SSS 2014: For reddaylight
For: reddaylight
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: two is enough
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Rating: PG
Authors’ Notes: this was different and really fun to write even if it’s not very good and basically a compilation of a lot of the little things i like.. i hope you can like it as well even though it’s short!!
They had been friends first.
The way they met was nothing spectacular. They had not sat next to each other on a plane and talked for seven hours straight, and they had not danced to rhythms of intoxication together under pulsing lights. Everyone probably likes to think that the story of their first meeting is special, and every one of those moments probably is simply because people are different somehow.
Jonghyun sees their meeting as special just because they are special as individuals. Other people might have met because of trembling hands and exchanges of assurance, but it cannot be exactly the same as when Jonghyun and Jinki met. Jonghyun’s hands were shaking for a reason that no one else could have when he sat down on the train, and no one else could have pressed three mints into his sweaty palm like Jinki.
“These should help you calm down. Three for luck!”
And of course no one would have had Jinki’s warm voice or warm fingers, and they would not have cocked their heads to the side with a small smile quite like Jinki had.
But sometimes it is a good thing that people can be very similar. Without that fundamental similarity between certain people, Jonghyun and Jinki may not have ridden the train at the same time every day. Jonghyun was not normally a person of exact routine -- he would ride the train at the same time every day, but he wouldn’t care to try to sit in the same place.
That changed after the fourth mint. The day after their first encounter, Jonghyun stepped through the sliding doors of the train and saw the same small smile and the same hand holding out another mint for him. What a nice coincidence it was that there was an open seat right there.
Jonghyun doesn’t remember what words he first said to Jinki after “thank you.” It was probably stuttered and maybe a little stupid. Jinki would remember. Jinki always has a way of listening even though he sometimes says strange things -- maybe because he says strange things, he has a better way of listening.
Eventually this talking moves outside of the train, and they become friends instead of friendly strangers. There are talks in cliche little coffee shops and while walking on city sidewalks on the way to more important places, and these too are always progressing just as they are. Like atoms inevitably bumping around in the universe, Jonghyun and Jinki meet each other’s friends and they all become friends too. They have group talks, sometimes at houses and sometimes at bars and sometimes at other places still, but Jonghyun and Jinki are always the last ones left, still talking about everything or nothing.
One night, Jonghyun’s steps are as slurred as his alcoholic words and Jinki guides him home with arms around shoulders. The streets are dark and the moon is bright, so Jonghyun smiles with it and holds Jinki a little tighter in every shadow. His mind is too viscous to be original, so when Jinki brings him to the doorstep he plants a light kiss on the other’s cheek, miraculously managing not to stumble and fall harder than he already has. Jinki stays silent, not unlike other times, but the smile that forms on his face is a little bigger than usual.
So again they have progressed from friends to something else that Jonghyun doesn’t quite have words for. But they still have to be only friends for everyone else. They can only hold hands in the dark or behind their own curtains. People like them aren’t allowed to be in bright lights -- if they must exist, it must be hidden and never released like a deleted scene from a film. Erased from memory.
Jonghyun actually manages to do something right for once and enough money stays in his pocket that he doesn’t tremble in the slightest when he makes an offer to Jinki. Neither of them have a little or a lot, but two is much better than one, and Jonghyun is pleasantly surprised when he doesn’t have to plead much before Jinki agrees with his soft smile. Jonghyun doesn’t know if he believes in the difference between a house and a home, but he thinks whatever state of living he’s in will be better with Jinki’s head under the same roof as his.
They choose a rooftop apartment that has a few cracks in the walls but also a gorgeous view of the sky, sunrise and sunset and the invisible clouds of stars. They’ll be allowed to use the extra roof space, so Jonghyun talks about the parties they can host while Jinki ponders how many plants he can fit inside and outside.
