| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
“I attempted to revive this paper that you called your ‘life’ and ‘baby’. Forgive me more failing,” he bowed his head a little and Junsu almost found it cute.
Junsu eyed the pile of nothing and sighed. His heart ached for all the money. But then, Park Yoochun was just trying to save Junsu from falling.
“It can’t be revived,” Junsu murmured sadly.
“What can I do to repay you?”
“Money is all I can think of.”
Junsu stood there with his arms crossed and head tilted. He watched the man reach into his belt to uncover a tiny black pouch. “This is all I have, but I doubt it will be useful to you in this era.”
Junsu gladly took the bag and uncovered the contents. He found coins with letters on them and a square cut out from the middle…like a donut. It couldn’t be used now, but if these were really from the ancient times and not some movie prop that the crazy man had came up with, then Junsu could probably sell it to a museum and get a load out of it.
“Don’t think you can get off the hook with just these!”
“‘Off the hook’? What ‘hook’?”
Junsu mentally slapped himself. Right, the guy was ‘from the past’. He couldn’t understand modern language. “You still owe me. I have no idea what we can do about your situation. I’ll take you to meet my two best friends tomorrow and see if they can come up with any ideas. Meanwhile, you’ll be working for me to pay off your debt!”
Park Yoochun glanced at the pile of waste on the table, and then turned his eyes back to Junsu. “Very well, it is only fair.”
Junsu silently patted himself on the back. How awesome, a free servant! That kind of, sort of made up for the lottery ticket…but only a little.
“Clean up this mess in this room and then go clean the bathroom.”
Park Yoochun stood up and prepared to pick up the mess that he and the furry, black creature had created earlier. Junsu settled on the comfy couch to watch.
“Oh, by the way, my name is Kim Junsu.”
◙◙◙◙◙
Junsu walked into the restaurant with Yoochun following him. The hostess, after staring at Yoochun for a little too long, brought them to a table.
“Kim Junsu, these clothes make me feel ill at ease,” Yoochun whispered after the hostess walked away. He was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Junsu had made him tie his long hair into a pony-tail that lied against his nape, but the bangs remained to cover half of his face.
“It’s better than what you were wearing. Besides, you look fine. Not as handsome as me, but you’re still okay.”
Junsu thought he saw Yoochun raise an eyebrow at his statement.
“The shirt fits well,” Yoochun commented.
“What about the pants?”
“There is room to spare,” he looked down at the pants, turning his head slightly to eye the area of his butt. Definitely room to spare.
Junsu felt slightly offended. What was that supposed to mean? Was the guy saying that Junsu had a large butt?
Junsu didn’t have time to frown upon Yoochun. Jaejoong interrupted.
They watched as the man with black hair and a beautiful face stomped through the kitchen door and over to a pair of customers. His outfit made it obvious to everyone (except Yoochun, who’d never seen such article of clothing) that he was the head chef of the restaurant.
He was waving a spatula around as he shouted at the customers, “If you’re not going to enjoy the food with a smile then get out! Life is too short for me to watch you people eat and look crappy at the same time! There are people on the other side of the world who can’t even eat!”
Customers around them were staring with wide eyes and open mouths. After listening to the lecture, they quickly went back to eating and making sure they looked happy as they enjoyed their meals. The pair of customers who were being yelled at did the same, smiling wider with every bite.
“What is happening?” Yoochun inquired.
“That’s Jaejoong. He’s the chef here. He’s always yelling at customers who don’t look happy when they’re eating,” Junsu explained. “His principle is that every meal should be experienced with a smile.”
“Does he own this…restaurant?”
“Nope, but his skills are so good that the owner won’t fire him and people continuously return to eat his food…no matter how much they hate his lecturing.”
“Amazing,” Yoochun murmured. Everywhere he looked, he saw people smiling as they conversed and ate.
Then his eyes landed in a nearby table in the corner where a man sat alone. The man was young and he didn’t look like he was happily enjoying his meal. Only him.
Junsu noticed this man as well.
Jaejoong appeared at their table and was about to ask about Yoochun, but Junsu spoke first, “Why don’t you go yell at that guy over there? He’s looking depressed while eating your food.”
Jaejoong looked over at the corner and then back at Junsu. “He comes here every week and sits at that same table for hours. I’ve yelled at him five times, but he doesn’t give a care. I made an exception for him. I guess you can say we have this silent, mutual agreement between us. Besides, he’s a good tipper.”
