June 6/7
Title: June 6/7
Pairing: Jongkey, side!2min
Rating: PG15-R
Genre: au, angst, romance
Summary: This could be Jonghyun's big break. He didn't think anything would stop him. At least, he thought that until he found out how much it hurt to be away from home.
Jonghyun's head popped up from underneath his blanket and he squinted around the room, trying to find the source of the offensive blaring noise that woke him.
Blurred eyes finally landed on the cell phone vibrating against his nightstand and he blinked slowly, caught in between wanting to glower and burrow back in his blanket and wanting to see who was calling.
When he finally gathered the strength to sluggishly reach out for his phone, the buzzing stopped and he was alerted that he had a new voicemail.
It took him a few extra moments to remember how his phone functioned, but he managed to navigate to his voicemail before collapsing back onto his pillow, phone pressed to his cheek.
"Good morning, Jjong!"
He sat right back up at the sound of the voice, eyes still half-shut, sappy smile pulling on his lips.
"Sorry if I woke you up… But… Good morning, yeobo! I'm about to head to school-Minho says hi and to remind you that you're short-and I just wanted to call. Have a good day, and eat a lot, okay? Don't get too tired. Remember that I'm thinking about you, and that I love you!"
Jonghyun's day was made.
The message ended with a click and Jonghyun was sure that he'd never smiled wider than he did in that moment.
That was well worth waking up for.
He played the short message again.
And then one more time for good measure.
Jonghyun grinned and buried his face in his pillow, hugging it tightly around his head, overwhelmed with happiness.
The "I love you, Key" he said was mostly silenced by the pillow, but the sentiment was felt all the same, his face going warm with happiness.
So quickly that he tripped over his own feet, Jonghyun rushed to his guitar case and pulled out his songwriting journal.
He sat down on the floor, uncaring that he wasn't wearing proper clothing and the page was blurry without his glasses on, and laid his guitar across his lap, bending over the body rather uncomfortably to reach the journal open on the carpet in front of him.
For the first time in his month and a half of being in Seoul, he wrote a song that wasn't all dragging stanzas and heavy refrains.
Instead, he wrote about light in a dark place, about his hope and his strength, about the little things that equaled up in the end. He wrote jaunty notes and lyrics he could sing with a smile; he hummed the blank spaces and stumbled over the strings and his heart felt so light that he was sure he was about to fucking fly.
And all over something as simple as a voicemail.
But like he wrote in his song, the song that he finished faster than any of the others he'd written in the city, something like that was exactly what he needed.
It was all hastily done, and he was sure that he would look back and wonder what the fuck he was even thinking, but he figured out how to work the video camera function of his phone (thank god it allowed for videos up to five minutes, unlike his other phone, where the cap was only one minute) and set it up on the nightstand where it captured him sitting on the floor.
He leaned forward to press record, and then sat back in place, smile already fitted on his lips.
"Hi Key," He said, one hand waving, the other already positioned on the neck of the guitar. "I um… I got your message this morning, and…" He didn't imagine he would be this embarrassed; it was only after he started talking that he realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, not even to mention the dismal bedhead that he most likely had, having not even looked in the mirror when he woke up.
"Yeah. I wrote you something," He looked down at the neck of the guitar to make sure he was starting in the right place. He glanced over the scrawled lyrics one more time before he smiled up at the camera, imagining Key's face whenever he heard the song. "Here goes."
He played through the song again, and he fouled up more times than he would like to admit. The music wasn't perfect but the mood was, all high spirits and bright transitions, lyrics that were probably cheesy as hell in reality, and he felt like kind of an idiot halfway through with how happy he suddenly was over a damn voicemail, but it was okay because the song was already written and it was the best he could do to make Key's day like Key made his.
The song ended, and Jonghyun couldn't help but to rub the back of his neck, embarrassed. The red dot on the back of his phone that told him it was still recording felt like it was staring at him and oh god was he really going to send this to Key to watch?
"So," Jonghyun could feel his cheeks heat up just a bit. He was so stupid. "I'll talk to you soon," He leaned forward to grab his phone so he could stop recording. "I love you." And as if everything else wasn't bad enough already, the icing on the damn cake was the kiss he couldn't help but blow to the camera right before he pressed "stop."
Before he could rationalize how ridiculous he was being, Jonghyun sent the video in a text message.
He didn't want to wait for a response.
No.
He crawled into his bed for hopefully a couple more hours of sleep, but the clock on his phone squandered those hopes entirely.
But he didn't get up. He would get up when his manager came to get him. No earlier.
His phone buzzed under his hand and Jonghyun squeezed his eyes shut.
It took a great bout of bravery to actually open the text message and then even more to actually look at it.
