The last part...????

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When Yunho woke up that morning, with Taepoong snuggled on his side and a picture of his late wife on his chest, he was not surprised to hear yelling. In fact he just smiled, knowing his bratty neighbours were back. He should go and see if they had a good trip. After all they did declare him to be their Appa, whether he approved or not, they didn’t care.

What he was surprised to hear was the frantic knocking on his door.

“Hyung! Hyung, wake up!” it sounded like Micky. Ok, it wasn’t the first time that he’d had one of the three banging on his door, demanding he help them sort out their differences, but this time it felt different.

The banging was getting louder and louder, and Micky’s voice sounding close to tears. What the hell was going on?

Taepoong was awake by then, growling at the door, but didn’t stick around long enough. He padded away to mind his own business. Yunho quickly got up, wiping his eyes.

“Hyung! Yunho Hyung! It’s an emergency, WAKE UP!” He was worried that he’d need to fit a new door in when he opened the door.

“What?” he whined, still yawning and wiping the sleep from his eyes.

“Omg! You have to help hyung!” Micky clutched his shoulders, shaking him. Yup, he definitely had tears pooling in his eyes.

“Ok, but what the hell is going on?” he slapped the hands away. The shaking was making him dizzy.

“JAEJOONG HYUNG IS DYING!” Micky screamed at his face.

Without a backward glance, Yunho shoved the boy out of the way running towards Jae’s apartment only to be yanked back. Micky held onto his sleeve pulling him towards his own open door.

“In here!”

As soon as they were in, Yunho could finally understand what the early morning yelling was all about.

“Hold on! Don’t let go!” Junsu and Max were bent over the railing of their balcony, yelling at something below. With confusion, Yunho went over to them, wondering what the actual was going on, when he saw Jae.

He was dangling over the balcony railing. Both of his hands held tight by Max and Junsu. The rest of his body was suspended mid-air.

“WHY WOULD I LET GO YOU MORON!?” He screamed, kicking his legs.

“Yunho hyung! Help us!” Junsu shouted over his shoulder as soon as he’d spotted the man.

Snapping out of his shock, he immediately went next to Max, bending over to pull at Jae’s forearm. With the help of all four, they finally managed to get the skinny man back to safety.

He collapsed on the floor, along with the other three, all breathing heavily. Yunho just stood above them, wondering what on earth he’d woken up to.

“Next time-next time you want to die, please go and do it somewhere else” Max ordered with laboured breathe.

“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on, or do you all plan on falling asleep on the concrete floor?” Yunho asked, exasperated.

Four pairs of eyes looked up at him. Two faces smiled, one just made a face and the fourth…glanced away guiltily.

Jaejoong slowly got up and patted his clothes to get rid of the dust. Wasn’t that the same outfit he was wearing last night? Yunho scrunched his face up, looking at the man confusedly.

“Thank you, for saving me everyone. I’ll see you guys later.” Jae waved at the three on the floor, getting himself waves and thumbs-up in return. SERIOUSLY? Yunho was pissed. Jaejoong is here for one night and they’re already chummy chummy with him, but when he had moved in the brats had hated him and pranked him for a good three months! Why does Jae get a free pass? So not fair.

“No probz, Cutie! This was definitely one of the more exciting mornings I’ve had.” Micky laughed as he enthusiastically waved Jae goodbye, all signs of the earlier waterworks gone.

Cutie? WTF!? Who was that grease-ball calling cutie? How dare he?

He was about to tell the three off – for reasons unknown even to himself – but Jae walked past him and he felt obliged to follow. After all, he wasn’t going to be childish and avoid him. They had to talk. It was inevitable. Because, no matter what kind of horrible thoughts had come to his head last night, some even choking him with tears, he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t being fair to Jae.

The brunette had not lied to him. The poor guy had tried to tell him the truth as soon as was socially acceptable, and Yunho had rewarded his bravery with running away. He’d even considered knocking on his door in the middle of the night to apologise, but hadn’t been able to find the courage to do so.

As they got to the living room, Jaejoong stopped.

“So…Umm, want to tell me what that was about?” Yunho asked, nodding towards the balcony where the mongrels had started fighting – AGAIN! Why did they even live together? The three couldn’t go an hour without an argument.

“Oh, that.” Jae’s cheeks coloured adorably, as he scratched his head, sheepish. “I kind of accidently locked myself outside, last night.” He avoided Yunho’s gaze, fidgeting on the spot.

Yunho just opened and closed his mouth like a gold fish, no words coming out. How the hell had he locked himself out? Jae looked up, with an offended look on his face when Yunho started to giggle. He tried not to, he honestly did. But the look on Jae’s face just made it so hard not to laugh.

