Shinee fanfic: Ungodly Hours

Aug 12, 2009 18:11

Title: Ungodly Hours
Pairing: TofuHo, obvious!Jongkey
Genre: Fluff & Comedy
Rating: PG
Summary: Sometimes even the leader needs a little guidance and comfort.
Disclaimer: the guys belong to SM.
Length: oneshot. 2400 words.

1. Clumsiness.

Late nights aren’t uncommon. Some things are necessary. To have fun late at night -- according to Key, Taemin, Jonghyun, and Onew -- that was necessary. It’s understandable to want to have fun, especially when packed tight with intense workdays just about every day of the week -- but at the wee hours of the morning, it’s very much on the bottom of Minho’s list of priorities (sleep just happens to be number one.)

Karaoke. They had decided to sing karaoke, and although Minho doesn’t necessarily want to, he deems it important enough to stay up with them. He’s playing babysitter -- Key’s job -- but since Key happens to be participating, Minho has to baby sit the babysitter, simply for the sake of Korea.

It’s true Minho is tired, exhausted, a little sleep deprived, but he sticks to his duty and he stays up, and he observes, and he baby sits.

And he’s babysitting. It’s not bad. Everything is innocent and fine now, but Minho doesn’t let his drowsy state cause him to be naïve. Only when he’s absolutely sure the other four are completely into singing, laughing, and parading around do his eyelids slowly shut and he’s carried off into a state of half-sleep.

Thoughts drift, his body relaxes and--

Something warm and reasonably heavy falls into his lap. Eyes shoot open (he’s a bit shocked) and Minho quickly regains his composure when he sees that it’s Onew. He almost asks something -- along the lines of “Hyung, what are you doing,” or “Hyung, what happened?” But doesn’t because Key and Jonghyun are reenacting “what happened,” and Taemin is just kind of wheezing with laughter. The embarrassed, noticeable blush on Onew’s cheeks tell him it’s an accident so he figures staying quiet would help diffuse the situation.

By the time Onew stands (or rather, stumbles) off Minho, the blush has deepened a bit and he mumbles something related to an “I’m sorry,” and does his best to hold some type of a solemn gaze.

Minho just gives him an encouraging smile that Onew immediately returns after a second’s hesitation.

2. Panic.

Even for Minho, some things weren’t really worth getting up for. A glass of water, the bathroom, Taemin having a nightmare -- those are the some of the things worth getting up for. The muffled voice and repeated shuffling coming from the other side of the door -- isn’t enough for him to open an eyelid. Not at this moment.

The gentle shaking of his chest and the continual, panicky whispers of his name is enough to wake Minho. His first morning sight -- the stricken face of Onew hovering above him (which causes Minho to glance at the clock; 4:28a.m). Then the first thought that comes from his mouth--”Hyung?”

“M-Minho!” Onew backs up a little too fast, hitting the back of his head on the top bunk (and as if his body was already expecting that, hands immediately cover the inflicted area.)

Fully alert now, Minho swings his feet over the side of his bed, reaching, grabbing, and carefully pulling the leader to sit beside him. “Hyung,” he starts, peels Onew’s hands from his head, using his own to massage the probably-aching spot. “What’s wrong?”

He watches as Onew buries his face in his hands, “I need some help,” comes the muffled voice.

Minho wraps his arm around Onew’s shoulders -- encouraging him to elaborate -- listening intently.

The leader lifts his head, flashing Minho a toothy grin. “I know what you’re thinking,” he says, “I’m not crazy,” the smile dies down a little, but it’s still there. “I just… Here, uh, lemme show you.” He stands and heads for the door, Minho following (mostly to make sure Onew doesn‘t trip and hurt himself.)

It’s after he gets a good glance at Onew’s happy, panic-filled, tinged with guilt smile, after his eyes set themselves on what exactly Onew is pointing at, that Minho gets his first real shocker of the week. He’s doing his best to keep his composure (it’s not that hard, as long as he knows what to expect from Onew), but he can feel his eyes widen and his lips beginning to form a thin line. And, just yeah -- it’s that bad.

“You made a mess of the kitchen,” Minho affirms.

“I know!” Onew sighs, “Kibum is gonna kill me,” then does a bit of flailing. “And on top of that, I broke Jonghyun’s iTouch.” He weakly points to the device laying on the kitchen table.

