Non-disclaimer: THIS IS ALL TRUFAX. Jaejoong told me everything because the two of us are BFF like that. :DD
Also, the author feels the need to warn readers that this fic is disgustingly fluffy, and thusly invites commenters to write 'eww this is disgustingly fluffy' if they feel it fitting.
“What the hell is that?”
Jaejoong glanced up at the Bambi plush balanced happily atop his head, a small miracle considering the strong gusts assaulting the streets of Seoul that day. “What the hell does it look like? You’re not hard of seeing, are you?”
“That’s… not even an expression. But no, I’m not.” Yunho reached out to take a closer look at it, and Jaejoong tilted his head forward, allowing the plush to slide off and land headfirst into Yunho’s waiting hand. “It’s top-heavy,” Yunho commented with a small smile.
Yunho took its face into his hands and stared into its overly large, cartoony eyes. Bambi kind of even looked like Jaejoong in a way, or at least when Jaejoong was acting cute, what with the huge eyes and all. But then Yunho thought that was a weird comparison to make and decided it would be a lot less awkward to say instead, “Disney fanboy much?”
“It’s my sister’s,” Jaejoong responded, sounding almost offended, “She’s giving it to us as a present for releasing our first single and all that.”
“Oh.” Yunho looked at the doll one last time before handing it back, but Jaejoong just shook his head and pushed it back towards him.
“You keep it.”
“…Why? It’s your Bambi.”
Jaejoong smiled in a way that made Yunho feel as if he were missing out on some important piece of information. “But it’s a gift to the whole group and you’re the leader. Besides,” Jaejoong’s gaze dropped to the ground, seeming suddenly bashful, “You seem like the type who would need it more than me.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Jaejoong shrugged and Yunho gave him a strange look.
“Just trust me. Okay?” Jaejoong peeked back up at him. Yunho was skeptical, but nodded anyway. He looked back at the plush, not really sure of what to make of the whole thing.
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Yunho soon found that, after waking from nightmares, it was oddly comforting to hug the doll tightly against his chest, willing his heartbeat to slow.
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Changmin leaned into the aisle and glanced towards the front of the plane for the dozenth time in half an hour.
“When is the food cart coming?” He had gotten so fidgety that he was now clenching and unclenching the fabric of his sweater just to distract himself. “Goddamnit. I’m so hungry, I could eat that stupid deer.” He eyed the plush peacefully resting on the lap of the man in the seat across the aisle, who shot him a quick don’t you even think about it look.
“I doubt Yunho will take kindly to you murdering his daughter.” Jaejoong continued staring intently at his laptop screen as he said it, deeply engrossed in the content of whatever random fan café he was surfing through. Yunho tried, unsuccessfully, to distract him by making Bambi do a dance on his keyboard.
“But it’s not even a girl!” Changmin frowned to himself and crossed his arms.
“Maybe Bambi had a sex-change operation?” Yoochun offered from the row behind.
“Yeah!” Junsu added from beside him, nodding gravely, “Maybe the trauma of losing his mother eventually led Bambi to have an identity crisis, and he decided that he was better off as a girl-deer.”
“You mean a doe. And I still don’t buy into this.”
“Oh, come on. Think about it, Min. What guy has a name like Bambi, anyway?”
Yunho drowned out the other’s banter until their voices became mere background noise, and patted Bambi onto Jaejoong’s shoulder, the top of its head butting into the other man’s chin. He leaned his head onto Bambi’s stomach and quickly dozed off.
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Jaejoong cracked open the door of his room and peeked out only once it was so eerily quiet that he was sure the others must have gone out for the day.
The weekend prior, Junsu had walked into Jaejoong and Yoochun’s shared bedroom to find Yoochun supplying his hyung with a wastebasket, several boxes of kleenex, and a bowl of cool water to re-soak the wet, folded face towel on his forehead. Jaejoong’s condition only became worse as the week went by, to the point that their manager reluctantly agreed to pull him out of the group’s schedule. Soon afterwards, Yoochun gently broke it to Jaejoong that he was better off sleeping on the couch until Jaejoong got better. While away from home, Yunho and Yoochun called his cellphone constantly and staff members brought him food everyday, but even though he spent much of his time sleeping anyway, Jaejoong couldn’t help but feel a little lonely all by himself most of the time.
Once he was sure he was alone, Jaejoong made a beeline for the refrigerator. He was intent on heating up the leftover bulgogi before the others could get to it later, since he just knew that Changmin would be merciless and eat the whole thing right in front of him if he had the chance. Jaejoong was in arm’s reach of the refrigerator handle, but came to an abrupt halt when he heard his ringtone go off from his bedroom. Jaejoong looked back and forth between the refrigerator and his room, a pained expression on his face, but gave in and went back to answer. He was unsurprised when he saw the cell number flashing from his phone’s screen. “Yunho?”
“That’s Sergeant U-know to you, Private.”
Oh, Jaejoong thought and cleared his throat. The two of them sometimes roleplayed like this whenever they felt like talking to each other in a strange and roundabout way. It was one of their special buddy-buddy things borne from watching too many war movies one day, and it seemed stupid to everyone else but them.
“Sir, Private Hero reporting for duty, sir.” Jaejoong almost winced when he heard how nasally his voice sounded.
“I’ve received word of the target’s location from the Intelligence division.”
“…The target, sir?”
