BlingBling has logged in

TaeminOnly hi bling, you been gone a while

BlingBling Yeah, sorry bout that. My life got hectic

BiggestFan23 You have a life? Shocking

BlingBling Yeah yeah, tease all you like. It’s true. I had some interviews and stuff

TaeminOnly ooh getting a job

BlingBling I already have a job but... this is kinda like a job I guess.

BiggestFan23 sounds boring

BiggestFan23 oMG did you hear about that composer that won the thing with SHINee?

BiggestFan23 Did you hear it was a dude?!

BiggestFan23 Like omg male shinee fans exist? Thats so weird

Keytar Is it weird?

TaeminOnly unusual not weird

TaeminOnly good for him tho i wanna see what hes like

TaeminOnly maybe he uses this site

TaeminOnly can you imagine

BiggestFan23 As if. No men use this site

BlingBling you’d be surprised

Keytar something to tell us Bling?

BlingBling I was just thinking there’s no way everyone on this site is female. That’s all.

Keytar y’all ready for the livestream later?

TaeminOnly HELL YES. I AM SO READY

BiggestFan23 my body is ready i need some Minho in my life

Keytar T minus 3 hours

The SHINee fandom had been in uproar for days, the SHINee boys, in celebration of their album launch were doing a livestreamed Q and A session. Even those that never used the streaming service in question were scrambling to create an account in the hopes that their idols would maybe, just maybe, address them directly.

Of course, Jonghyun was no exception. Before meeting the band he would have been excited and scared in equal measure and, ok, Key was still a little scary to him, but post-meeting them he was feeling pretty good. They were all so nice, especially to fans – the fans were the people who supported them after all, it just made sense. So Jonghyun knew that tonight was going to be great for everyone involved. Great, but hectic.

So, after telling his parents and his sister that he had something important to work on and not to bother him – eliciting a grumble of ‘those songs are a bloody waste of time’ from his dad, which he promptly ignored – Jonghyun had escaped to his bedroom and shut the door for the day.

It had been a couple of long months since Jonghyun had met SHINee and he was sad to say he had had no further contact with the group. He hadn’t expected to, of course, but somewhere, deep inside, he had had a dream that maybe, just maybe, he would.

This livestream was a celebration of everything that was happening with SHINee at the moment. Their music video – Jonghyun’s song! – had been released the day before and the SHINee documentary was soon to air as well. The fans had been ecstatic that SHINee were back on their screens and the group seemed more than happy to remain there for a little while longer.

Loading the livestreaming website, Jonghyun watched as a stream of comments went through the chat box, despite the video not yet being live. Jonghyun didn’t join in the conversations himself. He was planning to ask a few questions to SHINee but he didn’t see any reason to get involved in the maelstrom of comments currently spamming the chat. Many of them were just people freaking out over the fact  that SHINee were doing this and many more were people wondering when it would start.

The blonde grinned widely as his favourite people in the world appeared on the screen, looking happy and composed. The fiour of them were sat at a plain table in a clean, white room. The only decoration was a large poster on the back wall which depicted the jacket photograph of their most recent album. It was a simple set but, Jonghyun supposed, this was probably all that was necessary for a live stream. As long as the SHINee members themselves were present, this event was almost guaranteed to be a success.

“Hello everyone, we are SHINee!” They chorused, smiling into the camera.

Taemin leant forward from his place on Minho’s right, dislodging the taller boy’s arm from his shoulders as he moved and grabbing onto Onew’s thigh for balance. This action wasn’t visible on screen, due to the presence of the table, however, the movement of his arm gave it away well enough. “Hi guys and welcome to our celebratory live stream, thing!”

Rolling his eyes at the youngest member of the group, Onew took over speaking as Key, who sat on the far left, started looking at something on the laptop placed on the desk in front of him – prompting a flurry of ‘I LOVE YOU KEY’’s to flood the chat for a moment. “So, this live stream is a celebration of our new album release. Because this album was so influenced by the fans, we thought this would be a fun way to show our appreciation for all of you.” He said, smiling genially and making Jonghyun’s heart flutter. The other man was still so enchanting. Jonghyun had thought the feelings that had arisen post-meeting the singer in person would have faded a little by now but that apparently wasn’t the case. If anyone had asked the blonde what any of the other members were doing whilst Onew was speaking, Jonghyun honestly wouldn’t have been able to say. “Today, Key has volunteered to read through the questions and select the ones that seem interesting. So if he doesn’t read yours out, it’s all on him.”

