[jongho] wish i was your lover
wish i was your lover
~6,500 words
Jongho, 2hyun, PG-13
summary: Jonghyun is horribly misguided about the proper rituals of courtship, and Minho frankly cannot take a hint. Desperate, Jonghyun turns to extreme methods…and what better way to make an impact than to pretend he’s going out with a Super Junior member?
a/n: for hyungdeul. nevar evar stop at z :<
Jonghyun sits cross-legged on the floor and leans against the wall behind him, eyes closed, exhausted and thirsty after the overzealous choreographer finally stops the music and reluctantly allows the group to take ten. After being in the business for as long as he has, he is thoroughly convinced that all dance instructors employed by their company are the spawn of Satan, dedicated to the cause of simulating hell on earth for all contract-bound pop idols.
Something ice-cold suddenly presses against his forehead, and his eyes fly open just as Kibum tosses the water bottle onto his lap. “Thanks,” he says, uncapping the bottle and taking a long swig.
Kibum is sweating profusely, his fringe plastered to his face, and he looks just as tired and overworked as Jonghyun feels. This cheers Jonghyun up slightly. “I can’t wait for our comeback - if I have to hear that choreographer yelling ‘from the top’ one more time I am going to hit someone,” Kibum complains, waving his still-sealed water bottle around for emphasis.
“Please promise me you will act on that,” Jonghyun tells him. Then it occurs to him that he is closest to Kibum during most of the formations, and he adds, “You can hit Jinki-hyung - you won’t get in trouble that way.”
“Yeah, I could threaten him to fake an injury so that we can all go home early!” Kibum exclaims, face lighting up at the idea.
Jonghyun personally thinks that Jinki is perfectly capable of causing injury to himself even without Kibum’s aid, and that this simple feat would only require a smooth, horizontal surface and a helping of Onew Sangtae, but Kibum is already halfway across the room, stalking towards their unassuming leader with a predatory look on his face.
And that leaves him with no one to talk to. Taemin is still practicing the dance steps like an Energizer bunny on steroids - he smiles and waves at Jonghyun mid-turn and Jonghyun feels his own energy being sapped out of him just watching the kid bounce and slide. Jonghyun shakes his head and makes a beeline for Minho, who is sitting at the end of a bench on the opposite side of the room.
Minho looks up at him as he approaches, and when not even a “hi, hyung,” comes out of his zipped lips, Jonghyun makes to lie down on the rest of the bench space, using Minho’s lap as a pillow.
“That’s gross, hyung,” Minho says with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it wince, referring to the copious amount of sweat that is steadily trickling down from Jonghyun’s hair and neck and onto Minho’s jogging pants.
“Don’t be such a girl,” Jonghyun mocks him, but is secretly pleased when Minho doesn’t push him off like Kibum would have done - Jonghyun still has the bump on the back of his head to attest to it.
Minho shrugs and continues watching Taemin dance, and Jonghyun in turn is free to watch him, damning the unflappable, I’m-really-not-tired expression on his face despite the thin sheen of sweat layering his nape. It occurs to Jonghyun that it would be extremely hilarious to crack Minho’s poker face, and he is overcome by the sudden urge to run his fingers along the slick slope of Minho’s neck. He blinks, hand mechanically reaching up-
“What are you doing?” Minho asks abruptly, turning back to look down at Jonghyun, blank look replaced with a puzzled one.
Jonghyun retracts his hand, and he thinks his heart shouldn’t be pounding as hard as it should, not five minutes into the break. “There was a mosquito on your neck,” he answers innocuously.
On the polished floorboards, Jinki brings one foot forward and trips spectacularly over a nonexistent obstacle, and an unsurprised Kibum kneels down beside him, faking concern while hissing instructions in his ear. In a blink of an eye Jinki is moaning convincingly as Kibum shrieks to the choreographer that Jinki’s ankle must be sprained, no, they can have it checked themselves, yes, the entire group needs to go because the formations will be completely wrecked and it’s useless to practice without him...
Ten minutes later they are climbing into the company van, Jonghyun’s pensive stare at Minho all throughout the ride home going unnoticed by his four exhausted band mates.
-
Over the next few days, Jonghyun finds himself becoming increasingly concerned over Minho’s well-being, as evidenced by his enthusiastic attempts to point out every single mistake that Minho makes during dance practice, vocal training, and even on variety shows - something that Minho appears to resent, seeing as he’s had way more experience than Jonghyun on the latter.
At some point Jinki sets Jonghyun aside and tells him to please stop antagonizing Minho and being an asshole in general, only it’s Jinki and he says it in a way that is ten times nicer than it’s supposed to sound. Jonghyun argues that it is just his special way of showing affection for his dongsaeng, and that Minho must appreciate his generous advice but is probably too embarrassed to say so.
Jinki counters that the word ‘advice’ is a poor substitution for ‘destructive criticism,’ and if he didn’t have such a gentle smile on his face at the time, Jonghyun could have sworn he was being sarcastic.
When Minho takes to brooding around the apartment, casting dark looks at anyone who comes near and even scaring Taemin into thinking that he is mad at him, Jinki puts his foot down and admonishes Jonghyun to tone down on his crassly-put remarks on Minho’s general performance, and instead work on reaching into the sensitive part of his soul that is actually capable of proper words of encouragement.
Jonghyun doesn’t understand what the hell Jinki is talking about; he sees nothing offensive about being up-front about the other members’ shortcomings, as this will ultimately help them in becoming the perfect entertainers they aspire to be. He finds it rather disappointing that Minho doesn’t seem to take the extra attention as a compliment, which is what he intended from the start. Still, Jinki’s words manage to plant the seeds of doubt in his honest heart, and he asks for Taemin’s opinion on the matter.
“Taeminnie, am I really as callous as Jinki-hyung accuses me of being?” Jonghyun asks him morosely.
“That’s not true at all, hyung!” Taemin exclaims, eyes widening in shock. Jonghyun feels a surge of fondness for their maknae welling up within him, until Taemin adds, “Jinki-hyung’s too nice to make accusations against anybody!” Then, “If he says you’re callous, then you probably are.”
Jonghyun feels somewhat betrayed. He knows when to concede defeat when it is beaming cutely in his face, though, and he decides that perhaps he is going about this whole thing the wrong way.
-
The atmosphere in the SHINee household vastly improves when Jonghyun makes an effort to be nice (or, as Kibum puts it, “more like Jinki-hyung, minus the fail”). Mornings become less rushed for everyone as Jonghyun makes a point out of hauling the others out of bed after his five alarm clocks wake him up. Before leaving for dance practice sessions, Kibum no longer has to double-check if all of their training clothes are packed and secured in their gym bags, as Jonghyun beats him to it. Jonghyun’s tongue isn’t as sharp as it used to be, and he has stopped dissecting every wrong move made by the other members, instead giving them pep talks from time to time about how they should envision their upcoming comeback as a huge hit.
He is also starting to learn how to cook (the first dish he attempts to make is Minho’s favorite), regularly dishes out compliments to the other members (mostly to Minho, in order to make up for his behavior the week before), and offers to scrub the other members’ backs during baths after especially grueling practice sessions (to which only Minho politely declines).
“It must be your hitherto dormant maternal instincts,” Kibum drawls as Jonghyun sits Indian-style on Taemin’s bed, poring over a math textbook in an attempt to help Taemin with his homework, “you’ve finally graduated from being a self-centered douche!”
“That’s not any way to talk to your hyung,” Jonghyun snaps, patience levels dropping rapidly as he dwells on the repercussions of being excessively kind to everyone in general - Taemin, for his part, is quick to take advantage of his doting. He doesn’t think there is anything motherly about his newfound appreciation of Minho’s well-sculpted back muscles (which he is still refusing to let Jonghyun wash for him, much to Jonghyun’s utter disappointment) though, but it wouldn’t benefit him to have Kibum knowing that.
Kibum only scoffs and glances at the book in Jonghyun’s hands with mild interest. “What are you up to?” he asks shrewdly, turning his gaze sharply to Jonghyun’s eyes.
Jonghyun blinks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbles, burying his nose further into Taemin’s textbook.
“I’ll find out eventually, you know,” Kibum says.
Jonghyun ignores him.
-
“He’s out with the Super Junior sunbaes again?” Jonghyun asks, trying not to let the resentment seep into his voice.
Kibum raises his eyebrows. “You can still catch up with them. Don’t let me keep you here,” he says sarcastically as he continues sorting through the messages in his phone. “Jinki-hyung says he won’t be home for dinner - he has a late night variety show taping, and Taemin-”
“He never spends any of his free time with us anymore. It’s always Donghae-hyung this, Changmin-hyung that,” Jonghyun rants on.
Kibum doesn’t even bat an eyelash. “Jjong, if you want to suck up to the sunbaes yourself, nobody’s stopping you.”
