“Wipe that ridiculous smile off of your face.”

“He mentioned me by name, Chunnie. How could I not be happy?”

“I never said don’t be happy. Hell, I’m happy for you. But three days of you waltzing around here and simpering like a little girl has gotten old.”

“I thought you were my best friend.”

“And as your best friend I am telling you: grow some balls and call him.”

“I hate you.”

“I love you, too.”

-----

Jaejoong stared at the phone in his hand, his thumb frozen on the call button.

Come on, Kim. Man up and do it! he berated himself. On the count of three. One…two…three!

He pressed the button and Yunho’s face lit up the screen. The words Calling My Lovely Yunho flashed across the screen, and Jaejoong felt like he was about to have a panic attack.

Yunho’s voice, groggy and thick with sleep, came through the speaker: “Yaboseyo?”

“Oh my god,” Jaejoong said out loud and dropped the phone into his lap.

Yunho’s voice again: “Is anyone there?”

Jaejoong picked up his phone with trembling fingers. Mechanically, he raised the phone and pressed it against his ear. “…Hi,” he said, his voice coming out much higher and squeakier than he had intended.

“Who is this?”

‘It’s, um,” he coughed, “me.”

“…Jaejoong?”

“Yeah. Hi.”

Silence on the other end. Jaejoong’s heart sank. Had Yunho hung up?

Finally, a response: “How did you get this number?”

“Oh, um. Heechul,” Jaejoong mumbled the last part.

“That bastard,” Yunho said, but Jaejoong detected a hint of amusement. He clung to that ray of positivity like a drowning person clung to driftwood, and used it to bolster his courage.

“Yunho, listen. I just wanted to call. To say hi. I heard you--When I found out what you said, I just wanted to--I’ve really missed you, Yunho, you know? It’s been years already and I just feel like maybe we should, I don’t know, try to put the past behind us? You know? Yunho?”

Yunho chuckled. And then he laughed.

Jaejoong felt miffed. “Why are you laughing at me?” he said, unable to control the whine in his voice.

“You never change, do you?”

“A lot has changed, Yunho,” Jaejoong said, suddenly serious.

“Yeah,” Yunho agreed, all trace of laughter gone from his voice.

Jaejoong bulled on. “But it doesn’t have to stay that way. I mean, things change, right? What if we changed what changed between us? What if we, I don’t know, fixed it?”

“Are you drunk?”

“A little. Kind of. I had a few beers with Yoochun. He made me call you. Said I was being a coward. I think I hate him.”

“You don’t hate him, you love him,” Yunho said, his voice cryptic.

“Yeah, I do love him. I love him so much--” Something clicked in Jaejoong’s mind. “No. NO! Not like that,” he continued. “I love him like he’s my--”

“Soulmate?”

“Yes. No! Yes? Yoochun is my soulmate, but he isn’t my Soulmate.”

On the other end of the line, Yunho had pulled his phone away from his ear and was staring at the screen in a mixture of confusion and amusement. Underneath it all lay the anger he had nursed ever since Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu had walked out of his and Changmin’s lives.

He had understood why they’d felt the need to sue S.M. Entertainment. He’d even understood their need to leave and start their own careers. But he had never been able to forgive them for it. Especially not Jaejoong. Jaejoong had promised him forever.

But that had been five years ago. He was older now. Wiser. More mature. He had once thought hearing Jaejoong’s voice again would be the last thing he wanted, but now he knew he had been an idiot. He needed Jaejoong. It was time he manned up and quit acting like a child.

He brought the phone back to his ear.

“Jaejoong,” Yunho said loudly, effectively cutting off Jaejoong’s tirade.

“…Yes?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at home.”

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

“Umm, okay.” Yunho could feel the giddiness oozing off of Jaejoong through the phone. “Do you need directions?”

“No. Heechul-hyung gave me your address.”

-----

The knock on his door was loud and clear and insistent, and Jaejoong almost had his second panic attack in an hour.

“I’m going to die,” he said to the walls.

He approached the door and reached for the doorknob slowly, like it was an unfriendly dog he should be wary of. He took a second to breathe and gather his bearings before he pulled the door open. It didn’t help. As soon as he saw Yunho, the breath was gone from him lungs and the strength disappeared from his legs.

“Oh my god,” he said again.

Jaejoong wasn’t sure who moved first. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was Yunho’s lips against his own and those wonderful, long, beautiful fingers tangled in his hair. The slamming of the door as Yunho kicked it shut sent a shiver down Jaejoong’s spine. The press of the wall against his back and the press of Yunho against his front made him feel dizzy.

He pulled away from Yunho to draw in some much-needed oxygen, and to say: “Wait, Yunho--”

“No,” Yunho said before sinking his teeth into Jaejoong’s shoulder.

“Okay.” If Yunho didn’t want to talk, that was okay with him. He wasn’t good at talking about things anyway. “Missed you,” he said on an exhale.

“Missed you too,” Yunho said and moved back up to Jaejoong’s mouth to pull him into another toe-curling kiss.

-----

The light from his cell phone woke Jaejoong up. He flung out an arm to grab the phone and instead knocked his lamp to the floor.

“,” he whispered-shouted and sat up in bed. He picked up his phone and read the text Yoochun sent him.

To: Jaejoong

From: Micky

Time Stamp: 0200

Message: Heechul-hyung says you two owe him big-time for helping out.

To: Micky

From: Jaejoong

Time Stamp: 0201

Message: I’ll send him a big bag of candies and a new collar for Heebum.

Jaejoong smiled and turned off his phone. He placed it back on the bedside table, then laid back down and cuddled up into Yunho’s side.

Maybe two bags of candy. And a new cat. Jaejoong thought before falling into a blissful sleep.