1988

Jaejoong was clutching at the cuffs of his sleeves as he glanced around nervously in the vast room filled with daunting looking people busily shuffling paper and shouting instructions at each other. Form where he was sitting he was surrounded by professionals that didn’t even give him a second glance, sighing he continued his stare down with the door waiting for that one person to walk through.

Yunho strode in quickly, flustered that he was almost an entire 3 minutes late, he hoped Jaejoong wasn’t mad, or worse uncomfortable. Spotting the small smile on said persons face as his eyes lay on him reassured him and he made his way over with a smile of his own, making casual conversation with him whilst everyone gathered and prepped the presentation for the meeting.

If it had been weeks previous both men would have sat beside each other and shifted uncomfortably but since they had been working so closely for so long thing had gotten better, much better. After the initial awkwardness Yunho had managed to chip away at Jaejoong’s shell and seeing his earnest effort to be friendly Jaejoong had tried too.

He would initiate conversation and even crack jokes occasionally, something he only really did around Yoochun, but there was something different about Yunho, he seemed different. His actions were awkward and clumsy, words stumbling and confused but the way he tried so hard to make conversation, his earnest efforts to get Jaejoong involved and that sheepish yet happy-go-lucky smile that topped off the end of all his sentences, they seemed earnest.

Jaejoong was afraid of people, people could be mean and he had been reminded time and time again that people didn’t like him, so he was going along this new friendship with trepidation but there was something about Yunho that drew him in and encouraged him to keep going.

He wanted to believe in him.  So he smiled back and tried to converse as best as possible.

The meeting progressed well, Jaejoong just sat back and nodded along not really knowing what to do but occasionally Yunho would turn to him and bestow a smile that brought forward a blush and ask his opinion on something. That was another thing, as well as his earnest efforts as friendship Yunho actually valued his opinion, made him feel important like he was more than just a pretty face. 

All in all Jaejoong was walking on air, it felt like the world truly was his oyster now and nothing could touch him. It was pretty odd for him to be so confident and feel so invincible because of just one person, he had always had Yoochun before but there were still moments when he receded into himself, after all one person wasn’t enough to make everything better right?

But then why was it that Yunho could make him feel so invincible, Yunho was just one person too, in fact he should have meant less than Yoochun since he had known Yunho for a lesser amount of time. But for some reason Yunho had this undeniable effect on him, even just sitting beside him gave him the courage to sit a little straighter, carry himself more confidently, it was like...magic.

That was what he felt around him, magic.

“What’s so funny?” Yunho poked at his cheek pulling Jaejoong out of his reverie, they were sitting on a park bench enjoying the breeze, Jaejoong just shook his head with a slight chuckle not realising he’d been smiling.

“Nothing really, just being stupid” he smiles at Yunho’s pout, honestly for such a b