[[ SHINee ]] Parallel Lines 2/7.
Title: Parallel Lines.
Author: sacryde_riots.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Onew/Minho, with a side of Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15.
Summary: Trust Minho to get himself sent to a parallel universe the one day he has the dorm all to himself.
Status/length: Incomplete, 2,280 words.
Author's Note: This fic is kind of AU and kind of not. Dedicated to my angel tana2507, my girl ficcy_irl, and my sunshine hewasmyking, because without them, I probably never would have written anything again. ♥ Ignore the blatant SNSD reference, 'kay?
Previous Chapters: 01
The next morning, Minho found himself bolting up in his bed at 5:30 am, not entirely sure why his chest felt heavy and tight. He glanced to his right, expecting to see the other members snuggled in their bunk beds, Onew sprawled out like a starfish and Taemin completely hidden by the covers further down, but instead his eyes were met with a plain wall and a dresser. He panicked for a short moment before remembering the bizarre dream he'd woken up in yesterday, realizing that he was still caught inside of it. His heartbeat slowed a little bit, before settling into an anxious pace that refused to change. Never before had he had a dream like this, one where he was actually living a life. He knew he needed to find out exactly what was going on, but he couldn't think of any way to figure it out. Normally if he had a question that needed an answer, he would just look it up on the internet, which they didn't have in this house that was supposed to be his home, or go to Jinki, who seemed to be an endless supply of knowledge. Minho frowned, looking to his right again, still somehow expecting for Jinki to suddenly appear there, muttering something in his sleep and rolling around slightly as if he were dancing. When he didn't, Minho again got the feeling of reality sinking in, even though he had no idea why.
What was he doing, anyway? Sitting there thinking about something he had no idea about, worrying about what was going to happen, and letting his jumbled emotions take control of him. What good would that do him? He shook his head a few times until he felt his mind coming back from the questions with no answers, feeling nervous and unsettled. He knew he needed to get out of there and fast, so without a moments hesitation he threw his jogging pants on and ran out of the house, tracing back his steps from yesterday in search of one small family-owned bookstore.
*****
Slightly out of breath, Minho paused outside of the bookstore, glancing around a few times to make sure he had the right place before he entered, hoping that he didn't smell too badly of sweat from his workout.
The dimness inside of the bookstore was similar to the dawn's light outside, but Minho got the feeling that it stayed that way all day long. There was a subtle energy in the place that came along with the smell of nothing but books; most chain bookstores smelled of coffee and cleaner, but this place smelled musty and yet pure at the same time. He glanced around the shop, all senses on alert as he felt an eery stillness hanging in the air, something he thought odd for a place that Jinki seemed to help out at. Normally, wherever Jinki went, the place would be filled with a bubbling energy of some sort; this was just weird. He stepped past the aisle dedicated to cooking, past the autobiographies and the self-help section, until he came to the desk where a man had apparently decided to take a nap. His head was resting gently on his arms, mouth open as he muttered something in his sleep, shoulders swaying slightly to some unknown beat, and Minho had to grin as he realized that some things never changed.
"Hyung."
Onew jumped slightly as he was woken from his sleep with a single word, though he didn't look even close to alert just yet. There were dark circles under his eyes, which were now squinting at Minho with confusion, as if trying to process what the blob in front of him was. Which was probably exactly what he was trying to do, Minho thought, as he noticed Jinki's glasses laying on the desk beside him.
"Hyung, maybe you should put your glasses on."
Onew nodded absent-mindedly, picking his glasses up and unfolding them before seeming to freeze in place. Minho blinked, shifting his arm to make sure that time hadn't suddenly frozen, but that action seemed to startle Onew enough to send him toppling off of his chair, limbs flailing about in the air as he went crashing to the ground with a feeble squeak.
Minho rushed behind the desk and reached out to grab Onew, only to have his hand slapped away harshly. Minho blinked in surprise and glanced up at Onew's face, only to have his mind be sent reeling as he saw the look of pure shock written all over Jinki's features. Minho took a step back and waited for Onew to stand up, a questioning look written all over his features. Jinki apparently picked up on this, because he gnawed on his bottom lip in the same way he always did when he was trying to think of a way to put things that may not be pleasant.
"Why do you... keep calling me hyung, when we've never even talked before?... Isn't that... disrespectful?"
Minho froze, felt his heart slamming shut as his mind replayed what Onew had just said over and over again in high speed. What was probably only a few seconds felt like years as Minho realized, not for the first time, that something was very, very wrong.
