♬ [FIC] SHINee: Project Watermelon
Project Watermelon Part 1
PG-16 / 14,418 words / Kim Kibum (SHINee) x Lee Jinki (SHINee) ; 2Min
For my beta, my partner-in-crime, avirjin: If we were pollinating trees, this would be the fruit (never mind that watermelons don’t grow on trees).
Day One.
It’s their first real break so it’s a schedule-less day and the SHINee household quietly celebrates any other schedule-less day because calm mornings don’t come very often anymore, now that they’re officially the five shining stars of the universe. Since there is never anything to talk about so early in the morning and all of them are usually too sleepy to do or say much, breakfast is always eaten in silence (with the occasional praises for Key’s exceptional skills in heating precooked food lest he decides not to make them anything to eat the next day). While Key quietly prepared another set of pancakes, Jonghyun and the two youngest consume their food in peace.
Well. That is until an unmistakably feminine scream-like of Taemin’s when there’s a bug-fills the whole apartment.
Everyone at the dining area looks at Taemin and Manager Choi-sshi comes running in, looking around frantically before finally landing his eyes on the magnae who doesn’t notice that all eyes are already on him until he felt their manager’s stare burning a hole through his head.
“...What?” Taemin says, his eyes wide. “That wasn’t me!”
“Who is it, then?” Choi-sshi asks and is promptly answered with a tug on his shirt. He turns around, of course, because that is the logical thing to do, and he finds himself almost getting a heart attack when he sees a skinny girl with a tear-stained face standing behind him wearing the clothes Jinki was wearing the night before.
He jumps a good few inches away and screams, “WHO ARE YOU?! How did you get in here?! I’m going to call security!!!”
“It’s meeeeee, hyung!” the girl cries in a deep feminine yet eerily familiar voice, stomping her feet like a kid throwing a tantrum. Tears flow down her tofu-like cheeks, her long black hair is all over the place, and her eyes are almost non-existent.
Perhaps it’s too early in the morning for his brain to process the insanity at a desirable rate but Choi-sshi doesn’t get it until Taemin casually asks the girl, “Hyung, why do you have watermelons on your chest?”
Jonghyun laughs and pats the magnae on the back. “Taemin, I don’t think those are supposed to be watermelons!” (Key immediately hurls a spoon at Jonghyun’s direction, missing him only by a centimeter.)
“Perhaps you should wear a bra, hyung,” Minho comments unceremoniously before returning to his food.
“My sister can lend you some,” chirps Jonghyun who is dodging dagger glares from Key, “but I think your boobs are bigger...” He pauses for a little while before his face visibly brightens. (He thinks that this is probably the most awesome prank he was ever subjected to in his entire life and as a sign of gratitude, he promises himself that he will lay off the leader abuse for a day after all of this is done.) “WAIT. YOUR BOOBS ARE BIGGER. AND YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER. CAN I TOUCH 'EM?”
“But why does Jinki-hyung have boobs?” Taemin asks, confusion clearly visible on his face. After all, it’s not everyday that you wake up to find your hyung with boobs, unless, of course, you live with Dong Bang Shin Ki because everyone knows about Yunho’s... chest problems.
Key rushes to the magnae’s side and begins spouting bullshit. “You see, Taemin, if you’re not a good little boy, God will turn you into a girl as a last chance so at the very least you can be a good little girl so you better be good or else you’ll end up like Jinki-hyung!”
Taemin’s mouth forms an ‘O’ while Jinki flails and claims that he was being a perfectly good boy before the transformation happened, completely ignoring the lack of plausibility in Key’s explanation.
“Why not try being a naughty girl, then, hyung?” Jonghyun tells his hyung, winking and gesturing at Jinki’s chest.
Jinki cries a river, Minho finishes his food, Key shoves a bowl of mayonnaise at Jonghyun’s face, Taemin asks over the noise if it’s a hidden camera, and Choi-sshi thinks his experience in managing the CSJH girls might actually be a valuable life lesson he can use now.
- - -
There is one important rule that Choi-sshi forgot when he decided to leave SHINee alone for the whole day: never leave a group of boys with one girl unsupervised. Although so far nothing horrible (except the corruption of Taemin’s young mind, in Key’s opinion) has happened, Key can’t help thinking that the worse is yet to come. Very soon.
“Jinki-hyung makes a really pretty girl, doesn’t he?” says Taemin cheerfully. He is helping Key wash the dishes after lunch. “He wasn’t that pretty when we did School of Rock… I wonder what the stylist noona did to make him more convincing this time.”
“That wig doesn’t even look good on him!”
“Ah, maybe you’re just jealous because he’s prettier than you now,” Taemin teases.
Key huffs. “I’m not! I just think it’s still a half-hearted attempt. Why bother pretending to be a girl if he’s not going to take the effort to change off his sleeping clothes?”
“Hm… It does look baggy on him. I don’t think it was that baggy last night. Since when did he lose more fat?”
Key looks over his shoulders to watch Jonghyun’s failed attempts in molesting their leader and Minho’s successful portrayal of Jinki’s knight in shining armor (because Minho being Minho doesn’t think it’s appropriate to just sit there and do nothing while a damsel is in distress-whether or not it’s just a hidden camera prank). He scowls and returns to the dishes.
“I don’t get it! Nobody used to take his jokes seriously before!” he hisses.
“Maybe it’s because this time the joke is so elaborate that it’s hard not to ride on,” Taemin innocently comments. “I’m sure he and Choi-sshi planned this with our best interests in mind. They probably thought you’d enjoy it too so please don’t get mad. They’ll both get tired of acting soon, anyway, and when we all look back to this day ten years from now, we’ll laugh and tell ourselves how silly we were!”
Key sighs heavily. At least the magnae’s optimism is kept intact.
- - -
“Jonghyun-hyung looks so happy with Jinki-hyung getting boobs,” Taemin tells Minho as they sit at the dining table, doing their homework after dinner. He steals a glance at Jonghyun and Jinki who are watching the television on the couch. “Do you want me to get boobs too?”
Minho chokes on his orange juice. (He thinks he heard the snappy swooshing of Key’s head turning to their direction but he doesn’t look behind him to check.) He waves a hand in front of him and says, “No, Taemin. You’re perfectly fine the way you are.”
The magnae gives him a worried look. “Are you sure? I can ask Choi-sshi to help me,”
There is a loud crashing sound when Key’s glass of water meets the floor. Key stomps his way from the kitchen to block Jinki’s view of the television and stands on his spot with his hands on his hips.
“That’s it. LEE JINKI, STOP THIS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW! This joke isn’t funny anymore. You’re setting a bad example to my son! Take down all the hidden cameras and take off that stupid wig!”
Key grabs Jinki’s hair and fiercely tugs on it, making Jinki scream-like any girl would-in pain. Jonghyun and Minho rush over to pull them apart and the leader ends up sobbing in Minho’s arms. Minho gently pats his hyung’s (noona’s?) back and doesn’t notice the frown materializing on Taemin’s face.
“Hey, hey!” Jonghyun says. “No need to get so violent!”
While keeping Key from reaching for Jinki again, Jonghyun turns to his hyung and smiles apologetically. “Thanks, hyung. I can't believe you and Choi-sshi were so nice as to go this far to entertain us. I had a good laugh and I'm sure Minho too even if he doesn't say much but some of us just doesn’t have a sense of humor. You should go change now-Key’s right. That wig doesn’t really flatter you.”
Jinki’s sobs become agonized wails and all the boys in the room stiffen in shock.
“... Look, hyung, I’m sorry, okay?” says Key quietly. “I had no idea how many hairpins they used to keep that wig on you. But could you please take it off now? I’ll help you properly this time if you want.”
“I’ll help you take off your boobs!” Jonghyun eagerly volunteers.
Jinki wails louder. Key loses his patience again and crosses his arms over his chest.
“I think you’re overacting now,” says Key. “Just quit it already!”
“Come on, hyung, I’ll help you!” Jonghyun walks over to Jinki and Minho, yanks the leader away from their dongsaeng’s arms, grabs the clothed breasts carelessly, and tries to pull them off.
Jinki moans. And whimpers. And cries.
Key pulls Jonghyun (who has frozen on his spot) away as they all stare wide-eyed at their leader. He rushes over Jinki to examine her scalp and proceeds to inspect whatever he dared touch on the rest of her body and he notices what he should have noticed since morning-Jinki’s Adam’s apple is no longer prominent. “Oh god... No. No! This can’t be happening! Hyung! What’s this? What happened to you?”
“I don’t know!” Jinki cries in between sobs. She covers her face with her hands.
Everyone in the room stands still as if time stopped. Minho is the first to break the silence.
“... Taemin, it’s time for bed,” he says. He returns to the dining table and begins putting away his things.
“But it’s still 7:30!” protests Taemin.
“Taemin, be a good boy! If you don’t follow what your hyung says, you’re going to end up like Jinki-hyung!” Key threatens.
The magnae pouts (he doesn’t really mind getting boobs if it would make Minho happy) but doesn’t argue with the band umma. Instead, he grabs his books and pens and follows Minho to the bedroom they share with the rest of the boys.
- - -
Day Two.
They call her Eunsook-noona because calling her Jinki-noona feels wrong now even if ‘Eunsook’ is just as masculine a name as ‘Jinki’ is.
Jonghyun calls up his older sister and asks her to come over the SHINee dorm to bring a bunch of her clothes and underwear (with an emphasis to underwear and, “If you have any sexy lingerie, noona, I’d really appreciate it!”). It isn’t that Eunsook really needed any clothes because SHINee’s wardrobe is androgynous enough but after the initial shock of having their leader magically turn into a girl, Jonghyun saw the incident as an opportunity waiting to be exploited. He’s a growing boy and all growing boys have needs.
