Keyless [3/?]
Title: Keyless [3/?]
Pairing: Key/Jonghyun
Word Count: 5,297
Genre: romance, fluff
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jonghyun and Minho relive their high school days with a not so willing guest.
Part: 1, 2
Waking up early in the morning sucked enough as it was, but waking up late and having to rush through my normal routine really sucked. But it’s not my fault; it’s all my restless mind’s fault, just couldn’t let me have a break for once.
After taking a quick shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and all but ran to my closet and pulled whatever I could get my hands on. Pulling a plain white shirt and some average skinny jeans on, I headed towards my front door. As I passed my kitchen I gazed longingly but stilled my desire. I am late enough as it is, I have no time to eat… even if my stomach is trying to kill me from the inside out.
The drive to my studio wasn’t a very long one, but it seemed to be taking forever. Finally, I made it and parked in my usual spot before making my way inside. My client wouldn’t come for another hour or so, but I had to get my things set up for the shoot she wanted to do. Making a mental list of all that needed to be done before she came, I stopped in front of the door and reached into my bag for my keys to unlock the door.
With my mind still on what needed to be done it took me a few moments to realize that I still hadn’t found my keys. Panicked, I sat down on the concrete steps that led into the building and started pulling things out of my bag.
It had to be in here. It’s always in here or in my hand. It just has to be.
After I had emptied everything out of my bag and there still was no sign of them I really started to freak out. With everything scattered around me I put my head in my hands and sighed.
This can’t be happening to me.
Sitting in front of my studio in defeat, I released another sigh and pulled out my phone. If I couldn’t get into my studio that meant I can’t do this shoot today; hopefully she’d want to reschedule. I scrolled through my contacts and clicked on her name. It rang for a bit, but when she did answer I explained my situation. Thankfully she was a very understanding woman. She just told me to call back so that we could reschedule on a later date.
At least I’m not losing that job…
I tried telling myself that but it all seemed so hopeless; I really had no idea where I could’ve left them. I could always get another set made, but if I could find them, then I didn’t want to waste the money.
Alright, think, Kibum, where was the last place you had them?
I know I had them when I left here last night because I would have needed them to lock up. I can also remember having them when I had walked to my car, even when Taemin had called to tell me to pick up those damn movies. I also had them when I walked to Jonghyun’s apartment because I remembered swinging them around on my finger, and then he opened the door and…
“Dammit,” I whispered as I dropped my head back into my hands.
It just hasn’t been my week at all, has it?
“Well, lookie who we have here,” I said with a smirk as I let my gaze travel over a very irritated and ruffled looking Kibum. What he was wearing today was probably the tamest I had seen him look in a while. He had on a plain white shirt, a pair of regular skinny jeans, and his hair looked like he just rolled out of bed, but even then he still managed to make it look great. “Key, how was your night? Run into any ruffians?”
As he jutted out his hip and placed a hand, decorated with rings, on it. He asked me as he leveled me with an unamused glare. “What exactly is your definition of a ‘ruffian’?”
Leaning my weight on the door frame to my front entrance, I waved my hand and said, “Oh y’know, guys with scruffy appearances and questionable intentions.”
With that hand on his hip, Kibum flashed me a sly smile before he replied, “Then I happen to be staring at one.”
“Ouch,” I said as I placed my hand over my heart. “That’s just cruel.”
“Anyway,” he drawled out as he rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the right, “I actually came here for an important reason.” As I heard this my ears perked up and I smiled at him.
“To ask me for my number?”
“W-What?!” he stuttered out, while a blush stained his cheeks a bright pink color. “What in God’s name gave you that idea?”
“Because you didn’t get it before you left last night, and I happen to be a very important person,” I told him as I pushed myself off my perch on the door’s frame and welcomed him inside with a wave of my hand; which he grudgingly followed, but not without making sure he side-stepped me on the way in.
“You know, over-confidence is very unappealing,” he said and caused me to smile as he walked past me -much like he did the night before- towards the kitchen, but stopped short and turned around to face me. “And whoever told you that your number was important? In fact, I remember saying something along the lines of that was the complete opposite case.”
“Why must you be so mean, Key?” I asked with a pout, which made him raise an eyebrow. “It’s not the number that’s important but the person.” I gave him the cheekiest grin as I stepped closer to him and rested my hands on his shoulders. After he brushed my hands off, he pretended to look around the hallway before he turned back to me with fake innocence written all over his face.
“I don’t see anyone important in here.”
