Higher Society (6a/?)
Title: Higher Society
Main Characters: SHINee (+minor appearances from TVXQ/JYJ and other kpop groups)
Main pairing: Jongkey/2min/others
Chapters: (6/?)
Genre: AU/School/Angst/Life
Rating: R [up to NC17 later on]
Warnings: Liberal teenagers, language, substance usage/abuse, the story is slow-paced so it takes a while to see your pairing appear. x) DARK FANFIC IS DARK. K
Forewords: Plain and simple, we’re young and indestructible. When you’re young, bored, and have money to spend, what is there left to do but live your moment while you can?
Disclaimer: This fanfic does not reflect any of my own views. I don’t approve substance abuse, neither do I want to justify it. This is just a story about the mistakes/experiences that kids these days go through. I don’t own the characters, settings etc. The idea of this fic may be inspired by existing shows/books etc, and any similarities to other fan-fics are purely coincidental. The events that occur don’t represent the actual places mentioned. This is a work of pure fiction.
A/N: This story does not take place in Korea. Shinee are all Asian Americans here. This is my first fic, I hope you don't hate me. D:>
Trailer | Prologue | 1 | 2a | 2b | 3 | 4 | 5
Chapter Six
Taemin and Jonghyun told Jonghyun’s parents about their plans to go out to eat with some of their classmates and Jonghyun’s parents were happy to hear that they made new friends, allowing the two to go without any hesitation. Jonghyun would be lying if he said that he wasn’t kind of hesitant though, and who would blame him? First of all, neither he nor Taemin had any idea where this restaurant was, secondly, they really did just meet the people that they were going with. Jonghyun just had that weird feeling that something bad will happen, but his instincts usually fail him, so he just decided to go anyways. Onew told Jonghyun to meet them at the benches outside after school so that they could all go to the restaurant together.
Once classes had ended, Jonghyun waited for Taemin at his locker (he realized that sophomores really had a lot of school work) and they both walked out of the building together. As they exited, Taemin and Jonghyun immediately heard Key and his group laughing and conversing (rather loudly, might I add).
“Jonghyun! Taemin!” Onew smiled, immediately waving as he spotted the cousins. Jonghyun and Taemin smiled awkwardly and walked towards them.
“Alright, so are we all ready?” Kibum asked.
“No, we have to wait for Minho, he’s working out,” one guy, who Taemin recognized to be named ‘Jinwoon’ stated.
“Why? Is it even required?”
“No,” Jinwoon answered Key again, “If it was required, I’d be working out too. Minho’s just a jerk, that’s why,”
“Jinwoon, shut the fuck up and stop making up lies about me,” Minho called loudly, exiting the high school building.
“What the fudge? I thought you were working out?!” Key’s other friend, who Taemin remembered had the name ‘Dongwooon’ asked in surprise. Onew smiled at Minho, for some odd reason.
“Who said that?” Minho asked in return.
“You did! You’ve been working out since Monday, and you said you were going to be conditioning while football was going on and until wrestling’s pre-season,”
“Well, yeah, but when I have better things to do, I have better things to do,” Minho shrugged. He actually previously informed Onew that he wasn’t going to work out since he found out that the new kids were coming.
“Well, okay then. Shall we go?” Key piped, getting up from his spot on the bench. Everyone nodded, “Jjong, Min and ManHoe can ride with me,”
“WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO ME?” Minho asked loudly, while they all separated to go to their assigned rides.
“I’m not. I just thought it’d be repetitive if I said ‘min’ twice so…” Key lied.
“Whetever…” Minho grumbled. Key slung an arm around him and laughed as they walked to Key’s delightfully yellow vehicle. Jonghyun and Taemin awkwardly trailed behind.
“Jjong can sit at the front with me. You sophomores should get to know each other,” Key said, walking over to the driver’s seat. He unlocked the doors and everyone complied with his orders. Jonghyun was amazed at Key’s car. It was really nice and so obviously Key’s. There was a large cat car-sticker stuck on the window shield that Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile at. The interior of the car was almost black; black leather furnishing, black frames, black matts, everything was black-until Key turned it on. Once the car was started, the dashboard lights and radio navigation lights shone the color of a bright violet. Jonghyun, who had a slight fascination with cars, was awed at the beauty.
“This is a really nice car. Is it new?” Jonghyun asked while Key waited a few minutes to get the car heated up.
“This car? New? To me, yeah, but this car used to be my dad’s, we’ve had it for like three years. It just seems new because my dad and I had it customized during summer break. Isn’t it sexy?” Key grinned.
“Yeah, it really is,” Jonghyun agreed honestly.
“Yeee,” Key nodded smugly, offering a fist bump.
“You guys are soooo lame,” Minho said from the back, watching Jonghyun and Key fist-bumping. Taemin couldn’t stop himself from letting out a loud snort of laughter.
“See, Jonghyun, I told you that you were lame,” Taemin laughed. Minho joined him, as the car finally began to back up.
