nuagedeau | Fic:15 minutes ficlet

Ficlet challenge: 15 minutes - 7) Sign
jaemin
R
angst
what if
1048 words
turned out to be more than a 15 minutes drabble too
thanks to

liang_xing_xing for correcting my mistakes. &hearts

What if He were Born Under A Bad Sign.

Since Changmin could remember, he had always had and brought bad luck. Even though he didn't think he had bad luck or any kind of luck for that matter. Luck didn't have anything to do with events, some things happened because they were bound to happen. Sometimes it hurt and sometimes not.

His mother died when she gave birth to him.

His father died when going to the hospital for his birth.

He was born deaf and mute. But it didn't bother him; he had sign language and could read books to his heart's content.. Moreover, how could he miss something he never had in the first place?

Or so he thought until meeting him, until losing everything, until the world didn't make any sense anymore.

The first time he saw him was when he was studying at the library for his exams. University was hard but not impossible. Disabilities, family or whatever wouldn't stop him for pursuing his dream. And scientists didn't need the ability to talk, did they?

He was resting his eyes and when he opened them again he looked right into dark eyes. The stranger had his hands crossed under his chin, a crooked smile on his lips. Changmin began to read again, ignoring him. When a hand covered the words, he forced to lift his head, an unsaid question in his eyes. The other spoke and Changmin lip-read.

"Want to go for a coffee?"

Changmin blinked, lowered his head and wrote something. He showed him the paper.

I am deaf and mute.

The stranger took one of his pens and wrote underneath the sentence.

I know.

Changmin's face displayed his perplexed state.

"You can lip-read so I can talk to you, right?"

A nod.

"You're probably wondering how I know you."

Surprised, Changmin thought that it wasn't why he was confused -- though it should have been -- he was confused because someone, knowing his disabilities, invited him to have coffee.

"I see you here everyday; you never say a word and you're always alone. So I asked some friends if they knew who you were. They go to the same university as you, so they told me."

A silence and then,

Why are you telling me this?

Another crooked smile.

"I think I have a crush on you."

The stranger took advantage of a startled Changmin to put away the books and papers. Changmin could only watch his things being ordered, his hand taken and him being dragged to the nearest café.

His name was Jaejoong. He was beautiful, too beautiful, and he even made him laugh. And then everyday, he invited Changmin for coffee. He slowly learned sign language and slowly made his way into Changmin's heart.

The first time Changmin wanted to hear, was when he learned that Jaejoong was a singer. It wasn't Jaejoong who had told him; he had been so suspiciously vague about his work that it made Changmin curious. A friend, Yunho?, wasn't surprised at his question and gave him a music demo before patting him on the shoulder. On the CD, he read Jaejoong's name along with the title of the song. Born Under a Bad Sign. A paper was also stuck on the CD case. He unfolded it, a date and a place were written on it.

It was on a Saturday night, in a shady club named Lukewarm, that he saw Jaejoong sing for the first time. He looked sexy, sweating under the starlight, eyes closed, a focused expression on his face.

Changmin could feel the vibrations of the sounds and would have killed to hear Jae's voice. He left before he could be seen; after all if Jaejoong hadn't told him anything about his work, he had to have a reason, didn't he?

Lots of coffees and two glasses of wine was what it took for their first kiss. Changmin realised that he had fallen in love. With Jaejoong. With a guy. Strangely, it didn't bother him. He had never planned to fall in love at all. Hell, he had never planned to have a friend either. But it wasn't like he had planned not to fall in love or have friends. He just wasn't interested and that had changed, so... why not?

When Jaejoong finally told him he sang for a living -- but it was more the side jobs that paid the rent and the coffees -- Changmin didn't act surprised. Jaejoong mumbled with a little smile on his lips. Changmin could only catch "damn friend" and was happy when Jaejoong invited him to come at his place.

His flat was clean and he cooked food for Changmin. It was the first time someone cooked for him. It was much more delicious than the cafeteria's.

They ended on the couch watching Das Parfum with german subtitles. When the murderer was watching his prey in the labyrinth, Changmin asked Jaejoong to sing for him. He looked startled for a second but a bittersweet smile stretched on his lips. He took Changmin's hand and laid it down on his chest. And even though, Changmin had his eyes closed and couldn't hear a word, he sang loving words in his ear.

He ended the song with a kiss on lips, which was followed by kisses on cheek, neck and hands.
When Changmin finally opened his eyes again, he was amazed to look at the focused expression on Jaejoong's face. Then he had to close them, their corners slightly misty.

He brought bad luck, they had always told him, and even though he had never believed them, all this happiness scared him. The pain in his chest that began the day Jaejoong asked him to live with him, had grown when he had moved him, had grown when they had made love, had grown when Jaejoong had sung his badly written song.

He had ignored it until the day he had closed his eyes for a while longer in the car and had opened them only to see darkness.

He couldn't use sign language and read books anymore. Scientists needed to be able to see at least, didn't they?

But did it really matter? Jaejoong could always touch him and he could always smell his sweat and cologne mixing together and eat his warm food, right?

Right?

Right?

They told him that Jaejoong died in a car crash while crossing the street in front of the hospital.

Perhaps they were right. Perhaps it was bad luck after all.