It had been a long day for Yunho. He'd had back-to-back interviews, photoshoots, and a fan-signing all in the space of twelve hours. He could feel himself dozing off as the last interviewer asked him what he thought of their most recent comeback. He couldn’t even remember his response, but he remembered Changmin laughing so it must have been a pretty good one. As he got out the car with Changmin, he noticed the taller male was also just as tired as he was.

“Changmin, I think we should both call it a day and get some sleep. We really need it,” he said with a soft smile, hoping that the younger man would agree, “Some food and then we’ll just sleep.” He knew the younger member would agree to the food part for sure.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m pretty exhausted,” Changmin replied with a sigh, “I’ll make us some food.”

“I’ll help, you seem really tired.” Yunho said, suddenly realising how tired both of them really were. He opened the door to their dorm, switching the kitchen lights on as the younger male started raiding the fridge and cupboards.

“Okay... I guess we’ll have noodles as usual. Maybe I could quickly make some eggs too... and maybe some beef...or what about rice instead?” Changmin whispered to himself, concentrating on the task ahead to keep himself awake. He glanced over to Yunho’s general direction and realised the older male had already started making the noodles and some beef.

“Ahhhhh...” the younger man groaned, “I was going to make those noodles hyung!”

“Changmin, you’re exhausted. I’m gonna make them instead,” Yunho said with a smile, nodding to Changmin to take a seat.

Changmin shook his head, “You’re exhausted too, and besides I make better noodles than you do,” he replied with a smirk as he gently pushed Yunho out the way so he could make the food himself. He laughed as Yunho gave him a disgruntled look and sat down looking defeated. He watched as the older male slouched on the chair, looking at the cutlery and glasses on the table. He hated seeing Yunho so tired, but with their recent comeback only a week into promotion, he kind of expected it. He made the instant noodles as quickly as he could, placing them into equal amounts in two bowls. He cursed inwardly as he almost forgot about the beef, grabbing the sliced and placing them in with the noodles. He carefully carried the two heaped bowls over the small table and sat them down. He sighed as he saw the older male’s eyes were closed. Smirking, he shook Yunho’s shoulder gently to wake him up.

“Hyung, dinner is ready,” he said softly, sitting down across from the leader as he picked up his chopsticks, unable to wait a second longer for the food. He smiled as he heard Yunho’s exaggerated yawn after waking up, shaking his head as he took bite of the beef.

“It’s good! Eat,” the younger male said as he wolfed down a large portion of the noodles in one go. Yunho rubbed his eyes gently as he realised he had taken a five minute nap, he looked down at the large bowl and smiled. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating immediately, laughing when Changmin started slurping his soup to indicate he was finished.

“Ah, I’m a great cook,” the taller male said with a soft laugh, placing his empty bowl down on the table as he watched the leader quickly devour his meal too. He picked up his bowl and carried it over to give it a quick wash, yawning as he did so.

“That was great, Changmin,” Yunho carried his bowl over to the taller male so it could be washed too. He quickly got them two portions of milk out the fridge, placing one next to the sink for Changmin, and drinking his as soon as he had his hands on it.

Changmin smiled, nodding at Yunho as he picked up the small carton of milk, drinking it quickly and throwing it in the rubbish bin. He yawned once more, stretching his arms as he leaned against the kitchen unit. He saw Yunho throw his milk carton in the bin too, and nodded.

“Well, good night hyung,” Changmin said as happily as he could, trying not to fall asleep as he leaned against Yunho for a second as he walked past, leaving the older male laughing slightly.

“Good night Changmin,” the leader responded, smiling as he followed him out the kitchen and into the hall. Changmin went straight to the bathroom whilst Yunho walked right into his room, or rather, his bedroom door. He sighed as he forgot the stupid door was stiff when it was closed, he remembered that giving it a little push with his shoulder usually worked.

Yunho almost fell into his room as he leaned against the stiff door to open it. He cast it an evil look and slammed it shut. He threw his jacket onto the floor and flopped onto his large double bed. He lay there for a couple of minutes before sitting up and yanking his shirt over his head, then laying back down. He tossed and turned a few times before realising that he wasn’t feeling so tired anymore.  Sighing, he leaned over to see if his laptop was nearby. He leaned over the edge of the bed and saw it was sitting on the floor. He smiled as he picked it up, sitting it on his lap as he got himself comfortable.  Yunho clicked on the internet browser and waited for it to load, sighing as he remembered they had the worst Wi-Fi in the world in this dorm. Finally it opened up and he started typing. “Talk to strangers....anonymous chats? Yeah....” he whispered to himself as he typed into the search bar. Clicking on the first result, he realised he needed some kind of screen name. He typed in ‘TiredGuy’ with a slight smirk; he thought he was a pretty damn funny guy. He smiled happily when someone suddenly popped up. ‘BoredGuy’ appeared on his screen, saying: “I guess we’re both tired and bored, huh?” Yunho couldn’t help but laugh slightly when he read then new message. He opened up the messenger so he could reply.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m super tired though...” he typed back, happy that someone was talking to him at this time of night. He smiled when he got an instant response from the other user. It read: “Me too. I’m bored though. My friends are all asleep but I just can’t...” Yunho found himself nodding when he read this, realising they were both having the same problem.

