#like you’ll be upset and they’re just like JINKIES! I got it i know what you need!!! candy from that one stand in the mall you love

[miekasa]

you are either the anthropologist or the case subject in a relationship. you are either studied like a strange novel little creature by your s/o or you’re the one doing it to them.

[blu-joons]

Protective Boyfriend ~ Lee Taemin

You felt the grip that Taemin had on your hand tighten up as soon as you walked into the restaurant and saw his fellow members already sat around, waiting for the two of you to arrive. Their smiles were wide as soon as they saw you both, shuffling along the booth that had been reserved for the five of you to make some room.

Taemin stayed right by your side as you moved in beside Jinki whilst Kibum and Minho occupied the other side of the table. As always, you were incredibly close with the three of them, values almost as if you were a member of the group too.

“How’s things been with you guys?” Kibum asked straight away, waving across to one of the waiters to come over. “Has he still been treating you well Y/N?”

“Of course, that’s something that’s never in doubt.”

Taemin glared across at Kibum as soon as he made the comment, although it was harmless to you, he recognised straight away that they were asking to try and wind him up.

“Did you know he ended up bailing on last week because apparently you asked us to dinner, we’re very much second best for him these days,” Mingo chimed in from beside you.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” You asked him, “we could have met up another time.”

Taemin’s eyes were far too focused on Minho to even hear your question, shaking his head across at him. Usually, he was more than happy to go along with their jokes, but when the two of you had only just sat down, their agenda for the evening was clear. They knew which buttons to press on Taemin and exactly how to get a reaction out of him.

“I just got a better offer,” he eventually smiled down at you, “all they talk about is the military anyway, I made the better choice sticking with you.”

“That’s not true,” Jinki called out, hitting his hand against the table, “and you always moan about how much Y/N talks about work and her colleagues anyway.”

Taemin’s eyes widened, shaking his head at you instantly to stop you paying attention to Jinki.

“I never complain about you,” he quickly tried to defend, “they’re talking nonsense, I promise you.”

“Just be honest,” you assured him, “if I talk too much about work, then just tell me.”

“Stop stitching me up,” he snapped to the three of them under his breath, “I don’t need you guys dropping me in it anymore then you already are.”

Their heads shook, instead deciding to tease you more on all of the things that Taemin often complained about to them. You knew they were joking and enjoying themselves, but the more they exposed Taemin, the angrier he became.

For the most part, he could take their jokes, but even they were beginning to take things too far and share things with you which he knew weren’t just jokes anymore.

“Oh, so you don’t like the state I leave the bathroom in the mornings?” You teased, turning your head to look across at Taemin. “Shall I tell the boys about how you leave your towel and empty bottles lying around constantly?”

“No, because I don’t feel the need to embarrass you like they are to me.”

The atmosphere around the table instantly dropped at Taemin’s comment. His smile faded, as did that of everyone else, sensing that perhaps they’d finally found the nerve that if they touched would provoke Taemin too hard.

You sighed across at him, moving your hand across to rest against his thigh, but Taemin brushed it aside, shuffling a few centimetres along the bench and away from you.

“I’m sorry,” he announced, moving his hands into his lap and his eyes to the table. “I think I’m just going to go out and get myself some fresh air.”

“Tae, we didn’t mean to upset you,” Minho called out as Taemin stood up from the table.

He spun on his heels to look back at his members, “I’ll be back in a minute, you guys just order yourselves some drinks or something and I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Where are you going?” You frowned, “you can’t just walk off, they’ve said that they’re sorry.”

Taemin’s head shook, moving away from the table as you slid across the booth too to stand yourself up. “I just need a bit of space; I’ve let my frustrations get the better of me.”

Despite Taemin’s request, you followed behind him anyway as he walked out of the restaurant, although he wanted to be alone, you knew how much he needed company during times like these.

He sat himself down on one of the outdoor chairs of the restaurant, smiling softly when you appeared beside him and sat yourself down. A gentle chuckle came from him, knowing just how well you knew him and the things he really wanted.

His arm nudged against your shoulder gently, “I’m all for them teasing and joking, but it just felt like they were going too far tonight, I didn’t want you to think that all I do is moan.”

Your head shook back at him, “I don’t mind, all the things they mentioned, I know I do them. I’m sure if you asked them too, they’d never mean to intentionally hurt you.”

His head nodded begrudgingly, he knew that he’d messed up, but he cared for you and your relationship a lot, and if the boys needed to be put back in their place, he’d do it. He would do anything to protect you, which you knew all too well.

“I just don’t know what came over me in there,” he admitted to you.

“You usually love being teased by the boys, so I’m guessing it’s because they were talking about me that it rubbed you up the wrong way.”

His head nodded to the ground, “you probably think I’m stupid for reacting as I did anyway, anyone would think the same.”

“I think I’m thankful that you care so much and go to such lengths to protect me,” you smiled, moving your arm to rest around his shoulders, “but I also think you need to trust your friends a bit more and know they’d never say anything to hurt you, or me.”

“I know that they’d never mean to upset me like this.”

“They’re your best friends, and you’re the first person to say how well they treat me too,” you reminded him, “so there’s nothing for you to ever worry yourself about. Maybe this just needed to happen so you guys all knew where to draw the line a little better with your teasing.”

Taemin’s eyes looked across to you, noticing the wide smile on your face. He’d prepared himself for you to chase him kicking and screaming, but instead you did as you always did, approached the situation calmly and talked things through.

“I don’t really know how I’m going to go back in there now,” he whispered.

“They get it,” you assured him, “just go back in with a smile, I’m sure you’ll all apologise, and we can go back to enjoying our evening.”

“You don’t think I’ve ruined it?” He quizzed as yet again you shook your head back at him. “I feel like I’ve probably made a bit of an idiot of myself in front of everyone tonight, and we’ve only been here five minutes.”

Your hand poked his cheek softly, “the four of you are best friends, you all know that these things happen all the time. Kibum and Minho have fallen out enough times anyway.”

“They’re going to know that you’re my weakness now,” he sighed, “they’ll know exactly what to do to wind me up.”

“Tae, everyone already knew I was your weakness.”

---

Masterlist

[onewfantaesy]

Little Chunin AU

After early morning training, Jinki and Kibum had been wandering around the village in search of something to do. Most of their friends were still training, Minho had decided to start their training that day before the sun even rose, so they had the entire afternoon off. For a moment they had wondered what Taemin was getting up to, but decided that he was probably off with his mom again or something. She’d only been back a week after her extended mission. His dad still wasn’t back, and he’d complained about it enough, so they figured he’d be happy at home with his mom.

They were wrong though, and they instead find him hiding out in a tree branch, staring at the academy training yard.

“What are you up to?” Jinki asks, the both of them appearing on the branch just above Taemin’s.

“Spying on the kiddies?” Kibum laughs, chewing on a stick from the snacks he and Jinki bought earlier. “Want one?”

He holds the bag out to Taemin, who doesn’t even spare them a glance.

“What do you want?” he mumbles, still looking to where one of the younger classes is practicing throwing shuriken.

“To bother you,” Jinki says, a smile on his face.

“Go away,” he grunts, his shoulders hunching.

“Just who are you staring at?” Kibum teases, trying to pinpoint which kid Taemin’s intense stare is on. “Do you have a little crush we don’t know about?”

“Stupid,” Taemin huffs. He had hoped being snippy and huffy would get them to leave him alone, but they’re just as stubborn as he is. Eventually he huffs again and curls up even more, a pout firm on his face as he mutters, “My cousin. He’s got lots of friends.”

They finally figure out that Taemin’s stare is on the tall boy who’s currently in the middle of a group of kids, most of the class having finished throwing their shuriken, talking with each other and laughing and smiling.

“Well,” Kibum stammers, not quite sure how to respond. It’s clear Taemin is upset, but they’re not sure exactly why or how to help. “You’ve got us.”

Taemin gives him one sidelong glance and goes back to pouting at the kids who are filing back inside the school with their instructor. He seems to be getting nervous then, staring at the clock tower, and Kibum and Minho realize that school is almost done for the day. Maybe he was just waiting to play with his cousin? That would make sense, wouldn’t it? They’re starting to realize they don’t actually know a whole lot about their teammate.

When school lets out, Taemin stays on the tree branch for a while, but they see him start bouncing on his toes on the edge of the branch. When they notice the same kids that had been huddled together exit, Taemin disappears from the branch and reappears right in front of them, and Jinki and Kibum note with a shared flinch that he startles all of them.

“Nini!” Taemin says, a grin on his face. “D’ya wanna come play? My training ended early and-”

“Taemin,” the boy hisses, a frown on his face. “I said don’t call me that anymore!”

The other boys are all snickering, taunting the obvious nickname that makes the taller boy’s face start turning red.

“But-”

The boy cuts him off with a quick, “We have lots of homework, Taemin. I’ll see you later.”

Taemin doesn’t even fight back when multiple boys pass by him and bump shoulders with him. When Jinki and Kibum try to go and talk to him, try to get him to come hang out with them, he just lets out a shaky huff and disappears, the trees rustling as he darts from tree to tree.

They find him half an hour later by the river again. His sandals are abandoned again, his pants rolled up but still damp where it’s bunched up at the ends, and he’s wading in the water. They lounge along the edge of the river, just trying to keep him company, and he doesn’t seem to mind. At least, he doesn’t yell at them to go away like he usually does.

The sun is starting to set by the time he wades over to them, his lips downturned into a cross between a frown and a pout, and Kibum lifts him out of the water while Jinki hands him his sandals.

“Nini was my best friend,” Taemin finally mumbles as Jinki straps his sandals on for him. “But then he joined the academy and made more friends and now he doesn’t like me anymore.”

“I’m sure he still likes you,” Kibum says gently, but neither of them are sure how to respond.

“I don’t have any other friends,” Taemin admits, staring at his sandals. “And Nini won’t let me play with his new friends. And I dunno why.”

“Taemin,” Jinki says, squeezing one of Taemin’s shoulders. “We’re your friends, you know.”

“No you’re not,” Taemin mumbles. “You’re only nice to me because you have’ta be.”

“Only at first,” Kibum laughs, a smirk on his face. “Now we’re nice because you’re fun to annoy.”

Taemin pouts at him, and it only makes Kibum chuckle and prove his point. 

“You’re our friend,” Jinki assures him. “And we can take you to meet our other friends, if you want. Not today, because it’s getting late, but maybe tomorrow. After training.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna go meet up with lots of our other friends tomorrow,” Kibum says excitedly. “We’ll bring you along. It’ll be fun to see you piss them off.”

“Why would I piss them off?”

“Because you’re insufferable and annoying and cute and we wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Taemin shoves at Kibum’s shoulder, but he has the barest hint of a smile on his face.

“So if we’re friends, does that mean you’ll catch frogs and lizards with me?”

“You’re the grossest kid I’ve ever met,” Kibum whines. “Why are you always looking for frogs and stuff?”

“They’re cool!”

“We can try over the weekend maybe,” Jinki says, not wanting a fight to start. “But we’ll have to release them after we catch them, of course. We can’t keep them.”

“You sound like Minho,” Taemin whines then, crossing his arms.

When Jinki and Kibum bring up the incident with Taemin’s cousin the next day before Taemin arrives at training, Minho just sighs and says he knows. Apparently he’s met Taemin’s cousin before, the two used to be practically inseparable, and with his entrance into the academy, Jongin had become distant and it made Taemin feel even lonelier than before. Nonetheless, Minho does pull Taemin aside to talk about it before he starts training for the day.

“You know,” Minho says softly, “Jongin might just be jealous that he’s at the academy while you’re already a chunin. Did you think of that?”

“But that’s dumb and it’s not fair and I just wanted to play,” Taemin whines.

“Just give it a while,” Minho says. “He’ll come around. He just needs time to adjust.”

“But it’s been forever-”

“It’s been a couple months,” Minho corrects in a gentle tone. “Give it time. In the meantime, I think Jinki and Kibum have some friends who might like to meet you.”

Taemin just pouts, but he doesn’t fight it later that day when Jinki and Kibum drag him off to go meet some of their friends.

[shawol9196]

SHINee Nature AU: " “I will find comfort in the rhythm of the sea and the hearts of friends.” or the one where Onew (and Key) help Minho after a long day. (Onminkey/Onho; ~2.1K)

**There’s going to be a part 2 eventually!!!

“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely."

“What if I tried changing my wingspan? Do you think that would help?”

“I don’t know. Jonghyun, I said I see birds fly through my storms but that doesn’t mean that I write meticulous notes on how they fly and their measurements or anything. I just let them do their flying thing.”

Upon discovering that his power allowed him to turn into not just regular and realistic animals but also bizarre hybrids, Jonghyun had enlisted Taemin to help him figure out how to fly through storms. At the start of their brainstorming session, there had been many great ideas; as time went on however, the ideas had begun to dwindle. Now they were laying on the beach and watching seabirds fly past to try and get ideas. Minho watched them from further up the beach. If his counting was correct, this was the ninth time that Jonghyun had suggested a wingspan change.

“Whatever I’m just going to think storms and change into a bird and whatever I turn into is what I’m going to go with.” Jonghyun huffed, sitting up. He quickly changed forms, ending up as something between a petrel and a pelican. Both Taemin and Minho laughed at the sight, earning what was assumed to be a glare from bird Jonghyun. How someone could manage to be so expressive as a bird, Minho would never know.

“I’m sorry, Jonghyun, you should be able to see yourself. You’re literally the funniest and ugliest bird I’ve ever seen,” Taemin laughed as he stood, “Are you ready?”

Bird Jonghyun glared again then waved his head around in some semblance of a nod and shot off into the sky, Taemin trailing behind with clouds already forming around him.

Minho was a little upset that the two hadn’t said goodbye before they left, but it wasn’t the first time so he tried to let it go. In order to distract himself, he decided to try to grow something new. He had brought his book outside with him in anticipation of this. After flipping through for a while, he decided to try making some passionflowers. He’d always had trouble with purple flowers and the odd look of the flowers made it twice the challenge. He carefully set the book next to him in the sand and closed his eyes. Putting his hands to the ground, he tried to imagine what the flower was like, slowly moving upward to raise the flower. When he finished and he opened his eyes he was immediately met with disappointment. Not only was his purple passionflower not purple, but the trademark filament petals were too thick. It looked like some bizarre, mutant daisy. So he tried again. The flower came out the same, only with a pink hue to it. Again. Same flower. After 100 blossoms he was no closer to growing a purple flower, much less a passionflower. To try and mitigate his growing frustration, he moved away from his patch of disappointments and tried to grow roses. Roses were easy for him, especially since Kibum had started visiting more. He put his hands to the sand and pulled up his roses. When he examined them, they were malformed. The petals weren’t the right sizes, the colors were uneven, and some of them could barely stay upright. He tried again and again and again, with the same result. Beyond frustrated, he tried to force all the blossoms back down under the sand.

