Jaejoong raised an eyebrow and simply said, “Interesting. I wonder how you all managed to stay nourished and healthy,” before heading out to the kitchen to prepare food.
Suddenly, the phone rang. “Uh… who’s going to get that?” asked Yunho hesitantly.
“I’ll get it.” Junsu walked over to the ringing phone and was about to pick it up when he asked, “What do we say?”
“When a normal person picks up the phone, hyung, they say hello.” Changmin rolled his eyes at Junsu’s rather stupid question.
“I know that! But unlike some people, I was raised to say hello and what household they called.”
“Oh, so you’re asking what household you should say?” asked Yunho. Junsu nodded in answer. “Uh, just say hello. I don’t think there’s a need to say what household this is.”
~*~
Sooman debated for a while on whether or not he should call to check up on the boys’ moving into their new apartment. After all, they were all grown men! But… he still felt like he should call them.
Moving over to his telephone with their new phone number right next to it and dialing the number, he wondered how their getting to know each other was coming along. He had no worries about Yunho, Jaejoong, Junsu, and Changmin; they were naturally outgoing people. But Yoochun was normally a bit shy if he didn’t know the person he was talking to very well, and it generally took quite a bit of time for him to warm up to a stranger.
“Hello?”
Ah, it was Junsu who picked up the phone. “Hello, Junsu. How are things coming along?”
”Ah! Sooman-shii! It’s coming along ok.”
Over the phone, he heard sounds of exclamations such as “how did he get our phone number?” and became very amused. “Junsu, do you mind handing the phone over to Yunho? I want to talk to him for a bit.”
“Alright. Hold on a second. Hey, Yunho-hyung! Sooman-shii wants to talk to you.” He waited patiently as Yunho came over to take the phone.
“Hey, Sooman-shii. What’s up?” Yunho’s tone was very casual, almost as if the noise behind him was nonexistent.
“Just checking to see how’s moving in is coming along for all of you. Did anything happen?”
“Nothing really if you don’t count Junsu throwing a tantrum in order not to share a room with Jaejoong, Changmin almost maiming our feet by dropping one of his million pound weights onto them, Yoochun almost breaking his keyboard in half when carrying it through the doorway, and Jaejoong knocking into me causing me to drop my Bambi.” The last part of Yunho’s sentence was muffled by his sudden coughing fit. Even though it didn’t seem possible, Sooman became even more amused when realizing Yunho had brought his precious Bambi with him.
“You brought your Bambi along with you? What’ll you do if someone discovers it?” he teased.
“They won’t. I hid it in a very secret place.” Yunho’s voice was smug.
“You sure?” laughed Sooman. “Anyways, besides calling you to see how things are going, I’m also calling to tell you that all of you guys have tomorrow off and that I’m coming over to visit tomorrow.”
“Why are you coming over tomorrow?” Yunho asked amiably.
“You’ll find out tomorrow, hm? Just make sure you tell everybody and make sure no one dies tonight. Namely Jaejoong or Junsu. Anyways, have a good rest of the night!” He hanged up the phone and pondered over what he had heard in the background as he was talking to Yunho. Yoochun had been rather talkative, something that was surprising. Changmin, as the youngest, he was supposed to be the most respectful, but he had been spitting out sarcastic replies one after the other. Jaejoong and Junsu… they were just themselves, loud and exuberant.
He was astonished at how fast the five men had seemed to warm up to each other. Even normal trainees who were told that they would be one day formed into the same band took at least a week to start talking to each other naturally. But within one day of spending time together, they had already begun to form a bond, a bond that hopefully would one day turn into true friendship, true brotherhood.
After all, he thought to himself calculatingly, wasn’t that what most people look for in bands?
~*~
“Hey Jaejoong, do you need help with that?” Yunho walked into the kitchen, hoping that Jaejoong would need help.
