[[ SHINee ]] Parallel Lines 5/7.
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, 1,850 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, 02, 03, 04
*****
"I can't do this anymore!," Jinki shouted, running to the small couch in the middle of the store and falling onto it in the most ungraceful and undignified manner Minho had ever seen.
"Oh, please. Your stamina can't be that bad," Minho shook his head, knowing very well that even when they first began training, Jinki could have danced for three hours straight without complaining even once - it hadn't even been a half hour since they'd started. Of course, in this world Jinki wasn't aiming to be an entertainer, so it was understandable that he'd give up more quickly.
"You cannot tell me that you did this every day," Jinki muttered, glaring as menacingly as he could, which honestly wasn't very menacing at all.
"You would be surprised at exactly how different my world is compared to this one," Minho sighed, running a hand through his hair (even though it still felt weird to have short hair again, despite the fact that it'd grown a little bit,) sitting on the couch opposite Jinki, a small smile on his face.
After he'd somehow outed himself as being from a parallel world last week, Minho had fled the bookstore without a word. He'd thought that maybe he could simply grow accustomed to this world without Jinki, but it seemed that the fates - and Kibum - would have none of that. Kibum had walked up to him three days later with a devilish grin, grabbed him by the shirt, and dragged him to an unused section of the school buildings where he'd found a sad and smiling Jinki. Kibum had refused to let either of them go until they resolved whatever the hell had happened, because he was really quite tired of Jinki calling him every 20 minutes - or so he'd told Minho. Apparently, in the three and a half weeks Minho had been in this parallel world, Jinki had grown attached to him. It didn't surprise Minho much, since Jinki was always a little bit clingy around him in their world, but he honestly hadn't expected things to turn out this way, even if he should have known they would.
"So. What's it like being famous?" Jinki asked, eyes lit up with curiosity as he stared at Minho, making Minho shift a little bit uncomfortably in his seat.
"Tiring," Minho replied automatically, leaning back against the couch and staring up at the ceiling, "and sometimes ridiculous, but it's one of the most rewarding things, knowing that people enjoy what you're doing. Knowing that what you put so much effort into can make other people happy."
"That sounds amazing," Jinki said, a dazed smile on his face. Minho lowered his head, a slight sad smile playing along his lips as he felt his heart splitting into two again, in a way that was both painful and warm at the same time. He could still picture his Jinki, dressed up in his fancy stage attire, with his hair sticking up in a strange manner, making that same exact expression as they stood there in the waiting room before their comeback. It was times like these, when he recalled the times back in his world, that he wanted nothing more than to go back. But at the same time, he liked it here. He liked not having anti's throwing hateful words about him every second, he liked being able to relax sometimes, and most of all, he liked being able to talk to Jinki. Not in the leader/dongsaeng way that they had grown accustomed to in his world, but as equals. As friends.
"Come on, let's go," Minho stood, offering a hand to Jinki, who was looking at him both excitedly and curiosly, "you said you wanted to learn this dance, right?"
"Ehhhhhh? We're not done for today!?" Jinki screeched, flopping back on the couch and attaching himself to the cushions, "I refuse! We can't all be aliens with an endless battery supply like you!"
Minho blinked, wondering the hell aliens and batteries had to do with each other before grabbing Jinki by the back of his shirt and lifting him off the couch, cushions and all.
"Noooooooo! Unhand me, you deeeeeeemon!!"
*****
"I think that if I were suddenly transported to another world, I wouldn't even try going back. I would just ditch everything to run off and do something I've always wanted to."
"Like what?"
"Like... joining the circus. Or running a home for abandoned animals. Or... being a gang leader or something."
"Jinki, you're afraid of spiders. How would you manage being a gang leader?"
Minho immediately felt something smack him upside the head as Jinki huffed and crossed his arms, trying to look tough and mean. Minho just blinked at him, which Jinki obviously took as a good sign.
"See! You're so stunned by my toughness that you can't even speak!"
"Err, that's not..." Minho mumbled, rubbing the back of his head where Jinki's paperback book had thwapped him a few seconds ago, fighting the urge to smile a little.
Something crashed in the front section of the bookstore, sending Jinki flying in an instant to see what was going on. Minho inwardly noticed that Jinki obviously still read too much manga; the way he took off was way too much like a superhero running to save the world and/or a basketball player. The sound of children laughing and screaming could be heard from where Minho still stood, and he facepalmed when he realized that Jinki was now more than likely trying to be tough to a group of six year olds. He went to the front, only to see Jinki standing there with his arms crossed, his eyes staring at the cardboard hand the kids had obviously torn off from the Gollum cut-out.
"What's a brotha gotta do to get some peace around here, huh!?" Jinki yelled, glaring menacingly at the kids running down the street. Minho couldn't help but think that he'd never seen anything so cute and nonthreatening in his entire life.