Jinki almost forgot that he wanted to go by the island until he ran into Kibum.

“Hey there, old man. I’m on my way to visit Minbabe, do you want to come too?” he asked. Jinki nodded and the two headed off. When they arrived, both were caught off guard by the sight of Minho on the beach. He was curled up with his head in his hands, with hundreds of dying flowers around him at his feet. Kibum reached the beach before Jinki did.

“My sweet summer blossom, what happened? Are you ok?” he asked,  kneeling next to Minho.  Minho looked up, obviously surprised at their appearance. It was plain that he’d been crying for a while and it made Jinki’s heart ache. He opened his mouth as if to explain what had happened, but the story was cut off by another sob. Jinki looked to Kibum and motioned towards the garden. Kibum took the hint, and together they coaxed Minho onto his feet, into the garden, and onto his hammock. They cradled him between them, with Jinki holding him and Kibum facing them. They let him cry for a while, knowing that if he was already this upset that any calm down tactics were useless. Eventually he calmed down but remained silent for a while.

“Jonghyun keeps finding new things to turn into and you all are always so amazed by it, especially Taemin now that Jonghyun can turn into birds. So I wanted to try to grow something new so that you guys would be excited at something I made too but it kept coming out all wrong and ugly. So I tried making roses because I know I can make those pretty and you like those but they came out wrong and ugly too,” he trailed off, fresh tears running down his cheeks.

“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely. You don’t have to wear yourself out with bigger and fancier and more flowers to keep us interested. There’s no interest quota that you have to meet for us to keep visiting. You’re interesting enough without all that.”

Minho stayed quiet, brows furrowed in concentration and tears still occasionally slipping down his cheek. Jinki shifted so he could run his fingers through Minho’s hair while Kibum held one of Minho’s hands between his own. They laid there, Jinki humming and Kibum pressing small kisses into Minho’s knuckles. After a while, Kibum began shifting around, eventually falling out of the hammock. He sprang back to his feet before the other two could ask if he was ok.

“I have to go run an errand really quick but I’ll be back as quick as I can, ok?” He bent over and kissed Minho’s cheek then Jinkis forehead and then ran towards the gate. “I’ll be quicker than the wind I promise!”

There was a sudden breeze through the garden, indicating that Kibum had left. Minho began shifting around.

“You don’t have to roll over if you’re already comfortable, sprout,” Jinki whispered. Minho settled back as he had been and sighed.

“What had you been trying to make, sprout? I used to know a lot of land plants but I’ve been at sea so long that I only really know ones that grow on coastlines now.”

“They’re called passionflowers. I think my mom used to like them but I can only barely remember them.”

“Is that why you struggled with them? Because you don’t have the memory of them?”

“No, for some reason purple flowers are hard for me and then they have really weird parts to their flowers so I knew it was going to be hard from the start but usually I can kind of manage to figure something out after a few tries.”

“Are you a strong swimmer?”

“What?”

“You said you lived on the coast before, are you a strong swimmer?”

“I think I was? I haven’t really gone swimming since. I remember being in swimming competitions.”

“I found this weird plain of seagrass and I thought maybe you’d like to see it, but you’ll probably have to swim to some degree to get to it.”

“How long will it take to get there?”

“Not long.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.”

After maneuvering their way out of the hammock, they made their way to the beach. Jinki hurried into the water out of habit. He noticed that Minho wasn’t walking next to him and turned round. Minho was standing on the beach, staring out at the water.

“Are you sure you want to come out, sprout?”

“Yeah. I remembered the feeling of having to hold my breath during swim meets, so I’m trying to get some photosynthesis stuff going so that I don’t have to totally rely on breathing while we’re swimming.”

“Oh.”

As Jinki watched, green patches began to appear on Minho’s skin. When he was ready, Minho joined Jinki in the surf.

“So I’ll probably turn mostly to my water form, just out of habit, but I promise I won’t leave you. If you hold my hand, I think that’ll stay in human form but it may just be a ghost hand so don’t freak out.”

Minho nodded and they headed out. Jinki indicated when it was time to start swimming and true to his word, all but his hand quickly turned to seawater. Minho tried to balance breathing and not-breathing. He pulled Jinki’s ghost hand to the surface every few minutes and Jinki stilled the water where they rested so it was easier for Minho to breathe. When they got to the plain, it was teeming with multiple schools of fish and plenty of crabs. They pulled to the surface and Jinki made an effort to go back to his human form, at least above the waist.

“There’s so much!” Minho exclaimed.

“I know. It’s not uncommon for the meadows to be so big area wise, but it’s weird how dense it is.” Jinki explained.

“Is it really grass?”

“They’re really plants. I don’t think it’s proper grass though.”

“Weird.”

“If you want, you can swim around and feel the grass and everything as you want. I’ll stay close by and watch if you start struggling. When you’re done and want to go back, just come back up to this spot on the edge and stay up and I’ll come back over for you.”

Minho nodded, looking down at the water. He took a big breath and headed back down. He swam to a somewhat unoccupied spot before reaching out. It wasn’t as slimey as he was expecting but it still had the pliable feeling characteristic of aquatic plants. Taemin had asked him once if he could talk to plants, and while he couldn’t necessarily talk to them, there was definitely a connection that was unique to him. He moved between the surface and different spots in the meadow, trying to feel out as many plant as he could. After a few trips, he started feeling tired. He hadn’t seen Jinki in a while and thought about going to the meeting spot just to make sure he was still here. On the other hand, the seagrass was much softer than he had imagined and the thought of a nap crossed his mind. He let himself sink down until he was as close to laying on the grass as he could manage. Just before he closed his eyes, however, he felt himself being lifted up. When he broke the surface, Jinki was waiting.

“Are you okay? If you’re tired you should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t really realize it? It just kind of hit me all of a sudden and the grass is so much softer than I thought it would be.” MInho explained.

“Well, let’s just get you back home just to be safe. Do you think you can swim back or do you need me to carry you?”

Minho paused, trying to assess his state. He was definitely tired. The wind picked up around them, making a fair amount of wake.

“I’m just going to carry you, sprout. If I don’t bring you back home in one piece, Kibum will have more than words waiting for me.”

Minho nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. Jinki laughed, then dipped under the water. Minho felt himself being picked up again and slowly but surely they started back in the direction they had come. Somewhere along the way he managed to fall asleep and Jinki made sure to prop him up enough above the water that he wouldn’t start drowning again. When they got near the island, Jinki woke him up again, encouraging him to dip below the water. Kibum was waiting on the shore, a big bag laying next to him on the beach. Jinki turned back to his full human form, helping Minho walk up the beach. When they got to the shore, Jinki stayed back, waiting until Kibum had a hold of Minho.

“I have to go, sprout. I hope you had fun. Don’t forget, you can always talk to me!” he said, waving and heading back out into the water.

[futureshawolhearts]

SHINee Nature AU: " “I will find comfort in the rhythm of the sea and the hearts of friends.” or the one where Onew (and Key) help Minho after a long day. (Onminkey/Onho; ~2.1K)

**There’s going to be a part 2 eventually!!!

“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely."

“What if I tried changing my wingspan? Do you think that would help?”

“I don’t know. Jonghyun, I said I see birds fly through my storms but that doesn’t mean that I write meticulous notes on how they fly and their measurements or anything. I just let them do their flying thing.”

Upon discovering that his power allowed him to turn into not just regular and realistic animals but also bizarre hybrids, Jonghyun had enlisted Taemin to help him figure out how to fly through storms. At the start of their brainstorming session, there had been many great ideas; as time went on however, the ideas had begun to dwindle. Now they were laying on the beach and watching seabirds fly past to try and get ideas. Minho watched them from further up the beach. If his counting was correct, this was the ninth time that Jonghyun had suggested a wingspan change.

“Whatever I’m just going to think storms and change into a bird and whatever I turn into is what I’m going to go with.” Jonghyun huffed, sitting up. He quickly changed forms, ending up as something between a petrel and a pelican. Both Taemin and Minho laughed at the sight, earning what was assumed to be a glare from bird Jonghyun. How someone could manage to be so expressive as a bird, Minho would never know.

“I’m sorry, Jonghyun, you should be able to see yourself. You’re literally the funniest and ugliest bird I’ve ever seen,” Taemin laughed as he stood, “Are you ready?”

Bird Jonghyun glared again then waved his head around in some semblance of a nod and shot off into the sky, Taemin trailing behind with clouds already forming around him.

Minho was a little upset that the two hadn’t said goodbye before they left, but it wasn’t the first time so he tried to let it go. In order to distract himself, he decided to try to grow something new. He had brought his book outside with him in anticipation of this. After flipping through for a while, he decided to try making some passionflowers. He’d always had trouble with purple flowers and the odd look of the flowers made it twice the challenge. He carefully set the book next to him in the sand and closed his eyes. Putting his hands to the ground, he tried to imagine what the flower was like, slowly moving upward to raise the flower. When he finished and he opened his eyes he was immediately met with disappointment. Not only was his purple passionflower not purple, but the trademark filament petals were too thick. It looked like some bizarre, mutant daisy. So he tried again. The flower came out the same, only with a pink hue to it. Again. Same flower. After 100 blossoms he was no closer to growing a purple flower, much less a passionflower. To try and mitigate his growing frustration, he moved away from his patch of disappointments and tried to grow roses. Roses were easy for him, especially since Kibum had started visiting more. He put his hands to the sand and pulled up his roses. When he examined them, they were malformed. The petals weren’t the right sizes, the colors were uneven, and some of them could barely stay upright. He tried again and again and again, with the same result. Beyond frustrated, he tried to force all the blossoms back down under the sand.

Jinki almost forgot that he wanted to go by the island until he ran into Kibum.

“Hey there, old man. I’m on my way to visit Minbabe, do you want to come too?” he asked. Jinki nodded and the two headed off. When they arrived, both were caught off guard by the sight of Minho on the beach. He was curled up with his head in his hands, with hundreds of dying flowers around him at his feet. Kibum reached the beach before Jinki did.

“My sweet summer blossom, what happened? Are you ok?” he asked,  kneeling next to Minho.  Minho looked up, obviously surprised at their appearance. It was plain that he’d been crying for a while and it made Jinki’s heart ache. He opened his mouth as if to explain what had happened, but the story was cut off by another sob. Jinki looked to Kibum and motioned towards the garden. Kibum took the hint, and together they coaxed Minho onto his feet, into the garden, and onto his hammock. They cradled him between them, with Jinki holding him and Kibum facing them. They let him cry for a while, knowing that if he was already this upset that any calm down tactics were useless. Eventually he calmed down but remained silent for a while.

“Jonghyun keeps finding new things to turn into and you all are always so amazed by it, especially Taemin now that Jonghyun can turn into birds. So I wanted to try to grow something new so that you guys would be excited at something I made too but it kept coming out all wrong and ugly. So I tried making roses because I know I can make those pretty and you like those but they came out wrong and ugly too,” he trailed off, fresh tears running down his cheeks.

“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely. You don’t have to wear yourself out with bigger and fancier and more flowers to keep us interested. There’s no interest quota that you have to meet for us to keep visiting. You’re interesting enough without all that.”

Minho stayed quiet, brows furrowed in concentration and tears still occasionally slipping down his cheek. Jinki shifted so he could run his fingers through Minho’s hair while Kibum held one of Minho’s hands between his own. They laid there, Jinki humming and Kibum pressing small kisses into Minho’s knuckles. After a while, Kibum began shifting around, eventually falling out of the hammock. He sprang back to his feet before the other two could ask if he was ok.

“I have to go run an errand really quick but I’ll be back as quick as I can, ok?” He bent over and kissed Minho’s cheek then Jinkis forehead and then ran towards the gate. “I’ll be quicker than the wind I promise!”

There was a sudden breeze through the garden, indicating that Kibum had left. Minho began shifting around.

“You don’t have to roll over if you’re already comfortable, sprout,” Jinki whispered. Minho settled back as he had been and sighed.

“What had you been trying to make, sprout? I used to know a lot of land plants but I’ve been at sea so long that I only really know ones that grow on coastlines now.”

“They’re called passionflowers. I think my mom used to like them but I can only barely remember them.”

“Is that why you struggled with them? Because you don’t have the memory of them?”

“No, for some reason purple flowers are hard for me and then they have really weird parts to their flowers so I knew it was going to be hard from the start but usually I can kind of manage to figure something out after a few tries.”

“Are you a strong swimmer?”

“What?”

“You said you lived on the coast before, are you a strong swimmer?”

“I think I was? I haven’t really gone swimming since. I remember being in swimming competitions.”

“I found this weird plain of seagrass and I thought maybe you’d like to see it, but you’ll probably have to swim to some degree to get to it.”

“How long will it take to get there?”

“Not long.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.”

After maneuvering their way out of the hammock, they made their way to the beach. Jinki hurried into the water out of habit. He noticed that Minho wasn’t walking next to him and turned round. Minho was standing on the beach, staring out at the water.

“Are you sure you want to come out, sprout?”

“Yeah. I remembered the feeling of having to hold my breath during swim meets, so I’m trying to get some photosynthesis stuff going so that I don’t have to totally rely on breathing while we’re swimming.”

“Oh.”

As Jinki watched, green patches began to appear on Minho’s skin. When he was ready, Minho joined Jinki in the surf.

“So I’ll probably turn mostly to my water form, just out of habit, but I promise I won’t leave you. If you hold my hand, I think that’ll stay in human form but it may just be a ghost hand so don’t freak out.”

Minho nodded and they headed out. Jinki indicated when it was time to start swimming and true to his word, all but his hand quickly turned to seawater. Minho tried to balance breathing and not-breathing. He pulled Jinki’s ghost hand to the surface every few minutes and Jinki stilled the water where they rested so it was easier for Minho to breathe. When they got to the plain, it was teeming with multiple schools of fish and plenty of crabs. They pulled to the surface and Jinki made an effort to go back to his human form, at least above the waist.

“There’s so much!” Minho exclaimed.

“I know. It’s not uncommon for the meadows to be so big area wise, but it’s weird how dense it is.” Jinki explained.

“Is it really grass?”

“They’re really plants. I don’t think it’s proper grass though.”

“Weird.”

“If you want, you can swim around and feel the grass and everything as you want. I’ll stay close by and watch if you start struggling. When you’re done and want to go back, just come back up to this spot on the edge and stay up and I’ll come back over for you.”

