Fighting.

That’s what the two of them had been doing for the past hour. Ever since Hyori had come into the apartment and seen you curled up in her boyfriend’s arms, the screaming hadn’t stopped. At first Jaejoong had tried to calm her down, but the things she was shouting at him only ended up pissing him off, too.

He had growled at you to go into his room while he dealt with her, and that’s where you were, sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, with your legs pulled up to your chest.

Mianhae, Jaejoong-oppa. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble… You let your head bump against your knees.

A little chirping noise alerted you to the text message you’d received. It was from Yoochun.

                Mickey: Gwenchana, Ghost?

You smiled wryly at the nickname. None of them believed you about seeing spirits, but they humored you. The nickname hadn’t stuck until Yoochun pointed out that you were quiet, and would come and go like a ghost. Junsu had joked that you were an adorable one.

                Me: Ne. Hyori-unnie and Jaejoong-oppa are still fighting though ;o;
                Mickey: Still?
                Me: It’s been an hour. I don’t know what to do except leave.

You glanced at the window. You’d escaped through it before, scaling down the wall like some sort of gecko to get away. It was useful having you’re strange climbing skills, in order to avoid sasaengs and the media. You could disappear just about anywhere.

Getting to your feet, you wandered a little closer to the window and slid it open. Your phone went off again.

                Mickey: No! We can never find you when you do that. Bad Ghost.
                Me: Mianhae. I’ll stay here then…

You didn’t want them to worry about you or anything. That was the last thing you wanted to do. It took a lot just to even come to their homes when you needed them. When you did, it was always unannounced and unexpected. Jaejoong had found you curled up outside his door earlier that afternoon.

                Mickey: Gomawo. I’ll come over. That should make them stop, arasso?
                Me: Arasso ^-^

Closing the window, you moved back to crawl onto Jaejoong’s bed. It was larger than necessary for even two people, considering that Jaejoong was lean, and Hyori was skinny. The bed could easily fit all three guys from JYJ, as well as yourself. The thought made you smile a little. A sleepover with Yoochun, Junsu, and Jaejoong? That’d be the best time ever.

Except Hyori would insist she be there. She was convinced you were trying to steal Jaejoong from her.

That was ridiculous. You had a crush on someone closer to your age. Considering you were only eighteen, you were pretty sure it was inappropriate to be trying to steal your oppa. Besides, if anyone asked, your bias was Chanyeol from EXO.

You were glad you hadn’t crawled out the window. You would’ve lost another pair of shoes that way, and your feet would’ve ended up filthy.

Slipping under the comforter, you curled up and nuzzled your face into the pillow that smelled the most like Jaejoong.

The doorbell rang a few minutes later, and your phone chirped again. Curious, you glanced at it.

                Yunho: Annyeong. Gwenchana?

Why does everyone know something’s wrong right now? You frowned a little. It was unlikely that anyone told Yunho about this. Yoochun and Junsu weren’t allowed to speak to their ex-bandmates anymore, because of their lawyers. Jaejoong was under the same ban, although he was too busy fighting with his girlfriend to have done so.

                Me: Waeyo?
                Yunho: Oppa can’t be worried about his adorable sengie?
                Me: Ani. But you couldn’t know something was going on.
                Yunho: Something’s going on?
                Me: Ne. They’re fighting about me
                Yunho: Mian
                Me: It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come to Jaejoong-oppa.

You could hear Yoochun’s voice outside in the living room now. His tone was completely calm. Jaejoong’s voice was angry, but quiet. You could imagine him glaring away from both people in front of him. Hyori’s voice had taken on a shrill cheerfulness. You wanted to gouge your ears out.

                Yunho: Then why did you?
                Me: He’s the most comforting. He was closest, too.
                Yunho: MWO? SO MEAN D:
                Me: Still mad at you, oppa. Cassiopeia is waiting for you all.

It wasn’t fair to bring this up, but you didn’t want to talk about the real problem in your life. It was painful and annoying.

But Yunho was too smart for that. He knew you had no problem with SM Entertainment. After all, you worked for them.

                Yunho: Come see us tomorrow, arasso? I’ll leave you be now
                Me: Ne.

You put your phone on the bed within reach and curled up more into the blanket. Honestly, you’d wanted to just have Jaejoong hold you while you cried for a little while. You hadn’t meant to fall asleep with your head in his lap, and that’s what Hyori had seen when she walked in.

The bedroom door opened a little and Yoochun stuck his head in to peer around for you. Seeing you in the bed, he chuckled and wandered over.

“You sleeping?” he wondered.

You shook your head. “Ani. I was just resting.”

Yoochun didn’t really need an invitation to crawl onto the bed and curl up next to you, so he could look at you. You smiled shyly at him, to which he just grinned.

“So, what’s bothering our Raekyo?”

Your nose wrinkled at the use of your name, and you looked down. “It’s stupid.”

It was. The whole reason you had shown up at Jaejoong’s place tonight was out of an overwhelming despair due to your loneliness. Even when surrounded by people, you felt alone. Sometimes it was like you were locked in a glass box, banging on the walls, screaming for someone to love you. But everyone kept passing you by.

You knew it wasn’t true. Clearly the guys cared about you, and you were more than grateful. But that brotherly love wasn’t all a girl could live off of. You craved romantic love, needed it like a bird needs to stretch its wings and fly. But you’d never even had your first kiss yet, and you were giving up hope of it ever happening.

