[one-shot] → changmin/jaejoong

[taemptation]

title: heaven's postman
pairing: changmin/jaejoong, if you squint
words: ~1,800
rating: pg

a/n: changmin is older than jaejoong, total accident
also, I've been obsessed with this movie forever but I still haven't seen it /fail

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An elderly woman made her way over to the boy lying in the tall grass. Her legs wobbled as she marched over the bumpy ground. She smiled to herself when she moved close enough to see the state of the boy, Changmin. “Ah, that boy.” His hair was sticking in all directions just like his limbs. She laughed crookedly as she jabbed him in the side with her cane to wake him. Changmin shouted as he jerked himself to a sitting position.

“Whadya want, Granny?” He scowled and swatted at the long grass tickling his nose.

Her voice was filled with sand and memories, “Are you the postman?”

“Yeah. The mailbox is on the other hill though, so why’re you over here assaulting me?”

“As you can see, I’m not in the best of shape,” she gestured to herself with a small smile on her face. “I was wondering if I could save myself the trip and just give you my letter here.” The woman pulled out a bright blue envelope from the inside of her shawl and held it out to the boy.

“Next time just leave it by me. There was no need to wake me up.” Changmin grumbled. Even with his complaint, he gently took the letter from the woman.

“I was worried someone else might get their hands on it.”

He scoffed at this. “No one but me here, Granny. Go back home, you need your sleep.”

“I am asleep,” she said with a sharp laugh.

“Well, I need mine. Go.” Changmin sent her off with a salute, dramatically placing the envelope he had just received in his bag.

He watched as she limped back over the grassy hill. The sunlight was bright, too bright for Changmin. He sighed and threw himself face first back into the dirt. People are so tiring, he thought.

- - -

The grass drifted back and forth with the wind along the hills. Changmin spent most of his time searching for fluffy animals in the bright blue sky. It was a calm place where he could get so close to nature that he almost believed he was a tree or a blade of grass.

A single mailbox stood off to the side of this paradise. It was hidden away in a grove filled with oak and maple. It was a curious thing, sticking out like a sore thumb with its barn house red coloring. Somehow though, it seemed right at home among the aging trees and ancient soil. It was not just any mailbox either.

When people on earth fall asleep thinking about their lost loved ones, they end up in this place. Changmin calls it the Post Office of Heaven. They appear in everyday clothing with a letter in their hands. The letter contains the exact thoughts they were thinking when they closed their eyes. All they have to do is place their letter into Changmin’s mailbox and the thoughts they were thinking, be they cruel or kind thoughts, will be delivered to their loved ones’ homes in Heaven.

Changmin was busy making a crown of grass for his mailbox and reading the letters he was about to deliver when the last person of the night arrived. The boy was scrawny looking with clothing so big it looked as if he were being eaten by cotton. He stepped up to the mailbox, gave it a judging look and scowled. Obviously not impressed with the chipping paint, he hesitantly placed his pink pearl letter into the post box. He turned to see Changmin lying in the grass, reading an orange letter. Fiddling with the hem of his shirt, he asked, “Are those your letters?”

Changmin sat up with his legs crossed Indian style and placed the crown on his head, “Depends, who wants to know?”

“I’m Jaejoong,” the boy responded, looking scared for a moment before seemingly gaining some confidence. He snatched the open letters from the hands of the older boy with a scowl. “You shouldn’t read other people’s letters!”

“Why not?” Changmin appeared more amused than frustrated.

“People take time, time to write their feelings and hopes and memories for their dead relatives to read and enjoy. These are private thoughts! You can’t just read them!”

“I think I have the right to read the letters I deliver. They don’t pay me enough as it is.”

The blonde went from being angry to being in awe. “You deliver th-these?”

“Sure do,” the older boy grinned.

“Where to?”

“What?”

Jaejoong puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, “Where do you deliver them? Where do the angels live?”

Changmin tensed a little at the question but still pointed behind him to a large staircase wedged into the side of the valley. He watched carefully as the boy thanked him, threw down the handful of colored envelopes and walked in the opposite direction of the staircase. Well, that was odd, he thought. He relaxed more the further Jaejoong walked. Just as he was about to look away, Changmin saw the younger boy dart to the left and into a grove of trees.

“Shit,” Changmin swore, tripping over himself as he got to his feet. He ran to the other side of the grove Jaejoong had disappeared into and positioned himself the best he could behind a tree. A moment later, the blonde went charging through the branches. Changmin reached out his arm to grab the boy at the waist. They both went tumbling to the ground.

“Let me go!”

“You can’t see them, kid,” Changmin pushed himself on top of the boy to keep him down.