Minho nodded, looking down at the water. He took a big breath and headed back down. He swam to a somewhat unoccupied spot before reaching out. It wasn’t as slimey as he was expecting but it still had the pliable feeling characteristic of aquatic plants. Taemin had asked him once if he could talk to plants, and while he couldn’t necessarily talk to them, there was definitely a connection that was unique to him. He moved between the surface and different spots in the meadow, trying to feel out as many plant as he could. After a few trips, he started feeling tired. He hadn’t seen Jinki in a while and thought about going to the meeting spot just to make sure he was still here. On the other hand, the seagrass was much softer than he had imagined and the thought of a nap crossed his mind. He let himself sink down until he was as close to laying on the grass as he could manage. Just before he closed his eyes, however, he felt himself being lifted up. When he broke the surface, Jinki was waiting.

“Are you okay? If you’re tired you should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t really realize it? It just kind of hit me all of a sudden and the grass is so much softer than I thought it would be.” MInho explained.

“Well, let’s just get you back home just to be safe. Do you think you can swim back or do you need me to carry you?”

Minho paused, trying to assess his state. He was definitely tired. The wind picked up around them, making a fair amount of wake.

“I’m just going to carry you, sprout. If I don’t bring you back home in one piece, Kibum will have more than words waiting for me.”

Minho nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. Jinki laughed, then dipped under the water. Minho felt himself being picked up again and slowly but surely they started back in the direction they had come. Somewhere along the way he managed to fall asleep and Jinki made sure to prop him up enough above the water that he wouldn’t start drowning again. When they got near the island, Jinki woke him up again, encouraging him to dip below the water. Kibum was waiting on the shore, a big bag laying next to him on the beach. Jinki turned back to his full human form, helping Minho walk up the beach. When they got to the shore, Jinki stayed back, waiting until Kibum had a hold of Minho.

“I have to go, sprout. I hope you had fun. Don’t forget, you can always talk to me!” he said, waving and heading back out into the water.

[sevensevenswish]

Playing games Genre: smut/angst

Kibum had a bad feeling as soon as he walked in the dorm. Jonghyun was sat on the couch with his arms crossed and an exasperated look on his face. Minho peeked his head around the corner at Kibum, “Are you ready for our re-match? I might let you win this time.” he said with a daring but playful tone.

“Yeah I’ll be in there in a minute.” Kibum said without breaking eye contact with Jonghyun. Minho nodded and went back to his room to set up the game.

“You’ll be in there in a minute huh?” Jonghyun said.

“Oh come on Jongy… we’ve been having a gaming battle.” Kibum said with uncertainty in his voice. The way Jonghyun didn’t break his hostile gaze made him uneasy.

“Is it better than hanging out with me? Because it seems that every night I’ve been home from my schedules you’ve been in that damn room with him giggling like a teenage girl.” Jonghyun had never sounded so mad before. Kibum wasn’t sure if the exhaustion Jonghyun was feeling was part of it or if playing games with Minho had actually upset him this much.

“What’s really wrong? Hanging out with Minho wouldn’t make you like this. What is it, Jonghyun?” Kibum sat on the other end of the couch facing Jonghyun.

“You never spend time with me anymore and I feel like we’re drifting apart now. If you didn’t spend so much time with Minho maybe this wouldn’t be happening.”

“So you’re blaming Minho for us being distant? He actually pays attention to me. He texts me and makes time for me. Minho is actually being there for me unlike you have been. You’ve been the one who’s distant. Look at your phone and tell me how many times I tried to call you and how many times you actually called me back! You’re the one who isn’t trying to be close. Minho is!” Kibum raised his voice. He couldn’t help it, it wasn’t Minho’s fault. Minho was just being a good friend.

“Why don’t you just go with Minho then!?” Jonghyun yelled. He got to his feet and so did Kibum.

“Maybe I fucking will! And maybe if you were around more often I wouldn’t have to fuck around with Minho instead anyway!” Kibum screamed at Jonghyun. The anger in him boiled over and he snapped. Jonghyun looked taken aback.

Minho stepped in the living room, “What the hell is going on?” He said.

“Fucking around with Minho now are you?” Jonghyun glared daggers at Minho and Kibum before walking out of the dorm and slamming the door shut far too loudly than necessary.

Kibum sat back on the couch and put his face in his hands, “I said too many things I shouldn’t have said.”

“Yeah that might be true but neither of you were right or wrong. You were both right and wrong in your own ways I guess. He should be there for you more often but when he actually is you need to be there too. I’m not your boyfriend, Jonghyun is. Finishing a game isn’t more important than spending time together.” Minho sat next to Kibum and rubbed his back for a few minutes before going out to find where Jonghyun went off to. Eventually he spotted his car at their favorite bar. He parked next to him and went in to find him and try to sort things out. He spotted him staring into his glass of something dark and strong. Minho sat down next to Jonghyun and looked at him. He saw one glass and three shots on the counter.

“We need to talk while you’re still sober.” Minho said putting his hand over the glass Jonghyun was about to lift to his lips.

“Why? I think I understand what’s going on.” He said, glancing at Minho.

“No you don’t Jonghyun. I’m not fucking him, never kissed him either. I’m kind of hurt you think I’d do that to you. You know that’s below me. I’d never do that to you.” Minho grabbed Jonghyun’s hand.

Jonghyun looked at Minho’s hand holding his own, “I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry for thinking you actually would. I know I’m not thinking right. I know Kibum and I both said some things we shouldn’t have but I’m still mad at him.”

“Well he’s still mad at you too, Jonghyun. Go show him you love him.” Minho said.

“No. I’m gonna show him he loves me.” Jonghyun got up, grabbed his keys and left the bar to back to the dorm.

Minho watched him leave and took one of the shots still on the counter, “I’m gonna need this if I go home while they’re still at it.” He mumbled to himself before drinking it.

When Jonghyun got back to the dorm Kibum was no longer in the living room. He guessed he was in their room. Jonghyun walked in and didn’t see him anywhere. That was when he noticed the sound of water running.

“So he’s in the shower…” Jonghyun mumbled. That gave him time to change into a pair of Kibum’s sweatpants. They hung loosely on his hips and dragged a little bit on the floor. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Kibum. When the water turned off he felt a little bit nervous. It was a few more minutes before the door opened. Kibum saw him and started walking towards the bedroom door, “Kim Kibum.” Jonghyun said firmly.

Kibum stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He closed his eyes for a moment before turning around to face Jonghyun, “What, Kim Jonghyun?” Kibum tried not to look into Jonghyun’s eyes but that wasn’t easy when he got up to stand in front of him.

Jonghyun pulled Kibum against him and started kissing him. Kibum pushed Jonghyun away and looked at him up and down for a moment before their eyes met. Suddenly Kibum wrapped his arms around Jonghyun’s neck and kissing him back roughly. The kiss turned deep and sloppy as they grasped at each other, releasing their frustrations. Their tongues exploring each other’s mouths and necks. Jonghyun nipped and sucked at a spot just above Kibum’s collar bone. He moaned out when Jonghyun’s teeth grazed and nipped his sensitive skin. Jonghyun tangled his hand in Kibum’s still wet hair and pulled his head back roughly, giving him more access to ravish Kibum’s neck. To Jonghyun nothing was so blissful in that moment than hearing Kibum moan, nails digging into his shoulders and feeling Kibum’s cock growing hard against him. It all felt so good. Kibum shoved Jonghyun backwards making him fall on the bed. Jonghyun watched Kibum strip his clothes off and start touching himself while looking into his eyes.

“Get your ass over here.” Jonghyun demanded. Kibum obeyed and walked to the edge of the bed. Jonghyun pulled him down and laid Kibum down on his stomach. He ran his fingers up and down Kibum’s back and through his hair. He couldn’t help just staring at his body, “You know what to do. Don’t make me tell you.” Jonghyun said. Kibum knew what Jonghyun wanted and got on all fours. Jonghyun was busy taking his pants off. When he got back on the bed he bent over Kibum so he could whisper to him, “Good boy, Kibum.” He left kisses down his spink while his fingers traced his thighs and ass. He reached into the drawer in the nightstand and grabbed a condom and lube. He coated his fingers in lube and one by one inserted them into Kibum preparing him for his dick. Kibum’s arms were shaking with the pleasure of everything and dropped down to his elbows.

“Please fuck me.” Kibum choked out through his moans and whimpers. Jonghyun slid his fingers out and tore open the condom packet. He rolled it over his dick and rubbed some lube on Kibum’s hole. Jonghyun lined himself up and slowly entered him. Kibum cried out in pain and pleasure, digging his fingers into the bedsheets. Jonghyun gave him time to adjust and started moving in and out slowly at first until Kibum moaned for more.

“Faster… fuck Jonghyun please.” He begged. Jonghyun thrust in and out faster and faster. Kibum’s cries turned into moans of pleasure and begs for Jonghyun to go harder, faster. Their moans filled the room. Jonghyun pulled out and flipped Kibum over. He grabbed his belt that was laying on the floor and used it to bind Kibum’s hands to the headboard. Jonghyun kissed Kibum’s stomach and lifted up his hips and thrusted back into him again. Jonghyun kissed him sloppily and wrapped his hand around Kibum’s dick and stroked him softly. Jonghyun quickened his pace and left small kisses on Kibum’s throat and chest. Kibum felt his orgasm building quickly. He couldn’t hold it off anymore.

“Jonghyun! I’m gonna- fuck!” Kibum cried out when Jonghyun moved his hand up and down his cock to increase his pleasure and bring him over the edge. Kibum came on their chests and moaned Jonghyun’s name loudly. Jonghyun thrust into him hard and fast a few more times before his own orgasm washed over him. He rested his forehead on Kibum’s chest and pulled out of him. He tied the condom and threw it away before he undid the belt holding Kibum’s hands against the headboard. Jonghyun dropped down and laid next to Kibum. They laid together for what seemed like an hour before Jonghyun spoke up.

“We need to talk.” Jonghyun said quietly in Kibum’s ear.

“I know. I’m sorry I said I was fucking around with Minho… and I’m sorry for being angry at you for your schedule when you don’t control it.”

“I forgive you and I’m sorry too. I’m sorry for being angry at you for spending time with Minho when all you wanted was just company. I’m also sorry for even considering that you actually were fucking him. I love you.”

Kibum turned to look at Jonghyun, “I love you too.” he whispered and kissed Jonghyun’s lips softly. Jonghyun picked Kibum up and carried him to the shower.

“I know you just showered but at least I’ll be here this time.” Jonghyun kissed Kibum and massaged his shoulders. After their shower they snuggled under their warm blankets together.

A little while later Minho got home and had Jinki and Taemin with him. Minho walked down the hall to Jonghyun and Kibum’s room and cracked open the door to check on them since he heard no sound. He saw the two snuggled up together fast asleep with clothes strewn across the floor. He chuckled quietly and turned off their bedroom light and shut the door.

Hope you all enjoyed :) message me if you have a request.

[taeminuet]

Heartbeat (7/?)

Title: Heartbeat Fandom: SHINee Pairings: (eventual) Jongtae; Minkey; OnKai Chapter Wordcount: ~3.5k Overall Rating: R (Some chapters will be NC-17; these will be marked.) Chapter Warnings: super brief mention of pedophilia Summary: In which not every problem needs to be fixed and not every person needs to be saved; sometimes you just need support.

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1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6

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Chapter 7: Minho

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“So, how long do you think it's going to take?” Jonghyun asks, shoving a pillow back into place on the couch and flopping down on top of it.

Key, already sitting back in his chair and watching the cleanup of the pillow fort with some disinterest, scoffs. “Who knows. Depends on how Taemin takes it, I guess.”

“Takes what?” Minho asks, unsure of what they're talking about. Taemin had followed Jinki off towards church, and Minho doesn't know a lot about Jinki (has only met Onew since he last woke up, and only has so much to go on in his notebook), but he has thought it was safe. Suddenly, he isn't quite as positive about that, and it makes him unsettled for Taemin to go off on his own after how vulnerable Minho had seen Taemin get last night.

But Jonghyun, for his part, only waves a dismissive hand. “Jinki's giving Taemin the talk,” he says, enunciating the words carefully to imply something.

Minho's brain conjures embarrassing memories of a father-son discussion from days long before his memory started failing him, and he frowns a little. He's pretty sure that's not what Jonghyun's talking about though, no matter what he's clearly trying to imply.

Key makes a noise, sounding slightly annoyed, and when Minho look at him, he catches Key's eyes on him for just a moment before Key quickly averts them. Minho isn't sure what he's done to annoy Key this time, but whatever it is, Key doesn't look at him as he says, “Don't worry so much about him. Jinki does this with all the newbies if he thinks they're going to hang around for more than a little while.”

Minho frowns. “Does what?”

“You know how none of us talk about our issues?” Jonghyun says from the couch. “Yeah, Jinki goes the opposite route of that. It's more of telling you Onew's entire life story so you know exactly what triggers to avoid and then threatening your goddamn life if you trip on one of them.”

“Oh,” Minho says, and he must make a face, because Jonghyun laughs openly.

“As long as Taemin doesn't fuck up with Onew, Jinki's not gonna hurt him,” Key says, shrugging. “He should be fine. He seems to like Onew well enough.”

“Yeah,” Minho says, a little relieved but mostly still nervous. He, of course, doesn't have any memories of a talk like that, but he thinks maybe some of the information written under Onew's entry in his notebook might have come from there. Still, it makes him antsy, and after a moment, he looks around at the cleaned up common area and then says, “We should go ahead and meet them at breakfast though.”

Key makes a tiny noise, but he nods anyways, turning his chair and starting to wheel towards the cafeteria.

Most of the way there, they run into Jinki and Taemin heading towards them, Jinki's palm curled gently around Taemin's arm like he's guiding him. Taemin doesn't seem to be shying away from the foreign touch though, only smiles exhaustedly at Minho and mumbles, “Hey. Sorry I didn't get to help with the clean up.”

Minho feels most of the tension go out of him.

“I didn't mean to steal him away,” Jinki says, letting his hand fall from Taemin's arm as they head inside the cafeteria, staking out their familiar table. “I just had to have a chat with our newest. I trust no one's in trouble?”

“Jonghyun and Key told me,” Minho says, taking his usual seat. “It's fine.”

“We got everything cleaned up, don't worry about it,” Jonghyun volunteers. “Which is kind of a bummer, 'cause think about it. We had a common area full of pillows and a frame you couldn't see inside. Think about how useful that would be.”

The comment earns him a look from Taemin, an even mix of curious and disdainful, but Jinki only laughs. “We're not having sex in the pillow fort, Jonghyun.”

