On the Other Side of You (5/?)
Title: On the Other Side of You, Chapter 5
Summary: Yunho has a little battle with the library gods.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
I’m so sorry this took so long. I had a rough period of real life, and then found this chapter really, really hard to finish. It sat about half-way done for a long time. ^^; This is seriously already the longest piece of writing I’ve ever done, and we’re not even like, halfway there yet. Each time I write a chapter, I’m effectively writing two at one time (a Jaejoong one and a Youngwoong one) so that’s 7-8000+ words per ‘chapter’ I post, which is a lot of writing for me, longer then most whole fics I’ve done! I’m not a naturally fast writer either, like so many of the talented writers on this com. It’s great though, it motivates me to try and finish this properly! ^_^ Anyway, as usual, the following Youngwoong chapter is half-written, so hopefully that’ll be out soon too. I’m also working on about 3 other things right now, one of which I hope to be able to post soon.
Anyway, here’s the next chapter. It’s a bit boring, but if you squint and look sideways, there’s an indication of what’s up with Jae/Youngwoong. Books and courses come curtesy of my own uni and library. ^^;
Oh! Also, don't forget to check out Mind Games, blurmeese's fic inspired by the same plunny. ^_^
+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥
“In-dŏk… In-doooook….” Yunho muttered to himself as he squinted at the dusty volumes lined up on the shelf looking all exactly alike. “3486… 3487, 3488! 3488 point 4… wait, no, that’s not it. What’s with this 2? 3488.4 2? There is no - tsk.” Yunho was talking to himself out of the pure frustration of trying to navigate his way through the library’s damnably complicated filing system. He had a number of titles and codes written on the back of his assignment sheet, which he’d been trying in vain to find for the last hour and a half. Out of half a dozen books, he’d only been able to find one of them. It was not, on the whole, looking to good for his project, which he’d been procrastinating about for long enough as it was. It was due next week, and he hadn’t even gotten started on it (nor, in fact, had he actually attended class for the last two weeks. Not a smart move, in retrospect, but he was a university student! It was something one did - not go to class.) Plus, he didn’t even have Yoochun around to share his doomed fate, as the lucky bastard had chosen some other washy arts subject to do with manwha and his major project was to design a poster for an anime series. Yunho couldn’t believe it. What kind of rubbish university subject let their students get marks for that kind of thing?! It was a project you’d expect to get in the first grade, not the second year of university! Yoochun had just laughed at him and said it served him right for doing a subject where actual work was required.
How stupid of him.
And now, he paid for his stupidity with the enforced close association with moldy rotten books in a scary un-used part of the library that could well have been the set for some horror movie with how deserted and dim the whole place was. He’d left behind any sort of sign of civilization back on the 5th floor.
He was peering at the spines of the books one by one, hoping to somehow mysteriously find the missing ‘2’ at the end of the binary code that was missing from all the other books he could see, when he heard a noise.
A noise up here either meant that there was another person wandering these forsaken stacks, or there were rats. Yunho really, really really hoped it was the first. Turning around, he peeked through the rise and fall of books to look between the shelves, making out some movement a few rows down. Too large to be a rat, thankfully, and Yunho brightened at the thought of maybe finding someone who could help him with this mess. Giving up on his missing ‘2’, he scuttled down the row and towards the small noises, turning the corner to see a dark head bent over, looking through the lower shelves.
“Excuse me~!” He said, polite as he could. The reaction he got was a little surprising. The person jumped about half a foot, and nearly fell straight into the shelves they were inspecting. The figure whirled around with a high pitched sound, and Yunho was met with wide, terrified brown eyes and a pale hand clasped over the lower part of the face, looking for all the world like they were about a hairs breadth away from screaming bloody murder, or, on the other hand - perhaps fainting.
Taking an involuntary step back in reaction to the rather… violent effect his greeting had had on the boy, Yunho gripped his assignment sheet to his chest defensively and stared. It took him a moment to figure out what he was exactly he was staring at, and then he let out a little exclamation of his own.
“…Jaejoong?!” He yelped, completely startled. For it was, in fact, the mousy little baker standing before him, almost shaking in fright. His clothes were just as bad as the last two times Yunho had seen him, now clad in a strange fluffy pink thing that may well have eaten up some other garment and not digested it properly for the strange lumpy parts it was displaying. Jaejoong’s eyes widened even further (Yunho hadn’t really thought it possible) at Yunho’s voice, and he finally let his go of his white-knuckled grip over his face.
“Oh my… Yunho!” The other boy wavered out, his voice pitching strangely. “You scared the wits out of me!” He exclaimed, patting his chest worriedly with his now free hand and still looking nervous as all hell. It was strange, Yunho thought. After never having even spotted the guy - despite being in the same class as him - he now couldn’t seem to escape this face. It was like now everything he did, he would turn around and find Jaejoong or Youngwoong there. Not that that was a bad thing, necessarily. Of course, Yunho would have far preferred that by some strange twist of fate, it had been Youngwoong hanging around in the dark stacks of his university library - but he felt the outcome of the meeting would have been slightly different from how this present one would go.
“Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” He apologized, a little abashed. Scaring Jaejoong seemed to have the same inner effect of kicking a lost kitten - making you feel like scum and unnecessarily cruel. Jaejoong waved his hands about in a sort of dismissive manner, which ended up looking like he was flailing fretfully.
“It’s… it’s okay. I just, uhm, didn’t really expect anyone else to be up here, since the books are kind of old.” Jaejoong said, still obviously flustered. “There usually aren’t. People, that is.” He clarified, then flushed, covering his face again although this time in embarrassment.
