Difficult Protection for amjunluck
Title: Difficult Protection
For: amjunluck
Author: subduedblue
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4.2k
Summary: Being the manager of the singer Kim Minseok is not an easy job. Especially when you’re in love with him.
Junmyeon sat on a chair in a corner of the room and observed everything. There were multiple people that passed by him, but they paid him no mind as they went about doing their job and assisting the team. There must have been around 10 to 15 people who were all working together to finish the task at hand. That task was the strenuous job of getting the famous Kim Minseok ready for the prestigious music award show that was going to take place in an hour.
Junmyeon made sure to inspect everyone surrounding Minseok who was seated in front of the mirror outlined with multiple bright light bulbs. Junmyeon didn’t want a repeat of the incident that took place a couple of years back. An avid fan of Minseok’s somehow managed to pass off as part of Minseok’s make-up team and was about to grab onto Minseok and relay her undying love for him if Junmyeon hadn’t noticed she wasn’t supposed to be there and intervened before she could even utter a single word.
He managed to drag her out of the room and dropped her off with a security guard who immediately whisked her away and out of the building before she could cause unnecessary trouble. Minseok was oblivious to the whole thing and didn’t know about it. Junmyeon made sure it was that way and that it would forever stay that way.
Junmyeon lightly rubbed at his right shoulder as he continued to watch the people preparing Minseok in front of him. As they were making their way into the venue, it was Junmyeon who bore the brunt of all of the fans who rushed forward in hopes of touching Minseok. Junmyeon made sure that he shielded Minseok with all of his body and now his shoulder was starting to show signs of protest from that act.
Junmyeon ignored the pain in his shoulder and opened up his phone to check his emails for any new schedules that may have popped up within the hour since he had last checked his phone. Being the manager of arguably the most famous singer in the country always meant that there were would be an endless stream of schedules to attend. It was only 9pm and Minseok had already attended three during the day. There would be a quick radio appearance later depending on whether or not Minseok won an award during the show.
Junmyeon sighed in relief when he saw his inbox was empty. With no more schedules to attend for the day, he could probably drop off Minseok at his apartment before 2am and would be able to get in a nice session of sleep for the night before they would have to get up and get back to work.
Junmyeon checked Minseok’s condition in the reflection of the mirror. His hair and make-up had already been done, the team doing a great job of hiding the exhaustion and stress that constantly plagued Minseok. Minseok’s eyes briefly looked up and met Junmyeon’s gaze in the mirror.
Junmyeon brought his hand up and used his forefinger to tap his left temple. It was a signal. When Junmyeon was first assigned to be Minseok’s manager, he had established a signal with Minseok for whenever he needed Junmyeon for whatever reason out in the public. If Junmyeon tapped his left temple it was supposed to mean ‘do you need me?’ Minseok’s response would depend on which of his temples he tapped. A tap to the left meant ‘I need you’ while a tap to the right meant ‘I don’t need you.’
Minseok didn’t hesitate with his reply. He immediately brought his hand up and tapped his right temple with his finger. After he brought his hand down he continued to hold Junmyeon’s stare through the mirror. The corners of his mouth lightly lifted up and he flashed Junmyeon a subtle smile before he broke eye contact and went back to paying attention to the stylist who was fastening a necklace around him.
Minseok gave him his signal. He was fine, he could handle himself at the moment, Junmyeon didn’t have to attend to him for anything. Junmyeon slumped back in his chair and checked his watch. It would be another half an hour before he would escort Minseok to the red carpet for the event. He went back to his phone and opened up the script he had been working on for Minseok’s radio appearance if he won an award. If Minseok ended up losing all of his hard work on the script would go to waste, but he didn’t have to worry about that because Minseok would always win something. That’s just the way things were.
There was the sound of equipment being packed and Junmyeon looked up from his phone to see the makeup and wardrobe team getting their stuff together to leave. As they exited the waiting room Junmyeon made sure to stand up and bow to everyone as they made their way out and thank them for their work. Once they all left Junmyeon gently shut the door and turned to look at Minseok.
