the game [jonghyun/minho]
Title: The Game
Pairing: Jonghyun/Minho
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~4,500
Summary: Minho was always competitive, whether he was aware of it or not. Inspired/taken by this picture.
You wanna play the game? It's like this:
Jonghyun and Minho were always good with each other, relied on each other, treated each other like brothers would. They were roommates and bandmates and did things like work out and shop together plenty of times. It was only natural that they would be close.
But there was this indescribable tension between the two of them, Minho thought it out to be an unspoken competition as to who was the most masculine of the group, the alpha dog. He didn't know when or why or how it started, but now they were so enthralled in this little game of theirs that neither of them could stop. Not that Minho wanted them to.
The two were engaged in a fierce thumb wrestling match in the back of the van, hands flying around the backseat as they both tried to pin the other's thumb down for the count. Minho took a second and looked at Jonghyun, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth, eyebrows knitted in concentration and his eyes bright and burning. Minho was known as being the charismatic one, like a flame, but he couldn't help but feel like he didn't compare to the fire that blazed within Jonghyun.
"Ha!"
Minho blinked and saw that his thumb was trapped underneath Jonghyun's. Before the rapper could retract his finger, Jonghyun quickly yelled out in one huge breath, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I win!"
"Quiet down back there," Key said over his shoulder, eyes not moving from the magazine on his lap.
Jonghyun threw a mocking face in Key's direction before he looked up at Minho, a huge grin on his face in celebration of his victory that just made Minho stare at his hyung's white teeth and twinkling eyes.
Minho shook his head to stop himself from staring. "Best two out of three," he challenged.
Jonghyun's eyes narrowed playfully. "You're on." Their hands joined and they played for the rest of the car ride until Minho won both games and Jonghyun whined about him cheating all the way up to their dorm.
You play around
It was their first concert, their first solo concert. After years of training and performing they were able to fill an entire stadium full of their fans and perform for them one song after another. The five of them were ecstatic. The sound of the songs they had put so much work into blared from the speakers and intermingled with their own voices and the screams of their fans.
Minho didn't know what possessed him. One moment he was bobbing along to the beat of the song, the next he was standing right in front of Jonghyun, leaning right into the singer's personal space.
It was fanservice, something his body automatically did to please the fans Minho told himself. But something else in his body that made Minho stare at his hyung. He could see the passion behind Jonghyun's eyes as he sang his part, it was always there whenever the older boy sang, whether it was absentmindedly or in front of an audience.
But as Minho stared more, Jonghyun fell from his own world and finally noticed the rapper and something else appeared in his eyes, something that reached all the way to the bottom of Minho's stomach and burned.
Jonghyun smirked and finished his part before leaning in even closer, their lips a centimeter apart. Minho's eyes widened and he snapped back from whatever his body put him in and pulled away from Jonghyun's warm mouth, unsure if it the music or his heart pounding in his ears. He turned his head away in mock disgust. They were just joking around anyways.
Minho couldn't help but look back as Jonghyun sang once again. He could've sworn he was still smirking.
You have fun
The members were all in the practice room when their manager came through the door and shoved five slips of paper in their faces.
Jinki took them from their manager's hands. "Tickets?"
"To an amusement park," Kibum read, grinning. Taemin and Jonghyun automatically perked up. Minho's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
A few hours later, after showering and changing into clothes that weren't too flashy, much to Kibum's disappointment, the members piled into their van and were driven to the amusement park.
As soon as they arrived, Taemin begged that they all get cotton candy and caramel apples and funnel cakes and all of the other carnival food they never got to eat. Kibum finally let everyone get popcorn before Taemin spotted the Tilt-a-Whirl. While they waited on line, Jinki looked nervous and Minho looked stiff.
Jonghyun elbowed the rapper. "What's your problem?"
Minho gave him a weak glare before shrugging. "Nothing." The singer rolled his eyes at the response.
It wasn't long before the five members were strapped standing side by side. The ride started spinning slowly, Jonghyun already whooping until the speed picked up and everyone started screaming. As soon as the members got off the ride, Jinki rushed to the nearest trash can and emptied out his entire stomach.
"This is why I didn't want us to eat before the rides," Kibum said, as he patted Jinki's back and gave Taemin a look. The maknae quickly threw out the bag of popcorn he was still eating.
Minho felt an elbow knock into his side again. It was Jonghyun. He gave the shorter boy a pointed look but Jonghyun just pulled him down so he could cup a hand to Minho's ear. "Let's go before they notice."
Minho didn't even respond before Jonghyun grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him behind a stand and ran. Jonghyun finally stopped in front of The Zipper, a series of small cages with seats that flipped the people upside-down inside while they all spun around like an elongated Ferris wheel. Minho gulped but saw the look of excitement on Jonghyun's face and knew he couldn't back down.
They sat in the cage, sides pressing together and hands on the bar in front of them. Soon, the cage started spinning slowly and Minho felt his stomach drop. When they started spinning faster, Minho grabbed onto Jonghyun's hand. The latter didn't seem to notice though, he was too busy laughing.
Minho scrambled out of the contraption as soon as the door opened and grabbed the nearest solid object that wasn't moving. The other patrons gave the idol weird looks as he held onto the gate.
Jonghyun came up behind him. "Fun, right?" Minho gave him a pathetic glare and Jonghyun laughed. "I knew it. Who knew that the great Choi Minho can't handle amusement park rides." He pried the rapper's hands from the metal post. "Don't worry, I promise that we won't go on anymore of them."