*****
"Wait. So you're telling me that in your world, you're the second-youngest member of a boy band."
"Yes."
"And there are five members total?"
"Yes."
"And your groups name is... SHINee?"
"Yes."
"..... do you guys go on stage decked out in glitter or something?" Jinki asked, and Minho could practically feel his face begging to be slammed against a brick wall.
"No. We go on stage in normal... well, not normal clothes, but clothes. No glitter."
"Then why SHINee?"
Minho sighed, gnawing on his bottom lip as he tried to remember the reason they were even given that name to begin with. "It's supposed to be like... in a business of mediocre and decent artists, we're the ones who shine. Or something. I don't even remember."
"Huh," Jinki said, shifting his eyes to the ceiling innocently, "I still think it sounds kind of fruity."
Minho slammed his face against the desk, causing Jinki to let out a shriek of surprise. Neither moved for a long moment, until Minho tilted his head up to stare at Jinki very, very seriously. Jinki squirmed under his gaze until he finally threw his arms up in the air with a screech.
"Fine! I'm sorry for calling your group fruity!"
Minho grinned, patting Jinki on the shoulder in a friendly way, noticing the slightly suspicious look Jinki automatically gave him.
"It's fine, really. It's not like you're completely off, anyway."
"What?"
Minho smirked, leaning in close and waving hand, as if he had to tell Jinki a secret. Jinki leaned closer, and Minho had to stifle his initial reaction, which was to grab Jinki by the arm and pull him impossibly close. He bit his bottom lip hard, using the slight pain to ground himself, before speaking.
"Well, I'm sure you already noticed Jonghyun and Taemin's relationship; they're completely gay for each other. Kibum is the one who enjoys dancing like... well, to be frank, a slut, and he knows the girl group dances better than most of the girls in those groups. And our leader.... well, I'm pretty sure he's just a-sexual or something. He doesn't even have an ideal type, and he's the only one of us who has never been caught masturbating."
Jinki blinked, his eyes going wide as he shifted just slightly in his chair, as if he were uncomfortable or something. Minho thought that it was probably because of the sudden turn of conversation, realizing that he had never talked to Jinki about anything like this, even back in his world. 'Masturbation' was not exactly a word that was thrown around the SHINee dorm very often, unless it was from Key's mouth after someone woke up with a woody and he was telling them to go take care of it.
"What about you?," Jinki asked, breaking Minho from his thoughts. Minho tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, making Jinki squirm in his seat uncomfortably. "I mean. The. What you said. About your group being. Um. Fruity. Or something. I mean. Just. You?"
Minho smiled, hiding the way his insides suddenly froze at the mere mention of himself, digging his nails into his palms to quiet the panic squeezing his heart all of a sudden. "Me?," Jinki nodded, and Minho took a deep breath, steadying himself as quietly as he could, "I don't know. I've only been in love once."
"With your leader, right?"
Minho froze, feeling as if time had suddenly decided to stop as he replayed that one line in his mind over and over again in hyperspeed. His lungs felt as if they were about to collapse as he looked up at Jinki, who was merely looking at him calmly. Minho scratched the back of his neck, feeling his head fall as he somehow managed to choke out one word. "How."
"Well, I've been thinking about it. You're a member of a group with five members, and I've seen you with three of them, which including you, equals four. I've never heard you talk about your leader except in passing, and you always get this weird look on your face when you think about him, like you're happy but in pain at the same time. I kept wondering why he wasn't there, and then I remembered what I said that first time we talked about the parallel worlds, about how if you're in love with someone, in the mirror world they wouldn't be a part of your life. It makes sense."
Minho frowned, staring at the counter as he came to realize two things at once. One: That Lee Jinki was much, much smarter than any of them ever gave him credit for, and two: that Lee Jinki still had no idea that he was the leader of their group. He gave a dejected sigh as he turned his eyes to look at Jinki, who was merely looking at him expectently. He smiled just slightly and nodded, finally feeling ready to admit it for the first time.
"Yeah, I'm in love with our leader."
*****
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: I just realized how little Jonghyun/Taemin there is in this fic, so to make up for it, I've started planning a side-story for those two that I will post after this is done with. (I'm also kind of considering writing a Key/Amber/Nicole ot3 piece based off of this, but.... het in SHINee fandom, with KEY of all people? I'm not entirely sure how that would be taken. XDD)
The next chapter of this series, or the one after that, will be the last! I know some of you said you'd like to see it extended, but I'm honestly not sure how much more I could come up with. ^^ Still, thank you for reading this! I hope you'll stick it out until the end with me. ♥ Also, I'm sorry that I haven't been updating every day like I used to, but at least it's still faster than a lot of people? ^^;;
Next chapter: Chapter 06
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, 1,850 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, 02, 03, 04
*****
"I can't do this anymore!," Jinki shouted, running to the small couch in the middle of the store and falling onto it in the most ungraceful and undignified manner Minho had ever seen.
