Title: Pen Pals
Author: sam_theninja24
Rating: PG (It has some cursing)
Pairings: 2min, (slight) Onkey
Genre: Romance, AU, Friendship
Summary: Minho finally gets to meet his pen pal of 5 years, Lee Taemin.
They were all sitting in the car now, and awkward silence filling the air. Taemin and Minho in the back, Kibum in the front driving. He wouldn’t allow Taemin to sit next to him because apparently he and Minho needed bonding time. Taemin wasn’t too happy with the way this was going so far… he knew bringing Key wasn’t the smartest thing to do. He closed his eyes, sighing heavily; maybe he could make this better somehow. He thought quietly for a moment, and then tapped Minho on the shoulder lightly. Minho turned from the window he was looking out of and smiled.
Taemin smiled back and laughed nervously, “Do you want to go out and get pizza tomorrow tonight? Then we could watch a movie together or something, maybe?” Minho’s brow furrowed, the gears in his head turning wildly.
“Nice play Shakespeare, he has no idea what the hell you just said.” Kibum laughed, rolling his eyes.
“Do you even know who Shakespeare is, hyung?”
“Does it even matter? I’m just pointing out the fact that he didn’t understand a word of what you were saying.” Kibum replied, smirking. Taemin kicked the back of Kibum’s seat, knowing that this irritated him beyond belief.
“Translate for me.” Kibum sighed and glanced back at Minho, who was still trying his best to translate what Taemin had asked.
“Don’t hurt yourself, buddy. He just wanted to know if you’d like to go get some pizza with him tomorrow and then catch a movie.” Minho nodded,
“Sounds cool, I’ll go.” Kibum went ahead and translated for Taemin’s sake.
“I’m assuming I’ll be going along as your personal translator, then?” He asked, chuckling. Taemin stuck his tongue out,
“Yes, you will! Don’t complain about it hyung!”
“Oh believe me I’m not, I have to make sure Minho doesn’t try and rape you.”
“Hyung! God almighty, don’t say stuff like that!”
The car pulled to a slow stop in front of Taemin’s house and Kibum pulled the keys out of the ignition and started to open his door,
“You are so easy to mess with, Taemin.” He laughed, hopping out of the car, Minho and Taemin soon following. Taemin noticed Minho standing beside the car, clueless as to what he should do next and ran over to him, grinning. He then walked towards the trunk, motioning for Minho to follow him. Minho soon got the idea and they both started unpacking his luggage. Taemin picked up the biggest thing, a large green duffle bag, trying to be as helpful as he possibly could. Heaving the strap over his shoulder, Taemin gave Minho a pained smile and began dragging himself and the bag inside the house. Minho covered his mouth trying as hard as he possibly could not to laugh at the younger boy’s struggle. He walked behind the and boy gently removed the duffle bag from Taemin’s shoulder, handing him something much smaller. Taemin blushed furiously and mumbled something along the lines of ‘thank you’. He then grabbed the bag, and ran inside as fast as he possibly could, leaving a puzzled Minho in his wake.
The second Taemin entered his house he threw himself on the couch, screaming into the nearest pillow. Kibum, who was in the kitchen cooking something for them came in the room and patted Taemin lightly on the back. He smoothed out his apron and said, sympathetically,
“Poor baby, so nervous around Minho. That’s how I was around Jinki until we got used to each other.” Taemin turned over and made a face at Kibum,
“You’re the one who made it this awkward… talking about rape and stuff… you’re such a creep.” Kibum snickered and walked over to Minho, who was now standing in the doorway trying his best to carry at least five things in his arms.
“Let me take some of that stuff for you Minho.” He said, smiling apologetically. Minho nodded desperately and dropped a couple of things for Kibum to carry. Picking them up, Kibum asked Minho to follow him and began walking away. Taemin then rushed after, carrying his small bag.
Minho had almost finished unpacking when he noticed just how badly he needed a shower. He lifted his shirt up and sniffed it, immediately recoiling at the strong smell. He quickly threw off the nasty shirt, making a mental note to apologize to Taemin later. He wouldn’t have let him hug him in the airport like that if he’d known just how crappy he smelled. Minho then grabbed the several toiletries he’d need and a towel, then headed in the direction of the bathroom.
xxXXXxx
Taemin was lying on the couch again; only this time he was watching TV. He had a wool blanket over him and was snuggling up against a pillow. The scent of Kibum’s beef stew was wafting in from the kitchen and Taemin lifted his head to smell it.
