[Fic] MISSION: Back to Tomorrow [1/1]
MISSION: Back to Tomorrow
---
Accidents happened all the time. People trip over nothing. People choke on air. People stumble down stairs. People fall off bicycles. People got into car accidents.
People die in car accidents.
It really wasn’t such a strange thing really. They happen all the time. But no one expects it to be their son, their friend, or themselves.
So when Kim Jaejoong dies in a car accident. No one believes it at first.
Not Park Yoochun who had been just a block away filming for his new drama.
Not Kim Junsu who had been having lunch with a couple of his friends.
Not Shim Changmin who had been in Japan filming for a movie.
And definitely not Jung Yunho who had been on a flight to Korea.
Other people died in car accidents. Other people had accidents like these. Other people make it on the evening news. Other unfortunate people happen upon these things.
Not people like Kim Jaejoong. Not my friend, not my oppa, not my soul mate, not my brother, not my Kim Jaejoong.
But it was true. It was an instant death, doctors said. Shouldn’t have felt a thing.
Kim Jaejoong died a painless death, they said. But it didn’t make the living feel any better.
---
They didn’t go to the funeral.
It wasn’t because their managers stopped them. Their managers weren’t heartless. Those few days, their managers left them alone. Completely.
They’d keep one eye open and the other closed. If anything went on the news or the media, they would have merely shrugged and came up with a half-baked excuse to the management. The management wasn’t completely heartless either. They would have also feigned ignorance all the way to the top regardless of the material evidence.
But they didn’t go.
And Yunho knows that Changmin hates himself for it.
That whole day, Changmin locked himself in his room. Doing what, Yunho wasn’t sure, but Yunho could take an educated guess even though the younger would never let him hear the sobs.
Yunho decided to go online and find all the possible articles about Kim Jaejoong’s death. He kept the television on just in case more news about the Kim Jaejoong’s death cam along. He wanted the reality to sink in. He wanted to accept the fact and move on. He wanted to-he really wanted to see the man.
He wanted to see Kim Jaejoong alive.
But that was no longer possible. Kim Jaejoong was no longer breathing. Kim Jaejoong was no longer warm and full of laughter and silly antics. Kim Jaejoong had already been lowered into the ground with six feet of dirt over him.
He wonders what would have happened if he really did contact the man in secret as so many fangirls fantasized. Maybe something would have changed? Maybe that day instead of Jaejoong driving home during the afternoon rush, maybe that day he would have driven to his place-which was in the opposite direction-and maybe that day nothing would have made the news.
(Other than some stalker fan pictures and an uproar on every YunJae fan community.)
Maybe something-maybe nothing would have changed and Kim Jaejoong would still have died. Maybe falling down the stairs or slipping on a banana peel or being stabbed by Hello Kitty.
Yunho gave a dry chuckle. He really needed to lay off the soju.
---
When he woke up, he was in bed. Yunho wonders whether Changmin was the one who put them there and if so, the younger had also crawled into bed with him.
So his gently shakes the shoulder, mind still rather hung over and whispers, “Changmin, aish, Changmin-ah…wake up…”
The other groans but gives no indication they’re awake. So he tries harder.
“Wake up, hey, Changmin,” he whispers louder.
The other flips over, facing Yunho, and slaps Yunho’s hand away.
“Yunho-yah…” the other groans and Yunho finally realizes it wasn’t Changmin.
He blinks twice but the image doesn’t fade. The face doesn’t disappear. The body doesn’t melt away. Unlike in his dreams, Kim Jaejoong was still laying next to him, making nonsensical sounds of protest.
Yunho stays frozen on the spot.
It takes a couple of minutes, but Jaejoong does open one eye lazily. Jaejoong fumbles for the other’s hand and finds it without much difficulty.
“What’s wrong?”
Yunho doesn’t know what to say-you should be dead but instead you’re lying here next to me in bed and you’re talking and you’re breathing and, fuck, you’re alive.
“Nightmares about Changmin eating you?” Jaejoong asks, voice still husky with sleep. He chuckles at his own joke and rubs his eyes.
