A Fragile Chrismas
Title: A Fragile Christmas
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae
Rating: G
Genre: Kid fic
Length: One shot
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: Jaejoong doesn't like Sunday School or climbing trees, but he loves being Yunho’s best friend.
Author’s Note: The fragile kids won my poll, so here is my Christmas short story. In most likelihood this short story will eventually be added to Fragile Essence. It establishes a few things I thought the original story was lacking. I am not sure if it can stand alone or not.
I was going to wait and update this…….but then I ruined two pounds of fudge I was supposed to bring to a Christmas Party, got a sore throat, and generally just feel like crap…crap on crap. So in a desperate attempt to find that Christmas spirit……I decided to share this with all my beloved readers.
Jaejoong didn't like Sunday School.
His mouth was dry, his hands were clammy, and he felt light headed. Mr. Crawford always had the kids sit in a circle around his desk as they each read a small passage from the Bible. Jaejoong knew he had learned a lot since he had started going to school in Red Fern, but he still wasn’t smart.
Jaejoong desperately wished that his Aunt Bessie had refused to let him go to church with the Jungs, like she usually did. He was endlessly torn about going. He always wanted to make Yunho happy, but he dreaded Sunday School. Christmas was nearing and Yunho had promised church was much more fun at Christmas time, so Jaejoong had begged Aunt Bessie to let him go and she had relented.
His fear in class was worse today than it had ever been before, because Yunho wasn’t paying attention to him. Yunho, who was sitting across the room, was too busy glaring at Phillip to notice him at all. Yunho usually sat next to him and if Jaejoong didn’t know a word he would whisper it to Jaejoong, but his best friend was out of whispering distance today.
Yunho and Phillip had gotten in a fight before church had started, about which one of them was better at playing basketball. Jaejoong had thought the fight was very silly, but they had taken it very seriously. They had decided to determine who was best at basketball…by wresting, which Jaejoong found odd, but he realized he did not know much about sports.
Both of the boys had taken their shoes off and started wrestling each other. Yunho was easily winning the wrestling match…until Mrs. Morris, Phillip’s mom, arrived. Phillip had immediately blamed Yunho, saying Yunho had started picking on him for no reason at all. Mr. Morris had believed her son and had informed Yunho she was going to talk to his parents. As soon as Mrs. Morris turned her back, Phillip stuck out his tongue at Yunho and then hurriedly chased after his mom.
Jaejoong could only watch as an angry Yunho grabbed Phillip’s shoes, stomped outside and threw them up on the roof of the church. The other kids had clapped for Yunho and encouraged him. Yunho had been really smug…really smug until he realized he was going to be grounded for Christmas.
“JJ, it’s your turn.
Jaejoong, who had been reading his passage over and over silently in his head trying to practice, looked up with big, mournful eyes at Mr. Crawford. He knew he couldn’t say all the words. There were four words he didn’t know and three others he knew he couldn’t say right.
“Go, JJ.”
Jaejoong knew he had to obey Mr. Crawford, because he was a teacher and a grown up. Jaejoong slowly started reading and he was only on the fourth word before Mr. Crawford stopped and corrected him. Then Mr. Crawford made Jaejoong keep reading, while he continued to stop and correct him each time he messed up. Jaejoong felt more and more nervous and with his increased anxiety he started messing up more and more words, even words he knew. Some of the other kids started laughing at him and then they also joined in and started correcting him. Jaejoong felt like he was going to start crying, but Mr. Crawford wouldn’t let him stop.
When Jaejoong finally reached the end of his passage, Mr. Crawford told him to read the next one. The next passage was supposed to be Becky’s… Jaejoong had never even looked at it…he knew he couldn’t possibly read it. His teeth were chattering now and he knew he was going to break his grandmother’s rule about not crying.
“JJ, I said continue.”
Jaejoong opened his mouth to start reading, but before he could say a word Yunho started reading the passage aloud.
“Yunho, it isn’t your turn.”
“It isn’t Jaejoong’s turn either,” Yunho pointed out.