Minho didn't know why he let Jonghyun pull him around but then they were in front of a booth with darts in hand and a wall of balloons in front of them. Jonghyun started throwing the darts, all of them popping a balloon except for one. Minho's mind automatically recognized that this was a competition and starting aiming. On his last throw, Jonghyun smacked Minho's elbow upward, making the rapper miss horribly and stick an over sized teddy bear in the stomach. The two played until they actually won a prize, a beady-eyed stuffed lizard.
"Look," Jonghyun said, dangling the toy in front of his face. "It's you."
Minho rolled his eyes. "I'm a frog, not a lizard."
"Same thing."
They wandered around, playing more games and winning a couple more stuffed animals until they finally got hungry. After the Jinki incident, they stayed away from snacks and went to an actual food stand. When Minho least expected it, Jonghyun unceremoniously shoved a hot dog in his face, smearing ketchup and mustard everywhere. They ran along the amusement park gates, Minho chasing a cackling Jonghyun until a familiar horn beeped.
Jonghyun stopped short, Minho colliding into him and both looked at a cross Kibum who stood by the van door by the gate doors.
"Where have the two of you been?" Kibum demanded. He took one look at Minho's stained face and shook his head. "Never mind, I don't want to know," he said before grabbing and shoving the two of them into the van without waiting for a response.
Jonghyun grinned at Minho while Kibum scolded them. Minho returned it full-on, lizard on his lap.
You share secrets
Jonghyun was a decent roommate.
The older boy tended to throw his clothes around the room, sometimes mixing them up with Minho's and liked to practice singing instead of falling asleep right after a long day.
But he would always make sure Minho ate well, even if it was at Kibum's expense, and washed his face ("You're already ugly, you don't want to be pizza-faced on top of that.") Minho was also pretty sure the time he came home exhausted after a Dream Team recording and fell asleep the instant his body hit his bed that Jonghyun was the one who changed him out of his dirty clothes and tucked him in.
Some nights Jonghyun and Minho would get into their beds at the same time, lights turned off and the air conditioner gently humming. Minho would feel tired, but his eyes would refuse to stay shut making him stare at the crack in the ceiling that was the result of their leader's condition.
Jonghyun would call out to Minho, his voice soft, something that only Minho heard. Minho would grunt in response.
"Are you awake?"
Minho would pause for a few moments before saying he wasn't. Jonghyun would hit Minho's mattress from underneath, the half-hearted action only making Minho chuckle.
Then Jonghyun would whisper his fears, his confessions. How he missed his sister the most though he would never say that to her face. How sometimes he wished Kibum would stop trying to dress him up because he felt his best friend was purposely trying to make him look stupid.
Minho would hum in response, to let Jonghyun know he was listening and accepting what he was revealing to him late into the night.
One night after an extremely tiring dance practice, Jonghyun didn't speak up for a while after they washed up and were in their bunks. Minho assumed Jonghyun was just tired, too tired to talk but just as he got comfortable Jonghyun's voice rang out, crystal clear instead of the usual soft whisper.
"I think I might be gay." Minho felt his body turn rigid. "I mean, girls are pretty and all but I don't know, I just don't get that feeling you're supposed to get, those butterflies or whatever. I guess that's why I was fine when me and Sekyung decided to be friends. It just didn't feel right with us being...like that."
The way Jonghyun spoke, it was like he wasn't scared. He sounded so at ease, like he was explaining why he liked pancakes.
Minho didn't have anything against people who were gay, they were still people and they still loved so it didn't matter. But this was Jonghyun, his bandmate and roommate. It should've made him feel uncomfortable but that was the last thing he felt. It must've been the fact that Jonghyun was still Jonghyun no matter who he loved.
Minho tried to think of something to say even though a simple hum would suffice, but he felt like this needed an actual response. But he wasn't Kibum, Jonghyun's best friend, who could probably come up with the perfect response without freaking out on the inside like Minho was.
"Why are you telling me this?" Minho asked after Jonghyun finished, his tone conveying his confusion as to why of all people Jonghyun was telling Minho a secret this big. Why Jonghyun was telling Minho any of these secrets.
This time Jonghyun didn't respond right away and Minho could only hear his breathing and sheets rustling and he panicked even more thinking that his hyung took his question the wrong way.
"I don't know," Jonghyun said slowly and Minho let go of the breath he had been holding. "I just get this feeling that I can say these things to you, that I can say anything to you really."
"So you mean you trust me?" Minho offered, pride slowly spreading over him.
"I guess," Jonghyun replied, then his tone changing to sound threatening as he spoke again. "You better not tell anyone. I trust you for a reason."
"Actually," Minho couldn't help but grin. "I was planning on using them as blackmail." He heard Jonghyun sputter and his grin grew. "I'm kidding, hyung. I'm not that mean."
"Yeah, sure you aren't." They lay in silence, sleep slowly seeping into Minho's system before Jonghyun spoke again. "Do you trust me, Minho-ah?"
Minho's eyes stopped drooping at the question. "Of course I do, hyung," he quickly replied back.
"Oh," Jonghyun said, his tone expectant but Minho stayed silent.
Minho was sure Jonghyun was asleep after a few minutes passed, the older boy's breath became slow and even. He shifted in his bed, letting out a sigh as the courage finally welled up enough inside of him. "I think I am too," he whispered.
Just before he finally fell asleep, Minho heard a gentle hum come the bunk beneath him.
You tell stories
SHINee had a tradition that took place the night their newest concept was announced. The five would take all of their bedsheets and pillows and build a fort in the middle of their living room floor where they would all sleep together like they were four years old rather than being in their late teens and early twenties. The lights in the entire dorm would be shut off and only flashlights would be used.
