Solitaire ; [1/?] ; gen!SHINee
Title: Solitaire (Chapter 1: Cut and Shuffle)
Group: SHINee
Rating: PG (this chapter)
Wordcount: ~1000
Summary: Einstein was right, and Jonghyun's life sucks. God may not throw dice, but he does play with cards.
Notes: I know nothing about Solitaire beyond Wikipedia and how much I suck at it.
Jonghyun took a step back, eyes wide in disbelief. "Say what?" he asked, not quite sure he was hearing things right.
The boy in front of him shook his head as if doubting Jonghyun's mental facilities. Which he probably was. "You're dead, I was bored, and you're kind of cute so I pulled you here instead," he repeated patiently in the tone one took towards a rather slow kindergartener. "And no, I didn't kill you - well, not exactly."
"Which means you did kill me!" Jonghyun crowed triumphantly - and then frowned. "Wait wait wait - back up a second."
The boy raised an eyebrow - rather prettily, Jonghyun noticed. "I'm waiting," he pointed out - just to be an ass, Jonghyun was sure.
He groaned and wondered if there was something to throw himself at in frustration. And then remembered what it was that he seemed to have forgotten. "I'm dead?" he repeated incredulously. "Since when?"
"Well, give or take I'd say fifteen minutes? Your time, that is. Five of those were for paperwork and you just spent the other ten pretending to be a goldfish."
"That's a new one," Jonghyun muttered. "So...I'm dead?" he asked, the last word spilling out of his mouth hesitantly.
The boy shrugged. "That's what I said, but I can always show you if you want - mind, it's not pretty." Without waiting for Jonghyun's response, he snapped his fingers in a move that was so cliche he had to blink and check that he wasn't on a secret camera for a movie or something - and then realised that there wasn't much to check as they were standing in the middle of a blank, nondescript place. Or they were, until a hole opened up between them and Jonghyun yelped as he scrambled to back away.
"Relax," the boy scoffed, "just think of it as glass."
"Really clear glass," Jonghyun pointed out - but crept forward and peered down through it nonetheless.
Like the boy had warned him, it wasn't pretty. If anything, it was the very picture of mayhem. Or an especially impressive action movie. It took Jonghyun a moment to pick out anything through the billows of black smoke, and it was only dimly that he registered that the crumpled piles of something had once been cars. "Shit," he breathed almost reverently. "You serious?"
Jonghyun craned his neck upwards to look at the boy - whose expression hadn't changed the least, he noticed. The boy nodded, and then snapped his fingers again, returning the hole to a careful blank. "I'm supposed to offer you a choice of dying properly, or sticking around with me - but I figured you weren't ready to die properly yet so I took the liberty of keeping you here." He regarded Jonghyun critically, apparently sizing him up.
"You know," the boy said thoughtfully, "most people would have a few questions to ask at this point."
"Huh?" Jonghyun responded rather eloquently.
Unexpectedly, the boy grinned. "Well, looks like this will be interesting either way."
Jonghyun blinked. "Huh?"
This time, the boy outright laughed. It was a bright laugh, the sort that could light up the room if this blankness could have been called a room. It was the sort that wormed its way into anyone nearby, tugging at the corners of their own lips until they turned upwards in a smile. It was the sort that was reminiscent of childhood summers and careless winters. It was the sort that suddenly made Jonghyun wonder how his friends were and (was he really dead?) if they would miss him.
It was the sort that brought a solemn expression to his face.
The boy must have seen it, because abruptly, his face sombered as well. "You'll get used to it," he assured him as if he'd read Jonghyun's mind. "And about those questions..."
"What about them?"
"Aren't you at least going to ask my name?" Mischief danced in the corners of the boy's almond eyes, although the rest of his expression didn't change.
"What - " Jonghyun began, only to be cut off.
"Taemin!" the boy exclaimed. "That's one of them, at least. As for the rest... that's a secret."
Jonghyun sighed. If this was the afterlife, it was going to be a long, long one.
