#undivorced au

[avonne-writes]

I’d love something abt how John learns abt gales father as they grow closer, whether it be thru stories/behaviors etc, I love everything you write tho so no pressure!!

This is a great ask! Thank you so much 🩷 I'm so sorry for keeping it for so long, I wanted to give it some thought and I kept delaying it.

Canon AU

Gale doesn’t talk about his background at all at first. The guys don’t even know where he’s from unless they ask. Sometimes, he drops comments about how a man ought to behave, usually in a dark or sarcastic tone, and he openly scoffs at being invested in sports teams, but that’s it.

As they grow closer, John learns Gale's nonverbal emotional cues, and knows how to identify when Gale is upset, scared or angry, even if it only lasts a moment. And when he reaches that point, that's when he realizes that some behaviours always get one of these hidden reactions out of Gale.

For example, it frightens him for a split second when the boys play-fight with their belts, or he gets irritated by drunken crowds. John starts to put it together that something left Gale with these instinctual reactions that still show even though he’s trying to cover them.

Eventually, when it’s just the two of them and the moment feels right, he broaches the subject.

I headcanon that Gale is in denial to himself about how his own childhood affected him - he’s purposefully lying to himself about its impact. He detaches his feelings from it. So he talks about terrible memories without emotion or with inappropriate emotion (e.g. amusement) and John doesn’t really know how to deal with it other than absorb them and try to comfort Gale even if he pretends he doesn’t need comfort.

And the heartbreaking thing is that I think Gale's denial would crack in the tender moments, when he and John are much closer (possibly in love already) and he feels loved and appreciated. That's when the emotions flood back into the memories, and John has to pick up the pieces.

In my HS AU

Similarly, Gale doesn’t talk about his family background. If he must, he picks out the good moments. So for all everyone knows, he’s a well-adjusted boy with regular, undivorced parents.

In the beginning of his relationship with Bucky, he lies a lot. About the reason why he’s super tired some days or about his mom picking him up after an outing with Bucky. He does this because he’s afraid to lose Bucky due to his shitty background.

Once Bucky notices that Gale is hiding something from him, he tries to get it out of him, and they have a big fight. They break up for a few days (this is all in 9th grade). Eventually, with Georgia's encouragement, Bucky tries again and he and Gale make up. On the bleachers by the soccer field, Gale tells him everything as it is.

From then on, Bucky tries to look out for Gale the best he can. Gale still doesn’t let him come around to the Clevens' house, but he tells Bucky more and more and leans on him for support during bad times (because it's not always bad).

However, when the thoughts in Gale's head turn really dark (pre-Broken Things), he keeps those secret again.

Gale doesn’t say it out loud that he was abused until he’s an adult. Accepting that fact is a huge milestone for him.

[luimagines]

Current Prompts In Queue

Streamer au (4th june)

Fluffy Legend (6th june)

Twinning with Twi (11th june)

Wild Friends (13th june)

Wind Hits Puberty (18th june)

Platonic! Soldier! Reader! (20th june)

That Dragon au Part 12 (25th june)

Loopey Plant Sequel (27th june)

Sacrificial Dues (2nd july)

Send Me a Sign (4th july)

SKYLNK Rebooting Up (9th july)

You're Lucky I'm into Older Men (11th july)

Steel Trap Mind (16th july)

Slow Dancing in the Kitchen ft.Warrior (18th july)

That Dragon AU Part 13 (23rd july)

Warrior Soulmate AU Part 2 (25th july)

King of Kings Part 2 (30th july)

Legend's Fiancé is a Tree (1st august)

Baby Talking Wolfie (6th august)

A moment in Time (ft. Cal) (8th august)

It's a Dog, not a Horse. (13th august)

Ravio Date part 2 (15th august)

That Dragon AU Part 14 (20th august)

Little Link (22th august)

Astronomer! Reader (27th august)

They Blurt Out You're Their Favorite (29th august)

Soulmates from the Start Part 7 (3rd sept.)

Flower Petals (5th sept.)

Omg They Were Roommates (Headcanons) (10th sept.)

Ghost! Chain (12th sept.)

That Dragon AU Part 15 (17th sept.)

Insecure! Reader ft. Twi (19th sept.)

The Chain Meets Modern Nick Nacks (24th sept.)

The Chain Meets Rhythm Games (26th sept.)

FD! Warrior and FD! Sky (1st oct.)

FD! Reader (3rd oct.)

Prince! Twilight and Prince! Sky Part 3 (8th oct.)

Stressed Out Vet! Reader (10th oct.)

That Dragon AU Part 16 (15th oct.)

Insecure! Reader regarding their singing voice (17th oct.)

Twilight and Wild meet their s/o while traveling (22th oct.)

King! Time and King! First (24th oct.)

Modern Dance (29th oct.)

Fairy! Reader part 2 (31st oct.)

The Legendary Mermaid (5th nov.)

Undivorcing Time (7th nov.)

That Dragon AU Part 17 (12th nov.)

Wind Calls You Mom (14th nov.)

The Legend of Baldur's Gate (19th nov.)

Elden Pampering (21st nov.)

Undivorcing by Twilight (26th nov.)

[onewfantaesy]

How does Jimin feel, in Undivorced? Does Taemin tell him? Or does he find out on his own? Does the padding squad celebrate when he leaves?

For the most part, Taemin doesn’t really advertise the full extent of his feelings about his parents. Not before his book is released. His friends know he doesn’t get along with them very well, know vague details about Taemin being sent to the dorms before he was ready, but they don’t know all the nitty gritty details. Don’t know about Taemin getting screamed at at least twice a month in Sooman’s office even after debut. So his friends, including Jimin, really just think that Sooman must be hard in bim because he has higher standards for his own son.

Out of the padding squad members, it’s really only Jongin and Moonkyu who know a lot of the details, but that was because they were there to witness it so often.

Eventually, Taemin tells Ravi because he’s desperate to get out of SM, because he needs a backup plan, he needs someone to tell him, “Yes you can come to my company. Yes I will sign you. Yes you will be properly managed, I promised. Yes Euisoo can come with you, of course he can.” So one night, about six months before his contract is up, Taemin just tells Ravi everything. Spills his guts to him. His hands start shaking and his eyes tear up and he’s so upset, but Ravi listens. Ravi stays with him. Ravi promises he’ll be okay, everything will be okay, Ravi will help him.

It really does take months of careful planning. Months of seeing lawyers, making sure that Taemin and he others wouldn’t be kept from anything they earned or the rights to their songs because they don’t renew with the same company. It’s also months of preparing to release an album together as soon as possible, but under Ravi’s label. Secret planning.

