Only fan service
Minho scanned the crowd, waiting patiently for that one train he was supposed to catch. The tall boy sighed and leaned against the rusty pillar; he closed his eyes and tried to imagine what better things he could be doing other than standing there. He could have been sleeping, eating, playing video games, reading a book, or playing soccer. But it’s not like he had a choice. Kibum, the standing “mother” of the group was too busy fussing over Taemin, the youngest, who had recently fallen ill. Kibum was fretting about how it could be swine flu, and that it would be better to try and prevent it before it got worse. The second oldest (and ironically the shortest, with the height of 5’3), Jong Hyun, had a scheduled event for that day as a special guest over at some radio station. That pretty much eliminated everyone in their famous five member boy group who was available at the time to pick up the oldest, their leader Jinki, from the train station. Jinki was coming from his hometown, where he stayed with his family while recovering from the infamous swine flu. Their manager was grumbling something about some family problems, and had pleaded with Minho to pick him up; in the end, Minho gave in and complied to the request, with their manager uttering a million thanks and the promise of barbecued pork before he left.
Minho really wanted nothing but to just enjoy his day off, but instead, he was stuck waiting in the train terminals, trying not to get noticed by the fan girls who could rabidly swarm over him in minutes if he got caught. Even though he was hidden in the shadows, his staggering height of 6’0 didn’t exactly help him much to “blend in” (It’s also the one thing Jong Hyun whines endlessly about. “It’s not fair” he says. “I’m older yet I’m shorter, but he’s the second youngest and he’s a friggin’ skyscraper!” he would pout cutely.). He gained more and more stares from people passing by as he remained in place like that. He stuck out above the usual crowd; but at least it made looking for Jinki a whole lot easier. And at least his hair wasn’t dyed some unusual colour that even a blind person could spot from a mile away. Like Taemin’s bright, red curly hair or Kibum’s orange blonde perm during their “Juliette” album promotion days, (which was around three months ago,) or Jong Hyun’s current blonde tipped bangs that fade out into gradients of light to dark brown as part of their new “Ring Ding Dong” concept. He was content with growing his hair down to his shoulder in chocolate brown waves. Besides him, the only person who hasn’t gotten a crazy hair colour was Jinki. Well, at least not yet. The promise of future concepts didn’t guarantee them a “safe” hair colour, but he enjoyed it while it lasted.
The train he’d been waiting for finally arrived, twenty minutes late. Minho sighed impatiently and detached himself from the pillar and headed towards the door, making sure he maintained some distance from the crowd of people pouring out of the train. Jinki would find him; he wasn’t that hard to spot. To his horror, Jinki came out chatting with a girl, most likely a fan, and what struck him the most was that Jinki didn’t even bother disguising himself. Probably because he thought that their manager would pick them up and he didn’t have to worry about it; but now they had a problem. Another thing was that Jinki was wearing that hideous rainbow tie-dyed, sleeveless shirt from their Juliette days as if he was just screaming for attention. Minho expected someone like Kibum to do something like that, but even Kibum would cover himself up in layers and travel discreetly whenever he went out. Jinki, on the other hand, pretty much just demanded attention. Minho facepalmed himself; knowing the leader, Jinki probably didn’t even realize that he stood out so much. Minho inched his way slowly towards the clueless twenty year old, hoping he would notice. Jinki looked up once, twice, but continued chatting with the girl. Minho sighed and took another step forward; Jinki stopped, looked up, and frowned.
“Can I help you, sir?” Jinki inquired, and Minho cringed at the question. Sometimes, he really just couldn’t believe how dense Jinki was. For someone who graduated at the top of his high school in terms of academics, he was really slow at times. Minho said nothing, but he lifted his sunglasses up an inch, revealing his eyes. He was sure Jinki didn’t miss that. No one would miss Minho’s large, doe-like eyes. Jinki’s face lit up when he recognized his younger band mate and flashed that signature grin of his. “Minho, it’s you!” Jinki squealed in delight and jumped into the taller boy’s arms. Minho stepped back a bit, falling off balance with Jinki suddenly throwing his weight on him, but soon regained his composure. Minho patted the older one’s back soothingly, laughing at how he seemed like he didn’t want to let go. This is just fan service, Minho reminded himself. It’s only fan service. The girl Jinki was talking to earlier was watching the whole thing with wide eyes. Minho was glad that he was doing his job right.