“What do you need my underwear for?” Jonghyun’s sister asks in a suspicious tone. “I’d love to go visit you and all but I sure as hell won’t give your friends material for masturbating purposes.”
The grin on Jonghyun’s face reaches his sister on the other line. “It’s not what you think, really! We just have someone here you might like to meet and she needs a total make over. We’re all boys-save for Key but he doesn’t count this time because I think he’s jealous and won’t be lending a hand anytime soon-so you know we know nothing about girly things, which I’m sure you’re a master of,”
“Is it your girlfriend?”
“No-even better. Just come over and you’ll see. You’ll love her to bits,”
It’s when Jonghyun gets this excited that Eunsook gets that ‘impending doom’ feeling and knowing that she’s at the receiving end this time is even a lot worse. She appreciates the special treatment she currently gets from the boys (except Key who seem to have gotten worse with the bullying) because it’s not something she was entitled to when she was a boy but she feels that it’s something like the calm before the storm. Something bad is obviously going to happen. Maybe. She isn’t exactly sure what to expect from Jonghyun’s sister.
‘You’ll love her to bits’ turns out to be an understatement when the pretty noona fills the whole room with her ear-piercing squeal and declares that Eunsook is probably one of the most beautiful girls she has ever laid her eyes on and she will definitely turn her into an even more beautiful lady before the day ends. Jonghyun gives his noona (who doesn’t question the absence of logic in Eunsook’s situation because “WHO CARES? SHE’S PRETTY♥!”) a tight hug and ecstatically bounces around the living room only to be kicked on the shins by a very irritated Key.
- - -
The girls finally emerge from the bedroom during lunchtime, with Jonghyun’s noona smiling ever so proudly and Eunsook nervously looking at her feet and playing with her hands. Minho smiles brightly, Taemin looks from Minho to Eunsook to Jonghyun and back with furrowed eyebrows, and Key’s jaw drops because she is absolutely gorgeous in ways he never even dreamed of imagining. She has the most wonderful curves that he never thought existed, the most amazing hair that can rival Jun Jihyun’s and the most beautiful face that can possibly shame the entirety of Korea’s female population. It seems to Key that he is now staring at Wonder Girl’s So Hot song made flesh. (He thinks it’s adorable how Eunsook looks so uneasy even when she looks great with her light make-up, her low pigtails and her candy colored outfit but he will never ever admit it aloud.)
Jonghyun stands up from his seat at the dining table, seemingly in a daze, and sings ‘Noona nomu yeppeo~’ as he took Eunsook’s trembling hand in his. Eunsook blushes and stares at him.
“God, my sister did a great job on you,” says Jonghyun, staring back at Eunsook, “not that you weren’t pretty to begin with, of course, because you really are. You’re just incredibly prettier now.”
“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” Jonghyun’s noona chirps. “She’s got so much to flaunt, seriously. Look at those Ha Jiwon legs!” She points at Eunsook’s long legs, sticking out of the too-short green jumper shorts she is wearing.
Eunsook turns a deep shade of red when Jonghyun wolf-whistles at the sight of her smooth pale skin. As if on cue, a spatula connects itself to Jonghyun’s head. He turns to scowl at Key.
“Quit that!” Key scolds. “You’re setting a bad example for Taemin!”
“Hey, just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean others can’t admire her,” says Jonghyun. “Don’t make Taemin an excuse. I’m sure he likes Eunsook-noona too! Right, Taemin?”
The magnae looks from Jonghyun to Eunsook to Minho (who is looking at him with a look he can’t read) and back. He frowns and purposely knocks his glass of water off the table.
“TAEMIN!” Key bellows. “What did you do that for?”
“I’m not hungry,” says Taemin, standing up to leave the dining area. He misses the worried frown on Minho’s face-he only sees Key’s anger, Jonghyun’s shock and Eunsook’s bewilderment.
Key glares at Jonghyun and Eunsook before following Taemin into the bedroom and telling the magnae that it was not a very polite thing to do and that he should go back to clean up his mess and finish his food.
It is at that moment that Choi-sshi decides to come back since having left yesterday morning and it takes him more than just willpower not to faint at the sight of Eunsook who looks more like a So Nyeo Shi Dae girl than SHINee’s leader.
- - -
They have nothing else better to do with their time so the boys thought it better to spend a few hours in the training rooms before dinner. It takes them quite a while to convince Choi-sshi to drive them to the SM building after Jonghyun’s noona left and an even longer time to smuggle Eunsook out the dorms without attracting too much attention. However, taking her around the building doesn’t seem to bother anyone because the newer generation of trainees have become too cold that they don’t really care anymore and the only ones who actually give a damn are the sunbaes and even they have better things to think about other than their hoobaes bringing girls in the practice rooms.
So far so good. They manage to find an empty room in a far corner, which means they’re safe until they have to smuggle Eunsook out again.
Minho turns the music up, Taemin dances to it, Jonghyun joins in, and the tension from lunchtime slowly melts away. The magnae pulls Eunsook from her corner and asks if she can still dance. Eunsook attempts to get away but Jonghyun wraps his arms around her waist from behind and sways side to side to side and soon, they are following a rhythm. Taemin giggles (“You look like a couple!”) and Minho smiles to himself because he can see Key watching everything in contempt from his corner of the room.
The music eventually fades and the boys eventually tires and Key thinks the gods up there are conspiring against him because it isn’t long until he finds himself alone in the training room with Eunsook.
In a bout of impulse, he walks up to her and presses her against the mirrors.
“You know, you’re really really pretty,” Key whispers under his breath, loud enough for the older girl to hear. He closes the distance between their faces until their lips are almost touching and he can feel the rapid pounding of Eunsook’s heart against his chest. “Very beautiful.”
Eunsook shuts her eyes close and Key’s lips linger over hers for a long while before he hisses angrily.
“I don’t like it,”
Key pulls away just a few seconds before the other boys walk in the room with water bottles in hand. Eunsook is left stunned against the wall, her face pale and her eyes wide (at least, as wide as they can go). She unconsciously brings a hand up on her chest in an attempt to slow her heartbeat down.
A passing comment about seeing ghosts comes out of Jonghyun’s mouth before he laughs, throws a jacket over her shoulders and leads her out of the room.
“Come on. Choi-sshi’s waiting outside~,”
- - -
“Hey, are you up for a challenge?” says Jonghyun as he plops down beside a sulking Key on the couch. The other boys (and the girl) are already asleep in their room and the two of them are the only ones left awake in the dorm. “Let’s play a game.”
The overconfidence in the tone of Jonghyun’s voice annoys Key but it piques his interest because he’s always up for a challenge so he grunts as a sign for the older boy to continue his proposal.
“Whoever gets Eunsook-noona as his girlfriend wins,” says Jonghyun. “The loser treats the winner and Eunsook-noona to a date at Lotte World!”
“What?” Key hisses at the older boy. “Are you crazy? This is Jinki-hyung we’re talking about!”
Jonghyun raises an eyebrow (and secretly thinks it’s funny that Key’s first reaction has nothing to do with the fans’ reaction to seeing either of them with a girl, which is probably a bigger issue than dating their leader). “So? Jinki-hyung is a girl now-a very hot one at that-and I think we deserve to have a little fun once in a while. Besides, you obviously like her. You should see your face every time she’s around. You look at her as if she’s dancing naked in front of you,”
The younger boy’s jaw drops and his face distorts into a scowl. “I do NOT like her!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” says Jonghyun. He waves a hand in front of his face. “So are you not going to let me have my way with her or are you chicken? Because if it’s the latter, don’t expect us tomorrow night.” He finishes his taunt with a wink for good measure.
“Fuck you,” Key hisses dangerously.
A grin grazes Jonghyun’s face. “Hmm~ is that a ‘Fuck you, I don’t care what you want to do with her’? If so, I’m disappointed. It’s so unlike you, really, Kibum-ah. I thought you’d be thrilled to do this one because, you know, I didn’t think the Almighty Key was such a coward,”
Of the many things Key didn’t like being called, ‘coward’ tops the list. Jonghyun knows and Key knows that Jonghyun knows and it’s always a pain when Jonghyun uses it against him.
“Who says I’m passing on this one?” says Key. “The Almighty Key never says no to a challenge!”
“May the best man win, then~” Jonghyun replies before he jumps to his feet and skips to bed.
Sometimes, Key feels the urge to strangle Jonghyun to death. This is one of those times.
- - -
Day Three
Key doesn’t understand why Taemin refuses to drink his milk that morning but he isn’t given enough time to argue with the magnae because Taesung and Minsuk suddenly burst into the dorm like a pair of whirlwinds.
“Hyung!” Taemin jumps from his seat by the dining table and runs to his older brother’s open arms.
“Hey, little bro!” greets Taesung but as soon as Taemin’s hug is returned, his attention is caught by the two girls on the couch. “Oho! What do we have here? Boobs in the SHINee household?”
Taemin scowls and pulls away from his hyung who doesn’t seem to notice the quick change in the younger boy’s facial expression. Much to the magnae’s chagrin, Taesung joins Minsuk on the couch with the girls. Eunsook, already uncomfortable with Minsuk’s stare, runs away to cower behind Minho as soon as she saw Taesung approach.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Minsuk says with an amused expression on his face. “I didn’t know you’re my little brother’s girlfriend. Minho, you really know how to pick the perfect girlfriend, huh? But she’s a bit too shy, don’t you think?”
