τ

[drugsex]

headhunting (part i of iii)
23,053; nc-17
jonghyun/minho
there are things about you i collect and sell to no one | full



jonghyun gets to blow out 3 sets of candles on 3 different cakes throughout the course of his birthday and only when he's sitting in front of the last cake in their dorm, only fifteen minutes left until the next day, the other members already changed into their pajamas and bleary and red-eyed from schedule-that he realizes he never once made a birthday wish.

he closes his eyes, bites his lip and starts to think, his past track record of wishes from previous birthdays were pretty damn good, if he didn't count the earlier, slightly more far-fetched ones having to do with magical superpowers.

jonghyun's exhausted and sleepy though, doesn't feel like thinking that hard and decides to go with the generic, tried and true, about to wish for all of them to continue being successful and keep making music until he suddenly remembers a wish he's still kind of waiting on, the wish he made the year he had his first unrequited crush and relegated to the backburner.

jonghyun finds himself seriously considering if it would it be silly of him if he (helpfully) reminded the powers that be about still wanting that magical, serendipitous meeting with the girl of his dreams, and is on the verge of making a decision when

"hyung, the wax is dripping."

jonghyun is scandalized, flabbergasted even, when he looks at minho, because where he comes from, no one ever interrupted a birthday wish.

"actually, it'd be nice if you hurried this along," kibum contributes from the other side of the table.

jonghyun looks around and taemin is already sleeping with his eyes open and even jinki's festive and encouraging smile is wilting, dark circles underneath his eyes. jonghyun looks back at minho who looks at him like "see?"

jonghyun turns back to his cake and mutters unders his breath, "i hope none of your birthday wishes ever come true," and before he knows it he's blown out his candles without thinking and only after kibum's unnecessarily exaggerated golf clap jolts him back to reality does jonghyun realize he wasted his wish-wasted his only once-a-year birthday wish on minho.

defeated, jonghyun cuts the cake and distributes the pieces without saying anything. the rest of them chew in silence.

taemin and key finish first and wish jonghyun a final happy birthday, hugging him and heading for the bedroom. jinki picks up their plates and puts them in the sink and takes his leave after hugging jonghyun. minho's the only one left, taking his sweet time with the slice jonghyun gave him.

jonghyun is in the middle of picking at a sugar rose when minho asks,

"so what did you wish for?" the corners of minho's mouth twitch a little, almost as if he knows.

"i'm not supposed to say," jonghyun replies, trying to keep the despair out of his voice and deciding against granting minho the pleasure of knowing he was the lead role in someone else's birthday wish, "otherwise it won't come true."

minho nods in understanding.

by the time jonghyun finishes off his slice of cake, he's about to come to terms with the sad reality of wasting one of his wishes but in the middle of chewing his last mouthful, the upside he had failed to see earlier finally dawns on jonghyun: it was okay that he didn't get his wish because it meant-if his spectacular batting average in the wishing department counted for anything-that minho would never get any of his. that'll teach him, jonghyun thinks, chuckling at the sudden turn of events.

"what's so funny?"

"nothing," jonghyun replies, smiling beatifically at minho. minho returns none of it in his stare and gets up to wash his plate.

twenty minutes later, though, when they're all in bed and jonghyun should be asleep like everyone else, he's wide awake instead. he doesn't know what it is that's keeping him awake, knows that he can't afford to toss and turn tonight and pay for it during tomorrow's schedule.

jonghyun climbs down his bunk and goes into the kitchen to warm up a glass of milk in the microwave. while he waits for the milk to cool off, blowing against the surface to help it along, jonghyun contemplates the frosting-covered knife in the sink. after it gets to a tolerable temperature, he gulps down the milk and tiptoes back into the bedroom.

jonghyun places himself between jinki and minho's beds, and once his eyes adjust back to the dark, he takes a few seconds to stare menacingly at minho's stupid sleeping face before poking him awake.

"hyung?" minho mumbles, "what's wrong?"

"i wished that none of your wishes would come true." jonghyun reveals in an exasperated whisper, "okay? i told someone and now it won't come true and my guilty conscience can rest and i can go to sleep."

jonghyun gets into his bed before minho can reply and pushes the covers down to the foot of the bed, the warmth of milk finally kicking in, his stomach and eyes starting to feel heavy.

"hyung?" minho voice floats up from somewhere underneath him.

"what."

"i appreciate it. i mean, i don't appreciate you wishing that about me but thanks for telling me ab-"

"yeah uh-huh great can i sleep now?"

"yeah, okay. sorry."

✖

no matter how many stupid jokes jonghyun tells or how often he descends into slapstick around the other members or the right variety show, minho likes that jonghyun is still a pushy know-it-all at heart.

there were times in the beginning, when jonghyun would be too close or too loud or too bossy or sometimes all three at once for minho to ever seek him out over the infinitely calmer presence of taemin or jinki. jonghyun hasn't really changed that much, only now minho's learned that enthusiasm takes a lot more courage than it looks like.

he likes when jonghyun finds something really funny he tilts his head back and claps his hands together and minho sometimes wants to put his ear against the vibrations of his throat and listen.

they're all in the living room with the television's volume set to a dull roar when jonghyun makes a joke so terrible that even jinki can’t manage more than a half-hearted chuckle but the way jonghyun is so into the telling of it, the way his nostrils flare a little just before the punchline, the way he looks so earnestly around the room afterwords makes the joke the funniest thing minho's ever been witness to, leaves him a crumpled, shaking mess on the floor, holding his stomach like he's possessed.

every time minho thinks he’s about to get over it, he makes the mistake of looking back at jonghyun, his eyes bugged out and confused and minho relapses.

taemin has to come over and thump him on the back when he starts forgetting how to breathe, and it takes another couple minutes after that for minho to return to some semblance of his former self.

the room is awkwardly silent until kibum finally decides to voice what everyone else is thinking.

"the joke wasn't that funny."

you're absolutely right, minho wants to say.

he wants to say how dumb it was, how it was equally poorly conceived and poorly delivered, but how he still loved it anyways.

instead, he gives a neutral shrug of his shoulders and smiles reassuringly at jonghyun, whose face is still a little red and still a little baffled.

✖

a few days later in some fancy lobby, minho gets bored enough waiting for the van arrive to take some silly quiz in a woman's magazine that smells like expensive perfume.

the quiz will apparently tell minho if he was secretly in love, and even though minho knows he most certainly is not, he takes the quiz anyways, getting mostly (c)'s and (d)'s until question thirteen asks something about laughing at failed attempts at humor, and it's the only one he answers (a) to.

he tallies up his answers and the results tell him nothing he doesn't already know. he flips to another random page in the magazine and reads half of an eye-opening article about the top ten ways to keep his skin looking young and healthy before their manager rounds them up.