Yunho smiled, more at ease now with the situation as they strayed into a more familiar and hopefully cope-able area.
“Yeah. You’re not wrong - this place is downright creepy. Never been up here myself… and would happily have stayed in that state if not for this damn assignment.” He explained, waving his paper a little in demonstration.
“Assignment? You’re taking a class on asian history?” Jaejoong questioned, eyebrows raised curiously, even as his hand hovered nearby to cover any sort of creeping smile.
“Mmm. But I can’t find any of the texts worth a damn… quite frustrating really.” Yunho said, a small frown forming between his eyebrows at the very thought of the ordeal he’d just been through. “I was, er, actually kinda looking for help.” He admitted, looking at Jaejoong hopefully.
“Oh! Uh, well, I might be able to… what are you looking for?” Jaejoong said, taking a tentative step towards him. Yunho smiled brightly at him, and brought up his assignment sheet.
“Well, I was just looking for this book here - “Singminji sidae chaeil Chosŏnin undong yŏn’gu” but I can’t find it on the shelf. There’s no book under that call number.” Yunho explained, reading off the text and then giving Jaejoong another hopeful look. Jaejoong returned his look with one of surprise.
“You’re taking Japan-Korean Political History? Professor Pae?” He asked, eyes a little wide. Yunho blinked. Now how did he know that?
“Uh, yeah…?”
“Ah! I took that last year.” Jaejoong said, almost beaming. “He’s a bit of a tough lecturer, isn’t he?” As he spoke, the shorter boy plucked Yunho’s assignment from his hands and looked over it, sounding far more confident then Yunho had ever heard him before. “Yeah, you’ll need that book. It should be there, if the system shows it’s in the library. Or have you checked the unsorteds? It may not have been put back on the shelf yet…” Jaejoong went on, walking past Yunho while still reading the assignment guidelines and wandering down to the aisle Yunho had been in before. Yunho blinked again and trailed after, a little in awe at how at home Jae seemed to be as he brushed his fingers over the books in a completely different shelf from where Yunho had been previously looking.
With a small triumphant noise, Jaejoong pulled a slim book from its resting place and held it up, proffering it to Yunho.
“Here’s Kim In-dŏk’s book. You should also see if you can find this one and this one,” He pointed out two of the references Yunho had noted down. “they’re both useful. Your assignment is similar to the one I had to do.”
“Wow, thanks Jae. You don’t mind if I call you Jae, right? I couldn’t find that book for nuts! I’ve been looking for these for ages. Any other tips for the essay?” Yunho plowed on, looking over the book in his hand and smiling winningly at Jaejoong. Jae looked a little taken aback at Yunho’s brightness, as if suddenly realizing that he’d just spoken more then three words to the other boy. But Yunho had looked so lost, and hopeful, and Jaejoong did know a lot about this section of the library - some weeks he practically lived there actually. He bit his lip and considered the handsome young man before him. It wasn’t like Yunho was dumb… he wasn’t a stupid jock like one might expect from his play boy attitude and vast popularity. From what Jaejoong heard, which was not as much as some perhaps as he’d never much been one for gossip, but from what he’d heard, Yunho was a pretty good student really. Not exceptional, but above average. So he wasn’t a slacker… Jaejoong considered.
“Well, uh, if you like, I’ve still got my notes from the course if you’d like to look them over…” He offered shyly, biting his lip again and looking at the utterly fascinating way his shoelaces flopped over the sides of his battered shoes.
“That would be fantastic!” Yunho exclaimed, too loudly for a library, making Jaejoong jump slightly. He was sure, if they were in any part of the library that was more populated then this deserted, creepy part, he would have been shushed by a legion of Nazi librarians. But there were no Nazi librarians, so Yunho didn’t really much care. His grin turned into a little pout moments later though as he suddenly thought of something. “Aish, but no, I need to get this thing written for next week, and I don’t know when I’ll see you next…” He said with a little mou of disappointment. It would have made his life so much easier to have a decent set of notes and some guidance on what the hell he was actually supposed to write for this stupid paper. And coming from someone who actually sounded like they knew more then diddly about the topic too.
Jaejoong pushed his sliding glasses back up his nose and bit his lip.
“Well, uhm, if you have a few minutes… my house is nearby.” He suggested hesitantly. “I need to be getting back anyway…” The last was said almost to himself. Yunho however was very pleased by this idea.
They eventually agreed that Yunho would make a last ditch effort to find a few more of his books (“The extra numbers at the end mean they’re stored in the large books area of the shelf. Haven’t you used the library system before?” Jaejoong had told him, perplexed at Yunho’s cluelessness.) while Jaejoong collected all of his things. They then met in front of the library. Yunho was amazed at how much Jaejoong just completely faded into the woodwork - he’d barely been able to spot him as he exited the building.
The trip to Jaejoong’s house included a ten minute bus ride from the edge of campus, and then about a five minute walk from the bus stop. Yunho spent the time largely talking at Jaejoong and trying to get his shy companion to respond. He found himself rather enamored by the way the smaller boy would cover his mouth every time he laughed, or got embarrassed, or… well, it happened often. And his ears would go red too. Yunho also found out, after blathering for some time about the boringness of psychology, that Jaejoong was in fact a linguist, attending SMU under a full scholarship. His majors were Japanese and English, the former being his strong point and the reason for his Asian history units.
