| Fan Fiction |
by Team Awesome
Anyway, that resulted in my going back to the private school. Jaejoong was thrilled beyond belief (Junsu was not) and all my other friends were excited to see me come back (Junsu was not). The boys were a little possessive of me; even Yoochun followed me to school the first day, along with Junsu. That day was pandemonium for me. I can’t begin to explain how badly it went. Some teachers actually threatened to send me to the counselors, something that had never happened previously. All my friends wondered if my temporary absence had touched me in the head.
Here are some snippets:
-Yoochun terrorizing the bus driver; he would appear in the mirror every few seconds, causing the poor man to think he was going crazy
-Junsu knocking over several beakers when he was playing in the lab
-both of them playing with people’s stuff
-Jaejoong having lunch with me on the football field; Junsu was constantly taking his sandwich and leaving it somewhere else, or spilling his drink all over Jae’s shirt. He accidentally put his backpack in my way as I was trying to stand, and caused me to fall right into Jaejoong (he made sure I was okay before letting me walk on my own again) which greatly displeased Junsu
-in English, Yoochun picking up the dry erase marker and wrote crude slogans on the board
Finally, they drove me to the brink of insanity. I asked my art teacher if I could be excused for a few minutes during seventh period. I walked into the alcove near the fine arts building and rounded on them. They took a step back in terror. “What the hell were you thinking?!” I spat. “I told you school was off-limits, as well as me eating somewhere with Jaejoong! I’m sorry that you don’t approve of my boyfriend, so just deal with it!”
Junsu turned his head away.
Yoochun smirked. “I knew we were getting to you. It was just an experiment with us. We were trying to see how far from the apartment we could stray. It looks like we can make it all the way to your school.”
“Look, if you guys expect me to NOT go to the principal’s office today, I suggest you go. Right now.”
“How are we supposed to get back home?” Yoochun asked politely.
“I don’t care! If you can fly, that’d work! Just go home.” I stared them down.
Junsu shuffled his feet. He sniffled. I was startled to see tears falling from his eyes as he lifted his head back up. He smiled. “Okay, Erin. If you want us to go home, we’ll go home. We won’t bother you at school ever again. Come on, Yoochun.” He wiped his face and started heading for the parking lot, which led out to the highway. The fear vanished as soon as it came. They weren’t going to get hit by a car. Yoochun looked back at me as they walked away.
A big weight was released from my chest. No more baby-sitting for today. I headed back to art. Mr. Rivera was probably going to ask why I had to be excused, and I was going to tell him something close to the truth: I had a small friend problem. Sure enough, he asked, I told him, and he accepted it. Today’s project took us back to elementary school: we were finger painting. It was a blast; we all ended up with paint on our faces halfway through the period. My only class with Jaejoong, he and I did face painting on one another. I ended up with a really elaborate heart in roses on my cheek, and he had an intricate skull on his. Mr. Rivera asked us to paint something that held meaning to us.
Jaejoong chose some tree that grew on his grandpa’s farm. He had a tree house up in the branches, and it dated back before he was born. It was a place he went to whenever he needed to clear his head. I had been to the farm once, and I didn’t go up into the tree house in fear of it falling under our feet. Still, it was a peaceful place that I loved drawing myself. I knew Jaejoong would have fun painting it.
When the period was almost over, I took one final look over my work. “Satisfied?” Jaejoong asked, wiping his hands with his personal washcloth. I smiled at him and nodded. “I’ve never seen a place like that before. Did we ever find something like that in our little adventures?” He was referring to our childhood. “I don’t remember~”
“No, it’s just a place…my grandma knows. I go there to rest and be…me.”
What a terrible lie.
O.O.O.O
The apartment smelled like garlic and onions when I set my backpack down by the sofa. The television was on, and Bobby Flay was yapping away. Yoochun was carefully dicing some tomatoes in the kitchen; he threw them in the blender. I was being made salsa by a Korean? Excellent. Once he started it up, he turned around and yelped in surprise. I held back a shout of laughter. “Don’t do that,” he chided, throwing the towel at me. “If I lose concentration, the knife ends up out of my hands.”
“At least you won’t be throwing it at me,” I joked. I took a big whiff. “Mm, something smells really good. Is…are those steaks?” Sniff, sniff. “And baked potatoes…” Sniff, sniff, sniff. “Rice pilaf…” I sniffed one more time. “You opened the wine I brought from Jae’s the other day! Man, are you guys trying to butter me up or something?” I laughed heartily. “Thank you, Yoochun. It smells great.”