“I don’t think so,” he laughed. “Since all of you said that you guys don’t know how to cook, I don’t think you’ll be able to help me with anything.”
“But I can help you get things such as salt, ingredients…” Yunho trailed off as he noticed Jaejoong staring at him. “What?”
“You know, I always thought that you were a very stiff, very boring person,” mused Jaejoong. “I don’t know how I got that impression.”
“Well, I always thought you were a very cold, distanced person,” retorted Yunho. “I know how I got that impression though.”
“Yeah, I know. All of my former coordinators said that the first time they met me, they thought that I was one of those stereotypical diva stars.” Jaejoong grinned at the memory. “I loved making them lose that impression.”
“Really? What’d you do?” asked Yunho, interested.
“It’s something really stupid actually,” chuckled Jaejoong. “I’ll tell you the story some other time. Now, you said that you could get me some salt or ingredients right? Well, can you reach into the refrigerator and get the cabbage I think I’ve seen in there?”
Yunho obediently walked over to the refrigerator and checked inside for the cabbage. “I don’t think there’s a cabbage in here, Jaejoong. It’s practically bare of everything except a bottle of water.”
“Are you sure? I thought I’ve seen a cabbage…” As Jaejoong walked over to check, Yunho tried to move over to make room for him, but unfortunately, the refrigerator was right next to the wall, and he was standing right next to the door of the refrigerator. He couldn’t move anywhere.
He started to feel uncomfortable as the side of Jae’s body pressed up against his. “Uhm, Jaejoong,” he began as he leaned downwards, “do you mind moving aside for a bit? It’s a bit tight for me here.”
Jaejoong’s face turned to face him at the same time Yunho’s face moved down. Their lips touched for a second before both jerked away, Yunho against the wall, and Jaejoong almost flying across the kitchen to the other side.
Both people’s faces were flushed with embarrassment as Jaejoong tried to subtly wipe his lips with his hand. Yunho, however, had no such compunctions and was openly wiping his lips with his shirtsleeve.
“Uh, I think I’m going to go see if Yoochun needs my help,” muttered Yunho, his eyes fixed onto the floor. He walked out, looking straight at the floor. As he walked out, he couldn’t help wondering. Why did he feel a spark of attraction when their lips touched?
~*~
“Dinner’s ready!” Jaejoong announced to the four men sitting in the living room. “If you want to eat, you better help set the table and bring the dishes out!”
“I feel like I’m back at my umma’s place again,” muttered Changmin as he rose to help Jaejoong.
Junsu snickered as he overheard Changmin’s comment. “Yeah, I know. Only ummas would make the eaters help set the table.”
“Hey! Did I just hear you call me umma?” demanded Jaejoong.
“Yep, you did,” replied Changmin cheerfully.
Yoochun laughed as he said, “Jaejoong-hyung, you can be the umma of the family while Yunho-hyung can be the appa!”
“And what are you going to be, Yoochun?” asked Yunho, coming out of the kitchen with eating utensils in his hand.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out someday,” said Yoochun merrily.
As they all worked together to set the table, Yunho and Jaejoong studiously avoided each other, and as they sat down to the dinner Jaejoong cooked, they sat at opposite sides of the table, completely doing their best to not have eye contact with each other.
“Ah… This food is good,” said Changmin as he chewed with his eyes closed in bliss. “Where’d you learn to cook like this, Jaejoong-hyung?”
“From my mom,” answered Jaejoong. “I learned to love cooking with her and now, it’s my hobby whenever I have time in my schedule to cook for myself and try out new styles.”
On the other side of the table, a very interesting conversation was going on.
“Hey Yunho-hyung, why aren’t you and Jaejoong-hyung talking?” asked Junsu. “I thought you two would have the most to talk about as you guys are the oldest.”
“What are you talking about? I’m talking to Jaejoong! It’s only because he’s talking to Changmin right now that I’m not talking to him!” retorted Yunho.