They would play different games, charades being their favorite since Jinki almost always knocked down a section of the fort during his turn. Kibum would make s'mores, something Amber had told him about, which were gone in not even half an hour's time. Taemin would announce that he wouldn't be the first one to fall asleep this time but always ended up softly snoring a couple of hours later while the others were still wide awake. Jinki would be the next, followed by Kibum whose head would rest on their leader's arm or shoulder.
Minho and Jonghyun, of course, wanted to be the one who would fall asleep last.
"Minho-ah~" Jonghyun whined, struggling to keep his eyes open. "Tell me a story."
The younger boy had his head propped up in his hand, waving his flashlight back and forth against the white sheets. "What kind of story?"
Jonghyun knit his eyebrows together in frustration at the rapper's question. "I don't care. Make it up."
Minho drew his lips into a line, racking his brain for ideas even though he knew Jonghyun wouldn't care how good it was.
"Once upon a time-"
"Ugh," Jonghyun interrupted. "It already sounds lame."
Minho kicked the singer's side. "Do you want a story or not?"
Jonghyun rolled over, rubbing his rib. "You could at least make it good," he muttered.
"Once upon a time there lived five..." Minho looked around and spotted the stuffed animal Taemin cradled to his chest. "Bunnies."
"Are you kidding me?" Jonghyun deadpanned.
The rapper ignored the other boy's commentary and continued. "And they lived together in SM-erlot. They were all good-looking, except for the shortest one who was just loud." Jonghyun's beaming face quickly dropped and Minho couldn't help but grin even when a pillow smacked into his face. "And they all played together and ate carrots together everyday. The end."
Jonghyun let out a noise of frustration. "That was the crappiest story ever. You're the crappiest story teller ever," he stated, putting a pillow over his face.
Minho settled his head on his own pillow. "Shut up, I'm tired. You," he yawned. "Tell a story then." He looked at Jonghyun who remained unresponsive. The younger boy removed the pillow from his hyung's face and saw the singer was already asleep, lips twitching as he spoke inaudibly. Minho pulled the covers over Jonghyun and then settled into his own bed.
You cry on each other's shoulders
Jonghyun was the emotional member of the group. It didn't matter if they won an award or they performed a particular song, Jonghyun always managed to be found crying afterwards. And Minho was usually the one who comforted him.
It seemed like the rapper always happened to be right there when the tears started to fall, and Minho couldn't help but wrap an arm around Jonghyun's shaking shoulders and pull the singer into his chest. The older boy would take a while to calm back down, it was usually Kibum or Taemin who would make him smile and make the tears stop. He would clap a hand onto Minho's broad shoulder and thank him and say he'd make it up to the younger boy. Minho would say he didn't mind, which he really didn't.
But Jonghyun did make it up to him.
It was during a break when they were filming an episode of Star King when Minho got a call from his father. He could already tell from the hesitation in his usually strong voice that something was wrong, but the shock caused Minho to only remember bit and pieces of what was said.
"Your mother...sick...hospital...we don't know why or how long..."
He quickly said goodbye after hearing enough, cutting off his father mid-sentence and hung up. Taemin asked him what was wrong, but Minho feigned a smile and ruffled the maknae's hair before telling them they needed to finish filming.
The other members could tell something was wrong, the rapper being even more quiet and distant than usual but knew to not pry. As soon as they got home, Minho changed into his pajamas and slipped into bed without saying a word to any of them.
He woke up in the middle of the night, cold sweat all over his body and the sheets and his clothes smothering him. Minho quickly climbed out of bed and into the kitchen, hoping a glass of water would help. The icy cold water woke him up, but did nothing to get rid of the suffocating feeling.
He threw the glass into sink, and walked to the living room. After pacing for a few moments with no change, Minho slumped onto the couch and held his head in his hands.
It was a dream, he knew it was a dream but just the thought of his mother so ill pushed Minho to the edge, any little possibility slowly chipping away at him from the inside.
The sudden laughter of an audience made Minho flinch. He lifted his head up to see the TV was on, channels changing every few seconds.
"They usually have old reruns of variety shows but it's better than those weird infomercials," Jonghyun said from his seat on the other end of the couch.
Minho blinked, watching Jonghyun's face turn from red to blue to yellow as the singer kept his eyes glued to the screen. He waited for the older boy to say something else like he usually would since Jonghyun hated awkward silences, but nothing came.
Soon the noise of the TV faded into the background and the fatigue finally hit Minho, making his body relax and head slump onto the couch cushion. He didn't even feel the couch shift, but then Jonghyun was by Minho's side with his body turned towards him, a hand brushing his soaked bangs from his forehead then trailing down to his cheek where a tear lay.
Minho hated the sniffle and tears that soon escaped from him but when he found his head leaning on Jonghyun's shoulder with one of the singer's arms wrapped around him, he took it back. Jonghyun still said nothing and asked no questions. He just soothingly rubbed Minho's arm with the younger boy's tears falling onto his shirt until sleep claimed them both.
You hold hands
It was the middle of winter and the group had finally been given time to rest after ending practice for the end of the year performance. Kibum had a long overdue date with the '91 line while Jinki said he promised Taemin that he would take the maknae out after losing a bet.
Jonghyun grinned at Minho. "Guess that means we get to go shopping."
Minho liked the winter, the cold, the snow. It was easier for them to hide, scarves and hats covering their faces without looking too suspicious. And it was snowing lightly, white dust floating in the air. It was the perfect time for shopping.