“We’re all Korean here right? Okay,” Key clarified, “These younger punks are disrespectful bastards,” Key said in Korean. Jonghyun burst out laughing. Taemin understood the basic meaning of Key’s words, although he could never translate the individual Korean words in to English. Minho drew a blank; he had no idea what Key was saying. He just stared in confusion. Key paid no attention or care towards Minho’s obvious lack of Korean skills and turned on the radio. [Music: ‘Mercy’ - JON MCXRO] The drive was about 25 minutes long.
All three of the cars arrived at the sushi restaurant at about the same time. Onew, Dongwoon, and two girls that neither Taemin nor Jonghyun knew, exited a black Rolls Royce Phantom (which Onew drove). Jinwoon and an unknown guy exited a customized lime green Toyota Camry. There so many people, yet this group were definitely less than half of the size of Key’s whole clique.
One of the girls walked up to Key, and Key wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She kissed his cheek and he smiled. Somehow, this sight just didn’t seem right to Jonghyun. It looked so…scripted. Fake. Jonghyun didn’t even know that Key was in a relationship. He shook his head and diverted his attention from the couple after having way too many awkward thoughts run through his head.
Onew lead the way as the group of teenagers entered the restaurant, all the while receiving dirty looks from the adults (especially the workers). Yes, adults definitely did not like seeing intimidating bunches of kids walking in to their work facility, especially since the teenagers were all coincidentally wearing darker clothing this day. The group occupied the largest table, even taking chairs from unoccupied tables to make themselves fit. Jonghyun felt extremely uncomfortable squished between Key and a stranger. Taemin was lucky enough to be between Onew and Minho, and felt completely safe at his spot.
“You guys are the new kids right?” The girl that clung onto Key’s right arm asked.
“Um yeah,” Both Jonghyun and Taemin answered. She shook their hands.
“This is my girlfriend, Nicole,” Key introduced with a smile. ‘Wrong, this looks so wrong,’ Jonghyun shook his head.
“Nice to meet you,” Jonghyun mumbled with a tight smile. The waitress soon arrived and handed out the menus.
“I don’t have enough menus for all of you, so just share,” She said in a rather rude manner. The waitress walked away with heavy footsteps and they all gave her an ‘oh-no-you-didn’t’ look as she did.
“ What a bitch,” Onew grunted, swiftly grabbing a menu to share with Taemin. Key shared with Nicole and Jonghyun was left to share menus with the stranger who introduced himself as June. Teenagers being teenagers, they ordered the cheapest type of sushi; California rolls, and decided to share four orders of the second cheapest thing on the Entrée menu, Teriyaki Chicken. They saved their money for the desserts, of course. They put their money together to have enough to choose whatever dessert and drink they wanted (especially since despite being told not to, Jonghyun and Taemin brought the same amount of money that everyone else did, $20). Being of higher class, they could have ordered a lot more, but the group saw the purpose of this gathering to be more about bonding rather than spending shit-loads of money to eat food that any of their parents could cook at home. Once the waitress arrived, the group trusted the most eloquent, Key to recite the orders. The waitress looked irritated at the fact that almost each individual person ordered a different drink and they had all ordered desserts and extra rice, leaving her to write loads of things on her writing-pad thing. She did seem happy that they all ordered something though.
“Thank you for your order,” She said, walking away once again.
“I don’t like her,” Jinwoon stated.
“I don’t like that stick up her butt,” Key rolled his eyes, eying all the staff. The staff glared back and Key discreetly stuck his tongue out at them.
“Oh, Key…what’s up with you and Chaerin?”
“What about me and Chaerin?” Key asked.
“She’s a weird one,” The other girl, Amber, butted in.
“Shut up, boo,” Key said affectionately to the rather masculine girl, “Your talking about her trying to pick a fight with me, right? Well, we go way back. We actually grew up together and she never liked me. I used to tease her about her teeth, since she was missing her two front ones. I heard she liked me after that and we were friends for a while but then I dated her friend. She acted like it didn’t mean anything but when her friend and I broke up, she used it as an excuse to hate me. I don’t even know why since the one who actually dated me is still my friend. I think she just likes to hold grudges. She claims that I hurt her friend or whatever, but if you ask Bom herself, she would disagree. And Krystal, well. I could tell that she wasn’t ready to be dating yet. She was really cute and innocent, and you know, I didn’t really want to be the one to ruin that so I let her go, and then suddenly I’m the bad guy. I have a feeling that Krystal would be my friend if Chaerin would just shut the hell up with her stupid rumors about me. She’s such a hater! I tried to be friends with her, but I don’t know what her problem is,” Key ranted. Taemin nodded, wondering which story to believe. He decided to believe Key since he had proof in the form of a girl named Bom and Krystal really did seem to still like Key. Taemin found it hard to believe that Key was a bad guy if Krystal still wanted him. Since he had more evidence; [Key - 1 | Chaerin - 0]. The food finally arrived minutes later, and the tense atmosphere caused by Jonghyun and Taemin who everyone saw as strangers, soon died down and was replaced with an a feeling that was more relaxed. Onew talked to Taemin a lot about school, since their views on academics were pretty similar. Onew gave him advice on what he should do now that he’s nearly ‘half way there’. Jonghyun and Key began talking about cars again, and Minho joined in. It seemed like all three had the same taste in vehicles-fast sexy sports cars. Minho and Taemin talked a bit about their classes too. Minho wondered why he and Taemin never even cross paths in the hallways, and Taemin admitted that it was because he was taking quite a few classes in the Junior hallway. Time passed Taemin and Jonghyun found the group easy to get along with since everyone was so charismatic. By the time that they all finished their desserts, Jonghyun and Taemin felt closer to them already. Key also grew more interested in Jonghyun and Taemin.
