“You’re still coming this week, right? You have no idea what I had to go through to get one of the others to cover my shifts,” Daniel says, pouting.

I slide the plane ticket from the folder I’d gotten yesterday to show him. “Yes, little man. See? I’ll be there by Thursday.”

He smiles, but frowns a little after. “I wish Mom and Dad had been able to get off so they could see you too. They miss you.”

I smile gently, thinking of my parents. “Hey, I’ll be back in the States within a week after this job and for two whole weeks at that.”

“I wish you could be here for your birthday.”

“I have to go with what the boss gave me,” I shrug. “Have you heard from Tyler? Last I heard from he was still in Italy freelancing. Will he be back in time?”

“Oh, he’ll be there,” Daniel replies with a mischievous smirk.

“What are you plotting? Remember, I actually want to keep this job.”

“What?” he asks innocently.

“Danny, I know that smile,” I retort, giving him my best you’re-up-to-something mom look.

“I’m just smiling because I get to see the best big sister in the world that hasn’t visited in forever.” He flashes me a bright smile and makes a heart with his hands.

I sigh and shake my head, muttering, “Remind me to not let you any near Changmin under any circumstances.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I prefer living in a free world, thank you very much.”

Daniel instantly bursts out laughing. “That settles it. He’s the first one I’m meeting.”

I chuckle too. “Then you have to be under constant supervision. I don’t know how much free time we’ll have though. Definitely more than usual. Out of curiosity, do you remember any of the Korean I taught you?”

“Um...’kimchi’’s Korean, right? Oh, and ‘hyung’ and ‘oppa’!”

“Don’t use ‘oppa,’” I laugh. “‘Hyung’ is all right, but I doubt kimchi will come up in the conversation. At least Yoochun will be there to help me interpret.”

“Speaking of Yoochun, how’s it going with you two? Did you tell him yet?” Daniel asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Kind of can’t because he has a girlfriend of almost three months.’”

My brother frowns. “How the hell did that happen? I thought you two were getting closer.”

“We were. Then Jaehwa showed up and...we’re still best friends though,” I offer lamely.

“Maybe I won’t like this guy after all.”

“Danny,” I scold. “I expect you to be on your best behavior. Yoochun’s a good person and he’s been through a lot lately. Some reporter caught the two of them on a date and then Jaehwa said she wanted a ‘break,’ which I think is a really stupid idea. You don’t take a break from a relationship. You work on it and solve the problem together.”

Daniel raises an eyebrow at my little rant.

“Shut up,” I sigh. “I didn’t even get to do anything special for him on his birthday or give him his present because SM’s being extra careful with them.”

“Why not do something here then? No one knows them here and we can bring them all to Ty’s house.”

“Ty’s house? Since when does Ty have a house in Las Vegas?!”

“Oops.” He claps his hand over his mouth before giving me another impish smile. “Gotta go, sis. Love you!”

“Wait! You...” I stab my finger at the laptop screen, but Daniel’s already vanished. Huffing, I close out of Skype. “Brat. He’s going to be the death of me.”

    Getting out of the chair, I go into my bedroom, grab Wangja, and flop on the bed. I reach under my bed to rummage through the small drawer I keep there and pull out the tiny box. Flipping it open, I reconsider my choice for probably the thousandth time.

“I don’t even know if he’ll like it. It felt right when I got it...but now it seems too simple,” I tell Wangja. “But I guess Daniel has a point; we can do a belated birthday thing in the U.S.”

    Thinking of Daniel brings me back to the mischievous air that clung to him the entire time we were talking. Knowing him, he could be planning anything. Hopefully it won’t be anything that causes too much trouble. Hopefully.
 

“Are you excited to be going home, ____?” Yunho asks, settling into his seat across the aisle from me a few days later. “You’ve been gone for awhile, right?”

“Almost a year. It’ll be nice to see the States again, but my family lives closer to the east coast,” I reply with a small smile. “It’ll be strange hearing English all the time.”

“Wait, didn’t you say your brothers will be there?” Junsu leans around Changmin to grin at me. “Can we meet them? Please, please, please!”

I giggle at his enthusiasm. “Sure. You guys can come along when we hang out if you’d like.”

“It’d be nice to meet some of your family,” Jaejoong smiles. “Especially if their as great as you.”

I just blush and smile, glancing at my unusually quiet seat mate.

Yoochun notices, giving me a small smile that quickly fades back into a slightly lost expression when he looks away.