“… Actually, this is Jinki-hyung,” Minho says quietly and seriously that his words are almost believable if not for the ridiculousness of the idea so he isn’t really surprised when he sees Minsuk and Taesung look at each other and burst into fits of laughter.
“Minho,” Taesung manages to gasp in between laughing, “it’s not April Fools yet, in case you’re following the wrong calendar!”
“... I’m not joking,”
“Really, Minho, stop it,”
“.......,”
“... You’re kidding,”
“Nope,”
Eunsook sobs. Minsuk and Taesung gape.
“No way!” Taesung exclaims. “But she’s a pretty girl! I mean, look at those boobs!”
“Not to mention it’s just not possible for a guy to turn into a girl overnight...,” Minsuk comments. (Eunsook sobs louder-Key wonders if he should make a move now.) He turns to Jonghyun’s sister beside him. “Don’t tell me this girl over here is actually Jonghyun...”
She laughs. “No, I’m his noona,”
Taesung grins. He throws an arm around her shoulders and asks, “You have a boyfriend?”
“None that I know of,”
“So we can hit on you, then?” says Minsuk a little too enthusiastically.
“Hyung, that’s not really what I called you over for,” says Minho in a calm manner, although there is a hint of exasperation in his voice. He mentally berates himself for not foreseeing this and not doing something to prevent it from happening.
Taemin has other ideas, however. SHINee’s magnae grabs his glass of milk, pours the contents on the floor and he’s already out the door and off to school before Key could open his mouth to scold him. Everybody is momentarily distracted by Taemin’s strange behavior but only Minho made a move to follow the youngest. Things quickly return to normal (Taesung’s attention to Jonghyun’s noona and Minsuk’s attention to Eunsook) like nothing happened as soon as Minho left.
“UGH!” Key complains as he cleans up the mess that Taemin made. “What’s wrong with him? He’s been acting really weird the past few days.”
Jonghyun enters the living room, clueless and still sleepy. “What’s all the rack-HEY! Hands off my sister!”
“Eh? You have sister complex or something?” Taesung teases. He pulls Jonghyun’s noona closer and pretends to kiss her cheek. (“Play along, okay~” he whispers to her and she laughs as if it’s the most natural thing in the world and they both amuse themselves with Jonghyun throwing a fit.)
Eunsook tries to look for somewhere to run to when she notices Minsuk walking towards her. She panics, trips on her own feet, and finds that she’s trembling too much to stand up again. Minsuk watches in amusement.
“… You are Jinki,” Minsuk says, disbelief tainting his voice. He offers her a hand and an apologetic smile. “You know, I’m not going to rape you or anything so you don’t have to be so scared.”
Eunsook doesn’t take Minsuk’s hand nor look up at him. Instead, she covers her face and starts to cry.
“Hey! Hey! I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to scare you!” says Minsuk.
It’s at this moment that Key sees an opportunity to get closer to winning the bet. Making sure that Jonghyun is amply distracted, he walks over to Eunsook and helps her up.
“Sorry, hyung,” he tells Minsuk. “Eunsook-noona gets upset very easily. It’s really nothing personal.”
Minsuk raises an eyebrow. “Oh... Well... In any case, I’m sorry for upsetting her,”
Key gives him a small smile. He takes Eunsook by the hand and leads her to their room. “Don’t worry about it,” he says and closes the door behind him and Eunsook.
It takes Minsuk’s jaw a second too late to react, his brain three seconds to realize what he just saw, and his mouth a minute to stumble all over his words.
“OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. KEY AND JINKI LOCKED THEMSELVES IN THAT ROOM. THOSE GIRLS IN MY CLASS ARE RIGHT. THOSE TWO ARE GAY FOR EACH OTHER. EXCEPT NOT REALLY SINCE JINKI IS A GIRL NOW,”
(Jonghyun pauses halfway through hitting Taesung with a rubber hammer. “Well, shit. No way am I losing the bet so easily! Wait until I’m done with this pervert!”
“But your sister doesn’t mind me hitting on her!” Taesung argues.)
- - -
Key sits Eunsook on her bed and takes the space beside her, handing her a box of tissues. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry, Key,” Eunsook sobs. “I’m so pathetic. I’m hopeless. You should go find someone to replace me. I’m no good as SHINee’s leader.”
“What are you talking about? Just because you panicked like that doesn’t mean you’re a horrible leader. It’s normal... I mean, as normal as your situation can be anyway. You’re not used to being a girl and we keep picking on you-I’m sorry about that-so it’s just natural that you’ll get upset,”
Eunsook looks at Key with watery eyes and Key starts getting a weird feeling in his chest, like monkeys on crack or Jonghyun on sugar high. Or something.
“Why are you being so nice to me today?” she asks quietly while wiping her tears with a tissue. “This isn’t a prank, is it?”
“Oh, no, don’t think that. I won’t be caught dead playing a prank on my favorite girl!” Sweet-talking isn’t really his thing-it was more of Jonghyun’s territory-so Key swallows his pride and fights the urge to gag at what just came out from his mouth.
Eunsook looks at him suspiciously. “Favorite girl? But I thought you hated me,”
“Hate you? O-of course not!” Key stammers. “I was just... shocked. You know, since it’s not everyday that I wake up to find you turned into a girl... I’m really sorry for being mean to you and all. From now on, you’re the princess around here. So don’t worry about anything, okay?”
Eunsook turns pink and looks away. “Um. Okay. Whatever you say,”
“Don’t cry anymore, okay? If anyone picks on you, tell me. I’ll take care of them,”
“... You’re being so weird, Key. I don’t understand,”
“There’s nothing to understand,” Key says and quickly plants a kiss on Eunsook’s cheek. “I just like you a lot, that’s all.”
Eunsook freezes on her spot and stares at Key in shock but before she could say anything, they hear Choi-sshi pounding on the door and calling their names from outside. (“You two better not do anything inappropriate there or else!!!”)
“Let’s go,” he says. He takes Eunsook’s hand in his. “I think Choi-sshi’s going to have a heart attack if we stay here longer.”
“Ah-But-I!”
“Oh, unless you want to stay here and make out~,”
Much to Key’s amusement, Eunsook starts flailing as she attempts to hide her face. Key laughs. He’s relieved to know that Eunsook is still Jinki deep down at least and he’s feeling pretty confident he’ll win the bet because he’s getting the hang of flirting with her since she’s actually cute, not that he ever though Jinki was cute, except he did sometimes but he’ll never admit that over his dead and decomposing body.
“So, are you waiting for me to kiss you or are we going to assure Choi-sshi that we’re behaving?” Key teases.
By the time the two of them come out, Choi-sshi is already getting set to knock the door down with an emergency hatchet.
- - -
“TAEMIN! CAN YOU PLEASE TURN THAT DOWN?”
It’s already quarter to midnight, way past the boys’ bedtimes, but Taemin is still playing music at an obnoxiously high volume. Jonghyun screams at the top of his lungs but the youngest ignores him and continues dancing to the beat. Eunsook also tries to do his duty as the leader but fails miserably, so she curls up on the couch beside Minho who is wordlessly disapproving their magnae’s current behavior. It’s not until Key turns off the stereo and reprimands him that Taemin grudgingly heads to bed.
“What’s happening to that kid?” Jonghyun complains. He plops down beside Eunsook and casually rests a hand on her thigh.
“Um... puberty?” replies Eunsook, warily watching her dongsaeng’s hand. “Minho, you didn’t get to talk to him this morning?”
Minho looks up from the book he’s reading. “No. He refused to say anything,”
Eunsook frowns because she’s disappointed at herself for not being able to take good care of her boys but Key interrupts her thoughts by swatting Jonghyun’s hand off her thigh and saying, “Keep your filthy hands away my princess, you pervert.”
“OHO! And who said she’s yours?”
“She’s clearly not comfortable with you. Noona, you prefer me over him, right?”
Eunsook looks to Minho for help and so, being the knight in shining armor that he is, he gets ready for bed and urges his hyungdeul to do the same. As all four of them head to the room they share, Key snakes his arms around Eunsook’s waist and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
“Goodnight, noona! Dream of me~,” he says before climbing up the top bunk.
“Hey! Hey! I’m more pleasant to dream about!” Jonghyun interjects. He attempts to steal a kiss too but Eunsook has already dived under her covers and out of his reach.
Key smiles triumphantly and sticks his tongue out at Jonghyun.
- - -
Day Four
The boys wake up at four in the morning because there’s some asshole in the living room watching the television at so high a volume, they are sure even the dead are rolling in their graves. Jonghyun is almost ready to commit murder by slow, agonizing torture as he exits their bedroom but he thinks twice when he discovers that Taemin is the culprit.
Minho swiftly takes the remote from Taemin and turns the television off. “We need to talk,” he says. When Minho says something, he means it 99.9% of the time so the magnae is expected to listen.
He doesn’t.
As soon as the window of opportunity opens, Taemin flees to the bedroom and goes to sleep, leaving the older boys (and girl) angry, confused, and no longer able to return to dreamland. Minho frowns.
“There’s really something wrong with him,” says Jonghyun with a scowl.
“Congratulations, Captain Obvious,” Key remarks as he hits Jonghyun’s arm a little too hard. He throws an arm around Eunsook and flashes a bright smile. “What do you want for breakfast, noona? I’ll prepare whatever you ask for~”
“I-isn’t it too early?” says Eunsook.