“Yes. You are to retrieve the target and return it to home base.”
Jaejoong could hear Changmin sniggering and saying something about how retarded the two of them were in the background. “I wasn’t debriefed on any mission involving a target, sir.”
“This mission is top secret. You were not to know until the mission’s start time.”
“…Oh. I mean, oh, sir.”
“The target is located on the living room table. I repeat: the target is located on the living room table.”
“10-4.”
“Over and out.” Yunho ended the call.
Jaejoong carefully made his way to the living room, half-expecting Yunho to have been screwing around with him and there really being nothing at all. But despite the clutter that layered the living room tabletop, it was immediately obvious what the intended “target” was: Yunho’s Bambi toy sitting innocently in the center. There was a loop of string loosely tied around its neck with a hole-punched get-well card hanging from it, like the oversized pendant of a necklace. On the cover was a drawing of a bunny sick in bed with a thermometer in its mouth. On the inside of the card, in the type of neat and tidy handwriting that could only be developed through years of intensive practice, it simply read: Bambi volunteers to be your roommate during these harsh and troubling times. ♥
On the opposite side, the mass-produced message of the card was in English and printed in large pink font: You’re a very special boy!
Jaejoong couldn’t help but laugh. The whole thing was ridiculously aegyo and sweet, and it reeked of the childish, sensitive side of Yunho that he tried so desperately to smother from the public.
Jaejoong took the plush into his arms. “I guess I’ll have to spray you with disinfectant or something afterwards.” He patted it on the head.
When the other four returned that night, Yunho peeked into Jaejoong’s room and found him asleep and curled up on his bed, Bambi cradled protectively in his arms. The card was still tied around its neck, except when Yunho managed to pry the toy from Jaejoong, he noticed it now had something written on its backside: And here I thought Yoochun was the sappy one of the group. I especially like how you couldn’t just tell me this in person. Is Bambi your spokesperson now?
Below it, on a separate line written in tiny scrawl were the words: … and tell Bambi I said thank you. She has a big heart.
Yunho smiled and tucked the doll back into the other man’s arms. “Goodnight, Jaejoongie.”
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Yunho sat on the edge of the bed. He plopped Bambi onto Jaejoong’s stomach, then stood it on its legs and moved its body so that it looked to be climbing its way up the older man’s chest.
Jaejoong watched with an amused smirk. “How horrible of you to let Bambi tread over a crippled person.”
Yunho rolled his eyes and aimed the toy at the other’s face. Jaejoong caught it before it could make impact.
Yunho smiled as Jaejoong attempted to balance Bambi on his head; he figured it was a habit of Jaejoong’s that would never get old. But Yunho’s smile faded as he eyed his hyung’s leg in worry. “So… how are you holding up?”
“It’s not that bad, actually. Well, you know… The crutches are hard on the arms and the cast can get a little itchy, but otherwise, it’s okay. Though I’m still kind of pissed that management won’t let people sign it. The cast, that is.” Jaejoong frowned.
“I think they were just worried that the four of us would draw something obscene. And by the four of us, I mean Yoochun.”
Jaejoong laughed. “They were probably right to worry. Catch.” Jaejoong threw Bambi in Yunho’s direction, but once Yunho caught it, he immediately threw it back.
“You keep her. Until your leg heals.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, you know,” Yunho cleared his throat, “Since you’re going to be bed-ridden for a while…” he trailed off, hoping that Jaejoong would get the point.
Jaejoong’s expression remained blank. Yunho sighed. “Do you remember before when you were sick, how you wrote that I should’ve just given Bambi to you in person?”
“Yeah.”
“Well…” Yunho looked down and cleared his throat again, “That’s what I’m doing now.”
Yunho received no response. When he finally gathered the courage to look back up, Jaejoong was grinning at him. “…What?” Yunho asked, a little too defensively.
“Nothing.” Jaejoong took the plush back into his hands and played with its ears. “Thank you,” he said softly. And at that moment, Yunho seemed to find the pattern of Jaejoong’s blankets particularly fascinating, as he was suddenly unable to look at anything but.
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It was only when preparing for bed during his first night in Japan that Yunho realized he had left Bambi at his house in Korea. As he tumbled and turned in his sleep that night, Changmin noticed that his hyung seemed to be clutching for an invisible something.
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Yunho turned the object in his hands. “I still don’t get it.”
Changmin sighed heavily and resisted the impulse to take back his present and smack Yunho over the head with it. “It’s a Bambi blanket. What’s there to get?”
“Well yeah, but why are you giving this to me?”
“Look…” Changmin sighed once more. He felt like dying. “I’m not good at this whole spontaneous gift-giving thing, so just take it okay? Please.”
Yunho inspected the blanket, still folded up inside its plastic case, as his expression progressively transformed from one of confusion to amusement. “Changmin, this is… nice of you and all, but really… I never even watched Bambi as a kid. People might get the wrong idea if I start collecting merchandise of her... him. Whatever Bambi is.” Yunho pushed the blanket back into Changmin’s hands, who accepted it helplessly. “You’re probably better off giving this to Junsu or Jaejoong. Thanks anyway.”
Yunho exited the room, leaving behind a very, very confused young man.
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When Changmin observed Yunho sleeping soundly a week later while snuggling up with one of Jaejoong’s old teddy bears, all became clear to him. Thankfully, Changmin was smart enough to keep the receipt.
