| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
“Junsu and I went on a date. From that date, we determined that we are only meant to be friends. My loves for him has faded,” Changmin took this opportunity to inform. “But he’s still my best friend. I want him to be happy. Just give up on your experiment and send Yoochun back to live with Junsu.”
“A date? You can make such a determination from a simple date? Isn’t that a bit ridiculous?”
“Yes, we can,” Changmin assured. “We gave each other a chance and tested our feelings. We finally sat down and talked about it. A person can’t be blind forever.”
“Then what about your date with Jaejoong? Did you conclude that you could love him?”
“No, he concluded that he no longer loves me,” Changmin felt proud to inform. He wanted to hint that there were no more obstacles, but Kibum didn’t seem to be catching the hint.
“This is why you don’t want me to continue with the experiment. You don’t want me to send neither Yoochun nor Yunho back.”
“They’ll find happiness here…with Junsu…”
“…and Jaejoong. He’s in love with Yunho, isn’t he?”
“He could open up to Yunho when he never could to me. I know there’s something between them. They just need to realize it. If it’s true love, Yunho and Yoochun won’t care about gender or time.”
“What if it’s not true love? What if…what Yoochun has for Yoona is true love? If I send Yoochun back, maybe one day, Yoona will realize that she loves Yoochun?”
“No one will know,” Changmin murmured.
“The possibilities of the future are endless. You’ve always been one to look into the future.”
Changmin was happy for a second, knowing that Kibum noticed his habit.
“I don’t know anymore,” the taller man spoke. He still couldn’t figure out what went on in Kibum’s mind and in Kibum’s heart.
“I respect your need to help your friend, but you must respect my views as well. I will continue with my experiment, but if Yoochun and Yunho are to refuse, if they are to tell me that they no longer want to return to the past, then I will stop.”
Changmin nodded in agreement.
◙◙◙◙◙
Jaejoong walked into the kitchen and sighed. He recalled the events of yesterday, the date he was on with Changmin. It was so fun. He’d been so happy when Changmin asked…although just minutes before he was shocked and afraid to death because Changmin had revealed that he knew about Jaejoong’s hidden love for him.
It was a simple movie and then dinner. Then Jaejoong had demanded to do something outrageous so they went to the amusement park to ride on the most horrifying and the most childish rides. Changmin had wanted to throw a fit when Jaejoong dragged him onto the merry-go-round.
It was a fun date. It was just like old times.
And like the old times…it was like when they were the best of friends.
Jaejoong hadn’t enjoyed the date as if he was going out with a boyfriend or a lover. He’d enjoyed it as if he was going out with the best friend that he missed so much.
[F.l.a.s.h.b.a.c.k]
“I miss hanging out with you like this. It’s like…missing an older brother and wanting to cry when we’re united.”
“Older brother? I’m younger than you by two years!” Changmin exclaimed.
“But you act and look older. Deal with it, older brother,” Jaejoong made a face and stuck out his tongue.
“No way. I act older, but I do not look older.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
“That’s enough.”
“Fine.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Changmin asked, “So who is it?”
“What?”
“Who did you fall out of love with me for?”
“No one, I just…got sick of waiting for you so I stopped being infatuated with you. I guess I just kept thinking I was in love with you because it seemed like a good excuse to argue with you and I liked thinking that I’m so amazing for being able to make sacrifices for love. And I’m like you. I like to think that when I love someone, I’m faithful forever.”
“So we do have something in common after all?”
“Just our fear of being disloyal,” the blond man replied.
“And there really isn’t someone else who has taken my place in your heart?”
“No, not at all! Stop trying to act like you know everything!”
“I do know everything!”
Jaejoong rolled his eyes. “You know everything about being egotistic. Now go home. I need to rest.”
“It’s the end of the date. No good night kiss?”
“You get a good night kiss if there’s going to be a second date,” Jaejoong paused. “There won’t be. You’re a horrible date.”
“Oh, please, at least I don’t embarrass my date!”
They continued to bicker like good, old friends.
[E.n.d.F.l.a.s.h.b.a.ck]
Smiling, Jaejoong reached for the box of cereal. But his appetite just didn’t allow it, like all the nights since Yunho had left. There didn’t seem to be a reason to eat cereal in the middle of the night anymore.
So he just poured himself a glass of milk and sat on the kitchen counter. Through the kitchen window, he could stare out into the stars.
He missed Yunho.
That wasn’t so hard to admit. It was just hard to admit WHY he missed Yunho. In the first couple of days, it had been, ‘I miss him because he’s such a good friend, a great listener, and the other half of the Cereal Gathering’.
After those first couple of days, it began to get frustrating. Jaejoong kept reminding himself that he was supposed to comfort Junsu and remind Junsu that he had to stay away from Kibum’s mansion, to stay away from Yoochun. But Jaejoong had begun to do that fewer and fewer times as the days passed. He would only sit there in silence and mope with Junsu next to him.
Talk about being stupid. Why did he promise Junsu to stay away from Kibum’s mansion with him anyway?
Junsu needed to stay away from Yoochun so he could fall out of love with Yoochun.
Jaejoong didn’t need that.
Jaejoong looked down at his glass of milk and sighed away. Who was he kidding? He didn’t need to stay away from the mansion so he could fall out of love with Yoochun…but Jaejoong would guess that he probably needed to stay away from the mansion so he could fall out of love with Yunho.
Crap!
He was in love with Yunho?
Jaejoong looked at his surrounding, eyes lingering on the spot that Yunho always sat at during their Cereal Gatherings.
Oh, well, at least he’d figure this out in the kitchen. It beats figuring it out while in the bathroom (so unromantic).
◙◙◙◙◙
“Are you feeling well? Do you want me to call for a doctor?” Kibum offered kindly, leaning into the black leather chair.
“No, I am feeling perfectly well,” Yunho smiled with gratitude as he sat across from Kibum.
“It just worries us that you sleep in late so often these days,” Kibum explained, pretending like he didn’t know that Yunho snuck out every night. Kibum guessed that he went to Jaejoong’s home every night. Kibum also guessed that Yunho only stood in the shadows and Jaejoong did not know about his nightly visits. If Jaejoong knew and if Yunho was spending quality time with Jaejoong, Yunho would not continue to look so depressed every day.
“I am just tired,” Yunho simply replied.
Kibum nodded as if he understood. He glanced at the door and noted that Yoochun was in the shower.
“I’ve noticed that you all seem depressed lately. Perhaps if you voiced your concerns, like Changmin, you would feel better,” the younger man suggested.
Yunho’s eyes grew attentive. “Changmin? He spoke to you?”
“Yes, we’ve had many conversations lately,” Kibum nodded.
Yunho would believe this. Changmin was always with Kibum when he came to the mansion, practically ignoring Yunho and Yoochun. It made Yunho wonder if Jaejoong and Junsu had really sent Changmin to keep an eye on him and Yoochun. He was beginning to doubt that Jaejoong and Junsu cared that much…and it hurt.
“What did he say?” Yunho was hesitant to ask.
Kibum hid a smile. He would be delighted to make Yunho ask question after question because he knew that Yunho was not one to enjoy voicing his curiosities. But Kibum was smarter than that. Making Yunho ask him questions and testing the taller man’s patients would only make the man suspect Kibum’s true intentions.
“Yesterday, we were having a casual conversation about Junsu. Jaejoong came into the topic and he revealed to me the difficult…relationship between them,” the younger man paused, making sure Yunho was still paying attention. “He told me that he was confused and feeling helpless. He said that he missed the friendship he had with Jaejoong…back then…before Junsu had come between them. Then he told me that you confronted, about Jaejoong having been in love with him this whole time.”
“Yes, I did,” Yunho murmured. He tried to hide the hurt and jealousy.
“He told me that after your confrontation, he began to think about the matter. He’d been avoiding the truth about Jaejoong’s love for so long, but after you spoke to him about it, he began to truly think about it.”
“Did he…have a conclusion?”
“He told me that he’ll give Jaejoong a chance. He told me that maybe, just maybe, he was blind this whole time and he may be in love with Jaejoong.”
Yunho felt like someone had punched his guts. This was what he wanted, wasn’t it? For Changmin to give Jaejoong a chance? Then why did it hurt so much?
“He really said that? He thinks he might be in love with Jaejoong after all? But…it’s so sudden! How would he know?”
“No one really knows. Love is like that. It can happen in a second or it can grow over time. It can be obvious or it can be subtle…sometimes so subtle that it takes a third person, the bystander with the clear eyes, to point it out. Changmin should thank you for confronting him,” Kibum paused, eyes on Yunho’s expression the whole time. “Jaejoong would thank you too.”
Yunho’s eyes were now on his hands. “Yes, Jaejoong would thank me.”
Jaejoong would only feel ‘gratitude’ towards Yunho. He certainly wouldn’t feel ‘love’.