Yunho can only watch in strange fascination as Jaejoong gradually wakes himself. It was like watching the dead come back to life. It was supposed to be like watching the dead come back to life, but Jaejoong’s hand felt so warm and alive. There was no way this man had been dead.
No way.
Outside the bedroom door, Yunho hears multiple voices arguing. A rapt knock on their door caused Yunho to jerk in surprise.
“Hyung! Get up, Changmin’s going to eat me if he’s not fed soon!”
It took Yunho a moment to place that voice, but the moment he did, all the color rushed out of his cheeks.
“Eh?” Jaejoong, finally completely awake, asks with concern. “Are you okay? You look so pale.”
Park Yoochun.
A very distinct laugh is heard.
Kim Junsu.
A very familiar disgruntled scoff.
Shim Changmin.
“Ja-Jaejoong-ah?” Yunho asks as Jaejoong scrambles into a shirt.
“Hm?” came the muffled reply through a half put on shirt.
“What year is it?”
Jaejoong’s head reemerges from the shirt and he shoots Yunho a funny look but replies nonetheless, “It’s 2008.”
---
He never thought he’d stand on stage with all five of them again and he almost cried. Of course he doesn’t. He got used to hiding the tears in the future.
Yunho chuckles.
That’s so strange. Everything he’s learned in his past is now his future. The split. The heartbreak. The everything. It was now in the future.
Yunho chuckles.
He wonders if he can change anything.
“Yunho-yah, what’s wrong?” Jaejoong, exactly how Yunho remembers him, asks. Dark hair, dark eyes, playful smile, strong but gentle hands, oh, it’s everything Yunho remembers about his love.
Jaejoong sits down next to him on the couch. Their shoulders touching and hands intertwined. Yunho lets his head fall on the other’s strong shoulder. He feels Jaejoong smile and squeeze his hand tighter.
“Kim Jaejoong,” Yunho said slowly, sounding out every syllable. Jaejoong made an acknowledging sound. Yunho could feel the vibrations of the other’s throat and he smiled. “Is this a dream?”
“A dream?”
“Uh-huh,” Yunho hums and settles further into the crook of Jaejoong’s neck. “Do you ever feel like one day you’ll wake up and realize everything was just a dream?”
Jaejoong was quiet and Yunho chuckles again. This is an awfully strange question but this is what Yunho wonders every night. Will he fall asleep and wake up in his actual time? Will he wake up and realize Kim Jaejoong is dead?
In 2008, Yunho supposes that Jaejoong would assume he was talking about their success. After all, if Yunho remembers correctly, this had been one of their best years. So when Jaejoong laid his head on Yunho’s and sighed, Yunho prepared himself for the elder to berate him for having such low confidence or maybe comforting him for being insecure.
“Every night,” Jaejoong finally says. “Every night I close my eyes and wonder whether I’ll be able to wake up the next morning.”
Yunho separates from their cuddly mass and stares deep into Jaejoong’s eyes.
“…you’re not about to tell me you have some terminal illness or something,” Yunho said jokingly but with a hint of fear.
“Oh Yunho-yah,” Jaejoong laughs, warm and alive. “If I did, wouldn’t you be the first to know?”
Yunho pouts childishly and Jaejoong laughs harder.
“I would never let you suffer any heartbreak,” Jaejoong says lightheartedly but his eyes were hard. Yunho was about to question when Jaejoong leaned in for a kiss.
So Yunho just closed his eyes.
---
Yunho fidgeted in his seat. This was awkward. And it had never been awkward between him and Yoochun.
But this was definitely awkward.
“Hyung.”
“Hm?”
“Is there something wrong?” Yoochun asks.
They were sitting in the dressing room as the other three had run off looking for their manager. Usually, they would joke around or busy themselves or just sit quietly.
Today, Yoochun just stared at Yunho with a troubled face for the past fifteen minutes.
“I was about to ask you the same,” Yunho said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m worried hyung,” Yoochun admits. “I’m worried about you and Jaejoong-hyung.”