“And how come he texted you and not me?” Jonghyun demands.
“Wait.” Kibum slowly puts down his phone and stares at Jonghyun, only just realizing that Jonghyun is talking in a completely different context. “Is this about Minho? You’re throwing a tantrum because he’s neglecting you or something?” He stifles a snicker behind his hand.
Jonghyun stiffens. “Minho is not ignoring me, okay.”
“Yes. You’re just throwing a tantrum,” Kibum says with a sage nod. “So. Since when have you been crushing on him?”
Jonghyun makes an expression that looks a lot like he is choking on his own spit, and Kibum goes slack-jawed.
“Oh my god.” Kibum scoots to Jonghyun’s side and dazedly thumps him on the back. “You actually-I was just kidding-”
“Tell him and you die,” Jonghyun rasps, appearing more comical than intimidating as he glares at Kibum in between coughs.
Kibum’s still partly in shock. “Why Minho?”
“Why not?” Jonghyun sniffs defensively.
Kibum just gives him an incredulous look then shakes his head. There’s a short, uncomfortable silence shared between them until Jonghyun, annoyed, speaks up.
“Well, are you going to help me?”
“Shut up, I’m trying to decide whether I should express my utter horror at your questionable taste in men or laugh hysterically at what a pathetic girl you’re being right now.”
“Some best friend you are,” Jonghyun tells him in sullen tones, when Kibum topples off the couch and opts for the second choice.
-
“I’ve got it all figured out,” Kibum says, waving a familiar-looking sheet of paper in Jonghyun’s face. Jonghyun has half a mind to tell Kibum off when he recognizes the sheet as a page torn from one of his notebooks for lyric-writing, but he figures that he ought to let it slide because Kibum is being oddly enthusiastic towards his cause.
“So all I have to do is pretend that I like someone else?” Jonghyun reads.
Kibum nods. “Minho’s really competitive, right? The fastest way for you to get his attention is to give him a rival. He’s bound to lap it up if it’s a challenge, so the jealousy tack is your best bet.”
Jonghyun takes this all in with a skeptical nod. “Yeah, but Kibum, there’s still that little problem of not knowing whether or not he likes me back,” he points out.
“Psh, details,” Kibum says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about stuff like that. Or are you saying you’re not confident enough to believe that Minho can reciprocate your feelings?”
Jonghyun frowns, pride kicking in. “If you put it that way-”
“I’m always right,” Kibum says confidently. “So listen up. Which of the Super Junior sunbaes would you be most willing to date?”
“I-what.” Jonghyun gapes at him. “I am not going to go around telling people that I’m dating one of our sunbaes - are you crazy?”
Kibum lets out a long-suffering sigh. “How much do you like Minho again?”
“That’s beside the-!”
“How about Kyuhyun-sunbae?” Kibum interrupts loudly. “He’s got a really nice voice. Minho’ll totally believe you fell in love with him after he sang that duet with you once.”
“…Kyuhyun-hyung.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. This is more convenient, actually. Kyuhyun-sunbae’s always hanging around Donghae-sunbae, and everyone and their pet dog knows that Minho’s goal in life is to elope with Donghae-sunbae as soon as he has the chance-”
“Gee, thanks for the encouragement.”
“-so if you whore yourself out to Kyuhyun-sunbae, Minho’s bound to notice it.”
“Kibum-”
Kibum shoves Jonghyun’s phone into his hand. “I just dialed Kyuhyun-sunbae’s number; go ask him out to dinner or whatever.”
“I really don’t think this is a good-oh, uh, hi, hyung,” Jonghyun says into the phone, licking his lips nervously while shooting a baleful glare in Kibum’s direction.
“Good luck!” Kibum mouths at him, waving cutely as he backs out of the room. Jonghyun flips him the bird and is only met with the sound of Kibum’s obnoxious cackle fading into the distance.
“So, hyung, I was wondering if you wanted to catch up sometime…”
-
Kyuhyun slings an arm over Jonghyun’s shoulder. “Ready to go?”
The question doesn’t quite register on Jonghyun, who is too busy glaring at Minho and the way he is hugging Donghae for an inordinately long period of time. It was just a stupid Mutizen, geez. Is that really necessary?
Hyukjae looks curiously at them from where he is scarfing down food, and says around a mouthful of instant noodles, “You two going somewhere?”
Kyuhyun smirks. “Jonghyunnie is treating me to dinner,” he informs, eyeing Hyukjae’s own meager bowl of ramyun rather smugly. Hyukjae just sticks his tongue out and rolls his eyes.
Donghae bounces over to them and cuffs Kyuhyun lightly on the head. “You’re the one who’s supposed to be looking after our dongsaengs, not the other way around! Jonghyun, don’t let him bully you,” he tells Jonghyun with wide, concerned eyes.
Jonghyun forces a laugh. “It’s not like that, hyung,” he reassures, nonchalantly glancing at Minho. Minho’s eyebrows are raised but he says nothing. Jonghyun frowns and turns away, tugging at Kyuhyun’s hand. “Come on, hyung, I’m starving.”
“Kyuhyun-ah! Take care of our Jonghyun! And don’t forget to foot the bill!” Donghae yells after them.
-
It’s been nearly a month since Jonghyun first asked Kyuhyun out to dinner, and he’s getting the hang of this elaborate pretending business little by little. Barring the disastrous and terrifying prospect of being found out by any of the Super Junior sunbaenims - Kyuhyun himself, especially - the whole setup is unexpectedly free of complications. Jonghyun jumps at every free moment that coincides with holes in Kyuhyun’s schedule, making up every possible excuse to hang out with him. These occasions are rare enough to not arouse suspicion from the casual observer (e.g. Kyuhyun), yet sufficiently reoccurring for the people that matter (e.g. Minho) to notice.
“…are you playing Starcraft, hyung?” Minho inquires with just the subtlest edge of incredulity in his voice, peering at the computer monitor over Jonghyun’s shoulder.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Jonghyun says. He finds that he can’t possibly focus his complete attention on the mob of angry Zerglings steadily pummeling his Terran army while Minho is breathing down his neck in a not-so-unpleasant and probably unintentional manner, so he throws his hands up in defeat and abandons the keyboard altogether. He never did see the point of that game anyway.
He arranges his face into what he hopes is a mildly annoyed expression and looks at Minho, almost falling off his seat when he turns and realizes that Minho hasn’t yet moved away, still so close that Jonghyun could practically kiss him if he inclines his head just so-
“You kind of suck at it,” Minho says, eyes twinkling as he moves away like the sudden proximity is nothing.
Jonghyun scowls, and he tells himself that the spark of irritation in his gut is due to Minho’s blatant mockery of his nonexistent Zerg-busting prowess and not the fact that Minho still isn’t showing any signs of mutual attraction whatsoever. “Like you’re any better,” he retorts, swiping viciously at the mouse and exiting the game. “Whatever. After Kyuhyun-hyung teaches me the basics, this time next week I’m going to kick serious Zergling ass.”
Minho raises his eyebrows. “You’ve been hanging out with Kyuhyun-hyung a lot.”
Aha, was that a subtle cry of discontentment? Jonghyun can’t help the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, and he ducks his head slightly so Minho wouldn’t see. “Yeah, so what if I have?” He fights to keep his smug grin in check and glances back at Minho.
Minho just stares at him blankly. “Nothing, I just didn’t think you two were that close.”
“W-well.” Jonghyun blinks, taken aback by Minho’s completely unruffled tone. God, what did he have to say to get a favorable reaction from him? Maybe if he added a bit of melodrama into the equation... “You’re not the only one who can get along well with our sunbaenims, you know.”
“I never said I was,” Minho responds, giving him an odd look.
“I mean, I’m sorry if I’m getting in the way of your stupid quest to collect all of our agency’s hyungs or whatever. I wasn’t aware that I needed your permission to hang out with one of them,” Jonghyun says in miffed tones.
Minho’s starting to look confused. “What are you talking about, hyung? I don’t-”
“I just don’t get your irrational need to be everyone’s favorite dongsaeng. Just this once, one of them pays more attention to me, and you have to be in my face about it!”
Minho is visibly upset. “Hyung, I didn’t mean-”
“No, I know perfectly well what you meant. I’m going out-if anybody looks for me, tell them I’m at Kyuhyun-hyung’s dorm,” Jonghyun interrupts, brushing roughly past Minho without another backwards glance.
Ten minutes later, walking incognito down a deserted side street, Jonghyun’s phone beeps. He flips it open and checks Kibum’s latest text message.
No idea what you just did, but I think it worked. Keep it up, lover boy, kekeke ^^v
Jonghyun smiles. Finally, he’s getting somewhere.