“Hey!” Key protested. “You guys told me what sort of questions you prefer, it’s on you as much as it’s on me.”

“Also be aware,” Onew continued, ignoring the complaining of his group mate and the snickers of the two youngest from his left, “that the chat is being monitored by a team of moderators that will ban you if you spam, ask inappropriate questions, or are judged to be in any way not beneficial to the overall live stream.” The group leader finished, with a serious look on his face before he grinned, his eyes shrinking to small crescents in a way that Jonghyun found incredibly cute. “Now that boring stuff is out the way, shall we start?”

“Obviously.” Minho agreed, from the end of the row. “Should we introduce ourselves, in case people don’t know us?”

“Hi!” Taemin chirped, cutting off anything further Minho may have been about to say, “My name is Taemin and I am the youngest member of SHINee and the main dancer.”

Rolling his eyes at the younger boy, Minho spoke once more, “As I was saying before someone,” here he side-eyed Taemin in a way that was sure to be gifed several hundred times in the next few days by many a fan and shared around by many more, “interrupted me: My name is Minho and I am the rapper of the group.”

“’The rapper’,” Key mimicked the other boy’s deep voice in a remarkably accurate imitation, “what am I, a fish?”

Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, Minho grinned at the group’s diva. “Sorry.”

“Whatever, loser.” Key scoffed. Though, to any fan that knew SHINee quite well it was clear he wasn’t serious. “I’m Key and apparently I’m a fish, now.”

Onew snorted ungracefully before he took over speaking, chuckles making their way into his speech in a way that made Jonghyun internally squeal – he had reached new levels of creepy fan here, he was aware, but as long as no one was around to see it he could pretend it hadn’t happened later. “I’m SHINee’s leader, Onew and we’re here today to promote our new album, Romeo, and to answer any burning questions you guys may have.”

“Talking about questions,” Key chimed in, “This might be a good one to start with.” Clearing his throat dramatically and sitting up straighter, he began to speak in what Jonghyun could only assume was meant to be a professional manner, “’Did you ever expect SHINee to become so big?’ I paraphrased obviously. Keyholic – love the name by the way – your text speak is hard to read. That’s a note to everyone else here too,” The diva of the group said, his hand perches on his hip as he leant towards the camera in mock sternness, “proper sentences are more likely to be read out.” The man winked at the camera as he finished his sentence.

“Nope.” Taemin said, ignoring Key’s little aside and answering the question directly, popping the p and leaning back cutely in his chair he played absently with his hair as he spoke. Jonghyun rolled his eyes at the younger man; he was really playing up the cute angle today. He was smart, he knew what worked for him and what would make the fans happy. However, after meeting the group, Jonghyun could say with confidence that his belief was right. He truly believed that, although their on screen personas were mostly accurate to their real personalities, there were many occasions where they played up a certain angle to please the fans. It was necessary, he realised, and he actually really appreciated the effort they put in. Even if they were having a bad day, they still presented a happy side of themselves to the cameras. It must take impressive self-control for them to do that. Jonghyun knew that when he was in a bad mood, everyone else was too. He wasn’t good at hiding his true feelings, at all.

 “A little.” Minho said, quieter than the teen next to him, his voice serious and his eyes focused on the camera. “In that naive way all kids think they’re going to be famous. But as I got older, I guess I still don’t know how it actually happened and I lived it.”

“Me either.” Key agreed, looking away from the laptop screen as he spoke.

“I’m just glad I got to this point with so many wonderful people.” Onew said, looking around at his group mates and then meaningfully into the camera and presumably behind it to the cast and crew. “Without the staff or you guys, we would be nothing. This is as much your achievement as it is ours. I am so thankful every day that you are here with us and support our dreams the whole way.”