As he stood there and smiled at me, I couldn’t help but smile back. He was always doing the unexpected and I could feel myself wanting to dig deeper, wanting to pull out even more reactions that others may not have seen before. But at the same time I didn’t want anyone else to know that side; I wanted to be special to him, even if it was only playful banters like this.
“Oh come on, Key. That’s not what you told me last night.” I teased him with a whine in my voice and watched as his face turned a deep shade of red as he mumbled out something along the lines of, “don’t call me that in front of other people.”
At that moment I decided that I liked it when Key blushed, the bright red paired with his bleach blond hair really did wonders for him.
Still flustered, Key pushed my shoulder and scolded me. “Why do you have to say it like that? Someone will get the wrong idea!”
“What did you guys do last night?” A deep voiced as from the front door.
As soon as we heard that Key pulled his hand back as if he was burned, and turned the opposite way so as not to let the new comer to see how much he was blushing. Laughing, I turned towards the door and spotted Minho standing in the doorway. He was dress in a casual short sleeved black shirt, faded light grey jeans and a black collared jacket. With a glance to Key he looked back to me and smirked, which I ignored.
“Hey, you’re right on time,” I said to him as I walked up to him to pull him into a hug. Since Minho was taller than me, it involved me pulling him down to my level but this was a form of revenge for me; revenge for him having been so damn tall.
“Oh time for what?” Key asked from behind us and I turned around with a grin plastered over my face.
“Oh my dear Key, have you forgotten already?” In which he responded with one of his full force glares.
“Key?” Minho asked looking from each of our faces to the other, but Key continued with his glaring while I just smiled at him.
“What did I say earlier about calling me that in front of other people!” he demanded before he flung out his hand and gestured to Minho, “Now he’s going to think we’re weird!”
“Actually, I already know Jonghyun is weird. I went through high school with him,” Minho tried to interject but was ignored by the both of us.
“That’s not what you said last night! You said that it was ‘unique’ like you!”
I knew this was a ridiculous thing to fight about, but I was having way too much fun with it and I could see that it was really riling Key up. I was having such a good time that I smiled through the whole thing, which only seemed to make him angrier.
“Oh my God! That’s not even the point of this conversation!” he shouted at me before pausing and tried to take a deep breath to calm himself down. He placed a hand over his eyes as he let out a sigh and said, “Look, just tell me what you say I forgot.”
“Oh,” I said and raised my hand to cup my chin as I looked up at Key, “Well last night you said that you would come to the game with us.” There was a moment of silence before Minho had spoken up.
“Really? Kibum, why didn’t you tell me when you talked to me last night?” Minho asked with his eyes lit with excitement.
“Don’t believe what he says, he’s only saying what he wanted to hear. I said I was thinking about it.” Key said as he mumbled out the last part so quiet that Minho and I almost couldn’t hear it.
“But you’re already here, so you might as well come along.” I told him as I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards the door, but he squirmed out of my hold.
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I’m busy?” he asked as he turned back around to face me again.
“With?”
“Work, friends, anything really.” He told me with a frown.
“Well…” I said then paused and scratched the back of my head before continuing, “Are you? You know, busy with all that stuff.”
I kind of felt stupid for asking just then, but I was never one to really think anything completely through.
With a sigh he lowered his head and said, “Unfortunately, no. I had a job this morning for a woman, but I had to reschedule because I lost the keys to my studio.” Just as he finished saying that I pointed over to the little stand by the door that had a low and deep bowl on it that I liked to put my wallet and keys in when I walked through the door. He gave me a confused glance before turning fully to look in it, when he saw the extra set of keys he left the night before he let out an excited gasp.
“Thank God, I thought I would have to get another set made.” Turning back to me, he gave me the first real smile I’ve seen since he walked through my door. “Thanks Jonghyun, I’m glad you kept them safe.”
I ignored the fact that I was the reason he didn’t have them in the first place and smiled back at him.
“No problem, I’m only here to help,” I told him as I walked up closer to him and asked while still keeping the smile pasted on my face, “So she rescheduled, huh?” And when he nodded, my smile grew. “That’s great! That means nothing is holding you back from coming to the soccer game with us.” He hesitated as he cut his eyes to the side, no doubt looking for a way out of this.
Too bad, Key. I’m not letting you out of this one.
Just then Minho shifted his weight, drawing my gaze back to him for a split second before I raised my voice to get his attention.
“Isn’t that right, Minho? Key can come, right?”
He looked up from his phone, and glanced between us while he gave us a lazy glare before he said, “Oh what, now you remember I exist?”