✖

minho's been out of breath plenty of times before, like right after a performance or in the studio after recording his lines over and over again or hustling to make it to the van after the daily 5 more minutes turned into their manager finally making good on his threat of leaving him behind. (after schedule, minho finds the shell of his cellphone on the floor underneath the beds and the battery a good foot away and when he snaps the two back together he has:)

[my darling ♥ jonghyun hyung] received @ 7:53 am ur coming now right? car is already here
[my darling ♥ jonghyun hyung] received @ 7:55 am srsly u have 5 mins

[my darling ♥ onew hyung] received @ 7:56 am jh told me 2 txt u

[my darling ♥ jonghyun hyung] received @ 7:57 am manager hyung looks pissed
[my darling ♥ jonghyun hyung] received @ 7:58 am ignition is on btw

[my darling ♥ onew hyung] received @ 8:00 am hi sry but jh told me 2 txt u again ur up right??

[my darling ♥ taemin] received @ 8:01 am he wont shutup get here fast pls

created @ 8:04 am (saved unsent draft) i cant believe ur still not here even after i got them 2 wait

jonghyun never gets to send this one because he spends too much time deliberating between adding another sentence of guilt-trip or leaving it curt and disappointed and also because the van door slides open in the middle of it-and suddenly minho's shoving in next to him before he's made space for him on the seat so jonghyun knocks against kibum who's asleep against the window and his right hand gets caught under one of minho's thighs.

minho doesn't seem to notice though, leaning forward and already occupied with the dual task of apologizing to the manager and getting the van's door shut before it accelerated enough for taemin to fall out of the side.

jonghyun pulls his hand out from between the vinyl and the strangely oppressive underside of minho's thigh a little more huffily and put-upon than the situation calls for and goes about regaining lost territory by using a combination of wiggling his hips back into the seat and elbowing minho in the ribs, kind of.

kibum sleep groans "fucking stop moving," jonghyun says "sorry," then no one says anything for a while and it eventually gets quiet enough for him to doze off but not before glancing at the sleeping mess of hair to his right and typing out another message

[my darling ♥ jonghyun hyung] received @ 8:10 am when we get home im going 2 teach u how 2 use ur phone dumbass

✖

"this is stupid," is jonghyun's useful and appreciated input, said while tiptoed over minho's back and digging his chin kind of painfully into minho's shoulder blade.

"just because it makes you feel stupid," minho replies, "doesn't mean it's actually stupid."

"oh yeah, and i bet you're feeling like quite the rocket scientist now huh?"

"just because you don't get something on the first try doesn't mean you should just give up."

"no, i am giving up because it is stupid."

"lemme see the manual again,"

"oh, uh," jonghyun looks around him, and offers it in casually, "here. it's still in japanese, by the way."

minho snatches the flimsy pamphlet from jonghyun, accidentally crumpling a few pages in haste-not annoyance-on his way to appendix c.

he tries hard to look like he's not completely lost, staring hard at the incomprehensible diagrams, his pride riding dangerously on a glorified picture book.

there had to be a switch, or a lever, something, somewhere, minho furiously thinks to himself, looking back and forth between the refrigerator and the diagram. there was no reason that he couldn't find it.

"hey, maybe we should take a breather," jonghyun suggests from behind him. "come back at it with fresh eyes and all that."

minho heaves out a long sigh, slumps his shoulders, flings the refrigerator door shut and leans back on the edge of the tabletop next to jonghyun,

jonghyun waits patiently until he thinks minho is ready before sliding over to him.

"you know, whenever something stopped working in my house," jonghyun confides to him in a secretive semi-whisper,

"my dad would give it a good kick or two when my mom wasn't around and it always seemed to do the trick so, you know, just an idea."

minho is quiet as he realizes that the refrigerator isn't the only thing a little faulty in the kitchen.

"hyung," minho says more than asks, "did your father ever have to kick you in the head."

"no."

"our refrigerator is not a vending machine," minho explains. "you can't kick our refrigerator and make it work."

"whatever," jonghyun snaps, "tell that to my remote-controlled airplane from christmas of '04 or the bass amps that i've had for almost decade now that still sound even better than-"

jonghyun quickly shuts himself up after he realizes what he's saying and looks away, but for the most part, the damage is done. even though he was all but asking for it, minho didn't think he'd ever say something like that.

but just because he didn't expect it didn't mean that jonghyun had to know about it, and minho has to fight a little to keep his expression neutral.

taemin comes into the kitchen and they both straighten, say hello back a little as unsuspisciously as the situation permits. if taemin looks a little confused at first, he hides it well and doesn't ask them anything further.

he pulls a tumbler out of the dishwasher and excuses himself past minho and jonghyun to open the refrigerator door and both minho and jonghyun simultaneously go

"the ice dispens-"

while taemin expertly reaches behind the third rack and some frozen vegetables, clicks something on, and the unmistakable whoosh-hum of the ice dispenser fills the kitchen.

"-is broken." jonghyun finishes pathetically.

"what did you say, hyung?" taemin asks jonghyun as he closes the door and starts to fill his glass of water.

"taemin-ah," minho cuts in before jonghyun can answer, "how did you know how to fix it? were you the one who turned it off?"

minho likes taemin a lot and everything, but he's a little bothered by the fact that taemin had just sauntered in and did what he and jonghyun were toiling over for almost an hour without even thinking about it. he didn't even have to look at the instruction manual.

"no, the repairman turned it off while he was changing our water filter," taemin replies, "i was there, so he showed it to me and said to turn it back on when the light turned green."

"oh."

minho feels a lot better about himself now, knowing that someone had to show taemin too. he'd have been able to fix it if someone just showed him.

taemin leaves, and the two of them are alone again.

"hey, minho," jonghyun starts to say, "i didn't-"

"no, hyung, you were right," minho quickly interrupts, seeing no need to relive up unsavory memories of the past, now that ice-maker was working again.

"i was?" jonghyun asks, puzzled.

minho nods, says, "you were right, it was stupid, the whole thing."

then jonghyun smiles, smiles in that way minho knows all is forgiven and minho can't help smiling back, even if it's a little sheepish,

jonghyun picks up the forgotten instruction manual, rolls it up and starts hitting minho's forearm with it, mock-sternly.