It doesn’t take too long to carry their boxes up the stairs because they don’t have too many; Jonghyun has a fair amount and Jinki has very few. Still, when they finish, a sense of accomplishment along with a little tiredness floats inside Jonghyun’s chest and his breaths.
He’s about to go inside where the air isn’t quite so cold, but Jinki stops him with a “Look.” Jinki is leaning against the edge of the building with his head turned to the side, and Jonghyun thinks his profile looks even more lovely when illuminated by bright lights.
“Hmm?” He links his arms around Jinki’s waist and rests his chin on the other’s shoulder.
“Doesn’t it look different today, from here? The city’s not just neon lights from this angle. If you squint, it almost looks like stars. Maybe warped a little, but still pretty in a way.”
Jonghyun smiles. It is true. Jinki has a way of seeing things that no one else seems to notice at first, but once he says them Jonghyun can’t think of anything else. It’s strange, but a good kind of strange. Maybe a bit like them.
Long after they go inside, Jonghyun still stares at the sky. It’s a little different now because there’s a ceiling in the way and his arms wrap around the fabric of his blankets instead of the gentle curves of Jinki’s waist, but Jonghyun’s breathing still flutters peacefully in content.
“Jinki,” he calls out to the (not very far away) bed opposite from him. “What do you think of it here?”
The other’s voice is thick from being in a state between consciousness and sleep, but as usual, it doesn’t drop in its warmth. “It’s only been one night, hasn’t it?” Jonghyun allows the silence, and Jinki hums almost inaudibly. “But yes, I quite like it so far.”
Jonghyun turns over on his side to gaze at the contour of Jinki’s curled spine in the darkness. “Are you cold? We could--”
Unexpectedly, Jinki rolls over to face Jonghyun and puts a finger to his lips. “Shh shh shh! Do you hear that?”
“What?”
“That’s the sound of me trying to fall asleep!” He promptly rolls over again to face the wall and pulls the blankets over his head, and Jonghyun doesn’t try to stay quiet when he laughs, not even bothering to protest. Jinki may well be the only one who can silence him without trying.
The next few days flow by like a stream only interrupted by a few rocks. Most of Jonghyun’s boxes manage to spill their contents onto the floors of their apartment and Jonghyun swears to Jinki that he doesn’t know how it happened. The cardboard fades away, and the corners between the walls become filled with small trinkets and a few articles of clothing, but mostly potted plants and petals that Kibum and Jinki argued over (“these flowers are so gorgeous” “but they don’t do well under fluorescent lights!”). What Kibum doesn’t know is that sometimes Jinki will clip one of the blossoms and present it to Jonghyun. This is their little secret.
Jinki’s plants are separate from everything else in the apartment. Of course, Jonghyun has his own possessions that he looks after, but he does not care after them like Jinki does. Jinki sometimes rubs the leaves of some of them, three times each, and hums to the petals as he gently waters the soil, whispering aimless tunes that Jonghyun likes to remember when it’s too quiet. It’s probably obvious that Jonghyun always watches Jinki as he simply lives in his own way inside their apartment, but Jonghyun can’t resist and Jinki doesn’t mind. Sometimes, Jonghyun will say cheesy things like “I don’t even need a telescope here because I can see the stars in your eyes,” and Jinki slaps his wrist in a soft way that means he still doesn’t mind.
There are times when Jonghyun feels that Jinki really should mind. It is difficult for Jonghyun not to make a mess whenever he walks into a kitchen, and one night while waiting for Jinki he decides to make a mug of hot chocolate. Just one mug. Somehow, the microwave nearly explodes and cocoa powder dusts the strangest corners of the room, but when Jinki sees it he only sighs with a smile and kisses the rogue whipped cream off of Jonghyun’s nose.
“Why?” he had asked once. “Why haven’t you ever gotten actually angry at me? Can you even?”
Jinki pursed his lips, creating another silence that he loved that seemed to stretch to a count of three. And then he burst into that little smile. “It’s you? Why would I be angry when I don’t have to be?”