Then when everything comes out? When all of this is told to the public? Taemin has only told his friends about it the night before, mainly because he was worried about any potential leaks. Not that he thought his friends would intentionally leak anything about him, but it was withheld more so because Taemin was just so nervous.

His friends are just shocked. And they’re upset, because they feel like they should have noticed the way their friend was being treated. Should have noticed something. But Taemin assures they that he had to learn the hard way to keep his issues to himself. To keep quiet. To never speak poorly of his parents or else he’d be sorry.

“But after tomorrow, Ravi will be my boss,” Taemin teases, leaning heavily against Ravi’s side. “So everything will be okay.”

Ravi just snorts and keeps a hand on top of Taemin’s hair. It’s comforting, in a weird way.

Except Ravi really treats Taemin, Jinki, Kibum, and Minho more like partners. They’re not partners in the company, but Ravi doesn’t feel super comfortable treating them like employees. They bring in a ton of money and publicity for his company, he owes them a lot, really. He’s only just opened the company a few months prior, it was really a big deal for him.

They do sort of celebrate. They just get a cake and drinks and have a little party. It’s more so to celebrate being signed by a new company.

[deadgrantaires]

im rotating espresso and madeleine cookie in my mind

stardew au where madeleine is the new farmer in town and is overly confident in his abilities but is on a rough learning curve (but giving it his best!) and espresso is the librarian and his ex who hasnt seen him in years but with a town this small u cant really avoid people too well and he inevitably asks for help filling the museum after madeleines success in the mines and he comes over to the farm to help and.......... its about the undivorcing U_U

[onewfantaesy]

Another ask! Do his parents even STAY married this time around? Could we get a tiny bit of background info on them? Like, what made them try again? Why did they just drop taemin as soon as he said he didn't like it? They didn't seem so bad at first. Do they feel bad at all when they leave him behind? Or they really see no problem? Are they harassed by angry fans, blacklisted? Do they try to "apologize"? Anyway, at least they never got rid of his manager, that would have killed him.

They do stay married, but for entirely selfish reasons on each other their parts. Taemin’s mother is a gold digger; she likes having a sugar daddy pay for everything and stays married to him because she likes the privileges that come with it. She only had Taemin in the first place as a way of trapping Sooman. She was only 24 when she had Taemin, and Sooman was in his 50s at the time. Meanwhile, Sooman stays married because he likes having a trophy wife, and he can pay for whatever plastic surgery he wants her to get and she complies. Bigger boobs, better nose, Botox, lip fillers, you name it. That’s the reason they get remarried as well, and as for Sooman, it’s mainly because at least he already has a kid with this woman. Neither of them ever wanted a child in the first place.

That’s part of the reason it’s so easy for them to just ship Taemin off to the dorms. Neither of them ever really wanted Taemin. Then when he started arguing with them about the remarriage? It was a form of silencing him. They didn’t want too many questions.

When Sooman is in his late 70s, he develops dementia. Taemin’s mother is quick to put him in a home, and Taemin, for as much as he despises his parents, can’t just leave his father there to rot.

Taemin visits him. And the first time he goes, he realizes that it’s much worse than the media was allowed to say it was. Taemin would bet it had been developing for a very long time, and he became worried that this was the beginning of the end. He may not have liked his father at all, but that didn’t mean Taemin wanted to watch him die.

“And who are you?”

Taemin’s voice catches in his throat when his dad doesn’t recognize him.

“I’m Taemin,” he says softly, sitting in his father’s room.

“Oh, my son is named Taemin too!” Sooman tells him, smiling. “He’s just turned seven.”

Taemin feels like crying. His dad really doesn’t recognize him. Really thinks they’re twenty or so years in the past.

“Oh?” Taemin asks, a little breathless. “And what’s your son like?”

“Oh, he’s Taemin,” Sooman says, shaking his head and waving a hand. “He’s with me full time for now. His mother - ugh - she’s terrible. But really, it’s just fun to torture her. Keeping her baby away from her.”

All of Taemin’s worst fears are being confirmed in this one visit, his dad spilling all the secrets he never would have before he got sick.

“It’s too bad he’s getting older. Kids, you know, they’re only good when they’re still little. As soon as he’s ten, I’m putting him in idol training. Will keep him out of my hair, you see.”

“Why ten?” Taemin asks, and it’s something he’s wanted to know for so long. Why was he sent to be a trainee? Why so young?

“Because as soon as he’s not cute, he’ll just be a pain in the ass,” Sooman says, shaking his head. “I’ll make him an idol. At least then he’ll be useful to me. Make me some money.”

“Do you love him?”

Taemin holds his breath, almost afraid of the answer he’ll get.

“I suppose I have to, don’t I? He’s a cute kid. I’ll love him for now.”

It hurts, Taemin won’t deny it. Hearing the truth be spilled so easily from his father’s lips. Hearing his father continuing to talk about how he had never wanted a child, how Taemin would have been better off staying just a glimmer in his eye.

“He’s a sweet boy though, my Taemin. He can just be such a pain.” Then Sooman blinks and looks at him. “And who are you?”

“I’m Taemin.”

“Oh, my son’s name is Taemin!”

Taemin only tells him a few times that he’s his son. He doesn’t want to confuse him. Besides, it always leads to conversations about how Sooman never thought he’d be talking to his son when he was this old anyway.

Taemin never tells anyone about what he learns in the visits with his father. Never speaks a work of it. In a way, it’s too embarrassing. Too painful. He doesn’t want anyone else to know.

They’re pretty much shunned though after Taemin’s book becomes more popular. It’s horrifying, reading what Taemin went through. They do try apologizing, but it’s really more of a half-assed attempt to explain their side of things. It’s not well received, and most people don’t believe it anyway.

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced AU

The public isn’t stupid. Other idols aren’t stupid. Show hosts aren’t stupid. Everyone becomes abundantly aware of how Taemin’s smile always looks forced when he’s photographed with his father. How Sooman always has a tight hand wrapped around his son’s arm. How Taemin always looks uncomfortable and like he wants to leave. How they’re only ever seen together at official company events. How Taemin is never seen with his mother.

Then they take into account all of the extravagant vacations Sooman and his wife go on together, how Taemin is never with them, how they’re never seen getting dinner with Taemin even though they’re seen dining out together at least once a week.

