A strong smell of coffee



He woke up to the delicious smell of coffee being made. He stretched under the covers, too warm and too lazy to open his eyes as of yet. He felt as cat basking in the warm sunlight coming through the window. But the other side of the bed was empty, and sleeping in wasn’t really that fun unless he had someone to sleep in with.

Smiling Yoochun crawled out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Brushed his teeth, had quick shower and was out and going into the kitchen in less than ten minutes. Which was a record, really. Jaejoong was sitting at the table, a mug of coffee in his hand and a piece of paper in front of him. Which made him frowning cutely. Yoochun was pouring himself coffee and occupying an empty chair, when Jaejoong said, “We need groceries”. The seriousness with which it was uttered made Yoochun choke on his coffee. When he recovered, he chuckled, “Damn it, Jongie, you made it sound as if there was a war declared or something”. That actually brought a little color to Jaejoong’s cheeks.
“In a way,” he said smiling, “our fridge is empty.”
“Yeah, let’s declare a war to an empty fridge!” Yoochun said it saluting him with a mug, almost sloshing the contents on the table cloth. That got him a reproachful glance from the elder boy, “I am afraid that Changmin had eaten the week’s worth of groceries.”

“He is still a growing boy,” Jaejoong snorted at that. Because Changmin might be still growing, but at the age of twenty-four he was anything but a boy. Yoochun sat there nursing a mug in his hands and thinking of Changmin’s visit last week. After their producers had decided that it was time for all the band members to start their solo careers, they all had to split their ways. For a long time Yoochun couldn’t come to the terms with the fact that he wasn’t in the band and didn’t have another four guys whom he had learned to love as brothers to live with him.

He could still acutely remember the feeling of vertigo when the SM had announced their intention to break TVfXQ. It felt as if somebody had turned the world that he knew upside down. He didn’t know what to do or what to think back then. It was a loss, the end of a really golden era, which he still mourned a bit. The split of the band didn’t mean the end of their contract with the SM entertainment. Quite on the contrary. Each of them was approached and talked about their future and purposed some project.

Yoochun didn’t want to start a solo career like Changmin or Junsu, so now he was in the band, for which he wrote most of the songs. He was pretty content with it, but still it felt different, because nothing and nobody would be as good as TVfXQ. Surprisngly but Jaejoong was taking a break from activities. He was still training and learning Japanese, because the SM wanted to launch his solo career in Japan.

Yoochun mourned the loss of the band as well as the loss of constant companionship which had accompanied him through all those years. For the first few months they continued living all together. But later it proved to be too inconvenient, because of the different schedules and a constant need for more space for all types of rehearsals. None of them wanted to split their ways, but moving out was necessary and they all understood it. But it still hurt, when first Yunho, then Junsu and closely followed by Changmin moved to other apartments.

That was why when Jaejoong announced that he still wanted to share whatever lodgings there were with Yoochun, he felt so ridiculously happy. If it seemed strange to any of the SM staff they didn’t say so. Sometimes Yoochun felt a bit guilty for being so clingy. But after many reassurances on Jaejoong’s part, he stopped thinking of it.

At the time of the changes it was nice to see a familiar face when he came home.

They all still kept in contact via phone calls and text messages and emails. But it wasn’t the same. They still called each other on birthdays and special dates and tried to celebrate some holidays together. It had become a custom to do so at the Yoochun’s and Jaejoong’s place, since they lived together and had more or less sedate life compared to the rest of them. Or maybe it was because of Jaejoong’s cooking, as Yunho often claimed. But gradually those visits were becoming less and far in between. That’s why when Changmin had called Yoochun from China two weeks ago saying that he could spend a couple of days at their place on his birthday, he could say nothing else but, hell, yes.

So, a week later Changmin was at their doorstep, smelling fresh with some spicy perfume and looking smart in a tailored suit. He smiled and embraced them both. Those days they spent together were fun. They joked, remembered old times, played console games, went out or stayed in and share the bits of their careers and projects which never got into the media.

And even if Changmin wondered where Yoochun spent his nights when he himself occupied one of the two bedrooms. Or why the room which was supposedly Yoochun’s looked as if it was never slept in. Or why neither of them spoke of their love life, Changmin didn’t say anything. But he was a smart kid and might have figured everything long before this visit. Because when he was leaving there was some kind of warm light in his eyes and gentleness in his smile, when he said, “I am glad that you have someone to look after you, Chunnie”.

And, yes, that kind of warmth felt good too.

Yoochun was brought out of his reveries by a hand going through his hair. Jaejoong moved to the edge of his seat leaning forward, his fingers petting him. Yoochun almost purred. Jaejoong leaned even closer bringing his face to the other’s. His eyes were like two pools of dark chocolate. Yoochun always thought that he could drown in them.
“Chunnie?”
“Hmm?” The lips were only centimeters from his. You could just lean and…
“It is your turn to do the grocery shopping!”

That got Yoochun almost off balance. He looked up at Jaejoong full of indignation, but a tirade on devious boyfriends died on his lips when he saw a smirk on the other’s face. So he cradled Jaejoong’s face in his hands and kissed those pink lips and thought that it was so good to be able to do that.

It was so good to have a home.
//


November 11, 2007