SBB 2011 Entry #18: Puppets (2/3)

Jul 09, 2011 10:35

Title: Puppets
Pairing/Focus: Jonghyun/Onew, Key/girl!Taemin, onsided!Jonghyun/Minho
Rating: PG-13
Final word count: 23,530
Summary: Where death can't keep loved ones apart, a fox reaches beyond his natural boundaries, and a puppet master is not what he seems.

After waking up early that morning, Taeyeon and Kibum set out to just have a fun day. Taeyeon deemed it necessary for both of them. She wanted a good day to cheer her up, and she figured helping someone learn to speak was a good way to feel better about herself. Kibum was catching on quickly. It was very clear to her that he understood everything, but he for some reason just had a hard time saying them.

And that wasn’t the only strange thing she had noticed about him. He walked a little funny, and he did things resembling an animal every once in a while. Like he would sniff the air for no reason at all, he would growl slightly under his breath whenever someone passed by, and he looked around as if he were completely on guard. He definitely reminded Taeyeon of an animal guarding its territory.

“Is something wrong?” Taeyeon asked when he looked over his shoulder one more time. But Kibum just shook his head.

“No,” he answered simply before turning his full attention back to her. She didn’t miss the happy shine in his eyes when they fell on her face. She smiled and grabbed his hand so she could lace his fingers with hers.

“You’re an interesting person,” she commented with that smile of hers. “And even though you don’t say much yet, I still like you. Let’s go to the amusement park. I haven’t ridden on a Ferris wheel in a long time.” She didn’t wait for a response from Kibum. She just took off running, his hand still tangled with hers. He was forced to run with her on his wobbly legs.

She laughed as they ran, but even Kibum could understand that she was not happy. He silently promised to change that. He was going to make her happy no matter what it took. He wanted to see her genuinely smile more. He stumbled the whole way to the amusement park, barely keeping his feet below him. By the time he was inside the gate, he felt like he could run miles without Taeyeon keeping him going. But he still held onto her hand as she led him through the crowds towards the ride.

As a fox, Kibum had seen the rides before, but he never really knew what they were. He was increasingly excited as they approached the huge machine. The lights in particular caught his eye. They almost trapped him in a slight trance as they spun around and around. They waited in line and Taeyeon paid for their tickets.

After getting in the cart, Taeyeon took her seat and Kibum took his seat next to her, then the door was shut and they began to ascend into the air. Kibum held on nervously to anything he could get his hands on because he was taken by surprise. Taeyeon just laughed and took his hand.

“There’s no need to be scared,” she told him softly, and that one sentence was all it took for him to calm down. They went around a few times. Kibum found it as mesmerizing as the lights. He loved the way the scenes moved before his eyes. He could see everything for miles and then only the people on the ground, and then it would go around again and he could see for miles once more. It was as if a whole new world existed beyond what he had always known.

And then he looked at Taeyeon next him. She was crying, her free hand covering her mouth so that she wouldn’t make a sound. It broke Kibum’s heart to see her like that. He squeezed her hand tightly and leaned his head over to snuggle into her neck.

Taeyeon swore he reminded her of a cat as he rubbed his head on her neck. It was as if he were trying to show her his own brand of affection. He really was a strange person, but she didn’t necessarily find it a bad kind of strange. She just found him unique and interesting. But she did wonder what happened to him to make him unable to speak correctly or walk properly.

Finally, the cart slowed to a stop at the bottom and they got off a little slowly, relishing the feeling of flying for as long as they could. They spent a little longer at the amusement park - ate dinner, got dessert, rode some roller coasters - before they realized that night had fallen a long time ago. Taeyeon decided that the last thing they should do was go into a photo booth and take some pictures together. They printed two copies; one for Taeyeon, and one for Kibum. When they left the park, they walked together, hand in hand.

When they arrived at her front step, she hesitated at the door. She had her keys out, but she didn’t look like she wanted to go inside.

“Thank you for spending the day with me,” she muttered softly. She sounded like she was going to cry again.

“Don-n’t k-cry,” he begged. She looked up at his face with wide eyes. There were already tears in them. After a moment, she wiped them away and tried to smile.

“You’re sweet,” she told him. “I’d like to know what happened to you someday.” Then suddenly, Kibum realized just how close her face was to his own and found he could not look away from her. She couldn’t look away either. And then her lips were placed on his, and even though he didn’t quite understand what it meant, he couldn’t deny that he felt incredibly good, even with the slight itching sensation that was creeping on his upper lip and around the bottom of his nose.

He opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) and fear struck him straight in the gut when he could see his whiskers growing on his face. He pulled away from Taeyeon as fast as he could before she noticed them and covered his face with his hand, hiding the whiskers that had returned without warning.

Then he ran as fast as he could.

He ignored the voice calling his name. Ignored the crying he heard when he didn’t respond. He just needed to get away. He couldn’t let her see what he really was.

-----

When Kibum finally found his way to Minho’s shop an hour later, he was in tears himself and still covering his face. He rushed up the stairs and to the bathroom before anything else. He flicked on the light and stared at himself in the mirror. The whiskers were not there anymore, but Kibum knew he had not been imagining them.

