Life 9

South Korea 2014

 “y, boys, now try to turn it up a notch,” the photographer demanded of his two current subjects, Yunho and Changmin. The two were in one of the most popular boy bands in South Korea (and Asia), Dong Bang Shin Ki, and they were currently shooting for a photo book which would be included in their most recent album. It would be their last album before Yunho enlisted in his mandatory military service. Their concept this time around was to push the boundaries of society and be a little ier than was accepted. Presently, Yunho was in nothing but a pair of jeans and Changmin was dressed only in a pair of boxers and a loose dress shirt that was mostly obviously intended to be Yunho’s, since Yunho was the bulkier of the two. Their management assured them that this was the best way to keep their fans’ attention but Yunho and Changmin weren’t sure it was the best idea; not because they were squirmy with innuendoes and casual physical contact but because they weren’t sure they could resist each other in such intimate situations. Changmin was also a jealous bastard and he wasn’t comfortable with everyone else seeing Yunho blush and all the other things the management wanted him to do in public; those things were supposed to be for Changmin’s eyes only.

“Good, good Changmin! I like how aggressive you’re being,” the photographer continued as the taller man grabbed Yunho by the belt, suggestively pulling his hips forward.

Yunho grinned up at Changmin. “If only he knew how aggressive you can be,” he whispered, low enough that the sound only reached Changmin’s ears. Changmin blushed but smirked back, making for a ludicrous combination than had the staff members cooing and fawning.

“It’s like you guys do this every day!” The photographer, Wonbae, gushed, never having had a couple with such chemistry before. Their acting appeared to come so naturally and he couldn’t wait to work with them again.

Yunho and Changmin locked eyes and smirked, knowing full well that yes, they did in fact do this every day. The boys switched positions so that Changmin was kneeling in front of Yunho but leaning back on his heals so it didn’t look “too ual,” according to their photographer. Yunho thought it looked plenty ual already and had to think of dead baby ducks and grandmas just to get through the shoot. Changmin grinned up at him, knowing what Yunho was imagining, and his lips. Cruel bastard, Yunho thought, and grabbed Changmin by the jaw, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

“Yes, yes, Yunho. I love it!” The photographer’s words faded into the distance as the boys lost themselves in each other, but always keeping their bodies angled just right to catch the light. They were professionals after all.

“Haven’t you taken enough pictures?” Their manager, Kyungchang, whined. Yunho and Changmin had an incredibly packed schedule since this was the last the public would be seeing Yunho for twenty-one months and everyone was ready to go home.

The photographer and all the stylists turned to glare simultaneously at the poor manager. “This is art, sir, and art is never rushed,” Wonbae stated.

“Well, your art is made up of Dong Bang Shin Ki and these boys have an early shoot tomorrow. We have to get them home so they don’t collapse tomorrow.” ‘It’s bad press,’ the weary manager added under his breath.

Wonbae sighed and snapped off a few more pictures but excused the boys to go. “You guys did a wonderful job today. Call me up if you ever need a modeling job.” He handed them his card, winking before the boys were led away to change.

Yunho chuckled as he helped Changmin his shirt in the dressing room. “You’d think they were our stalkers,” he joked, “this is almost exactly what you wear on our days off.”

“Except then my shirts actually smell like you,” Changmin replied, pouting slightly.

“That’s because they’re my shirts,” Yunho corrected. Not that he minded, not even a little bit – Changmin wearing Yunho’s shirts was pretty much heaven on Earth.

“Whatever,” Changmin answered. He moved down to his knees to help Yunho tug off his jeans. The stylists might as well have painted them on for how tight and reveling they were.

“I think I like you in this position,” Yunho said, cupping Changmin’s cheek down from his spot on the ground.

Changmin just rolled his eyes and finally managed to release Yunho’s legs from their denim prison. Yunho winked down at him but helped Changmin stand. When they were fully dressed, they made to leave, thoroughly exhausted.

Changmin and Yunho waved their goodbye’s to their photographer and all the staff and followed Kyungchang to the waiting car. Although their schedules were normally even busier, the photo-shoot had gone later than they had expected and they couldn’t wait to go home and sleep. Without words, Kyungchang knew to give them their space and sat up front with the driver. The second the car door was closed, Yunho collapsed against Changmin and promptly began to snore against his shoulder, his mouth slightly open. Changmin smiled softly down at his lover, affection glowing warm in his heart. Since he couldn’t fall asleep and cuddle too until they got home, he thought about their current predicament.

