a different kind of crazy (2min)
TITLE A Different Kind of Crazy 18/20
SUMMARY Taemin's never been one to care about what's right or wrong. He doesn't think about things like what's accepted and what's not. He wants what he wants, but it's not always a walk in the park.
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS [SHINee] Minho/Taemin, Jonghyun/Key. (f(x) cameos)
RATING/WARNING R.
GENRE Real life/romance
1 2 3 4 5 6 ♥ 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 minholude 14 15 16 17
a different kind of crazy;
When Taemin walks past Forever's Boutique on his way home, he recalls how those damn purple heels had started everything, and how without them, he'd never had met Minho. It'd been a landslide from then on, but Taemin's not sure if he regrets the whole thing or not. He's harboring a bit of an irrational hatred towards the shoes, though. He has to aim it somewhere, after all. A big part of him doesn't want to, but all his instincts tell him he should--it's time to move on and get rid of them. Strangely enough, he feels as if the shoes were only a doorway into greater things.
Maybe he's thinking too much on it. Taemin sighs, stepping in through Kibum's always open door and shutting it quietly behind him. He's thinking too much on everything lately. It's been four days now, and his mother has not once tried to contact him. It's really disheartening.
"I thought you were in love with those shoes." Kibum comments dryly from behind his laptop, watching as Taemin slips the purple heels he had unwittingly pined after for so long back into the box they had come in.
"I sometimes think," Taemin sits with the repackaged shoes in his lap, "that the shoes were just fate's way of saying fuck you and your life and have fun making the best of it."
Kibum laughs. "So it's not the shoes you're in love with?"
He's teasing, but his words echo in Taemin's mind on ceaseless repeat. He closes his eyes, feeling an oncoming pressure headache. "Maybe." he says, too emotionally drained to give a better answer.
"Did you just realize this yourself?" Kibum adopts a look of concern, folding off the couch to squat beside Taemin, who's got his head piled in his arms on the coffeetable.
"Thanks for confessing for me." Taemin quips back, deadpan.
Kibum shoves his shoulder and pulls himself back onto the couch. "I gave up trying to stop you." he says, clearly a little offended. "Even though you're, pardon my use of cliches, a trainwreck just fucking anticipating itself. So don't get mad at me for taking your side, okay?"
"You're not against it?" Taemin replies, honestly surprised. Kibum's animosity towards Minho is not something he's ever tried to hide.
"You two seem suited to each other." Kibum says, and before Taemin can protest he adds, holding up a hand to cut him off, "You know you've changed since you got involved with him."
"How have I changed?" Taemin moues.
"Just this one last time," Kibum sighs, "I'll make it plain and simple for you. I'll even answer your own damn questions. Do you like him? Unfortunately, yes. Did you lose your virginity to him? Yes. Is that a big deal? Actually, yes, it is--it's a subconscious thing, your argument is invalid." he says when Taemin tries to pipe up in disagreement, then continues, "Is he kind of an asshole for doing it? Yes, I believe he is. Did you continue to pursue him even after the whole world practically told you not to? Yes, you definitely did. And have you always done what you wanted? Yes, you fucking have."
"Get to the point." Taemin whines, and Kibum just keeps talking over him, on a roll.
"So what has changed you, you ask?" he goes on, "Can you honestly say you are the same person you were a few months ago?"
Taemin thinks back to how naive he had been, how focused, how uninvolved. He remembers how out of touch others had accused him of being, and how he avoided anything that would cause a commotion. It's true that Minho's definitely played a large part in driving Taemin steadily more and more off his rocker.
"I'm still me." Taemin replies weakly.
"Sure you are," Kibum squares him with a direct, open gaze. "I never said there's anything wrong with change."
It's part of growing up, after all. That's what Taemin's mother always told him. "It's scares me." he admits, sniffling--his nose feels kind of runny.
"Why?" Kibum asks him bluntly.
Taemin stares ahead at nothing, hesitant to speak. Then he jumps to his feet, grabbing the bagged shoes. "I have to go meet Eunsook." he says with a bad try at enthusiasm. "I'm going to give her these."
Kibum studies him for a short moment longer. "She told you, didn't she?"
Taemin purses his lips, exclaiming, "You knew?"
"Of course I knew." Kibum snorts, "It was so obvious."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"She asked me not to." Kibum says, always the loyal friend. "Eunsook's a strong person, you know. She's very capable of handling herself, but it's clear to me that you'd be too much for her."