“I missed you guys! Is anyone else here? Where’s manager-nim?” Jinki finally pulled away and looked around, looking for signs of the others. He held Minho’s hand tenderly in his and jumped around, trying to look past Minho.
“No, hyung, it’s just me. Manager-nim had to take care of some family issues, so he asked me to pick you up. But he promised to take me out for some meat barbecue when he comes back. I’ll take you too, if you want.” Minho offered with a smile.
“No, thanks. My mother fed me a lot back home, I kind of miss vegetables. “Jinki smiled wholeheartedly. “So Kibum, Jong Hyun, and Taemin aren’t here?” Jinki asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice, and Minho patted his head.
“No, they’re not here. Taemin’s home sick and Kibum…well, he’s being Kibum, fussing over the magnae and everything.” Minho laughed slightly, and Jinki frowned.
“Oh. Did I get Taemin sick? I’m terrible.” Jinki buried his face in his palms, but Minho patted his back reassuringly.
“No, hyung, it’s not your fault. It’s been going around.” He said soothingly into the other’s ear, and Jinki nodded, peeling off his hands from his face.
“I-I guess you’re right. Where’s Jong Hyun, then?”
“He’s at a recording at some radio station. He said he’ll pick us up after his recording, though. So we just have to stay hidden till then.” Minho nodded surely. He caught the swooning glance of the fan from earlier, and Minho pointed over to her with his eyes. Jinki turned around and grinned.
“Oh, this is Yuri-ah. She’s a fan of us; she kept me company on the way here.” Jinki nodded enthusiastically as he pushed Minho forward. “Look Yuri-ah, its Minho!” Jinki grinned, and the fan’s face flushed an unhealthy shade of red. Minho flashed his charismatic grin (the one that earned him the nickname “Flaming charisma”), and the girl looked like she was about to explode. “Yuri-ah, breathe.” Jinki said slowly, demonstrating how to take in deep breaths. The girl nodded her head and did as she was told.
“C-can I take a picture with you guys?” She asked shyly, almost hesitantly. The two boys immediately agreed. Minho figured that the faster they got rid of her, the faster he could go home and play Mario Kart. Jinki was just always happy to please their fans, being the leader and all.
“Oh, wait, hyung, let’s cover up this hideous shirt first, shall we? I don’t even know why you’re wearing this. If Kibum or coordi-noona sees you walking around like this, you’re dead meat.” Minho casually took off his hooded jacket and placed it over Jinki and zipped it up all the way, making sure the entire rainbow tie-dye shirt was hidden. Minho was left with a plain blue pullover, which still looked good on him either way. Yuri was close to hyperventilating from just watching the two of them, and Jinki decided that they should take the picture before she falls over and have some sort of heart attack, or even worse, scream. Yuri took out her camera phone and handed it over to Minho (and she probably has no intention of ever letting anyone else hold that phone), who gladly took it.
“Say kimchi!” Minho declared, and the three of them smiled for the camera. Minho handed the phone back to the girl and she bowed a million times in thanks, face still flushed red. The simple flash had attracted more than enough attention they wanted, and Jinki tugged at Minho’s sleeve to point that out. Minho scanned the area around them; it was filled with more girls that he remembered seeing earlier.
“I think we better head out soon…” Jinki said cautiously, seeing as more people continued to gather around them, whispering.
“Yeah, we better get going.” Minho immediately grabbed Jinki’s hand and started walking briskly. The two boys didn’t need to turn their heads to see that the fans were probably following them. Soon, their brisk walking had turned into a jog, which then developed into running. Minho was fine, but Jinki struggled to keep up. Minho slowed his pace down a bit when he saw the leader almost stumbling on his attempt to match Minho’s pace. “Sorry, Hyung.” Minho smiled briefly at Jinki, who was sparkling, now drenched in sweat. Jinki flashed him an “it’s okay” grin, and Minho grabbed the older one’s hand in his, flesh sinking into that soft, tofu-white skin of Jinki’s. Minho smiled at how befitting Jinki’s nickname was: Dubu. Minho felt his heart twinge, maybe even flutter a little bit; the tighter he grasped Jinki’s hand in his, the more he wished that they were running through a field of flowers together (or some other kind of sappy shit like that) instead of being chased by rabid fan girls. But he knew that everything was mere fan service. Sometimes he really wished it was more than just that.
