The Art of Deception (Yunho x Jaejoong) - Chapter Eight
**Note: Thank you, dadamidi, for the wonderful banner you made for me!**
The Art of Deception (Chapter Eight)
Pairing: Yunho (DBSK) x Jaejoong (DBSK).
Category: K-Pop.
Length: Multi-chaptered.
Genres: Angst, drama, humor, romance.
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: Homosexuality, light swearing, sexual implications, violence.
Summary: Yunho is a rich son who’s never done anything to earn his own money. Attending snobby diners and appearing in social events with his parents is more than he can take, so he decides to run away, thinking that surely life is better elsewhere - anywhere but his place. Little does he know that it doesn’t get any better in the slums. His thirst for adventure will be quenched - a little too much. Enter street Kabuki actor Kim Jaejoong!
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
***
[Yunho’s POV]
Time to face the music.
“This isn’t fair, Changmin-ah… At least you can hide behind your long bangs…” I trail off bitterly, eyeing Changmin’s jet-black shoulder length hair and running a hand through my own, short one. “… What am I supposed to do?” My heart beats rapidly as we grow closer to the theater and I fear Jaejoong’s reaction when he’ll notice that we not only disregarded his orders to stay put, but also got into trouble.
Usually, I wouldn’t have to worry about such a thing, seeing how we’re all adults and he should have no right to boss me around. Unfortunately, I’m in no position to question his authority, seeing how I’ll be staying at his place, eating his food. What worries me the most is that he could decide to throw me out at anytime if he wanted to... But if what Changmin said is true (about Jaejoong not disliking me), there’s no chance of that happening. Which is what I’m hoping for right now.
“Jaejoong-hyung has eyes like a hawk. We’re doomed.”
Now that’s a relief. I feel so much better.
Reluctantly, we walk at a very slow pace, kicking pebbles along the way, knowing that we’re all but helping our situation. I barely know Jaejoong yet and I would think that he cannot be that bad, but from what Changmin is saying and how he’s reacting, it seems that we have grounds to apprehend facing him. After dawdling around ridiculously, we finally reach the hideout’s side entrance.
For a few seconds, we hesitate, before pushing the door open and slipping in stealthily.
“Where were you? What part of ‘don’t move’ is so fucking hard to understand?”
There he goes. Not even time to set foot in the house.
“We went out to get some fresh air, hyung. No need to make such a big deal out of it.” Changmin has the guts to say, and although he’s right, I don’t think now’s the best time to oppose Jaejoong. I personally would have been afraid that he would try to rip my head off, but that’s just me.
Fortunately for him (for both of us), Jaejoong doesn’t mind his boldness, but he doesn’t let him off. “Hey, what happened to your face…? Come, look at me- Shim Changmin, don’t you dare leave this room!” Jaejoong seems so angry that for a moment, I’m afraid of what he’s going to do. Instead, he cups Changmin’s face and brushes his hair away gently, tucking it behind his ear. The younger man tries not to let his pain show, but he hisses when his hyung’s fingers ghost over his bruised eye.
In a snap, without so much as a warning, Jaejoong went from a bum to a mom.
Could this be his true nature?
When he’s done examining his friend, he walks towards me, and the mere look of him is enough to make my knees feel weak. Then, he proceeds to trace the contours of my own visage, finding a soon-to-become black-eye, a swollen cheek and a cut lip - for one -, where it lingers longer than it should. Something in the way he touches me is so familiar, despite the fact that we’re practically strangers to each other.
I swallow with difficulty, trying to remember how to breathe.
And so he asks. “Who was it? Who?”
Someone has to answer, but I’m wordless. Changmin does the honors. “…Bongchol and Hyejin.”
Silence. The tension is so thick I feel like Jaejoong could explode any second now.
“What exactly happened?”
“Bongchol badmouthed us… especially you. Yunho punched him. I followed.”
Upon hearing these words, Jaejoong finally looks at me again with a mixture of recognition, gratefulness and anger. I can’t seem to figure out which one conveys most what he’s feeling right now. “You idiots. What were you thinking? You could have been killed!” Those sharp, piercing black eyes. That dark, murderous aura. You don’t want to get on Jaejoong’s black list. Do so much as touch one hair on the head of someone he cares for and you’ll have it coming at you. That much is obvious.
On the other hand, I’m pretty sure he would rather die than hurt someone he loves. When he’s around any one of them, he becomes so gentle and loving…
Whether it’s Yoochun, Junsu, Changmin or… me.
“I swear, that fucking asshole and his stupid lapdog are DEAD-” Pissed off, Jaejoong has already put on his beanie and grabbed a light coat when Changmin takes his arm, preventing him from going out. Judging from the slumped shoulders and tense posture, Jaejoong is very clearly still resentful, but he contains his irritation around his friend, keeping it all for one man in particular.
“Hyung.” One man, respectful yet firm.
“What.” The other, gentle despite his cold front.
