Without My Drug / Interlude I
Title: Without My Drug / Interlude I / Part 1 of Taemin's Story
Author: Nicole Fang
Rating: Pg-13 ~ NC-17
Pairings: 2Min, JongKey
Genre(s): AU, supernatural, a slice of horror (maybe), romance, violence, angst, slight-humor
Summary: There were lines that weren’t meant to be crossed. There was a line for falling for your enemy, and a line for a vampire hunter being in love with a vampire (and vice versa). Too bad Minho and Taemin seemed to cross both. Now they’ll both have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
For other chapters please check the master ficlist!
Quick Author's Note: This is a VERY small chapter... Meaning, it's less than 1500 words (1400 lol), and yes...it'll be a bit boring, but this is how everything is set in motion, causing Taemin to become who he is presently in the fic. Also, Taemin is HUMAN in this part. Anyway~ Enjoy! I'll give out more information at the end. ^^
INTERLUDE I
Taemin was walking around picking some stuff up from the nice old ladies in the market for his mother, since she was too ill to get up from bed at the moment. Looking up into the blue sky, he smiled cheerfully, swinging his hands near his side as he soaked in the brightness that was day.
He was but nineteen going on the verge of twenty. With this new age also came new responsibilities, but he couldn’t find himself to really care. He had his family to take care of (and even then, Jinki-hyung wouldn’t let too much responsibility fall onto his shoulders, being the older of the two). Even though he was already a man, his parents and older brother seemed to dote on him as much as always, much to his chagrin. But, it wasn’t only them who seemed to take note of his cute, happy smiles.
“Hi Taemin!” a few villages girls gushed from their stalls, waving excitedly to the youth. He offered amused smiles back, waving and (like always) slightly blushing at the attention he was receiving whenever he was out and about.
He was still naïve. It was funny how he couldn’t see that in himself though.
The girls quietly squealed to themselves at his response, and he quickly turned around to hide his face, which started to get redder and redder as he listened to them talking loudly about him, saying things that should really be kept inside their heads. Quickly high-tailing it out of there, Taemin finally reached the house he had been looking for.
“Ahjumma!” he called from outside the wooden door. There was a shuffling that he heard before a lady, looking to be in her late fifties, came to greet him. He took in her nice, beaming face and couldn’t help but grin back.
“Ah! Taemin, I haven’t seen you in a while!” she exclaimed, ushering him inside. He let himself be pushed into a seat, greeting the young child sitting on the bed that was pushed up to the side of a wall.
“Mm,” he nodded, his smile fading a little, “Umma's condition got a little worse than we expected and we don’t have any more money to pay for the physician so we’re all trying our best to help her out with house chores. But-” he seemed to get a little happier again, “-Jinki-hyung says he found a good job and soon we’ll be able to treat her again, so all is well.”
“Is that so?” the lady seemed to chirp out, also cheerful at the prospect. “That’s good. You boys are so well to your mother. She’s lucky to have you.” She leaned down to get something, putting it into a vase that Taemin recognized as the one he had come for.
A silence took over the small house, the youth fiddling awkwardly with his ragged clothes and the woman putting up a few more things into the container. Taemin’s gaze looked over to watch the boy, startled when he saw the kid staring at him curiously but more with fear. He smiled, and the boy gave him a half-smile back. That was when Taemin saw the make-shift bandage on the kid’s arm.
“Ahjumma, what happened to his arm?” he asked, concerned even though he didn’t know the child personally.
The lady looked back to see what he was talking about, pausing in her steps to lean against the table and frown, lips pressing into a thin line and wrinkles getting deeper by the second.
“That trouble-making gang tried to pick on him,” she complained, crossing her arms over her chest. “Apparently, the little brother of the leader envy’s him, and complained about it.” Taemin frowned himself.
“You mean the ones who are always stealing things from the vendors?” he asked, disgruntled at the idea. It seemed like they were the one true blemish in his nice bubble of a life. The lady sighed, going back over and picking up the vase.
“Yes, those ones,” she confirmed while handing the vase to Taemin. “Stay away from them, hm, Taemin-ah? They just crush anyone in their way.”
