Hinder “Lips Of An Angel”:

YH's POV:

I couldn't believe it when I saw Jaejoong's name come up on my caller ID. I knew I should ignore it...it'd be better for all of us to just continue the silence between us...but I couldn't resist. After double-checking that manager-hyung is still passed out on the couch, and Changmin's still in his bedroom, my fingers press the button to accept the call, almost as if they have a mind of their own.

“Hello?” I mumble cautiously, keeping my voice low.

“Yunho-yah?” The voice that says my name is hushed, and broken, but unmistakable. That voice belongs to the love of my life...the man who left me to fend for myself...all in the name of freedom...Jaejoong....

“Jae? Why are you calling me so late?” I ask. “It's kind of hard for me to talk right now. Changmin and our manager are in the next room.”

“I-I know...I-I'm s-sorry, I j-just-” Jaejoongs stutters, his breath hitching every now and then, his voice choked with tears.

“Boojae, why are you crying? Is everything okay?” I ask, whispering so I won't wake up my manager.
“No, Yunnie...I'm not okay...I miss you so much, I feel like I can't breathe...like someone has ripped my heart out of my chest, and left a gaping hole there...I know I shouldn't be talking to b-but...I just...I needed to hear your voice again...to remind myself that our time together wasn't just something I dreamed up,” Jaejoong replies, pausing every now and then to take a deep breath, attempting to quell his tears, but failing miserably.
“I-I know what you mean, Jae. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of a performance with Changmin and just find myself wishing...that he was you...that you didn't leave...” I admit. “I guess neither of us have really moved on yet, huh, BooJae?” I chuckle humorlessly.

“I guess not, Yunnie,” Jae replies, matching my humorless chuckle.

“Jae, it's really good to hear your voice saying my name. It sounds so sweet.
Coming from the lips of an angel, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised,” I sigh.

“I'm no angel, Yunnie. It's my fault we're both like this. If I'd just stayed with you and let Junsu and Yoochun go...” Jaejoong sighs.
“Hearing those words from you, it makes me feel weak. More and more, I wish I'd been brave enough to go with you. I never wanted to say goodbye to you...but I did. I chose to stay. I chose to put my faith in SME instead of you...but you make it exceptionally difficult for me to be faithful to them,” I admit, glancing through my open doorway, in the direction of my sleeping SM manager.

“I dream about you every night. Do you ever dream about me?” he asks after a pause, changing the subject.

“Yes....almost every time I sleep long enough to dream in the first place,” I admit.
“Does he know you're talking to me? Changmin, that is. Or your manager? Or...anyone in SM, for that matter? Will it get you in trouble?”
“No, I don't think any of them has a clue. Changmin might, but if he does, he hasn't said anything. He wouldn't tell anyone if he did, anyway,” I reply, ignoring the last question, because we both know full well that I'll be in big trouble if SME finds out I'm in contact with Jaejoong. “He misses you too, though. All three of you.”

“I miss him too,” Jae admits. “Gosh, it's really good to hear your voice again. It hard to believe we've already been apart for almost two years now.”
“I never wanna say goodbye to you...but I should probably go soon, before Changmin wakes up,” I sigh.

“Oh, o-okay,” Jae stutters. “I still love you...and I'll continue missing you until we're reunited...or until the day I die...whichever happens first,” Jae informs me.

“I love you too, Jae,” I whisper, noticing that Changmin is walking out of his room towards me. “Changmin's up, so I have to go. Goodbye,” I mumble, hanging up before Jae can reply.

“Why were you on the phone? Who's calling you this late? It's,” Changmin pauses, glancing at the clock, “just after four in the morning, and we have practice at six,” he points out.

“No one,” I lie, quickly. Too quickly.

Changmin narrows his eyes at me, knowing that I'm lying, even though he's still half-asleep. “It was him, wasn't it?” Changmin asks suspiciously.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I lie, avoiding Changmin's gaze.

“Hyung-”

“Changmin, please. Just drop it, okay?” I plead.

He sighs. “Fine. But if he calls you again...tell him that I miss him, okay?” Changmin asks, the look in his eyes unusually vulnerable. For once, Changmin looks like every bit the maknae who misses his hyungs that he is.

“He knows,” I assure Changmin. “He misses you too,” I add.

He turns away quickly, but before he does, I catch a hint of a small, genuine smile on his face...the first one I've seen on his face since the lawsuit was filed. In that moment, I promise myself that I'll keep in touch with Jae better from now on. Even if we have to be secretive about it...I won't let SM keep us all apart any longer...even if no one can know about it...we will be together again.

AN: So, yeah, it's been a while. As usual, this one is sort of somewhere in between fluffy and angsty, but the end is hopeful, so I'm classifying it as fluff, even if the beginning is angsty. Anyway, this one is longer than a lot of my others, so maybe that will make up for how long it's been? Maybe?

AN2: If anyone is curious why I said two years, rather than the six/seven years it's really been, it's because I think they've been in contact with each other for a while, even after the lawsuit craziness. Why do I think this? Because I've seen the videos of Jae and Yunho at the Ground Forces thing, and there was absolutely no awkwardness between them. If it'd been six years since they last saw each other, there'd have been awkwardness, regardless of how close they were prior to the split. Also, I found an instagram vid taken inside Jae's house where you can distinctly hear Yunho's voice in the background. If anyone is curious, this is the link to the video (not sure if it'll work, but worst case senario, you can copy & paste it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-EKQn2IBzo You can all decide for yourselves if you think it's legit, but I choose to think it is. Plus, it would explain all of their wardrobe overlap and random "coincidences."