| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
“Don’t you want to see more of him while he’s still around?”
“No!”
“Oh, sorry.” Se7en didn’t sound sorry.
Yoochun frowned. “You better not eat any meat at tonight’s meal then.”
“What? Why not?”
“I’m a vegetarian!”
“No! Oh, man! Don’t do this to me! I’m a growing boy!” Se7en pulled on Yoochun’s sleeve like a little kid.
“It’s your fault!” Yoochun smirked. “Now change into more comfortable clothes and then come out right away. I’ll text Jaejoong to have him come over and help eat the non-vegetarian dishes.”
“Um…there’s something else I should tell you.”
“What?”
“On the drive home, I made a compliment about steak being delicious.”
“Se7en!” Yoochun exclaimed.
“Maybe he won’t notice!”
“He’s not stupid! I keep sensing that there’s something else we’ve messed up on too, but I just can’t remember! We don’t need to drop more clues for him to suspect!”
“He’ll start suspecting if we’re in here for too long.”
Yoochun released a growl of frustration and glared at his brother one last time before walking out of the room.
Se7en sighed in relief. He changed into more comfortable clothes and was about to walk out of his room. But before leaving, he walked to the calendar hanging on the wall and drew an X on today’s date.
Then he walked out to the awkward silence between Junsu and Yoochun. Junsu sat in the living room reading a magazine while Yoochun was setting the table. It was like the other person didn’t exist.
At least Junsu didn’t try to tour the house. As long as he stayed in the living room or the kitchen, then he shouldn’t find any clues to make him suspicious.
“Micky!” Junsu dropped the magazine when he saw Se7en walk out. “You look good in that outfit.”
Se7en looked down at the sweats and plain shirt. Smiling uncomfortably, he said, “Thanks.”
The doorbell rang and Yoochun walked out to answer it. Junsu usually avoided looking at Yoochun, but this time, he allowed his eyes to settle on the apron that Yoochun was now wearing. The words imprinted on the apron were: ‘Look on the bright side.’
Junsu concluded that Micky must have bought it for his older brother.
Older brother…
A certain memory suddenly came back to him. Didn’t Micky say that he had a younger brother? Was it ‘younger’ brother?
“Jaejoongie!” Se7en ran to hug the person who had just arrived.
Junsu looked at them hug each other and wondered why he was less jealous today than he was yesterday (but still jealous, nonetheless). Maybe he was just too tired today.
“Micky, baby!” Jaejoong embraced Se7en and cradled him. Yoochun rolled his eyes at the two terrible actors.
Yoochun glanced over to see Junsu looking confused. Did he remember something? Was he suspecting?
“Let’s eat,” Se7en suggested as he swung hands with Jaejoong and walked to the dining table. He and Jaejoong sat next to each other, so Junsu was left to sit next to Yoochun (but across from Se7en).
Throughout the meal, Yoochun kept picking meat to put into Jaejoong’s bowl. Se7en tried very hard to refrain from the plate of meat.
Halfway through the meal, Junsu asked, “Are both of you vegetarians?”
Se7en and Yoochun exchanged eye contact. Yoochun reached his chopsticks over to grab a piece of meat to place in his own bowl. He’d wait for a chance to throw it into Jaejoong’s bowl when Junsu wasn’t looking (hopefully that opportunity would come).
“Everything is really good,” Junsu complimented, sparing Yoochun a quick glance to be polite. Then he immediately turned back to Se7en, “Do you help your brother cook too?”
“I can’t c…”
Yoochun grabbed a piece of broccoli and stuffed it into his baby brother’s mouth. Jaejoong understood.
“He can’t cook as well as Yoochun,” the best friend immediately explained. “But I love him anyway.”
Junsu ignored the last statement. “Really? But this meal is really good and as I recall, your cooking is just as tasty as tonight’s meal.”
Se7en and Jaejoong saw Yoochun smile at the compliment. Junsu didn’t see.
“Sorry that I didn’t compliment your cooking like I should have back on the island,” Junsu was smiling at Se7en.
“You really liked the meals?” Se7en inquired, feeling like his brother would want to know.
