Ninety Years From Now 6/12
Title: Ninety Years from Now 6/12
Pairing: JongKey
Genre: History!au, romance, drama, humor
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Summary: Kim Kibum lives in 1920s Korea under the strict rule of Japan. After an unfortunate collision with a wall, he finds himself in...2014?
( 1 2 3 4 5)
Kibum eventually wakes up, and this time isn’t ignorant enough to assume that all of these time-travelling shenanigans he’d gotten himself into are just a weirdly detailed dream. He blinks a couple of times, feeling like his energy has depleted utterly regardless of how much he’d slept and, well...accomplished nothing today.
Once more or less fully awake, he finds that Jonghyun is in front of him, but there is an extra presence in the room. A tall man dressed in a collared, short-sleeved orange top and a pair of comfortable-looking khaki shorts is standing there. He’s so much bigger than Jonghyun, especially compared directly next to said man, that even Kibum is a little afraid. He’s intimidating, to say the least, and the way he is looming over Kibum is causing the nineteen year old to grow blanched. He cowers, turning his gaze to Jonghyun, eyes pleading.
“You’re scaring him, Minho,” Jonghyun chuckles, sitting down next to Kibum in order to relax the man. Kibum is the very definition of relieved as he eases a little closer to his friend, warily eyeing the stranger in front of him.
“Kibum, this is my best friend, Minho. I didn’t ask him to come over, but he insisted,” Jonghyun explains in a joking manner, sticking his tongue out whenever Minho nudges him in the shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kibum-ssi,” Minho bows. “Jonghyun has told me so much about you.”
Kibum innocently turns his gaze to Jonghyun, only to see the other man shyly looking away, scouring a hand through his multicolored tresses like he always seems to do.
Kibum smiles and hops to his feet, bowing back to the tall man named Minho. “Nice to meet you, too, Minho-ssi. How old are you?”
“Actually, I’m the same age as you. Hyung and I have a class together even with our age difference, but we clicked really well.”
“Oh,” Kibum says before realization dawns on his face, his wide eyes drifting back to Jonghyun. “Oh! That’s so weird! Hyung, you’re older than him? He looks way older!”
“Don’t rub it in,” Jonghyun grumbles, tracing his sock-clad toes against the carpet fibers. “He’s just tall and has a ridiculously deep voice.”
Kibum studies Minho. His voice had been very deep and he is rather tall. Minho offers a friendly smile and Kibum returns it gladly. He decides that he likes this man.
Jonghyun stands. “I was thinking the three of us could get some dinner.”
“Sounds good,” Minho nods before tilting his head. “By the way, hyung, where did you say you met Kibum-ssi?”
Jonghyun hesitates. “He’s my…” he trails off for a moment, eyes raking over Kibum’s figure before he looks at Minho again, “...cousin.”
“Cousin?” Kibum questions. Jonghyun forces a smile, bumping the younger man with his shoulder.
“Yes. Cousin. And you’re here visiting me for the summer like you used to when we were kids,” he rambles, tight-lipped smile static on his face.
Kibum stares dumbly before nodding in understanding, making a noise of comprehension. “Right, right. I’m his cousin,” he declares to Minho, pointing at Jonghyun.
Minho nods slowly. “I see. So...dinner, now? I’m starving.”
Kibum and Jonghyun nod eagerly in agreement.
Minho ends up taking the other two out for Korean barbecue after a small debate on deciding where to eat. Kibum presses his face against the car window, fascinated with the fact that Minho drives and also with the idea of being in such a high-tech car. He’d never had the privilege of sitting in an automobile, hell, he hardly even saw them considering how poor he’d been in his past lifestyle. His location really hadn’t allowed him to experience the sweeter things in life.
Kibum is sitting in the passenger seat because his legs are too long to be folded in the back. Kibum feels a little scrunched, seated in front of Jonghyun, but it’s not unbearable. In fact, he’s rather comfortable. And with a view of city lights darting by as they drive, he really can’t find reason to complain, totally spellbound.
After about a fifteen minute drive, Minho and Jonghyun conversing and playfully insulting each other the entire way, Minho parks outside a restaurant. Jonghyun opens Kibum’s door for him and helps him out, to which the younger turns to gaze at the tallest man, eyes rapt.