My own smile diminishes a little in response.

    Before I can ask what’s wrong, the pilot comes on to begin the usual flight information and Yoochun closes his eyes. I sit quietly, debating whether or not to disturb him. Maybe I’m imagining things and he’s just tired.

When the plane begins taking off, my hand unconsciously reaches for Yoochun’s. As soon as my fingertips graze his skin, I realize what I’m doing and pull my hand back. “Mianhae,” I mumble, closing my eyes. They pop back open when I feel Yoochun’s fingers tangle with mine.

“It’s all right,” Yoochun says gently. He reaches over to put my head on his shoulder. “Just go to sleep and it’ll be over sooner.”

I nod against his shirt and close my eyes. “Thanks.”

He smiles at me again before returning his gaze to the window.

    I try sleeping like Yoochun suggested, but I can only rest fitfully. I can literally feel the tension his face tried to mask in the rigid set of his body. I give up after a few hours and open my eyes to watch him in the pale blue safety lights. He hasn’t moved since we left Seoul.

“Yoochun-ah,” I say softly, leaving my head where it is.

He glances down at me. “You’re supposed to be asleep. You’ll be exhausted.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Yoochun assures me. “I’m just-”

“Don’t say tired. It’s more than that.” I sit up and readjust so I can look him in the face. “You’ve been too quiet and you’re stiff as a rock. When you’re tired, you’re floppy.”

He searches my eyes for a few more seconds before looking away with a sigh. “You know me too well.”

I don’t bother answering, simply waiting.

“I once said I never wanted to go back to the U.S,” Yoochun finally says, so softly I barely hear him. “But here I am.”

“Why?” I ask tentatively, already wary of the pain slowly creeping into his voice.

“I never told you much about my parents' divorce, did I?” he asks, rubbing his temple before looking back at me.

I shake my head, wondering where this is going.

He looks away again, staring out at the black ocean. “When I was starting middle school in ia, my parents started fighting. At first, it wasn’t bad, but it got worse and worse until Yoohwan and I would hide in our room, trying not to listen as they screamed at each other. My dad would end up leaving and our mom would cry. She’d come find us after and apologize and tell us they both loved us. Things got better for awhile, but then...out of nowhere...my mom left.”

I feel my own heart clench and squeeze Yoochun’s hand.

Yoochun continues in his dead sounding voice, lost in the past. “Yoohwan and I came home one day and only Dad was there. He told us they were getting a divorce and we’d be staying with him. I couldn’t believe him and ran through the house looking for her, but everything of hers was gone. We cried ourselves to sleep that night...We didn’t hear from Mom for a month and even then it was only a phone call once a week. She’d try to sound happy for us, but I could always tell when she was crying...”

He stops to take a shaky breath. “I can’t even say what I felt. I missed her so much, especially because Dad was really distant and I blamed him for chasing her away. At the same time, I felt...abandoned. She hadn’t tried to keep Yoohwan and me or told us; she’d just left. There were nights I had to take care of Yoohwan because he’d wake up from nightmares or crying. It was unbearable, _____, lying there listening to him and trying to comfort him, but knowing I couldn’t stop the pain...Eventually, when they finalized the divorce, Mom got custody of us, but the scars were already there. Now, whenever I think of America...”

“You only remember the pain,” I finish quietly.

Yoochun nods, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the tears that had silently fallen.

I reach to wipe away one he’d missed, my fingers lingering against his cheek. “Mianhae, Yoochun. I didn’t know.”

“How could you unless you’re a mind reader?” he teases lightly, giving a watery smile.

I smile gently, the pain in my chest increasing at his attempt to be brave. Extending my hand again, I run my fingers through his hair and say, “I’m not that good yet. But you know what?”

“What?”

“We’re going to create some good memories while we’re here. I’m not expecting them to completely erase the bad, but they’ll still be there when you need them. And you know what else?”

Yoochun shakes his head, watching me intently as his tears dry.

“You’ve got the others and me to make those memories with and we’ll be there long after too whenever you need us,” I answer, putting my hand back on top of his.

“I know,” he says, looking across the aisle at the sleeping members.

As I smile, a thought pops into my head. Gently pulling my hands away, I whisper, “I’ll be right back.”

    I quickly stand up and get my bag down before plunking it down on my lap.Yoochun looks on curiously as I dig around, working more by touch than sight because of the dim lights.