“Say something else!” He prompted as they walked, trying to coax some more Japanese out of Jaejoong. Yunho only knew a smattering of really bad English from his high school days and various American songs, and he knew next to no Japanese. So hearing Jaejoong speak was novel for him, especially with the way Jaejoong’s voice went up a little when he spoke Japanese compared to his Korean. The change in pitch made him sound kinda cute. Jaejoong laughed again in embarrassment at the attention, covering his mouth as per usual.
“Uhm. Koko de.” He said very simply. Yunho beamed.
“What does it mean?” He asked eagerly. Jaejoong giggled, and pointed across the road.
“It means, that’s my house. We’re here.” He said, and Yunho blinked.
“Oh.” Was his highly intelligent reply. Jaejoong smiled, and began to cross the road, Yunho trailing behind. The house was moderate sized, and a little run-down looking, but nothing too horrible. It could do with a re-paint, but all in all it looked quite cozy. Although, given the size of Jaejoong’s family, he couldn’t really see how they could fit 9 kids in there growing up.
Jaejoong fumbled with the door, his heavy book bag thumping against the wood hollowly and biting into his hip in what looked to be a painful manner. It seemed it wasn’t all that unusual though, as Jaejoong took no notice of it as he swung open the door.
“Come in.” he said, shuffling into the entrance area and toeing off his shoes. “I’m home.” He called softly into the house. Yunho obligingly stepped inside, closing the door behind him and pulling off his own shoes to line up against the wall. Jaejoong put his shoes into the shoe closet, which was already full to the brim, and the pair moved off into the house.
“My notes are um, upstairs in my room.” Jaejoong explained, extraordinarily shy now. He couldn’t believe he’d actually had the nerve to bring Yunho into the house! He played with the hem of his shirt nervously, wondering what the other boy thought of his home. He’d heard that Yunho was actually kinda rich, so he was sure that the house was nothing in Yunho’s eyes. Seeing one of his sister’s sweaters tossed over the table in the hall, he picked it up and absently started folding it over his arm, gathering up some scattered magazines as he passed them too, bundling them under his arm as he headed for the upper level.
Yunho meanwhile was taking it all in as the ascended the stairs. The house looked well-lived in, and well, homely. His own family home was a little stark, his mother a neat freak who wanted everything perfectly arranged and perfectly clean. His little sister and he had learned early on not to mess things up too much, and to keep away from the expensive decorative pieces his mother had littered through the house. Yoochun’s house was a little more like Jaejoong’s, and Yunho had spent a lot of his childhood in the Park’s residence, feeling at home in the more warm cozy setting.
The pair walked down the landing area, passing a few doorways before Jaejoong turned and opened one of them. Ducking his head as he entered, he blushed.
“Uhm. My room.” He said. Yunho peaked inside curiously before stepping in after the smaller boy.
He then stopped dead and blinked.
Okay, this was creepy as all hell.
Nearly every available wall was completely covered with posters. They were all of the same guy… Yunho thought he might have recognized him as one of those pop idols that were plastered all over women’s magazines and such.
“Holy shit. What’s up with the guy?” He asked, eyes wide.
“EunSun liked him.” Jaejoong explained somewhat nervously, putting down his bookbag and laying the magazines and sweater on his bed. “Uh - EunSun is one of my sisters. I shared this room with her… but she lives in an apartment now.”
“If she doesn’t live here anymore, why don’t you take them down? I feel like there are all these people watching me.” Yunho said, eyes darting around. It was really unnerving, having this guy looking at you no matter which direction you turned. Jaejoong shrugged a little and looked away.
“She said she wants to have them here still when she visits. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m used to them” He said quietly. “I’ll look for those notes for you.” He said abruptly, heading over to a small bookcase shoved into one corner of the room.
Trying to block out the hundreds of eyes watching him, Yunho had a look at the room itself, not just the walls, and felt surprised at how it was set up. Despite the absence of ‘EunSun’, the room positively reeked of the girl. The room was predominantly decorated in girly things, and her decorations and items seemed to sprawl across the room. In the far corner, furthest from the door, was a small area that seemed to be Jaejoong’s significantly smaller ‘half’ of the room. There was the bookcase, a bed pressed up against the wall and a desk on the other side of the bed, that held a somewhat decrepit looking old computer. Notes and books were neatly stacked the desk. Actually, the whole room was uncommonly neat for a boy’s bedroom. Everything was clean and put away - Yunho’s mother would have been ever so proud if Yunho’s room had even slightly resembled the orderliness displayed in Jaejoong’s.
Yunho wandered over to the desk, poking around curiously. There were vocabulary lists, and Japanese books, and a few pictures blue-tacked to the computer monitor. Looking closer, Yunho saw Jaejoong standing with another young man, who was much taller then the pale boy and grinning widely. The next photo was also of the tall boy and Jaejoong, except it only showed their faces, and both of them were making ‘victory’ signs. So intent on the pictures was he that when Jaejoong spoke up from behind him, he nearly jumped.
“Found them!”
Spinning around, Yunho found Jaejoong kneeling on the floor, with a small folder in his hands, looking pleased. Jaejoong brushed off the dust on the folder and opened it, having a look through. He smiled fondly at the notes, remembering the course. Standing up, he looked over at Yunho and offered the folder to the other boy.
“Here. I think that’s everyth-”
“JAEJOONG?! ARE YOU HOME?” The loud, female voice cut through Jaejoong’s naturally nervous and soft one like an oversized carving knife, and Yunho flinched at the sheer power of the voice. Jaejoong just blinked and looked over at the door though. “The washing needs to be done! And Na-Young needs a cake for some stall or something!” The voice continued on yelling. When it appeared to be finished, Jaejoong turned back to Yunho, biting his lip.