“Are you sure? When we were setting the table I noticed that you two were avoiding each other,” commented Yoochun.
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” spluttered Yunho. In an attempt to change the subject he said, “By the way, I have something I should tell all of you.” Looking across the table and making it a point to look at Jaejoong, he said, “Sooman-shii’s coming over tomorrow. He also canceled all of our schedules for tomorrow so that we can get used to having five people in the house.”
“Oh? That was nice of him,” noted Jaejoong. Unlike Yunho, he looked straight into his rice bowl as he talked.
“Yeah, that is nice of him,” agreed Junsu. “I wonder why he’s coming over tomorrow though.”
“Well we’ll find out tomorrow,” said Yunho. The conversation about Sooman stopped there and they went back to talking about what they were talking about before, with Yunho and Jaejoong still completely steering clear of talking to each other.
~*~
“Bathroom… I need the bathroom… Where is the goddamn bathroom?!” exclaimed Junsu in frustration. It was early the next morning and he had woken up, earlier than he had originally planned. He heard a chuckle come from behind him and spun to find Yunho, in his pajamas, leaning on the wall across from a door.
“You just passed the bathroom,” he chuckled. He pointed to the door in front of him. “But I think you might want to wait a while. Someone’s in there.”
“I don’t care anymore! I’m going in!” Junsu barged into the bathroom, hoping to find the man inside the shower. Unfortunately, Yoochun was coming out of the shower, and his towel was in his hand, not hiding the part of him that was blatantly male. He blinked rapidly, seeming to be coming to his senses a bit slowly.
“Junsu…? What are you doing in here?” asked Yoochun in a husky voice.
That turned out to be too much for Junsu and he ran back out of bathroom, covering his flaming cheeks and trying, unsuccessfully, to think of something that did not involve naked bodies and sexy voices.
“What is going on here?” muttered Yunho under his breath. “Why are so many inappropriate things happening among us?! First it was Jaejoong and I, now it’s Yoochun and Junsu?! The only person left that hasn’t had something wrong happen to him is Changmin!”
~*~
Sooman slowly walked up the stairs to the band’s new apartment. His mind whirled with possibilities, possibilities that seemed able to come true with his new band’s talent. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that he had arrived onto the floor of the five men until his bodyguards prodded him.
He walked up to the door of the apartment, rang the doorbell and waited for him to be let in. The door opened, Jaejoong in his normal pedestrian clothes opening it for him.
“Hello, Sooman-shii,” smiled Jaejoong. “Everyone’s waiting for you in the living room.” He led the way in, letting Sooman observe how they had arranged the decorations.
“Sooman-shii’s here,” Jaejoong announced to the other men sitting in various seats across the room. He headed straight towards a middle seat in between Changmin and Yoochun and sat down comfortably, waiting for Sooman to begin talking.
Feeling some odd sense of déjà vu, he told them why he had come with his mind noticing how natural Jaejoong sat in the middle. The entire arrangement of positions looked instinctive, an inherent positioning of their bodies that enabled them to completely showcase themselves without overshadowing anyone. Not many bands were able to detect that innate rightness of position.
“I’m sure you all are curious of about why I’m here today,” he said to them. “I’ll tell you straight off the bat why I’m here.” He looked around, taking in the focused eyes of the young men.
“First off, it’s to announce who your leader will be. Any successful band must have a capable leader that can lead them through anything, thick or thin. Second of all, it’s to tell you your new band name that will be your trademark from now on. And lastly, it’s to inform you of your new schedule that will begin tomorrow immediately at 7 o’clock in the morning.” He paused, noticing the new tenseness in the atmosphere.
“I’ll tell you your band name right now. It’s going to be Dong Bang Shin Ki, or the Rising Gods of the East. And as for your leader…” He paused again, observing how Jaejoong had straightened up at the mention of the leader.
“It will be Yunho.”
Chapter Five
AU/Romance/Drama
Bandfic with Yunho/Jaejoong and some Yoochun/Junsu.
