A/N: "Song For You" fans, I lived up to my word, and here are the sequel one-shots I promised :p Not that it was that much of a big effort on my part, because I'm rather fond of the story, and I couldn't wait to go back and write more for it! These will be posted on less of regular interval than my "Song For You" chapters, and more on an when-I-feel-like it basis, which should still be fairly regularly, knowing how much I like to write and can't stay away from it.

If you haven't checked out Song For You yet, this story will make a lot more sense if you do! Don't read it all at once, though, it's a long one.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first story! The second one will also be up either this evening or tomorrow afternoon before I get caught up with returning from Christmas break, so stayed tuned for that as well! Enjoy!

STARTING NOW

Yunho had to wonder what was wrong with that summer. There had been hot summers before, but this one was on an entirely different level. He'd only just stepped out of his truck, and already his thin white wife beater was becoming soaked with sweat and his jeans stuck uncomfortably to his skin. And he wanted to dance on top of that? He glanced into the back of his truck at the portable boom box, biting his lips. He'd gotten out of work early, so he had plenty of time to go back and take a nice cold shower before eating Auntie Minjung's horrifically cooked dinner. Did he really have to dance?

Yes. I do. Already his legs were itching to attempt again the routine he'd been learning, no matter how uncomfortable it was in the summer heat. And anyways, there was nowhere else to do it other than here, outside. The town didn't have any dance studios or any other open areas without people lingering around, and his auntie's house wouldn't work. She was bound to walk in on him eventually, and if she saw him, she'd probably mention it to his mother. If what she didn't approve of in him wasn't being stamped out in the country, his mother could very well send for him back in the city. He didn't hate his birthplace, but he didn't want to leave here either. There was something about it he liked. The marketplace with all its sights and sounds, his secret spot by the river, his friends, this quiet stretch of abandoned road where anyone had yet to find him. And dancing freely, most of all. It was addicting, the way it made him feel to give himself over to music, to translate the rhythm with his body and deliver it back. If only he wasn't the only one who understood it. His parents only cared about his grades, and even Minhee had seen it as interference in their relationship. Such as that was. Yunho wished he could make himself feel sorrier over being a disappointing son and boyfriend, but he simply didn't.

He grabbed his portable stereo and set it up on the ground, turning it on and letting the music fill his mind and body. Forget everything else. Forget what people who aren't you think. This is who you are and what you want. If you can't live with that, no one else will.

The moment he was in motion, he shed all his other thoughts and set himself free from them. This was happiness. What was the point of living if he wasn't allowed to do the things that gave him life? Even though sweat poured down his face and his head was halfway dizzy, it didn't bother him. Do your worst, summer, he thought, gleefully. I'll give it to you right back.

When the song ended, he leaned down, exhausted, to turn off the stereo and grab his bottle of water and douse his face. Ah, nice. He closed his eyes and let the cool water do its work. When he opened them again, it was to a beautiful mirage standing on his road.

At least that's what he assumed it had to be. There had never been another person before when he'd been there, but here was a beautiful young man with damp black hair and delirious eyes staring blankly into his space as he walked mechanically forward. He was clutching something in his hands with what seemed to be the last of his strength, but it fell from his arms as he stumbled on his laces and pitched forward onto the ground. Yunho blinked. The figure stayed where it was, grasping for the notebook it had dropped. Not a mirage, then? But why would it be? Yunho had just had his fill of water; there was no reason for his brain to be so fried now. He had no idea why anyone else would be out here, but the stranger didn't seem to be intruding intentionally. In fact, he looked downright ill, this boy. If Yunho didn't reach him first, heatstroke surely would.

Yunho clambered to his feet at the same time the boy fought to get back up on his. He managed a squatting position, but couldn't seem to rise above it with how badly his legs were swaying beneath him. Yunho ran closer. “Are you okay?” he asked, wondering why he was bothering. Whoever this was was clearly not okay. He needed water probably more than pointless questions with obvious answers, so Yunho tried extending his bottle to him, asking again, “Are you okay?” since the boy's eyes had closed and didn't seem to know someone was standing right in front of him.

A dark brown eye cracked open, trying to focus on him but seeming to fail. Yunho held his breath. The eye traveled up to his face, but then continued to roll backwards, fainting back as the boy's body shuddered and collapsed into the ground. “Hey!” Yunho yelled, trying to catch him. The concrete was hot and would scorch him if he touched it, so he tried to haul the boy further into his arms, though he, too, was starting to tumble back at the effort. What do I do now?, he wondered. He looked down at the body he was holding. The boy's face was pale and pretty (Great, Yunho, and how is that going to help him?) and his body lightweight. He could carry him back to Auntie Minjung's without too much trouble, he thought. He glanced back at his truck. Going on foot would have to be best, unless he wanted to give the poor boy whiplash along with his fainting spell.

Yunho hoisted the boy up into his arms, carrying him princess style down the road. Even completely limp as it was, he really wasn't heavy at all. He'll need to be fed, Yunho thought. And given lots of water. If he wakes up. Oh god, please let him wake up. He looks unhealthy, but he can't be... he can't be dying. Absolutely not.

He took a deep breath, continuing his resolute march back to the house. Whatever was wrong with him, he'd just have to fix it. Stranger though he was, this person was still suffering. Yunho didn't know why, but he wasn't so useless that he could continue to let it happen if there was something small he could do.

“I'll make it better, I promise,” he pleaded softly to the sleeping figure in his arms. “Just wake up. Don't give up now.”

0o0

Looking back, it amazed him a little. One unexpected encounter on an abandoned road in the dog days of summer, and his whole life had changed. He'd fallen in love, first and most importantly, but he'd also become a part of the world that Jaejoong had dreamed in that beautiful notebook he hadn't let go of that day. Dong Bang Shin Ki. They'd both become gods in the east, and had stayed together in spite of all the perceived impossibilities. All of that had existed in Jaejoong from the beginning, in those hazy eyes that had barely been able to look at him, but had tried all the same.

He was so beautiful, though, Yunho thought fondly, Jaejoong's hair as he slept soundly in their bed. Then and now. I thought I had happiness that day, but I had only just begun to find it.

Jaejoong's eyes opened sleepily, and he glanced at Yunho in a half-dreaming state, wrapping his arms around his back and pulling him into a tight embrace which Yunho returned happily. “I love you, Boojae,” he murmured into his hair.

“Mmmm, love you,” Jaejoong sighed back before falling all the way back asleep. Yunho grinned, watching his rising and falling chest. Even after all this time, he was still somewhat like a mirage: enticingly unreal in his beauty, even if was sleeping with ridiculous bedhead and a little bit of drool at the corner of his kissable lips.

But he was real, and that was what made Yunho happiest. He'd happened to him, changed his life in a whirlwind, and loved him beyond any love he'd ever had before. “Did I make it better for you?” he whispered into his ear delicately. “Did I give you as much happiness as you've given me?”

Starting here, Starting now
When we walk, we walk together
Year by year, starting here
Starting now