South Korea was making steps to a new, more accepting future, but for now, the country was still pretty homophobic. Changmin and Yunho had lived together as long as they could without garnering much attention, as they were in the same group and it was common that groups live together. They had lived together longer than was usual for the senior groups but their charisma demanded that no one question them about it. Eventually, though, people got suspicious and they had to rent separate apartments for appearance sake. Even worse though, Changmin couldn’t hold Yunho’s hand in public or kiss him goodbye, and this killed Changmin. He wanted to scream to the world that Yunho had chosen him; that this beautiful, strong, caring man had chosen him to be with him forever and Changmin wanted to mark him for all others to see. He thanked the universe every day for the chance to be with Yunho and worship as his own, but he wished fervently that they could go public with their relationship.  For now, though, he just had to focus on not accidently exposing their relationship.

Time went on, as it always does. They wrapped up all the preparations for their comeback and were rewarded with a rapid album release and return stage; they really did not have very much time, after all. Yunho’s enlistment date was approaching faster than anyone wanted to acknowledge. The first few weeks went by without a hitch. All the fans were in a frenzy over the new y concept and their album did better than TVXQ had done in Korea in a while. As they were nearing the very end of their promotions, though, they got a text to report in to the SM headquarters to go over the plan for the next couple years again. It was completely normal, just SM covering their bases, so neither Yunho nor Changmin expected the news they received.

They strode into the conference room that had been designated in the text. Their manager and a couple of their public relations people were there already, talking quietly. Changmin and Yunho greeted everyone politely and sat down for what they thought would be another boring, repetitive meeting. Yunho smiled brightly at everyone despite it all while Changmin smirked at the current line-up and went over all of their names in his head. There was the short woman who insisted on wearing purple colored contacts, Fairy, the half-Japanese man who wore more eye-liner than Lee Joon in Cry, Bishi, the gentle giant who carried Yunho on his back one time who Changmin hated, Sly Guy, the woman who never seemed to approve of anything they did, Ivy , and Kyungchang, of course. Changmin didn’t really care for any of them other than Kyungchang so he let Yunho take care of their actual names.

“So you guys already know the plan for Yunho’s enlistment,” Fairy started.

“I still don’t see why we can’t just enlist at the same time,” Changmin grumbled.

“We already talked about this,” Ivy sighed dramatically. “You can enlist a year after Yunho does; we can’t have both of you out of the public eye for that long.” Changmin knew that was true if they wanted to keep the TVXQ name alive but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Anyway,” Fairy continued in an annoyed tone, “Yunho will record a couple of songs and features to be released at regular intervals while he’s gone and Changmin will continue to have solo promotions, features and variety shows, since you refuse to debut as a solo.” And another pointed look at Changmin.

The man in question just shrugged; there was no way he was going to promote without Yunho. A solo song here and there was fine but TVXQ was Changmin and Yunho, not just one or the other. He could wait.

“After nine months or so-”

“Nine months,” Changmin clarified with a glare at the staff. He would enlist without their approval if they tried to make him wait until just before Yunho got back.

            “After nine months,” Fairy continued, “Changmin will enlist and during the year that overlaps your service, we’ll release never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage once a week.”

            “Do we have that much?” Yunho asked, a confused frown on his face. Changmin smirked at Yunho’s utter cuteness that the leader would never admit to.

            “We have more than ten years of footage of behind the scenes of you two, we have enough,” Bishi said. Yunho’s mouth made an “O” shape but he didn’t respond.

            “And then Yunho will have his solo promotions, perhaps a dance unit and features and such, until Changmin is discharged.” Fairy was really starting to get tired of all the interruptions.

            “We knew all of this already,” Changmin pointed out, “so is there a new proposal or something?” All five of the personnel present shared a look, which only served to make Changmin slightly nervous.

            “Well, we were thinking that even the solo promotions might not be enough to keep the public interested when you’re not together,” Sly Guy started.

            “So we thought a scandal might be necessary to keep people talking,” Bishi continued.

            “But nothing that would actually be too bad press,” Kyungchang added.

            “So one of you has to have a dating scandal with someone big while the other is in the service,” Ivy finished. Changmin and Yunho took a second to let the statement settle then Yunho exploded.

“WHAT?! Why the hell can’t we just like hang out with our American connections or wear the same clothes as another idol or something like that? Something netizens care about that doesn’t involve dating?” Yunho looked absolutely furious, a look they all hadn’t seen on him since before The Split. “We’re TVXQ, goddamnit, we shouldn’t have to ourselves out to get attention and further more-”

“I’ll do it,” Changmin said quietly. Yunho snapped his head to Changmin’s direction. He had never expected Changmin to agree to this, no less agree without discussing it with him first.