“You’re amazing!”
“What?” Minho’s smile is amused. “Why?”
“You can drive! It’s so cool!”
Jonghyun looks genuinely jealous for a moment, but he brushes it off, patting Kibum and beginning to usher him toward the establishment. “He’s never really gotten the hang of driving. He’s easily impressed,” Jonghyun clarifies for Minho. The latter only raises his eyebrows, looking a bit unconvinced, so Jonghyun hurriedly changes the subject.
They sit down in a booth, Jonghyun and Kibum on one side, Minho by himself on the other. Jonghyun explains that Minho needs the extra room being the giant he is, and the tall man responds by kicking his hyung’s shin beneath the table.
Kibum has never seen anything like this before. The meat, as well as everything else, is self-cooked. He inspects Minho's and Jonghyun’s movements, watching closely as they move their food from their bowls to the grill in front of them. They move so quickly, managing to scoop food into their mouths at record speed using only a pair of chopsticks. Kibum follows their lead, plucks up his pair of chopsticks and copies their example.
By the time the end of the evening rolls around, Kibum is, for once in his life, full. Full as if he is the wealthiest man who’d been allowed to eat to his heart’s content. He’d never had the pleasure of feeling that ache in his stomach like he’s about to burst, and even though it kind of hurts, he feels so warm and full and wonderful he can’t bother to care.
“I’ll pay tonight,” Jonghyun offers, leafing through the bills in his wallet.
Minho laughs as he takes a sip of what’s left of his soda. “C’mon, hyung. No need to act all high and mighty. We’re both college students,” he states knowingly, drawing his own wallet out. “I’ll pay for my part.”
Kibum watches helplessly. “Hyung…” he mumbles, tugging on Jonghyun’s sleeve. The older man glances at him in question, and Kibum frowns guiltily. “I don’t...I mean, I’m sorry...this is probably so expensive…”
“Hey,” Jonghyun shakes his head, patting Kibum’s thigh before going back to finding the correct amount of money, offering the younger a lighthearted smile. “Don’t worry about it, okay? It isn’t that much. I’ve got it,” he assures, setting the bills on the table as if to prove a point. “See? No sweat. This place isn’t too expensive, anyway.”
Kibum sighs in relief, nodding as his lips curl into a dimpled smile. “Okay, hyung. Thank you.”
“It’s no big deal,” Jonghyun brushes it off, shrugging his shoulders as a bashful smile finds his lips.
“Okay,” Minho pipes up, interrupting their conversation, “tell me the truth.”
“Hmm?” Jonghyun hums, voice cracking. Kibum cocks his head at Minho, unsure of what he means or who he’s talking to exactly, because his eyes keep darting between both men.
“You two,” Minho spells out for them, speaking steadily. “Tell me the truth about your relationship.”
“What?” Jonghyun blurts, only making them look more suspicious.
“Hyung,” Minho deadpans, leaning closer, hands threaded together on the tabletop. His smile is penetrating, which seems to affect Jonghyun and cause the man to shift anxiously beside Kibum. “C’mon. I can tell when you’re flirting with someone and you’ve been hardcore flirting with Kibum-ssi this entire night.”
“I-I...he’s my cousin!” Jonghyun shouts defensively, red-faced.
“Is he?” Minho lazily lifts his brows.
Kibum looks between the smug man and the flustered man beside him, unable to find anything he can say to help save Jonghyun from his embarrassment.
“Jonghyun-hyung, I’m telling you, I can sense these sorts of things,” Minho promises, seeming to become cockier by the second. “I can tell when you’re coming onto a guy and you’re definitely coming onto him.” Minho nods toward Kibum, eyebrows expectantly high on his forehead. “So you either tell me the truth or else I’ll be forced to believe you’re coming onto your cousin. Which is gross.”
Jonghyun whines, burying his face in his hands as he makes a noise of defeat. “Fine, fine. He isn’t my cousin, okay.”
Minho hums delightedly. “I knew it. So how did you guys meet? Couldn’t be at university, could it? Did you meet recently? Are you going out?”
