| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
Yoochun sighed and lowered his head. “Wouldn’t it be nice if the machine could bring us back and forth?”
It was a rhetorical question. They both knew it wasn’t possible. The time machine used lightning to function and Kibum had said that it couldn’t be healthy for the physical body. And if they were able to return to their era, Kibum wouldn’t be there and the machine wouldn’t be there. The chances of returning were too slim to calculate.
“Yoochun, you still want to return? You seemed…really happy when you told me about the machine’s success.”
Yoochun turned his head to stare out the window. “I was happy, but I think…I was happier for Kibum.”
“You really care for him,” Yunho couldn’t help but smile. It was just who Park Yoochun was.
“At first it was because he reminded me of you, but then…I started to realize that under his façade, he’s weaker than you. He’s still so young, but he’s rich and so mature. I feel like…he was deprived of a childhood and that makes me feel even more empathy towards him.”
“You’ve always been soft.”
“I always paid close attention when he explained information to us. I could see that it meant a lot to him to have someone who cared. Eventually, he didn’t just instruct me on the experiment. He became willing to share detailed information about his other experiments with me. There’s always that sparkle in his eyes when he spoke. He reminded me of a child who was proudly showing off. There is still that bit of immaturity buried inside.”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t notice,” Yunho sighed.
Yoochun smiled. “It’s difficult because Kibum also makes an effort to prevent it.”
“Then you must have had to pay a lot of attention to notice so much,” Yunho murmured. Then his curiosity peaked, “Could that have…distracted you from other things?”
Yunho was obviously trying to hint at something.
“Apparently so, since Kibum had to be the one to inform me of Junsu’s…feelings for me,” Yoochun sighed.
Yunho blinked in shock. “He told you that as well?”
Yoochun nodded.
“How do you…feel about it?”
Yoochun sighed. “I do not know how to ‘feel’ about it. I am so confused. It…it’s so hard to accept.”
Yunho looked out the window to see that the sun was beginning to rise. “I should get back to my room. Keep thinking it through, Yoochun.”
“Stop thinking for once, Yunho. Stay here, stay with Jaejoong.”
Yunho only forced a smile before turning his back to Yoochun. Before closing the door, he whispered, “You did not accept Junsu’s love when Kibum told you…but realize that you did not reject either.”
◙◙◙◙◙
Kibum stared at the birthday card in his hand. It was the most precious birthday gift he’d ever received, this simple card that his grandmother had spent hours picking out and had graced with her beautiful handwriting.
His grandmother was the only one who truly cared. His parents threw him huge birthday parties and their butt-kissing friends had showered him with expensive, meaningless gifts. But they didn’t care. It was all for show.
But at least Kibum had one gift to look forward to every year…that is, until his grandmother died when he was seven.
No birthday after that mattered. Because no one was there to truly care.
So Kibum had told himself that he didn’t need it. He didn’t need anyone to care, anyone to step beyond the superficial skits and schemes.
It worked well for more than a decade. But then these five people had to come tumbling into his life (two were even from the ancient past, what were the chances of that?) and reminded him of how much he craved to have true friends.
Kibum had always been able to look into someone’s eyes and tell if they truly cared or if they were just kissing up to him. It bothered him that he continuously saw the treasure in the eyes of these five people.
He recalled all the conversations he’d had with those five people, especially the certain annoying, tall man who always wore a tux.
He recalled the time he had overheard Jaejoong telling Changmin that Kibum had a crush on him (most likely because Jaejoong was trying to cover his own truth).
He recalled the time he had first touched the tall man’s hand. The amount of self-control he had to use to act like it was the most casual action shocked and scared Kibum.
He recalled the minutes after that fight between Yoochun and Junsu (that Kibum had caused), the minutes after he had touched Changmin’s hand. They ended up in his office, this office.
He’d told Changmin to go comfort Junsu and he acted (was he acting?) hurt. After the tall man had left, Kibum had disappeared into a secret office to concentrate on some kind of experiment.
He’d seen Changmin walk back into the office and felt the urge to walk out of the secret office, but managed to refrain. He couldn’t let anyone know about the secret compartment.
Through a hidden camera, Kibum watched Changmin wander his public office to search for him. Kibum saw Changmin standing next to his desk and staring at his hand, the hand that Kibum had held. He was looking at it as if…as if it was some kind of phenomenon.
Kibum recalled staring at his own hand and remembering the feel of the other man’s hand. Heck, he was looking at his hand now and didn’t like that he couldn’t recall every detail of touching Changmin’s hand.
He heard the ringing of the doorbell and easily picked up a remote. He aimed it at the screen on his desk and it turned off to show him who was standing at his front door.