"You mean... you don't know who I am...?"
"You're Choi Minho," Jinki replied cautiously, as if he wasn't sure what was going on, or why Minho seemed so surprised, "you're that ace soccer player who goes to my old school. The one that suddenly quit before high school and caused some kind of uproar, because even now no one knows why you quit. But... that's all I know about you."
Minho felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. The surprise was so strong that he actually took a step back, eyes open much too wide, mouth hanging from his face in shock.
"O-oh, o... okay," he muttered before turning around and running out of the bookstore in the same way Onew had run into it the day before. In any other situation, he would have been able to keep calm and not let it bother him. If he hadn't already been so confused, he would have been able to come up with something to say with a smile. If it was anyone but Jinki, he wouldn't have been running back down the street towards the place he was supposed to call home, heart pounding harder than it had in a long time, with nothing but the acute sense of panic squeezing his heart in an iron-clad fist.
*****
Minho had always wondered if he was popular in school because he was in SHINee, or if it was because he was simply Choi Minho. Later on that day when he reached the school, he found out.
The day before, he'd been far too distracted by the thought of being in a dream as weird as this one to notice the hushed whispers and flirty smiles that seemed to follow him wherever he went. It seemed that being tall and skinny with a small face could make anyone popular. He was grateful for it though, because when he approached people at complete random in the hallways, they actually answered him instead of ignoring the question. Not that it was of much help, though.
It seemed that no matter who he asked, no one knew Lee Jinki. He had even asked some of the people he knew had known Jinki in his world, Sooyoung and Yoona from SNSD being the first ones he asked, but no one knew anything about Lee Jinki beside the things that anyone would know after having gone to the same school. That he was super smart and had earned second place ranking in the school without the aid of a tutor, that he was somewhat good looking, that he had graduated two years ago. Some of the people he asked added on tidbits of information that the others didn't, like that he wore a specific brand of glasses, or that he hadn't had a girlfriend in the three years he'd gone to the school, despite getting numerous confessions from girls, but no one seemed to know Jinki personally.
"Of course no one knows him," Key rolled his eyes, waving off Amber, who seemed to be trying to get his attention, "he was a freaking hermit the entire time he was here. No friends at all, like we weren't even good enough for him."
"But Jinki isn't like that," Minho retorted, staring at Key and waiting for a reply that made even the slightest bit of sense. Key, who seemed to know him in this world in the same way that he had in Minho's reality, did not know Lee Jinki. Minho knew that it was bullshit, complete and utter bullshit. Key and Onew may have fought a lot in their dorm, may have been completely different in almost every aspect of their personality, but they had been a lot closer than they let on.
"Kibum!" Key let a tiny smile work on the corner of his lips as he walked past Minho towards Nicole, the entire conversation forgotten in the same way Jinki seemed to be.
Minho frowned, watching Key as he went, ignoring Amber's curious eyes on him. Even these relationships, Nicole and Key being best friends, Amber calling Key "hyung", were the same. Seohyun was still reading self-help books, Hara was still making a fool of herself to make other people laugh, and Eli and Kevin were still speaking to each other in English to confuse Kiseop. Everyone was exactly the same as they were back in Minho's world, and yet for some reason, nobody knew who Lee Jinki was.
"Yah, Minho!," Key called, waving his hand for Minho to come closer. Minho moved across the room quickly, wondering if he had finally remembered, "if you can tear yourself away from the thought of nerd-boy for a while today, the band's going to get together, so you'd better come."
Minho froze at the word "band" before letting a smile tear its' way across his face, barely noticing as Key rolled his eyes in mock-disgust and some of the girls in the area stopped what they were doing to stare at him with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Stop smiling or we're going to be stalked," Key whispered, wiping the smile right off Minho's face. There was a satisfied smirk on Key's face as he patted Minho on the shoulder before walking away, texting away on his phone furiously.
The second Key left, the smile was back in full force. He heard a girl actually sigh behind him, but Minho didn't care. If Key didn't know who Jinki was, even if Jonghyun decided to play the same prank on him, Taemin would know. Taemin, whose memory was better than most netizens, who never lied to Minho no matter what the others told him to do, would know.
*****
"I don't know him."
Minho stood there unmoving, staring at Taemin who was staring back. There was no hint of a smile on his face, the way there would be when he tried to lie. His eyes weren't blinking rapidly, and they weren't not blinking. For every intent and purpose, he looked like he was telling the truth.
"You don't?"
"No. I'm still in middle school, how am I supposed to know someone who graduated from your school two years ago?"
Minho felt his insides crumble just a little bit as he glanced around them for maybe the 20th time in the last five minutes. Everyone was there. Key was standing with one hand lazily grabbing his left arm, Jonghyun was making tons of gestures with his hands and laughing at some joke he'd just made, Taemin was smiling and looking around like his thoughts were honestly on something entirely different, and even their manager was standing across the street getting the mail from his home. Everything was as it would have been in Minho's world, except for one major exception: Jinki.
"Now can we pleeease get to karaoke already, before they fill up all the boxes and we wind up having to use the one with the wonky mics?" Jonghyun whined, earning a shove from Key.
"Stop your bitching, it's not like you'll give any of us a chance to sing anyway."
"But what about Minho's rap? And how are you guys going to do the melody if the microphones make you sound like chipmunks? I can't sing seriously if there are chipmunks in the room!"
Taemin chuckled at this, causing Jonghyun to grin and pout at the same time. Minho wondered briefly how he managed to do that, trying not to notice the way Jonghyuns eyes had never really left Taemin the entire time. Even in this world, their relationship was the same. Even here, Jonghyun and Key acted like they were lovers, even while it was obvious only to the people involved that the real lovers were Jonghyun and Taemin. Even here, everyone was the same. Then why was there no Jinki here to tie them all together?
"Sorry guys, I just remembered my brother asked me to help him out today. I can't go," Minho said suddenly, barely waiting for the shocked expressions of his bandmates to disappear before turning around and taking off down the street, eyes set with determination.
"Yah, Choi Minho!," someone yelled, but Minho couldn't hear them. All he heard was the sound of the wind rushing past his ears as he sped toward the only place that could answer his question; the only place that knew who Lee Jinki was.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED....
A/N: I did not expect to post this chapter so quickly, but thanks to all the good response from the last chapter, I'm on a roll. I already have 1/2 of the third chapter written, as well as a pretty good idea of where it's going to go in the future. Thank you guys so much for your comments, they really make me day 500 times better. ♥
Next Chapter: Chapter 03
Author: sacryde_riots.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Onew/Minho, with a side of Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15.
Summary: Trust Minho to get himself sent to a parallel universe the one day he has the dorm all to himself.
Status/length: Incomplete, 2,280 words.
Author's Note: This fic is kind of AU and kind of not. Dedicated to my angel tana2507, my girl ficcy_irl, and my sunshine hewasmyking, because without them, I probably never would have written anything again. ♥ Ignore the blatant SNSD reference, 'kay?
Previous Chapters: 01
The next morning, Minho found himself bolting up in his bed at 5:30 am, not entirely sure why his chest felt heavy and tight. He glanced to his right, expecting to see the other members snuggled in their bunk beds, Onew sprawled out like a starfish and Taemin completely hidden by the covers further down, but instead his eyes were met with a plain wall and a dresser. He panicked for a short moment before remembering the bizarre dream he'd woken up in yesterday, realizing that he was still caught inside of it. His heartbeat slowed a little bit, before settling into an anxious pace that refused to change. Never before had he had a dream like this, one where he was actually living a life. He knew he needed to find out exactly what was going on, but he couldn't think of any way to figure it out. Normally if he had a question that needed an answer, he would just look it up on the internet, which they didn't have in this house that was supposed to be his home, or go to Jinki, who seemed to be an endless supply of knowledge. Minho frowned, looking to his right again, still somehow expecting for Jinki to suddenly appear there, muttering something in his sleep and rolling around slightly as if he were dancing. When he didn't, Minho again got the feeling of reality sinking in, even though he had no idea why.
What was he doing, anyway? Sitting there thinking about something he had no idea about, worrying about what was going to happen, and letting his jumbled emotions take control of him. What good would that do him? He shook his head a few times until he felt his mind coming back from the questions with no answers, feeling nervous and unsettled. He knew he needed to get out of there and fast, so without a moments hesitation he threw his jogging pants on and ran out of the house, tracing back his steps from yesterday in search of one small family-owned bookstore.
*****
Slightly out of breath, Minho paused outside of the bookstore, glancing around a few times to make sure he had the right place before he entered, hoping that he didn't smell too badly of sweat from his workout.