The shorter man huffed, and walked off as Yunho’s amusement got the better of him.

“Hey! Wait, I’m sorry.”

Jaejoong turned around, looking at him sideways, suspiciously as Yunho tried his hardest not to laugh.

“It’s not funny” Jae pouted, crossing his arms across his chest, daring him to laugh again.

“You’re right. It’s not funny at all.” Yunho nodded his head solemnly.

For a couple of seconds they stared at each other in the hallway, before Jae deflated and stopped pouting.

“Fine. It’s funny. You can laugh - but not too much!” he warned, with a finger pointing at him.

Yunho shook his head, glad Jae wasn’t being difficult.

“So how does you locking yourself outside result in you dangling from their balcony…?” Yunho asked, now standing in front of Jaejoong.

Jae looked at him, unsure before hesitantly explaining. “Ahem. Well, my balcony door is open, so I thought if I could climb from theirs to mine I could open the door from the inside…”

“Did it not occur to you that you could have fallen down?”

“Not at the time, it didn’t.” more sulking.  

Instead of agitating him, Yunho bit the inside of his mouth hard to stop the laughter that was bubbling in him once again. “So, I’m assuming you spent the night with them?” he cleared his throat.

“Yup.”

“Cool. So…”

“So, since you’re the agent that dealt with the sale…you wouldn’t happen to have a spare key with you or in the office would you?” Jaejoong had the most hopeful eyes.

“Actually, you’re in luck. I still have the key which I was supposed to give you, but forgot.”

“Oh, thank god! You’re a life saver!” Jaejoong jumped at him, wrapping his arms around Yunho’s neck. When he realised what he’d done, he quickly untangled himself, regret written on his face. “I’m so sorry! I just-”

“Don’t apologise. Come on, I’ll give you the key.” Yunho led him towards his own flat, smiling sincerely again. He was glad his actions hadn’t pushed Jae away too much.

Jaejoong smiled, happy that Yunho wasn’t avoiding him. “Are you sure Taepoongie will be happy to see me?” He skipped happily, even though the dog’s mention brought a grimace to his face.

“Haha. Don’t be silly. He’ll love you!” Yunho assured as he entered his apartment – which was open thankfully.

Taepoong wasn’t anywhere in sight when they entered, Jaejoong lingering in the entryway while Yunho went in search of the key. While he was riffling through the files on his desk, it occurred to Yunho that he hadn’t mentioned anything about Taepoong to Jae. Had he even mentioned he had a dog? He slowly walked back to where Jaejoong was standing, and looked at the man inquisitively.

“Ah, great. Thank yo-” Jaejoong stopped mid-sentence as he observed Yunho’s face. That wasn’t a very welcoming look.

“Jae…When did I tell you about Taepoongie?” it wasn’t meant to sound so accusatory, but nonetheless Jae felt like Yunho was questioning his intent. Not that he was surprised. He realised this whole thing was messed up on some higher level. How was he supposed to know things would blow up in his face like this?

He briefly wondered if it would have been better for his sanity if the blessing of a man he knew as Yunho was someone he was simply forever indebted to, without any emotional feelings attached. Why did he have to meet the man…and like him?

“You didn’t.” he answered looking at him straight in the eyes. To Jaejoong’s great surprise and slight annoyance, Yunho still hadn’t figured out that he was JJ. Was he really that slow?

“Then how did-”

“Are we going to have the conversation now? Or can I shower first?” Jaejoong cut in.

Yunho was very confused. Just then, Taepoong padded into the room. He came towards Jae, sniffing around him before he barked at him and walked off into whichever corner he’d come from.

“Mutt” Jae growled, glaring at the dog.

“Hey! Don’t insult Taepoong.” Yunho look at him disapprovingly, offended on the dog’s behalf.

Jaejoong rolled his eye. Yunho clearly needed to have the matter spelled out for him, so what better time to do it than now. He squared his shoulders, knowing what he was about to do would either make or break them. May as well get it over with.

“Yunnie, can we talk?”

“About what?” Yunho knew Jae wanted to talk about last night’s revelation, but he wasn’t sure he was ready. Especially because he’d once again spotted JJ’s hello kitty paper on his desk, while retrieving Jae’s key. Perhaps that was why he still hadn’t figured it out. His mind was too preoccupied.

“Last night? Us? Everything?” Jae shrugged, getting a little less confident in his decision. What if things got worse? What if they ended up hating each other?