PG-13
4/?
Summary: In the Korean music business, there were five young men who were called the future of Korea’s music. Although only in their early twenties, they already were rising legends ready to take over the world. In fact, Japan, Korea, and most of Asia were under their spell already, and all that remained was the Western world. However, due to the language barrier, most believed that they wouldn’t be able to take over the Western music scene. But due to the plan of one man, the five men came together to become not five separate legends, but to form one myth, one legend, which would one day, be able to rule the world’s music and go down in history.
Prologue&Chapter 1 | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
Chapter Four
“Yoochun! Do you need help with that?” Jaejoong saw him trying to carry his keyboard into the study room they shared with Yunho and rushed to help him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Jaejoong-hyung. It’s not that heavy, actually.” Yoochun gave him a shy smile. He was a bit more open now than he was before, thought Jae. After Jae voluntarily asked Yoochun if he would mind sharing a room with him, for some reason, he became much friendlier.
Today was the day they all moved into their new apartment. A few days earlier when Hansook brought them here to orientate them with how the apartment looked like, Junsu had gone crazy when faced with the prospect of sharing a room with Jaejoong. Poor Hansook, he had been helpless at trying to calm Junsu down. Jaejoong had given up trying to reason with him and had simply turned to Yoochun asking, “Do you want to share a room with me?”
Yoochun had looked surprised, but when he accepted, the look on his face suggested that he accepted with pleasure.
And after it was decided that Junsu was rooming with Yunho and Changmin, the problem of who was sharing a study room with whom was raised. Fortunately, before Junsu could start screaming again, Yunho had asked if he could share the bigger study room with Jaejoong and Yoochun. Jaejoong had found it hard to refuse when the request came with such a charming smile. He had accepted in a daze, his mind had been wondering what other expressions Yunho could make. Yoochun had agreed with surprising alacrity.
“Hey, Yunho-hyung, where should I put my keyboard?” Yoochun asked of Yunho who was standing in the already crowded study room. Unpredictably, everyone turned out to own a keyboard, whether or not it was used. Jaejoong didn’t know how, but they had ended up using the smaller study room. Now, with three keyboards, two computers with two monitors for each person, various speakers, chairs, composing equipment for Yoochun, and three rather tall people, it was becoming a hassle to try to find space for everything.
“How about here?” Yunho pointed to a place that was still empty near a corner of the room. It was about the only space left.
“Ok. Thanks, hyung.” As Yoochun moved to put his keyboard down, he accidentally knocked over his monitor. “Ah! My monitor!” He moved to pick it up, but before he could reach it, Yunho had leaned over and picked up it from the ground.
“Just put your keyboard down, Yoochun, before you hit somebody with it,” Yunho laughed. Yoochun gave him a sheepish smile and moved to obey him. “Jaejoong, what are you smiling at?” Yunho had turned to face Jaejoong.
Jaejoong had unconsciously smiled when looking at the scene in front of him. When he was helping Yoochun, Yunho had seemed like an appa figure. “Ah, nothing.” He flushed under Yunho’s direct gaze.
“Really? Then do you just smile for no reason at all then?” teased Yunho.
“No! Of course not! I’m not that random!”
“Then what were you smiling about?” pursued Yunho, grinning now.
“I… I was smiling about how you seemed like an appa.” Jae fixed his eyes to the monitor right behind Yunho.
“…”
After several seconds of silence, Jaejoong risked a glance at Yunho’s face. His grin had frozen in place while his eyes had opened wide in shock. The sight was so funny; Jaejoong couldn’t help bursting into laughter so loud, it surprised Yoochun who was still setting up his keyboard.
“What are you laughing about now?” asked Yunho in amused exasperation. As soon as Jaejoong had started laughing, he had snapped out of his shock.
“Your, your f-face,” gasped Jaejoong with tears streaming down his face, “the look on your face!” He doubled up, almost hysterical with laughter.