Minseok still sat in the chair he had been in earlier. He had his head down and Junmyeon saw him picking at his fingernails, a nervous habit of Minseok’s that Junmyeon had picked up on a long time ago.
Junmyeon went to the mini fridge and took out a bottle of Minseok’s favorite juice. He walked over to Minseok and lightly dropped the bottle onto his lap. Minseok startled a little and then looked up into the mirror to give Junmyeon a curious expression.
“Don’t be nervous Minseok. You’ll do great, everyone will love you, and you’ll get that award you’re nominated for.”
Minseok scoffed good naturedly at Junmyeon and opened up the bottle from his lap to take a sip out of it. He hummed in satisfaction after he swallowed and then smiled at Junmyeon in the mirror.
“Thanks, Junmyeon.” It was said softly, but genuinely.
Junmyeon brought his hand down to Minseok’s shoulder and gripped it for a second before stepping back and away.
+++++++++++++++++
When they arrived back at Minseok’s apartment Junmyeon managed to help Minseok collapse onto his bed instead of the floor.
“You were wrong, Junmyeon. They hated me.” Minseok’s words were slurred from all the alcohol he had consumed earlier.
“I’m sorry Minseok.” Junmyeon truly was.
The award show had started out perfectly. Everyone was excited to see Minseok and Minseok was in his element, charming the fans and the press easily. It wasn’t until Minseok was on the stage singing his latest single that things started to go bad.
Minseok was a good singer, no, he was an amazing singer. He could switch between notes and melodies perfectly. However, all singers have a time in their life when they give a not so great performance. Unfortunately for Minseok, that had to happen at the award show.
Minseok sang beautifully, but halfway through his performance his voice cracked and it threw him off guard so much that he wasn’t ever able to recover for the rest of the song. When the song ended the applause was too polite, too awkward.
That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part happened when Minseok won the award for best solo artist. As Minseok made his away across the stage to accept the award a chorus of boos sounded out across the whole venue. Junmyeon, who had been standing in the back the whole time, desperately wanted to run onto the stage and guide Minseok off. He stopped himself though, knowing that if he did it would only make things worse.
Minseok froze on the stage as the boos got louder once he stood in front of the microphone to give his acceptance speech. He stood there silently for a few moments, but then pulled himself together to talk into the microphone.
“Thank you for the award. I know many of you are not happy about my winning, but I will try my hardest to prove to you that I deserve this. I want to thank the fans and my recording company for believing in me and getting me to where I am today. I won’t fail to make you proud of me in the future.”
Then Minseok walked off the stage. Although the boos had stopped by then, the discontent was still apparent in the room. Junmyeon ran backstage to meet Minseok after that. On the way there he got on the phone and cancelled Minseok’s radio appearance and called for Minseok’s driver to be ready for them immediately at the exit.
Minseok was silent once they were in the car and his gaze was unfocused. Junmyeon was concerned, but didn’t want to say anything, didn’t know what he could say. It took a few minutes and then Minseok looked up at him. Junmyeon felt his heart twist painfully at the devastated look in Minseok’s eyes. Without saying anything, Junmyeon brought his hand up to his head and tapped his left temple with two of his fingers. Minseok answered right away, a tap to his own left temple, a clear ‘i need you’ message being sent. Junmyeon gulped, nodded at him, and then told the driver the address of the discreet bar near the venue.
Too many shots and too many beers later in Minseok’s system led them to where they currently were. In Minseok’s bedroom, with a worried Junmyeon by his side.
Minseok had heard Junmyeon’s apology, but didn’t say anything in return. Instead he struggled to get out of his suit jacket as he continued to lay on his bed. Junmyeon reached out to help him, but was surprised when his hands were quickly slapped away.
“Just…leave.” Minseok didn’t look at Junmyeon when he spoke.