A minute later, Minho appeared in the doorway, a knowing and apologetic look already spread across his face. He approached Kibum and squeezed his shoulder lightly. “I can’t keep this up forever, you know that, right?”

Kibum nodded, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to be ignorant of it all. He didn’t want to know that he was going to become a fox once more and that he was going to lose Taeyeon. But then he looked down at his feet. He probably lost her when he ran away.

“W-what do-oes it m-mean wh-hen she puts her l-lips hheeere?” he asked shakily as he pointed to his own lips. Minho let go of his shoulder and began to laugh. Kibum almost wanted to ask what was so funny, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He just felt his face contort into an annoyed shape.

“That’s called a kiss,” Minho informed him once he got control of himself. “It means she must like you a lot. Usually people reserve those for the ones they love.”

Kibum smiled widely at that, but his smile disappeared after remembering that he ran from her. Even as a fox, running from a female who made it obvious she was interested meant rejection. He needed to straighten that out right away. But he couldn’t go right then. What if his whiskers came again? He couldn’t run from her twice without a perfect excuse. He didn’t even have a good excuse for running the first time.

“Just go.”

Kibum looked up at Minho again, confused.

“Your whiskers won’t show up again tonight,” Minho told him, a pleasant light shining in his eyes. “Just go see her and apologize.” Kibum smiled widely and ran from the room without saying a word. Minho stood still, just staring at himself in the mirror. His human outline was nothing special, but the wings that could be seen in his reflection were not as brilliant as they used to be. They were almost tattered looking and tired. Minho reached out to his reflection. “Don’t make the mistakes I’ve made. Make sure you grab her before she is gone.”

-----

As he ran, Kibum briefly wondered where he had gotten the balance necessary to get where he was going, but he didn’t dwell on it long. His thoughts were completely flooded with the need to get to Taeyeon and apologize as quickly as possible. His feet seemed to subconsciously remember where he was supposed to go, and before he knew it, he was back in front of her house, breathing heavily and sweating slightly but smiling like the sun was shining.

“Taeyeon!” he yelled as he ran up and banged on her front door. “Taeyeon! Taeyeon!” It was only a few seconds before he heard the sound of feet running down stairs and a moment more before the door was flung open and something was flung at him. He almost fell over at the force of catching Taeyeon.

“You’re back…” she managed to whisper through a cracking voice as she held him tightly. And as Kibum stood there, he thanked the stars that Taeyeon didn’t care that he had left, thanks the stars that she just cared that he had returned.

“I’m sorry.”

Those were the clearest words he had ever spoken.

-----

Jonghyun woke up in the morning with Jinki snuggled up to his side. They had kind of just fallen into bed the night before and fallen asleep with their arms wrapped around each other. They hadn’t taken off their clothes from the day before; they were too exhausted to even think about them.

Jonghyun got up slowly and carefully so he wouldn’t wake Jinki. Might as well let him get as much sleep as he could before his stomach woke him up. Jonghyun chuckled a little to himself and then went out in his dirty clothes and made breakfast for them both. As he was stirring the scrambled eggs around in the pan, he wondered why Jinki hadn’t gotten up yet. Usually he came out as soon as he smelled food. But he figured Jinki was still exhausted so he didn’t think about it too much.

After the breakfast was completely made and set up, Jonghyun returned to the room he shared with Jinki. He smiled at the lump on the bed that hadn’t moved an inch since he left. Jonghyun quietly approached the bed and smiled once more at the tuft of hair that was the only thing he was able to see of his boyfriend that wasn’t covered by a thick blanket. To Jonghyun, the way Jinki slept was endearing. There was never a day that he woke up with Jinki next to his side that he was not completely hidden under the blankets.

Jonghyun pulled back the blanket slowly and gazed at the beautiful face that lay before him for a long moment before placing his hand on Jinki’s shoulder. He shook him gently and called his name a few times to wake him up.

“Jinki. Jinki, it’s time to get up. I have breakfast ready for you.” As he spoke, Jinki began to stir from his comfortable position and his eyes struggled to adjust to the light that flooded them as they opened. He looked around blearily until his eyes landed on Jonghyun. He smiled tiredly and then dropped his head back onto the pillow. “No, no, no, get up. Come on, it’s a beautiful day. You can’t just spend it in bed.”

Jinki groaned. Jonghyun laughed and pulled his boyfriend out of the sheets until he was standing upright. He wobbled for a moment before he stepped forward sluggishly towards the kitchen. Jonghyun found him just as endearing in the morning as he usually did. Jinki was not a morning person and it made him very entertaining to watch.

But as Jinki left the room, his feet stopped moving and he simply seemed to crumple to the floor. Jonghyun gasped and rushed to his side. “Jinki, are you alright?” he asked as he helped Jinki to his feet.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jinki assured him. “I just…” He stared at his legs in confusion. “For a moment, I couldn’t feel my legs at all.” Jonghyun’s brow furrowed with puzzlement and worry. Jinki didn’t miss it. “I must have just slept on them wrong and lost circulation. It’s probably nothing,” he said quickly in hopes of dismissing Jonghyun’s concern. “Let’s just eat breakfast. It smells good.” Then he walked off towards the kitchen again.

