[Shinee] Middlemen | #6 (Christmas Special)
PrevSix (Bonus Chapter): On the first day of Christmas
“Secret Santa tiiiiiiiiiiime!” Victoria chirped as she entered the living room, a red pointed hat fallen to one side with a furry white ball attached at the tip donned on her head.
Jonghyun had his arm wrapped protectively around Jinki’s shoulders as they sunk further into the couch, strangely pleased at the sight of Victoria bouncing into the center of the living room with glee. Minho was biting his lip, situated beside Jinki while Taemin uncrossed his legs and leaned on his elbows propped up on his knees as he sported a face splitting grin at Victoria. Kibum merely rolled his eyes from as he continued to lean on the wall adjacent to the fire place, arms over his chest. He was pleased, though he would never admit it.
Victoria loved Christmas. This was a fact that nobody could deny. And the fact that this was going to be their first Christmas celebrated together, Victoria was ecstatic. To say the least.
Her hands remained behind her back, deemed useless as Kibum was situated behind her, granting him a clear view of the other red pointy hat in her hands. Kibum didn’t need x-ray vision to figure out that it was their names in the hat, scribbled neatly on 1/8th sized, pink paper cut outs.
Victoria flicks her gaze towards Kibum, eyes narrow, but her smile was still quite obvious. “Sit.” She commands in a clipped, but high pitched tone.
Kibum finally gives in and snorts out a laugh as he positions himself on one of the arm rests on Taemin’s chair.
“That hat totally clashes with your olive green, off shoulder, form fitting Vera Wang cocktail dress.” Kibum comments flatly, eyes on his nails.
“Zip it, Grinch.” Victoria retaliates without missing a beat. “I am representing a very styling Christmas tree.”
“Vera Wang would roll in her grave if she heard that.” Minho tries at a retort.
“Vera Wang’s still alive, retard.” Kibum huffs at Minho as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You should stick to what you know. Like guns and….cock blocking.”
Taemin, Jinki and Jonghyun’s laugh are cut short by Victoria’s audible sigh of disappointment. “I always wonder how you successfully manage to sneak the topic of cock in any conversation.”
“I manage to sneak cock anywhere. Just ask Taemin.” Kibum reaches out to pinch one of Taemin’s cheeks. Taemin’s eyes never leave Victoria as he nods in agreement, a grin still very much on his face.
“Honestly, Kibum.” Jinki’s voice seems to contract all of the attention in the room. “Just shut up for three seconds, will you?” Jinki says it with a smile. Doesn’t make it less insulting though, Kibum thinks.
The room is dead silent after that. Even Victoria was staring at Jinki with wide eyes. Jonghyun, on the other hand, kept his smile behind the back of his hand.
It takes Kibum a moment to absorb the situation before him. “He speaks.” He whispers, mostly to himself.
“I think I have a new favorite son.” Victoria finally separates her hands from behind, plants each one on her hips, one hand still gripping on the second hat that contained their names. “Anyway, I have taken the liberty of drawing your names into this very holiday looking hat.”
Victoria hands the hat to Jonghyun who tentatively takes his arm away from Jinki in order to dip it into the opening, fingers playing with the rolled up papers.
“You are to pick a name at random and you shall be their secret santa.” Victoria explains whilst Jonghyun takes his time with drawing out a name.
“What the fuck?” Kibum stretches his neck back a few seconds later when Jonghyun is still rolling the papers around the hat. “Are trying to dig for hidden treasures?”
Jonghyun doesn’t give Kibum the pleasure of a reply. Instead he glares at Kibum with what he thinks has enough wrath integrated in it to man handle beasts. He plucks out a rolled up paper before handing the hat to Jinki.
Jinki takes up less time and simply draws out the first roll up paper that meets with his fingers. So does Minho and Taemin. Kibum, picks from the last two before handing the hat back to Victoria who gladly takes it with both hands, plucks the last name and throws the hat in the fire place.
“Wait-“ Kibum looks up the moment he unrolls the name he picked. “Who has Taemin’s name?”
“Kibum,” Victoria rolls her eyes. “You can’t choose. That totally defeats the purpose-“
“I have Taemin.” Jonghyun raises his piece of paper half in the air before exchanging with Kibum.
“Jonghyun!”
“I don’t know what to give Taemin anyway.” Jonghyun shrugs as he sits back down, new name now in his hands.
“Oh, Jjong.” Taemin smiles. “You know that anything hard will do.” He provides with a rather lascivious wink.
“God.” Victoria lets her shoulder sag in defeat.
