❝ flying kites (onew/taemin) ❞
Flying kites
Onew/Taemin; 1639 words; Jinki's had a perfect life for the past twenty five years and there's nothing wrong with that, really, except everything has become routinary already. (for rarelyshining with the prompt, "A boy meets boy in the country, with one of them a kite maker." * in mind.)
If anything, this is just midlife crisis. Jinki's had a perfect life for the past twenty five years and there's nothing wrong with that, really, except everything has become routinary already - waking up at five in the morning, getting dressed ten minutes after, bacon and eggs for breakfast, with a cow serenading him in the background. It's not as if he's saying all these years of living have been a waste; he just needs a breath of fresh air, one that living in the countryside cannot provide.
So when Lee Taemin walks into his life with a suitcase on one hand and a crumpled map in the other, he welcomes him with open arms and a bright, bright smile that he swears might have positively driven Taemin away a bit. Just a bit.
"I... think I'm lost?"
If anything at all, he's just looking for adventure.
Taemin is twenty one, a perfect image of youth. He's just graduated from a prestigious school and has been receiving calls from various big-time companies. All the pressure from his parents and the people around him have driven him insane, though, which is why he's having hot chocolate with Jinki and not his younger cousins.
He's a hotshot, or at least that's how things look like from Taemin's short stories and attempts at breaking the ice. When Taemin does share something intimate, though, like the story of how he got lost and ended up on Jinki's statement, Jinki listens carefully, presses his ears close to Taemin's heart if he can, but only in his mind because they haven't known each other for a long time yet.
"Do you want to go back," Jinki asks, unsure. The rise and fall of Taemin's chest is enough an answer, but Taemin mumbles, "I don't know. Can I... stay for a while?"
It's been three days since Taemin appeared on Jinki's doorstep, fashioning a lost look. For the past three days, Jinki has done nothing but try to discover the real cause of Taemin's being deployed in his side of the country because really, the bit about his little cousins being a total pain in the ass isn't believable by man's definition of "weird". But to no avail - Taemin is pretty good at keeping secrets and wearing a look void of all emotions.
"My mother left me that day, actually," Taemin says out of the blue, eyes wandering aimlessly. He fumbles with the hem of the shirt he wore day he arrived at Jinki's house. "She said she was through with me and my bratty ways. I didn't know what she was talking about." Taemin the turns to Jinki with questioning eyes.
"Am I, really?"
For the next few minutes, Jinki lets Taemin talk about anything, everything, especially when he sees the small and wistful smile on Taemin's lips, the slow knitting of Taemin's eyebrows, and heavy rise and fall of Taemin's chest when he tells Jinki about his father, then the girl he left. For the next forty-five minutes, Jinki debates with himself, then tentatively crosses the line between stranger and friend - one foot in, one foot out, until Taemin shoves him in the right direction.
Jinki laughs, and so does Taemin for the first time since he has arrived at Jinki's house.
A week into Taemin staying over at his house has Jinki worrying about the dwindling supply of food in the fridge. It's not that Taemin is a heavy eater; in fact, Taemin doesn't each much of whatever is served to him, but that might be because Jinki only ever serves vegetables and two portions of meat.
"God, I'm going to die here!" Taemin throws his hands up in the air, kicking his seat away from the table. "So many vegetables, so little meat. How do you even manage?"
"Well for starters, we hunt our own 'meat'," Jinki says flatly, but punctuates his statement with a small smirk. "Imagine how bloody that would be, killing a lamb you'll be having for dinner." Jinki tries hard not to laugh when a look of disbelief and cold sweat breaks across Taemin's features. "Bloody lambchops, yum..."
"Will you stop that!" Taemin hits him on the arm and laughter spills from his lips. "Fucking gross. Is everyone here like you?"
From the corner of Jinki's eye, he sees Taemin frown and squirm for a while, but soon enough a smile lights the latter's lips and there's another slap launched onto Jinki's arm. The tirade lasts until they've already finished eating (finally, almost an hour after) and Taemin's lounging on the couch, with Jinki's arm just waiting to circle his shoulder, rested on the head rest.
"Seriously, though," Taemin begins tentatively, then shifts a bit in his position so that he and Jinki are face to face. "Is everyone here like you?"