“You’ll what?!” Yunho practically shrieked.

“I’ll do it,” Changmin repeated, looking at Kyungchang determinedly. Changmin couldn’t explain it but his heart ached at the mere thought of Yunho fake-dating anyone. He knew Yunho would never betray him but Yunho had so much more experience than him. What if Yunho decided a more mature person would be better? Or that Changmin was too nagging or too clean or too tall? And who could resist Yunho? The man was practically perfection in that even his faults were endearing. Nope, there was no way in hell Changmin was going to give anyone else the chance to take his Yunho away from him. The look on Yunho’s face made Changmin flinch but he could fix that later.

Bishi blinked rapidly, a little surprised that Changmin had acquiesced so quickly. Though, from Yunho’s current expression, it appeared the maknae would be spending the night exiled to the couch. “Okay, well you can pick any girl you’d like- well, don’t choose someone in SM. A girl from YG would have been perfectly scandalous if we could make it swing but they weren’t interested.”

“You already sent out feelers?” Yunho asked, incredulous.

“Of course,” Ivy replied with a stern glance at Yunho. Changmin promptly glared Ivy down; no one was allowed to be mean to Yunho but him. “TS, DSP, and Pledis are all looking forward to you picking one of their girls.”

“You don’t actually have to date them, Changmin, you just have to go on a couple dates in very public places and kiss her in front of a bunch of cameras. We’ll deny everything of course, for a while, but we’ll tell everyone that you guys broke up right before your enlistment,” Kyungchang reassured.

“They have to kiss?” Yunho asked. This just kept getting worse and worse and Changmin just kept sitting there looking absolutely composed.

“Of course,” Kyungchang replied with a roll of his eyes. “Do you have anyone in mind, Changmin?”

Hmm…. Changmin thought, TS, DSP, and Pledis had Secret, KARA, Rainbow, Kahi, and After School for him to choose from. The members of Hello Venus were too young and cute for him.

“Sunhwa’s out,” Yunho said, daring Changmin to say otherwise. That girl wanted Changmin’s D and everyone knew it.

“What about Jaekyung?” Changmin asked. “We broadcast together quite a bit, so it would be believable.”

“Jaekyung would be perfect,” Sly Guy said with a small smile. “Rainbow’s always looking for more popularity. We’ll give them a call to let them know tonight and if everything goes well, we’ll call you back in, Changmin, to go over details.”

“Yunho, you can go home now, we just need to talk with Changmin a bit,” Ivy said. Changmin just could not believe the gall of this woman but Yunho rigidly stood up and marched out of the room, desperately trying not to betray his fury again.

“I’ll walk you out, Yunho,” Sly Guy said. He ran forward to open the door for Yunho and rested a hand on the small of his back, guiding the man out of the room. Changmin fumed at the sight but a quick look at Kyungchang told him not to follow. Changmin was pretty sure Sly Guy was trying to get into Yunho’s pants and the older man was just too naïve to see it. Damn it! Yunho was an emotional wreck right now, what if Sly Guy tried to pull something?

“I’m actually pretty exhausted, can we do this later?” Changmin asked, faking a yawn. It was a question but his hands were literally twitching to go after Yunho, so he didn’t think he could actually handle a refusal.

“Just go,” Fairy said with a shake of her head. As Changmin dashed from the room, she giggled as she thought about how Changmin was going to get Yunho to forgive him. The purple contacts’ purpose was to hide the erted look in her eyes whenever she looked at the couple. No one at SM could know she was a former HoMin fanfic writer who had infiltrated the company to stalk her fantasies. Her life was so damn good.

As Fairy debated various begging scenarios, Changmin caught up to Yunho, who had just been delivered to the car by Sly Guy. Changmin narrowed his eyes at the casual way that Yunho touched Sly Guy as he thanked him but quickly hurried up to jump in the car with Yunho. If he happened to slam into Sly Guy’s shoulder on the way, well, happened. Changmin slid across the seat, an apology ready on his tongue, but Yunho wasn’t even looking at him and the ride home was spent in an awkward, tension-filled silence.

Yunho kept his lips pressed firmly together until they entered their first apartment, then he Changmin with a fury worse than that of a thousand scorned women. “What the hell, Changmin? The were you thinking?”

Changmin flinched at the cuss words since Yunho only ever swore when he was beyond pissed but it all if he was going to take being yelled at lying down. “One of us has to do it, Yunho.”