Jaejoong glanced at Yunho and found his friends arms folded tightly across his chest and the eyes that had been glaring at Phillip earlier were now aimed straight for Mr. Crawford.
“JJ can’t get better if he doesn’t practice. I am trying to teach him.”
“Chance and Linda mess up all the time, too. You don’t ever make them practice. Is it because you know their moms and dads?”
Mr. Crawford’s face went red and he pointed his finger at Yunho. “You will be quiet. JJ is going to read the next passage.”
Yunho stood up and walked defiantly over to Jaejoong, extending his hand to his friend. “Come on Jaejoong, we are leaving.”
“Yunho, you will sit back down,” Mr. Crawford ordered as he laid his Bible down on his desk and stood up as Jaejoong took Yunho’s hand.
“I will not,” Yunho replied as he pulled Jaejoong up from the floor. “You are a bully. You aren’t even a real teacher. You aren’t teaching him anything, you are just making him feel bad. This is church and you aren’t supposed to make people feel bad in church. Jesus would not be happy with you!”
Mr. Crawford watched in astonishment as Yunho led Jaejoong from the room.
*************
“You are going to be grounded forever. We will never get to play again.”
“Nah,” Yunho replied as Jaejoong followed him through the church hallways. “He was being a bully. My parents won’t like it.”
“Yunho, he…”
“He was being a bully. You know I don’t like bullies.”
“But he was just making me read.”
Yunho shook his head, refusing to buy Jaejoong’s excuses for the teacher. “No, he wasn’t. He never teaches us anything in class, he only makes us read.”
Jaejoong started slowing down. “I know you are going to be grounded…and…and I hate when you are grounded.”
Yunho stopped and turned around to face Jaejoong, who was close to tears. “Jaejoong, don’t cry. I am not going to be grounded. Mom and Dad won’t care that I told Mr. Crawford off…I promise. They won’t ground me.”
“He’s a grown-up…”
“Mom and Dad don’t like bullies either.”
“You told him he wasn’t a real teacher.”
“He isn’t.”
Jaejoong just shook his head, knowing Yunho was going to be grounded. The Jungs had quickly learned that the best way to control Yunho was by separating him from Jaejoong when he got in trouble. “I will miss you.”
“I am not getting grounded.”
“You fought today, you threw Phillip’s shoes up on the roof, and you back talked a teacher…I know you are going to get grounded.”
Yunho grinned and patted his chest. “Nope, I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Phillip doesn’t know I threw his shoes up on the roof, yet. He was too busy hiding behind his momma to go back and get his shoes.”
“Everybody saw you throw them up on the roof,” Jaejoong reminded his friend.
“They aren’t going to tattle on me.”
Jaejoong looked doubtful.
“Plus, we are going to get them down before Phillip realizes they are gone.”
“We,” Jaejoong gasped.
“Yep,” Yunho happily replied as Jaejoong reluctantly followed him toward the door that led outside.
“How would we get up there?”
“We will climb up that mulberry tree and then we will jump on the roof. It’s a great plan.”
“I can’t climb trees…”
“Anybody can climb that old mulberry tree. Baby Hana could even climb it. I know you can! It will be a great adventure. I can be Captain Kirk and you can be Mr. Spock and we can be on an asteroid trying to get to our phasers before the Klingons kill us! It will be so much fun!”
Jaejoong whimpered, knowing that once Yunho started going on about Star Trek he was doomed. “But, I can’t climb up a tree…or a roof. It’s cold outside.”
Yunho reached the door and stopped. “You can do it. It’s cold, but it isn’t snowing.”
“What if I tear my sweater,” Jaejoong blurted out, grasping for straws.
“Jaejoong, it’s just clothes,” a dismayed Yunho responded, shaking his head.
“I love this sweater,” Jaejoong said in his defense. “It’s light green and it has snowmen on it. You know I love snowmen.”
Yunho held out his hand. “Jaejoong, if you are my best friend you will come with me. It’s going to be so much fun.”