“Why does that matter? You don’t get any of the tips. The waiters and waitress get the tips.”
“I’m happy to see them happy when they receive the tips from him,” Jaejoong replied. He turned his eyes on Yoochun. “Now why don’t you tell me who this is?”
“Oh, right, this is Park Yoochun,” Junsu introduced. “This is my friend, Kim Jaejoong.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jaejoong extended his hand to Yoochun. Yoochun looked at his hand in confusion.
“You’re supposed to shake his hand,” Junsu explained. Yoochun didn’t move, unsure of the gesture.
“That’s okay,” Jaejoong smiled. “Nice hair, by the way.”
“Are you on break right now?” Junsu interrupted while Yoochun was left to ponder the compliment. All his life, he’d encountered men who complimented each other’s women, sword, skills, but never hair.
“I can be on break anytime for you, Su-ie,” Jaejoong grinned sweetly at Junsu. Yoochun noticed that Junsu shivered a little.
Then they heard the voice of a new member, “He hates that name.”
Yoochun looked up at the tall man who had joined their table. While he did not get the feeling that he needed to raise his defense towards Jaejoong, Yoochun suddenly felt that he should beware of this new stranger.
“Well, ‘Junsu’ is too boring,” Jaejoong made a mocking face at the tallest man.
“It’s his real name,” the man retorted with annoyance.
“Stop arguing! I called you here to help me solve a problem,” Junsu cut in.
“What is it? And who is he?” the tallest man eyed Yoochun.
“His name is Park Yoochun. Park Yoochun, this is Shim Changmin.”
“Don’t offer a handshake; you’ll confuse the poor guy!” Jaejoong whispered to Changmin.
“Stop being awkward,” Changmin lectured as he raised his hand to Yoochun. Yoochun only stared at the extended hand.
“See?” Jaejoong chirped.
“He doesn’t understand handshakes. They didn’t have handshakes in the ancient times,” Junsu sighed. Jaejoong and Changmin looked at him as if he’d grown a third head.
“What?” they chorused.
Junsu went ahead to explain everything to them.
Fifteen minutes later…
“Are you kidding me?” Changmin raised an eyebrow. “There’s no such thing as time…”
“Wow! That’s amazing!” Jaejoong gasped. “I’ve always wanted to travel in time!”
“Stop being ridiculous! There’s no such thing as time travel!” Changmin lectured the pouting Jaejoong. Yoochun continued to watch in silence.
“That’s what I thought too, but the more time I spend with him, the more I’m starting to believe. His clothes, the real sword, the ancient money…and you should have seen his face when I taught him how to do chores! Last night was the worst night of my life! I’m lucky he didn’t ruin any of my machines or furniture! He thought the bathroom was a bedroom! And when I taught him how to use the toilet and how to shower…”
“You showered him?” the two exclaimed in jealous tones. People around them gave them weird looks.
“No! I just explained the set up to the bathroom. Thankfully, he’s a quick learner. We walked here from my apartment because I don’t know how he’ll react to being in a car…and I thought it’d be a good idea to let him walk through the streets to get used to it.”
That meant Junsu believed that Yoochun was from the ancient past.
Jaejoong and Changmin looked at Yoochun, who still sat there silently.
“So what are you going to do?” Jaejoong questioned.
“What are WE going to do? I expect you two to help.”
“Of course, I’ll help you, Su-ie,” Jaejoong showed off that sweet grin again while Junsu and Changmin cringed. Yoochun found it amusing.
“I’ll hire a good psychiatrist. The doctor will figure out whether he’s crazy or lying,” Changmin said. He refused to believe that time travel was possible. It didn’t fit into the logics of life.
“I am not insane, nor am I lying,” Yoochun finally spoke.
“He speaks!” Jaejoong cheered. “And what a nice voice you have.”
Again, Yoochun didn’t know how to react to the compliment about his voice. So he chose to speak to the other man, “I am not insane, nor am I lying.”
“We’ll see about that,” Changmin met Yoochun’s eyes as if challenging him.
Junsu buried his face in his palm and sighed. Jaejoong was rambling about Changmin being too logical and was weird for not believing in time travel.
The four did not notice that their conversation had a fifth listener.