“And you just jumped at the chance, didn’t you?” Yunho spat.

“I did not jump. Jaekyung is a nice girl.”

“Oh, so you do want to date her? Do you like her, Changmin? Do you like the way she practically bends over backwards for you? Do you want to bend her over?” Yunho was always more vulgar when he was angry. Yunho had his own insecurities that Changmin had forgotten in his own jealousy. Yunho knew he was forgetful, he knew his chest was too big, his face was too small, he couldn’t sing very well, he couldn’t have Changmin’s kids, he had scars. Of course, he thought, Changmin would want Jaekyung. The girl was practically perfect; she tried her hardest in everything she did, she was multi-talented, and she was beautiful both inside and out. On top of everything else that made her better than Yunho, Jaekyung could cook and draw, two things Yunho was incredibly lacking in. Changmin didn’t see things this way, of course, but Yunho excelled at being incredibly self-critical.

“No! But it has to be done, so I’m taking responsibility,” Changmin tried to explain.

“Responsibility?” Yunho scoffed. “Is that what they’re calling it nowadays?”

“That’s not what I meant and you ing know it,” Changmin replied with clenched teeth. He was beginning to lose his temper too and anger has a tendency to expose insecurities. “Why are you so upset about this? Did you have someone you wanted to try out?” 

“Why am I upset? Really? Because my boyfriend appears to be completely fine dating someone else, that’s why!”

“Oh wait. You’ve already slept with everyone else so there’s really no point,” Changmin continued, not hearing Yunho’s words.

Yunho stopped moving, tension halting all his muscles. “What are you trying to say, Changmin?”

“You’ve practically slept with half of Seoul, you !”

And sometimes, anger can make you say things you don’t mean.

All the wrath left Yunho then, replaced by hurt. He had been called a lot of things by a lot of people but he had never imagined that Changmin would use that word against him. Changmin knew how he felt about that word.

Jaejoong had always called Yunho that.

Changmin watched, helpless to retract his words, as Yunho sprinted to their joint bedroom and locked the door behind him. He could faintly hear the little crying sounds that Yunho made when he was trying to fight his tears through the mahogany. , , , he thought, I didn’t mean to say that! Yunho always said that the most hurtful weapons are words and Changmin had just wielded them against the most important person in his life.

“Yunho? Hyung? Can you please let me in?” He knocked on the door gently. “Come on, baby, I didn’t mean that. You know I didn’t mean that. Yunho?” Still no response and Changmin continued to hit the door, with more force in each strike. “Don’t cry, hyung, please don’t cry. You know how I get with my temper sometimes. Yunho? Just let me in, we can talk about this.”

The door unlocked and opened slightly, just enough so that Yunho could peak through it. Changmin looked at that gorgeous face, stained with tears, and hated himself for causing his lover pain. His anger was just so overwhelming sometimes, but he really tried to fight it for Yunho.

 “You can’t call me that. Never that, not you,” Yunho whispered.

“I know, hyung; it’ll never happen again. I swear to food, it’ll never happen again.”

“Oh no, not on food. How would you live?” Yunho rolled his eyes at Changmin but found only sincerity and guilt in Changmin’s eyes. Yunho turned around and curled back up on the bed, back facing Changmin, in a silent command for the younger man to join him. Yunho felt the bed shift as another body added weight to it and seconds later, he was back in his favorite place in the world; wrapped in Changmin’s arms. Yunho’s heart still hurt but he knew Changmin had some anger management issues that they tried to work through together.

“You’re the only one I want to be with, you know,” Changmin whispered in his ear.

“Then why did you agree to date her without even talking to me about it?” Yunho replied, clutching the blanket to his chest.

“Fake dating,” Changmin corrected. Yunho just snorted; he wasn’t going to argue semantics. A moment or two later, Changmin finally admitted quietly, “I didn’t want you to agree first.”

“Why?” Yunho asked, not understanding why it would matter since it was a fake relationship to begin with.

“I just don’t want to lose you.” Again, a voice in the back of his head added but Changmin ignored it, not understanding the meaning.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Changminnie.” Yunho threw his elbow back into his lover’s side, earning an irritated grunt.

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” Changmin explained. “It would be whoever you dated. I mean, how are they supposed to resist you?”

“It’s been done,” Yunho chuckled.

“I sure couldn’t,” Changmin said, nipping at Yunho’s earlobe playfully. The shorter man laughed and flipped over onto his back so he could pull Changmin to his chest. Changmin promptly snuggled into that glorious chest, inhaling Yunho’s unique scent, and felt himself lulling to sleep.