"These would look good on Jinki-hyung, wouldn't they?" Minho said, eying a pair of earmuffs in the store display. He turned to look at Jonghyun for his opinion but saw the latter was busy trying to warm his hands. The singer's fingers were already red and looked frigid.
"Aish," Jonghyun brought his hands back to his mouth so he could blow hot air into them. Minho noticed that though Jonghyun's jacket looked good on him (because Jonghyun could look nice in clothes, anyone could look nice in clothes, not just Jonghyun) it wasn't practical for the cold climate. "This is the last time I let Kibum chose a coat for me."
Minho smiled pitifully at his hyung. "You always say that," he said, tugging a mitten off of one of his hands. He grabbed Jonghyun's corresponding arm and before the singer could say anything Minho slid his icy hand into the warm mitten.
Jonghyun looked at the now covered hand, the wool already helping to thaw his frozen appendage. "Thanks genius, but I have two hands." Minho rolled his eyes and was about to pull off the other mitten before Jonghyun stopped him. The rapper raised an eyebrow questionably but the other eyebrow soon joined it as Jonghyun slid his bare hand into Minho's slightly larger one. "There." Jonghyun placed their intertwined hands into Minho's coat pocket. "Now both of our hands are warm."
He was right of course. Though Jonghyun's hand looked like a block of ice, the heat from it was instant as his fingers made their way in between Minho's longer ones. Minho's hand felt warmer than it had been in his mitten.
Jonghyun's fingers brushed against Minho's knuckles as he tugged the rapper towards a food stand, sending a wave of heat straight up Minho's arm despite the cold. He stared at the back of his hyung's head as he led the two of them through the light snowfall.
He really liked winter.
You think about forever
Minho had been sitting at the table doing homework when Jonghyun asked him to go up to the roof with him. The younger boy nodded. He had been staring at the same problem for half an hour anyways.
They slipped out of the dorm and climbed the stairs all the way to the top floor. Chairs and a couple of tables littered the rooftop, courtesy of the landlord. Jonghyun eased into one of the wooden chairs facing the view of the other buildings. Minho sat in the chair beside him, his legs stretching out in front of him.
"It's great, isn't it?" Jonghyun said, motioning to the endless dark sky. "I wish I could just reach out and grab it."
Minho lightly snorted. "I bet there's a lot of things you wish you could reach out and grab."
Jonghyun lightly punched Minho in the arm. "Seriously though.
"Don't you just wonder how long this is going to last?" Jonghyun asked after he settled back into his seat, eyes glued to the sky above him. Minho didn't know if he meant to ask that out loud or not until the older boy looked at him. "You know, this. Us." Minho felt his chest clench at the pronoun.
Minho turned his head forward and stared at the building across the street where a couple of birds hopped around. "I don't know," he said pathetically. Jonghyun looked slightly disappointed but nodded anyways. "I just wish we could stay together forever," he continued. Jonghyun looked up at him but Minho didn't want to look at him. "But that doesn't mean that it'll happen."
"Says who?"
Minho shrugged. "No one and everyone. It's just that nothing lasts forever." He started when Jonghyun suddenly stood up from his seat. "Hyung?"
"You could fight it," Jonghyun said. His hands were clenched into fists.
"What?"
Jonghyun turned towards Minho. The younger boy could see the angry tears in his eyes and his chest felt like it was caving in. "You could fight it," Jonghyun repeated with more force than before. "No matter what other people say. You could make it last forever. If you cared." His voice broke on the last word.
Minho slowly got up from his seat, unsure of what exactly Jonghyun was referring to. "Hyung, bands break up all the time. It's not that I don't want SHINee to disband. We'll still be close."
Instead of Jonghyun coming to his senses it looked like he lost it completely, laughing like this was a big joke. "Aish," he murmured after his laughter died down. "You're such a dumbass."
Before Minho could ask him just why he deserved such a title Jonghyun walked over and brought the rapper's face down to his until they were a centimeter apart.
But you don't fall in love
This was just like at the concert, except Minho couldn't pull back. Not that he wanted to, the look in Jonghyun's eyes reached all the way down into Minho and kept him rooted to his spot. But his eyes were different this time. Instead of the challenging, cocky glint they usually held, Jonghyun's eyes were softer and more passionate than Minho remembered.
Just when Minho thought there was no more space, no more air in between them, Jonghyun brought the taller boy's face even closer to his own until their lips brushed. "I'm in love with you, stupid," Jonghyun whispered against Minho's lips before pressing them flush against each other.
Because the first one who does,
Minho couldn't function, he could only feel the way Jonghyun's lips pressed against his and how the feeling spread throughout his entire body like a blanket enclosing around him.
Jonghyun began to pull back and Minho immediately felt the warm feeling leave his body. His hands reached up and grabbed onto the smaller boy's hips to keep him from moving much to Jonghyun's surprise.
"Don't stop," Minho said breathlessly before leaning down and capturing Jonghyun's lips with his own.
loses.
Jonghyun may have been the one who admitted it first, but Minho was the one who lost. Not that he'd mention that minor detail.
A moan escaped Minho's lips as Jonghyun bit his way down the rapper's long neck.
Yeah. He definitely lost.
~EnterBreakEnter~
A/N: Don't ask me why they always fell asleep, I think they're cute like that. This took me forever to write, only because I was never happy with the sections >x< But I had to finish this, it's been bothering me for the longest time and it fit Jongho so well so I had to finish this.