"yah, i can't believe you picked a fight with me over a piece of paper you couldn't even understand."

minho half-heartedly swats away some of jonghyun's hits, then decides it's easier to give up and let him have it.

"i can't believe you thought kicking the refrigerator would fix it."

"kim family tradition, passed down through generations-oh my god," jonghyun stops mid-air with the manual in his hand to look at minho very seriously, "you are perhaps be the only non-clan member to know of such techniques."

minho rolls his eyes, "take them back, i don't want them."

minho successfully evades the instruction manual to the back of the head, but when jonghyun blocks his getaway route by squatting, arms outstretched and cheeks puffed out, minho trips over both their feet while trying to dodge him, and ends up crumpled on the floor, tears in eyes from the laughter.

minho looks up from the floor at jonghyun, who's trying hard not to laugh either.

jonghyun quickly becomes stonefaced and points the instruction manual down at minho.

"i forgive you for your blasphemy, my child," jonghyun sagely imparts unto him, "your current mind being too feeble to fully appreciate the knowledge i have given you on this historic day,"

jonghyun makes a dramatic exit for the door, almost out of minho's sight,

"but one day, choi minho, you will wake up and realize the aweso-"

"GET OUT ALREADY," minho finally manages to shout at him through his laughter.

"THE AWESOMENESS, CHOI MINHO. THE AWESOMENESS WILL HIT YOU LIKE-like, well, LIKE A SWIFT KICK IN THE HEAD. PREPARE THYSELF."

are jonghyun's ominous, parting words, which leaves minho quaking on the kitchen floor-not in quite the same way jonghyun had aimed for-but he'll take what he can get.

✖

there's a sly, invasive hand on the back of jonghyun's jeans when they're all walking towards the ticketing counter, and when he swivels around in the middle of his speedwalk, both impressed and indignant that a fan was able to get that close, there's only minho behind him.

"what're you doing?" jonghyun whispers loudly over his shoulder.

"your passport was about to fall out," minho replies, speeding up a little so he's only a pace away, "you should just hold it, you know."

jonghyun reaches behind him, shoves his passport all the way back into his pocket and ensures minho that his way is just fine.

when they get their boarding passes, kibum immediately tries to get minho to switch with him for the window seat next to jonghyun. jonghyun gets this goofy smile on his face during the miniature scuffle, and even though it was a little silly and mostly narcisstic, he can't help feeling a tiny bit special having two people (kind of) fight over him.

minho gives up the seat next to jonghyun without much resistance though, and jonghyun deflates when he realizes minho's initial reluctance was probably just his reaction to kibum strongarming him and not much else.

"so you're with me, huh, minho," jinki laughs, throwing his arm around minho's shoulders, and when minho smiles back at him, "yeah, hyung, i'm with you," jonghyun deflates a little more.

on the plane, jonghyun peeks at minho sleeping behind him through the gap between his and kibum's seats.

his head is tilted back, so jonghyun can see up minho's nose and consequently, the huge booger that had taken up residence inside it, hanging like a greenish-yellow stalactite in the cavern of minho's right nostril.

it was oddly hypnotizing-and having stared at it for longer than he'd ever care to admit-jonghyun's able to tear his eyes away, and catches sight of the unopened package of crackers and on top of minho's fold-out table.

jonghyun isn't hungry, but he wiggles his hand through the seats and slowly inches for the crackers anyways.

he's this close, but minho suddenly shifts, grunts and rubs at his face, his eyes slowly creaking open.

"what're you doing?"

unfortunately, jonghyun hadn't bothered with an alibi, and instead resorts to distorting his facial muscles in such a way that it would show minho just how shocked and disappointed he was that minho could ever think such a thing, that he was definitely not doing what minho thought he was doing.

"were you going to take my crackers?"

"no," jonghyun scoffs. "i wanted to see if your in-flight magazine was the same as mine, that's all."

"oh."

minho reaches over into the seat pocket and pulls out the magazine, slides it through to jonghyun.

"here."

"oh, okay," jonghyun replies, turning back in his seat. "thanks."

the magazines turn out to be identical, to neither of their surprise.

✖

minho is lying on the bed when jonghyun comes in, giving him only a quick glance before going back to what he was doing.

minho looks back up to see jonghyun taking out his earrings, watches how jonghyun positions his head and fingers to work the backs free and he can't help but think about how inherently feminine the act is or how strangely graceful jonghyun looks as he bites his lip and tries to line up the sharp ends of a new pair of earrings with the perforations in his skin.

minho subconsciously brings his own fingers to his own earlobe, unpierced and whole.

he watches the almost obscene way the metal post slides and disappears into the tunneled flesh of jonghyun's earlobe before coming out on the other side and it suddenly reminds minho of something else.

when he makes the connection between what he's seeing and what he's thinking of, he feels his face burn and his mouth go dry.

he knows how the saying goes, knows how it says that you have to like a person for their insides, but minho's sure the sentiment isn't supposed to be taken as literally as he's just done but maybe it was no coincidence, he thinks, still watching jonghyun, that skin was the largest organ, warm and alive and sticky, bigger and stronger than both his brain and heart.

✖

"oh hey so i got this at the signing today," jonghyun starts off innocently enough, jumping up and leaning over the back seat to rummage through the countless boxes and giftbags stuffed haphazardly into the van's trunk.

"yeah and?" minho answers and narrowly avoids jonghyun's elbow in the process. he's not really sure if he can handle another complimentary love letter reading singing the praises of jonghyun's chiseled jawline and voice dipped in honey and angel dust.

minho looks out the window and counts the pairs of headlights passing them on the other side of the highway while he waits for jonghyun to find whatever he's looking for, and he's up to 68 when something is shoved into his lap.

minho looks down.

"it's a frog."

it wasn't really a cute frog either, the mouth a lurid red, the tongue a rough felt, hanging listlessly off to the side; the eyes were massive and off-center on the animal's face, making it look perpetually cross-eyed.

as far as owning stuffed animals went, minho thinks, this one he could do without.

"yeah," jonghyun says, "it reminded me of you. i think you should have it."

"stop trying to pass off your unwanted gifts onto me." minho replies, slightly offended at the comparison, pushing the frog back to it's rightful owner.

"hey, no, i love all my gifts," jonghyun objects, leaning into minho's side and pointing at the various and bizarre features of the abomination,

"but come on, the bulging eyes, the disproportionate length of the limbs to the head? you have to admit the resemblance is almost uncanny."

minho squints his eyes a little and pretends to examine the frog a little closer and replies, "really? because i thought the stupid expression and tongue hanging out was a dead ringer for you."

jonghyun clucks his tongue in disapproval, depositing the frog back in minho's lap, and then using the thumb and forefinger of both his hands to make the border frame of an imaginary lens.

