It feels strange, not waking up to the smell of omelettes and toast. For a couple of seconds, it’s disconcerting, the lack of familiar, homely scents filling the air, and then Changmin is up and shepherding him downstairs like he’s a lost little lamb…Yunho must have told him at some point in time that Jaejoong’s eating with the rest of them.

Yunho appears in the dining room as soon as they’ve sat down as though plonking their butts on the chairs hit a switch that fired him from the kitchen, a plate in each of his hand and one carefully balanced on his forearm. He frowns when he sees Changmin—it’s not surprising, judging by the amount of food piled on the plate he sets in front of Changmin, the boy is eating him out of his home—but his eyes light up when they land on Jaejoong, and a mixture of emotions cross his face, none of which are anywhere close to the disapproving look Changmin got from him. It looks like a mixture of adoration and fear, but what could make someone feel such conflicting emotions at once?

Whatever it is, it probably has something to do with the photograph. It’ll be a lot easier to just ask him straight out why on earth is Jaejoong in a picture that was taken long before he and the previous generation were born.

But that’s something between Yunho and him. One day…one day, when Jaejoong gives up trying to make sense of things, he’ll ask Yunho.

But not with Changmin at the table.

They eat in a strange kind of silence, one that’s neither awkward nor comfortable but somewhere in between. Changmin bulldozes his way through the food and finishes at around the same time as Yunho, who’s eating even less than Jaejoong. Yunho stands up and motions for Changmin to rise as well, but Changmin merely crosses his arms, leans back in his chair and sets his mouth in a stubborn line.

“Shim Changmin,” Yunho says in exasperation.

“I’m not leaving him alone in the house,” Changmin hisses.

Yunho glances imploringly at Jaejoong. “He’s got an English test today and your parents are going to kill me if he doesn’t go.”

Very slowly, Jaejoong sets his fork down, and then equally as deliberately points at Changmin’s bag which is lying forlornly in a corner of the room. His eyes never leave his plate, but the message is clear, and Changmin knows better than to try and wheedle his way out.

He sighs, then stalks over to his bag and slings it over his shoulder, the canvas landing with an audible thunk on his back.

It’s only when Yunho brushes against him on his way to the kitchen that Jaejoong realises Changmin’s not going to school alone.

Normally, he’d feel unsettled…as far as he can remember, the only time he’s ever been alone is the few harrowing days between his father’s death and being sent to the orphanage. They passed in a blur, the faces of the police and the well-meaning but ignorant neighbours all melding into one abstract painting and the questions and accusations fired at him forming a caterwauling background soundtrack, like someone smashed all the keys of a piano at the same time. All the same, though the details are all muddled in his head, the fear is as clearly imprinted on his head as though it all happened just yesterday, and under normal conditions he’d rather live in a cage with Krystal, the orphanage bully, than be left on his own.

But factor in a creepy photograph and the situation can hardly be considered normal.

“I’ll take care of these,” Yunho says, scooping up the dishes, and it’s all too noticeable to Jaejoong how close Yunho is to him. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Jaejoong looks away and nods, a blush creeping up his cheeks.

From outside, the main door shuts with a note of ringing finality.

-{}-

Jaejoong doesn’t leave his place by the window until Yunho’s car is out of his sight.

The instant it does, he all but runs up to his room to pour over the photo.

 About what he thought about things making sense in the morning…yeah, it’s not working out. His face remains grinning up at him, as does Yunho’s. It’s definitely their faces, there’s no doubting his large doe eyes or Yunho’s impish smile that turns his eyes into half-moons. It doesn’t seem photoshopped either…and anyway, even if Yunho did want a picture of Jaejoong, why would he photoshop Jaejoong’s face onto some ancient photo instead of simply cutting out his picture from the yearbook?

Sherlock Holmes did say that when the impossible is eliminated, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

But what if everything is impossible?

Because from the photograph, the only things that Jaejoong can come up with are that number one, both he and Yunho are a lot older than they look, number two, that for some reason, neither one of them aged, and that finally, heaven alone knows how but he’d forgotten all about Yunho.

But then if he was already at least a teenager at the time of the Korean War, then that must mean that he’s…immortal, right? Or he’s ingested some potion that made him grow very slowly. Then why was he seven years old only ten years ago? And even if he did somehow become younger, why didn’t Yunho do the same? And how on earth could he have forgotten about Yunho?

See? Impossible. Okay, maybe the last one isn’t, but that doesn’t explain the other two.

And there’s one more thing…Changmin’s strange behaviour around Yunho. Even if Yunho did steal whoever it is that Changmin likes, Changmin is, after all, only fifteen. Fifteen as in young, reckless and fickle. He’s wont to have a new crush every week. Whoever he lost to Yunho, he should be completely over the person by now.

Maybe Changmin isn't as innocent as Jaejoong thought.

But that doesn't answer the question: how does Changmin’s hostility to Yunho fit into any of this?

Jaejoong doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything anymore except that his already unbelievable life is not what he thought it to be and that somebody—or rather, two somebodies—are keeping something from him.

Jaejoong curls up, head buried in his knees. The photo is squashed between his stomach and his thighs and the metal photo frame is cutting into his skin, but he doesn’t care. All he cares about is that his world is crashing down around him, and it makes his heart hurt a lot more than he ever thought it could.