A/N: Hello ^^

So this happened: I updated this chapter and for some reason it wasn't visible =( and I didn't even check the 'Hide Chapter' mark.

I only noticed what happened when there were no views at all. that's why I took a bit longer to update. Sorry for that =/

Anyway, here it is. The date (not really) xD

Enjoy and know that I'm always thankfull for your kind words and comments =)

Saranghae ^^

Chapter 5: Date

                “Hyung? Are you here?” Changmin called as he entered the apartment and saw Yunho’s keys were already in the bowl on top of the shoe rack, by the front door. He got no response.

                 It was weird for Yunho to be that early at home on a Monday. Checking his watch he saw it was 7.10pm. Yunho’s shift had ended 10 minutes ago, but as the older didn’t have anything much waiting for him at home he usually closed the store around 8. That time he could still sell some things to students who were leaving college at that time.

                  “Hyung?” Changmin called again as he opened the door to Yunho’s room.

               Yunho was there, alright. But his room seemed like a war scenario. Everything was out of place. Clothes and shoes scattered everywhere and a frantic Yunho in the middle.

                    “YAH, Jung Yunho? What are you doing?” Changmin half yelled, finally getting his hyung’s attention.

               “Oh, you’re home. You have to help me!” Yunho mumbled and pulled Changmin into the room. “I have nothing to dress.”

                    Changmin looked at his roommate like he had gone insane.

               “From what I see you have TOO MANY things to dress. Why are you freaking out like a girl before a party? Ohhh…” Changmin suddenly remembered and a smirk crept into his face “The date!”

                Yunho had mentioned he was gonna meet Jaejoong but Changmin didn’t give it much importance, tough he was happy for them.  But Yunho had obviously been freaking out about it for the previous 48h.

                “It’s not a date. SHUT UP! You’re making me nervous.” Yunho whined making Changmin laugh.

                Yunho thought it was unfortunately Yoochun and Junsu had to go back to their places and where not there to help him with his silly crisis. Changmin most certainly wasn’t the right person to deal with him at the moment. He had no patient whatsoever.

               “Get your in the shower and soak there for at least half an hour. You are sweating like a pig from the excitement and you stink. I’ll find you something decent to wear.” Changmin suddenly said and pushed Yunho into his bedroom’s bathroom.

                 “Woah, Minnie-ah, you can actually put the scorning aside and be helpful at times!” Yunho said half surprised with the younger’s willing to help, half mocking him.

                Changmin ignored him and started trying to organize the mess in Yunho’s room.

                A few minutes later, when Yunho came out of the bathroom with a towel rolled around his waist and another one on his head, his room was perfectly tidy and an outfit was lying on top of his bed.

                “Changmin-ah, how did you manage to put all those clothes away while I…” his words were interrupted as he opened his wardrobe’s door and he saw that his clothes were there but not organized at all, just tossed everywhere. “Never mind!” He yelled at Changmin.

                “You’re lucky enough I helped you choose something to wear. I’m not your slave.” Changmin appeared at his door, already munching on something. Yunho just smiled, he was too used to Min’s ways.

                “These are not even my clothes.” Yunho noticed as he picked the clothes to dress them. “This is yours Min.”

                “Yes it is! Your clothes were all wrinkled and, to be honest, they are pretty boring. When did you start wearing flannel sweaters?”

                “Yah, I only have one of those! Somebody gave it to me…” Yunho explained at the same time he dressed the clothes. “Tshirt? Seriously? Isn’t it a bit too cold to wear this?” he asked his dongsaeng after dressing the white tshirt and checking on the mirror how tight it was.

                “You can wear this outside if you’re cold…” Changmin threw him a navy blue cardigan “…but if I were you I would take if off once you are at the restaurant. The t-shirt displays your biceps perfectly. That’s one of your best attributes.”

                “Atributes? I’m gonna have dinner. I’m not going to a catwalk.” Yunho complained, feeling way too exposed in the tight piece of clothing.

                “Sure sure. But you saw how Jae-hyung dresses. He actually does look like he just came out of a fashion show. You don’t wanna look bad, do you?”

                Yunho was about to argue, especially since he had just dressed the pants which were very very close-fitting in the thigh area. But thinking again, Changmin was making a lot of logic. Looking good couldn’t hurt right?