His brows furrowed in confusion. It wasn't from Key at all.
From: The Frog Prince
why is kibum squealing in the middle of math?
what did you do?
Jonghyun couldn't help but laugh, covering his mouth with his hand to keep quiet.
His mission was accomplished.
At least Key didn't laugh at him for it. Or hate him. Or think he was weird. Whichever.
From: The Frog Prince
he just got kicked out of class for giggling and being disruptive
I blame you for this
Jonghyun laughed more loudly this time, relieved and endeared by Key's reaction.
(He just wished he would have been there to see it.)
His phone vibrated and he didn't hesitate to answer it and hold it up to his ear, trying and sufficiently failing to hold back his smile. "Good morning."
"I was in class, you know," Key said bluntly.
Jonghyun covered his mouth to stifle his laughter. He should have guessed that Key wouldn't mention anything about his initial reaction to the video. Of course.
That was just Key.
Just one of the many reasons why Jonghyun loved him.
"I know," Jonghyun replied simply, propping his chin on one hand.
"You got me kicked out of class."
"Did I?" He asked, mock-innocently.
"Yeah."
"What for?" He wondered if Key would actually admit to it.
"Getting caught on my cellphone."
"Oh, yeah?"
He hummed in affirmation.
"It wasn't anything else?"
"No,"
"Not like… giggling or squealing or anything like that?"
Key went silent.
Jonghyun's cheeks started to ache with the effort keep a straight face (or at least fake it over the phone).
"I'm going to kill Minho."
He couldn't hold back anymore. His laughter rang out and his nose scrunched up and his eyes squeezed shut and he clutched his pillow tightly and really, Key was just too cute for him to handle.
"Stop laughing! Yah! Kim Jonghyun!"
He buried his face in his pillow for a moment to try to calm himself, but all it resulted in was shaking his shoulders further and making him short of breath.
"I was not squealing, okay? I wasn't."
He chuckled into the phone. "All right, Kibummie."
"'Kibummie,'" He echoed, scoffing.
"Kibummie, my beautiful yeobo-ah, baby, sweetie, cupcake, jagiya-" He sang the string of disgustingly mushy words just for the sake of irritating Key further.
The silence on the other line told Jonghyun one of two things: either Key was pissed beyond words, or he was grinning too widely to speak properly.
(Something told him it was the latter.)
"Why are you in a good mood, huh? You just got me kicked out of class. They'll probably call my mom and everything, you know."
"You made me this way, Key-ah," He smiled, "And just tell your mom that it was me. She loves me, remember?"
Key paused for a moment.
Jonghyun imagined that he was considering Jonghyun's last words; it was only partially true that Key's mom loved him. She definitely did when he was doing the dishes or helping vacuum their house… not so much when they happened to run into each other on the staircase in the morning, Jonghyun only half-dressed and sporting mussed hair and a distressed expression, trying to not get caught coming from their apartment when he wasn't necessarily supposed to be spending nights with Key.
"Thank you, by the way," Jonghyun said sincerely. "Your message made my morning."
"Yeah, well…" Key said airily, as if it was nothing to get too worked up over, "Your song did the same for me. I'm going back into class. I'll talk to you later."
His face fell slightly, but he realized that Key couldn't stay on the phone in the middle of school. "Okay, bye Key-ah,"
"I love you," Key stated matter-of-factly.
Jonghyun covered his eyes with his hand, grinning too widely to form a rational sentence other than a responding, "I love you, too."
"Bye,"
He didn't even give Jonghyun an opportunity to respond before he hung up.
Jonghyun couldn't help but feel affectionate, looking down at the screen where Key's contact picture still showed. It was the proof of one of Key's favorite pastimes, taking pictures of himself, but Jonghyun didn't mind one bit when it resulted in an entire folder of nothing but pictures of his boyfriend on his phone. With his pale blond hair and perfect skin and perfect eyes and a perfect smile to top it all off, the picture of Key sitting at Jonghyun's desk back home had easily become one of his favorites.
It'd been way too long since he'd gotten a good morning kiss from those lips, he decided with a tug at his heart.
Jonghyun didn't a chance to talk to Key again until a week later, the moment snagged when he and his manager went out to eat and were waiting for their food to arrive. And even then, the conversation was all too fleeting, and he had to downplay the sweet-talk and all, because he could feel more than see the man across from him waiting to hear any subtext that pointed to him having a girlfriend. Thankfully enough, he didn't mention anything when Jonghyun got off the phone, even after he very blatantly said "I love you" to whoever was on the other line when he was hanging up.
Two months had passed, and he was just plain exhausted.