--
“Why. Didn’t anyone inform me of this?! I would have come over there and picked him up if you guys asked!” Kibum fumed, fussing over Minho and Jinki’s sweat-drenched appearances. Jong Hyun sat on the sofa, head buried in his hands as if to say “I’m not in the mood for one of Kibum’s lectures”. The blonde lifted his head up and glared at Minho and Jinki; Jinki shuddered, feeling the murderous intent of Jong Hyun’s glare. “And Jong Hyun,” Kibum turned to the blonde, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Why the hell were you taking so long in the radio station when you knew you had to pick them up?!”
“Oh, and this is my fault now?! Of course things turn back to me, don’t they always?! ”Jong Hyun yelled back, who was always in the mood to say something back to Kibum’s constant bitching at him. (“These two show off their friendship in really weird ways. Always bickering at each other.” Minho would shake his head at their display. “And Kibum never addresses Jong Hyun as “hyung” even though Jong Hyun is a year older than him; but Jong Hyun never seems to mind. I get kind of irritated sometimes that he doesn’t call me hyung, either.” Jinki would add in.)
“Well if you had gotten there earlier, maybe they wouldn’t have needed to-”
“It’s okay, Kibum. Minho and I ran home.” Jinki added in bluntly, and Jong Hyun face palmed himself; the leader wasn’t exactly helping.
“You two ran all the way here?! Well, if you really couldn’t stand there and wait patiently, you could have at least called a taxi or…something!” Kibum continued to yell, as he proceeded to unzip Jinki’s jacket. Minho’s eyes widened, and he tried to distract Kibum from doing so, but the persistent umma pushed him out of the way. “What’s your problem, Minho? What don’t you want me to see-oh my god.” Kibum gaped like a fish out of water at Jinki’s shirt. Minho winced at how the sweat made the shirt look ten times more hideous then when Jinki had stepped off the train. Jong Hyun peered from behind Kibum and scrunched up his face in distaste.
“Ooh, that’s bad. I didn’t think I’d ever see that thing again.” The blonde commented snidely, rolling his eyes at how Jinki was seemingly performing another one of his sangtaes.
“What’s wrong?” Jinki tilted his head to the side, scratching the back of his head innocently. Frankly, he didn’t see anything wrong with the rainbow tie-dye.
“That shirt. I thought I burned that! Seriously, I think Juliette was the worst concept our coordi-noonas came up with.” Kibum crossed his arms across his chest and bit his bottom lip, examining how bad Jinki looked.
“What’s wrong with it? I think it’s fine.” Jinki smiled.
“Yeah, if you’re a hippie in the sixties smoking pot or something! Seriously, take it off!” Kibum practically ripped off the jacket and tried to take Jinki’s shirt off, but the eldest ran away before Kibum could do so.
“No way! This is my lucky shirt!”
“You guys, Taemin will wake up if you keep this up.” Minho tried to warn them, but his efforts were fruitless. Jong Hyun grinned at the tall one as if to say “let them be”, and Minho sighed.
“I’ll trade you any of my other shirts for that one if you let me throw it out.” Kibum ran feverishly after Jinki, and Minho and Jong Hyun watched in amusement as the two ran after each other. Sooner or later, they all knew Jinki was going to give in.
“No!” Jinki panted, and it was due time before Kibum had already pinned Jinki on the ground.