Jaejoong reluctantly took Yunho’s hand. “You are my best friend.”
“That’s right! Nothing bad is going to happen…nothing at all,” Yunho said with barely restrained glee as he hurried outside eager to start the adventure.
*******************
Jaejoong was too excited to sleep.
It was Christmas Eve and he had received more presents than ever before. Aunt Bessie had gotten him clothes and they were all colors he liked! He had all his new clothes laid out on his bed so he could admire every single one of them. He had also gotten the new backpack he had been secretly yearning for every time they went to the store. He had never told Aunt Bessie about it because it was too expensive and he already had a good backpack, but he had wanted it so badly. It was yellow with pink and blue stars on it. It even had a rainbow on it. It was so pretty. He knew his books would love being inside it.
He knew he needed to sleep, because he wanted to get up early and make a good breakfast for Aunt Bessie; he knew he could do it, even with only one arm. He looked down at the cast that covered his left arm and he was so grateful that it didn’t hurt very much anymore. And his sprained ankle was almost all better, and as long as it stayed wrapped up he could walk with just a little bit of a limp.
Jaejoong was about to start the task of removing all his new clothes from his bed so he could go to bed when he heard a tapping on his window. He frowned. His room was on the second floor of Aunt Bessie’s house and there was no tree outside his window. The tapping continued. He mustered up his courage and slowly walked toward the window.
The ground was covered in snow and the moon was full and bright.
Jaejoong’s eyes widened in surprise and delight when he looked down from his window and could easily see Yunho throwing small pebbles up at it. Yunho had been grounded since that day at the church, and Jaejoong hadn’t seen him after the Jungs had dropped him off at Aunt Bessie’s after they had taken him to the hospital.
When they had fallen off the roof of the church, Yunho had landed on him. Yunho had gotten right up, but Jaejoong had not been so lucky. He had broken his left arm and sprained his right ankle. When they were in the ER and the doctor had said Jaejoong’s arm was broken Yunho had cried for him, he had felt so bad for hurting Jaejoong.
Jaejoong watched as Yunho pointed to the front door, signaling for Jaejoong to come down stairs and open it. Jaejoong sighed, because he knew Yunho was never going to be ungrounded if his parents found out, but the desire to see his friend was too strong. Yunho was his best friend and he missed him terribly.
Jaejoong slowly made it down the stairs. In the living room there was a small artificial Christmas tree placed on one of the end tables. Its blinking lights and the moon outside cast the only light in the room.
He noticed that Aunt Bessie was asleep in her chair. Aunt Bessie usually slept in her chair; she said it made breathing easier. He watched for a minute not moving, waiting to hear her snore. He was soon rewarded with her loud snores, assuring him she was asleep. He crept to the front door and carefully opened it.
He was happy to find a smiling Yunho at the door.
Jaejoong covered his mouth signaling for Yunho to be quiet as the other boy stepped inside the house. Yunho quickly caught sight of Aunt Bessie sleeping in her chair.
“She’s sleeping,” Jaejoong said softly, stating the obvious.
Yunho nodded his head.
“You shouldn’t be here…”
“I know,” Yunho whispered. “But it’s Christmas Eve and I wanted to tell you how sorry I was…for breaking you.”
Jaejoong smiled at his friend. “You didn’t break me.”
Yunho gently placed his hand on Jaejoong’s cast. “I did. I was being stupid…you are so clumsy, what was I thinking? I wish you had fallen on me.”
“It’s okay…it’s just a best friend’s job. I am glad you fell on me. You have to play basketball.”
“But you…” Yunho paused to look at Aunt Bessie. “You have to help take care of your aunt.”
“She is doing better. She isn’t using as much oxygen. She even made pizza for dinner.”
Yunho looked skeptically at Jaejoong and asked, “Did she really?”
Jaejoong nodded his head. “I only helped a little. It was frozen pizza but it was really good, and we had tater tots.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it was really good.”
“I love tatter tots…I had to have ham for dinner, barf.”
“Your mom’s cooking is so yummy!”
