Stay Out of the Deep End
Title: Stay Out of the Deep End
Author: mimi_oly
Rating: PG-13 (crude language, intense situations)
Focus/Pairing: bandfic/ninja!OTP
Wordcount: 1625
Disclaimer: The characters aren’t mine, the story is.
Prompt: Both
Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow." -Grey's Anatomy // Now or Never
September 5, 2010
“Hyung, come on! Get in here! Don’t be a pussy,” Minho teased. His wide smile was the only thing saving him from a reprimand for being disrespectful.
“I told you, I don’t like swimming pools,” growled Jonghyun. “What’s the point?” Jonghyun was willing to admit that now and again he enjoyed being pampered at the spa, or indulging in the manly camaraderie of the public bath. The seashore, of course, was scenic and relaxing, but an artificial body of still, chlorinated water held no appeal for him.
“Jonghyunnie, we need even teams,” called Jinki with a playful whine. Taemin stood by his side in the shallow end of the pool, bobbing up and down like a little kid.
“Two-on-two is even teams,” Jonghyun hollered from his chaise longue.
“Pussy!” shouted Kibum, who was floating on his back in the deep end next to Minho.
Whenever they had occasion to break into teams, they nearly always grouped the same way: Minho and Key on one side; and Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin on the other. Minho was clearly the most athletic and competitive of the group, which naturally made him captain of one team. Jinki, despite his reputation for clumsiness, had enviable coordination and reflexes, and surpassed Minho in terms of brute strength, so he captained the second team. Kibum had been an athlete in school and moved with a certain amount of grace, helping him compensate for his slow reaction time. Jonghyun and Taemin together…perhaps the kindest thing to say was that the usual two-on-three match-up was in no way unfair to the two-man team.
“Hyung, please?” Taemin cried across the pool, turning on the aegyo full blast. “We have to leave tonight. This is our last chance to play together.”
Sunset in Los Angeles was fast approaching, and they would soon be on the red-eye back to Korea with the rest of their company’s performers.
“Yah! Babo! Seize the day!” added Kibum, eyeing his friend a little more kindly than earlier.
Jonghyun looked at the four hopeful faces staring up at him from the pool. Taemin’s aegyo had him slowly morphing into something resembling a wet kitten, and so Jonghyun finally relented.
“Fine, but the next one of you tools who calls me ‘pussy’ gets my left foot up his ass, all right?”
The four in the pool cheered as Jonghyun slouched his way around the deck and then eased into the shallow end of the pool next to the decorative waterfall.
“First team to 15 points?” called out Minho, holding the inflatable beach ball aloft.
Jinki, Jonghyun and Taemin nodded their assent to the rules and lifted their hands high, ready to receive Minho’s serve, which floated straight to Jonghyun, who bumped it to Jinki, who drilled it right back between Minho and Kibum. The three-man team high-fived each other and took possession of the ball.
The friendly game continued with the exuberant members splashing and dunking each other between rallies until the score was tied at 13 points each. Kibum served the ball to Taemin, who passed it wildly toward Jonghyun.
The ball was sailing toward the waterfall just beyond his reach, so Jonghyun lunged with all his might toward the plunging sheet of water, losing his footing in the process. He missed the ball and was swept under the surface of the pool, pounded down toward the bottom by the steady current from the waterfall.
Jonghyun wasn’t a swimmer. As the water swirled around him in the fading light of dusk, he couldn’t tell up from down. He panicked and thrashed violently as he came to the horrifying realization that he was out of air.
In an instant, images began to flash through his mind.
”Jongji, keep an eye on your little brother, and Jonghyun, mind hyung and stay out of the deep end.”
He didn’t mean to go into the deep end, but the ball got away from him. Suddenly he lost his footing as the bottom dropped out from under him.
“Hyung! Help me!”
Black water churned and boiled around him as he kicked and tried to get to the surface. Clawing hands grabbed at him. It felt like they were dragging him deeper, and so he fought back.
* * * * *
Jinki sputtered and wheezed as he pulled Jonghyun’s unconscious body into his arms and toward the edge of the pool. The other three helped him roll Jonghyun out of the water onto the deck.
Jinki quickly took charge. “Minho, start rescue breathing. Kibum, call manager hyung and tell him to get a medic. Translate for him if you have to. Taemin, get all the towels. We have to keep him warm,” Jinki directed. As he caught his breath, he silently thanked the junior high school coach who had insisted that all his swimmers know basic life-saving skills.