“Minho, Jesus Christ,” gripes Jonghyun, gazing across the table with big, pleading eyes, body red from head to toe. Kibum tilts his head, amazed with how pink Jonghyun’s skin appears. Is he really so flustered over such a little thing?
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Minho laughs, clearly anything but. “I’m just curious.” He looks at Kibum, smiling encouragingly. “While hyung is busy sulking, why don’t you tell me how you two met?” he asks, and he looks so damn civil that Kibum isn’t sure how he’d refuse. Jonghyun faces Kibum halfway, his panicked eyes silently urging the younger to keep his mouth shut, but...well, it’s not like they can keep it a secret forever…
“Hyung...um...found me two days ago,” Kibum decides to say, scratching his cheek, eyes turned up in thought. “I was...passed out in the middle of the city, apparently. And...I can’t remember anything from before that,” he lies smoothly, an easy, convincing smile coming to his lips. He’s a pro at talking his way out of things; he’d done it with the Japanese countless times.
“Oh,” Minho blinks, seeming to believe every word that’d come out of Kibum’s mouth. Jonghyun stares at Kibum in disbelief. “So...are you okay?”
“He’s fine,” Jonghyun butts in, patting Kibum’s leg. “He just has a case of amnesia, is all. But I’m gonna take him to a doctor soon.”
Minho grins a little. “Yeah, right. You’re gonna keep him in your apartment, aren’t you? He seems so innocent. And you’re gonna take advantage of that, right?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Minho!” Jonghyun groans, kicking the other man under the table.
“We actually already made a doctor’s appointment,” Kibum informs coolly.
“Oh,” Minho nods. Kibum discovers that convincing Minho is much easier when he is talking and not Jonghyun. “Well, that’s good. I hope everything goes well.”
“I feel fine,” Kibum assures, beaming to confirm his remark. “Hyung has been taking good care of me.” He glances at Jonghyun to give him a harmlessly naive smile, dimples poking into his cheeks once again. Jonghyun’s Adam’s apple nods with a swallow and he nods shakily in concurrence.
“Hm,” observes Minho, the sound dripping with amusement, lips twisted into a smirk. “I see.”
“Where did you learn to lie like that?” Jonghyun asks in astonishment as they file into the apartment, truly impressed, by the looks of it.
Kibum shrugs, watching Jonghyun take off his cap, ruffling his hat-hair. “I did it a lot back at home. Had to lie every single day.”
“That’s not a good habit, but it came in handy, I will admit. We came up with a pretty believable story,” he mumbles, wandering into his bedroom and tossing his hat on his dresser. Kibum follows after him. “And not even all of it was fake!” he half-laughs, as if he can’t even believe they’d pulled it off himself.
Kibum doesn’t see what the big deal is. “You’re easily impressed, hyung,” he comments, eyebrows knitted together as he crosses his arms over his front, pulling the hem of his shirt up and over his head.
Jonghyun covers his face. “Whoa, hey!”
“Hyung, you need to learn to stop getting embarrassed about this kind of thing,” Kibum laughs, tugging his uncomfortably tight pants off, sighing as air finally reaches the backs of his knees, red marks imprinted on his skin from how snugly the bottoms had fit. “Ah, much better,” he sings, falling face-first onto Jonghyun’s bed, snuggling up against the pillows, burrowing under the blanket.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jonghyun snorts, folding his arms.
“Sleeping,” Kibum declares, pointedly yawning against one of the cushions. “‘m tired.”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Jonghyun tuts, stripping the covers from his bed.
Kibum moans in protest, curling up into a ball, helplessly hugging his knees to his chest and shivering.
“C’mon, don’t be a baby,” Jonghyun teases, shadowing over Kibum, prodding his naked bicep. Kibum grunts, but offers nothing more as acknowledgement.
“Kibum, you need to shower and brush your teeth,” Jonghyun mutters, digging his fingers into Kibum’s bare sides. Kibum squawks, rolling around on the bed sheets, all traces of tiredness leaving him as he fights off Jonghyun’s ticklish fingers.
“Okay! Okay, okay, I’ll shower!”
“And brush your teeth!”
