Separation - 1/1
Separation. (ot5)
1 308 words. PG
They're in Japan. They're about three days from releasing 'T'. This is how they deal with bad news.
'i'm breaking into your apartment at twelve pm tomorrow. please be awake and dressed.'
"aah, mysterious!" jaejoong sings from his perch on the edge of the sofa. "we have received an anonymous threat!" yunho looks up from his book.
"what? let me see that," he says, snatching the clip of paper from jaejoong's fingers.
"aah," he says when he reads it. "very true, oh! i'm very worried now, how will i manage to sleep tonight?"
"no worries!" jaejoong crows. "my manly arms and crooning voice will be all you need to fall asleep. don't be scared, i will protect you through the storms."
"what does it say? what kind of note has that kind of response?" changmin asks, stepping out of his room in an undershirt and a pair of vibrantly coloured boxers.
"my eyes!" yoochun wails, pushing his face into the sofa. "my lovely, well proportioned eyes that are not mismatched!"
"oh, shut up yoochun," changmin bites back, stepping over junsu's body on the floor, his thumbs working furiously at some game involving a lot of scantily clad elfin women and manly warriors. he reads the note and says,
"oh, it truly is frightening!" and yoochun suddenly gets curious. "i want to read it, min. pass it over."
"hey junsu, do you want to read it?"
"no."
"it's interesting!"
"no."
"are you going to read it later? i just might burn it so that prying eyes will not see the message."
"after this boss."
"prying eyes? i'm wounded!"
"and also ignorant, never being able to see the contents of this note. oh, so sad."
"give it here!"
"nope," and his fingers expertly smooth it into a paper airplane. "jaejoong, catch!"
it slides right onto jaejoong's palm.
"it burns me!" he yelps dramatically. "yunho, quick, dispose of it immediately!"
"as you command!" he salutes, leaping over a pile of jackets to tackle jaejoong to the sofa, crushing yoochun's skull to the pillow.
"my back!"
"my jaejoong!"
"my fucking head!"
"language, yoochun."
"get jaejoong's ass off my fucking cheek and then we'll talk about language."
"whoop!" jaejoong laughs as he pushes his hips forward as to give yoochun enough room to escape, effectively thrusting against yunho's chest.
"whoa, that was kind of sexual," changmin purrs, grabbing another controller and plugging it into the console.
"what was?"
"our mommy and daddy are dry humping again."
"aah, like usual then."
"yup. what character should i be?"
"go be the mage, i need a long distance attacker."
"mm."
"how come no one's asking if i'm all right?" yoochun whines.
"sorry yoochun, there aren't any cameras around right now, there's no point in being sweet on you. also, busy stabbing horde of bladed orcs, will comfort you later."
"my heart, she cries a waterfall of blackened tears."
"go write a song, why don't you?" yunho quips, arms wrapped around jaejoong's waist and head against his chest. their legs are a long, tangled mess off the edge of the sofa, and jaejoong has the paper airplane crushed between yunho's back and his hand.
"somehow, you're still the cutest member, even if you are the leader."
"somehow, you're still the shortest member, even if you are the oldest."
"shut up, yunho."
"roger that."
"you two are disgusting," yoochun mopes, twisting around to pry the mutilated aircraft from jaejoong's fingers. "like, sickeningly disgusting. if i wrote a song about you two it would be full of xylophones and harps."
"i can hear it now; why did i fall in love with you? oh right, because you're awesome."
"that wasn't funny, changmin."
"hah hah, yeah it was."
"you're not helping my cause, su."
"hello, no cameras? don't have to be on your side yet."
"i have one in my room! that's a camera, now stop taking everyone else's sides. i am lonely and hugless on this side of right and wrong."
"oh well."
"is everybody ganging up on me today?"
there is a chorus of, "yups," and one, "they have all joined the dark side!" cackled into yunho's hair.
yoochun finally gets to read the note. "aah, i get it now." he frowns and then looks around. "how come none of you are worried?"
"have you forgotten?" jaejoong says. "this is how we show our intense worry." and he tightens his grip around yunho and yunho tightens his grip around jaejoong and the two of them lay perfectly still and melded like a strange statue of flesh and clothing.
"oh, so strange," changmin laughs. "jaejoong's right about something this time." and he and junsu continue to mindlessly work their thumbs, swinging pixelated blades and splattering red all over the screen until they're too droned out to think about anything.
and yoochun realises that changmin was right the way jaejoong was right and he wishes that both of them were wrong, because he finally notices that he had been too absorbed to see the wrinkle of worry appear at the crest of jaejoong's brow, and the tight fisted clench of yunho's hand, and the pulsing spot of changmin's temple, and the blatant denial/refusal to see the evidence of junsu's gaming.