Yunho leaned over and whispered, “But both of my aunts are there.”
“You don’t like them?”
“Aunt Eun is okay…but I would rather have you…why can’t you be at my house for Christmas?”
“Because you got grounded…I did warn you.”
Yunho sighed. “Yeah, you did.”
Jaejoong looked down at Yunho’s hand and noticed a bag. “What is that?”
“My mom made me bring you cookies. They are really good…a lot better than ham,” Yunho told Jaejoong as he walked over to the end table and placed the cookies underneath the tree.
“Your mom…” Jaejoong paused. “Your mom knows you are here?”
“Yep,” Yunho admitted, looking sour as he walked back to the doorway. “She caught me…she always catches me…her mom senses are scary.”
“And she let you come?”
“Yep, it’s our Christmas Secret,” Yunho informed Jaejoong eagerly. “Mom didn’t want to ground me, I could tell. Dad wanted me to be grounded for a month but mom talked him down to one week. She went to school with Mr. Crawford. She won’t say anything bad about him, but I can tell she is totally on my side.”
Jaejoong’s heart swelled in his chest. “And she gave me cookies?”
“Yep,” Yunho answered as he turned around to look toward his house. “Oops, she is blinking the porch light, that means I have to go back home.”
“Tell her thank you for the cookies,” Jaejoong told Yunho, feeling so happy he thought he might burst. He knew the cookies would be the best in the world.
“I will,” Yunho promised as he reached down and took Jaejoong’s right hand. “Jaejoong, I really am sorry for hurting you.”
“You didn’t mean to.”
“I ruined your Christmas.”
Jaejoong fervently shook his head. “No, you didn’t. This is the best Christmas, ever!”
“It is?”
“It is, I promise,” Jaejoong vowed, squeezing Yunho’s hand. “Aunt Bessie is so much nicer than my grandmother. I got so many nice clothes and the backpack I wanted so badly.”
“Clothes,” Yunho asked, frowning.
Jaejoong immediately knew what his friend was thinking. “They weren’t all pink.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Yunho grinned. “Don’t let anybody else sign your cast until I do. I would sign it now, but if Dad saw it, he’d know I had been here.”
“I understand,” Jaejoong told Yunho, smiling back at him. “I won’t let anybody else sign it.”
“Not even your aunt.”
“I promise,” Jaejoong vowed as he looked past Yunho to the Jung house. “She is really flickering the lights, a lot.”
“Yeah, I have to go,” Yunho said with a loud, dramatic sigh as he stepped out onto the porch. “If I see Santa Clause, is there anything you want for Christmas?”
“Yunho, you don’t believe in Santa Clause…you just pretend to believe in him, so your parents won’t stop giving you presents from Santa,” Jaejoong pointed out to his friend as he stood in the doorway.
“I might be wrong,” Yunho admitted, looking down at Jaejoong’s broken arm. “It’s happened before, so just in case I do see him…what do you want for Christmas?”
Jaejoong looked at his friend and he truly thought over the question. Every year before he would have wished for his mom, but not this year…this year was different. “I would wish that you weren’t grounded.”
Before Jaejoong knew what was happening Yunho had him wrapped up in one of his warm hugs and declared, “You are the best friend, ever.”
“You are the best, too,” Jaejoong told Yunho as the other boy let go of him, very mindful of Jaejoong’s arm.
“I know, I am,” Yunho agreed with a smirk as he stepped off the porch and rushed toward his house before his mother came after him.
Jaejoong watched as Mrs. Jung appeared on the porch and greeted Yunho with a hug. He waited until they had disappeared into the warmth of their home before he closed the door. He walked over to Aunt Bessie and gently repositioned her afghan that had partially slipped off her. He didn’t want her to get cold. He reached down and petted Ringo, who was sleeping on Aunt Bessie’s lap, and then he slowly made it back toward his room.
He hadn’t noticed that Aunt Bessie had stopped snoring. He also didn’t know that as soon as he had turned to leave a smile had appeared on her face, along with one single teardrop that glided down her cheek.