“Okay, okay!” Kibum squeaks as Jonghyun’s fingers press against a particularly sensitive spot on his ribs.
“And wash your face while you’re at it!”
Kibum slumps against the mattress, chest rising and falling as he lays there breathlessly, an arm draped over his eyes. He’d never been touched and tickled like that before, but god did it take the life out of him.
“Are you okay?” There’s laughter in Jonghyun’s voice.
Kibum lowers his arm, firing a glare at the other man before he huffs, sulking his way to the bathroom to shower. The water is too cold and too hot and Kibum will never get the hang of this.
When Kibum comes out of the bathroom, he only wears his underwear just to spite Jonghyun. He’s still bitter about the tickle attack from before and intends on flaunting that, stubborn as it may be.
He finds Jonghyun hunched over the desk tucked in the corner of his room, left hand furiously writing, right one tangled in his hair, elbow braced on the desk’s surface.
Kibum approaches him curiously. Jonghyun lifts his head, offering a smile and Kibum can find hardly any room to be angry anymore.
“Hi. All clean?”
“Yeah,” mumbles Kibum, avoiding Jonghyun’s eyes, rubbing at one of his elbows as his weight shifts from side to side.
Jonghyun goes back to his work. “Good. I’ll shower pretty soon, but first I gotta finish my homework.”
Kibum steps closer, peeping over Jonghyun’s shoulder at the work. He cocks his head when he sees various clothing designs sketched out around a page of what looks to be notes labeled ‘history’. “What are all those drawings?”
“Oh. Just design ideas. I tend to not really pay attention during history,” he admits a little sheepishly, absently touching the pad of his fingers to one of the drawings he’d made.
“They’re pretty,” Kibum comments, reaching up to blindly untie the wet band around his head, freeing his wound from the cloth.
“Oh. Thanks,” Jonghyun tips his head back to look up at Kibum, then frowns, facing him properly, an arm draped over the back of his chair as he studies the man’s forehead. “You okay? Does your head still hurt?”
“I’m okay.” Kibum rubs at his temple.
Jonghyun reaches up to place a hand on Kibum’s bare shoulder, coaxing him closer. Kibum obliges and leans down, watching as Jonghyun’s big eyes dart up to his forehead, inspecting it.
“There’s definitely a scar there…”
“Yeah,” Kibum whispers, searching Jonghyun’s face. “I wonder what my grandma will say when I get home. She always overreacts over the tiniest of injuries,” he breathes out in a melancholy laugh, smiling fondly.
Jonghyun drops his hand, noticeably dimming at the words, his posture deflating a bit. “Yeah,” is all he says, monotonous, turning back to his homework.
Kibum frowns. “Is something wrong?”
“No. No, uh. I was just thinking,” he blurts, pressing the end of his pen against the corner of his lips. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but...you’re used to working, right?”
“Yeah?”
“So...maybe you could get a job in this time plane. I mean...temporarily, of course. Only if you want to. It would just help to pay for the extra food I’m buying and water you’re using.”
“Oh!” Kibum straightens up. “Yeah, of course! I’m so sorry...I should have already gotten one…”
“What’re you talking about?” Jonghyun smiles a little oddly, glancing at the other man again. “You just got here. Take your time, okay? It’s only a suggestion.”
“I’ll get one,” Kibum promises. “Now, let me help you with your work. After I put a shirt on, though. I’m cold.”
“Okay,” Jonghyun agrees with amusement. “How do you expect to help me, though?”
“I lived during that time, hyung. Don’t you think I know what I’m talking about?” Kibum asks insolently, hair freshly tousled from one of Jonghyun’s shirts he’d thrown on.
“Touché. In that case, get over here and help me, kid.”
A/N: um, hi. can we pretend it hasn't been a million years since i last updated?? i swear i originally wanted to keep this on a schedule... T____T ;;;
i'm so, so sorry this is late. i feel terrible. in any case, i hope you're able to enjoy (if you even remember the plot of this story TT ;;) once again, sorry. ;n;
anyway i really liked writing minho in this story. it was nice to throw in a character who wasn't really fucking stupid. XDD i hope you enjoy the amusing conversations jongkey share with him <3
oh and no title card bc lazy T___T
Pairing: JongKey
Genre: History!au, romance, drama, humor
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Summary: Kim Kibum lives in 1920s Korea under the strict rule of Japan. After an unfortunate collision with a wall, he finds himself in...2014?