“Oh no you don’t; we have to get ready for bed first,” Yunho scolded. He was promptly rewarded with the sound of Changmin snoring. Really? Changmin’s ability to sleep on command astonished and frustrated him sometimes. Yunho carefully scooted Changmin to the side so the taller man wouldn’t wake up when Yunho left the bed.

Yunho moaned as he got up, rolling knotted muscles and absently thinking he would have to coerce Changmin into giving him a massage in the morning. But for now, Yunho changed into his pajamas and stripped Changmin of enough clothes to be comfortable sleeping in and then joined him in bed. When Yunho laid back down, Changmin recognized Yunho’s scent in his sleep and crept closer to Yunho again. Changmin then wrapped his arms around Yunho, pulling him towards him and contorting their bodies around each other. The shorter man giggled; Changmin really did sleep like a koala bear. But he secretly loved it.

A couple weeks later, Changmin and Yunho were called into another meeting. Yunho dragged his feet as he went, dreading this particular conference. He actually quite liked Jaekyung but he really did not like anyone hanging all over Changmin.

Bishi, Fairy, Ivy , and Sly Guy greeted them and Bishi wasted no time jumping into the issue. “Well, it turns out that Jaekyung is already dating someone and DSP was only offering the other members of Rainbow and KARA.”

Before Yunho could hope that they had scrapped the whole dating idea, Ivy continued. “So we reached out to TS and Sunhwa has agreed to be a part of the plan. It was decided that this would work better anyway because of the past comments she has made about you, Changmin.”

“What?” Changmin asked, shell-shocked. Oh, Yunho was not going to like this at all.

“I thought I said that Sunhwa was out,” Yunho gritted out through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to tear the Ivy to tiny little pieces.

“Your opinion doesn’t matter here, Yunho. Oh, and we’re also moving up the date of your enlistment. Your promotions end this week so there’s no need to delay the inevitable. You have three weeks left.”

“What?” Changmin asked, incredibly angry now. How dare they take away some of their precious remaining time together? Changmin had plans! He had tickets, goddamnit!

“She has a point, Changmin,” Sly Guy said. “The faster Yunho leaves, the faster he can come back.”

“But-” Changmin started, enraged. What would he do with his tickets to Milan?

“It’s okay, Changdola. What’s done is done,” Yunho interrupted him, looking down at his hands in his lap. Changmin clamped his mouth shut, knowing he should be more concerned about Yunho then his damn plane tickets. He couldn’t calm down completely, though, and he briskly walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Sly Guy sighed deeply and clamped Yunho on the shoulder as he too left. “Make sure he’s ready for his date with Sunhwa. Here’s her number.” Sly Guy handed Yunho a small piece of paper with all of Sunhwa’s contact information on it. Yunho looked down at it, desperately wishing he could tear the thing to shreds but knowing he couldn’t. The leader might appear calm on the outside but on the inside, he was slowly dying. Why did these things always happen to them? It just seemed like one thing after another.

As Yunho stood up to go after Changmin, Bishi surprised him by pulling him into a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” Bishi whispered into his ear and it wasn’t creepy or weird. It was exactly what Yunho needed to hear but it didn’t help as much as he wanted it to.

“You’re prettier than Sunhwa anyway,” Fairy added, making Yunho laugh. That was true. He smiled at the two trying to cheer him up and left the room so they could deal with the storm at home.

That night, Changmin held Yunho in his arms, trying to comfort him. Yunho wasn’t crying but he was hurting silently, which can be far, far worse. Changmin ran his fingertips up and down Yunho’s arms and tried to think of words that would stop this pain.

“Don’t worry, love, this is just a rough patch. We’ll get through it just like we always do.”

“I know. It’s just hard.” Yunho sighed deeply. “Tell me about the bunnies, Changmin,” Yunho begged, needing an assurance of their future together. Yunho was always such a strong leader, smiling at everyone and never breaking down. It was only around Changmin that he let the wall fall down.

Changmin chuckled at his expression but fulfilled his lover’s request. “Ten years from now, after Dong Bang Shin Ki is over, you and I are going to move out to the countryside so we can be together without it being a national scandal. We’ll have a farm so I can ogle at you driving a tractor around with no shirt on.” Yunho giggled here, but it was a scene that Changmi definitely needed to witness before he died. “We’ll make homemade strawberry jam and jar kimchi.” Strawberries were Yunho’s favorite.