Junmyeon straightened up and stared helplessly at Minseok. He wanted to do something, anything to make Minseok feel better, but he didn’t know what to do. Instead, he left Minseok’s room and headed towards the kitchen. He grabbed a mug out of one of the cabinets and filled it with water. He looked for the pain meds in one of the drawers and took two pills out of the bottle. He brought the filled mug and pills with him when he returned to Minseok’s room.
The bedside lamp was still on and Junmyeon could see that Minseok had somehow passed out in the brief amount of time that Junmyeon had been in the kitchen. Junmyeon set the mug and pills down carefully on Minseok’s bedside table and then quickly left Minseok’s apartment to head to his own.
+++++++++++++
The weeks after the award show appearance were very tense. Junmyeon felt like he was walking on eggshells every time he was with Minseok. Minseok barely spoke to him anymore. Only speaking when it was necessary and never adding any more than that.
It was a big difference to the easier camaraderie and friendly conversations that they used to have. Junmyeon’s whole world felt unaligned and off center. He always felt uncomfortable and anxious in Minseok’s presence. Junmyeon had tried to talk to Minseok about it once, but he was immediately shut down and he never tried again.
The media seemed to have gotten over the award show incident and Minseok’s acceptance speech had been well received by the public. Minseok was back in everyone’s good graces, but Minseok was still high strung and apprehensive that at any moment something would happen and he would go back to being hated again. He never said this fear of his out loud, but Junmyeon knew.
Junmyeon knew everything about Minseok. He knew Minseok’s favorite color, the temperature he liked his apartment to be, what side of an auditorium he liked to sit in, his favorite kind of soap, and even his favorite time of the day when he liked to just sit and listen to his favorite song to relax. Junmyeon knew everything about Minseok not just because he was a good manager, but because he loved Minseok.
It wasn’t something that he ever told anyone, keeping it to himself and fiercely hidden. Minseok couldn’t possibly love him. Minseok was a great star and Junmyeon was just a little speck of dust orbiting around him. Minseok was too special to ever love someone as simple as him. It was the truth and Junmyeon had accepted it a long time ago.
This new shift in their relationship was torture for Junmyeon. He wanted to be near Minseok, wanted to speak with him, hang out with him like they used to do. But Minseok wasn’t letting him near him, wasn’t confiding in him anymore and it was killing Junmyeon on the inside.
There was all this tension building up between them and Junmyeon knew that it was all going to explode soon if he didn’t try to fix whatever was up between them. Minseok was making it difficult for him though and the problem kept on going unsolved.
The explosion was inevitable though and it came strongly.
On the day that Minseok arrived at Thailand for a photoshoot there was a large crowd of fans and reporters waiting at the airport for him. Junmyeon guarded Minseok as best as he could, but the crowd was out of control.
There were multiple people pulling at him and Minseok. The bright flashes of light from the cameras made it hard to see where they were supposed to go and the yelling of the crowd made it hard to hear anything.
Then it happened. One of the long camera lenses, either from a fan or a reporter, got too close and ended up slamming right into Junmyeon’s right eye. Junmyeon staggered back severely from the impact and was pretty sure he shouted out from the pain, but it got lost in the noise of the crowd.
Minseok who was standing right next to him grabbed him at his wrist and dragged the both of them quickly out of the airport and into the vehicle that would transport them to their hotel. Once they got in the car Minseok threw his wrist away and stared out the window, not looking at Junmyeon at all.
Junmyeon’s eye hurt like hell and he brought his cell phone up to his face to check out the damage in the reflection of the phone screen. It was bad. Junmyeon’s right eye was swollen shut and every time he even slightly touched it a shock of pain ran through him.
Nothing was said between them as they made their way into the hotel. Junmyeon, despite being in pain and having a black eye, went to the front desk to check him and Minseok in. Minseok’s room was on the third floor and Junmyeon’s room was right next to his.
They headed into their respective rooms without even looking at one another.
Junmyeon immediately went into the bathroom to check out his eye. He winced at the sight of himself in the mirror. He looked terrible and there was a deep dark bruise surrounding his entire swollen eye. He sighed and wet a washcloth with cold water to press onto it.