"it's like a family portrait," jonghyun comments, leaning back to get minho and the frog both in the shot, "now smile when i say cheese. one...two...three, cheese!"

minho sighs more in defeat than annoyance and goes back to counting cars with the frog still in his lap.

"good. now don't say i never gave you nothing," jonghyun says, settling back into his seat.

when they get back home, minho throws the frog on his bed and promptly forgets about it before going back out to help unload the trunk, calling dibs on first shower while everyone else occupied themselves by unpacking and distributing the gifts. he changes into a t-shirt and boxers and finds the frog still on his bed, exactly as he left it.

minho finds he doesn't have the heart to move it off, so he switches off the light and slips under the covers before attempting to find the manliest position to sleep with a stuffed animal.

ten minutes and a lot of needless expended energy later, minho eventually learns the hard way that there was no manly way to sleep with a stuffed animal.

in the end, minho places the frog next to him on the pillow, tucking its accordion-like extremities underneath the body, staring up at the bottom of jonghyun's bunk and lulling himself to sleep with thoughts of jonghyun sleeping with an oversized teddy bear well into puberty.

✖

there is a solar eclipse the size of jonghyun's head taking place directly above minho when he wakes up the next morning. he squints one eye, then the other, then slowly blinks both open so that the blurred ends of jonghyun's face converge in the center of his vision.

jonghyun's expression is a bizarre combination of his best rendition of guileless adolescent wonder and the thinly disguised satisfaction of someone fully convinced of their own cleverness, and minho, groggy and muddled, can already sense some sort of impending shtick.

his throat is closed up from sleep and prevents him from even attempting to derail whatever jonghyun has planned, accepting his fate.

jonghyun seems pleased by his complacency and leans even closer to his face.

"wow," jonghyun remarks, poking at minho's cheek, "i didn't know the frog would turn out to be such a handsome prince."

minho is confused for a couple of seconds, stumbles awkwardly through the process of adding the uncomfortable lump underneath his back and the memory of last night's gift bestowed upon him together to finally get it.

"oh god," minho groans in shame, turning his head into the side of the pillow to spare jonghyun his decidedly un-princely breath, "did you anything funny to me while i was sleeping?"

"what? what! no!" jonghyun exclaims, pushing his open palms against minho's chest, "i couldn't believe you actually slept with it so i was just fooling around."

"oh."

minho turns back to face jonghyun and reaches his arm around and underneath his back, pulling out the frog by one of it's elastic legs and setting it upright in the valley between jonghyun's thigh and his waist.

while the frog stares back eagerly at both of them, minho vaguely considers the princess and the pea story being the infinitely more appropriate comparison to his situation. throughout the entire night, the frog had been a pain in his back and now, probably hours before they even had to be awake, jonghyun had come to replace the frog as a huge pain in his ass.

the frog falls over, its flimsy limbs collapsing underneath the weight of the head, the googly eyes shifting upwards to look pathetically back up at the both of them.

jonghyun shudders a little, grabs it between the eyes and sets it upright again.

"i still can't believe you slept with this."

minho can't think of anything to say to that, shrugs his shoulders.

after jonghyun leaves, minho looks at the frog only a tiny bit longer before sliding it underneath his bed.

✖

it's not like jonghyun eavesdrops on minho's conversations or anything insidious like that, just hears laughter and merrymaking and he naturally-as anyone else in his position would-gets a little curious.

jonghyun has a lot of great phone interactions himself, like when he texts jinki in the other room to ask him what he should get for kibum's birthday or if taemin's with him, so it's not like he's jealous either.

but still, jonghyun thinks to himself while he waits for jinki to reply, how cool would it be if he somehow pulled off one-man smear campaign against the pristine, golden boy himself?

no doubt that he'd have to enlist kibum as a silent partner, the perfect lookout while he hijacked minho's phone and changed the last digit of each number (minus manager-hyung and the group, of course) and then when minho would start to wonder why no one was replying to his texts or inviting him out, jonghyun would proceed onto phase 2: sending anonymous texts.

no one would even want to associate with minho anymore, jonghyun snickers to himself, not after he sent all of minho's fawning admirers the incriminating pictures of the bottle of heavy-duty medicated foot odor powder minho kept inside his desk or the incredibly dumb face minho made when he slept, with his drooling 'o' of a mouth and his hand that would always magically and licentiously end up down his boxers during the course of the night.

he wouldn't be angelic at all, his face covered with scandalous drawings to add even further comedic value to the impossibly thick and curly handlebar moustache under his nose.

the moustache would definitely have be the uncontested centerpiece of the entire display, jonghyun decides.

he'd expose to the world what minho truly was: weird and awkward and really not all that great.

jonghyun's phone vibrates and snaps him out of it, and opens jinki's text.

idk what 2 get him taemin dk either just ask him wat he wants

k

taemin says 2 tell him he has still has 2 act surprised tho

k

jonghyun opens up a new message, sends kibum-tell me wat u want 4 bday but taeminnie says u still have 2 b surpised-before sending jinki k asked him and getting in reply:

is minho w/u?

no i hate him y?

lol k

im srs

k

jonghyun closes his phone after reading the text and puts his headphones back on, sets his music on shuffle and skips through 14 tracks until something he's in the mood for finally starts to play.

✖

every once in a while, they all get an evening all to themselves and tonight, minho decides to celebrate the special occasion in his bed, laptop on his chest, aimlessly watching videos and indiscriminately clicking from one link to the next.

occasionally, he'll get the urge to, but minho doesn't really like searching for himself online as much as key and jonghyun (who's not as upfront about it as key, but minho knows better), mostly because minho knows he'll take anything he reads to heart, even though he knows he shouldn't care about some nameless person he doesn't know.

sometimes though, he'll type in his name in the search field just to see the other queries and doesn't click through to any results.

he's half-watching some part pseudo-documentary part sensationalist journalism piece on the top wanted crimelords in asia. it's not really that great, but the tone in the narrator's voice is urgent and ominous enough for minho to keep it on.

the announcer is just about to cut to the mug of some tattooed gangster when his computer screen dims and a flashing icon in his system tray tells him he has less than 5% of battery power left. minho leans over to look under his bed for his ac adapter and then he remembers that he left the cord in living room the day before.

he stalls on his course of action, continuing to watch the program until his computer finally flickers off into a forced shutdown. minho pulls the top of his screen closed, puts the laptop on the floor. he tries closing his eyes but it's not that late, and he's not tired enough to go to sleep, doesn't want to get up out of bed either.