Minho’s lips move to help pronounce the syllable of the first word he wants to say, but instead a hand shifts to gently rest in the middle of Onew’s back. He looks at Minho -- a sort of hopeful shine in his eye -- and he’s wearing that lopsided, childish grin (he’s silently asking for something, too.) “You want me to help clean this up,” Minho deduces and when the leader’s grin gets impossibly wider, that’s when Minho allows a small, genuine smile to make a home on his on face too because he knows he’s right.

Minho knows Onew is expecting a no, but Minho can’t say no. He won’t say no -- he’ll say Okay, Hyung, I’ll help. And it doesn’t bother him, really. Someone has to do it; someone has to look out for Onew.

He does.

3. Shock.

One of those nights. Tonight just happens to be one of those nights where anyone who isn’t Jonghyun or Key doesn’t get to enjoy the luxury of the five-way-shared bedroom. Unfortunate, but definitely not the worst thing that can happen (the couch isn’t that uncomfortable either.) It’s understood that rather… private concerns need to be taken care of -- and truthfully, Minho doesn’t mind. He just wishes they would pick a time before three o’clock in the morning to address these personal matters.

Minho is drained, exhausted; he wants to go to sleep. He won’t complain though, it’s just not him, so he’ll stick it out until sleep does come or the sun rises and he’ll start his morning exercises.

However, eventually when the peaceful features of Taemin sleeping on his shoulder draw Minho into an even drowsier state, does he gently rest his head against Taemin’s and fully allow sleep to take him into unconsciousness.

Most would say that Onew is too innocent for his age. Others say he’s too innocent for his own good. But Minho knows Onew is really a genius -- covered in goofy smiles, naïve tendencies, and a clumsy personality, but he’s not acting or pretending, because that’s just Onew.

He also knows that despite certain beliefs, Onew is not dense. But right now, when Onew opens the door to the bedroom and shrieks, dropping his bowl of late night cereal in a mixture of mortification and sheer shock -- jolting Minho and Taemin from their sleep (and Jonghyun and Key from their… actions) -- does Minho sincerely hope that Onew isn’t that naïve when it comes to things like this.

Despite the sleepy haze clouding his mind, Minho is over there in a span of a few long seconds. He’s picking up bits of cereal, bowing and muttering an apology to the pair in compromising positions on the bed, a hand on the leader’s shoulder, gently ushering him out of the doorway, whispering comforting words (Hyung, it’s okay, you probably didn’t know. They shouldn‘t be doing this so late in the first place).

It would be better if Onew was asleep in the first place.

4. Vigilance.

For the next thirty minutes, Onew is incredibly restless and his cheeks stay slightly flushed and won’t go back to normal and Minho feels sorry as he thinks about the possible images flying through Onew’s mind.

It’s a bit prolonged and Minho is worried. This is Onew -- he’s normally cheery and would crack a joke at something like this. Not bugged out and restless, and Minho just hopes he isn’t scarred.

Then another thirty minutes pass after Minho manages to guide Onew’s head to his free shoulder and coax him into getting some sleep, and though expecting his own eyes to shut, Minho’s still not asleep himself. He’s a bit stressed, but Minho determines it is a necessity to stay up and watch over Onew. Anything could happen. The leftover animosity from Onew breaking Jonghyun’s iTouch could lead to a rivaled, considerably loud singing contest. Or Onew disturbing Key’s… time with Jonghyun could lead to something physical and quite possibly more physiological scarring.

So when five o’clock rolls around, Minho gently detaches the heads from his each of his shoulders and sidles into the kitchen, grabs one of those American brand-named granola bars from the cabinet, pours Onew a fresh, new bowl of cereal and Taemin a cold glass of milk, then goes to wake Key and Jonghyun up first.

5. Apprehension.

In the last few minutes of evidence that the Sun even rose that day, everyone present at the dinner table, animosity still reigns supreme. With Key still ignoring every soul in Korea, Jonghyun continuing to be a seething puppy, and Onew nervously fidgeting, hesitantly taking small bites of his food. Taemin just happens to be the only normal one (if one can count early excusing himself from the table “normal.”) And while most of Minho’s mind is preoccupied with thoughts of sleep, the other percentage of brain-space left is pretty sure that a reasonable, diplomatic solution will not happen in the near future.