“Yeah, same here. My friend is sound asleep and here I am... probably the only guy in Seoul who is awake at 3am!” He quickly responded, trying to keep up with the speed of the other guy. He hardly had time to blink and there was yet another response: “You’re in Seoul? Me too. That’s cool!” Yunho laughed, realising he was starting to enjoy this conversation with a complete stranger.

“Oh, that’s great. Well, we’re the only two guys in Seoul who are awake at 3am!” He typed back, trying to lean back on the bed to get comfortable. He had hardly moved an inch when another response appeared: “Yeah...but I’m really bored, I’m not even tired anymore.” Yunho nodded, finding himself feeling extremely awake as he typed his response.

“I’m starting to feel more awake myself... so how was your day?” Yunho decided to ask a question; plus it wasn’t like it was going to kill him if he did. He carefully read the response: “Ugh. It was awful. I was so busy all day, I was working from 7am till 1am. I hardly got a break to sit down or eat.” Yunho sighed as he read this as it sounded all too familiar to a typical day for him and Changmin.

“Really? Well, me too actually. You must be tired,” he replied, thinking about who this other guy could be. He had to be an idol surely, or a manager, or maybe a crew member. He sighed, realising he was getting ahead of himself. The guy could just have a tough labour job or something. He felt himself smile as another message popped up, reading: “You too? What kind of job do you have?” Yunho felt himself freeze as this situation seemed all too familiar. He cursed inwardly, realising this is why he hardly ever takes part in online chats. He decided to just respond with a generic answer.

“Oh, I work in the entertainment industry.” He typed back, hoping that answer would suffice and the user wouldn’t question him anymore about his career or identity. Maybe he could pretend he was just a manager or something. He bit his lip nervously as the response appeared: “Me too! Don’t tell me...you’re a really famous celebrity!” Yunho threw his head back on his pillow, running his hands through his hair. He shook his head, thinking how to get out of this one.

“You’re funny. No, I’m just a crew member, typical backstage guy...” he responded, crossing his fingers in the hope that the other user would stop asking questions after that answer. He was a little suspicious about who the other guy could be, but it seemed like he was also some kind of manager or crew member. He sighed with relief as he read the response: “Oh okay. Yeah, me too. We don’t get enough credit for our jobs. So, do you want to meet up at some point?” Yunho was surprised by the boldness of the user.

 “Meet up? What, right now?” he typed back quickly, wondering what the heck this guy was up to. Although he was really bored and he wasn’t feeling tired anymore, so it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a bit. He quickly read the response as soon as it appeared: “Yeah. They have a new cafe open 24 hours in the central main plaza, maybe we could meet there?” Yunho sighed, wondering what he got himself into. He didn’t want to be rude and say he had to go, or that he was tired because that would be a complete and utter lie. He decided to go; besides the plaza was close to his dorm.

“Okay. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” He quickly responded, not even bothering to ask what the other user looked like as it’d be unlikely that anyone else would be having coffee at 4am. He was about to switch his laptop off when a final message popped up: “Great. I’ll see you there.” He smiled as he read it and quickly closed the laptop lid, pushing it to the side as he sat up. He gently rubbed his eyes as he stood up and stretched, looking around his room for his discarded shirt from earlier. He picked it up and quickly shoved it on, checking he had money in his pocket for coffee and his phone just in case. He went to open his bedroom door and then remembered how stiff it was, and he didn’t want to be too noisy in case he woke up Changmin. He sighed, gently resting his hand on the handle and giving it a quick pull. He smiled as it opened almost silently; he switched off his room light and headed out to get his shoes on and grab his key before leaving. Yunho didn’t know why he felt so thrilled to be leaving the dorm at 4am, usually being up at this time meant they had a crazy 16 hour day ahead of them. He grabbed a black cap and some sunglasses, just in case. Even though it was 4am, there could still be some paparazzi or reporters around. He walked down to the plaza, forgetting how close his dorm was to it. Man, this could be handy if he was ever craving coffee or something. He walked in, realising it was empty. He sat down in the far corner, leaning against the wall as he yawned. Damn, he was feeling tired again.