“Ah, sorry. I need to go start dinner. If you want to have a quick look at what’s there… you can ask me any questions you have?” He asked more then suggested, already moving to the door however.
“Was that your mother?” Yunho asked incredulously, ignoring Jae’s suggestion for the moment and just taking the folder to hurry after Jaejoong. Jaejoong just nodded slightly, not elaborating. This was all turning out a bit odd. Sweet, shy Jaejoong had a rather strange family life it seemed. He followed Jaejoong down the stairs and off to the other side of the house, where Jaejoong entered the kitchen and dining area.
“Please sit. I’m going to start cooking, but if there’s anything missing or if you want to ask something, please let me know.” Jaejoong said, showing Yunho to the kitchen table. “Would you like a drink? Or there’s some cake in the fridge, or I can make you sandwich or something…” Jaejoong babbled, flustered. He really should have thought this through better - organized to bring the notes to Yunho somehow. Anything but bring him home! He had no idea what to do with Yunho now. He really needed to start cooking, but he felt awkward just leaving Yunho to his own devices.
Yunho reached out and grabbed one of Jaejoong’s fidgeting hands.
“It’s okay Jae, just calm down. I’m fine. I’ll just sit here and look at your notes. You do what you have to.” Yunho said as reassuringly as possible, secretly amused by how easily worked up Jaejoong was. Jaejoong gave him one more worried, searching look while nibbling on his lower lip before nodding.
He then scurried off, pulling things out from the fridge and lining them up on the counter. The oven was turned on, and a baking tin was produced from a cupboard somewhere. Yunho sat, watching the busy movements for a while, amazed to see Jaejoong so confident and deft, when he was usually so clumsy and unsure. It made all the difference to his appearance, the change in attitude.
“Don’t your sisters or mother cook?” He asked suddenly, mind idly turning over what he had witnessed since arriving in the Kim household. Jaejoong gave him a startled glance, before going back to greasing the pan, even if at a slower pace.
“Uhm, well, no. I cook dinner.” He shrugged.
“And do the washing?” Yunho prodded. Jaejoong’s movements slowed even more, and his lips pursed. Yunho would not have noticed at all if he hadn’t been watching the other boy intently.
“Yes. They’re just my chores. All of us have them to do.” Jaejoong said matter-of-factly, leaving the pan now and pulling out two mixing bowls.
“Hmm.” Was Yunho’s non-committal reply, adding these answers to his little mental puzzle. It was only when Yunho finally opened the folder and began skimming through the papers inside did Jaejoong properly get into making the meal. In fact, a little while later Jaejoong realized he’d forgotten Yunho was there at all, the psychology student was so quiet. He had the cake in the oven by then, and was deftly cutting up slices of beef for the dinner meal when Yunho finally spoke up.
“You make very thorough notes, Jae. I’m impressed.” Yunho praised, somewhat in awe of the comprehensiveness of what was before him. The title ‘nerd’ was not ill-placed. This boy obviously spent way too much time studying. “I’m also never going to be able to read through all of these very quickly.” He added, closing the folder and standing up. “Why don’t you just give me your number, and I can call you if I have any problems?”
Jaejoong’s open face looked back at him as he moved over to the smaller boy. He smiled as charmingly as he could, and was gratified to see a blush creep over Jaejoong’s nose and down to his cheeks.
“Uh-uhm…” Jaejoong stammered. “okay…?” Yunho beamed.
“Great!” He immediately pulled out his snazzy little silver phone (it made Jaejoong’s look like a veritable brick), flipping it open and readying a new contact. He looked at Jaejoong expectantly, and Jaejoong struggled to get his mind into gear enough to remember that he had a phone, let alone what his number was. It took him a few moments, but it finally came to him, and he recited out a tumble of numbers to Yunho - getting it wrong once before finally they both had the correct one.
“Okay. Thank you so much for this Jaejoong. Really - you have no idea how much of a life-saver you are!” Yunho said as they walked to the door. Yunho had kindly turned down Jaejoong’s offer of walking him back to the bus stop, saying he could find his way and besides, Jae was in the middle of cooking.
“It’s okay. I hope they’re useful for you.” Jaejoong said as Yunho put his shoes back on. “Good luck on your paper. I’m sure you’ll do well.” He offered shyly, and Yunho smiled.
“Thanks!” Yunho hefted the folder, making sure it was secure before he moved out the door. Jaejoong waved at him a little. “Bye Jae. Thanks again.”
“Bye Yunho.” Jaejoong said, before closing the door.
Yunho began to hum as he walked down the street, feeling much better about things in general then he had this morning. He’d only gotten two houses down though when he heard a small cry from behind him, and turned to see Jaejoong running down the stairs of his house. Blinking in surprise, he stopped, wondering what was wrong.
Jaejoong ran up to him and shoved a brown paper bag at him. Confused, Yunho took the bag.
“Jae, what -”
“Found it in the fridge… said you liked them. Uhm! Good luck!” Jaejoong said in a rush, his face turning a bright red as he spoke, including his ears. He wouldn’t look Yunho in the eye at all, and once he’d said his piece, he promptly turned on his heel and went racing back into his house.
Feeling a little ‘what the hell’, Yunho stared at his retreating back until the door slammed closed again, and then looked down at the bag he was now holding in one hand. Shifting the folder so that he could use both hands, he opened up the bag.
A very wide grin took over his face as he peered inside, and he let out a little whoop. Things were definitely looking up! He thought to himself as he took a huge bite out of a large blueberry muffin.
