| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
“What?” Changmin exclaimed.
“What would you name it?” Kibum shouted from the compartment. His hands skillfully prepared the machine without even looking at the buttons.
“Hmm…‘Mickey’!” Jaejoong announced.
“That’s a Mouse!” Changmin protested.
“So?” Jaejoong rebelled.
Changmin rolled his eyes. “Forget it.”
Kibum smiled with amusement and turned his eyes to the machine. Junsu whispered a quick explanation to Yoochun and Yunho about ‘Mickey the Mouse’ being a cartoon and Jaejoong was probably watching one of its movies in this recent week.
Kibum raised a hand to signal for the five to take two more steps back. He covered his ears and ran through several safety steps before signaling the ‘okay’.
The five stood shoulder to shoulder, from left to right: Yunho, Jaejoong, Junsu, Changmin, Yoochun.
A metal rod was uncovered and extended high up into the sky. The storm was brewing with thunder and wind. A shock of lightning struck the rod and they all heard the boom.
“Here it goes!” Jaejoong and Junsu gasped as they covered their ears and closed their eyes. Yoochun, Yunho, and Changmin had their eyes open as they watched the whole event.
A bright light was released from the other side of the machine where ‘Mickey’ had been situated with its metallic outside and wired insides. Following the BOOM of the lightning was the BLAST of an explosion.
They all gasped as Kibum tore away a wire to quickly shut down the whole machine, to end the electrifying affect. He rushed out of the compartment and ran to where the rabbit had turned into black chunks. The others were by his side immediately, looking down at the failed…and ‘dead’ subject.
“Mickey!” Jaejoong latched onto the closest person (Yunho) and mourned. No tears, just a lot of anguish muffling.
“If that had been a real rabbit, it’d be dead,” Changmin stated.
“If that had been a real rabbit, it’d probably be crispy and edible,” Junsu observed.
“That could have been us,” Yoochun gulped.
“Rest in peace,” Yunho sighed as his hand unconsciously soothed Jaejoong’s back.
“And this is why we run many test drives before we use it on a real person,” Kibum explained, not at all concerned for the destroyed robot. If he could build it when he was ten then building another one tomorrow wouldn’t be a problem at all. “My apologies, but there seems to be many more work to perform.”
“But you are close,” Changmin quickly said, capturing everyone’s suspicious attention. Did this mean Changmin was finally willing to believe in Time Travel?
“Pardon?” Kibum questioned.
“You are quite close to success. It is a critical time in the experiment. Wouldn’t it be more convenient if Yoochun and Yunho moved in to live with you so that they may follow along in the project?” Changmin spoke like a professor as everyone listened to his logic.
Kibum would have protested, but…
“Have Yoochun and Yunho move out?” Junsu and Jaejoong chorused before Kibum could speak.
“I believe they would feel safer if they follow through every detail of the experiment…unless they don’t mind turning into crisps,” Changmin reasoned.
“True,” Kibum agreed. He turned to Yoochun and Yunho, “It is your choice. My home is always open to your acceptance.”
Yoochun and Yunho shared eye contact. Junsu was staring at Yoochun, waiting for him to make the decision, but restrained himself from saying anything. Jaejoong wasn’t afraid to speak though.
“Now wait a minute…” Jaejoong began.
Changmin grabbed his wrist and Jaejoong shut up. The taller man quickly whispered in his ear, “Do you not want to keep Yoochun away from Junsu?”
The others watched in confusion at the interaction, except for Kibum. Kibum was amused.
“I think it’s a great idea!” Jaejoong suddenly clapped. “You two don’t want to end up like poor Mickey.”
Yoochun and Yunho turned to look at the rabbit named ‘Mickey’. True, they didn’t want to end up like that pile of…thing.
But they didn’t really want to leave…
“It’s set then! We’ll help you move all your belongings tomorrow,” Changmin confirmed.
◙◙◙◙◙
“Is it really necessary to make them move?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No,” Jaejoong looked down in defeat.
“I was eavesdropping on Yoochun and Yunho. They were talking about going back. Yoochun wanted to go back,” Changmin informed. They had excused themselves to the kitchen while the others were in the living room. “That makes it easy for us because that means Yoochun doesn’t return Junsu’s feelings.”
Jaejoong raised his head to meet the taller man’s eyes. “What about Cinderfella?”