( 1 2 3 4 5)
Kibum eventually wakes up, and this time isn’t ignorant enough to assume that all of these time-travelling shenanigans he’d gotten himself into are just a weirdly detailed dream. He blinks a couple of times, feeling like his energy has depleted utterly regardless of how much he’d slept and, well...accomplished nothing today.
Once more or less fully awake, he finds that Jonghyun is in front of him, but there is an extra presence in the room. A tall man dressed in a collared, short-sleeved orange top and a pair of comfortable-looking khaki shorts is standing there. He’s so much bigger than Jonghyun, especially compared directly next to said man, that even Kibum is a little afraid. He’s intimidating, to say the least, and the way he is looming over Kibum is causing the nineteen year old to grow blanched. He cowers, turning his gaze to Jonghyun, eyes pleading.
“You’re scaring him, Minho,” Jonghyun chuckles, sitting down next to Kibum in order to relax the man. Kibum is the very definition of relieved as he eases a little closer to his friend, warily eyeing the stranger in front of him.
“Kibum, this is my best friend, Minho. I didn’t ask him to come over, but he insisted,” Jonghyun explains in a joking manner, sticking his tongue out whenever Minho nudges him in the shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kibum-ssi,” Minho bows. “Jonghyun has told me so much about you.”
Kibum innocently turns his gaze to Jonghyun, only to see the other man shyly looking away, scouring a hand through his multicolored tresses like he always seems to do.
Kibum smiles and hops to his feet, bowing back to the tall man named Minho. “Nice to meet you, too, Minho-ssi. How old are you?”
“Actually, I’m the same age as you. Hyung and I have a class together even with our age difference, but we clicked really well.”
“Oh,” Kibum says before realization dawns on his face, his wide eyes drifting back to Jonghyun. “Oh! That’s so weird! Hyung, you’re older than him? He looks way older!”
“Don’t rub it in,” Jonghyun grumbles, tracing his sock-clad toes against the carpet fibers. “He’s just tall and has a ridiculously deep voice.”
Kibum studies Minho. His voice had been very deep and he is rather tall. Minho offers a friendly smile and Kibum returns it gladly. He decides that he likes this man.
Jonghyun stands. “I was thinking the three of us could get some dinner.”
“Sounds good,” Minho nods before tilting his head. “By the way, hyung, where did you say you met Kibum-ssi?”
Jonghyun hesitates. “He’s my…” he trails off for a moment, eyes raking over Kibum’s figure before he looks at Minho again, “...cousin.”
“Cousin?” Kibum questions. Jonghyun forces a smile, bumping the younger man with his shoulder.
“Yes. Cousin. And you’re here visiting me for the summer like you used to when we were kids,” he rambles, tight-lipped smile static on his face.
Kibum stares dumbly before nodding in understanding, making a noise of comprehension. “Right, right. I’m his cousin,” he declares to Minho, pointing at Jonghyun.
Minho nods slowly. “I see. So...dinner, now? I’m starving.”
Kibum and Jonghyun nod eagerly in agreement.
Minho ends up taking the other two out for Korean barbecue after a small debate on deciding where to eat. Kibum presses his face against the car window, fascinated with the fact that Minho drives and also with the idea of being in such a high-tech car. He’d never had the privilege of sitting in an automobile, hell, he hardly even saw them considering how poor he’d been in his past lifestyle. His location really hadn’t allowed him to experience the sweeter things in life.
Kibum is sitting in the passenger seat because his legs are too long to be folded in the back. Kibum feels a little scrunched, seated in front of Jonghyun, but it’s not unbearable. In fact, he’s rather comfortable. And with a view of city lights darting by as they drive, he really can’t find reason to complain, totally spellbound.
After about a fifteen minute drive, Minho and Jonghyun conversing and playfully insulting each other the entire way, Minho parks outside a restaurant. Jonghyun opens Kibum’s door for him and helps him out, to which the younger turns to gaze at the tallest man, eyes rapt.
