inbox #19

[kpopv]

inbox #19
1. EXO, Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, midnight jamming sessions, G to NC-17
2. EXO, Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, it's never just a one-time thing, G to NC-17
3. Infinite, Myungsoo as a huge anime/manga fan, G to PG-13
4. SHINee, Jonghyun/Onew, virtual flirting and inappropriate use of KKT stickers, G to PG-13
5. EXO, Lay/Lu Han, treading unfamiliar territory

Comments

[nautisch]

hello, lee jinki-sshi! Jonghyun types into his phone. It’s been an hour, probably, since he got to his flat, but he’s too wired to fall asleep. this is kim jonghyun!! congratulations ㅎ your pun was the best ㅎㅎ for your prize you can choose brown eyed girls’ black box, ga in’s truth or dare, lunafly’s fly to love, or LC9’s skirmish. we’ll send it by mail, so please send me your address too~ good night~ ㅋ He ends up having to split it up into a few tweets before tossing his phone on his bedside table and rolling over.

He doesn’t expect his phone to jolt him awake an hour later, when no one should be awake, with a Twitter notification from Lee Jinki. If Jonghyun were a normal human, he’d ignore it and go back to sleep, but he’s an idol, so he gropes for his phone in the dark and opens the message. it’s Jinki’s address, written plainly, and then just a short note--I’d like the Lunafly album, please. Jonghyun rubs his eyes, blinks a few times, but the words stay the same.

thank you!! i’ll give choi pd your info ㅋ, he types, squinting at the too-bright screen. i’m so glad you chose lunafly, they’re underappreciated ㅠㅠㅠ they work hard and have lots of talent, so please enjoy the album~

Jonghyun manages to fall asleep after that, and it isn’t until he’s got a break from his Strong Heart recording that afternoon that he checks his phone to find a message from Jinki timestamped at 3:17am. I started listening to Lunafly because of your show, it reads, and Jonghyun’s heard all kinds of variations on that from fans, but it still makes his stomach feel impossibly light.

i’m honored ㅎㅅㅎ, he writes, and really, Jonghyun should probably stop there. He loves his fans, loves talking to them online, but he’s never sure if he’s crossing some invisible boundary. Jinki’s responded to each of his messages, but his own tweets are clipped, devoid of personality, and god, Jonghyun’s analyzing tweets now. The PDs are still talking amongst themselves a few feet away, with no sign of stopping. Jonghyun bites the bullet. but why were you up so late? he asks.

He doesn’t get a reply for hours. The Strong Heart recording starts up again, and Jonghyun’s finally allowed to leave in the early evening. He meets Sodam at a chicken restaurant by the studio for dinner, and they’re waiting for banchan when Jonghyun’s phone emits a promising ding.

“Go ahead, look at it,” Sodam says, reaching for her water glass. “Is Kibum bored at rehearsal again?”

Jonghyun glances at the screen. “no, it’s not him,” he answers. “I’m talking to a fan on twitter.”

Sodam smirks in response. She’s impossibly cute, even when Jonghyun can sense he’s going to be teased. “Leave that poor manhwa artist alone, Jonghyunnie, she’s married now.”

“I appreciate her art, okay,” Jonghyun says, pouting, and Sodam giggles. On Twitter, Jinki’s written I’m sorry if I woke you up ㅜㅜ The semester just started, but grad school is so busy that I’m up every night with work. Your show is one of my only study breaks. Jonghyun can’t help being charmed at that--his fans, and by extension, his listeners, tend to be younger kids that love his dance tracks, or ahjummas that fawn over his innocent ballads. It’s rare that he meets anyone even close to his age outside of the industry, and Jonghyun feels a tug of longing.

[nautisch]

“You’re blushing,” Sodam says, shaking her head. “My baby brother, the homewrecker.”

“It’s not her, noona, I’m just--um--” he sighs, running his fingers through his hair. Sodam’s still smiling, her face almost catlike, and Jonghyun looks back down at his phone. “How bad of an idea would it be to invite a fan to my show?”