-
Jonghyun pushes open the door and sticks his head into the pristine hospital room. Kyuhyun is sitting up with his back against the hospital bed’s headboard, clicking away on his laptop. He glances up at Jonghyun, a pleasantly surprised smile stretching across his lips.
“Hey, you brute,” Kyuhyun greets, raising an eyebrow when Jonghyun produces a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
Jonghyun walks to his bedside and tosses the bouquet right on top of the laptop keyboard. “Here, this is for you,” he says, just the tiniest bit embarrassed.
“I’m touched,” Kyuhyun drawls, picking up the bouquet and plucking at a flower experimentally. “You couldn’t have gotten me a better get-well-soon gift, like, I don’t know, some food that’s actually fit for human consumption?” He glares halfheartedly at the untouched tray of hospital food on the bedside table.
Jonghyun shrugs, pulling up a chair to sit beside Kyuhyun’s bed. “It was this or acne cream,” he says seriously, dodging the pillow that Kyuhyun chucks at him just in time. He laughs, and Kyuhyun chuckles with him.
“I was kidding. Really, thanks for dropping by,” Kyuhyun tells him. He’s paler than usual, still not fully recovered from the surgery, Jonghyun presumes. “This place is so boring; I can’t wait to be discharged. The only exciting thing that’s happened since my surgery was when some stalker fan disguised herself as a nurse and almost broke in here.”
Jonghyun smiles as he listens to Kyuhyun’s uncharacteristic chatter, borne from days of having no one to talk to but indifferent doctors and hospital staff. Kyuhyun keeps up a cynically witty commentary of his stay at the hospital, patches of color returning to his cheeks as he makes animated gestures for his attentive audience’s benefit. The sight puts Jonghyun in a brighter mood than he’s been in all day.
Two more weeks have passed since his minor spat with Minho, which, although assessed by Kibum as a success at first, turned out to be wholly counterproductive to whatever progress Jonghyun has made thus far. Albeit now hyperaware of Jonghyun’s presence, Minho has taken to avoiding him and fleeing to the safety of his usual comfort zone-in the company of their Super Junior sunbaenims. It drives Jonghyun up the wall; what do they have that Jonghyun doesn’t? What is so appealing about them that Minho fawns over them so much? Why does Minho smile and laugh with them in such a-a ridiculously thrilled way that he never does when he’s around Jonghyun? It just isn’t fair, and Jonghyun’s starting to think that anything he resorts to doing is no longer going to be worth the effort.
The way Minho unintentionally makes eye contact with him and then awkwardly looks away is fast becoming a regular occurrence that sours Jonghyun’s mood faster than Jinki scarfs down chicken. It’s just so annoying to feel as if he’s walking on glass whenever Minho’s around, overthinking what he’s supposed to say, resenting how hard it is just to get Minho to look at him as opposed to how Donghae or Siwon need only ruffle Minho’s hair to elicit a laugh from him, or worse, steal a stupid hug.
Ironically enough, it’s his brief interactions with Kyuhyun that keeps his spirits up these days. Just the previous week, Kyuhyun actually dropped by during one of his singing lessons and sat through an entire song. He commented that Jonghyun’s voice control was improving (Jonghyun decided to take it as a compliment; never mind that Kyuhyun had writhed on the floor in fits of uncontrollable laughter when Jonghyun’s voice cracked at a particularly high note) and that he wouldn’t be surprised if the ballad Jonghyun was singing would be included in SHINee’s new album.
The thing about Kyuhyun is that he reminds Jonghyun of Minho in several ways. Both of them are coolly calculating, content with letting others talk over them and be the center of attention but capable of stealing the limelight as soon as they open their mouth. Both of them have the annoying tendency to poke fun at Jonghyun’s shortcomings, and they’re both among the privileged few whom Jonghyun likes too much for him to ever truly take offense. And both of them are, with little to no effort whatsoever, unerringly beloved by practically all of the Super Junior members.
Jonghyun looks up at the mounted television screen against the far wall and watches his Super Junior sunbaenims clowning around during an encore performance of Miinah, shouting Kyuhyun’s name at appropriate parts in the lyrics with smiles bright enough to put the stage lights to shame.
“Those idiots,” Kyuhyun says with a roll of his eyes, smiling fondly all the same as the camera zooms in on Donghae singing a slightly modified version of Kyuhyun’s own lines.
And it hits Jonghyun that he can’t compete with that level of adoration, can’t change the way Minho thinks of him because Minho will never look at him the same way he looks at them. It seems so ridiculous now, this stupid one-sided game of pretend, because what’s the use of pretending when the one you’re pretending for has his eyes on someone else? Hell, even Kyuhyun would rather pay more attention to the images of his band mates on an LCD screen than Jonghyun, who is physically present and tangible and right next to him. He hates to admit it, but this plan to make Minho jealous is just not working out.
Jonghyun clears his throat. “Hyung, I, um. I’ve got a schedule in a while, so…”
“No problem,” Kyuhyun says. “Some of the hyungs promised to visit later. They’re bound to be better company than you,” he says teasingly.
“Nice to know I’m appreciated,” Jonghyun says, feigning a wounded expression. He leans in to hug Kyuhyun goodbye anyway, almost forgetting not to thump him on the back. “Get better soon, hyung.”
“Of course I will. Those guys can’t sing for long without me,” Kyuhyun scoffs.
Jonghyun rolls his eyes (‘I saw that,’ Kyuhyun says with a huff) as he turns around, stopping when his hand alights on the doorknob. “Oh yeah. When they come by, say hi to Minho for me,” he tells Kyuhyun before waving goodbye.
“What for? You sleep in the same room,” Kyuhyun calls after him with a derisive snort.
Yeah, Jonghyun thinks, walking down the corridor with his head bent low, that’s the sad part.
-
“Hey, hyung,” Jonghyun says into the phone while surreptitiously glancing across the room at Minho, who seems completely immersed in his PSP, “Are you free later? We could go to the noraebang-” He’s quick to avert his eyes when Minho suddenly looks up, and he barely catches what Kyuhyun is saying, something about a radio show guesting and a follow-up doctor’s appointment and sorry, maybe next time.
He trains his gaze on the coffee table-there’s a puddle of banana milk on the corner; he’s going to have to scold Taemin for being such a slob again, and-okay, Minho is openly staring at him- “Jonghyunnie?”
“Oh…yeah, no problem,” he mutters distractedly, shifting his position so that his back is turned to Minho. “Uh huh, next time. ‘Bye, hyung!” He hangs up and turns back around, his eyes instantly drawn to Minho’s gaze. “What?” he asks.
Minho glances over his shoulder, as if checking if any of the other members are in the vicinity. Then he looks back at Jonghyun and says bluntly, “You’re not really dating Kyuhyun-hyung.”
Jonghyun’s eyes go wide. Oh crap crap crap. “H-huh. What makes you think I’m not?” he asks. Minho is probably just bluffing. He has to play it cool.
Minho rolls his eyes. “I don’t just think so, hyung, I know.”
Know? How could he know? How much does he know? Jonghyun splutters, fast losing composure in the face of such nonchalant confidence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Kyuhyun-hyung and I-”
“Don’t have a heart attack. I’m not going to tell the others you were faking it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Minho shrugs.
Jonghyun gapes at him, grasping for savvy words to save face, but all that comes out of his mouth in his panicked state is “But how did you-!”
“Find out?” A small smirk plays about Minho’s lips. “I wouldn’t mind answering that question, but something tells me you don’t feel like discussing this further…” He looks thoroughly amused, and Jonghyun’s cheeks flush a darker red. Oh no. He knows about that. Jonghyun isn’t prepared for this; he has no fucking idea how to confess properly to Minho, of all people.
“Yeah, I mean, no, I don’t,” Jonghyun says brilliantly, cursing the convenient disappearance of his usual tongue-in-cheek eloquence. Stupid Minho and his stupid smug smirk that he still looks cute pulling even if it’s so infuriating it makes Jonghyun want to punch him in the face-
“Just one thing, though. Why did you do it?”
The fist that Jonghyun is tightly clenching goes slack, and the jumble of panicked thoughts flashing through his head comes to a complete stop as he stares incredulously at Minho.
Minho stares at him expectantly, looking genuinely curious and…clueless. Of course.
“You still don’t know?” Jonghyun suddenly feels empty, tries not to let the disappointment show on his face as he searches Minho’s eyes for something, anything that indicated that he’s just teasing; that he has, to some degree, figured out that Jonghyun is going through all this trouble for him.
But Minho’s brows only furrow in confusion.
“It was just for laughs,” Jonghyun says finally, shrugging and forcing a tight smile. When he brushes past Minho, hands shoved into his pockets and head down, the other boy makes no move to call him back.
-
Jonghyun wonders why he just has to fall in love with someone so unabashedly hungry for so many other people’s affections. It certainly isn’t conducive to an already unreciprocated attraction, but here he is, sitting in the corner of an overcrowded hospital room, watching Minho hug and knock fists with practically half the list of people he mentioned in their second full-length album’s dedication page.