“It’s never too early to please you~,”
Jonghyun rolls his eyes. “Just make sure to ask for something microwaveable or else he won’t be able to make it,”
Key glares at the older boy. “No breakfast for you, Kim Jonghyun,”
“In case you don’t know, I’m just as skilled in using the microwave as you are,” Jonghyun says. “Noona, I can prepare breakfast for you too! Tell me what you like!”
“Um... you don’t really have to...,” Eunsook says, carefully trying to slip away from Key (but he pulls her closer like Harry Potter using Accio on his Firebolt because we all know the poor broom wasn’t given any choice that time. Clearly, Eunsook thinks, broom rights are being ignored like the rights of women today. I swear I’m going to be nicer to the coordi-noonas from now on!). “I can do it myself later. I’m not yet hungry anyway.”
“But cooking breakfast is not a task for a princess!” Key objects. “We can’t let you tire yourself!”
“... It’s just breakfast. How hard can it be? It’s not like I haven’t prepared food for everyone before,”
“I told you, didn’t I? From now on, you’re the princess around here,”
Jonghyun grabs Eunsook’s arm and tugs her out of Key’s reach. “Okay, how about this: we both make you something and you pick which tastes the best. Whoever wins gets to date you!”
Eunsook looks at Minho who shrugs at her. She sighs. She decided long ago that any attempt to comprehend how Jonghyun’s and Key’s minds work is futile so it’s better not to waste any time and effort on that cause. If you can’t beat them, let them do whatever the hell they want Choi-sshi will deal with them later. “There’s no stopping you both, is there?”
“Nope,” they chorus.
“Fine. Go make me whatever,”
They end up with a lot more food on their table than they usually do. Jonghyun made hotdogs, eggs, and buttered toast while Key prepared chocolate pancakes. Both are rather proud of their work.
Taemin comes out the bedroom in time to find Minho whispering something to Eunsook as they sit together at the dining table. He knows not what it was about and he doesn’t think he wants to know so he doesn’t say anything when he takes the seat farthest from Eunsook, which is, technically, the farthest end of the couch.
“Aren’t you going to get ready for school?” Key asks. He tries to sound like Choi-sshi when he’s angry but it falls far too flat because his attention is obviously nowhere near Taemin. (Jonghyun is trying to spoon-feed Eunsook.)
“Why should I?” Taemin snaps. Key’s jaw drops and all heads sharply turn to SHINee’s magnae.
“Because it’s a Tuesday and you’re supposed to go to school on Tuesdays,”
“And your point is? Just because I’m supposed to be at school doesn’t mean I’ll go,”
Key completely forgets his other concerns. He begins to feel anger heat his face. “Are you telling me that you’re skipping school today, Lee Taemin?”
“Shut up. You’re not my mother,”
“.......,”
“Taemin, stop it,” Minho’s voice is calm but he gives the youngest a sharp look. “Eat breakfast and get ready for school.”
No one speaks after that.
The dorm remains dead silent even as Choi-sshi stumbles to the dining area for a quick breakfast. He thinks something happened while he was still dreaming of going off in a well-deserved vacation from managing a group of hormonal teenagers and marrying Angelina Jolie in an alternate universe but he dares not ask yet. He’ll find out anyway because it’s impossible for either Key or Jonghyun to keep their mouth shut the whole day. One of them will crack soon enough, preferably when he comes back from taking Minho and Taemin to school.
Key does crack but he doesn’t wait for Choi-sshi’s return. He locks himself in the bathroom to cry.
“I think you should talk to him,” says Jonghyun, scratching the back of his head.
“Why me?” Eunsook protests. “You’re the best friend! You’re supposed to know him better.”
“But you’re the girl. You’re supposed to understand a fellow girl better!”
“... You’re such a jerk,” Eunsook scowls but she goes to knock on the bathroom door anyway because it doesn’t really matter if Jonghyun knows Key better than she does. This is still part of her responsibility as the leader.
- - -
SHINee’s magnae sits quietly on his end of the backseat and ignores Minho and Choi-sshi for the rest of the journey.
“This isn’t like you at all, Taemin,” Minho says in an attempt to make the youngest open up. “What’s wrong?”
Taemin keeps his eyes out the window and says nothing. Choi-sshi pretends to hear no evil and see no evil but Minho knows better because their manager isn’t that great of an actor.
“Taemi-,”
“I’ll be busy today-,”
“Don’t change the subject,”
“-so you guys can go eat dinner without me-,”
“Stop ignoring me, Taemin,”
“-and don’t bother staying up late to wait for me,”
Taemin dashes out as soon as the car stops in front of the school gates. Choi-sshi shouts a few reminders after him but he doesn’t look back.
“Aish, that kid!” Choi-sshi hisses. He drives away before they attract unnecessary attention.
“Hyung, am I doing something wrong?” Minho worriedly asks.
Choi-sshi looks at Minho from the rearview mirror. “No, of course not. It’s perfectly normal for you to be the only one not going through some PMS-type of phase. All boy bands are required to have at least one sane member. Depending on how you look at it, you’re either very lucky or very much doomed,”
Aside from the feeling of being extremely unlucky, Minho is very much disturbed by how their manager can say all that so calmly. Choi-sshi smiles as if he can read the young boy’s mind.
“Let’s just say this job lets me see things normal people can’t,”
- - -
The bathroom door doesn’t open until Eunsook finally finds the key under their manager’s pile of dirty laundry.
Eunsook has seen Key cry so many times before but she feels a different heartbreaking sensation when she sees him hunched over the sink, eyes red and swollen, with tearstains all over his face. Key is graceful in anything he does-including crying-and the sight of him so ugly and human inside the bathroom took Eunsook by surprise.
She closes the door as she walks to stand beside Key. “Hey,” she says tentatively.
Key turns the tap on and washes his face but Eunsook knows he’s only doing it to hide the tears. His voice is shaky when he replies, “Hey.”
Eunsook already composed a speech about teenagers and hormones and mothers while on her search for the lost bathroom key but she ends up saying something else completely different.
“You know, I liked your pancakes best.”
Key sniffed. “Of course you did. I made sure they were cooked just the way you liked them and it was hard to make them in perfect circles, you know. I wasn’t sure you’d like blueberries better than chocolate but I remembered we ran out of blueberries and I couldn’t go out to get some more and leave you with that pervert so I decided I’ll just take the risk with the chocolate. You like chocolates too anyway, right? But maybe I cooked too many. I shouldn’t have made you eat a lot since you’ll have to keep your figure and all that. Maybe I should’ve prepared something healthier instead. But I think I made a healthier breakfast than Jonghyun did. I mean, how dare he feed you all that fat? I wasn’t worried that you’d like the food he prepared, of course. I cook better than he does. We all know that. There was no question that you’ll like my pancakes best. You always like my cooking best, don’t you? What would you like for tomorrow? I was thinking of going out to do some groce-,”
Eunsook thinks Key doesn’t get it but she lets him talk anyway because she knows it’s his way of taking the Taemin incident off his thoughts for now and Key eventually calms down after a session of uninterrupted talking. Usually.
When he doesn’t shut up after 15 minutes, Eunsook kisses him.
“I think you should know that you talk too much,” Eunsook says as she pulls away. “The others just don’t tell you to shut up because they’re afraid you’ll hit them with whatever stick thing you’re holding.”
Key’s face turns pink. “Really now?”
“Yeah. But I realized I have a different reason for not cutting you off,”
“What?”
Eunsook shrugs. “I like hearing your voice.”
A rubber duck flies into the bathroom and onto Key’s face. Eunsook and Key both turn to find a scowling Jonghyun by the door. “...Are you guys done? Because I’m already drowning in sap and cheese here,”
Smirking triumphantly, Key throws the rubber duck back at Jonghyun.
“So, noona~,” Key says. “Since I won your heart with my awesome cooking, you’ll go on a date with me, right?”
- - -
Choi-sshi’s line of thought went like this: If I were an average person working an average job with average hours and earning average salary, I’d be out partying right now in this beautiful night, instead of babysitting kids that are barely into puberty.
He pulls up in front of the gates of Taemin’s school and watches Minho agitatedly wait for the magnae to open the door to his side of the car, slide in his seat, and explain why he looks like shit. Sometimes he thinks Minho does a better job in taking care of Taemin than he or Key could ever dream of doing so he doesn’t interfere unless there is a need for his authority as the boys’ current official guardian.
“You did not get into a fight,” Minho says seriously.
“I didn’t,” Taemin replies. “Not that you care, of course.”
“Taemin,”
“You shouldn’t have waited,”
“We were worried. Then you show up all muddy,”
“Not my fault. I told you not to wait up,”
“Taemin, what’s happening to you?”
“Stop pretending that you care,”
“Boys,” Choi-sshi holds up a hand. He tosses a towel to Taemin. “Let’s talk about this later, okay? Taemin, wipe your face before we get home. Key is not going to be pleased when he sees you.”
“So what?”
“Taemin!”
The magnae shouts. “Look, just leave me alone, okay? I’m minding my own business and so should you!”
“TAEMIN,” Minho bellows so unexpectedly that Choi-sshi slammed on the breaks too abruptly. Luckily, it’s so late at night that there aren’t many cars on the road anymore, and none behind them. “Your behavior in the past few days has been unacceptable.”
“What now, you’re going to ground me?”
Minho looks as if he’s going to say something but he holds his tongue and falls back to his seat while Taemin retreats to his. Choi-sshi thinks Taemin PMSes worse than the CSJH girls do so even if it’s technically he’s responsibility to discipline the magnae, he decides to wait for Minho’s call for help, which will probably never come because Minho can handle anything and would therefore not need his help.
Choi-sshi tries to remember why he chose this profession in the first place.