Key makes a face. “Please don't. Not where I hang out at least. I don't want your nasty sex germs on anything I'm touching.”

Jonghyun snickers, aiming a wink at Key that makes Minho's stomach twist for some reason. But his voice is at least clearly teasing when he says, “I wouldn't worry too much about where you hang out. I've definitely had sex in your bed.”

“You have not, don't be a brat,” Jinki says, a faint smile on his face even as Taemin wrinkles his nose in exaggerated distaste.

Key just scoffs. “The day you have sex I my bed before I do is the day I rise out of this chair and walk on water like some kind of angry, gay Jesus.”

“Well, all hail the Lord Jesus,” Jonghyun says, voice taking on a little note of deadpan monotone, the kind that filled people's voices when they were quoting something. “The Alpha and the Omega, the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

“The fuck?” Key says, and both Jinki and Taemin give Jonghyun strange looks.

“What?” Jonghyun scoffs. “Just because I don't practice the religion doesn't mean I haven't read the damn book.”

Key practically cackles, reaching out to shove Jonghyun gently in the shoulder. “Easy there, Father Jonghyun,” he snickers. “Don't you have little boys to touch?”

Jonghyun's breath catches abruptly, his eyes going wide. Key recoils as if struck.

Fuck, Minho thinks.

Across the table, Jinki echoes the sentiment.

“Jonghyunnie,” he says, reaching over and squeezing Jonghyun's arm, tight enough to make Jonghyun gasp again and whip his head around towards Jinki, something a little frantic in his eyes as he tugs weakly against the grip. “Priesthood joke, Jonghyun. Nothing personal about that. Just sticking with a theme.”

“What...?” Taemin starts, looking uncertain, but Jinki shakes his head at him sharply enough that Taemin withdraws into himself a little.

“I should-- I'm going to go get food,” Key says, clearly trying to retreat from the situation. His voice is wavering, and he's clearly upset, but Jinki only spares him half a glance before turning back to Jonghyun, murmuring to him quietly.

“I'm-- I'll go with him,” Minho says. He doesn't want to leave them, but Taemin looks slightly distant, lost in thought now, and Jinki seems to be handling Jonghyun. Minho doesn't really think Key needs to be alone right now, not after upsetting Jonghyun again so soon after whatever happened between the two of them yesterday.

And Key doesn't protest, doesn't snap at Minho for offering help, only let's Minho follow.

Behind him, he hears Jinki murmuring still, a quiet offer of, “Wait until after breakfast. I'll help you after breakfast, alright? You'll be fine, Jonghyunnie.”

Minho doesn't question it, just follows Key towards the line to go get food, waits until Key exhales a shaky, “Fuck.”

“You didn't mean to,” Minho says, trying to make Key feel better. “Jonghyun misunderstood. It's not your fault.”

“I should have know better. It was too close to home,” Key says, shaking his head. “You're too forgiving, Minho.”

“You can't predict everything,” Minho says quietly.

Key only shakes his head again. “I'm... it's fine. I'm fine. Jonghyun will be fine.”

“Yeah,” Minho says quietly, and tries to figure out how else to respond to that.

Before he can, Key stops and looks up at him. “Listen, Minho. I'm sorry about... about everything I said yesterday. I shouldn't have just spilled my guts out like that. It was... inappropriate, to say the least.”

It sounds a little practiced, but no less sincere for it. Minho frowns, muddling through his own thoughts and using stepping around Key to get some food as an excuse. Finally, he mumbles, “It wasn't. Inappropriate, I mean.”

Key gives him a look, but he gets distracted getting food for himself before he can say anything disparaging. Minho is grateful for the moment, grateful for the pause to pluck up his courage.

“I mean,” he says, “we have a meeting six days a week where we're supposed to spill our guts to each other. And if the last few days are any indication, we don't. But yesterday... I mean, maybe it's not exactly what the doctors are angling for, but it's still opening up. I don't think that's something you have to apologize for.”

“That's--” Key starts, but Minho shakes his head to cut him off, on a roll now.

“I meant what I said. You're not messed up. And you don't have to apologize to me. You don't ever have to apologize to me.”

Key stares at him for a long time. “I seem to be needing to do a lot of apologizing lately,” he says finally. “At least let me make it up to you?”

“You don't have to,” Minho says, frowning. That wasn't what he was going for. Key doesn't owe him anything. Not at all. But Key's gaze is steady as he looks up at him, and Minho feels the words rise up unbidden. “I mean, I guess, if you want...”

“Yeah, of course,” Key says, and then stops, shoulders pulling in a little. “I mean, within reason. I can't, like... join you on runs or anything.”

Minho isn't sure if it's a joke or not. Key's difficult to read sometimes. Bu either way, Minho isn't even sure what he was going to ask for. It seems ridiculous to ask Key any of the things he really wants to; even if he did, he's not going to remember come tomorrow. He can feel the exhaustion puling at him. He won't make it through tonight.

And despite how uncomfortable that thought makes him, it also sparks a memory, his eyes lighting up. “You draw, right?” he asks.

Key's eyes widen with... surprise, maybe? Minho doesn't know why. It's a detail that's fairly early on in his notebook, and Key has talked about it over the past few days, mentioned it here and there. Minho has even seen his sketchbook, though he has no idea what the contents look like. There's a note in his notebook saying that Key is good, though whether he knows that from forgotten experience or from someone else telling him, he isn't sure.

Minho smiles uncertainly. “I'd have to ask, but Taemin doesn't like cameras. I have pictures in my notebook – you, and Jonghyun, and Onew. But I don't have one of Taemin.”

“You have a picture of me?” Key interrupts, brow furrowed.

“Yes?” Minho says, inflection turning it into a question. “It's old, I think. You don't look quite the same as you do now.”

Key is staring at him still, but he doesn't retort. Only finally says, “So what? You want me to draw you a picture of Taemin?”

“If he says it's okay,” Minho says. If not, he isn't sure of anything else to ask Key. Not that he would remember.

And it's true. He needs a picture of Taemin for his notebook, but he could just write a description. But this... even if he doesn't remember tomorrow, this is something he'll still have. Something from Key that will last through the night, even as Minho's memories fade.

“Sure,” Key says, suddenly surprisingly nonchalant. “Lets go ask him and if he says it's okay, I can do it after breakfast.”

Minho smiles and nods gratefully before he grabs the rest of his food and a large cup of coffee. Key hesitates, just for a moment, before grabbing an extra tray, a little clumsy with it when he tries to balance. Minho reaches out for it, a little uncertain, but Key only looks at him and then nods, letting Minho take it from him. It makes Minho smile gently, carrying the tray back to the table with Key behind him.

The moment they're back, sliding their trays onto the table, Jonghyun looks up sharply. “Jinki,” he breathes, voice pitched towards a while, “Please, I need--”

“Alright. I've got you.” Jinki stands, pulling Jonghyun up and nodding at all of them. “It was nice seeing you all. I might be around later. If not, Onew will likely be back tomorrow.”

Taemin is frowning up at them, but Jinki just smiles reassuringly at them before pulling Jonghyun away, Jonghyun half wound around him before they even hit the door.

“Don't worry too much about it,” Key says from next to him, and Minho glances at him in surprise to see him focused on Taemin. “Jinki's got him. They've got a pretty good deal worked out.”

“Yeah,” Taemin says, shifting uncomfortably. “It's fine. I just didn't expect--”

“Yeah,” Key agrees, before Taemin is even finished. “He's not as much of an asshole as he likes to pretend he is.”

“I guess...” Taemin frowns, looking after them. After a moment, he shakes his head and looks back to Minho and Key instead. “It's fine,” he says again. “What's up?”

Minho's pretty sure it's not fine, but he doesn't want to push Taemin either. He lets the subject change, glancing at Key for a moment before he answers. “I know you aren't a fan of pictures, but how do you feel about drawings?”

Taemin blinks rapidly, looking up at Minho without understanding for a moment before it seems to dawn. “Like a portrait of me? Yeah, that's-- I mean, it's probably less of an issue. I wouldn't know. I haven't ever had anyone draw me since that weird art project in, like, second grade.”

“You wanna be a model?” Key asks, quirking a smile at him. When Taemin shrugs, Key nods. “Good,” he says, and shoves the extra tray he'd gotten – the one Minho carried to the table – towards Taemin. “Eat. Go on. You look like you're on your last leg after Jinki and everything.”

Taemin lets out a shuddering breath, but nods. “Yeah,” he agrees, taking the food and starting to pick at it. “It's been a long day and it's barely mid-morning.”

“Eat something then, and we'll do art things after,” Key says. “My stuff's in my room anyways.”

“Thanks,” Taemin says, and the three of them eat in near silence.

It's not good for Minho, whose eyes droop a little the longer he sits, but he forces himself awake, going back in the middle of the meal for some more coffee, half for the caffeine and half for the action of standing up to get it.

He gets yet another to take with him after breakfast is done, when they clean up their table and head back to their shared common area, no longer taken up by the pillow fort. Jonghyun's door is shut tight, and Minho doesn't exactly have to strain to hear the occasional noise from inside.

Taemin gives it a strange glance, but Key ignores it with the poise of someone practiced in it, directing Taemin to the table and disappearing into his room to get his sketchbook and pencils. Minho takes a seat next to Taemin while they have the moment alone.

“Are you really okay?”

Taemin looks at him. “Yeah. Just... Jinki asked me while you were gone why I was here. If my family knew. Which, yeah, no.” His lips twitch unhappily. “Jonghyun looked a little like I'd suckerpunched him. I can't figure out what's up with him. The rest of you, I can get a little bit of a read on, but him...”

Oh. Oh shit. Yeah, talking about family would upset Jonghyun, especially when he was already up in arms about Key's comments and already upset from yesterday. Jonghyun's going to take some time to adjust to Taemin being here.

They all are, honestly. But Minho won't exactly have time to do that.

“Taemin,” he starts, not sure how to tell Taemin what's going to happen tonight. Maybe a few hours sooner, if Minho can't keep his eyes open until then.

But Key comes back at that moment, cutting their conversation short, or at least turning it to other things. It's a pretty shallow conversation. Taemin asks Key about learning to draw. Key asks Taemin, with only some sense of jealousy, about dancing. Taemin gets Minho to explain the parts of the movie he missed yesterday. And Key draws.

Minho watches Key work, sketching out the lines of Taemin's face with such obvious care that it's almost a little touching. He adds in the dark circles beneath Taemin's eyes with soft strokes that make them look less harsh, though no less real-to-life. The Taemin on the paper is lovely, if tired. It fits, almost exactly.

But more than the drawing itself, it's the care that Key puts into it that really entrances Minho, and he finds himself drifting, loosing track of time. He's in danger of drifting off when Taemin leans against him, nudging him slightly. “Minho?”

“Ah. Sorry, I'm just--” Minho shakes his head.

“Tired?” Taemin fills in for him, shooting him a knowing look.

Key looks up from his drawing, eyes intent on Minho for a moment. After a second, he looks away, and Minho feels his stomach clench uncomfortably.

“You should get some sleep,” Taemin says. “I'll be okay by myself tonight.”

Minho winces. “Yeah. I--”

“Finished,” Key interrupts. “Here.”

He tears out the page and slides it across to them both. Taemin stares at it in awe, eyes wide and spouting off praises. It really is a pretty drawing, but Minho has no idea what to say. Carefully, he runs his fingertips along the edge of the page where he runs no danger of smearing the drawing.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely, at a loss for anything else.

“Don't worry about it,” Key says. “We're even now. Or, well, almost. If you want to walk me back to my room before you totally pass out?”

“Yeah,” Minho says. He's doesn't want to say no to Key. He stands, squeezing Taemin's shoulder gently. “I'm sorry. Tomorrow night, I promise. I'll write it down before bed.”

“'Course,” Taemin said, almost nonchalant. Too nonchalant. He knows what's going to happen, of course, but Minho isn't entirely sure Taemin understands the weight of it. What it will mean. He feels abruptly sick.

“Goodnight, Taemin,” Minho says. It's midday still, too early to go to sleep for anyone else, but Minho's not really saying goodnight. He's saying goodbye.

He tries his best not to look sad as he follows Key away from Taemin, towards Key's room. He doesn't need the company, but Minho gives it anyways, following him to his door. When they get there, Minho stops, not sure what else to do or say.

He settles eventually for, “Thank you, Key. Really, it's... it's beautiful.”

“Don't mention it,” Key says again, but he shifts a little, moving back to look up at Minho.

Minho swallows. “I...” he starts, and then realizes that he hasn't even formed another sentence. He's just prolonging the conversation, prolonging the time until he sleeps. Prolonging remembering.

But without any words, the time is catching up too quickly. Minho looks away. “Goodnight, Key,” he says, meaning 'goodbye' again. “Thank you.”

“Minho,” Key says, but this time it's Minho running away. He slips back into his room, gathering his notebook and a pen, and sits down, performing what might as well be ritual by now: adding pages, scripting out information about anything new.

He writes about Taemin, about staying up with him, about the long nights that will no longer be spent alone. He writes as much as he can, and when he's done, he folds a piece of tape, sticking it to the back of Key's drawing and pressing it gently onto the page of his notebook where he's scrawled Taemin's name. He thumbs, briefly, over Key's tiny signature at the bottom corner of the drawing.

As soon as that's finished, he flips back to the pages on everyone else, adding things here and there that he's picked up on. It isn't much, but he records them anyways. This book is his backup memory. It can't fail him like his real one.

He reaches Key's page, the last section, just before Taemin's, and freezes, unsure of how to phrase what he wants. How does he say what he wants to? How does he make himself understand. The problem is, he won't know if he does understand until it's far too late.

Eventually, just beneath the note not to offer the man help, he scrawls,

he doesn't need to apologize for anything.

It's not enough. It's not. After a brief pause, more haltingly, Minho adds,

he said i was perfect.

He stares at it for a long time, and then scribbles it out.

He leaves his notebook on the nightstand where he's sure to see it first thing and crawls into bed, pressing his face into the pillow. He tries to shut his eyes, tries to pretend that it's just that easy. Just going to bed. Just another night. He's exhausted. It shouldn't be that difficult.

Sleep comes a long time later, long after his pillow is already wet from tears.