The crowd thins as the sun starts to sink outside the window, and only those who keep strange working hours are still hanging around. Taemin is already nodding off beside him, lulled to sleep by the soft murmurings of Minho and Siwon and Hyukjae, but Jonghyun is wide awake, getting more and more annoyed at how Minho looks so goddamn happy now that some of his beloved hyungs are here, never mind that just minutes before he had been brooding pathetically about being unable to dance on their comeback stage.
Taemin’s head finally drops onto his shoulder, the perfect excuse for him to announce his leave, and he clears his throat to tell Minho so when Hyukjae and Siwon suddenly stand up.
“Hurry up and get better,” Hyukjae says, thumping Minho hard on the back.
Siwon nods. “I asked my bible study group to pray for you.”
Minho beams. “Thanks, hyungs.”
Jonghyun gives them a weak smile as they pass by, waiting until the door swings shut behind them before he opens his mouth.
Minho beats him to it. “Hyung, could you give me a hand? I need to go to the bathroom.”
Jonghyun sighs. “Sure,” he says, shaking Taemin gently awake. “Taeminnie, go down to the cafeteria where manager hyung is. We’re going home in a bit; you can sleep in the van.” Taemin snaps to and mumbles something unintelligible under his breath, swaying a bit as he walks out of the room.
Minho’s already standing up when Jonghyun makes his way over to him, swinging an arm over Jonghyun’s shoulder and using him as a human crutch. Jonghyun hasn’t been this close to Minho in days, and he can’t help but grin a little as Minho leans on him, a whiff of his citrusy soap a welcome change from the antiseptic hospital smell. They stumble awkwardly into the small bathroom.
Jonghyun reaches up with his free hand to flip on the light switch, and is surprised when Minho swats his hand away and tugs at the doorknob until it’s open just a crack. “Yah, Minho, what-”
“Shhh, just wait. And try not to make any noise,” Minho shushes him, pulling out his mobile phone from his pocket and composing a text message.
Jonghyun sighs exasperatedly, shifting his position so that he and Minho can lean against the wall adjacent to the bathroom door. He has no idea what the hell Minho is up to; there’s only one thing he can think of doing while stuck in a dark, confined space with a hot band mate, and a tiny part of him (okay, a huge part, really) is hoping that Minho is finally thinking along the same lines-
“Hey, Minho!” a voice too loud for a hospital setting exclaims somewhere out in the hallway. Jonghyun jumps, startled, but Minho lays a hand on his arm and he stands stock still.
“Why are we hiding from Donghae-hyung?” Jonghyun hisses at him, nevertheless inching a little farther into the bathroom as he hears footsteps getting nearer outside.
Minho simply brings his index finger to his lips, then moves to point it at the door.
“Where’d he disappear to?” Donghae’s voice prattles on. Jonghyun peers beyond the crack in the bathroom door-he can just make out Donghae with his back turned, looking at the empty bed with his hands on his hips.
“Are you sure this is the right room?” Kyuhyun. Jonghyun turns to glare at Minho, daring him to utter a subtle dig to mock him, but Minho is busy fiddling with his mobile phone again.
A different phone suddenly beeps. “Hang on, Minho sent a message. Says he just stepped out for a while. Is he even allowed to do that, with his leg in that state and all? Aish, that kid…”
“Does it say when he’s getting back?”
“Yeah, ten minutes.” A pause. “I wonder if anybody else is coming.”
“Visiting hours are almost over.”
Another pause. “…so you think we’re the last ones for the day?”
“Probably. Of course it’s just our luck that that kid decides to run out right before we arrive and-Hae, what are you-not here!” There’s the sound of something-someone-being tackled onto the bed, and Jonghyun quickly strains to take another peek, only to retract his head just as fast, nearly bumping into Minho’s jaw.
“What the-they’re, did they just-” He’s at a loss for words, mind reeling from the image still burned into his retinas.
Minho lets out a long-suffering sigh. “They’re making out on my bed, aren’t they?”
A loud moan suddenly assaults their ears, and Jonghyun thinks the sound speaks for itself.
“…I should have said five minutes.”
“You think?”
“Wait a sec…” Minho calmly composes another text message on his phone-Jonghyun surreptitiously checks out the amorous pair again when he’s sure Minho isn’t looking. They both hear the shrill beep that follows seconds later.
“Did you hear that?”
“Mmm, I didn’t hear anything…”
Jonghyun swears under his breath-shit, what he wouldn’t give to be doing the same thing to Minho right now.
“What was that? Hae, stop.”
“Nuh uh, we still have seven minutes left~”
“Hae, seriously, get off me, someone could walk in that door any min-Hae!”
“All right, all right!” Jonghyun squints out into the room just in time to see Donghae sitting up and flipping his phone open, Kyuhyun struggling to fix his disheveled clothes beside him. “Minho again. He wants to meet us down at the cafeteria because his leg acted up.”
“Geez, why would he go out in the first place if he’s just going to make his injury worse?”
“Kyu! Don’t jinx him!”
“I wasn’t.”
“Fine, but don’t mention anything like that when we see him; he’ll just get depressed.”
“As if he’d get depressed when he sees your face.”
“Aw, let’s just go, I have to cheer that kid up before he gets any ideas…” Their footsteps fade away, out of the room and into the hallway. Minho nudges Jonghyun, who swings the bathroom door open and half-drags Minho back to his bed.
Jonghyun is still reeling from the free show. “Kyuhyun-hyung and Donghae-hyung?” he mutters in disbelief.
Minho nods, sitting comfortably at the foot of the bed. “Yeah, that’s how I knew you were lying.” He bites his lip and hesitates. “You’re okay with it, though, hyung?”
Jonghyun wishes Minho wouldn’t do that. It makes him itch to shove the other boy against the bed and have his way with him, injury or no injury. “Huh… yeah, I guess? It just took me by surprise, is all.”
Minho’s gaze is unreadable. “You’re not upset at all?”
“Well, I can’t say I saw that coming, but hey, I’m happy for them, whatever,” Jonghyun says distractedly. He licks his lips, actually considering the viability of that last thought. He’s had it up to here with Minho’s obliviousness; maybe it’s time for him to abandon all subtlety and just do things the way he should have from the start.
“But I thought you liked Kyuhyun-hyung.” Minho frowns, uncomprehending, and-that is it.
Jonghyun snaps, grabbing the front of Minho’s hospital gown and leaning into him so fast their lips smash together almost painfully. His hand quickly slides from the coarse fabric to the smooth expanse of Minho’s neck, coming to rest there as his other hand grasps the back of Minho’s head, tugging him closer. And he’s so caught up in the euphoria of finally giving in to his urges after weeks of beating around the bush that it takes him half a second later to realize that-
Minho is kissing him back. He’s so shocked his first instinct is to pull away and demand what the fuck Minho is playing at, but suddenly there are hands cupping his face on either side, keeping his head rooted where it is. Jonghyun’s knees buckle suddenly as Minho shoves at them with his good foot, and he falls into the younger boy, both of them toppling onto the bed, Minho twisting his torso just in time so that he’s lying half on top of Jonghyun. A pause for breath, and for a split second his eyes meet Minho’s half-lidded gaze before Minho leans in and kisses him again, slow and languid this time. And god, it feels so fucking good…
Minho pulls back, breathing harsh and ragged, and there’s something different about his smile, softer and fonder than the utterly smitten grin he reserves for all of his precious hyungs. It makes Jonghyun’s breath catch in his throat, a pleasant warmth bubbling inside him. “You’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met, Choi Minho,” he says, not without affection, and Minho chuckles, low and soothing.
“Says the one who pretended to be dating someone else to make me jealous.”
“Yeah, well, it worked, didn’t it? Your argument is invalid.” Jonghyun struggles into a sitting position, extending his arms behind him and leaning back. “So, am I on the list of your top ten favorite hyungs now?” he asks.
“You’ve always been at the top of that list, hyung,” Minho says earnestly.
Jonghyun snorts. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Minho pushes himself up and presses another kiss to Jonghyun’s lips. “Convinced?”
Jonghyun makes a face, and Minho sighs, yanking Jonghyun’s arm and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. With tongue.
“What about now?”
A lazy smirk spreads over Jonghyun’s face as he reaches behind Minho, tugging at the topmost strings of his hospital gown. “Nope.”
Minho glares at him. “Hyung, I have a bum leg.”
“We can work around that,” Jonghyun says casually, moving on to the next set of strings. No way in hell is he going to walk out of this room without compensation for his efforts.
Minho rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest when Jonghyun trails kisses along the slope of his neck. Jonghyun glances at the wall clock - thirty minutes until visiting hours are over. Plenty of time left for a big fat payoff.