“Why?” Yunho asks fearfully. Has he been acting differently? Does he know? Does Jaejoong know? He doesn’t talk in his sleep does he? He hasn’t let anything slip has he? Oh shit, they know they knowtheyknowthey-
“The two of you know something,” Yoochun says. “Something you don’t want anyone else to know. What I can’t figure out is if it’s the same thing or are you two hiding different secrets.”
Yunho frowns gently.
“We can all tell hyung. Something’s bothering you and it’s about Jaejoong-hyung. But at the same time, Jaejoong-hyung is bothered by something about you.”
Yunho looks down sharply and avoids his dongseng’s eyes.
“Please know that you’re not alone hyung,” Yoochun continues. The younger man leans forward and pats Yunho’s shoulder. “No matter what happens, you still have us.”
And Yunho almost laughs at the irony.
In two years, he’s only going to have Changmin, SM, and the name DBSK.
---
Junsu approaches him next. It was with some online game he suddenly got into and Yunho actually falls into the trap unaware.
“Did you and Jaejoong-hyung have a disagreement?” Junsu asks as they wait for the next stage to load.
“Huh?” Yunho reacts without thought. He had been rather engrossed in the game that it came as a surprise to hear the other talk.
“It’s like you two are hiding something,” Junsu responds nonchalantly. “It’s so obvious that even I caught on.”
“Wait, Junsu what exactly-” but the next stage had loaded and it was fight or die. Yunho paused his game to pursue his question but Junsu was already lost in the fight. Sighing, he could only go back to it as well.
“I know we’ve already agreed that keeping secrets is fine,” Junsu continues, his eyes still darting across the computer screen. “But we’ve also agreed to look out for each other.”
Yunho quit his game. He walked over to Junsu and pressed the pause on the other’s game. He had thirty seconds before the younger’s game resumed and Junsu would kick his butt if anything happened to his game.
“Junsu, explain to your hyung,” Yunho almost growled. “What is it exactly about me and Jaejoong that seems any bit strange.”
Junsu bits his lip and uses ten seconds to contemplate.
“You act like it’s the end,” Junsu admits. “Every time we get off stage, you look at us with this…this look, as though you’re leaving or something. Then you smile to yourself as though there some inside joke but it’s not really funny.”
They only have eight seconds left.
“I’m starting to feel as though the two of you are waiting for something.”
Four seconds.
“That you’ve resigned to some fate and have decided to just wait for it.”
One second.
“And that’s not like you hyung.”
Game Over.
Junsu stands up and give the elder a long, hard stare. The younger man places a warm hand on Yunho’s arm and gives it a firm squeeze.
“It’s not like you to give up, Jung Yunho.”
Yunho stands in silence and Junsu leaves equally silent.
The computer screen flashes: Restart? Yes/No
---
Yunho breathes in and out. He’s scared out of his mind right now and he prays that he wasn’t defying God for this.
But he was going to try.
Last night, Junsu hit the nail right on the head. He had resigned to his fate. Sure he questioned change but he had never committed to it. Yunho had been protecting himself. He knew how the future would run if he did nothing. He knew exactly how he’d feel and how he should cope. The second time around would be easier.
But now, he was going to try.
“President Lee,” he greeted politely with a bow and smile as he comes into the office.
“Yunho-yah, it was a surprise that you asked to come see me,” the old man remarks with a similar smile. “Is there something the matter?”
Yunho breathes in and prays for bravery.
“Actually, I have some small business matter to discuss with you,” Yunho says, hoping he sounded much more confident than he felt.
“Oh? Well, come inside and we’ll see,” Lee Sooman, who was still the CEO of SMent, invited.
Yunho lets the door shut behind him and prays all will be all right.
And in early 2009, all five members of DBSK received their first share of SMent’s stock.
---
“I heard Yunho went to go talk to the president…”
“Even BoA-sunbae and Kangta-sunbae didn’t get stocks until…”
“Stockholders! All five of them…”
“What the hell did he say…”
---
It was a tiny, tiny share. It was hardly anything in percentages but the money it represented would be significant. It was an amount they could calculate and write down. It was no longer the vague numbers generated by the management. They were concrete. They were real. Anyone could track the numbers with a bit of effort.