They also notice the way Taemin smiles biggest and goofiest when he’s with Euisoo, his manager. How Taemin talks so freely with the man, how he hugs him and teases him and sometimes even makes Euisoo give him piggy back rides to the car or waiting room. How they’re often seen getting dinner together. How Taemin is clearly his happiest when he’s with Euisoo.

But Taemin has learned his lesson about talking about his parents. If it’s ever brought up, Taemin just shrugs and says, “No comment.” But if he’s ever asked about what he thinks about his manager, he always just smiles really big and gushes, “He’s the best! I’d be lost without him!”

Taemin is genuinely surprised his dad hasn’t gotten rid of Euisoo yet, or assigned him to another group. Taemin is grateful for it though. He really would be lost without Euisoo.

“We’re friends, right?” Taemin asks softly one day, his arms hanging over Euisoo’s shoulders as he’s carried back to the van.

“Of course we are,” Euisoo says, patting one of Taemin’s legs. “You’re my best little buddy.”

It makes Taemin smile and giggle and bury his cheek in Euisoo’s shoulder. As soon as they exit the building though, they hear tons of fans shrieking and cameras clicking and flashing. The other members are walking around them, and so is another manager, so all of them smile and wave. Taemin even giggles and pokes Euisoo’s cheeks and teases him.

“Keep that up and you can walk yourself to the van,” he’s told.

Taemin just keeps laughing, but he stops bothering him.

A lot of people think Taemin’s coming of age birthday with be a big deal. That there will be a big party. A big event. That Sooman will throw some extravagant ball or something.

Nothing happens. It’s just another day. Kibum puts something on instagram, but that’s the extent of it. No party. No event. No press release.

Instead, Taemin is seen getting a birthday dinner with his members and managers, and Jinki’s parents even. But Sooman and his wife? They’re nowhere to be seen.

Then it comes out that they’d been on a vacation out of the country at the time. They weren’t even there to wish their son a happy birthday.

Then a few years later, a lot of shit starts hitting the fan. Their group’s contract is up for a second time, around their tenth anniversary. But they don’t renew it. Instead, they sign with a company that Taemin’s friend Ravi has just created. It’s a huge scandal. It’s all over the papers and in the news by the end of the day. How could Sooman’s own son leave his company?

As soon as all four of them get all of what they’re owed and they’re officially out of the company (and so is Euisoo, who went with them to Ravi’s company), Taemin’s new company makes a release about how he’s going to come out with a tell all book. About his childhood. About his time as a trainee. About what it was really like to be the son of the head of the company.

And then Taemin, part of a majorly popular and well-loved group, one of the best solo artists in the industry, the idol of so many current idols, drops the biggest bomb of all. How he never really wanted to be an idol in the first place. How it was something forced on him. How he debuted before he was ready because his father wanted him to officially be someone else’s problem to deal with.

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced AU

Taemin knows he shouldn’t answer it. He knows he should just avoid the question, should just smile and shrug and ask to move on, but he can’t. He just can’t. Part of him knows that would look worse than just answering the host who asks, “You said you hated that your parents got remarried to each other. Can you explain why?” More so, Taemin is confused why this hasn’t been put on a blacklist yet. He thought his dad would be quick about that.

So Taemin takes a deep breath and says what he’s told his parents for the last couple years.

“Mom was always here,” Taemin says softly, holding his left fist out. “And Dad was always over here,” he says, holding his right fist out on the thee side of him.

He can see the way everyone else on the show is looking at him, overly curious, and it makes Taemin so uncomfortable. He knows he’s going to get yelled at for this. He’s half afraid his dad will actually kill him.

“But now Mom and Dad are over here,” he says, holding both his hands together out in front of him, in the middle, “and Taemin is all the way over here.”

He swivels and holds out one hand as far away as he can, stretching over Minho, who was sitting next to him.

“And I just don’t like it,” he says quietly. Then he straightens up and makes his expression as neutral as possible. “But it’s okay.”

He knows that one, lame phrase won’t save him. And a couple weeks later, he’s called back into his dad’s office. He’s yelled at again. For a long, long time. Told that any chance he thought he had of coming back home, moving out of the dorm, was gone entirely now. Not that Taemin thought he ever had a chance of moving back home ever again, that had been made abundantly clear years ago. He’s told how ungrateful he is, how much of a brat he is, how he doesn’t understand to stay out of adult matters that don’t concern him.

But this does concern him. They’re his parents, how does this not concern him? They’ve essentially forced him to become an idol, forced him to move out as a minor, forced him to work. And he’s never once complained to them about the training, about the lack of sleep, or the soreness from dance class, or the way he feels like shit when he’s constantly compared to everyone else around him. He’s never complained.

He feels his chest ache with every word that spills from his father’s lips. He hasn’t even seen his mom since the wedding, not that she’d actually spoken to him unless it was to tell him to smile and look nice for the pictures they made him take with them. He hasn’t really seen his parents in over a year, hasn’t really spoken to them. They never answer his calls or his respond to his texts, never come visit him like the other boys’ parents do.

“You’re the most ungrateful brat of a son I’ve ever met, Taemin. It’s a wonder what your fans see in you.”

When he leaves the office, he feels like a zombie. He goes to the haunted dance room and just stares at his reflection, sitting on the floor for who knows how long. Until Euisoo comes and finds him, like he always does.

“Heard you got quite the telling off,” Euisoo says softly, trying to coax Taemin to stand up.

That’s when Taemin just feels himself breaking.

“Sometimes I wish he’d just hit me instead,” he admits, his voice cracking. “I know he wants to. At least if he hit me, it wouldn’t hurt as long.”

Euisoo ends up on the floor with him, just holding him. Hugging him. This isn’t what a manager is supposed to do, not really. It’s not what he’s getting paid for, not in the job description. But it’s become part of the job. He doesn’t seem to mind.

“Am I really such a terrible person?” Taemin cries, holding on tight to one of the arms Euisoo has wrapped around him. “Am I really such a horrible son? That - that he just debuted me so he could get rid of me and make me someone else’s problem? Why am I a problem?”

“You’re not a problem,” Euisoo tells him fiercely. “You’re a child. You’re a very good child who’s been put in a very bad situation.”

“Everyone says I only debuted because I’m his son,” Taemin says, his voice shaking. “And it’s true, but it’s not for the reason everyone thinks.”

“I think there’s a lot about you that people don’t realize,” Euisoo tells him, smoothing his hair back.

