A/N: Hellooosss

Have I told you that you guys are amazing and that you make me feel like a rockstar with all the attention? well yeah =)

I forgot to thank you earlier for the upvotes too. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that there is people who likes my writings about asian hot boys xD

Here is the new chapter. They finally meet, properly ^^

As allways: enjoy, comment and talk to me =) 

And once again: THANK YOU!

Chapter 4: New Jae

 “Where am I? What year is it?” Yunho mumbled even before he opened his eyes. He could already feel the throbbing head ache, result of the previous night.

Junsu chuckled, his distinct laughter.

Yunho opened an eye, the sudden light worsening his headache, and picked at Junsu who was comfortably sitting at the kitchen’s counter drinking something that smelled deliciously.

“Don’t mock me. I feel like my head is about to explode.” He mumbled and closed his eyes again.

“And who’s to blame? I didn’t shove the drinks down your throats did I?”

Yunho was about to reply when he noticed something.

‘If I can see Junsu over the kitchen counter… that means I’m…’ he slightly opened his eyes again and looked around. Indeed he was lying on the sofa in the leaving room.

That would be okay if a semi Changmin wasn’t sleeping right on top of him.

“What the hell???!!” Yunho shoved Changmin away, making it possible for him to get out of the couch. The younger was wearing nothing but his underwear. Yunho quickly checked his own body to make sure he was fully clothed. He sighed in relief when he saw he was even wearing his blazer. And 5 seconds later he let out a little scream when he noticed Yoochun sleeping on the floor, him too wearing very little clothes.

Junsu was finding the whole situation very amusing.

“Yah, what the hell happened last night?” Yunho demanded to know. Junsu laughed even more.

“You out at the bar, Changmin out right after he undressed (he suddenly felt very hot) and Yoochun… well I had to punch Yoochun to get him of me. He was following Min’s lead and getting dangerously unclothed. You guys were too heavy for us to move you to the rooms so we just let you sleep wherever you fell.”

“What the hell, Kim Junsu. Couldn’t you have at least moved Changmin?” Yunho started complaining but a sudden thought took over his mind. A thought both thrilling and terrifying:

“Us? Who is ‘us’? Who helped you bring us home???” his tone was demanding and he walked closer to Junsu as he talked. The expression of the younger changed to amusement.

“Of course I couldn’t bring the three of you here alone. So…. Jaejoong helped.”

“Oh no no no…” Yunho whined and covered his face with his hands as he shacked his head vigorously. After almost nine years he didn’t even managed to say hello to the guy he missed so much. He just behaved like a stupid drunk and out on the spot.

“Calm down, it’s not that bad.” Junsu said but he was chuckling. “You out on the bar, more from the excitement of seeing Jaejoong in those sinful clothes than from the effect of the alcohol if you ask me…”

“No one asked you…” Yunho growled under his breath even though he couldn’t disagree with Junsu. Flashbacks of the previous night were coming to his mind and the mere thought of the now raven haired boy wicked smile was enough to make his heart start beating at an erratic pace.

“… Yoochun helped me carry you, though he wasn’t of much help with his zigzag walking, and Jaejoong carried Changmin. When we entered Minnie and Chun started their striptease session and Jae left right after Changmin collapsed on top of you.”

Yunho walked over to Changmin and kicked his , both from jealousy, because Jae had carried the maknae, and from embarrassment cause he definitely didn’t want Jaejoong to see him and Changmin sleeping together on the couch.

“I’m up…I’m up…” Changmin suddenly woke up after being kicked. “Oh my head…. Will someone please turn off the sun?” the violent headache hit him and he tried to cover his face with his hands to block the light that only made it worse.

He was trying to get up and in the process he stepped on Yoochun who woke up with a loud yelp.

“Shhhhhh!” both Yunho and Changmin said, the noise only made their headaches worse.