“I wish I could do something about it,” he murmured, frown still apparent on his face. However, he forced a smile as he took the vase, shifting it around since it was a little heavy and giving the old lady a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, ahjumma! I’ll come back with news of umma!”
She laughed at him, giving him a peck on the cheek too before ushering him out. “I’d like that very much. Good-bye Taemin! And make sure to say hi to Jinki and Kibum for me!”
He waved good-bye before jogging lightly back home.
--
Taemin was sitting outside, watching the sun go down near his house when he heard light footsteps coming toward him. Looking up, he saw his friend and quirked out a grin.
“You look weird today,” the other greeted him, staring down at him with a raised eyebrow. He pouted in response.
“How come you greet me that way?” he complained, giving Key puppy dog eyes. Silently, he took in the other’s appearance, fancy and clean clothes pressed to the noble’s form.
“Aigoo!” Kibum said, squatting down and pinching Taemin’s cheeks. “Don’t give me that look. You know I can’t resist it.” Taemin stuck his tongue out before moving over on the rag he was sitting on. Key, taking the hint, plopped down gracefully.
Taemin went back to staring at the sun set, mind once again in a whirl but this time his thoughts were aimed at the new arrival. Key had been his friend, a constant in his life besides his family. They had only known each other for a year, but in that year, they had grown closer to each other than the two expected. It was weird to be friends with a nobleman’s son, but somehow they made it work.
But somehow, Taemin knew something was different about Key. There was the niggling in the back of his head that Key wasn’t ordinary; Key wasn’t like him or any other in the village. There were times when Taemin would catch Key with a drop of red here and there on his clothes, but it couldn’t have been too odd to get injuries since Key practiced the sword. Right?
Thing was, Key got them in the most random places.
Like now. Taemin had clearly seen the mark of red near the base of Key’s throat, right next to the dip of the collarbone. He tried not to think too hard on it. Key probably hadn’t noticed that Taemin realized yet.
Either that, or he was confident that Taemin wasn’t going to ask. He never did anyways, no matter how much curiosity was killing him.
“So?” Key broke the silence, eyes not having left the other for a second. “Why do you have such a heavy frown on your face?”
Taemin gave a weary smile. “Just me wanting to do something more,” he said, giving a small, sarcastic chuckle.
“Wow, this must really be worrying you,” his friend observed. After all, Taemin was known for being the sunshine kid. To hear him give such a mocking laugh clearly startled Kibum. “Is it about your family?”
“For once actually, no. It’s more about something going on in town at the moment.”
“Something…? Or is it someone?”
Taemin puffed his cheeks up in annoyance. Why was Key so good at asking questions?
“More like a group of someone’s,” he confessed finally, looking down guiltily. He thought back to the boy lying down on the bed, looking a little fragile just sitting there. Then he thought of the people who had caused it and a scowl started to come back onto his face.
“You shouldn’t worry about it.” The way Key spoke was as if he knew exact what was going on in Taemin’s head, screwy thoughts and all. He looked over to see the noble getting up, dusting himself off and offering a hand to Taemin. “Seriously, Minnie. Everything is fine. It’ll work out on its own, so don’t go trying to be a hero, hm?”
Grabbing the hand offered to him, the youth made a face at his friend as he was pulled up. “Yes, yes, umma!” he said teasingly, rolling his eyes at Key’s now irritated face.
“I promise I won’t try to save anyone.”
--
(**Important**) Author's Note: I don't know exactly when or where this is all happening in, so don't ask me for specifics haha. The purpose of this was to clear up somethings that you should've seen coming anyway, and also to shed a little light on how much Taemin has changed from when he was human. This being said, yes, Onew is Taemin's brother. However, you should take note of how he uses a different name in the present if you want to catch a little of the back plot to their story. (-hinthint-)
And, I'll remind you again, everything in this fic happens for a reason. ;D Next chapter should be out next week if something bad doesn't come up like it did these past two weeks. ^^;; If that does happen, I guess I'll just add another Interlude or just not update again lol...
Anddd~ Interludes are not only Taemin's story! I'm planning on putting Minho's background as an Interlude too if the truth about him doesn't come out soon. Please look forward to it! :D
Comment? :D (Meaning, be nice to me even though I've been boring these past few chapters? ^^;;)