boy next door | chapter four | 1,999
boy next door → lee taemin/kim jongin (kai); pg-13; kai's dream girl isn't what she seems...
a/n: this chapter was such a bitch to write.
it didn't want to cooperate. :|
besides that, coming closer to the grand finale obviously!
btw, did i mention that taemin is older than kai? not in
the actual writing? oh. well now you know. lmfao.
i'm such a responsible author tbh.
i apologize if this chapter is a little rocky and hope you'll
still find it in your heart to comment!
It was already well into the afternoon when an insistent ding-dong flooded his household, startling Kai awake. Blinking dark eyes open groggily, he sat up only to feel something slide down his torso and land on his bedroom floor with a thud.
Tugging fingers through short, disheveled, onyx hair, Kai glanced down to see the latest filled pages of his journal staring back at him.
Oh that’s right, once he’d hung up with Sehun he had spent the remainder of the night writing out possible scenarios - in most of which he either embarrassed himself or got rejected (or, y’know, both) - and other trivial romantic notions. The repeated characters of Taemin’s name jumped off the page at him. Kai shook his head and groaned; God, he was honestly worse than a girl.
The doorbell rung again reminding Kai of why he’d startled awake in the first place, and with a sigh he got out of bed. He could only be bothered to yank on a pair of gray sweats lying rumpled on the floor before he padded his way downstairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. As he opened the front door it didn’t occur to him that it might be anyone but his mom, realizing she’d left her keys at home or something.
So when he was met with Taemin’s pretty face and a basket of muffins Kai didn’t know what to do other than stare. And he wasn’t the only one. Taemin wasn’t even trying to hide his staring, the way his eyes were raking down Kai’s exposed abdomen, skimming over the muscle there like a tangible thing; Kai’s skin felt hot everywhere Taemin’s gaze touched.
The latter was busying himself studying the slope of Kai’s hipbones when he finally found it in him to drag smoldering brown eyes up to meet’s Kai’s half lidded ones, a too-sweet smile spreading across his lips.
“Good morning,” he purred and Kai visibly shivered. Taemin’s grin grew showing off the white of his teeth. “Cold?”
Kai crossed his arms over his chest self consciously and tried for a friendly smile that looked more awkward and sleepy than anything else. “It’s a little drafty.” It was a poor attempt at humor but Taemin let out a little chuckle anyway, unwittingly soothing Kai’s nerves.
“Mm, it is a little windy outside…” Taemin hinted but didn’t press any more than that; he wanted it to be Kai’s decision to let him in, figuratively and literally. The whole force thing wasn’t really his style. Plus, it wasn’t like he’d ever had problems getting what he wanted before.
“Do you uhm,” Kai began, unbeknownst to him breaking Taemin’s devious train of thought as he reached up to rub nervously at the back of his neck, giving the other boy a nice view of his bicep. “want to come in or something?”
Taemin tucked a piece of long, brown hair behind his ear and looked up at Kai through his lashes, slinking closer. “That would be nice.” He murmured appreciatively when their bodies were just inches apart making Kai swallow hard, Adams apple bobbing.
His body was screaming with the awareness of their proximity and Sehun’s words bounced fervently around in his head; “Or spend your whole life wondering what it would be like to be with him. Your choice”. Taemin was so close that he could smell his vanilla bean shampoo, and all Kai wanted to do was take the boy’s tiny waist in between his hands and pull him close.
Instead Kai stepped back to let Taemin inside, the tantalizing smell of baked goods distracting him from the trap he was willingly setting for himself. The slight skim of Taemin’s fingers across his bare stomach was definitely taken note of however, and Kai had to hold his breath to keep from gasping audibly at the sensation.
Obviously, Kai thought as he closed the door behind them, it was just a fluke, a slip of the hand. There was just no way Taemin could have the same plan as Sehun. Pursing his lips, he glanced over at the other who was carefully slipping out of his shoes, long hair spilling over his shoulder; Kai almost laughed at himself. Taemin? Impossible.
“Are those for me?” Kai inquired innocently from where he was hovering just behind Taemin, glancing over his shoulder and trying to figure out if one of those muffins in the basket he was holding was blueberry.