~6,500 words
Jongho, 2hyun, PG-13
summary: Jonghyun is horribly misguided about the proper rituals of courtship, and Minho frankly cannot take a hint. Desperate, Jonghyun turns to extreme methods…and what better way to make an impact than to pretend he’s going out with a Super Junior member?
a/n: for hyungdeul. nevar evar stop at z :<
Jonghyun sits cross-legged on the floor and leans against the wall behind him, eyes closed, exhausted and thirsty after the overzealous choreographer finally stops the music and reluctantly allows the group to take ten. After being in the business for as long as he has, he is thoroughly convinced that all dance instructors employed by their company are the spawn of Satan, dedicated to the cause of simulating hell on earth for all contract-bound pop idols.
Something ice-cold suddenly presses against his forehead, and his eyes fly open just as Kibum tosses the water bottle onto his lap. “Thanks,” he says, uncapping the bottle and taking a long swig.
Kibum is sweating profusely, his fringe plastered to his face, and he looks just as tired and overworked as Jonghyun feels. This cheers Jonghyun up slightly. “I can’t wait for our comeback - if I have to hear that choreographer yelling ‘from the top’ one more time I am going to hit someone,” Kibum complains, waving his still-sealed water bottle around for emphasis.
“Please promise me you will act on that,” Jonghyun tells him. Then it occurs to him that he is closest to Kibum during most of the formations, and he adds, “You can hit Jinki-hyung - you won’t get in trouble that way.”
“Yeah, I could threaten him to fake an injury so that we can all go home early!” Kibum exclaims, face lighting up at the idea.
Jonghyun personally thinks that Jinki is perfectly capable of causing injury to himself even without Kibum’s aid, and that this simple feat would only require a smooth, horizontal surface and a helping of Onew Sangtae, but Kibum is already halfway across the room, stalking towards their unassuming leader with a predatory look on his face.
And that leaves him with no one to talk to. Taemin is still practicing the dance steps like an Energizer bunny on steroids - he smiles and waves at Jonghyun mid-turn and Jonghyun feels his own energy being sapped out of him just watching the kid bounce and slide. Jonghyun shakes his head and makes a beeline for Minho, who is sitting at the end of a bench on the opposite side of the room.
Minho looks up at him as he approaches, and when not even a “hi, hyung,” comes out of his zipped lips, Jonghyun makes to lie down on the rest of the bench space, using Minho’s lap as a pillow.
“That’s gross, hyung,” Minho says with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it wince, referring to the copious amount of sweat that is steadily trickling down from Jonghyun’s hair and neck and onto Minho’s jogging pants.
“Don’t be such a girl,” Jonghyun mocks him, but is secretly pleased when Minho doesn’t push him off like Kibum would have done - Jonghyun still has the bump on the back of his head to attest to it.
Minho shrugs and continues watching Taemin dance, and Jonghyun in turn is free to watch him, damning the unflappable, I’m-really-not-tired expression on his face despite the thin sheen of sweat layering his nape. It occurs to Jonghyun that it would be extremely hilarious to crack Minho’s poker face, and he is overcome by the sudden urge to run his fingers along the slick slope of Minho’s neck. He blinks, hand mechanically reaching up-
“What are you doing?” Minho asks abruptly, turning back to look down at Jonghyun, blank look replaced with a puzzled one.
Jonghyun retracts his hand, and he thinks his heart shouldn’t be pounding as hard as it should, not five minutes into the break. “There was a mosquito on your neck,” he answers innocuously.
On the polished floorboards, Jinki brings one foot forward and trips spectacularly over a nonexistent obstacle, and an unsurprised Kibum kneels down beside him, faking concern while hissing instructions in his ear. In a blink of an eye Jinki is moaning convincingly as Kibum shrieks to the choreographer that Jinki’s ankle must be sprained, no, they can have it checked themselves, yes, the entire group needs to go because the formations will be completely wrecked and it’s useless to practice without him...
Ten minutes later they are climbing into the company van, Jonghyun’s pensive stare at Minho all throughout the ride home going unnoticed by his four exhausted band mates.
-
Over the next few days, Jonghyun finds himself becoming increasingly concerned over Minho’s well-being, as evidenced by his enthusiastic attempts to point out every single mistake that Minho makes during dance practice, vocal training, and even on variety shows - something that Minho appears to resent, seeing as he’s had way more experience than Jonghyun on the latter.
At some point Jinki sets Jonghyun aside and tells him to please stop antagonizing Minho and being an asshole in general, only it’s Jinki and he says it in a way that is ten times nicer than it’s supposed to sound. Jonghyun argues that it is just his special way of showing affection for his dongsaeng, and that Minho must appreciate his generous advice but is probably too embarrassed to say so.
Jinki counters that the word ‘advice’ is a poor substitution for ‘destructive criticism,’ and if he didn’t have such a gentle smile on his face at the time, Jonghyun could have sworn he was being sarcastic.
When Minho takes to brooding around the apartment, casting dark looks at anyone who comes near and even scaring Taemin into thinking that he is mad at him, Jinki puts his foot down and admonishes Jonghyun to tone down on his crassly-put remarks on Minho’s general performance, and instead work on reaching into the sensitive part of his soul that is actually capable of proper words of encouragement.
Jonghyun doesn’t understand what the hell Jinki is talking about; he sees nothing offensive about being up-front about the other members’ shortcomings, as this will ultimately help them in becoming the perfect entertainers they aspire to be. He finds it rather disappointing that Minho doesn’t seem to take the extra attention as a compliment, which is what he intended from the start. Still, Jinki’s words manage to plant the seeds of doubt in his honest heart, and he asks for Taemin’s opinion on the matter.
“Taeminnie, am I really as callous as Jinki-hyung accuses me of being?” Jonghyun asks him morosely.
“That’s not true at all, hyung!” Taemin exclaims, eyes widening in shock. Jonghyun feels a surge of fondness for their maknae welling up within him, until Taemin adds, “Jinki-hyung’s too nice to make accusations against anybody!” Then, “If he says you’re callous, then you probably are.”
Jonghyun feels somewhat betrayed. He knows when to concede defeat when it is beaming cutely in his face, though, and he decides that perhaps he is going about this whole thing the wrong way.
-
The atmosphere in the SHINee household vastly improves when Jonghyun makes an effort to be nice (or, as Kibum puts it, “more like Jinki-hyung, minus the fail”). Mornings become less rushed for everyone as Jonghyun makes a point out of hauling the others out of bed after his five alarm clocks wake him up. Before leaving for dance practice sessions, Kibum no longer has to double-check if all of their training clothes are packed and secured in their gym bags, as Jonghyun beats him to it. Jonghyun’s tongue isn’t as sharp as it used to be, and he has stopped dissecting every wrong move made by the other members, instead giving them pep talks from time to time about how they should envision their upcoming comeback as a huge hit.
He is also starting to learn how to cook (the first dish he attempts to make is Minho’s favorite), regularly dishes out compliments to the other members (mostly to Minho, in order to make up for his behavior the week before), and offers to scrub the other members’ backs during baths after especially grueling practice sessions (to which only Minho politely declines).
“It must be your hitherto dormant maternal instincts,” Kibum drawls as Jonghyun sits Indian-style on Taemin’s bed, poring over a math textbook in an attempt to help Taemin with his homework, “you’ve finally graduated from being a self-centered douche!”
“That’s not any way to talk to your hyung,” Jonghyun snaps, patience levels dropping rapidly as he dwells on the repercussions of being excessively kind to everyone in general - Taemin, for his part, is quick to take advantage of his doting. He doesn’t think there is anything motherly about his newfound appreciation of Minho’s well-sculpted back muscles (which he is still refusing to let Jonghyun wash for him, much to Jonghyun’s utter disappointment) though, but it wouldn’t benefit him to have Kibum knowing that.
Kibum only scoffs and glances at the book in Jonghyun’s hands with mild interest. “What are you up to?” he asks shrewdly, turning his gaze sharply to Jonghyun’s eyes.
Jonghyun blinks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbles, burying his nose further into Taemin’s textbook.
“I’ll find out eventually, you know,” Kibum says.
Jonghyun ignores him.
-
“He’s out with the Super Junior sunbaes again?” Jonghyun asks, trying not to let the resentment seep into his voice.
Kibum raises his eyebrows. “You can still catch up with them. Don’t let me keep you here,” he says sarcastically as he continues sorting through the messages in his phone. “Jinki-hyung says he won’t be home for dinner - he has a late night variety show taping, and Taemin-”
“He never spends any of his free time with us anymore. It’s always Donghae-hyung this, Changmin-hyung that,” Jonghyun rants on.
Kibum doesn’t even bat an eyelash. “Jjong, if you want to suck up to the sunbaes yourself, nobody’s stopping you.”