But it was closer. The day he was getting home, clearly marked on every calendar he had access to, was closer than ever, time passing way too slowly for Jonghyun whenever he was so impatiently waiting its arrival.
He found it becoming so much easier to go through his stressful daily activities-hell, he even had more energy to dance now-when his date to go home was actually in sight, within the same month, only weeks apart, instead of the other daunting thirty days, forty days, sixty days, ninety days of before.
Jonghyun did like Seoul. He liked the atmosphere of the city and seeing celebrities walking around him in practice gear instead of the glitz of TV; he liked the improvement he could see in himself and the training he would receive to better himself and the excited little feeling he would get in the pit of his stomach when he thought that one day he would be performing onstage alongside the other artists in the company, and then performing on his own.
His voice, his music.
He could write and have his words heard by hundreds, thousands, even, with the publicity. He'd already worked hard and even still he would work harder to be the best he could be, so that he could impress the viewers and wow the listeners, so that he would be able to share his passion with others and share his genuine love for music.
But still, his energy wasn't infinite, especially in the early morning, so he was very grateful for a break from dance practice, already sweating, and what the hell possessed him to wear a hoodie to dance? He pulled the far-too-warm garment over his head and sighed in relief of the cooled air hitting his dampened skin. With sluggish movements, he walked over to his bag and started downing the contents of his water bottle. He slid down the wall with an "oof" and dug around lazily in his bag for his cellphone.
No missed calls or new messages. But that was okay. Key had texted him in the morning, and was at school now. He couldn't talk to Jonghyun at school, of course.
Still, Jonghyun found it fit to send him a message instead.
To: <3Key
hey beautiful :)
i'm about to finish up dance class. i wish i could dance like you can ><
text me when you get time, okay?
i love you <3
It was sufficiently sappy for Jonghyun.
Once the message sent, Jonghyun puffed up his cheeks and blew the air out, eyes wandering around the room.
He watched the backup dancers, who were still up and moving, go over parts of the dance. After a few seconds, they burst into laughter over nothing and began to goof around. Jonghyun smiled.
He thought of Key and Taemin, and how they would often stay after hours in dance class to work together or review their steps. Usually, Jonghyun and Minho wouldn't intrude on their "dance time", often going to hang out together on those days instead, but there would be times that they stayed and watched (usually with awkwardly-shifting legs and breathing that was a bit too heavy to be normal) their boyfriends dancing, all sharp movements and smooth transitions. They were both amazing, they really were, and Jonghyun had full faith after seeing the professionals at his company that they were good enough to pursue dancing as a career.
Maybe one day, Jonghyun mused, Key could become one of his backup dancers, and they could share the stage together. Jonghyun's voice and Key's movements both amounting to a perfect stage.
It was a nice thought.
"Jonghyun!"
He snapped out of his short-lived fantasy, feeling self-conscious at once as he was caught daydreaming.
His manager stood at the doorway of the practice room, looking at him with an odd expression.
"Yes?" He asked, perfectly casually.
"Come with me. The CEO wants to see you."
Jonghyun's heart skipped and his stomach went icy with nerves. The CEO wanted to see him? But for what?
Oh shit, did he do something wrong? Did his manager tell him about the too-intimate phone calls that he'd been having at the dorm? Was he getting in trouble? Was he getting fired?
Jonghyun stood immediately and took a final swig of his water bottle, the liquid not helping the way he suddenly felt like he was about to vomit.
"Why does he want to see me?" Jonghyun asked nervously as he fell into step with his intimidatingly large manager.
"You'll see when you get there." The manager was stone-faced and fuck, that made Jonghyun more anxious than ever.
"Am I in trouble?" He asked, and half a second after, he wished he could retract his words. He sounded so stupid, so childish, a little kid afraid of being scolded. If he was getting in trouble, then it was probably because he deserved it. He'd probably done something wrong, or not been working hard enough, or-
"No, you're not in trouble."
The relief that hit Jonghyun took a moment to set in, but when it did, he felt lighter than air. He sighed heavily, blowing the breath out until his chest started to feel tight.
Then, wait...
What did the CEO want with him if not to get him in trouble?
"Could you keep up, Jonghyun?" The manager asked impatiently.
Jonghyun quickened his steps (he didn't even notice that he'd fallen behind, and he blamed his short legs for the blunder).
"Calm down," His manager said, half-stern and half-annoyed.
Jonghyun could understand his irritation. He could only imagine that being stuck in an elevator with a kid who was rocking on the balls of his feet and bouncing up and down and constantly running a hand through his hair, only to fix it back into place half a second later, would start to grate on his nerves as well,.
"Sorry," He mumbled.