♠ ♡ ♥ ♢ ♦ ♡ ♣
Two days ago, Jonghyun had abruptly discovered that he was dead. Or so Taemin said. He'd also discovered that the blank space wasn't nearly as blank as it had first appeared - it just took some careful manipulation to make it work ("Shit, is this the matrix or something?"). He'd spent the better part of those two days lounging around and catching up on sleep he'd discovered he was sorely lacking, wandering outside of his room on occasion to find the younger boy.
Taemin, he found, had an affinity for cards. There was hardly a moment that Jonghyun saw him without a card or two, whether he was walking thoughtfully around a carefully designed garden, or doodling on a blank sheet of paper. More often though, Jonghyun found Taemin seated at a table or at nothing at all, a pack of cards dealt and ready to be played. Rarely, however, did Jonghyun actually see Taemin do anything with them.
So Jonghyun was hardly surprised when he came upon Taemin sitting crosslegged in midair, idly shuffling a deck of cards. "Whatcha playing?" he asked, hopping up to take a seat across from Taemin.
Taemin looked up, smiling when he saw Jonghyun. "You're getting used to this place," he commented.
Jonghyun shrugged, legs swinging below him. "Not like I have much else to do," he replied, before nodding at the deck in Taemin's hands. "One player goldfish?"
Taemin shook his head. A brief flash of something that Jonghyun couldn't quite identify but parsed as something maybe close to sadness from the way the corners of his lips turned downward and his eyes avoided Jonghyun's flitted across his face before it disappeared again and was replaced with a guarded smile. When he spoke again, the words were pronounced, the syllables distinct. "Do you know how to play solitaire?" he asked - and Jonghyun realised that he meant something much more.
notes: So I'm doing what I swore to myself I would never do again which is to write by the seat of my pants -- what this means is that I have about as much idea as you do (okay, a bit more) where this is going and that if I write myself into a corner, I write myself into a corner ;; Also. Why is Jonghyun so easily bullied. That, or I just like making his life hard.
Like it? Hate it? Please leave some feedback, and watch the community for future updates if you like what you see!
chapter 1 || chapter 2 >>
Group: SHINee
Rating: PG (this chapter)
Wordcount: ~1000
Summary: Einstein was right, and Jonghyun's life sucks. God may not throw dice, but he does play with cards.
Notes: I know nothing about Solitaire beyond Wikipedia and how much I suck at it.
Jonghyun took a step back, eyes wide in disbelief. "Say what?" he asked, not quite sure he was hearing things right.
The boy in front of him shook his head as if doubting Jonghyun's mental facilities. Which he probably was. "You're dead, I was bored, and you're kind of cute so I pulled you here instead," he repeated patiently in the tone one took towards a rather slow kindergartener. "And no, I didn't kill you - well, not exactly."
"Which means you did kill me!" Jonghyun crowed triumphantly - and then frowned. "Wait wait wait - back up a second."
The boy raised an eyebrow - rather prettily, Jonghyun noticed. "I'm waiting," he pointed out - just to be an ass, Jonghyun was sure.
He groaned and wondered if there was something to throw himself at in frustration. And then remembered what it was that he seemed to have forgotten. "I'm dead?" he repeated incredulously. "Since when?"
"Well, give or take I'd say fifteen minutes? Your time, that is. Five of those were for paperwork and you just spent the other ten pretending to be a goldfish."
"That's a new one," Jonghyun muttered. "So...I'm dead?" he asked, the last word spilling out of his mouth hesitantly.
The boy shrugged. "That's what I said, but I can always show you if you want - mind, it's not pretty." Without waiting for Jonghyun's response, he snapped his fingers in a move that was so cliche he had to blink and check that he wasn't on a secret camera for a movie or something - and then realised that there wasn't much to check as they were standing in the middle of a blank, nondescript place. Or they were, until a hole opened up between them and Jonghyun yelped as he scrambled to back away.
"Relax," the boy scoffed, "just think of it as glass."
"Really clear glass," Jonghyun pointed out - but crept forward and peered down through it nonetheless.
