A Different Kind Of Caffeine; Minho/Key
In which Kibum is extremely sleepy and Minho is there for him.
A ficlet inspired by this and how Kibum seemed rather out of it on one particular day.
It was quiet. Too quiet. At least for Minho, it was. Especially since he wasn’t alone in the waiting room and had Kibum with him. Even if it was just the two of them, as long as Kibum was around, there was bound to be noise, be it loud annoying never ending rants, low murmurs in hushed volumes or casual chit chats in the calmest of tones. Yet now, after Minho was done clearing all his KakaoTalk notifications and replying each conversation that was waiting for his reply during the short break they were given in between recording, the ringing silence became apparent in the waiting room. There was something disturbing about the way Kibum was so silent, too quiet for Minho’s liking.
Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Minho looked towards Kibum who was sitting beside him and realized that the blonde was as still as a statue, very much in a daze as his eyes stared blankly at a fixed spot on the opposite wall. Minho silently bent forward and leaned into his boyfriend's personal space so he could get a full view of Kibum's face. Yet, Kibum didn't even so much as flinch when Minho's face had suddenly filled his entire vision. Instead, the blonde slowly focused his vision on Minho and parted his lips to mumble out two simple words emotionlessly.
“I'm tired.”
Even if Kibum didn't say it out loud, Minho knew. It wasn't just Kibum who was tired. They all were. Tired was probably an understatement; they were exhausted, always feeling as if they were down to their last ounce of energy, or sometimes worse, completely drained, by the time they returned to their dorm after all schedules and activities were completed for the day. It was nothing new to them though. They were SHINee. That was how it was during comeback promotions, and in all honesty, being this busy was a good sign for them. It meant they were in demand, that they were hoarding the limelight, receiving attention from everyone who loved them and that was all anyone trying to survive in the entertainment industry could ask for. Still, it wasn't the same as any other comeback promotions.
What was different this time round was the fact that Jonghyun couldn't be around right from the start, that they were promoting Why So Serious as 4. The remaining four of SHINee made it look easy, filling in for Jonghyun, covering his almost-impossible-to-match vocals and making up for the absence of their lead vocal (not just in songs but in interviews because Jonghyun usually spoke the most), but only they knew that behind this front was a whole lot of extra effort and hard work they had to put in to make up the gaping hole in SHINee that came with Jonghyun's absence. It goes without saying that work which was originally supposed to be performed by 5 but now split among 4 meant an extra of everything that had to be shouldered among the four of them. Extra stress, extra hours of practice, extra effort, extra sweat, blood and tears... and that just made them more exhausted than they already were. They didn't speak about it, they didn't need to (everyone understood they were all going through the same thing) but even without words, each of them could feel it, could see it, how much more effort they had to put in just to make sure SHINee lived up to expectations.
So for Kibum to actually voice it out, Minho knew the blonde was close to, or perhaps, maybe even at, his breaking point. The rapper gently turned Kibum towards him so that they were facing each other before he brought his hand up to cup the side of the blonde's face, his thumb softly rubbing away a tiny speck of dirt just under his boyfriend's left eye, and smiled warmly.
“My shoulder's here if you want to catch forty winks.” Minho offered as he tapped his own shoulder to emphasis his point and winked at Kibum before he lowered his voice to a volume only the two of them could hear, “You know I'll offer you my arms and even my lap but we're sort of in public so...”
A slight smile tugged on the corners of Kibum's lips as he let out a short breathy laugh and pushed Minho on his chest in a weak attempt to express his mock annoyance, “Minho. Shut up.”
“Hey, I'm serious, Kibummie, I know we don't have much time before recording starts again but even closing your eyes for 15 minutes will do you good.”
“I know...” Kibum nodded with a sigh, “But it'll be a challenge to stay awake after because I’ll probably just fall into such a deep sleep till I won't ever want to wake up.”
“Don't worry, I'm here to make sure you will.”
“And how, may I ask, will you do that, hmm?”
Minho flashed his charming smile and the next thing Kibum knew, his boyfriend's lips were on his, only staying for a brief moment, almost too quick that Kibum wondered if their lips even did meet in that feather light kiss that made his insides twist in the loveliest of ways.
As Minho pulled away and maintained a safe distance between them, Kibum resisted the urge to smile and instead, rolled his eyes and groaned, “Who do you think I am, sleeping beauty?”
“Nah, you're prettier than her. I, on the other hand, am Prince Charming.” Minho struck a handsome pose with a mischievous grin on his face and held it until Kibum burst out laughing, falling forward onto his chest, his hands naturally finding Minho’s shoulders.
"Glad you're more awake now..." Minho said as he looked down at Kibum lovingly, "Just hold on a little while more alright? We'll get home soon and you can have a good sleep. I promise I’ll keep my hands off you tonight."
As his laughter died down, Kibum looked up, nodded and presented a lazy smile at his boyfriend, "You're idiotic... but baby, thank you... for being my own brand of caffeine.”
“Does this mean you love me more than coffee?” Minho asked hopefully.
Yet Kibum couldn’t be bothered with answering his boyfriend because he didn’t answer stupid questions. Instead, the blonde forced Minho to lean back against the couch as he then rested his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“Wake me up later yeah?” Kibum mumbled while making himself comfortable against his boyfriend who had relaxed beside him.
Just before sleep overcame him, Kibum wondered to himself if Minho was indeed going to stay true to his words and wake him up with a kiss… oh wait, never mind, he already knew the answer to that.