Taemin picked out a cinnamon muffin for himself before handing the basket to Kai, leaning casually against the worn kitchen table as he took a bite and watched the younger dig through its contents of warm bread and butter.
Once he had happily set hands on his muffin of choice, Taemin said, “My mom baked them last night. She wanted to thank you for helping us move in, so I thought I’d bring them over once you’d woken up…though apparently I’m a little early?” His smile was unapologetic.
“No, no. It’s fine. I needed to get up anyway.” Kai murmured, a little unnerved by how casual Taemin seemed to be in his home. Why wasn’t the other boy a nervous wreck? Here Kai was nearly smooshing his muffin with clammy hands, still embarrassingly enough in his pajamas, while Taemin just stared at him from across the kitchen with his gorgeous eyes, idly chewing a muffin and looking abnormally perfect.
Or maybe looking that good was just normal for him; the thought didn’t do anything for Kai’s nerves.
And then it hit him. Maybe Taemin didn’t look at Kai as anything more than a friend; maybe his whole plan was ridiculous and Taemin, against all odds, was actually straight; his mother had taught him never to judge a book by its cover.
With an odd little sigh of relief that made the elder raise an arched eyebrow at him, Kai mentally smacked himself and Sehun for being so stupid and hasty before setting his muffin onto the kitchen countertop. “Sorry, I should probably go get dressed.”
At the mention Taemin’s eyes raked up Kai’s bare chest one last time before making a noncommittal noise like he didn’t want to agree or disagree with the statement.
“Don’t be sorry.” And a sweet smile was what he settled for and Kai had to fight the urge to blush.
When it became evident that Taemin had no intention of leaving any time soon, purposely studying his surroundings like he’d be spending the day here (or the night the younger thought with a gulp), Kai did what every good host would do. “Make yourself at home. I’ll uh, be right back.”
Taemin watched the younger dart away to who knows where. He licked the lingering sugar from his lips thoughtfully before deciding to explore the house a little more. It was so unlike his empty one next door, obviously worn with use, framed family photos and dying plants lining countertops along with other knickknacks.
It was kind of cute.
Making his way towards the stairs, Taemin cautiously toed one of the steps as if Kai might pop in any moment and reprimand him for going too far. When all the response he got was the sound of Kai shuffling around somewhere toward the back of the house, the boy smiled to himself. His devilish grin was hidden behind a curtain of caramel hair as he began to quickly ascend to the second floor of the suburban home.
Four rooms lined the narrow upstairs hallway, and it didn’t take more than a second to pinpoint Kai’s, a miniature basketball hoop collecting dust stuck to the upper half of the door. Tip toeing over the floorboards carefully, Taemin cautiously turned the tarnished golden knob before poking his head in curiously.
It looked like an ordinary teenage boy’s room, with posters plastered to the walls, playboys hidden in very obvious places, and clothes and sports equipment strewn all over the carpeted floor; the bed was still unmade and a plate of food sat half eaten on the nightstand beside it. A painfully ordinary appearance, so ordinary Taemin almost overlooked the little jewel nestled atop a rumpled black sweatshirt. A jewel in the shape of a very private looking leather bound journal prostrate across the messy floor.
Letting his nosiness get the better of him, Taemin pushed the door open wide (well Kai had said to make himself at home after all) and stepped across the threshold, picking up the journal where it lay. Taking a seat on the edge of the other’s bed gingerly, Taemin flipped to the very last page Kai had written on (in an endearing sort of chicken scratch) and began to skim it for any dirty secrets when he stopped short half way into the first sentence because…was that the characters for his name scrawled across the page?
Squinting his eyes, he brought the journal closer to his face and, sure enough, there it was again…and again… and again.
The corner of Taemin’s lips twitched. Perfect.
“What are you doing?” Came a stricken voice from the entry way.
Taemin’s smile slid from his face, replaced by wide guilty eyes that he drew away from the page and up toward his host who looked about two shades paler as his gaze shifted from Taemin to the journal in his hands, and back again.
Kai was dressed in dark wash jeans and a loose gray shirt that exposed a good deal of his chest, face a little more alert and dark bangs damp where they stuck to his forehead; he’d obviously splashed his face with water and freshened up a bit.