“I’ll take over. Check his pulse,” Jinki ordered gently, patting Minho on the back.
Minho placed one hand on Jonghyun’s wrist, and the other on his neck. “Got it,” Minho responded. “It’s steady.”
The seconds ticked by as Jinki shared his breath with his friend. He was ready to ask Minho to take over again when he felt Jonghyun stir beneath him. He pulled his face away just before the smaller man began to cough.
“Thank God,” Taemin sighed, his voice barely a squeak.
Kibum arrived with the medic, who shooed Jonghyun’s friends away as he administered oxygen to the man who lay quivering on the pool deck.
“Hyung,” Taemin gasped, reaching for Jinki, “you’re bleeding!”
* * * * *
Jonghyun leaned back into the cushy pillows of his huge hotel bed, his head resting against Minho’s chest. Kibum held his hand, and Jinki and Taemin sat entwined beside him. Half-empty take-away containers littered the foot of the bed. Their manager was in the next room, on the phone with Jonghyun’s mother.
“Jonghyunnie, do you wanna talk about it?” asked Jinki softly.
Four pairs of damp, bloodshot eyes sought out their broken-hearted friend, who nodded his head almost imperceptibly.
“Jongji was my hyung,” he whispered sadly. His tears continued their silent path down his cheeks.
Jinki wrapped his bandaged arms more tightly around Taemin when the maknae began crying again.
“I can remember it all now,” Jonghyun began slowly, his voice small and fragile. “My family was invited to a big party. It was at the company president’s house -- my dad’s boss. It was a big house, like a mansion. There were gardens full of trees and flowers, and a really huge swimming pool. I’d never been anywhere so fancy. People were everywhere, so many of them. I was running all over the garden with some other kids, and I got really hot. I begged my mom to let me go in the pool. She made hyung go with me, to make sure I didn’t get into trouble…but I did.”
Kibum and Jinki were openly weeping now, taking on Jonghyun’s bereavement as their own, mourning the loss of a boy they’d never had the chance to know, and the brothers they’d never had the chance to love.
Jonghyun broke down and sobbed into Minho’s chest. “I didn’t mean to do it,” he cried. “I was just trying to get my ball back, you know?” He was pleading for understanding. “But I went into the deep end. Jongji hyung came to save me, but…”
Minho clutched Jonghyun as tightly as he dared while Kibum stroked his hair.
“By the time the adults knew something was wrong, it was too late,” Jonghyun choked out. “Hyung saved me, but he drowned.”
Even stoic Minho was in tears now. He thought of Minseok hyung and imagined how his childhood would have been different without his beloved big brother looking out for him.
Jonghyun’s friends pressed close to him, and he felt the comfort of many hands patting and caressing him as the raw wound of freshly remembered grief began to heal.
“Hyung, what happened to your family?” asked Kibum timidly. “Why haven’t you ever told us this before?”
“I think I made myself forget him,” Jonghyun admitted miserably. “My father couldn’t accept Jongji hyung’s death. He started drinking. My mother thought it might help to put away his pictures and let my father pretend that Jongji hyung had never existed.”
Four pairs of eyes exchanged looks of dismay.
“And it was all my fault,” he finished in a whisper.
A chorus of “No, you were just a little kid…it was a horrible accident…you can’t blame yourself,” erupted all around Jonghyun, and once again the hands were there to soothe him.
“Jonghyunnie,” Jinki murmured, patting his friend’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry for what happened. Please let us help you.”
“Tell us about him,” Kibum suggested tenderly, “and then we can all remember him together.”
* * * * *
The exhausted friends settled into their seats for the long flight home. Taemin cuddled against Jinki, who ran his hand through the maknae’s hair. Jonghyun was tucked in between Minho and Kibum in the row in front of them.
Jonghyun was starting to drift off to sleep when he heard Jinki’s soothing voice drift forward.
So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
Jonghyun’s thoughts turned to the beautiful girl he’d been exchanging text messages with for the last month.
Minho and Kibum heard Jinki’s soft crooning and locked eyes across Jonghyun until their faces shared the same soft blush.
Taemin reached for Jinki’s bandaged hand and stroked it affectionately.
* * * * *
Five minds shared one thought that night When I get home, I’m not waiting any longer. I’m going to confess my feelings.