I have a lot more Jongho ideas in my head, since most of them are now lost forever, but I can't make any promises to when they'll be written. Just keep a heads up c:
Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading :3
Pairing: Jonghyun/Minho
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~4,500
Summary: Minho was always competitive, whether he was aware of it or not. Inspired/taken by this picture.
You wanna play the game? It's like this:
Jonghyun and Minho were always good with each other, relied on each other, treated each other like brothers would. They were roommates and bandmates and did things like work out and shop together plenty of times. It was only natural that they would be close.
But there was this indescribable tension between the two of them, Minho thought it out to be an unspoken competition as to who was the most masculine of the group, the alpha dog. He didn't know when or why or how it started, but now they were so enthralled in this little game of theirs that neither of them could stop. Not that Minho wanted them to.
The two were engaged in a fierce thumb wrestling match in the back of the van, hands flying around the backseat as they both tried to pin the other's thumb down for the count. Minho took a second and looked at Jonghyun, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth, eyebrows knitted in concentration and his eyes bright and burning. Minho was known as being the charismatic one, like a flame, but he couldn't help but feel like he didn't compare to the fire that blazed within Jonghyun.
"Ha!"
Minho blinked and saw that his thumb was trapped underneath Jonghyun's. Before the rapper could retract his finger, Jonghyun quickly yelled out in one huge breath, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I win!"
"Quiet down back there," Key said over his shoulder, eyes not moving from the magazine on his lap.
Jonghyun threw a mocking face in Key's direction before he looked up at Minho, a huge grin on his face in celebration of his victory that just made Minho stare at his hyung's white teeth and twinkling eyes.
Minho shook his head to stop himself from staring. "Best two out of three," he challenged.
Jonghyun's eyes narrowed playfully. "You're on." Their hands joined and they played for the rest of the car ride until Minho won both games and Jonghyun whined about him cheating all the way up to their dorm.
You play around
It was their first concert, their first solo concert. After years of training and performing they were able to fill an entire stadium full of their fans and perform for them one song after another. The five of them were ecstatic. The sound of the songs they had put so much work into blared from the speakers and intermingled with their own voices and the screams of their fans.
Minho didn't know what possessed him. One moment he was bobbing along to the beat of the song, the next he was standing right in front of Jonghyun, leaning right into the singer's personal space.
It was fanservice, something his body automatically did to please the fans Minho told himself. But something else in his body that made Minho stare at his hyung. He could see the passion behind Jonghyun's eyes as he sang his part, it was always there whenever the older boy sang, whether it was absentmindedly or in front of an audience.
But as Minho stared more, Jonghyun fell from his own world and finally noticed the rapper and something else appeared in his eyes, something that reached all the way to the bottom of Minho's stomach and burned.
Jonghyun smirked and finished his part before leaning in even closer, their lips a centimeter apart. Minho's eyes widened and he snapped back from whatever his body put him in and pulled away from Jonghyun's warm mouth, unsure if it the music or his heart pounding in his ears. He turned his head away in mock disgust. They were just joking around anyways.
Minho couldn't help but look back as Jonghyun sang once again. He could've sworn he was still smirking.
You have fun
The members were all in the practice room when their manager came through the door and shoved five slips of paper in their faces.
Jinki took them from their manager's hands. "Tickets?"
"To an amusement park," Kibum read, grinning. Taemin and Jonghyun automatically perked up. Minho's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
A few hours later, after showering and changing into clothes that weren't too flashy, much to Kibum's disappointment, the members piled into their van and were driven to the amusement park.
As soon as they arrived, Taemin begged that they all get cotton candy and caramel apples and funnel cakes and all of the other carnival food they never got to eat. Kibum finally let everyone get popcorn before Taemin spotted the Tilt-a-Whirl. While they waited on line, Jinki looked nervous and Minho looked stiff.
Jonghyun elbowed the rapper. "What's your problem?"
Minho gave him a weak glare before shrugging. "Nothing." The singer rolled his eyes at the response.
It wasn't long before the five members were strapped standing side by side. The ride started spinning slowly, Jonghyun already whooping until the speed picked up and everyone started screaming. As soon as the members got off the ride, Jinki rushed to the nearest trash can and emptied out his entire stomach.
"This is why I didn't want us to eat before the rides," Kibum said, as he patted Jinki's back and gave Taemin a look. The maknae quickly threw out the bag of popcorn he was still eating.
Minho felt an elbow knock into his side again. It was Jonghyun. He gave the shorter boy a pointed look but Jonghyun just pulled him down so he could cup a hand to Minho's ear. "Let's go before they notice."
Minho didn't even respond before Jonghyun grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him behind a stand and ran. Jonghyun finally stopped in front of The Zipper, a series of small cages with seats that flipped the people upside-down inside while they all spun around like an elongated Ferris wheel. Minho gulped but saw the look of excitement on Jonghyun's face and knew he couldn't back down.
They sat in the cage, sides pressing together and hands on the bar in front of them. Soon, the cage started spinning slowly and Minho felt his stomach drop. When they started spinning faster, Minho grabbed onto Jonghyun's hand. The latter didn't seem to notice though, he was too busy laughing.
Minho scrambled out of the contraption as soon as the door opened and grabbed the nearest solid object that wasn't moving. The other patrons gave the idol weird looks as he held onto the gate.
Jonghyun came up behind him. "Fun, right?" Minho gave him a pathetic glare and Jonghyun laughed. "I knew it. Who knew that the great Choi Minho can't handle amusement park rides." He pried the rapper's hands from the metal post. "Don't worry, I promise that we won't go on anymore of them."