“Give. Me. The. Shirt.” Kibum said through gritted teeth, pinning Jinki’s arms down. Jinki whimpered before he finally agreed, and Kibum smiled as he gladly got off. “I’ll go get you a new shirt, I’ll be right back.” Kibum smiled deviously, and skipped towards their room. Everyone was frozen in place, wondering what Kibum had planned for Jinki to wear. Jinki let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Kibum had brought out a normal looking T shirt, and gladly took it from him. “Now go change and give me that ugly shirt back.” Kibum said sternly, and Jinki stumbled up to his feet and ran straight to the bathroom. “And as for you,” Kibum turned to Minho, who gulped and waited for his penalty. “Go change after Jinki’s done. We don’t want you to get sick too.” Kibum patted the tall one’s shoulder and turned away. Jong Hyun let out a breath of disbelief.
“What, you’re not gonna yell at him or anything?!?” Jong Hyun ran after Kibum, who shrugged and smiled at Minho.
“I guess I have a softer spot for the younger ones.” Kibum laughed softly, almost teasingly. Jinki exited the washroom and hesitantly handed over the pile of soggy rainbow clothing, which Kibum had tossed in the garbage bin with a disgusted face. Jinki whimpered and clung onto Kibum’s arm when the shirt entered the garbage, and Kibum patted Jinki’s head, which was a mess of messy, tangled, auburn locks, as if to say “it’s okay.”
“Is this the reality you wanted?!” Jong Hyun turned to the camera crew, who had been behind them filming them for their new upcoming reality show. Jong Hyun sighed when everyone seemed to ignore him. Kibum was still standing by the garbage can, Jinki hovering closely behind him as if asking for something else in return for disposing of his “lucky” shirt. Minho walked past quietly, not saying a word. He was afraid that if he did more, that the camera would catch something. That was the last thing he wanted to happen. Instead, he gave of his best “I’m jealous” vibe as he passed Kibum and Jinki, which didn’t go unnoticed. Kibum snapped his head to the side and caught a glimpse of Minho. He shot the younger boy a confused look, before he tugged at Jinki’s arm.
“Come on, Jinki. I’ll make you some fried chicken.” Kibum offered.
“Really?!? Okay!” Jinki’s eyes sparkled, as he smiled like some love-struck teenager. Any mention of the word “chicken” always perked up the leader. It was clear to everyone that it was his weakness, just like how kryptonite is to superman. (“Jinki-hyung was really happy that we got to film the chicken CF for Mexicana chicken.” Taemin commented one time. “Happy?! He was ecstatic! Ballistic! He was spazzing out!” Kibum had cut in, and Jong Hyun pushed him away. “Kibum, we get it.” He sighed impatiently.)
The directors were pleased; this reality show will certainly guarantee them high ratings. He urged the boys to keep on doing what they were doing, and Minho shook his head as he entered the bathroom.
Oh, the things we do for fan service.
--
Minho really wanted nothing but to just enjoy his day off, but instead, he was stuck waiting in the train terminals, trying not to get noticed by the fan girls who could rabidly swarm over him in minutes if he got caught. Even though he was hidden in the shadows, his staggering height of 6’0 didn’t exactly help him much to “blend in” (It’s also the one thing Jong Hyun whines endlessly about. “It’s not fair” he says. “I’m older yet I’m shorter, but he’s the second youngest and he’s a friggin’ skyscraper!” he would pout cutely.). He gained more and more stares from people passing by as he remained in place like that. He stuck out above the usual crowd; but at least it made looking for Jinki a whole lot easier. And at least his hair wasn’t dyed some unusual colour that even a blind person could spot from a mile away. Like Taemin’s bright, red curly hair or Kibum’s orange blonde perm during their “Juliette” album promotion days, (which was around three months ago,) or Jong Hyun’s current blonde tipped bangs that fade out into gradients of light to dark brown as part of their new “Ring Ding Dong” concept. He was content with growing his hair down to his shoulder in chocolate brown waves. Besides him, the only person who hasn’t gotten a crazy hair colour was Jinki. Well, at least not yet. The promise of future concepts didn’t guarantee them a “safe” hair colour, but he enjoyed it while it lasted.