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae
Rating: G
Genre: Kid fic
Length: One shot
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: Jaejoong doesn't like Sunday School or climbing trees, but he loves being Yunho’s best friend.
Author’s Note: The fragile kids won my poll, so here is my Christmas short story. In most likelihood this short story will eventually be added to Fragile Essence. It establishes a few things I thought the original story was lacking. I am not sure if it can stand alone or not.
I was going to wait and update this…….but then I ruined two pounds of fudge I was supposed to bring to a Christmas Party, got a sore throat, and generally just feel like crap…crap on crap. So in a desperate attempt to find that Christmas spirit……I decided to share this with all my beloved readers.
Jaejoong didn't like Sunday School.
His mouth was dry, his hands were clammy, and he felt light headed. Mr. Crawford always had the kids sit in a circle around his desk as they each read a small passage from the Bible. Jaejoong knew he had learned a lot since he had started going to school in Red Fern, but he still wasn’t smart.
Jaejoong desperately wished that his Aunt Bessie had refused to let him go to church with the Jungs, like she usually did. He was endlessly torn about going. He always wanted to make Yunho happy, but he dreaded Sunday School. Christmas was nearing and Yunho had promised church was much more fun at Christmas time, so Jaejoong had begged Aunt Bessie to let him go and she had relented.
His fear in class was worse today than it had ever been before, because Yunho wasn’t paying attention to him. Yunho, who was sitting across the room, was too busy glaring at Phillip to notice him at all. Yunho usually sat next to him and if Jaejoong didn’t know a word he would whisper it to Jaejoong, but his best friend was out of whispering distance today.
Yunho and Phillip had gotten in a fight before church had started, about which one of them was better at playing basketball. Jaejoong had thought the fight was very silly, but they had taken it very seriously. They had decided to determine who was best at basketball…by wresting, which Jaejoong found odd, but he realized he did not know much about sports.
Both of the boys had taken their shoes off and started wrestling each other. Yunho was easily winning the wrestling match…until Mrs. Morris, Phillip’s mom, arrived. Phillip had immediately blamed Yunho, saying Yunho had started picking on him for no reason at all. Mr. Morris had believed her son and had informed Yunho she was going to talk to his parents. As soon as Mrs. Morris turned her back, Phillip stuck out his tongue at Yunho and then hurriedly chased after his mom.
Jaejoong could only watch as an angry Yunho grabbed Phillip’s shoes, stomped outside and threw them up on the roof of the church. The other kids had clapped for Yunho and encouraged him. Yunho had been really smug…really smug until he realized he was going to be grounded for Christmas.
“JJ, it’s your turn.
Jaejoong, who had been reading his passage over and over silently in his head trying to practice, looked up with big, mournful eyes at Mr. Crawford. He knew he couldn’t say all the words. There were four words he didn’t know and three others he knew he couldn’t say right.
“Go, JJ.”
Jaejoong knew he had to obey Mr. Crawford, because he was a teacher and a grown up. Jaejoong slowly started reading and he was only on the fourth word before Mr. Crawford stopped and corrected him. Then Mr. Crawford made Jaejoong keep reading, while he continued to stop and correct him each time he messed up. Jaejoong felt more and more nervous and with his increased anxiety he started messing up more and more words, even words he knew. Some of the other kids started laughing at him and then they also joined in and started correcting him. Jaejoong felt like he was going to start crying, but Mr. Crawford wouldn’t let him stop.
When Jaejoong finally reached the end of his passage, Mr. Crawford told him to read the next one. The next passage was supposed to be Becky’s… Jaejoong had never even looked at it…he knew he couldn’t possibly read it. His teeth were chattering now and he knew he was going to break his grandmother’s rule about not crying.
“JJ, I said continue.”
Jaejoong opened his mouth to start reading, but before he could say a word Yunho started reading the passage aloud.
“Yunho, it isn’t your turn.”
“It isn’t Jaejoong’s turn either,” Yunho pointed out.
Jaejoong glanced at Yunho and found his friends arms folded tightly across his chest and the eyes that had been glaring at Phillip earlier were now aimed straight for Mr. Crawford.
“JJ can’t get better if he doesn’t practice. I am trying to teach him.”
“Chance and Linda mess up all the time, too. You don’t ever make them practice. Is it because you know their moms and dads?”
Mr. Crawford’s face went red and he pointed his finger at Yunho. “You will be quiet. JJ is going to read the next passage.”
Yunho stood up and walked defiantly over to Jaejoong, extending his hand to his friend. “Come on Jaejoong, we are leaving.”
“Yunho, you will sit back down,” Mr. Crawford ordered as he laid his Bible down on his desk and stood up as Jaejoong took Yunho’s hand.
“I will not,” Yunho replied as he pulled Jaejoong up from the floor. “You are a bully. You aren’t even a real teacher. You aren’t teaching him anything, you are just making him feel bad. This is church and you aren’t supposed to make people feel bad in church. Jesus would not be happy with you!”
Mr. Crawford watched in astonishment as Yunho led Jaejoong from the room.
*************
“You are going to be grounded forever. We will never get to play again.”
“Nah,” Yunho replied as Jaejoong followed him through the church hallways. “He was being a bully. My parents won’t like it.”
“Yunho, he…”
“He was being a bully. You know I don’t like bullies.”
“But he was just making me read.”
Yunho shook his head, refusing to buy Jaejoong’s excuses for the teacher. “No, he wasn’t. He never teaches us anything in class, he only makes us read.”
Jaejoong started slowing down. “I know you are going to be grounded…and…and I hate when you are grounded.”
Yunho stopped and turned around to face Jaejoong, who was close to tears. “Jaejoong, don’t cry. I am not going to be grounded. Mom and Dad won’t care that I told Mr. Crawford off…I promise. They won’t ground me.”
“He’s a grown-up…”
“Mom and Dad don’t like bullies either.”
“You told him he wasn’t a real teacher.”
“He isn’t.”
Jaejoong just shook his head, knowing Yunho was going to be grounded. The Jungs had quickly learned that the best way to control Yunho was by separating him from Jaejoong when he got in trouble. “I will miss you.”
“I am not getting grounded.”
“You fought today, you threw Phillip’s shoes up on the roof, and you back talked a teacher…I know you are going to get grounded.”
Yunho grinned and patted his chest. “Nope, I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Phillip doesn’t know I threw his shoes up on the roof, yet. He was too busy hiding behind his momma to go back and get his shoes.”
“Everybody saw you throw them up on the roof,” Jaejoong reminded his friend.
“They aren’t going to tattle on me.”
Jaejoong looked doubtful.
“Plus, we are going to get them down before Phillip realizes they are gone.”
“We,” Jaejoong gasped.
“Yep,” Yunho happily replied as Jaejoong reluctantly followed him toward the door that led outside.
“How would we get up there?”
“We will climb up that mulberry tree and then we will jump on the roof. It’s a great plan.”
“I can’t climb trees…”
“Anybody can climb that old mulberry tree. Baby Hana could even climb it. I know you can! It will be a great adventure. I can be Captain Kirk and you can be Mr. Spock and we can be on an asteroid trying to get to our phasers before the Klingons kill us! It will be so much fun!”
Jaejoong whimpered, knowing that once Yunho started going on about Star Trek he was doomed. “But, I can’t climb up a tree…or a roof. It’s cold outside.”
Yunho reached the door and stopped. “You can do it. It’s cold, but it isn’t snowing.”
“What if I tear my sweater,” Jaejoong blurted out, grasping for straws.
“Jaejoong, it’s just clothes,” a dismayed Yunho responded, shaking his head.
“I love this sweater,” Jaejoong said in his defense. “It’s light green and it has snowmen on it. You know I love snowmen.”
Yunho held out his hand. “Jaejoong, if you are my best friend you will come with me. It’s going to be so much fun.”
Jaejoong reluctantly took Yunho’s hand. “You are my best friend.”
