#5 [SHINee, Jonghyun/Onew]
Fandom: SHINee
Title: The Apples Don't Belong in the Apple Juice
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Length: 3434 words
Summary: Jonghyun loves writing. It's just one of those odd habits that stuck with him even after becoming an idol. He writes everywhere; on his hand, on paper, on the wall, on the corporate tables in meeting rooms, everywhere.
Original story: ...and counting by closeta
Jonghyun loves writing. It's just one of those odd habits that stuck with him even after becoming an idol. He writes everywhere; on his hand, on paper, on the wall, on the corporate tables in meeting rooms, everywhere.
The last place he wrote was in his notebook. It was a doodle of some epic ninja battle Jonghyun must have thought up when half asleep because the drawing is scratchy, decorated with distorted lines and hazy thoughts. One ninja is jumping, nearly avoiding a shuriken that the second ninja threw while spinning on his head bboy style. Jonghyun thinks it's probably the coolest thing he's ever drawn, until he draws Mario and Luigi as Men in Black the next day.
The notebook is kind of secret. Not that it's some secret diary or anything, god that would be embarrassing. It's just that, he likes writing lists. Stuff like What SHINee Should Have Really Been Named (number 1 is Bad Wardrobe) and Why I'm Better than Kibum. That list is written in rainbow colored metallic markers to express how gay Kibum is. It definitely worked, Jonghyun thinks. But then he turns the page and looks around, making sure everyone is really asleep. Even then, he snuggles under his blanket even more, moving the notebook towards the wall, flashing his cell phone away from everyone else. He forgets that he's on the top bunk, and no one has a chance of seeing anything he writes. But it's good to be cautious, right?
The page is labeled Reasons Why Jinki is Awesome The Best Ever Smoking Hot Alright. He just finished up a third page on the list the other day, so he flips to the fourth page and looks at reason number 104. It's pretty long, but summed up it's about how Jinki's jokes are not funny at all, but something about the way he does it is pretty damn hilarious. And then he flips more pages littered with little song lyrics, music notes, random thoughts, a page long rant on how Minho cheats in Mario Kart, why Taemin needs to start meeting girls, and finally lands on the page he was looking for.
Steps to Winning Jinki's Heart, it's named. He looks a few reasons down, and makes a mental note do some of them one day. One step is the sing to him - Bollywood style, with background dancers and everything. That went terribly wrong. Jonghyun started singing, and then Jinki decided to join since he knew the song and no, that wasn't supposed to happen. Jinki was supposed be to completely smitten, blushing like a school girl. He also remembers how their voices did not harmonize at all that day, and Kibum told them they sounded like a duck with mono. Jonghyun has never met anyone who's gotten mono, so he has no idea what it sounds like.
Step six is to have a candlelight dinner, but Jonghyun takes a quick peek at his wallet and sighs. That plan will have to be put on hold, especially after buying the new Pokémon game two days ago. It was totally worth it though, he thinks offhandedly. His totodile is already a level sixteen.
He looks at the next step, and that's to watch a romantic movie together. He decides to put this plan into action the next day.
"Why Toy Story three?" Jinki asks between a mouthful of bread.
"You're dropping crumbs all over the table," Jonghyun replies. And then the way Jinki looks down with a dazed expression makes Jonghyun's heart sing and his mind automatically thinks - reason number 105. "We'll go see a night movie. And come on, it's our childhood. Don't you wanna see the ending?"
Jonghyun cries like a five year old at the end of the movie, practically bawling as Jinki tries to calm him, rubbing small circles into his back.
"Oh my god, why didn't he just take them," Jonghyun sniffs.
Jinki opens the door to their dorm, laughing. "'Cause he's old."
"So," Jonghyun wipes his eyes. "My sister still had her barbies when she was older."
"That's because you played with them." Jinki laughs at Jonghyun, pushing him through the door.
"No I didn'--ow!"
Their manager scolds them for making them late for their recording. Jonghyun frowns to himself the whole car ride there - step seven, watch a romantic movie - failure.
They're at a beach. Which makes Jonghyun really happy, because step eight was to walk on the beach together in moonlight, holding hands and everything.
"Doesn't it feel really nice out here?" Jonghyun asks Jinki, glancing at the camera.
"Yes!" Jinki grins, and Jonghyun smiles back. "The scene is really pretty, and it's a full moon!"
"Definitely," Jonghyun says. "The moon kinda completes the look, doesn't it?"
Jinki nods, laughing at the camera. "It feels like a scene out of a romantic movie!"
Jonghyun jokes, "Let's go then, to our romantic movie setting!"
Jinki laughs. "Let's go!"
Jonghyun takes the moment and grabs Jinki's hands, and they wave bye to the camera.
Jonghyun walks with Jinki for a couple minutes in silence, and he can tell Jinki is slightly confused.
"Where are we going?"
"Dunno. Away from the set? Taemin's shooting now, and we finished ours. Group shots won't start for a while."
Jinki nods, not questioning the still entwined hands. Jonghyun's glad he doesn't.
They're half an hour away from the set, surrounded by waves, sand, and night. It makes them both happy, and cold, but mostly happy.
"Can we go in the water? Please?" Jinki looks at him expectantly and before Jonghyun can answer, his mind is automatically registering - reason 124. There is no way, no possible way, that someone can have that many good aspects to them. Jinki is still waiting for an answer, so Jonghyun bites down whatever lump is in his throat and nods.
Jinki smiles and shakes off his sandals, shoving his feet deep into the sand. He pauses for a moment before curling a foot around Jonghyun's ankle, motioning him to take off his shoes too. Jonghyun uses his free hand to take off his shoes, not daring to let go of Jinki's hand.
The moment his second shoe is tossed off, Jinki drags him to the water.
"The noonas are going to scold us," Jonghyun frowns, letting go of Jinki's hand.
"That's okay; they have a dozen more clothes for us to wear."
"I don't want to change in the cold."
Jinki bends down and looks up at him, laughing. He brings his arms up, splashing Jonghyun. "Too late."
"Hey," Jonghyun mock gasps. "Wanna start something?"
"Let's go!"
An hour later, they trudge back to the shore, a mess of salty water and Korean boy. As predicted, the staff screams at them, and they change into another set of clothes.
When they get back to their dorm, they fool around some more, and it turns out that there was some seaweed trapped in his short's pocket. Why Jinki is Awesome The Best Ever Smoking Hot Alright has 130 reasons.
They get new room assignments a couple weeks later, and it's safe to say Jonghyun is a bit more than disappointed. He's not rooming with Jinki, which is a nightmare. Now he can't watch him sleep from the top bunk anymore. He tries to calm himself with reasons like you couldn't even see him, he had the blanket over his head or he tosses and turns in his sleep anyways, but really, just his presence being there was comforting.
The other reason why that's not good is because he's with Minho. Minho who is ridiculously tall, unlike Jonghyun. Minho who is ridiculously athletic, unlike Jonghyun. Minho who is ridiculously good looking, unlike Jonghyun. Minho, who is ridiculously charismatic, unlike Jonghyun. Minho, who obviously isn't Jinki.
Jonghyun takes it upon himself to find a way into Jinki's room.
The first night, he feels so ninja, as he climbs down from his bed and rolls to the door, slipping out the door and crawls on all fours into the kitchen.
Then Taemin turns on the light, and Jonghyun looks like a deer caught in headlights.
Taemin looks at him uncertainly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm, uh, hungry." He eyes Taemin suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"Drinking milk."
"You're not allowed to."
"You're not allowed to eat either, hyung."
Touché, Jonghyun thinks offhandedly, touché. Then another thought pops into his head. "Wait, milk? Like, my milk? The one I drink?"
"Am I not allowed to drink it?"
"Obviously! If you drink it, how am I supposed to grow tall?"
"Um, well. Just this once? Please? Jinki hyung is talking in his sleep, and it's annoying."
Jonghyun stands up. "Jinki? What's he saying?"
Taemin shrugs. "Random stuff. I thought he was having a nightmare, until I heard 'but Mario's a plumber'."
"Mario's a plumber?"
"I know right."
And suddenly, a light bulb flashes in Jonghyun's head. "Taemin, wanna switch rooms? Since you're annoyed with him talking, you can sleep in my room."
Taemin gives him an odd look, and Jonghyun tries to make his best puppy dog face.
"Sure."
Jonghyun grins, hurling himself onto Taemin. "Thank you! I love you forever, okay?"
Taemin eyes him weirdly, and shrugs. "Sure thing."
Jonghyuns fairly sure he grinning really stupidly to himself as he makes his way into their room. He has no intention of sleeping in Taemin's bed, really, because he sees Jinki asleep on his bed next to the window. He's not talking though. After glancing around a bit, he gets on his knees and pokes Jinki through the blanket.
He stirs a little, but turns over in his sleep. Jonghyun pokes him again, and Jinki swats around him blindly.
"Hyung," he whispers. "Hyung."
"Go away," he hears Jinki mumble incoherently, and pulls at the blanket.
"I, uh. I can't sleep," Jonghyun admits sheepishly.
There's a slight pause, and Jinki pulls the blanket down, showing Jonghyun his face. His face is all scrunched with sleep, and his hair pokes out at random directions. Jonghyun's heart still skips a beat, and grins even more when Jinki squishes himself to the side, allowing room for Jonghyun.
They wake up the next morning to the flash of Kibum's camera, and Minho's sarcastic aww-ing.
They spend the rest of the day doing radio shows and performances and spending hours in the practice room. When they reach home, it's close to ten and the members all split, doing their separate things. Jonghyun takes out his not-secret notebook, and sets out to finish the lyrics he was writing.
Jonghyun hums a line to himself offhandedly, and shakes his head, pen scratching at his notebook.
Jinki watches him for a while from the corner of the room, before finally sitting next to him. "New song? How much inspiration do you have, really."
Jonghyun laughs. "It's all from one source. This is going to be the best thing ever."
"Yeah, um. Good luck, dude." He throws Jonghyun a look and grins. "Perfectionist."
"Well," Jonghyun pouts. "Help me then. What do you think of this line?" Jonghyun scribbles a messy star in front of and at the end of a verse.
"It would help if I knew more about this. Other than the fact you like stars."
"Unrequited love."
"You're so original."
Jonghyun laughs, playing with his necklace. "There's only so much imagination in the world, hyung." He lays his head on Jinki's shoulder, watching the locket gleam in the light.
Jinki looks at him, amused. "Do you have any experience in unrequited love? That might help, you know."
Jonghyun moves closer to Jinki, pursing his lips. He looks up to meet Jinki's eyes, smiles, and lies. "'Course not. You?"
Jinki hums for bit, traces circles on Jonghyun's wrist before beaming at him. "Life is just hard that way."
Jonghyun's mouth makes a little 'o'. "Do enlighten me."
"Isn't it a rule to not talk about that?"
Jonghyun laughs. "That's only about ex's. And that's to girlfriends. Or boyfriends. Unless you consider me-"
"My little brother."
Jonghyun's heart sinks. "Oh, um. O-okay. That's..." He's not sure what just happened, but suddenly he feels like the sun just blackened out, and the stars fell down through the universe, nowhere near earth. At least on Planet Jjong.
Jinki looks at him weird, waiting for any sign of life in Jonghyun. "Earth to Jonghyun?"
He mentally laughs at the line. Jonghyun breaks out a grin. "So how does incest sound to you?"
He's almost taken a little off guard when Jinki breaks out into a huge quake of laughter, so hard that after a while there's no voice actually coming out of mouth. Little squeaks of air come out, and Jonghyun feels himself start to laugh to. He's mainly laughing at Jinki, rather than with, but that's okay. Everything is alright on Planet Jjong for now.
That's it, Jonghyun thinks, it's just what he needs. Why didn't he think of this before? He mentally praises himself, and writes down in his notebook Step Ten: Suave Ninja Pickup Line. It's gotta be perfect.
It's that moment that always happens in movies, where the guy first meets the girl, and then he says something that leaves an impression on the girl. And usually when they get together that line somehow comes back.
Yes, Jonghyun thinks, this is exactly what he needs.
So the next morning, he plans to say something ultra awesome, and make Jinki swoon. Taemin, Jonghyun, and Jinki look through the fridge, desperate for something to eat.
"Manager hyung forgot to go shopping," Taemin frowns. "There's nothing to eat now."
Jinki shrugs. "We have fruit. Eat an orange. Or an apple. I love apples!"
That was it! Jonghyun mentally screamed. Something witty with apples. That would be perfect.
"We have apple juice?" Taemin raises an eyebrow, taking out a two litre bottle of apple juice. "Anyone want it?"
"I do," Jinki replies, taking the bottle. Grabbing two cups from the cupboard, he turns to Jonghyun. "Want some?"
This is the moment, he thinks, you have to say something! And then his mind brainfarts and he blurts, "The apples don't belong in the apple juice!"
Taemin raises an eyebrow, looking at him. "Did the hair dye reach your head? I can hear your brain cells disintegrating."
"Do you need to see a doctor?" Jinki asks him, concerned.
"I, um. N-no. I am perfectly fine, and yes, I do want some, actually." Jonghyun's face flushes as he walks away. "I'm going to go wake up Minho. Or something."
When he enters his shared room, he decides to take out his humiliation by jumping onto Minho's bed. It definitely works, he feels much better, besides the fact he got punched in the jaw by the bed's inhabitant.
He gets off his bed and walks back to the kitchen, pouting.
Taemin laughs at his bruised cheek hysterically, and Jonghyun hopes he chokes on his juice. He doesn't. This day cannot get any worse, Jonghyun groans mentally, grabbing a seat and slamming his head on the table.
Except it actually does, Jonghyun thinks as he walks into the kitchen.
"Has anyone seen hyung? I haven't seen him since breakfast."
Kibum shrugs. "I last saw him entering. He came back from his schedules."
"Yeah, we don't have anything for the rest of the day. What about you?"
Kibum puts a piece of bread down. "Photo shoot, two hours. The van should be here in five minutes. I'm pretty sure Jinki hyung's home. Did you check your room?"
"Yeah I di-" Jonghyun pauses. "Actually no I didn't."
Kibum looks at him weird, but is distracted by his cell phone ringing. "I'm leaving now; don't do anything stupid, okay."
"Please. My IQ is in the four digits."
"I'm scared already," Kibum laments before closing the door behind him.
As he hears the click of the door, Jonghyun looks around a bit before finally making his way to his room.
He practically shrieks when he sees Jinki on his bed reading a book. Not any book, but a notebook. His notebook.
"I-you, what are you reading?"
Jinki looks up, like he was just caught doing a serious crime. "U-um. I was looking for the book I was reading and it was under your pillow and I was curious, I'm so sorry, really I am. Should I, uh, put it back?"
Jonghyun jumps onto his bed and snatches the notebook, it closing in the process. "What did you read?"
"Uh," Jinki thinks for a moment. "Why you're better than Kibum? And uh. Mario cheats in Mario Kart - I agree, by the way. Um. I saw some song lyrics. I don't think I saw anything important? Is that like a diary or something?"
"No, it is not a diary, thank you very much. It's just... a notebook."
"Then why is it so secret."
"I-i-it's not. That's right, it's not."
"What?"
"In any case," Jonghyun mumbles, "you shouldn't read other people's stuff, it's rude." He goes to put the notebook under his bed, but the book slips from his hand, opening to the most unwanted page.
"Hey, does that say Steps to Wi-"
"No!" Jonghyun snaps the notebook shut. "No, no. No, it most definitely does not. No, it really doesn't. Honestly, no, it says, uh. It says."
"I'm pretty sure it said-"
"No!" Jonghyun cuts him off again, flailing wildly, his face easily turning red.
"Me?"
"Not you!" Jonghyun squeaks again. "Totally not you. I, um. Ji... Ju, Junhyung! Right. It says Junhyung."
Jinki stares at him. "It definitely didn't say Junhyung."
"Yes it did!"
Jinki looks at him oddly before reaching over to get the notebook. "Mind if I check, then?"
"Yes I mind!" Jonghyun screams, and scrambles to beat Jinki to the book. Except that Jinki decides on sitting on Jonghyun's back, getting the notebook out, and pinning his arms down with one hand.
Jonghyun mentally curses himself for not working out more, and curses Jinki for being so jacked without doing anything. And heavy, holy shit. Where did all this weight freaking come from?
Jinki still continues to ignore Jonghyun's pleas, and opens the book flipping to the page.
Jonghyun can practically hear the smirk in the Jinki's voice, and stuffs his face into the bed in embarrassment, making some sort of whining noise.
"So. I didn't know Junhyung's nickname was Jinki. When did this happen?"
"Go fuck yourself," Jonghyun mumbles, shaking his head into the blanket.
Jinki laughs, reading the list. "Candlelight dinner? Oh my god Jonghyun, wow. You even wrote low budget next to it. And sleeping with me - is that what last week was about? I thought you said you couldn't sleep."
"Minho snores."
Jinki laughs, and looks at Jonghyun. Or well, the back of Jonghyun's head. It's when he finally gets off Jonghyun and sees the wet spots next to eyes when he realizes what he just did.
"Oh. I, um. Oh. I swear, I didn't mean to be that harsh, honestly. I mean, I wasn't making fun because I hated it or anything, seriously-"
"It's okay," Jonghyun mutters, sitting up. He doesn't try to take the notebook now. He sounds sort of dead and let down, which just adds to Jinki's guilt.
"Really, Jonghyun. Jonghyun, please look at me." Jinki starts to sound a bit hysterical too, watching Jonghyun look at the floor. "Jonghyun, I swear. I only did it because I didn’t think you were serious or anything, come on. And I like you anyways, so please, don’t be like that!"
Jinki doesn't really know why, but when Jonghyun looks up, he thinks it's to criticize him, or to accuse him of lying to make him feel better, so he lunges himself at Jonghyun, pressing his lips against his. Jonghyun's eyes widen, and he flails for a moment, knocking them both off the bed. Jinki groans as he hits the wooden floor, glancing up at Jonghyun who's taken all the pillows and blankets down with him. Jonghyun looks up for a moment and stares at him a bit, looking all kinds of dumbfounded and expectant. Jinki decides he likes the expectant part more so he crawls over and pulls Jonghyun down to his level, and after a moment he let's go, smiling.
"That, um. That was. Like. So, um." Jonghyun is a mess, stammering uncontrollably, face turning redder by the second.
Jinki laughs and nods. "Yeah, that was."
Jonghyun stares at him for a second, probably in disbelief, but then a huge grin spreads across his face and he laughs in delight.
Title: The Apples Don't Belong in the Apple Juice
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Length: 3434 words
Summary: Jonghyun loves writing. It's just one of those odd habits that stuck with him even after becoming an idol. He writes everywhere; on his hand, on paper, on the wall, on the corporate tables in meeting rooms, everywhere.
Original story: ...and counting by closeta
Jonghyun loves writing. It's just one of those odd habits that stuck with him even after becoming an idol. He writes everywhere; on his hand, on paper, on the wall, on the corporate tables in meeting rooms, everywhere.
The last place he wrote was in his notebook. It was a doodle of some epic ninja battle Jonghyun must have thought up when half asleep because the drawing is scratchy, decorated with distorted lines and hazy thoughts. One ninja is jumping, nearly avoiding a shuriken that the second ninja threw while spinning on his head bboy style. Jonghyun thinks it's probably the coolest thing he's ever drawn, until he draws Mario and Luigi as Men in Black the next day.
The notebook is kind of secret. Not that it's some secret diary or anything, god that would be embarrassing. It's just that, he likes writing lists. Stuff like What SHINee Should Have Really Been Named (number 1 is Bad Wardrobe) and Why I'm Better than Kibum. That list is written in rainbow colored metallic markers to express how gay Kibum is. It definitely worked, Jonghyun thinks. But then he turns the page and looks around, making sure everyone is really asleep. Even then, he snuggles under his blanket even more, moving the notebook towards the wall, flashing his cell phone away from everyone else. He forgets that he's on the top bunk, and no one has a chance of seeing anything he writes. But it's good to be cautious, right?
The page is labeled Reasons Why Jinki is Awesome The Best Ever Smoking Hot Alright. He just finished up a third page on the list the other day, so he flips to the fourth page and looks at reason number 104. It's pretty long, but summed up it's about how Jinki's jokes are not funny at all, but something about the way he does it is pretty damn hilarious. And then he flips more pages littered with little song lyrics, music notes, random thoughts, a page long rant on how Minho cheats in Mario Kart, why Taemin needs to start meeting girls, and finally lands on the page he was looking for.
Steps to Winning Jinki's Heart, it's named. He looks a few reasons down, and makes a mental note do some of them one day. One step is the sing to him - Bollywood style, with background dancers and everything. That went terribly wrong. Jonghyun started singing, and then Jinki decided to join since he knew the song and no, that wasn't supposed to happen. Jinki was supposed be to completely smitten, blushing like a school girl. He also remembers how their voices did not harmonize at all that day, and Kibum told them they sounded like a duck with mono. Jonghyun has never met anyone who's gotten mono, so he has no idea what it sounds like.
Step six is to have a candlelight dinner, but Jonghyun takes a quick peek at his wallet and sighs. That plan will have to be put on hold, especially after buying the new Pokémon game two days ago. It was totally worth it though, he thinks offhandedly. His totodile is already a level sixteen.
He looks at the next step, and that's to watch a romantic movie together. He decides to put this plan into action the next day.
"Why Toy Story three?" Jinki asks between a mouthful of bread.
"You're dropping crumbs all over the table," Jonghyun replies. And then the way Jinki looks down with a dazed expression makes Jonghyun's heart sing and his mind automatically thinks - reason number 105. "We'll go see a night movie. And come on, it's our childhood. Don't you wanna see the ending?"
Jonghyun cries like a five year old at the end of the movie, practically bawling as Jinki tries to calm him, rubbing small circles into his back.
"Oh my god, why didn't he just take them," Jonghyun sniffs.
Jinki opens the door to their dorm, laughing. "'Cause he's old."
"So," Jonghyun wipes his eyes. "My sister still had her barbies when she was older."
"That's because you played with them." Jinki laughs at Jonghyun, pushing him through the door.
"No I didn'--ow!"
Their manager scolds them for making them late for their recording. Jonghyun frowns to himself the whole car ride there - step seven, watch a romantic movie - failure.
They're at a beach. Which makes Jonghyun really happy, because step eight was to walk on the beach together in moonlight, holding hands and everything.
"Doesn't it feel really nice out here?" Jonghyun asks Jinki, glancing at the camera.
"Yes!" Jinki grins, and Jonghyun smiles back. "The scene is really pretty, and it's a full moon!"
"Definitely," Jonghyun says. "The moon kinda completes the look, doesn't it?"
Jinki nods, laughing at the camera. "It feels like a scene out of a romantic movie!"
Jonghyun jokes, "Let's go then, to our romantic movie setting!"
Jinki laughs. "Let's go!"
Jonghyun takes the moment and grabs Jinki's hands, and they wave bye to the camera.
Jonghyun walks with Jinki for a couple minutes in silence, and he can tell Jinki is slightly confused.
"Where are we going?"
"Dunno. Away from the set? Taemin's shooting now, and we finished ours. Group shots won't start for a while."
Jinki nods, not questioning the still entwined hands. Jonghyun's glad he doesn't.
They're half an hour away from the set, surrounded by waves, sand, and night. It makes them both happy, and cold, but mostly happy.
"Can we go in the water? Please?" Jinki looks at him expectantly and before Jonghyun can answer, his mind is automatically registering - reason 124. There is no way, no possible way, that someone can have that many good aspects to them. Jinki is still waiting for an answer, so Jonghyun bites down whatever lump is in his throat and nods.
Jinki smiles and shakes off his sandals, shoving his feet deep into the sand. He pauses for a moment before curling a foot around Jonghyun's ankle, motioning him to take off his shoes too. Jonghyun uses his free hand to take off his shoes, not daring to let go of Jinki's hand.
The moment his second shoe is tossed off, Jinki drags him to the water.
"The noonas are going to scold us," Jonghyun frowns, letting go of Jinki's hand.
"That's okay; they have a dozen more clothes for us to wear."
"I don't want to change in the cold."
Jinki bends down and looks up at him, laughing. He brings his arms up, splashing Jonghyun. "Too late."
"Hey," Jonghyun mock gasps. "Wanna start something?"
"Let's go!"
An hour later, they trudge back to the shore, a mess of salty water and Korean boy. As predicted, the staff screams at them, and they change into another set of clothes.
When they get back to their dorm, they fool around some more, and it turns out that there was some seaweed trapped in his short's pocket. Why Jinki is Awesome The Best Ever Smoking Hot Alright has 130 reasons.
They get new room assignments a couple weeks later, and it's safe to say Jonghyun is a bit more than disappointed. He's not rooming with Jinki, which is a nightmare. Now he can't watch him sleep from the top bunk anymore. He tries to calm himself with reasons like you couldn't even see him, he had the blanket over his head or he tosses and turns in his sleep anyways, but really, just his presence being there was comforting.
The other reason why that's not good is because he's with Minho. Minho who is ridiculously tall, unlike Jonghyun. Minho who is ridiculously athletic, unlike Jonghyun. Minho who is ridiculously good looking, unlike Jonghyun. Minho, who is ridiculously charismatic, unlike Jonghyun. Minho, who obviously isn't Jinki.
Jonghyun takes it upon himself to find a way into Jinki's room.
The first night, he feels so ninja, as he climbs down from his bed and rolls to the door, slipping out the door and crawls on all fours into the kitchen.
Then Taemin turns on the light, and Jonghyun looks like a deer caught in headlights.
Taemin looks at him uncertainly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm, uh, hungry." He eyes Taemin suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"Drinking milk."
"You're not allowed to."
"You're not allowed to eat either, hyung."
Touché, Jonghyun thinks offhandedly, touché. Then another thought pops into his head. "Wait, milk? Like, my milk? The one I drink?"
"Am I not allowed to drink it?"
"Obviously! If you drink it, how am I supposed to grow tall?"
"Um, well. Just this once? Please? Jinki hyung is talking in his sleep, and it's annoying."
Jonghyun stands up. "Jinki? What's he saying?"
Taemin shrugs. "Random stuff. I thought he was having a nightmare, until I heard 'but Mario's a plumber'."
"Mario's a plumber?"
"I know right."
And suddenly, a light bulb flashes in Jonghyun's head. "Taemin, wanna switch rooms? Since you're annoyed with him talking, you can sleep in my room."
Taemin gives him an odd look, and Jonghyun tries to make his best puppy dog face.
"Sure."
Jonghyun grins, hurling himself onto Taemin. "Thank you! I love you forever, okay?"
Taemin eyes him weirdly, and shrugs. "Sure thing."
Jonghyuns fairly sure he grinning really stupidly to himself as he makes his way into their room. He has no intention of sleeping in Taemin's bed, really, because he sees Jinki asleep on his bed next to the window. He's not talking though. After glancing around a bit, he gets on his knees and pokes Jinki through the blanket.
He stirs a little, but turns over in his sleep. Jonghyun pokes him again, and Jinki swats around him blindly.
"Hyung," he whispers. "Hyung."
"Go away," he hears Jinki mumble incoherently, and pulls at the blanket.
"I, uh. I can't sleep," Jonghyun admits sheepishly.
There's a slight pause, and Jinki pulls the blanket down, showing Jonghyun his face. His face is all scrunched with sleep, and his hair pokes out at random directions. Jonghyun's heart still skips a beat, and grins even more when Jinki squishes himself to the side, allowing room for Jonghyun.
They wake up the next morning to the flash of Kibum's camera, and Minho's sarcastic aww-ing.