“Why are you ? WHY AM I ?” the just woken up Yoochun yelled, pointing at him and Changmin. They both turned to Junsu, the only sober person, in search for an explanation, but he was laughing his off. His hangover friends were so amusing that it made his troubles from the past night almost worth it.

After a brief explanation by Yunho that quiet the other two, the main topic of the conversation went back to:

“Wait! Was I hallucinating from my drunkenness or did we meet Jaejoong last night?” Yoochun said. Junsu nodded affirmatively.

“Jaejoong-hyung? You know him? What about him?” Changmin asked. Only then everyone realized that Changmin didn’t know that the Jaejoong he knew was the ex-neighbor Yunho talked about.

“You don’t know? That Jaejoong is Yunho’s first love, the guy that used to live next door…” Junsu started to explain.

“WHAT? You… you… HE IS NOT BLONDE. Wait!! Ok, shower. I need a shower first. And maybe some strong coffee or one of my mom’s miraculous hangover soup. We will have this conversation but… Shower first.” Changmin talked mostly to himself before disappearing to his bedroom’s bathroom, picking his clothes from the floor as he passed.

Yunho decided he should shower too. Mostly he just wanted to get away from Yoochun and Junsu. Yoochun was looking at the younger with an apologetic face and Junsu was successfully avoiding it. They needed to talk.

“I’m sorry for stripping and trying to… do stuff to you.” He still heard Yoochun say.

“Oh, so you remember?” Junsu replied in an angered tone and a smack was heard.

“Ouch, Su. Not in the head. It hurts as hell.”

“It serves you right. How many times last night did I ask you guys to not drink that much? Did you listen to me? NO! Go shower, you stink!” another smack.

Yunho entered the shower smiling about his silly friends. Yoochun was away for a long time and, despite what people want to believe, long distance relationships don’t work that well. They did have stuff to sort out but Yunho was certain that they would manage it because they both looked nothing but eager to fall I each other’s arms again.

As for him and Jaejoong… it was a totally different situation. He didn’t even know if Jaejoong still thought about him from time to time as Yunho did.

The complicated thoughts were worsening his headache so he just let the cold water wash them and the hangover away.

“It smells good!” Yunho noticed as he entered the kitchen area again. Junsu was setting the table and smiled.

“Junsu made it? Is it edible?” Yoochun tried to joke as he joined them but Junsu seemed still angry and only glared at him. Chun proceeded to sit quietly like a young child that as just been scolded.

“FOOD!” Changmin beamed as he sat on a chair and quickly filled his bowl. Anyone who didn’t knew him would think he was really hungry as he was practically inhaling the soup. But all the presents knew it was just his love for food manifesting. “I think I’m about to cry. It taste’s just like omma’s!”

Junsu smiled at the younger before glaring again at Yoochun and mutter under his breath:

“See? It is edible. Maybe you want to give up you portion for Changmin.”

Yoochun filled his bowl as quickly as he could before Junsu would give his part to the maknae. Yunho was finding his friends’ interactions very entertaining.

The soup was actually good and the warmth was helping with the headache.

Changmin finished first, not surprising anyone.

“So… my Jaejoong is your Jaejoong?” the maknae asked. Yunho didn’t like how he formulated the question but he wasn’t gonna bother saying anything about it.

“Your Jaejoong?” scratch that. Yunho was showing his displeasure very clearly, his tone a bit threatening. Granted he didn’t see Jaejoong in almost a decade and he had no right to feel bothered by Min’s words, but he was never very logical when it came to anything related to Jaejoong.

The younger didn’t seem to pick up on Yunho’s mood change but Junsu did and quickly intervened before Changmin could say anything else that might upset Yunho:

“Have you known Jaejoong for very long?”

“Well… yeah. Practically since I started my first year of college.”

“Funny how it never came up that the person Yunho talked about was actually your friend, Min.” Yoochun added.