(This is when Jonghyun grabs Jinki around the middle and pushes him down onto soft blankets and refuses to let him move, even when Jinki protests that there’s no room for them on one bed and that it’s too hot. Jonghyun needs to know that he’s really there.
In the morning, Jinki takes revenge by waking them up just before dawn and dragging Jonghyun out of the covers into the early cold air out on the rooftop. Jonghyun complains loudly, but Jinki goes “Shh shh shh!” again and they both stop as the clouds are tinted and the sun begins to sing a melody of pale colors. Jonghyun wants to shout a greeting out to the sky, but he trusts Jinki and keeps the silence, letting it grow like the increasingly vibrant hues in the air. In the end, he doesn’t complain, especially when he sees the reflection of the dawn in Jinki’s hair and irises.)
Although they are together inside their apartment so much, they are together outside of it too. Neither of them think that such a thing as “too together” exists, at least not in their terms and in their world. On the streets, Jinki will carefully step on three cobblestones of the same color in a row and Jonghyun will watch from behind, smiling as if he’s speaking with the moon. In a small park after dusk, Jonghyun will look up to the budding stars to sing about everything or nothing, and out of the corner of his eye he’ll catch Jinki smiling at him. After dinner at a small bar, they will laugh with their friends over a little too much alcohol and jokes that may or may not be funny, and Jonghyun will catch Jinki’s eye and smile a little extra. They don’t need to interlock fingers to prove anything to themselves or others. It’s not necessary, but sometimes Jonghyun thinks it would be nice.
Jonghyun wants to be able to tell other people how beautiful he thinks Jinki is, or at least try to, and he wants to be able to tell Jinki himself how beautiful he is when they’re doing simple things like riding the train or walking in the street. The fluttering in his chest often has a desire to escape. Right now, though, it hasn’t been too long, and Jonghyun thinks he can wait a little longer. Three may be Jinki’s lucky number, and that’s fine because the two of them are not strung together by luck. They are simply two together because they chose to be, and that is enough.
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: two is enough
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Rating: PG
Authors’ Notes: this was different and really fun to write even if it’s not very good and basically a compilation of a lot of the little things i like.. i hope you can like it as well even though it’s short!!
They had been friends first.
The way they met was nothing spectacular. They had not sat next to each other on a plane and talked for seven hours straight, and they had not danced to rhythms of intoxication together under pulsing lights. Everyone probably likes to think that the story of their first meeting is special, and every one of those moments probably is simply because people are different somehow.
Jonghyun sees their meeting as special just because they are special as individuals. Other people might have met because of trembling hands and exchanges of assurance, but it cannot be exactly the same as when Jonghyun and Jinki met. Jonghyun’s hands were shaking for a reason that no one else could have when he sat down on the train, and no one else could have pressed three mints into his sweaty palm like Jinki.
“These should help you calm down. Three for luck!”
And of course no one would have had Jinki’s warm voice or warm fingers, and they would not have cocked their heads to the side with a small smile quite like Jinki had.
But sometimes it is a good thing that people can be very similar. Without that fundamental similarity between certain people, Jonghyun and Jinki may not have ridden the train at the same time every day. Jonghyun was not normally a person of exact routine -- he would ride the train at the same time every day, but he wouldn’t care to try to sit in the same place.
That changed after the fourth mint. The day after their first encounter, Jonghyun stepped through the sliding doors of the train and saw the same small smile and the same hand holding out another mint for him. What a nice coincidence it was that there was an open seat right there.
Jonghyun doesn’t remember what words he first said to Jinki after “thank you.” It was probably stuttered and maybe a little stupid. Jinki would remember. Jinki always has a way of listening even though he sometimes says strange things -- maybe because he says strange things, he has a better way of listening.