Author: mimi_oly
Rating: PG-13 (crude language, intense situations)
Focus/Pairing: bandfic/ninja!OTP
Wordcount: 1625
Disclaimer: The characters aren’t mine, the story is.
Prompt: Both
Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow." -Grey's Anatomy // Now or Never
September 5, 2010
“Hyung, come on! Get in here! Don’t be a pussy,” Minho teased. His wide smile was the only thing saving him from a reprimand for being disrespectful.
“I told you, I don’t like swimming pools,” growled Jonghyun. “What’s the point?” Jonghyun was willing to admit that now and again he enjoyed being pampered at the spa, or indulging in the manly camaraderie of the public bath. The seashore, of course, was scenic and relaxing, but an artificial body of still, chlorinated water held no appeal for him.
“Jonghyunnie, we need even teams,” called Jinki with a playful whine. Taemin stood by his side in the shallow end of the pool, bobbing up and down like a little kid.
“Two-on-two is even teams,” Jonghyun hollered from his chaise longue.
“Pussy!” shouted Kibum, who was floating on his back in the deep end next to Minho.
Whenever they had occasion to break into teams, they nearly always grouped the same way: Minho and Key on one side; and Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin on the other. Minho was clearly the most athletic and competitive of the group, which naturally made him captain of one team. Jinki, despite his reputation for clumsiness, had enviable coordination and reflexes, and surpassed Minho in terms of brute strength, so he captained the second team. Kibum had been an athlete in school and moved with a certain amount of grace, helping him compensate for his slow reaction time. Jonghyun and Taemin together…perhaps the kindest thing to say was that the usual two-on-three match-up was in no way unfair to the two-man team.
“Hyung, please?” Taemin cried across the pool, turning on the aegyo full blast. “We have to leave tonight. This is our last chance to play together.”
Sunset in Los Angeles was fast approaching, and they would soon be on the red-eye back to Korea with the rest of their company’s performers.
“Yah! Babo! Seize the day!” added Kibum, eyeing his friend a little more kindly than earlier.
Jonghyun looked at the four hopeful faces staring up at him from the pool. Taemin’s aegyo had him slowly morphing into something resembling a wet kitten, and so Jonghyun finally relented.
“Fine, but the next one of you tools who calls me ‘pussy’ gets my left foot up his ass, all right?”
The four in the pool cheered as Jonghyun slouched his way around the deck and then eased into the shallow end of the pool next to the decorative waterfall.
“First team to 15 points?” called out Minho, holding the inflatable beach ball aloft.
Jinki, Jonghyun and Taemin nodded their assent to the rules and lifted their hands high, ready to receive Minho’s serve, which floated straight to Jonghyun, who bumped it to Jinki, who drilled it right back between Minho and Kibum. The three-man team high-fived each other and took possession of the ball.
The friendly game continued with the exuberant members splashing and dunking each other between rallies until the score was tied at 13 points each. Kibum served the ball to Taemin, who passed it wildly toward Jonghyun.
The ball was sailing toward the waterfall just beyond his reach, so Jonghyun lunged with all his might toward the plunging sheet of water, losing his footing in the process. He missed the ball and was swept under the surface of the pool, pounded down toward the bottom by the steady current from the waterfall.
Jonghyun wasn’t a swimmer. As the water swirled around him in the fading light of dusk, he couldn’t tell up from down. He panicked and thrashed violently as he came to the horrifying realization that he was out of air.
In an instant, images began to flash through his mind.
”Jongji, keep an eye on your little brother, and Jonghyun, mind hyung and stay out of the deep end.”
He didn’t mean to go into the deep end, but the ball got away from him. Suddenly he lost his footing as the bottom dropped out from under him.
“Hyung! Help me!”
Black water churned and boiled around him as he kicked and tried to get to the surface. Clawing hands grabbed at him. It felt like they were dragging him deeper, and so he fought back.
* * * * *
Jinki sputtered and wheezed as he pulled Jonghyun’s unconscious body into his arms and toward the edge of the pool. The other three helped him roll Jonghyun out of the water onto the deck.
Jinki quickly took charge. “Minho, start rescue breathing. Kibum, call manager hyung and tell him to get a medic. Translate for him if you have to. Taemin, get all the towels. We have to keep him warm,” Jinki directed. As he caught his breath, he silently thanked the junior high school coach who had insisted that all his swimmers know basic life-saving skills.