Yunho shared an amused glance with Yoochun who had laid down his keyboard in order to watch Jaejoong laugh. Yunho flashed a smile at Yoochun and made tickling motions at Jaejoong’s back. Yoochun grinned, nodded, and stood up to stand next to Yunho.
They stealthily crept up on Jaejoong, who was still laughing, and waited for him to turn around. Several minutes passed before his laughter finally began to die down. They waited patiently; they knew he would turn around eventually.
“Ah… Sorry. The look on your face was just too hilarious, I couldn’t help laughing…” giggled Jaejoong, wiping his tears away as he turned around. Before he could say anything else, though, Yunho and Yoochun pounced on him, tickling him everywhere they could reach as they fell onto the floor. “Ah! What are you guys doing?! Ah!!”
As Yunho and Yoochun tickled Jaejoong, the sounds of their laughter resonated within the small room.
~*~
“Oh…” moaned Jaejoong, “my stomach hurts…”
It was ten minutes later, and they were sprawled out on the flour, limbs on top of each others, with their faces flushed.
“Ha, that’s what you get for calling me an appa.” Yunho turned his head to look into Jae’s eyes.
“But hyung, you kind of did seem like an appa,” came Yoochun’s voice, muffled by his arm covering his face.
“Yoochun! Not you too!” cried Yunho in dismay while Jaejoong laughed at him. “I know, my sister always said she had two appas from the time I was old enough to nag at her,” he sighed in defeat.
“See, it’s not just me and Yoochun,” teased Jaejoong, his eyes alight with laughter.
Yunho decided to change the subject and asked, “Where are Changmin and Junsu? I thought they would notice the noise we made and decide to see what happened.”
“Maybe they thought we were being possessed and didn’t want to be infected,” said Jaejoong cheekily.
Another idea struck Yunho at Jaejoong’s words, and looking into his eyes, it seemed like the same idea had appeared in his mind. They grinned simultaneously and chorused, “Hey, Yoochun!”
Yoochun’s head looked up from his arm and stared in shock at the identical evil grins on his two hyungs’ faces. “…Yes?” he asked hesitantly.
“We just had an idea…”
~*~
“Oh good, the noise finally died down.” Changmin pulled off his reading glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wonder what they were doing… Hey Junsu-hyung, what do you think…”
His words trailed off as he noticed Junsu was asleep. Seeing how deeply he slept, Changmin yawned and decided to give in to his eyes’ demand.
~*~
Junsu was woken from a wonderful dream of him being the most charismatic person to ever live by a heavy body landing on him. “God, Junho, get off me. You’re heavy.”
“Who’s Junho?” he heard.
“My twin brother. Now, Junho, can you please get off me? I want to keep sleeping.” Laughter. Why did it sound like there were four people laughing instead of one? Wait… If someone had asked him who was Junho, then… who was on top of him? He slowly cracked open his eyes and peered into eyes that were definitely not Junho’s eyes. “AH!” he shrieked. “Who are you and what are you doing on top of me?!”
“Calm down, Junsu,” laughed Yunho, “it’s just Yoochun.”
“Yoochun… right. That’s right, we just moved in this morning.” Groaning, Junsu pushed Yoochun off of him. “God, you’re heavy, Yoochun. By the way, what are you doing sitting on top of me?” he asked politely.
“I don’t know. I just felt like sitting on you,” smiled Yoochun innocently.
“Ehm… Ok.” Junsu blinked several times, trying to understand why a sane person would want to sit on a sleeping person when there were perfectly servable chairs in the room while trying to ignore how the said person’s smile was extremely cute and made him want to smile along.
“Oh, it’s almost dinner time!” exclaimed Changmin. “Who knows how to cook?”
Everyone but Jaejoong stayed silent. “I do. Don’t you guys know how to cook?”
