Yunho’s umbrella seemed quite too small for the two of them, but Jaejoong knew that in no way could he reject the other male’s offer. With a small blush on his cheeks he skipped past the shelter he was currently huddled under and joined the brunet, shivering as cold droplets of rain hit his skin. Yunho gripped the handle of the umbrella tighter and shifted closer towards him. “Stay close. Or otherwise we’ll both be soaked,” He chuckled, slightly raising his voice for it to be heard against the harsh noise of rain hitting rooftops.

Jaejoong said nothing. He meekly waddled along, trying not to be too close because their shoulders kept brushing. Being so pressed close to Yunho was making his heart race, and when he stepped too close to a puddle, he squeaked and gripped onto the brunet’s arm, blushing deeply afterwards and beginning to awkwardly retract his hand.

“No, it’s okay,” Yunho flashed him a smile as they hurried their footsteps. “Hold on to me. We’re almost there.” It was a little bit ridiculous, how they were both acting as if the rain was about to kill them and they had to hold on to each other to survive—but Jaejoong bit his lip at Yunho’s words and merely shuffled a bit closer, their shoulders pressing, his fingers gripping Yunho’s shirt. He wasn’t about to laugh at the silliness of it all. Yunho was protecting him. Protecting him against something as light as the rain—yes, but it was still the man of his dreams holding up an umbrella for him and making sure he wasn’t going to get wet. Yunho was protecting him.

The thought made his heart feel fuzzy. He unconsciously leaned closer, and without realizing it, his sneaker had landed right into a puddle. He winced as the next footsteps he took were squishy and heavy—his shoe full of water making the feeling uncomfortable. Yunho clicked his tongue, but said nothing. He just had that little smile on his face that made Jaejoong feel so oddly loved. As if he could step in five other billion puddles and make a fool out of himself but Yunho would still be smiling. Jaejoong loved his smile.

“Almost there,” Yunho announced, and Jaejoong blinked through the rain, recognizing the familiar bus stand. It had a shelter and that meant Jaejoong would have no excuse to stay so close anymore. He hid his pout, and reveled in the remaining seconds that he had. A little closer, breathing through the cold air, shivering slightly. Leaning even more closer, the raindrops hitting the umbrella, Yunho’s little smile. Even more closer, his fingers on Yunho’s shirt tightening, Yunho’s smile widening.

And then they were there. Jaejoong felt dazed, watching Yunho pull down the umbrella. There was nobody else at the bus stand, probably because everyone had left early, or had someone to pick them up. But he didn’t mind. There was nobody else for Yunho to look at but him. And Jaejoong felt special—just so special whenever Yunho looked at him. It washed away all his regrets and shame and every other stupid embarrassing thing he had done in his life and made him feel like he was starting new, with someone who would never judge him.

“I think it should be here in like five minutes,” Yunho mumbled, glancing down at his watch. He lifted the corner of his shirt and wiped away the few droplets that were scattered on the screen of it. Jaejoong nodded, shifting on his feet. After a moment of hesitation, he leaned back and slowly sat down on the bench, feeling unexplainably giddy when Yunho joined him, only a small space between them. Jaejoong was able to sneak a glance and admire every feature of the other male’s face, smiling in adoration at the little mole that he absolutely loved above Yunho’s lips. When he felt Yunho turn his head, Jaejoong quickly looked away, up at the sky. He pretended to watch the droplets of rain falling down onto the ground, pretended to inhale the earthy scent of everything around him—when his actual attention was on Yunho, his palms sweating slightly and heart racing, looking at him through the corner of his eye.  

“Jaejoong.”

It was so sudden, the way Yunho murmured his name. Jaejoong ended up jumping slightly, stilling for a moment before hesitantly looking up at the other male through his eyelashes. “Yes?” His voice was barely above a whisper. Stay composed. He cleared his throat. One glance at Yunho had him biting his lip and shrinking slightly. It was never really possible to be composed in front of someone like Yunho.

The other male’s lips parted, and he paused for a moment before murmuring quietly, “You’re beautiful.”

Jaejoong almost didn’t hear that for a moment. He sat there, processing and playing the words in his head before everything just exploded into a million different colors and emotions and—he blushed deeply, sinking down against the chair. He said nothing. His heart was slamming hard against his chest and he did not have the bravery to look the other male in the eyes. He stared ahead of him, fingers curled shyly on his lap.

“Jaejoong.” Yunho repeated again.

“Mm,” Jaejoong hummed in response, trying to gain the courage to sneak a peek at Yunho’s face. He could not. He instead timidly stared down at his hands, feeling Yunho’s gaze rest on him. He in return felt like squirming—because it was like he was being scrutinized. He could practically feel Yunho’s eyes rake over his face, and a wave of self-consciousness hit him as he just sat there, biting his lip and not meeting the other male’s gaze.

“You really are,” Yunho’s tone sounded serious.. genuine and Jaejoong’s eyelashes fluttered at how deep his voice was, his words tinged with gentleness. Jaejoong’s cheeks turned even redder, playing with his fingers.

It was not the first time someone had told him he was beautiful.

But everything just felt so different when it was Yunho.

Like it was—Jaejoong couldn’t describe it. It was like all the good feelings in the world combined.. and—and joining together.. and glowing—and just.. just..

It just felt different. Different in the sense that this time, he actually felt beautiful. Yeah, he was just sitting there, hands on his lap, hair slightly damp and sneakers wet and dirty. But despite that all, Yunho thought he was beautiful.