[ continue to Part 2]
PG-16 / 14,418 words / Kim Kibum (SHINee) x Lee Jinki (SHINee) ; 2Min
For my beta, my partner-in-crime, avirjin: If we were pollinating trees, this would be the fruit (never mind that watermelons don’t grow on trees).
Day One.
It’s their first real break so it’s a schedule-less day and the SHINee household quietly celebrates any other schedule-less day because calm mornings don’t come very often anymore, now that they’re officially the five shining stars of the universe. Since there is never anything to talk about so early in the morning and all of them are usually too sleepy to do or say much, breakfast is always eaten in silence (with the occasional praises for Key’s exceptional skills in heating precooked food lest he decides not to make them anything to eat the next day). While Key quietly prepared another set of pancakes, Jonghyun and the two youngest consume their food in peace.
Well. That is until an unmistakably feminine scream-like of Taemin’s when there’s a bug-fills the whole apartment.
Everyone at the dining area looks at Taemin and Manager Choi-sshi comes running in, looking around frantically before finally landing his eyes on the magnae who doesn’t notice that all eyes are already on him until he felt their manager’s stare burning a hole through his head.
“...What?” Taemin says, his eyes wide. “That wasn’t me!”
“Who is it, then?” Choi-sshi asks and is promptly answered with a tug on his shirt. He turns around, of course, because that is the logical thing to do, and he finds himself almost getting a heart attack when he sees a skinny girl with a tear-stained face standing behind him wearing the clothes Jinki was wearing the night before.
He jumps a good few inches away and screams, “WHO ARE YOU?! How did you get in here?! I’m going to call security!!!”
“It’s meeeeee, hyung!” the girl cries in a deep feminine yet eerily familiar voice, stomping her feet like a kid throwing a tantrum. Tears flow down her tofu-like cheeks, her long black hair is all over the place, and her eyes are almost non-existent.
Perhaps it’s too early in the morning for his brain to process the insanity at a desirable rate but Choi-sshi doesn’t get it until Taemin casually asks the girl, “Hyung, why do you have watermelons on your chest?”
Jonghyun laughs and pats the magnae on the back. “Taemin, I don’t think those are supposed to be watermelons!” (Key immediately hurls a spoon at Jonghyun’s direction, missing him only by a centimeter.)
“Perhaps you should wear a bra, hyung,” Minho comments unceremoniously before returning to his food.
“My sister can lend you some,” chirps Jonghyun who is dodging dagger glares from Key, “but I think your boobs are bigger...” He pauses for a little while before his face visibly brightens. (He thinks that this is probably the most awesome prank he was ever subjected to in his entire life and as a sign of gratitude, he promises himself that he will lay off the leader abuse for a day after all of this is done.) “WAIT. YOUR BOOBS ARE BIGGER. AND YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER. CAN I TOUCH 'EM?”
“But why does Jinki-hyung have boobs?” Taemin asks, confusion clearly visible on his face. After all, it’s not everyday that you wake up to find your hyung with boobs, unless, of course, you live with Dong Bang Shin Ki because everyone knows about Yunho’s... chest problems.
Key rushes to the magnae’s side and begins spouting bullshit. “You see, Taemin, if you’re not a good little boy, God will turn you into a girl as a last chance so at the very least you can be a good little girl so you better be good or else you’ll end up like Jinki-hyung!”
Taemin’s mouth forms an ‘O’ while Jinki flails and claims that he was being a perfectly good boy before the transformation happened, completely ignoring the lack of plausibility in Key’s explanation.
“Why not try being a naughty girl, then, hyung?” Jonghyun tells his hyung, winking and gesturing at Jinki’s chest.
Jinki cries a river, Minho finishes his food, Key shoves a bowl of mayonnaise at Jonghyun’s face, Taemin asks over the noise if it’s a hidden camera, and Choi-sshi thinks his experience in managing the CSJH girls might actually be a valuable life lesson he can use now.
- - -
There is one important rule that Choi-sshi forgot when he decided to leave SHINee alone for the whole day: never leave a group of boys with one girl unsupervised. Although so far nothing horrible (except the corruption of Taemin’s young mind, in Key’s opinion) has happened, Key can’t help thinking that the worse is yet to come. Very soon.
“Jinki-hyung makes a really pretty girl, doesn’t he?” says Taemin cheerfully. He is helping Key wash the dishes after lunch. “He wasn’t that pretty when we did School of Rock… I wonder what the stylist noona did to make him more convincing this time.”
“That wig doesn’t even look good on him!”
“Ah, maybe you’re just jealous because he’s prettier than you now,” Taemin teases.
Key huffs. “I’m not! I just think it’s still a half-hearted attempt. Why bother pretending to be a girl if he’s not going to take the effort to change off his sleeping clothes?”
“Hm… It does look baggy on him. I don’t think it was that baggy last night. Since when did he lose more fat?”
Key looks over his shoulders to watch Jonghyun’s failed attempts in molesting their leader and Minho’s successful portrayal of Jinki’s knight in shining armor (because Minho being Minho doesn’t think it’s appropriate to just sit there and do nothing while a damsel is in distress-whether or not it’s just a hidden camera prank). He scowls and returns to the dishes.
“I don’t get it! Nobody used to take his jokes seriously before!” he hisses.
“Maybe it’s because this time the joke is so elaborate that it’s hard not to ride on,” Taemin innocently comments. “I’m sure he and Choi-sshi planned this with our best interests in mind. They probably thought you’d enjoy it too so please don’t get mad. They’ll both get tired of acting soon, anyway, and when we all look back to this day ten years from now, we’ll laugh and tell ourselves how silly we were!”
Key sighs heavily. At least the magnae’s optimism is kept intact.
- - -
“Jonghyun-hyung looks so happy with Jinki-hyung getting boobs,” Taemin tells Minho as they sit at the dining table, doing their homework after dinner. He steals a glance at Jonghyun and Jinki who are watching the television on the couch. “Do you want me to get boobs too?”
Minho chokes on his orange juice. (He thinks he heard the snappy swooshing of Key’s head turning to their direction but he doesn’t look behind him to check.) He waves a hand in front of him and says, “No, Taemin. You’re perfectly fine the way you are.”
The magnae gives him a worried look. “Are you sure? I can ask Choi-sshi to help me,”
There is a loud crashing sound when Key’s glass of water meets the floor. Key stomps his way from the kitchen to block Jinki’s view of the television and stands on his spot with his hands on his hips.
“That’s it. LEE JINKI, STOP THIS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW! This joke isn’t funny anymore. You’re setting a bad example to my son! Take down all the hidden cameras and take off that stupid wig!”
Key grabs Jinki’s hair and fiercely tugs on it, making Jinki scream-like any girl would-in pain. Jonghyun and Minho rush over to pull them apart and the leader ends up sobbing in Minho’s arms. Minho gently pats his hyung’s (noona’s?) back and doesn’t notice the frown materializing on Taemin’s face.
“Hey, hey!” Jonghyun says. “No need to get so violent!”
While keeping Key from reaching for Jinki again, Jonghyun turns to his hyung and smiles apologetically. “Thanks, hyung. I can't believe you and Choi-sshi were so nice as to go this far to entertain us. I had a good laugh and I'm sure Minho too even if he doesn't say much but some of us just doesn’t have a sense of humor. You should go change now-Key’s right. That wig doesn’t really flatter you.”
Jinki’s sobs become agonized wails and all the boys in the room stiffen in shock.
“... Look, hyung, I’m sorry, okay?” says Key quietly. “I had no idea how many hairpins they used to keep that wig on you. But could you please take it off now? I’ll help you properly this time if you want.”
“I’ll help you take off your boobs!” Jonghyun eagerly volunteers.
Jinki wails louder. Key loses his patience again and crosses his arms over his chest.
“I think you’re overacting now,” says Key. “Just quit it already!”
“Come on, hyung, I’ll help you!” Jonghyun walks over to Jinki and Minho, yanks the leader away from their dongsaeng’s arms, grabs the clothed breasts carelessly, and tries to pull them off.
Jinki moans. And whimpers. And cries.
Key pulls Jonghyun (who has frozen on his spot) away as they all stare wide-eyed at their leader. He rushes over Jinki to examine her scalp and proceeds to inspect whatever he dared touch on the rest of her body and he notices what he should have noticed since morning-Jinki’s Adam’s apple is no longer prominent. “Oh god... No. No! This can’t be happening! Hyung! What’s this? What happened to you?”
“I don’t know!” Jinki cries in between sobs. She covers her face with her hands.
Everyone in the room stands still as if time stopped. Minho is the first to break the silence.
“... Taemin, it’s time for bed,” he says. He returns to the dining table and begins putting away his things.
“But it’s still 7:30!” protests Taemin.
“Taemin, be a good boy! If you don’t follow what your hyung says, you’re going to end up like Jinki-hyung!” Key threatens.
The magnae pouts (he doesn’t really mind getting boobs if it would make Minho happy) but doesn’t argue with the band umma. Instead, he grabs his books and pens and follows Minho to the bedroom they share with the rest of the boys.
- - -
Day Two.
They call her Eunsook-noona because calling her Jinki-noona feels wrong now even if ‘Eunsook’ is just as masculine a name as ‘Jinki’ is.
Jonghyun calls up his older sister and asks her to come over the SHINee dorm to bring a bunch of her clothes and underwear (with an emphasis to underwear and, “If you have any sexy lingerie, noona, I’d really appreciate it!”). It isn’t that Eunsook really needed any clothes because SHINee’s wardrobe is androgynous enough but after the initial shock of having their leader magically turn into a girl, Jonghyun saw the incident as an opportunity waiting to be exploited. He’s a growing boy and all growing boys have needs.