“I guess. Come on in, then.” Yunho led the way, mentally preparing a speech as he sat down.

“So…” Jae sat across from him, his attention zeroing in on Yunho’s hand which held the pink paper in a tight fist. He smiled, though his eyes seemed sad.

“So…Umm about last night. I’m sorry!”

“I’m sorry!”

They both breathed out at the same time. The following grins couldn’t be helped by either of them as they gazed at each other.

“What are you sorry for?” Yunho asked, leaning in towards him.

“Well, for starters…I guess I’m sorry for bringing back such a bad time. I’m sorry for not telling you before. I’m sorry for ruining our evening. And I’m sorry about your wife. Especially sorry for being an eyesore that, in a way, took what was yours.” He didn’t dare look up at his face, his gaze strictly on the fisted hands as he said the words that released some of the pressure from his heart.

“You’re silly, you know that?” Yunho flicked his nose across the table, surprising the other male who looked at him with huge eyes. Questions clearly building up.

“Don’t look at me like that. You are. You told me as soon as you could, Jae, it’s not like you lied to me. You didn’t ruin our evening, I did.” Jaejoong opened his mouth to protest to that, but Yunho beat him to it. “No, don’t. Listen to me, then you can say what you want, ok?” He pleaded, earning himself a nodding head in return.

“Good. Now, I’m not being modest or anything. Think about it, Jae. I was the one who ruined last night for both of us. Even though the news was a shock, I shouldn’t have ran away. Especially not after I promised I’d give you a chance to explain. That was a horrible thing to do, because you’ve obviously had problems to deal with, just like myself.” he slowly reached over and held Jae’s hand in his, forgetting about the paper that was now discarded on the corner of the table. Jae looked like he wasn’t expecting that, if the hint of moisture in his eyes was anything to go by.

“As for my wife. How can you even say that? Do you have any idea how happy I am that her greatest gift gave life to someone so, incredibly amazing.” He was getting emotional, too. He couldn’t help the little lump in his throat that wavered his voice.

“Yunnie-”

“Please let me finish Jae. I need to say this. God knows I’ve needed to say this for a long time.” He begged as his hold on Jae’s hand got tighter. The latter just nodded, tears now rolling down his cheeks. It was inevitable. The person that gave life to him was as important to Jae as she was important to Yunho, so how could they both stop the tears that had started to leak.

They didn’t try. The tears had to be let free. They’d both kept them in long enough, both men suffering in their own way.

“Ugh. I know I’m crying and I probably look ugly and disgusting but I need to say this, Boo.” Jae laughed at the silly sentence and couldn’t help the warmth from spreading in his body from hearing the nickname. It was cute. He nodded towards him, encouraging the man to continue.

“Wh-when she asked me to sign the permission slip on her behalf, I didn’t want to. I told myself I wouldn’t. But then she told me to do it for her as a parting gift-” Yunho burst out crying, no longer able to hold it in. He felt like a dam had been removed and all the tears he’d been too afraid to shed were now running free. He wished he’d met Jae sooner. Maybe he would have had the courage to talk and release the pressure, so that he didn’t have to bare the heavy weight on his shoulders for so long.

He was surprised at himself. He didn’t know how long they sat there opposite each other, hands held tight as he spoke the words that had been bottled up. He wasn’t aware of time or how hard he was holding onto Jae’s hands, all he knew was that he had to talk. He had to let it out. To empty his heart of the pain left by the past.

He couldn’t stop, once it started. He recounted everything. From the doctor’s diagnosis, to her hospitalisation and final words she spoke to him. It poured out of him like his heart was desperate to get it all out, begging for someone to listen, to understand.

Jaejoong listened. He didn’t say a word. Tears were pouring down as hard on his face as they were on Yunho’s. All he managed to do as he tried to somehow lessen the man’s pain simply through the pressure of his hands…was listen.

A listening ear. Sometimes that’s all a person needed. And Jae was all too familiar with the feeling himself.

By the time Yunho was done talking, the tears had stopped. He felt like he was flying; his heart so light that he wondered briefly if he was asleep. Without realising it, he was smiling. A smile that hadn’t been so full and pain-free for the last seven years. He wipes the tears away, as contentment filled his being. In that moment, he realised he was in love with the man sitting in front of him.

As he looked at Jae, with his eyes all puffy, lips swollen and cheeks red from silently crying, he embraced the realisation. Yes. He was in love with him. As ridiculous as it may sound considering they’d only known each other for barely over a month, Yunho could not care less. All he could see was Jaejoong, the person that had opened his heart once again.