"aah, we're a sad bunch," yoochun laments, and everyone's too busy forgetting to respond.
--
the next morning, their manager blows the door open with his huff huff puff and they're all sitting at the dining room table, perfectly dressed and immaculately decorated, hands folded on the table and eyes glassily obedient.
"we're going to promote your new album," he starts, and everyone breathes in.
"but we're going to separate you into groups," and everyone breathes in more.
"choikang, micky; group one." they reach for each others' hands under the table and changmin writes the words for, "aeroplane" against the flat of yoochun's palm with his finger.
(he's never called them by their real names before.)
(secretly, in some small, dark spot at the base of their mind, they're glad.)
"u know, youngwoong; group two." jaejoong looks at yunho as yunho looks at their manager and frowns and then jaejoong gets it and looks at junsu as junsu looks at their manager and frowns.
"xiah; group three." and then junsu's chest looks big enough with air to burst. "by myself?" he asks, and the manager says, "did you hear another name?" and junsu apologises for being so stupid.
jaejoong reaches for junsu's hand and yoochun reaches for his other one, even though there isn't a single camera focused on them. junsu stares at the table and feels yunho's leg coil around his own, and breathes out just as changmin breathes in.
"okay," he says. "okay, i will go and pack."
"you will all need to pack. please hurry, we are going to hold an event that will reveal your groups by lottery. 'lottery,'" he repeats and leaves in three seconds.
they sit still, very still, for maybe forty-eight seconds or minutes or hours or days or months or years or forevers, until junsu stands up. "i am going to feel rather lonely," he says, and then looks at the way they're seated:
yunho jaejoong junsu yoochun changmin. they're already separated into their groups, unintentionally. he hides a bittersweetangry smile by biting his cheeks, the way he saw hyukjae do on television many many many nights ago. "i guess i should have read the note last night, this might be my punishment."
yunho jaejoong changmin yoochun pull him into his arms for what feels like the first time and junsu crumbles.
"this is going to be rather lonely," they all say, because it feels like the first time they've separated in years.
and
"i knew that this was coming,"
and
"we should have run away when we had the chance,"
and
"just kidding,"
and
"i'll call you a million times,"
and
"me too,"
and
"me too,"
and
"stupid, we'll be together,"
and
"i'll call him in private,"
and
"okay."
"okay."
1 308 words. PG
They're in Japan. They're about three days from releasing 'T'. This is how they deal with bad news.
'i'm breaking into your apartment at twelve pm tomorrow. please be awake and dressed.'
"aah, mysterious!" jaejoong sings from his perch on the edge of the sofa. "we have received an anonymous threat!" yunho looks up from his book.
"what? let me see that," he says, snatching the clip of paper from jaejoong's fingers.
"aah," he says when he reads it. "very true, oh! i'm very worried now, how will i manage to sleep tonight?"
"no worries!" jaejoong crows. "my manly arms and crooning voice will be all you need to fall asleep. don't be scared, i will protect you through the storms."
"what does it say? what kind of note has that kind of response?" changmin asks, stepping out of his room in an undershirt and a pair of vibrantly coloured boxers.
"my eyes!" yoochun wails, pushing his face into the sofa. "my lovely, well proportioned eyes that are not mismatched!"
"oh, shut up yoochun," changmin bites back, stepping over junsu's body on the floor, his thumbs working furiously at some game involving a lot of scantily clad elfin women and manly warriors. he reads the note and says,
"oh, it truly is frightening!" and yoochun suddenly gets curious. "i want to read it, min. pass it over."
"hey junsu, do you want to read it?"
"no."
"it's interesting!"
"no."
"are you going to read it later? i just might burn it so that prying eyes will not see the message."
"after this boss."
"prying eyes? i'm wounded!"
"and also ignorant, never being able to see the contents of this note. oh, so sad."
"give it here!"
"nope," and his fingers expertly smooth it into a paper airplane. "jaejoong, catch!"
it slides right onto jaejoong's palm.
"it burns me!" he yelps dramatically. "yunho, quick, dispose of it immediately!"
"as you command!" he salutes, leaping over a pile of jackets to tackle jaejoong to the sofa, crushing yoochun's skull to the pillow.
"my back!"
"my jaejoong!"
"my fucking head!"
"language, yoochun."
"get jaejoong's ass off my fucking cheek and then we'll talk about language."
"whoop!" jaejoong laughs as he pushes his hips forward as to give yoochun enough room to escape, effectively thrusting against yunho's chest.
"whoa, that was kind of sexual," changmin purrs, grabbing another controller and plugging it into the console.
"what was?"
"our mommy and daddy are dry humping again."