“You’re amazing!”
“What?” Minho’s smile is amused. “Why?”
“You can drive! It’s so cool!”
Jonghyun looks genuinely jealous for a moment, but he brushes it off, patting Kibum and beginning to usher him toward the establishment. “He’s never really gotten the hang of driving. He’s easily impressed,” Jonghyun clarifies for Minho. The latter only raises his eyebrows, looking a bit unconvinced, so Jonghyun hurriedly changes the subject.
They sit down in a booth, Jonghyun and Kibum on one side, Minho by himself on the other. Jonghyun explains that Minho needs the extra room being the giant he is, and the tall man responds by kicking his hyung’s shin beneath the table.
Kibum has never seen anything like this before. The meat, as well as everything else, is self-cooked. He inspects Minho's and Jonghyun’s movements, watching closely as they move their food from their bowls to the grill in front of them. They move so quickly, managing to scoop food into their mouths at record speed using only a pair of chopsticks. Kibum follows their lead, plucks up his pair of chopsticks and copies their example.
By the time the end of the evening rolls around, Kibum is, for once in his life, full. Full as if he is the wealthiest man who’d been allowed to eat to his heart’s content. He’d never had the pleasure of feeling that ache in his stomach like he’s about to burst, and even though it kind of hurts, he feels so warm and full and wonderful he can’t bother to care.
“I’ll pay tonight,” Jonghyun offers, leafing through the bills in his wallet.
Minho laughs as he takes a sip of what’s left of his soda. “C’mon, hyung. No need to act all high and mighty. We’re both college students,” he states knowingly, drawing his own wallet out. “I’ll pay for my part.”
Kibum watches helplessly. “Hyung…” he mumbles, tugging on Jonghyun’s sleeve. The older man glances at him in question, and Kibum frowns guiltily. “I don’t...I mean, I’m sorry...this is probably so expensive…”
“Hey,” Jonghyun shakes his head, patting Kibum’s thigh before going back to finding the correct amount of money, offering the younger a lighthearted smile. “Don’t worry about it, okay? It isn’t that much. I’ve got it,” he assures, setting the bills on the table as if to prove a point. “See? No sweat. This place isn’t too expensive, anyway.”
Kibum sighs in relief, nodding as his lips curl into a dimpled smile. “Okay, hyung. Thank you.”
“It’s no big deal,” Jonghyun brushes it off, shrugging his shoulders as a bashful smile finds his lips.
“Okay,” Minho pipes up, interrupting their conversation, “tell me the truth.”
“Hmm?” Jonghyun hums, voice cracking. Kibum cocks his head at Minho, unsure of what he means or who he’s talking to exactly, because his eyes keep darting between both men.
“You two,” Minho spells out for them, speaking steadily. “Tell me the truth about your relationship.”
“What?” Jonghyun blurts, only making them look more suspicious.
“Hyung,” Minho deadpans, leaning closer, hands threaded together on the tabletop. His smile is penetrating, which seems to affect Jonghyun and cause the man to shift anxiously beside Kibum. “C’mon. I can tell when you’re flirting with someone and you’ve been hardcore flirting with Kibum-ssi this entire night.”
“I-I...he’s my cousin!” Jonghyun shouts defensively, red-faced.
“Is he?” Minho lazily lifts his brows.
Kibum looks between the smug man and the flustered man beside him, unable to find anything he can say to help save Jonghyun from his embarrassment.
“Jonghyun-hyung, I’m telling you, I can sense these sorts of things,” Minho promises, seeming to become cockier by the second. “I can tell when you’re coming onto a guy and you’re definitely coming onto him.” Minho nods toward Kibum, eyebrows expectantly high on his forehead. “So you either tell me the truth or else I’ll be forced to believe you’re coming onto your cousin. Which is gross.”
Jonghyun whines, burying his face in his hands as he makes a noise of defeat. “Fine, fine. He isn’t my cousin, okay.”
Minho hums delightedly. “I knew it. So how did you guys meet? Couldn’t be at university, could it? Did you meet recently? Are you going out?”