“And you’ll teach me how to cook so you don’t always have to be in the kitchen,” Yunho chimed in.

“I thought you liked me in the kitchen,” Changmin teased, thinking of Yunho’s reaction whenever he wore his apron.

“I do,” Yunho nipped at Changmin’s ear, “but I really should be able to make something other than ramen.”

Changmin hummed in agreement and continued his tale. “We’ll start off with some bunnies to make sure we can take care of something other than ourselves.”

“Can we have a lot of fluffy bunnies, Changmin?” Yunho asked, needing to hear it straight from his partner. The man could still be a child, but Changmin knew a lot of it was because he never had a real childhood. Being homeless and training constantly tended to destroy what little youth people had left.

“Yes, we can have a bunch of furry monstrosities,” Changmin said, shaking his head but the smile on Yunho’s face was enough to make him ignore the immaturity. Yunho giggled with pure glee at the thought of his bunnies. “If you don’t accidently kill the poor things, we can get a dog or two to help with the cattle.”

“You’re not going to help with the bunnies?” Yunho pouted up at Changmin. The taller of the two looked down at his lover’s face and knew deep in his soul that he would help Yunho do anything, anything at all, but Yunho didn’t need to know the absolute influence he held over Changmin.

“Nope, you want them, you take care of them,” Changmin replied, growing nervous at the evil smirk on Yunho’s face as he thought of the numerous ways he could persuade Changmin into helping.

“Okay,” Yunho agreed, a little too easily. “You’ll be busy anyway, teaching at the closest college with your smart-aleck brain.”

“And you’ll be a part of the police force,” Changmin replied. This story was a common occurrence in their house.

“Hmm, the cop and the teacher. It sounds like a bad joke,” Yunho said, wrinkling his nose at the thought.

“Or a good ,” Changmin replied, blowing into Yunho’s ear. The shorter man giggled and shifted a little in Changmin’s arms but settled back down to hear more. “Where was I? Oh, yes, I’ll be a professor and you’ll be a police officer. We can go visit Seoul whenever we want, to visit all our old friends and go dancing if you want.”

“But you don’t really like going dancing,” Yunho protested.

“I like watching you dance,” Changmin denied. He didn’t want to say that the reason he didn’t like going to clubs was because of all the people that openly stared at Yunho’s body. They had a reason to – his Yunho was a masterpiece on the dance floor – but that didn’t mean Changmin had to like it. Yunho pouted slightly but decided to leave the matter for a different time. “If Korea ever legalizes it, we’ll get married; both of us in tuxedoes and our parents will walk us down the aisle.”

“If they approve,” Yunho added sulkily.

“I think they already know.” Changmin smiled as he thought of their families and how Yunho’s mother always winked at him whenever he went to stay with them over vacation. “We can go to as many hockey games as you want and we’ll watch the variety shows we always miss and it will all be terribly mundane and beautifully amazing.”

Yunho smirked at the end; their dream might sound boring to some people but it was how they wanted their retirement to go. They both enjoyed the stage and couldn’t picture retiring for a good long time but maybe in twenty years or so….

But this was all just a fantasy, a hope. Neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring and in their profession, there were no promises. Their history proved that enough.

Soon enough, it came time for Sunhwa and Changmin’s first date. It always took the reporters a couple weeks to catch on and gather evidence so if they started just a week before Yunho’s enlistment, they hoped the scandal would break about a month and a half into Yunho’s service. They would then milk the scandal, denying it and then having more pictures taken, until Changmin enlisted. The plan for the day was to have Sunhwa come over to Changmin’s apartment so they could discuss their strategy and then they would leave for their day out.

Yunho picked out Changmin’s outfit for his first date with Sunhwa. Changmin just sat on their bed and observed as Yunho selected something classy but not too y. Yunho wanted Changmin to look nice but also keep Sunhwa from getting any ideas. Changmin obediently wore the clothes Yunho had selected and pecked him on the lips right as their doorbell rang. Yunho sighed and the two men moved to the kitchen/living room area by the entryway.

“Be nice, Yunho,” Changmin warned as he walked over to the door.

“Me?” Yunho asked with false innocence, “Whatever reason would I have to be mean to the greedy ?”

Changmin sighed; why had he thought it would okay to have them meet again? “Just try to keep it in for the five minutes she’s here.”

“I don’t understand why she had to come here. This is our apartment,” Yunho moaned, leaning over the kitchen counter. He knew he sounded like a whiny but he couldn’t stop himself and, really, he didn’t care. If Changmin was going to date someone else, the man deserved his full wrath.