“Welcome,” he sang, turning to the oven. “Now hush or else the oven door going to slip out of my hand.” He paused. “You may want to go check on Junsu. He’s brooding in your room, looking through your photo albums. Oh, and I think your work called. Changmin, I believe? We couldn’t talk to him, but the answering machine picked up. He said that next week, since you have exams, he’s going to cover for you.”
“Again, I say thanks.” I headed off to my room and silently opened the door.
Junsu sat in the middle of my bed, flipping through the laminated pages of me smiling back at him. He paused briefly on a more recent one of my eighteenth birthday bash, held on one of my mom’s friend’s yachts. I was leaning over the rail, Jaejoong by my side, laughing. He touched my face, my lips, before moving on. Once again, he stopped. I was fishing with Yunho at eight years old. His twelve year old self was watching me as I waved at the lens. “Ha,” he laughed quietly.
“That’s one of my favorites, too.” I joined him on the comforter, curling up beside him. He stared at me curiously. “It’s one of the only pictures I own of Yunho. He’s off at university right now, but I’m sure he’ll come visit me soon. I had to call him and talk him down. Apparently my parents had called to tell him I went missing, and he was hysterical. I felt really bad.” I flipped the page. “Ah, here’s a funny one. Me and my gal pals at school, being camwhores.”
He lifted his eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Someone who is very photogenic,” I explained. “That’s me.”
“Mm-hmm. You love smiling,” he noted.
“It’s easier than frowning.” I gazed at my younger self, forever on a piece of square paper. “That was at Yunho’s graduation. I remember I was in the front row, taking a crapload of pictures, and this is the only one we got to be in together. I miss my brother,” I confessed. “Some siblings don’t get along, but we do. I wish he’d come back to town soon…”
“You could always call him.” Junsu’s eyes fell on the large rectangle in the corner. “Did you paint that at school?” Before I could answer, he got up and went to examine it closely. “This looks very familiar…” He straightened up, the brightest smile on his face. “This is the meadow…and the flower field…all rolled into one! I love it! You should hang it up right there!” He pointed at a blank space on the wall. “It would be perfect!”
With his help, I was able to get the painting up before dinner. We stood back to admire our work. I sighed. “I never thought I could do something like that scene with finger paints. It was really fun trying to get the flowers to come out right.” I reached out to feel the bumpy texture. “Reminds me of the popcorn that used to be on my ceiling at my parent’s house. It felt funny.”
“I think it’s very pretty,” he said with a firm conviction.
“Maybe we should ask Yoochun. We are a little biased.” I moved a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. “Speaking of, we should go see if my dinner’s ready. I’m starving!” But Junsu was staring at me again, and a self-conscious feeling came over me. “What is it, Su?”
He hesitated for a second. “Can I do something real quick?”
“Um, sure, but what?”
“Just…stay…still.” His hands came up, on either side of my face. I became a statue, simply staring at his hands from the corners of my eyes. Slowly he moved them closer to my face. A tic appeared in his jaw, and his brow furrowed, but he held his concentration and his palms were getting closer to my face. It seemed like a few minutes passed before he placed them gently on my cheeks.
He was very cold, almost as chilly as ice. But his touch warmed my skin. I think I was blushing, but my hands rose slowly to rest over his. His thumb brushed my dried face painting. He closed his eyes for a full minute before speaking. “You’re really warm,” he murmured. “I can’t remember what the sun feels like, but I think you come really close.” He looked down at me, a mixture of torment and hope in his features. “Erin…” he started. “I don’t like seeing Jaejoong touch you.”
“Why not?” I whispered.
“Because I get jealous. Because I want to…touch you, too.” He laughed once. “Yay, I’m touching you.”
“Mm-hmm.” I smiled. “You feel like ice, dude.”
“Sorry. I can’t help it. Dead people do get quite cold,” he said, winking.
My eyes were watering up from the blast of emotion. Junsu could touch me. This was something I had been (secretly) longing to feel for the entire time I’d stayed here. I wanted to see if I could touch a ghost, in more than one way. Trying to distract myself, I mumbled, “It must take a lot of focus to be able to pick up objects. I can’t imagine how much strength you’re putting into this.”
Junsu tilted his head thoughtfully. “All I have to do is clear my mind and think about the object I want to touch. Years of practice has me doing things normal ghosts can’t do.” He stroked my cheek. “But this…is new. I had to think solely about you. I couldn’t think about anything else, or I would lose my hold.” His grin became…affectionate. “It was easy. My mind is always focused on you…” He trailed off, gazing down at me. A decision was made in his mind; I read it on his face.
As slowly as he had put his hands on my face, his head began lowering to mine. I closed my eyes and waited.