Taemin pouts. "Are you calling me high maintenance?"
Kibum looks up at the ceiling in a sarcastic gesture of frustration. "No, just commenting on the intrinsic value of your bull-headed and sometimes brainless opacity. Really, the world through your eyes must be terribly insensible."
Taemin half-heartedly threatens to swing the bag at Kibum's head. "And you're wearing rose-colored glasses? Spend a day in my shoes and tell me if you wouldn't be the same way."
Kibum huffs, full of disdain. "As the antihero in your misfortunate story, it is obviously your duty to ignore my flawless advice and live a life full of mental anguish, isn't it?"
Taemin's lips curl up a little. This is territory he's used to with Kibum. "Don't worry," he says, playing along. "You're my favorite side character."
"And here I am!" Kibum breaks into his skilled dramatics, waving his cigarette around madly. "The side character, the deal breaker, the cast aside. I am an ignorant favorite, a condoned virtue; sacrosanct and piteous. Here I am! The contingent well-wisher chronicling my own life as the main role of an esoteric interlude." he smirks at Taemin's flabbergasted expression. "And our poor Eunsook only wants the truth."
Taemin rolls his eyes. "Did you practice that in the mirror? And you know that's why I'm going to meet up with her."
"No, but I did read it in a book. And about damn time." Kibum adds his final blow, and Taemin lets him have it, swinging the door shut behind him.
Eunsook had suggested they meet at the coffee shop near campus, so Taemin takes the bus there, pushing away the nerves bubbling up inside of him. When he arrives, Eunsook's already seated in the windowed alcove, nursing a steaming cup of tea and pouring over notes for the exams coming up. Taemin joins her, unable not to crack the slightest smile when she looks up and waves.
"I feel like I owe you an explanation." he says first thing.
"You don't owe me anything." Eunsook replies sincerely, and it's obvious she already knows his reply. It upsets Taemin, to see her so down, so he starts from the beginning: he tells her the truth.
He tells her about his unlabeled relationship with Minho, how unstable it had made him, and how he just charged on without thinking, really, and now he's in too deep. He tells her about how he'd never thought about his sexuality, never bothered until Minho, but now he's pretty sure he knows what his preference is. How dancing pointe in Sulli's place and his mother's painful wake up call had pushed him to that realization.
And lastly, he tells her how even despite all the warning signs, even though he knows he's being stupid, even though he's sorry he ignored her advice, and even though he knows Minho's true nature, there's something that just won't let him walk away; despite all the odds--and fuck the odds. Fuck them to hell and back.
Eunsook listens quietly as Taemin opens up things he hadn't even been comfortable admitting to himself, and offers to buy him a drink when he comes to a rather sudden halt, only stopping because he'd run out of things to say.
Then she replies, "Can I tell you something?"
"Yes--" Taemin gushes out, "Please do."
Eunsook grins at him. "It's true there is someone I like who is talented and very passionate, and it's true that they like someone else," her gaze sweeps to her empty cup, which she fiddles with mindlessly. "That's okay. But what I admire most about this person is how true to themself they are; how they go after what they want and what makes them happy, even if to everyone else it's wrong or hated."
She looks back to him with a strong smile that makes Taemin realize Kibum had been 100% right--Eunsook's got it together. "I want to thank him for showing me that love is love, and there's no reason for it ever not to be."
Taemin has to seriously rebel against the mist in his eyes as she continues. "You're very special to me," she says, "Plus it's safer like this anyway, and you know why--Krystal's told you, she apologized to me about it earlier today."
"I'm sorry as well." Taemin says, looking down at his hands.
"Don't be." Eunsook shakes her head. "It's kind of nice to have an outsider and friend," she emphasizes, "who knows and hasn't been driven away because of it. My family is extremely private, my mother wouldn't even let me tell Jonghyun."
"Are you--" Taemin wants to ask if she's involved, if she's being forced to follow her family, if, if, if.
Eunsook picks up on his question. "I'm the kingpin's daughter," she says quietly. "It's my inheritance, but it's still a man's world." her smile is sweet and calm, but the weight on her shoulders is apparent. Taemin has a strong sense that there's something she's leaving out, but he doesn't press her for answers--it's already fucked up that he knows as much as he does.
He picks up the bag, thinking now would be a good time to gift her the heels. "I'm not sure if you'll like them, but I wanted to give these to you."
The light blush and clearly pleased look on Eunsook's face when she sees the shoes, notes that they're Forever brand, really touches Taemin, and for the first time this season, he kind of feels the Christmas spirit. He'd almost forgotten Christmas is right around the corner.
"I'll have to give you a Christmas gift in return!" she chimes.
"No, it's okay," Taemin drawls, "I'm just glad you like them."
"Purple," Eunsook states simply, "is my favorite color."
"Hopefully they fit."
Eunsook unlaces her boot and slips one on. "Like Cinderella's slipper." she chimes jovially. "You know my mother designed these shoes?"
"She's a designer?" Taemin exclaims.
"She owns Forever's Boutique, and Krystal didn't tell you that?" Eunsook replies, chuckling at his wide eyes.
"Now I feel inadequate." Taemin sinks farther into his chair.
Eunsook slips her boot back on and puts the shoe back into the box with its pair. "Oh, don't be like that. I wasn't telling you for such a reason."
Taemin smiles a little, mood lightened. He decides to be cheesy when he says, "Talent runs in your family then, huh?"
"If you say so!" Eunsook gets to her feet, a little flustered. "Anyway, I really have to get to practice--the show's tomorrow. Thank you for meeting up with me, Taemin." she picks up her bag and the shoes, gathering her notes. "I'll see you later!"
They part ways as the sun's starting to set, quickly vanishing behind all the distant, towering sky scrapers.
Taemin walks in the gloom towards the station, unsuspecting and caught in his thoughts, when a hand suddenly clamps over his mouth, bodily yanking him into the adjacent alleyway.
"You're an unlucky kid, aren't you." Junho's smirking face greets him from the shadows. He's crowding Taemin farther down the dark alley, sneering. "Run if you want, you'll only hit a dead end."
Taemin keeps scooting backwards anyway because he wants to stay as far away from Junho for as long as possible. He can barely hear him over how loud the blood is pounding in his ears.
"Normally we have a system for dealing with dumb fucks like you." Junho says, hands in his pockets. Taemin really does not want him to take them out--worst case scenarios involving knives and shanking are playing at light speed in his mind's eye. "But after I thought about it, I knew I'd seen your face before. You're that kid Minho's taken under his wing, aren't you?"
Taemin's back hits the wall and Junho looms over him, spiked hair and rugged attire creating spooky shadows in the dull light.
Junho pulls his hands out of his pockets, thankfully unarmed, and claps a hand on Taemin's shoulder, causing him to jump. "So I'll let you off with a warning just this once," he snaps his other fist back and jerks it into Taemin's stomach, the hand gripping his shoulder holding him in place as he crumbles from the painful impact. Junho grabs his chin and forces Taemin to look him in the eye. "Back the fuck off." he says. "This isn't shit pretty boys like you should be getting involved in."
He shoves Taemin one more time, hard enough that he loses his balance, clutching at his stomach. Taemin's had the wind knocked out of him, and he stays curled on the ground, forehead pressed against the gritty brick pavement to ease his pain, long after Junho's turned out of the alley and left him behind.
God, he thinks dismally to himself, he is royally fucked.
By the time he gets himself together again, the pain in his gut fading to a dull throb, it's completely dark out and he's missed the bus by just a few minutes. Instead of waiting for it to come back around, he boards the bus that takes him to Minho's stop, consumed in anxiety. He doesn't want to tell Minho about Junho, because that means he'll have to tell him he knows Minho's kkangpae. At the same time, as useless as it makes him feel, he knows he probably should. And it still really scares him.
He knocks twice, slowly, and when Minho lets him in Taemin can't help but feel like an intruder.
"I'm in the process of frying hotteok." Minho's clueless to his distress, though, and seems to be in a strange mood himself.
Taemin had not expected that, ever, from someone like Minho. "You know how to make them?"
"I'm a stoner." Minho supplies deadpan, as if that is the best answer to Taemin's boggled question. "There is nothing I can't do when it comes to food."
Taemin can't tell if he's joking or not, and he really doesn't want to know. The smell wafting from the kitchen is kind of mouthwatering though--Taemin's always had a bit of a weakness for sweets. Which is why he avoids them like the plague.
"And it's close to Christmas, so why the hell not." Minho adds, as if his first two reasons hadn't been enough.
Taemin laughs, but he doesn't sound very amused. Minho picks up on it easily, startling him when he leans into his personal space.
"Are you okay?" he asks, peering at him inquisitively. He places a hand on Taemin's forehead, sweeping his bangs out of the way. "Are you aware you're running a fever?"
"It'll come down." Taemin replies. It doesn't surprise him, with how stressful things have been lately and all.
"Not if you keep wandering around after dark in that." Minho shoots back, referring to the ripped skinny jeans Taemin's borrowing from Kibum, and the thin cotton hoodie he always wears. He urges Taemin onto the couch. "Since you're here, eat. They're almost done."
Taemin hates declining food because he hates getting grilled about his weight, but he really doesn't want to eat. Now that Minho's mentioned his fever, he's kind of feeling it--or maybe it's just the aftershock of Junho jerking him around. Junho. Taemin gets up and goes into the kitchen after Minho again, speaking before he loses the courage. "Krystal told me you run in the jopok." he cuts straight to the point.
Minho flips the last hotteok and presses it down with the spatula. He says, flatly, "Did she."
Taemin bites his lip, trying again. "Is the reason you're hiding things from me because you don't want me getting involved?"
Minho's shoulders stiffen, and his voice is icy when he says, "No, because apparently you'll go and involve yourself regardless."
"It wasn't on purpose." Taemin is on edge, feeling the tension in the room rising. "How was I supposed to know--"
"Supposed to know what? I'm kkangpae? Don't be convaluted." Minho turns to face Taemin, pissed off and intimidating. "It has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me." Taemin hisses, "You're the one asking me to comit, but you're hardly even sincere half the time, let alone truthful."
Minho dumps the lack of the hotteok onto the steaming plate, clearly annoyed. "Do you know how much I've changed for you?"
Taemin ignores the dizzy press on his eyesight, noting the irony in Minho's words. He's getting angry too. "I never asked you to," he snaps, and he knows he's being stupid, but he's on a roll now. "Go fuck whoever you want. In the end, you'll still tell me it's one thing when it's actually not and you always expect to get away with it!"
"I don't think you understand what I'm getting at," Minho is trying to hold himself back, arm making jerky cutting motions for emphasis. "Do you even know what you're saying to me right now?"
Taemin's temper flares--that's the final straw for him. He launches for Minho, reasoning flickering on and off against the red in his vision. Sometimes he feels like the only way to make him listen is to do something extreme. But Minho's not going to have it, and Taemin is more than willing to fight back, scuffling with Minho until he trips over the dining table's leg and lands them both on the floor, still gripping at each other's arms and trying to get a hit in at least once. Minho's lip is bleeding where Taemin clocked him, but he really stands no chance when Minho quite suddenly and easily overpowers him, flips him onto his back, and pins him easily, leering down.
"Why are you attacking me?" Minho speaks loudly into his ear, breath husky from the effort.
"Because I'm pissed off." Taemin pouts, turning his face to stare at the kitchen cabinets a few feet away.
"Do you attack everyone who pisses you off?" Minho barks out a low laugh, and Taemin doesn't like it. He feels like Minho's just toying with him, now.
"Do you?" he shoots back.
"It's my profession." Minho replies, that patronizing quirk still on his lips. "So don't start with me. You're going to lose every time." He sits up, tentatively letting go of Taemin's wrists, and Taemin shoves him the rest of the way off him, sitting up as well.
"Fine." Taemin says, heart beating faster and faster. "If that's really true, then why am I even trying?" he gets to his feet, the dizziness from his fever growing stronger still, and pushes Minho's hands away from him.
"I didn't mean it like that," Minho protests, grabbing Taemin's wrist when he tries to go to the door. Taemin spins on him, lifting his heels the small distance to kiss Minho, biting his already cut lip without mercy and driving him backwards with all the force he puts into it.
"I'm in fucking love with you." Taemin gasps out unexpectedly, "Okay?" he yanks his hand free from Minho's grip easily, since he's a little shocked, and opens the door, stepping back out into the wintry air. "And it doesn't take a genius to see you have no idea what that even is."
previous | next
note; I thinnnnnk kingpin is a legit title for the leader of a crime syndicate, but google and wikipedia weren't very helpful and I've no idea if there's a Korean word for it. SIGH.
+ Domestic abuseeeee! There's just something odd about Minho's character frying hotteok here but it also felt natural. Hotteok is fucking delicious, by the way. Try this recipe out, or get the boxed version--it's easier to make. :3
SUMMARY Taemin's never been one to care about what's right or wrong. He doesn't think about things like what's accepted and what's not. He wants what he wants, but it's not always a walk in the park.
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS [SHINee] Minho/Taemin, Jonghyun/Key. (f(x) cameos)
RATING/WARNING R.
GENRE Real life/romance
1 2 3 4 5 6 ♥ 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 minholude 14 15 16 17
a different kind of crazy;
When Taemin walks past Forever's Boutique on his way home, he recalls how those damn purple heels had started everything, and how without them, he'd never had met Minho. It'd been a landslide from then on, but Taemin's not sure if he regrets the whole thing or not. He's harboring a bit of an irrational hatred towards the shoes, though. He has to aim it somewhere, after all. A big part of him doesn't want to, but all his instincts tell him he should--it's time to move on and get rid of them. Strangely enough, he feels as if the shoes were only a doorway into greater things.
Maybe he's thinking too much on it. Taemin sighs, stepping in through Kibum's always open door and shutting it quietly behind him. He's thinking too much on everything lately. It's been four days now, and his mother has not once tried to contact him. It's really disheartening.
"I thought you were in love with those shoes." Kibum comments dryly from behind his laptop, watching as Taemin slips the purple heels he had unwittingly pined after for so long back into the box they had come in.
"I sometimes think," Taemin sits with the repackaged shoes in his lap, "that the shoes were just fate's way of saying fuck you and your life and have fun making the best of it."
Kibum laughs. "So it's not the shoes you're in love with?"
He's teasing, but his words echo in Taemin's mind on ceaseless repeat. He closes his eyes, feeling an oncoming pressure headache. "Maybe." he says, too emotionally drained to give a better answer.
"Did you just realize this yourself?" Kibum adopts a look of concern, folding off the couch to squat beside Taemin, who's got his head piled in his arms on the coffeetable.
"Thanks for confessing for me." Taemin quips back, deadpan.
Kibum shoves his shoulder and pulls himself back onto the couch. "I gave up trying to stop you." he says, clearly a little offended. "Even though you're, pardon my use of cliches, a trainwreck just fucking anticipating itself. So don't get mad at me for taking your side, okay?"
"You're not against it?" Taemin replies, honestly surprised. Kibum's animosity towards Minho is not something he's ever tried to hide.
"You two seem suited to each other." Kibum says, and before Taemin can protest he adds, holding up a hand to cut him off, "You know you've changed since you got involved with him."
"How have I changed?" Taemin moues.
"Just this one last time," Kibum sighs, "I'll make it plain and simple for you. I'll even answer your own damn questions. Do you like him? Unfortunately, yes. Did you lose your virginity to him? Yes. Is that a big deal? Actually, yes, it is--it's a subconscious thing, your argument is invalid." he says when Taemin tries to pipe up in disagreement, then continues, "Is he kind of an asshole for doing it? Yes, I believe he is. Did you continue to pursue him even after the whole world practically told you not to? Yes, you definitely did. And have you always done what you wanted? Yes, you fucking have."
"Get to the point." Taemin whines, and Kibum just keeps talking over him, on a roll.
"So what has changed you, you ask?" he goes on, "Can you honestly say you are the same person you were a few months ago?"
Taemin thinks back to how naive he had been, how focused, how uninvolved. He remembers how out of touch others had accused him of being, and how he avoided anything that would cause a commotion. It's true that Minho's definitely played a large part in driving Taemin steadily more and more off his rocker.
"I'm still me." Taemin replies weakly.
"Sure you are," Kibum squares him with a direct, open gaze. "I never said there's anything wrong with change."
It's part of growing up, after all. That's what Taemin's mother always told him. "It's scares me." he admits, sniffling--his nose feels kind of runny.
"Why?" Kibum asks him bluntly.
Taemin stares ahead at nothing, hesitant to speak. Then he jumps to his feet, grabbing the bagged shoes. "I have to go meet Eunsook." he says with a bad try at enthusiasm. "I'm going to give her these."
Kibum studies him for a short moment longer. "She told you, didn't she?"
Taemin purses his lips, exclaiming, "You knew?"
"Of course I knew." Kibum snorts, "It was so obvious."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"She asked me not to." Kibum says, always the loyal friend. "Eunsook's a strong person, you know. She's very capable of handling herself, but it's clear to me that you'd be too much for her."
Taemin pouts. "Are you calling me high maintenance?"
Kibum looks up at the ceiling in a sarcastic gesture of frustration. "No, just commenting on the intrinsic value of your bull-headed and sometimes brainless opacity. Really, the world through your eyes must be terribly insensible."
Taemin half-heartedly threatens to swing the bag at Kibum's head. "And you're wearing rose-colored glasses? Spend a day in my shoes and tell me if you wouldn't be the same way."
Kibum huffs, full of disdain. "As the antihero in your misfortunate story, it is obviously your duty to ignore my flawless advice and live a life full of mental anguish, isn't it?"
Taemin's lips curl up a little. This is territory he's used to with Kibum. "Don't worry," he says, playing along. "You're my favorite side character."
"And here I am!" Kibum breaks into his skilled dramatics, waving his cigarette around madly. "The side character, the deal breaker, the cast aside. I am an ignorant favorite, a condoned virtue; sacrosanct and piteous. Here I am! The contingent well-wisher chronicling my own life as the main role of an esoteric interlude." he smirks at Taemin's flabbergasted expression. "And our poor Eunsook only wants the truth."
Taemin rolls his eyes. "Did you practice that in the mirror? And you know that's why I'm going to meet up with her."
"No, but I did read it in a book. And about damn time." Kibum adds his final blow, and Taemin lets him have it, swinging the door shut behind him.
Eunsook had suggested they meet at the coffee shop near campus, so Taemin takes the bus there, pushing away the nerves bubbling up inside of him. When he arrives, Eunsook's already seated in the windowed alcove, nursing a steaming cup of tea and pouring over notes for the exams coming up. Taemin joins her, unable not to crack the slightest smile when she looks up and waves.
"I feel like I owe you an explanation." he says first thing.
"You don't owe me anything." Eunsook replies sincerely, and it's obvious she already knows his reply. It upsets Taemin, to see her so down, so he starts from the beginning: he tells her the truth.
He tells her about his unlabeled relationship with Minho, how unstable it had made him, and how he just charged on without thinking, really, and now he's in too deep. He tells her about how he'd never thought about his sexuality, never bothered until Minho, but now he's pretty sure he knows what his preference is. How dancing pointe in Sulli's place and his mother's painful wake up call had pushed him to that realization.
And lastly, he tells her how even despite all the warning signs, even though he knows he's being stupid, even though he's sorry he ignored her advice, and even though he knows Minho's true nature, there's something that just won't let him walk away; despite all the odds--and fuck the odds. Fuck them to hell and back.
Eunsook listens quietly as Taemin opens up things he hadn't even been comfortable admitting to himself, and offers to buy him a drink when he comes to a rather sudden halt, only stopping because he'd run out of things to say.
Then she replies, "Can I tell you something?"
"Yes--" Taemin gushes out, "Please do."
Eunsook grins at him. "It's true there is someone I like who is talented and very passionate, and it's true that they like someone else," her gaze sweeps to her empty cup, which she fiddles with mindlessly. "That's okay. But what I admire most about this person is how true to themself they are; how they go after what they want and what makes them happy, even if to everyone else it's wrong or hated."
She looks back to him with a strong smile that makes Taemin realize Kibum had been 100% right--Eunsook's got it together. "I want to thank him for showing me that love is love, and there's no reason for it ever not to be."
Taemin has to seriously rebel against the mist in his eyes as she continues. "You're very special to me," she says, "Plus it's safer like this anyway, and you know why--Krystal's told you, she apologized to me about it earlier today."
"I'm sorry as well." Taemin says, looking down at his hands.
"Don't be." Eunsook shakes her head. "It's kind of nice to have an outsider and friend," she emphasizes, "who knows and hasn't been driven away because of it. My family is extremely private, my mother wouldn't even let me tell Jonghyun."
"Are you--" Taemin wants to ask if she's involved, if she's being forced to follow her family, if, if, if.
Eunsook picks up on his question. "I'm the kingpin's daughter," she says quietly. "It's my inheritance, but it's still a man's world." her smile is sweet and calm, but the weight on her shoulders is apparent. Taemin has a strong sense that there's something she's leaving out, but he doesn't press her for answers--it's already fucked up that he knows as much as he does.
He picks up the bag, thinking now would be a good time to gift her the heels. "I'm not sure if you'll like them, but I wanted to give these to you."