He felt careful eyes on him as they took their seat at the small table, but Jinki chose to ignore them for the time being and just ate his food like nothing had happened. Jonghyun hesitantly did the same. This whole thing was nothing like he had imagined. Sure, Minho hadn’t promised anything with bringing Jinki back to life, but Jonghyun had hoped there would be more time or at least a little time without problems such as this.

When breakfast was almost over and all that remained on their plates were a few bites of egg and a half eaten sausage on Jonghyun’s, Jinki stopped moving and his eyes widened in fear. “J…J…Jo…” He couldn’t speak, but Jonghyun heard him and looked up from his plate hurriedly.

“What’s wrong?” Jonghyun asked quickly. But Jinki couldn’t answer him; he couldn’t speak. And then he started shaking. It started in his hands like it had the last time. They shook like crazy and he dropped his chopsticks. But it spread up his arms and through his body. He fell out of his seat and Jonghyun dropped to the ground next to him as quickly as possible. But he didn’t know what to do other than hold the boy he loved as tightly as he could. It was almost as if Jinki were having a severe seizure. It was terrifying to watch, and when it finally stopped, Jinki was no longer conscious.

Without waiting a moment longer, Jonghyun maneuvered Jinki onto his back and stood up. He didn’t even spend the moment to grab a key or lock the door. He just needed to find out what was going on and get some help. He wasn’t ready to lose Jinki again. He didn’t know if he would ever be ready, but if he had to lose him again, he didn’t want it to happen just yet.

Not just yet.

Jonghyun ran as hard as he could towards Minho’s shop. He didn’t really want to face the puppeteer yet, but he didn’t really have a choice. He needed to get Jinki some help. Jonghyun was grateful that it was still early in the morning and not many people were out yet. He would have gotten strange looks if people had seen him running with someone passed out on his back.

By the time he rushed into Minho’s shop, the man was waiting for him and helped him get Jinki up the stairs and into a spare room with a bed. Then Minho disappeared into another room and came back with Jinki’s doll. The glow that Jonghyun had noticed before was a lot fainter and the pulses were slower.

“What’s happening to him?” Jonghyun asked as he stared at the doll.

“I don’t have enough magic to keep this up much longer,” Minho admitted. But all the same, he held his hands over Jinki’s body and then his doll, touching both of them lightly. The glow of the doll increased a little and the pulses sped up ever so slightly, but Jinki remained asleep. “He’ll wake up soon. You’re welcome to stay here until he does.” Minho made to leave the room, but Jonghyun turned his full attention to him.

“You do realize I don’t love you, right?” Jonghyun stated clearly.

“I am well aware of that,” Minho said.

“Then why did you kiss me?” Jonghyun asked. Minho didn’t respond right away and it was making Jonghyun angry. “Why did you kiss me?” Jonghyun ground out.

Minho sighed angrily. “I brought him back for you not just because you two are my friends you know. This takes a huge toll on me to perform this kind of magic.” He looked straight at Jonghyun. “The time I’ve spent here on Earth as an immortal has been long, and I have never once fallen in love with anyone. Then you show up and suddenly I can’t function.” He took a step towards Jonghyun and Jonghyun took a step back. “Don’t people always say that we do stupid things when we are in love? Kissing you was my stupid thing, but I don’t regret it one bit.”

“You don’t have that right in my book,” Jonghyun growled. “I love Jinki and-”

“-and I brought him back for you because I love you and want you to be happy. But I can take that happiness away, too.” It was an outright threat and Jonghyun’s eyes widened in fear. Minho’s face wasn’t giving anything away just like the day before.

“What do you want from me?” Jonghyun asked. “You can’t ask me to love you. Love doesn’t work that way.”

“All I want is a kiss from you,” Minho said quietly. “Not one I have to take by surprise and not one that you jerk away from. I want you to pretend for just one moment that you love me. That’s all I ask in exchange for my magic that keeps Jinki alive. Don’t you think that’s a pretty good deal for you?”

Jonghyun stood in the middle of the room for what felt like a long time. He really didn’t want to do this, but he knew he was going to have to. He looked at Jinki still asleep on the bed next to him. He gently ran his fingers through that soft brown hair and then looked at Minho.

He forced a stiff smile and then approached him slowly. “Ok,” he muttered. “You win.” And then he placed his lips over Minho’s and closed his eyes, pretending that he was kissing Jinki again. But it was near impossible. The way Minho’s lips fit to Jonghyun’s was not the same and even the feel of his skin was different from Jinki’s.

When they pulled away from each other, Jonghyun stared at Minho and then turned around to go back to Jinki. However, the moment he turned around, Jinki was sitting up in his bed, tears cascading down how cheeks.

“Jinki…” Jonghyun whispered in disbelief. He rushed over to Jinki’s bedside and hugged him tightly. “Jinki, I was so worried about you.”