“What do you need my underwear for?” Jonghyun’s sister asks in a suspicious tone. “I’d love to go visit you and all but I sure as hell won’t give your friends material for masturbating purposes.”
The grin on Jonghyun’s face reaches his sister on the other line. “It’s not what you think, really! We just have someone here you might like to meet and she needs a total make over. We’re all boys-save for Key but he doesn’t count this time because I think he’s jealous and won’t be lending a hand anytime soon-so you know we know nothing about girly things, which I’m sure you’re a master of,”
“Is it your girlfriend?”
“No-even better. Just come over and you’ll see. You’ll love her to bits,”
It’s when Jonghyun gets this excited that Eunsook gets that ‘impending doom’ feeling and knowing that she’s at the receiving end this time is even a lot worse. She appreciates the special treatment she currently gets from the boys (except Key who seem to have gotten worse with the bullying) because it’s not something she was entitled to when she was a boy but she feels that it’s something like the calm before the storm. Something bad is obviously going to happen. Maybe. She isn’t exactly sure what to expect from Jonghyun’s sister.
‘You’ll love her to bits’ turns out to be an understatement when the pretty noona fills the whole room with her ear-piercing squeal and declares that Eunsook is probably one of the most beautiful girls she has ever laid her eyes on and she will definitely turn her into an even more beautiful lady before the day ends. Jonghyun gives his noona (who doesn’t question the absence of logic in Eunsook’s situation because “WHO CARES? SHE’S PRETTY♥!”) a tight hug and ecstatically bounces around the living room only to be kicked on the shins by a very irritated Key.
- - -
The girls finally emerge from the bedroom during lunchtime, with Jonghyun’s noona smiling ever so proudly and Eunsook nervously looking at her feet and playing with her hands. Minho smiles brightly, Taemin looks from Minho to Eunsook to Jonghyun and back with furrowed eyebrows, and Key’s jaw drops because she is absolutely gorgeous in ways he never even dreamed of imagining. She has the most wonderful curves that he never thought existed, the most amazing hair that can rival Jun Jihyun’s and the most beautiful face that can possibly shame the entirety of Korea’s female population. It seems to Key that he is now staring at Wonder Girl’s So Hot song made flesh. (He thinks it’s adorable how Eunsook looks so uneasy even when she looks great with her light make-up, her low pigtails and her candy colored outfit but he will never ever admit it aloud.)
Jonghyun stands up from his seat at the dining table, seemingly in a daze, and sings ‘Noona nomu yeppeo~’ as he took Eunsook’s trembling hand in his. Eunsook blushes and stares at him.
“God, my sister did a great job on you,” says Jonghyun, staring back at Eunsook, “not that you weren’t pretty to begin with, of course, because you really are. You’re just incredibly prettier now.”
“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” Jonghyun’s noona chirps. “She’s got so much to flaunt, seriously. Look at those Ha Jiwon legs!” She points at Eunsook’s long legs, sticking out of the too-short green jumper shorts she is wearing.
Eunsook turns a deep shade of red when Jonghyun wolf-whistles at the sight of her smooth pale skin. As if on cue, a spatula connects itself to Jonghyun’s head. He turns to scowl at Key.
“Quit that!” Key scolds. “You’re setting a bad example for Taemin!”
“Hey, just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean others can’t admire her,” says Jonghyun. “Don’t make Taemin an excuse. I’m sure he likes Eunsook-noona too! Right, Taemin?”
The magnae looks from Jonghyun to Eunsook to Minho (who is looking at him with a look he can’t read) and back. He frowns and purposely knocks his glass of water off the table.
“TAEMIN!” Key bellows. “What did you do that for?”
“I’m not hungry,” says Taemin, standing up to leave the dining area. He misses the worried frown on Minho’s face-he only sees Key’s anger, Jonghyun’s shock and Eunsook’s bewilderment.
Key glares at Jonghyun and Eunsook before following Taemin into the bedroom and telling the magnae that it was not a very polite thing to do and that he should go back to clean up his mess and finish his food.
It is at that moment that Choi-sshi decides to come back since having left yesterday morning and it takes him more than just willpower not to faint at the sight of Eunsook who looks more like a So Nyeo Shi Dae girl than SHINee’s leader.
- - -
They have nothing else better to do with their time so the boys thought it better to spend a few hours in the training rooms before dinner. It takes them quite a while to convince Choi-sshi to drive them to the SM building after Jonghyun’s noona left and an even longer time to smuggle Eunsook out the dorms without attracting too much attention. However, taking her around the building doesn’t seem to bother anyone because the newer generation of trainees have become too cold that they don’t really care anymore and the only ones who actually give a damn are the sunbaes and even they have better things to think about other than their hoobaes bringing girls in the practice rooms.
So far so good. They manage to find an empty room in a far corner, which means they’re safe until they have to smuggle Eunsook out again.
Minho turns the music up, Taemin dances to it, Jonghyun joins in, and the tension from lunchtime slowly melts away. The magnae pulls Eunsook from her corner and asks if she can still dance. Eunsook attempts to get away but Jonghyun wraps his arms around her waist from behind and sways side to side to side and soon, they are following a rhythm. Taemin giggles (“You look like a couple!”) and Minho smiles to himself because he can see Key watching everything in contempt from his corner of the room.
The music eventually fades and the boys eventually tires and Key thinks the gods up there are conspiring against him because it isn’t long until he finds himself alone in the training room with Eunsook.
In a bout of impulse, he walks up to her and presses her against the mirrors.
“You know, you’re really really pretty,” Key whispers under his breath, loud enough for the older girl to hear. He closes the distance between their faces until their lips are almost touching and he can feel the rapid pounding of Eunsook’s heart against his chest. “Very beautiful.”
Eunsook shuts her eyes close and Key’s lips linger over hers for a long while before he hisses angrily.
“I don’t like it,”
Key pulls away just a few seconds before the other boys walk in the room with water bottles in hand. Eunsook is left stunned against the wall, her face pale and her eyes wide (at least, as wide as they can go). She unconsciously brings a hand up on her chest in an attempt to slow her heartbeat down.
A passing comment about seeing ghosts comes out of Jonghyun’s mouth before he laughs, throws a jacket over her shoulders and leads her out of the room.
“Come on. Choi-sshi’s waiting outside~,”
- - -
“Hey, are you up for a challenge?” says Jonghyun as he plops down beside a sulking Key on the couch. The other boys (and the girl) are already asleep in their room and the two of them are the only ones left awake in the dorm. “Let’s play a game.”
The overconfidence in the tone of Jonghyun’s voice annoys Key but it piques his interest because he’s always up for a challenge so he grunts as a sign for the older boy to continue his proposal.
“Whoever gets Eunsook-noona as his girlfriend wins,” says Jonghyun. “The loser treats the winner and Eunsook-noona to a date at Lotte World!”
“What?” Key hisses at the older boy. “Are you crazy? This is Jinki-hyung we’re talking about!”
Jonghyun raises an eyebrow (and secretly thinks it’s funny that Key’s first reaction has nothing to do with the fans’ reaction to seeing either of them with a girl, which is probably a bigger issue than dating their leader). “So? Jinki-hyung is a girl now-a very hot one at that-and I think we deserve to have a little fun once in a while. Besides, you obviously like her. You should see your face every time she’s around. You look at her as if she’s dancing naked in front of you,”
The younger boy’s jaw drops and his face distorts into a scowl. “I do NOT like her!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” says Jonghyun. He waves a hand in front of his face. “So are you not going to let me have my way with her or are you chicken? Because if it’s the latter, don’t expect us tomorrow night.” He finishes his taunt with a wink for good measure.
“Fuck you,” Key hisses dangerously.
A grin grazes Jonghyun’s face. “Hmm~ is that a ‘Fuck you, I don’t care what you want to do with her’? If so, I’m disappointed. It’s so unlike you, really, Kibum-ah. I thought you’d be thrilled to do this one because, you know, I didn’t think the Almighty Key was such a coward,”
Of the many things Key didn’t like being called, ‘coward’ tops the list. Jonghyun knows and Key knows that Jonghyun knows and it’s always a pain when Jonghyun uses it against him.
“Who says I’m passing on this one?” says Key. “The Almighty Key never says no to a challenge!”
“May the best man win, then~” Jonghyun replies before he jumps to his feet and skips to bed.
Sometimes, Key feels the urge to strangle Jonghyun to death. This is one of those times.
- - -
Day Three
Key doesn’t understand why Taemin refuses to drink his milk that morning but he isn’t given enough time to argue with the magnae because Taesung and Minsuk suddenly burst into the dorm like a pair of whirlwinds.
“Hyung!” Taemin jumps from his seat by the dining table and runs to his older brother’s open arms.
“Hey, little bro!” greets Taesung but as soon as Taemin’s hug is returned, his attention is caught by the two girls on the couch. “Oho! What do we have here? Boobs in the SHINee household?”
Taemin scowls and pulls away from his hyung who doesn’t seem to notice the quick change in the younger boy’s facial expression. Much to the magnae’s chagrin, Taesung joins Minsuk on the couch with the girls. Eunsook, already uncomfortable with Minsuk’s stare, runs away to cower behind Minho as soon as she saw Taesung approach.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Minsuk says with an amused expression on his face. “I didn’t know you’re my little brother’s girlfriend. Minho, you really know how to pick the perfect girlfriend, huh? But she’s a bit too shy, don’t you think?”