“He can come right?” I asked again as I rolled my eyes at his comment.
“Sure, I mean I did ask him a couple of weeks ago, I just figured that his silence meant he wasn’t interested.” He told us while he shrugged and turned his gaze back to his phone.
“Well doesn’t that just work out perfectly.” I said with a grin but Key’s less than enthusiastic reply cut in.
“No, I don’t want to go.”
As soon as that was out of his mouth I put one hand over his mouth and the other on his lower back, forcing him to bend backwards before I shushed him.
“Shush my child; you don’t know what you want.”
And with that, we were on our way out the door and piling into Minho’s car. All went smoothly as Minho and I set us up for the ride, aside from the mumbled insults and small complaints from the backseat where Key was seated that is. But we could deal with that, we were use to Taemin normally coming along and that kid absolutely didn’t like sitting in a car for more than a half an hour at most.
From the passenger’s seat, I turned back and smiled at Key. “Are you ready?”
When he glanced up at me from his iPod with a frown, he asked, “Do I look ready?”
I threw a frown back at him as I said, “Geez, no need to be mean. I was only trying to make sure you will be comfortable; I mean, this is a two hour drive and all.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” was all he said before I laughed. I watched how his whole face slowly turned red with anger before he kicked the back of my seat countless times. “This is kidnapping! I don’t want to go; let me out!” he screamed at me which only made me laugh harder.
After listening to us, Minho let out a deep sigh and mumbled, “The both of you together is worse than having to deal with a moody Taemin any day.”
* * *
“Do you smell that guys?” I asked as I took a big whiff from the top of the steps that led down into the stadium. “That’s the smell of men.” Glancing towards Minho, I saw a similar look of contentment on his face, like we could just stand there forever.
Well… that was until Key spoke up.
“You mean that’s the horrible stench I’ve been smelling since we walked in? God, I was hoping to find something that I could shove my face in so I didn’t have to smell it anymore.”
With a sigh I looked to Minho only to see him shaking his head, and then I turned my gaze to Key, who I had my hand firmly wrapped around his elbow because I feared he would run off the first chance he had.
“Key, you just can’t see the beauty of the sport because you’ve never taken the time to sit down and watch it.” I pulled him closer and added, “It’s an amazing game if you’d just give it the chance.” I watched as he gazed over the field with narrowed eyes and bit his bottom lip before he sighed and nodded.
I smiled and took that as the okay to lead him to our seats. We started to climb our way down through the hundreds of people that had come to watch the game today. Finally, we made it to our seats. Luckily, Minho was sweet enough to get seats closest to the end of the row, that way if we need to get up at some point we wouldn’t have to climb over hordes of soccer lovers -like we weren’t some- that, would more than likely, be very displeased with us.
As I looked at the three free seats that were ours, I glanced back at Key and pushed him in first. I’ve seen him eyeing the exits since the moment we walked in; I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t get brave and try to make a break for it.
He stumbled a bit because he wasn’t really paying attention, but once he regained his balance he whipped around and glared at me.
“What was that for?!” he growled out.
Putting on the cutest smile I could muster up, I pointed to the seat and said, “I wanted you to sit down first.” He eyed me suspiciously before it seemed he decided that it wasn’t worth the effort and sat down.
When he sat down I grinned and sat in the seat right next to him, throwing him my most charming smile. He just sat there and looked at me for a moment with a blank expression, then turned back to playing games on his phone.
Put down by his lack of attention on me, I tried to start a conversation.
“So,” I started but he kept his eyes on his phone, “What color do you like?” I really couldn’t think of anything else at the moment. It didn’t help that once I said that I heard Minho’s snort.
I turned and glared at him, giving him my best ‘you better shut your mouth now if you know what’s good for you,’ glare I could, in which he replied with trying to use his hands to cover his laughter. Who needs enemies when you have friends like these? I let out a sigh and shook my head before turning back to Key, who was still on his damn phone.
I glared at the phone for a few seconds before deciding that this offending piece needed to be put away. Just as Key was playing some game that involved using your thumbs to cut fruit, I pulled the phone right out of his hands.
Shocked, Key glared over at me before he tried to reach for his phone, which I pulled back out of his reach.
“What are you doing? Give me back my phone!” he said as he continued to try and get it from me with without any success.
“No, it’s rude to use your phone when someone is trying to talk to you,” I told him as I slipped his phone into my back pocket. “Maybe you didn’t find my first question interesting enough. Here let me think of another one.”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Key roll his eyes and shrug deeper into his seat as he mumbled out, “Why do you even bother?” Then he set his glare on the field.