The dimness inside of the bookstore was similar to the dawn's light outside, but Minho got the feeling that it stayed that way all day long. There was a subtle energy in the place that came along with the smell of nothing but books; most chain bookstores smelled of coffee and cleaner, but this place smelled musty and yet pure at the same time. He glanced around the shop, all senses on alert as he felt an eery stillness hanging in the air, something he thought odd for a place that Jinki seemed to help out at. Normally, wherever Jinki went, the place would be filled with a bubbling energy of some sort; this was just weird. He stepped past the aisle dedicated to cooking, past the autobiographies and the self-help section, until he came to the desk where a man had apparently decided to take a nap. His head was resting gently on his arms, mouth open as he muttered something in his sleep, shoulders swaying slightly to some unknown beat, and Minho had to grin as he realized that some things never changed.
"Hyung."
Onew jumped slightly as he was woken from his sleep with a single word, though he didn't look even close to alert just yet. There were dark circles under his eyes, which were now squinting at Minho with confusion, as if trying to process what the blob in front of him was. Which was probably exactly what he was trying to do, Minho thought, as he noticed Jinki's glasses laying on the desk beside him.
"Hyung, maybe you should put your glasses on."
Onew nodded absent-mindedly, picking his glasses up and unfolding them before seeming to freeze in place. Minho blinked, shifting his arm to make sure that time hadn't suddenly frozen, but that action seemed to startle Onew enough to send him toppling off of his chair, limbs flailing about in the air as he went crashing to the ground with a feeble squeak.
Minho rushed behind the desk and reached out to grab Onew, only to have his hand slapped away harshly. Minho blinked in surprise and glanced up at Onew's face, only to have his mind be sent reeling as he saw the look of pure shock written all over Jinki's features. Minho took a step back and waited for Onew to stand up, a questioning look written all over his features. Jinki apparently picked up on this, because he gnawed on his bottom lip in the same way he always did when he was trying to think of a way to put things that may not be pleasant.
"Why do you... keep calling me hyung, when we've never even talked before?... Isn't that... disrespectful?"
Minho froze, felt his heart slamming shut as his mind replayed what Onew had just said over and over again in high speed. What was probably only a few seconds felt like years as Minho realized, not for the first time, that something was very, very wrong.
"You mean... you don't know who I am...?"
"You're Choi Minho," Jinki replied cautiously, as if he wasn't sure what was going on, or why Minho seemed so surprised, "you're that ace soccer player who goes to my old school. The one that suddenly quit before high school and caused some kind of uproar, because even now no one knows why you quit. But... that's all I know about you."
Minho felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. The surprise was so strong that he actually took a step back, eyes open much too wide, mouth hanging from his face in shock.
"O-oh, o... okay," he muttered before turning around and running out of the bookstore in the same way Onew had run into it the day before. In any other situation, he would have been able to keep calm and not let it bother him. If he hadn't already been so confused, he would have been able to come up with something to say with a smile. If it was anyone but Jinki, he wouldn't have been running back down the street towards the place he was supposed to call home, heart pounding harder than it had in a long time, with nothing but the acute sense of panic squeezing his heart in an iron-clad fist.
*****
Minho had always wondered if he was popular in school because he was in SHINee, or if it was because he was simply Choi Minho. Later on that day when he reached the school, he found out.
The day before, he'd been far too distracted by the thought of being in a dream as weird as this one to notice the hushed whispers and flirty smiles that seemed to follow him wherever he went. It seemed that being tall and skinny with a small face could make anyone popular. He was grateful for it though, because when he approached people at complete random in the hallways, they actually answered him instead of ignoring the question. Not that it was of much help, though.
It seemed that no matter who he asked, no one knew Lee Jinki. He had even asked some of the people he knew had known Jinki in his world, Sooyoung and Yoona from SNSD being the first ones he asked, but no one knew anything about Lee Jinki beside the things that anyone would know after having gone to the same school. That he was super smart and had earned second place ranking in the school without the aid of a tutor, that he was somewhat good looking, that he had graduated two years ago. Some of the people he asked added on tidbits of information that the others didn't, like that he wore a specific brand of glasses, or that he hadn't had a girlfriend in the three years he'd gone to the school, despite getting numerous confessions from girls, but no one seemed to know Jinki personally.
"Of course no one knows him," Key rolled his eyes, waving off Amber, who seemed to be trying to get his attention, "he was a freaking hermit the entire time he was here. No friends at all, like we weren't even good enough for him."