God, I love beef stew. He thought, closing his eyes and smiling slightly. He hopped of the couch and skipped into the kitchen.
“Hyung, when are we going to eat? I’m getting really hungry!” He asked, cheerfully, giving Kibum a quick hug.
“That hug was nice and all, but it’s not going to make me go any faster, Taeminnie.” Kibum replied, continuing to stir the stew.
“Why do you always assume I have hidden motives!?”
“Because you do. Now go tell Minho dinner’s in 5.” Taemin nodded, stomping out of the Kitchen and towards Minho’s new room. Noticing the door was closed; he knocked lightly.
“Minho hyung?” There was no answer. He turned the door handle and gently pushed the door open, peeking inside. Seeing no Minho, he slipped inside.
“Hyung?” He asked again, glancing around the room, stopping at the half-unpacked suitcase in the corner. He moved a little, hoping to maybe get a peek at what was inside. Not seeing anything, Taemin shuffled a little closer to the suitcase. Soon enough, he was standing in front of it. His curiosity taking over, he dug through the thin layer of clothes on the top. He stopped when he caught site of something poking out from underneath a piece of clothing. Checking his surroundings to make sure nobody was watching, he slid the object out from underneath the clothes.
A picture frame.
Seeing as it was upside-down, he flipped it over hoping to see whatever was in the picture.
“It’s not polite to dig through someone’s things when they’re not around.” Taemin froze, dropping the picture frame in surprise. It hit the carpet with a muffled thud. He slowly turned to face a stoic Minho, who was clad in nothing but a towel loosely wrapped around his waist. Taemin swallowed and blushed, looking down at his feet in shame.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, his voice cracking. He squeezed his eyes shut when his throat started to burn,
Oh god Taemin, don’t cry. Not now, not in front of Minho. Don’t be such a sissy, Lee Taemin! He ordered himself, grinding his teeth. He took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of the boy before him. Minho’s eyes narrowed,
“I never would have guessed you were that sort of person.” Taemin was on the verge of crying and he choked out another apology.
“Did you need to tell me something, or were you just snooping around?” Taemin could feel the tears, threatening to spill any second now.
“It’s almost time for dinner.” He muttered, running out of the room before Minho could say anymore to him.
xxXXXxx
Taemin ran into the kitchen, sobbing. He rubbed his eyes, trying his best to make the flood of tears stop. Kibum immediately stopped what he was doing and rushed over to the younger boy.
“Taemin what’s wrong?” He asked, worriedly. “Did you hurt yourself?” Taemin shook his head. “Lee Taemin, you tell me what’s wrong right now or I won’t take you out to get ice-cream for a whole month!” Taemin shook his head again (despite how much he would hate not getting his weekly ice-cream); Kibum would murder Minho if he told him anything. Kibum pulled the struggling boy into a hug, muttering comforting things until Taemin’s tears eventually stopped.
“Will you tell me now?” Taemin reluctantly nodded,
“Only if you promise not to get mad.”
“I’m not promising anything.”
“Promise!”
“Fine, fine! Now tell me what the hell happened!” Taemin took a deep breath and began to tell the story.
xxXXXxx
“Well now I know why that guy doesn’t have any friends.” Kibum stated matter-of-factly.
“Hyung… don’t be like that. I was digging through his stuff, he has all the right in the world to be angry with me.”
“Still, he was a little harsh and thanks to you, I seriously want to know what the picture was!” Taemin nodded sadly, he really had been hoping to make another friend finally, but if he kept digging through the guy’s stuff that would never happen. Obviously Kibum was going to be his one and only friend his entire life…
“I’m not going to be your one friend your entire life.”
“Why is it you can read my mind?”
“I’m the Almighty Key, what can’t I do?” Taemin giggled, Kibum could always cheer him up. “Now let’s go eat some dinner, Minho can come eat whenever he feels like it.” Taemin immediately sat down and began shoveling the stew into his mouth as fast as possible. The faster he finished and went to bed, the better.
“Eating fast isn’t going to help you avoid Minho, it’ll just make you fat. Eat your dinner like the polite child I raised you to be Taeminnie.” Said a smirking Kibum, beginning to eat his meal. Taemin looked up and replied between mouthfuls,
“You sound like my mom and since she’s not even home yet, I can eat my stew however I want.” Kibum just rolled his eyes and swallowed another spoonful of his stew, glancing up when Minho walked into the Kitchen.