“That’s right! Nothing bad is going to happen…nothing at all,” Yunho said with barely restrained glee as he hurried outside eager to start the adventure.
*******************
Jaejoong was too excited to sleep.
It was Christmas Eve and he had received more presents than ever before. Aunt Bessie had gotten him clothes and they were all colors he liked! He had all his new clothes laid out on his bed so he could admire every single one of them. He had also gotten the new backpack he had been secretly yearning for every time they went to the store. He had never told Aunt Bessie about it because it was too expensive and he already had a good backpack, but he had wanted it so badly. It was yellow with pink and blue stars on it. It even had a rainbow on it. It was so pretty. He knew his books would love being inside it.
He knew he needed to sleep, because he wanted to get up early and make a good breakfast for Aunt Bessie; he knew he could do it, even with only one arm. He looked down at the cast that covered his left arm and he was so grateful that it didn’t hurt very much anymore. And his sprained ankle was almost all better, and as long as it stayed wrapped up he could walk with just a little bit of a limp.
Jaejoong was about to start the task of removing all his new clothes from his bed so he could go to bed when he heard a tapping on his window. He frowned. His room was on the second floor of Aunt Bessie’s house and there was no tree outside his window. The tapping continued. He mustered up his courage and slowly walked toward the window.
The ground was covered in snow and the moon was full and bright.
Jaejoong’s eyes widened in surprise and delight when he looked down from his window and could easily see Yunho throwing small pebbles up at it. Yunho had been grounded since that day at the church, and Jaejoong hadn’t seen him after the Jungs had dropped him off at Aunt Bessie’s after they had taken him to the hospital.
When they had fallen off the roof of the church, Yunho had landed on him. Yunho had gotten right up, but Jaejoong had not been so lucky. He had broken his left arm and sprained his right ankle. When they were in the ER and the doctor had said Jaejoong’s arm was broken Yunho had cried for him, he had felt so bad for hurting Jaejoong.
Jaejoong watched as Yunho pointed to the front door, signaling for Jaejoong to come down stairs and open it. Jaejoong sighed, because he knew Yunho was never going to be ungrounded if his parents found out, but the desire to see his friend was too strong. Yunho was his best friend and he missed him terribly.
Jaejoong slowly made it down the stairs. In the living room there was a small artificial Christmas tree placed on one of the end tables. Its blinking lights and the moon outside cast the only light in the room.
He noticed that Aunt Bessie was asleep in her chair. Aunt Bessie usually slept in her chair; she said it made breathing easier. He watched for a minute not moving, waiting to hear her snore. He was soon rewarded with her loud snores, assuring him she was asleep. He crept to the front door and carefully opened it.
He was happy to find a smiling Yunho at the door.
Jaejoong covered his mouth signaling for Yunho to be quiet as the other boy stepped inside the house. Yunho quickly caught sight of Aunt Bessie sleeping in her chair.
“She’s sleeping,” Jaejoong said softly, stating the obvious.
Yunho nodded his head.
“You shouldn’t be here…”
“I know,” Yunho whispered. “But it’s Christmas Eve and I wanted to tell you how sorry I was…for breaking you.”
Jaejoong smiled at his friend. “You didn’t break me.”
Yunho gently placed his hand on Jaejoong’s cast. “I did. I was being stupid…you are so clumsy, what was I thinking? I wish you had fallen on me.”
“It’s okay…it’s just a best friend’s job. I am glad you fell on me. You have to play basketball.”
“But you…” Yunho paused to look at Aunt Bessie. “You have to help take care of your aunt.”
“She is doing better. She isn’t using as much oxygen. She even made pizza for dinner.”
Yunho looked skeptically at Jaejoong and asked, “Did she really?”
Jaejoong nodded his head. “I only helped a little. It was frozen pizza but it was really good, and we had tater tots.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it was really good.”
“I love tatter tots…I had to have ham for dinner, barf.”
“Your mom’s cooking is so yummy!”