They stay there for a while, until Taemin calms down and stops shaking quite so much. And Euisoo helps him wipe the tears off his face, helps him look better to leave and go back to the dorm. Euisoo stays with him. Euisoo makes sure he eats dinner. Euisoo makes sure he gets his homework done and helps when Taemin needs it and makes sure his uniform is clean for school the next day. In a lot of ways, Euisoo is more of a father to him than anyone else.

On Father’s Day the next year, Taemin gets nothing for his real father, but gets the coolest card he can find for Euisoo, and even brings him his favorite kind of cake. While all the other members are away with their own parents, Taemin stays at the dorm, eating cake and ordering takeout with the manager who takes care of him better than the parents who all but abandoned him.

[onewfantaesy]

All sorts of nastiness/ rumours must be flying around after Taemin leaves his dad's company. Does it impact SM and the other groups too badly or just his parents? I feel like they'd be the type to try to sue him for slander and to keep him from publishing this book. And out of curiosity, what is the name of the book?

There’s tons of rumors. About how Taemin is doing it as a publicity stunt, how he’s so ungrateful, how he’s exploiting his parents to increase his own fame. How Taemin has always been a brat of a son who never appreciate a damn thing Sooman did for him. They’re all started by Sooman’s own PR team.

Because it’s been made very obvious how neglected and emotionally abused Taemin was from the time he as a young tween/teenager. Other people from the company have vouched for it: choreographers, managers, instructors. All who have since left the company for a variety of reasons, but they mention how the blatant hatred and anti-favoristism the CEO had for his own son was a big red flag. How the scoldings Taemin would get so often couslnbe heard from the elevators, how nasty Sooman could be to him, how Taemin never fought back or acted nearly as bad as Sooman made him out to be.

Other groups don’t get treated any worse, but many Exo members leave after their contract is up for renewal. Jongin is the first one to leave, and he goes straight to Ravi’s company, almost immediately has a collaboration album with Taemin. The company is still one of the Big 3, and they stay that way, at least for a few years. It takes a while for the book Taemin writes to have a real impact. But after that? After the public reads all the atrocities Taemin, the CEO and founder’s son, went through? The company is lucky not to plummet entirely.

And they do try to silence him. Try to sue him. But Taemin somehow, by the grace of God, beats it. It’s his own life. His life through his eyes. It’s his right to talk about it.

And talk about it Taemin does.

Talks about how for the first ten years of his life, he was used as a pawn against either parent. Kept from Christmases and denied birthday presents and visititation rights and for a whole year his father kept him with him, wouldn’t let his mother see him at all, wouldn’t let him see his only living grandparents. His father and mother had both accused each other of physical abuse, and while Taemin talks plenty of the emotional abuse and neglect he endured, he fully admits that neither parent ever laid a hand on him.

“But I wished they had,” he says in the book and in interviews. “I remember leaving my father’s office one day, and he had yelled and screamed at me for hours. I’d been about fifteen, and I’d already debuted and been an idol for maybe a year. And it was horrible, the things he’d said to me. How I was a disappointment. How he hated me. How I would never be allowed to come home again, even though I’d been living in the dorms since I was barely thirteen years old and never expected to be allowed to go home again, because I knew they’d thrown away so much of the stuff I’d been forced to leave behind. How he didn’t know how anyone could ever like me, it was a wonder what anyone saw in me, what the fans saw in me. Because I was an ungrateful, disturbed brat of a son that he regretted ever having. He’d even said he would have been better off had my mother swallowed me. Can you imagine saying that? To your fifteen year old child? And I just remember leaving after and admitting to Euisoo later, ‘I wish he would just hit me instead. I know he wants to. If he hit me, maybe, at least the hurt would go away after a day or two.’ And I just really wished sometimes that he would hit me instead of saying the things he did to me. Physical injuries heal eventually, but mental and emotional injuries are much harder to treat. They don’t always heal as well, and the scars can be much messier.”

The name of the book is simple. The Child’s Story: Memoirs of the Boss’s Son.

He mentions how the first time Euisoo ever met him, he had no idea who Taemin was. That he was just an upset trainee who was there well after dark and clearly needed to be hugged and fed and told to go to bed. How that was the beginning of Euisoo being his chosen dad. How Euisoo knows full well that Taemin considers him his real dad, how Euisoo always looks so happy and giddy and a little proud when Taemin mentions it, but he really just wants the best for Taemin.

By this time though, Sooman is getting up there in age. He’s in his mid-70s, and Taemin even says how, when he was a trainee and sent to live in the dorms and then ignored for weeks, how he had the thought:

“I decided when he got old enough, I was going to send him to the absolute worst old folks home in the country. I was going to look up the absolute most terribly rated and reviewed nursing home. And I was going to send him there, and I was never ever going to visit him. And he was going to learn what it felt like. To be shipped off somewhere. To be ignored. To be left to someone else to deal with because the people who are supposed to love you and care for you can’t be bothered. I wouldn’t. Now. Not anymore. Not like they’d ever leave me in charge of their estate or anything, because I was disowned when I was seventeen. But that never made the news, did it? Because they buried it. Because I’m such a terrible son and person and they couldn’t deal with me anymore.”

It’s just such a shock. It quickly becomes a best-seller, because it’s so fascinating to hear how someone like Taemin, someone who is so well loved by fans and the public and so many other idols, was so despised by his own parents. How he was forced into this career but decided to become the best purely out of spite, just to prove them wrong, just to prove that he was worth something. To prove that he was worth paying attention to.

“I’m such an attention seeker now,” Taemin admits in the book. “I crave it. I need it. And I really do think it’s because I was so ignored by my own parents. Because they never even really spoke to me from the time I was thirteen. And why? Because I didn’t like that they were getting remarried? Because it made me uncomfortable? I don’t think I’ll ever known the real reason they hated me so much. I don’t think they’ll ever tell me, ever admit it out loud. I think they always hated me, but I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe they just never wanted a child in the first place. But that’s not my fault. That’s not something I did, that I caused. They had me. It was their responsibility to take care of me. But they failed that responsibility. Miserably. And I hope, if I ever have a child, that my child knows I love them. That they know I would never, ever treat them that way. I hope I can be a better parent than they ever could have dreamed of being to me.”

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced au!!! *ugly, red eyed crying* I just thought about Jinki's parents being so good to Taemin. And then his dad skipped out on dinner and it upset him so much! And then my brain turned on me and just imagined Jinki's dad hearing about ir and showing up with dinner for the boys or to take Taemin for a bite because he knows his dad sucks right now *intensified ugly cries*.