The train he’d been waiting for finally arrived, twenty minutes late. Minho sighed impatiently and detached himself from the pillar and headed towards the door, making sure he maintained some distance from the crowd of people pouring out of the train. Jinki would find him; he wasn’t that hard to spot. To his horror, Jinki came out chatting with a girl, most likely a fan, and what struck him the most was that Jinki didn’t even bother disguising himself. Probably because he thought that their manager would pick them up and he didn’t have to worry about it; but now they had a problem. Another thing was that Jinki was wearing that hideous rainbow tie-dyed, sleeveless shirt from their Juliette days as if he was just screaming for attention. Minho expected someone like Kibum to do something like that, but even Kibum would cover himself up in layers and travel discreetly whenever he went out. Jinki, on the other hand, pretty much just demanded attention. Minho facepalmed himself; knowing the leader, Jinki probably didn’t even realize that he stood out so much. Minho inched his way slowly towards the clueless twenty year old, hoping he would notice. Jinki looked up once, twice, but continued chatting with the girl. Minho sighed and took another step forward; Jinki stopped, looked up, and frowned.
“Can I help you, sir?” Jinki inquired, and Minho cringed at the question. Sometimes, he really just couldn’t believe how dense Jinki was. For someone who graduated at the top of his high school in terms of academics, he was really slow at times. Minho said nothing, but he lifted his sunglasses up an inch, revealing his eyes. He was sure Jinki didn’t miss that. No one would miss Minho’s large, doe-like eyes. Jinki’s face lit up when he recognized his younger band mate and flashed that signature grin of his. “Minho, it’s you!” Jinki squealed in delight and jumped into the taller boy’s arms. Minho stepped back a bit, falling off balance with Jinki suddenly throwing his weight on him, but soon regained his composure. Minho patted the older one’s back soothingly, laughing at how he seemed like he didn’t want to let go. This is just fan service, Minho reminded himself. It’s only fan service. The girl Jinki was talking to earlier was watching the whole thing with wide eyes. Minho was glad that he was doing his job right.
“I missed you guys! Is anyone else here? Where’s manager-nim?” Jinki finally pulled away and looked around, looking for signs of the others. He held Minho’s hand tenderly in his and jumped around, trying to look past Minho.
“No, hyung, it’s just me. Manager-nim had to take care of some family issues, so he asked me to pick you up. But he promised to take me out for some meat barbecue when he comes back. I’ll take you too, if you want.” Minho offered with a smile.
“No, thanks. My mother fed me a lot back home, I kind of miss vegetables. “Jinki smiled wholeheartedly. “So Kibum, Jong Hyun, and Taemin aren’t here?” Jinki asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice, and Minho patted his head.
“No, they’re not here. Taemin’s home sick and Kibum…well, he’s being Kibum, fussing over the magnae and everything.” Minho laughed slightly, and Jinki frowned.
“Oh. Did I get Taemin sick? I’m terrible.” Jinki buried his face in his palms, but Minho patted his back reassuringly.
“No, hyung, it’s not your fault. It’s been going around.” He said soothingly into the other’s ear, and Jinki nodded, peeling off his hands from his face.
“I-I guess you’re right. Where’s Jong Hyun, then?”
“He’s at a recording at some radio station. He said he’ll pick us up after his recording, though. So we just have to stay hidden till then.” Minho nodded surely. He caught the swooning glance of the fan from earlier, and Minho pointed over to her with his eyes. Jinki turned around and grinned.
“Oh, this is Yuri-ah. She’s a fan of us; she kept me company on the way here.” Jinki nodded enthusiastically as he pushed Minho forward. “Look Yuri-ah, its Minho!” Jinki grinned, and the fan’s face flushed an unhealthy shade of red. Minho flashed his charismatic grin (the one that earned him the nickname “Flaming charisma”), and the girl looked like she was about to explode. “Yuri-ah, breathe.” Jinki said slowly, demonstrating how to take in deep breaths. The girl nodded her head and did as she was told.
“C-can I take a picture with you guys?” She asked shyly, almost hesitantly. The two boys immediately agreed. Minho figured that the faster they got rid of her, the faster he could go home and play Mario Kart. Jinki was just always happy to please their fans, being the leader and all.