Changmin just shot Yunho another warning glare and opened the door for the bane of his love life to walk through.

Sunhwa entered the apartment, excited for their date. She knew their relationship was just a media play because TVXQ needed that little extra boost of media attention, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She had harbored a crush on Changmin for a long time now and thought that this was the perfect opportunity to show Changmin just how perfect she was. Then they could date for real and get married and have babies and he could buy her diamond-encrusted purses and life would be just as she had pictured it as a little girl.

The only problem, in Sunhwa’s mind, was Yunho. That stupid man kept trying to get between her and Changmin and Sunhwa was starting to think he actually was in love with Changmin. Poor Yunho, she thought with no real sympathy, in love with a straight man. And, of course, he was here today in Changmin’s apartment. Sunhwa rolled her eyes, the man really needed to stop suffocating Changmin with his constant presence.

“Will you give me a tour before we start, Changmin?” she asked brightly. Sunhwa reminded Yunho of high fructose corn syrup; she tasted like sugar but it was just all calculated sweetness.

 “Yunho’s really better at that kind of stuff,” Changmin admitted.

“But I want you to do it,” Sunhwa insisted, pouting.

Yunho snorted from his position by the counter. His mind translated Sunhwa’s statement into “I want you to do me.”

“Do you have a problem?” Sunhwa asked Yunho, all about false civility.

“I have one more than you,” Yunho replied. Changmin wasn’t sure if he should be insulted because he was pretty sure Yunho had just referred to him as a problem.

“I can take that problem off your hands if it’s too much for you to handle.” Oh great, now Sunhwa thought he was a problem too.

“I really don’t think you’re up to the job, dear,” Yunho replied.

“Are you going to let him talk to me like this?” Sunhwa demanded, looking at Changmin and pointing angrily at Yunho.

“I think Yunho can talk however he wants,” Changmin responded.

“Even to your girlfriend?” Sunhwa was starting to look a little pink.

“Fake girlfriend,” Yunho corrected.

“At least I am a girl!” Sunhwa retorted, hinting closer to home than Changmin or Yunho would like to admit. Changmin knew how badly Yunho wanted babies and it hurt him so bad that they couldn’t have their own. Changmin had told Yunho they could adopt but Yunho didn’t want their children being discriminated against since Korea was still so conservative in that manner. He said it would be okay just being uncles to their sisters’ and Super Junior’s children but the weak smile couldn’t hide the pain in Yunho’s eyes from Changmin.

Changmin pulled Yunho in for a kiss, right then and there. He was tired of the way Sunhwa fawned over him anyway. Yunho was his man, always was, always will be, and Changmin had to make that plain and simple to the poor girl.

Yunho tensed at first, not sure if they could trust this fickle girl with their secret, but he gradually began to respond to Changmin. Their kiss became heated, Changmin arching into Yunho, with the shorter man’s tongue exploring his mouth. Yunho smirked in his mind. That’s right, , this man’s mine. Yunho was rather talented in the art of making Changmin breathless so he didn’t pull away until Changmin was mewling into his mouth. When Yunho finally drew back, Changmin was left panting, hair tussled from Yunho’s hand on his neck, and mouth redder than usual.

This time Yunho’s smirk was physical as he looked over at Sunhwa, who looked like her world had just been shattered. Changmin coughed awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his. Yunho cackled rather evilly, and walked to their bedroom. He was content that Sunhwa had been handled.

“So….” Changmin said to Sunhwa, back in the kitchen, not sure what to say. The kiss had been his plan but Yunho’s intensity had surprised him.

“So, you’re ing Yunho?” Sunhwa said bluntly. This was a girl used to getting what she wants and Changmin had been what she wanted. Now that her prize had been taken from her, Sunhwa’s true nature peeked out to say hello.

“And he’s ing me,” Changmin replied, feeling the hostility rolling off Sunhwa in waves and responding with his own animosity.

“Well that’s just great!” Sunhwa said, throwing her arms up into the arm. “So you were just using me!”

“I thought that was established from the beginning.” Sunhwa simply gaped at him. “I needed someone to help keep TVXQ in the public eye and you needed to get some fame. Win-win.”

“I don’t need fame this bad,” Sunhwa replied, her pride injured.

“Yes, you do,” Changmin said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place.” Sunhwa glared at him, unwilling to admit that there had been a deeper, although still shallow, reason for her compliance. “And you’re going to continue to date me.” Changmin wasn’t pulling any punches; he had a darker, more intimidating, side to him and Changmin never hesitated to use it for Yunho’s cause.