It’s the next week, Friday, when Taemin finally sees his father. He comes in for s trainee evaluation, and it’s nerve wracking even though Taemin knows he’s one of the best dancers. The way his father hardly even looks at him - that’s what makes him so nervous. He knows he upset his parents, but he doesn’t know why they’re being so mean about it. When the whole thing is over and Sooman moves to leave, that’s when Taemin takes his chance.

“Dad?” he calls, moving quickly. “Dad, please-”

“You’re not moving out of the dorms, Taemin.”

His voice is cold and callous and he’s never spoken to Taemin like that. Never. Taemin’s only ever heard that tone with employees who were one step away from getting fired.

“No, I,” he stutters, and he holds on to his father’s hand to keep him from leaving. “Why didn’t we have dinner last week?”

Then his father turns around and looks at Taemin, and it makes him step back and let go of his hand and focus his eyes on his father’s shoulder.

“Because the last time we had our dinner together, you acted like an ungrateful spoiled brat. You clearly don’t like our dinners together anymore, you clearly think you’re too good for them, so we won’t be having them anymore. Perhaps some time to yourself will give you some time to think and grow up a little.”

“But - but, Dad-”

“Goodbye, Taemin.”

It’s like his parents get off on saying these sorts of things so loudly around other people, especially other trainees. Taemin feels his chest tighten, feels the way his hands shake so he curls them into fists as he watches hus father leave and hears all the other trainees and even the instructors whispering about him. After a minute of standing completely rigid, he bolts out of the room and goes to one of the lesser used dance rooms, the one everyone says is haunted and avoids like the plague. No one will bother him there.

“Perhaps you should grow up a little,” he mocks in the mirror, the music loud and his dancing a little too intense. “You’re such a spoiled brat Taemin. I hate you Taemin. I wish we’d never had you Taemin. You’re a disappointment Taemin.”

He dances for hours. Hours and hours, until well after the sun has set, until well after all trainees were supposed to leave. He’s exhausted and his legs feel like jelly and his head hurts, but he flat out refuses to cry. He’s cried too much lately. He’s not a baby, he can’t be crying this much. It’s pathetic.

“I’ll show you,” he seethes at the mirror. “I’ll be the best goddamn idol there’s ever been, I’ll be better than anyone. And it will be no thanks to you, I’m never gonna thank you, never gonna mention you ever.”

He’s breathing too heavily and he’s sweating too much and he doesn’t even notice the door crack open.

“Spoiled brat? You’re the brat you stupid old asshole fuck you I can’t wait until you’re senile and I can put you in an old person home I’m gonna find the worst one in the country and stick you in it and never visit you ever and then you’ll know how it feels.”

He falls out of a turn and then screams and kicks his bag across the room. He’s crouched on the floor with his head in his arms trying to catch his breath when he hears the footsteps across the room.

“Hey there,” a man’s voice calls softly. “Shouldn’t you be home by now?”

Taemin turns to him, still crouched, and he stares at the man coming towards him.

“You’re new,” is all Taemin says.

The man laughs. He looks young. Maybe his early 20s.

“I am,” he says. “A new manager. In training, sort of.”

“A trainee manager? That’s new.”

“You’re a funny one, you know that?”

Taemin’s lips twitch at the smile the man sends him.

“You should stop training for the day. You look tired,” the man says softly. “Have you had dinner?”

Taemin shakes his head.

“Come on,” he says, holding his hand out. “I haven’t had dinner yet either. It will be my treat.”

Taemin lets the new manager help him up, lets the man sling an arm around his shoulders and guide him downstairs and to the convenience store across the street.

“What’s your name?” Taemin asks. “You’re not kidnapping me, are you?”

“I’m not kidnapping you,” the man laughs, urging him to pick out his favorite instant ramen. “After you eat, I’m gonna call you a cab to take you home.”

“I live in the dorms,” Taemin says quietly.

“Aren’t you a little young for that?”

“You didn’t tell me your name.”

“Oh! I’m Euisoo. And what’s your name, little trainee?”

“Taemin.”

Taemin likes this Euisoo guy. He’s nice to him. Walks him to the dorm, even up to the apartment to make sure he gets inside safely. It makes Taemin feel better, having someone looking out for him.

But Taemin is in a funk for a long time because of what his dad says to him. Because of their dinners being cancelled.

Then the next Friday, when he should be having dinner with his father, he’s instead dragged out of the building by Jinki and manhandled into the back of a car. When he sees Jinki’s father driving the car, he’s confused. He has no idea where they’re going, they won’t tell him, instead just talk about various topics ranging from school to sports teams. Taemin likes baseball, ends up talking about the NC Dinos for a full twelve minutes.

Then they’re at a restaurant and Taemin is being ushered into a booth to sit against the wall, Jinki sitting next to him and Jinki’s father sitting on the other side.

“I thought I’d take you boys to dinner,” is all he says. “Order anything you want. Both of you.”

Taemin end up ordering the same as Jinki, except he asks the waiter, “Can mine not have any cucumber, please?”

It’s not a problem, ordering it without cucumber. When he tells Jinki’s dad he hates cucumber, he nods his head.

“We’ll have to remember that in case Mom decides to send any food to you boys,” he says.

Taemin doesn’t know how to respond.

“Is there anything else you don’t like to eat?”

“I don’t like vegetables.”

It makes Jinki’s dad laugh, but it’s not in the condescending way Taemin’s dad always laughs at things he says.

“I think most kids don’t like vegetables,” his dad says. “It’s okay.”

It just makes Taemin happy. It feels like a real father-son dinner, like the way he and his dad used to have dinner at the beginning when he didn’t feel like his dad hated to even look at him.

“I think we should make this a little tradition, boys,” Jinki’s dad says with a big smile on his face. “How does every other week sound? Does that work with your boys’ schedules?”

Jinki is enthusiastic about it, eagerly agrees to it. Taemin just feels frozen. He wants to say yes. He wants to get dinner with Jinki and his dad and feel like he’s actually wanted. But what if his dad wants to start having dinner again? Is Taemin supposed to choose?

He keeps his head dipped and his hands clasped under the table, but he nods his head. He wants to have dinners like this. Happy ones. Actual family dinners. Maybe Jinki’s mom will join them one day, too, and Taemin can just pretend his Jinki’s little brother for a couple hours.

“And remember if you ever need anything,” Jinki’s father says to him, “you can always call me. I’ll always pick up if you call. And so will Jinki’s mother.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He leaves after giving both of the boys a big hug and telling them to be good, and it just gives Taemin a warm feeling. It’s not a feeling Taemin is used to having lately. He’s been wrapped up in a lot of negative emotions, so it’s nice to have someone there who actually wants to help him.