“Cheer up, Umma.” Taemin stands from his seat and walks over to Victoria. He circles both arms around her waist from the side, hands locking as he perches his chin on her shoulder. “It’s not like it won’t be a surprise anymore.”
“Hey Minho.” Jonghyun whispers audibly from behind Jinki’s head in order to face the tallest middleman. “What do you want for Christmas?”
Victoria just sobs on Taemin’s hair.
~o~
Jinki doesn’t hate snow. That doesn’t mean he likes it either. It was the fact that his boots always made it to the depths of the piles that really got to him, leaving his walking slightly wobbly.
“I hate snow.” Jinki mutters from beside Jonghyun as they made their way to one of Jonghyun’s cars.
“You hate a lot of things, Lee Jinki.” Jonghyun jogs to the driver’s seat side, unlocking the car with his keys and hopping inside.
“That’s not true.” Jinki says as he warms up his hands with his breath once inside the car.
Jonghyun fills the key slot with his key, twists the handle and starts the engine. “I know you hate Christmas shopping.”
“I-“
“-had to drag you out of bed this morning just so we could buy presents today.”
“I don’t know what to get for Umma.” Jinki tries to figure out how to work the heater in Jonghyun’s car as he stirs them out of the driveway. “What do you get for someone who has everything?”
Jonghyun shrugs, both hands on the wheel. “What do you get for a guy who doesn’t want anything?”
“Minho’s a lot easier to figure out.”
Jonghyun bites the inside of his mouth. The sound of Minho’s name coming out from Jinki’s lips made him somewhat uncomfortable. Upon this realization he thinks he wants to smack himself for being so overly untrusting. “Do you wanna switch?”
“What?” Jinki gives up on the knobs by the air conditioner, opting instead to keep his gloves on and rub them together.
“Do you wanna buy something for Minho instead?”
Jonghyun feels like the air was just sucked out of his as he waited for Jinki’s response. It’s not as if Jinki was thinking really hard about his question. It was Jonghyun’s own insecurities. He has to work on that.
“I don’t think it matters.” Jinki shrugs as he tightens his scarf around his neck. “We’ll be shopping together anyway. Might as well help each other out.”
“Right.”
“Jonghyun?”
“Hm?”
“Is it possible to get frostbites on your ass? Coz I think my ass cheeks are breaking apart.”
“Jesus, Jinki.” Jonghyun laughs as he pushes one button in the array that Jinki was working on earlier to get the heater started. It gets a lot warmer after that.
~o~
“D’you ever notice how we have a pool but we never use it?” Taemin’s breaths are stained with white puffs when he speaks beside Kibum. They observe the pool in their backyard, water forming random, opaque, solid surfaces due to the cold.
Kibum tilts his head back and remains silent for a few seconds. He lets his head roll towards the younger boy. “Are you suggesting we take a dip?”
Taemin shrugs , eyes still roaming over the edges of the water. “Would you jump in if I did?”
“Taemin.” One off Kibum’s brows shoot up. “It’s fucking freezing.”
Taemin huffs. “Pussy.”
“Wha-“ Kibum’s gloved hands curl into fists from the inside of his jacket pockets. “Fuck you.”
“I don’t fuck pussies.”
Kibum bumps Taemin to the side with his shoulder. “You should stop making that a hobby.”
“Bribing you with my dick?” Taemin laughs as he regains balance, repositioning himself beside the older boy. He flips his bangs out of his eye with a flick of his head, hand automatically flying to the top of his fringe to arrange it further. “I’ll let you have sex with me with the lights on.”
To this, Kibum’s eyes light up. Taemin could tell that he was considering it. “With the mirrors too?”
Taemin’s eyes close as he breathes out, lips in a tight line, a clear indication of hesitance. “Fine.”
“You’re on.” Kibum answers without missing a beat.
They strip off the first layers of their clothing, leaving nothing but their undershirts and boxers. Kibum couldn’t help but cross his arms over his chest and rub his hands over his biceps. He was no challenge to the cold.
Both boys position themselves closer to the ledge. Kibum’s teeth are beginning to chatter and now he’s wondering why he ever though that he could do this. But Taemin was standing beside him, ready and determined. Yeah, he wasn’t going to let Taemin have this one.
“On three.” Taemin instructs. “One.”
Kibum lets his hands fall to his sides, pretending that the lack of contact didn’t make his skin grow goose bumps.
“Two.”
Kibum tries to imagine a bed of fire, or an oven. Or the inside of an apple pie, anything remotely warm. Mind over matter. Kibum chants mentally.
“Three!”