Yunho leaned over and whispered, “But both of my aunts are there.”
“You don’t like them?”
“Aunt Eun is okay…but I would rather have you…why can’t you be at my house for Christmas?”
“Because you got grounded…I did warn you.”
Yunho sighed. “Yeah, you did.”
Jaejoong looked down at Yunho’s hand and noticed a bag. “What is that?”
“My mom made me bring you cookies. They are really good…a lot better than ham,” Yunho told Jaejoong as he walked over to the end table and placed the cookies underneath the tree.
“Your mom…” Jaejoong paused. “Your mom knows you are here?”
“Yep,” Yunho admitted, looking sour as he walked back to the doorway. “She caught me…she always catches me…her mom senses are scary.”
“And she let you come?”
“Yep, it’s our Christmas Secret,” Yunho informed Jaejoong eagerly. “Mom didn’t want to ground me, I could tell. Dad wanted me to be grounded for a month but mom talked him down to one week. She went to school with Mr. Crawford. She won’t say anything bad about him, but I can tell she is totally on my side.”
Jaejoong’s heart swelled in his chest. “And she gave me cookies?”
“Yep,” Yunho answered as he turned around to look toward his house. “Oops, she is blinking the porch light, that means I have to go back home.”
“Tell her thank you for the cookies,” Jaejoong told Yunho, feeling so happy he thought he might burst. He knew the cookies would be the best in the world.
“I will,” Yunho promised as he reached down and took Jaejoong’s right hand. “Jaejoong, I really am sorry for hurting you.”
“You didn’t mean to.”
“I ruined your Christmas.”
Jaejoong fervently shook his head. “No, you didn’t. This is the best Christmas, ever!”
“It is?”
“It is, I promise,” Jaejoong vowed, squeezing Yunho’s hand. “Aunt Bessie is so much nicer than my grandmother. I got so many nice clothes and the backpack I wanted so badly.”
“Clothes,” Yunho asked, frowning.
Jaejoong immediately knew what his friend was thinking. “They weren’t all pink.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Yunho grinned. “Don’t let anybody else sign your cast until I do. I would sign it now, but if Dad saw it, he’d know I had been here.”
“I understand,” Jaejoong told Yunho, smiling back at him. “I won’t let anybody else sign it.”
“Not even your aunt.”
“I promise,” Jaejoong vowed as he looked past Yunho to the Jung house. “She is really flickering the lights, a lot.”
“Yeah, I have to go,” Yunho said with a loud, dramatic sigh as he stepped out onto the porch. “If I see Santa Clause, is there anything you want for Christmas?”
“Yunho, you don’t believe in Santa Clause…you just pretend to believe in him, so your parents won’t stop giving you presents from Santa,” Jaejoong pointed out to his friend as he stood in the doorway.
“I might be wrong,” Yunho admitted, looking down at Jaejoong’s broken arm. “It’s happened before, so just in case I do see him…what do you want for Christmas?”
Jaejoong looked at his friend and he truly thought over the question. Every year before he would have wished for his mom, but not this year…this year was different. “I would wish that you weren’t grounded.”
Before Jaejoong knew what was happening Yunho had him wrapped up in one of his warm hugs and declared, “You are the best friend, ever.”
“You are the best, too,” Jaejoong told Yunho as the other boy let go of him, very mindful of Jaejoong’s arm.
“I know, I am,” Yunho agreed with a smirk as he stepped off the porch and rushed toward his house before his mother came after him.
Jaejoong watched as Mrs. Jung appeared on the porch and greeted Yunho with a hug. He waited until they had disappeared into the warmth of their home before he closed the door. He walked over to Aunt Bessie and gently repositioned her afghan that had partially slipped off her. He didn’t want her to get cold. He reached down and petted Ringo, who was sleeping on Aunt Bessie’s lap, and then he slowly made it back toward his room.
He hadn’t noticed that Aunt Bessie had stopped snoring. He also didn’t know that as soon as he had turned to leave a smile had appeared on her face, along with one single teardrop that glided down her cheek.