Taemin dropped the journal to the floor, wincing a bit when Kai darted over to snatch it up, cheeks ablaze.
“What did you see?” He demanded lowly, voice sending shivers of excitement up Taemin’s spine. The latter bit his lip to keep from grinning and looked away coyly.
“Nothing…”
Kai wasn’t buying it.
Setting the journal aside carefully on the nightstand beside his bed, wedged between an empty coke can and an alarm clock, the younger boy came forward until he was standing just inches away from Taemin looking down at him. The elder tilted his head back to meet Kai’s gaze, brown hair spilling down over his shoulders like a café waterfall. And that’s when Kai saw it, the flicker of amusement in those innocent brown eyes.
He pursed his lips with embarrassment. “You saw it.” He stated simply.
Taemin let the smile he’d been trying to hide spread across his mouth like warm butter over bread. “Saw what?” He teased with a cute tilt of his head, as if thinking for a moment before saying, “Unless you’re talking about the two pages dedicated to my eyes.”
Kai brought his hands up to his head and burrowed his face there with a groan, like he might have a chance at disappearing. “Oh God, you saw it.”
Taemin chuckled at the small lines he could see branching out from the corner of the other’s eyes, knowing he was squeezing them tightly shut. “It’s cute.” He supplied after a moment, reaching out and grabbing Kai by the elbow so he could tug him closer until he was standing between Taemin’s legs.
Kai blinked his eyes open when hands moved from his elbows to his waist before sliding sensually down the sides of his body and settling on his narrow hips, thumbs massaging the jutting bone through the rough fabric of his jeans. “So, want to try it?”
“T-t-try,” He paused his shocked sputtering to suck in a deep breath and try again. “I’ve never - with a boy. I uhm, I haven’t-"
Smile turning from the sweet, tentative one Kai had grown fond of to something alien, predatory, and oddly sexy, Kai watched as Taemin’s lips rounded out to breathe a soft ‘shhh’ right before the elder hooked fingers into his belt loops and yanked him forward. “Relax, Hyung will take good care of you.”
a/n: this chapter was such a bitch to write.
it didn't want to cooperate. :|
besides that, coming closer to the grand finale obviously!
btw, did i mention that taemin is older than kai? not in
the actual writing? oh. well now you know. lmfao.
i'm such a responsible author tbh.
i apologize if this chapter is a little rocky and hope you'll
still find it in your heart to comment!
It was already well into the afternoon when an insistent ding-dong flooded his household, startling Kai awake. Blinking dark eyes open groggily, he sat up only to feel something slide down his torso and land on his bedroom floor with a thud.
Tugging fingers through short, disheveled, onyx hair, Kai glanced down to see the latest filled pages of his journal staring back at him.
Oh that’s right, once he’d hung up with Sehun he had spent the remainder of the night writing out possible scenarios - in most of which he either embarrassed himself or got rejected (or, y’know, both) - and other trivial romantic notions. The repeated characters of Taemin’s name jumped off the page at him. Kai shook his head and groaned; God, he was honestly worse than a girl.
The doorbell rung again reminding Kai of why he’d startled awake in the first place, and with a sigh he got out of bed. He could only be bothered to yank on a pair of gray sweats lying rumpled on the floor before he padded his way downstairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. As he opened the front door it didn’t occur to him that it might be anyone but his mom, realizing she’d left her keys at home or something.
So when he was met with Taemin’s pretty face and a basket of muffins Kai didn’t know what to do other than stare. And he wasn’t the only one. Taemin wasn’t even trying to hide his staring, the way his eyes were raking down Kai’s exposed abdomen, skimming over the muscle there like a tangible thing; Kai’s skin felt hot everywhere Taemin’s gaze touched.
The latter was busying himself studying the slope of Kai’s hipbones when he finally found it in him to drag smoldering brown eyes up to meet’s Kai’s half lidded ones, a too-sweet smile spreading across his lips.
“Good morning,” he purred and Kai visibly shivered. Taemin’s grin grew showing off the white of his teeth. “Cold?”
Kai crossed his arms over his chest self consciously and tried for a friendly smile that looked more awkward and sleepy than anything else. “It’s a little drafty.” It was a poor attempt at humor but Taemin let out a little chuckle anyway, unwittingly soothing Kai’s nerves.
“Mm, it is a little windy outside…” Taemin hinted but didn’t press any more than that; he wanted it to be Kai’s decision to let him in, figuratively and literally. The whole force thing wasn’t really his style. Plus, it wasn’t like he’d ever had problems getting what he wanted before.
“Do you uhm,” Kai began, unbeknownst to him breaking Taemin’s devious train of thought as he reached up to rub nervously at the back of his neck, giving the other boy a nice view of his bicep. “want to come in or something?”
Taemin tucked a piece of long, brown hair behind his ear and looked up at Kai through his lashes, slinking closer. “That would be nice.” He murmured appreciatively when their bodies were just inches apart making Kai swallow hard, Adams apple bobbing.
His body was screaming with the awareness of their proximity and Sehun’s words bounced fervently around in his head; “Or spend your whole life wondering what it would be like to be with him. Your choice”. Taemin was so close that he could smell his vanilla bean shampoo, and all Kai wanted to do was take the boy’s tiny waist in between his hands and pull him close.
Instead Kai stepped back to let Taemin inside, the tantalizing smell of baked goods distracting him from the trap he was willingly setting for himself. The slight skim of Taemin’s fingers across his bare stomach was definitely taken note of however, and Kai had to hold his breath to keep from gasping audibly at the sensation.
Obviously, Kai thought as he closed the door behind them, it was just a fluke, a slip of the hand. There was just no way Taemin could have the same plan as Sehun. Pursing his lips, he glanced over at the other who was carefully slipping out of his shoes, long hair spilling over his shoulder; Kai almost laughed at himself. Taemin? Impossible.
“Are those for me?” Kai inquired innocently from where he was hovering just behind Taemin, glancing over his shoulder and trying to figure out if one of those muffins in the basket he was holding was blueberry.
Taemin picked out a cinnamon muffin for himself before handing the basket to Kai, leaning casually against the worn kitchen table as he took a bite and watched the younger dig through its contents of warm bread and butter.
Once he had happily set hands on his muffin of choice, Taemin said, “My mom baked them last night. She wanted to thank you for helping us move in, so I thought I’d bring them over once you’d woken up…though apparently I’m a little early?” His smile was unapologetic.
“No, no. It’s fine. I needed to get up anyway.” Kai murmured, a little unnerved by how casual Taemin seemed to be in his home. Why wasn’t the other boy a nervous wreck? Here Kai was nearly smooshing his muffin with clammy hands, still embarrassingly enough in his pajamas, while Taemin just stared at him from across the kitchen with his gorgeous eyes, idly chewing a muffin and looking abnormally perfect.
Or maybe looking that good was just normal for him; the thought didn’t do anything for Kai’s nerves.
And then it hit him. Maybe Taemin didn’t look at Kai as anything more than a friend; maybe his whole plan was ridiculous and Taemin, against all odds, was actually straight; his mother had taught him never to judge a book by its cover.
With an odd little sigh of relief that made the elder raise an arched eyebrow at him, Kai mentally smacked himself and Sehun for being so stupid and hasty before setting his muffin onto the kitchen countertop. “Sorry, I should probably go get dressed.”
At the mention Taemin’s eyes raked up Kai’s bare chest one last time before making a noncommittal noise like he didn’t want to agree or disagree with the statement.
“Don’t be sorry.” And a sweet smile was what he settled for and Kai had to fight the urge to blush.
When it became evident that Taemin had no intention of leaving any time soon, purposely studying his surroundings like he’d be spending the day here (or the night the younger thought with a gulp), Kai did what every good host would do. “Make yourself at home. I’ll uh, be right back.”
Taemin watched the younger dart away to who knows where. He licked the lingering sugar from his lips thoughtfully before deciding to explore the house a little more. It was so unlike his empty one next door, obviously worn with use, framed family photos and dying plants lining countertops along with other knickknacks.
It was kind of cute.
Making his way towards the stairs, Taemin cautiously toed one of the steps as if Kai might pop in any moment and reprimand him for going too far. When all the response he got was the sound of Kai shuffling around somewhere toward the back of the house, the boy smiled to himself. His devilish grin was hidden behind a curtain of caramel hair as he began to quickly ascend to the second floor of the suburban home.
Four rooms lined the narrow upstairs hallway, and it didn’t take more than a second to pinpoint Kai’s, a miniature basketball hoop collecting dust stuck to the upper half of the door. Tip toeing over the floorboards carefully, Taemin cautiously turned the tarnished golden knob before poking his head in curiously.
It looked like an ordinary teenage boy’s room, with posters plastered to the walls, playboys hidden in very obvious places, and clothes and sports equipment strewn all over the carpeted floor; the bed was still unmade and a plate of food sat half eaten on the nightstand beside it. A painfully ordinary appearance, so ordinary Taemin almost overlooked the little jewel nestled atop a rumpled black sweatshirt. A jewel in the shape of a very private looking leather bound journal prostrate across the messy floor.
Letting his nosiness get the better of him, Taemin pushed the door open wide (well Kai had said to make himself at home after all) and stepped across the threshold, picking up the journal where it lay. Taking a seat on the edge of the other’s bed gingerly, Taemin flipped to the very last page Kai had written on (in an endearing sort of chicken scratch) and began to skim it for any dirty secrets when he stopped short half way into the first sentence because…was that the characters for his name scrawled across the page?
Squinting his eyes, he brought the journal closer to his face and, sure enough, there it was again…and again… and again.
The corner of Taemin’s lips twitched. Perfect.
“What are you doing?” Came a stricken voice from the entry way.
Taemin’s smile slid from his face, replaced by wide guilty eyes that he drew away from the page and up toward his host who looked about two shades paler as his gaze shifted from Taemin to the journal in his hands, and back again.
Kai was dressed in dark wash jeans and a loose gray shirt that exposed a good deal of his chest, face a little more alert and dark bangs damp where they stuck to his forehead; he’d obviously splashed his face with water and freshened up a bit.
Taemin dropped the journal to the floor, wincing a bit when Kai darted over to snatch it up, cheeks ablaze.
“What did you see?” He demanded lowly, voice sending shivers of excitement up Taemin’s spine. The latter bit his lip to keep from grinning and looked away coyly.
“Nothing…”
Kai wasn’t buying it.
Setting the journal aside carefully on the nightstand beside his bed, wedged between an empty coke can and an alarm clock, the younger boy came forward until he was standing just inches away from Taemin looking down at him. The elder tilted his head back to meet Kai’s gaze, brown hair spilling down over his shoulders like a café waterfall. And that’s when Kai saw it, the flicker of amusement in those innocent brown eyes.
He pursed his lips with embarrassment. “You saw it.” He stated simply.
Taemin let the smile he’d been trying to hide spread across his mouth like warm butter over bread. “Saw what?” He teased with a cute tilt of his head, as if thinking for a moment before saying, “Unless you’re talking about the two pages dedicated to my eyes.”
Kai brought his hands up to his head and burrowed his face there with a groan, like he might have a chance at disappearing. “Oh God, you saw it.”
Taemin chuckled at the small lines he could see branching out from the corner of the other’s eyes, knowing he was squeezing them tightly shut. “It’s cute.” He supplied after a moment, reaching out and grabbing Kai by the elbow so he could tug him closer until he was standing between Taemin’s legs.
Kai blinked his eyes open when hands moved from his elbows to his waist before sliding sensually down the sides of his body and settling on his narrow hips, thumbs massaging the jutting bone through the rough fabric of his jeans. “So, want to try it?”
“T-t-try,” He paused his shocked sputtering to suck in a deep breath and try again. “I’ve never - with a boy. I uhm, I haven’t-"
Smile turning from the sweet, tentative one Kai had grown fond of to something alien, predatory, and oddly sexy, Kai watched as Taemin’s lips rounded out to breathe a soft ‘shhh’ right before the elder hooked fingers into his belt loops and yanked him forward. “Relax, Hyung will take good care of you.”