Kibum is always going to blame the cold. It was the cold that made him freeze in his stance even after Taemin has counted three. It was cold that made him close his eyes shut and wait for the splash of the water, letting him know that Taemin was being engulfed by the impossibly cold water.
But the splash never came. He strains one eyelid open and finds Taemin by his side still, dry and sporting a crooked grin like he was caught stealing from the cookie jar.
Kibum’s expression soon dissolves into a scowl, but Taemin doesn’t seem to be worried. “You were never going to jump.” Kibum says softly as if he were speaking out thoughts that were never meant to come out of his mouth.
“Listen, Kibum-“
Kibum races after Taemin with a war cry, completely forgetting how the cold was beating him down. His rage kept him warm. Taemin is even graceful off stage as he ducks in order to avoid Kibum’s arms and makes a break for the other side of the pool.
Kibum catches him eventually in both arms, and Taemin starts to struggle both from laughter and Kibum’s grip. Taemin’s a lot stronger than he looks. And in the one moment that Kibum forgets this, his balance is off and gravity pulls both of them down into the prickling cold of the pool.
They both hit the surface of the water, arms first. It’s so cold that it almost feels like thin ice the moment both boys sink into the bottom and break away from one another in order to pop their heads back into the open air. The idea sounded so much better in Kibum and Taemin’s head. That was before they actually did break from the plane of the water and the wind hits them right in the face with several levels of cold.
Their teeth begin to chatter at the same time and it resonates within the entire backyard, just as loud as when they accidentally plunge into the water. Kibum has both his arms wrapped around his stomach as his feet kick against the water underneath him to keep himself up. Taemin’s nose starts to redden a bit when Kibum catches sight of him.
Kibum forces his arms to break away from his body so that he could start swimming towards the younger boy. Taemin still thinks that Kibum is out to get him. Taemin does the same, swimming in the opposite direction. When he reaches the ledge and is about to pull himself up Kibum’s fingers dig into the sides of his hips, hauling him down once again. Taemin falls back into the water, the cold welcoming him in an icy embrace.
“G-g-et-t o-f-fe-mee!” Taemin’s words are chopped off by the chattering of his teeth. When he tries to pull himself up Kibum just holds him back down again. Taemin starts to lose his upper arm strength and his toes are just about numb. “F-f-fuck-k.”
“Get out of the water, losers. You’re gonna catch a cold.” Minho is suddenly circling the pool towards them, two towels in his hands.
“I’m t-teach-ch-ching T-t-taemin a l-l-esssson. F-fuck-k-k-offff.” Kibum stutters. Minho stands before them, stop the ledge, unimpressed.
“Just get out of the pool, Kibum. This is getting weird.”
“Are y-y-you re-ret-t-tard-d-“
“For the fucking umpteenth time, no! I am not retarded for crissake. Get out of the water before your dicks fall off.” Minho throws one of the towels on the floor in frustration but is quick to grab back up again.
~o~
The warmth of the mug filled with hot chocolate feels like home in Taemin’s palms. He alternates between taking the scent of the chocolate in his nostrils, allowing the sweet aroma to flood his senses and taking small sips. He sits patiently in the kitchen after having a warm shower, elbows resting on the marble surface of the island counter as he hunches over his mug, fringe almost covering all of his eyes.
Minho suddenly drops a blanket over his shoulders as he makes his way past, draping the younger boy before proceeding to circle the counter to the stove where he prepares a mug of hot chocolate for Kibum for when he gets out of the shower.
The younger boy tugs the blanket closer up on his shoulders after setting the mug down. When he looks back up he’s granted a view of Minho’s wide set back, his muscles evidently flexing from underneath the grey fabric of his shirt. Minho spins around, a mug in one hand, a pot of freshly made hot chocolate in the other. He doesn’t meet Taemin’s gaze, nor does Taemin think that Minho’s aware that the hehas been eyeing him carefully. Minho sets the mug down and uses two hands to navigate the brown liquid into the mouth of the mug from the pot.
“You know, Minho.” Taemin begins, making Minho spare him a brief glance before looking back down at what he was doing. “I haven’t tasted you in while.”
Minho snorts out a laugh in response. He places the pot back on the stove before leaning on the counter with both palms flat on the spotless marble. “Get used to it, Taemin.”
“When was the last time you even got any?”
“Have you been keeping count?” Minho backs away from the counter, a smirk hovering on his lips as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“I’m just saying.”
“What are you saying?”
“I can let you tap this if you say the word.”
Minho laughs. “What about Kibum?”
“He can either watch or participate.”
“You’re one sick, kid. You know that?”