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced AU

“Why did you give Daddy a hard time at dinner?”

Taemin is scolded the moment he walks through the door that night. His whole body is tense and he hates that he can’t just go to his bedroom and go to sleep.

“Can you stop calling each other Mommy and Daddy?” he snaps instead. “It’s creepy! I’m not four years old!”

“There’s nothing creepy about it!” his mother argues back. “Now tell me why you couldn’t just be nice at dinner.”

“Because he ordered food I don’t like and I’m tired and I wanna go to bed.”

“Well I got a call from one of your instructors,” she pivots, and she goes over to the hall closet and pulls out a suitcase. Taemin doesn’t understand. “You’re moving into the trainee dorms.”

“What?” Taemin asks, feeling very out of breath. “Why?”

“To see who you get along with. They want to debut a new boy group soon,” she says, wheeling the suitcase over to him.

“But - but - I’m not gonna debut,” he says, his voice cracking. “I can’t even sing!”

“Well you’ve been picked to go live in the dorms,” she says. “So get packing. You move in tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Go. Pack.”

“Mom?”

“Don’t make me call Daddy.”

His heart is beating so fast and he feels the tears pricking in his eyes, but he takes the suitcase and goes into his bedroom. His hands are shaking as he unzips it, and he’s so overwhelmed and upset and he has no idea why this is happening. He’s thirteen. He shouldn’t be debuting so soon. They won’t even let him take voice lessons yet, and as good as Jinki’s rooftop lessons are, Taemin’s voice isn’t ready to debut yet.

His mother would only let him use the one suitcase. He had to be very picky about what he brought with him, and it took him almost all night to decide. He’d barely gotten any sleep when he was woke up at 7am and told to be ready to move into the dorm in an hour.

“I’m sorry,” he begs in the car. “Please don’t make me. Please, Mom, I’m sorry!”

“This is something all trainees do before they debut,” is all she says. “Daddy thinks it will be good for you.”

How convenient that they think this is so good for him after he’s fought with both of them over the same thing. They’re trying to get rid of him. Get him out of the way. It makes him feel sick, makes him wish they’d just go back to using him as a pawn against each other. He was used to that.

Eight boys in one room should be illegal. Taemin’s pretty sure it is illegal. Some of them had already been living there, but it looked like a new batch was moving in that morning, including Jinki (and they’re all older than Taemin). At least Taemin has him.

“Please, Mom,” Taemin begs quietly one last time. “Please tell Dad I’m not ready. Please?”

“Daddy thinks this will be good for you,” she repeats. Loudly. So that everyone could hear. Then she gives him a cold kiss on the cheek and leaves, doesn’t even help Taemin unpack like everyone else’s parents are.

Taemin cannot have a panic attack in front of all these older trainees. He can’t. He’s not going to be the loser little kid who’s only here becaus ehis father is the CEO. So he pushes the panic down and pulls his suitcase on the only bed left unclaimed (a bottom bunk, not that he really cared), and tries to stop his hands from shaking as he unzips it.

“Do you need some help, sweetheart?”

Taemin flinches when the hand lands on his shoulder, but when he turns he sees Jinki’s mother smiling at him. He wants to say no, wants to let everyone think he’s independent enough to do everything on his own. But something about her smile just makes Taemin feel better, and he’s felt so bad lately that he wants to soak it up as long as he can.

“Yes, please, ma’am,” he says softly, dipping his head to look back at his suitcase.

“Let’s find you an empty drawer, hmm?” she says, and she goes to one of the various dressers in the room and picks an empty drawer for him, next to the one Jinki chose. She helps him get it as organized as possible, and then helps him hang his school uniform in an empty space in the closet. She even helps him pick out of the options of bedding and makes his bed for him, just like she did Jinki’s. Just like everyone else’s parents were doing.

When she and her husband say goodbye to Jinki, she makes sure to hug Taemin too. To kiss his cheek too, and it’s not in the cold, forced way his mother did.

“If you ever have any problems,” Jinki’s father says, “you call anytime. The both of you.”

Taemin is shocked that they’re being so nice to him. Being so parental. Taemin isn’t used to it, but he decides that he likes it. He likes it a lot. His own father hasn’t even texted him since before they had dinner the evening before, and that was just to remind Taemin to come up to his office.

“I didn’t think you’d be in here so soon,” Jinki says carefully once all the parents are gone. The boys actually all have to go to training soon, so it’s a little chaotic.

“I think,” Taemin stutters, his voice thick, “that this is my dad’s fucked up version of boarding school.”

“What?” Jinki laughs. “Why?”

“Because they’re mad at me,” he whispers, his voice shaking. “So they’re getting rid of me.”

“Hey,” Jinki says softly, slinging an arm over Taemin’s shoulders. “It will be okay. At least you have me.”

“Will you two hurry up?” Another boy, Kibum, snaps. “We’re gonna be late!”

“Will you stop yelling?” A different boy, Minho, snaps back. “Are you always this loud?”

“What the fuck did you say to me?”

“Could you not hear me over the sound of your own voice?”

They both start arguing with each other, and Taemin turns to Jinki with wide eyes.

“This place is gonna kill me.”

“We’ll get through it.”

They argue for ten more minutes, by which time everyone has been ready to leave for a full five minutes. Taemin just lingers in the back, keeping close to Jinki. He knows the other trainees, but not very well. He usually hangs out with Jongin, who wasn’t one of the boys moving in that day. Taemin is starting to feel very alone despite now living with seven other boys.

[onewfantaesy]

Okay but in undivorced au

What if Taemin’s dad is Sooman, and he’s older. Like in his early 60s, and Taemin is just turned 13. Meanwhile, his mother is younger, in her late 30s. And it’s something Taemin becomes more aware of as he gets older.

“I don’t want you two to get married again,” Taemin whines, sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter. He and his mother had just had a video call with his father, and he hated it. Felt like a third wheel. It was like they were using him as a pawn in some weird game.

“But it will be good for our family,” his mother tries to tell him.

“Why?”

“Because we’ll be a big happy family again.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because Mommy said so,” she says. “We’re a family, and mommies and daddies decide what’s best for families.”

Taemin pouts at her, and he’s so upset and he doesn’t know how to express it without sounding angry or like a brat. His mother doesn’t like the look on his face.

“Don’t you have homework to do?”

“Fine.”

And he stomps into his room to do his homework and ignore his parents. He’s upset and confused and he hates that he has to see his father the next day.

