Baby, Welcome to Hell. (3/?)
Title: Baby, welcome to Hell.
Author: elebabeh
Pairing: Taemin-centric, 2Min
Genre: Drama (?)
Rating: PG - PG-13 (at most)
Words: 2,128
Disclaimer: SHINee boys aren't mine, sadly.
Summary: Taemin's innocent and sweet and kind, so how did he end up in Hell, of all places?
Author's Note: Fucking plot bunnies. That is all. Also, this is un-beta'd so you know. Everything's my fault.
chapter 3 - do you remember now?
"Honey, why don’t I tell you some other time?” It was a casual reply, and Taemin felt comfortable talking about it. He could wait, it wouldn’t be that bad of a reply, right? Today was supposed to be him and his mother hanging out together. “Oh! I know just the place we should go to next, you loved going there when you were younger you know.”
He did? Strange, he didn’t remember anything at all from his childhood, except for school, a laptop, and a playground. Taemin looked at his Key Umma and they held hands again, another gust of wind blowing into their faces. He had gotten used to it already, this strange way of transportation. When he turned to look in front of him, he was surprised to see a seemingly-familiar wall decorated with graffiti. The angel grinned and approached it, tracing the outlines of the graffiti with his fingers.
“You remember this place? We used to come here a lot you know. I taught you the basics of dancing then you went off and taught yourself.” Key smiled, placing an arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “You were so majestic then, always moving to the right beat. I was jealous of you, you know.”
Taemin stared at his Umma, surprised. “Jealous? I’m your son, why would you be jealous?” A smile broke upon Key’s face as soon as he said son, and the older male merely kissed his cheek.
“You were a better dancer than me.” He said and they turned around and went somewhere else. It was a beach, similar to Boracay in Philippines. “You know, you could go anywhere you want anytime without me. Just take this,” Key said and took a silver key necklace from his pocket. “It works like those things in Harry Potter. What were they called again?”
“Portkeys?” Taemin giggled, letting his Umma placed the necklace around his neck. He was amused by the sudden reference to the popular children’s book, and couldn’t help but grin at its silliness. “Thanks, it looks great on me, don’t you think?” Taemin smirked.
“Aigoo, you’re becoming too much like me.” They laughed and walked down the sandy strip of a beach. “We used to come here a lot, you, me and your Jonghyun Appa. Every summer, we stayed in that cabin for a week.” Taemin watched as his Umma pointed to a small house on top of a hill, looking out to the sea. “You see it?”
The angel nodded, turning to the sea as the waters changed in color. It was a strange phenomenon, and it never happened back in Earth, The waters changed from a clear blue to a sparkly orange, with streaks of yellow going across the water. It was like a sunset, although it wasn’t. The sun wasn’t anywhere near the water, and somehow Taemin liked it that way.
“It’s beautiful.” He said, and found himself leaning on Key’s shoulder.
“Isn’t it? We always came for walks here when you were sad.” Key said and sat down on the moist sand. Taemin sat down beside him, pulling his knees to his chest. “You know, one time you lost this underground competition and ran away. You thought we were ashamed of you for losing. So you came here.”
“Umma, how come I don’t remember any of this?” Taemin asked, staring at the water. He looked at Key Umma from the corner of his eyes, and saw him frown a bit.
“It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try my best.” He said and they faced each other. “Before you became an angel, you were a dead soul. You know, there are some souls that, instead of being transferred to another body, a newborn baby, they’re turned into an angel. You were one of the most majestic souls, and the angels kind of took pity on you for having to die and be born again every one-hundred years or so, so we made you a body you could live happily in and gave it wings. We wanted you to be an angel, like us. So when you died, we immediately placed your soul into the body. You were so innocent and clueless then, and I adopted you as my own. Anyway, after a few years, maybe you were seven years old then, I fell off a cliff and, you know, fell down.
“I became a fallen angel, like you, and found myself here, in Hell. You were devastated when you found out I had gone. You tried to persuade the higher angels to let you come down and see me, but they wouldn’t let you. You know what you did?” Taemin shook his head, and stared, waiting for the tale to continue. “Well, since you’re an angel, you can take over a body that’s about to die. So you found this adopted child who looked like you, and who had cancer. That kid was on his last week of living, so you watched the kid for a long time. When he started coughing up blood, you went and took his soul away and possessed that body. You were such a sneaky kid then, did you know that?” Key laughed and continued his story.
“So, it went like that, when the kid slept, you were in Heaven, and when it was awake, you were in Earth. I was surprised the higher angels never found out, you know. And then you found a way to get to hell and you got here. I was so happy to see you, but you had to leave immediately, you never stayed long when you visit. And today while you were going out, some higher angels got you and brought you to Heaven. They tore your wings away, crying, and threw you down to Hell. They loved you, and they couldn’t believe they lost you. Everyone loved you.” Key shook his head, and Taemin had to feel sorry for him. “If I never came to Hell, oh, you wouldn’t have lost your wings. They were the most precious thing to you, did you know that?”
“No, no, they’re not. You’re the most precious thing to me.” Taemin said immediately, pulling his Umma into a tight hug. “If you weren’t, I wouldn’t be here now would I?” They both smiled and Key kissed Taemin’s forehead.
“Come on, it’s getting late, I should get you home. Ryeowook’s making us some spaghetti.” They shared a smile and stood up. Another gust of wind and they were home, in the dining room. Jonghyun and Jinki were bickering at the corner of the table, and Taemin took Key’s hand jogged over to them, draggin his Umma along.
