***

First time Jaejoong met Yunho while hiding in the closet.
It happened unexpectedly on the first day at his new school.
Since that time their paths seemed to entwine.

***

Yunho ran down the hall, turned a corner, skipped over to the third classroom in a row and jumped into a closet strategically located in the hallway.
After shoving aside the brooms and buckets blocking his way, he realized he wasn’t alone.

‘Hello’ he looked down at the crouching figure.

‘Oh, yes, hello. Fancy meeting you here’ the other replied with a smile. Yunho cracked the door open and peeked outside. He picked up some familiar voices and slammed the door shut.

‘So, uh-’ he turned back to the other with an uneasy smile ‘who are you hiding from?’

Nobody sat in a school closet for no apparent reason. Yunho hoped this one wasn’t an exception to the rule.

‘Some of the girls in my class are jealous and chased me around’ came the reply.

‘Oh I see. Jealous already?’ Yunho wondered. ‘Of course, there’s so many new students this year- I kind of hoped the drama would start a few weeks after but here I am’

He peeked outside once more and immediately closed the door. Shoving a bucket aside and sitting down in the cramped space, he turned his full attention to his partner in hiding. He had a nice voice and Yunho wondered if it was accompanied by an equally nice face.

‘A particular girl? Was she jealous of you paying attention to other girls? Did she warn and threaten you?’ he asked as he knew that sometimes girls in his class did that. He couldn’t see the logic behind it but he was no girl after all.

‘Oh, no, not that’ the melodic voice replied with a small chuckle ‘they were jealous because of the male students, told me not to look at them or something because I was a distraction. I’m not entirely sure why but- it’s amusing, right?’

The words sunk in and Yunho let out a long ‘ahhh’ and nodded, forgetting that in the darkness nobody could see him.

They sat there for a while without saying a word until Yunho decided it was safe to leave.

‘See you around!’ he waved when he opened the closed and crept out. He caught sight of two large eyes and a small sculpted nose when he looked back.

‘Uh, what’s your name again?’ he asked before there was a high-pitched scream and one of the girls from his class attached herself to his elbow.

***

The second time Jaejoong met Yunho while it was raining.

Walking back home he had forgotten to take an umbrella with him.

***

‘Yah, you there!’ Jaejoong heard someone shouting and turned his head. A tall boy was running after him, stopping only when he was in front of him.

‘Just- just wait up. We go the same way’ he managed through heavy breaths before opening the umbrella and providing a shelter for both of them from the unforgiving rain.

Jaejoong looked up at the bright red fabric decorated with flowers and felt a gasp escaping his mouth.

‘Gift from a girlfriend’ Yunho explained in an apology, making the other chuckle.

‘Shouldn’t you be sharing it with your girlfriend then?’ he asked, curious. Yunho shrugged.

‘They’ve got their own umbrellas besides- they are just girlfriends, they change quickly’ he grabbed the smaller male’s arm and linked them, starting to walk taking big steps.

‘You’re the one from the closet, right?’

Jaejoong struggled to keep up with Yunho but once he managed to find the same rhythm as the other they fell into harmony. So this was the boy he met this morning? No wonder he’d been hiding. He was extremely good looking and definitely popular with girls.

'Yeah, I’m the one from the closet’ Jaejoong nodded, pulling their bodies closer. He felt warm and comfortable walking like that.

‘But call me Jae’

***

The third time Jaejoong met Yunho while standing in front of his house.
They had just walked back from school while it was pouring outside.

***

‘I’m sorry the umbrella was not much of use’ Yunho laughed as he shook some droplets out of his soaked hair. The tall boy stomped his legs on the doormat and grinned.

‘See you around!’ he shouted before running back into the rain.

‘Wait!’ was the only thing Jaejoong managed to yell before the other disappeared from his sight. He cast his eyes down to look at the umbrella in his hands.

I’m Yunho, same year as you

He smiled and turned to enter his house.

He greeted his parents and some of his sisters loitering around the kitchen and walked up to his room. Putting down his bag, he looked out of the window and the dark sky and let sadness wash over him.

It wasn’t for that he was feeling sad but the weather made him think of tragic romantic novels and unfulfilled love stories and dramatic affairs.
Girlfriends don’t mean anything. They come and go. I like my friends more

Jaejoong buried his face in his pillow and stayed like that for a long while. Living with so many sisters was tough. They always talked about men and romance and marriage while he was a boy who enjoyed playing sports and messing up and getting in trouble.

Let’s be friends

Jaejoong buried his face deeper, feeling conflicted. He shouldn’t be thinking about this so much.

***

The fourth time Jaejoong met Yunho while sitting in his room.

The other had woken him up by throwing rocks at his window.

***

He stared down at the tall boy in shock.

‘Shouldn’t you be home by now?’ he asked in a half-whisper, half-laugh while leaning as far as he could without falling. Yunho grinned in reply and answered something along the lines that he lived only a few blocks away and had sneaked out.

Jaejoong thought it a waste to talk like this- he couldn’t hear even half of the things Yunho told him- so he grabbed his keys and snuck down the stairs.

‘Are you crazy?’ he eyed the taller doubtfully when they met on the doorstep.

‘Yeah. About you’ Yunho replied, shamelessly.

Jaejoong thought it scandalous for a boy to say something like that to another boy yet he still invited him inside. Not long after they were both sitting on the carpet in his room and staring at each other.

‘You’re really pretty’ Yunho said and Jaejoong shook his head in disapproval.

‘I’m not pretty, I’m handsome and you’re quite good-looking yourself, you shouldn’t be that surprised seeing me. Don’t you have a mirror in your house?’

Yunho laughed at the half-joke half-insult and scuffled closer, grabbing the other’s hand.

‘Let’s be friends’ he said the same thing he told him in the rain and Jaejoong found himself blushing despite his best efforts not to.

They were both boys and he preferred playing sports instead of watching romantic movies and yet he nodded without hesitation.

***

The fifth time Jaejoong met Yunho while lying in his arms.
They were both waiting for the morning to arrive.

***

‘You should leave now’ a small voice muttered in the darkness. Yunho pulled the warm body in his arms closer, resting his chin on top of the other’s.

‘Just a few more minutes’ he replied while inhaling Jaejoong’s scent and memorizing every curve pressed against him.

‘My mom usually wakes up at seven’ the voice kept urging him but Yunho resisted.

‘That means there’s still more than an hour left’ he pressed a chaste kiss to the smeller’s temples. Jaejoong shifted in his arms and looked up at him.

‘We’re kind of weird’ he concluded ‘and to think that I first met you in the closet’ he shook his head in disapproval and yawned.

‘If we fall asleep now we’re going to get in trouble later’ he added, closing his eyes. Yunho hummed something in reply, his face hidden in the other’s hair.

He’d never wanted to have his own silly love story yet he found himself craving for more.

***

Since that day Jaejoong has lost count of the times he met Yunho.
Their paths were entwined together they couldn’t tell where one started and the other ended.

***

Yunho grins as he looks over the words he's just written, turning around with determination. He jumps when he meets Jaejoong's observant gaze.

'You're really not much of a writer, are you?' the older says and taps the younger's forehead 'study harder, babo’

end

a/n: When I wrote it all those years ago I listened to this amazing piece of music. :D