The response he got was not one he expected.

Jinki pushed him roughly away. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed through his tears.

Jonghyun came to only one conclusion. He had seen the kiss, but he had not woken up in time to hear any of the conversation before it. “Jinki, please listen to me,” Jonghyun begged. “What you just saw was not what it looked like.”

“What was it then?” Jinki demanded as he stood up from his bed. “I think I know what a kiss looks like, asshole.” But without even listening to Jonghyun try to explain, Jinki just stormed out of the room.

“Jinki, wait!” Jonghyun yelled as he chased Jinki out the door. “Jinki, please listen to me!” But Jinki kept going. So Jonghyun kept following him. After hours of walking around aimlessly, trying to burn off some steam, they finally arrived home. Jinki still hadn’t said a word to Jonghyun. It was painfully clear to Jonghyun that he was still angry.

“Jinki…I’m sorry, but I had to do it or-”

“Just shut up.”

“Not until you listen to me!” Jonghyun finally shouted. He grabbed Jinki’s wrist and spun him around to face him. He released him immediately when he saw Jinki’s face; tearstained and heartbroken.

“I don’t want to know,” Jinki whispered through his cracking voice. “I’ll trust you this time and believe that you had a reason. But if it ever happens again, I don’t think even the love I have for you is strong enough to hold out.”

Jonghyun nodded slowly. “Alright, I understand.” And the heartbreak on Jinki’s face eased slightly. Jonghyun approached Jinki and wiped away the new tears that had fallen and then he took Jinki’s hand. “Want to watch a movie?” he asked.

Jinki couldn’t help but let a little - small, tiny - laugh slip. “Sure.”

-----

“Taeyeon…”

Taeyeon looked up from her book after hearing Kibum say her name. “Yes?” she asked. “Do you need something?” He didn’t say anything, but he looked like he wanted to say something and didn’t know how.

“I just…w-what if sa-some-thing was dif-ferent about m-me?” he asked. When Taeyeon gave him a confused expression, Kibum just wanted to take those words back and pretend they never happened.

“What do you mean different?” she asked as she closed her book.

Kibum just shook his head. “Nev-vermind,” he muttered as he looked away, hoping she wouldn’t pursue the matter.

She smiled and put her hands to his face and turned his stare back on her. “It’s not a crime to be different, Kibum,” she told him. “If everyone were the same, don’t you think this world would be boring?” Her smile brightened a little for some reason that Kibum couldn’t quite place. “And I love you because you are different from everyone else.”

Kibum’s eyes widened. “Love?” he asked. Taeyeon pecked Kibum on the lips and giggled.

“I love you, Kibum.”

Kibum blushed brightly. “I-I love you, too,” he muttered shyly.

It was Taeyeon’s turn to blush. She lowered her hands from Kibum’s face to his hands and clutched them firmly in her own. “I promise I will never abandon you because you are different. I would never forgive myself if I did.” Then he pulled them both to their feet and yanked Kibum towards the door to the house. “Now let’s go get some food. I’m starving.”

Kibum just let himself be dragged around. For the next hour or so, he was left in a pleasant daze full of Taeyeon’s words. He had never been so happy in his entire life. He was in love with her and she was in love with him. What more could he want out of this entire thing?

I want it to last.

And that thought brought his whole world to a momentary halt. It was going to end when Minho couldn’t keep supplying all the magic necessary to keep him human. He had glimpsed the end just the night before when his whiskers came back. Minho had even said it then, too, but Kibum had been too happy to care at that moment. He just ran for Taeyeon.

By the time Taeyeon had pulled them into a small, casual restaurant, Kibum had pushed away the thoughts so he could smile for her. She needed smiles more than anything, and he was going to provide them for her for as long as he could.

“What do you want to eat?” Taeyeon asked him, her face buried in a menu. Kibum looked at the menu in front of him and picked it up with clumsy hands. When he opened it and started looking at everything, he realized one important thing and put it down. Taeyeon looked up from her own menu with a questioning look. “Is something wrong?”

“I c-can’t re-ead,” Kibum admitted as he stared at the words on the menu.

“You can’t read?” Taeyeon asked. When Kibum nodded, Taeyeon just smiled at him. “It’s alright. I’ll read it for you. Do you like anything in particular?”

“Meat.”

Taeyeon just laughed. “Alright, well they have a pork stew that’s pretty good. They also have a few different kinds of burgers that I think are just to die for! And they have ribs. Any of that sound good to you?”

Honestly, if Kibum hadn’t been so worried about grossing her out, his mouth would have literally been hanging open and drool would be dribbling down his chin at that very moment. He swallowed the excess spittle in his mouth and said, “Riiiiiibs s-sounds goo-d.”

“Okay, ribs it is. I think I’ll have some of those too.” When the waitress walked around, they ordered their food and she left. Their food came to them in about half an hour and they began eating. Not even a minute in, it was very clear that the way they ate was different.