Summary: Yunho has a little battle with the library gods.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
I’m so sorry this took so long. I had a rough period of real life, and then found this chapter really, really hard to finish. It sat about half-way done for a long time. ^^; This is seriously already the longest piece of writing I’ve ever done, and we’re not even like, halfway there yet. Each time I write a chapter, I’m effectively writing two at one time (a Jaejoong one and a Youngwoong one) so that’s 7-8000+ words per ‘chapter’ I post, which is a lot of writing for me, longer then most whole fics I’ve done! I’m not a naturally fast writer either, like so many of the talented writers on this com. It’s great though, it motivates me to try and finish this properly! ^_^ Anyway, as usual, the following Youngwoong chapter is half-written, so hopefully that’ll be out soon too. I’m also working on about 3 other things right now, one of which I hope to be able to post soon.
Anyway, here’s the next chapter. It’s a bit boring, but if you squint and look sideways, there’s an indication of what’s up with Jae/Youngwoong. Books and courses come curtesy of my own uni and library. ^^;
Oh! Also, don't forget to check out Mind Games, blurmeese's fic inspired by the same plunny. ^_^
+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥+♥
“In-dŏk… In-doooook….” Yunho muttered to himself as he squinted at the dusty volumes lined up on the shelf looking all exactly alike. “3486… 3487, 3488! 3488 point 4… wait, no, that’s not it. What’s with this 2? 3488.4 2? There is no - tsk.” Yunho was talking to himself out of the pure frustration of trying to navigate his way through the library’s damnably complicated filing system. He had a number of titles and codes written on the back of his assignment sheet, which he’d been trying in vain to find for the last hour and a half. Out of half a dozen books, he’d only been able to find one of them. It was not, on the whole, looking to good for his project, which he’d been procrastinating about for long enough as it was. It was due next week, and he hadn’t even gotten started on it (nor, in fact, had he actually attended class for the last two weeks. Not a smart move, in retrospect, but he was a university student! It was something one did - not go to class.) Plus, he didn’t even have Yoochun around to share his doomed fate, as the lucky bastard had chosen some other washy arts subject to do with manwha and his major project was to design a poster for an anime series. Yunho couldn’t believe it. What kind of rubbish university subject let their students get marks for that kind of thing?! It was a project you’d expect to get in the first grade, not the second year of university! Yoochun had just laughed at him and said it served him right for doing a subject where actual work was required.
How stupid of him.
And now, he paid for his stupidity with the enforced close association with moldy rotten books in a scary un-used part of the library that could well have been the set for some horror movie with how deserted and dim the whole place was. He’d left behind any sort of sign of civilization back on the 5th floor.
He was peering at the spines of the books one by one, hoping to somehow mysteriously find the missing ‘2’ at the end of the binary code that was missing from all the other books he could see, when he heard a noise.
A noise up here either meant that there was another person wandering these forsaken stacks, or there were rats. Yunho really, really really hoped it was the first. Turning around, he peeked through the rise and fall of books to look between the shelves, making out some movement a few rows down. Too large to be a rat, thankfully, and Yunho brightened at the thought of maybe finding someone who could help him with this mess. Giving up on his missing ‘2’, he scuttled down the row and towards the small noises, turning the corner to see a dark head bent over, looking through the lower shelves.
“Excuse me~!” He said, polite as he could. The reaction he got was a little surprising. The person jumped about half a foot, and nearly fell straight into the shelves they were inspecting. The figure whirled around with a high pitched sound, and Yunho was met with wide, terrified brown eyes and a pale hand clasped over the lower part of the face, looking for all the world like they were about a hairs breadth away from screaming bloody murder, or, on the other hand - perhaps fainting.
Taking an involuntary step back in reaction to the rather… violent effect his greeting had had on the boy, Yunho gripped his assignment sheet to his chest defensively and stared. It took him a moment to figure out what he was exactly he was staring at, and then he let out a little exclamation of his own.
“…Jaejoong?!” He yelped, completely startled. For it was, in fact, the mousy little baker standing before him, almost shaking in fright. His clothes were just as bad as the last two times Yunho had seen him, now clad in a strange fluffy pink thing that may well have eaten up some other garment and not digested it properly for the strange lumpy parts it was displaying. Jaejoong’s eyes widened even further (Yunho hadn’t really thought it possible) at Yunho’s voice, and he finally let his go of his white-knuckled grip over his face.
“Oh my… Yunho!” The other boy wavered out, his voice pitching strangely. “You scared the wits out of me!” He exclaimed, patting his chest worriedly with his now free hand and still looking nervous as all hell. It was strange, Yunho thought. After never having even spotted the guy - despite being in the same class as him - he now couldn’t seem to escape this face. It was like now everything he did, he would turn around and find Jaejoong or Youngwoong there. Not that that was a bad thing, necessarily. Of course, Yunho would have far preferred that by some strange twist of fate, it had been Youngwoong hanging around in the dark stacks of his university library - but he felt the outcome of the meeting would have been slightly different from how this present one would go.
“Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” He apologized, a little abashed. Scaring Jaejoong seemed to have the same inner effect of kicking a lost kitten - making you feel like scum and unnecessarily cruel. Jaejoong waved his hands about in a sort of dismissive manner, which ended up looking like he was flailing fretfully.
“It’s… it’s okay. I just, uhm, didn’t really expect anyone else to be up here, since the books are kind of old.” Jaejoong said, still obviously flustered. “There usually aren’t. People, that is.” He clarified, then flushed, covering his face again although this time in embarrassment.
