Checkmate
Title: Checkmate
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1477
Disclaimer: Don’t own anything.
♥♥♥
King, queen, bishop and rooks.
Jaejoong plays chess, and Yunho gets none of it. But with every monochrome pawn taken by Jaejoong, Yunho watches and falls a little more in love.
---
“You know,” Changmin says conversationally, munching on one of his sandwiches, “you could just join the chess club instead of watching him with lovey-dovey eyes every lunch period.”
There is a brief silence, and Changmin thinks Yunho may reject his suggestion because there are a thousand reasons why it will end badly that he does not want to list because the last thing he wants to deal with is Yunho whining - again - about a certain Kim Jaejoong (who probably doesn't know he exists), when he’s just trying to have his lunch in peace.
There is the sound of a breath being let out, and Changmin pauses in the middle of a bite to look at Yunho, who has a look of reverence on his face. “I could kiss you-“
“I’ll punch you.”
“-you’re a genius.”
“I take thanks in the form of food that isn’t cooked by you.” Changmin answers calmly before Yunho runs off, presumably to see the chairperson of the school’s chess club. Changmin stares at his retreating form for a little while, before muttering into his sandwich, “I could give him a set of directions to follow and that idiot would still manage to screw it up.”
But it will have to wait till after lunch, he decides as he finishes the deli product and starts on the chicken chop on the table.
---
Taking Changmin’s advice, Yunho joins the school chess club even though his closest encounter with chess is from the time he was watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - if you don’t count the numerous days he watches Jaejoong play against numerous opponents from across the canteen. The first time he challenges Jaejoong to a game just to hear Jaejoong’s voice say ‘Checkmate’, he fails even in that mission because Jaejoong realises Yunho doesn’t even know the basic rules of chess and he doesn’t play with people who aren’t serious-
“This is a waste of my time,” Jaejoong announces, a little grim-faced, before he leaves the table in the middle of the game, and the little crowd that had gathered because of Yunho laughs good-naturedly (“Aw, it’s okay, Yunho, you can play with us if you want.”). Yunho chuckles at his friends’ efforts to comfort him, and jests with some of the jocks as the crowd disperses.
Yunho leans into Changmin when the latter throws an arm around his shoulders, “Man, better luck next time!”
Yunho replies, a little dreamily, “I had half a game with him.” Changmin removes his arm in semi-mock disgust immediately and walks away, calling over his shoulder, “Come find me when you’re sober!”
---
Yunho trains almost religiously at chess every Thursday during weekly trainings after school - a feat considering he has basketball training on Wednesdays and it is routine for him to be dozing off in classes on Thursdays. He challenges Jaejoong every Friday without fail and Jaejoong rejects him for 9 weeks straight, but Yunho does it anyway.
The 10th week, Jaejoong accepts and they play. Surprisingly Jaejoong loses, but Yunho is unable to say ‘checkmate’ when he collects Jaejoong’s ebony king. He shoots up from his seat, gripping the pawn in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white and the angles of the counter digging painfully into his palm.
“You lost on purpose.”
Jaejoong is silent and doesn’t reply, not meeting his eyes. Yunho doesn’t know what to say, because he doesn’t know why he’s so angry but he is. And something in his chest, which he suspects is his heart, is hurting. Jaejoong stares at the square-checkered board and Yunho can’t make out his expression with his head faced down. All his adoration for Jaejoong, of wanting to please Jaejoong somehow hides behind the ache of his heart, and he turns around to leave with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
He searches for his keys in front of his door, and realises that his hand is still clenched around the king from Jaejoong’s chess set.
---
Yunho takes to avoiding Jaejoong - skipping chess club practices and dragging Changmin to sit out lunch periods under a tree far away from the canteen. After he worked so hard to get close to Jaejoong, to play chess, and challenge him, it felt like rejection when Jaejoong let him win intentionally. As if to say all his efforts were for naught, and that he doesn’t matter to Jaejoong, and he doesn’t even deserve to have a serious chess game with Jaejoong.
It feels like Jaejoong wants to get rid of him.
And it hurts - even before he figured why it did, it had, and now that he does know why, it’s hurting even more. He hadn’t even known that his affections for the chess player runs so deep, but he figures he should have known. There used to be offhanded remarks about how attractive Jaejoong is, then it ran a little deeper and escalated to watching him during lectures (at least he had more of a clue of what Jaejoong was doing than what was on the screen). He found - no, finds - the latter amazing. The sheer focus in the dark eyes and the frown marring the eyebrows whenever he plays chess, and the tip of a tongue peeking from between lips whenever he thinks a little too hard; Yunho knows them all, and has known them for a while now. And he likes them all wholeheartedly; he isn’t sure he can even name one thing about the chess player that he doesn’t like. And because he likes Jaejoong so much, he has to admit that he needs time before he sees Jaejoong again. He needs to sort out his feelings before seeing his club mate. Needs to separate himself from his feelings and learn to react better than he did the other day. But most of all, he’s afraid.