“It’s really such a shame that you guys can’t party-party with us tomorrow,” Key frowned.
“Yeah, it does sound really fun, but I swear I’ll go next time,” Jonghyun smiled.
“Wait, you have plans with your dad right?” Key questioned, “What about Taeminnie? Are you sure you don’t want to come? I mean I’ll pick you up and drop you off and everything,”
“Yeah, Min! Just stop by, we’re all cool now right? You can trust us, we’ll make sure nothing bad happens,” Minho grinned, softly elbowing Taemin.
“I’m…not sure, I mean I’m not really used to…” Taemin thought about the fact that he’s never actually been anywhere without Jonghyun, “Well…maybe,” He suddenly saw this as a chance to be independent. Plus, it was a small town; what was the worst that could happen?”
“Are you sure about that, Taeminnie?” Jonghyun’s eyes widened, unsure about letting his younger cousin go to a party alone, “I mean, would you really want to do that?” Taemin stared. The answer he was looking for was ‘no’ but he nodded.
“Yeah, I guess,”
“He’ll be with me, Jjong! I’ll take care of him like he’s my own son!” Key tried. Jonghyun was still unsure, and his eyes shifted to Onew.
“I’ll be there too. I’ll watch over all of them,” Onew half smiled. Jonghyun nodded.
“And, you have our numbers. You can have Jinwoon and them’s numbers too,” Key added
“Well… I guess. if mom and dad let you,” Jonghyun shrugged. He still didn’t really want to hand Taemin over to kids that they just met, but he trusted Onew, Jonghyun just hoped that he wouldn’t regret this decision. Taemin smiled, though he was obviously unsure; and once again, numbers were exchanged and everybody left the restaurant. Nicole, once again, rode with Onew after sharing a short (and unnatural, in Jonghyun’s eyes) kiss.
“So, where do you live?” Key asked when he, Jonghyun, Taemin and Minho were all in his Lamborghini. Jonghyun gave Key the address, as well as giving him specific directions on reaching his home. Once the car halted, Key looked up to observe where the new kids were living. He noticed that the house was pretty far from his own home and that the neighborhood looked very calm and family-oriented. The lawns were clean, the paint of most of the houses were crisp, making the whole neighborhood look clean and new.
“Not bad,” Key complimented, looking at the house, though Jonghyun and Taemin’s two story house was definitely average in comparison to his own.
“Thanks,” Jonghyun reached for the car door’s handle while bowing slightly by habit.
“No problem,” Key smiled, causing Jonghyun’s gaze to linger on his face just a bit longer than it should have. Key just nodded and watched as both boys exited his car.
“Thanks for the ride, hyung,” Taemin waved.
“You’re welcome, Minnie, see you tomorrow!” Key waved back.
“See you tomorrow,” Minho added in that deep voice of his, causing Taemin’s stomach to react in a way it’s never reacted before; not that Taemin didn’t like it. Minho moved to the passenger seat and Key drove away.
Once they were inside the house, the boys walked to the living room to find Jonghyun’s parents watching the news. Mrs. Kim’s bored eyes lightened at the sight of Jonghyun and Taemin’s arrival.
“Boys! How was it?” Mrs. Kim greeted. The cousins sat with Mr. and Mrs. Kim to talk about the restaurant and Taemin enthusiastically explained and told stories about everything that happened. Mr. and Mrs. Kim (heck, even Jonghyun) were amused enough by Taemin’s excitement to let him go on and on about every detail of the gathering. Most of his stories revolved around how nice Key and Onew were and how much he looked up to everyone there. He also talked about how cool Minho was and how he was glad that they were the same grade and how interesting he found Amber, since he felt like they must have a lot in common. To sum it all up, Taemin loved them already. Not that anybody expected any better since Taemin was a naïve kid who kind of loves everyone and everything. Taemin brought up the invitation to the party, and with a little bit of begging, Taemin was able to convince Jonghyun’s parents to let him at least drop by. Mr. Kim requested to meet Key before Taemin was to be driven anywhere by him and Taemin agreed, texting Key about it right away. Mr. Kim made it clear that Taemin should not be out later than 9:00pm, not 9pm was going to be Taemin’s permanent curfew, but just because he was unsure of letting Taemin stay too late at the home of a complete stranger. Jonghyun’s parents almost denied to let him go at all, but Taemin was able to guilt them in to it by sadly telling stories about not having very many friends, although he honestly never minded in the past. Once the begging and convincing was over, Taemin and Jonghyun showered and prepared for bed. They did briefly meet in Jonghyun’s room for one of their little talks. Once Taemin walked in to the room, drying his hair since he had let Jonghyun take the bathroom first, Jonghyun asked, “Aren’t your parents supposed to be calling today?”