This had been the only time Yunho thanked his ‘future.’ He couldn’t have done this without it.
“If we exceed 500,000 in sales for the Mirotic album, I hope you can consider giving us a share of the stocks. A share for each member.”
Now that he thinks about it, it had been a little unfair. Yunho had known that Mirotic would sell over 500,000 but for an entertainment president who knew nothing of the future, five hundred thousand sounded farfetched and desperate.
“Is there a particular reason that you’re suddenly bringing this up?”
He remembers taking a shuddering breath.
“The contract is unfair and, honestly, we can get better conditions elsewhere. But I’m grateful for everything this company has done for us and I would like to stay.”
He remembers exhaling a shuddering breath.
“And what happens if the sales do not exceed five hundred thousand?”
Yunho remembers smiling for the first time in the whole conversation.
“All five of us will extend our contracts for how ever many years seems fit to you without any complaint.”
And as expected, Yunho had nothing to fear. The sales shot above five hundred thousand.
---
Of course, Yunho didn’t stop there. No, no, money had only been one reason for the lawsuit. There were other reasons and he needed to fix up as many as he could before the end of the year rolled by. He couldn’t give Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu any reason to leave.
It was selfish and he might be smited by God, but he wasn’t going to let them go. He wasn’t gong to let Jaejoong go.
“Ah-ah! Oh god…Yu-yunho, ah! Why…suddenly?”
Yunho nipped at the other’s collarbone playfully and replied, “I love you.”
“I do too but-yah, that’s no-wait, ah-”
Yunho kisses him and Jaejoong makes a sound of surprise. Yunho approaches with touches, soft, gentle, rough, demanding, but never with kisses. No. Jaejoong had to initiate those.
They move slow and loving. Their lips meet between breaths and their fingers intertwined with no intention of letting go. It takes Jaejoong a moment but he does pull away, breathing hard.
“But…but seriously Yunho,” he confronts with short breaths. “Is something wrong?”
Yunho pushes the older back onto the bed (the ever smart Yoochun had taken refuge in Yunho’s room for the night) and kisses the other fiercely despite Jaejoong’s weak struggling. Yunho does answer eventually.
“Stay by my side forever.”
Jaejoong stills and this time when Yunho leans down for a kiss, he doesn’t respond. Yunho opens his eyes and finds two dark orbs staring into his. Jaejoong almost looks like he’s about to cry but before Yunho could comment, Jaejoong flips them over.
And Yunho pretends he isn’t disappointed when Jaejoong nods of much later, exhausted and satisfied, without any reassurance.
---
2009 was coming to an end and Yunho was proud of his own accomplishments.
The contracts were being revised and updated. The cosmetic line situation had been dealt with quietly and resolved quickly. A new single was in progress under TVXQ’s new yet to be named subunit. Changmin was still smiling his eye-mismatching smile. Junsu was still laughing his peculiar laugh. Yoochun was still, well, still greasy. Jaejoong was still with him. Most importantly, they were still together.
Things were going to be different now and while it scared him, it scared him less than them leaving. He was going to change their future bit by bit and it was honestly frightening how well it had been going along.
And on a more personal level, Yunho used more and more time to spend with his members. He spent more time playing around with Junsu. He spent more time composing with Yoochun. He spent more time reading with Changmin. He spent a little too much time in the kitchen-and in bed-with Jaejoong.
On the flip side, it affected many of his relationships outside but Yunho had accepted it as the price of his selfishness. He knotted his members to himself and in exchange, some other ties had to be cut.
He had accepted this new future for everything it was worth and it made him happier than ever.
“Is this just a dream, Yunho-yah?”
“No, this is our reality.”
2010 rolled around and suddenly everything shattered.
August 2010 was filled with rumors and gossip. Jaejoong, Junsu and Yoochun filed a lawsuit against SMent.
“Please understand Yunho. I…I never want to cause you any heartbreak.”
---
All he did was delay the inevitable. All he did was delay one fucking year. They were still leaving. The negotiations were going exactly how he remembered them. Only now, they were a little more complicated.