Taeyeon put a napkin in her lap to avoid the oncoming mess that the ribs would bring. Then she took her fork and separated the bones so they would be easier to pick up. Then she daintily picked up the ends of the bone and brought it to her mouth. Sauce got on her face, but it was minimal.

Kibum on the other hand, just grabbed the ribs and tore the bones away instead of cutting them like Taeyeon had done. Then he just started munching as if he had never had something more delicious. Sauce was everywhere on his face and all over his hands. There was even sauce in his lap and on his shirt.

He was halfway through his rack when he noticed that Taeyeon was laughing across the table from him. He stopped eating to stare at her questioningly. “Wh-hat’s so fun-ny?” he asked.

“You have, haha, sauce all, haha, over, haha, your face!” she laughed loudly. “You eat like a little kid! HAHAHA! You’re so cute!” She vaguely remembered him eating quickly when they were at the amusement park, but it wasn’t as obvious since they had had hotdogs and not something as messy as ribs. Taeyeon couldn’t stop herself from laughing and Kibum found himself laughing a little, not even caring that he forgot the sauce on his hands as he put his hand on his head. He felt kind of embarrassed, but he was laughing anyway so it must not have been too terrible.

Taeyeon was still laughing as she tore open the little packets of moist napkins. When she started cleaning off Kibum’s face, she became calmer and only a bright smile remained on her lips as she wiped away the sauce. Then she got out another moist napkin and cleaned off Kibum’s hands as well.

“Being different isn’t a crime,” she said once again, “but let’s at least keep it clean, okay?” She giggled once more and gave Kibum’s now clean hands a light squeeze. “Although, you were pretty funny! You completely ripped into those ribs as if you were some carnivorous animal.” She laughed, but Kibum froze on his seat. Taeyeon noticed immediately something was wrong and stopped laughing. “Did I say something that offended you?” she asked hesitantly.

Kibum snapped out of his daze and quickly shook his head. “No! I-I have ju-st never b-been ca-alled an anim-mal before!” he lied. He tacked on a little laugh to lighten his words. She seemed to buy it and released a sigh of relief.

“You scared me for a moment there,” she laughed. “I thought I had said something stupid again.” But in the back of his mind, Kibum was deeply worried that she would discover what he really was.

“I th-think I nee-d to go h-ho-ome.”

“Oh,” muttered Taeyeon, her face becoming sad. “Yeah, okay. People at your place might worry about you, right?” Kibum nodded. But really, he just needed to be sure he got away before anything slipped and a piece of him was revealed. “I’ll see you later then.”

Acting on instinct, Kibum leaned forward and kissed Taeyeon on the lips. Then he pulled away, blushed, and left with a smile and a wave.

“Kibum?” she called as he walked. He stopped and turned towards her. She looked uncertain. “Do you want me to teach you to read?” she asked. He smiled shyly and nodded. “Tomorrow then?” Taeyeon asked. Kibum nodded again.

-----

When Kibum reached Minho’s puppet shop, he walked in and said, “I’m b-back.” But Minho didn’t greet him back. So Kibum started to look for him to make sure everything was alright. It didn’t take long. He found Minho in one of the back rooms of the shop, holding some kind of doll. Minho was staring at the doll intently, but Kibum couldn’t figure out what exactly he was looking at. Then the doll pulsed with light.

“Wh-hat are you d-oing?” Kibum asked, eyes wide.

Minho spun around in surprise. Clearly, he had not been paying attention or he would have sensed that Kibum was close by. “Oh, Kibum, it’s just you,” Minho breathed.

“W-what are y-ou do-oing?” Kibum asked again.

And then Minho sighed and showed the doll to Kibum. “Do you know what this is?” he asked. Kibum shook his head as the doll pulsed again and again. “It’s another person, just like you.” Kibum looked up at Minho and shook his head.

“This one is dif-ferent,” he stated.

“Yes,” Minho confirmed. “He was dead. I brought him back to life with this puppet.” Then he brought the doll closer to Kibum and asked, “Do you recognize the face? You might have seen him once.” And as Kibum looked at the face of the doll, a vague memory of the day he became human came into his mind. While he was still an animal, he walked up to Taeyeon in the graveyard.

That’s when it hit him.

“Taeyeon was at his gr-rave,” he said suddenly.

“That’s because this is her brother, Lee Jinki,” Minho informed Kibum. “He is the reason she has been so sad. He died a few weeks ago. He was her best friend.” Then he returned his gaze to the doll. “And I was about to do something incredibly stupid before you came in.”

At the confusion on Kibum’s face, Minho gently put Jinki’s doll down and disappeared for a moment. When he appeared again, he had the little hand puppet he had made of Kibum. It was also pulsing a strange light. Kibum eyed it carefully.

“Do you know what I can do with these?” Minho asked as he placed the little puppet over his hand. Kibum shook his head. “Almost anything I want,” Minho said. “For example, I could just use it as a simple puppet to entertain kids.” He demonstrated by moving the puppet a little like he would in one of his shows. “Or, I could put a little of my magic into it.” His voice grew darker. “I could make you do whatever I want.” This time, he moved his finger inside the puppet to lift its arm.

