"this is what I get for wanting more..."
Title: vanilla sky (1/?)
Author: argh (@ oneuldo)
Rating: PG
Length: 2,442
Pairing: Onew/Minho
Summary/Notes: Jinki has a stupid crush, and when his friends do something about it he tries to run. But Jinki can't run, not when everything is against him and there is nowhere to go but to face the truth. (Okay I fail at summaries T_T; but I kind of like this fic :/)
Warnings: OTT sap or OTT dense-ness lol? XD
Dedications: This is for all the people I love. You know who you are! XD
Big thanks to olebade ♥ for beta-ing this for me :D ♥
Vanilla Sky - 1
TofuHo
***
Jinki sucked in a deep breath, leaning heavily against the railing before he stepped out onto the ice on shaky feet. His limbs trembled slightly as he clung to the wall, his eyes flickering around the ice skating rink as he saw other people whizzing around the ice. They all moved so gracefully and elegantly, Jinki was reminded of swans gliding through the water. He wanted to escape, to walk back out onto the solid ground and just run before the swans noticed him and pecked him to death.
He pouted and lifted one foot, clomping it down on the ice. It had been a mistake to come here, he could see that now. Wide eyed and glancing down at the ice with slightly upset eyes, Jinki start to slowly make his way back to the entrance. His feet wobbling as he clumsily attempted to skate across the ice, swallowing when he saw how far he had actually moved from the entrance.
Jinki’s limbs trembled and he breathed out loudly in relief when he found the entrance, shaking as he started to escape from the ice. He felt like an idiot for listening to Jonghyun, who had suggested that he try ice skating just because his crush liked to ice skate. He snorted to himself, shaking his head as he stood on the edge; Jinki knew that Jonghyun always gave idiotic advice. Now the plan was to escape, before the others got there, and then tell Kibum that he had a migraine or something. Jinki nodded his head, breathing in softly. It was an excellent plan. He was always early, there was no way it wouldn’t work.
Jinki felt a lot less shaken up as he sat there undoing the laces, the jumpy sensations had left him too. He felt a lot more relaxed than he had on the ice. He exhaled as he tugged on the laces; one of the laces had tangled into this huge knot. Frowning, Jinki struggled to undo it, not noticing that his friends had arrived. He breathed in deeply, slumping back against the wall, smiling as he lifted his face up. Finally, the lace was unknotted. He could at last escape from this wretched, icy hell hole and retreat back to his home.
“Hyung, Jinki-hyung, you’re here already!”
Jinki froze, his eyes widening as he glanced around, shoulders slumping as he spotted Kibum and Jonghyun, dragging someone else along with them. He felt his brain turn to mush. He could feel that jittery sensation start up again, as if butterflies filled his stomach and were now flying around his body. He swallowed and tried to just breathe as he saw his crush laughing casually between Kibum and Jonghyun. He quickly looked down at the floor, blinking his eyes. This was bad, very bad. He tried to calm his beating heart and internally tried to think of some way to get out of this awkward session.
“Hyung,” Kibum’s eyes narrowed down as he glanced down at Jinki’s feet and the unlaced ice skates. “You look like you’re taking your skates off.” Jinki gulped, his cheeks flushing slightly as he saw Minho eyeing him carefully, Jonghyun grinning from the other side of him. Jinki breathed in deeply, telling his mind to focus. He knew exactly what he had to do.
“Yeah, I am.” Jinki winced, going tense as three sets of eyes stared down at him. It felt like he was stuck under a spotlight with the way Kibum glared. Jonghyun stared, and Minho, well he just looked confused, but his eyes, Jinki decided, were the worst. It wasn’t because he glared, but because his eyes were so intense and mesmerising that Jinki felt like he was going to be swallowed whole by such a gaze. He coughed nervously and tried to stop staring into those large, round eyes. Focus, Jinki, focus. Don’t swoon over him, otherwise you’ll never escape, and then you’ll make a dick of yourself!
“Uh, something came up,” Jinki squeaked out, cringing as he heard how high pitched and awkward his tone sounded. “My, uh, cousin arrived from Beijing.” Jinki nodded his head, licking his lips as he studiously avoided the intense gazes directed at him, his hands quivering at his sides. “She doesn’t speak any Korean, so, uh, I have to go and pick her up.” He stood up, feeling his legs quaking, and breathed in deeply as he tried to sneak past Jonghyun to escape to safety.