Minho didn't know why he let Jonghyun pull him around but then they were in front of a booth with darts in hand and a wall of balloons in front of them. Jonghyun started throwing the darts, all of them popping a balloon except for one. Minho's mind automatically recognized that this was a competition and starting aiming. On his last throw, Jonghyun smacked Minho's elbow upward, making the rapper miss horribly and stick an over sized teddy bear in the stomach. The two played until they actually won a prize, a beady-eyed stuffed lizard.
"Look," Jonghyun said, dangling the toy in front of his face. "It's you."
Minho rolled his eyes. "I'm a frog, not a lizard."
"Same thing."
They wandered around, playing more games and winning a couple more stuffed animals until they finally got hungry. After the Jinki incident, they stayed away from snacks and went to an actual food stand. When Minho least expected it, Jonghyun unceremoniously shoved a hot dog in his face, smearing ketchup and mustard everywhere. They ran along the amusement park gates, Minho chasing a cackling Jonghyun until a familiar horn beeped.
Jonghyun stopped short, Minho colliding into him and both looked at a cross Kibum who stood by the van door by the gate doors.
"Where have the two of you been?" Kibum demanded. He took one look at Minho's stained face and shook his head. "Never mind, I don't want to know," he said before grabbing and shoving the two of them into the van without waiting for a response.
Jonghyun grinned at Minho while Kibum scolded them. Minho returned it full-on, lizard on his lap.
You share secrets
Jonghyun was a decent roommate.
The older boy tended to throw his clothes around the room, sometimes mixing them up with Minho's and liked to practice singing instead of falling asleep right after a long day.
But he would always make sure Minho ate well, even if it was at Kibum's expense, and washed his face ("You're already ugly, you don't want to be pizza-faced on top of that.") Minho was also pretty sure the time he came home exhausted after a Dream Team recording and fell asleep the instant his body hit his bed that Jonghyun was the one who changed him out of his dirty clothes and tucked him in.
Some nights Jonghyun and Minho would get into their beds at the same time, lights turned off and the air conditioner gently humming. Minho would feel tired, but his eyes would refuse to stay shut making him stare at the crack in the ceiling that was the result of their leader's condition.
Jonghyun would call out to Minho, his voice soft, something that only Minho heard. Minho would grunt in response.
"Are you awake?"
Minho would pause for a few moments before saying he wasn't. Jonghyun would hit Minho's mattress from underneath, the half-hearted action only making Minho chuckle.
Then Jonghyun would whisper his fears, his confessions. How he missed his sister the most though he would never say that to her face. How sometimes he wished Kibum would stop trying to dress him up because he felt his best friend was purposely trying to make him look stupid.
Minho would hum in response, to let Jonghyun know he was listening and accepting what he was revealing to him late into the night.
One night after an extremely tiring dance practice, Jonghyun didn't speak up for a while after they washed up and were in their bunks. Minho assumed Jonghyun was just tired, too tired to talk but just as he got comfortable Jonghyun's voice rang out, crystal clear instead of the usual soft whisper.
"I think I might be gay." Minho felt his body turn rigid. "I mean, girls are pretty and all but I don't know, I just don't get that feeling you're supposed to get, those butterflies or whatever. I guess that's why I was fine when me and Sekyung decided to be friends. It just didn't feel right with us being...like that."
The way Jonghyun spoke, it was like he wasn't scared. He sounded so at ease, like he was explaining why he liked pancakes.
Minho didn't have anything against people who were gay, they were still people and they still loved so it didn't matter. But this was Jonghyun, his bandmate and roommate. It should've made him feel uncomfortable but that was the last thing he felt. It must've been the fact that Jonghyun was still Jonghyun no matter who he loved.
Minho tried to think of something to say even though a simple hum would suffice, but he felt like this needed an actual response. But he wasn't Kibum, Jonghyun's best friend, who could probably come up with the perfect response without freaking out on the inside like Minho was.
"Why are you telling me this?" Minho asked after Jonghyun finished, his tone conveying his confusion as to why of all people Jonghyun was telling Minho a secret this big. Why Jonghyun was telling Minho any of these secrets.
This time Jonghyun didn't respond right away and Minho could only hear his breathing and sheets rustling and he panicked even more thinking that his hyung took his question the wrong way.
"I don't know," Jonghyun said slowly and Minho let go of the breath he had been holding. "I just get this feeling that I can say these things to you, that I can say anything to you really."
"So you mean you trust me?" Minho offered, pride slowly spreading over him.
"I guess," Jonghyun replied, then his tone changing to sound threatening as he spoke again. "You better not tell anyone. I trust you for a reason."
"Actually," Minho couldn't help but grin. "I was planning on using them as blackmail." He heard Jonghyun sputter and his grin grew. "I'm kidding, hyung. I'm not that mean."
"Yeah, sure you aren't." They lay in silence, sleep slowly seeping into Minho's system before Jonghyun spoke again. "Do you trust me, Minho-ah?"
Minho's eyes stopped drooping at the question. "Of course I do, hyung," he quickly replied back.
"Oh," Jonghyun said, his tone expectant but Minho stayed silent.
Minho was sure Jonghyun was asleep after a few minutes passed, the older boy's breath became slow and even. He shifted in his bed, letting out a sigh as the courage finally welled up enough inside of him. "I think I am too," he whispered.
Just before he finally fell asleep, Minho heard a gentle hum come the bunk beneath him.
You tell stories
SHINee had a tradition that took place the night their newest concept was announced. The five would take all of their bedsheets and pillows and build a fort in the middle of their living room floor where they would all sleep together like they were four years old rather than being in their late teens and early twenties. The lights in the entire dorm would be shut off and only flashlights would be used.