He’s deathly afraid meeting Jaejoong will give the latter a chance to properly reject him to his face.
---
Yunho thinks that maybe he should give up. Because the weight of his feelings is too much for him and he feels like a hole has been punched through him sometimes when he realises he’s not rushing after school to make it to chess club training.
---
Changmin never thought the day would come when he wishes Yunho would disturb his lunch.
But looking at Yunho being all miserable after submitting a withdrawal form to the chairperson of the chess club, he doesn’t feel like he’s too happy munching away.
---
The following Monday, Jaejoong opens his locker to find a counter sitting, almost accusingly, in it.
King.
---
He should have known this was coming.
Jaejoong is as calculating as he is calm. Everything that makes him a fantastic chess player. He doesn’t leave loose ends. So Yunho shouldn’t have been surprised when Jaejoong corners him on Friday and asks for a game. A serious one this time, Jaejoong promises.
Yunho is the rash one, the basketballer who improvises on-court but somehow manages because he has a flair for reading the game and making quick decisions. But when Jaejoong comes to him and asks him instead, yes slips out too easily, and he wonders where his flair went.
Now they sit across each other, Yunho trying to capture the pawn he returned at the start of the week, and Jaejoong trying to do the same to its ivory version. Yunho watches his opponent’s face, all the while wondering if this is going to be the last time he gets to watch the expressions play out across the sculpted, ethereal face. He can’t help his thoughts drifting away even though this time, Jaejoong’s playing the game seriously.
Before he knows it, Jaejoong’s lips are on his, and his brain misfires several times, because oh my goodness, the heat, the kiss, the proximity and gosh, Jaejoong. He’s too stunned to do anything to deepen the chaste kiss and the kiss ends just as he realises he should be kissing back.
Jaejoong whispers ‘checkmate’ as they part, his fingers wrapping around the ivory pawn as he pulls back slightly, his gaze never breaking from Yunho’s.
When Yunho stands up abruptly to grab Jaejoong’s face in his hands, he enjoys the surprised look on the latter’s face before he crush their lips together, and thinks that he won’t be the only one surprised from now on and that maybe it’s not so bad to lose, seemingly all the time, to Kim Jaejoong.
In fact, when they pull away, and he reaches for the hand holding onto the pawn, pressing a kiss to the back of it, he thinks he hasn’t lost at all.
♥♥♥
A/N: I was writing notes for plots for another time and ended up developing the whole thing for this one when I was not supposed to. Hope you enjoy this! :D
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1477
Disclaimer: Don’t own anything.
♥♥♥
King, queen, bishop and rooks.
Jaejoong plays chess, and Yunho gets none of it. But with every monochrome pawn taken by Jaejoong, Yunho watches and falls a little more in love.
---
“You know,” Changmin says conversationally, munching on one of his sandwiches, “you could just join the chess club instead of watching him with lovey-dovey eyes every lunch period.”
There is a brief silence, and Changmin thinks Yunho may reject his suggestion because there are a thousand reasons why it will end badly that he does not want to list because the last thing he wants to deal with is Yunho whining - again - about a certain Kim Jaejoong (who probably doesn't know he exists), when he’s just trying to have his lunch in peace.
There is the sound of a breath being let out, and Changmin pauses in the middle of a bite to look at Yunho, who has a look of reverence on his face. “I could kiss you-“
“I’ll punch you.”
“-you’re a genius.”
“I take thanks in the form of food that isn’t cooked by you.” Changmin answers calmly before Yunho runs off, presumably to see the chairperson of the school’s chess club. Changmin stares at his retreating form for a little while, before muttering into his sandwich, “I could give him a set of directions to follow and that idiot would still manage to screw it up.”
But it will have to wait till after lunch, he decides as he finishes the deli product and starts on the chicken chop on the table.
---
Taking Changmin’s advice, Yunho joins the school chess club even though his closest encounter with chess is from the time he was watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - if you don’t count the numerous days he watches Jaejoong play against numerous opponents from across the canteen. The first time he challenges Jaejoong to a game just to hear Jaejoong’s voice say ‘Checkmate’, he fails even in that mission because Jaejoong realises Yunho doesn’t even know the basic rules of chess and he doesn’t play with people who aren’t serious-
“This is a waste of my time,” Jaejoong announces, a little grim-faced, before he leaves the table in the middle of the game, and the little crowd that had gathered because of Yunho laughs good-naturedly (“Aw, it’s okay, Yunho, you can play with us if you want.”). Yunho chuckles at his friends’ efforts to comfort him, and jests with some of the jocks as the crowd disperses.
Yunho leans into Changmin when the latter throws an arm around his shoulders, “Man, better luck next time!”
Yunho replies, a little dreamily, “I had half a game with him.” Changmin removes his arm in semi-mock disgust immediately and walks away, calling over his shoulder, “Come find me when you’re sober!”