“Yes, better than restaurants or professionals that I’ve ever hired.”
Se7en smiled when he saw Yoochun’s touched smile. He spoke for his brother, “Thank you.”
“And I apologize for being an insensitive jerk back on the island. I owe you many words of gratitude. I really appreciate you for everything and am very glad that you applied for the job. While I was blind, I really felt that your presence was a gift from Heaven.”
Se7en saw the sincerity and love in Junsu’s eyes and wished that his brother could see it. But his brother was only slouching back in his seat and listening with his head lowered.
“I’m glad to have been able to help. It was my…brother’s fault after all,” Se7en murmured. In his tone, it was obvious that he was blaming himself…because it had been his fault that Yoochun had to rush down the mountains.
“It’s okay, all is forgiven now,” Junsu turned to his left to look at Yoochun. He was without a hat now and because Junsu sat on his right side, Junsu couldn’t see the scar. “All is forgiven, right?”
Yoochun blinked and realized that Junsu was talking to him. When he turned to look at Junsu, the scar came into view again and he saw Junsu’s eyes land on the slightly visible scar. Yoochun turned to his side again to hide the scar. Then he just nodded.
Junsu turned back to Se7en. “See? Your brother agrees too.”
Se7en forced a smile, suddenly hating Junsu. “Let’s finish eating so you can get home. It’s getting late. It’s dangerous to be driving around when it’s this late.”
Junsu nodded, obviously happy that Se7en was caring.
Half an hour later, Junsu left. Se7en and Jaejoong pretended to cuddle on the sofa so that Yoochun could walk him out. At least he spared Yoochun a quick glance when he said good-bye.
As soon as the door closed…
“Next time he comes to dinner, I’m poisoning his rice!” Jaejoong exclaimed.
“I’ll be in charge of poisoning his drink!” Se7en announced.
“What the heck are you two talking about?” Yoochun frowned.
“Don’t worry, we won’t kill him. That’s too nice,” Jaejoong clarified.
“We’ll just give him diarrhea for a couple of days!” Se7en and Jaejoong performed a duet of frightening laughter and Yoochun wondered if they needed a whack to the head.
“Why?” Yoochun wasn’t sure he should even ask.
“We saw the way he looked at your scar! We saw the way you had to turn away! That superficial bast…”
“Jaejoong, everyone stares at my scar,” Yoochun sighed as he took a seat.
“Yeah, but it hurts you more when he does it!”
“Look, I’ve been stressed enough these past days. I keep feeling like we’re forgetting something and I’m worried that he’ll find out that Se7en isn’t me.”
“Do you realize that you’re trying so hard to push him away because you know that he’s in love with you too?” Jaejoong inquired.
Of course Yoochun knew. Junsu had confessed his love for Micky to Yoochun, hadn’t he? Only he thought he was confessing to ‘the older brother’ instead of ‘the real one’.
“He’ll get over it.”
“Will he?” Se7en sat next to his brother and started to massage his tense shoulders.
“Yes,” Yoochun whispered, lacking confidence in his words. Or perhaps it was because he was afraid that his words would be true. It hurt either way.
“Will you eventually get over him?” Jaejoong tested.
“Yes,” Yoochun replied in the same, weak tone.
Silence stretched between the three of them.
Then Jaejoong decided to ask, “What are you thinking about?”
Yoochun closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “I’m wondering why I fell in love with him in the first place. He’s ill-tempered, superficial, selfish, arrogant…”
“You really don’t know?”
“Maybe because of his looks,” Yoochun tried to grasp onto any excuse he could think of, “which is a good thing, because if a person falls in love with another person for his/her appearance then the love won’t last.”
“Then that means his love for you WILL last…,” Jaejoong pointed out.
“What?”
“…since he didn’t even know what you looked like when he fell in love with you. I’m pretty sure he fell in love with you during the time that he was blind,” the older man reminded.
Speechless, Yoochun buried his face in his hands.
Se7en continued to rub his brother’s shoulders while mumbling, “Man, I hope I never fall in love. It’s such a pain in the butt.”