“Right. You would never do that.” Taemin covers the rest of himself with the blanket as he leans back in his chair. “Coz you don’t want me. You want someone else.”
“I don’t know where you’re going with this but-“
“Let me guess. He’s in his twenties. Light ashy brown hair. About five nine. Looks really good in black. Let’s you give him a handjob in front of a sea of middle aged women at a bachelorette party.”
“Wow.” Minho breathes out as if he’s bored. He throws Taemin a disbelieving look to which Taemin retorts with his infamous wink before taking another sip of his hot chocolate.
“Having frequent sex doesn’t lessen my observation skills.”
“Doesn’t heighten them either.”
“Minho.” Taemin bites his lip as if he’s actually being careful with his words. “Despite what you might think of me I really. Truly. Genuinely care about you. You’re a good guy. And I don’t want you to get distracted for all the wrong reasons.” Taemin stands from his seat, taking the blanket and the mug with him. “If you ever wanna talk about it.” Taemin leaves the rest of his sentence empty once he disappears from the kitchen door, leaving Minho in his stance, his smile fading into a blank.
~o~
When Papa Bear wants to eat out, he doesn’t just order one meal. He rents the entire restaurant for the night. Victoria takes slow steps into the dining hall of the restaurant Papa Bear’s driver had lead her too. The whole room in covered in a blanket of black apart from a warm white shade glowing from behind a curtain in the farthest side of the room.
Before entering past the curtains Victoria pulls the hem of her dress down, wills her heartbeat to cease it’s fast pace. From behind the curtain was a whole other area, painted in the warm glow of the candle lights surrounding the room. In the center was a table, seating meant for two, one of which was already occupied by a man she has known so well, and loved for as long as she could remember.
“Hey.” Victoria greets accompanied by a shy smile.
Papa Bear stands from his seat and pulls the opposite chair out for her, his smile crushing breath and leaving her in a daze. Once they’re both seated a single waiter enters the room after a snap of Papa Bear’s fingers. The waiter pours champagne into both their glasses.
“You look beautiful, Victoria.” His says in a deep, melting voice.
Victoria’s cheeks flush at the compliment. And Papa Bear has always enjoyed the way she still fawns over the simple things he does for her.
They get into a conversation, mostly about the life in the house. Victoria goes on to tell Papa Bear of Kibum’s inability to submit to the rules of secret Santa to which Papa Bear finds comical.
“How is Jinki doing so far?”
“Jinki?” Victoria blinks from her side of the table. “You were right. He was a natural. From the first day he was brought in to his first negotiation. Although, I was a bit worried when the whole thing transpired-you know, with Jinki having to take a bullet and all - he’s fine now. And he’s getting along with the rest of the middlemen much better these days.”
“Even Jonghyun?”
Victoria nods. It takes her a few chews of her chicken before she dares herself to speak again. “I wanted to ask you. What happened with the bride at the bachelorette party? Kibum told me that she was mad about a defect in the shrine?”
Papa Bear doesn’t seem as bothered as Victoria. He looks up at her with light eyes and a comforting smile. “Don’t worry. I’ve spoken to a few people about it. As it turns out there have been a few problems occurring down at production. I was going to let you know about it after Christmas, but you’re obviously already on top of everything.”
“What’s going to happen after Christmas?”
“I’m going to need one of your middlemen in the factory to take care of whoever has been tampering with the product.”
Victoria licks her lips, already thinking about assigning Minho to do the job for her.
“I was thinking Jinki could put his skills to the test.”
Victoria’s eyes almost instantly aim for Papa Bear’s. “I-but he’s still new to the Underground.”
“You just said that he was adjusting well. And that he was a natural. I want to make sure that his talents aren’t wasted.”
He spoke with finality, the kind that Victoria had always fallen victim to. She stays silent in her seat, knowing full well that this Christmas should be well spent.
Victoria gazes over to Papa Bear the moment he starts reaching for the inside pocket of his blazer. She gulps hard because she knows exactly what he’s reaching for. She could do without it. But similar to most of the clients and even more importantly, what Papa Bear wants, Papa Bear gets. From behind the lapel of his blazer he takes out a small zip lock bag containing one ruby red shrine meant for only Victoria to consume.
Victoria tentatively extends her hand out, palm facing up and waits for Papa Bear to place the small product into the center of her hand. She covers her entire mouth, the shrine landing on her tongue before washing it down with her champagne. Washing away reality. Washing away her memories. Washing away Jeeyan.