“And how come he texted you and not me?” Jonghyun demands.
“Wait.” Kibum slowly puts down his phone and stares at Jonghyun, only just realizing that Jonghyun is talking in a completely different context. “Is this about Minho? You’re throwing a tantrum because he’s neglecting you or something?” He stifles a snicker behind his hand.
Jonghyun stiffens. “Minho is not ignoring me, okay.”
“Yes. You’re just throwing a tantrum,” Kibum says with a sage nod. “So. Since when have you been crushing on him?”
Jonghyun makes an expression that looks a lot like he is choking on his own spit, and Kibum goes slack-jawed.
“Oh my god.” Kibum scoots to Jonghyun’s side and dazedly thumps him on the back. “You actually-I was just kidding-”
“Tell him and you die,” Jonghyun rasps, appearing more comical than intimidating as he glares at Kibum in between coughs.
Kibum’s still partly in shock. “Why Minho?”
“Why not?” Jonghyun sniffs defensively.
Kibum just gives him an incredulous look then shakes his head. There’s a short, uncomfortable silence shared between them until Jonghyun, annoyed, speaks up.
“Well, are you going to help me?”
“Shut up, I’m trying to decide whether I should express my utter horror at your questionable taste in men or laugh hysterically at what a pathetic girl you’re being right now.”
“Some best friend you are,” Jonghyun tells him in sullen tones, when Kibum topples off the couch and opts for the second choice.
-
“I’ve got it all figured out,” Kibum says, waving a familiar-looking sheet of paper in Jonghyun’s face. Jonghyun has half a mind to tell Kibum off when he recognizes the sheet as a page torn from one of his notebooks for lyric-writing, but he figures that he ought to let it slide because Kibum is being oddly enthusiastic towards his cause.
“So all I have to do is pretend that I like someone else?” Jonghyun reads.
Kibum nods. “Minho’s really competitive, right? The fastest way for you to get his attention is to give him a rival. He’s bound to lap it up if it’s a challenge, so the jealousy tack is your best bet.”
Jonghyun takes this all in with a skeptical nod. “Yeah, but Kibum, there’s still that little problem of not knowing whether or not he likes me back,” he points out.
“Psh, details,” Kibum says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about stuff like that. Or are you saying you’re not confident enough to believe that Minho can reciprocate your feelings?”
Jonghyun frowns, pride kicking in. “If you put it that way-”
“I’m always right,” Kibum says confidently. “So listen up. Which of the Super Junior sunbaes would you be most willing to date?”
“I-what.” Jonghyun gapes at him. “I am not going to go around telling people that I’m dating one of our sunbaes - are you crazy?”
Kibum lets out a long-suffering sigh. “How much do you like Minho again?”
“That’s beside the-!”
“How about Kyuhyun-sunbae?” Kibum interrupts loudly. “He’s got a really nice voice. Minho’ll totally believe you fell in love with him after he sang that duet with you once.”
“…Kyuhyun-hyung.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. This is more convenient, actually. Kyuhyun-sunbae’s always hanging around Donghae-sunbae, and everyone and their pet dog knows that Minho’s goal in life is to elope with Donghae-sunbae as soon as he has the chance-”
“Gee, thanks for the encouragement.”
“-so if you whore yourself out to Kyuhyun-sunbae, Minho’s bound to notice it.”
“Kibum-”
Kibum shoves Jonghyun’s phone into his hand. “I just dialed Kyuhyun-sunbae’s number; go ask him out to dinner or whatever.”
“I really don’t think this is a good-oh, uh, hi, hyung,” Jonghyun says into the phone, licking his lips nervously while shooting a baleful glare in Kibum’s direction.
“Good luck!” Kibum mouths at him, waving cutely as he backs out of the room. Jonghyun flips him the bird and is only met with the sound of Kibum’s obnoxious cackle fading into the distance.
“So, hyung, I was wondering if you wanted to catch up sometime…”
-
Kyuhyun slings an arm over Jonghyun’s shoulder. “Ready to go?”
The question doesn’t quite register on Jonghyun, who is too busy glaring at Minho and the way he is hugging Donghae for an inordinately long period of time. It was just a stupid Mutizen, geez. Is that really necessary?
Hyukjae looks curiously at them from where he is scarfing down food, and says around a mouthful of instant noodles, “You two going somewhere?”
Kyuhyun smirks. “Jonghyunnie is treating me to dinner,” he informs, eyeing Hyukjae’s own meager bowl of ramyun rather smugly. Hyukjae just sticks his tongue out and rolls his eyes.
Donghae bounces over to them and cuffs Kyuhyun lightly on the head. “You’re the one who’s supposed to be looking after our dongsaengs, not the other way around! Jonghyun, don’t let him bully you,” he tells Jonghyun with wide, concerned eyes.
Jonghyun forces a laugh. “It’s not like that, hyung,” he reassures, nonchalantly glancing at Minho. Minho’s eyebrows are raised but he says nothing. Jonghyun frowns and turns away, tugging at Kyuhyun’s hand. “Come on, hyung, I’m starving.”
“Kyuhyun-ah! Take care of our Jonghyun! And don’t forget to foot the bill!” Donghae yells after them.
-
It’s been nearly a month since Jonghyun first asked Kyuhyun out to dinner, and he’s getting the hang of this elaborate pretending business little by little. Barring the disastrous and terrifying prospect of being found out by any of the Super Junior sunbaenims - Kyuhyun himself, especially - the whole setup is unexpectedly free of complications. Jonghyun jumps at every free moment that coincides with holes in Kyuhyun’s schedule, making up every possible excuse to hang out with him. These occasions are rare enough to not arouse suspicion from the casual observer (e.g. Kyuhyun), yet sufficiently reoccurring for the people that matter (e.g. Minho) to notice.
“…are you playing Starcraft, hyung?” Minho inquires with just the subtlest edge of incredulity in his voice, peering at the computer monitor over Jonghyun’s shoulder.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Jonghyun says. He finds that he can’t possibly focus his complete attention on the mob of angry Zerglings steadily pummeling his Terran army while Minho is breathing down his neck in a not-so-unpleasant and probably unintentional manner, so he throws his hands up in defeat and abandons the keyboard altogether. He never did see the point of that game anyway.
He arranges his face into what he hopes is a mildly annoyed expression and looks at Minho, almost falling off his seat when he turns and realizes that Minho hasn’t yet moved away, still so close that Jonghyun could practically kiss him if he inclines his head just so-
“You kind of suck at it,” Minho says, eyes twinkling as he moves away like the sudden proximity is nothing.
Jonghyun scowls, and he tells himself that the spark of irritation in his gut is due to Minho’s blatant mockery of his nonexistent Zerg-busting prowess and not the fact that Minho still isn’t showing any signs of mutual attraction whatsoever. “Like you’re any better,” he retorts, swiping viciously at the mouse and exiting the game. “Whatever. After Kyuhyun-hyung teaches me the basics, this time next week I’m going to kick serious Zergling ass.”
Minho raises his eyebrows. “You’ve been hanging out with Kyuhyun-hyung a lot.”
Aha, was that a subtle cry of discontentment? Jonghyun can’t help the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, and he ducks his head slightly so Minho wouldn’t see. “Yeah, so what if I have?” He fights to keep his smug grin in check and glances back at Minho.
Minho just stares at him blankly. “Nothing, I just didn’t think you two were that close.”
“W-well.” Jonghyun blinks, taken aback by Minho’s completely unruffled tone. God, what did he have to say to get a favorable reaction from him? Maybe if he added a bit of melodrama into the equation... “You’re not the only one who can get along well with our sunbaenims, you know.”
“I never said I was,” Minho responds, giving him an odd look.
“I mean, I’m sorry if I’m getting in the way of your stupid quest to collect all of our agency’s hyungs or whatever. I wasn’t aware that I needed your permission to hang out with one of them,” Jonghyun says in miffed tones.
Minho’s starting to look confused. “What are you talking about, hyung? I don’t-”
“I just don’t get your irrational need to be everyone’s favorite dongsaeng. Just this once, one of them pays more attention to me, and you have to be in my face about it!”
Minho is visibly upset. “Hyung, I didn’t mean-”
“No, I know perfectly well what you meant. I’m going out-if anybody looks for me, tell them I’m at Kyuhyun-hyung’s dorm,” Jonghyun interrupts, brushing roughly past Minho without another backwards glance.
Ten minutes later, walking incognito down a deserted side street, Jonghyun’s phone beeps. He flips it open and checks Kibum’s latest text message.
No idea what you just did, but I think it worked. Keep it up, lover boy, kekeke ^^v
Jonghyun smiles. Finally, he’s getting somewhere.
-
Jonghyun pushes open the door and sticks his head into the pristine hospital room. Kyuhyun is sitting up with his back against the hospital bed’s headboard, clicking away on his laptop. He glances up at Jonghyun, a pleasantly surprised smile stretching across his lips.