--

Next Chapter

[ourshineeshrine]

can you write "Be you. No one else can" or "Stop being so cute" for onho? i love them and they're so sweet with each other, and forever happy and fluffy :)) pls and ty

A/N: okay this might not be the greatest because it’s actually my first time writing onho (despite how much I ship it)

Title: Be YouPairing: OnHoSummary: Minho’s having some self doubts but Jinki’s there to assure him otherwise. *send me prompts for jongkey/onho/lunber/2min*

Jinki was a deep sleeper. Even after joining SMEntertainment and having to wake up at ungodly hours of the morning, Jinki’ssleeping habits remained intact and it usually took at least five alarms (orfive yells from his members) to properly awake him from a slumber. So that waswhy it came as a surprise to even Jinki when he found himself waking up naturallyat 5am on a day with no planned schedule.

He blinked a few times to focus his gaze and squinted at theray of light which peaked out from behind the marginally opened bedroom door.Jinki’s fists rubbed the sleep from his eyes and he sat up, head tilting inconfusion. He could’ve sworn he closed that door when he went to bed…Turninghis head, the man breathed out in realization upon landing his eyes on Minho’sempty bed. Perhaps the younger male had just gotten thirsty throughout thenight. It had been a rather humid one, after all.

Jinki shifted back down onto his pillow and closed his eyeswith a deep sigh, pulling his blankets up to his chin. A few seconds passed inpeaceful silence before all of a sudden Jinki’s eyes were shooting open and hewas kicking his blankets back down to his ankle. His gaze travelled back toMinho’s nightstand and furrowed considerably upon noticing the bottle of watersituated there. Something wasn’t quite right. Despite his weary eyes and tiredlimbs, Jinki swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up, scufflingtowards the door with a concealed yawn. Minho could have just been using thetoilet, but Jinki had already made up his mind and figured as the leader (andperhaps some other underlying reasons), he ought to at least check.

Met with an empty lounge room, Jinki huffed and continued ondown the hall towards the bathroom and paused. His ears were met with completesilence, however just as Jinki moved to continue to the toilet, a strangled sobsounded from behind the closed door. Jinki’s eyes widened in alarm, and in ahurry he twisted the doorknob with desperation. “Open the door, Minho!” heurged upon discovering it was locked.

“Go away, Jinki, I’m fine.” came the muffled response.

Jinki didn’t believe a word of it. “You’re obviously notfine, Minho. I can hear you crying in there. Let me in.”

“Go back to sleep.”

“How do you expect me to sleep when I know you’re upset? C’mon,Minho.”

A soft click ofthe door unlocking could be heard, and Jinki immediately pushed it open toenvelop Minho in a tight embrace. The younger man’s tears dampened Jinki’s wornt-shirt but he ignored that and simply focused on consoling Minho, running hisbroad hands comfortingly over the younger’s back. They stood in silence simplyhugging for a few, long moments, concentrating on the sound of their breathingand the hitched sobs which occasionally sounded from the back of Minho’sthroat.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, Minho. What’s wrong?” murmuredJinki quietly, sifting one hand through Minho’s soft, dark locks.

Minho sniffed, wiping his forearm over his eyes. “You shouldbe sleeping.” he muttered instead, eliciting an indignant tut from Jinki.

“I care too much about you to be sleeping right now, Minho.Do you really think I could head back to bed and sleep peacefully after seeingyou this upset? Now tell me what’s wrong.”

The two separated (albeit a little reluctantly on both oftheir behalves), and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. “I…” Minho began,voice deep and gruff from a mixture of crying and exhaustion. “I know I shouldn’tlet it get to me, but I read a comment online today.”

“Minho…” Jinki sighed, knowing already where this was headed.

“I know. It’sstupid but sometimes I just can’t help but think they’re right, y’know?”

The older of the two licked his lips, reluctant to ask. “W-Whatdid it say?”

Keeping his gaze locked on his hands, Minho exhaledforlornly. “You know the ones…’Minho can’t even act, why does he keep gettingall these roles?’ ‘It’s just because he’s handsome.’” His fists were clenchednow, but he continued. “So apparently now…I can’t sing or act, I’m not good enough at soccer, and I’m one of the worstrappers in k-pop.”

Jinki could feel his own anger boiling, and gripped hispants tightly. “That’s not true.” he spoke forcefully, shaking his head. “Youknow that’s not true.”

Minho simply chose to ignore Jinki’s comments, and smalltears shimmered in his wide, chocolate eyes. “If I can’t be any of thosethings, then what can I be, huh? Just another pretty face with abs? Just somemore eye candy?”

Instinctively, one of Jinki’s hands came to rest on Minho’sthigh, causing the younger to stiffen in his seat. “No. You’re more than thatMinho, and you know it. Just…Be you, okay? Because no one else can. Be theMinho who has come so far since Ifirst met him. Your singing abilities have improved so much since debut, as has your acting, because I know youpractice harder than anyone. That high note in Winter Wonderland? It wasn’t afluke, Minho. You earnt that note.You got cast in Two Men and you know what you did? You didn’t rely on your ‘prettyface with abs’, not to say you don’t have that. No…You practiced harder thananyone. You learnt to smoke and you gave it up like you said you would, and you got so much well deserved praisebecause of your acting. The people who leave those comments don’t know the realyou…Sure, your acting might not be Joong Ki standards just yet, and yoursinging isn’t up to par with singers like Wheesung, but throughout all theseyears, you’ve never given up. Instead, you work your ass of every god damn daywhilst continuing to support all the members and being the kindest person I’vehonestly ever met. So don’t you dare think you have to ‘be’ something to meetsome random stranger on the internet’s standards. Just be you, okay? And evenif in the end, those stupid people can’t appreciate your talent and hard work,just know that I always will,alright?”

A whole new stream of tears were making their way down Minho’sface now, but it was safe to say they were tears of happiness rather than tearsof sadness. Or perhaps they were a mixture of both. Nonetheless they werethere, and tentatively, Jinki reached forwards to wipe the tears from Minho’scheeks. “Promise you won’t let that stuff get to you anymore, alright? Just beyou.”

Minho nodded, gently taking Jinki’s hand from his cheeks butkeeping it locked with his own. “I promise.” he spoke, looking up at the oldermale with gratitude and something akin to adoration gleaming in his eyes. “B-But…IfI’m really gonna ‘be me’ from now on, then there’s something I have to do.”

Tilting his head in confusion, Jinki hummed in invitationfor Minho to continue. And so with a shaking hand Minho reached forwardhesitantly to trace his fingers down Jinki’s jaw, holding his chin betweenforefinger and thumb. Jinki visibly shivered, leaning into the younger’s touch.Minho swallowed thickly, allowing his gaze to fall on Jinki’s lips for a splitsecond before returning back to his almond eyes. “Can I?” he whispered inquestion, and it was safe to own they both knew what he was referring to.

Jinki nodded softly, leaning forward marginally and tugging atthe material of Minho’s shirt. Minho smiled and bit his lip nervously, breathscoming in quick, short puffs as his face aligned with Jinki’s. Their nosesbrushed delicately, lips a mere millimetre apart. Jinki had never been moreaware of anything in his entire life. The chills that prickled down his spineat Minho’s light touch, the hot breath against his lips, and the thick aura ofpure affection and adrenaline which ran through his veins. Their lips brushedtentatively, and although Jinki knew that they shouldn’t, he was just far toofocused on how much he wanted it to care. Eyes closed and humility on the line,his grip tightened on Minho’s shirt and tugged him forward, capturing theyounger boy’s lips in a deep yet cautious kiss.

And almost immediately, Minho was reciprocating with just asmuch force as Jinki himself, throwing caution to the wind and allowing his fingersto weave through Jinki’s hair. Their lips meshed together firmly and handstravelled over any revealed skin they could find, simply relishing in thewarmth and tingles that their proximity gave. It didn’t last long, and it wasmore innocent than not, but when Minho and Jinki finally separated it was safeto say that both their faces were adorned with wide, bashful smiles.

Quietly, Minho chuckled, burying his face into the nook ofJinki’s shoulder. “Woah…Okay. That was better than I expected.”

Jinki nodded in agreement, eyes creasing in content. “Yeah…butwe should probably go back to bed now. This bath isn’t too comfortable, if I dosay so myself.”

So with drooping eyes and gleaming smiles, Minho and Jinkimade their way back to their shared bedroom, both slipping beneath the coversof Jinki’s duvet. “Jinki.” Minho whispered softly into the darkness.

“Mm?” came the hummed response.

Minho smiled fondly, placing a chaste peck on the crown ofJinki’s head as he gradually fell into a deep slumber. “Thank you, hyung. I’mso glad to always have you by my side and…and I hope that you’ll always be you.The beautiful, funny and understanding you. Because no one else can.” Minhoclosed his eyes, sifting his hand through Jinki’s hair gently with a vaguesmile. “No one else can be this perfect.”

[onewfantaesy]

Ugh! The whole family sucks in MaIedictus. I can't wait until people start adding things up just like Jinki did. Can sooman be fired? Prolly not, but his image is done for. The boys be expelled? Prolly not but I'm sure they'll pay for potentially "endangering" students and hunting Taemin for a night.

Christmas break hasn’t even started before other students start putting two and two together. Taemin, the sweet first year Hufflepuff Maledictus who talks endlessly about his adopted father and uncles just disappears one day. Four of the Lee brothers from Slytherin had been the first to tell other students he was a Maledictus, were always caught bullying him and saying mean things to him, and were suddenly all in detention and banned from playing Quidditch for the rest of the year. Then the youngest of the Lee brothers, Jongin, was visibly upset and distressed the entire rest of the term, and was constantly in his father’s office to seek out some sort of comfort. Not to mention Professor Sooman himself was visibly on edge and clearly not in very good standing with the rest of the staff at the moment.

It wasn’t hard to figure out, especially after Chanyeol let it slip on a fit of anger over how harsh he thought his punishment was. News travels fast in a boarding school, after all.

“You stole and withheld another, younger student’s medically necessary potions,” the Headmaster says, all of the Heads of House present as he disaplines the four brothers. “You broke into the Hufflepuff dorms to steal said potions. Then you bullied and tormented and, from what I’ve gathered are your own words, hunted this student the entire night while he was in a very vulnerable state.”

“How vulnerable can a giant snake be?” Chanyeol scoffs.

“Chanyeol,” Sooman barks, and the fourth year at least has the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

“Not to mention you put your own brother and housemate into a body bind the entire night so he couldn’t get help,” the Headmaster says. Then he sighs and leans back in his chair and folds his hands. “Based on this one night’s events alone, I should expel all four of you.”

They’re in an uproar about that, all four of them yelling and shouting until Sooman waves his wand to force them all to sit down and be quiet.

“And you,” the Headmaster says, turning to Sooman then. “You’ve turned a blind eye this whole term, letting them say whatever they want, do whatever they want, never doing a thing even when your youngest tried to tell you they were bullying another student. I should fire you.”

Sooman keeps his lips sealed tight, afraid of what he might say.

“However,” the Headmaster states, “I think we all might stand to learn from our mistakes this term. So no one else will be leaving the castle today.”

Sooman loses his title of Head of Slytherin House, and the boys are all given detention, banned from Quidditch, and put on probation for the rest of the year. If they step one more toe out of line, it’s instant expulsion.

When Sooman leaves the Headmaster’s office, he finds Jongin still sitting in his, still distressed, still upset.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Sooman says gently, kneeling in front of the couch where his youngest son starts crying again.

“I can’t feel him anymore,” Jongin cries. “He’s too far away.”

“Feel who?”

“My Taemin,” Jongin says, his voice straining. “All night he was so scared, and I could feel it, I felt like it was happening to me.”

“You can feel him?” Sooman asks, his voice low, unbelieving. “What do you mean you can feel him?”

“I dunno I just,” Jongin stammers, “I know what he feels when I’m around him. I just know. And all night - all night he thought they were gonna kill him and I couldn’t do anything to help him and I thought they were gonna kill him too.”

He’s crying and shaking and diving to hide his face in Sooman’s chest, but not feeling any better when his father hugs him.

“I remember feeling him when I was little,” Jongin admits. “And I knew if he was happy or sad or scared. And then he got really really scared one day and I never saw him again. And now he was really really scared last night and now I can’t feel him anymore and now I’m never gonna see him again.”

Sooman just sighs, and he tries to offer what little comfort he can. Twins. His twins. Who knew fraternal twins could have a magical bond like that? Certainly not Sooman, not until just now.

But he does remember the first day he ran into Kibum in Diagon Alley with little Taemin. It had been Jongin who wanted to go away from the toy store that day. It had been Jongin who pointed out Kibum, but Sooman is now realizing he must have been pointing out the little boy in Kibum’s arms. It had been Jongin who kept insisting he get to play with Taemin and become Taemin’s best friend.

Sooman can’t believe he didn’t realize it sooner.

Needless to say, Jongin doesn’t go to class that day, and Sooman has to cancel all of his.

Before the Christmas break is over, Sooman is summoned into the Headmaster’s office. Kibum is there, sitting with the Headmaster, looking every bit as angry as he did the morning he barged into his office.

“You and your sons are very lucky,” Kibum spits, “seeing as my best friend works in the department of magical law enforcement.”

“How is Minho doing these days?”

“He’s fine,” Kibum snaps.

“And just why did you not go to the aurors then?”

“Because my son didn’t want to,” Kibum says. “He doesn’t want to do much of anything these days; not after what your sons did to him.”

“Then why are you here?” Sooman snaps.

“Because my son deserves an education just as much as any other child,” Kibum tells him.

“I get it,” Sooman snaps. “He’s your son. He’s not mine. You don’t have to keep emphasizing it.”

“We three need to come up with a solution that will help Taemin feel safe and comfortable enough to return to school,” the Headmaster says, motioning for Sooman to come sit down. “Once we come up with a solid plan, we’ll bring his Head of House in to discuss with her as well.”

It takes a long time - almost an entire day - but they come up with a solution. At least a temporary solution. Well, they come up with three, and they’ll allow Taemin to pick whichever he feels most comfortable with.

And as it turns out, Taemin is most comfortable with their least preferred option, which Kibum has warned them was most likely to happen.

“He’s going to be using the floo to come right after breakfast,” Sooman explains gently to Jongin the day before school starts. “He’ll stay for his classes, have lunch, and then floo back home as soon as his last class is done for the day.”

“He won’t even stay for dinner?” Jongin asks, his voice cracking. “Not at all?”

“For now,” Sooman says carefully, “he’s most comfortable only staying for classes. But who know?” Sooman tries to sound lighter, and he smooths back Jongin’s hair. “Maybe he’ll realize how much he missed you and his friends and decide he wants to stay in the dorm again after just a couple days.”

“It’s all their fault,” Jongin starts to cry, “they tortured him and now I’m never gonna get to see him again.”

“You’ll still see him even if he only comes to school during the day.”

“We’ve only got two classes together!” Jongin cries. “And he’ll never let me sit with him at lunch, and he’d never come near the Slytherin table! I’m never gonna get to talk to him again!”