“Yeah, later,” Taemin stated, sitting with crossed legs beside Jonghyun’s bed, “I’ll just wait for them,”
“Ohhh…”
“Yeah…you know what’s weird?” Taemin suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Key…has a girlfriend,” Jonghyun chuckled at this.
“After Chaerin’s story, you’re still surprised?”
“It’s not like I believe Charin’s story,” Taemin joked, “No, but really. She’s super pretty too. I mean, I seriously got a…gay vibe…from Key,” Taemin whispered the last part, ashamed.
“Me too. I felt really awkward having to accept that he had a girl,” Jonghyun shook his head.
“Small town people. I guess we have to wait to get to a big city to find me any kind of man,” Taemin joked again. Jonghyun laughed.
“You liked Key?”
“No, he is really pretty though! Just not my type,” Taemin laughed.
“Your type? You mean…like Minho? Ooooh~” Jonghyun began to poke Taemin.
“Agh, stop, you’re so weird,” Taemin said, getting up and yawning. Right on cue, his cellphone started ringing, “Oh, it’s my mom! I’ll go now, good night hyung”
Taemin went to his room and slid his phone open. His mother asked him how things were so far and was talking about how she and Taemin’s father would be moving to San Francisco sooner than they expected. Taemin was happy to hear that he would be reunited with his parents within a few weeks; this was the first time he was separated from them for such a long period.
“I miss you guys,” Taemin said after an hour of conversation with his mother. He now laid in his bed with all of his lights of. His eyes were already closed as he spoke to his mom. Taemin talked about all the friends he made, forgetting to add the fact that he was going to be at a party with some the very next night.
“Your father and I miss you so much, too. We’ll see you soon, baby,” His mother promised softly.
“Okay, I love you. Tell dad I love him too,”
“We love you too Taeminnie, you better rest up,”
“Goodnight,”
“Goodnight,” Taemin breathed out contentedly. He felt like such a baby, but he kind of had the urge to cry. He missed them so much. Taemin fell asleep quickly with these thoughts.
******
“Hey, Jjong,” Key greeted Jonghyun as he walked in to their fourth period classroom. Jonghyun smiled in return.
“So hey…about that party… Through experience I’m pretty sure how house parties go, unless you’re just going to play board games or something, but I highly doubt that. Anyways, you know, Taemin’s pretty young…I hope you can make sure he doesn’t…uh, well, what I am trying to say is that if you guys are like, going to drink or something, Taemin’s never done it. I don’t know about his tolerance or anything, so can you please make sure he doesn’t get carried away?” Jonghyun expressed his concern.
“Yeah! Yeah, of course, I’ll watch over him. And I can tell that Taemin’s not ready for anything hard core or anything, I’ll stay with him the whole time,” Key promised.
“Good, because if anything bad happens to him, I will beat you up,” Jonghyun joked.
“Oh no, don’t. Your incredible height is threatening,” Key said, sarcastic and monotone, waving around his hands. Jonghyun found himself laughing.
“How cute,” Jonghyun said honestly, yet in a teasing manner.
“I know I am, but don’t let that distract you. You may have wider shoulders than me, but I am a strong-willed boy,”
“Stop checking me out,”
“Sorry, I just can’t stand your sexiness,” Kibum said in that voice again. Jonghyun chuckled and decided to ignore the witty blond beside him and actually pay attention to class.
Jonghyun walked with Taemin to Key’s car after school that day. Key was driving them home since Jonghyun’s parents wanted to meet him anyways. Mr. Kim was home, waiting for Jonghyun in order to bring him to the hospital and Mrs. Kim was home because none of the schools called her yet. Once they were inside the house, Key sat on one of the couches and looked around.
“This place…is really cozy,” Key expressed.
“Is it?” Jonghyun asked, calling his parents down from their room. Taemin gathered his clothes quickly, leaving Key awkward and alone.
“You must be Key,” Mrs. Kim’s cheerful voice called as she and her husband walked down the average sized staircase; definitely much smaller than Key’s. Key stood up and bowed, greeting them in perfect Korean. He and Jonghyun’s parents conversed fully in Korean, since Key was fluent, and this earned him tons of points. Jonghyun’s parents liked him already. Key acted really different with them. He was polite, reserved and smiled kindly at the perfect moments. He looked perfectly trust worthy, constantly bowing and saying modest things, somehow being able to draw attention to the fact that he was the student body president. Jonghyun’s parents were impressed and approved, not even noticing Taemin who was impatiently waiting for the conversations to end. When it finally did, Key and Taemin were escorted out by the whole family and Key never forgot to bow.
“What a nice kid,” Mr. Kim concluded as Taemin and Key walked to Key’s Lamborghini. Jonghyun guessed that Key just had that affect on people. He was charismatic enough to even have Jonghyun's parents go crazy about him.
---------------------------------------------------------
A/N: This chapter feels short and crammed with too much info. omg I really can't do pacing xDD It was really slow at first but now this is just going to go faster and faster. JONGKEY'S SO CLOSE TO ARRIVING I CAN SMELL ET, I PROMISE. 6b is coming up soon, within this week. I think I will start updating more, because updating once a week is making me impatient haha. iloveyouguys. :D
<--Prev[Ch.5] | Next[6b]-->
Main Characters: SHINee (+minor appearances from TVXQ/JYJ and other kpop groups)
Main pairing: Jongkey/2min/others
Chapters: (6/?)