Eventually this talking moves outside of the train, and they become friends instead of friendly strangers. There are talks in cliche little coffee shops and while walking on city sidewalks on the way to more important places, and these too are always progressing just as they are. Like atoms inevitably bumping around in the universe, Jonghyun and Jinki meet each other’s friends and they all become friends too. They have group talks, sometimes at houses and sometimes at bars and sometimes at other places still, but Jonghyun and Jinki are always the last ones left, still talking about everything or nothing.
One night, Jonghyun’s steps are as slurred as his alcoholic words and Jinki guides him home with arms around shoulders. The streets are dark and the moon is bright, so Jonghyun smiles with it and holds Jinki a little tighter in every shadow. His mind is too viscous to be original, so when Jinki brings him to the doorstep he plants a light kiss on the other’s cheek, miraculously managing not to stumble and fall harder than he already has. Jinki stays silent, not unlike other times, but the smile that forms on his face is a little bigger than usual.
So again they have progressed from friends to something else that Jonghyun doesn’t quite have words for. But they still have to be only friends for everyone else. They can only hold hands in the dark or behind their own curtains. People like them aren’t allowed to be in bright lights -- if they must exist, it must be hidden and never released like a deleted scene from a film. Erased from memory.
Jonghyun actually manages to do something right for once and enough money stays in his pocket that he doesn’t tremble in the slightest when he makes an offer to Jinki. Neither of them have a little or a lot, but two is much better than one, and Jonghyun is pleasantly surprised when he doesn’t have to plead much before Jinki agrees with his soft smile. Jonghyun doesn’t know if he believes in the difference between a house and a home, but he thinks whatever state of living he’s in will be better with Jinki’s head under the same roof as his.
They choose a rooftop apartment that has a few cracks in the walls but also a gorgeous view of the sky, sunrise and sunset and the invisible clouds of stars. They’ll be allowed to use the extra roof space, so Jonghyun talks about the parties they can host while Jinki ponders how many plants he can fit inside and outside.
It doesn’t take too long to carry their boxes up the stairs because they don’t have too many; Jonghyun has a fair amount and Jinki has very few. Still, when they finish, a sense of accomplishment along with a little tiredness floats inside Jonghyun’s chest and his breaths.
He’s about to go inside where the air isn’t quite so cold, but Jinki stops him with a “Look.” Jinki is leaning against the edge of the building with his head turned to the side, and Jonghyun thinks his profile looks even more lovely when illuminated by bright lights.
“Hmm?” He links his arms around Jinki’s waist and rests his chin on the other’s shoulder.
“Doesn’t it look different today, from here? The city’s not just neon lights from this angle. If you squint, it almost looks like stars. Maybe warped a little, but still pretty in a way.”
Jonghyun smiles. It is true. Jinki has a way of seeing things that no one else seems to notice at first, but once he says them Jonghyun can’t think of anything else. It’s strange, but a good kind of strange. Maybe a bit like them.
Long after they go inside, Jonghyun still stares at the sky. It’s a little different now because there’s a ceiling in the way and his arms wrap around the fabric of his blankets instead of the gentle curves of Jinki’s waist, but Jonghyun’s breathing still flutters peacefully in content.
“Jinki,” he calls out to the (not very far away) bed opposite from him. “What do you think of it here?”
The other’s voice is thick from being in a state between consciousness and sleep, but as usual, it doesn’t drop in its warmth. “It’s only been one night, hasn’t it?” Jonghyun allows the silence, and Jinki hums almost inaudibly. “But yes, I quite like it so far.”
Jonghyun turns over on his side to gaze at the contour of Jinki’s curled spine in the darkness. “Are you cold? We could--”
Unexpectedly, Jinki rolls over to face Jonghyun and puts a finger to his lips. “Shh shh shh! Do you hear that?”
“What?”
“That’s the sound of me trying to fall asleep!” He promptly rolls over again to face the wall and pulls the blankets over his head, and Jonghyun doesn’t try to stay quiet when he laughs, not even bothering to protest. Jinki may well be the only one who can silence him without trying.