Kibum lifted his arm into the air automatically. He started to become frightened.

“In your case, I would have to imagine legs since this puppet doesn’t have any.” And then Minho made walking motions with the puppet and Kibum began to walk in circles. “I could also just simply take away they gift I’ve given you. About the only thing I can’t do is make you talk. Puppets don’t have working mouths.”

“Stop it,” Kibum said as he involuntarily continued to walk in circles.

“I was going to take Jinki’s life tonight. I was going to lie to Jonghyun and say I tried. I was going to-”

“STOP IT!”

Minho’s hand stilled in Kibum’s puppet and Kibum stared directly at Minho with fright in his eyes. He took the puppet off of his hand and placed it down with Jinki’s. He said nothing else as he left the room, but once he was gone and Kibum was left alone in the room, Kibum went to look at the two pulsing puppets once more. And looking at them, Kibum couldn’t imagine Minho actually following through with his plan unless he absolutely had to.

-----

Once again, Jonghyun got no sleep.

Jinki had fallen asleep on his shoulder while watching movies, but Jonghyun just threw a blanket over him and stayed awake to make sure nothing happened to him. It was driving him crazy to know that the one he loved was going to disappear as soon as he had come back.

By the time morning came around, Jonghyun knew that their original plan to pretend that everything was normal had gone down the drain as soon as it had been said. He had told Jinki he couldn’t pretend, but Jinki asked him to try. There was no trying anymore. Things were not normal, and they were never going to be as long as things remained the same.

Jonghyun had his arm around Jinki the whole night, the television buzzing lightly with sound in the background. Jonghyun had stopped watching it hours ago. Instead he busied himself with watching the sun set outside, then watching the light fade from the sky, then watching the streetlights come on, and then the reverse. The sun was barely over the horizon when Jinki opened his eyes.

“Morning,” he greeted as he sat up straight. Jonghyun heard his neck pop a few times before he faced Jonghyun. Then a thought seemed to dawn on him. “Did you not sleep last night? You look awful.”

“I’m fine,” Jonghyun assured him. “Did you sleep well?”

Jinki ignored the question. “Jonghyun, you need to sleep. This isn’t healthy.”

“I don’t care,” Jonghyun declared as he stood. “I was worried sick about you all night. I couldn’t sleep even if I had wanted to.”

“Then maybe I should just tell Minho to take his magic back.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened and he fixed Jinki with a completely shocked expression. “NO!”

“Jonghyun, you’re not the same anymore,” Jinki told him as he got up from his place on the couch. “I love you, but it’s because I love you that I can’t let you ruin yourself because something might happen to me. Do you understand what it feels like for me to know that I’m the cause of your distress?” When Jonghyun didn’t respond, Jinki said, “Fucking terrible. And if I can save you from doing yourself anymore inadvertent harm, I will.”

And with that, Jinki started heading towards the door, leaving a stunned Jonghyun in the middle of the living room. The only words that Jonghyun could even think to say were too late. “It’ll be worse if you leave.”

He wanted to chase after Jinki, but his legs wouldn’t allow him to. They just felt like collapsing in the middle of the room. Besides, he didn’t really have a good reason for Jinki to linger any longer than he already had. The only reason he had for Jinki to stay was that he loved him.

And with those heartbreaking thoughts left in his head, Jonghyun finally did collapse. Finally, the exhaustion caught up with him, and Jonghyun just let it take him over. There was nothing else he could do. Jinki was leaving him for good this time. And he couldn’t ask Minho to keep going. It wasn’t fair to him at all.

The dreams that came to Jonghyun were more like nightmares than anything.

-----

In the morning, Kibum practically ran to Taeyeon’s house to see her. He liked seeing her, and she was up early in the past few days, so early morning visits weren’t discouraged on Taeyeon’s part. After knocking on her door a few times, he heard the telltale sound of footsteps thumping down the stairs. He smiled as she threw open the door and gave him a flying hug. He hugged her back with just as much energy (and was quite pleased that he managed to stay on his feet).

“Did you sleep alright?” Taeyeon asked as she briefly retreated into her house again. She came back a moment later with a few books and a pad of paper. Then she locked the door and they began walking.

“Yeah, I slept f-ine,” Kibum answered. “What about you?”

“I slept pretty well myself,” she commented. Then she cast him a meaningful glance. “Your stutter is going away.”

“Really?” Kibum asked. He honestly hadn’t noticed, but he was glad that she was noticing. He suspected it made her almost proud in a way.

“Yeah,” she said nodding. “You’ve come a long way from barely being able to say your own name. And only in a few days, too.” Kibum smiled. Now he was feeling proud of himself even though there was still work to do. “Anyway, we can work on that later if you want, but today I promised to start teaching you to read.” As she said this, she brought up one of the books she had grabbed before leaving her house.

Kibum took it from her and opened it to a random page. The letters that littered the page meant nothing to him yet, but hopefully they would soon.

“My goal is to get you to at least read a few sentences by the time we finish today,” Taeyeon said. “You’re smart. You’ll figure it out quick. I’m sure of it!”