Sooman just sighs, unsure of what to say. He’s grateful when his oldest, Suho, comes in and takes over the role of comforting Jongin. The two have always been close, and the twenty-year-old spends the entire rest of the day helping Jongin feel better.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Taemin is panicking and crying while Kibum holds him and tries to comfort him. He’s terrified to go back to Hogwarts, terrified to be away from Kibum even if it’s only during the day.

“Don’t make me go, don’t make me go, please,” Taemin begs. “Please, please Daddy, please.”

“You’re going to be okay,” Kibum whispers, trying to calm Taemin down. “It’s going to be okay. It’s just during the day, just for classes.”

Taemin spends the entire rest of the day crying, but Kibum holds him the entire time.

First year is proving to be more difficult for Taemin than Kibum thought it would be.

[onewfantaesy]

Maledictus AU 

It takes several long years of never-ending research. Of endless trial-and-error potions and spells and enchantments. Several years of Kibum trying not to get Taemin’s hopes up, only for both of them to be disappointed and upset when, after whatever idea had been developed, failed come nightfall and Taemin still transformed into a snake.

Until finally, after the seventy-third time of tweaking a specific potion, Jinki finally manages to find a breakthrough.

Taemin is nine-years-old, he goes to a small wizarding elementary school, he has friends, and now he has a potion that allows him to only transform during the night of the full moon, like a werewolf. 

The first night he tries the potion, he frowns at Kibum as he sits on his bed. It can be difficult, having to get everything done by sundown. All his homework. And dinner. And taking a shower. And brushing his teeth. Because it’s very difficult to try using a pen or a pencil when all you have is a tail at your disposal. 

“Do you want the sleeping spell?” Kibum asks, sitting on the edge of Taemin’s bed.

“Yes, please,” he says softly. The transformations are still painful, and if the sleeping spell isn’t used, Taemin will wake up in the middle of it even if he falls asleep ahead of time.

Kibum stays in Taemin’s room until after the sun sets. Just to make sure they’ll have to add this potion to the list of failed attempts to cure Taemin’s curse.

But then the sun sets, and Taemin is still a boy. Kibum doesn’t get his hopes up, thinks he must have gotten the time of the sunset wrong that day. Waits five minutes. Then ten. Then twenty. Then an hour. 

And Taemin never transforms that night. He stays Taemin. Stays a boy. Kibum can’t believe it, and he can’t stop crying the entire time, holding Taemin close and hugging him even though he knows Taemin won’t wake up because of the spell.

When Taemin wakes up the next morning, he’s surprised to find Kibum still laying in bed next to him.

“Daddy?” Taemin mumbles, rubbing at his eyes. But he can’t quite see well, given the fact that it’s still dark. 

Then Taemin realizes it’s still dark. The sun hasn’t risen yet. But he still has fingers and he’s still a boy and he screams in excitement and runs to the mirror in his bedroom and starts shouting.

“DADDY! DADDY WAKE UP!” Taemin shouts, jumping back on the bed and shaking Kibum awake. “DADDY IT WORKED!”

Taemin is excited. He’s ecstatic. He’s partially afraid it’s all a dream. But he spends all morning celebrating with Kibum, then Jinki and Minho come over and celebrate too.

They make enough of the potion to last two weeks. Taemin ends up taking it every morning, and it keeps him from being forced to transform at night, unless it’s a full moon.

“It’s going to be similar to a werewolf,” Jinki explains to Taemin. “You’ll turn once every month, on the night of the full moon. But the difference between you and a werewolf is that you always remember what you do as a snake, and you’re aware of what’s going on around you. But you must always remember to take your potion. Every day.”

Taemin just hugs Jinki tight, cries because he’s so overwhelmed, so happy, so relieved. Finally, after nine years, he can be somewhat normal.

They work closely with the ministry, Kibum trying his best to get Taemin special permission to eventually attend upper schools like Hogwarts - although, with Sooman still a professor there, he’s unsure he wants Taemin to attend Hogwarts.

“But Daddy,” Taemin says one evening at dinner, “all my friends are gonna go to Hogwarts.”

Kibum sighs, but he understands why Taemin wants to go. He sets up a meeting with the Headmaster just after Taemin’s tenth birthday (which, on official records, is the day Kibum adopted him: July 18th). Unfortunately, all the Heads of House are in the meeting as well, which includes Sooman.

“He’s a maledictus,” Sooman says as soon as the meeting starts, and Taemin frowns and fidgets in his seat. “We don’t accept maledictuses.”

“We’ve got his condition under control,” Kibum says quickly, looking to the Headmaster instead. “He takes a potion every morning, and it restricts his transformation to once a month, similar to a werewolf. And you’ve accepted werewolves before, it’s on record.”

The Headmaster is intrigued, wants to know more about how they found a potion to help a blood curse. Kibum explains how he and his friends have been researching since he first adopted Taemin, how they’re still working to find a permanent cure. And Taemin talks about how he’s still completely aware of things when he transforms, how he can understand what everyone says and what’s going on around him.

“I know what my dad says to me, and I can still understand him. And sometimes I answer, but even though it sounds like normal to me, it comes out Parseltongue. I can write though, a little bit,” Taemin says.

“Oh really?” the Headmaster asks. “How do you do that?”

“With my tail,” Taemin says. “It’s difficult.”

“Why is it difficult?” Sooman asks.

“No fingers,” Taemin says, holding his hands up and wiggling his fingers for emphasis. “Can’t use a quill, only a pen or a pencil. Mostly one line for yes, two lines for no, if Dad has to ask me something.”

“But most nights of the full moon, I use a spell to put him to sleep before he transforms,” Kibum explains gently. 

“Why’s that?” Sooman snaps. “Afraid of what he might do in snake form?”

“It hurts,” Taemin says softly, not looking up from the tabletop. “I don’t like being awake when it happens.”

“Sometimes a pain relieving potion helps, but only for the transformation when he becomes a snake. It wears off before he can turn back into a human,” Kibum explains.

“And this potion has helped you?” the Headmaster asks, trying to find out a little more information on this potential future student. “Helped you feel a little more like the average wizard?”

“Lots,” Taemin says, excited. “I used to have to get all my homework done before sunset, and get ready for bed and have dinner and everything. But now I can have dinner after sunset, or I can do my homework after sunset, and I can go to bed at a normal time. And I can play Quidditch at school, and I couldn’t do that before because sometimes practice goes until dark, or I wouldn’t be able to go to practice and get my homework done before sunset, and I really like Quidditch.”

“What position do you play?” another Head of House asks.

“Chaser,” Taemin says, smiling. “Sometimes Keeper.”

“And why do you want to come to Hogwarts?” another professor asks.

“All my friends talk about Hogwarts,” Taemin says. “How they’re going to come here. And I want to go to school with my friends, and go where my dad and my uncles went too.”

“You’ve been working with the Ministry?” the Headmaster asks, taking notes. 

“Very closely,” Kibum says, nodding. “We’re working with a few members of the Ministry to find a full cure. Taemin’s case is the closest anyone has ever gotten to curing a blood curse.”

“Well we have allowed werewolves before,” the Headmaster says after an hour of discussing Taemin’s condition. “And if Taemin can keep his senses while he’s transformed, that drastically helps his admissions case.”

“If you need a sleep study to prove he only transforms on the full moon, we’re willing to schedule something,” Kibum says. “He’s done several with the Ministry, it’s nothing new.”

“We’ll be in touch,” the Headmaster says. “I think we may need to schedule a sleep study, if only to prove that he keeps his senses as a snake, but I don’t think there should be a problem allowing his admission if he does truly only transform once a month.”

Taemin and Kibum leave feeling very confident and very excited. Within a week, the school mediwitch contacts Kibum to schedule several nights of a sleep study to keep Taemin under observation. It’s five nights total: one night each week of the month, then the night of the full moon to test if Taemin truly is aware of his surroundings as a snake.

It’s a big step forward in Taemin’s case to gain admission to Hogwarts the next year. Kibum and Taemin are both excited, even if Sooman seems determined to figure out how to get Taemin’s application denied.

[onewfantaesy]

is there something unusual that Taemin does as a result of all the abuse he went through? (like some people need to triple-check doors and windows to feel safe, or get overly anxious over unimportant things, like dropping a plate and thinking you're going to get in so much trouble)? does it ever worry Jinki? just imagine taemin dropping a plate and having a panic attack because of it :( so heartbreaking

Taemin gets skittish about some of the most trivial things, but Jinki knows they’re not trivial to him. He tries his best to assure Taemin that everything is fine, that he hasn’t done anything wrong, because it breaks his heart to see him freak out about the tiniest things.

Like forgetting to put his cereal bowl in the dishwasher, or leaving his backpack in the living room, or forgetting to put the toilet seat down (even though Jinki has assured him he doesn’t care if the toilet seat is down or not), and - this one is the most baffling to Jinki - if he “puts his clothes away wrong” in his closet.

But these little things all start adding up, and it tells Jinki that while yes, Taemin’s father was a terrible person, he clearly wasn’t the only terrible adult in Taemin’s life. 

“Do you wanna talk about why you get so upset if you forget to do little things?” Jinki asks softly one day. “It’s okay to make mistakes. I’m not going to get mad at you for forgetting to bring your shoes into your bedroom, that’s silly.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Taemin says quickly, and he grabs said forgotten shoes and rushes back into his bedroom, closing the door.

A couple weeks later, when Jinki gets back home from the grocery store, he finds Taemin panicking as he unloads the dishwasher.

“I’m almost done, I promise!” Taemin says. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry - I’m almost done!”

Jinki had asked him to put the dishes away when they were done. It wasn’t a big deal, Jinki had only just turned the dishwasher on right before he left.

“Taemin, it’s okay,” Jinki says carefully. “Really, it’s no big deal.”

But then a mug falls on the floor and smashes into several pieces, and Taemin freezes. Jinki isn’t entirely sure what to do, but he moves to grab the broom and dustpan to clean it up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Taemin keeps repeating, his voice straining. He tries to kneel down to pick up the pieces, but Jinki is quick to pull him away so he doesn’t cut himself. When Taemin lets out a strangled whine and flinches away, Jinki immediately lets go.

“It’s alright,” Jinki says softly. “It was an accident.”

“I can clean it,” Taemin says, backing away until his back jams against the counter.

“It’s really okay,” Jinki says. “I can clean it, it’s alright. You didn’t do anything wrong, you’re not in any trouble.”

Taemin doesn’t look convinced, and he immediately rushes into his room and closes the door. Jinki just sighs, and he makes quick work of cleaning up the broken mug and putting the rest of the dishes away, along with the groceries.

Later that evening, Jinki knocks on Taemin’s door.

“Taemin?” he calls. “It’s dinnertime. I made spaghetti.”

He can hear Taemin shuffling around, but he doesn’t hear him say anything. 

“Well I’ve got a plate for you if you’re hungry,” Jinki says. 

Taemin comes out about an hour later, wringing his hands and still looking too nervous for Jinki’s liking. He shuffles over towards the kitchen, and he looks at the plate covered in plastic wrap still sitting on the stove.

“You wanna sit at the table with me?” Jinki asks. 

“Okay.”

Jinki sits with him while he eats dinner, and he tries to help him realize he’s not in any trouble.

“You’re not going to get in trouble for things like accidentally breaking a cup, or forgetting to unload the dishwasher. I’m not worried about stuff like that, it’s not important,” Jinki explains to him.

“What will I get in trouble for, then?” 

Jinki is almost a little shocked at the question, but he realizes he shouldn’t be. They haven’t actually gone over any sort of house rules. Maybe that’s why Taemin had been so on edge over every little thing.

“Well,” Jinki stammers, waving his hands. “I hadn’t really ever thought about you being in trouble, honestly.”

“Why not?” Taemin asks, swirling his fork in his dinner, not looking up at Jinki. “I’m a fuck up.”

“Says who?” Jinki snaps, but regrets it as soon as he sees Taemin flinch back. Then he continues in a softer tone, “You aren’t a fuck up. You’re a kid.”

Taemin doesn’t say anything else. Jinki just sighs.

“Maybe we can go over some rules and stuff in the morning,” he suggests. “Would that be good?”

Taemin just nods. The next morning, they go over some house rules. Things like doing homework, and keeping his room relatively clean, and helping out around the house. 

“What do I get in trouble for?” Taemin asks, not looking Jinki in the eyes.

“Well, once school starts back up, if you get in trouble or something in class, I guess I’d probably just ground you,” Jinki says. “Or if you get in fights or something. Things like that.”

“Ground me?” Taemin questions, looking up.

“Yeah, ya know,” Jinki says, waving a hand around, “like no TV for a week and stuff like that. Extra chores around the house. That sort of thing.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s the only kind of punishment you’d ever get from me,” Jinki says in a firm but gentle tone. “And only if you ever really do something to deserve it. But little things like forgetting to put your dishes in the dishwasher, or not taking your backpack into your bedroom - those aren’t things you should be punished for.”

Taemin only nods his head.

He’s not going to be immediately cured overnight, Jinki knows that, but he hopes this helps at least a little bit. It makes him seem a bit less skittish, at least.

“And if you ever want to talk about anything,” Jinki says, trying not to sound as awkward as he feels, “anything at all, I’m always here to listen. And you’ll never get in trouble for talking to me. I promise.”

Taemin nods again.

“Who knows,” Jinki laughs, rubbing the back of his neck, “it might help you feel better to talk about things sometimes.”

“Okay.”

They don’t talk about it right away, but Taemin is happy to know that Jinki will listen to him when he’s ready.

[onewfantaesy]

Little Henchmen AU

Just because Jinki, Minho, and Taemin were residents of Halloweentown didn’t mean they were welcomed. Or liked. Or trusted. They worked for the boogeyman after all; most days they were met with sneers and threats to stay away. It didn’t matter that they were barely between the ages of 4 and 7, physically and mentally, because they were chaotic imps who were nothing but trouble.

But every so often, they hope that maybe going into the town square will end differently. That they won’t be yelled at or told to go away. They just want candy - they’re trick-or-treaters, they need to eat candy. And so what is they play a few tricks? That’s what they’re supposed to do! No one gets mad when the vampires suck blood from people, or when the witches cast curses.

So they put on their trick-or-treater masks and venture out into town when Kibum gives them a free afternoon to cause mischief. Jinki has a vampire mask, Minho a devil, and Taemin a skeleton. Then they’re off.

“Trick or treat!” Taemin, the littlest imp, shouts. “Trick or treat! We want candy!”

“Only the good kind!” Minho shouts.

“Chocolate!” Jinki clarifies.