“Hey, you brute,” Kyuhyun greets, raising an eyebrow when Jonghyun produces a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
Jonghyun walks to his bedside and tosses the bouquet right on top of the laptop keyboard. “Here, this is for you,” he says, just the tiniest bit embarrassed.
“I’m touched,” Kyuhyun drawls, picking up the bouquet and plucking at a flower experimentally. “You couldn’t have gotten me a better get-well-soon gift, like, I don’t know, some food that’s actually fit for human consumption?” He glares halfheartedly at the untouched tray of hospital food on the bedside table.
Jonghyun shrugs, pulling up a chair to sit beside Kyuhyun’s bed. “It was this or acne cream,” he says seriously, dodging the pillow that Kyuhyun chucks at him just in time. He laughs, and Kyuhyun chuckles with him.
“I was kidding. Really, thanks for dropping by,” Kyuhyun tells him. He’s paler than usual, still not fully recovered from the surgery, Jonghyun presumes. “This place is so boring; I can’t wait to be discharged. The only exciting thing that’s happened since my surgery was when some stalker fan disguised herself as a nurse and almost broke in here.”
Jonghyun smiles as he listens to Kyuhyun’s uncharacteristic chatter, borne from days of having no one to talk to but indifferent doctors and hospital staff. Kyuhyun keeps up a cynically witty commentary of his stay at the hospital, patches of color returning to his cheeks as he makes animated gestures for his attentive audience’s benefit. The sight puts Jonghyun in a brighter mood than he’s been in all day.
Two more weeks have passed since his minor spat with Minho, which, although assessed by Kibum as a success at first, turned out to be wholly counterproductive to whatever progress Jonghyun has made thus far. Albeit now hyperaware of Jonghyun’s presence, Minho has taken to avoiding him and fleeing to the safety of his usual comfort zone-in the company of their Super Junior sunbaenims. It drives Jonghyun up the wall; what do they have that Jonghyun doesn’t? What is so appealing about them that Minho fawns over them so much? Why does Minho smile and laugh with them in such a-a ridiculously thrilled way that he never does when he’s around Jonghyun? It just isn’t fair, and Jonghyun’s starting to think that anything he resorts to doing is no longer going to be worth the effort.
The way Minho unintentionally makes eye contact with him and then awkwardly looks away is fast becoming a regular occurrence that sours Jonghyun’s mood faster than Jinki scarfs down chicken. It’s just so annoying to feel as if he’s walking on glass whenever Minho’s around, overthinking what he’s supposed to say, resenting how hard it is just to get Minho to look at him as opposed to how Donghae or Siwon need only ruffle Minho’s hair to elicit a laugh from him, or worse, steal a stupid hug.
Ironically enough, it’s his brief interactions with Kyuhyun that keeps his spirits up these days. Just the previous week, Kyuhyun actually dropped by during one of his singing lessons and sat through an entire song. He commented that Jonghyun’s voice control was improving (Jonghyun decided to take it as a compliment; never mind that Kyuhyun had writhed on the floor in fits of uncontrollable laughter when Jonghyun’s voice cracked at a particularly high note) and that he wouldn’t be surprised if the ballad Jonghyun was singing would be included in SHINee’s new album.
The thing about Kyuhyun is that he reminds Jonghyun of Minho in several ways. Both of them are coolly calculating, content with letting others talk over them and be the center of attention but capable of stealing the limelight as soon as they open their mouth. Both of them have the annoying tendency to poke fun at Jonghyun’s shortcomings, and they’re both among the privileged few whom Jonghyun likes too much for him to ever truly take offense. And both of them are, with little to no effort whatsoever, unerringly beloved by practically all of the Super Junior members.
Jonghyun looks up at the mounted television screen against the far wall and watches his Super Junior sunbaenims clowning around during an encore performance of Miinah, shouting Kyuhyun’s name at appropriate parts in the lyrics with smiles bright enough to put the stage lights to shame.
“Those idiots,” Kyuhyun says with a roll of his eyes, smiling fondly all the same as the camera zooms in on Donghae singing a slightly modified version of Kyuhyun’s own lines.
And it hits Jonghyun that he can’t compete with that level of adoration, can’t change the way Minho thinks of him because Minho will never look at him the same way he looks at them. It seems so ridiculous now, this stupid one-sided game of pretend, because what’s the use of pretending when the one you’re pretending for has his eyes on someone else? Hell, even Kyuhyun would rather pay more attention to the images of his band mates on an LCD screen than Jonghyun, who is physically present and tangible and right next to him. He hates to admit it, but this plan to make Minho jealous is just not working out.
Jonghyun clears his throat. “Hyung, I, um. I’ve got a schedule in a while, so…”
“No problem,” Kyuhyun says. “Some of the hyungs promised to visit later. They’re bound to be better company than you,” he says teasingly.
“Nice to know I’m appreciated,” Jonghyun says, feigning a wounded expression. He leans in to hug Kyuhyun goodbye anyway, almost forgetting not to thump him on the back. “Get better soon, hyung.”
“Of course I will. Those guys can’t sing for long without me,” Kyuhyun scoffs.
Jonghyun rolls his eyes (‘I saw that,’ Kyuhyun says with a huff) as he turns around, stopping when his hand alights on the doorknob. “Oh yeah. When they come by, say hi to Minho for me,” he tells Kyuhyun before waving goodbye.
“What for? You sleep in the same room,” Kyuhyun calls after him with a derisive snort.
Yeah, Jonghyun thinks, walking down the corridor with his head bent low, that’s the sad part.
-
“Hey, hyung,” Jonghyun says into the phone while surreptitiously glancing across the room at Minho, who seems completely immersed in his PSP, “Are you free later? We could go to the noraebang-” He’s quick to avert his eyes when Minho suddenly looks up, and he barely catches what Kyuhyun is saying, something about a radio show guesting and a follow-up doctor’s appointment and sorry, maybe next time.
He trains his gaze on the coffee table-there’s a puddle of banana milk on the corner; he’s going to have to scold Taemin for being such a slob again, and-okay, Minho is openly staring at him- “Jonghyunnie?”
“Oh…yeah, no problem,” he mutters distractedly, shifting his position so that his back is turned to Minho. “Uh huh, next time. ‘Bye, hyung!” He hangs up and turns back around, his eyes instantly drawn to Minho’s gaze. “What?” he asks.
Minho glances over his shoulder, as if checking if any of the other members are in the vicinity. Then he looks back at Jonghyun and says bluntly, “You’re not really dating Kyuhyun-hyung.”
Jonghyun’s eyes go wide. Oh crap crap crap. “H-huh. What makes you think I’m not?” he asks. Minho is probably just bluffing. He has to play it cool.
Minho rolls his eyes. “I don’t just think so, hyung, I know.”
Know? How could he know? How much does he know? Jonghyun splutters, fast losing composure in the face of such nonchalant confidence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Kyuhyun-hyung and I-”
“Don’t have a heart attack. I’m not going to tell the others you were faking it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Minho shrugs.
Jonghyun gapes at him, grasping for savvy words to save face, but all that comes out of his mouth in his panicked state is “But how did you-!”
“Find out?” A small smirk plays about Minho’s lips. “I wouldn’t mind answering that question, but something tells me you don’t feel like discussing this further…” He looks thoroughly amused, and Jonghyun’s cheeks flush a darker red. Oh no. He knows about that. Jonghyun isn’t prepared for this; he has no fucking idea how to confess properly to Minho, of all people.
“Yeah, I mean, no, I don’t,” Jonghyun says brilliantly, cursing the convenient disappearance of his usual tongue-in-cheek eloquence. Stupid Minho and his stupid smug smirk that he still looks cute pulling even if it’s so infuriating it makes Jonghyun want to punch him in the face-
“Just one thing, though. Why did you do it?”
The fist that Jonghyun is tightly clenching goes slack, and the jumble of panicked thoughts flashing through his head comes to a complete stop as he stares incredulously at Minho.
Minho stares at him expectantly, looking genuinely curious and…clueless. Of course.
“You still don’t know?” Jonghyun suddenly feels empty, tries not to let the disappointment show on his face as he searches Minho’s eyes for something, anything that indicated that he’s just teasing; that he has, to some degree, figured out that Jonghyun is going through all this trouble for him.
But Minho’s brows only furrow in confusion.
“It was just for laughs,” Jonghyun says finally, shrugging and forcing a tight smile. When he brushes past Minho, hands shoved into his pockets and head down, the other boy makes no move to call him back.
-
Jonghyun wonders why he just has to fall in love with someone so unabashedly hungry for so many other people’s affections. It certainly isn’t conducive to an already unreciprocated attraction, but here he is, sitting in the corner of an overcrowded hospital room, watching Minho hug and knock fists with practically half the list of people he mentioned in their second full-length album’s dedication page.
