Title: I wanna be a billionaire (or, why the '91-line should never meet in an office)
Fandom and Pairing: FT Island/Shinee, Jaejin & Kibum
Rating: PG
Word Count: 800
Summary: Take-your-kids-to-work day turns out to be a lot more interesting than Jaejin expected.
Warnings: Kid!fic.
Jaejin isn't sure of much, but he's fairly sure that he does not want to be here. Of all the ways of spending his day, tagging along to his mother's office isn't one that he particularly enjoys. Not that he has done it before, but his mother doesn't have to say more than 'office' and 'economics' before Jaejin's about ready to pass out from extreme boredom.
It doesn't get better when they arrive and Jaejin's met with the sight of seemingly endless landscape of desks and computers, everything in the same white-grey-blue color scheme that makes him feel like he's in a mental institution. Then again, maybe his mother really is crazy for choosing to come here to work every single day.
Jaejin feels like running back out and escaping as quickly as possible. "There's no way I'll have something to do here for a whole day," he complains.
His mother pats his head and parades him around, showing him off to her coworkers until Jaejin's practically squirming. "Don't worry, you'll have company," she says eventually. "There's another boy here today, his name is Kibum; you'll be organizing our office supplies for us today. Look, he's here already, over there."
Jaejin casts one glance in the direction his mother is pointing and shakes his head, instinctively. "But mom..."
"Go on, go play with him," Jaejin's mother says, "he's your age."
Jaejin thinks that a) being set to organize office supplies hardly counts as playing, and b) being the same age doesn't automatically mean that they will be friends, especially not when he looks at Kibum and sees a scrawny, awkward kid who looks far too hostile for someone standing in between file cabinets and shelves filled with office supplies. "But mom," he tries, but he's shushed and pushed in Kibum's direction.
"Hi," Jaejin says awkwardly, peering at Kibum from behind his hair. Kibum's taller than him, but not by much, and Jaejin can't figure out why Kibum seems so intimidating to him. Maybe because he looks weird.
Kibum doesn't reply and just turns his back on Jaejin as he starts organizing the items on the shelves; putting pens in the right places, sorting envelopes by size, stacking copy paper. It's boring and tedious and Jaejin sighs because he doesn't want to be here. He wants to be here even less when Kibum side-eyes him and elbows his side, though instead of retaliating, Jaejin steps away, accidentally knocking over a pile of envelopes. He sighs again as he bends down to pick everything up.
"I am never going to work in an office when I grow up," Jaejin mutters, more to himself than to Kibum, because clearly, speaking to Kibum is a waste of time.
He's surprised when Kibum helps him pick up the envelopes, even more so when Kibum actually replied. "Me neither. I'm going to be famous," Kibum says, with all the self-assurance that comes from being told that he can do everything he wants.
"So am I," Jaejin says, because he's sure as hell not going to be any worse.
Kibum cocks his head and looks Jaejin over. "You look like you like to read," he comments, and manages to make it sound like the worst insult Jaejin has ever received in his life.
"So what if I do?" Jaejin says. "That doesn't mean that I can't play football. Or music. Or act."
"I'm going to be a singer," Kibum reveals, eyes narrowed as if he's challenging Jaejin to come up with something better.
Jaejin doesn't need to think it over for more than a couple of moments. "I'm going to be a musician," he says, "that's a lot more impressive than just being a singer. Anyone can sing, but not everyone can play an instrument. I'm going to write songs too. You have to have talent to do that."
Kibum nods thoughtfully before he looks Jaejin over again. "Probably a good thing, because youíre too ugly to be a singer; you should just hide in the background."
Before Jaejin has the time to think about what he's doing, he takes two steps forward and shoves Kibum, sending him crashing into the shelves and messing up all the work theyíve done. Jaejin doesn't regret his actions one single bit; the look on Kibumís face when he flails to catch his balance is priceless. The fact that Jaejinís pulled away from Kibum and set to sort mail for the rest of the day is just an added bonus.
Jaejin's mother spends most of the evening lecturing him about how to make friends, but Jaejin's barely listening. He's wondering where he might get his hands on a guitar.
Years later, Jaejin flashes Kibum a grin across the stage, and laughs when Kibum sticks his tongue out at him in return.