“Jinki-hyung,” Kibum’s tone was ice cold, so Jinki stopped dead next to Jonghyun, looking down at the shorter boy, pleading him to help him escape. “Jinki-hyung, you’re going nowhere.” Jinki tried one last ditch attempt, batting his eyes at Jonghyun, but the other male just shrugged his shoulders and refused to move out of the way. Jinki hated both of his so called best friends right then. As if it wasn’t bad enough to drag him ice skating, but to bring his crush along too, now that was just cruel.
Jinki sagged down onto the bench, pouting like a small child up at Jonghyun and Kibum. He was too scared to even look at Minho. He could just imagine how he was viewing this situation. It didn’t bear thinking about how Minho saw him - probably as some spineless insect that should be crushed beneath the heel of his shoe. Jinki shuddered and wished that the ground would just open up so he could crawl out of sight.
“But, but!” Jinki started to babble, his hands waving in the air as he tried to reason his way out of this mess. “I really have to go.” Wide eyed, he nodded his head, hoping that Kibum would just take pity on him. Surely his best friend would understand how much stress he was putting Jinki under by forcing him to stay.
“Hyung,” Kibum rolled his eyes, “you don’t have to go. Stop lying. You don’t even have a cousin from Beijing.” He crouched down and ignored Jinki’s protests, forcing his feet into the ice skates, lacing them tightly. Jinki slumped down, feeling like an idiot, his lips quivering slightly as he was forced up on unsteady feet. His shoulders were slumped dejectedly as Kibum and Jonghyun dragged him onto the ice. He didn’t even dare to look at Minho during the whole exchange, too mortified to imagine how he was viewing Jinki’s pathetic behaviour.
Jinki had a feeling it was going to end badly because the butterflies inside his stomach seemed to be having a party, which did not bode well for Jinki. He still remembered the last time the butterflies had partied like this, he had ended up in hospital with a fractured leg, bruises and cuts decorating his body like some kind of new outfit or fashion trend. It still made him cringe at the memories, and there had been no crushes in that incident, just mocking school children and a large vicious bush.
*
“I’m sorry your friends forced you to come,” a deep voice mumbled into Jinki’s ear, making him squawk and flap his arms around like a deranged chicken. He floundered on the ice, almost slipping over until a hand pressed against his waist and steadied him. Jinki gulped, trying to keep on breathing because that was Minho’s voice. He had to focus on breathing and not losing his balance. He could not afford to make a dick of himself, but Jinki wanted to flail, feeling Minho touching his back. Jinki found himself being spun around gently. He inhaled deeply as he glanced up into dark, slightly amused eyes. His first instinct was to just shut his eyes and hope that the ice would shatter under him and swallow him whole.
“I’m Minho by the way, I don’t think we’ve even been formally introduced.” He nodded his head, smirking down at the silent, but fidgeting boy. “But I’ve seen you around lots.” Jinki told himself to just focus on breathing, telling his brain that it was necessary to live as he felt Minho’s hand, firm and warm against his back before Minho slipped his arm around Jinki’s shoulder to steady him. Oh god, how c-can I concentrate when he puts his hand there? Oh god, this is too much, I’m going to die. I’m going to end up a bloody mess on the ice!
“Oh,” Jinki breathed out slowly, his brain refused to cooperate. He could not stop shaking. He winced as he saw the confused look Minho sent him. “Oh, yes.” Jinki tried to smile, but his lips trembled as he laughed. It was a blatant lie that the other boy had seen him around. He knew that no one ever noticed him unless they had to. “Yes, you’re, um, Minho,” he pointed at the other boy. “Yes, and… I’m Jinki.” He kept waiting, glancing down at the ice before his eyes would flicker back up to the amused expression across Minho’s face.
“You’ve never done this before, right?” Minho’s expression turned serious. “I’ll help you, just, ah, follow my lead.” Minho grinned, nodding his head as he stepped back, reaching out to take Jinki’s hand lightly. Jinki sucked in a deep breath, wondering what he had done to deserve this. Why he had to be thoroughly humiliated in front of his crush. The butterflies were going insane and throwing the party of the century inside his stomach. He could see it now, he was going to fall and break his neck on the ice, or perhaps he would just trip and send Minho flying. Either way, Jinki was sure it was going to end in disaster.