“… Actually, this is Jinki-hyung,” Minho says quietly and seriously that his words are almost believable if not for the ridiculousness of the idea so he isn’t really surprised when he sees Minsuk and Taesung look at each other and burst into fits of laughter.
“Minho,” Taesung manages to gasp in between laughing, “it’s not April Fools yet, in case you’re following the wrong calendar!”
“... I’m not joking,”
“Really, Minho, stop it,”
“.......,”
“... You’re kidding,”
“Nope,”
Eunsook sobs. Minsuk and Taesung gape.
“No way!” Taesung exclaims. “But she’s a pretty girl! I mean, look at those boobs!”
“Not to mention it’s just not possible for a guy to turn into a girl overnight...,” Minsuk comments. (Eunsook sobs louder-Key wonders if he should make a move now.) He turns to Jonghyun’s sister beside him. “Don’t tell me this girl over here is actually Jonghyun...”
She laughs. “No, I’m his noona,”
Taesung grins. He throws an arm around her shoulders and asks, “You have a boyfriend?”
“None that I know of,”
“So we can hit on you, then?” says Minsuk a little too enthusiastically.
“Hyung, that’s not really what I called you over for,” says Minho in a calm manner, although there is a hint of exasperation in his voice. He mentally berates himself for not foreseeing this and not doing something to prevent it from happening.
Taemin has other ideas, however. SHINee’s magnae grabs his glass of milk, pours the contents on the floor and he’s already out the door and off to school before Key could open his mouth to scold him. Everybody is momentarily distracted by Taemin’s strange behavior but only Minho made a move to follow the youngest. Things quickly return to normal (Taesung’s attention to Jonghyun’s noona and Minsuk’s attention to Eunsook) like nothing happened as soon as Minho left.
“UGH!” Key complains as he cleans up the mess that Taemin made. “What’s wrong with him? He’s been acting really weird the past few days.”
Jonghyun enters the living room, clueless and still sleepy. “What’s all the rack-HEY! Hands off my sister!”
“Eh? You have sister complex or something?” Taesung teases. He pulls Jonghyun’s noona closer and pretends to kiss her cheek. (“Play along, okay~” he whispers to her and she laughs as if it’s the most natural thing in the world and they both amuse themselves with Jonghyun throwing a fit.)
Eunsook tries to look for somewhere to run to when she notices Minsuk walking towards her. She panics, trips on her own feet, and finds that she’s trembling too much to stand up again. Minsuk watches in amusement.
“… You are Jinki,” Minsuk says, disbelief tainting his voice. He offers her a hand and an apologetic smile. “You know, I’m not going to rape you or anything so you don’t have to be so scared.”
Eunsook doesn’t take Minsuk’s hand nor look up at him. Instead, she covers her face and starts to cry.
“Hey! Hey! I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to scare you!” says Minsuk.
It’s at this moment that Key sees an opportunity to get closer to winning the bet. Making sure that Jonghyun is amply distracted, he walks over to Eunsook and helps her up.
“Sorry, hyung,” he tells Minsuk. “Eunsook-noona gets upset very easily. It’s really nothing personal.”
Minsuk raises an eyebrow. “Oh... Well... In any case, I’m sorry for upsetting her,”
Key gives him a small smile. He takes Eunsook by the hand and leads her to their room. “Don’t worry about it,” he says and closes the door behind him and Eunsook.
It takes Minsuk’s jaw a second too late to react, his brain three seconds to realize what he just saw, and his mouth a minute to stumble all over his words.
“OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. KEY AND JINKI LOCKED THEMSELVES IN THAT ROOM. THOSE GIRLS IN MY CLASS ARE RIGHT. THOSE TWO ARE GAY FOR EACH OTHER. EXCEPT NOT REALLY SINCE JINKI IS A GIRL NOW,”
(Jonghyun pauses halfway through hitting Taesung with a rubber hammer. “Well, shit. No way am I losing the bet so easily! Wait until I’m done with this pervert!”
“But your sister doesn’t mind me hitting on her!” Taesung argues.)
- - -
Key sits Eunsook on her bed and takes the space beside her, handing her a box of tissues. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry, Key,” Eunsook sobs. “I’m so pathetic. I’m hopeless. You should go find someone to replace me. I’m no good as SHINee’s leader.”
“What are you talking about? Just because you panicked like that doesn’t mean you’re a horrible leader. It’s normal... I mean, as normal as your situation can be anyway. You’re not used to being a girl and we keep picking on you-I’m sorry about that-so it’s just natural that you’ll get upset,”
Eunsook looks at Key with watery eyes and Key starts getting a weird feeling in his chest, like monkeys on crack or Jonghyun on sugar high. Or something.
“Why are you being so nice to me today?” she asks quietly while wiping her tears with a tissue. “This isn’t a prank, is it?”
“Oh, no, don’t think that. I won’t be caught dead playing a prank on my favorite girl!” Sweet-talking isn’t really his thing-it was more of Jonghyun’s territory-so Key swallows his pride and fights the urge to gag at what just came out from his mouth.
Eunsook looks at him suspiciously. “Favorite girl? But I thought you hated me,”
“Hate you? O-of course not!” Key stammers. “I was just... shocked. You know, since it’s not everyday that I wake up to find you turned into a girl... I’m really sorry for being mean to you and all. From now on, you’re the princess around here. So don’t worry about anything, okay?”
Eunsook turns pink and looks away. “Um. Okay. Whatever you say,”
“Don’t cry anymore, okay? If anyone picks on you, tell me. I’ll take care of them,”
“... You’re being so weird, Key. I don’t understand,”
“There’s nothing to understand,” Key says and quickly plants a kiss on Eunsook’s cheek. “I just like you a lot, that’s all.”
Eunsook freezes on her spot and stares at Key in shock but before she could say anything, they hear Choi-sshi pounding on the door and calling their names from outside. (“You two better not do anything inappropriate there or else!!!”)
“Let’s go,” he says. He takes Eunsook’s hand in his. “I think Choi-sshi’s going to have a heart attack if we stay here longer.”
“Ah-But-I!”
“Oh, unless you want to stay here and make out~,”
Much to Key’s amusement, Eunsook starts flailing as she attempts to hide her face. Key laughs. He’s relieved to know that Eunsook is still Jinki deep down at least and he’s feeling pretty confident he’ll win the bet because he’s getting the hang of flirting with her since she’s actually cute, not that he ever though Jinki was cute, except he did sometimes but he’ll never admit that over his dead and decomposing body.
“So, are you waiting for me to kiss you or are we going to assure Choi-sshi that we’re behaving?” Key teases.
By the time the two of them come out, Choi-sshi is already getting set to knock the door down with an emergency hatchet.
- - -
“TAEMIN! CAN YOU PLEASE TURN THAT DOWN?”
It’s already quarter to midnight, way past the boys’ bedtimes, but Taemin is still playing music at an obnoxiously high volume. Jonghyun screams at the top of his lungs but the youngest ignores him and continues dancing to the beat. Eunsook also tries to do his duty as the leader but fails miserably, so she curls up on the couch beside Minho who is wordlessly disapproving their magnae’s current behavior. It’s not until Key turns off the stereo and reprimands him that Taemin grudgingly heads to bed.
“What’s happening to that kid?” Jonghyun complains. He plops down beside Eunsook and casually rests a hand on her thigh.
“Um... puberty?” replies Eunsook, warily watching her dongsaeng’s hand. “Minho, you didn’t get to talk to him this morning?”
Minho looks up from the book he’s reading. “No. He refused to say anything,”
Eunsook frowns because she’s disappointed at herself for not being able to take good care of her boys but Key interrupts her thoughts by swatting Jonghyun’s hand off her thigh and saying, “Keep your filthy hands away my princess, you pervert.”
“OHO! And who said she’s yours?”
“She’s clearly not comfortable with you. Noona, you prefer me over him, right?”
Eunsook looks to Minho for help and so, being the knight in shining armor that he is, he gets ready for bed and urges his hyungdeul to do the same. As all four of them head to the room they share, Key snakes his arms around Eunsook’s waist and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
“Goodnight, noona! Dream of me~,” he says before climbing up the top bunk.
“Hey! Hey! I’m more pleasant to dream about!” Jonghyun interjects. He attempts to steal a kiss too but Eunsook has already dived under her covers and out of his reach.
Key smiles triumphantly and sticks his tongue out at Jonghyun.
- - -
Day Four
The boys wake up at four in the morning because there’s some asshole in the living room watching the television at so high a volume, they are sure even the dead are rolling in their graves. Jonghyun is almost ready to commit murder by slow, agonizing torture as he exits their bedroom but he thinks twice when he discovers that Taemin is the culprit.
Minho swiftly takes the remote from Taemin and turns the television off. “We need to talk,” he says. When Minho says something, he means it 99.9% of the time so the magnae is expected to listen.
He doesn’t.
As soon as the window of opportunity opens, Taemin flees to the bedroom and goes to sleep, leaving the older boys (and girl) angry, confused, and no longer able to return to dreamland. Minho frowns.
“There’s really something wrong with him,” says Jonghyun with a scowl.
“Congratulations, Captain Obvious,” Key remarks as he hits Jonghyun’s arm a little too hard. He throws an arm around Eunsook and flashes a bright smile. “What do you want for breakfast, noona? I’ll prepare whatever you ask for~”
“I-isn’t it too early?” says Eunsook.