Genre: AU/School/Angst/Life
Rating: R [up to NC17 later on]
Warnings: Liberal teenagers, language, substance usage/abuse, the story is slow-paced so it takes a while to see your pairing appear. x) DARK FANFIC IS DARK. K
Forewords: Plain and simple, we’re young and indestructible. When you’re young, bored, and have money to spend, what is there left to do but live your moment while you can?
Disclaimer: This fanfic does not reflect any of my own views. I don’t approve substance abuse, neither do I want to justify it. This is just a story about the mistakes/experiences that kids these days go through. I don’t own the characters, settings etc. The idea of this fic may be inspired by existing shows/books etc, and any similarities to other fan-fics are purely coincidental. The events that occur don’t represent the actual places mentioned. This is a work of pure fiction.
A/N: This story does not take place in Korea. Shinee are all Asian Americans here. This is my first fic, I hope you don't hate me. D:>
Trailer | Prologue | 1 | 2a | 2b | 3 | 4 | 5
Chapter Six
Taemin and Jonghyun told Jonghyun’s parents about their plans to go out to eat with some of their classmates and Jonghyun’s parents were happy to hear that they made new friends, allowing the two to go without any hesitation. Jonghyun would be lying if he said that he wasn’t kind of hesitant though, and who would blame him? First of all, neither he nor Taemin had any idea where this restaurant was, secondly, they really did just meet the people that they were going with. Jonghyun just had that weird feeling that something bad will happen, but his instincts usually fail him, so he just decided to go anyways. Onew told Jonghyun to meet them at the benches outside after school so that they could all go to the restaurant together.
Once classes had ended, Jonghyun waited for Taemin at his locker (he realized that sophomores really had a lot of school work) and they both walked out of the building together. As they exited, Taemin and Jonghyun immediately heard Key and his group laughing and conversing (rather loudly, might I add).
“Jonghyun! Taemin!” Onew smiled, immediately waving as he spotted the cousins. Jonghyun and Taemin smiled awkwardly and walked towards them.
“Alright, so are we all ready?” Kibum asked.
“No, we have to wait for Minho, he’s working out,” one guy, who Taemin recognized to be named ‘Jinwoon’ stated.
“Why? Is it even required?”
“No,” Jinwoon answered Key again, “If it was required, I’d be working out too. Minho’s just a jerk, that’s why,”
“Jinwoon, shut the fuck up and stop making up lies about me,” Minho called loudly, exiting the high school building.
“What the fudge? I thought you were working out?!” Key’s other friend, who Taemin remembered had the name ‘Dongwooon’ asked in surprise. Onew smiled at Minho, for some odd reason.
“Who said that?” Minho asked in return.
“You did! You’ve been working out since Monday, and you said you were going to be conditioning while football was going on and until wrestling’s pre-season,”
“Well, yeah, but when I have better things to do, I have better things to do,” Minho shrugged. He actually previously informed Onew that he wasn’t going to work out since he found out that the new kids were coming.
“Well, okay then. Shall we go?” Key piped, getting up from his spot on the bench. Everyone nodded, “Jjong, Min and ManHoe can ride with me,”
“WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO ME?” Minho asked loudly, while they all separated to go to their assigned rides.
“I’m not. I just thought it’d be repetitive if I said ‘min’ twice so…” Key lied.
“Whetever…” Minho grumbled. Key slung an arm around him and laughed as they walked to Key’s delightfully yellow vehicle. Jonghyun and Taemin awkwardly trailed behind.
“Jjong can sit at the front with me. You sophomores should get to know each other,” Key said, walking over to the driver’s seat. He unlocked the doors and everyone complied with his orders. Jonghyun was amazed at Key’s car. It was really nice and so obviously Key’s. There was a large cat car-sticker stuck on the window shield that Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile at. The interior of the car was almost black; black leather furnishing, black frames, black matts, everything was black-until Key turned it on. Once the car was started, the dashboard lights and radio navigation lights shone the color of a bright violet. Jonghyun, who had a slight fascination with cars, was awed at the beauty.
“This is a really nice car. Is it new?” Jonghyun asked while Key waited a few minutes to get the car heated up.
“This car? New? To me, yeah, but this car used to be my dad’s, we’ve had it for like three years. It just seems new because my dad and I had it customized during summer break. Isn’t it sexy?” Key grinned.
“Yeah, it really is,” Jonghyun agreed honestly.
“Yeee,” Key nodded smugly, offering a fist bump.
“You guys are soooo lame,” Minho said from the back, watching Jonghyun and Key fist-bumping. Taemin couldn’t stop himself from letting out a loud snort of laughter.
“See, Jonghyun, I told you that you were lame,” Taemin laughed. Minho joined him, as the car finally began to back up.