They continued walking for about ten or fifteen minutes before Taeyeon finally stopped at a bench just outside the park they met at. Then she pulled out the pad of paper and a pen and began to write the alphabet down. As she came to each letter, she told Kibum its name and explained all the different sounds that it made depending on what word it was used in.

Then she had Kibum try writing the alphabet by himself. Almost as soon as she gave him the pen, she started laughing because his letters were so crooked and misshapen that they were comical and almost unable to be recognized at all. They spent about an hour and a half just on the alphabet itself.

By the time they actually got to forming words, they were only able to make it through a few because more people were out and about and both Kibum and Taeyeon kept getting distracted by their surroundings.

Taeyeon sighed in defeat. “We might not actually make it to much reading today, but at least you can put words together now. Let’s see if we can push through for a little while longer.” Kibum nodded and continued to practice.

While he was occupied, Taeyeon got out a book that she had brought along for herself. She knew there was going to be a little down time for her, so she brought the book to keep from getting bored. However, just over the top of her book, she spotted someone that caught her attention.

She lowered the book and looked across the street. Someone was practically storming down the sidewalk. At first it seemed like it was no more than that, but as she watched, something in her heart leapt and her eyes widened.

“It couldn’t be,” she unknowingly said aloud. Kibum lifted his head from his work when she spoke.

“Is something wr-rong?” he asked her. But she didn’t seem to have heard him. She just got up from the bench and started towards the nearest crosswalk. “Taeyeon?” But she still wasn’t hearing him, so he picked up the books and the pad of paper and followed her. She seemed completely intent on one person in particular as they walked, but Kibum couldn’t see his face. Then the person went into Minho’s shop and Kibum realized who it must have been.

It was Taeyeon’s brother: Lee Jinki.

Kibum started to panic. This was not good. Apparently, she wasn’t even supposed to know about her brother’s sudden return to life. Now she was going to see him and there would be lots of questions. And what if she found out about Kibum’s secret? What would happen then?

Kibum wanted to say something to her, but he couldn’t find the right words. They approached the door to Minho’s shop and Kibum’s heart started to beat like crazy. He could tell that Taeyeon’s was also beating a mile a minute.

But when they entered the shop, there was no one to be seen. Taeyeon didn’t say anything, but she clearly looked upset.

“Take it back! I know you want to!” came a sudden shout from one of the back rooms.

Taeyeon’s head shot up and she ran in the direction of the voice. Kibum groaned inwardly when he heard Minho’s voice answer.

“I won’t. No matter how much I want to, he needs you, and if I take you away from him, especially now, it could send him into a cycle that he may never come out of.”

Taeyeon was standing outside the door of the back room with a confused expression. She had no idea what was going on.

“I’m sending him into that cycle every time your magic starts to fail! Just let me die so I don’t have to torture him anymore.”

“You know, I almost did let you die last night,” Minho’s voice said matter-of-factly. “But a certain person walked in that stopped me and reminded me that there was someone else who should be involved but isn’t.”

“Don’t bring up my family.”

“Very good!” Minho’s voice praised. “But too late, your sister is actually here right now, still stunned that her brother is alive. And the certain person who stopped me from taking your life is here, too. Both of you can come out now.”

So Kibum entered the room, head down. Taeyeon cast him confused expressions that almost seemed angry as she walked in next to him.

“Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon looked up at the voice and tears filled her eyes when she discovered that it in fact was her elder brother. She ran and hugged him as tightly as she could; glad to be able to touch him again. He hugged her back lightly, still half stunned.

“Taeyeon, what are you doing here?” Jinki asked her.

“That’s a question I should be asking you,” she muttered as she released him. “How are you still here? You died.”

“I brought him back to life,” Minho told her.

“But it’s only temporary,” Jinki said quickly. “Which was why I didn’t want to tell her!” he spat at Minho.

“Odds are, she would have found out sooner or later,” Minho commented offhandedly. “It’s always better sooner. Later might be too late.”

A thought came into Taeyeon’s head. She turned towards Kibum again. “You knew about this, right?” she asked. Kibum didn’t want to answer, he just looked away. “Kibum, did you know about this?” At the hurt seeping into her voice, Kibum closed his eyes and nodded.

“Taeyeon,” Jinki said from behind her, “don’t blame him.”

“But if he knew that you were alive, why didn’t he tell me?” demanded Taeyeon, the tears finally falling down her face.

“He didn’t really know much until last night,” said Minho. “But even if he had known sooner, he wouldn’t have told you anyway because he also has a secret regarding me and my magic.”

“Don’t! Please!” Kibum yelled suddenly. “Don’t tell her!”

“She’s going to find out sooner or later. Sooner is always better.”

“What the hell is going on, Kibum?” Taeyeon demanded.

“Do you remember seeing a fox right after Jinki’s funeral?” Minho asked.

Taeyeon looked at him, perplexed. “Yeah….but how did you know that?”

Minho pointed directly at Kibum. “He’s standing right there.”