he looks to his side and he sees jonghyun's computer on their desk.

getting up to ask jonghyun if he could use his computer seemed like a lot of unneccessary effort, and it wasn't like jonghyun expressly forbid minho from touching it.

he wouldn't care, wouldn't even know if i used it for a little bit, minho rationalizes to himself as he pulls jonghyun's computer off the desk.

the computer is turned off, the keys cool and dry to the touch.

minho holds down the power button and just like he hoped, jonghyun hadn't bothered with a password, making the transition to his desktop seamless.

minho supposes he'll just keep watching what he was before until he can think of something better and starts typing the title when he notices that the k key is stuck. he taps against it but it still won't take, and minho can feel something a little sticky on the edge of the key.

minho wets the tip of his index finger against his tongue and rubs against the key, and when he's done, without thinking, he puts the finger back in his mouth.

the taste isn't like what he was expecting, isn't the sweet sugar sticky of candy or soda but something else. it's something brackish, a familiar sort of brine against his tongue.

minho's tasted his own come before, did it when he was curious and had nothing to do, rubbed and stretched it between his index finger and thumb, made note of how the consistency and flavor changed when he ate differently.

he knows what his tastes like and by virtue of what he just put in his mouth, he kind of knows what jonghyun tastes like too.

it isn't really disgusting though, like he thought it would be. instead, he wipes his finger against the surface of the key again and carefully places it against the tip of his tongue, against the little triangle of tastebuds just for salty and sweet.

the taste isn't as strong this time, diluted by his saliva, but it's still there and minho starts to speculate with a lazy sort of interest about what jonghyun was jerking off to-did he watch the normal stuff, one on one, two girls one guy, just girls or maybe other things, things that he'd have to hide or quickly exit out of before he could wipe himself off? minho runs his hands against the touchpad of the computer, slightly greasy with tiny white specks against the worn-in black, and did jonghyun use just his spit for friction or did he use lotion instead, did he use his other hand to fast-forward to the good parts and pause on an expression he particularly liked?

only when minho has to shift uncomfortably because he's kind of hard does the notion that what he's doing is kind of weird and fucked up finally cross his mind, and he quickly shuts down jonghyun's computer, puts it back on the desk exactly as he found it.

✖

it takes a week of taemin eating minho's food under the veil of darkness (then shoving the wrappers into jonghyun's pockets), kibum pointedly taking his shampoo back into the bedroom with him after showering and minho spending precious minutes each morning squeezing out microscopic amounts of toothpaste from a shriveled up, dry tube for all of them to come to a consensus about replenishing supplies.

once in the store, minho maps out his route, gets the same brands, flavors, colors he always gets, mentally double-checks everything on his list and finishes before everyone else.

he momentarily considers to go looking for the others, then opts in favor of staying put instead of embarking on what would probably be a wild and unfruitful goose chase. minho swivels the group shopping cart between aisles 3 and 4, parks it so that everyone else can see him.

he's reading nutritional facts off the back of some protein bars when he catches jonghyun rounding the corner. minho waves in his line of vision and jonghyun nods, speed walks over to him, and dumps his armful into the cart.

minho looks down into the cart and notices that the color of the toothbrush jonghyun picked out is almost the same as his, jonghyun's maybe a little darker.

he's about to make jonghyun go change his, but minho swears he sees jonghyun's face fall a little bit and watches quietly as jonghyun fishes his toothbrush out of the cart unprompted.

in all honesty, minho thinks, the toothbrushes weren't really that similar.

"hyung," minho says, "it's okay. i don't care if you don't care."

"you don't?" jonghyun stops and asks, looking up at him.

"no. do you?"

"no. it's just," jonghyun straightens, toothbrush in hand, "what if we mix them up or something?"

jonghyun voices his concern of unknowingly exchanging mouth germs with him on a regular basis like it's actually a serious possibility-and minho can only look at him and ask,

"why? do you brush your teeth with your eyes closed, hyung?"

jonghyun grins, tosses the toothbrush back in the cart.

"i might start, just for you."

(jonghyun accidentally knocks over minho's toothbrush getting into the shower once, and he's already more than halfway past the sliding doors when he hears it hit against the tiles of the floor.

the urgency of mission: rescue minho's toothbrush overtakes jonghyun a little more forcefully than he expects, his feet slipping dangerously against the wet porcelain of the shower in his haste to recover and disinfect.

jonghyun leans over the sink, his hips down in the shower, torso up out of the shower, and holds minho's toothbrush under the hot-water tap for ten seconds-he counts the long way, too-before shaking it dry and placing it back into the communal cup.)

after a while, minho doesn't even need to look past the head to tell their toothbrushes apart. the bristles on jonghyun's brush eventually become unruly, the fibers around the edges bent and frayed, making it seem like jonghyun scrubbed floors at night instead of brushing his teeth.

next to jonghyun's, minho's own brush looks like it's never been used.

minho picks up jonghyun's toothbrush, bares his teeth, running it across the rows of his front teeth, once, then twice, just to see how it feels. the texture is definitely different, the bristles softer against his gums and have more give than his own, almost like the oral equivalent of a pair of worn-in, favorite shoes.

minho opens his mouth wider so he can run the toothbrush along the bottom row of canines, incisors then his molars, his tongue slowly picking up on the minty aftertaste from when jonghyun last used it.

minho catches himself in the mirror and stops, twists on the hot water faucet and lets it run until it gets steam-hot. before minho puts the brush under the water, he carefully squeezes out a tiny glob of toothpaste onto jonghyun's toothbrush, hoping that the peppermint can help disguise him.

✖

minho hovered.

while yeah, it was a generally unattractive quality in any human being, and yeah, he'd probably never not be unnerved with the ease and efficiency minho managed to transform a harmless linger into a slightly terrifying loom, it was minho's thing, and jonghyun could respect it.

to an extent.

because if minho was really serious about continuing down that path in life, he was going to have to start taking the courtesy of making some noise, like rattling some paintings against the wall, or banging some pots and pans, or even a knock or two on the door would be fine, and even in that poltergeist movie, the ghost was at least gracious enough to give his hauntees a heads up every once in a while.

like just in case, because if it was anyone else who had to behold minho's shadowy figure lounging behind them in the foggy bathroom mirror during their post-shower pore inspection or had screamed a little at the sighting or had almost dropped their towel in shock, they might not have been as understanding towards minho as jonghyun is being right now.

"how long have you been there." jonghyun groans, quickly resecuring the towel around his torso.