“We’re all Korean here right? Okay,” Key clarified, “These younger punks are disrespectful bastards,” Key said in Korean. Jonghyun burst out laughing. Taemin understood the basic meaning of Key’s words, although he could never translate the individual Korean words in to English. Minho drew a blank; he had no idea what Key was saying. He just stared in confusion. Key paid no attention or care towards Minho’s obvious lack of Korean skills and turned on the radio. [Music: ‘Mercy’ - JON MCXRO] The drive was about 25 minutes long.
All three of the cars arrived at the sushi restaurant at about the same time. Onew, Dongwoon, and two girls that neither Taemin nor Jonghyun knew, exited a black Rolls Royce Phantom (which Onew drove). Jinwoon and an unknown guy exited a customized lime green Toyota Camry. There so many people, yet this group were definitely less than half of the size of Key’s whole clique.
One of the girls walked up to Key, and Key wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She kissed his cheek and he smiled. Somehow, this sight just didn’t seem right to Jonghyun. It looked so…scripted. Fake. Jonghyun didn’t even know that Key was in a relationship. He shook his head and diverted his attention from the couple after having way too many awkward thoughts run through his head.
Onew lead the way as the group of teenagers entered the restaurant, all the while receiving dirty looks from the adults (especially the workers). Yes, adults definitely did not like seeing intimidating bunches of kids walking in to their work facility, especially since the teenagers were all coincidentally wearing darker clothing this day. The group occupied the largest table, even taking chairs from unoccupied tables to make themselves fit. Jonghyun felt extremely uncomfortable squished between Key and a stranger. Taemin was lucky enough to be between Onew and Minho, and felt completely safe at his spot.
“You guys are the new kids right?” The girl that clung onto Key’s right arm asked.
“Um yeah,” Both Jonghyun and Taemin answered. She shook their hands.
“This is my girlfriend, Nicole,” Key introduced with a smile. ‘Wrong, this looks so wrong,’ Jonghyun shook his head.
“Nice to meet you,” Jonghyun mumbled with a tight smile. The waitress soon arrived and handed out the menus.
“I don’t have enough menus for all of you, so just share,” She said in a rather rude manner. The waitress walked away with heavy footsteps and they all gave her an ‘oh-no-you-didn’t’ look as she did.
“ What a bitch,” Onew grunted, swiftly grabbing a menu to share with Taemin. Key shared with Nicole and Jonghyun was left to share menus with the stranger who introduced himself as June. Teenagers being teenagers, they ordered the cheapest type of sushi; California rolls, and decided to share four orders of the second cheapest thing on the Entrée menu, Teriyaki Chicken. They saved their money for the desserts, of course. They put their money together to have enough to choose whatever dessert and drink they wanted (especially since despite being told not to, Jonghyun and Taemin brought the same amount of money that everyone else did, $20). Being of higher class, they could have ordered a lot more, but the group saw the purpose of this gathering to be more about bonding rather than spending shit-loads of money to eat food that any of their parents could cook at home. Once the waitress arrived, the group trusted the most eloquent, Key to recite the orders. The waitress looked irritated at the fact that almost each individual person ordered a different drink and they had all ordered desserts and extra rice, leaving her to write loads of things on her writing-pad thing. She did seem happy that they all ordered something though.
“Thank you for your order,” She said, walking away once again.
“I don’t like her,” Jinwoon stated.
“I don’t like that stick up her butt,” Key rolled his eyes, eying all the staff. The staff glared back and Key discreetly stuck his tongue out at them.
“Oh, Key…what’s up with you and Chaerin?”
“What about me and Chaerin?” Key asked.
“She’s a weird one,” The other girl, Amber, butted in.
“Shut up, boo,” Key said affectionately to the rather masculine girl, “Your talking about her trying to pick a fight with me, right? Well, we go way back. We actually grew up together and she never liked me. I used to tease her about her teeth, since she was missing her two front ones. I heard she liked me after that and we were friends for a while but then I dated her friend. She acted like it didn’t mean anything but when her friend and I broke up, she used it as an excuse to hate me. I don’t even know why since the one who actually dated me is still my friend. I think she just likes to hold grudges. She claims that I hurt her friend or whatever, but if you ask Bom herself, she would disagree. And Krystal, well. I could tell that she wasn’t ready to be dating yet. She was really cute and innocent, and you know, I didn’t really want to be the one to ruin that so I let her go, and then suddenly I’m the bad guy. I have a feeling that Krystal would be my friend if Chaerin would just shut the hell up with her stupid rumors about me. She’s such a hater! I tried to be friends with her, but I don’t know what her problem is,” Key ranted. Taemin nodded, wondering which story to believe. He decided to believe Key since he had proof in the form of a girl named Bom and Krystal really did seem to still like Key. Taemin found it hard to believe that Key was a bad guy if Krystal still wanted him. Since he had more evidence; [Key - 1 | Chaerin - 0]. The food finally arrived minutes later, and the tense atmosphere caused by Jonghyun and Taemin who everyone saw as strangers, soon died down and was replaced with an a feeling that was more relaxed. Onew talked to Taemin a lot about school, since their views on academics were pretty similar. Onew gave him advice on what he should do now that he’s nearly ‘half way there’. Jonghyun and Key began talking about cars again, and Minho joined in. It seemed like all three had the same taste in vehicles-fast sexy sports cars. Minho and Taemin talked a bit about their classes too. Minho wondered why he and Taemin never even cross paths in the hallways, and Taemin admitted that it was because he was taking quite a few classes in the Junior hallway. Time passed Taemin and Jonghyun found the group easy to get along with since everyone was so charismatic. By the time that they all finished their desserts, Jonghyun and Taemin felt closer to them already. Key also grew more interested in Jonghyun and Taemin.