Everybody laughed awkwardly before saying that most of their food when they were still living alone either came from take out or their relatives.
Jaejoong raised an eyebrow and simply said, “Interesting. I wonder how you all managed to stay nourished and healthy,” before heading out to the kitchen to prepare food.
Suddenly, the phone rang. “Uh… who’s going to get that?” asked Yunho hesitantly.
“I’ll get it.” Junsu walked over to the ringing phone and was about to pick it up when he asked, “What do we say?”
“When a normal person picks up the phone, hyung, they say hello.” Changmin rolled his eyes at Junsu’s rather stupid question.
“I know that! But unlike some people, I was raised to say hello and what household they called.”
“Oh, so you’re asking what household you should say?” asked Yunho. Junsu nodded in answer. “Uh, just say hello. I don’t think there’s a need to say what household this is.”
~*~
Sooman debated for a while on whether or not he should call to check up on the boys’ moving into their new apartment. After all, they were all grown men! But… he still felt like he should call them.
Moving over to his telephone with their new phone number right next to it and dialing the number, he wondered how their getting to know each other was coming along. He had no worries about Yunho, Jaejoong, Junsu, and Changmin; they were naturally outgoing people. But Yoochun was normally a bit shy if he didn’t know the person he was talking to very well, and it generally took quite a bit of time for him to warm up to a stranger.
“Hello?”
Ah, it was Junsu who picked up the phone. “Hello, Junsu. How are things coming along?”
”Ah! Sooman-shii! It’s coming along ok.”
Over the phone, he heard sounds of exclamations such as “how did he get our phone number?” and became very amused. “Junsu, do you mind handing the phone over to Yunho? I want to talk to him for a bit.”
“Alright. Hold on a second. Hey, Yunho-hyung! Sooman-shii wants to talk to you.” He waited patiently as Yunho came over to take the phone.
“Hey, Sooman-shii. What’s up?” Yunho’s tone was very casual, almost as if the noise behind him was nonexistent.
“Just checking to see how’s moving in is coming along for all of you. Did anything happen?”
“Nothing really if you don’t count Junsu throwing a tantrum in order not to share a room with Jaejoong, Changmin almost maiming our feet by dropping one of his million pound weights onto them, Yoochun almost breaking his keyboard in half when carrying it through the doorway, and Jaejoong knocking into me causing me to drop my Bambi.” The last part of Yunho’s sentence was muffled by his sudden coughing fit. Even though it didn’t seem possible, Sooman became even more amused when realizing Yunho had brought his precious Bambi with him.
“You brought your Bambi along with you? What’ll you do if someone discovers it?” he teased.
“They won’t. I hid it in a very secret place.” Yunho’s voice was smug.
“You sure?” laughed Sooman. “Anyways, besides calling you to see how things are going, I’m also calling to tell you that all of you guys have tomorrow off and that I’m coming over to visit tomorrow.”
“Why are you coming over tomorrow?” Yunho asked amiably.
“You’ll find out tomorrow, hm? Just make sure you tell everybody and make sure no one dies tonight. Namely Jaejoong or Junsu. Anyways, have a good rest of the night!” He hanged up the phone and pondered over what he had heard in the background as he was talking to Yunho. Yoochun had been rather talkative, something that was surprising. Changmin, as the youngest, he was supposed to be the most respectful, but he had been spitting out sarcastic replies one after the other. Jaejoong and Junsu… they were just themselves, loud and exuberant.
He was astonished at how fast the five men had seemed to warm up to each other. Even normal trainees who were told that they would be one day formed into the same band took at least a week to start talking to each other naturally. But within one day of spending time together, they had already begun to form a bond, a bond that hopefully would one day turn into true friendship, true brotherhood.
After all, he thought to himself calculatingly, wasn’t that what most people look for in bands?
~*~
“Hey Jaejoong, do you need help with that?” Yunho walked into the kitchen, hoping that Jaejoong would need help.