He’s pulled right back to attention -- fully alert of his surroundings now -- when Key snaps at Onew to do the dishes, because any type of interaction can turn into something negative. But as Key’s chair screeches on the linoleum, stomping towards the bedroom and slamming the door and Jonghyun pulls out an old iPod and Onew slowly moves to start washing the dishes, Minho allows his awareness to die down a bit due to the percentages of intense confrontation diminishing to a low number.

Onew has somehow been blessed with a good intuition when it comes to serious (stressing "serious" here), not-so-good, sorta obvious happening in the near future -- Minho recognizes this. Onew knows that Minho recognizes this (he’s probably the only one), so it’s understood why he would wake Minho from his rather peaceful nap and take a seat beside him on the couch. “I get this really bad feeling that something is gonna happen between me and Key soon,” he says and looks at Minho for something. Guidance. Advice. Input.

Minho roles the statement over in his mind, can’t quite place to say (what should he say?) and Onew takes his silence as a request for an explanation.

“I think a big fight between me and Key will happen,” he laughs bitterly, “we haven’t fought since debut.”

There’s a long stretch of silence between them, a silence that should be awkward, but it’s comfortable. A comfortable silence that somehow manages to get broken by Minho.

“Relax, hyung,” he consoles him with that understanding voice of his and changes the channel from the soccer game he can’t believe he fell asleep on, to a rerun of a comedic show that Onew likes. “Nothing will happen.”

“How can you be so sure?” He’s skeptical, but Minho feels him scoot towards his direction so he gives Onew this light smile so he won’t look at their barely-touching arms.

“Because,” then he casually wraps an arm around the leader’s shoulders, drawing him a bit closer. “The only thing you really have to worry about is Jonghyun-hyung.” Another laugh and Onew is pillowing his head on Minho’s thigh.

“Maybe you’re right,” Onew gives Minho this tired, toothy smile. “Jonghyun will probably bite me with those puppy-teeth of his,” his attention is mostly on the T.V now. “If that’s the only thing I have to worry about, I guess I’ll be fine.”

The next time Minho takes a glance at the clock since the last time he remembers, it’s dangerously close to two o‘clock. He’ll ask Onew if he’s ready to go to bed, a sleepy nod, and after Minho helps Onew to his feet and drags him over to the shared bedroom, where Onew’s eyes would widen a bit and he’ll kinda freak out, then Minho would have to reassure him that Key won’t stab him in his sleep before technically tucking him in bed.

6. Quietness.

Minho had hoped to have four hours of undisturbed sleep, but the absence of slight snoring and noisy movement from the bed of the leader next to him is enough to break his hopes (and sleep.) Turns on his side; although it’s dark, he can make out that Onew’s back to him, so it’s impossible to see if he’s really sleeping or not. But solely judging on what his eyes are processing, Minho can see that Onew looks a bit tense and is probably not sleeping.

He does the only logical thing for the moment.

He lowers himself on to Onew’s bed, drapes an arm around his waist and starts to say It’s me, Hyung when Onew’s body tenses. Before he could get it out, he feels his body relax and there’s an audible, gentle sigh that escapes Onew’s lips (and Minho kinda feels himself become a bit more relaxed too.)

So maybe that’s why Minho continues to hold him like that for the rest of the night.

7. Enthusiasm.

The next time Onew wakes Minho up, he’s back to his old self and he’s genuinely smiling and his teeth look so much whiter when he’s truly happy. He’s incredibly noisy and the impossibly dry-humor is back (but Minho assumes that comes with everything else, and gladly accepts it.) And maybe that’s why he doesn’t particularly mind when Onew is bouncing up and down on his bed laughing, hollering for Minho to ‘rise and shine’. It’s contagious, he can’t help but sit up with a smile on his face because this is the Onew he likes, and this is the Onew that he wants to be around. Even the Onew who gets his head bashed in by a pillow thrown by a furious Key trying to detangling himself from cuddling with a still-sleep Jonghyun. It’s the muffled, obnoxious laugh, so precious that Minho strains to hear, the laugh that makes everything about Onew okay.

Minho concludes that some things are worth losing sleep over.

A/N: i hope minho isn't ooc, cuz it kind of seems like it, but sleepiness tends to do that to the best of us. but this was for the lulz and, well, i think it fits them... kind of. anyway, bottom line, these guys need moar love.

i think a "how onew stopped jonghyun and key from getting it on" sequel should be done. y/n?

tofuho/minhonew, minho, jonghyun, !fanfic, onew, key, jongkey, shinee

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