I didn’t know what the deal was, but he seemed so much more irritated with me today, like I did something last night to piss him off. I tried to think back to what happened last night, but nothing really stood out. I mean, I knew I was pushing the teasing a bit last night, but I wouldn’t figure that’s what was causing this. As I sat there, deep in thought I heard Minho’s phone go off once again. Ever since he walked through my door this morning someone has been blowing up his phone.
“Hey, Minho…” I started as I leaned over my seat towards him.“ Who keeps texting you?”
He glanced up at me for a second and looked back down and shrugged. “Just someone.”
I sat there for a moment as he continued to text his reply, and I realized something; I really hated phones. They always took everyone’s attention, because it didn’t matter who the person was talking to in person, there was always someone else they were texting.
I swear, I’m one second from taking his phone too.
“Who is it?” I pressed on, “A girl? Is that why you don’t want to tell me? I bet she’s cute. Is she short? Or maybe she’s-” Just as I was on a roll, he cut me off.
“He’s Taemin.”
It might have just been my imagination, but I swear I saw Key flinch. When I turned to glance at him, I saw that he had slumped down lower in his seat and was now looking the other way. It was weird, but I didn’t really think anything of it.
“Really? All day?” I asked, and he nodded just as he finished typing the text and pressed the send button. “That’s weird, I texted him a few times this morning and he still hasn’t answered mine,” I told him but all I got in response was a hum. Still I pressed on further. “And I know he can’t say he was busy because he’s been texting you every few seconds.”
“Well,” he started and then sighed. “Well, he’s just pretty upset right now. When I went over to his place last night he was crying. I felt so lost on how to comfort him; he just seemed so broken.”
It was silent for a few seconds before I could think of something to say. “Why is he upset? What happened?”
Minho sighed and looked at his phone one more time before slipping it into his jacket pocket.
“He says that a friend is really upset with him.”
I let that settle in before I let my back rest against my seat again. There really wasn’t anything I could say. Taemin wasn’t here, and he’s made it clear that he only wanted to talk to Minho. I let my head fall back against the headrest and released a sigh.
I missed so much; I just feel so left out now.
I turned my head to my left to see Key playing with some stray strings from a hole on his jeans that I hadn’t noticed before. I kind of felt bad for dragging him out here with us, but I really only wanted to get to know him better. So far I’ve had no luck. He’d been giving me the cold shoulder all day, and I just have no idea what to do about it.
If I felt bad for that, then I felt even worse for not giving him his keys when he left last night. If it wasn’t for me, he could be doing a shoot right now; doing what he loves, and not to mention, making some money while he was at it too.
In short, I’m an idiot.
“Hey, Key.” I called him softly, and he turned his head slightly towards me, so I took that as a go ahead. “Do you only do professional shoots? Like is there only a certain type of person you take pictures of? Or…” I asked, trailing off at the end, unsure how to actually word what I was trying to say.
Finally, he turned and faced me for the first time since we sat down, and just looked at me like I was speaking non-sense. Which, to be honest, probably sounded like it.
“What do you mean by that?”
I looked him in his soft brown eyes for a moment before I felt my cheeks grow warmer, and I turned away and scratched my neck.
“Nothing really. Just asking,” I tried to say, but Minho talked over me.
“He’s asking if you think he looks good enough to do a shoot with.”
I could kill him; I swear I could do it right now. No one would ever have to know, no one.
With Key to my back I glared at him, wishing that I could strangle him right at this very moment, but I couldn’t. Too many witnesses…
“Oh?” I heard Key speak up and I stilled, “Yeah, I think he would do fine.” As soon as he said that I turned around and grabbed his hands.
“You mean that? Would you want to do a shoot for me?” I asked him and when I noticed his confused expression I rushed to add, “I’ll pay you, whatever you want. Double what that girl would’ve paid you!” with every question I shook his hands so hard that his body was shaking along with them.
“Dude, chill out before you kill Kibum.” Minho told me with a laugh, as he rested a hand on my shoulder.
I let out a sigh and released my hold on Key’s hands while I laid back in my seat. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to be so rough.”
As Key rubbed his hands he gave me a small smile and said, “It’s fine, I’m not a girl. I can handle stuff like that.”
We sat there for a few moments just looking at each other, just trying to see what the other was thinking before Minho’s voice interrupted us.
