Every Human Love II: The Living Creature
Series: Every Human Love
Title: The Living Creature
Pairing: Yunho/Junsu
Rating: G
Summary: Do I know you? / Not yet.
AU. Title from Auden's 'Lullaby'. This was never meant to be a series, but the muses disagreed.
As a child, Yunho's favourite place is a tree overlooking a stream in the woods behind his house. It's a secret place, his place, and he loves the shade of the tree the way children love things that are only theirs, and tells the laughing stream all of his secrets.
One day, Yunho scrambles over the bank and stops dead when he sees another boy sitting in Yunho's favourite spot between the roots of the tree. "Hello?" Yunho says, wary. He's never seen anyone here before.
"Hello, Yunho," the boy replies.
"Uh, do I know you?" Yunho asks.
"Not yet," the boy says, and grins. "I'm Junsu."
"Hi, Junsu," Yunho replies, ingrained politeness covering his surprise, unwittingly charmed by the smile, and shakes a soft, cool hand with a surprisingly firm grip.
In no time at all, Yunho and Junsu are the best of friends, and Yunho is telling Junsu all of the secrets he used to tell the water (the girl he likes, the boy who thought he could bully Yunho's sister, the hushed phone calls his father makes at night). Although every time Yunho arrives by the stream, Junsu is sitting where he was the first time Yunho met him, Yunho never sees Junsu anywhere else. It's months before Yunho thinks to ask why.
"I live here," Junsu says, gesturing at the stream. "I don't need anything else."
"But," Yunho says. "That's... Where's your family?"
Junsu laughs, and suddenly Yunho can't separate it from the gurgle of the water. "You don't understand," Junsu says, and his hand on Yunho's cheek is freezing, even in the height of summer. "I don't have one. Just the water, and you." Junsu's smile is brilliant, edged with something Yunho doesn't recognise.
He doesn't understand, quite, but he's always recognised that Junsu is different. "All right," Yunho says, pulls Junsu into his arms because that's what he does, and for once Junsu lets him. Yunho holds on, comforted by the solidity of Junsu in his arms. He's satisfied for Junsu to be just his, and here.
When Yunho's seventeen, his family moves away. He says goodbye to Junsu as if it's any other day, gets in the car and doesn't look back as they drive away from the house. Junsu wouldn't be there anyway.
Yunho spends the next six months hearing Junsu's voice in the fountain in the courtyard of his new school, seeing Junsu's face in the shimmer of the swimming pool before Yunho dives in and shatters it. Slowly, Yunho learns not to, learns to remind himself that this town is not a place where Junsu belongs, where Junsu could ever be.
He thinks he's hallucinating when he walks into the lecture hall, his first day at university, picks a seat at random and sees an almost-familiar face looking back at him from the next seat over.
"Hello, Yunho," Junsu says, and grins.
Title: The Living Creature
Pairing: Yunho/Junsu
Rating: G
Summary: Do I know you? / Not yet.
AU. Title from Auden's 'Lullaby'. This was never meant to be a series, but the muses disagreed.
As a child, Yunho's favourite place is a tree overlooking a stream in the woods behind his house. It's a secret place, his place, and he loves the shade of the tree the way children love things that are only theirs, and tells the laughing stream all of his secrets.
One day, Yunho scrambles over the bank and stops dead when he sees another boy sitting in Yunho's favourite spot between the roots of the tree. "Hello?" Yunho says, wary. He's never seen anyone here before.
"Hello, Yunho," the boy replies.
"Uh, do I know you?" Yunho asks.
"Not yet," the boy says, and grins. "I'm Junsu."
"Hi, Junsu," Yunho replies, ingrained politeness covering his surprise, unwittingly charmed by the smile, and shakes a soft, cool hand with a surprisingly firm grip.
In no time at all, Yunho and Junsu are the best of friends, and Yunho is telling Junsu all of the secrets he used to tell the water (the girl he likes, the boy who thought he could bully Yunho's sister, the hushed phone calls his father makes at night). Although every time Yunho arrives by the stream, Junsu is sitting where he was the first time Yunho met him, Yunho never sees Junsu anywhere else. It's months before Yunho thinks to ask why.
"I live here," Junsu says, gesturing at the stream. "I don't need anything else."
"But," Yunho says. "That's... Where's your family?"
Junsu laughs, and suddenly Yunho can't separate it from the gurgle of the water. "You don't understand," Junsu says, and his hand on Yunho's cheek is freezing, even in the height of summer. "I don't have one. Just the water, and you." Junsu's smile is brilliant, edged with something Yunho doesn't recognise.
He doesn't understand, quite, but he's always recognised that Junsu is different. "All right," Yunho says, pulls Junsu into his arms because that's what he does, and for once Junsu lets him. Yunho holds on, comforted by the solidity of Junsu in his arms. He's satisfied for Junsu to be just his, and here.
When Yunho's seventeen, his family moves away. He says goodbye to Junsu as if it's any other day, gets in the car and doesn't look back as they drive away from the house. Junsu wouldn't be there anyway.
Yunho spends the next six months hearing Junsu's voice in the fountain in the courtyard of his new school, seeing Junsu's face in the shimmer of the swimming pool before Yunho dives in and shatters it. Slowly, Yunho learns not to, learns to remind himself that this town is not a place where Junsu belongs, where Junsu could ever be.
He thinks he's hallucinating when he walks into the lecture hall, his first day at university, picks a seat at random and sees an almost-familiar face looking back at him from the next seat over.
"Hello, Yunho," Junsu says, and grins.