Then he went into his room to order room service for Minseok. Minseok hadn’t eaten for most of the day and would most likely be starving.His cell phone rang when he was on the hotel phone ordering room service. In the confusion between talking to the room service guy and the person on his cell Junmyeon forgot to do something with the order that would end up in something horrible happening.
+++++++++++++
Minseok answered the door to his hotel room when Junmyeon knocked on it with his other hand holding onto the dish that he ordered from room service. Minseok briefly looked at Junmyeon’s eye, but then walked away wordlessly from the door.
Junmyeon stepped inside and put the plate on the small table near Minseok’s bed.
“I thought you might be hungry so I ordered some pad thai for you to eat.”
“Thanks.” Minseok murmured soullessly.
He walked to the small table and lifted the lid off the plate. Minseok stared at the plate for a long time with an odd expression on his face. Then to Junmyeon’s surprise, he slammed the lid back down onto the plate hard making a sound ring out through the room.
“What the fuck is this?” Minseok said the words angrily though gritted teeth.
“It’s pad thai. Why? What’s wrong?”
“IT’S GOT FUCKING PEANUTS ON IT! YOU IDIOT!”
Shit. Junmyeon was too distracted talking to the photoshoot director on his cell that he forgot to inform the room service that the dish was supposed to be made for a person with a peanut allergy.
“I’m sorry Minseok. I forgot.” Junmyeon’s voice trembled.
“YOU FORGOT? WHAT IF I HADN’T PAID ATTENTION AND JUST SCARFED THIS DOWN AND THEN HAD AN ALLERGIC REACTION. ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?”
“No Minseok I would never try to harm you.”
“WELL YOU ALMOST JUST DID!”
“I swear I didn’t mean-“
“SHUT UP. YOU’RE SO DAMN USELESS. JUST GET OUT OF HERE.” Minseok was shoving Junmyeon insistently out of his room, not giving Junmyeon a chance to explain himself.
Then Junmyeon was all alone in the hallway with Minseok’s door shut and locked in front of him. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to calm himself. He willed himself not to break down and cry in the middle of the hallway.
Junmyeon was exhausted when he returned to his room. He took one look at his still packed suitcase and he immediately knew what he had to do. He made a quick call on his cell phone to Minseok’s agency requesting an emergency manager replacement. He then booked the next flight out of Thailand and grabbed a piece of paper off the desk in his room to write Minseok a little letter.
In the letter he apologized to Minseok, explaining that he always wanted the best for Minseok. He wrote that he thought Minseok was amazing and deserved to have a manager that could help him to be even better. The last thing he wrote was that he was truly happy being Minseok’s manager for the four years that he had been. Junmyeon hesitated at the end of the letter, wanting to tell Minseok that he loved him, but decided not to and sealed the letter into a nearby envelope on the desk.
Junmyeon grabbed his suitcase and dragged it with him out of his hotel room. He slipped the letter under Minseok’s door and checked out of the hotel and headed straight to the airport after.
++++++++++++++++
It was an early Wednesday morning when there was a knock on Junmyeon’s door. The sun had barely risen and warm sunlight filtered into the living room as Junmyeon got out of bed and trudged to his front door to open it. What was on the other side of the door was not something Junmyeon had expected.
It was Minseok. He had his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his shoulders were hunched over. He was staring down at Junmyeon’s floor mat and he didn’t say anything.
Junmyeon’s breath stilled when he first saw Minseok. He looked as good as he always did. His light brown hair infused with bits of red was illuminated perfectly by the sun. The fitted blue shirt and regular blue jeans he wore perfectly accentuated his petite, yet toned body. He was still the most beautiful person Junmyeon had ever seen and he was mad that Minseok still had this effect on him despite not seeing him at all the past two months.
Junmyeon sighed and he grew weary. Junmyeon loved Minseok, had since the day he first met him, but he wasn’t going to stick around and endure Minseok anymore. Minseok could never love him in return and he had to accept that and move on. Staying around Minseok would just only be painful from now on.