The light blush and clearly pleased look on Eunsook's face when she sees the shoes, notes that they're Forever brand, really touches Taemin, and for the first time this season, he kind of feels the Christmas spirit. He'd almost forgotten Christmas is right around the corner.
"I'll have to give you a Christmas gift in return!" she chimes.
"No, it's okay," Taemin drawls, "I'm just glad you like them."
"Purple," Eunsook states simply, "is my favorite color."
"Hopefully they fit."
Eunsook unlaces her boot and slips one on. "Like Cinderella's slipper." she chimes jovially. "You know my mother designed these shoes?"
"She's a designer?" Taemin exclaims.
"She owns Forever's Boutique, and Krystal didn't tell you that?" Eunsook replies, chuckling at his wide eyes.
"Now I feel inadequate." Taemin sinks farther into his chair.
Eunsook slips her boot back on and puts the shoe back into the box with its pair. "Oh, don't be like that. I wasn't telling you for such a reason."
Taemin smiles a little, mood lightened. He decides to be cheesy when he says, "Talent runs in your family then, huh?"
"If you say so!" Eunsook gets to her feet, a little flustered. "Anyway, I really have to get to practice--the show's tomorrow. Thank you for meeting up with me, Taemin." she picks up her bag and the shoes, gathering her notes. "I'll see you later!"
They part ways as the sun's starting to set, quickly vanishing behind all the distant, towering sky scrapers.
Taemin walks in the gloom towards the station, unsuspecting and caught in his thoughts, when a hand suddenly clamps over his mouth, bodily yanking him into the adjacent alleyway.
"You're an unlucky kid, aren't you." Junho's smirking face greets him from the shadows. He's crowding Taemin farther down the dark alley, sneering. "Run if you want, you'll only hit a dead end."
Taemin keeps scooting backwards anyway because he wants to stay as far away from Junho for as long as possible. He can barely hear him over how loud the blood is pounding in his ears.
"Normally we have a system for dealing with dumb fucks like you." Junho says, hands in his pockets. Taemin really does not want him to take them out--worst case scenarios involving knives and shanking are playing at light speed in his mind's eye. "But after I thought about it, I knew I'd seen your face before. You're that kid Minho's taken under his wing, aren't you?"
Taemin's back hits the wall and Junho looms over him, spiked hair and rugged attire creating spooky shadows in the dull light.
Junho pulls his hands out of his pockets, thankfully unarmed, and claps a hand on Taemin's shoulder, causing him to jump. "So I'll let you off with a warning just this once," he snaps his other fist back and jerks it into Taemin's stomach, the hand gripping his shoulder holding him in place as he crumbles from the painful impact. Junho grabs his chin and forces Taemin to look him in the eye. "Back the fuck off." he says. "This isn't shit pretty boys like you should be getting involved in."
He shoves Taemin one more time, hard enough that he loses his balance, clutching at his stomach. Taemin's had the wind knocked out of him, and he stays curled on the ground, forehead pressed against the gritty brick pavement to ease his pain, long after Junho's turned out of the alley and left him behind.
God, he thinks dismally to himself, he is royally fucked.
By the time he gets himself together again, the pain in his gut fading to a dull throb, it's completely dark out and he's missed the bus by just a few minutes. Instead of waiting for it to come back around, he boards the bus that takes him to Minho's stop, consumed in anxiety. He doesn't want to tell Minho about Junho, because that means he'll have to tell him he knows Minho's kkangpae. At the same time, as useless as it makes him feel, he knows he probably should. And it still really scares him.
He knocks twice, slowly, and when Minho lets him in Taemin can't help but feel like an intruder.
"I'm in the process of frying hotteok." Minho's clueless to his distress, though, and seems to be in a strange mood himself.
Taemin had not expected that, ever, from someone like Minho. "You know how to make them?"
"I'm a stoner." Minho supplies deadpan, as if that is the best answer to Taemin's boggled question. "There is nothing I can't do when it comes to food."
Taemin can't tell if he's joking or not, and he really doesn't want to know. The smell wafting from the kitchen is kind of mouthwatering though--Taemin's always had a bit of a weakness for sweets. Which is why he avoids them like the plague.
"And it's close to Christmas, so why the hell not." Minho adds, as if his first two reasons hadn't been enough.
Taemin laughs, but he doesn't sound very amused. Minho picks up on it easily, startling him when he leans into his personal space.