Yoochun could only watch as your expression fell and an almost tangible sorrow settled in your eyes as you stared somewhere over his shoulder.

“It’s not stupid, tell me what’s wrong,” he said, pressing a little. He knew better than to push you too hard. You would just clam up, or run.

“I… I was just lonely,” you said with a tiny shrug, peering up at him shyly. “No one really talks to me at work, and I don’t… have any other friends besides idols.”

So basically, with them all busy with schedules, you had no one to spend time with outside of work. You were also extremely conscious of not being a burden on anyone, so you didn’t want to hang around uninvited. Plus, sometimes when you were invited, you felt like it was just to be nice and you didn’t want to make things awkward.

The regular staff, as well as the trainees, didn’t like you because of your closeness with some of their biases. It was exhausting.

“Aigoo, poor Ghost,” Yoochun said, ruffling your hair affectionately. “You’re always welcome to come hang out with us, you know. Even if we’re busy with scheduling stuff, you could just visit. You can laugh at me when I mess up lines.”

You can tell he’s trying to cheer you up, so you reward him with a tiny smile. However, both of you can tell you’re humoring him. He just sighs a little, reaching out to wrap his arm over you and pull you in against him. With the comforter separating you, you aren’t entirely shocked by the skinship, although your face does heat up.

“We all care about you, Rae, you know that, right?” he asked, voice gentle, tucking you against him. “Even Yunho and Changmin. Don’t try to keep yourself scarce so that you don’t feel like a burden. You’re not. You never have been.”

You couldn’t really respond without sobbing, because your eyes had filled with tears as he spoke. Now, you just buried your face in his chest and shivered a little as you suppressed a sob. You still weren’t sure what you had done in the past to warrant karma bestowing you with these guys in your life, but you were grateful for whatever it was. You slipped an arm out from under the blanket to slide it timidly up over Yoochun’s side and over his back. His shirt became clenched in your fist as you tried to fight the sobbing.

It was another half hour later before Jaejoong opened the bedroom door. It had taken him fifteen minutes after Yoochun disappeared to get Hyori to leave—she hadn’t wanted to scream in front of the idol, although apparently that embarrassment didn’t carry over to you—and then another fifteen for Jaejoong to calm down completely.

Seeing that you were now fast asleep curled into his friend, the last bit of tension he hadn’t realized he had eased. Jaejoong wandered over to see if Yoochun was asleep as well, and smirked a little seeing that not only was his friend not asleep, but the other guy was silently watching you.

“Yah, stop being such a creeper, Yoochun,” he teased softly.

Yoochun jumped a little, before glaring over his shoulder at Jaejoong. It did nothing to hide the slight red in his cheeks.

“I’m not,” he protested. However, very carefully, he started to try and unravel himself from your grip.

You only whimpered and snuggled into him even more in response. Both guys gave you an exasperated look, before it faded into equal expressions of amusement.

“I suppose this means you’re spending the night,” Jaejoong joked. He rolled his neck to try and pop it. “I’m being kicked out of my own bed.”

“Aish, just sleep on the other side of her,” Yoochun grumbled, looking away hastily. He didn’t want to see the pout or other aegyo his friend was going to employ.

Jaejoong smirked. “You sure it’s alright? I know you’ve got a crush on her.”

“And you’re her obvious favorite,” Yoochun snapped, defensive. “Just lay down.”

Jaejoong held up his hands in surrender and moved to get into the other side of the bed. “Arasso, calm down. I still can’t believe you fell for our gaangaji.”

Yoochun smiled a little at the group’s original nickname for you. You’d been homeless when they found you scrounging through their dorm’s trash. At first they thought you were just a sasaeng, but Yunho stopped them from calling security. To their horror, you’d pulled out some tossed leftovers—fortunately still in a take-out container—and eaten it on the spot. When Changmin made a sound of disgust, you’d looked up at them, before bolting off like a deer. It’d taken a couple nights of leaving actual food out for you for you to trust them, just like a stray.

It was Jaejoong’s idea to get you employed at SM Entertainment. You hadn’t finished high school, obviously, so they’d had to have you enrolled. When not doing homework, you were employed doing odd jobs that anyone asked you to do. You were doggedly—pun intended—determined to do a good job. From there, you’d worked your way up to being an intern with the coordi-noonas. That’s what they’d left you as when three of them split off, and you hadn’t said anything about a change in duties.

“Don’t lie, Jaejoong. You were the first to fall for her when she finally accepted food from your hand,” Yoochun teased with a tired smile. “Everyone fell for her in their own way. I’m just the babo who never put those channeled those feelings into something more productive.”

“Not a babo, just…” Jaejoong shrugged a little. “There’s still hope. She doesn’t have a boyfriend?”

“No, or any other friends besides us,” Yoochun answered, frowning sadly at you. “I guess things haven’t really changed for her since we left.”

That made Jaejoong frown, but he only sighed softly. Reaching up, he gently smoothed your hair out of your face and, once it was all in your neck, scooped it out like he was going to put it up in a ponytail. A pleased little sigh escaped you. Both of them smiled.

Simultaneously, they pulled out their phones to set separate alarms, before Jaejoong turned the lights out.

“Any idea how to help her out with work? I doubt they know…”

Yoochun shrugged. “Not without breaking the ban our lawyers have in place.”

Jaejoong frowned. “What about having Junsu ask Eunhyuk to pass the message along?”

“That’d probably work best.” Yoochun yawned and curled against you a little. “I’ll text him in the morning.”

The yawn was contagious. “Arasso.”