Yunho smiled, more at ease now with the situation as they strayed into a more familiar and hopefully cope-able area.
“Yeah. You’re not wrong - this place is downright creepy. Never been up here myself… and would happily have stayed in that state if not for this damn assignment.” He explained, waving his paper a little in demonstration.
“Assignment? You’re taking a class on asian history?” Jaejoong questioned, eyebrows raised curiously, even as his hand hovered nearby to cover any sort of creeping smile.
“Mmm. But I can’t find any of the texts worth a damn… quite frustrating really.” Yunho said, a small frown forming between his eyebrows at the very thought of the ordeal he’d just been through. “I was, er, actually kinda looking for help.” He admitted, looking at Jaejoong hopefully.
“Oh! Uh, well, I might be able to… what are you looking for?” Jaejoong said, taking a tentative step towards him. Yunho smiled brightly at him, and brought up his assignment sheet.
“Well, I was just looking for this book here - “Singminji sidae chaeil Chosŏnin undong yŏn’gu” but I can’t find it on the shelf. There’s no book under that call number.” Yunho explained, reading off the text and then giving Jaejoong another hopeful look. Jaejoong returned his look with one of surprise.
“You’re taking Japan-Korean Political History? Professor Pae?” He asked, eyes a little wide. Yunho blinked. Now how did he know that?
“Uh, yeah…?”
“Ah! I took that last year.” Jaejoong said, almost beaming. “He’s a bit of a tough lecturer, isn’t he?” As he spoke, the shorter boy plucked Yunho’s assignment from his hands and looked over it, sounding far more confident then Yunho had ever heard him before. “Yeah, you’ll need that book. It should be there, if the system shows it’s in the library. Or have you checked the unsorteds? It may not have been put back on the shelf yet…” Jaejoong went on, walking past Yunho while still reading the assignment guidelines and wandering down to the aisle Yunho had been in before. Yunho blinked again and trailed after, a little in awe at how at home Jae seemed to be as he brushed his fingers over the books in a completely different shelf from where Yunho had been previously looking.
With a small triumphant noise, Jaejoong pulled a slim book from its resting place and held it up, proffering it to Yunho.
“Here’s Kim In-dŏk’s book. You should also see if you can find this one and this one,” He pointed out two of the references Yunho had noted down. “they’re both useful. Your assignment is similar to the one I had to do.”
“Wow, thanks Jae. You don’t mind if I call you Jae, right? I couldn’t find that book for nuts! I’ve been looking for these for ages. Any other tips for the essay?” Yunho plowed on, looking over the book in his hand and smiling winningly at Jaejoong. Jae looked a little taken aback at Yunho’s brightness, as if suddenly realizing that he’d just spoken more then three words to the other boy. But Yunho had looked so lost, and hopeful, and Jaejoong did know a lot about this section of the library - some weeks he practically lived there actually. He bit his lip and considered the handsome young man before him. It wasn’t like Yunho was dumb… he wasn’t a stupid jock like one might expect from his play boy attitude and vast popularity. From what Jaejoong heard, which was not as much as some perhaps as he’d never much been one for gossip, but from what he’d heard, Yunho was a pretty good student really. Not exceptional, but above average. So he wasn’t a slacker… Jaejoong considered.
“Well, uh, if you like, I’ve still got my notes from the course if you’d like to look them over…” He offered shyly, biting his lip again and looking at the utterly fascinating way his shoelaces flopped over the sides of his battered shoes.
“That would be fantastic!” Yunho exclaimed, too loudly for a library, making Jaejoong jump slightly. He was sure, if they were in any part of the library that was more populated then this deserted, creepy part, he would have been shushed by a legion of Nazi librarians. But there were no Nazi librarians, so Yunho didn’t really much care. His grin turned into a little pout moments later though as he suddenly thought of something. “Aish, but no, I need to get this thing written for next week, and I don’t know when I’ll see you next…” He said with a little mou of disappointment. It would have made his life so much easier to have a decent set of notes and some guidance on what the hell he was actually supposed to write for this stupid paper. And coming from someone who actually sounded like they knew more then diddly about the topic too.
Jaejoong pushed his sliding glasses back up his nose and bit his lip.
“Well, uhm, if you have a few minutes… my house is nearby.” He suggested hesitantly. “I need to be getting back anyway…” The last was said almost to himself. Yunho however was very pleased by this idea.
They eventually agreed that Yunho would make a last ditch effort to find a few more of his books (“The extra numbers at the end mean they’re stored in the large books area of the shelf. Haven’t you used the library system before?” Jaejoong had told him, perplexed at Yunho’s cluelessness.) while Jaejoong collected all of his things. They then met in front of the library. Yunho was amazed at how much Jaejoong just completely faded into the woodwork - he’d barely been able to spot him as he exited the building.
The trip to Jaejoong’s house included a ten minute bus ride from the edge of campus, and then about a five minute walk from the bus stop. Yunho spent the time largely talking at Jaejoong and trying to get his shy companion to respond. He found himself rather enamored by the way the smaller boy would cover his mouth every time he laughed, or got embarrassed, or… well, it happened often. And his ears would go red too. Yunho also found out, after blathering for some time about the boringness of psychology, that Jaejoong was in fact a linguist, attending SMU under a full scholarship. His majors were Japanese and English, the former being his strong point and the reason for his Asian history units.