"long enough to get really bored." minho answers matter-of-factly, makes it seem like it was somehow jonghyun that was the socially inept one out of the two and not him, which it obviously was, and jonghyun can't remember ever signing up to be minho's personal entertainment center in his contract, and turns himself back around.

"go find someone less boring then."

jonghyun wipes the condensation off the mirror and he's greeted with the hideous reflection of a monstrous pimple on his chin defiantly staring back at him, the baby blemish he thought he'd vanquished yesterday having matured into a ripe, disgusting pustule.

the coordi noonas had a strict rule of not touching pimples unless in their hands, always kept a few syringes of cortisone for when they needed to bring out the big guns, but no way was jonghyun going to be able to wait until tomorrow and just let this growth continue to exist and completely ruin the symmetry of his face.

but jonghyun doesn't really know what to do, because the pimple kind of hurts and is maybe a little bit intimidating just by virtue of its sheer magnitude and gruesomeness.

he pokes a little uselessly with his index finger at the surrounding area, slowly circling in closer to his target before chickening out.

then he tries it again with both his index fingers, determined to squeeze the pimple into extinction by launching a two-front assault, and he gets a little farther this way, but quickly retreats in disgust when he feels the pus moving inside it, pushing against the surface of his skin.

jonghyun drops his hands, sighs to himself loudly.

"your method of attack leaves a lot to be desired," minho observes casually behind him.

this time jonghyun isn't blindsided, but he'd still prefer to dispatch the volcano on his face solo, without an audience, especially if it was an audience that was even harder to get rid of than the pimple itself.

"yeah, well, your personality leaves a lot to be desired," jonghyun grumbles, continuing to prod woefully at the boil, "but you don't hear me saying it aloud."

minho is too intent on sweeping dramatically into the bathroom, knocking jonghyun's hand away from his face and staring at him sternly to listen to what jonghyun has to say anyways.

"stop touching it like that."

jonghyun stares back at him with what he hopes is the same degree of severity.

"i can't leave this thing on my face."

"why can't you just wait? it'll get better by tomorrow."

"no."

"it'll leave a scar."

"no, i'm getting rid of it and if you're not with me, you're against me, i.e. with the pimple-and then i'd have to ask you to leave."

minho looks at jonghyun, then jonghyun's chin, then jonghyun, once more at the chin and finally back at jonghyun.

"okay, fine. sit down."

"why?" jonghyun asks, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub anyways.

"because biological warfare is tiring, that's why." minho says as he puts some soap on his hands and starts washing them in the sink.

jonghyun is actually pretty excited to have an allied front even if it is with minho. even though he'd totally be able to handle this all on his own, reinforcements never hurt and jonghyun wasn't the type to ever look a gift minho in the mouth.

he hums happily at the pimple's impending doom and taps his feet in excitement while minho boils some water in an electric kettle.

once it's done, minho pours some down the corner of a clean washcloth and, comes over to jonghyun, looks down at him and laughs.

"hyung, you're still wearing a towel."

jonghyun looks down and finds that he'd gotten a little too enthusiastic while waiting for minho, and he was having his modesty be threatened so he scrambles to pull his towel back up his waist and clamps his legs back together, only looking back up at minho after he's presentable again.

minho's gaze had obviously not moved, and now there was the faint hint of a leer included alongside his i'm-really-laughing-at-you-not-with-you grin, and he even has the nerve to chuckle as he asks jonghyun,

"are you decent now?"

"you don't ask that kind of question when you've been looking the entire time." jonghyun counters quickly, and tries not to blush.

"okay, sorry," and minho says it like he actually is, kneels on the floor in front of jonghyun and balances his forearms in jonghyun's lap, perches a respectable distance away from anything hazardous and holds jonghyun's chin with one hand and holding the washcloth in the other.

minho tilts his chin up to get a better angle to look at the pimple, then left, then right, and jonghyun feels like he's in a doctor's office, but even if it's a little uncomfortable, he's still glad that minho's taking this seriously.

minho finally finds the perfect position to hold up jonghyun's head, looks at him and asks,

"okay, ready?"

"mmhmm." jonghyun replies to the ceiling.

he tries to look down and see what minho is doing, but it's hard with his head tilted so far up, and he can't see much except minho's fingers and hair and then, when jonghyun can feel the heat of the washcloth approaching his face,

minho then does this thing, this thing where he looks up at jonghyun from beneath his eyelashes like the girls on television, and it's the first time jonghyun's ever seen anything close to it in real life, let alone be the one the look was directed towards, and the shock of the entire experience catches him so embarassingly off-guard that he teeters a little, then totters backward into the tub.

had he actually fallen into the tub, jonghyun is sure that he would have proceeded to lose whatever meager scraps of modesty he liked to think he still had left in front of minho.

but he doesn't fall, because minho grabs his elbow just in the nick of time and pulls him back up to safety, sounds both worried and annoyed when he asks him

"what happened? i didn't even do anything yet."

"oh, yeah," jonghyun explains, "slipped a little. no biggie. thanks for the save, by the way."

"hyung, if you want me to do this, you have to sit still."

"i'm serious, do you know how slippery this bathroom gets?"

"no."

"well, okay then so you MMMPH-"

minho clamps his hand over jonghyun's mouth and then jonghyun feels the washcloth between minho's right thumb and index fingers, locating and then squeezing firmly against the pimple and it hurts for a little bit, right before jonghyun hears the little 'pop' of skin breaking and despite the deeply cathartic emotional release it provides him with, he can't help gagging a little against minho's palm,

minho frowns at him and pulls away his hand from jonghyun's mouth, reaching over to pour some boiled water on an unused end of the washcloth then turning back drain the rest of the fluid.

jonghyun holds bits of tissue paper against the pimple to get it to stop bleeding while minho washes his hands again.

he wipes his hands on a used towel on the rack and sits next to jonghyun, coos affectionately,

"you were such a big boy today, hyung."

indebted to him anyways, jonghyun decides to play along.

"thanks for all your help," jonghyun beams as he snuggles his head into the crook of minho's neck and shoulder, rubs a little, "you really came through for me today."

minho looks almost touched, until he catches on and moves away in disgust.

"stop trying to get your pimple blood on my shirt."

"yah, minho, i'm not the kind of person you think i am!" jonghyun insists, almost cornering minho against the edge of the bathtub and the wall, but his towel gets unfastened somewhere along the way and minho gets away, laughs all the way back to his room, only stopping to obnoxiously ask kibum,

"what do you see in that guy?"

loudly enough for jonghyun to hear, to which kibum replies,

"who the hell are you talking about?"

and minho starts laughing again, laughter fading only after jonghyun hears a door shut.

kibum comes into the bathroom, quickly gives jonghyun a once over.

"what's wrong with minho and why are you in a towel and what is that shit on your face?"

jonghyun asks kibum if he can get some pants for him out of his room instead.

✖

when the music countdown breaks for commercial, kibum starts randomly flipping through channels to kill the time.

their schedule today wasn’t all that bad, mostly recording and studio time, but everyone was woozy and glassy-eyed, like they’d been awake for days.

jinki and kibum were pretty glazed over on one side of the couch-kibum being out of it enough for him to not notice jinki had been in semi-snuggle mode with him since snsd’s performance or maybe kibum thought the effort of shrugging it off wasn’t worth the trouble, minho reckons-and taemin was sprawled on the floor in front.

minho’s stomach grumbles a little bit when kibum flips past a fast food cf and jonghyun is the only one who seems to notice, flashing him a quick side-eye before taking another sip of the super special v.i.p. chanteuse tea that jonghyun had concocted himself a couple of days ago, smiling mysteriously when taemin asked what he was drinking, saying something about classified information.

when the smell eventually wafted over minho’s way, he’d guessed some infusion of honey and ginger and lemon and...pepper? that’s right isn’t it, hyung?

jonghyun had politely declined to comment while taemin chuckled.

the overjoyed smile of jonghyun’s favorite actress flashes across the screen and minho can sense jonghyun double-take, then shout

“go back! go back!!!”

jonghyun’s exclamation snaps all of them out of their daze, jonghyun somehow activating minho’s fight-or-flight response, as he find his back instinctively straightening, sitting upright and alert in his seat, while the rest of them twist their heads to look at jonghyun in shock.

“go back! it’s her!” jonghyun explains, enthusiasm undampened.

kibum’s looks at jonghyun a little distastefully before taking his sweet time moving his thumb from the up button to the down button. minho can almost feel jonghyun trembling in anticipation next to him.

kibum switches back to the channel, and it’s the evening entertainment news.

“-the actress is now confirmed to be engaged to her fellow co-star, who she met on the set-”

“OKAY YOU CAN CHANGE THE CHANNEL NOW,” jonghyun blurts out from next to him.

no one has the heart to look at him while kibum carries out the order without a word.

jonghyun suddenly gets up and leaves, and four pairs of eyes trail behind him.

once jonghyun’s out of earshot, jinki turns to minho, concerned,

“do you think he’s okay?”

what minho really thinks is that jonghyun is being a little bit of a drama-queen, but he nods anyways, and jinki seems satisfied with his answer. taemin yawns and kibum continues looking uninterested.

there’s some clanking from the kitchen, which minho assumes is part of the theatrics.

jinki glances over in the general direction of the noise, asking again, “are you su-”

“he’s fine.” kibum replies, a little irritated.

a newly debuted girl group is about to lead into their chorus when jonghyun makes his return, a bowl in his hands.

he sits back down next to minho, places the bowl between his legs, and takes a gloomy mouthful of the contents.

it was ice cream, which jonghyun only reserved for special occasions, and apparently, devastating heartbreak.

another rookie girl group starts to perform, whose name and debut song minho doesn’t manage to catch, too busy pretending to not be amused by jonghyun’s pitiful wallowing.

half-way though, jonghyun points excitedly towards the television with his spoon,

"no, no, her. she's the love of my life."

he grins and stares at the girl on the screen, who isn’t even that cute, minho notes.

“ew, really, her?” kibum says, “she can’t eve-”

“OR WAIT HER. yeah, no, that one. definitely that one.” jonghyun shouts again, recanting his previous declaration as the camera zooms in on another girl, smiling beatifically at the screen while flawlessly executing the choreography of the dance.

“what, now you’re whoring it out to anyone who’ll have you?” kibum observes in amusement, leaning over jinki and minho to give jonghyun a playful shove.

“whatever, “ jonghyun continues grinning, eyes glued to the screen, “don’t be mad ‘cause i called dibs first.”

“you know,” jinki says almost as an afterthought, “she’s just a rebound. she doesn’t mean anything.”

the worldliness of jinki’s off-handed comment seem to surprise them even more than jonghyun’s shouting did, and minho even chuckles a little when he sees kibum gape a little open-mouthed at jinki, speechless.

minho looks back at jonghyun and rebound or not, jonghyun seemed to be handling the break-up pretty well, and was now even singing along with the television.

minho looks down at the bowl in jonghyun’s lap and asks,

"is that chocolate?"

even though he’s opened the freezer enough times to know it's chocolate.

"yeah want some?" jonghyun replies, still distracted by the screen.

“yeah,” and then minho reaches for the spoon, but jonghyun takes it in his own hand, digging out a generous scoop, turning and bringing the mouthful to minho’s mouth, airplane-style.

“here,” jonghyun says, smiling, “it’s really good.”

minho fights the urge to take the spoon from him and eat the ice cream himself, and opens his mouth. he feels kind of silly letting jonghyun feed him, but the ice cream is good, and it seems to make jonghyun happy, so minho lets him.

minho doesn’t realize just how sweet the ice cream is, just how heavy and molasses-thick the aftertaste of sugar is in his mouth until he watches jonghyun carefully lick the spoon, his tongue slow and deliberate against the metal before dropping it back into the bowl with a loud, obnoxious clank.

✖

jonghyun really liked being needed, minho realizes one day, after noticing how jonghyun always lit up when kibum shouted at him from the other room to sign off on his latest online purchase or when jinki chose him as the audience participant in a two-person gag or even little tiny things, like when taemin asks him if he can borrow his sweater when he forgets his at home.

sometimes jonghyun would act like he was bothered-especially since he obviously had so many other pressing personal matters to attend to-but that front would never last long because every one knew jonghyun was fooling no one but himself when he pretended like he didn't thoroughly enjoy playing the role of backseat driver.

minho doesn't need jonghyun for anything, doesn't need him like jinki, kibum and taemin need him.

on most days, minho thinks he does just fine without a helping of jonghyun's special brand of philanthropy-actually, he fared a lot better without it.

minho didn't need jonghyun for anything, which was probably why jonghyun always looked confused when minho leaned in close or smiled too wide or laughed too long, not exactly sure what he was helping minho with before accommodating him anyways.

maybe, minho thinks, maybe it was because jonghyun just wasn't used to someone wanting him.