“Silly Boo why are you still crying?” he smiled, reaching over to wipe Jae’s cheeks.

“Because.” He answered childishly.

“I think I’m done” Yunho laughed weakly, lightly squeezing Jae’s hand. “Your turn.”

“I-I don’t really know what to say at this point…” Jae sniffled, still looking as cute as a baby panda.

“Boo, you were the one who wanted to say something, but then I took over. Sorry.” Despite his apology, Yunho smiled ever so brightly.

“Well…oh yeah. Ugh, now I’m scared of saying it.” He put his head down.

“Hey, please tell me. I was an last night and didn’t give you the chance to finish…I’ll listen this time. I promise.”

“It’s not that. It’s just…well. Dammit this is hard.” He took deep breathe before opening his eyes. “Remember, last night I said I had two things to say to you?”

“You did?” Yunho earned himself a light kick under the table for his guilty look.

“The first was…well, you know.” Jae pointed to the general direction of his chest. “The second, which we didn’t get to…that was also important…” he bit his lip, not quite sure how to continue as he looked at the little pink note paper in the corner. Lightbulb! He got an idea.

“What’s this?” he picked up the paper, waving it at Yunho’s face. He suddenly had an excited and nervous expression.

“Oh, that. You see…it’s a little-I mean, why don’t you finish first before we get to that?” Yunho tried to grab the paper, surprised when Jae just let him have it.

“Call the number.”

“Huh?” Yunho looked up, a little at a loss as to what Jae was up to.

“Yunho, call the number on the sheet.” Jae calmly answered.

“W-why?”

“Yunnie, please just do it” Jae whined, bouncing his legs under the table. 

“Ok.” Yunho hesitantly raised his phone and dialled the number. He wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but Jae seemed to really want it. So who was he to refuse? At the same time, his heart was racing from anticipation. ! He was about to call JJ. Would he pick up? Would he be angry because Yunho didn’t call him when he was supposed to? What if –

His stopped mid-thought when Jae’s phone started ringing and just looked at the device in his hands.

He continued to stare, his brain speeding through everything since he’d met Jaejoong on that cold, miserable day.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

Could the two most amazing people…actually be one?

Jaejoong. JJ. Jae. The same person.

His eyes almost bugged out of their sockets as the realisation hit him.

Forever Grateful…The heart.

Everything slowed down, or his brain was probably speeding up, but either way he felt like the stupidest person sitting opposite Jaejoong.

“Oh. My. God.” That was all that left his mouth before his body moved.

Jaejoong was panicking and mentally preparing speeches to defend his position when all of a sudden he was no longer sitting, his legs no longer hitting the floor. He was being spun around, in what was one of the tightest – and most comfy – embraces he’d ever received.

Yunho was hugging him! Yunho was spinning him around in his kitchen and hugging him.

He was also crushing the smaller man’s bones and stopping his airflow.

Jaejoong wiggled around before being placed back on his feet.

“You’re JJ!” Yunho practically screamed in his face, eyes bright with excitement.

“Uhh…yeah. But, honestly I was expecting a whole different reaction to this one…” Jae finished off. He was a little unsure of this was really happening. Yunho wasn’t angry?

“What-you know what, never mind! You’re JJ!” that continued for a while; Yunho screaming the same sentence over and over and squeezing Jae to his chest and spinning him around. “Do you have any idea how conflicted I’ve been over having to choose between you two?” Yunho demanded once he’d finally placed him down again, pulling his ear to make is point.

“Hey! Ouch!” Jae pouted.

“I’m serious, oh my God! I can’t believe this! I want to scream and shout until I lose my voice – I’m so excited right now you can’t even imagine!” Yunho looked like he was at a loss on what to do to show his excitement. His eyes seemed to…sparkle. Jae laughed, both from amusement and relief.

“Well, to be honest I was expecting you to figure it out yourself. Did you have a go at the Brain Activity game I sent you?” Jae asked innocently, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Yunho couldn’t bring himself to be anything but overjoyed. It briefly registered in his mind that he should be offended, but all he could think was that JJ and his Jae, his Boo, were the same person and he was standing there in his kitchen smiling at him.

He could pass out from pure happiness.

They both knew there were questions and explanations. Both knew there was a lot that needed to be cleared out, but it could wait.

All that mattered to the two of them was that perfect moment of pure bliss, when they looked at each other with unconditional adoration, smiles causing pains in their jaws.

Only to be broken by a loud bark.

“He doesn’t like you much.”

They both doubled over laughing as Taepoong’s barks grew more irate. 

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I might write an epilogue - not sure yet.

Drop me a comment below! xx