“Jjongie, Jinki!” Key waved as Taemin dragged him to their seat. The two sat down beside them, Taemin beside Jinki and Key beside Jonghyun.
“Oh, you guys are back?” Jinki asked, smiling at Taemin. The young angel nodded. “Cool, cool.” He said casually, patting the kid’s head.
“So where’d you guys go?” Jonghyun asked looking at Key. Taemin answered for him, his voice bright and happy.
“We went to Hyukjae-ssi’s store and Met Minho-hyung!” As soon as Taemin said that, there was a dead silence in the area between them. Cocking an eyebrow, Taemin asked, “Why do you guys hate Minho-hyung so much? He’s sweet!”
“No, we don’t hate him, Minnie,” Jinki started, a lopsided smile forming on his face. “We’re just not... fond of him.”
Suspicious, Taemin looked at Jonghyun, who shrugged and put his hands up. “Don’t look at me, I personally happen to like the kid.” Taemin turned to Key, then remembered that he’d talk about it next time. Sighing, Taemin sat down and listened to the three older males talk. He waited for the food, and was surprised to see another effeminate man walk in with their food.
Feeling bright, Taemin grinned. “Hi!” He chirped and waved at the male. He smiled and waved back.
“Hi, Taemin-ssi. I’m Ryeowook.” He said kindly and placed the plate of spaghetti in front of him. Taemin muttered a simple thanks and began eating as Ryeowook placed his hyung’s dishes in front of them as well. With a quick bow, Ryeowook began to speak again. “By the way, Key, Hyukkie and Minho are here for dinner.” He said and Taemin looked up to see two males walking in. He blinked innocently and managed a small smile in greeting.
Minho and Hyukjae waved and sat across the four males just as Ryeowook left to get more plates with spaghetti. When he came back, everyone was sitting down, chatting nonchalantly with each other. Everyone was eating, and Minho had found himself beside Taemin on the other side of the table. They had gone by unnoticed, much to Taemin’s overall relief.
“Hyung, did you find another snow-globe?” Taemin asked, watching Minho eat his spaghetti. The older of the two shook his head, and Taemin knew that the male was disappointed. “...Oh...” He pouted cutely.
Minho saw this and chuckled. “It’s okay. I can go there tomorrow and check if they have it. It’s amazing how many globes like yours they can find.” Minho chuckled. “Hey, why don’t you hang out with me tomorrow? There are some cool places I’d like to show you.” Taemin almost gleamed in happiness.
“Really? That’d be so cool!” He said and turned to his spaghetti to finish it. “Hyung’s going to take me out tomorrow!” Taemin giggled, his baby face drowning in happiness and excitement.
“What?” Key’s voice shrieked, scaring nearly the daylights out of Taemin. He turned to Key and smiled sheepishly. “No, you’re not going out with him tomorrow!” He said and stood up, surprising everyone around the table. Jonghyun stood up and tried to calm Key down.
“Key, come on, let him go. It’ll be good experience for him.” Jonghyun said quickly, and Taemin stared at the scene unfolding before him. He felt a hand wrap around his, and smiled inwardly.
“No- But- With Minho?” Key whispered, although he could be heard from everyone. Another period of silence, like the one earlier, and Taemin was positive that they didn’t like something about Minho.
“Key, what’s wrong with Minho? It’s just Minho, nothing bad is going to happen.” Hyukjae said loudly, and Taemin felt he had to take Minho’s hand in his. “I honestly don’t understand why you dislike him so much, he’s such a good man.”
Key stared at Taemin, and gave up when he saw his son’s surprised, and hurt, face. “Fine, fine. Taemin you have fun, tomorrow, okay?” He said softly and left the table, announcing he was finished. Jonghyun sighed and apologized, leaving the table as well.
“I should go.” Taemin said and stood up, tearing his hand away from the older male. He bowed and turned to leave, running towards the hallway and to where he was sure his umma went to. He ran around the entire three-story house, and groaned when he found his Umma was nowhere to be found. The auburn-haired male went to his own room, and lied down on his striped bed.
He wondered, not where his umma was, but why they hated Minho so. He just couldn’t understand it. Sure, Minho was too forward, but he seemed like such a nice guy. He was so friendly, so handsome, so idol-like, that Taemin just couldn’t see how anyone could hate him. Taemin stared at the ceiling, trying to collect everything so far, and trying to figure out what happened.
So far, nothing could be a good reason as to what Minho did to make is hyungs hate him so much.
Taemin held the key-necklace his umma had given him and closed his eyes. When he was confused, he went to that beach with the strange water, right? He thought about it, and after soft gust of wind, he found himself lying down on the sand, staring into the deep blue sky. He sat up and looked around, seeing the exact same beach he had gone to earlier.
He stared at the calm blue waters next, and smiled. Was it really like this before? How had he missed all this when he came back every day? Taemin closed his eyes and thought about everything. He could pretend this never happened, the whole we-hate-Minho thing, and live normally. That was exactly what he would do. So he stayed there, watching the waves lap against the sand as the sun went down. He stayed for maybe two or three hours, until the sun was nowhere to be seen and only a soft glow of orange was left in the horizon. After a few minutes, that too was gone.
And after another gust of wind, Taemin found himself in his bed, beside a familiar, tall man.