“Yes I can! Don’t tell me I can’t,” he struggled against the older boy’s hold.

“No, really, kid. You can’t see them; only I can. If you went up that staircase, you’d just see more hills.” A few more attempts at escape jostled Changmin but then he felt the boy still beneath him.

Changmin did not like that he had lied to to the boy but he could not let a human get into Heaven. He would be fired for sure.

“You okay, kid?” He pushed himself up and off the boy. Jaejoong sat up, hiding his face in his hands.

“Hey, are you okay?” Changmin brushed himself off, waiting for an answer when he realized his crown of grass fell somewhere when he was running. “You made me lose my crown,” Changmin sighed. Jaejoong just sat, sobbing into his hands. Changmin crouched down to Jaejoong’s level and put his arm around him. “They really don’t pay me enough for this.”

- - -

Changmin got the boy to settle down enough to get him talking. He learned that he had been dating a beautiful girl from Japan for three years. He politely listened to Jaejoong tell him his life story. Changmin began to understand why Jaejoong tried to get into Heaven to see his girlfriend.

“When she died, it was like God had taken a mallet to my heart. I was in pieces and nothing could make it better.”

“So you had a love like in a romance novel?” Changmin scrunched his nose at the thought.

Jaejoong laughed. It reminded Changmin of snow; crisp and bright. “Yeah, pretty much.” His smiled faded a bit. “I really miss her.”

“There is always the chance you’ll find someone to mend that heart of yours.”

“I hope so.”

They fell into a comfortable silence. Each had something to think about as they lay in the grass, watching the clouds go by. Jaejoong daydreamed about a girl with perfect long hair and bright cheeks. Thoughts flew through Changmin’s head about his first friend laying next to him.

- - -

“Tell me about you.”

Changmin shrugged, “Not much to tell.”

Jaejoong began to shown up almost every night. Changmin assumed he really did miss that girl of his. In reality, Jaejoong was just smart enough to realize what he needed to do to get to Heaven each night.

Jaejoong fell asleep thinking of his girlfriend and ended up somewhere in the grassy hills under Heaven. He would slowly make his way through the knee high grass until he found the postman. Changmin was usually watching the clouds or reading letters.

They talked for long hours. The blonde told Changmin about the new trends on Earth, and the older boy paid him back by making up stories about dragons and warriors.

“Who are you?” Jaejoong asked, tugging at the grass near his ankle.

“Changmin.”

Jaejoong laughed loudly. As clear as glass, Changmin thought. “I know that, ‘Min. But who were you? I mean, I know that you use similes or metaphors, or whatever it is that you call them, far too often. I know you like to roll around in the grass. But I don’t know your past.”

“I was a bus driver.”

Jaejoong sputtered a bit at this, “Why were you a bus driver?”

“It was the perfect job for me,” he shrugged, “I’m not a people person but I like learning about other people. When you drive a bus you can listen to people talk to each other without ever having to make eye contact. Plus, driving isn’t that bad.”

“Oh,” Jaejoong nodded as if he understood, “Is that why you read the letters?” Changmin nodded.

“Well, how did you get here? Who hired you?”

“The big guy did.”

He nodded again, “I guess that makes sense. How did you get here?”

Changmin laughed a little at the confused expression on the other’s face, “I was driving my bus and then I wasn’t.”

Jaejoong cringed. “So blunt.”

“When have I ever been anything but blunt?”

“True,” he laughed again. The sound reminded Changmin of cotton candy melting on his tongue.

- - -

“I’ve decided the pain of thinking of her is too much.” Jaejoong admitted, tugging at the hem of his over sized shirt.

“Pardon?”

“I’ve thought about it. I can’t think of any way to get here without thinking about her, and I don’t want to do that anymore. I’m sorry.”

“But I’m sure we can…” Changmin trailed off, at a loss of what to say.

Jaejoong patted the other boy’s shoulder. “I’ll miss you, ‘Min.”

He could feel his heart breaking. He had known it was going to happen; he had prepared himself but it still hurt. Changmin felt as if the blonde had just delved a hand right into his chest, pulled out his heart and snapped it in two. His only friend was leaving. “Oh, I see. Then this is goodbye?” He straightened a little, trying to pretend that it did not affect him.

Jaejoong smiled and with an awkward hug pressed around Changmin’s neck, he walked away. Changmin watched as the blonde slowly made his way over the grassy hills. In the wind, he heard a clear voice singing a broken melody. It reminded him of icicles melting on the first day of Spring. He knew he would be singing it to himself that day, the next day, and the next.

had to keep it under six pages, sorry about the sudden ending
:(

(video prompt #1, 1,883 words, 100228 → 100311)