“Get out of the way,” the mayor, his ugly clown face showing, says. And he kicks them to the side. “We’re preparing for next Halloween!”

“So are we!” Jinki argues. “We need candy!”

“We’re trick-or-treaters!” Minho tells him.

“TRICK OR TREAT!” Taemin shouts again.

They’re knocked over like bowling pins, and the three of them are huffing and grunting and scrambling to stand back up.

It’s the same most of the afternoon. Being pushed aside or knocked over or just flat out ignored. Until Taemin annoys some particularly testy devils.

“TRICK OR TREAT! TRICK OR TREAT! TRICK OR TREAT!” Taemin shouts, stomping his feet in front of them. It’s been three hours and they’ve found no candy at all. “Gimme candy, you old trolls!”

That pissed the devils off, and they pick Taemin up and throw him across the town square. He lands against the center fountain with a loud thump and crack, then falls to the floor clutching his arm, letting out a loud scream. He’s crying and sobbing and screaming, and Jinki and Minho are quick to rush over to him.

His arm is bent in a funny direction, and neither of the older boys know how to fix it.

“Shush, shush,” Jinki says quickly as they bring him back to their treehouse. “Don’t cry; boogie hates it when we cry.”

“Don’t wake him up,” Minho says, trying to hold his hand over Taemin’s mouth.

But Taemin is in more pain than he’s ever been, they hadn’t found any candy at all, and he was really not feeling well at all. He couldn’t help but cry.

That’s when they hear Kibum’s rumbling from underneath, and they’re quickly summoned down into his lair.

“You need to shush,” Jinki pleads, dragging Taemin over to the lift. “Or boogie will get really mad.”

“It hurts,” Taemin sobs, unable to make himself stop.

And his trick-or-treater mask had cracked. He was very, very upset.

“What the hell are you three doing?” Kibum asks, his voice echoing throughout the lair as the three boys tumble out of the lift. It only makes Taemin cry more, his arm having been jostled.

“It’s not our fault!” Jinki is quick to defend.

“We didn’t do anything!” Minho adds.

The Boogeyman’s shadow looms over them, and the three boys cower before it. Then Kibum is slithering towards them, curious about what the dilemma is.

“What did he do?” Kibum asks, gesturing toward Taemin.

“We just wanted candy,” Minho says in a small voice.

“And they all got really mad at us,” Jinki says, his voice equally as quiet and shivering.

“So what happened?” Kibum asks, his voice growing louder.

“They threw me at the fountain!” Taemin finally cries, and his mask cracks in half and falls off, showing a red face full of tear tracks. “Really really hard and it hurts really really bad and now it won’t bend normal!”

Kibum grimaces, noting the way Taemin’s arm bends where it shouldn’t. But he’s not good with kids, not with making them feel better, and even if he did know how to mend a broken bone, he wouldn’t really want to.

“Who threw you?”

“The devils!”

Kibum is kneeling before the boys, keeping them at arm’s length. It’s not much, and it certainly isn’t the most comforting, but he wipes at the tears falling from Taemin’s eyes with a thumb.

“Go back upstairs,” he tells the boys. “I’ll call someone to come fix it.”

“We didn’t even get any candy,” Jinki says quietly.

“And we didn’t even get to trick ‘em yet,” Minho says.

“Go back upstairs,” is all Kibum says.

Half an hour later, one of the calmer residents of Halloweentown is coming through the front of the treehouse. Boa, a surprisingly compassionate rag doll, manages to patch up Taemin’s arm good as new, even gives him a sling to keep it in.

“I’ll come back next week to check on you,” she says, smiling and petting Taemin’s mess of hair.

“My mask too?” Taemin asks, pointing at the two halves of his skeleton mask.

“I’ll bring you a brand new one,” she tells him instead, trying to excite him a bit. When the three boys still look sad and upset, she reaches into her bag. “In the meantime, I think you’ll like this.”

She gives them a big bag of candy, and the three quickly turn on each other to try and grab the most for themselves.

“It’s mine!”

“No mine!”

“No she brought ‘em for me!”

“I want you boys to share,” she tells them, picking them up by the backs of their costumes and separating them. “There’s enough candy for all three of you.”

“And what do you three say?” Kibum’s voice echoes from down below.

The three boys gaps and are quick to get in line, muttering nervous little thank-yous to the rag doll.

In his own way, Kibum does care about his favorite trick-or-treaters. They are his little henchmen, after all. It would be a shame if something happened to them.

[onewfantaesy]

For Parselmouth AU, can you talk about Taemin's extra defense lessons with Jinki. How Jinki interacts with Taemin and Key?

“I know it’s a bit advanced for you, but I want you to try casting Protego,” Jinki says.

Taemin is unimpressed. Ravi and Kai are just eager to accept a challenge, and immediately start attempting the spell.

“This is stupid,” Taemin complains, his wand held tight. “It’s not going to stop anything.”

“If you can block a jinx,” Jinki says gently, “then it won’t be any fun to hit you with one. Just try.”

Taemin is gloomy and upset and tired, but he manages to get a half-formed protego spell to work.

“You’ll be excellent at it in no time,” Jinki assures him. “You guys should head down to dinner now. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Jinki is a good tutor. Helps Taemin hold his wand properly, reminds the three first years how to properly pronounce spells, demonstrates over and over again until they get it right.

But Taemin doesn’t think that makes Jinki a friend. Who would want to be friends with a weirdo like him anyway? He’s lucky enough he has Kai and Ravi.

“Would you like go to the library with me?” Jinki asks on Saturday after a Defense lesson.

“Why?”

“Its a decent place to do homework, you see,” Jinki laughs. “I have a Potions essay to finish, and I’d rather like the company if you had anything to work on.”

“Oh,” Taemin mumbles. “Um. Sure.”

Taemin studies for his Transfiguration and Potions classes while they’re in the library. Jinki even takes time to help Taemin when he gets confused, explains concepts the professors only ever go over once.

“You’re my funniest little friend, you know that?” Jinki teases after a third library session.

“I’m your friend?”

“Well yeah,” Jinki laughs. “What did you think you were?”

“I dunno,” Taemin mumbles.

Jinki slings an arm around Taemin’s shoulders and smiles, leads him out into the grounds to go sit by the Black Lake. When they’re sitting down in the grass, Key slithers our from Taemin’s sleeve, and Jinki smiles at the snake.

“Hello, Key,” Jinki greets.

“Hello, old man,” Key hisses.

It always makes Taemin giggle.

“He always calls you old man,” Taemin says for the millionth time. It always makes Jinki smile. “He won’t say why.”

“I’ve been told I have an old soul.”

Jinki rummages through his bag and pulls out a couple sweets he knicked from the kitchens. Taemin takes one of the chocolate cakes and says a small thank you, but he tugs it back and pouts when Key tries to take a bite.

“Stop it!” Taemin whines. “You’ll get sick!”

“Here,” Jinki says, and he pulls out a jar of dead mice. “Got it from the Potions lab. Don’t tell anyone.”

Taemin is shocked. Not that Jinki stole from the Potions stores, but because he thought to bring something for Key as well. Most people usually sneer at Key, they don’t usually give him treats.

Maybe Jinki is a good friend after all.

[onewfantaesy]

Hi... could you please tell me where can I order my own angsty baby superhero? I think I need one...😂 And is it possible to have an episode where the league have some kind of training camp or summer camp for younger superheroes/sidekicks while the older ones having meeting with world leaders or some kind of conference. Taemin are sent to the one with the younger bunch and he think that he will get teased by the teenage superheroes. Or something in that tune. Thank you always for all the AUs.

“I’M NOT GOING!”

“It’s only for two weeks.”

“I’M NOT GOING!”

“We already signed you up,” Jinki tells him, still somehow very calm despite the fact that Taemin looks like he’s going to explode, little bursts of lightning crackling at the tips of his fingers. “It will be fun!”

“No it won’t because everyone is mean and all the sidekicks are dumb and what if people see and then Red Cyclone is the only adult at some stupid little sidekick summer camp and it’s not fair and I wanna go with you and it’s not fair!”

“Sweetheart,” Luna laughs a bit, gently guiding him to sit on the couch with her, “you don’t have to be Red Cyclone at the camp. You don’t have to to do any of the superhero training stuff - because you’re already a superhero. You can just go and have fun.”

“Why can’t I go with the rest of the league?” Taemin whines, aggressively cuddling into her side. “I wanna stay with you. And it’s gonna be my birthday!”

“You’ll be home before your birthday, and we’ll have a big party for you to celebrate turning eleven,” Jinki tells him.

“I wanna stay with you,” Taemin repeats, his voice soft but still with a whiny tinge to it.

“You’re so sweet,” Luna coos, hugging him tight. “But you have to go.”

“But I’m the only one without powers,” Taemin cries. “Cyclone has powers, Taemin’s just normal.”

“Arrow’s niece is going to be there,” Jinki tells him. “She’s your age, and she doesn’t have any powers, either.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Taemin huffs and sighs and continues whining for days, but he does end up going to summer camp.

“You’ll be in this cabin,” one of the older sidekicks who’s in charge says. “There’s only one other ten year old signed up, so you’re both in this cabin. She also has no powers, so I’ll be your group leader and we can do some different activities from the others.”

He knows his new group leader’s name is Kai, but he cannot for the life of him remember what his sidekick name is or whose sidekick he is. It’s going to drive Taemin mad for the next two weeks. Maybe he’ll get his roommate to ask for him.

“I do have powers, ya know,” Taemin says back in a snotty voice.

“Yes, but I was told you didn’t want to turn into Red Cyclone during this camp thing, so we’ll work on normal self defense, some offense, and archery, since that’s what your roommate specializes in. We can also do some normal camp stuff. Arts and crafts and kayaking and all that crap.”

“Wow,” Taemin says. “Sounds super duper exciting.”

“Just don’t be a dick and we won’t have any problems,” Kai tells him, making a face at him.

Taemin huffs when Kai leaves, goes and claims the bed on the right side of the cabin, and flops on top of the bed while holding his Jinx doll. This camp thing is gonna suck and he can’t wait for it to be over. Plus, he’s still offended that the League is going on some big peace-keeping trip across the globe and he got left with the sidekicks. It sucks. Everything sucks.

“Hi,” a soft voice says as the cabin door opens. “I’m Naeun. Are you my cabin buddy?”

Taemin looks up to see the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his whole entire life smiling at him and dragging a giant duffel bag behind her.

“Yes!” Taemin says, jumping up to help her with her bags. “I can help you! I’m Taemin!”

She giggles at him and has the cutest smile and a giant bow and arrow are strapped to her back.

Maybe there’s just one thing about this camp that won’t suck.

The first week goes smoothly. They spend their time sparring, hiking, and fighting off pre-programmed droids with the moves that Kai teaches them. He even takes them kayaking on the lake, and he’s probably the best sidekick Taemin has ever met. He must not spend much time at Mount Justice with all the other loser sidekicks.

“I’m not so much a sidekick anymore,” Kai tells him when Taemin questions him on it. “We’re more like partners. I told him I was too old to be a sidekick anymore.”

“How old are you?”

“You have a lot of questions,” Kai laughs. “I’m 20.”

“Wow,” Taemin whistles. “You’re old.”

“Thank you,” Kai laughs, shoving him. “Now let’s get back to archery. Naeun, can you help him hold the arrow properly, please?”

“Pull it back like this,” she tells him, holding onto his hand.

Taemin’s entire face turns red when she stands so close to him. He can hear Kai snickering behind his hand. Taemin wants to send the arrow straight into his kneecap. 

Many evenings find Taemin and Naeun playing around their cabin while Kai supervises and makes sure they don’t sprain an ankle or kill each other. It mostly involves playing tag or coming up with elaborate pranks to pull against Kai. It usually involves pouring lake water over his head. They’re both pretty sure Kai knows every time it’s going to happen, but he lets it happen to humor them. Taemin’s almost forgotten that the other sidekicks even exist.

Until Kai announces that the first Saturday, they’re going to compete with the others to take down a practice droid. 

“It’s just for fun,” he tells them that morning. “To practice the moves I’ve been teaching you.”

“But they’ll use their powers,” Taemin complains. “And they’re older. It’s not fair.”

“You can turn into Red Cyclone if you want,” Kai tells him. “No one will stop you. It’s just for fun, guys, I promise.”

“Oh look, it’s little orphan Annie,” one of the meaner sidekicks laughs when Taemin, Naeun, and Kai walk over to the arena that was set up.

Taemin immediately sticks his tongue out, makes a face, and flips him off with both hands. Kai has to physically pick him up and drag him away.

“Please don’t make those kinds of gestures,” Kai says.

“They started it!”

“And I’ll deal with them later,” Kai promises. “But please don’t flip anyone off, it’s rude.”

“Their existences are rude.”

“Please stop.”

The fact that Kai remains so calm helps calm Taemin down, and he ends up just discussing with Taemin and Naeun what their strategy should be to defeat the droid.

“Watch them,” he whispers as the first group battles the droid. “Look at everything they’re doing wrong. Their stances are terrible. They rely on their powers way too much. Don’t make those same mistakes.”

When the first group gets horribly beaten by the droid, Taemin gasps.

“I have an idea,” he whispers to both of them, and he pulls them close to tell them his plan. Kai approves after tweaking a few of the other moves Taemin had suggested, and Naeun is bouncing in anticipation as the other groups go before them.

Taemin ends up turning into Red Cyclone halfway through their fight to distract the droid. Naeun makes several critical hits with her arrows, and then they get the droid to corner Taemin on the ground.

All the sidekicks are laughing, saying that Taemin can’t even beat it as a full grown hero, but that just makes Taemin smirk even more.

“Shazam!”

A magic lightning bolt goes straight through the droid to hit Taemin and turn him back to normal, and he rolls out from under the droid as it collapses on the floor.

Taemin and Naeun cheer the entire time, high-five each other, and just in general act excited since they’re the only group who managed to beat the droid. Kai is even cheering loudly for them, and it’s just fun. Taemin is having a good time.

“THAT’S CHEATING!” one of the sidekicks screams. “YOU’RE SUCH A LITTLE CHEAT!”

Taemin and Naeun immediately stop, and they’re both so confused as they turn to the group of angry teenage sidekicks.

“How did we cheat?” Taemin asks. 

“YOU CAN’T JUST TURN INTO RED CYCLONE AND BACK IN A REAL FIGHT!” they shout. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

“Well I just did,” Taemin snaps back. 