                “Where are you meeting him?” Changmin asked as he casually lied on Yun’s bed, holding a laugh as he saw how the other was having a bit of trouble walking in the very tight pants.

                “I told him I would meet him at his work. He gets off at 9.” Yunho explained. He walked back inside the bathroom to try and fix his hair. But the brown, straight and rebellious strands of hair insisted on stick out messily. “Help me with this?” Yunho walked to Changmin and pointed to his head.

                “It looks good like that. Makes you look younger.” Changmin gave his opinion.

                “Don’t you ever get tired of calling me old? Jaejoong is older than me, did you know?”

                “Yes, I know. But he is something different, he never ages. And he acts his age. You are acting more like a middle aged man as time passes.” Changmin wasn’t totally wrong. Lately Yunho went from his place to his work and back to his house.

                “You are mean.” Yunho whined and pouted

                “Oh, please don’t try to act cute with me. I’m impervious to that stuff. Use it with Jae-hyung.” Changmin scoffed.

                Yunho ignored him and kept pacing back and forward in his room, glancing at his watch every 20seconds. It marked 8:15. 9pm never took so long to come.

                 “Yah! Stop that. You’re gonna make a hole on the floor.”

                “Min, look. My hands are sweating, I’m all sweating. I might have to change my shirt again….”

                 “Eww, eww, eww… gross. Just go out already. If you need wait outside of the coffee shop. The fresh air will help you calm down. Go, go sweat somewhere else.” Changmin ordered as he put Yunho’s jacket and wallet, keys and wallet on his hands and pushed him outside of the apartment. “Good luck!” he still said with a wink, before closing the door on Yunho’s face.

              “This guy, seriously… Jae-hyung this, Jae-hyung that… what about me? Don’t you respect me as a hyung?” Yunho mumbled to the closed door, though he knew Min meant well.

                 He glanced at his watch again. It was nearing 8:30pm. Taking a deep breath he strolled down the stairs and into the street.

                 With each step he took in the direction of Jae’s work place and of Jae himself, he felt a bit more nervous but, at the same time, more excited.

                How he wished for a chance to meet Jae again, seat down and just talk with him, look at him… he wished it for so long.

                   Now that day had come and the only thing he could think of was that he didn’t knew what he would say.

                “Yunho!” a voice, a well-known voice, called him while he was lost in his thoughts. His heart skipped a bit when he looked up and saw Jaejoong walking in his direction. “I got off work a bit earlier. I was on my way to meet you at your home.” He explained.

                “Oh, I see. I was on my way to meet you at your work too.” Yunho said.

                “Let’s just go eat already. I’m starving.” Jae seemed to light up at the thought of food.

              Yunho noticed how Jaejoong seemed tired. He had deep dark circles under his eyes and he walked lazily, almost dragging his body. Was his work that tiring?

                Jaejoong started walking in the direction of the a little traditional restaurant and Yunho just followed him, happy to eat anywhere as long as it was with Jaejoong.

                They found a nice place next to the window and as soon as they sat down an old lady, who seemed to know Jaejoong quite well, came to them and smiled when Jaejoong just asked ‘the usual’. Yunho had to check the menu before he made his request.

                “With extra spiciness too?” the kind lady asked.

             “No, no. He isn’t a big fan of spicy things.” Jaejoong answered for him and smiled to the woman before she walked away.

                 Yunho was staring at Jaejoong. A warmth he couldn’t quite explain filling his chest. For a moment he recalled being in a vaguely familiar kitchen. The guy in front of him was then a boy. ‘I hope you like spicy food cause we are having nakji bokkeum’, Jaejoong had said to .

                Jae still remembered.

              “What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Jaejoong asked, when he noticed how Yunho was staring at him, and went to check his reflex on the metallic surface of the napkin holder. Yunho shook his head in a ‘no’ and tried to concentrate on trivial things like his chopsticks to take his mind of past events.

                “By the way, I never asked you how you knew where I worked. Did you ask Changmin?” Jae asked in an effort to start a conversation and not let the atmosphere turn awkward between them.

                “Oh, no. I actually…” Yunho started to answer but stopped mid-sentence when he realized what he was about to say. Jaejoong had always been sharp and quickly understood what Yunho’s silence meant. He smirked:

                “For how long did you knew I worked a few hundred meters from your house?” he asked. Jae was trying hard to play ‘the cool guy’ in front of Yunho. But if Yunho knew they were that close for a long time and never took the initiative to approach him, he would be mad and not able to hide it.