“Say something else!” He prompted as they walked, trying to coax some more Japanese out of Jaejoong. Yunho only knew a smattering of really bad English from his high school days and various American songs, and he knew next to no Japanese. So hearing Jaejoong speak was novel for him, especially with the way Jaejoong’s voice went up a little when he spoke Japanese compared to his Korean. The change in pitch made him sound kinda cute. Jaejoong laughed again in embarrassment at the attention, covering his mouth as per usual.
“Uhm. Koko de.” He said very simply. Yunho beamed.
“What does it mean?” He asked eagerly. Jaejoong giggled, and pointed across the road.
“It means, that’s my house. We’re here.” He said, and Yunho blinked.
“Oh.” Was his highly intelligent reply. Jaejoong smiled, and began to cross the road, Yunho trailing behind. The house was moderate sized, and a little run-down looking, but nothing too horrible. It could do with a re-paint, but all in all it looked quite cozy. Although, given the size of Jaejoong’s family, he couldn’t really see how they could fit 9 kids in there growing up.
Jaejoong fumbled with the door, his heavy book bag thumping against the wood hollowly and biting into his hip in what looked to be a painful manner. It seemed it wasn’t all that unusual though, as Jaejoong took no notice of it as he swung open the door.
“Come in.” he said, shuffling into the entrance area and toeing off his shoes. “I’m home.” He called softly into the house. Yunho obligingly stepped inside, closing the door behind him and pulling off his own shoes to line up against the wall. Jaejoong put his shoes into the shoe closet, which was already full to the brim, and the pair moved off into the house.
“My notes are um, upstairs in my room.” Jaejoong explained, extraordinarily shy now. He couldn’t believe he’d actually had the nerve to bring Yunho into the house! He played with the hem of his shirt nervously, wondering what the other boy thought of his home. He’d heard that Yunho was actually kinda rich, so he was sure that the house was nothing in Yunho’s eyes. Seeing one of his sister’s sweaters tossed over the table in the hall, he picked it up and absently started folding it over his arm, gathering up some scattered magazines as he passed them too, bundling them under his arm as he headed for the upper level.
Yunho meanwhile was taking it all in as the ascended the stairs. The house looked well-lived in, and well, homely. His own family home was a little stark, his mother a neat freak who wanted everything perfectly arranged and perfectly clean. His little sister and he had learned early on not to mess things up too much, and to keep away from the expensive decorative pieces his mother had littered through the house. Yoochun’s house was a little more like Jaejoong’s, and Yunho had spent a lot of his childhood in the Park’s residence, feeling at home in the more warm cozy setting.
The pair walked down the landing area, passing a few doorways before Jaejoong turned and opened one of them. Ducking his head as he entered, he blushed.
“Uhm. My room.” He said. Yunho peaked inside curiously before stepping in after the smaller boy.
He then stopped dead and blinked.
Okay, this was creepy as all hell.
Nearly every available wall was completely covered with posters. They were all of the same guy… Yunho thought he might have recognized him as one of those pop idols that were plastered all over women’s magazines and such.
“Holy shit. What’s up with the guy?” He asked, eyes wide.
“EunSun liked him.” Jaejoong explained somewhat nervously, putting down his bookbag and laying the magazines and sweater on his bed. “Uh - EunSun is one of my sisters. I shared this room with her… but she lives in an apartment now.”
“If she doesn’t live here anymore, why don’t you take them down? I feel like there are all these people watching me.” Yunho said, eyes darting around. It was really unnerving, having this guy looking at you no matter which direction you turned. Jaejoong shrugged a little and looked away.
“She said she wants to have them here still when she visits. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m used to them” He said quietly. “I’ll look for those notes for you.” He said abruptly, heading over to a small bookcase shoved into one corner of the room.
Trying to block out the hundreds of eyes watching him, Yunho had a look at the room itself, not just the walls, and felt surprised at how it was set up. Despite the absence of ‘EunSun’, the room positively reeked of the girl. The room was predominantly decorated in girly things, and her decorations and items seemed to sprawl across the room. In the far corner, furthest from the door, was a small area that seemed to be Jaejoong’s significantly smaller ‘half’ of the room. There was the bookcase, a bed pressed up against the wall and a desk on the other side of the bed, that held a somewhat decrepit looking old computer. Notes and books were neatly stacked the desk. Actually, the whole room was uncommonly neat for a boy’s bedroom. Everything was clean and put away - Yunho’s mother would have been ever so proud if Yunho’s room had even slightly resembled the orderliness displayed in Jaejoong’s.
Yunho wandered over to the desk, poking around curiously. There were vocabulary lists, and Japanese books, and a few pictures blue-tacked to the computer monitor. Looking closer, Yunho saw Jaejoong standing with another young man, who was much taller then the pale boy and grinning widely. The next photo was also of the tall boy and Jaejoong, except it only showed their faces, and both of them were making ‘victory’ signs. So intent on the pictures was he that when Jaejoong spoke up from behind him, he nearly jumped.
“Found them!”
Spinning around, Yunho found Jaejoong kneeling on the floor, with a small folder in his hands, looking pleased. Jaejoong brushed off the dust on the folder and opened it, having a look through. He smiled fondly at the notes, remembering the course. Standing up, he looked over at Yunho and offered the folder to the other boy.
“Here. I think that’s everyth-”
“JAEJOONG?! ARE YOU HOME?” The loud, female voice cut through Jaejoong’s naturally nervous and soft one like an oversized carving knife, and Yunho flinched at the sheer power of the voice. Jaejoong just blinked and looked over at the door though. “The washing needs to be done! And Na-Young needs a cake for some stall or something!” The voice continued on yelling. When it appeared to be finished, Jaejoong turned back to Yunho, biting his lip.