“Oh, wait, hyung, let’s cover up this hideous shirt first, shall we? I don’t even know why you’re wearing this. If Kibum or coordi-noona sees you walking around like this, you’re dead meat.” Minho casually took off his hooded jacket and placed it over Jinki and zipped it up all the way, making sure the entire rainbow tie-dye shirt was hidden. Minho was left with a plain blue pullover, which still looked good on him either way. Yuri was close to hyperventilating from just watching the two of them, and Jinki decided that they should take the picture before she falls over and have some sort of heart attack, or even worse, scream. Yuri took out her camera phone and handed it over to Minho (and she probably has no intention of ever letting anyone else hold that phone), who gladly took it.
“Say kimchi!” Minho declared, and the three of them smiled for the camera. Minho handed the phone back to the girl and she bowed a million times in thanks, face still flushed red. The simple flash had attracted more than enough attention they wanted, and Jinki tugged at Minho’s sleeve to point that out. Minho scanned the area around them; it was filled with more girls that he remembered seeing earlier.
“I think we better head out soon…” Jinki said cautiously, seeing as more people continued to gather around them, whispering.
“Yeah, we better get going.” Minho immediately grabbed Jinki’s hand and started walking briskly. The two boys didn’t need to turn their heads to see that the fans were probably following them. Soon, their brisk walking had turned into a jog, which then developed into running. Minho was fine, but Jinki struggled to keep up. Minho slowed his pace down a bit when he saw the leader almost stumbling on his attempt to match Minho’s pace. “Sorry, Hyung.” Minho smiled briefly at Jinki, who was sparkling, now drenched in sweat. Jinki flashed him an “it’s okay” grin, and Minho grabbed the older one’s hand in his, flesh sinking into that soft, tofu-white skin of Jinki’s. Minho smiled at how befitting Jinki’s nickname was: Dubu. Minho felt his heart twinge, maybe even flutter a little bit; the tighter he grasped Jinki’s hand in his, the more he wished that they were running through a field of flowers together (or some other kind of sappy shit like that) instead of being chased by rabid fan girls. But he knew that everything was mere fan service. Sometimes he really wished it was more than just that.
--
“Why. Didn’t anyone inform me of this?! I would have come over there and picked him up if you guys asked!” Kibum fumed, fussing over Minho and Jinki’s sweat-drenched appearances. Jong Hyun sat on the sofa, head buried in his hands as if to say “I’m not in the mood for one of Kibum’s lectures”. The blonde lifted his head up and glared at Minho and Jinki; Jinki shuddered, feeling the murderous intent of Jong Hyun’s glare. “And Jong Hyun,” Kibum turned to the blonde, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Why the hell were you taking so long in the radio station when you knew you had to pick them up?!”
“Oh, and this is my fault now?! Of course things turn back to me, don’t they always?! ”Jong Hyun yelled back, who was always in the mood to say something back to Kibum’s constant bitching at him. (“These two show off their friendship in really weird ways. Always bickering at each other.” Minho would shake his head at their display. “And Kibum never addresses Jong Hyun as “hyung” even though Jong Hyun is a year older than him; but Jong Hyun never seems to mind. I get kind of irritated sometimes that he doesn’t call me hyung, either.” Jinki would add in.)
“Well if you had gotten there earlier, maybe they wouldn’t have needed to-”
“It’s okay, Kibum. Minho and I ran home.” Jinki added in bluntly, and Jong Hyun face palmed himself; the leader wasn’t exactly helping.
“You two ran all the way here?! Well, if you really couldn’t stand there and wait patiently, you could have at least called a taxi or…something!” Kibum continued to yell, as he proceeded to unzip Jinki’s jacket. Minho’s eyes widened, and he tried to distract Kibum from doing so, but the persistent umma pushed him out of the way. “What’s your problem, Minho? What don’t you want me to see-oh my god.” Kibum gaped like a fish out of water at Jinki’s shirt. Minho winced at how the sweat made the shirt look ten times more hideous then when Jinki had stepped off the train. Jong Hyun peered from behind Kibum and scrunched up his face in distaste.
“Ooh, that’s bad. I didn’t think I’d ever see that thing again.” The blonde commented snidely, rolling his eyes at how Jinki was seemingly performing another one of his sangtaes.