“It’s really such a shame that you guys can’t party-party with us tomorrow,” Key frowned.
“Yeah, it does sound really fun, but I swear I’ll go next time,” Jonghyun smiled.
“Wait, you have plans with your dad right?” Key questioned, “What about Taeminnie? Are you sure you don’t want to come? I mean I’ll pick you up and drop you off and everything,”
“Yeah, Min! Just stop by, we’re all cool now right? You can trust us, we’ll make sure nothing bad happens,” Minho grinned, softly elbowing Taemin.
“I’m…not sure, I mean I’m not really used to…” Taemin thought about the fact that he’s never actually been anywhere without Jonghyun, “Well…maybe,” He suddenly saw this as a chance to be independent. Plus, it was a small town; what was the worst that could happen?”
“Are you sure about that, Taeminnie?” Jonghyun’s eyes widened, unsure about letting his younger cousin go to a party alone, “I mean, would you really want to do that?” Taemin stared. The answer he was looking for was ‘no’ but he nodded.
“Yeah, I guess,”
“He’ll be with me, Jjong! I’ll take care of him like he’s my own son!” Key tried. Jonghyun was still unsure, and his eyes shifted to Onew.
“I’ll be there too. I’ll watch over all of them,” Onew half smiled. Jonghyun nodded.
“And, you have our numbers. You can have Jinwoon and them’s numbers too,” Key added
“Well… I guess. if mom and dad let you,” Jonghyun shrugged. He still didn’t really want to hand Taemin over to kids that they just met, but he trusted Onew, Jonghyun just hoped that he wouldn’t regret this decision. Taemin smiled, though he was obviously unsure; and once again, numbers were exchanged and everybody left the restaurant. Nicole, once again, rode with Onew after sharing a short (and unnatural, in Jonghyun’s eyes) kiss.
“So, where do you live?” Key asked when he, Jonghyun, Taemin and Minho were all in his Lamborghini. Jonghyun gave Key the address, as well as giving him specific directions on reaching his home. Once the car halted, Key looked up to observe where the new kids were living. He noticed that the house was pretty far from his own home and that the neighborhood looked very calm and family-oriented. The lawns were clean, the paint of most of the houses were crisp, making the whole neighborhood look clean and new.
“Not bad,” Key complimented, looking at the house, though Jonghyun and Taemin’s two story house was definitely average in comparison to his own.
“Thanks,” Jonghyun reached for the car door’s handle while bowing slightly by habit.
“No problem,” Key smiled, causing Jonghyun’s gaze to linger on his face just a bit longer than it should have. Key just nodded and watched as both boys exited his car.
“Thanks for the ride, hyung,” Taemin waved.
“You’re welcome, Minnie, see you tomorrow!” Key waved back.
“See you tomorrow,” Minho added in that deep voice of his, causing Taemin’s stomach to react in a way it’s never reacted before; not that Taemin didn’t like it. Minho moved to the passenger seat and Key drove away.
Once they were inside the house, the boys walked to the living room to find Jonghyun’s parents watching the news. Mrs. Kim’s bored eyes lightened at the sight of Jonghyun and Taemin’s arrival.
“Boys! How was it?” Mrs. Kim greeted. The cousins sat with Mr. and Mrs. Kim to talk about the restaurant and Taemin enthusiastically explained and told stories about everything that happened. Mr. and Mrs. Kim (heck, even Jonghyun) were amused enough by Taemin’s excitement to let him go on and on about every detail of the gathering. Most of his stories revolved around how nice Key and Onew were and how much he looked up to everyone there. He also talked about how cool Minho was and how he was glad that they were the same grade and how interesting he found Amber, since he felt like they must have a lot in common. To sum it all up, Taemin loved them already. Not that anybody expected any better since Taemin was a naïve kid who kind of loves everyone and everything. Taemin brought up the invitation to the party, and with a little bit of begging, Taemin was able to convince Jonghyun’s parents to let him at least drop by. Mr. Kim requested to meet Key before Taemin was to be driven anywhere by him and Taemin agreed, texting Key about it right away. Mr. Kim made it clear that Taemin should not be out later than 9:00pm, not 9pm was going to be Taemin’s permanent curfew, but just because he was unsure of letting Taemin stay too late at the home of a complete stranger. Jonghyun’s parents almost denied to let him go at all, but Taemin was able to guilt them in to it by sadly telling stories about not having very many friends, although he honestly never minded in the past. Once the begging and convincing was over, Taemin and Jonghyun showered and prepared for bed. They did briefly meet in Jonghyun’s room for one of their little talks. Once Taemin walked in to the room, drying his hair since he had let Jonghyun take the bathroom first, Jonghyun asked, “Aren’t your parents supposed to be calling today?”