                “Not long, not long at all. I saw you there a couple of nights before we accidentally met at the club. I panicked and run away before you could see me. The next days I was trying to come up with a good way to approach you. I didn’t want to just go to the coffee shop and order an Americano. I didn’t want our first conversation to be so trivial, I guess. I was about to go insane thinking about how to do it when we met that way in the club. I’m actually glad I out. I was so surprised I think I would just stutter and behave like a complete idiot.” Yunho explained very quickly, barely breathing between sentences. He spoke so quickly that there were almost no pauses between words and Jae had to pay close attention to understand what he was saying. He said everything that quickly because he wanted to explain himself, he didn’t want Jaejoong to misunderstand and think that he knew Jae was close but chose to not do anything about it.

                He waited anxiously for Jae’s reaction.

                Surprisingly, the older started laughing. A genuine and light laughter that was like music to Yunho’s ears. He noticed how Jae had acquired the habit of covering his mouth with the back of his when he laughed.

                Though Yunho preferred much more to stare at his mesmerizing smile, that gesture was cute. It showed some shyness. It was much more proper of the Jaejoong he used to know. Even though it was new, it felt familiar. Yunho knew that Jaejoong.

                Unconsciously his own lips curved into a smile just from hearing Jaejoong laughing.

                “You panicked and run away? You were preparing to meet me?” Jae said and laughed again. “Am I that scary?”

                Yunho almost sighed from relief.

                “No, no. Not scary. I just…” Yunho paused to search for the right words. “It was too important. I couldn’t be careless about it.” Was the best way he could describe it.

                “Hmm.” Jaejoong hummed in agreement. The warmth that invaded Yunho’s chest just a couple of minutes before had now spread to Jaejoong. To know that Yunho had given so much thought to their first meeting after almost a decade made Jae feel warm and happy. “But you know, I would have preferred you had spoken to me right when you saw me. Nine years is a long time, Yunho!”

                 Yunho stared intensely at Jaejoong. A wave of emotions, of things not said, of memories was threatening to wash over him. It was hard to believe Jaejoong had just said that. He knew how he felt, how after so many years his whole being was shaken by Jaejoong’s return into his life. But did Jae’s words mean he somehow felt the same? Did he still have some importance to Jaejoong?

                 Jaejoong returned Yunho’s stare, unable to avert his eyes even though he wanted to. In that silence that gaze was speaking too much, too loudly. The way he felt when Yunho looked at him like that and the way he corresponded to that look where giving away too much of his feeling. And he didn’t want to go there. He couldn’t get emotional; he couldn’t bring back old memories. He couldn’t even believe he had let that sentence escape from his lips. But it was true: nine years was too much.

                 “Here are your meal dears. Will you try to talk some sense into Jaejoong’s head? If he keeps eating food as spicy as this he will be sick or something.” The old lady put the food in front of them as she spoke to Yunho.

                  Like that a very heavy atmosphere, laced with things that should be said but that no one wanted to say, was lifted.

                The two of them broke their gaze, Jaejoong chuckled at the old lady’s remark and Yunho just said he would do his best. When she left, they were both overly concentrated on their food.

                  The food was disappearing too quickly because neither of them knew what to say next and just kept eating.

                 When their gazes met again, they started chuckling. They knew very well that both of them were avoiding starting the next conversation.

                  Yunho took the initiative:

                  “Is it really that spicy?” he asked pointing at the bowl of food Jaejoong had in front of him.

                  “It is normally spicy. This is extra spicy. Wanna try?” Jae offered. Yunho blushed slightly. Was Jaejoong going to feed him? The next second he felt stupid for thinking such things as Jae pushed the bowl closer to Yunho so he could take a bite.

                   With his spoon he picked up a bit of the food and as soon as he put it in his mouth and swallowed it he felt like his insides were on fire and started coughing and tearing up a bit.

                   “She…she is right… you’re gonna get sick…” Yunho said between coughs as Jaejoong chuckled and poured Yunho a glass of water. The later gulped it down in one go feeling much more relieved afterwards.

                   “Changmin said the same.” Jae said casually. He could never imagine how Yunho detested everything about that sentence.