When my fingers close around the box, I pull it out and offer it to him. When he gives me a curious look, I respond, “Happy late birthday. I was going to give this to you later, but now seems a good time.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Yoochun looks at the box, not moving to accept it.

I take his hand and put the box in his palm. “Yes, I did. I’m sorry I didn’t get to do anything else for your birthday, but with SM-”

“You don’t need to apologize, _____,” Yoochun says, stopping me.

I watch nervously as he carefully peels off the wrapping and opens the lid. “If you don’t like it or it’s too girly, you don’t have to wear it.”

He shakes his head, lifting the necklace out to look at it better.

The metal glows in the pale light, making the engraving on the small, flat pendant stand out. Two stars rise above stormy waves and overlap to form what resembles a compass rose.

“It’s supposed to be Polaris, the North Star,” I explain, tracing the outline with my fingertip. “People have used it for centuries to help them find their way home because it’s always there, watching them...Like I said though, you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want.”

Wordlessly, Yoochun undoes the clasp and puts the necklace on. After fastening the necklace, he picks the pendant off his chest to look at it again. Looking over at me, he leans closer to lay a soft kiss against my cheek. “Thank you, _____.”

“You’re welcome,” I reply quietly, ignoring the jump of my heart.

He smiles at me before moving back and pushing my head onto his shoulder again. Some of the stiffness still lingers in his body, but most of it has dissipated. “What’d I do to get an angel as a friend?”

“Tried to pick up the same book as her,” I tease.

I can tell he’s rolling his eyes even though I can’t see his face. “Rhetorical question, ______.”

I wait until he pulls my blanket over both of us to ask, “So you’re doing better now?”

Yoochun pauses before answering.  “A little. I still don’t want to be here, but it’s not like I have a choice anyway. At least you and the guys will be there with me too.”

“Exactly.”

“Now let’s get some sleep or we’ll both be useless when we land.”

    I nod and close my eyes, still wishing I could take away all his pain. No matter what, I will make sure to keep my promise to Yoochun. We’ll make new memories during our few weeks in the U.S, better ones, and we’ll make them side by side.

=========================

Annyeong lovely subbies! Just as a heads up, I'm not entirely sure about how much of the bit about Yoochun's parents' divorce is. It's based off what I remember from an interview I found once with him and the rest of DBSK (and can't find again). Since I can't remember many details other than him saying he never wanted to go back to the US again and how much he missed his mom during the divorce, I did some guesswork. My other thing is that, although this is a DBSK story and some of you may only be Cassies, I need to share this news. I bought a ticket to see Hangeng give a speech in London next month! Even though I miss him being with SJ, I'm so glad he's doing really well on his own. Anway, sorry for that random SJ bit. Saranghae, my beautiful readers! ^^

MewNikkiChan: This is your favorite? Yay! Kyuhyun and Changmin are unstoppable. Love you too! 

EhaaKevin: Next chapter, lovely. Next chapter the cuteness will begin.

parksanghwa: Changmin's a genius so he just does it subtly so she doesn't notice *evil giggle*

ljolson: I still haven't decided on that yet, but we'll see. I love him for that too.

yellow14: ...and we're back to not so happy...the next one will be though, I promise.

Champions27: Exactly. Kyu couldn't resist the chance for some fun.

PurpleangelSJ: Exactly. They can't see the faults of their loved ones or the person standing beside them that loves them more than anything. ke ke. All the same to you, lovely. <3

SuperSHINeeB2STJr: Give it time, lovely. The best things in life take awhile. I absolutely adore evil magnaes! DB5K forever! I'll try! ^^

Jun_KOI_Mi: ke ke.

WhiteAutumn_x: Aw, no problem. ^^ Good luck on everything although I know you'll do fabulously.

chocoenvelope: Yeah, I think they would too. I'm glad you like this one too. ^^

Poison: Ke ke, chincha? Mianhae, but not really. ^^ I don't know what I do. Honestly, half the time I just want to throw some of this stuff in the trash, but for some reason y'all like it so I don't. I can't really explain why you're still in love with Yoochun other than saying it's just because. It happens like that sometimes. I was in love with someone with whom I had a similar relationship as the reader and Chunnie for three years. It , but I loved him so I kept loving him even though he never really looked my way. Yoochun's still sweet to you, it's just that you don't have his entire attention like you did at the beginning. Poor Chunnie can't help it; he's a boy and they act stupid half the time. =p Hope this fed your addiction. ;)