"aah, like usual then."
"yup. what character should i be?"
"go be the mage, i need a long distance attacker."
"mm."
"how come no one's asking if i'm all right?" yoochun whines.
"sorry yoochun, there aren't any cameras around right now, there's no point in being sweet on you. also, busy stabbing horde of bladed orcs, will comfort you later."
"my heart, she cries a waterfall of blackened tears."
"go write a song, why don't you?" yunho quips, arms wrapped around jaejoong's waist and head against his chest. their legs are a long, tangled mess off the edge of the sofa, and jaejoong has the paper airplane crushed between yunho's back and his hand.
"somehow, you're still the cutest member, even if you are the leader."
"somehow, you're still the shortest member, even if you are the oldest."
"shut up, yunho."
"roger that."
"you two are disgusting," yoochun mopes, twisting around to pry the mutilated aircraft from jaejoong's fingers. "like, sickeningly disgusting. if i wrote a song about you two it would be full of xylophones and harps."
"i can hear it now; why did i fall in love with you? oh right, because you're awesome."
"that wasn't funny, changmin."
"hah hah, yeah it was."
"you're not helping my cause, su."
"hello, no cameras? don't have to be on your side yet."
"i have one in my room! that's a camera, now stop taking everyone else's sides. i am lonely and hugless on this side of right and wrong."
"oh well."
"is everybody ganging up on me today?"
there is a chorus of, "yups," and one, "they have all joined the dark side!" cackled into yunho's hair.
yoochun finally gets to read the note. "aah, i get it now." he frowns and then looks around. "how come none of you are worried?"
"have you forgotten?" jaejoong says. "this is how we show our intense worry." and he tightens his grip around yunho and yunho tightens his grip around jaejoong and the two of them lay perfectly still and melded like a strange statue of flesh and clothing.
"oh, so strange," changmin laughs. "jaejoong's right about something this time." and he and junsu continue to mindlessly work their thumbs, swinging pixelated blades and splattering red all over the screen until they're too droned out to think about anything.
and yoochun realises that changmin was right the way jaejoong was right and he wishes that both of them were wrong, because he finally notices that he had been too absorbed to see the wrinkle of worry appear at the crest of jaejoong's brow, and the tight fisted clench of yunho's hand, and the pulsing spot of changmin's temple, and the blatant denial/refusal to see the evidence of junsu's gaming.
"aah, we're a sad bunch," yoochun laments, and everyone's too busy forgetting to respond.
--
the next morning, their manager blows the door open with his huff huff puff and they're all sitting at the dining room table, perfectly dressed and immaculately decorated, hands folded on the table and eyes glassily obedient.
"we're going to promote your new album," he starts, and everyone breathes in.
"but we're going to separate you into groups," and everyone breathes in more.
"choikang, micky; group one." they reach for each others' hands under the table and changmin writes the words for, "aeroplane" against the flat of yoochun's palm with his finger.
(he's never called them by their real names before.)
(secretly, in some small, dark spot at the base of their mind, they're glad.)
"u know, youngwoong; group two." jaejoong looks at yunho as yunho looks at their manager and frowns and then jaejoong gets it and looks at junsu as junsu looks at their manager and frowns.
"xiah; group three." and then junsu's chest looks big enough with air to burst. "by myself?" he asks, and the manager says, "did you hear another name?" and junsu apologises for being so stupid.
jaejoong reaches for junsu's hand and yoochun reaches for his other one, even though there isn't a single camera focused on them. junsu stares at the table and feels yunho's leg coil around his own, and breathes out just as changmin breathes in.
"okay," he says. "okay, i will go and pack."
"you will all need to pack. please hurry, we are going to hold an event that will reveal your groups by lottery. 'lottery,'" he repeats and leaves in three seconds.
they sit still, very still, for maybe forty-eight seconds or minutes or hours or days or months or years or forevers, until junsu stands up. "i am going to feel rather lonely," he says, and then looks at the way they're seated:
yunho jaejoong junsu yoochun changmin. they're already separated into their groups, unintentionally. he hides a bittersweetangry smile by biting his cheeks, the way he saw hyukjae do on television many many many nights ago. "i guess i should have read the note last night, this might be my punishment."
yunho jaejoong changmin yoochun pull him into his arms for what feels like the first time and junsu crumbles.
"this is going to be rather lonely," they all say, because it feels like the first time they've separated in years.
and
"i knew that this was coming,"
and
"we should have run away when we had the chance,"
and
"just kidding,"
and
"i'll call you a million times,"
and
"me too,"
and
"me too,"
and
"stupid, we'll be together,"
and
"i'll call him in private,"
and
"okay."
"okay."