"But Jinki isn't like that," Minho retorted, staring at Key and waiting for a reply that made even the slightest bit of sense. Key, who seemed to know him in this world in the same way that he had in Minho's reality, did not know Lee Jinki. Minho knew that it was bullshit, complete and utter bullshit. Key and Onew may have fought a lot in their dorm, may have been completely different in almost every aspect of their personality, but they had been a lot closer than they let on.
"Kibum!" Key let a tiny smile work on the corner of his lips as he walked past Minho towards Nicole, the entire conversation forgotten in the same way Jinki seemed to be.
Minho frowned, watching Key as he went, ignoring Amber's curious eyes on him. Even these relationships, Nicole and Key being best friends, Amber calling Key "hyung", were the same. Seohyun was still reading self-help books, Hara was still making a fool of herself to make other people laugh, and Eli and Kevin were still speaking to each other in English to confuse Kiseop. Everyone was exactly the same as they were back in Minho's world, and yet for some reason, nobody knew who Lee Jinki was.
"Yah, Minho!," Key called, waving his hand for Minho to come closer. Minho moved across the room quickly, wondering if he had finally remembered, "if you can tear yourself away from the thought of nerd-boy for a while today, the band's going to get together, so you'd better come."
Minho froze at the word "band" before letting a smile tear its' way across his face, barely noticing as Key rolled his eyes in mock-disgust and some of the girls in the area stopped what they were doing to stare at him with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Stop smiling or we're going to be stalked," Key whispered, wiping the smile right off Minho's face. There was a satisfied smirk on Key's face as he patted Minho on the shoulder before walking away, texting away on his phone furiously.
The second Key left, the smile was back in full force. He heard a girl actually sigh behind him, but Minho didn't care. If Key didn't know who Jinki was, even if Jonghyun decided to play the same prank on him, Taemin would know. Taemin, whose memory was better than most netizens, who never lied to Minho no matter what the others told him to do, would know.
*****
"I don't know him."
Minho stood there unmoving, staring at Taemin who was staring back. There was no hint of a smile on his face, the way there would be when he tried to lie. His eyes weren't blinking rapidly, and they weren't not blinking. For every intent and purpose, he looked like he was telling the truth.
"You don't?"
"No. I'm still in middle school, how am I supposed to know someone who graduated from your school two years ago?"
Minho felt his insides crumble just a little bit as he glanced around them for maybe the 20th time in the last five minutes. Everyone was there. Key was standing with one hand lazily grabbing his left arm, Jonghyun was making tons of gestures with his hands and laughing at some joke he'd just made, Taemin was smiling and looking around like his thoughts were honestly on something entirely different, and even their manager was standing across the street getting the mail from his home. Everything was as it would have been in Minho's world, except for one major exception: Jinki.
"Now can we pleeease get to karaoke already, before they fill up all the boxes and we wind up having to use the one with the wonky mics?" Jonghyun whined, earning a shove from Key.
"Stop your bitching, it's not like you'll give any of us a chance to sing anyway."
"But what about Minho's rap? And how are you guys going to do the melody if the microphones make you sound like chipmunks? I can't sing seriously if there are chipmunks in the room!"
Taemin chuckled at this, causing Jonghyun to grin and pout at the same time. Minho wondered briefly how he managed to do that, trying not to notice the way Jonghyuns eyes had never really left Taemin the entire time. Even in this world, their relationship was the same. Even here, Jonghyun and Key acted like they were lovers, even while it was obvious only to the people involved that the real lovers were Jonghyun and Taemin. Even here, everyone was the same. Then why was there no Jinki here to tie them all together?
"Sorry guys, I just remembered my brother asked me to help him out today. I can't go," Minho said suddenly, barely waiting for the shocked expressions of his bandmates to disappear before turning around and taking off down the street, eyes set with determination.
"Yah, Choi Minho!," someone yelled, but Minho couldn't hear them. All he heard was the sound of the wind rushing past his ears as he sped toward the only place that could answer his question; the only place that knew who Lee Jinki was.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED....
A/N: I did not expect to post this chapter so quickly, but thanks to all the good response from the last chapter, I'm on a roll. I already have 1/2 of the third chapter written, as well as a pretty good idea of where it's going to go in the future. Thank you guys so much for your comments, they really make me day 500 times better. ♥
Next Chapter: Chapter 03