"Maknae Blues"

Title: Maknae Blues
Pairing: Taemin/Krystal
Genre: Fluff, Romance
Rating: G

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Soojung was not like girls her age. Most of them were typed as cute, sweet maknaes of their group. Soojung is a different kind of maknae, an icy, chic yet loved maknae. But most people knew Sulli as the maknae of f(x) not her and people didn't know her as Soojung but as Krystal. A loud sigh escapes as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling and then places her hands on her cheeks.

"Yah, Jung Soojung, even your unnie is cuter than you and she's the ice princess." Krystal mumbles to herself. She looks at the bed beside her who's being occupied by Jinri, no.. she's to be called as Sulli now. Krystal sits up and leans against the wall beside her bed. She takes note of Sulli's milky white skin, perfect nose, rose bud lips and long lashes. She remembers how the girl's eyes form a smile when she smiles. Krystal agreed that Sulli is fit to be called the maknae, even though she was younger by 5 months than Sulli.

Getting slowly and quietly out of bed, she tip toes her way out their room and scurries out of their front door hoping Victoria wouldn't sense the maknae was out at such a time. You see, leaders will always have this sixth sense on their members and you can't mess with the leader.

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Krystal curses the day when she decided to go in the dorm building 's lounge only to find SHINee's maknae  playing the piano with the half of the room's lights on. Why oh why were their groups living in the same building? And to think her mind had enough maknaes to think about there was the current maknae that people were going crazy for. Krystal quickly turned around to make a quick yet unnoticeable escape. 

"Ah! Soojung ah!" 

"Damn." He saw her. Krystal looks back at Taemin with a smile and an "hi, oppa." too add.  He smiles back making her her heart beat faster but shakes it off and reminds herself he smiles at everyone.

"Especially at Sulli.." She adds.

"What are you doing here? It's really late." Taemin asks her, she doesn't answer for a while clearly lost in her thoughts. He chuckles at the younger girl's blank expression. She's becoming an ice princess herself.

"But cuter." He adds to his thoughts, he calls out her name again.

"It's Krystal now, oppa. Remember?" finally recovering from her thoughts. So, icy and fierce. Taemin couldn't help but be attracted to her even more.

"You didn't answer my question, Krystal." 

"I couldn't sleep and I decided to practice the piano but since you're here, I'll just go back." She quickly turns around quickly, hoping that the sooner she gets out of the lounge the bigger the chance he wouldn't hear her heartbeat.

"Let's practice together, come sit beside me." Taemin suggested which made Krystal stop and turning slowly around. She looked down at her shoes, feeling the heat creeping up her face.

"Yah, come sit beside me. As your sunbae and oppa, I command youuu!" He demands, Krystal gives him a blank yet cool look, hiding the fact how she finds him so adorable this time. She obeys and sits beside him.

"Hmmm.. what are you playing right now?" Krystal answers that she's learning "River flows in you". He tells her to play it and she does. Krystal makes mistakes yet acts like she didn't make any and finishes while beating herself up for making mistakes.

"You're really bad at this." Taemin bluntly says making her taken back. He looks at her with a big smile.

"But I'm sure you'll get better if you practice more. When I was started learning how to play the piano, I was worse. " He reassures her, making Krystal's heart skip a beat. Taemin looks away and starts to play the same piece. Krystal observed the boy beside her, taking note on how he's slowly turning into a man. She also took note on his short and red hair style which reminded her of Kim Jaejoong but remembers that Taemin's similar features to Kim Heechul.

"You're such a pretty boy. You're the perfect maknae too, cute all time but chic and y when you want to." She thought.

Taemin finished the song perfectly and satisfied with himself. He looked to his side and smiled at her, Krystal swore that she might die if he continues smiling at her.

"You're like, the perfect maknae. You know that, right?" Taemin looks at her in surprise.

"What?" 

"Idols at my age, specifically the girls when they're assigned as the maknae of their group. Nobody forgets that they're the maknae, they never doubt when they say they're the maknae. Because when you see them, you see their cuteness and when you find out that they're the maknae, they'll believe you.  But with me..."  Krystal looks down and sighs. The frustration of letting herself known as the maknae as finally gotten the best of her.

"It's because Sulli looks younger, isn't it?" Taemin asked, Krystal nods and sighs.

"I love her like a sister but you know, I like to be seen as cute and adorable like Sulli. You know, more maknae like... not y and chic." She explains, clearly upset about it.

"What about Sohyun-sshi? Isn't she 4minute's maknae? Their concept is y, right?"  Krystal shakes her head.

"Even though their concept is like that, she's still adorable and can be clearly seen as the maknae."

"Then what about..."

"2NE1's Minzy is the same too. See? All maknae's are adorable and cute except for me. I don't want to be chic or y." Krystal whines as lets out a sad sigh.

"Ahhh, the maknae blues.."  Krystal looked at Taemin and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Taemin laughs at Krystal's reaction.

"Maknae blues. You know, always treated like a baby, living in the shadow of the older members and always being known as the cute one.” Taemin explained earning a sigh from the girl.

“But I’m not cute at all. Even Sooyeon unnie is cuter than me and she’s the ice princess.” Krystal whines and then pouts. Taemin could no longer hold it and laughs, Krystal gives him a look which reminds him of her unnie’s. Why would she even bother telling these things to the Taemin when he’s the perfect maknae?

“I’m not the perfect maknae. ” He says as he tries to hold his laughter. He ruffles her hair as he gets up and smiles.

“And if it helps, I think you’re pretty cute.” Making Krystal blush, his smile gets wider as he turns to leave but as he gets closer to the door, his hand stops from reaching out to the door knob. He turns back and sees the fluttered girl pressing random piano keys, mumbling words under her breath.

“It doesn’t matter if people mistake Sulli as the maknae or you’re not cute enough to be one. You’re adorable, Soojung. When you have that blank expression on your face, when you get lost in your thoughts and when you look down and pout, I think you’re cute. But when the light hits you perfectly on stage and when you smile, I think…” Krystal looks up at him, waiting for him to continue her. Taemin realizes that at that moment was happening in front of him, the room’s light hitting her perfectly and a small smile creeping up her lips.

“.. that you’re not a cute maknae at all.” Krystal felt a wave of disappointment rush through her.  

“But the most beautiful girl I’ve seen in my 18 year old life.” He waited for a response, but none. Just Krystal looking at him with a surprised expression with her face turning red, how he wanted to go up to her and kiss those lips.  But capturing a Jung’s heart is a very slow and carefully paced plan that needs all the restraint and patience so as not to scare the girl away and win her heart, as told by Donghae.

“Good night, Soojung.” Taemin said before leaving the flustered girl. Krystal continued to stare at Taemin’s leaving figure until he was no longer in her sight. She placed her hands on her very warm cheeks and smiled to herself.

Since that night, Krystal never thought about being  known as f(x)’s maknae but having a certain group’s maknae running around her mind.

And thus, Jung Krystal has been cured from a bad case of the maknae blues.

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Author’s Note:  Before knowing who was who, my first impression of Sulli was "maknae" and   I adore Taemin/Krystal. Thanks for reading and comments are appreciated. ♥