The next few days flow by like a stream only interrupted by a few rocks. Most of Jonghyun’s boxes manage to spill their contents onto the floors of their apartment and Jonghyun swears to Jinki that he doesn’t know how it happened. The cardboard fades away, and the corners between the walls become filled with small trinkets and a few articles of clothing, but mostly potted plants and petals that Kibum and Jinki argued over (“these flowers are so gorgeous” “but they don’t do well under fluorescent lights!”). What Kibum doesn’t know is that sometimes Jinki will clip one of the blossoms and present it to Jonghyun. This is their little secret.
Jinki’s plants are separate from everything else in the apartment. Of course, Jonghyun has his own possessions that he looks after, but he does not care after them like Jinki does. Jinki sometimes rubs the leaves of some of them, three times each, and hums to the petals as he gently waters the soil, whispering aimless tunes that Jonghyun likes to remember when it’s too quiet. It’s probably obvious that Jonghyun always watches Jinki as he simply lives in his own way inside their apartment, but Jonghyun can’t resist and Jinki doesn’t mind. Sometimes, Jonghyun will say cheesy things like “I don’t even need a telescope here because I can see the stars in your eyes,” and Jinki slaps his wrist in a soft way that means he still doesn’t mind.
There are times when Jonghyun feels that Jinki really should mind. It is difficult for Jonghyun not to make a mess whenever he walks into a kitchen, and one night while waiting for Jinki he decides to make a mug of hot chocolate. Just one mug. Somehow, the microwave nearly explodes and cocoa powder dusts the strangest corners of the room, but when Jinki sees it he only sighs with a smile and kisses the rogue whipped cream off of Jonghyun’s nose.
“Why?” he had asked once. “Why haven’t you ever gotten actually angry at me? Can you even?”
Jinki pursed his lips, creating another silence that he loved that seemed to stretch to a count of three. And then he burst into that little smile. “It’s you? Why would I be angry when I don’t have to be?”
(This is when Jonghyun grabs Jinki around the middle and pushes him down onto soft blankets and refuses to let him move, even when Jinki protests that there’s no room for them on one bed and that it’s too hot. Jonghyun needs to know that he’s really there.
In the morning, Jinki takes revenge by waking them up just before dawn and dragging Jonghyun out of the covers into the early cold air out on the rooftop. Jonghyun complains loudly, but Jinki goes “Shh shh shh!” again and they both stop as the clouds are tinted and the sun begins to sing a melody of pale colors. Jonghyun wants to shout a greeting out to the sky, but he trusts Jinki and keeps the silence, letting it grow like the increasingly vibrant hues in the air. In the end, he doesn’t complain, especially when he sees the reflection of the dawn in Jinki’s hair and irises.)
Although they are together inside their apartment so much, they are together outside of it too. Neither of them think that such a thing as “too together” exists, at least not in their terms and in their world. On the streets, Jinki will carefully step on three cobblestones of the same color in a row and Jonghyun will watch from behind, smiling as if he’s speaking with the moon. In a small park after dusk, Jonghyun will look up to the budding stars to sing about everything or nothing, and out of the corner of his eye he’ll catch Jinki smiling at him. After dinner at a small bar, they will laugh with their friends over a little too much alcohol and jokes that may or may not be funny, and Jonghyun will catch Jinki’s eye and smile a little extra. They don’t need to interlock fingers to prove anything to themselves or others. It’s not necessary, but sometimes Jonghyun thinks it would be nice.
Jonghyun wants to be able to tell other people how beautiful he thinks Jinki is, or at least try to, and he wants to be able to tell Jinki himself how beautiful he is when they’re doing simple things like riding the train or walking in the street. The fluttering in his chest often has a desire to escape. Right now, though, it hasn’t been too long, and Jonghyun thinks he can wait a little longer. Three may be Jinki’s lucky number, and that’s fine because the two of them are not strung together by luck. They are simply two together because they chose to be, and that is enough.