“Dinner’s ready, E!” Yoochun boomed from my door.
If I had been cold before, it didn’t compare to the chill that swept across my face when Junsu fell through me. He fell right onto the bed, making no noise and leaving no mark, but he had fallen through me. It was the most peculiar feeling in the world, like jumping into a pool of cold water or having a strong, cool breeze hit you in the face. “Jesus, that was cold!” I complained, rubbing some warmth into my face.
Yoochun grinned. “Come eat, yo!” He went right back through the door.
Junsu blinked up at the ceiling. “Shouldn’t have done that,” he was muttering to himself. “Has…boyfriend…so stupid of me…never go for…how can…be so stupid…” He picked his head up. “You should go eat.” Did he even know I had caught a few words from his grumbling? “Yoochun will get made if you let the food go to waste.”
Shaking my head to wake my senses up, I hobbled out of the bedroom. Junsu started talking to himself again.
O.O.O.O
The next night—my only one off—Jaejoong came by the apartment for our date. He was dressed casually, in carpenter pants and a dark polo shirt. I donned a V-neck red shirt and blue jeans. Yoochun approved before heading off to torment the cat downstairs. Junsu merely looked over at us once before going back into my room. It didn’t help when Jae gave me a quick hello kiss. Trying to save Junsu from becoming a poltergeist and harming Jaejoong, I pulled him outside to his gorgeous BMW (a gift from his father, he’d said).
We went dancing (or rather clubbing) all over the city. I expected somewhere quiet, whereas he wanted the full pre-graduation party kind of deal. It had been decided a few weeks ago that I would be going to prom with him, and he wanted to celebrate that decision. Jae really was the party boy of the school, yet he still earned high grades and would be graduating in the top ten percentile. Having missed so much school, I was barely passing by, but it was okay. College seemed a far away thing, and I was all about the now.
So was Jaejoong. His hands never strayed far from mine all night long; if they did, they were at my waist, on my lower back, on my shoulders, somewhere on my body. He was very touchy-feely, and I didn’t mind. It felt good. He was extremely warm, and when were dancing, he was close to me. I could feel every muscle on his figure. Now, I’m not certain if that’s a good thing or not, but it sure felt like it.
He drove me home, and had to use the restroom once we got there. I sat patiently by the kitchen counter, waiting for him to come out. “You take forever,” I teased him as he closed the bathroom door behind him. “Now give me a quick goodnight kiss, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Grinning down at me, he muttered, “Good night,” and pressed his lips against mine.
Innocent quickly turned greedy.
My hands shoved against his chest when his tongue massaged mine, and dizziness began to take over my mind. “Whoa there, tiger,” I said breathlessly. “Let’s not get too carried away, alright?”
“What is carried away, anyway?” His mouth skimmed along my neck, moving back and forth. I let out a soft moan. “I mean, we’re about to graduate, we have the college years ahead of us…and who knows how much of it will become studying or classes? I want to live in the now.” He kissed my lips again. “Live with me, Erin. My Little E…”
He picked me up and carried me to the bedroom. Setting me on the bed carefully, he proceeded to lift his shirt over his head. I got a brief glimpse of his ripped torso before he started kissing me again. Somehow, my shirt ended up next to his on the floor, and he was unzipping his pants in no time. I helped him pull them down, and his attention turned to my jeans. I kicked them across the room. He spread over me like a blanket, touching and kissing and breathing on my skin. Our underclothes went flying shortly, and he wasted no time in initiating foreplay. His fingers parted my folds, probing lightly. I started to grind my hips against his hand, loving the feeling he was creating. My fingers moved to his butt and squeezed tightly. His teeth held a tiny square, and excitement shot through my nervous system.
My arms went around his neck as he settled between my legs. A brief instant of pain followed his intrusion, and pleasure followed the pain. He moved in and out of me, an ocean wave curling to shore. I let out a gasp when his mouth closed over my nipple and tugged gently. He was driving me crazy, and I loved it. His thrusts became less passionate and more instinctual, his hips pounding senselessly into mine. What happened to our love making? It was so sensual. How did it become animalistic behavior? A little terrified and slightly turned on at this thought, I opened my eyes for a split second.
Beyond Jaejoong’s shoulder, Junsu stood gawking at me in horror. He backed up slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. I wanted to shout out to him, to tell him to not go, but I couldn’t do that. I knew that he cared about me, and here I was, fucking someone else. Oh, Junsu. Please forgive me. He was so shell-shocked, he didn’t bother turning around and leaving the room. He just went right through the wall, still staring at me in astonishment.
