| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
“No, of course not,” Yunho spoke in a low voice. He hated the nicknames, but didn’t hate the person who gave them to him.
“Ha! I knew it! Su-ie and Changmin keep telling me to stop before you beat me up for it. I told them you like the names! Just wait till I see Changmin tomorrow! I’ll tell him that you confirmed that you like the nicknames!” the blond man released a powerful laugh that lasted three seconds before returning to munch on cereal.
Why was he so weird?
But that was the last question on Yunho’s mind.
“Why do you give everyone nicknames, but never Changmin?”
Yunho did not miss the stopping of Jaejoong’s chewing jaw. It lasted two seconds and anyone else would have missed it.
“I don’t like him, I really don’t,” Jaejoong responded. It didn’t seem like he was informing the ‘fact’ to Yunho. It seemed more like…a defense, a lie, a voice to cover up a silent lie.
But what lie? Why lie? What is this relationship between Jaejoong and Changmin?
“You do not hate him,” Yunho spoke in his dull voice again.
Jaejoong cringed like a little kid. “You can tell?”
“I can see, but I cannot understand. You do not hate him. Why do you argue with him all the time?”
“Because I love him and he doesn’t love me,” Jaejoong sighed, poking at a cereal.
Yunho blinked. Did he hear that right?
“Pardon? I…may have misheard. It almost seems like you are saying that you are…in love with Changmin…in…a loving kind of way. I mean, love as in…between a man and a woman. But…that is not possible. You two are…both men. Unless…one of you is a woman in disguise…” Yunho stammered. The modern time was so different; he wouldn’t be surprised if people of the time were able to find a way to disguise their gender so well. Somehow, he had a small wish that maybe Jaejoong was the woman in disguise. It’s possible…
“It’s possible,” Jaejoong laughed. He’d forgotten that Yunho was from the ancient past. Same gender love was forbidden or perhaps even unknown of back then.
Jaejoong was surprised that he could so easily blurt out this truth to Yunho. Maybe because it was during their ‘Cereal Gathering’ and it was always easier to talk during this gathering. Maybe because he knew Yunho would keep this secret. Maybe Jaejoong had held the secret in for so long that he was finally so tired that he needed to tell someone else.
Either way, Jaejoong felt that he could trust Yunho.
“Possible…that you are a woman in disguise?” Yunho inquired with wide eyes.
Jaejoong laughed and his eyes turned into slits. “No, silly! It’s possible for two people of the same gender to fall in love with each other and actually be together.”
“What?”
Jaejoong laughed again. “I understand, it must be very hard for you to accept. You probably grew up with parents telling you that it’s forbidden and evil and all that good stuff.”
Yunho’s eyes lowered down to his bowl. “I grew up without parents.”
Jaejoong stopped laughing. He didn’t know that. Most of the ‘Cereal Gatherings’ had him talking about himself and Yunho talking a little about himself; his favorite color, favorite food, but nothing that was actually really personal…like his family.
“Tell me more,” Jaejoong smiled and Yunho felt his heart thump. The smile was so…warm and caring and loving.
“I do not have parents. I wandered the streets, stealing food to survive. Fortunately, Yoochun’s father took me in. He took me in as a servant and I did everything he told me to. I worked hard because I did not want to be abandoned again and he provided a place for me to stay as well as three meals a day,” Yunho informed.
They were sitting across from each other like usual, but Jaejoong had gotten off his chair and walked over to stand next to Yunho, who still remained sitting. “That’s how you became such good friends with Yoochun?”
“I would constantly peek when Yoochun was being taught martial arts or when he was being taught to read and write. His father eventually caught me and I thought he would kick me out for not minding my own business or if he thought I was being lazy for ignoring my chores. I was a servant after all,” Yunho sighed. “He did not kick me out. As a matter of fact, he allowed me to become Yoochun’s personal servant and even a classmate. I was able to learn with him.”
“Wow, he must be a really great person.”
“No, not quite. He has three wives and five sons, Yoochun being the middle child. Yoochun’s biological mother died when he was born. His step-mother does not treat him well, nor does Yoochun get along with his siblings. A year following his mother’s death, Yoochun’s father found out that she had had an affair with another man…”
Jaejoong gasped. “That means Yoochun isn’t his son?”
Yunho nodded sadly. “But Master kept that a secret, not wanting to stain his family’s reputation. Still, his attitude towards Yoochun changed. Yoochun was only twelve at the time, but his father was telling him how much he was hated for being a failure. No matter how many times Yoochun succeeded, even doing better than his siblings in school, his father never approved.”