He debated whether or not he should just ignore him and slam the door on his face. He was still a bit angry, still hurt at the words that Minseok had hurled at him the last time they were together, but he was wasn’t going to be rude.
“What do you want Minseok?” Minseok briefly glanced up Junmyeon, but shifted his eyes away to look elsewhere.
“I…” Minseok trailed off and cleared his throat.
“I just wanted to…Just wanted to see if…To tell you…” Junmyeon could tell Minseok was frustrated by the way his hands balled into fists at his sides as he struggled to find the right words to say. After a little more incoherent phrases Minseok breathed out harshly and then looked determinedly into Junmyeon’s eyes.
Time seemed to slow for Junmyeon as he watched Minseok carefully and purposefully keep eye contact with Junmyeon as he brought his hand up to his head and tapped his left temple three times.
“What?” Junmyeon was confused.
Minseok made a little noise of frustration, but then brought his hand back up to his head and tapped his left temple with his fingers again.
“No, I get that. But, what do you need me for?” That’s when Minseok broke the eye contact.
“I came here today for a couple of reasons. First, I came here to apologize. Junmyeon, I’m so sorry. I should have never said those words to you. You didn’t deserve that from anyone, but especially not me, not after everything you’ve done for me. I also came here to thank you for that, for everything you’ve done for me. I turned on the tv the other day and it was specifically programmed to be on the channel that shows my favorite football team the most. I walked into my bathroom once and saw the way you specifically stacked and folded the towels so that it was easy for me to get them, and I went to my desk once and there were pictures of my family members there. I didn’t put them there, you did because I remember telling you I missed my family once and you put them there to make me feel better.”
“Is that why you need me? Just because I know you enough to make your life easier and more convenient for your?”
“NO! That’s not the reason why I need you, but those were the things that made me realize why I truly do. At first it had been the towels, the tv channel, and the pictures. But then I realized the real reason why I needed you. It was because of you. Just you. Just you being there and talking to me and being there for me, because I realized I loved you. That I have loved you for a long time now, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself because what if it made weird things between us and then you would leave. But then I messed up anyways and you left and I hated it. I hated every second of it. I just need you Junmyeon. That’s all I need.”
“Are you sure? Are you really sure that you love me and you need me?” Junmyeon was stunned and was having a difficult time believing that this was all real.
“Yes I’m sure. I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t.”
“Oh.” There were so many things Junmyeon wanted to say, but he somehow couldn’t find a way to say them.
“I mean I understand that this is a lot to take in and I’m sure that you probably don’t love me, but I just had to tell you. If you don’t want to come back and be my manager again because of this, I understand. I hope we can at least be friends again and-“
Minseok never got to finish his sentence because Junmyeon had rushed forward and wrapped Minseok into his arms and kissed him. Minseok was still at first, but then he started to kiss back. When they broke apart a little to catch their breath Junmyeon smiled widely at him.
“I love you. I’ve loved you since the first time I met you.” Minseok looked shocked.
“Really?”
“Yes. And I don’t want to be your manager again.”
“What! Why not?” A look of hurt crossed over Minseok’s face and Junmyeon felt bad that he was the one who put it there.
“Because. I just want to be your boyfriend. I want to love and take care of you. Everything I do for you I want to be seen as something I want to do for you, not something I do because I’m paid to do it.”
“Oh. Okay.” Minseok smiled brightly at Junmyeon, understanding him.
“Will you let me take care of you because I want to?” Junmyeon murmured lowly into Minseok’s ear and Minseok shivered in response to it.
“Yeah, but only if you let me take care of you too.” The look Minseok gave him was too much and Junmyeon attacked him with his mouth. Minseok laughed in between kisses, surprised at Junmyeon’s passion. He didn’t stop kissing Minseok as he pulled Minseok with him and through the doorway into Junmyeon’s apartment, shutting the door firmly behind them.
They ended up taking care of each other the whole day and when Minseok had to attend his schedules the next day he had to wear a high collared shirt to cover up the evidence of it all. He was happy though, so it was worth it.