Jaejoong bit his lip, and could not hold his smile back. He peeked at Yunho shyly, and Yunho was smiling too. He paused for a small moment, mustering the courage to murmur a small, meek, ”Thank you.” Yunho’s smile widened at that, and in response Jaejoong couldn’t stop his lips from forming a goofy little grin. He lifted his hand, curling his fingers into a fist to discreetly cover it, trying to hide the fact that he just felt so awfully giddy. He swung his feet back and forth, glancing besides him occasionally with a foolish little smile but also watching the way the sky darkened. His parents would be worried if he didn’t come home soon. He took a glance at Yunho’s watch and saw that the bus was supposed to arrive at least a minute ago. He could be patient, though. He had Yunho besides him and it wasn’t as scary when he saw lightning striking from the sky in the distance. He just didn’t want his parents to stress out over him.

“What’s wrong?” Yunho questioned. Jaejoong turned to stare at him and explained that if he didn’t go home soon enough, his parents would probably panic. “You could use my phone to call them,” Yunho suggested with a small smile, reaching into his pocket. “I turned it off because it only had a bit of battery percentage left. But just use it.”

Yunho placed a smooth, pretty sleek phone into his hands and Jaejoong blinked in awe. He was not poor, but he knew he could never afford such a phone. His own was a second hand one, and he wanted to cringe in a bit of embarrassment. What would Yunho think if he ever saw his phone? And then he realized, as he looked at Yunho who was staring at him in that way—that it didn’t really matter. Yunho would never think bad about him just for having a cheap phone. Yunho wasn’t one to judge, he was more than just kindhearted. Maybe that was why Jaejoong liked him so much.

With cold fingers, Jaejoong dialed his mother’s number. She didn’t answer, and so he dialed his father’s. On the third ring, he picked up. “Dad, it’s me, Jaejoong. Yeah. I’m using someone else’s phone to call because I didn’t bring mine today—yeah. Yes, I’m fine. Just wanted to say that I might be late because the bus isn’t here. No, no, it’s okay—no, really. You don’t have to pick me up, it’ll disturb your meeting. No. Dad, seriously. I’m fine, don’t worry so much, it’s just rain,” He met Yunho’s eyes and smiled in a fond manner. His father was just as protective of him as his mother. Yunho returned his smile. “I’ll be home soon. If the bus doesn’t come in like ten or fifteen minutes, then I’ll call again.” Then Jaejoong paused as his father questioned something. He blushed slightly, swallowing thickly and replying,

“Yes. I’m with someone who will look after me, dad. Yes—he’s really nice. He’ll.. uh,” He snuck a glance at Yunho, biting his lip and murmuring, “He’ll protect me if anything happens.” His father seemed satisfied. After a few more words, he ended the call and Jaejoong returned his phone in a shy manner. Yunho didn’t say anything but he had that look again that made Jaejoong feel more than flustered.

“Your dad really cares for you,” Yunho spoke, eyes warm and Jaejoong nodded with a little chuckle.

“My parents have always been like this. I get sick really easily, and I’m super clumsy and fall around and get bruised super quickly,” He explained, lifting up the sleeve of his shirt to show a recent purple mark. Yunho winced. “I fell really hard on the concrete, I bruised my legs too. And I have cuts on my knees from always accidentally tripping and scraping them. I just—I’m not very graceful at all,” He admitted in a small voice. “That’s why they’re always worried.” He finished.

“That’s cute.” Yunho finally said, and Jaejoong could feel more heat rushing to his cheeks. He fiddled with his fingers again and looked up when Yunho called his name and patted the very small space besides them. “I want to show you a really cute video on my phone.”

Jaejoong smiled and inched a little closer. Their shoulders brushed and he watched as Yunho effortlessly tapped things on the screen. Then there was a video beginning to play. Yunho was showing him a video of a French bulldog puppy doing all sorts of insane things, but making every little action more than adorable. Jaejoong was gushing and smiling, his fingers unconsciously holding onto Yunho’s shirt. It was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen and Yunho kept going on, showing him different videos of that same breed. By the fifth video, their heads were close together and Jaejoong was leaning onto Yunho without realizing it. It was still raining, there was cool breeze around them and the noise of thunder was faint in the background. Paired up with Yunho’s soft laughter, Jaejoong had never felt so blissful.

The video ended soon enough and then there was a small silence. Jaejoong looked up at the same time Yunho did. Their noses brushed and Jaejoong stilled. Everything went quiet. The only thing he could hear was his heart beating hard as Yunho tilted his head slightly. Jaejoong’s breath hitched and his eyelashes fluttered as long fingers reached up and cupped his cheek. He swallowed thickly in response, and his eyes closed completely as Yunho closed the remaining gap between them and kissed him softly.

It wasn’t perfect. It was Jaejoong’s first kiss and he didn’t know what to do. But it didn’t matter as Yunho pulled away after some seconds and flashed him a warm smile, their noses brushing again. To Jaejoong, that kiss was everything. He smiled as well, shy, timid. He leaned forward and carefully wrapped his arms around the other male, burying his face in Yunho’s neck. Yunho chuckled quietly and hugged him back. And then the bus was arriving and Jaejoong almost hated it. But Yunho pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before they pulled away, and he stood up, lending his hand. With a silly little smile on his face, Jaejoong took his hand, slung his bag over his shoulder and joined Yunho onto the bus.

They took the seat before the last and throughout the ride, Jaejoong rested his head on Yunho’s shoulder. Yunho had an arm around his waist and was playing with his fingers and Jaejoong watched in bliss. At that moment, everything else didn’t matter. It was the happiest he had ever felt in a while, and when he had to get off the bus, earning another soft kiss, he knew Yunho would make him even more happier. The happiest  man alive, and Jaejoong didn’t doubt it.

So. The rain. The rain was definitely Jaejoong’s most favorite weather.

A/N: i love au teenage yunjae ;;;
thank you so much for reading and commenting! :D <333333333333333