                   “Oh? You brought Changmin here?” Yunho said, trying to conceal his dissatisfaction.

                  “Hmm, no. I don’t think he ever came here with me. But we had some meals together and when he made the mistake of trying my food after I told him he wouldn’t like it he said I would get sick too.” Jaejoong explained. Yunho felt less bothered but still intrigued about how close Jae and Min where.

                   “What did you do to Changmin by the way?” he asked.

                   “What do you mean?”

                   “He talks about you like you are some god and always calls you hyung. Me, I’m lucky if a day passes by that he doesn’t call me ‘old man’ and if he makes something nice for me there is 100% chance he needs something from me.” Yunho explained. Jaejoong seemed very amused by that and kept laughing.

                     “Really? Cute Min is like that?” he ask between chuckles.

                  “Cute Min?? More like VolderMin.” Yunho retorted earning more laughter from Jaejoong. He no longer cared about how close Jae and Changmin were. He was more interested in Jaejoong’s laughter.

               “I’m sure that’s the way Changmin show’s he cares. Don’t be bothered by it.” Jae said and Yunho nodded in agreement. He knew it was true. “Besides, he can’t be that bad. He lends you his clothes.” Jae added, pointing at Yunho’s shirt.

                       Yunho’s cheeks turned into a tomato-red color from embarrassment.

               Jaejoong was very happy that they could enjoy dinner and have a nice conversation without going into touchy subjects. He really, really didn’t want to go there just yet.

                   He yawned, once again remembering Yunho of how tired Jae looked.

                   “You look tired…” Yunho mumbled.

                   “I look that awful, ham?” Jae joked.

                   “No, not awful at all. Just tired.” Yunho replied. He wanted to say he looked beautiful even when tired but held his tongue back. He had notice how Jae was wearing simple jeans and a dark blue sweater, an outfit much, much lesser flashy than the ones he sported when at the club. But he still looked innocently beautiful and wickedly irresistible at the same time. Could anyone resist him?

                   “Yeah, I didn’t have much sleep last night and I had classes this morning.” Jae mumbled and rubbed his tired eyes.

                  “Oh yeah, you mentioned you would be busy yesterday…” Yunho said, a bit curious to what Jae had been doing.

                  “Don’t even talk about it. I had so much work to do for school; I started in the morning and ended in the middle of the night. I shouldn’t have agreed to go out two days in a row when I had so many things to do.” Jae lamented and rested the side of his face on the table, closing his eyes for a moment.

                  “We should go home if you are that tired.” Yunho suggested. He didn’t want to part from the other but wanted him to have some proper rest too.

                  “I think I’ll just sleep here. I never knew tables could be this comfortable.” Jae mumbled making Yunho smile. Yap, cute Jae, definitely the Jaejoong he knew. Much more familiar than that teasing guy he had met just two days before.

                   “Social life, school and work. Must be hard to have it all, ham?” Yunho wondered. “I’ll go pay so we can go.” He said and Jaejoong just nodded. His eyes still closed.

                  “So you are a friend of Jaejoongie?” the old lady that served them asked Yunho while he paid for the meal. He nodded in agreement. “Look after him, will you? He has too much on his hands at the moment. He is always so tired. I worry…”

                   Yunho looked at the brunet falling asleep with his head resting on a table. He didn’t know much about Jae’s life at the moment, but he planned to. And he would definitely take care of him as well as he could and as much as Jae would let him.

                   “I will, almoni. Please don’t worry.” Yunho assured her. “I hope I’ll see you soon.” He said and bowed respectfully. The lady patted him caringly on the shoulder before he walked back to the table. That lady seemed to know Jaejoong well and to care for him, so Yunho wanted to get to know her too.

                   “Jaejoong… Are you asleep?” Yunho called softly, still not used to say his name.

                  “No, no… let’s go.” Jae said though it was obvious he was half asleep.

                   When they were on the street the cold breeze of the night woke Jae up.

                   The night was coming to an end and Yunho hated it. He wanted to stay up all night and talk. He wanted to be around Jaejoong all the time. He didn’t want the other to leave.

                   They walked slowly. When they passed in front of the university Yunho remembered something he wanted to ask:

                   “Jaejoong, can I ask… shouldn’t you have graduated from college by now?”