✖

jonghyun knows it's creeping up on him; it's been on the outskirts of his radar for a couple days now, but he hasn't resorted to any namby-pamby cough syrup or soup or coddling, goes about it like a purely mind over matter thing.

the itch in his throat, the congestion in his sinuses, the split-second oscillations between hot flashes and icicle cold, the aching in his bones-all were no match for his will-power, the sheer force of which was something to be reckoned with indeed.

and he thought he'd been pretty crafty about keeping the entire thing on the downlow, which is why he's a little annoyed when he hears the urgent murmuring in the kitchen start up just as he leaves to go put on a sweatshirt.

"he's sick, right?"

"he's sounds sick."

"he's definitely sick."

"he's kind of pale too."

"you go ask him."

"no, you go."

"why me? minho you go."

"why? shouldn't hyung-"

"just go already," jonghyun hears kibum say, voice well above a whisper.

the noise stops and jonghyun quickly walks over to the closet to occupy himself, throws a surprised look over his shoulder when minho walks tentatively in the room.

"hi, hyung."

"hi, i'll be right back, lemme just-"

"are you okay?"

"why wouldn't i be okay?"

"you look sick."

jonghyun knits his eyebrows in disbelief and shoves a handful of hangers to the left on the rack.

"i'm not. i'm fine."

he pulls a plain crewneck black sweatshirt off a hanger and pulls it over his head, heads for the doorway.

minho intercepts him, grabs him by the arm and he's about to protest, but minho purses his lips, leans down, and his eyes go half-lidded and jonghyun's stomach does this flip-floppy jump so he quickly adds nausea to his symptom list because of course that's what it has to be but then he closes his eyes for some reason maybe even tilts his head up a little-

-and then he feels the dry brush of minho's lips against his forehead and jonghyun's eyes snap open to find minho staring at him with an intensity he almost trips over himself to try and dispel.

"wow, even my grandma doesn't do that-"

minho ignores him, lets go of his arm and steps back, his gaze unmoving.

"you have a fever, hyung."

minho's tone doesn't leave any room for negotiation, but he goes ahead and tries anyway.

"no, i'm just-"

"you are."

"no, rea..." and jonghyun feels his nose twitch in warning, so hepauses, and despite all his renown willpower, he can't stifle the sneeze that bursts out of him, the thrust of which almost propels him backwards.

cover blown and having nothing left to say for himself, jonghyun finally lets himself sniffle. he makes sure minho knows it’s a defiant sniffle though.

minho makes him sit on the bed anyways, pulls out a balled pair of thick athletic knee socks from his drawer and puts them on jonghyun’s feet for him. jonghyun, in his defiance, lets him.

“okay, i’m going to tell manager hyung now. get into bed, hyung.”

jonghyun does, but as defiantly as he can manage.

✖

once he's declared officially out of commission and the group is temporarily announced as minus one, jonghyun's put into quarantine.

every one else is gracious, but they're careful to keep their distance because being 4 is already hard enough and even jonghyun himself will admit his snotty, coughy, clammy self is nothing too attractive.

he doesn't mind being left alone, but what he does mind is how minho suddenly decided to personally take on the role of being his sick nurse, is annoyed by how minho stoically takes it upon himself to disinfect the bathroom after jonghyun's solid meals sometimes came back up too quickly for him to make it all the way to the toilet bowl, or how, like clockwork, he'd dispose of jonghyun's fort of gross, used tissues every hour on the hour.

jonghyun doesn't know what he's aiming at, because there was someone hired to do all that and all minho was accomplishing was pissing jonghyun off and probably getting himself sick.

he's supposed to be sleeping and resting but he's sick and tired of resting, dramatically imagines the bedsores that must be forming on his back and thighs from being in the same place for so long.

jonghyun turns, sighs and closes his eyes for only a couple of seconds before he feels a dip in the bed next to his legs.

jonghyun peeks open his eyes just the tiniest fraction, just enough to make out the silhouette to be minho's, of course, then closes them again.

jonghyun decides he isn't really in the mood for anymore are you feeling betters or do you want something to eats, pretends to be asleep.

but minho sits there, quietly, without saying anything and jonghyun starts to get antsy, wants to see exactly what minho is doing, just sitting there, staring at him.

he's about to fake a cough when he feels a warmth touch at the corner of his mouth, wet itself against the puddle of drool he didn't know was dripping out, feels minho softly wipe it away from the seam of his lips.

jonghyun creaks open one eye and sees minho silently contemplating the bacteria-laden shine of jonghyun's saliva on his fingertip before looking back at him and the sudden eye contact makes them both start.

"oh," minho says, quickly wiping his hand against the leg of his pants. his expression changing, "hyung, you're awake?"

"yeah."

"oh."

they're awkward and still for a few seconds before jonghyun lifts his head and flips over his pillow and makes a pleased sigh when his cheek rubs against the cool fabric.

"do," minho says, making no effort to leave, "do you need anything?"

"nope."

minho leans in closer, brings his hand down to jonghyun's forehead,

"are you su-"

jonghyun turns his head away, annoyed.

"yeah. you can go now."

once it hits the open air, the sound of his own voice makes jonghyun wince, and he squeezes his eyes shut, then says, softer, "i mean. i don’t want you to get sick. so you should go."

jonghyun finally feels minho slowly pull off the bed, the mattress readjusting to the loss of weight.

"i got you a new box of tissues," minho tells him quietly, "they're next to you. if you need them."

jonghyun nods his thanks, keeps his head turned away until he hears him leave.

✖

while kibum is busy answering a fan question next to him, minho leans over to ask jonghyun something, but jonghyun's attention is focused somewhere in the distance of the direction opposite him, keeping him from leaning in to the whisper like usual.

minho tries again after a couple of seconds have passed, shifting his weight and leaning over even further, but again, to no avail. before he's pulled back all the way, minho stops and notices the new angle of jonghyun's neck, different from what he's used to seeing while standing on stage in group formation.

he'd never noticed just how paper thin and transluscent the inches of skin behind jonghyun's ear were, just how tightly they stretched over the powder blue tributaries of vein spilling down his jaw, then the side of his neck-but then there's clapping and shouting, jolting minho back to the present and forcing him to face back forward.

mc waits until the crowd quiets down to ask another question in thai and their translator starts talking but doesn't really hear any of it. when jonghyun turns his head again to listen to onew reply, minho looks, can't do anything but keep on looking, and loses track of who's answering what question so when jonghyun finally turns his head, minho doesn’t disconnect his gaze quick enough to avoid getting caught.

jonghyun gives him his wide, what’s up? eyes and minho shakes his head, no, nothing.

»