“Minho, Jesus Christ,” gripes Jonghyun, gazing across the table with big, pleading eyes, body red from head to toe. Kibum tilts his head, amazed with how pink Jonghyun’s skin appears. Is he really so flustered over such a little thing?
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Minho laughs, clearly anything but. “I’m just curious.” He looks at Kibum, smiling encouragingly. “While hyung is busy sulking, why don’t you tell me how you two met?” he asks, and he looks so damn civil that Kibum isn’t sure how he’d refuse. Jonghyun faces Kibum halfway, his panicked eyes silently urging the younger to keep his mouth shut, but...well, it’s not like they can keep it a secret forever…
“Hyung...um...found me two days ago,” Kibum decides to say, scratching his cheek, eyes turned up in thought. “I was...passed out in the middle of the city, apparently. And...I can’t remember anything from before that,” he lies smoothly, an easy, convincing smile coming to his lips. He’s a pro at talking his way out of things; he’d done it with the Japanese countless times.
“Oh,” Minho blinks, seeming to believe every word that’d come out of Kibum’s mouth. Jonghyun stares at Kibum in disbelief. “So...are you okay?”
“He’s fine,” Jonghyun butts in, patting Kibum’s leg. “He just has a case of amnesia, is all. But I’m gonna take him to a doctor soon.”
Minho grins a little. “Yeah, right. You’re gonna keep him in your apartment, aren’t you? He seems so innocent. And you’re gonna take advantage of that, right?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Minho!” Jonghyun groans, kicking the other man under the table.
“We actually already made a doctor’s appointment,” Kibum informs coolly.
“Oh,” Minho nods. Kibum discovers that convincing Minho is much easier when he is talking and not Jonghyun. “Well, that’s good. I hope everything goes well.”
“I feel fine,” Kibum assures, beaming to confirm his remark. “Hyung has been taking good care of me.” He glances at Jonghyun to give him a harmlessly naive smile, dimples poking into his cheeks once again. Jonghyun’s Adam’s apple nods with a swallow and he nods shakily in concurrence.
“Hm,” observes Minho, the sound dripping with amusement, lips twisted into a smirk. “I see.”
“Where did you learn to lie like that?” Jonghyun asks in astonishment as they file into the apartment, truly impressed, by the looks of it.
Kibum shrugs, watching Jonghyun take off his cap, ruffling his hat-hair. “I did it a lot back at home. Had to lie every single day.”
“That’s not a good habit, but it came in handy, I will admit. We came up with a pretty believable story,” he mumbles, wandering into his bedroom and tossing his hat on his dresser. Kibum follows after him. “And not even all of it was fake!” he half-laughs, as if he can’t even believe they’d pulled it off himself.
Kibum doesn’t see what the big deal is. “You’re easily impressed, hyung,” he comments, eyebrows knitted together as he crosses his arms over his front, pulling the hem of his shirt up and over his head.
Jonghyun covers his face. “Whoa, hey!”
“Hyung, you need to learn to stop getting embarrassed about this kind of thing,” Kibum laughs, tugging his uncomfortably tight pants off, sighing as air finally reaches the backs of his knees, red marks imprinted on his skin from how snugly the bottoms had fit. “Ah, much better,” he sings, falling face-first onto Jonghyun’s bed, snuggling up against the pillows, burrowing under the blanket.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jonghyun snorts, folding his arms.
“Sleeping,” Kibum declares, pointedly yawning against one of the cushions. “‘m tired.”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Jonghyun tuts, stripping the covers from his bed.
Kibum moans in protest, curling up into a ball, helplessly hugging his knees to his chest and shivering.
“C’mon, don’t be a baby,” Jonghyun teases, shadowing over Kibum, prodding his naked bicep. Kibum grunts, but offers nothing more as acknowledgement.
“Kibum, you need to shower and brush your teeth,” Jonghyun mutters, digging his fingers into Kibum’s bare sides. Kibum squawks, rolling around on the bed sheets, all traces of tiredness leaving him as he fights off Jonghyun’s ticklish fingers.
“Okay! Okay, okay, I’ll shower!”
“And brush your teeth!”