“Hey guys, the game is starting.”
Key was the first one to break eye contact as he turned to look at the players’ line, but I sat there a little longer and just looked at him. It was a little painful as I traced his features with my eyes, like I was being squeezed from the inside; it’s painful, but bearable.
What did I do to make you act like this to me?
I would be lying if I said I understood what was going on but things must have been going good because Minho and Jonghyun jumped up and cheered an awful lot during the game. With all the enthusiasm they showed it kind of made me wish that I did. But more than anything, I tried to imagine what these two would’ve looked like playing back in their high school days.
That would’ve been a sight to see for sure.
When the game had ended Jonghyun and Minho were going on and on about how amazing certain plays were, or how others could’ve been done better if the lineup was different. Frankly, they had me lost when they started pulling out soccer terms that I’ve never heard before in my life. But this time I didn’t want to be rude and bring them down from their little soccer high. I realized that I hadn’t been the best guest so I figured that I would make up for that now by staying quiet.
Once we made it outside with the other thousands of people that attended this game, Minho pulled us to the side and told us to wait there. He said that there was no need for all of us going to get the car, and that if he went alone then he could run to it faster than all of us going.
Not that I was complaining, but…
I trailed off in my thoughts as I cut my eyes over to the man that happened to be standing a few feet from me at the moment. He hadn’t really looked at me since the game started, and that worried me as much as it relieved me. A part of me wanted to push him away and act like I didn’t like the way his big brown eyes sparkle when he teased me, but the other part of me wanted him to only look at me, to keep this eyes on me at all time; that wasn’t good because I feel like that side of me was becoming more dominant the more time passed with him by me. I watched him for a few moments as he was staring at the crowd of people before I turned my gaze to the sky and let out a sigh.
“Hey Key…” he started, and I pulled my eyes back to him. “Did I do something wrong the other night? If I did you know you can tell me, right? I won’t get offended or anything. I just don’t want you to hate me.” As he finished saying that he turned to me with pleading eyes.
I thought about what he said as he looked deeply into my eyes, begging me to give him an answer. I didn’t hate him, far from it actually, but I just couldn’t; I couldn’t, not again. I took a deep breath before I gave him a sad smile.
“I don’t hate you, Jonghyun; everything is just so complicated at the moment. But I know that being around you really does relieve some built up stress. So, in a way, I’m happy that I can spend some time with you,” I told him honestly, but I could still see the sadness in his face before he turned away.
Taking another deep breath, I walked up to him, took his phone out of his pocket and typed my number into it before I sent myself a message. The clueless expression was just too much that I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“I really do want to do that shoot with you, free of charge. Just text or call me to tell me what would be the best time for you.”
When he smiled at me I swear that my heart sped up, and all I could think was that I wanted to see it more and more. I could hear all the warning bells in my head going off, telling me that this would only hurt me in the end, but I didn’t care. Throwing all caution in the wind, I smiled right back at him without holding back in the slightest bit.
Before anything else could be said, Minho had picked that very moment to pull up next to us and motion us inside the car.
The ride back was more enjoyable for me, for everyone really, and Jonghyun seemed to be in good spirits too. He sang to all different kinds of songs on the radio, and I couldn’t hold back my laughter. He switched genres so much that I didn’t know what was what anymore, but I couldn’t really say that I cared all that much either.
By the time we finally made it back to Jonghyun’s apartment building it was dark, and we were all tired. So tired that Jonghyun had barely mumbled out a goodnight before making his way up to his apartment. Minho and I laughed at the sight before I started to make my way back to where I parked my own car that morning. Before I gotten far Minho had called out to me.
“Kibum, do you want me to drive you home?” he asked, but I waved him off.
“Nah, my car is here. Besides, you’ve been driving all day,” I told him but just as I turned back around he called to me again, and I stilled.
“Kibum, about Taemin…” he paused and let out a sigh before continuing, “I know what he did wasn’t right, but he really did have the best attentions. He never meant to hurt you.”
Without turning to face him I said, “I know. Believe me, I know.” It was quiet for a few seconds but then he spoke up again.
“You know, all day while he was texting me the majority of them were asking how you were. He’s stupid sometimes, but he still loves you.” He told me this before waving a goodbye and leaving me to think on what he had said. I put my head in my hands and sighed.
“I know he does,” I whispered to the empty parking lot.
A/N: So i couldn't help but reread this as I was posting it and I gotta say, I had myself spazzing like a fangirl. My JongKey is so sassy that it just hit me in my girly feels.
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