                 “Oh, that. Well, after I finished high school I rebelled a bit and stopped studying for a while. To be honest I didn’t have much interest in enrolling into college but I found something I actually like to do and that I would like to learn more about.” Jaejoong explained.

                 “What is that?” Yunho couldn’t contain his curiosity.

                Jaejoong looked at his feet and seemed a bit embarrassed as he answered:

                “Singing.”

                Yunho smiled remembering Jae’s melodious voice. That husky and low voice that seemed to make him melt.

                “I’m not even surprised. It fits you perfectly.” He said. Jae looked at him, a bit surprised, and smiled too.

                They reached the spot where they had met earlier:

               “Your home is that direction and mine is in that direction…” Jae said pointing in two opposite directions. “I actually had fun tonight.”

                “Actually? Where you expecting to have a dreadful meal?” Yunho teased.

                “No.” Jae chuckled “I’m just saying…”

                “I know. I had fun too.” Yunho agreed. Jae smiled and Yunho knew he was about to walk away without another word. “No, Jaejoong wait!” Jae turned back to him, a brow raised. Yunho wanted to pull him in for a hug, the soft skin of his cheek, run his fingers through his now brunet locks…. And at the same time he knew he couldn’t just do it because they couldn’t reset everything that happened, they couldn’t pretend the last 9 years didn’t happen. Especially when Yunho knew he was guilty of too much, too many of the things that made them totally lose contact.

                But he wanted Jaejoong. He wanted to know Jaejoong again. Even if it meant to start from scratch, even if it meant to just be a friendly neighbor again, he would do it all, build their relationship and make up for all the previous happenings.

                “Yunho?” Jae called when he took long to answer.

                “I don’t want you to just disappear.” He finally spoke. Jae was confused for a moment but after he smiled softly. ‘Damn you. Do you know that that smile makes my heart beat 10 times faster?’ Yunho thought to himself.

                “I’m not… disappearing. You know where I work. I live a few hundreds of meters away; I attend the same university as your roommate…” Jaejoong started but Yunho interrupted him.

               “It’s not that. I don’t want to meet you because I go to your coffee shop or because you’re Min’s friend. I want to meet you because I want to meet you. For you.” Not making much sense but it was the best Yunho could do and he was sure Jaejoong understood him. “And I want you to want to meet me too. For me.”

                Jae frowned for a bit, looking contemplative. They were slightly entering the field of ‘feelings’ and he was a bit afraid.

            “First there are some things we have to clear up. One: Maybe it is not proper. How do I know you are not dating someone? I’m sure that person wouldn’t like us meeting, at all.” Jae threw the possibility out there and waited for Yunho’s reaction.

                “I’m absolutely not dating anyone. Why? Are…you?” Yunho cursed himself for stuttering. Jae’s expression softened.

                “No, I’m not. Two: Yunho, it’s been 9 years, you know we can’t just erase all that, right?” Yunho nodded affirmatively. Like he had thought, there was no way to reset everything and go back to that summer. “Ok. Three: Like I said it’s been 9 years and we both changed. You might not like the ‘me’ from now…”

                “Jaejoong stop it. I know all that and I don’t care. I want to get to know you again. Let me.” He was almost begging and he couldn’t care less. He longed for him, he longed for Jaejoong for too long and now that they were face to face he realized that his feelings weren’t even a bit less intense than they were 9 years before.

                He hopped Jaejoong would feel the same. And even if he didn’t, Yunho needed to be with him even if as nothing more than a friend.

                “Ok, then. Here, right your number…” Jae took a pen with the coffe shop’s logo out of his pocket and handed it to Yunho. He rolled his sleeve up. Yunho hesitated at first but wrote his phone number in Jae’s arm. Just the sensation of touching Jae’s skin was making Yunho feel an avalanche of emotions, some more pure and innocent than others. “See? I’m not disappearing. You paid for today’s diner. Next time is up to me to come to you. I know you’re number and where you live. I’ll contact you, okay?”

                Yunho nodded a yes, unable to avoid a stupid delighted smile from creeping into his lips.

                “I’ll come to you!” Jae repeated, already walking away.

               That simple promise meant more to Yunho than anyone have guessed. And it meant more to Jaejoong than Yunho could have guessed.

                That night Jaejoong was too exhausted to do anything more than right Yunho’s number down in a paper before falling asleep like a rock, but Yunho was too excited to even close his eyes.