All five of TVXQ’s members were shareholder now. A burden Yunho had given them. The contract revisions, the cosmetic line, the subunit, everything was now a burden toward the plaintiffs. All the work Yunho went through to tie his members together was now pulling apart so easily.
He challenged his fate and this was what he got. A bigger mess.
“Changmin-ah, where did I go wrong?” he asks in a drunken slur. Their dorm seemed so empty without the other three. “I did everything I thought possible to keep them here, but they’re still leaving.”
“You were trying to keep us here?” Changmin asks. His outline is blurry but Yunho knows it must be Changmin. No one would return to this dreary place-so full of happy memories that only served to cut a deeper gash in his already scarred heart-voluntarily so it must be Changmin.
“You’re not going to believe this Changmin, but I-yes, me-am from the future!” Yunho yells with exaggerated hand motions. He laughs a little maniacally. “In the future, the exact thing happened! They upped and left! Left you and left me and left everything!”
“Yunho-yah, why-why didn’t you say anything?” and Yunho knew it wasn’t Changmin.
“Jae-Jaejoong!” he screams like a child. “Why didn’t you say anything? I thought everything was all right! I worked so hard for this! For us to be together!”
Jaejoong doesn’t say a thing and his outline blurs even more. Yunho doesn’t know if it were because of the alcohol or the tears building up in his eyes.
“If you leave, do you know what it’ll do to Changmin? Do you know what it’ll do to me?!” Yunho feels his voice beginning to crack. “I had to spend all that time away from you and then you fucking died. And you know what, even after so long without your smile, touch, kiss, presence, without any of you, I still loved you.”
Yunho feels the tears now. They aren’t stopping. He doesn’t know who he wants to curse more, whatever forced that brought him back or Jaejoong. And at the moment, Jaejoong was closer and much more real.
He thought he could fight for them. He thought he could prevent Jaejoong’s death by changing the past. He thought-oh, he doesn’t know what to think. Maybe he’ll think of how Jaejoong’s embrace was so warm and comfortable. Maybe he’ll think of how Jaejoong’s lips felt so good and right. Maybe he’ll think of how Jaejoong’s love was irreplaceable.
And when he thought of that, he cried harder. A loud, hysterical sobbing. Not the artistic tear in dramas, but the ugly crying he’s only shown his mother early on in his life.
“Yunho… I’m marked for death. I’ll hurt you no matter what I do.”
And he doesn’t remember anything after. How he ends up in bed, Yunho doesn’t know but his head (heart) hurts too much to say goodbye as Jaejoong moves out the last of his boxes.
---
He still manages to spill his guts to Changmin and the younger didn’t seem surprised.
“You know, I spent a lot of time drinking with Jaejoong-hyung this year,” Changmin had said, eyes sorrowful and lips thin. “When he’s drunk, he says a lot of things.”
They were sitting at the dining table with one light on and the rest of the apartment flooded in darkness. There was no need to turn on all those lights. There would be no people who needed them.
“He talked about you, hyung,” Changmin continues, sipping his soju slowly. Alcohol was slowly becoming their beverage of choice, but in their defense, they really needed it right now. “He talked about dying a lot. He talked about the inevitable. He said odd things like he’ll only hurt everyone. It didn’t make sense at the time, but he used to talk about separation and how it would hurt less.”
Yunho stares into a dark corner and imagines three mischievous members playing a prank on them. Of course, hallucinating can only help one cope for so long. This was personal experience talking.
“Hyung,” Changmin asks. “Did it hurt any less?”
Yunho thinks of the exact moment he learned of Jaejoong’s death. The disbelief, the hurt, the panic, the anger, the confusion, the grief, the regret-he shakes his head in a silent but resounding no.
“It hurt more Changmin,” Yunho whispered. “It hurt so much more.”
“Then why don’t you tell him that?” Changmin asks.
“But with our management, how can I?”
Changmin was silent for a moment and Yunho could hear the younger man breath in and out with shaky breaths. He waits. The younger gathering courage like this could mean one of two things, a brilliant idea or an utterly stupid alcohol-induced idea.