It was Junsu.
Junsu, who smiled genuinely at Kibum. Junsu, who Kibum had looked down on; believing that he would somehow try to pry easy money out of Kibum. But then Kibum had found out that Junsu wasn’t the greedy monster…like the other people Kibum had grown up with.
Junsu, who Kibum was trying to keep away from Yoochun so that Yoochun would not want to pull out of the experiment.
Hell, Kibum had not slept last night. He knew something was wrong when Yunho returned to the mansion. He had eavesdropped when Yunho snuck to Yoochun’s room. He’d heard everything.
Yoochun had persuaded Yunho to pull out of the experiment. Yoochun was Kibum’s only hope now. Yet the child prodigy only watched in silence as his butler called for Yoochun. Yoochun, shifting awkwardly as he stood in front of Junsu, still looked genuinely happy to see Junsu.
“Hi, it’s been a while,” Yoochun said.
“Are you busy today? I want to take you out,” Junsu got straight to the point.
“Out?” Yoochun’s hands were rubbing nervously behind his back.
“Yeah, I want to take you out on a date.”
Kibum was slightly shocked, but he wondered if Jaejoong had told Junsu about the immense progress in the experiment. Knowing that Yoochun could be leaving any day now, did Junsu decide to take action? Why wasn’t Kibum stopping this?
“A date?”
“A date is…it’s what we modern people call an event when two…two friends go out and do fun things together,” the slightly shorter man lied.
“Really?” Yoochun believed him. “Two friends?”
“Yep, so can you go?”
“Sure,” Yoochun replied slowly. “Let me go tell Kibum and Yunho.”
Kibum turned off the screen and felt an itch in his throat. He covered his mouth to muffle a cough, recalling how concerned Jaejoong had been about this small cough.
He waited for Yoochun to knock on his office door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Yoochun walked in. Junsu followed. “Hi, Kibum!” Junsu greeted with a grin that could light up any room.
“Hello, Junsu, it’s good to see you again,” Kibum found himself smiling in return.
“Kibum, I was wondering if you need me to be with you for anything today. If not then I was going to go out with Junsu, we’re going to go on a d…”
“Jaejoong said you were coughing. How are you feeling?” Junsu quickly interrupted, not wanting Yoochun to say ‘date’ and end up having Kibum tell him what a ‘date’ really was.
“It’s just seasonal allergies,” Kibum replied, concluding that he had been right. Junsu had spoken to Jaejoong today to find out about the Time Machine’s progress.
“Oh, okay. So, are you going to need Yoochun around today? Yunho’s skills are just as good so he can fit in for Yoochun as your bodyguard,” Junsu said, hoping to cover all reasons that may prevent Yoochun from leaving the house.
Kibum knew that he should make up an excuse, any excuse to keep Yoochun and Junsu apart.
Instead he kept remembering, recalling. So he said, “No, I won’t be leaving the mansion today.”
Kibum didn’t miss the joy in Yoochun’s eyes when Junsu broke into a huge grin and did a little cheer with his hands.
Trying not to hate himself, Kibum added, “You won’t have to worry about the experiment either. We have nothing else to do except wait for the photos to develop. Once they come out, we’ll be able to prove that the Time Machine works.”
Kibum and Yoochun missed Junsu’s faltered grin at the reminder that Yoochun could be returning to his own home soon.
◙◙◙◙◙
Junsu was silent as he drove. This was it.
After talking to Jaejoong earlier today and finding out that Kibum had called Jaejoong, asking him to ‘tell Yunho’ about the immense progress in the Time Machine, Junsu had decided to take action.
He’d take Yoochun out on a date to…to move that he was not truly in love with Yoochun. It worked between him and Changmin, it worked between Changmin and Jaejoong. Let’s see if it’ll work between Junsu and Yoochun.
Junsu had thought that he only feared one thing: that the date would prove that he was truly in love with Yoochun.
Now, he began to see that he had another fear: that the date would prove that he was not truly in love with Yoochun.
How is that even possible?
“Junsu?”
Junsu smiled and replied, “We’re going to go watch a movie in the theater. Then we’ll go eat dinner and end the date with a walk on the beach.”
“Theater?” Yoochun pronounced carefully.
Junsu smiled sadly as he recalled the first day they had met. Junsu had demanded to know where the camera crew was and Yoochun had asked him what a ‘camera’ was. He’d pronounced ‘camera’ carefully as well.
“You’ll see when we get there. You’ve had lunch, right?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
“Yes,” Yoochun paused. “Have you?”
Junsu had happy to know he cared. He recalled the time Changmin had called him a ‘mother hen’ for making sure that Yoochun ate three meals and two snacks a day. “Yes.”