The crowd thins as the sun starts to sink outside the window, and only those who keep strange working hours are still hanging around. Taemin is already nodding off beside him, lulled to sleep by the soft murmurings of Minho and Siwon and Hyukjae, but Jonghyun is wide awake, getting more and more annoyed at how Minho looks so goddamn happy now that some of his beloved hyungs are here, never mind that just minutes before he had been brooding pathetically about being unable to dance on their comeback stage.
Taemin’s head finally drops onto his shoulder, the perfect excuse for him to announce his leave, and he clears his throat to tell Minho so when Hyukjae and Siwon suddenly stand up.
“Hurry up and get better,” Hyukjae says, thumping Minho hard on the back.
Siwon nods. “I asked my bible study group to pray for you.”
Minho beams. “Thanks, hyungs.”
Jonghyun gives them a weak smile as they pass by, waiting until the door swings shut behind them before he opens his mouth.
Minho beats him to it. “Hyung, could you give me a hand? I need to go to the bathroom.”
Jonghyun sighs. “Sure,” he says, shaking Taemin gently awake. “Taeminnie, go down to the cafeteria where manager hyung is. We’re going home in a bit; you can sleep in the van.” Taemin snaps to and mumbles something unintelligible under his breath, swaying a bit as he walks out of the room.
Minho’s already standing up when Jonghyun makes his way over to him, swinging an arm over Jonghyun’s shoulder and using him as a human crutch. Jonghyun hasn’t been this close to Minho in days, and he can’t help but grin a little as Minho leans on him, a whiff of his citrusy soap a welcome change from the antiseptic hospital smell. They stumble awkwardly into the small bathroom.
Jonghyun reaches up with his free hand to flip on the light switch, and is surprised when Minho swats his hand away and tugs at the doorknob until it’s open just a crack. “Yah, Minho, what-”
“Shhh, just wait. And try not to make any noise,” Minho shushes him, pulling out his mobile phone from his pocket and composing a text message.
Jonghyun sighs exasperatedly, shifting his position so that he and Minho can lean against the wall adjacent to the bathroom door. He has no idea what the hell Minho is up to; there’s only one thing he can think of doing while stuck in a dark, confined space with a hot band mate, and a tiny part of him (okay, a huge part, really) is hoping that Minho is finally thinking along the same lines-
“Hey, Minho!” a voice too loud for a hospital setting exclaims somewhere out in the hallway. Jonghyun jumps, startled, but Minho lays a hand on his arm and he stands stock still.
“Why are we hiding from Donghae-hyung?” Jonghyun hisses at him, nevertheless inching a little farther into the bathroom as he hears footsteps getting nearer outside.
Minho simply brings his index finger to his lips, then moves to point it at the door.
“Where’d he disappear to?” Donghae’s voice prattles on. Jonghyun peers beyond the crack in the bathroom door-he can just make out Donghae with his back turned, looking at the empty bed with his hands on his hips.
“Are you sure this is the right room?” Kyuhyun. Jonghyun turns to glare at Minho, daring him to utter a subtle dig to mock him, but Minho is busy fiddling with his mobile phone again.
A different phone suddenly beeps. “Hang on, Minho sent a message. Says he just stepped out for a while. Is he even allowed to do that, with his leg in that state and all? Aish, that kid…”
“Does it say when he’s getting back?”
“Yeah, ten minutes.” A pause. “I wonder if anybody else is coming.”
“Visiting hours are almost over.”
Another pause. “…so you think we’re the last ones for the day?”
“Probably. Of course it’s just our luck that that kid decides to run out right before we arrive and-Hae, what are you-not here!” There’s the sound of something-someone-being tackled onto the bed, and Jonghyun quickly strains to take another peek, only to retract his head just as fast, nearly bumping into Minho’s jaw.
“What the-they’re, did they just-” He’s at a loss for words, mind reeling from the image still burned into his retinas.
Minho lets out a long-suffering sigh. “They’re making out on my bed, aren’t they?”
A loud moan suddenly assaults their ears, and Jonghyun thinks the sound speaks for itself.
“…I should have said five minutes.”
“You think?”
“Wait a sec…” Minho calmly composes another text message on his phone-Jonghyun surreptitiously checks out the amorous pair again when he’s sure Minho isn’t looking. They both hear the shrill beep that follows seconds later.
“Did you hear that?”
“Mmm, I didn’t hear anything…”
Jonghyun swears under his breath-shit, what he wouldn’t give to be doing the same thing to Minho right now.
“What was that? Hae, stop.”
“Nuh uh, we still have seven minutes left~”
“Hae, seriously, get off me, someone could walk in that door any min-Hae!”
“All right, all right!” Jonghyun squints out into the room just in time to see Donghae sitting up and flipping his phone open, Kyuhyun struggling to fix his disheveled clothes beside him. “Minho again. He wants to meet us down at the cafeteria because his leg acted up.”
“Geez, why would he go out in the first place if he’s just going to make his injury worse?”
“Kyu! Don’t jinx him!”
“I wasn’t.”
“Fine, but don’t mention anything like that when we see him; he’ll just get depressed.”
“As if he’d get depressed when he sees your face.”
“Aw, let’s just go, I have to cheer that kid up before he gets any ideas…” Their footsteps fade away, out of the room and into the hallway. Minho nudges Jonghyun, who swings the bathroom door open and half-drags Minho back to his bed.
Jonghyun is still reeling from the free show. “Kyuhyun-hyung and Donghae-hyung?” he mutters in disbelief.
Minho nods, sitting comfortably at the foot of the bed. “Yeah, that’s how I knew you were lying.” He bites his lip and hesitates. “You’re okay with it, though, hyung?”
Jonghyun wishes Minho wouldn’t do that. It makes him itch to shove the other boy against the bed and have his way with him, injury or no injury. “Huh… yeah, I guess? It just took me by surprise, is all.”
Minho’s gaze is unreadable. “You’re not upset at all?”
“Well, I can’t say I saw that coming, but hey, I’m happy for them, whatever,” Jonghyun says distractedly. He licks his lips, actually considering the viability of that last thought. He’s had it up to here with Minho’s obliviousness; maybe it’s time for him to abandon all subtlety and just do things the way he should have from the start.
“But I thought you liked Kyuhyun-hyung.” Minho frowns, uncomprehending, and-that is it.
Jonghyun snaps, grabbing the front of Minho’s hospital gown and leaning into him so fast their lips smash together almost painfully. His hand quickly slides from the coarse fabric to the smooth expanse of Minho’s neck, coming to rest there as his other hand grasps the back of Minho’s head, tugging him closer. And he’s so caught up in the euphoria of finally giving in to his urges after weeks of beating around the bush that it takes him half a second later to realize that-
Minho is kissing him back. He’s so shocked his first instinct is to pull away and demand what the fuck Minho is playing at, but suddenly there are hands cupping his face on either side, keeping his head rooted where it is. Jonghyun’s knees buckle suddenly as Minho shoves at them with his good foot, and he falls into the younger boy, both of them toppling onto the bed, Minho twisting his torso just in time so that he’s lying half on top of Jonghyun. A pause for breath, and for a split second his eyes meet Minho’s half-lidded gaze before Minho leans in and kisses him again, slow and languid this time. And god, it feels so fucking good…
Minho pulls back, breathing harsh and ragged, and there’s something different about his smile, softer and fonder than the utterly smitten grin he reserves for all of his precious hyungs. It makes Jonghyun’s breath catch in his throat, a pleasant warmth bubbling inside him. “You’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met, Choi Minho,” he says, not without affection, and Minho chuckles, low and soothing.
“Says the one who pretended to be dating someone else to make me jealous.”
“Yeah, well, it worked, didn’t it? Your argument is invalid.” Jonghyun struggles into a sitting position, extending his arms behind him and leaning back. “So, am I on the list of your top ten favorite hyungs now?” he asks.
“You’ve always been at the top of that list, hyung,” Minho says earnestly.
Jonghyun snorts. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Minho pushes himself up and presses another kiss to Jonghyun’s lips. “Convinced?”
Jonghyun makes a face, and Minho sighs, yanking Jonghyun’s arm and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. With tongue.
“What about now?”
A lazy smirk spreads over Jonghyun’s face as he reaches behind Minho, tugging at the topmost strings of his hospital gown. “Nope.”
Minho glares at him. “Hyung, I have a bum leg.”
“We can work around that,” Jonghyun says casually, moving on to the next set of strings. No way in hell is he going to walk out of this room without compensation for his efforts.
Minho rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest when Jonghyun trails kisses along the slope of his neck. Jonghyun glances at the wall clock - thirty minutes until visiting hours are over. Plenty of time left for a big fat payoff.