“Let’s join the lawsuit.”
And for once, Yunho wasn’t quite sure which category this one belonged to.
---
The next two years had been a nightmare and a dream.
Blocked from every station that used to bless and pamper them. Blocked from every stage that used to beg and plead for them. Blocked from interviews, blocked from magazines, blocked from practically everything.
So many set back and disappointments but they persevered. All five of them. TVXQ. Jaejoong and Yunho. And that had been a dream.
“Jaejoong-ah, stay with me forever. Only then will my heart never break.”
“But I-”
“I’d rather have spent my time with you than apart from you because, in the end, it hurts so much more otherwise.”
“Wait, Yunho, do you know about-”
“I love you.”
“Don’t change the subject! Do you know about-”
“But I love you.”
Even though they weren’t allowed on live broadcast or on any shows, their fans stayed strong and supportive. Even though they had issues producing a Korean album, their collaboration with Kanye West was received equally well by their fans. Even though they still had one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea breathing down their necks, they had the rest of the world supporting them.
As for Yunho, he almost forgot why he had challenged fate.
---
“Where’s Jaejoong?” Yunho asked as he stepped off the set.
“Hyung? I think he’s on his way home, why?” Yoochun responded.
They were in the middle of filming one of Yoochun’s new dramas and Yunho had a cameo appearance. Yoochun had created a scene for himself in acting while Junsu branched into musicals and celebrity soccer. Changmin had absorbed himself in learning English and being a part time ambassador of who knows how many departments while Jaejoong expanded toward everything and anything-acting, producing, composing, etc.
Well, Yunho modestly participated in a bit of everything his members were doing, but what he really wanted was a stage to perform. During their World Tour, he spent himself dry at every concert to the point the others were worried, but it was something about being on stage that was special.
This sweet nightmare and harsh dream had made him forget something. The very reason they got to this stage.
“Yoochun,” Yunho asks. He suddenly erupts in cold sweat. “What day is it?”
The moment Yoochun answered Yunho felt his heart drop.
He ignores Yoochun’s concerned calls as he sprints out the building. As he runs, he fishes out his phone and dials Jaejoong’s number.
“Come on, come on, comeon-!!”
“Yunho? I’m driving right now,” Jaejoong picks up. “Can I call you when I get home?”
“Can you pick me up too? It’ll be on the way,” he says between breaths. You might not make it home.
“Are you running?”
“I’ll meet you in the back parking lot, too many fans in the front,” and he doesn’t give Jaejoong the chance to refuse by hanging up.
He stumbles into the rather empty back lot and waits with an apprehensive heart. Sure things have changed, but what if Jaejoong was still supposed to die?
I’m marked for death.
Yunho clenches his fists and attempts to regulate his breathing first. If Jaejoong died today, would he be able to accept it like he promised? Would he be at peace knowing he spent these years with him? Would he be able to let Jaejoong go?
No.
His heart would still break. Jaejoong couldn’t stay with him forever if he was dead.
A familiar car pulls up and the front window rolls down. Yunho leans down to see his love-still alive-peering up at him questioningly.
“Don’t you still have filming to finish?” Jaejoong asks.
“I need to go home first,” Yunho replies and tries the handle. It jiggled but wouldn’t open. The door was still locked and Jaejoong made no move to unlock it.
“I think you should go back,” Jaejoong said lightly.
“This isn’t like you,” Yunho says, looking Jaejoong right in the eye.
“It’s not like me to stop you from ditching work?” Jaejoong asks with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re giving up,” Yunho replies, his tone a little more forceful. “You’ve resigned to fate and that’s not like you Kim Jaejoong.”
Jaejoong is quiet but Yunho hears the telltale click of the car door. Yunho silently gets on and Jaejoong begins driving toward the street.
“So you know,” Jaejoong whispers, voice barely above the hum of the engine.
“Changmin told me,” Yunho answers. He looks away a bit shamed.
“That little double agent,” Jaejoong scowls jokingly. “He told me about you too.”
“Oh,” Yunho responds.