“Yeah…. Funny!” Yunho mumbled under his breath, a bit hesitant to accept that the fact that his roommate was friends with Jaejoong for a couple of years and that he didn’t know it was just a weird coincidence. Either Jae or Changmin were hiding something.

“It’s not funny at all nor is it a coincidence. You…” Changmin said, pointing an accusatory finger at Yunho “You talked about a BLONDE HAIRED boy all cute and fragile. You didn’t ever mention his name to me. Well not until now. Jae-hyung is the very opposite of what you described, I never suspected a thing. Besides, since I’ve moved here your social life is almost inexistent. If you would go out more and hang out with other human beings the chances of bumping into Jae would increase drastically, don’t you think? Especially considering the fact that he has been living 10 minutes away for the last 2 years.”

The other two nodded in agreement and Yunho felt defeated. It was frustrating knowing that Jaejoong had been so close for so long and he wanted to find a way to blame Changmin for not having informed him sooner but he didn’t have a way.

“I… I didn’t even know I was searching for him…” Yunho mumbled.

“So dumb… still having nightmares about the day he left and you don’t know you were searching for him….” Yunho caught some of Yoochun’s mumblings as the other shook his head in disbelief of his friend’s stupidity.

“How do you know Jaejoong after all?” Yoochun asked out loud.

“He is a student at my school. He is starting his 3^rd year like me. But he works too, he tries to manage both things. We met randomly at school and then I went to his workplace not knowing he worded there. We just became friends like that. He has been my caring young ever since…” Changmin explained.

Yunho felt jealous but so did Yoochun and Junsu. They knew Jaejoong too and they missed him too. Once he had been their caring hyung.

“But it’s so odd…” Changmin muttered concentrating everyone’s attention back in him.

“What is?” Junsu asked.

“I think that even if Yunho had told me the name of the blond guy he talks about when he’s drunk…” Yunho frowned at those words “… I would never figure he was talking about the same Jaejoong I know. It just.... doesn’t match.”

Everyone kept looking at Changmin waiting for him to explain what he meant but the younger was lost in his thoughts and a smack in the back of the head from Yoochun was needed to wake him up from his musings.

“What I mean is…” he talked directly to Yunho “Hyung, you always describe that guy you liked as being cute, fragile, angelic, sweet, kind, warm hearted… And I’m not saying Jae-hyung isn’t all that. He is, to the people his close with at least. But from what you told me I always imagine, I don’t know, a guy that’s the poster boy for pure.” Changmin paused, searching the right words to express what he was going to say next.

Yunho, on the other end, was recalling everything he remembered of Jaejoong and yes, he could be described as pure and perfect.

“But the Kim Jaejoong I know…” Changmin continued. “Is nothing like that. When you first meet him he looks cold and distant but at the same time he attracts you. He has this kind of wicked aura to him that makes you feel that it might be danger to get near him but that the same time makes it impossible to resist wanting to know more. He is alluring but it a… I don’t know… devilish way. When he smiles it always seems like he is smirking.”

Yunho remembered Jaejoong’s smirk from the previous night and how it was so tempting.

“He doesn’t get attached easily; he acts cool and distant and doesn’t like to get close with just anyone. He always acts like he doesn’t have a worry in the world and like he doesn’t care about anybody. All that wrapped with how impossible beautiful he is makes Jaejoong almost sinfully tempting.” Changmin paused again, reading Yunho’s expression trying to understand what he was thinking.  “In one aspect he is like you: he does never say goodbye.” That finally earned a reaction from Yunho, finally something that he recognized from the Jaejoong he used to know. “But hyung… 9 years passed, I think that maybe the Jaejoong you knew doesn’t exist anymore.”

Three pairs of eyes were fixed on Yunho, waiting for his reaction. But Yunho himself didn’t know how to react. Of course Jaejoong was no longer a confused teenager trying to find his place in the world. He wasn’t expecting that. But he wanted to recognize the person he fell in love with in the now black haired guy. The fact that he may be forever gone was truly scary.

Finally Yunho smiled, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Thanks for telling me that Minnie-ah. Don’t worry, it’s not like I was expecting Jaejoong to be frozen in time.” He said and chuckled but his friends still looked apprehensive. “I’m more than happy to know that I can meet him and say the goodbye’s we should have said long ago. Like you said, Junsu, what I need is closure. I’m gonna go sleep a bit more.” He announced and left to his room.

In the kitchen Junsu and Yoochun were scolding Changmin for being so direct but they knew perfectly well that there was no use in hiding that Jaejoong had changed. A lot.

The three of them were worried. Not only for Yunho but for Jaejoong too.

Yunho lied in his bed desperately trying to sleep. He tossed and turned, took off his clothes, covered his head with a pillow but sleepiness didn’t come.

His parent’s didn’t let his sister come spend the weekend with him, like she had requested, because she had some sort of evaluation the next week and she needed to get prepared. But he really needed her. She was still very young, and in Yunho’s eyes she was just a baby, but her calm and caring personality and the bubbliness characteristic of her always managed to help Yunho feel more at ease.

He thought of calling her, calling his mom or dad, just talk with someone to distract himself a bit but he knew any of them would notice something was wrong and would become worried. He didn’t want that.

He didn’t want to leave his room and join his friends either. He wasn’t feeling like seeing their worried expressions or hearing their soothing words, even though he knew they meant well.

So he just kept turning and tossing.

The doorbell rang. He checked the clock and realized a lot of time had passed. ‘Changmin will get it…’ he thought but the doorbell rang again and no other sound was heard in the house.

They had waked up around lunch time and it was now close to dinner time. “Maybe they left to go eat and forgot the keys…” Yunho mumbled to himself as he lifted himself from bed, not bothering to change from his white wife beater and a pair of sweatpants that he had stolen from Changmin.

He opened the door to see that the person who rang the doorbell was about to leave. That person was wearing sports clothes and a black beanie that seemed familiar. It definitely wasn’t Changmin.

“Yes?” Yunho called to get the person’s attention. When the guy turned around Yunho felt like blacking out all over again, just like the previous night.

Jaejoong was looking at him, he too looked like he didn’t know exactly what to do.

“Hmm, hi.” Jae started and waited for Yunho to say something back but what should he say? ‘Hi’ after 9 years seemed so ordinary. When Yunho didn’t respond Jaejoong took something out of his pocket and continued. “Give this to Changmin, will you? It’s his wallet. I accidently took it yesterday. I didn’t know where he lived so I checked his address in his documents…”

Yunho picked up the wallet automatically and still didn’t manage to say anything.

“I just thought he might need it.” Jae said and started turning to leave. As always, no goodbyes.

Yunho realized he recognized the beanie and the sports clothes from the person he chased that day when the older lady pried on him. It had been Jaejoong after all.

“Wait!” Yunho finally spoke. Jaejoong turned around but Yunho had already disappeared inside the house leaving the front door open.  In a minute he came back, glad to see Jaejoong was still waiting. He was now wearing sports shoes and an over-sized hoddie.

He picked up his keys and closed his apartment’s door behind him.

Without another word Jae started walking and Yunho walked besides him.

The days were becoming shorter and it was already dark and chilly in the street. They walked side by side without saying anything. Jaejoong was feeling uncomfortable with that silence so he started the conversation. Again. Yunho noticed how he seemed much more confident than the adolescent Jaejoong:

“So you live with Changmin?” he made small talk. Yunho just nodded affirmatively. He had his eyes glued in the other male and couldn’t make himself look away.

Jaejoong could feel Yunho staring at him but he didn’t say anything about it. Himself wanted to take a good look at Yunho but didn’t want to be caught doing it.

“I see. I’ve known him for a while now. Funny how I never knew you were his roommate.” Jae chuckled.