And if Kibum had opened his eyes and seen the devious smile on Minho’s face, he would know he was absolutely right.
A ficlet inspired by this and how Kibum seemed rather out of it on one particular day.
It was quiet. Too quiet. At least for Minho, it was. Especially since he wasn’t alone in the waiting room and had Kibum with him. Even if it was just the two of them, as long as Kibum was around, there was bound to be noise, be it loud annoying never ending rants, low murmurs in hushed volumes or casual chit chats in the calmest of tones. Yet now, after Minho was done clearing all his KakaoTalk notifications and replying each conversation that was waiting for his reply during the short break they were given in between recording, the ringing silence became apparent in the waiting room. There was something disturbing about the way Kibum was so silent, too quiet for Minho’s liking.
Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Minho looked towards Kibum who was sitting beside him and realized that the blonde was as still as a statue, very much in a daze as his eyes stared blankly at a fixed spot on the opposite wall. Minho silently bent forward and leaned into his boyfriend's personal space so he could get a full view of Kibum's face. Yet, Kibum didn't even so much as flinch when Minho's face had suddenly filled his entire vision. Instead, the blonde slowly focused his vision on Minho and parted his lips to mumble out two simple words emotionlessly.
“I'm tired.”
Even if Kibum didn't say it out loud, Minho knew. It wasn't just Kibum who was tired. They all were. Tired was probably an understatement; they were exhausted, always feeling as if they were down to their last ounce of energy, or sometimes worse, completely drained, by the time they returned to their dorm after all schedules and activities were completed for the day. It was nothing new to them though. They were SHINee. That was how it was during comeback promotions, and in all honesty, being this busy was a good sign for them. It meant they were in demand, that they were hoarding the limelight, receiving attention from everyone who loved them and that was all anyone trying to survive in the entertainment industry could ask for. Still, it wasn't the same as any other comeback promotions.
What was different this time round was the fact that Jonghyun couldn't be around right from the start, that they were promoting Why So Serious as 4. The remaining four of SHINee made it look easy, filling in for Jonghyun, covering his almost-impossible-to-match vocals and making up for the absence of their lead vocal (not just in songs but in interviews because Jonghyun usually spoke the most), but only they knew that behind this front was a whole lot of extra effort and hard work they had to put in to make up the gaping hole in SHINee that came with Jonghyun's absence. It goes without saying that work which was originally supposed to be performed by 5 but now split among 4 meant an extra of everything that had to be shouldered among the four of them. Extra stress, extra hours of practice, extra effort, extra sweat, blood and tears... and that just made them more exhausted than they already were. They didn't speak about it, they didn't need to (everyone understood they were all going through the same thing) but even without words, each of them could feel it, could see it, how much more effort they had to put in just to make sure SHINee lived up to expectations.
So for Kibum to actually voice it out, Minho knew the blonde was close to, or perhaps, maybe even at, his breaking point. The rapper gently turned Kibum towards him so that they were facing each other before he brought his hand up to cup the side of the blonde's face, his thumb softly rubbing away a tiny speck of dirt just under his boyfriend's left eye, and smiled warmly.
“My shoulder's here if you want to catch forty winks.” Minho offered as he tapped his own shoulder to emphasis his point and winked at Kibum before he lowered his voice to a volume only the two of them could hear, “You know I'll offer you my arms and even my lap but we're sort of in public so...”
A slight smile tugged on the corners of Kibum's lips as he let out a short breathy laugh and pushed Minho on his chest in a weak attempt to express his mock annoyance, “Minho. Shut up.”
“Hey, I'm serious, Kibummie, I know we don't have much time before recording starts again but even closing your eyes for 15 minutes will do you good.”
“I know...” Kibum nodded with a sigh, “But it'll be a challenge to stay awake after because I’ll probably just fall into such a deep sleep till I won't ever want to wake up.”
“Don't worry, I'm here to make sure you will.”
“And how, may I ask, will you do that, hmm?”
Minho flashed his charming smile and the next thing Kibum knew, his boyfriend's lips were on his, only staying for a brief moment, almost too quick that Kibum wondered if their lips even did meet in that feather light kiss that made his insides twist in the loveliest of ways.
As Minho pulled away and maintained a safe distance between them, Kibum resisted the urge to smile and instead, rolled his eyes and groaned, “Who do you think I am, sleeping beauty?”
“Nah, you're prettier than her. I, on the other hand, am Prince Charming.” Minho struck a handsome pose with a mischievous grin on his face and held it until Kibum burst out laughing, falling forward onto his chest, his hands naturally finding Minho’s shoulders.
"Glad you're more awake now..." Minho said as he looked down at Kibum lovingly, "Just hold on a little while more alright? We'll get home soon and you can have a good sleep. I promise I’ll keep my hands off you tonight."
As his laughter died down, Kibum looked up, nodded and presented a lazy smile at his boyfriend, "You're idiotic... but baby, thank you... for being my own brand of caffeine.”
“Does this mean you love me more than coffee?” Minho asked hopefully.
Yet Kibum couldn’t be bothered with answering his boyfriend because he didn’t answer stupid questions. Instead, the blonde forced Minho to lean back against the couch as he then rested his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“Wake me up later yeah?” Kibum mumbled while making himself comfortable against his boyfriend who had relaxed beside him.
Just before sleep overcame him, Kibum wondered to himself if Minho was indeed going to stay true to his words and wake him up with a kiss… oh wait, never mind, he already knew the answer to that.
And if Kibum had opened his eyes and seen the devious smile on Minho’s face, he would know he was absolutely right.