“He seemed a bit reluctant to leave,” Changmin spoke. He seemed less concerned and tense as he spoke about Yunho (because his reason for making Yoochun and Yunho move in with Kibum was targeted towards separating Junsu and Yoochun…not separating Jaejoong and Yunho). He didn’t care about what went on between Jaejoong and Yunho.
“Why?” Jaejoong found himself curious.
“It sounded like Yunho is in love with you,” Changmin shrugged as he looked into the fridge for a drink.
Jaejoong stared at his back with a frown. “And?”
“I don’t think he sees it himself,” Changmin added. Definitely not the response Jaejoong was looking for.
“Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe Cinderfella isn’t in love with me. Maybe Su-e isn’t in love with Yoochunie. How can someone like you be able to tell that one person is in love with another when you can’t even see that someone is in love with you?” the blond man blurted out. He slapped a hand over his mouth.
Changmin closed the fridge and turned to look at Jaejoong. “What? Who?”
“Uh…uh…Kibum!” Jaejoong stammered.
“What?” Changmin’s eyes widened.
“Did I hear my name?”
Both turned with wide eyes to see the shorter man walk into the kitchen.
“Uh…Changmin was appreciating your kitchen. Wow, look at the time. It’s almost midnight. We better get home. Bye!”
Changmin and Kibum watched as Jaejoong ran out of the kitchen. When he was out of sight, Kibum turned to the taller man with an amused expression, “Your friend is quite interesting.”
“He’s not my friend,” Changmin retorted in a dull voice.
“An ‘enemy’ perhaps?”
“By any other name, I still need to put up with him,” Changmin drawled.
One corner of Kibum’s lips lifted. “By any other name, you still need to work with him to keep Junsu away from Yoochun.”
“It’s for the best,” the taller man sighed. He wasn’t shocked that Kibum knew.
“The best for who?” the shorter man challenged.
“When you love someone, you want to protect them. I’m trying to protect Junsu from being hurt when Yoochun leaves.”
“When you love someone, you want them for yourself. You could very well be trying to eliminate a love rival,” Kibum pointed out.
“I love Junsu,” Changmin spoke in an assuring voice, his eyes on Kibum to search for a jealous reaction. Jaejoong’s words kept ringing in his ears. Kibum was in love with him?
“I don’t doubt that,” Kibum replied with a tilt of his head. No other emotion except the usual amused one. “I admire true love. Do not worry about me interrupting your plan.”
“You’ll help us separate Junsu and Yoochun?” Changmin was shocked.
Kibum shrugged with indifference as he casually answered, “Anything for love.”
“What?” Changmin thought he heard wrong. Did Kibum just say that he’d do anything to help Changmin because he was in love with Changmin?
“I was there when you were eavesdropping, remember? Yoochun has the woman that he loves back home. It looks like true love to me so I plan to help him return,” Kibum paused. Then he turned to leave, “Wish me luck, Mr. Shim.”
Changmin was left to stand alone in the kitchen.
So Kibum was talking about Yoochun’s love for his fiancée. But who was to say that he was not implying his love for Changmin? Heck, he probably doesn’t even love Changmin! Jaejoong was probably messing with Changmin.
Stupid Jaejoong.
◙◙◙◙◙
Jaejoong tipped the box of cereal over and watched specks of crumb fall out. He looked into the box with one open eye and informed, “Hmm, there’s no more.”
Yunho looked down at the last two bowls. “I suppose it is a good way to end it,” his deep voice followed a sigh.
“End what?” Jaejoong blinked.
“This is our last cereal gathering,” Yunho pointed out, his eyes on Jaejoong to see if the man shared his depression.
Jaejoong’s eyes looked up for a moment as if he was thinking. Then he shrugged, “That’s a good name for it. ‘Cereal Gathering,’” he repeated the name, as if testing it on his tongue.
Yunho looked down in disappointment. Jaejoong had become such a good friend that Yunho really didn’t want to leave. But it wasn’t as if he was going far. He was only moving to Kibum’s home, not like he was going back to his own home…in the past…even farther away…impossibly far…
“Cinderfella?” Jaejoong mumbled his name, cheeks puffed by the spoonful of cereal in his mouth.
“Thank you,” was all he could say.
“For what?”
Yunho fiddled with the spoon, swirling the cereal around. “For being a good friend.”
Jaejoong smiled. “You don’t hate me for giving you weird nicknames?”