“I’ll take over. Check his pulse,” Jinki ordered gently, patting Minho on the back.
Minho placed one hand on Jonghyun’s wrist, and the other on his neck. “Got it,” Minho responded. “It’s steady.”
The seconds ticked by as Jinki shared his breath with his friend. He was ready to ask Minho to take over again when he felt Jonghyun stir beneath him. He pulled his face away just before the smaller man began to cough.
“Thank God,” Taemin sighed, his voice barely a squeak.
Kibum arrived with the medic, who shooed Jonghyun’s friends away as he administered oxygen to the man who lay quivering on the pool deck.
“Hyung,” Taemin gasped, reaching for Jinki, “you’re bleeding!”
* * * * *
Jonghyun leaned back into the cushy pillows of his huge hotel bed, his head resting against Minho’s chest. Kibum held his hand, and Jinki and Taemin sat entwined beside him. Half-empty take-away containers littered the foot of the bed. Their manager was in the next room, on the phone with Jonghyun’s mother.
“Jonghyunnie, do you wanna talk about it?” asked Jinki softly.
Four pairs of damp, bloodshot eyes sought out their broken-hearted friend, who nodded his head almost imperceptibly.
“Jongji was my hyung,” he whispered sadly. His tears continued their silent path down his cheeks.
Jinki wrapped his bandaged arms more tightly around Taemin when the maknae began crying again.
“I can remember it all now,” Jonghyun began slowly, his voice small and fragile. “My family was invited to a big party. It was at the company president’s house -- my dad’s boss. It was a big house, like a mansion. There were gardens full of trees and flowers, and a really huge swimming pool. I’d never been anywhere so fancy. People were everywhere, so many of them. I was running all over the garden with some other kids, and I got really hot. I begged my mom to let me go in the pool. She made hyung go with me, to make sure I didn’t get into trouble…but I did.”
Kibum and Jinki were openly weeping now, taking on Jonghyun’s bereavement as their own, mourning the loss of a boy they’d never had the chance to know, and the brothers they’d never had the chance to love.
Jonghyun broke down and sobbed into Minho’s chest. “I didn’t mean to do it,” he cried. “I was just trying to get my ball back, you know?” He was pleading for understanding. “But I went into the deep end. Jongji hyung came to save me, but…”
Minho clutched Jonghyun as tightly as he dared while Kibum stroked his hair.
“By the time the adults knew something was wrong, it was too late,” Jonghyun choked out. “Hyung saved me, but he drowned.”
Even stoic Minho was in tears now. He thought of Minseok hyung and imagined how his childhood would have been different without his beloved big brother looking out for him.
Jonghyun’s friends pressed close to him, and he felt the comfort of many hands patting and caressing him as the raw wound of freshly remembered grief began to heal.
“Hyung, what happened to your family?” asked Kibum timidly. “Why haven’t you ever told us this before?”
“I think I made myself forget him,” Jonghyun admitted miserably. “My father couldn’t accept Jongji hyung’s death. He started drinking. My mother thought it might help to put away his pictures and let my father pretend that Jongji hyung had never existed.”
Four pairs of eyes exchanged looks of dismay.
“And it was all my fault,” he finished in a whisper.
A chorus of “No, you were just a little kid…it was a horrible accident…you can’t blame yourself,” erupted all around Jonghyun, and once again the hands were there to soothe him.
“Jonghyunnie,” Jinki murmured, patting his friend’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry for what happened. Please let us help you.”
“Tell us about him,” Kibum suggested tenderly, “and then we can all remember him together.”
* * * * *
The exhausted friends settled into their seats for the long flight home. Taemin cuddled against Jinki, who ran his hand through the maknae’s hair. Jonghyun was tucked in between Minho and Kibum in the row in front of them.
Jonghyun was starting to drift off to sleep when he heard Jinki’s soothing voice drift forward.
So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
Jonghyun’s thoughts turned to the beautiful girl he’d been exchanging text messages with for the last month.
Minho and Kibum heard Jinki’s soft crooning and locked eyes across Jonghyun until their faces shared the same soft blush.
Taemin reached for Jinki’s bandaged hand and stroked it affectionately.
* * * * *
Five minds shared one thought that night When I get home, I’m not waiting any longer. I’m going to confess my feelings.