Yunho was still eyeing him. In the past Jaejoong would start blushing and would playfully punch Yunho’s arm or something to make him stop staring. But now Yunho was starting to think that him didn’t even noticed how focused on staring at Jae he was. He didn’t blush. He just walked normally, like somehow he was used to get that kind of attention.

Without even realizing Yunho was trying to make a list of the things that changed in Jaejoong and that cute shyness he used to have was gone.

“I don’t think it’s funny at all. More like painfully ironic.” Yunho said, finally contributing with some words to the conversation.

Jae looked at him, a bit surprised by his answer, but didn’t lose his composure and just laughed. Not an amused laugh but one that seemed forced and not sincere.

‘Like anything would have been different if you had met some months earlier…’ the older was thinking as the bitter laugh left him.

‘A new sense of coldness and lack of sincerity in his laughter.’ Yunho, on the other hand, was adding to his mental list.

“Are you studying here?” Jaejoong changed the subject and pointed at the college as they passed by it. Yunho nodded his head no. “Working somewhere?” he nodded affirmatively. “Boy, did you grow up to became a talkative person…” Jaejoong mumbled more to himself but Yunho caught the words.

“I don’t know what’s appropriated to say!” Yunho confessed. He really didn’t want their first conversation to be about trivial things like the weather or their jobs.

“If you were gonna stay quiet you should have just accepted the wallet and stay at home.” Jae said, irritated that the whole weight of the conversation, if you would call it that, was being put on him. Did Yunho by any chance think that that meeting was any more comfortable than it was for him?

Yunho saw the scowl in Jae’s face and feared that he might get angry and leave. He was about to say something that really contributed to the conversation when Jaejoong’s phone rang. The older didn’t turned the call down neither did he excuse himself when he answered the phone. But a smile did appear on his lips when he checked the ID of the caller.

“Yoboseyo! I was just about to go home. I came out to exercise a bit but ended up not doing so.” He looked at Yunho in a way that made it pretty clear that he was interfering with his plans. “Long story, I’ll tell you when I get home. ……. Yeah they called me too. They asked if we wanted to meet them in the club we were at last night. I don’t mind going…..” Jae talked and laughed and paused at times to let the other person speak. It was like Yunho wasn’t there. “Okay, I’ll be home soon. I’ll lend you something to wear. And no, my clothes are not flashy!!” he hang up, finally, still laughing at something that the caller had said.

“Jaejoong.” Yunho called to get his attention back. It felt weird saying his name after so much time trying to forget about it.

“Oh… so, I’m gonna go home. My roommate is waiting for me, we have some plans for tonight.” He forced a smile and was about to go away, just like that.

“When will I see you again?” Yunho asked. Jae stopped walking and turned back to him.

“Why would we see each other again?” the older guy uttered in a cold voice and Yunho’s expression turned into one of almost panic. Jaejoong noticed it. “Look, I don’t know what you expect me to do or say after so much time. I’m not trying to be mean or push you away. I’m actually asking. What reasons do we have to see each other again?”

Yunho tried to come up with a nice answer but all he managed was:

“There are things we need to talk about.”

“Hmm, really? Cause everything we could possibly talk about would only make both of us either sad or angry. Let’s just avoid that, ok?” he turned away again.

“But… I missed you.” Yunho almost yelled in a tentative to stop Jaejoong from walking away. It worked. Jae stopped and looked at Yunho who was covering his mouth in shock for what he had just let slip out. He definitely didn’t want to go into the ‘emotional’ area so soon. There were things he wanted to talk about, things that would hurt, yeah. But for now he just wanted to have a chance to be around Jaejoong. He was fine with just staring at him the whole day while Jae worked, if there was no other way.

“Oh. I think that’s a good reason.” Jaejoong said smirked. Yunho looked funny all shy and embarrassed. “I will be busy with school and work during the whole week and I do have plans for tonight. If you are free you can stop by the club you where you passed out last night. Hope you slept well with Changmin to keep you warm.” Jae chuckled before he left.