"Oh, please. Your stamina can't be that bad," Minho shook his head, knowing very well that even when they first began training, Jinki could have danced for three hours straight without complaining even once - it hadn't even been a half hour since they'd started. Of course, in this world Jinki wasn't aiming to be an entertainer, so it was understandable that he'd give up more quickly.
"You cannot tell me that you did this every day," Jinki muttered, glaring as menacingly as he could, which honestly wasn't very menacing at all.
"You would be surprised at exactly how different my world is compared to this one," Minho sighed, running a hand through his hair (even though it still felt weird to have short hair again, despite the fact that it'd grown a little bit,) sitting on the couch opposite Jinki, a small smile on his face.
After he'd somehow outed himself as being from a parallel world last week, Minho had fled the bookstore without a word. He'd thought that maybe he could simply grow accustomed to this world without Jinki, but it seemed that the fates - and Kibum - would have none of that. Kibum had walked up to him three days later with a devilish grin, grabbed him by the shirt, and dragged him to an unused section of the school buildings where he'd found a sad and smiling Jinki. Kibum had refused to let either of them go until they resolved whatever the hell had happened, because he was really quite tired of Jinki calling him every 20 minutes - or so he'd told Minho. Apparently, in the three and a half weeks Minho had been in this parallel world, Jinki had grown attached to him. It didn't surprise Minho much, since Jinki was always a little bit clingy around him in their world, but he honestly hadn't expected things to turn out this way, even if he should have known they would.
"So. What's it like being famous?" Jinki asked, eyes lit up with curiosity as he stared at Minho, making Minho shift a little bit uncomfortably in his seat.
"Tiring," Minho replied automatically, leaning back against the couch and staring up at the ceiling, "and sometimes ridiculous, but it's one of the most rewarding things, knowing that people enjoy what you're doing. Knowing that what you put so much effort into can make other people happy."
"That sounds amazing," Jinki said, a dazed smile on his face. Minho lowered his head, a slight sad smile playing along his lips as he felt his heart splitting into two again, in a way that was both painful and warm at the same time. He could still picture his Jinki, dressed up in his fancy stage attire, with his hair sticking up in a strange manner, making that same exact expression as they stood there in the waiting room before their comeback. It was times like these, when he recalled the times back in his world, that he wanted nothing more than to go back. But at the same time, he liked it here. He liked not having anti's throwing hateful words about him every second, he liked being able to relax sometimes, and most of all, he liked being able to talk to Jinki. Not in the leader/dongsaeng way that they had grown accustomed to in his world, but as equals. As friends.
"Come on, let's go," Minho stood, offering a hand to Jinki, who was looking at him both excitedly and curiosly, "you said you wanted to learn this dance, right?"
"Ehhhhhh? We're not done for today!?" Jinki screeched, flopping back on the couch and attaching himself to the cushions, "I refuse! We can't all be aliens with an endless battery supply like you!"
Minho blinked, wondering the hell aliens and batteries had to do with each other before grabbing Jinki by the back of his shirt and lifting him off the couch, cushions and all.
"Noooooooo! Unhand me, you deeeeeeemon!!"
*****
"I think that if I were suddenly transported to another world, I wouldn't even try going back. I would just ditch everything to run off and do something I've always wanted to."
"Like what?"
"Like... joining the circus. Or running a home for abandoned animals. Or... being a gang leader or something."
"Jinki, you're afraid of spiders. How would you manage being a gang leader?"
Minho immediately felt something smack him upside the head as Jinki huffed and crossed his arms, trying to look tough and mean. Minho just blinked at him, which Jinki obviously took as a good sign.
"See! You're so stunned by my toughness that you can't even speak!"
"Err, that's not..." Minho mumbled, rubbing the back of his head where Jinki's paperback book had thwapped him a few seconds ago, fighting the urge to smile a little.
Something crashed in the front section of the bookstore, sending Jinki flying in an instant to see what was going on. Minho inwardly noticed that Jinki obviously still read too much manga; the way he took off was way too much like a superhero running to save the world and/or a basketball player. The sound of children laughing and screaming could be heard from where Minho still stood, and he facepalmed when he realized that Jinki was now more than likely trying to be tough to a group of six year olds. He went to the front, only to see Jinki standing there with his arms crossed, his eyes staring at the cardboard hand the kids had obviously torn off from the Gollum cut-out.
"What's a brotha gotta do to get some peace around here, huh!?" Jinki yelled, glaring menacingly at the kids running down the street. Minho couldn't help but think that he'd never seen anything so cute and nonthreatening in his entire life.