“Yeah, later,” Taemin stated, sitting with crossed legs beside Jonghyun’s bed, “I’ll just wait for them,”
“Ohhh…”
“Yeah…you know what’s weird?” Taemin suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Key…has a girlfriend,” Jonghyun chuckled at this.
“After Chaerin’s story, you’re still surprised?”
“It’s not like I believe Charin’s story,” Taemin joked, “No, but really. She’s super pretty too. I mean, I seriously got a…gay vibe…from Key,” Taemin whispered the last part, ashamed.
“Me too. I felt really awkward having to accept that he had a girl,” Jonghyun shook his head.
“Small town people. I guess we have to wait to get to a big city to find me any kind of man,” Taemin joked again. Jonghyun laughed.
“You liked Key?”
“No, he is really pretty though! Just not my type,” Taemin laughed.
“Your type? You mean…like Minho? Ooooh~” Jonghyun began to poke Taemin.
“Agh, stop, you’re so weird,” Taemin said, getting up and yawning. Right on cue, his cellphone started ringing, “Oh, it’s my mom! I’ll go now, good night hyung”
Taemin went to his room and slid his phone open. His mother asked him how things were so far and was talking about how she and Taemin’s father would be moving to San Francisco sooner than they expected. Taemin was happy to hear that he would be reunited with his parents within a few weeks; this was the first time he was separated from them for such a long period.
“I miss you guys,” Taemin said after an hour of conversation with his mother. He now laid in his bed with all of his lights of. His eyes were already closed as he spoke to his mom. Taemin talked about all the friends he made, forgetting to add the fact that he was going to be at a party with some the very next night.
“Your father and I miss you so much, too. We’ll see you soon, baby,” His mother promised softly.
“Okay, I love you. Tell dad I love him too,”
“We love you too Taeminnie, you better rest up,”
“Goodnight,”
“Goodnight,” Taemin breathed out contentedly. He felt like such a baby, but he kind of had the urge to cry. He missed them so much. Taemin fell asleep quickly with these thoughts.
******
“Hey, Jjong,” Key greeted Jonghyun as he walked in to their fourth period classroom. Jonghyun smiled in return.
“So hey…about that party… Through experience I’m pretty sure how house parties go, unless you’re just going to play board games or something, but I highly doubt that. Anyways, you know, Taemin’s pretty young…I hope you can make sure he doesn’t…uh, well, what I am trying to say is that if you guys are like, going to drink or something, Taemin’s never done it. I don’t know about his tolerance or anything, so can you please make sure he doesn’t get carried away?” Jonghyun expressed his concern.
“Yeah! Yeah, of course, I’ll watch over him. And I can tell that Taemin’s not ready for anything hard core or anything, I’ll stay with him the whole time,” Key promised.
“Good, because if anything bad happens to him, I will beat you up,” Jonghyun joked.
“Oh no, don’t. Your incredible height is threatening,” Key said, sarcastic and monotone, waving around his hands. Jonghyun found himself laughing.
“How cute,” Jonghyun said honestly, yet in a teasing manner.
“I know I am, but don’t let that distract you. You may have wider shoulders than me, but I am a strong-willed boy,”
“Stop checking me out,”
“Sorry, I just can’t stand your sexiness,” Kibum said in that voice again. Jonghyun chuckled and decided to ignore the witty blond beside him and actually pay attention to class.
Jonghyun walked with Taemin to Key’s car after school that day. Key was driving them home since Jonghyun’s parents wanted to meet him anyways. Mr. Kim was home, waiting for Jonghyun in order to bring him to the hospital and Mrs. Kim was home because none of the schools called her yet. Once they were inside the house, Key sat on one of the couches and looked around.
“This place…is really cozy,” Key expressed.
“Is it?” Jonghyun asked, calling his parents down from their room. Taemin gathered his clothes quickly, leaving Key awkward and alone.
“You must be Key,” Mrs. Kim’s cheerful voice called as she and her husband walked down the average sized staircase; definitely much smaller than Key’s. Key stood up and bowed, greeting them in perfect Korean. He and Jonghyun’s parents conversed fully in Korean, since Key was fluent, and this earned him tons of points. Jonghyun’s parents liked him already. Key acted really different with them. He was polite, reserved and smiled kindly at the perfect moments. He looked perfectly trust worthy, constantly bowing and saying modest things, somehow being able to draw attention to the fact that he was the student body president. Jonghyun’s parents were impressed and approved, not even noticing Taemin who was impatiently waiting for the conversations to end. When it finally did, Key and Taemin were escorted out by the whole family and Key never forgot to bow.
“What a nice kid,” Mr. Kim concluded as Taemin and Key walked to Key’s Lamborghini. Jonghyun guessed that Key just had that affect on people. He was charismatic enough to even have Jonghyun's parents go crazy about him.
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A/N: This chapter feels short and crammed with too much info. omg I really can't do pacing xDD It was really slow at first but now this is just going to go faster and faster. JONGKEY'S SO CLOSE TO ARRIVING I CAN SMELL ET, I PROMISE. 6b is coming up soon, within this week. I think I will start updating more, because updating once a week is making me impatient haha. iloveyouguys. :D
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