In the back of his head, Kibum wondered how Taeyeon hadn’t gotten whiplash from looking back and forth so often. But the more important thoughts that filled his head were about the way she was now looking at him and the whiskers he could see sprouting on his face. Taeyeon looked scared.

“He brought my brother back to life and he made you human,” she muttered. “I can’t believe I fell for a fox! This is so unnatural.” Then she turned away from him. Kibum couldn’t help but feel the finality in that move. That was her unfeeling goodbye.

“Taeyeon…I love you.”

She didn’t answer. She just gave all her attention to her elder brother. She held onto his arm and said, “I don’t know why you want to die again right now, but please reconsider. Stay with me for a little bit. I missed you.” Kibum ran from the room. Jinki sighed, but he stared at his sister’s sad face and nodded.

“Alright,” he said. “We can go to your place for the rest of the day. But can I have a private word with Minho, please?” For a moment, she tightened her grip on his arm. “I promise I’ll be right there.” And she let go and left the room.

“You needed something else?” Minho asked.

“He didn’t kiss you because he wanted to, did he.” It was a statement. “Jonghyun has always been good at reading people. He makes friends with people who are good and friends with people who are not so much. And he could never love someone like you; someone who breaks hearts so easily.” Minho remained silent. “Why did you have to reveal Kibum’s secret? Was that really necessary?”

“Shut up,” growled Minho, his wings making a sudden appearance. When they were tangible, Minho grabbed a couple handfuls of feathers and tore them off his wings. He shuddered violently, but stuffed them into Jinki’s hands. “If you really want to go back to being six feet under, hold these to your heart when you’re ready; they’ll take your life back.” Then his wings disappeared and he stalked out of the room without another word.

Jinki stared at the white feathers for a moment before putting them all in his pockets. Then he left the room to join Taeyeon like he promised he would.

-----

For the rest of the day, Kibum sat in the spare room upstairs, crying half the time, but working on an important project. He felt the sudden urge to really learn to read. He needed to use written words to tell her exactly how he felt before he lost that ability. Spoken word didn’t seem to be very easy for him anyway. Even if his written words were messy, they would be clearer than a stuttered version.

As the day drew onward, Minho came and visited his room a couple times. A few times he looked like he was about to say something that might have had something to do with Taeyeon, but he always closed his mouth and stayed silent unless it was to help Kibum spell a certain word.

As Kibum wrote, he started to put it into the form of a little book. He added little drawings in the extra spaces and even used Minho’s hole-punch to make a place for binding. Minho also provided him some yarn to keep it all together.

“Do you think she’ll for-give me for lying to her?” Kibum asked.

Minho was watching him write, making sure everything was spelled correctly. “Honestly, I think her forgiveness is the last thing you should be worrying about,” Minho replied hesitantly. “She needs to accept you as you are before she can forgive you for lying.”

“I know,” Kibum said. He stopped writing for a moment. Then he kept going. Then he stopped again. Then he kept writing.

-----

After a long day, Jinki finally had to admit to Taeyeon that he was extremely exhausted. He enjoyed spending time with her again, but he still couldn’t help the inevitable loss of energy after she dragged him everywhere.

She had dragged him out to just play and she had dragged them out to get food. The few times they actually just spent time talking were almost too good to be true. But that’s what they were doing at that moment before Jinki headed to bed. They were sitting on the floor of the living room, chatting about anything and everything that came to them. It was sort of a winding down time.

“How have you been since…?” Finishing the question was still hard and he didn’t even want to finish it in case Taeyeon showed a bad reaction. But she seemed to remain calm even as her face became sad again.

“Being completely honest, life has been hell the past couple of weeks,” she admitted. “As soon as the funeral was over, Mom and Dad decided to go on a vacation to get away from everything. They wanted me to go, too, but I wanted to stay here.”

“Well I hope they’re happy,” Jinki commented as he sat back. There was silence for a long moment before Jinki looked at his younger sister. “You need to be happy again, too.”

“I was!” Taeyeon defended.

“Until a couple hours ago,” Jinki noted. Taeyeon didn’t respond, so Jinki took this as his opportunity. “If he had told you what he was in the first place, you wouldn’t have believed him and you would have still fallen in love with him.”

“But I do know what he is, and that relationship is completely unnatural!” Taeyeon defended. “It wouldn’t work out. Besides, isn’t all this magic temporary? Kibum will go back to being a fox soon and I’ll never see him again.”

“You know that won’t be the case,” Jinki pointed out. “You know he’ll be there whenever he can just to see you. He’ll probably risk getting killed in the city just to see you. He loves you, Taeyeon.”

“How would you know?” she demanded. “You’ve barely met him!”

“All I needed to know was in the way he looked at you.” Then Jinki leaned in with a soft smile as if he were telling some kind of secret. “It’s the way Jonghyun looks at me.” Then he got up and stretched a bit before heading to his old bedroom. “I’m going to get some sleep. See you in the morning.”

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pairing: key/taemin, rating: pg-13, shineebigbang2011: submissions, pairing: jonghyun/onew, pairing: jonghyun/minho

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