“Um… would it be okay if I had some stew?” He asked, awkwardly.
“I don’t see why not.” Kibum replied, glancing at Taemin, who was now eating his stew even faster than before. Minho walked over to the pot on the stove and dished some into the bowl on the counter. He then set it on the table and sat down. The second he sat down, Taemin shot up.
“Taemin, sit down and talk to your pen pal.” Kibum said, glaring at the boy. Taemin looked at Kibum, a pleading look in his eyes. He then tried pouting a little bit, but when that didn’t work either, he reluctantly sat down. Kibum looked over at Minho, “So, do you have any friends back home?” Minho finished his spoonful of stew and replied,
“Yeah, his name is Jonghyun. I’ve known him since I was really little, kind of like you and Taemin.”
“Do you ever want to invite him over?” Minho chuckled in response,
“Well I don’t know, he’s been pretty busy lately with his millions of girlfriends.” Kibum gave him a skeptical look,
“Millions of girlfriends?” Minho nodded. Then answered, grinning,
“I guess you might call him a bit of a playboy.”
“Oh, I see.” Minho returned to eating his stew and soon was finished. He stood up and thanked Kibum for the stew.
“I think I should get to bed, the jet lag’s gonna kill me.” He glanced sideways at Taemin and asked, nervously,
“Hey Taemin? Can I talk with you for a minute?” Taemin gave Kibum a horrified look and squeaked out a small yes! He then stood up, rigid, and followed Minho to his room.
xxXXXxx
When the two walked into Minho’s room, Minho casually sat on his bed and lay down. The room filled with silence for a couple seconds until he broke it,
“I’m sorry for yelling at you like that.” Taemin looked down at his feet,
“I shouldn’t have dug through your things.” Minho nodded in agreement,
“Yeah, you really shouldn’t have.” Taemin flinched and began to shuffle towards the door, “Hey! I’m not done talking! I mean… wait?” Minho said, trying his best to smile. It came out looking more like a grimace though. He took a deep breath and hopped off the bed, walking over to stand in front of Taemin. “What I meant to say was… Please don’t leave.” He mumbled, quickly hugging the younger boy. Minho took another deep breath and continued, “I never have been good at making friends, most of the friends that I’ve had would move away or we’d get in fights and not be friends anymore. Jonghyun’s the only one who’s stuck by me all this time.” Taemin turned his head away and wiped his sweating palms off on the side of his pants.
“Taemin. Look at me.” Taemin immediately turned back. “I still want to be friends with you, though. Okay? So if you could just bear with me and how much of a jackass I can be, that would make me really happy Taemin.” Taemin stood for a second, motionless. Then he smiled,
“Of course I will.”
xxXXXxx
“And then he said he wanted to be my friend! And I was like- YES! And you know what else? He hug-”
“Slow down Taemin! You’ve been talking a billion miles an hour to me for almost 15 minutes now!” Taemin sighed, and spoke slowly into the phone this time.
“He said that he wants to be my friend!” Kibum nodded on the other end,
“I understood that much.”
“I’ll finally have another friend!” Taemin said skipping happily around his room and flinging himself onto his bed. “I’m gonna go now!” He said cheerfully into the phone. “Minho and I are gonna hang out later!” After Kibum had said his goodbyes, Taemin closed the phone and rolled around on his bed in joy. Then jumped up and dug through his clothes in search of something to wear.
xxXXXxx
“I’m glad you finally got yourself a new friend, now you won’t bug me all the time.” Minho chuckled in response.
“Well I’m gonna go, Jonghyun. Gotta go hang out with my new friend.”
“Not feeling the jealousy, Minho. Nice try though.”
“Oh well. Talk to you later, hyung.”
“Have fun.” Minho smiled,
“Oh, I bet you a million bucks I will.”
A/N: Just thought I’d say that I don’t know much about Korea at all & that the little Korean I know pretty much consists of Unnie & Hyung… and that’s about it. So that’s why they’re having beef stew, because I dunno any Korean foods really. Plus, beef stew is just delicious. :D Btw, sorry for the crappy ending… I didn’t really want to add they’re outing into this chapter b/c I want it to be a good start for the next one! :-)