~o~
Jinki’s in the bathroom brushing his teeth when he hears a knock on the main door of his room. He walks away from the mirror, mouth still foaming with white as he opens the door.
“Minho?” Jinki’s pronunciation is muffled by the foam in his mouth.
“Hey, Jinki.” Minho takes a step forward. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Sure.” Jinki accidentally sprays white toothpaste foam all over the front of Minho’s shirt. He blushes in embarrassment. “Shit. OH-“ he sprays more without meaning too. Damn, these “s” words.
Minho is starting to laugh as he pats the foam away. “It’s okay. Just go rinse.”
When Jinki comes back from the bathroom Minho is seated by the foot of his bed, hands pressed together on his lap. Jinki takes one leg up as he sits next to Minho, eyes on his profile. “So, what’s up?”
“I, uh.” Minho reaches into the depths of his pockets for something. “I got you for secret Santa.”
He plucks out a red object and tosses it to Jinki. He forgets the fact that Jinki wasn’t always ready for impromptu tosses when the object hit Jinki right between the eyes. “Oh. Fuck.”
Jinki picks up the object from the bed, the other hand nursing his forehead.
“It’s a Swiss army knife.” Minho explains before Jinki can ask. “I know it’s not much. But a good friend of mine gave that to me once. It kind of has…I dunno. Sentimental value. Also, I wasn’t really sure what to get you, so.”
“No, it’s great.” Jinki amends as he pulls out all of the blades at the same time.
“You probably shouldn’t, uhmm. Never mind.” Minho laughs. A moment of silence runs by them when Minho is at a loss for words and Jinki is admiring the knife from beside him. Minho taps his hands on the bed once before standing up. “Anyway.”
Minho almost has the door open the moment Jinki calls out to him. “Wait.”
Jinki pushes off the bed and falls to the floor where he starts to reach out for something from underneath the bed. Minho takes careful steps towards Jinki, his heart warning him not to take a step further.
“I got you for secret Santa too.” Jinki says. “Well, I didn’t. But Jonghyun traded with me.”
Before Minho can even make sense of what Jinki was saying, emerging from behind the hanging sheets of Jinki’s bed is a white bunny, trapped in a tiny cage built especially for it.
Jinki takes the cage holding the rabbit with both hands as he stretches up on his feet and faces Minho. He shoves the cage into Minho’s face. Minho only backs away a little.
“Now,” Jinki is obviously excited and proud of himself as he presses on. “I’m not exactly sure what Gom looked like, but I tried to choose the cutest bunny in the store.”
Minho takes the cage in his hands, observing carefully how the bunny blinks back at him, nose bouncing up and down. Minho can’t quite explain how he feels in this one particular moment. It’s as if for the longest time everything was in black and white and in comes Jinki with a box filled with fucking crayons.
“What do you wanna name him?” Jinki smiles up at the younger boy.
Minho shakes his head slowly, unsure of a perfect name until his lips speak for him. “Crayons.”
“Crayons?” Jinki’s eyes go blank for a minute, until his smile returns in ten fold. “Yeah. That could work. Crayons.”
Minho’s eyes find their way to Jinki’s lips. Suddenly it feels very much like summer time at its hottest. He spins around all too quickly, cage knocking onto the door accidentally.
“Minho?”
Minho’s brain forces to block out Jinki’s voice. Minho isn’t stupid. He doesn’t want to be stupid. God. Maybe Kibum was right. Maybe he was retarded.
“Minho?” Jinki tries again, obviously unaware of the confusion in Minho’s eyes.
He finally manages to twist the door open, and the hall is so empty it makes Minho want to run through it until his lungs are emptied of air. But Jinki spins him around. And Minho doesn’t fight. Although he can. And he should. He allows himself to look back at Jinki’s soft eyes, fall prey to his soft touch.
Before he can think straight, his lips smash onto Jinki’s, hungry and vicious. It’s all too much for Minho to take, really. The way Jinki’s lips are protective and guarded at first, but then melt and part and he feels one of Jinki’s hands on his shoulder. He could feel Jinki’s kiss all the way to his chest, where his heart was burning. He feels Crayons struggling in between them and it’s as if he’s being pulled back into reality. He pushes off Jinki’s lips, eyes in a daze.
He has too run. He wants to run. As far away from Jinki as possible. Because this was not a part of the plan. This was not who he was and this was not what he was told to do.
But when he turns around the hallway isn’t empty anymore. Because in front of Jinki’s door stood Kim Jonghyun, eyes narrow, brows drawn together as he stares back at Minho.
Minho walks past Jonghyun, down the hall, Crayons held tightly to his chest. Never again.
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