They spend the rest of the day doing radio shows and performances and spending hours in the practice room. When they reach home, it's close to ten and the members all split, doing their separate things. Jonghyun takes out his not-secret notebook, and sets out to finish the lyrics he was writing.
Jonghyun hums a line to himself offhandedly, and shakes his head, pen scratching at his notebook.
Jinki watches him for a while from the corner of the room, before finally sitting next to him. "New song? How much inspiration do you have, really."
Jonghyun laughs. "It's all from one source. This is going to be the best thing ever."
"Yeah, um. Good luck, dude." He throws Jonghyun a look and grins. "Perfectionist."
"Well," Jonghyun pouts. "Help me then. What do you think of this line?" Jonghyun scribbles a messy star in front of and at the end of a verse.
"It would help if I knew more about this. Other than the fact you like stars."
"Unrequited love."
"You're so original."
Jonghyun laughs, playing with his necklace. "There's only so much imagination in the world, hyung." He lays his head on Jinki's shoulder, watching the locket gleam in the light.
Jinki looks at him, amused. "Do you have any experience in unrequited love? That might help, you know."
Jonghyun moves closer to Jinki, pursing his lips. He looks up to meet Jinki's eyes, smiles, and lies. "'Course not. You?"
Jinki hums for bit, traces circles on Jonghyun's wrist before beaming at him. "Life is just hard that way."
Jonghyun's mouth makes a little 'o'. "Do enlighten me."
"Isn't it a rule to not talk about that?"
Jonghyun laughs. "That's only about ex's. And that's to girlfriends. Or boyfriends. Unless you consider me-"
"My little brother."
Jonghyun's heart sinks. "Oh, um. O-okay. That's..." He's not sure what just happened, but suddenly he feels like the sun just blackened out, and the stars fell down through the universe, nowhere near earth. At least on Planet Jjong.
Jinki looks at him weird, waiting for any sign of life in Jonghyun. "Earth to Jonghyun?"
He mentally laughs at the line. Jonghyun breaks out a grin. "So how does incest sound to you?"
He's almost taken a little off guard when Jinki breaks out into a huge quake of laughter, so hard that after a while there's no voice actually coming out of mouth. Little squeaks of air come out, and Jonghyun feels himself start to laugh to. He's mainly laughing at Jinki, rather than with, but that's okay. Everything is alright on Planet Jjong for now.
That's it, Jonghyun thinks, it's just what he needs. Why didn't he think of this before? He mentally praises himself, and writes down in his notebook Step Ten: Suave Ninja Pickup Line. It's gotta be perfect.
It's that moment that always happens in movies, where the guy first meets the girl, and then he says something that leaves an impression on the girl. And usually when they get together that line somehow comes back.
Yes, Jonghyun thinks, this is exactly what he needs.
So the next morning, he plans to say something ultra awesome, and make Jinki swoon. Taemin, Jonghyun, and Jinki look through the fridge, desperate for something to eat.
"Manager hyung forgot to go shopping," Taemin frowns. "There's nothing to eat now."
Jinki shrugs. "We have fruit. Eat an orange. Or an apple. I love apples!"
That was it! Jonghyun mentally screamed. Something witty with apples. That would be perfect.
"We have apple juice?" Taemin raises an eyebrow, taking out a two litre bottle of apple juice. "Anyone want it?"
"I do," Jinki replies, taking the bottle. Grabbing two cups from the cupboard, he turns to Jonghyun. "Want some?"
This is the moment, he thinks, you have to say something! And then his mind brainfarts and he blurts, "The apples don't belong in the apple juice!"
Taemin raises an eyebrow, looking at him. "Did the hair dye reach your head? I can hear your brain cells disintegrating."
"Do you need to see a doctor?" Jinki asks him, concerned.
"I, um. N-no. I am perfectly fine, and yes, I do want some, actually." Jonghyun's face flushes as he walks away. "I'm going to go wake up Minho. Or something."
When he enters his shared room, he decides to take out his humiliation by jumping onto Minho's bed. It definitely works, he feels much better, besides the fact he got punched in the jaw by the bed's inhabitant.
He gets off his bed and walks back to the kitchen, pouting.
Taemin laughs at his bruised cheek hysterically, and Jonghyun hopes he chokes on his juice. He doesn't. This day cannot get any worse, Jonghyun groans mentally, grabbing a seat and slamming his head on the table.
Except it actually does, Jonghyun thinks as he walks into the kitchen.
"Has anyone seen hyung? I haven't seen him since breakfast."
Kibum shrugs. "I last saw him entering. He came back from his schedules."
"Yeah, we don't have anything for the rest of the day. What about you?"