“Okay, okay!” Kibum squeaks as Jonghyun’s fingers press against a particularly sensitive spot on his ribs.
“And wash your face while you’re at it!”
Kibum slumps against the mattress, chest rising and falling as he lays there breathlessly, an arm draped over his eyes. He’d never been touched and tickled like that before, but god did it take the life out of him.
“Are you okay?” There’s laughter in Jonghyun’s voice.
Kibum lowers his arm, firing a glare at the other man before he huffs, sulking his way to the bathroom to shower. The water is too cold and too hot and Kibum will never get the hang of this.
When Kibum comes out of the bathroom, he only wears his underwear just to spite Jonghyun. He’s still bitter about the tickle attack from before and intends on flaunting that, stubborn as it may be.
He finds Jonghyun hunched over the desk tucked in the corner of his room, left hand furiously writing, right one tangled in his hair, elbow braced on the desk’s surface.
Kibum approaches him curiously. Jonghyun lifts his head, offering a smile and Kibum can find hardly any room to be angry anymore.
“Hi. All clean?”
“Yeah,” mumbles Kibum, avoiding Jonghyun’s eyes, rubbing at one of his elbows as his weight shifts from side to side.
Jonghyun goes back to his work. “Good. I’ll shower pretty soon, but first I gotta finish my homework.”
Kibum steps closer, peeping over Jonghyun’s shoulder at the work. He cocks his head when he sees various clothing designs sketched out around a page of what looks to be notes labeled ‘history’. “What are all those drawings?”
“Oh. Just design ideas. I tend to not really pay attention during history,” he admits a little sheepishly, absently touching the pad of his fingers to one of the drawings he’d made.
“They’re pretty,” Kibum comments, reaching up to blindly untie the wet band around his head, freeing his wound from the cloth.
“Oh. Thanks,” Jonghyun tips his head back to look up at Kibum, then frowns, facing him properly, an arm draped over the back of his chair as he studies the man’s forehead. “You okay? Does your head still hurt?”
“I’m okay.” Kibum rubs at his temple.
Jonghyun reaches up to place a hand on Kibum’s bare shoulder, coaxing him closer. Kibum obliges and leans down, watching as Jonghyun’s big eyes dart up to his forehead, inspecting it.
“There’s definitely a scar there…”
“Yeah,” Kibum whispers, searching Jonghyun’s face. “I wonder what my grandma will say when I get home. She always overreacts over the tiniest of injuries,” he breathes out in a melancholy laugh, smiling fondly.
Jonghyun drops his hand, noticeably dimming at the words, his posture deflating a bit. “Yeah,” is all he says, monotonous, turning back to his homework.
Kibum frowns. “Is something wrong?”
“No. No, uh. I was just thinking,” he blurts, pressing the end of his pen against the corner of his lips. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but...you’re used to working, right?”
“Yeah?”
“So...maybe you could get a job in this time plane. I mean...temporarily, of course. Only if you want to. It would just help to pay for the extra food I’m buying and water you’re using.”
“Oh!” Kibum straightens up. “Yeah, of course! I’m so sorry...I should have already gotten one…”
“What’re you talking about?” Jonghyun smiles a little oddly, glancing at the other man again. “You just got here. Take your time, okay? It’s only a suggestion.”
“I’ll get one,” Kibum promises. “Now, let me help you with your work. After I put a shirt on, though. I’m cold.”
“Okay,” Jonghyun agrees with amusement. “How do you expect to help me, though?”
“I lived during that time, hyung. Don’t you think I know what I’m talking about?” Kibum asks insolently, hair freshly tousled from one of Jonghyun’s shirts he’d thrown on.
“Touché. In that case, get over here and help me, kid.”
A/N: um, hi. can we pretend it hasn't been a million years since i last updated?? i swear i originally wanted to keep this on a schedule... T____T ;;;
i'm so, so sorry this is late. i feel terrible. in any case, i hope you're able to enjoy (if you even remember the plot of this story TT ;;) once again, sorry. ;n;
anyway i really liked writing minho in this story. it was nice to throw in a character who wasn't really fucking stupid. XDD i hope you enjoy the amusing conversations jongkey share with him <3
oh and no title card bc lazy T___T