dandelion
title: dandelion
type: oneshot (1139 words)
fandom: shinee
pairing: none, really
rating/warnings: g
author's notes: pretty much wrote this in one sleep-deprived sitting. i really wanted to write out one particular scene, and i guess this is what came of it. beta'd by austere_flare ♥
It was the end of the road for SHINee. To be honest, it wasn't a surprise at all: they all knew that this farewell would come inevitably, that someday they would reach a part of the trail where their paths diverged in five different directions and would no longer merge again. From the moment SHINee was born, the hourglass had been turned.
Idols usually have a lifespan of five years. Groups, slightly less. It was a miracle that they had managed to last this long, holding on together for ten years with sheer stubbornness and a bond that existed beyond the cameras and the stages and the scripts and all the trappings of being an idol in the Korean entertainment industry.
It wasn't a bitter goodbye. No one had filed any lawsuits (they'd seen enough of that from their seniors, and later from their juniors; saw the way it tore the other groups apart and silently vowed never to subject each other to the same pain) nor became involved in a ridiculous scandal (no matter how ridiculous the articles and news reports and frenzied fan cameras, the closest things that ever came to scandals were for publicity and only for the publicity); not even, heaven forbid, became seriously injured. (So Onew had the usual slip-up, but nothing truly life-threatening. Even after all this time, Key still refused to go on anything that required being suspended in mid-air or strapped into a metal death-trap. Jonghyun had always been a go-getter, but certainly not of that kind. Minho, for all his competitiveness, knew his physical limits, no matter how much the others teased him. And Taemin, eternal maknae, was still nagged at by Key every time he drove a car.)
It was a gradual split, a slow drifting apart that simply came with life tugging at you in different directions. A natural death, so to speak, and the only one that SHINee would ever allow themselves to be subjected to.
Their final goodbye stage was filled with as much emotion as their very first performance. Suddenly, it was debut all over again; they were older and wiser this time, but nothing could ever take away the nervousness and excitement that wracked their bodies, even with the impending sense of conclusion that lay ahead.
They sang their last song, danced their last dance as SHINee. The cameras zoomed in on Onew's wavering opening solo, his throat tight with emotion; Jonghyun's almost missteps and choppy vocals as the sobs began to wrack his body; Key's pause in the middle of his rap solo, stopping in the middle of the stage to swipe at his eyes; Minho's hand patting Key's shoulder as he smiled shyly at the camera and picked up where Key had left off; Taemin's smile, still as bright as the group they had been named for, as he poured all the passion he could into his very last dance solo.
The audience erupted into cheers, periwinkle balloons flying everywhere as fans screamed their names in a frantic chant. Onew managed to get halfway through his prepared speech before he finally burst into tears, burying his head into Key's shoulder. The microphone was rapidly passed from Onew to Key, but it was no use getting Key to talk either as he was far too preoccupied with trying to support both Onew and Jonghyun and holding in his own sobs. The microphone completely passed over Jonghyun-just bringing it within proximity of his mouth sent him into a larger bout of wails-and so the final duty was passed onto the youngest two.
Minho, in a true display of charisma, delivered a beautiful speech that made the entire studio sob, and Taemin snuck in from backstage to bring out a personalized cake decorated with caricatures of each member in the most ridiculous outfits of their ten year career. Onew guffawed through his tears, Jonghyun buried his face into Minho's shoulder, and Key managed to rein in his crying long enough to pronounce the iced words proudly ("Shining SHINee forever! Together make it love, forever make it your smile!").
They blew the candles out together. The smoke thinned out into the studio air amidst the wild cheering ringing in their ears.
---
Exactly one week later, they stood at the bottom of the dormitory that had been their shared home for a good number of years. Most of their belongings had already been packed, ready for sending back to their respective hometowns. Minho and Taemin stood some distance ahead of Jinki, Jonghyun and Kibum as they waited for Taemin's pick-up. They chattered aimlessly about whatever they could think about-the first thing they would do upon getting home, how long it would take each of them to finally get a girlfriend, the latest idol group that SM Entertainment was manufacturing under the tagline of SHINee's successor.
In the background, Jinki, Kibum and Jonghyun murmured softly to each other about many things, serious-monotone-adult things that they would now have to face with their eventual shift to a relatively normal life. Their quiet conversation was punctuated by Jonghyun's occasional sniffle and Kibum reprimanding him to stop lest he start crying as well.
Time, for all the measures imposed on it, is a relative experience. The exact measurement of thirty minutes can feel like an eternity to one person and a second to another. It feels faster when you chase after it, when you're trying to hold onto something you finally have to let go of, when you're running away from the finality of farewell.
All too soon, Taemin's ride pulled up the driveway. His remaining things were loaded into the trunk of the car, and if anyone noticed Taemin pleading the driver to take his time, they never gave any indication of having done so.
They spent five long minutes embracing in the middle of the driveway, limbs tangled haphazardly around shoulders and torsos and necks, heads bowed together in an uncharacteristic moment of silence.
Then Jinki tried to crack a joke, Jonghyun gaped at the older boy, Kibum smacked Jinki for ruining the mood, and Minho and Taemin hid their smiles behind cupped hands and obviously fake coughs.
The five boys (SHINee) eventually dissolved into laughter that rang throughout the driveway as it had for hundreds of nights (of dance practice, stage performances, album recordings, guest appearances, ramyun and noraebang nights) before. They ushered Taemin into the car, ruffling his hair and hugging him tightly and nagging at him to keep in contact and to stay away from suspicious looking people, especially ones that looked like Kang Ho Dong.
No goodbyes were spoken aloud. They didn't need to; they all knew that no matter how far their own paths would lead them apart, they would always have the road they walked on together.