Jaejoong nervously walked towards the plaza, surprised he hadn’t gotten lost as he hadn’t been down this way in a long time. He walked into the small cafe, noticing there was only one customer and hoping it was the guy he was talking too. He seemed really nice. He opened the cafe door, glancing towards the man’s direction and noticing he was wearing a cap and sunglasses too. That’s really odd, he thought. Why would a crew member need to hide his identity? He sighed and slowly walked over; hoping the man would notice him first and maybe he wouldn’t have to introduce himself.

Yunho looked up and noticed a smaller guy come into the cafe. He was slowly making his way towards him, and Yunho noticed he seemed really skinny. Is this guy really a guy? There was only one way to find out. “Hey,” Yunho said softly, smiling as he looked up at the smaller male. He was surprised when the man froze, as if his feet were stuck to the spot. Did the smaller man recognise his voice or something? Yunho started to panic a little, just in case the guy knew who he was.

 Jaejoong completely froze. That voice. No, it couldn’t be? It had been too long; too many years had passed. Too many years without seeing him and hearing him. “Yun... Yunho?” he whispered, trying to get a closer look at the man sitting down. He suddenly froze again when he realised it was definitely him. The nose. The jaw line. The lips. Everything. Everything screamed Yunho.

“Jae?” Yunho stood up abruptly, taking his glasses off. “What the..?” he said, his voice rising slightly. “Why are you here?” he asked, a confused expression plastered across his face as he looked the smaller male up and down.

“Yunho!” Jaejoong suddenly shouted, running towards him and hugging him tightly. However the taller male didn’t feel the same way.

“What the...? Jaejoong?” he asked, quickly taking the glasses and cap off the smaller male. He gasped when he realised it really was him. It was Jaejoong. His former best friend and lover.

“Sit down. Now.” Yunho said, pointing to the chair opposite his own as he sat down. “What the heck is this?” He yelled angrily, scowling at Jaejoong until he spoke.

“Yun... Why are you being like this?” Jaejoong replied softly, as he pouted his lip slightly at the younger male. He felt like crying. Why was Yunho being so hostile towards him?

Yunho sighed. Here we go, he thought to himself. “Don’t call me Yun. Why am I being like this? Jaejoong, I haven’t seen you or heard anything from you in six years!” He shouted, feeling himself getting angrier by the second. He pulled his cap off, throwing it to the side as he placed a hand to his forehead, leaning against it as he sighed deeply. He could see Jaejoong’s eyes starting to water and he immediately wanted to apologize, but he was too angry for any of that.

“But... but Yun... Yunho, I still lo-“ Jaejoong started to reply, but Yunho instantly cut him off.

“Don’t. Don’t say it.” Yunho said, his voice emotionless. He started blankly past Jaejoong’s face, he had to stop this conversation right now or it wasn’t going to end well for anyone.

“What? But, Yun-“ Jaejoong protested, reaching a small and delicate hand out towards Yunho’s large, rough hands.

“Just don’t.” Yunho stood up, walking away from the smaller male and towards the door when suddenly Jaejoong shot up behind him, grabbing his muscular arm.

“Yunho, stop!” Jaejoong shouted. Yunho bit his lip, he could practically hear the tears that were falling on Jaejoong’s face in his voice. Yunho made sure he stopped right where he was.

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.” Jaejoong whispered, “I wanted to call you. I wanted to come see you, but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry. My manager, he...” Jaejoong began, but his voice cracked as he let out a soft cry.

“He what?” Yunho spun round to face Jaejoong, looking him in the eyes now he could see the tears that were overflowing from the smaller male’s beautiful eyes. Yunho felt his heart stop in his chest as he realised how upset Jaejoong was.

“He told me he would ban me from being an idol forever if I ever saw you or contacted you again. I... I don’t know how he would do it, but I believed him. So did Junsu and Yoochun. Yun... Yunho... You know I love you, but...” Jaejoong’s voice faltered again, this time he couldn’t stop crying as he pulled his own arms around himself to prevent him from shaking. Yunho froze in complete shock at the realisation of what Jaejoong had just told him.

“I know how much you love singing. It’s your entire life.” Yunho took hold of Jaejoong’s hand and pulled him into a tight hug, “I understand.” He smiled, holding Jaejoong so tight he was scared he might crush him.

“But, Yunho, I thought you hated me?” Jaejoong continued to cry as he spoke, sobbing into Yunho’s embrace. He started to calm down as he felt like he was home. This is where he belonged. In Yunho’s arms.

“I couldn’t hate you, Jae. I was just annoyed when I saw you because it’s been a long time since I last saw you. You have no idea how bad these six years have been.” Yunho sighed, leaning his head against Jaejoong’s. He smiled as Jaejoong finally wrapped his arms around Yunho, and he realised how much he missed this feeling. The feeling of Jaejoong. He was home.