“What makes you so sure?” Sunhwa demanded. She was beyond furious and yet Changmin looked so fine giving commands like the leader of an army or something.

“You still need the fame. I still need you for the media exposure.” Changmin’s cold eyes bore into Sunhwa’s mind.

Sunhwa rolled her eyes but knew Changmin was right. The media play was still a good plan and beneficial for everyone; she just wasn’t going to get to meet her future husband out of the deal. Actually, Sunhwa thought, their label-mate, Siwon, was pretty damn rich too and he was a rather fine specimen in the looks department. She could use this as an opportunity to get closer to Siwon and make the arrangement work in her favor, after all.

“Fine,” she conceded finally. “We can still date but on the condition that you and Yunho never kiss in front of me again. Makes me want to join you.” Sunhwa almost laughed at Changmin’s expression of horror. Yep, she thought, this one’s definitely gay.

“Agreed,” Changmin said, trying not to picture that scenario. He would have nightmares for weeks.

“So are we going on a date today or not?” Sunhwa asked. She was calmer now that she had refocused her mind on Siwon.

“I think we should save it for another day,” Changmin replied, showing her to the door. After promising to text her, he strode into their den, knowing Yunho would be there.

“How’d it go?” Yunho asked. He put a bookmark in his crime novel and took off his reading glasses that Changmin loved so much.

 “She offered us a ,” Changmin replied. He stuck his tongue out and made a gagging noise. Yunho giggled and then thought about it for a minute.

“Nah,” he said, “she’s not really my type.”

“I can’t imagine going to bed with anyone but you,” Changmin said, shyly. He leaned forward and brushed a kiss against Yunho’s nose.

Yunho’s breath caught in his throat and he was reminded again how inexperienced Changmin was. Yunho had been his first, and he was sure as hell going to be Changmin’s last. “Good,” he said and pulled Changmin forward for a proper kiss. This time, Yunho took mercy and pulled away before they could get too carried away.  “You should probably leave for your date.”

Changmin shook his head. “I sent her home.” Yunho’s grin was bright enough to rival the sun. Changmin coyly returned it with one of his one. “So we have the entire afternoon to ourselves.” He pulled Yunho up by the hands, starting to walk backwards towards the bedroom. Yunho stood up and had no choice but to follow Changmin.

“The entire afternoon? What ever shall we do?” Yunho threw his head back, faking exasperation. Changmin nibbled a little at Yunho’s jaw, reminding Yunho that while Changmin may not have very much experience with lovers, he had an abundance of knowledge on Yunho.

“I have a couple of ideas.”

And the rest of the afternoon was spent in a symphony of moans and giggles.

Their relationship wasn’t perfect, nowhere close, but they tried. Yunho and Changmin both put one hundred percent effort into making “them” work every day. Some days it wasn’t enough and Yunho would go storming out of the house, leaving Changmin to fume around, breaking everything in sight. Some days were just okay, where they were exhausted mentally and physically and just had no need to talk to each other. But other days, those were the ones worth living for. They were the days when they would feed each other from their own plates, days when Yunho would dance for Changmin and Changmin would sing for him, days where the most mundane things were filled with such utter love they knew they were made for each other. These days made it all worth it. And Changmin just knew that if they kept trying, more and more, then they would be okay in the end, together.

Yunho’s enlistment date came sooner than either man was prepared for. Yunho looked so masculine and gorgeous in his new uniform that they ended up having a quickie before Changmin kissed his military man goodbye. He was already counting down until they could be together again. Nine months until he could enlist then another twenty-one while Changmin was in the service. Thirty months total until they could be together. Thirty months until the Rising Gods of the East would reunite and take back the hearts of Korea and each other. It would be difficult, Changmin thought, but then, their relationship had never been easy. Together, they were up for the challenge. 

Authors Note

Plot twist: Jaekyung is dating me! No, for real though, I have the hugest girl crush on this woman and adore her and wish she could be a little less perfect so the rest of us meer mortals would feel less inadequate.

Also, one day, I shall be Fairy. It's in the plans, I'm working on it right now. 

And, yes, that was a reference to Of Mice and Men. Just because I adore that book and I ing love bunnies. Seriously though, I almost captured one the other day to try and tame it but then I remembered that bunnies can die of fear and decided that would be a bad idea. 

Would you like to see that as TVXQ's new concept? What did y'all think of my plan for TVXQ's enlistment? I'm actually quite fond of it. What did you think of the chapter in general? I love hearing what you guys have to say so don't be shy :)