Yunho made a mental note to strangle Changmin for having fell asleep in that position and then started walking home, thinking of ways to convince the three guys that awaited him there to go to the said club again.

“Are you crazy? I don’t want a replay of what happened last night.” Junsu jolted from his seat when Yunho asked if he and Yoochun would like to go clubbing with him again.

Changmin wasn’t home yet. Apparently he had found someone he knew when they were out to get food and, not satisfied with the dinner he had just had with Yoochun and Junsu, he went to have a second meal with those people.

“But…. We won’t drink. Let’s just go out to have fun. There’s nothing to do at home anyways.”

“What the hell happened to you to want to go to a club all of a sudden? The Yunho I know prefers his comfy bed to any badly ventilated club.” Junsu reasoned again.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Yoochun joined the conversation, a small grin in his lips.

“What’s obvious?” Junsu asked. He could be really dense at times.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. The man with a date!” Changmin enters the room, interrupting their conversation, and stares at Yunho with an accusatory look.

“What?” the other three ask.”

“I just met Jaejoong on my way here. He was going home, after having some quality time with our boy Yunho over here.” Changmin explained to Chun and Su, both of them siting in the couch.

“You met him? You have a date? Is that why you want to go to that club? I’m gonna find something to dress.” Junsu beamed and ran to one of the bedrooms where his clothes were. Yoochun smiled and followed.

“IT’S NOT A DATE. HE JUST TOLD ME HE WAS GONNA BE THERE AND… IT’S A PUBLIC PLACE… I CAN GO THERE IF I WANT TO…” Yunho yelled at the guys quickly disappearing from the living room into the bedrooms but they were not paying attention at all. “Pff, now you want to go…” he sighed and chuckled as he walked to his room to change too.

“Good god I’m starving. Should we get some street food before we head to the club?” Changmin asked.

“You can’t possibly be hungry. You had two dinners. TWO!” Yoochun pointed.

“By the way, here is your wallet. That’s why I was with Jaejoong. He came by to return it.” Yunho explained. The other three let out a meaningful ‘uhhhh’ that almost made Yunho blush.

“So that’s where my wallet was. You know what? Keep it. I prefer much more having my hyungs paying for me.” Min said and gave a cheesy smile to the older guys.

Unsurprisingly the club was packed with half intoxicated people. Changmin quickly disappeared to join someone he knew but Junsu and Yoochun stood by Yunho’s side. They were as eager to meet Jaejoong as Yunho. Ok, maybe not as much.

Yoochun was the first to spot the person they were looking for. They nudged Junsu on the side and told him to look at the dance floor. Junsu did and panicked a little.

“I can’t see him anywhere. How can there be so many people in such a tiny place?” Yunho said to his friends but noticed they had their attention fixed in something. He looked in the same direction as the other two and as his eyes landed in the person he was searching for he felt instantly nauseated.

Jaejoong, just like the day before, was wearing extravagant clothes that made him look like some sort of rock star but that highlighted perfectly the best attributes of his body. ‘Walking temptation’ you could call him that.

That alone was enough to send Yunho’s head spinning. But adding to that the fact that he was dancing with anyone who seemed willing too, going from a person to another, grinning their bodies together, guy or girl, it didn’t matter. Totally lost in the music and seeming to be enjoying the motion way too much.

“I’m gonna get out of here.” Yunho spoke but his friends barely registered his words. They gaze was still fixated on Jaejoong. Both Yoochun and Junsu were surprised to see how much Jae had changed but that wasn’t the main reason why they were staring with their mouths open. It was because Jaejoong was behaving in such a y way that was almost inappropriate. They could manage to avert their eyes, he was almost hypnotic.

A minute later they too were lost in the middle of the crowd swaying their bodies together at the pace of the music.