“I’m the one who said he could do that,” Kai says, trying to diffuse the situation. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”

That doesn’t help any. It turns into a mob of teenage sidekicks screaming at Taemin about how he’s a cheater, which turns into them mocking him for being a foster kid again, which turns into them saying, “THE ONLY REASON JINX AND NIGHTINGALE TOOK YOU IN IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE POWERS! WHY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE NOT WITH THE LEAGUE RIGHT NOW?”

And it makes Taemin freeze. Those thoughts are always in the back of his mind, that Jinki and Luna only took him in because they found out he was Red Cyclone and they wanted to keep tabs on him.

Even though it’s just a small group of sidekick yelling all these things at him, it feels like everyone at the camp is thinking the same thing. The camp leaders are trying to get everyone under control, but Taemin is so overwhelmed and upset that he turns back into Red Cyclone and flies back to the cabin.

He only takes his backpack with a couple changes of clothes stuffed inside, and flies away. He leaves his Jinx doll on the bed, still tucked against the pillow.

Taemin goes straight to his lair. It’s the only place no one else can access. He wants to be entirely and completely alone.

“You’re unhappy.”

Except he forgets the wizard can just pop in whenever he wants. It’s so rude.

“No shit, asswipe,” Taemin snaps. “You ruined my life!”

“I made you my champion.”

“And you ruined my life!” Taemin cries. “I don’t want to be a superhero!”

“You are not a superhero,” the wizard tells him, his voice very firm. “You are a champion of good. You protect people who cannot protect themselves. You help keep the balance between good and evil.”

Taemin turns back into himself, and he just cries. He crumbles onto the stone floor, hugs his backpack to his chest, and cries. He misses his Jinx doll, but he doesn’t want it anymore.

“You are pure of heart,” the wizard tells him for what feels like the millionth time. “This is why I chose you. But I think it’s time I teach you more magic.”

Taemin wipes at his eyes and looks at where the wizard is kneeling beside him.

“What kinda magic?”

“Every kind of magic.”

The wizard spends the next four days teaching Taemin about magic. He learns simple spells quickly, mastering them in just hours. Things like summoning fire and lifting objects. 

Other spells are not so simple. Like teleportation. And a trick that the wizard knew to keep surveillance on certain people.

He showed an example of it with Jinki and Luna. They’re frantic, having left the conference early to search for Taemin. 

He sees Luna holding the Jinx doll and crying on the bed while Jinki stays out late at night searching the city.

“They’re looking for you,” the wizard tells him. “They’ve been looking for you nonstop. You’ve been missing for almost a week.”

“They don’t really miss me,” Taemin lies to himself. “They only adopted me because they didn’t like that I was running around as Red Cyclone.”

“You know that isn’t true.”

“Then why does everyone think it?”

“Because they’re jealous,” the wizard suggests. “Because they are intimidated by you. Because they want you to question yourself.”

Taemin is quiet for a long time. He watches as Luna cries and hugs the Jinx doll, as Jinki shouts to other superheroes about how unfair it is that the police won’t search for Taemin because, “This is what he does, they said! He’s a ten year old boy, I don’t care how many times he’s run away before, he’s missing! He needs to be safe and at home!”

Other heroes are out looking for Taemin. Many of them left the conference early. Many came to help as soon as the conference ended.

The sidekicks who heckled him were punished. Again. Taemin isn’t sure it will really do anything, but apparently his running away is a big deal.

“I’m afraid to go back,” Taemin admits. 

“Why?”

“They’re gonna be mad at me.”

“I think they’ll be overjoyed if you go back,” the wizard tells him. “They miss you a great deal.”

It takes about an entire day, but the wizard convinces Taemin to go home.

He goes back in the middle of the night. Jinki is still out looking for him. Most of the house is dark, but the back door is left unlocked.

“Mom?” Taemin whispers, tip-toeing up the stairs.

He finds her sleeping on his bed, still holding onto his Jinx doll. Taemin kicks off his shoes and gets in the bed next to her, taking his Jinx doll to hold to his chest. He really missed it.

Luna wakes up an hour later to find Taemin completely knocked out next to her, and she just starts crying and fixing his hair and hugging him. It wakes him up, and he whines a little bit, but he doesn’t fight her off when she holds him tight to her chest and whispers how much she missed him.

She calls Jinki right away, and he’s back home within ten minutes to hug Taemin and tell him how much they missed him.

“What were you thinking?” Jinki asks, holding Taemin so close. “We’ve been worried sick.”

Taemin doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t really know what he was thinking. He was upset and scared and wanted to go somewhere he could be by himself.

“Are you okay?” Jinki asks softly. “Are you hurt?”

Taemin only shakes his head and holds on tighter. He doesn’t want to talk.

“Did anything bad happen while you were gone?” Jinki asks.

Taemin shakes his head again.

“Okay,” Jinki says softly. “We can talk more tomorrow. Let’s go to sleep now, alright?”

Taemin falls asleep between Jinki and Luna that night. He really did miss them a lot.

[onewfantaesy]

au where taemin’s mom is a total gold digger and she married jinki’s dad who’s an older rich guy but like plot twist jinki is the a biology and marine biology teacher at the high school taemin goes to. jinki teaches biology to sophomores and marine biology to juniors and seniors and their parents got married the summer between taemin’s freshman and sophomore years and they never actually met each other until the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.

when jinki first saw taemin, it was from across the dining room and he could really only tell that the kid seemed nervous and uncomfortable and kept pulling at the tie around his neck - which only really made it tighter. jinki was afraid the poor kid was going to end up strangling himself or something, so he hurried over and put a hand on his shoulder.

“that’s not how you loosen it, kid,” jinki said, and he bent over slightly so he could get a better look at the knot around the kid’s neck.

when he finally got a good look at his almost-step-brother’s face, taemin was staring at him with wide eyes and a baffled look on his face.

“what’s wrong?” jinki asked. “is it still too tight?”

“you’re gonna be my bio teacher this year.”

jinki just barely resisted the urge to groan. of course his dad would be marrying some chick with a kid that goes to his school.

“well,” jinki said. “nice to meet you, then. i’m jinki.”

“so you’re his son?” taemin asked.

“yep,” jinki said, standing up straight and scoffing a bit. “one of them, at least. the only one you’ll meet, probably.”

“oh”

“so,” jinki said, trying to keep a smile on his face. “are you going to tell me your name, or do i have to wait until roll call on the first day?”

“i’m, uh, i’m taemin,” he said.

“nice to meet you, taemin,” jinki said. “so how old are you? fifteen?”

“not yet,” taemin mumbled. “m’birthday’s next week.”

“next week?” jinki asked, his voice getting higher.

“mmhmm,” taemin hummed, but he wouldn’t look back up.

“when they’re on their honeymoon?”

“yeah,” taemin muttered. “s’on wednesday.”

“well, we’ll have to do something then,” jinki said, trying to crack a smile out of this kid. “where’re you gonna be? your dad’s? your grandparents’?”

“m’gonna be at home,” taemin said.

“by yourself?” jinki’s voice was soft, and he pulled taemin to sit down at the table with him. taemin only shrugged, and he fiddled with one of the folded napkins on the table. “well maybe we can throw you a wild house party since the parents will be away.”

that got a crack of a smirk out of taemin, and jinki was proud of himself. 

jinki thought he was only going to hate his newest step-mother because she was so obviously a gold digger, but now he hated her because she didn’t seem to give a single shit about her kid.

jinki got to know taemin pretty well that summer. he kept his word and brought a bit of a party to taemin on his birthday. it wasn’t the wild house party he boasted about, but he did get cake and ice cream and pizza and walked through the door with his wife, luna. he’d freaked taemin out, though. the kid was huddled behind the couch with his phone ready to dial 911. perhaps he should have called before he just used his extra key to his dad’s house.

but taemin was still really awkward around him, he didn’t really talk a whole lot, and he barely even ate the birthday cake luna picked out specially for him.

even though taemin seemed super awkward around him, he ended up spending a lot of time at jinki’s house that summer. even when their parents got back from their honeymoon, taemin would still text jinki asking him if he could spend the night or come over for a couple hour during the day. he’d even taken to calling jinki “onew,” a nickname that jinki couldn’t quite figure out the origin of. 

“you just look like an onew,” taemin said. it had been about a month, and taemin was already so much more comfortable around him. “i won’t call you it if you don’t want me to though.”

“no, no, you can call me whatever you want,” jinki insisted. “i like it. i love it.”

taemin smiled at him after that, but he went back to playing the video games that jinki said he was more than welcome to use. 

taemin had fallen asleep on the couch that night, and onew and luna were just going to let him stay there unless he woke up, in which he was more than welcome to use the extra room they had. it had pretty much been turned into taemin’s bedroom anyway.

except they hadn’t realized taemin woke up while they were having dinner, hadn’t realized that taemin had overheard luna joke about, “so did your dad get a new step-kid or did we?” they didn’t see him tip-toe back to the couch, nor did they see him text his friends to see if they could come pick him up.

“um,” taemin stuttered when he walked into the kitchen a little while later. “my, uh, my friends are gonna come pick me up. i’m gonna go spend the night there.”

“oh?” jinki asked. “which friends?”

“uh, key and minho,” taemin said softly.

“the kim twins?” jinki asked. “you’re friends with them?”

“mmhmm,” taemin mumbled. “they’re, uh, they’re outside. so. bye.”

jinki watched from the kitchen window as taemin got into the back of the kim twins’ shared car - an old used volkswagen that had definitely seen better days - and that was the last jinki had seen taemin all summer.

when jinki saw taemin in his fourth period biology class that first day of school, his step-brother wouldn’t even make eye contact with him. he’d mumbled a, “here,” during attendance, and that was all he heard from him that entire day.

jinki kept an eye out for him, but all he could really see was that taemin was eating lunch with the kim twins - who were a grade ahead of taemin - and another boy who was in the same period as taemin. kai, if jinki remembered correctly.

taemin just seemed so completely distant, and jinki couldn’t figure out why. 

but about a month-and-a-half into the school year, the at kai boy came into jinki’s classroom at the beginning of the lunch period.

“um, mr. lee?”

“yes?” 

jinki looked up and saw kai’s head darting between the open door and jinki’s desk. then he shuffled forward, fiddling with his hands, and then looked at jinki with a very worried look on his face.

“uh, you’re taemin’s step-brother, right?” kai asked.

“yes, i am,” jinki said. “why, is something wrong? is he alright?”

“um,” kai stuttered. he looked back at the door again, and then he said in a really low voice, “it’s just, i need to - i dunno if i should tell you or not, but you’re sort of his family, right?”

“i am his family,” jinki said firmly. “what’s going on, is he hurt?”

“no, well, maybe?” kai said, his voice wavering. “it’s just. it’s like. you know his parents are like, never home, right?”

jinki opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and yet found he couldn’t really say anything.

“what?”

“they’re like never home,” kai said quickly. “and they don’t really leave enough money or anything for like food or stuff and he pretty much bums it out at either my house or the twins’ house all the time and-and like he said you and your wife don’t even really want him around either but like you’re a teacher so you gotta do something about it either way don’t you?”

jinki made him say everything again, but slower, because he couldn’t believe his ears. his dad may be a douche, sure, but he wouldn’t outright neglect the kid, would he? and why would taemin think he and luna didn’t want him around?

“he said something like you and your wife were mad because it was like you got a step-kid you didn’t want or something,” kai said, and even he didn’t really understand what that meant.

jinki went and found taemin at the lunch benches, and he knelt next to the table taemin was at with the kim twins.

“hey,” jinki said softly. taemin looked uncomfortable, and the kim twins both looked annoyed with jinki. “so i’ve been trying to call my dad, but he’s not answering or anything. do you know where he is?”

taemin looked confused, and he was quiet for a moment before he said, “they’re in paris.”

“paris?” jinki asked. “why’re they in paris?”

taemin only shrugged.

“his phone should work, though,” taemin mumbled. then he turned a blank look to jinki and said, “maybe he just doesn’t wanna talk to you.”

a humorless smirk graced jinki’s face. “maybe,” he said. “but hey, i want you to come get dinner with me and luna tonight. is that okay with you?”

“why?”

“because we miss you,” jinki said, smiling. and it was true, they did miss taemin.

taemin looked uncomfortable again, but he mumbled, “yeah okay sure.”

jinki convinced taemin to spend the night that night as well. 

“but i don’t have any clothes here,” taemin tried to argue.

“you can borrow some of mine to wear to bed,” jinki said. “and then we can stop by your house tomorrow morning so you can change before school.”

taemin didn’t even really argue after that. jinki hoped it meant that he actually wanted to stay.

he also hoped it meant he would start staying over more, especially if their parents were leaving him home alone so much.

he’d have to talk with luna about coming up with some sort of living arrangement for taemin. he didn’t think he would have to convince her, because she seemed upset once he told her about what taemin’s little friend had told him.

[onewfantaesy]

How does the ot5 interact with each other. Like is key the leader of the group or is it jinki. Do they all baby Taemin even though they are the same age

While Kibum is the most enthusiastic of the group, Jinki is definitely the leader. He’s silently very leader-like, and he likes to take care of the others - like when he bought Taemin a cookie from the cafeteria. He’s also got the best grades of the five of them, so the others are all just like “Wow Jinki you’re so smart.” He’s like, Principal’s Honor Roll smart. The others all admire him greatly. He and Taemin are particularly close to each other.

Kibum mostly just plans what they’re going to do all the time. If one of the others wants to try to do something with everyone one weekend, they’ll ask Kibum to help plan it. Kibum loves planning get-togethers. He’s just so enthusiastic.

Jonghyun is the one they all go to for girl advice because all the girls in their grade love him for whatever reason. Jonghyun says it’s because “I have a sister I just know how girls work.” Jonghyun also gives a lot of unsolicited advice. Kibum gets the most annoyed with him and his “sagely wisdom.”

Minho just always wants them all to go play at lunch. “I got a ball let’s play handball! Let’s play kickball! Four square! Tether ball! Let’s go the line up bell is going to ring soon!!!” Minho helped Taemin out the most when he realized he was the new kid, and Minho is just generally a very helpful little dude. He loves helping people.

Taemin definitely gets babied, 1. because he’s the new kid and, 2. because they found out his mom died and they just want him to be okay and taken care of. None of them can even imagine what it must be like to lose your mom. They try not to bring it up, because they know that it makes Taemin upset, but they still just want him to be as happy as possible. Also, at this point in their lives, Taemin is actually the shortest, not Jonghyun. His dad, Heechul, tells him that he’ll go through a growth spurt soon enough, and, “You’re small because you were a preemie. You’ll get bigger soon enough, don’t you worry.” Taemin is just a tiny kid. Skinny and short, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Besides, he has the others to protect him if anyone tries to make fun of him or anything. Jinki is especially good at protecting Taemin.