"Are you okay?" he asks, peering at him inquisitively. He places a hand on Taemin's forehead, sweeping his bangs out of the way. "Are you aware you're running a fever?"
"It'll come down." Taemin replies. It doesn't surprise him, with how stressful things have been lately and all.
"Not if you keep wandering around after dark in that." Minho shoots back, referring to the ripped skinny jeans Taemin's borrowing from Kibum, and the thin cotton hoodie he always wears. He urges Taemin onto the couch. "Since you're here, eat. They're almost done."
Taemin hates declining food because he hates getting grilled about his weight, but he really doesn't want to eat. Now that Minho's mentioned his fever, he's kind of feeling it--or maybe it's just the aftershock of Junho jerking him around. Junho. Taemin gets up and goes into the kitchen after Minho again, speaking before he loses the courage. "Krystal told me you run in the jopok." he cuts straight to the point.
Minho flips the last hotteok and presses it down with the spatula. He says, flatly, "Did she."
Taemin bites his lip, trying again. "Is the reason you're hiding things from me because you don't want me getting involved?"
Minho's shoulders stiffen, and his voice is icy when he says, "No, because apparently you'll go and involve yourself regardless."
"It wasn't on purpose." Taemin is on edge, feeling the tension in the room rising. "How was I supposed to know--"
"Supposed to know what? I'm kkangpae? Don't be convaluted." Minho turns to face Taemin, pissed off and intimidating. "It has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me." Taemin hisses, "You're the one asking me to comit, but you're hardly even sincere half the time, let alone truthful."
Minho dumps the lack of the hotteok onto the steaming plate, clearly annoyed. "Do you know how much I've changed for you?"
Taemin ignores the dizzy press on his eyesight, noting the irony in Minho's words. He's getting angry too. "I never asked you to," he snaps, and he knows he's being stupid, but he's on a roll now. "Go fuck whoever you want. In the end, you'll still tell me it's one thing when it's actually not and you always expect to get away with it!"
"I don't think you understand what I'm getting at," Minho is trying to hold himself back, arm making jerky cutting motions for emphasis. "Do you even know what you're saying to me right now?"
Taemin's temper flares--that's the final straw for him. He launches for Minho, reasoning flickering on and off against the red in his vision. Sometimes he feels like the only way to make him listen is to do something extreme. But Minho's not going to have it, and Taemin is more than willing to fight back, scuffling with Minho until he trips over the dining table's leg and lands them both on the floor, still gripping at each other's arms and trying to get a hit in at least once. Minho's lip is bleeding where Taemin clocked him, but he really stands no chance when Minho quite suddenly and easily overpowers him, flips him onto his back, and pins him easily, leering down.
"Why are you attacking me?" Minho speaks loudly into his ear, breath husky from the effort.
"Because I'm pissed off." Taemin pouts, turning his face to stare at the kitchen cabinets a few feet away.
"Do you attack everyone who pisses you off?" Minho barks out a low laugh, and Taemin doesn't like it. He feels like Minho's just toying with him, now.
"Do you?" he shoots back.
"It's my profession." Minho replies, that patronizing quirk still on his lips. "So don't start with me. You're going to lose every time." He sits up, tentatively letting go of Taemin's wrists, and Taemin shoves him the rest of the way off him, sitting up as well.
"Fine." Taemin says, heart beating faster and faster. "If that's really true, then why am I even trying?" he gets to his feet, the dizziness from his fever growing stronger still, and pushes Minho's hands away from him.
"I didn't mean it like that," Minho protests, grabbing Taemin's wrist when he tries to go to the door. Taemin spins on him, lifting his heels the small distance to kiss Minho, biting his already cut lip without mercy and driving him backwards with all the force he puts into it.
"I'm in fucking love with you." Taemin gasps out unexpectedly, "Okay?" he yanks his hand free from Minho's grip easily, since he's a little shocked, and opens the door, stepping back out into the wintry air. "And it doesn't take a genius to see you have no idea what that even is."
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note; I thinnnnnk kingpin is a legit title for the leader of a crime syndicate, but google and wikipedia weren't very helpful and I've no idea if there's a Korean word for it. SIGH.
+ Domestic abuseeeee! There's just something odd about Minho's character frying hotteok here but it also felt natural. Hotteok is fucking delicious, by the way. Try this recipe out, or get the boxed version--it's easier to make. :3