“I don’t think so,” he laughed. “Since all of you said that you guys don’t know how to cook, I don’t think you’ll be able to help me with anything.”
“But I can help you get things such as salt, ingredients…” Yunho trailed off as he noticed Jaejoong staring at him. “What?”
“You know, I always thought that you were a very stiff, very boring person,” mused Jaejoong. “I don’t know how I got that impression.”
“Well, I always thought you were a very cold, distanced person,” retorted Yunho. “I know how I got that impression though.”
“Yeah, I know. All of my former coordinators said that the first time they met me, they thought that I was one of those stereotypical diva stars.” Jaejoong grinned at the memory. “I loved making them lose that impression.”
“Really? What’d you do?” asked Yunho, interested.
“It’s something really stupid actually,” chuckled Jaejoong. “I’ll tell you the story some other time. Now, you said that you could get me some salt or ingredients right? Well, can you reach into the refrigerator and get the cabbage I think I’ve seen in there?”
Yunho obediently walked over to the refrigerator and checked inside for the cabbage. “I don’t think there’s a cabbage in here, Jaejoong. It’s practically bare of everything except a bottle of water.”
“Are you sure? I thought I’ve seen a cabbage…” As Jaejoong walked over to check, Yunho tried to move over to make room for him, but unfortunately, the refrigerator was right next to the wall, and he was standing right next to the door of the refrigerator. He couldn’t move anywhere.
He started to feel uncomfortable as the side of Jae’s body pressed up against his. “Uhm, Jaejoong,” he began as he leaned downwards, “do you mind moving aside for a bit? It’s a bit tight for me here.”
Jaejoong’s face turned to face him at the same time Yunho’s face moved down. Their lips touched for a second before both jerked away, Yunho against the wall, and Jaejoong almost flying across the kitchen to the other side.
Both people’s faces were flushed with embarrassment as Jaejoong tried to subtly wipe his lips with his hand. Yunho, however, had no such compunctions and was openly wiping his lips with his shirtsleeve.
“Uh, I think I’m going to go see if Yoochun needs my help,” muttered Yunho, his eyes fixed onto the floor. He walked out, looking straight at the floor. As he walked out, he couldn’t help wondering. Why did he feel a spark of attraction when their lips touched?
~*~
“Dinner’s ready!” Jaejoong announced to the four men sitting in the living room. “If you want to eat, you better help set the table and bring the dishes out!”
“I feel like I’m back at my umma’s place again,” muttered Changmin as he rose to help Jaejoong.
Junsu snickered as he overheard Changmin’s comment. “Yeah, I know. Only ummas would make the eaters help set the table.”
“Hey! Did I just hear you call me umma?” demanded Jaejoong.
“Yep, you did,” replied Changmin cheerfully.
Yoochun laughed as he said, “Jaejoong-hyung, you can be the umma of the family while Yunho-hyung can be the appa!”
“And what are you going to be, Yoochun?” asked Yunho, coming out of the kitchen with eating utensils in his hand.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out someday,” said Yoochun merrily.
As they all worked together to set the table, Yunho and Jaejoong studiously avoided each other, and as they sat down to the dinner Jaejoong cooked, they sat at opposite sides of the table, completely doing their best to not have eye contact with each other.
“Ah… This food is good,” said Changmin as he chewed with his eyes closed in bliss. “Where’d you learn to cook like this, Jaejoong-hyung?”
“From my mom,” answered Jaejoong. “I learned to love cooking with her and now, it’s my hobby whenever I have time in my schedule to cook for myself and try out new styles.”
On the other side of the table, a very interesting conversation was going on.
“Hey Yunho-hyung, why aren’t you and Jaejoong-hyung talking?” asked Junsu. “I thought you two would have the most to talk about as you guys are the oldest.”
“What are you talking about? I’m talking to Jaejoong! It’s only because he’s talking to Changmin right now that I’m not talking to him!” retorted Yunho.
