A/N To start, I want to thank all of you who have been following along and those of you who have subscribed.  I think I missed a personal thank you to some of you...and for that I am very sorry.  Some of you may know this month (November) is International Novel Writing Month.  I always work on a novel during this month, and my fanfics tend to fall to the side.  I'm happy to say, I am doing both and have prepared two and a half chapters for fanfic land -- although you will only get one this week. It's barely edited, so please forgive any errors in spelling, grammar and whatnot!  

For those of you who are interested, my novel is coming along splendidly.  It is NOT a fanfic, so it will not be posted here.  It is about a fictional Korean Pop Star and a situation he gets into.  That is all I will say for now.  I may post an excerpt, but as I am always hoping, I wish for my non-fanfictional stories to be published in the real world, so I can't give anything away.

Thank you again to everyone lurking, following, subscribing and commenting.  I write to entertain you! <3

And without further ado...

Chapter Seven

JaeJoong set the food out on the table before he called the boys in to eat.  Yunho and Changmin entered the kitchen together.

“I suppose I should check to see if the boys are up,” Yunho detoured down the hall.

Changmin sat down across from JaeJoong.  “It looks and smells amazing, as usual.”

“Did he say boys…plural?”  Jae cocked his head to the side.

Changmin nodded, stuffing food in his mouth.

Before JaeJoong could jump up and run to the bedroom, Yunho led Yoochun and Junsu into the kitchen.

Changmin choked as Yoochun appeared.  The usually jovial middle member avoided all eye contact, sat down, ate and said nothing.

JaeJoong sat next to him and tried to put an arm around his shoulder but was rebuffed when Chun shrugged it off.  Tears threatened to fall as he looked to Yunho for an explanation.  All he received was a shoulder shrug.

“Eat lots,” Yunho announced as he scooped a spoonful of sundae into his mouth.

JaeJoong had lost his appetite.  Where was the Yoochun he knew a week ago?  Who was this shell of a man, this stranger sitting at their table?

All eyes were on the soul mates.  Junsu ate slowly, first watching JaeJoong not eat, then himself taking a bite before switching his attention to Yoochun, who at least, seemed to have his appetite back.  Changmin chowed down as if the food would disappear if he ate too slowly.  He eyed what JaeJoong wasn’t eating and wondered if Yoochun would finish what he had.  Yunho was not unaware of the two younger members’ reactions.

“Slow down, Minnie, you’ll give yourself indigestion.”  The leader knew his maknae at voraciously when he was stressed.

Yoochun continued to pick through the soup, choosing to eat all the green things first.  At one point he looked up from the bowl and all four of them were watching him.

“JaeJoong, eat,” he spoke softly.

“Yeah, before Changmin switches out bowls,” Junsu teased.

Jae continued to stare at Yoochun while pushing his bowl toward the maknae.

Yunho positioned his hand between the bowl and Changmin.  With his other hand he snapped his fingers in front of JaeJoong’s face to get his attention.

“Yah, pabo!  Come to your senses.”

JaeJoong flashed the leader an angry look then quickly returned his attention to Yoochun.  For about five minutes, Yoochun stared into his bowl, picking out bits of this and that while avoiding his soul mate’s attempts to gain his attention. 

The rest ate their meals in awkward silence.

Yoochun finished eating, looked to each of the members as they continued then excused himself.  “I’ll be going first.”  He slid the chair back not bothering to look up at the faces which were following his every move.

Yunho had been watching the others without lifting his head.  When JaeJoong shifted as if to get up to follow, Yunho’s hand reached out and covered the eldest’s hand.  “Give him some space.”  The leader’s voice was barely above a whisper.

JaeJoong frowned, but settled in to continue eating.

As soon as Yoochun was safely out of ear shot, Changmin stared at Yunho until their eyes met.  “Hyung, what’s wrong with him?  Why is he acting so strange?”

For Changmin his eyes revealed all of his emotions, even when his body and words did not.  Yunho was very in tune with the maknae’s emotions this way.  Changmin’s eyes displayed fear and uncertainly.

“I think he feels a bit betrayed by us.”  As the leader he anticipated the other’s rebuttals and held up his hand to stave them off.  “I am fully aware we had no control over the situation, but he woke up in the hospital with no one there.”  Yunho stopped to imagine how frightening that must have ben.  Without JaeJoong by his side after he was poisoned, he thought he probably would have given up.  They had all been present right after Jae’s knee surgery.  Everyone had taken care of Junsu when he hurt his leg and couldn’t even walk.

But Yoochun was a different creature.  The day he came home after having his appendix removed Junsu decided to go to school.  Even the maknae insisted on going to the hospital instead of school that day. Yoochun was mad at his best friend for not being there.  They argued about it for weeks afterwards. Would they all be subjected to Yoochun’s surly mood again?  ‘Probably,’ Yunho thought as he sighed.  There had to be some way they could cement their solidarity with him.

Yoochun sat on his bed staring at the blank wall.  He wanted to spend some time alone, thinking, composing, anything other than just avoiding the members.  He knew they wouldn’t let him brood for too long without an intervention of some sort.  If he were composing or working on lyrics, they wouldn’t dare bother him.

But where could he escape to?  He barely knew the layout of the house.  So he just sat there fiddling with the edge of his blanket.

JaeJoong knocked softly on the door before entering.  He had never done that before.  Since they shared the room and he was the eldest, he thought he had the right to come and go as he pleased.  But Yoochun was on edge.  He didn’t want to startle or upset his soul mate.

Yoochun watched him enter.  Their eyes met and both men thought they would cry.  Neither one knew exactly why.

“We’re going to settle in and watch a movie.  Wanna come?”  Jae pulled the blankets off of his and Junsu’s beds before reaching for the pillows.

“It’s not a horror movie, is it?”  Chun was contemplating joining them.

“I don’t think so.” JaeJoong hoped not.  He didn’t like them.  “Yunho chose the movie, so it will probably be funny.”

As much as Yoochun wanted his solitude, the look in JaeJoong’s eyes broke his heart.  He needed Yoochun at his side, like a mama hen with her sick chick.  He sighed in defeat, wrapping his blanket around his shoulders and hugging his pillow tightly to his chest.

That little action tugged at the skin irritations forcing Yoochun to try to suppress a wince.  Unfortunately Jae Jae saw this and realized there was more to what was going on with Yoochun than the members having been absent from the hospital.  He followed his dongsaeng out for fear that Chunnie would opt to stay behind given the chance.

The boys decided to lay on the floor, some with their backs up against the couch.  Yunho suggested Yoochun should sit in the middle between himself and JaeJoong, each of whom held onto his hand or arm.  The youngest two members positioned themselves in front of umma and appa, making sure to keep contact in some way with their ailing hyung. Changmin’s hand inched under the covers to find purchase on Yoochun’s knee.  Junsu wrapped his arm around Chunnie’s lower leg as if it were his favorite stuffed animal.

It was then that Yoochun realized that what he had really needed was not to be alone.  Their touch centered him…made him feel safe…was that one thing he longed for.  Silent tears trickled down his cheeks.