Sodam squints at him, like she’s looking for something hidden in his face. “You’d have to be very careful,” she says. “Have you talked to Minho?”

“Um,” Jonghyun replies, and Sodam giggles.

Minho hates the idea at first, because he’ll never agree with Jonghyun about anything willingly, but Jonghyun works on him as he drives home until Minho begrudgingly admits it could be good press. Jonghyun opens up Twitter after he crawls into bed and types, quickly, would you like an extended study break on the 16th with me and lunafly and your album? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ His heart pounds as he closes his eyes; it’s the only noise in his apartment.

There’s a message waiting for him when he gets up at who-knows-when for a glass of water. I’d like that a lot, Jinki’s written, and Jonghyun grins into the dark.

--

Jonghyun’s not shaking, no matter what Minho says. He’s just tapping his fingers against the table, working through the typical jitters that come with an eventful show. None of the guests are in the lobby yet, so he has another few minutes to read his scripts and rub the sweat off his palms. It’s a normal night.

“What are you gonna do if Lee Jinki turns out to be an ahjusshi with a criminal record?” Minho asks, poking at a chicken salad. “Just curious.”

Jonghyun rolls his eyes. “That’s not gonna happen,” he says. He hasn’t seen a picture of Jinki in the past two weeks, sure, but he’s slowly gotten Jinki to open up enough that jonghyun doesn’t doubt his existence. Jinki’s told him about his graduate work in musicology, which definitely piques Jonghyun’s interest, his menial part-time job in the music library, and even the misadventures of his roommate, Changsun. Jonghyun’s told Jinki stories too, the ones he doesn’t dare reveal on shows, and maybe sent a selca or two. He’s not about to tell Minho any of that, though. “Even if he was hideous, I’d probably still be into it.”

“You’re an embarrassment,” Minho says. An intern places a mug of decaf next to his salad, whispering something into his ear. Minho grins at Jonghyun. “Your boyfriend’s coming up the elevator now. Keep it in your pants, okay?”

“Shut up,” Jonghyun whines.

In the end, Lee Jinki is deceptively normal. He apologizes for his tousled, thick hair (the result of a nap at work, he says) and the backpack full of books he didn’t have time to take home. He doesn’t look Jonghyun in the eye at first, scratching the back of his neck and keeping his feet together, closed. “Hi,” he says, softly, after Minho returns to his dinner. Jinki has a soothing voice, perfect for radio. “This building is, uh, nice.”

Jonghyun smiles, hoping it’s as warm as he feels. “Yeah,” He says. “Do you wanna pick out some songs?”

Jinki’s musical taste is, unsurprisingly, close to Jonghyun’s own, and he relaxes as the night progresses, working wordplay into the lines Jonghyun feeds him. He steals Minho’s highlighters in the middle of “Fly to Love” to draw a green mustache on the poster of Jonghyun behind them. “It’s fashion forward,” Jinki insists, face completely straight; Jonghyun’s too busy laughing to be mad.

He slips Jinki his album at the end of the show, a bright pink post-it note on the top. “I wrote my phone number and KKT on that,” Jonghyun says. His throat suddenly feels tight. “You don’t have to--”

Jinki smiles, and it’s the brightest he’s looked all night. “I’ll text you when I get home,” he says, and Jonghyun just might be smitten.

--

skehehdanfdldi
12:42am
You use your official stickers? Really?

jonghyun90
12:50am
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[onyu]

Oh God, this is MOOOONTHS LATE, but I'm grinning so hard SOBS T___T This is perfect, Katie! SKJDGHSDG Haven't read JongYu in a while and omg this was definitely, DEFINITELY amazing ♥

"Nine on that one" SOBS THIS IS SOMETHING JINKI WOULD SAY I'M JUST
Okok I'm gonna shut up now ;~~; Please know that I loved this so much ♥