*****
"Wait. So you're telling me that in your world, you're the second-youngest member of a boy band."
"Yes."
"And there are five members total?"
"Yes."
"And your groups name is... SHINee?"
"Yes."
"..... do you guys go on stage decked out in glitter or something?" Jinki asked, and Minho could practically feel his face begging to be slammed against a brick wall.
"No. We go on stage in normal... well, not normal clothes, but clothes. No glitter."
"Then why SHINee?"
Minho sighed, gnawing on his bottom lip as he tried to remember the reason they were even given that name to begin with. "It's supposed to be like... in a business of mediocre and decent artists, we're the ones who shine. Or something. I don't even remember."
"Huh," Jinki said, shifting his eyes to the ceiling innocently, "I still think it sounds kind of fruity."
Minho slammed his face against the desk, causing Jinki to let out a shriek of surprise. Neither moved for a long moment, until Minho tilted his head up to stare at Jinki very, very seriously. Jinki squirmed under his gaze until he finally threw his arms up in the air with a screech.
"Fine! I'm sorry for calling your group fruity!"
Minho grinned, patting Jinki on the shoulder in a friendly way, noticing the slightly suspicious look Jinki automatically gave him.
"It's fine, really. It's not like you're completely off, anyway."
"What?"
Minho smirked, leaning in close and waving hand, as if he had to tell Jinki a secret. Jinki leaned closer, and Minho had to stifle his initial reaction, which was to grab Jinki by the arm and pull him impossibly close. He bit his bottom lip hard, using the slight pain to ground himself, before speaking.
"Well, I'm sure you already noticed Jonghyun and Taemin's relationship; they're completely gay for each other. Kibum is the one who enjoys dancing like... well, to be frank, a slut, and he knows the girl group dances better than most of the girls in those groups. And our leader.... well, I'm pretty sure he's just a-sexual or something. He doesn't even have an ideal type, and he's the only one of us who has never been caught masturbating."
Jinki blinked, his eyes going wide as he shifted just slightly in his chair, as if he were uncomfortable or something. Minho thought that it was probably because of the sudden turn of conversation, realizing that he had never talked to Jinki about anything like this, even back in his world. 'Masturbation' was not exactly a word that was thrown around the SHINee dorm very often, unless it was from Key's mouth after someone woke up with a woody and he was telling them to go take care of it.
"What about you?," Jinki asked, breaking Minho from his thoughts. Minho tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, making Jinki squirm in his seat uncomfortably. "I mean. The. What you said. About your group being. Um. Fruity. Or something. I mean. Just. You?"
Minho smiled, hiding the way his insides suddenly froze at the mere mention of himself, digging his nails into his palms to quiet the panic squeezing his heart all of a sudden. "Me?," Jinki nodded, and Minho took a deep breath, steadying himself as quietly as he could, "I don't know. I've only been in love once."
"With your leader, right?"
Minho froze, feeling as if time had suddenly decided to stop as he replayed that one line in his mind over and over again in hyperspeed. His lungs felt as if they were about to collapse as he looked up at Jinki, who was merely looking at him calmly. Minho scratched the back of his neck, feeling his head fall as he somehow managed to choke out one word. "How."
"Well, I've been thinking about it. You're a member of a group with five members, and I've seen you with three of them, which including you, equals four. I've never heard you talk about your leader except in passing, and you always get this weird look on your face when you think about him, like you're happy but in pain at the same time. I kept wondering why he wasn't there, and then I remembered what I said that first time we talked about the parallel worlds, about how if you're in love with someone, in the mirror world they wouldn't be a part of your life. It makes sense."
Minho frowned, staring at the counter as he came to realize two things at once. One: That Lee Jinki was much, much smarter than any of them ever gave him credit for, and two: that Lee Jinki still had no idea that he was the leader of their group. He gave a dejected sigh as he turned his eyes to look at Jinki, who was merely looking at him expectently. He smiled just slightly and nodded, finally feeling ready to admit it for the first time.
"Yeah, I'm in love with our leader."
*****
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: I just realized how little Jonghyun/Taemin there is in this fic, so to make up for it, I've started planning a side-story for those two that I will post after this is done with. (I'm also kind of considering writing a Key/Amber/Nicole ot3 piece based off of this, but.... het in SHINee fandom, with KEY of all people? I'm not entirely sure how that would be taken. XDD)
The next chapter of this series, or the one after that, will be the last! I know some of you said you'd like to see it extended, but I'm honestly not sure how much more I could come up with. ^^ Still, thank you for reading this! I hope you'll stick it out until the end with me. ♥ Also, I'm sorry that I haven't been updating every day like I used to, but at least it's still faster than a lot of people? ^^;;
Next chapter: Chapter 06