"If he wants to see you personally, then it's usually good news, all right? So calm down, or else you're going to make me dizzy with all your moving around."
"It's not my fault you get motion sickness, Manager-hyung," He shot out good-naturedly, noticing the light greenish tint to his skin as the moved to the highest floor of the building via elevator.
The man glared at him.
Jonghyun grinned.
The hallway to the CEO's office, covered in platinum albums and chic art, had never seemed as long as it did then. He hadn't visited the office that often, he could count the times on two hands, but every time was fresh in his mind, marked with the wealthy man's calm, almost callous demeanor and half-compliments, and very serious, very pointed words of advice.
If his manager said that this wasn't a bad thing to be coming to this to his office, then maybe that's what it was. He'd seen the man poking his head into one of Jonghyun's voice lessons to listen, and perhaps he had some sort of critique for that. Either way, it made his stomach twist in a mixture of excitement and nerves.
His manager opened the door for him and they both stepped into the spacious, sleek-looking office. Jonghyun jolted bit whenever he saw that the man was already at his desk, sitting with folded hands and a serious expression. It was intimidating to say the least, but Jonghyun wasn't one to walk with his tail tucked between his legs. Now that he was here, now that he saw how the man seemed perfectly content rather than irate, the excitement took over. He wasn't so scared anymore.
His manager stayed beside the entrance, leaving Jonghyun to approach the CEO on his own.
He did so with confidence, his steps sure and his arms folded respectfully in front of him. He bowed deeply once he reached the man. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"
The man briefly bowed his head in response to Jonghyun's bow. "Pack up your things tonight, Jonghyun."
His eyes tripled in size, panic instantly setting in on him. Pack his bags? For what? Was his manager lying to him earlier? Was he really getting fired? Was he-
"You're going home for the weekend and next week." The man continued, seemingly oblivious to Jonghyun's internal anxiety.
His heart jumped. He wasn't supposed to go home for another two weeks. And even then, it was only a four-day span that he had to visit before coming back.
This was perfect.
It was absolutely perfect.
He almost started jumping up and down with glee right there. Just the thought of how much time he would have at home, how many hours of times with Key, with Minho and Taemin, with Onew, with his sister... It made his head spin.
"Your debut date is set six months from now."
Jonghyun blinked.
Once.
Twice.
What?!
"Really?!" His eyes went huge and his mouth fell open and he had no idea what was even happening but he was shaking from elation.
The man nodded, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips.
Jonghyun didn't know if he should bow or thank the man or burst into tears or what. So he simply nodded, eyes still wild, lips still parted in shock.
"Rest well, Jonghyun. Things are going to be hectic after next week."
Jonghyun bowed at the clear dismissal and said "thank you" so many times that he felt like a broken record.
He backed out of the room, limbs feeling numb, and he would've run right into the door had his manager not been holding it open for him.
"Hyung, I-" He started babbling without coherent thought behind anything he was thinking. "I-home-Key-tomorrow, I'm going-I can see-debuting-"
"Jonghyun," The man clapped a hand on his shoulder, grinning good-naturedly.
The singer's mouth clamped shut and his eyes shone with unshed tears.
"You still have dance practice to go back to. We'll go home after that so you can start packing."
He nodded, still in a daze. It was quite clear that he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on dancing at all. Not with the two best pieces of news he'd heard since he got here swimming around in his head.
He was going home for a whole week.
And after that…
He was debuting.
Everything he was working for was actually in view. In only six months' time, he would finally be performing.
"Quit staring into space and come on. You still have work." His manager prodded him on the shoulder, but wore an amused smile.
Jonghyun nodded wordlessly-hell, he could hardly think, much less speak-and followed the man back down the hall and to the practice room.
The first thing he saw when he walked back in was his cellphone resting atop his bag, and his heart inflated.
He couldn't wait to tell Key about this.
a/n -
[fun fact (click)]
fun fact: he never actually debuts. it's not explained in june, but I may explain it later on tumblr. or I may write it. idk. we'll see.
I wanted to try that cool spoiler option thing okay? don't judge me for it. lj is so fancy sometimes I can't even handle it.
this is almost done c: thank god. after this is done, I have this 30 day drabble writing thing except I suck at writing drabbles so the first two are like 1500+ words OTL to post, so.. I'll be posting to this journal and to my tumblr every day, and to the comms every friday with the prior week's drabbles. that's the plan at least. ^^ the drabbles are really fun so far. I finally have an excuse to write taekai XP and I'm also incorporating the requests you guys sent in the drabbles. it's killing two birds with one stone c:
anyway, I hope you liked this c: thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you on saturday for the last update ^^ and don't blame me for this being pointless. I told you it was. XD
Kat
mikssi
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