“Excuse me… huhhh excus..” Yunho tried to make his way through the mass and leave the club. But the people weren’t paying attention to him and were not at all interested to part from the person they were flirting with for a couple of seconds to let him pass. He was getting really frustrated with the little progress.

“I give up…” I uttered to no one in particularly. He spotted and empty couch and made his way there, now not as politely because that got him nowhere. He let his body fall there and buried his face in his hands.

“Already tired? You’re not going to black out again, are you?” a voice suddenly sounded very close to his hear. He jolted his head up tough he knew very well who the husky voice belonged to. Jaejoong was sitting by his side smiling, amused by Yunho’s ‘old man’ demeanors.  Jae leaned in again to talk close to Yunho’s hear. Yunho knew it was the only way to communicate over the loud noise but he still felt a tingle go through his body.

“Did you come alone?”

Yunho nodded a ‘no’ but added nothing else. He was not in the mood for small talk at all. Jaejoong could very well go back to rubbing his body in others, he didn’t care (big fat lie).  He didn’t like some facets of this new Jaejoong and it was making him angry, Hulk angry.

“Here you are.” Yoochun and Junsu appeared at that moment, looking as sweaty and out of breath as Jaejoong. Yunho spare them a displeased look that they didn’t catch. They were much more interested in Jaejoong.

“Jaejoong-ah…” Yoochun called, yelled over the noise, but a note of emotion was still distinguishable in his tone.

Jae got up and gave Yoochun a tight hug. Yunho looked at them incredulously while Junsu just watched the scene seeming very pleased with it all.

“Long time no see.” Jae said with a smile. He greeted Junsu with a half hug (they had their emotive reunion the previous night) and the three sat down.

Jaejoong seemed to know the workers of the club very well and in a matter of seconds a very friendly waitress, too friendly, brought them all drinks.

They started talking, as best as they could over all the noise, about events of the past years. Yoochun talked about his trip to the States and Junsu informed that he had just graduated from university, majoring in Musical Theatre.

“It’s nice to see you’re still together.” Jae said, Junsu blushed and Yoochun mumbled an ‘It’s complicated’ but all that was lost in translation as Changmin joined them.

“HYUNGSSS!” he pulled Jaejoong up for a hug. Jae chuckled. The normally quiet and mysterious maknae could get very exuberant and touchy-feely at times. Changmin sat in Jae’s previous spot and pulled the older male to his lap. Jae didn’t seem bothered by it. The truth was there were no other sits available and Changmin considerably taller than Jaejoong, making it weird if he was the one to sit in the older boy’s lap. But, couldn’t Changmin just stand?

‘How well do these two now each other?’, Yunho thought to himself, not contributing to the conversation with a single word. He was too concentrated in glaring at the back of Min’s head.

The conversation went on and Yunho was feeling angrier and more uncomfortable by the minute. At some point a guy he didn’t know, a good looking one, came and asked to speak with Jaejoong in particular.

Yunho looked at them from a distance, how the unknown guy was so obviously hitting on Jaejoong, how Jaejoong didn’t seem to dislike it  and just smiled and pulled the other guy’s hand away when he tried to Jae’s cheek. Yunho was fuming.

A little later, came a girl calling Jaejoong ‘oppa’. Jaejoong talked with her for a while, acting all caring and cheesy, putting a stray her behind her hear…

It was enough for Yunho. He stood up without saying a word to anyone and forced his way out of the club, not even caring about the whines and complains of the people he pushed.

“What the hell… arghhhh….” He screamed to the empty street once he was out of the building, and ruffled his hair in frustration. “What the hell was I thinking?? Coming to a club to meet him?? Stupid, stupid, stupid…” he growled and kicked a trashcan that didn’t move a centimeter, he just ended up hurting his foot.

“Hey! Where are you going?”  a voice called and he looked behind to see Jaejoong standing at the entrance of the club, calling him.