Like the boy had warned him, it wasn't pretty. If anything, it was the very picture of mayhem. Or an especially impressive action movie. It took Jonghyun a moment to pick out anything through the billows of black smoke, and it was only dimly that he registered that the crumpled piles of something had once been cars. "Shit," he breathed almost reverently. "You serious?"
Jonghyun craned his neck upwards to look at the boy - whose expression hadn't changed the least, he noticed. The boy nodded, and then snapped his fingers again, returning the hole to a careful blank. "I'm supposed to offer you a choice of dying properly, or sticking around with me - but I figured you weren't ready to die properly yet so I took the liberty of keeping you here." He regarded Jonghyun critically, apparently sizing him up.
"You know," the boy said thoughtfully, "most people would have a few questions to ask at this point."
"Huh?" Jonghyun responded rather eloquently.
Unexpectedly, the boy grinned. "Well, looks like this will be interesting either way."
Jonghyun blinked. "Huh?"
This time, the boy outright laughed. It was a bright laugh, the sort that could light up the room if this blankness could have been called a room. It was the sort that wormed its way into anyone nearby, tugging at the corners of their own lips until they turned upwards in a smile. It was the sort that was reminiscent of childhood summers and careless winters. It was the sort that suddenly made Jonghyun wonder how his friends were and (was he really dead?) if they would miss him.
It was the sort that brought a solemn expression to his face.
The boy must have seen it, because abruptly, his face sombered as well. "You'll get used to it," he assured him as if he'd read Jonghyun's mind. "And about those questions..."
"What about them?"
"Aren't you at least going to ask my name?" Mischief danced in the corners of the boy's almond eyes, although the rest of his expression didn't change.
"What - " Jonghyun began, only to be cut off.
"Taemin!" the boy exclaimed. "That's one of them, at least. As for the rest... that's a secret."
Jonghyun sighed. If this was the afterlife, it was going to be a long, long one.
♠ ♡ ♥ ♢ ♦ ♡ ♣
Two days ago, Jonghyun had abruptly discovered that he was dead. Or so Taemin said. He'd also discovered that the blank space wasn't nearly as blank as it had first appeared - it just took some careful manipulation to make it work ("Shit, is this the matrix or something?"). He'd spent the better part of those two days lounging around and catching up on sleep he'd discovered he was sorely lacking, wandering outside of his room on occasion to find the younger boy.
Taemin, he found, had an affinity for cards. There was hardly a moment that Jonghyun saw him without a card or two, whether he was walking thoughtfully around a carefully designed garden, or doodling on a blank sheet of paper. More often though, Jonghyun found Taemin seated at a table or at nothing at all, a pack of cards dealt and ready to be played. Rarely, however, did Jonghyun actually see Taemin do anything with them.
So Jonghyun was hardly surprised when he came upon Taemin sitting crosslegged in midair, idly shuffling a deck of cards. "Whatcha playing?" he asked, hopping up to take a seat across from Taemin.
Taemin looked up, smiling when he saw Jonghyun. "You're getting used to this place," he commented.
Jonghyun shrugged, legs swinging below him. "Not like I have much else to do," he replied, before nodding at the deck in Taemin's hands. "One player goldfish?"
Taemin shook his head. A brief flash of something that Jonghyun couldn't quite identify but parsed as something maybe close to sadness from the way the corners of his lips turned downward and his eyes avoided Jonghyun's flitted across his face before it disappeared again and was replaced with a guarded smile. When he spoke again, the words were pronounced, the syllables distinct. "Do you know how to play solitaire?" he asked - and Jonghyun realised that he meant something much more.
notes: So I'm doing what I swore to myself I would never do again which is to write by the seat of my pants -- what this means is that I have about as much idea as you do (okay, a bit more) where this is going and that if I write myself into a corner, I write myself into a corner ;; Also. Why is Jonghyun so easily bullied. That, or I just like making his life hard.
Like it? Hate it? Please leave some feedback, and watch the community for future updates if you like what you see!
chapter 1 || chapter 2 >>