“Ah, sorry. I need to go start dinner. If you want to have a quick look at what’s there… you can ask me any questions you have?” He asked more then suggested, already moving to the door however.
“Was that your mother?” Yunho asked incredulously, ignoring Jae’s suggestion for the moment and just taking the folder to hurry after Jaejoong. Jaejoong just nodded slightly, not elaborating. This was all turning out a bit odd. Sweet, shy Jaejoong had a rather strange family life it seemed. He followed Jaejoong down the stairs and off to the other side of the house, where Jaejoong entered the kitchen and dining area.
“Please sit. I’m going to start cooking, but if there’s anything missing or if you want to ask something, please let me know.” Jaejoong said, showing Yunho to the kitchen table. “Would you like a drink? Or there’s some cake in the fridge, or I can make you sandwich or something…” Jaejoong babbled, flustered. He really should have thought this through better - organized to bring the notes to Yunho somehow. Anything but bring him home! He had no idea what to do with Yunho now. He really needed to start cooking, but he felt awkward just leaving Yunho to his own devices.
Yunho reached out and grabbed one of Jaejoong’s fidgeting hands.
“It’s okay Jae, just calm down. I’m fine. I’ll just sit here and look at your notes. You do what you have to.” Yunho said as reassuringly as possible, secretly amused by how easily worked up Jaejoong was. Jaejoong gave him one more worried, searching look while nibbling on his lower lip before nodding.
He then scurried off, pulling things out from the fridge and lining them up on the counter. The oven was turned on, and a baking tin was produced from a cupboard somewhere. Yunho sat, watching the busy movements for a while, amazed to see Jaejoong so confident and deft, when he was usually so clumsy and unsure. It made all the difference to his appearance, the change in attitude.
“Don’t your sisters or mother cook?” He asked suddenly, mind idly turning over what he had witnessed since arriving in the Kim household. Jaejoong gave him a startled glance, before going back to greasing the pan, even if at a slower pace.
“Uhm, well, no. I cook dinner.” He shrugged.
“And do the washing?” Yunho prodded. Jaejoong’s movements slowed even more, and his lips pursed. Yunho would not have noticed at all if he hadn’t been watching the other boy intently.
“Yes. They’re just my chores. All of us have them to do.” Jaejoong said matter-of-factly, leaving the pan now and pulling out two mixing bowls.
“Hmm.” Was Yunho’s non-committal reply, adding these answers to his little mental puzzle. It was only when Yunho finally opened the folder and began skimming through the papers inside did Jaejoong properly get into making the meal. In fact, a little while later Jaejoong realized he’d forgotten Yunho was there at all, the psychology student was so quiet. He had the cake in the oven by then, and was deftly cutting up slices of beef for the dinner meal when Yunho finally spoke up.
“You make very thorough notes, Jae. I’m impressed.” Yunho praised, somewhat in awe of the comprehensiveness of what was before him. The title ‘nerd’ was not ill-placed. This boy obviously spent way too much time studying. “I’m also never going to be able to read through all of these very quickly.” He added, closing the folder and standing up. “Why don’t you just give me your number, and I can call you if I have any problems?”
Jaejoong’s open face looked back at him as he moved over to the smaller boy. He smiled as charmingly as he could, and was gratified to see a blush creep over Jaejoong’s nose and down to his cheeks.
“Uh-uhm…” Jaejoong stammered. “okay…?” Yunho beamed.
“Great!” He immediately pulled out his snazzy little silver phone (it made Jaejoong’s look like a veritable brick), flipping it open and readying a new contact. He looked at Jaejoong expectantly, and Jaejoong struggled to get his mind into gear enough to remember that he had a phone, let alone what his number was. It took him a few moments, but it finally came to him, and he recited out a tumble of numbers to Yunho - getting it wrong once before finally they both had the correct one.
“Okay. Thank you so much for this Jaejoong. Really - you have no idea how much of a life-saver you are!” Yunho said as they walked to the door. Yunho had kindly turned down Jaejoong’s offer of walking him back to the bus stop, saying he could find his way and besides, Jae was in the middle of cooking.
“It’s okay. I hope they’re useful for you.” Jaejoong said as Yunho put his shoes back on. “Good luck on your paper. I’m sure you’ll do well.” He offered shyly, and Yunho smiled.
“Thanks!” Yunho hefted the folder, making sure it was secure before he moved out the door. Jaejoong waved at him a little. “Bye Jae. Thanks again.”
“Bye Yunho.” Jaejoong said, before closing the door.
Yunho began to hum as he walked down the street, feeling much better about things in general then he had this morning. He’d only gotten two houses down though when he heard a small cry from behind him, and turned to see Jaejoong running down the stairs of his house. Blinking in surprise, he stopped, wondering what was wrong.
Jaejoong ran up to him and shoved a brown paper bag at him. Confused, Yunho took the bag.
“Jae, what -”
“Found it in the fridge… said you liked them. Uhm! Good luck!” Jaejoong said in a rush, his face turning a bright red as he spoke, including his ears. He wouldn’t look Yunho in the eye at all, and once he’d said his piece, he promptly turned on his heel and went racing back into his house.
Feeling a little ‘what the hell’, Yunho stared at his retreating back until the door slammed closed again, and then looked down at the bag he was now holding in one hand. Shifting the folder so that he could use both hands, he opened up the bag.
A very wide grin took over his face as he peered inside, and he let out a little whoop. Things were definitely looking up! He thought to himself as he took a huge bite out of a large blueberry muffin.