Yunho ignored the calling and only started walking faster. How childish.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?” Jae’s voice sounded closer but he still didn’t answer.

“I’m talking to you!” Jaejoong said and grabbed Yunho by the arm when he finally reached him. Yunho freed his arm and meant to start walking again but Jaejoong stepped in front of him. “Where do you think you’re going? Everyone is still inside. Are you leaving first?” Jae asked.

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“Why do you care? Just go seat on Changmin’s lap.” Yunho uttered in a caustic voice. A smile appeared on Jae’s lips, not of amusement but of disbelief.

“You must be kidding me. Is that bothering you? Is that why you are leaving?”

“I’m going because I wasn’t doing much there, was I? You guys can do your chit chat and you’re hugging session very well without me. Hell, you hug them like that when you see them and I…. I don’t care. There are lots of people inside there who want a piece of you and you seem willing to give it to them so….” Yunho’s words were interrupted by a punch on the jaw.

Jae seemed in more pain than him. He was shacking his hand to try and relieve the pain.

“Watch your mouth? What are you calling me right now?” Jaejoong hissed. “And if I’m only chatting with your friends is because you don’t seem very willing to. You do nothing but stare at me without saying a word. Do I have to carry this whole ‘reunion’ thing on my back only? Shouldn’t you too try and make things easier?”

Yunho knew he was right.

“You know what? Don’t even answer. You thought you were gonna meet the Jaejoong from 9 years ago but you didn’t and you are disappointed now. Well, bad for you. I didn’t find the same Yunho either and I’m not acting like a jerk.” Yunho could detect a hint of pain in Jae’s voice. “I have enough people disappointed with me, I don’t need you too. Maybe this whole ‘getting in touch again’ thing was a mistake. Just…. Don’t search for me again. I’ll do the same.” Yunho was starting to panic now. Did he just ruin his chances of being around Jaejoong in the space of two days? “I’m going to go back inside, sitting on people’s laps and horing around.”

Jaejoong turned his back on Yunho. He didn’t need to open past wounds, especially if that was the outcome. It would be better if they just stayed strangers. At least he wanted to convince himself of that.

“Great… just great…” Yunho scolded himself mentally as he watched Jae getting further and further away. “Arghhh, what am I doing?” he said to no one before he sprinted to catch Jaejoong before he entered the club.

“What?” Jae said in a stern voice as he felt Yunho’s grip on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” Yunho said and if Jaejoong was facing him he would have seen the change on his expression.

Those words vanish most of Jae’s angriness away because, in all honesty, Jaejoong was expecting Yunho to react, to do something. He wasn’t fan of the idea of parting from Yunho after having just met him again. At all.

“It’s just that… this is overwhelming, meeting you after all these years… I don’t really know how to act or feel about all this. It’s very obvious I’m not doing a good job now but I don’t want to… not see you!” Yunho was frustrated by the fact that he didn’t seem to be able to do coherent sentences. But it wasn’t his entire fault. It was just too difficult to explain how he felt in words.

Jaejoong turned around.

“What do you wanna do?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The ‘meeting at a club’ idea was a fiasco.” Jae explained. “I’m asking you where we can meet without the danger of me having to punch you in the jaw again.”

“Ohh…” Yunho tried to hide the sudden happiness: Jaejoong wanted to meet again. “Huhh, we could have dinner tomorrow…”

“Make that Monday. I work until 9pm. We can meet afterwards.” Jae’s expression was slowly softening. The whole thing sounded too much like a date. An actual date. Something they never had. He was getting excited and the butterflies making a fuss on his belly were proof.

“Okay, I’ll meet you at your work.” Yunho agreed, unaware of the huge smile he was sporting. Some time alone, just the two of them, where they could actually talk, it sounded very good.

“Okay then.” Jae agreed, turned his back and entered the club. Yunho couldn’t see how he was chuckling and he didn’t know Jae was chuckling because of his own goofy smile.