“What’s wrong?” Jinki tilted his head to the side, scratching the back of his head innocently. Frankly, he didn’t see anything wrong with the rainbow tie-dye.
“That shirt. I thought I burned that! Seriously, I think Juliette was the worst concept our coordi-noonas came up with.” Kibum crossed his arms across his chest and bit his bottom lip, examining how bad Jinki looked.
“What’s wrong with it? I think it’s fine.” Jinki smiled.
“Yeah, if you’re a hippie in the sixties smoking pot or something! Seriously, take it off!” Kibum practically ripped off the jacket and tried to take Jinki’s shirt off, but the eldest ran away before Kibum could do so.
“No way! This is my lucky shirt!”
“You guys, Taemin will wake up if you keep this up.” Minho tried to warn them, but his efforts were fruitless. Jong Hyun grinned at the tall one as if to say “let them be”, and Minho sighed.
“I’ll trade you any of my other shirts for that one if you let me throw it out.” Kibum ran feverishly after Jinki, and Minho and Jong Hyun watched in amusement as the two ran after each other. Sooner or later, they all knew Jinki was going to give in.
“No!” Jinki panted, and it was due time before Kibum had already pinned Jinki on the ground.
“Give. Me. The. Shirt.” Kibum said through gritted teeth, pinning Jinki’s arms down. Jinki whimpered before he finally agreed, and Kibum smiled as he gladly got off. “I’ll go get you a new shirt, I’ll be right back.” Kibum smiled deviously, and skipped towards their room. Everyone was frozen in place, wondering what Kibum had planned for Jinki to wear. Jinki let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Kibum had brought out a normal looking T shirt, and gladly took it from him. “Now go change and give me that ugly shirt back.” Kibum said sternly, and Jinki stumbled up to his feet and ran straight to the bathroom. “And as for you,” Kibum turned to Minho, who gulped and waited for his penalty. “Go change after Jinki’s done. We don’t want you to get sick too.” Kibum patted the tall one’s shoulder and turned away. Jong Hyun let out a breath of disbelief.
“What, you’re not gonna yell at him or anything?!?” Jong Hyun ran after Kibum, who shrugged and smiled at Minho.
“I guess I have a softer spot for the younger ones.” Kibum laughed softly, almost teasingly. Jinki exited the washroom and hesitantly handed over the pile of soggy rainbow clothing, which Kibum had tossed in the garbage bin with a disgusted face. Jinki whimpered and clung onto Kibum’s arm when the shirt entered the garbage, and Kibum patted Jinki’s head, which was a mess of messy, tangled, auburn locks, as if to say “it’s okay.”
“Is this the reality you wanted?!” Jong Hyun turned to the camera crew, who had been behind them filming them for their new upcoming reality show. Jong Hyun sighed when everyone seemed to ignore him. Kibum was still standing by the garbage can, Jinki hovering closely behind him as if asking for something else in return for disposing of his “lucky” shirt. Minho walked past quietly, not saying a word. He was afraid that if he did more, that the camera would catch something. That was the last thing he wanted to happen. Instead, he gave of his best “I’m jealous” vibe as he passed Kibum and Jinki, which didn’t go unnoticed. Kibum snapped his head to the side and caught a glimpse of Minho. He shot the younger boy a confused look, before he tugged at Jinki’s arm.
“Come on, Jinki. I’ll make you some fried chicken.” Kibum offered.
“Really?!? Okay!” Jinki’s eyes sparkled, as he smiled like some love-struck teenager. Any mention of the word “chicken” always perked up the leader. It was clear to everyone that it was his weakness, just like how kryptonite is to superman. (“Jinki-hyung was really happy that we got to film the chicken CF for Mexicana chicken.” Taemin commented one time. “Happy?! He was ecstatic! Ballistic! He was spazzing out!” Kibum had cut in, and Jong Hyun pushed him away. “Kibum, we get it.” He sighed impatiently.)
The directors were pleased; this reality show will certainly guarantee them high ratings. He urged the boys to keep on doing what they were doing, and Minho shook his head as he entered the bathroom.
Oh, the things we do for fan service.
--