Kibum puts a piece of bread down. "Photo shoot, two hours. The van should be here in five minutes. I'm pretty sure Jinki hyung's home. Did you check your room?"
"Yeah I di-" Jonghyun pauses. "Actually no I didn't."
Kibum looks at him weird, but is distracted by his cell phone ringing. "I'm leaving now; don't do anything stupid, okay."
"Please. My IQ is in the four digits."
"I'm scared already," Kibum laments before closing the door behind him.
As he hears the click of the door, Jonghyun looks around a bit before finally making his way to his room.
He practically shrieks when he sees Jinki on his bed reading a book. Not any book, but a notebook. His notebook.
"I-you, what are you reading?"
Jinki looks up, like he was just caught doing a serious crime. "U-um. I was looking for the book I was reading and it was under your pillow and I was curious, I'm so sorry, really I am. Should I, uh, put it back?"
Jonghyun jumps onto his bed and snatches the notebook, it closing in the process. "What did you read?"
"Uh," Jinki thinks for a moment. "Why you're better than Kibum? And uh. Mario cheats in Mario Kart - I agree, by the way. Um. I saw some song lyrics. I don't think I saw anything important? Is that like a diary or something?"
"No, it is not a diary, thank you very much. It's just... a notebook."
"Then why is it so secret."
"I-i-it's not. That's right, it's not."
"What?"
"In any case," Jonghyun mumbles, "you shouldn't read other people's stuff, it's rude." He goes to put the notebook under his bed, but the book slips from his hand, opening to the most unwanted page.
"Hey, does that say Steps to Wi-"
"No!" Jonghyun snaps the notebook shut. "No, no. No, it most definitely does not. No, it really doesn't. Honestly, no, it says, uh. It says."
"I'm pretty sure it said-"
"No!" Jonghyun cuts him off again, flailing wildly, his face easily turning red.
"Me?"
"Not you!" Jonghyun squeaks again. "Totally not you. I, um. Ji... Ju, Junhyung! Right. It says Junhyung."
Jinki stares at him. "It definitely didn't say Junhyung."
"Yes it did!"
Jinki looks at him oddly before reaching over to get the notebook. "Mind if I check, then?"
"Yes I mind!" Jonghyun screams, and scrambles to beat Jinki to the book. Except that Jinki decides on sitting on Jonghyun's back, getting the notebook out, and pinning his arms down with one hand.
Jonghyun mentally curses himself for not working out more, and curses Jinki for being so jacked without doing anything. And heavy, holy shit. Where did all this weight freaking come from?
Jinki still continues to ignore Jonghyun's pleas, and opens the book flipping to the page.
Jonghyun can practically hear the smirk in the Jinki's voice, and stuffs his face into the bed in embarrassment, making some sort of whining noise.
"So. I didn't know Junhyung's nickname was Jinki. When did this happen?"
"Go fuck yourself," Jonghyun mumbles, shaking his head into the blanket.
Jinki laughs, reading the list. "Candlelight dinner? Oh my god Jonghyun, wow. You even wrote low budget next to it. And sleeping with me - is that what last week was about? I thought you said you couldn't sleep."
"Minho snores."
Jinki laughs, and looks at Jonghyun. Or well, the back of Jonghyun's head. It's when he finally gets off Jonghyun and sees the wet spots next to eyes when he realizes what he just did.
"Oh. I, um. Oh. I swear, I didn't mean to be that harsh, honestly. I mean, I wasn't making fun because I hated it or anything, seriously-"
"It's okay," Jonghyun mutters, sitting up. He doesn't try to take the notebook now. He sounds sort of dead and let down, which just adds to Jinki's guilt.
"Really, Jonghyun. Jonghyun, please look at me." Jinki starts to sound a bit hysterical too, watching Jonghyun look at the floor. "Jonghyun, I swear. I only did it because I didn’t think you were serious or anything, come on. And I like you anyways, so please, don’t be like that!"
Jinki doesn't really know why, but when Jonghyun looks up, he thinks it's to criticize him, or to accuse him of lying to make him feel better, so he lunges himself at Jonghyun, pressing his lips against his. Jonghyun's eyes widen, and he flails for a moment, knocking them both off the bed. Jinki groans as he hits the wooden floor, glancing up at Jonghyun who's taken all the pillows and blankets down with him. Jonghyun looks up for a moment and stares at him a bit, looking all kinds of dumbfounded and expectant. Jinki decides he likes the expectant part more so he crawls over and pulls Jonghyun down to his level, and after a moment he let's go, smiling.
"That, um. That was. Like. So, um." Jonghyun is a mess, stammering uncontrollably, face turning redder by the second.
Jinki laughs and nods. "Yeah, that was."
Jonghyun stares at him for a second, probably in disbelief, but then a huge grin spreads across his face and he laughs in delight.