“Does Yoochun know?”
“He found out when he was fourteen, after suffering for two years in attempt to regain his father’s heart. After finding out and being threatened to keep quiet about the truth, he gave up on his family. He rebelled and became distant from his family.”
“Do you hate them?”
“I cannot hate his father. I owe my life to him. That is why…when his father sent me to capture Yoochun—to bring him back for the wedding—I followed his orders.”
“You didn’t want to,” Jaejoong murmured, his hand had unconsciously moved up to touch the ends of Yunho’s soft hair. Yunho head was still down, staring at the mushy cereal.
“I did. Yoochun loves Yoona. His parents were using him to gain her family’s name and wealth, but Yoochun loves Yoona. He would have wanted to marry her.”
They were quiet for a short moment before it dawned on Jaejoong. A small smile touched his lips, “Yoochun ran away to make himself look like the bad person. He was giving Yoona an easy way out of the marriage.”
“He wanted to give her a chance to marry the one that she truly loved.”
“But then…if he cannot be with her and if he is unhappy with his family, why does he want to go back?”
“Because Yoochun is an idiot and a hopeless romantic. He wouldn’t marry her, but he plans to be her guardian, to watch over her and maybe even help her marry the one she loves.”
“Isn’t that painful?”
Yunho raised his head to meet Jaejoong’s eyes. “Of all people, I think you would understand his willingness to sacrifice and endure.”
Jaejoong turned his head away to cut the eye contact. His eyes landed on Yunho’s hair; the right side was still neat and in place, but the left side was all over the place. He looked at his own hand that was playing with Yunho’s hair.
“Oh, shoot, I messed up your hair. Let me go get a comb and I’ll fix it for you!”
Jaejoong disappeared for a quick minute before reappearing with several versions of a comb/brush and some other hair styling equipments.
“Now it is your turn to talk. Explain to me with…situation about you, Changmin, and Junsu,” Yunho proposed.
“Why don’t you just finish the cereal while I do your hair? This, my friend, is a blow-dryer. It’s too loud to talk over,” Jaejoong grinned.
“But…”
“I can’t tell you everything tonight. I need to leave you with questions so you’ll come back for more ‘Cereal Gatherings’,” the blond man declared. “Now hold still. Don’t worry, I’m good with hair. You should have seen my Barbie and Ken dolls from when I was a kid. They all had the coolest hair!”
“Barbie and Ken?”
Jaejoong explained to Yunho what ‘Barbie and Ken’ were. Then turned on the loud blow-dryer and got right to work.
Yunho ate a spoonful of cereal and sat there wondering: Could he ever accept that two people of the same gender could be in a love relationship? It was so awkward, so outrageous, so…not the traditional ‘Barbie and Ken’.
◙◙◙◙◙
“Are we having another fight and I was not informed?”
Junsu stopped scrubbing the kitchen counter and threw a deadly glare at the man who stood at the kitchen’s entrance. “You face looks like it needs to be scrubbed.”
Yoochun raised a hand to touch his cheeks. “But I just finished showering.”
Junsu rolled his eyes and returned to fiercely scrubbing the counter. If it wasn’t solid, good quality marble, the smooth surface may have turned into uneven etches.
“Go to sleep. You need to wake up early to pack tomorrow.”
“I have little to pack. It should be a simple move.”
Junsu suddenly slammed the scrubber onto the counter and turned to glare at Yoochun, hands on his hips and looking pissed off. “What is that supposed to mean? That you have nothing else you want to take with you except a few sets of clothes? If the move is so simple then why don’t you spend some time at Kibum’s, then move to Changmin’s, then move to Jaejoong’s. Better yet, move to the moon!”
“Are your words coherent to your own ears?” Yoochun raised an eyebrow at him.
“No!” Junsu huffed before shimmying to another area of the kitchen in search of something to clean. When he couldn’t find anything simple enough, he decided to target the living room; too bad walking out of the kitchen involved walking pass Yoochun.
“What is wrong, Junsu?” Yoochun grabbed his elbow.
“Nothing,” Junsu grumbled, but he did not pull his arm away.
“Are you angry at me?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No!”
“No?”
“Yes!”
“Why?”
Junsu frowned and finally pulled his arm out of Yoochun’s hold. “None of your business!”
“How is it not my business when I happen to be the root of your anger?”
“Because I said so!”
“Junsu, stop it. You are acting like an unreasonable wife who is angry at her husband.”
Junsu gasped. “What?”