They would play different games, charades being their favorite since Jinki almost always knocked down a section of the fort during his turn. Kibum would make s'mores, something Amber had told him about, which were gone in not even half an hour's time. Taemin would announce that he wouldn't be the first one to fall asleep this time but always ended up softly snoring a couple of hours later while the others were still wide awake. Jinki would be the next, followed by Kibum whose head would rest on their leader's arm or shoulder.
Minho and Jonghyun, of course, wanted to be the one who would fall asleep last.
"Minho-ah~" Jonghyun whined, struggling to keep his eyes open. "Tell me a story."
The younger boy had his head propped up in his hand, waving his flashlight back and forth against the white sheets. "What kind of story?"
Jonghyun knit his eyebrows together in frustration at the rapper's question. "I don't care. Make it up."
Minho drew his lips into a line, racking his brain for ideas even though he knew Jonghyun wouldn't care how good it was.
"Once upon a time-"
"Ugh," Jonghyun interrupted. "It already sounds lame."
Minho kicked the singer's side. "Do you want a story or not?"
Jonghyun rolled over, rubbing his rib. "You could at least make it good," he muttered.
"Once upon a time there lived five..." Minho looked around and spotted the stuffed animal Taemin cradled to his chest. "Bunnies."
"Are you kidding me?" Jonghyun deadpanned.
The rapper ignored the other boy's commentary and continued. "And they lived together in SM-erlot. They were all good-looking, except for the shortest one who was just loud." Jonghyun's beaming face quickly dropped and Minho couldn't help but grin even when a pillow smacked into his face. "And they all played together and ate carrots together everyday. The end."
Jonghyun let out a noise of frustration. "That was the crappiest story ever. You're the crappiest story teller ever," he stated, putting a pillow over his face.
Minho settled his head on his own pillow. "Shut up, I'm tired. You," he yawned. "Tell a story then." He looked at Jonghyun who remained unresponsive. The younger boy removed the pillow from his hyung's face and saw the singer was already asleep, lips twitching as he spoke inaudibly. Minho pulled the covers over Jonghyun and then settled into his own bed.
You cry on each other's shoulders
Jonghyun was the emotional member of the group. It didn't matter if they won an award or they performed a particular song, Jonghyun always managed to be found crying afterwards. And Minho was usually the one who comforted him.
It seemed like the rapper always happened to be right there when the tears started to fall, and Minho couldn't help but wrap an arm around Jonghyun's shaking shoulders and pull the singer into his chest. The older boy would take a while to calm back down, it was usually Kibum or Taemin who would make him smile and make the tears stop. He would clap a hand onto Minho's broad shoulder and thank him and say he'd make it up to the younger boy. Minho would say he didn't mind, which he really didn't.
But Jonghyun did make it up to him.
It was during a break when they were filming an episode of Star King when Minho got a call from his father. He could already tell from the hesitation in his usually strong voice that something was wrong, but the shock caused Minho to only remember bit and pieces of what was said.
"Your mother...sick...hospital...we don't know why or how long..."
He quickly said goodbye after hearing enough, cutting off his father mid-sentence and hung up. Taemin asked him what was wrong, but Minho feigned a smile and ruffled the maknae's hair before telling them they needed to finish filming.
The other members could tell something was wrong, the rapper being even more quiet and distant than usual but knew to not pry. As soon as they got home, Minho changed into his pajamas and slipped into bed without saying a word to any of them.
He woke up in the middle of the night, cold sweat all over his body and the sheets and his clothes smothering him. Minho quickly climbed out of bed and into the kitchen, hoping a glass of water would help. The icy cold water woke him up, but did nothing to get rid of the suffocating feeling.
He threw the glass into sink, and walked to the living room. After pacing for a few moments with no change, Minho slumped onto the couch and held his head in his hands.
It was a dream, he knew it was a dream but just the thought of his mother so ill pushed Minho to the edge, any little possibility slowly chipping away at him from the inside.
The sudden laughter of an audience made Minho flinch. He lifted his head up to see the TV was on, channels changing every few seconds.
"They usually have old reruns of variety shows but it's better than those weird infomercials," Jonghyun said from his seat on the other end of the couch.
Minho blinked, watching Jonghyun's face turn from red to blue to yellow as the singer kept his eyes glued to the screen. He waited for the older boy to say something else like he usually would since Jonghyun hated awkward silences, but nothing came.
Soon the noise of the TV faded into the background and the fatigue finally hit Minho, making his body relax and head slump onto the couch cushion. He didn't even feel the couch shift, but then Jonghyun was by Minho's side with his body turned towards him, a hand brushing his soaked bangs from his forehead then trailing down to his cheek where a tear lay.
Minho hated the sniffle and tears that soon escaped from him but when he found his head leaning on Jonghyun's shoulder with one of the singer's arms wrapped around him, he took it back. Jonghyun still said nothing and asked no questions. He just soothingly rubbed Minho's arm with the younger boy's tears falling onto his shirt until sleep claimed them both.
You hold hands
It was the middle of winter and the group had finally been given time to rest after ending practice for the end of the year performance. Kibum had a long overdue date with the '91 line while Jinki said he promised Taemin that he would take the maknae out after losing a bet.
Jonghyun grinned at Minho. "Guess that means we get to go shopping."
Minho liked the winter, the cold, the snow. It was easier for them to hide, scarves and hats covering their faces without looking too suspicious. And it was snowing lightly, white dust floating in the air. It was the perfect time for shopping.