“Mommy said you weren’t happy with us talking about getting married again,” Sooman says.

Taemin is sitting in Sooman’s office, staring at the walls and avoiding any sort of eye contact. Besides, he’s tired. It’s been a long afternoon and now he’s forced to sit in his father’s office for their forty-five minute takeout dinner they always have every-other-Friday. The food still hasn’t arrived. His assistant had sent a text saying there was an accident and a lot more traffic, and she was delayed getting back with their dinner because of it.

“I just don’t like it,” Taemin mumbles.

“Can you tell me why?”

Taemin huffs and slouches in his chair and glares at his father’s desk.

“Because Mom has always been here,” Taemin says, holding his hands to his right and cupping them to make a ball. “And Dad has always been over here,” he says, moving his hands to the left. “And I don’t like that it’s changing.”

“But wouldn’t it be better if Mommy and Daddy and Taeminnie could all be together here?” Sooman asks, moving to hold Taemin’s hands in the middle.

“No,” Taemin says quickly, pulling his hands back. “Because it’s never been like that. Ever. And it’s weird and I don’t like it.”

“Why is it weird?”

“Because when moms and dads get divorced, they’re supposed to stay that way!” Taemin says slightly too loud, and it’s just as the assistant walks in with their food. The poor girl looks embarrassed, and she’s quick to leave the food on the desk and shuffle back out, closing the door behind her.

Taemin slumps in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. His father just sighs and starts getting their food out. When Taemin eventually reaches out and takes a bite, he makes a face and spits it back out.

“It has cucumber in it!” he whines, pushing the plate away.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I hate cucumber,” he whines more. Then he gets angry. “Why don’t you know that?”

“Is this new?” Sooman asks, laughing. “Here, just try this instead.”

“No, it’s not new!” Taemin huffs. “I’ve always hated cucumber. Why don’t you know that?”

“Taemin,” his father sighs. “Please just eat dinner.”

“Why, so I can go back to Mom’s and get out of your way?” Taemin snaps.

“Because you’ve had a very tiring day and I think you need to eat something,” his father says, his voice tight. “Do not use that tone with me again.”

Taemin pouts and pulls his legs up to his chest and picks at his food. He doesn’t want to cry, but he’s frustrated and no one is listening to him and no one cares what he wants and everything has fucking cucumber in it and it’s gross. He just pulls his jacket sleeve over his fist and rubs under his eyes. He’s not crying.

“Will you tell me what’s making you so upset?”

“Nothing.”

“Then maybe it’s time for you to go back downstairs.”

Taemin’s lips stay in a firm pout and he doesn’t say anything to his father as he stands up and stomps out of the office to go back down to the trainee practice rooms. Practice, for the most part, is over for the day. There are still a few lingering trainees, including Jinki, who Taemin rushes to immediately.

“What’s wrong?” Jinki asks, hugging Taemin and smiling at him.

“Why are parents so stupid?” Taemin whispers.

Jinki sighs. Taemin’s been talking to him a lot about how his parents are saying they’re going to get married again. This isn’t the first time Jinki has heard the company’s CEO get called stupid.

“I dunno,” Jinki says carefully. “D’ya wanna go sing on the roof?”

“Yes, please.”

They spend three hours in the roof, Jinki giving Taemin the singing lessons he’s not allowed to officially get because of his changing voice. They watch as the sky darkens and stars start twinkling, watch the lights from all other surrounding building turn on. It’s magical, their little vocal lessons. Taemin loves them. It makes him feel better. Makes him forget how upset he is over his parents.

[onewfantaesy]

The next au is going to be Taemin’s parents (I haven’t decided who yet) got divorced when he was like 5 so all he’s really known is them being divorced and dating other people. Then when he’s like 13 they decide they want to date each other again and then get remarried and Taemin just hates it and feels very insecure about it doesn’t like it one bit

“Well daddy calls you so much more now, doesn’t he?” his mom asks.

“He calls me for like 3 minutes and then immediately calls you to tell you he called me,” Taemin complains.

“He doesn’t call you just so he can tell me he called you”

“Yes he does.”

“Daddy loves you”

Taemin just gives his mom a very annoyed look, but he stays silent.

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced AU

It’s four months after Taemin debuts (even though he protested and knew he wasn’t ready, not really, he had wanted to debut with Jongin and Moonkyu when they were all ready). After debut promotions have ended, after he and Jinki and Kibum and Minho are away from radio shows and tv shows for a little bit. That’s when Taemin parents got remarried.

He’d been told the day before, and only because he needed to get fitted for a suit. He wasn’t in the wedding of course, why would his parents actually involve him in something so important, instead he’s sitting with his maternal grandparents and sulking and just feeling so uncomfortable and out of place. There’s too many industry people at the wedding. Managers and producers and choreographers, even other idols. Taemin doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want his parents to be married again. He doesn’t want any of this, he feels so out of control of his own life.

It’s the most uncomfortable day of his life. Then he’s shipped back to the dorm before the reception is even over. Doesn’t even get a piece of cake out of the damn thing.

It’s during repackage promotions that he’s asked, on a variety show recording, what he thinks of his parents getting remarried. It’s no secret, after all, that he’s Sooman’s son. Their initial divorce ten years prior had been widely publicized, and then their remarriage was kept completely secret until the actual day.

“I hate it,” is all he mutters. The topic is quickly changed to something else.

He’s called into his father’s office as soon as it airs, and he’s yelled at for an hour. About how he’s such an ungrateful brat, how Sooman has given him everything he could ever want, and how if Taemin ever talks like that about him again he’ll regret it. It’s a threat. Taemin knows that.

As he walks out of the office, Taemin wonders what his parents think they’re doing to him exactly. They’ve been rid of him now for a couple years. He’s making them money. He’s, in a way, not really their problem anymore. They could at least not completely ignore his existence unless they were yelling at him.

But he decides, as he walks out, that he really is going to be the best idol. The best idol ever. Just to prove his parents wrong. He’s not a disappointment. He’s not in the way. He’s amazing and he’s going to show everyone, even if it takes years. He knows his dad only debuted him as a way of getting rid of him. The man hadn’t even shown up on debut day, and neither had Taemin’s mother. He’d instead been hugged by Jinki’s parents, congratulated by Jinki’s parents, comforted by Jinki’s parents when he finally admitted he wished his own parents were there.

So he goes to the haunted practice room and dances and sings for hours until he’s collapsed on the floor, until Euisoo comes and finds him. Like he always does. Because even Euisoo, who’s just Taemin’s manager, is a better parent than Taemin’s actual parents.