Changmin closes the distance between Jaejoong and him, grabs his friend’s shoulders gently and turns him around to face him. Jaejoong shows no resistance, but he doesn’t look ready to drop the matter. “Hyung. Don’t do something you might regret. Breathe in, calm down and think before doing anything.”
Anger flashes inside Jaejoong’s eyes again. “…I wouldn’t regret it…” He pauses as Changmin looks at him disapprovingly, clenches his teeth, looks in the direction of the door, looks back at Changmin, lowers his eyes and tightens his fists. His actions speak of his frustration, but somehow, his junior seems to have convinced him for now. “If he so much as sets foot in here again, I can’t guarantee his safety. Alright? I’ve had enough of his shit. I’m not taking him back… and that goes for Hyejin as well.”
“Fair enough. I think we all agree on this one. Just don’t get into more trouble.”
Slowly, Changmin releases his grip on Jaejoong’s shoulders and the other’s frown turns into a smirk. “You know… Sometimes I wonder who the hyung really is here.”
“Sometimes I wonder too, hyung.”
“Aish…”
Crisis averted for now. For a second, I thought he was going out to murder someone.
Visibly very proud of himself, Yoochun comes out of one of the bedrooms, followed by the rest of the adults (minus the bad guys). “Now that Changminnie has tamed the beast… I mean, the beauty… let’s take care of those wounds and get something in our stomachs… We’ve all been starving while waiting for you. At least the boys have eaten already, but I’m about to die of hunger…”
The household (with the five kids) comes up to a little more than a dozen, perhaps, and I have to wonder just how on earth they manage to make it without getting on each other’s nerves or suffocating. Well, they must be used to it… Not to mention that it’s not like they really have a chance to be picky. Having a roof over one’s head definitely beats wandering in the streets 24/7 (I can attest to that).
Plus, someone has to take care of the children…
Yoochun must have expected Jaejoong to lose his cool. That would explain why he had gotten everyone out of the way before we made it back. At least, that’s what I figure happened.
“Yah, Joong-ah, you almost woke the kids up, you big brute.”
“Sorry…. Can you check on the children while Junsu and I treat those two? We’ll eat after.”
After Yoochun has returned to the kids’ side, Jaejoong and Junsu make Changmin and I sit down while they go get the necessary. Strangely calm, almost sleepy, I watch them go, letting my eyes wander on his lithe silhouette. Behind him, another member of Oblivion - I remember him, he’s in the choir - starts serving the food in plates. Our gazes meet and he bows his head a little, a gesture that I return.
Well, that’s one nice and respectful guy.
So in the end, not everyone has an attitude problem in that troupe. Good to know.
Because I was looking elsewhere, I don’t notice that Jaejoong has come back until his face is a few inches away and he’s dabbing a wet cloth on my face to clean it. I jump at the cold sensation, only barely holding back a yelp of surprise. Furrowing his brow, as if highly concentrated, Jaejoong makes me turn my head, apparently not aware that he’s almost breathing down my neck.
I’m feeling awfully restless all of a sudden. He’s much too close for comfort.
“Don’t move.” He warns me and I know that I would do well to listen, but he’s driving me mad. I have to get my mind off of him, so I look away, trying to forget what his fingers feel like on my skin…
On my left Junsu is giving Changmin the same treatment, but the latter doesn’t seem to be bothered at all. He’s smiling quite widely as Junsu lifts his bangs and wipes a cloth on his forehead, before leaning down to kiss him briefly. “I don’t like it when you fight… This isn’t like you to be so rash…” Looking genuinely relieved, he leans his forehead against his lover’s, closing his eyes. “…I was worried...”
Something about this is incredibly unfair.
Feeling a sudden jolt of pain, I shoot my gaze back to the man tending to me, wondering why I had to fall for the cold bastard. When he sets his heart to it, the guy has no delicacy whatsoever.
“Ow! Can’t you be a bit more careful?”
Continuing to swab peroxide-soaked cotton wool on a cut running down my temple, Jaejoong ignores my protests, focused on his task (and probably not giving a toss whether I’m in pain or not). It hurts, geez! “Your body will be fine, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do about your idiocy. Sorry.”
What kind of kid dwells on past things with such obstinacy?
What’s done is done. Nothing I can do about it.
Slightly annoyed, I peer at him wearily. “Will you just let it go? It wasn’t even our fault in the first place. They’re the ones who started it…!” He seems to have forgotten that I did it for him. Ungrateful bastard.
“You mean to tell me Bongchol made you punch him in the face?”
I pout. “No… I meant to do that. If only he hadn’t said those horrible things…”
“Things? What kind of things?”
I hesitate momentarily, but decide against telling him. I want to forget what I heard and have faith in Jaejoong’s good will and kindness. I know they’re hiding somewhere, under that pride and that attitude, somehow. Also, now that he’s calmed down, it isn’t time to get him started again…
“You don’t need to know. They’re all lies anyway.”
Looking at me with insistence, Jaejoong stops all movements, visibly wondering what to say to that. I expect him to pursue the matter further, but he doesn’t. “…Um, thanks.”
Is he really thanking me? Well, I’ll be damned. Wonders will never cease…
“What… did you-“
As expected, I’m not given the chance to get too many ideas, as Jaejoong retorts right away. “I won’t say it twice. I’m grateful you stood up for us. But don’t do it again.” However, I hope his reasons for saying that are not that he doesn’t want to be indebted to me or need to thank me again. My guess is that he doesn’t want me doing something dangerous again. It doesn’t matter if I’m wrong; this is what I want to believe. “You know… You’re a very bad student. You didn’t waste time disobeying me.”
For some reason, I feel strangely giddy, kinda like a school girl. I am only vaguely disturbed. “A student still has the freedom to do as he wants to… You should have made me your slave.”
Jaejoong’s face lights up. “Can I do that?”
A tiny part of my heart is screaming ‘yes’, but I shut it away. “No, you cannot.”
“What a shame, really...”
Now that he’s done cleaning my wounds, Jaejoong hands me an ice pack and tells me to hold it up to my cheek to reduce the swelling. After putting away the first-aid supplies, he gives me a quick look-over that makes me blush, no matter how innocent it might be. Everything he does is so seductive it could pass off as flirting. “So… You hurt somewhere else?” He asks, taking my arm and rolling up my sleeve to examine it, but I jerk back as if I had been burned.
It isn’t quite far from the truth, I think, as the feel of his fingers lingers on my skin. This is bad…
“W-Wait, what are you…”
Jaejoong tries to keep me from escaping, but as I draw back, my shirt runs up my stomach and his fingers accidently (or not) brush against my sides. Electric shock.
“What’s the harm? I just want to check if…”
More affected than I wish I was by Jaejoong’s proximity, I get up quickly to get further away from him before I lose control and jump him (which is rather likely). But as I do so, my head starts spinning and my knees buckle under me, a sign that I might have done well to hold back earlier… All that fighting isn’t something I’m used to… and my last meal feels an eternity away. Therefore I fall, fall, fall forever… except I’m not falling, no, not anymore, because something has cushioned my landing.
Is someone making these things happen on purpose?
Judging from what happens, I ‘think’ Jaejoong senses my weakness and gets up to do something about it. I feel his slender yet muscled arms snake around my waist and the warmth of his body growing closer. Time seems to stop as we bathe in each other’s proximity… I can already imagine what will happen next: I will be caught in that beautiful man’s embrace, something that I’ve dreamed of for days…
Everything is going according to (his) plan until I crash against his chest and he loses his footing, falling backwards. Time gets back on track at that moment and barely a second later, he lands hard on his back.
With me on top. To my greatest horror.
My face finds itself a home in the crook of his neck and shoulder while his arms remain secured tightly around me. As for my left leg, it somehow ends up on top of his crotch.
Of course. Of course.
As we lie there, I feel the heat go up to my cheeks - and somewhere down south -, paralyzed, wondering just how the heck I’m going to get out of this one with my pride intact and no blows taken. My body still hurts from the fight, so I hope Jaejoong will have mercy and give me time to heal first. That aside, however, I must say he smells sinfully good for a street thug… but that’s beside the point.
“Yunho…?” Jaejoong calls out hesitantly, and I prop myself up on my elbows, with my arms on each side of his slim body. We share a short, awkward look. Oh irony.
Jaejoong sighs. “Get off.”
At those words, my legs spring back to life and I scurry off, mortified. I didn’t even offer him my hand to help him up, but I’m definitely not going back near him… When I dare spare him a glance, I see that he’s lost deep in thought, but he soon lifts his eyes to meet mine.
Time to save face.
“That’s what you get for trying to think you were strong enough to catch me.”
“Oh, right, right. You would have rather I let you fall and hit the ground…?”
“Well, the result would have been the same…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Sorry.”
“Hmph.”
I glance away from him to find that Junsu and Changmin are watching us with fixed eyes, though they seem to be quite amused by the show we’re providing them. If I squint my eyes a little, I can see the shadow of a grin on Changmin’s lips, while Junsu simply looks on innocently. The both of us stare back, as if to ask what are you looking at, but Yoochun comes back and puts an end to the manly competition.
“Are you guys finished already? …Wait. Did I miss something? What happened to you?”
This time we all agree. “Nothing.”
Our answer doesn’t seem to please the man, who bugs us as we settle around the kitchen table for dinner. “Yah, don’t leave me out! Are you plotting against me now?” During the meal, he clings to Jaejoong, trying to get a word or two out of him. His behavior stirs in me quite a bit of jealousy - something for which I am not proud, but that I cannot help. After some time, though, his hunger takes over and he concentrates on his plate, never to mention the matter again tonight.
But because no one is talking about it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten.
His breath in my neck… The smell of his skin… That attraction between us and…
The fact that I’m undeniably in love with him.
Chapter Nine