"These would look good on Jinki-hyung, wouldn't they?" Minho said, eying a pair of earmuffs in the store display. He turned to look at Jonghyun for his opinion but saw the latter was busy trying to warm his hands. The singer's fingers were already red and looked frigid.
"Aish," Jonghyun brought his hands back to his mouth so he could blow hot air into them. Minho noticed that though Jonghyun's jacket looked good on him (because Jonghyun could look nice in clothes, anyone could look nice in clothes, not just Jonghyun) it wasn't practical for the cold climate. "This is the last time I let Kibum chose a coat for me."
Minho smiled pitifully at his hyung. "You always say that," he said, tugging a mitten off of one of his hands. He grabbed Jonghyun's corresponding arm and before the singer could say anything Minho slid his icy hand into the warm mitten.
Jonghyun looked at the now covered hand, the wool already helping to thaw his frozen appendage. "Thanks genius, but I have two hands." Minho rolled his eyes and was about to pull off the other mitten before Jonghyun stopped him. The rapper raised an eyebrow questionably but the other eyebrow soon joined it as Jonghyun slid his bare hand into Minho's slightly larger one. "There." Jonghyun placed their intertwined hands into Minho's coat pocket. "Now both of our hands are warm."
He was right of course. Though Jonghyun's hand looked like a block of ice, the heat from it was instant as his fingers made their way in between Minho's longer ones. Minho's hand felt warmer than it had been in his mitten.
Jonghyun's fingers brushed against Minho's knuckles as he tugged the rapper towards a food stand, sending a wave of heat straight up Minho's arm despite the cold. He stared at the back of his hyung's head as he led the two of them through the light snowfall.
He really liked winter.
You think about forever
Minho had been sitting at the table doing homework when Jonghyun asked him to go up to the roof with him. The younger boy nodded. He had been staring at the same problem for half an hour anyways.
They slipped out of the dorm and climbed the stairs all the way to the top floor. Chairs and a couple of tables littered the rooftop, courtesy of the landlord. Jonghyun eased into one of the wooden chairs facing the view of the other buildings. Minho sat in the chair beside him, his legs stretching out in front of him.
"It's great, isn't it?" Jonghyun said, motioning to the endless dark sky. "I wish I could just reach out and grab it."
Minho lightly snorted. "I bet there's a lot of things you wish you could reach out and grab."
Jonghyun lightly punched Minho in the arm. "Seriously though.
"Don't you just wonder how long this is going to last?" Jonghyun asked after he settled back into his seat, eyes glued to the sky above him. Minho didn't know if he meant to ask that out loud or not until the older boy looked at him. "You know, this. Us." Minho felt his chest clench at the pronoun.
Minho turned his head forward and stared at the building across the street where a couple of birds hopped around. "I don't know," he said pathetically. Jonghyun looked slightly disappointed but nodded anyways. "I just wish we could stay together forever," he continued. Jonghyun looked up at him but Minho didn't want to look at him. "But that doesn't mean that it'll happen."
"Says who?"
Minho shrugged. "No one and everyone. It's just that nothing lasts forever." He started when Jonghyun suddenly stood up from his seat. "Hyung?"
"You could fight it," Jonghyun said. His hands were clenched into fists.
"What?"
Jonghyun turned towards Minho. The younger boy could see the angry tears in his eyes and his chest felt like it was caving in. "You could fight it," Jonghyun repeated with more force than before. "No matter what other people say. You could make it last forever. If you cared." His voice broke on the last word.
Minho slowly got up from his seat, unsure of what exactly Jonghyun was referring to. "Hyung, bands break up all the time. It's not that I don't want SHINee to disband. We'll still be close."
Instead of Jonghyun coming to his senses it looked like he lost it completely, laughing like this was a big joke. "Aish," he murmured after his laughter died down. "You're such a dumbass."
Before Minho could ask him just why he deserved such a title Jonghyun walked over and brought the rapper's face down to his until they were a centimeter apart.
But you don't fall in love
This was just like at the concert, except Minho couldn't pull back. Not that he wanted to, the look in Jonghyun's eyes reached all the way down into Minho and kept him rooted to his spot. But his eyes were different this time. Instead of the challenging, cocky glint they usually held, Jonghyun's eyes were softer and more passionate than Minho remembered.
Just when Minho thought there was no more space, no more air in between them, Jonghyun brought the taller boy's face even closer to his own until their lips brushed. "I'm in love with you, stupid," Jonghyun whispered against Minho's lips before pressing them flush against each other.
Because the first one who does,
Minho couldn't function, he could only feel the way Jonghyun's lips pressed against his and how the feeling spread throughout his entire body like a blanket enclosing around him.
Jonghyun began to pull back and Minho immediately felt the warm feeling leave his body. His hands reached up and grabbed onto the smaller boy's hips to keep him from moving much to Jonghyun's surprise.
"Don't stop," Minho said breathlessly before leaning down and capturing Jonghyun's lips with his own.
loses.
Jonghyun may have been the one who admitted it first, but Minho was the one who lost. Not that he'd mention that minor detail.
A moan escaped Minho's lips as Jonghyun bit his way down the rapper's long neck.
Yeah. He definitely lost.
~EnterBreakEnter~
A/N: Don't ask me why they always fell asleep, I think they're cute like that. This took me forever to write, only because I was never happy with the sections >x< But I had to finish this, it's been bothering me for the longest time and it fit Jongho so well so I had to finish this.
I have a lot more Jongho ideas in my head, since most of them are now lost forever, but I can't make any promises to when they'll be written. Just keep a heads up c:
Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading :3