010: 그대 한걸음만 다가와요. [9/12]
Short(-ish) chapter this time around...well, shorter than the previous ones. Sorry for the varying lengths of these chapters; I just...kind of write them wherever and however the ideas take me OTL
This takes place a little bit after Onew fainted on the set of Music Bank back in the summer of last year. (Poor bby was lucky he didn't get hurt too badly by that falling set! D8)
...I want to write about Taemin's dream from this chapter, though. :x Give it more significance and stuff... lksnfsdg/;sal;fs I feel like I'd want to write about everything that's happened in this story up to this point, though, too -- only in Taemin's perspective.
ANYWAY. MOVING ON TO THE CHAPTER NOW.
IX. 그대 따스하게 날 꼭 감싸주네요.
[ You warmly hold me tight. ]
The four members all stood around Jinki’s hospital bed for about fifteen seconds, contemplating over an awkward silence.
No one dared to speak. No one knew what to say. Kibum, unsurprisingly, was the first to open his mouth and scold him.
(They wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.)
“Honestly,” Kibum huffed, pressing their drowsy leader’s face together with his hands until his features contorted, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you weren’t feeling well! We could have just left early before they started counting the final votes!”
“You really scared us, hyung!” Taemin added tearfully, red curls shivering as he drew closer to the leader to give him a hug. “We thought you got hit by the sparks from the falling lights or something…”
“I could’ve sworn you were right behind me, I told Manager. But then you just…disappeared!” Jonghyun’s lips were curled into an uncharacteristic scowl, gaze alight with obvious concern. “You were lucky Leetuek-hyung was there to catch you!”
“Errughhhawhh-I’m sorry, guyyyyys!” Jinki flailed his free arm lightly (the one that wasn’t hooked up to an IV cord) and tried to make Kibum let go of his round cheeks. “Yes, Kibummie, I knew better, but I wanted us to stay for the whole thing! And no, Taeminnie, I didn’t get hurt…but like Jonghyunnie said, I got lucky!” He flashed his best - albeit weak - smile. “I’m fine now, really. I’m sorry I made all of you worry.”
Minho stood up from the stool by the window (his legs had almost given way on him before, once they got to the hospital with an unconscious Jinki in tow), gently brushing past Jonghyun to squeeze Jinki’s shoulder. It was a small gesture, but he felt as tired as Jinki looked and they all knew it.
Minho had been one of the first to come running when Jinki fainted, after all.
“You made us way more than worried, Jinki-hyung.” Minho felt two pairs of arms wrap around his waist (Taemin, judging from how thin his wrist was when he gripped it back, and Kibum, judging from all the accessories on his wrist) and nodded. “We were scared, you know. Really, really scared.” His eyes slid shut. “If anything serious happened to you again and no one was there to help you…what would you have done?”
Jinki flinched, sensing an undercurrent of quiet agreement from the other three members standing around him. He bit his lower lip, looking close to tears. Minho opened his mouth to apologize to the older boy until Taemin pushed past him and took Jinki’s hands firmly.
“Promise us you won’t make us worry like that again, hyung?” There it was: their maknae Taemin’s glowing moment of maturity. “Otherwise…otherwise, Jonghyun-hyung might have to be our leader-and none of us want that!”
The air went completely still around the five boys at that moment.
But then, Jonghyun snickered under his breath and Kibum snorted ‘that’s my son’ under his with a touch of pride. Minho said nothing, having seen his fair share of Taemin’s ‘moments’, but even he was trying not to grin. And Jinki just smiled.
Jinki just smiled, beckoning them all together for a group hug.
The other four were all too willing to huddle close and wrap their arms around each other-sharing warmth and murmured encouragements-if only to appease their apologetic leader.
“You know,” Jinki chuckled, “it’s not like I’m dying or anything.” Minho felt Taemin stiffen beside him at this remark and decided to ask him about that later. “The doctors said I’ll be fine after a couple of days of rest…so you guys do whatever’s left on our schedule for this week and I’ll meet up with you later, okay?”
“Speaking of which,” Kibum hummed, pulling away as he looked at his cell phone, “we’ve got a recording to make in about an hour. Manager sounds like he’s ready to come up and drag us to the MBC studio any second now.”
“Let’s go, then.” Minho shooed Jonghyun away (though he didn’t need much prompting, chasing after Kibum soon afterward) and ushered Taemin toward the door with him, though not before sending Jinki a quick nod. “We’ll stop by before choreo practice tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” Jinki flopped back onto his pillow, eyes falling shut contently. “Have a safe trip…nnggh, and can you shut the lights before you go?”
Taemin flipped the switch, waving to their exhausted leader (even though Minho was pretty sure Jinki wouldn’t see it).
“’Night, Jinki-hyung. Get lots of rest, okay?”
They saw Jinki wave to them in the dark, and that was the end of that.
Minho saw Jonghyun and Kibum waiting by the stairs at the end of the hall, but he walked slowly so Taemin would follow his lead. They still had a few things to talk about, after all.
“I know you said you were really scared,” Minho started as soon as Taemin was able to match his pace, “when we were driving over here with the ambulance. But it looks like he’ll be okay now.” Taemin didn’t lift his head to respond, though, and Minho frowned. “Taem-”
“I had a dream.” The maknae’s voice was soft. “I had a really scary dream last night about SHINee breaking up.”
Minho stopped in his tracks and turned to the downcast Taemin.
“Taemin, listen.” Minho gripped the boy’s shoulders, leaning over him enough so that their gazes met. “Nothing’s going to happen to us, okay? Jinki-hyung will get better. He hurts himself all the time, but the Onew Condition’s never hurt him so bad that he couldn’t get up again. Jonghyun-hyung and Kibum would never think of leaving the group. They love SHINee, you know that. All of us aren’t going anywhere.”
“What about you?” Minho sucked in a sharp breath; he had been hoping Taemin wouldn’t notice the absence of his name. “Do you love SHINee enough to want us to stay together, hyung?”
Those big dark eyes regarded Minho with a myriad of swirling emotions - expectation, apprehension, and a spark of something unnameable. A brief silence persisted between the two boys while Minho thought long and hard about his answer.
“Don’t worry. I’ll always be around.” Minho assured him, wrapping his arms around the smaller male and enveloping him in a firm hug. “Even if that dream comes true…I’ll always be around, whenever you need me.”
Of course. That was the nature of their friendship, after all: sharing their dreams and worries, talking about silly things and sad things, and opening up their hearts a little bit more to each other.
A part of Minho wanted to open up to the possibility that they could be more than friends. But the other, more sensible part of him he knew they weren’t quite ready for that yet. He didn’t want to risk their friendship on an ambiguous feeling, either.
No. It was more like he couldn’t-because he would never push Taemin into something he didn’t want to do.
“Sorry…” Taemin lifted his head from Minho’s chest, a sheepish smile in place. He still looked sad, but Minho could tell he would be alright now. “I guess I was being a little silly. Dreams are dreams, but…once you wake up, they disappear.”
“You probably won’t have the same dream again, anyway.” Minho gave his wrist a gentle tug, not expecting Taemin to reach out for his fingertips instead and let their shoulders brush with every step forward. “Most people don’t.”
(They walked down the hall together after Jonghyun and Kibum, and Minho watched the pair’s retreating backs disappear down the stairwell ahead of them, all the while keeping his smile and his heartbeat in check-
-Because, for the entire trip down to the MBC studio, Taemin refused to let go of his hand.)
[ Part 10]