“And I’m thankful,” Jaejoong says. “If it weren’t for our sneaky maknae, we wouldn’t be here would we?”
“You’re not going to die,” Yunho stated suddenly. “The past has changed enough. You won’t die. Not today.”
Jaejoong smiles painfully as the car comes to a stop at an intersection. He looks at Yunho with red eyes.
“But I am, Yunho-yah,” he says, hoarse and choppy. “I am going to die.”
“How would you-”
“I told you, I’m marked by death,” Jaejoong whispered into the steering wheel. “No matter what changed, what happened, what occurred, I am to die today.”
Yunho blinked.
“You don’t have to though,” Jaejoong said louder. “If you get off here, I’m sure nothing will happen to you.”
Yunho blinked.
The intersection light turned green and Jaejoong started pulling toward the sidewalk. Yunho gripped the wheel causing the car to jerk back into the lane and go forward.
“Yun-”
“Let’s go home,” Yunho said with a smile. A genuinely happy smile. “I will not break your heart.”
Jaejoong looked at Yunho, completely disregarding the road-heck, he was going to die anyways. A smile began to tug on the corner of his lips and he whispered in response, “Stay by my side forever.”
At the same time, Yunho and Jaejoong leaned in for a kiss. They met each other half way and their eyes shut as a blinding light came from the front.
Two lives were lost that day.
---
Kim Jaejoong stood contemplating the baby blue sky. It had been a good day for a funeral.
“Stay by my side forever Jaejoong-ah.”
Walking slowly to the car, he gets into the drivers seat and turns on the engine. Someone is pounding on the window ("Wait, stop the car! You haven't driven for years-"), but Jaejoong ignores it.
“I will not break your heart, Yunho-yah,” Jaejoong states with an affirmative nod.
He drives off into the streets and makes his way to the highway. Jaejoong steps on the gas slowly and gains speed, matching the other cars.
“Let’s go home.”
Jaejoong drives steadily because he has to get home safely.
“Don’t worry,” Jaejoong says. “I’ll stay by your side forever.”
“I love you.”
“I know,” and he leans in for a kiss.
His eyes drift shut as a loud screech echoed in his ears.
“I love you too.”
---
“See! We’re alive!” Yunho shouts gleefully, way too energetic for a patient out of the emergency room.
They were extracted from the car with scrapes and broken bones but overall breathing and kicking. The man in the car that had hit them hadn’t been so lucky and an unlucky pedestrian also lost his life to the cars spinning onto the sidewalk. The accident had been a rather messy situation in the middle of a busy workday.
Still in disbelief, Jaejoong touches the bandages on his head and presses a hand against his heart. He was still breathing and his heart was still beating. He was alive.
“I-I was supposed to…” Jaejoong trailed off uncertainly.
“But I wasn’t,” Yunho said. “So you aren’t.”
“I’m marked-”
“And I wasn’t,” Yunho said with a small pout. “Jaejoong, do you get what I’m trying to say?”
“You’re saying that because you aren’t supposed to die that I ended up living-”
“Exactly,” Yunho cut him off with a satisfied smirk. “So, I guess you have no choice but to stay by my side forever huh?”
Jaejoong found himself smiling.
“And if you stay by my side forever, you’ll never break my heart! Wow, everything works out!” Yunho says with exaggeration.
“Is that a proposal?” Jaejoong asks, biting his lip to hide the upturn of his lips.
“No,” Yunho says sincerely and in a tone that makes Jaejoong’s face flush. “This is a promise.”
Jaejoong let his eyes close as Yunho leaned forward for a kiss.
Before the lips met, Yunho whispered, “I love you.”
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Kim Jaejoong finally died forty years after his marked time and a week after Jung Yunho passed on.
(Jaejoong apologizes that he left Yunho heartbroken for seven days but Yunho no longer minds. Not when they are together again and this time, forever.)
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A/N: And this is what happens when I get an idea. I suddenly forget about everything else. -____-" I'll update Boundaries and HMS sometime this week, promise!
Uh, I'm sorry if Yunho doesn't sound...manly enough? >___<