[[ SHINee ]] Linear Equations 11/14.
Title: Linear Equations.
Author: Sacryde.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15, for this chapter.
Summary: Taemin was not the kind of boy to make friends for the sake of having friends; all he needed was his dance. So why did he suddenly find himself drawn to Jonghyun, the boy who never stopped crooning his love song to Juliette?
Status/length: Incomplete, 3,100 words.
Author's Note: This is the side story (more of a prequel, really) to my Onew/Minho fic, Parallel Lines, but it can be read on its' own as AU. And I swear it's not all math-y; I just like the way math terms sound. ^^;;
Previous Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
*****
"Why did you kiss me?" Jonghyun asked the next morning as he more or less shoved his face in Taemin's, a bright grin playing along his lips.
It was the next day, and Taemin was officially a year older. It didn't feel much different to him, but at the same time everything seemed to have changed. His brother and Jonghyun's sister were out for the day, looking into local colleges to inquire about fall courses. His father was out at the high school he'd be teaching at once school started back up again, and his mother had gone with him for support. Jonghyun's parents were both at work, finally settling into the way life was going to be from now on, which meant that Taemin and Jonghyun were stuck in the house alone. Apparently, Jonghyun took that as a sign that he could shout questions as loud as he wanted and annoy the living daylights out of Taemin because no one would be there to stop him.
"Because I wanted to," Taemin said simply, shoving Jonghyun to the side and into the table so he could eat his cheerio's in peace.
"Did you kiss Minho because you wanted to?" Jonghyun asked, rubbing his head a little and planting his ass in the seat next to Taemin, propping his chin up on his shoulder. Taemin blinked at him for a moment, grabbing his spoon and slapping Jonghyun on the forehead with it, giggling at the hollow sound it made. Jonghyun pouted, whining about how he'd become stupid ever since Taemin moved in because he kept hitting him.
"If anything, I'm transferring my intelligence into your brain. You should be thankful," Taemin grinned, tossing the spoon into the sink from where he was seated, grabbing a new one from the middle of the table.
"Yah, you're not even that smart!" Jonghyun protested, shoving Taemin to the side a little, grinning.
"I'm smarter than you," Taemin mumbled, grabbing his bowl of cheerios and hopping off his stool, giggling when Jonghyun fell to the floor and landed flat on his ass. Taemin ignored the long stream of cuss words that followed him, humming lightly to himself as he headed over to the basement, still munching on his cereal as he headed down the stairs.
"Hey, you're not allowed to eat in there! It's a sacred place!" Jonghyun shouted, following Taemin into the basement but making no move to get the food out of there. Taemin raised his eyebrow at Jonghyun before shrugging his shoulders, heading over to the desk and setting the bowl down.
"Hey, can we tear that thing down?" Taemin asked as he eyed the schedule on the wall of when they were allowed to use the basement. Jonghyun snorted, walking over to the paper himself and tearing it off with a grin. Taemin smiled, grabbing the paper from Jonghyun and ripping it into a bunch of tiny pieces before tossing it in the waste basket, watching the schedule fall slowly into the basket slowly for a moment, a whoosh of relief escaping his lips as he finally felt things fall back into place with that one action.
Jonghyun started humming to himself, flopping onto the couch with a contented sigh, his hands laced together and folded over his stomach. Taemin giggled, reaching out with his foot and poking Jonghyun in the side lightly before heading to the other side of the room where they kept the computer, wanting to finish transferring their music to his iPod. He hooked it up to the cord, eying the bright green details and the inscription on the back with a small smile, still not quite believing that it was his.
"Do you really like that?" Jonghyun asked suddenly. Taemin blinked, turning around to look at Jonghyun with a raised eyebrow, not quite getting what he meant. "I mean, your presents. The iPod and the sneakers, do you like them or are you just pretending?"
"I love them," Taemin answered automatically, blinking at Jonghyun curiously. Jonghyun sighed, almost as if he were relieved, which only served to further Taemin's curiosity. "Why'd you ask?"
"Because... I picked them out," Jonghyun said, grinning.
"I thought you said you didn't get me anything," Taemin mumbled, a faint blush rising to his cheeks as he remembered what he'd taken as a present the night before. Jonghyun seemed to remember the same thing as he coughed awkwardly, his cheeks reddening just slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Our parents didn't know what to get you, so they gave me some money and told me to pick it out," Jonghyun mumbled, shrugging his shoulders modestly. "I guess they figured I knew you better than they did?"
"I wonder why they thought that," Taemin sing-songed, grinning at Jonghyun mischievously. Jonghyun blinked at him for a long moment, seeming to be completely baffled by Taemin's words. Taemin sighed, waving a hand as if telling him to ignore what he'd said if he didn't understand it. Jonghyun grinned, clearly understanding what Taemin was saying with his hands, making Taemin inwardly facepalm at how dense Jonghyun could be sometimes.
"Anyway, I figured that every dancer needs amazing shoes to dance in, and a music player to put a sound to their steps," Jonghyun said, fumbling with the hem of his shirt a little. "I didn't know if your iPod was working again or not, so I figured I'd get you a new one. But it was with their money, so it wasn't really from me."
Taemin raised an eyebrow as he tried to work out that logic and failed. He turned back to the computer and clicked a few things to make sure it was updating properly, before realizing what Jonghyun had just said. "Wait, if my iPod was working again?"
"Yeah," Jonghyun said, sitting up and stretching his arms above him. "Back in Seoul, there was a day on the bus where you were cussing at your iPod, and I never saw you using it after that," Jonghyun shrugged, going over to the stereo and putting in one of their cd's, completely unaware of Taemin's jaw which was currently gaping open, nearly hitting the floor.
"You mean.... you knew who I was? Back in Seoul?"
"Yeah, of course," Jonghyun said, turning to Taemin and raising an eyebrow when he saw just how far his jaw had dropped. Taemin blinked, poking his chin to get his jaw re-situated. "I figured you knew who I was, too."
"What would make you say that?" Taemin replied, his voice a little clipped as he turned to the computer, trying to hide the light blush that rose on his cheeks. He hoped to God that Jonghyun hadn't seen the way he stared at him every day; now that would be embarrassing.
"You asked me to sign your yearbook," Jonghyun replied, as if that should have been obvious. Taemin blinked, turning back to Jonghyun again, his head tilting to the side as he stared at the man in front of him. Back in Seoul, he'd only asked Jonghyun to sign his yearbook because he was afraid of never seeing him again, of never hearing his voice again. He'd asked him that completely on a whim, figuring there was no real meaning behind the words Jonghyun had wrote and just taking it with a grain of salt, despite the way it had made his heart hum a little.
"So, that thing about being friends in the future. You meant it?" Taemin asked, chewing a little bit on his lower lip.
"Of course," Jonghyun said, grinning as he threw a random piece of wadded up paper at Taemin, effectively hitting him directly on the forehead. He let out a whoop of joy and pumped his fists in the air, to which Taemin responded by kicking him in the side. Jonghyun yelped, holding his side and glaring at Taemin like a wounded puppy until Taemin almost felt bad.
"I'm sorry," Taemin mumbled, though he wasn't sure what exactly he was apologizing for. There was a lot he felt bad for; for always kicking Jonghyun and calling him an idiot, even if he deserved it. For acting irrationally, even if was Jonghyun who'd caused him to react that way in the first place. For not being honest with Jonghyun about anything, for always avoiding the topics they needed to discuss the most, and for not being able to make up for any of it.
"Bah, whatever. I'm stronger than I look," Jonghyun grinned, waving his hand in the air as he put on the N.E.R.D. cd and beckoned Taemin over. "Now, put on your dancing shoes and tell me how fucking amazingly easy they are to move in."
Taemin blinked at Jonghyun for a long moment, pulling his lower lip into his mouth as he nodded, ducking his head down for a few seconds. He knew that Jonghyun had no idea what he'd been apologizing for, but somehow he got the feeling that even if he had, his response would have been equally calm and nonchalant. He was just that kind of person; always letting things roll off his shoulders without so much as a second thought, always forgiving and forgetting before he could even think about what someone did. It was one of the things Taemin loved about him.
Taemin looked up at Jonghyun, who was standing there expectantly, and smiled. He took a deep breath before raising himself up from the computer chair and sliding his new dancing shoes on, determined to show him exactly what he could do.
*****
"Man, you should see this guy! He's even more of a princess than you!" Jonghyun remarked, his laughter turning into a howl as Taemin effectively kicked his ass with a grin.
"I'm not a princess," Taemin grumbled, pouting and crossing his arms childishly.
"Yes you are!" Jonghyun laughed, rolling over to avoid the kick that had been aimed directly at his hip. "You have to drink everything at room temperature. You can't sleep without a blanket over your stomach, you leave the light in the bathroom all night because you don't want to stub your toes, and you shower twice a day! How is that not a princess?"
"I'll have you know that my body temperature is naturally lower than most people's, so hot coffee burns me a lot more easily, and sleeping without a blanket makes me cold. And I'm really clumsy when I'm tired! And I dance so much that I have to take two showers, otherwise I'll be all sweaty and disgusting!" Taemin defended, rolling toward Jonghyun and smacking him upside the head since he couldn't kick him.
"Princess syndrome!" Jonghyun sing-songed, laughing heartily as he let himself get beat up by Taemin, too busy laughing to even think about defending himself.
"You're mean," Taemin whined, pouting as he realized that torturing Jonghyun was no fun if he wasn't trying to retaliate. Jonghyun laughed, reaching out and grabbing Taemin by the shoulders, mussing his hair up as hard as he could. Taemin shrieked, kicking out at Jonghyun until he was released, rolling away until he could glare at Jonghyun from a safe distance.
"I said Key's worse than you, so stop being such a baby," Jonghyun grinned, sticking his tongue out childishly.
"Key?" Taemin asked, throwing a crumbled piece of paper at Jonghyun and sticking his tongue out right back.
"It's his nickname. He says there are too many Kim Kibum's in the world, and he fancies himself to be fucking amazing and unique," Jonghyun said, shrugging his shoulders, which looked a slightly awkward since he was laying on his stomach. "I dunno, he's kind of weird, but he can rap and sort of sing, or at least his voice has an interesting tone to it, so I guess I can put up with him."
"Before you know it, you're gonna have yourself a little boy band," Taemin cackled, merely grinning at the glare Jonghyun sent his way.
"I, dear Taemin, am an artist. I do not do boy bands."
"Sure, you do," Taemin grinned, ducking as a shoe was thrown his way. "I mean, look. You've already got the main vocalist - you, you've got a rapper - Minho, and you've got that guy who no one really knows what he does but would probably be amazing on variety shows and be good at everything but not the best. Now all you need is a dancer and someone who's a complete fail boat, and you're all set!"
"I hate you," Jonghyun grumbled, planting his face in the carpet. He clearly didn't appreciate Taemin's mocking, which of course made Taemin practically hum with happiness.
"But your eyes say you want me badly~" Taemin sing-songed, laughing at the stunned look on Jonghyun's face. He grinned, repeating the line over and over until Jonghyun finally threw his other shoe and he had to shut up and duck out of the way.
"Why is your voice not that bad?" Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow at Taemin, who blinked at him with confusion. He tilted his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders as he himself pondered that. He'd been an awful singer before, to the point where his brother had threatened to hire someone to cut out his vocal chords when he tried singing to the songs he'd danced to.
"Must be because I've been around you too much," Taemin muttered, humming to himself as he thought of something. "Hey, have you written more of that Juliette song?"
"It's done," Jonghyun said, rolling over on his side to look at Taemin without having to crane his neck. "Why?"
"Sing it for me."
"Why?"
"Just do it," Taemin grumbled, kicking Jonghyun in the side stubbornly. Jonghyun muttered something under his breath about unnecessary violence before sitting up with a sigh, shaking the tension from his shoulders out as he cleared his throat.
Taemin closed his eyes and sat up, crossing his legs under him as he let himself get lost once again in Jonghyun's voice. He listened intently to every dip and rise in Jonghyun's voice, ignoring how awkward his rapping sounding, and just letting himself fall into the music, his mind conjuring up splashes of color and movement with every piece of the song.
"So, how is it?" Jonghyun asked once he'd finished, his voice sounding more wary than curious. Taemin opened his eyes slowly, a lazy smile gracing his lips as he nodded his head approvingly. Jonghyun grinned like someone had just flipped an electrical switch in his body, and Taemin giggled just slightly.
"Now, before I forget it, sing it again," Taemin said calmly as he stood up, ignoring the confused and skeptical look on Jonghyun's face.
"Before you forget what?"
"Just sing. I'll show you," Taemin hummed under his breath, taking a few steps backward until his feet hit the hardwood floor of the basement, his eyes closing as he saw the flashes of color in front of his eyes once again.
Jonghyun started singing again, and Taemin did the one thing that came more naturally to him than anything else: he danced. His feet moved with precision at every sharp intake of Jonghyun's voice. His arms popped and intertwined with each other with as much grace as he could manage, his torso shifted from side to side, and his hands shifted to accentuate every little movement. He let himself fall into the music, and though he knew most of the dance was a bit clumsy, he also knew that there was so much potential here. It was then, while he was dancing, that he realized that Jonghyun was indeed an artist, not just some kid with a decent voice.
"What the hell was that?" Jonghyun asked, his eyes wide. Taemin blinked his own eyes open and grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"A dance?" He questioned, shrugging his shoulders as he flopped on the ground near Jonghyun, his cheeks flushing a light red. "I made most of that up on the spot, so it wasn't that good. But I like your song; it makes me want to dance."
"Most of it?" Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow. Taemin ducked his head down, staring at the floor to hide the blush that was rising up his cheeks fast.
"I've kind of.... been working on a dance... for the chorus and the bridge... for a while," Taemin mumbled, keeping his eyes stubbornly set to the ground as he tried to keep the blush from darkening any, without any luck.
"Since when?"
Taemin paused, biting on his lower lip and shifting his eyes over to Jonghyun nervously. "Since Seoul. The day that my iPod wouldn't work."
"Well, shit," Jonghyun mumbled, staring at Taemin with wide eyes. Taemin blushed harder and ducked his head back down, squeaking when Jonghyun slapped him on the back playfully with a bark of laughter. "You should have told me earlier!"
"I thought.... you might think I was weird," Taemin said quietly, shifting on the carpet almost nervously.
"I already think you're weird, Taeminnie," Jonghyun sing-songed. Taemin looked up at him and glared as hard as he could, to which Jonghyun only laughed. "You'd have to be weird to actually like being around me."
"I never said that!" Taemin yelled as his cheeks flushed bright red. Jonghyun grinned at him, in a way that let him know that he clearly wasn't buying it. Taemin felt the blush travel to his neck.
"Sure, kid. Sure," Jonghyun smirked, petting Taemin on the head like he was a dog. Taemin pouted, crossing his arms over his chest childishly. "Now, let's practice. I sing, you dance."
Taemin blinked, raising both eyebrows at Jonghyun as if to ask if he was serious, which Jonghyun replied to with a simple nod of his head. He sighed, giving a show of being annoyed at being asked to dance again, but inside he was elated. For the last several months, all he'd wanted to do was dance to this one song, to dance to Jonghyun's voice crooning a love song to Juliette.
And so, he stood up and walked over to the dance floor, his heart feeling like it was flying above him as he realized for the first time, that to him, Jonghyun's voice represented freedom. From all the locked up movements of his normal dancing, to the way he had locked himself away from the world not too long ago, to the way he could finally, finally smile and really mean it, it was all because of Jonghyun's voice, because of the soul that kept spilling through those lips like a sweet poison, changing him forever.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED....
A/N:: First off, I want to apologize for a few things. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, I just had a few real life things I had to handle first. And I'm sorry that I didn't reply to the majority of comments left in the last chapter; I'm honestly just not pleased with the chapter so I didn't really feel I deserved it. D: I really do appreciate all the kind words though, you guys have no idea how much it means to me. ♥
Also. I finally figured out how long this fic is going to last. There will be 14 chapters and an NC-17 epilogue for those of you who want that. >___> I've also got a few other fics set up to finish/start after this is done with, so I'm pretty sure you guys will be seeing me around for a while~ And Key makes an appearance next chapter, and goddamn I loved writing him, fufufu.
Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed it. <3
I promise to reply to comments this time. ^^;;
Next Chapter: Chapter 12
Author: Sacryde.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15, for this chapter.
Summary: Taemin was not the kind of boy to make friends for the sake of having friends; all he needed was his dance. So why did he suddenly find himself drawn to Jonghyun, the boy who never stopped crooning his love song to Juliette?
Status/length: Incomplete, 3,100 words.
Author's Note: This is the side story (more of a prequel, really) to my Onew/Minho fic, Parallel Lines, but it can be read on its' own as AU. And I swear it's not all math-y; I just like the way math terms sound. ^^;;
Previous Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
*****
"Why did you kiss me?" Jonghyun asked the next morning as he more or less shoved his face in Taemin's, a bright grin playing along his lips.
It was the next day, and Taemin was officially a year older. It didn't feel much different to him, but at the same time everything seemed to have changed. His brother and Jonghyun's sister were out for the day, looking into local colleges to inquire about fall courses. His father was out at the high school he'd be teaching at once school started back up again, and his mother had gone with him for support. Jonghyun's parents were both at work, finally settling into the way life was going to be from now on, which meant that Taemin and Jonghyun were stuck in the house alone. Apparently, Jonghyun took that as a sign that he could shout questions as loud as he wanted and annoy the living daylights out of Taemin because no one would be there to stop him.
"Because I wanted to," Taemin said simply, shoving Jonghyun to the side and into the table so he could eat his cheerio's in peace.
"Did you kiss Minho because you wanted to?" Jonghyun asked, rubbing his head a little and planting his ass in the seat next to Taemin, propping his chin up on his shoulder. Taemin blinked at him for a moment, grabbing his spoon and slapping Jonghyun on the forehead with it, giggling at the hollow sound it made. Jonghyun pouted, whining about how he'd become stupid ever since Taemin moved in because he kept hitting him.
"If anything, I'm transferring my intelligence into your brain. You should be thankful," Taemin grinned, tossing the spoon into the sink from where he was seated, grabbing a new one from the middle of the table.
"Yah, you're not even that smart!" Jonghyun protested, shoving Taemin to the side a little, grinning.
"I'm smarter than you," Taemin mumbled, grabbing his bowl of cheerios and hopping off his stool, giggling when Jonghyun fell to the floor and landed flat on his ass. Taemin ignored the long stream of cuss words that followed him, humming lightly to himself as he headed over to the basement, still munching on his cereal as he headed down the stairs.
"Hey, you're not allowed to eat in there! It's a sacred place!" Jonghyun shouted, following Taemin into the basement but making no move to get the food out of there. Taemin raised his eyebrow at Jonghyun before shrugging his shoulders, heading over to the desk and setting the bowl down.
"Hey, can we tear that thing down?" Taemin asked as he eyed the schedule on the wall of when they were allowed to use the basement. Jonghyun snorted, walking over to the paper himself and tearing it off with a grin. Taemin smiled, grabbing the paper from Jonghyun and ripping it into a bunch of tiny pieces before tossing it in the waste basket, watching the schedule fall slowly into the basket slowly for a moment, a whoosh of relief escaping his lips as he finally felt things fall back into place with that one action.
Jonghyun started humming to himself, flopping onto the couch with a contented sigh, his hands laced together and folded over his stomach. Taemin giggled, reaching out with his foot and poking Jonghyun in the side lightly before heading to the other side of the room where they kept the computer, wanting to finish transferring their music to his iPod. He hooked it up to the cord, eying the bright green details and the inscription on the back with a small smile, still not quite believing that it was his.
"Do you really like that?" Jonghyun asked suddenly. Taemin blinked, turning around to look at Jonghyun with a raised eyebrow, not quite getting what he meant. "I mean, your presents. The iPod and the sneakers, do you like them or are you just pretending?"
"I love them," Taemin answered automatically, blinking at Jonghyun curiously. Jonghyun sighed, almost as if he were relieved, which only served to further Taemin's curiosity. "Why'd you ask?"
"Because... I picked them out," Jonghyun said, grinning.
"I thought you said you didn't get me anything," Taemin mumbled, a faint blush rising to his cheeks as he remembered what he'd taken as a present the night before. Jonghyun seemed to remember the same thing as he coughed awkwardly, his cheeks reddening just slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Our parents didn't know what to get you, so they gave me some money and told me to pick it out," Jonghyun mumbled, shrugging his shoulders modestly. "I guess they figured I knew you better than they did?"
"I wonder why they thought that," Taemin sing-songed, grinning at Jonghyun mischievously. Jonghyun blinked at him for a long moment, seeming to be completely baffled by Taemin's words. Taemin sighed, waving a hand as if telling him to ignore what he'd said if he didn't understand it. Jonghyun grinned, clearly understanding what Taemin was saying with his hands, making Taemin inwardly facepalm at how dense Jonghyun could be sometimes.
"Anyway, I figured that every dancer needs amazing shoes to dance in, and a music player to put a sound to their steps," Jonghyun said, fumbling with the hem of his shirt a little. "I didn't know if your iPod was working again or not, so I figured I'd get you a new one. But it was with their money, so it wasn't really from me."
Taemin raised an eyebrow as he tried to work out that logic and failed. He turned back to the computer and clicked a few things to make sure it was updating properly, before realizing what Jonghyun had just said. "Wait, if my iPod was working again?"
"Yeah," Jonghyun said, sitting up and stretching his arms above him. "Back in Seoul, there was a day on the bus where you were cussing at your iPod, and I never saw you using it after that," Jonghyun shrugged, going over to the stereo and putting in one of their cd's, completely unaware of Taemin's jaw which was currently gaping open, nearly hitting the floor.
"You mean.... you knew who I was? Back in Seoul?"
"Yeah, of course," Jonghyun said, turning to Taemin and raising an eyebrow when he saw just how far his jaw had dropped. Taemin blinked, poking his chin to get his jaw re-situated. "I figured you knew who I was, too."
"What would make you say that?" Taemin replied, his voice a little clipped as he turned to the computer, trying to hide the light blush that rose on his cheeks. He hoped to God that Jonghyun hadn't seen the way he stared at him every day; now that would be embarrassing.
"You asked me to sign your yearbook," Jonghyun replied, as if that should have been obvious. Taemin blinked, turning back to Jonghyun again, his head tilting to the side as he stared at the man in front of him. Back in Seoul, he'd only asked Jonghyun to sign his yearbook because he was afraid of never seeing him again, of never hearing his voice again. He'd asked him that completely on a whim, figuring there was no real meaning behind the words Jonghyun had wrote and just taking it with a grain of salt, despite the way it had made his heart hum a little.
"So, that thing about being friends in the future. You meant it?" Taemin asked, chewing a little bit on his lower lip.
"Of course," Jonghyun said, grinning as he threw a random piece of wadded up paper at Taemin, effectively hitting him directly on the forehead. He let out a whoop of joy and pumped his fists in the air, to which Taemin responded by kicking him in the side. Jonghyun yelped, holding his side and glaring at Taemin like a wounded puppy until Taemin almost felt bad.
"I'm sorry," Taemin mumbled, though he wasn't sure what exactly he was apologizing for. There was a lot he felt bad for; for always kicking Jonghyun and calling him an idiot, even if he deserved it. For acting irrationally, even if was Jonghyun who'd caused him to react that way in the first place. For not being honest with Jonghyun about anything, for always avoiding the topics they needed to discuss the most, and for not being able to make up for any of it.
"Bah, whatever. I'm stronger than I look," Jonghyun grinned, waving his hand in the air as he put on the N.E.R.D. cd and beckoned Taemin over. "Now, put on your dancing shoes and tell me how fucking amazingly easy they are to move in."
Taemin blinked at Jonghyun for a long moment, pulling his lower lip into his mouth as he nodded, ducking his head down for a few seconds. He knew that Jonghyun had no idea what he'd been apologizing for, but somehow he got the feeling that even if he had, his response would have been equally calm and nonchalant. He was just that kind of person; always letting things roll off his shoulders without so much as a second thought, always forgiving and forgetting before he could even think about what someone did. It was one of the things Taemin loved about him.
Taemin looked up at Jonghyun, who was standing there expectantly, and smiled. He took a deep breath before raising himself up from the computer chair and sliding his new dancing shoes on, determined to show him exactly what he could do.
*****
"Man, you should see this guy! He's even more of a princess than you!" Jonghyun remarked, his laughter turning into a howl as Taemin effectively kicked his ass with a grin.
"I'm not a princess," Taemin grumbled, pouting and crossing his arms childishly.
"Yes you are!" Jonghyun laughed, rolling over to avoid the kick that had been aimed directly at his hip. "You have to drink everything at room temperature. You can't sleep without a blanket over your stomach, you leave the light in the bathroom all night because you don't want to stub your toes, and you shower twice a day! How is that not a princess?"
"I'll have you know that my body temperature is naturally lower than most people's, so hot coffee burns me a lot more easily, and sleeping without a blanket makes me cold. And I'm really clumsy when I'm tired! And I dance so much that I have to take two showers, otherwise I'll be all sweaty and disgusting!" Taemin defended, rolling toward Jonghyun and smacking him upside the head since he couldn't kick him.
"Princess syndrome!" Jonghyun sing-songed, laughing heartily as he let himself get beat up by Taemin, too busy laughing to even think about defending himself.
"You're mean," Taemin whined, pouting as he realized that torturing Jonghyun was no fun if he wasn't trying to retaliate. Jonghyun laughed, reaching out and grabbing Taemin by the shoulders, mussing his hair up as hard as he could. Taemin shrieked, kicking out at Jonghyun until he was released, rolling away until he could glare at Jonghyun from a safe distance.
"I said Key's worse than you, so stop being such a baby," Jonghyun grinned, sticking his tongue out childishly.
"Key?" Taemin asked, throwing a crumbled piece of paper at Jonghyun and sticking his tongue out right back.
"It's his nickname. He says there are too many Kim Kibum's in the world, and he fancies himself to be fucking amazing and unique," Jonghyun said, shrugging his shoulders, which looked a slightly awkward since he was laying on his stomach. "I dunno, he's kind of weird, but he can rap and sort of sing, or at least his voice has an interesting tone to it, so I guess I can put up with him."
"Before you know it, you're gonna have yourself a little boy band," Taemin cackled, merely grinning at the glare Jonghyun sent his way.
"I, dear Taemin, am an artist. I do not do boy bands."
"Sure, you do," Taemin grinned, ducking as a shoe was thrown his way. "I mean, look. You've already got the main vocalist - you, you've got a rapper - Minho, and you've got that guy who no one really knows what he does but would probably be amazing on variety shows and be good at everything but not the best. Now all you need is a dancer and someone who's a complete fail boat, and you're all set!"
"I hate you," Jonghyun grumbled, planting his face in the carpet. He clearly didn't appreciate Taemin's mocking, which of course made Taemin practically hum with happiness.
"But your eyes say you want me badly~" Taemin sing-songed, laughing at the stunned look on Jonghyun's face. He grinned, repeating the line over and over until Jonghyun finally threw his other shoe and he had to shut up and duck out of the way.
"Why is your voice not that bad?" Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow at Taemin, who blinked at him with confusion. He tilted his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders as he himself pondered that. He'd been an awful singer before, to the point where his brother had threatened to hire someone to cut out his vocal chords when he tried singing to the songs he'd danced to.
"Must be because I've been around you too much," Taemin muttered, humming to himself as he thought of something. "Hey, have you written more of that Juliette song?"
"It's done," Jonghyun said, rolling over on his side to look at Taemin without having to crane his neck. "Why?"
"Sing it for me."
"Why?"
"Just do it," Taemin grumbled, kicking Jonghyun in the side stubbornly. Jonghyun muttered something under his breath about unnecessary violence before sitting up with a sigh, shaking the tension from his shoulders out as he cleared his throat.
Taemin closed his eyes and sat up, crossing his legs under him as he let himself get lost once again in Jonghyun's voice. He listened intently to every dip and rise in Jonghyun's voice, ignoring how awkward his rapping sounding, and just letting himself fall into the music, his mind conjuring up splashes of color and movement with every piece of the song.
"So, how is it?" Jonghyun asked once he'd finished, his voice sounding more wary than curious. Taemin opened his eyes slowly, a lazy smile gracing his lips as he nodded his head approvingly. Jonghyun grinned like someone had just flipped an electrical switch in his body, and Taemin giggled just slightly.
"Now, before I forget it, sing it again," Taemin said calmly as he stood up, ignoring the confused and skeptical look on Jonghyun's face.
"Before you forget what?"
"Just sing. I'll show you," Taemin hummed under his breath, taking a few steps backward until his feet hit the hardwood floor of the basement, his eyes closing as he saw the flashes of color in front of his eyes once again.
Jonghyun started singing again, and Taemin did the one thing that came more naturally to him than anything else: he danced. His feet moved with precision at every sharp intake of Jonghyun's voice. His arms popped and intertwined with each other with as much grace as he could manage, his torso shifted from side to side, and his hands shifted to accentuate every little movement. He let himself fall into the music, and though he knew most of the dance was a bit clumsy, he also knew that there was so much potential here. It was then, while he was dancing, that he realized that Jonghyun was indeed an artist, not just some kid with a decent voice.
"What the hell was that?" Jonghyun asked, his eyes wide. Taemin blinked his own eyes open and grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"A dance?" He questioned, shrugging his shoulders as he flopped on the ground near Jonghyun, his cheeks flushing a light red. "I made most of that up on the spot, so it wasn't that good. But I like your song; it makes me want to dance."
"Most of it?" Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow. Taemin ducked his head down, staring at the floor to hide the blush that was rising up his cheeks fast.
"I've kind of.... been working on a dance... for the chorus and the bridge... for a while," Taemin mumbled, keeping his eyes stubbornly set to the ground as he tried to keep the blush from darkening any, without any luck.
"Since when?"
Taemin paused, biting on his lower lip and shifting his eyes over to Jonghyun nervously. "Since Seoul. The day that my iPod wouldn't work."
"Well, shit," Jonghyun mumbled, staring at Taemin with wide eyes. Taemin blushed harder and ducked his head back down, squeaking when Jonghyun slapped him on the back playfully with a bark of laughter. "You should have told me earlier!"
"I thought.... you might think I was weird," Taemin said quietly, shifting on the carpet almost nervously.
"I already think you're weird, Taeminnie," Jonghyun sing-songed. Taemin looked up at him and glared as hard as he could, to which Jonghyun only laughed. "You'd have to be weird to actually like being around me."
"I never said that!" Taemin yelled as his cheeks flushed bright red. Jonghyun grinned at him, in a way that let him know that he clearly wasn't buying it. Taemin felt the blush travel to his neck.
"Sure, kid. Sure," Jonghyun smirked, petting Taemin on the head like he was a dog. Taemin pouted, crossing his arms over his chest childishly. "Now, let's practice. I sing, you dance."
Taemin blinked, raising both eyebrows at Jonghyun as if to ask if he was serious, which Jonghyun replied to with a simple nod of his head. He sighed, giving a show of being annoyed at being asked to dance again, but inside he was elated. For the last several months, all he'd wanted to do was dance to this one song, to dance to Jonghyun's voice crooning a love song to Juliette.
And so, he stood up and walked over to the dance floor, his heart feeling like it was flying above him as he realized for the first time, that to him, Jonghyun's voice represented freedom. From all the locked up movements of his normal dancing, to the way he had locked himself away from the world not too long ago, to the way he could finally, finally smile and really mean it, it was all because of Jonghyun's voice, because of the soul that kept spilling through those lips like a sweet poison, changing him forever.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED....
A/N:: First off, I want to apologize for a few things. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, I just had a few real life things I had to handle first. And I'm sorry that I didn't reply to the majority of comments left in the last chapter; I'm honestly just not pleased with the chapter so I didn't really feel I deserved it. D: I really do appreciate all the kind words though, you guys have no idea how much it means to me. ♥
Also. I finally figured out how long this fic is going to last. There will be 14 chapters and an NC-17 epilogue for those of you who want that. >___> I've also got a few other fics set up to finish/start after this is done with, so I'm pretty sure you guys will be seeing me around for a while~ And Key makes an appearance next chapter, and goddamn I loved writing him, fufufu.
Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed it. <3
I promise to reply to comments this time. ^^;;
Next Chapter: Chapter 12