*
“Jinki-hyung, I can call you that, right?” Minho’s voice was so smooth and rich, it made Jinki just want to melt into a puddle of goo and listen to him speak all night. Realising that Minho was waiting for some response, Jinki gulped and quickly nodded his head, his front teeth biting down hard into his lower lip, somehow reminding Minho of a rabbit. “Okay, well.” Jinki told himself to breathe as Minho pulled him closer, arm firm around his waist, and he fervently wondered for the nth time what he had done to deserve this punishment. Clearly he had murdered children or done something horrific in a past life to be humiliated this way.
“Well, Jinki-hyung, just relax you’re much too tense,” Minho instructed, his hand reaching around to grope Jinki’s waist again, making the older boy’s brain turn to ice and crack completely. Jinki almost lost his balance, feet skating out in front from the way Minho’s hand touched his side. “Whoa, whoa.” Minho gripped him even tighter, just managing to stop him from falling over.
“No, this isn’t working,” Minho mused out loud. Jinki puffed his lower lip out. Well of course it isn’t working. He deflated like a balloon, the air squeezed rapidly out of him. You’re skating with me, Lee Jinki, the clumsy idiot. So no, of course it isn’t working. Jinki gripped the wall of the enclosure. Biting down into his lip, he started to inch along it trying to find the door.
“Hyung.” Before Jinki could find the door, he felt Minho’s hand touching his arm again. “I didn’t mean you should go, please, I want to help you.” Jinki turned, feeling his heart pounding as he looked up into those warm, soft brown eyes. He could lose himself in their shimmering depths, they were so beautiful. Slowly, Jinki found himself nodding, barely breathing when Minho’s large, warm hand gripped his tightly.
“Baby steps,” Minho grinned across at him, “I promise, I’ll keep you safe, just trust me.” He squeezed Jinki’s hand, making Jinki shiver from the touch. It was so hard, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not reason out why Minho was the one showing him around the rink. “Come on,” Minho smiled sweetly, tugging Jinki gently away from the safety barrier, “just move your feet like this,” he instructed and slowly got Jinki moving forward.
Jinki bit down on his lower lip, focussing completely on the simple instructions Minho gave him. His voice was like music in his ears and it was easy for him to concentrate. It took some time before Jinki even realised that they were gliding around the rink, Minho’s hand steady against his own. Shyly, he looked down at their hands, feeling his chest expand. Oh, his insides felt completely melted, his heart giddy with love. Jinki stared so much at their hands and at Minho’s side profile. It was so beautiful that he almost crashed into another skater, but Minho tugged him to the side and Jinki skidded across the ice, practically flying into Minho’s arms.
“O-oops,” Jinki mumbled against Minho’s chest, “I-I, uh,” he scrambled backwards, arms flying and legs moving too quickly. Jinki’s eyes widened in horror, he knew this was the moment that he was about to kill himself on the ice. “Oh, shit,” he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt himself lose balance, but before anything happened, he felt arms around his waist holding him up. “S-sorry, Minho-ssi,” Jinki mumbled out, his face felt scorched as if he had just sat in front of a raging fire.
“Don’t be sorry.” Minho had that look, the one that Jinki could not decipher, it confused him because it somehow made him think of rainbows and unicorns and dancing around gleefully, but it made no sense whatsoever. It was probably Minho’s “I want to laugh so badly, but must not laugh” face, not an expression of “Jinki-hyung, you are the most adorable thing ever”.
“It’s … fine,” Minho nodded his head, still grinning, “come on, let’s go around again.” Minho coaxed Jinki forward. “You’re getting better at this.” He nodded his head, looking like a proud father. “You’re having fun, aren’t you? I know you didn’t want to go skating with me, but it’s not so bad, is it?” Jinki was surprised to see how serious Minho looked, the way he bit his lip and eyed Jinki shyly.
“N-no, it’s fun!” Jinki managed a smile. It’s just my poor heart which can’t take this. Why are you so beautiful? Why are you here teasing me like this, making my stupid heart think there is a chance you like me? Jinki gulped, trying not to get too excited when Minho lead him away gently, one hand on his back to steady him before he reached for Jinki’s hand again, squeezing it warmly. Jinki suddenly wished they could stay like that, on the ice forever. It felt so perfect with Minho holding his hand.
*
to be continued... :c yeah fail place to end it lol.
♥ :c