I couldn’t hold on to my sympathy and grief for long. About a minute later, Jaejoong gave one final thrust and I came right after him. We collapsed on the bed, gasping for breath. “Dear God,” he mumbled, staring up at the ceiling. “That was…indescribable!” I looked back at the door, waiting for one of them to ruin this moment.
No one came in.
Jaejoong rolled onto his side, giving me a funny look. I studied him carefully.
“That was…” We both began. Laughter issued from us.
“Go ahead,” I said, still giggling.
“I think we should remain friends.”
OKAY. That was unexpected. Talk about left field. “What?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said swiftly. “I love you. But you’re, like, my best friend. And having sex with my best friend isn’t…appealing to me at all. I mean, it was very nice. And for a virgin, you got some stamina, babe. But I don’t think this is going to work out.” Where the hell did all this come from?! “I know it seems sudden, but…” He looked away, his face turning red. “I’ve been seeing someone else.”
“Oh.” So…not too unexpected. On my part, it was. “So you were~”
“I wasn’t necessarily cheating, per se. We’ve been strictly friends. I can’t seem to shake off the feeling that…she could mean more to me.” He examined my face. “If you start crying, I might just kill myself, E. I don’t want to hurt you, but I think I know you won’t be hurt.” He sighed. “Any guy can tell when their girl just isn’t in love with them.”
“I beg your pardon?” I asked incredulously.
He looked at me just as disbelievingly. “Come on, Erin. You think I haven’t noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“You’re always thinking about him, and you can’t wait to get home, for some odd reason. There has to be another guy involved here. You get all preoccupied sometimes. And I have caught you telling someone to shut up who isn’t Changmin. You may have liked me at one point, but it’s become more friend-ish than anything. I know you like another guy, E.” He chuckled. “Junsu, I think his name was?”
Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA. Junsu? I would understand someone at school, but JUNSU???
“I don’t like anyone, and I don’t even know anyone named Junsu,” I stammered.
“See? You get all nervous when I mention him. Face it, darling. He’s a big time infatuation.”
“Jaejoong, how can I like someone who~” I froze.
“Who…what?” he said, frowning.
“Who…who I don’t even think exists,” I finished somewhat lamely.
“Don’t lie to me, Erin. We have been best friends for a long-ass time. I know when you’re lying.” He poked my nose. “You’ve got a crush on this guy. I don’t know who he is or how you know him, but there are some feelings going on there. I can sense it. Best friends sense these things. You know those quirky sidekicks in a romantic comedy who always know the right guy for their friend? That’s me!” He jabbed his thumb into his chest. I had to giggle at that.
“I can’t be with him,” I confessed, close to tears.
“Why not?”
“There’s a lot of bad associated with him! That came out wrong. I meant to say that being with him will go bad, I just know it. Nothing good ever happens to me. I just…I can’t be with him, alright? It’s out of the question.”
“Erin…” he nearly growled. “If you try hard enough, you can be with him.”
“No, I can’t,” I whispered desperately.
“Yes, you can,” he said firmly. “And I know how. Is he a real jealous guy?”
Without thinking, I muttered, “Oh, God, yes.” Oops. So much for not knowing the guy.
“Then all it takes is some pushing, and a little thing I like to call Pretend.”
That being said, I had to tell him EVERYTHING. Surprisingly, he didn’t freak. “It explains a lot,” he admitted.
O.O.O.O
Yoochun came home at three in the morning, an abandoned kitten in tow. She was adorable, all white save for a few black spots on her body in the shape of an oddly shaped W. Her tail was fluffy to the max; it had a mind of its own, I kid thee not. She was very hyper and über-friendly. Her face reminded me of a teddy bear’s and— upon closer inspection—I discovered, to my utter amusement, that her head smelled like cinnamon rolls. I didn’t want to name her after a food, so I went school (alone for a change) and thought through a bunch of potential names.
One came to mind, and it stuck with me the whole day: Cassiopeia.
She loved the name immediately, and it stuck. However, Yoochun hated saying the whole thing, claiming it was “too damn long,” so we shortened it to Cass or Cassie. The former was easier for me, while he thought the latter was more feminine.
Junsu ignored her, for the most part. He ignored me for the most part, as well. He interacted with Yoochun at a minimum; if he wasn’t making very small talk with his friend, he disappeared from the apartment altogether. Every once in a while, I tried using the Ouija board to get him to come home, but he wouldn’t answer. Yoochun finally forced him to stay (for my sake) because we were going to have a visitor.
Yunho was coming to town, expecting Jae and I to be together.
It presented the perfect opportunity to test just how far Junsu would go in a jealous attempt to break us up.