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“You know, this is starting to get out of hand.” Changmin’s eye twitches.
“I know what you mean, I mean look at them! It’s not getting better at all.” Junsu points an accusing finger towards the two eldest in the group.
“Aww, I think it’s kind of cute.” Yoochun smiles at his irritated dongsaeng-deul.
“It was cute when it first started happening, now it’s just annoying!”
“No! It was never cute! First it was just amusing, now it’s nauseating.” the maknae snorts.
“Just let them be, they’ll snap out of it eventually.”
“They better, and the sooner the better! I getting tired of having to explain and coming up with excuses. I didn’t think that they’d go through the ‘cutesy new couple’ phase; they’ve known each other too long for it to have it!”
“Seriously, they are inducing cavities with the level of fluff surrounding them!” with that, two look over to the couple with a shake of the head and one looks on with a greasy smile.
“Yunho-hyung, you’re going to go workout again? We just got back from practice! How do you have so much energy?!”
Yunho smiles in response and shrugs, “Don’t know, just do. Might as well channel it productively and stay in shape. Coming with?”
Junsu shakes his head vehemently, “I can’t even feel my legs at the moment, I’d rather not subject any other body parts to that kind of treatment.”
“Yoochun? Changmin?” Yunho looks over at his other dongsaeng-deul.
“I’ll go with you hyung, but I think we need to scrape Yoochunie off the floor first.” Changmin nudges the still figure with his foot.
“It’s ok, just let me rest. Junsu and Jaejoong-hyung can take me back.” mustering the last of his energy, Yoochun waves them off, eyes still closed.
Yunho and Changmin share a shrug before heading over to the gym. Yunho’s perpetual smile and occasional chuckle creeping the maknae out the entire walk over. Once inside the gym, Changmin immediately heads over to the weights while Yunho goes to the treadmill.
Changmin attempts to sincerely work out, but is distracted by his hyung’s odd displays of behavior. He was already used to the perpetual good moods, creepy smiles, and inexplicable laughter; but he was starting to notice some new changes when Jaejoong-hyung wasn’t around.
Without Jaejoong around, Yunho’s high energy and good mood started to transform into obsessive-compulsive perfection-seeking. Changmin watched wordlessly as Yunho worked and toned all of his muscles in the search for perfection. To say he was impressed would be an understatement, but he was determined not to be outdone and kept pace with his hyung.
Hours later, Yunho had to drag home a half-starved and whimpering Changmin who wanted to do nothing but eat and sleep for the rest of the week.
“Something smells like it’s burning again.” Junsu takes a giant sniff from the living room. A loud yell resounds from the kitchen accompanied by banging pots and running water.
“That would be our dinner I’m assuming.” Yoochun replies without looking up from his laptop.
“You mean Jaejoong-hyung’s perfecting the creation of charcoal again? I knew he was absentminded sometimes, but it’s gotten really bad recently hasn’t it?” Junsu picks up the phone, ready to order dinner for the third time that week.
“Yeah, Yunho-hyung going in after him wasn’t helping either I’m guessing. You can put the phone down, I already ordered pizza when I saw the look on Jaejoong-hyung’s face when he walked into the kitchen.”
“Oh, you mean his ‘I’m physically here, but mentally frolicking off to Yunho-land’ face?”
“No, it was his ‘I’m going to try that recipe with extra chili sauce’ face. I figured he’d be the only one to be able to stomach it. The burning only happened after Yunho-hyung went to ‘check up’ on him.”
Junsu heaves a sigh, “So I’m guessing we should avoid the kitchen for awhile?”
“Only if you don’t want to be scarred for life.”
“Thought so. I’m going to call hyung, get me when the pizza comes?” at Yoochun’s hum of agreement, Junsu heads off searching for his phone.
Jaejoong wanders around the apartment after everyone else has gone to bed for hours. By all rights, he should be passed out along with the rest of them, but his recent development of insomnia prevents him from getting his well-deserved rest. He doesn’t even look at the clock to remind himself of the obscene hour of the night.
When he first started getting sleepless nights, he’d tidy up the apartment, trying to work himself to exhaustion. After a severe scolding from leader-sshi, Jaejoong’s given up trying to work himself to death, and still sleep remains elusive to him.
He tried watching TV and reading all the books he should have read but never got around to, but he’s still unable to sleep. He’s watched Yunho’s chest rise and fall for hours, studied the handsome features endlessly, and listened to the steady heartbeat all night; and yet he still does not sleep at night.
Jaejoong now sleeps during the gaps in their schedule, the precious few hours between interviews and practice. Surprisingly, he doesn’t look too bad for all the sleeplessness. He wonders if that’s a sad statement about the allowance of “normal sleep” in their hectic schedules.
However, tonight, he has someone joining him in his quest for sleep. No explanations are exchanged as Yunho and Jaejoong smile sheepishly at each other. “You too, huh?”
“Yeah, I never took it seriously when people talked about love sickness. I guess now I can’t deny it.”
“Love sickness?” Jaejoong raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Changmin’s been keeping a list of all the symptoms. He thinks we’re experiencing ‘severe mental illness in finally curing our mutual stupidity’.”
“Which translates to ‘love sickness’, how?”
A shrug, “I don’t want to understand the working of our maknae’s mind.”
A shudder, “Good point.” a pause “So, now what?”
A sly smile, “Now we’re both going to get dressed. Meet you in front of the door in ten minutes.” Yunho dashes off to the bathroom before Jaejoong has a chance to respond.
Pushing aside his questions, Jaejoong obediently changes his clothing and grabs a beanie before meeting Yunho at the front door. The younger pulls on his own cap before taking Jaejoong’s hand and leading him out of the apartment complex.
It’s at least one more hour before the sun will rise; the time of day in which the partiers have gone home and the early risers haven’t started the day. The two walk with no destination in mind, hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart, secretly thanking their love sickness for the chance to be normal at an abnormal hour.