"Ultra SHINee Transformation!"
type: oneshot (1139 words)
fandom: shinee
pairing: none, really
rating/warnings: g
author's notes: pretty much wrote this in one sleep-deprived sitting. i really wanted to write out one particular scene, and i guess this is what came of it. beta'd by austere_flare ♥
It was the end of the road for SHINee. To be honest, it wasn't a surprise at all: they all knew that this farewell would come inevitably, that someday they would reach a part of the trail where their paths diverged in five different directions and would no longer merge again. From the moment SHINee was born, the hourglass had been turned.
Idols usually have a lifespan of five years. Groups, slightly less. It was a miracle that they had managed to last this long, holding on together for ten years with sheer stubbornness and a bond that existed beyond the cameras and the stages and the scripts and all the trappings of being an idol in the Korean entertainment industry.
It wasn't a bitter goodbye. No one had filed any lawsuits (they'd seen enough of that from their seniors, and later from their juniors; saw the way it tore the other groups apart and silently vowed never to subject each other to the same pain) nor became involved in a ridiculous scandal (no matter how ridiculous the articles and news reports and frenzied fan cameras, the closest things that ever came to scandals were for publicity and only for the publicity); not even, heaven forbid, became seriously injured. (So Onew had the usual slip-up, but nothing truly life-threatening. Even after all this time, Key still refused to go on anything that required being suspended in mid-air or strapped into a metal death-trap. Jonghyun had always been a go-getter, but certainly not of that kind. Minho, for all his competitiveness, knew his physical limits, no matter how much the others teased him. And Taemin, eternal maknae, was still nagged at by Key every time he drove a car.)
It was a gradual split, a slow drifting apart that simply came with life tugging at you in different directions. A natural death, so to speak, and the only one that SHINee would ever allow themselves to be subjected to.
Their final goodbye stage was filled with as much emotion as their very first performance. Suddenly, it was debut all over again; they were older and wiser this time, but nothing could ever take away the nervousness and excitement that wracked their bodies, even with the impending sense of conclusion that lay ahead.
They sang their last song, danced their last dance as SHINee. The cameras zoomed in on Onew's wavering opening solo, his throat tight with emotion; Jonghyun's almost missteps and choppy vocals as the sobs began to wrack his body; Key's pause in the middle of his rap solo, stopping in the middle of the stage to swipe at his eyes; Minho's hand patting Key's shoulder as he smiled shyly at the camera and picked up where Key had left off; Taemin's smile, still as bright as the group they had been named for, as he poured all the passion he could into his very last dance solo.
The audience erupted into cheers, periwinkle balloons flying everywhere as fans screamed their names in a frantic chant. Onew managed to get halfway through his prepared speech before he finally burst into tears, burying his head into Key's shoulder. The microphone was rapidly passed from Onew to Key, but it was no use getting Key to talk either as he was far too preoccupied with trying to support both Onew and Jonghyun and holding in his own sobs. The microphone completely passed over Jonghyun-just bringing it within proximity of his mouth sent him into a larger bout of wails-and so the final duty was passed onto the youngest two.
Minho, in a true display of charisma, delivered a beautiful speech that made the entire studio sob, and Taemin snuck in from backstage to bring out a personalized cake decorated with caricatures of each member in the most ridiculous outfits of their ten year career. Onew guffawed through his tears, Jonghyun buried his face into Minho's shoulder, and Key managed to rein in his crying long enough to pronounce the iced words proudly ("Shining SHINee forever! Together make it love, forever make it your smile!").
They blew the candles out together. The smoke thinned out into the studio air amidst the wild cheering ringing in their ears.
---
Exactly one week later, they stood at the bottom of the dormitory that had been their shared home for a good number of years. Most of their belongings had already been packed, ready for sending back to their respective hometowns. Minho and Taemin stood some distance ahead of Jinki, Jonghyun and Kibum as they waited for Taemin's pick-up. They chattered aimlessly about whatever they could think about-the first thing they would do upon getting home, how long it would take each of them to finally get a girlfriend, the latest idol group that SM Entertainment was manufacturing under the tagline of SHINee's successor.
In the background, Jinki, Kibum and Jonghyun murmured softly to each other about many things, serious-monotone-adult things that they would now have to face with their eventual shift to a relatively normal life. Their quiet conversation was punctuated by Jonghyun's occasional sniffle and Kibum reprimanding him to stop lest he start crying as well.
Time, for all the measures imposed on it, is a relative experience. The exact measurement of thirty minutes can feel like an eternity to one person and a second to another. It feels faster when you chase after it, when you're trying to hold onto something you finally have to let go of, when you're running away from the finality of farewell.
All too soon, Taemin's ride pulled up the driveway. His remaining things were loaded into the trunk of the car, and if anyone noticed Taemin pleading the driver to take his time, they never gave any indication of having done so.
They spent five long minutes embracing in the middle of the driveway, limbs tangled haphazardly around shoulders and torsos and necks, heads bowed together in an uncharacteristic moment of silence.
Then Jinki tried to crack a joke, Jonghyun gaped at the older boy, Kibum smacked Jinki for ruining the mood, and Minho and Taemin hid their smiles behind cupped hands and obviously fake coughs.
The five boys (SHINee) eventually dissolved into laughter that rang throughout the driveway as it had for hundreds of nights (of dance practice, stage performances, album recordings, guest appearances, ramyun and noraebang nights) before. They ushered Taemin into the car, ruffling his hair and hugging him tightly and nagging at him to keep in contact and to stay away from suspicious looking people, especially ones that looked like Kang Ho Dong.
No goodbyes were spoken aloud. They didn't need to; they all knew that no matter how far their own paths would lead them apart, they would always have the road they walked on together.
"Ultra SHINee Transformation!"