---
Yunho trains almost religiously at chess every Thursday during weekly trainings after school - a feat considering he has basketball training on Wednesdays and it is routine for him to be dozing off in classes on Thursdays. He challenges Jaejoong every Friday without fail and Jaejoong rejects him for 9 weeks straight, but Yunho does it anyway.
The 10th week, Jaejoong accepts and they play. Surprisingly Jaejoong loses, but Yunho is unable to say ‘checkmate’ when he collects Jaejoong’s ebony king. He shoots up from his seat, gripping the pawn in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white and the angles of the counter digging painfully into his palm.
“You lost on purpose.”
Jaejoong is silent and doesn’t reply, not meeting his eyes. Yunho doesn’t know what to say, because he doesn’t know why he’s so angry but he is. And something in his chest, which he suspects is his heart, is hurting. Jaejoong stares at the square-checkered board and Yunho can’t make out his expression with his head faced down. All his adoration for Jaejoong, of wanting to please Jaejoong somehow hides behind the ache of his heart, and he turns around to leave with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
He searches for his keys in front of his door, and realises that his hand is still clenched around the king from Jaejoong’s chess set.
---
Yunho takes to avoiding Jaejoong - skipping chess club practices and dragging Changmin to sit out lunch periods under a tree far away from the canteen. After he worked so hard to get close to Jaejoong, to play chess, and challenge him, it felt like rejection when Jaejoong let him win intentionally. As if to say all his efforts were for naught, and that he doesn’t matter to Jaejoong, and he doesn’t even deserve to have a serious chess game with Jaejoong.
It feels like Jaejoong wants to get rid of him.
And it hurts - even before he figured why it did, it had, and now that he does know why, it’s hurting even more. He hadn’t even known that his affections for the chess player runs so deep, but he figures he should have known. There used to be offhanded remarks about how attractive Jaejoong is, then it ran a little deeper and escalated to watching him during lectures (at least he had more of a clue of what Jaejoong was doing than what was on the screen). He found - no, finds - the latter amazing. The sheer focus in the dark eyes and the frown marring the eyebrows whenever he plays chess, and the tip of a tongue peeking from between lips whenever he thinks a little too hard; Yunho knows them all, and has known them for a while now. And he likes them all wholeheartedly; he isn’t sure he can even name one thing about the chess player that he doesn’t like. And because he likes Jaejoong so much, he has to admit that he needs time before he sees Jaejoong again. He needs to sort out his feelings before seeing his club mate. Needs to separate himself from his feelings and learn to react better than he did the other day. But most of all, he’s afraid.
He’s deathly afraid meeting Jaejoong will give the latter a chance to properly reject him to his face.
---
Yunho thinks that maybe he should give up. Because the weight of his feelings is too much for him and he feels like a hole has been punched through him sometimes when he realises he’s not rushing after school to make it to chess club training.
---
Changmin never thought the day would come when he wishes Yunho would disturb his lunch.
But looking at Yunho being all miserable after submitting a withdrawal form to the chairperson of the chess club, he doesn’t feel like he’s too happy munching away.
---
The following Monday, Jaejoong opens his locker to find a counter sitting, almost accusingly, in it.
King.
---
He should have known this was coming.
Jaejoong is as calculating as he is calm. Everything that makes him a fantastic chess player. He doesn’t leave loose ends. So Yunho shouldn’t have been surprised when Jaejoong corners him on Friday and asks for a game. A serious one this time, Jaejoong promises.
Yunho is the rash one, the basketballer who improvises on-court but somehow manages because he has a flair for reading the game and making quick decisions. But when Jaejoong comes to him and asks him instead, yes slips out too easily, and he wonders where his flair went.
Now they sit across each other, Yunho trying to capture the pawn he returned at the start of the week, and Jaejoong trying to do the same to its ivory version. Yunho watches his opponent’s face, all the while wondering if this is going to be the last time he gets to watch the expressions play out across the sculpted, ethereal face. He can’t help his thoughts drifting away even though this time, Jaejoong’s playing the game seriously.
Before he knows it, Jaejoong’s lips are on his, and his brain misfires several times, because oh my goodness, the heat, the kiss, the proximity and gosh, Jaejoong. He’s too stunned to do anything to deepen the chaste kiss and the kiss ends just as he realises he should be kissing back.
Jaejoong whispers ‘checkmate’ as they part, his fingers wrapping around the ivory pawn as he pulls back slightly, his gaze never breaking from Yunho’s.
When Yunho stands up abruptly to grab Jaejoong’s face in his hands, he enjoys the surprised look on the latter’s face before he crush their lips together, and thinks that he won’t be the only one surprised from now on and that maybe it’s not so bad to lose, seemingly all the time, to Kim Jaejoong.
In fact, when they pull away, and he reaches for the hand holding onto the pawn, pressing a kiss to the back of it, he thinks he hasn’t lost at all.
♥♥♥
A/N: I was writing notes for plots for another time and ended up developing the whole thing for this one when I was not supposed to. Hope you enjoy this! :D