“It’s never too early to please you~,”
Jonghyun rolls his eyes. “Just make sure to ask for something microwaveable or else he won’t be able to make it,”
Key glares at the older boy. “No breakfast for you, Kim Jonghyun,”
“In case you don’t know, I’m just as skilled in using the microwave as you are,” Jonghyun says. “Noona, I can prepare breakfast for you too! Tell me what you like!”
“Um... you don’t really have to...,” Eunsook says, carefully trying to slip away from Key (but he pulls her closer like Harry Potter using Accio on his Firebolt because we all know the poor broom wasn’t given any choice that time. Clearly, Eunsook thinks, broom rights are being ignored like the rights of women today. I swear I’m going to be nicer to the coordi-noonas from now on!). “I can do it myself later. I’m not yet hungry anyway.”
“But cooking breakfast is not a task for a princess!” Key objects. “We can’t let you tire yourself!”
“... It’s just breakfast. How hard can it be? It’s not like I haven’t prepared food for everyone before,”
“I told you, didn’t I? From now on, you’re the princess around here,”
Jonghyun grabs Eunsook’s arm and tugs her out of Key’s reach. “Okay, how about this: we both make you something and you pick which tastes the best. Whoever wins gets to date you!”
Eunsook looks at Minho who shrugs at her. She sighs. She decided long ago that any attempt to comprehend how Jonghyun’s and Key’s minds work is futile so it’s better not to waste any time and effort on that cause. If you can’t beat them, let them do whatever the hell they want Choi-sshi will deal with them later. “There’s no stopping you both, is there?”
“Nope,” they chorus.
“Fine. Go make me whatever,”
They end up with a lot more food on their table than they usually do. Jonghyun made hotdogs, eggs, and buttered toast while Key prepared chocolate pancakes. Both are rather proud of their work.
Taemin comes out the bedroom in time to find Minho whispering something to Eunsook as they sit together at the dining table. He knows not what it was about and he doesn’t think he wants to know so he doesn’t say anything when he takes the seat farthest from Eunsook, which is, technically, the farthest end of the couch.
“Aren’t you going to get ready for school?” Key asks. He tries to sound like Choi-sshi when he’s angry but it falls far too flat because his attention is obviously nowhere near Taemin. (Jonghyun is trying to spoon-feed Eunsook.)
“Why should I?” Taemin snaps. Key’s jaw drops and all heads sharply turn to SHINee’s magnae.
“Because it’s a Tuesday and you’re supposed to go to school on Tuesdays,”
“And your point is? Just because I’m supposed to be at school doesn’t mean I’ll go,”
Key completely forgets his other concerns. He begins to feel anger heat his face. “Are you telling me that you’re skipping school today, Lee Taemin?”
“Shut up. You’re not my mother,”
“.......,”
“Taemin, stop it,” Minho’s voice is calm but he gives the youngest a sharp look. “Eat breakfast and get ready for school.”
No one speaks after that.
The dorm remains dead silent even as Choi-sshi stumbles to the dining area for a quick breakfast. He thinks something happened while he was still dreaming of going off in a well-deserved vacation from managing a group of hormonal teenagers and marrying Angelina Jolie in an alternate universe but he dares not ask yet. He’ll find out anyway because it’s impossible for either Key or Jonghyun to keep their mouth shut the whole day. One of them will crack soon enough, preferably when he comes back from taking Minho and Taemin to school.
Key does crack but he doesn’t wait for Choi-sshi’s return. He locks himself in the bathroom to cry.
“I think you should talk to him,” says Jonghyun, scratching the back of his head.
“Why me?” Eunsook protests. “You’re the best friend! You’re supposed to know him better.”
“But you’re the girl. You’re supposed to understand a fellow girl better!”
“... You’re such a jerk,” Eunsook scowls but she goes to knock on the bathroom door anyway because it doesn’t really matter if Jonghyun knows Key better than she does. This is still part of her responsibility as the leader.
- - -
SHINee’s magnae sits quietly on his end of the backseat and ignores Minho and Choi-sshi for the rest of the journey.
“This isn’t like you at all, Taemin,” Minho says in an attempt to make the youngest open up. “What’s wrong?”
Taemin keeps his eyes out the window and says nothing. Choi-sshi pretends to hear no evil and see no evil but Minho knows better because their manager isn’t that great of an actor.
“Taemi-,”
“I’ll be busy today-,”
“Don’t change the subject,”
“-so you guys can go eat dinner without me-,”
“Stop ignoring me, Taemin,”
“-and don’t bother staying up late to wait for me,”
Taemin dashes out as soon as the car stops in front of the school gates. Choi-sshi shouts a few reminders after him but he doesn’t look back.
“Aish, that kid!” Choi-sshi hisses. He drives away before they attract unnecessary attention.
“Hyung, am I doing something wrong?” Minho worriedly asks.
Choi-sshi looks at Minho from the rearview mirror. “No, of course not. It’s perfectly normal for you to be the only one not going through some PMS-type of phase. All boy bands are required to have at least one sane member. Depending on how you look at it, you’re either very lucky or very much doomed,”
Aside from the feeling of being extremely unlucky, Minho is very much disturbed by how their manager can say all that so calmly. Choi-sshi smiles as if he can read the young boy’s mind.
“Let’s just say this job lets me see things normal people can’t,”
- - -
The bathroom door doesn’t open until Eunsook finally finds the key under their manager’s pile of dirty laundry.
Eunsook has seen Key cry so many times before but she feels a different heartbreaking sensation when she sees him hunched over the sink, eyes red and swollen, with tearstains all over his face. Key is graceful in anything he does-including crying-and the sight of him so ugly and human inside the bathroom took Eunsook by surprise.
She closes the door as she walks to stand beside Key. “Hey,” she says tentatively.
Key turns the tap on and washes his face but Eunsook knows he’s only doing it to hide the tears. His voice is shaky when he replies, “Hey.”
Eunsook already composed a speech about teenagers and hormones and mothers while on her search for the lost bathroom key but she ends up saying something else completely different.
“You know, I liked your pancakes best.”
Key sniffed. “Of course you did. I made sure they were cooked just the way you liked them and it was hard to make them in perfect circles, you know. I wasn’t sure you’d like blueberries better than chocolate but I remembered we ran out of blueberries and I couldn’t go out to get some more and leave you with that pervert so I decided I’ll just take the risk with the chocolate. You like chocolates too anyway, right? But maybe I cooked too many. I shouldn’t have made you eat a lot since you’ll have to keep your figure and all that. Maybe I should’ve prepared something healthier instead. But I think I made a healthier breakfast than Jonghyun did. I mean, how dare he feed you all that fat? I wasn’t worried that you’d like the food he prepared, of course. I cook better than he does. We all know that. There was no question that you’ll like my pancakes best. You always like my cooking best, don’t you? What would you like for tomorrow? I was thinking of going out to do some groce-,”
Eunsook thinks Key doesn’t get it but she lets him talk anyway because she knows it’s his way of taking the Taemin incident off his thoughts for now and Key eventually calms down after a session of uninterrupted talking. Usually.
When he doesn’t shut up after 15 minutes, Eunsook kisses him.
“I think you should know that you talk too much,” Eunsook says as she pulls away. “The others just don’t tell you to shut up because they’re afraid you’ll hit them with whatever stick thing you’re holding.”
Key’s face turns pink. “Really now?”
“Yeah. But I realized I have a different reason for not cutting you off,”
“What?”
Eunsook shrugs. “I like hearing your voice.”
A rubber duck flies into the bathroom and onto Key’s face. Eunsook and Key both turn to find a scowling Jonghyun by the door. “...Are you guys done? Because I’m already drowning in sap and cheese here,”
Smirking triumphantly, Key throws the rubber duck back at Jonghyun.
“So, noona~,” Key says. “Since I won your heart with my awesome cooking, you’ll go on a date with me, right?”
- - -
Choi-sshi’s line of thought went like this: If I were an average person working an average job with average hours and earning average salary, I’d be out partying right now in this beautiful night, instead of babysitting kids that are barely into puberty.
He pulls up in front of the gates of Taemin’s school and watches Minho agitatedly wait for the magnae to open the door to his side of the car, slide in his seat, and explain why he looks like shit. Sometimes he thinks Minho does a better job in taking care of Taemin than he or Key could ever dream of doing so he doesn’t interfere unless there is a need for his authority as the boys’ current official guardian.
“You did not get into a fight,” Minho says seriously.
“I didn’t,” Taemin replies. “Not that you care, of course.”
“Taemin,”
“You shouldn’t have waited,”
“We were worried. Then you show up all muddy,”
“Not my fault. I told you not to wait up,”
“Taemin, what’s happening to you?”
“Stop pretending that you care,”
“Boys,” Choi-sshi holds up a hand. He tosses a towel to Taemin. “Let’s talk about this later, okay? Taemin, wipe your face before we get home. Key is not going to be pleased when he sees you.”
“So what?”
“Taemin!”
The magnae shouts. “Look, just leave me alone, okay? I’m minding my own business and so should you!”
“TAEMIN,” Minho bellows so unexpectedly that Choi-sshi slammed on the breaks too abruptly. Luckily, it’s so late at night that there aren’t many cars on the road anymore, and none behind them. “Your behavior in the past few days has been unacceptable.”
“What now, you’re going to ground me?”
Minho looks as if he’s going to say something but he holds his tongue and falls back to his seat while Taemin retreats to his. Choi-sshi thinks Taemin PMSes worse than the CSJH girls do so even if it’s technically he’s responsibility to discipline the magnae, he decides to wait for Minho’s call for help, which will probably never come because Minho can handle anything and would therefore not need his help.
Choi-sshi tries to remember why he chose this profession in the first place.
[ continue to Part 2]