[onewfantaesy]

Undivorced AU

Taemin tried desperately to go see his dad several times those first two weeks of living in the dorms. It’s been two weeks of pure hell. Eight teenage boys of various ages and school grades should not all be living in one room. It’s horrible. It’s loud. Taemin hardly sleeps and everyone fights all the time and if he wants anything to stay his, he has to hide it under his mattress, but even then it’s not always safe. What a hell hole. Jinki is the only thing keeping him sane.

But every time he tries going to his dad’s office, he’s either in an “important meeting that Taemin can’t interrupt,” or he’s not in the building at all.

Every time Taemin calls him, it goes to voicemail. He’s left too many messages begging, “Hi Dad, it’s Taemin. Please call me back. Please. I’m sorry please call me I’m really really sorry I want to go home.”

Anytime he calls his mom, it almost always goes to voicemail as well. The few times she does pick up, she continues repeating, “Daddy thinks this will be good for you.” It makes Taemin feel like shit. No one is listening to him. No one cares what he wants. No one cares if he feels like he’s losing his mind.

Finally - finally - after two weeks of what feels like his parents purposely avoiding him as some twisted punishment, he finds relief in the form of the dinner he has with his dad every-other-Friday. They always have dinner together, since before Taemin was even a trainee. It’s a tradition.

“Oh, hi, Taemin,” the secretary greets him. Taemin can’t figure out why she’d be confused. But then he’s confused about why she’s still there and not out getting the food his dad ordered like she always does.

“Hi,” he greets back. But when he tries going to his dad’s office, she frowns at him.

“He’s not in, Taemin,” she tells him.

“What?”

He wiggles the office doorknob, but it’s locked. He tries knocking on the door, then checks his phone. Maybe he got the time wrong. Maybe he’s early, he was just too anxious, that’s all.

But the secretary comes over and gives him a sad little smile.

“He left about an hour ago,” she says softly. “He said you two weren’t haven’t dinner tonight?”

Taemin’s mouth hangs open and he’s so confused and he feels like he can’t breathe.

“Did he say why?” he whispers, not making eye contact with her.

“No, I’m sorry,” she says, and Taemin can tell she really is sorry. It makes him feel even worse. Then she adds, “I think he’s taking your mother out tonight.”

Taemin’s whole brain freezes. He can’t believe it. He’s been essentially stood up by his dad on the dinner they’ve been having since he was 6 years old, over half his life, and for what? To take his mom to dinner instead? His ex-wife? What sort of twilight zone bullshit is this?

“Do you want me to take you home?” she offers, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugs it off instead and shakes his head. She’s taken him home before, when training ran late and his dad asked her to do it. But she must not know he’s staying at the dorms next door.

Taemin huffs, trying very hard to keep the tears back, and he says instead in a shaking voice, “I want you to tell him I hate him.”

And he runs. Not to the elevator, but he goes down the stairs and goes to the trainee practice room he left his bag in. He grabs it quickly, and Jinki tries asking him what’s wrong, and now Kibum and Minho are watching too, but Taemin just ignores them all and hurries out to go back to the dorm.

He’s curled up under his comforter and crying as silently as possible when Jinki comes in, and Taemin hear Kibum and Minho come in with him. He can feel Jinki sit on the bed next to him, can feel him rubbing his shoulder through the blanket.

“Taemin?” he calls softly. “I thought you were getting dinner with your dad?”

“He - he, wasn’t - wasn’t there,” Taemin stutters, trying so hard to make the tears stop, but they just come faster now that he says it out loud. “He took - took my mom out, instead.”

He feels the comforter slowly being moved away from over his head, and Taemin keeps his eyes shut so tightly.

“I told you,” he says quietly, but his tone very forceful, “it’s his fucked up version of boarding school. Some twisted punishment to get me out of the way.”

Jinki is hugging him, holding Taemin up in a sitting position while Minho and Kibum sit awkwardly at the end of the bed. It’s a few minutes of Taemin venting about how he hates his parents, how he hates that they want to get married again, how he hates how they don’t care about him.

“She was calling him a cheater cheater pumpkin eater not a year ago!” he shrieks. “And how, and how he couldn’t keep his cucumber in his pants, and now she wants to marry him again?”

“She told you all that?” Kibum balks.

Taemin snorts, “Heard her talking on the phone with her dumb friends. She’s not quiet.”

Taemin sucks down a lump in his throat and then continues, almost sounding desperate, “And, and, he’s been engaged like five times since I was six years old! ‘Oh hi Taeminnie I’m going to be your new Mommy’ or ‘You’ll be out of our hair if I have anything to say about it you little brat’ and it’s just, I just, I can’t-”

He’s pretty sure it’s a panic attack. He feels like he can’t catch his breath, his head hurts, the blood is rushing in his ears.

“Lets go get dinner.”

It confuses him enough that it snaps him out of the panic momentarily. And Kibum looks so serious about it, that only confuses Taemin more.

“Huh?”

“All four of us. We should go get dinner. Wanna get ramen?” Kibum suggests.

It takes a moment for Taemin to register it, to realize that Kibum is being nice to him and not yelling at him for taking too long in the bathroom like he usually does when he bothers talking to Taemin.

“Okay,” Taemin says in a strangled voice.

Kibum even takes him to the bathroom to help him wash his face and get rid of the puffiness and redness under his eyes from all the crying. The four of them walk to a ramen place that’s only a few blocks away, and somehow, the bickering Minho and Kibum get into about which way is faster makes Taemin feel better. They’re sitting at a table in the corner, the waiters probably annoyed with the fact that they’re four teenagers and no adults, but Taemin likes it.

“Does your mom really call a dick a cucumber?”

Taemin almost snorts ramen up his nose, and they’re all laughing over their bowls, Taemin coughing and trying not to choke over Minho’s question. Taemin just looks at them with such a desperate look on his face.

“I really hate cucumbers.”

It makes them all laugh even more, and they’re pretty sure they just piss the waiters off even more because they’re being loud and obnoxious like they thought they’d be.

Taemin loves it. And after that night, it really feels like it becomes the four of them against the world. They’re a team now. They’ve bonded. Even if they bicker like crazy sometimes, they’ve become a weird sort of family.

[onewfantaesy]

I,,,rly love undivorced au?

[onewfantaesy]

Work is kicking my ass this week already and it’s only Tuesday morning 😩 so if u would pls,,,send some questions I can answer after work today,,,abt maybe either MitD or the new undivorced au,,,,that would be so swell