"Like me?"
"Yeah." Taemin smiles a little. "Weird, funny, morbid, I don't know." Taemin's fingers stray to the pillow just beside him, then to Jinki's thigh. "You're different."
Jinki blinks a couple of times in a response that can otherwise be articulated in words. "I wouldn't be different if everybody was like me," is what Jinki says in reply after a while, still unprepared and caught terribly off-guard.
Beside him, Taemin laughs a little and Jinki ignores the fancy tingle in his toes.
On Taemin's second week, Jinki teaches him how to make kites. "I used to earn a lot from this," Jinki says with pride, a smile stretching across his features. "Thinking about it, I should've just put up a kite shop or something."
"That sounds stupid," Taemin says bluntly. Jinki frowns.
"Well, thanks. That's pretty encouraging."
Taemin punches him lightly on the arm in reply.
An hour after, Taemin's still not done with his kite and has already given up on it. Jinki takes it upon himself to fix whatever disaster it is that Taemin has made and, soon after, they're flying kites just out back.
The winds today are bit too strong for Jinki's liking, but they're perfect for kite flying. Beside him, Taemin idly plays with the kite and tucks his hair behind his ears, revealing a rather contented smile. "You like it?" is all Jinki manages to say, to which Taemin replies with mhmm.
Not too long after, the sun sets before them and paints Taemin a hue too warm. Taemin looks so fragile like this, so vulnerable, so Jinki moves away, maintaining a good arm's length between them. When the wind blows too hard, it hits Jinki just as strongly.
He might just like Taemin a bit too much.
(Taemin eventually falls in love with kite-flying. When he's bored, he'd take out Jinki's tools and make a kite, each one better than the last one he's made. Flying a kite isn't so easy for Taemin, though, so Jinki gives him some pointers:
1. Don't hold on too tight; the string might break.
2. Don't hold on too lightly; it might slip away.
3. If the inevitable happens, just let go.
Taemin nods appreciatively as he takes in all these pieces of advice. Jinki beams at him brightly, possibly brighter than the sun.)
A week after, Jinki realizes this:
He didn't sign up for this - butterflies in his stomach, a tingling sensation all over his body. All he knows is that he's supposed to take care of a stranger until the time comes that said stranger is already capable of going back to his supposed 'family'. He surely didn't sign up for feeling light whenever Taemin takes his hand and drags him to where the cows are, or for that indescribable feeling that settles in the pit of his stomach when Taemin turns to him with adoring eyes and asks, "Can I stay here a bit longer?"
"Stay forever," Jinki says softly, letting the wind carry his words someplace other than Taemin's ears. "You can stay here as long as you like."
He takes a deep breath and takes everything back.
He wakes up in the company of a slip of paper in his hands one day. "Thanks for the food and shelter and kite-flying lessons," it reads, and there's a "Taemin" scribbled at the end of the letter. Jinki almost crumples the paper when he sees a series of words and numbers written at the back.
It's been a while since he's last been in the city. He's no longer used to the busy city life, the noise that comes with it, but he loves the nightlights, nonetheless.
This is definitely a great break from his monotonous, routinary life.
The lamppost illuminates the intersection. He brings the slip of paper closer to his eyes - he can't be mistaken; this is the one he's been looking for.
He knocks three times on the door, and he's just about to follow up with another three when the door swings open. "Hey," is what he gets as a welcome greeting, followed by a small smile. "I figured you'd find your way here somehow."
Jinki scoffs. "I let the wind take me here, no matter how cheesy that sounds." He looks away and shoves something in Taemin's hand. "I just came here to give you that."
Taemin takes a good look at the box on his hand and smiles upon realization of what Jinki has just given him. He then shakes his head. "Whatever. Just get inside." And when Jinki does, he puts an arm around Jinki's shoulder, pulling him close.
"You'd have to explain what happened between us to my mom."
Jinki's eyebrows remain furrowed for a while. He punches Taemin lightly on the arm before they turn right and walk straight to the kitchen where Taemin's mother is waving, smiling at them while eyeing Jinki curiously as if he held all the answers to the questions in the world.
Jinki takes a deep breath and smiles.