“Are you sure? When we were setting the table I noticed that you two were avoiding each other,” commented Yoochun.
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” spluttered Yunho. In an attempt to change the subject he said, “By the way, I have something I should tell all of you.” Looking across the table and making it a point to look at Jaejoong, he said, “Sooman-shii’s coming over tomorrow. He also canceled all of our schedules for tomorrow so that we can get used to having five people in the house.”
“Oh? That was nice of him,” noted Jaejoong. Unlike Yunho, he looked straight into his rice bowl as he talked.
“Yeah, that is nice of him,” agreed Junsu. “I wonder why he’s coming over tomorrow though.”
“Well we’ll find out tomorrow,” said Yunho. The conversation about Sooman stopped there and they went back to talking about what they were talking about before, with Yunho and Jaejoong still completely steering clear of talking to each other.
~*~
“Bathroom… I need the bathroom… Where is the goddamn bathroom?!” exclaimed Junsu in frustration. It was early the next morning and he had woken up, earlier than he had originally planned. He heard a chuckle come from behind him and spun to find Yunho, in his pajamas, leaning on the wall across from a door.
“You just passed the bathroom,” he chuckled. He pointed to the door in front of him. “But I think you might want to wait a while. Someone’s in there.”
“I don’t care anymore! I’m going in!” Junsu barged into the bathroom, hoping to find the man inside the shower. Unfortunately, Yoochun was coming out of the shower, and his towel was in his hand, not hiding the part of him that was blatantly male. He blinked rapidly, seeming to be coming to his senses a bit slowly.
“Junsu…? What are you doing in here?” asked Yoochun in a husky voice.
That turned out to be too much for Junsu and he ran back out of bathroom, covering his flaming cheeks and trying, unsuccessfully, to think of something that did not involve naked bodies and sexy voices.
“What is going on here?” muttered Yunho under his breath. “Why are so many inappropriate things happening among us?! First it was Jaejoong and I, now it’s Yoochun and Junsu?! The only person left that hasn’t had something wrong happen to him is Changmin!”
~*~
Sooman slowly walked up the stairs to the band’s new apartment. His mind whirled with possibilities, possibilities that seemed able to come true with his new band’s talent. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that he had arrived onto the floor of the five men until his bodyguards prodded him.
He walked up to the door of the apartment, rang the doorbell and waited for him to be let in. The door opened, Jaejoong in his normal pedestrian clothes opening it for him.
“Hello, Sooman-shii,” smiled Jaejoong. “Everyone’s waiting for you in the living room.” He led the way in, letting Sooman observe how they had arranged the decorations.
“Sooman-shii’s here,” Jaejoong announced to the other men sitting in various seats across the room. He headed straight towards a middle seat in between Changmin and Yoochun and sat down comfortably, waiting for Sooman to begin talking.
Feeling some odd sense of déjà vu, he told them why he had come with his mind noticing how natural Jaejoong sat in the middle. The entire arrangement of positions looked instinctive, an inherent positioning of their bodies that enabled them to completely showcase themselves without overshadowing anyone. Not many bands were able to detect that innate rightness of position.
“I’m sure you all are curious of about why I’m here today,” he said to them. “I’ll tell you straight off the bat why I’m here.” He looked around, taking in the focused eyes of the young men.
“First off, it’s to announce who your leader will be. Any successful band must have a capable leader that can lead them through anything, thick or thin. Second of all, it’s to tell you your new band name that will be your trademark from now on. And lastly, it’s to inform you of your new schedule that will begin tomorrow immediately at 7 o’clock in the morning.” He paused, noticing the new tenseness in the atmosphere.
“I’ll tell you your band name right now. It’s going to be Dong Bang Shin Ki, or the Rising Gods of the East. And as for your leader…” He paused again, observing how Jaejoong had straightened up at the mention of the leader.
“It will be Yunho.”
Chapter Five