As Jonghyun listened to the other man’s impassioned speech, he realised once again exactly why he had fallen in love with this man. Not as a fan, as he had initially believed, not as a celebrity crush as he had tried so hard to convince himself, but as a person and a man. The man had such a pure heart and was honestly thankful for everything he had and received. He was the most beautiful thing in the world to the blonde.

The chat moved quickly, with many questions flashing across the screen every second but Key did a good job of keeping up and managed to dig the good questions from the heap of mundane or just plain odd ones. He also somehow, managed to select Jonghyun’s questions every single time. Jonghyun didn’t ask anything too deep or meaningful, merely little things that he had always been interested in knowing, yet the sassy rapper would read each and every one out.

The first question of Jonghyun’s that Key read out almost caused the blonde to faint – if he had been of weaker constitution he probably would have. As it was his heart began to race as he heard his online name pass the lips of his favourite idols.

“Here’s one from BlingBling.” Key chuckled, winking at Onew in a way that both confused and excited Jonghyun. The way he put emphasis on his screen name and the pointed look he gave SHINee’s leader had to mean something, right? “He asks, what are your ideal room arrangements in the dorm?” Key read and, as the others legitimately looked to be thinking about it, he rolled his eyes before continuing to speak, “Well, clearly ideal would be a room each. Taemin snores,” He began, counting off on his fingers as he mentioned each member, “Onew sleeps too much and I don’t want the job of waking him up every morning and Minho has this weird thing of going to the gym at stupid O'clock in the morning. So my own room would be heaven.”

“I don’t know,” Onew said, softly, “I don’t mind sharing. I don’t know who would be best to share a room with, though. Minho, maybe, he’s quietest in the morning.”

“Except when he’s kicking us as he walks past,” Taemin grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting. “I’d wanna room to myself too.”

Minho just shrugged. “Taemin, I guess.”

“Maknae room!” Taemin cheered, exaggeratedly, hugging the second youngest member of the group. This prompted Minho to push him off, so he could regain his personal space. In response, Taemin resorted to the childish act of sticking out his tongue.

That question and the responses had seemed rather inane to most people – although many appreciated the 2min interaction and several enjoyed the embarrassed looking Onew that resulted when Key whispered something that was apparently scandalous into the leader’s ear as the two youngest spoke – however, several people did notice the familiarity with which the band said the person’s screen name and the fact that they had clearly stated that BlingBling was male. That probably wouldn’t have been a big issue and would likely have blown over as a slip of the tongue or the group just getting comfortable with their fans, however, Key brought every one of BlingBling’s questions up to the group and made a point of mentioning his screen name almost every time.

Jonghyun didn’t notice any of this. He was far too excited by the fact that the group were talking about him – albeit his online persona – and were answering his questions. His inner fanboy was in heaven and he was loving every second of this.

The questions kept moving on and soon someone asked one that Jonghyun found himself incredibly interested in hearing the answer to – for purely selfish reasons: “’What was the inspiration for the album name Romeo?’

“Juliette.” Onew said, clearly thinking how to phrase his answer but probably just confusing the audience with his strange proclamation. “That’s quite interesting actually. You all know that there was a competition to write a song for us, yeah? Well the submitted song was called Juliette. There were other songs already written for the album and the submitted song fit really well with all of these thematically –part of the reason it was chosen, I guess. It is a really good song, too. There wasn’t even meant to be a music video or anything but it was just that good.”

“What this guy is rambling about, is that the submitted song was called Juliette and everyone involved in the making of the album liked it so much we sort of stole it and built our concept around it. Romeo and Juliette.” Key summarised, chuckling. “So thanks for that Jonghyun. We owe you one.”

Jonghyun internally celebrated; his pride in that song was still at an all-time high and having it mentioned in a live chat like this was really gratifying. Although all four of them had told him they liked it before, it was nice to have it recognised in a public setting like this.

Following that, for a little while, the questions were nearly all about Jonghyun. Many were innocent questions like: “Are you still in contact?” (Jonghyun was very sad the answer was no, although Key’s ‘not really’ had caught his attention as it didn’t sound entirely definite – that may just have been wishful thinking on his part, however). Others were about him being male. Even more were about whether his claiming to be a fan in the documentary were real or not.

The group were very good at answering those questions diplomatically. They didn’t say a single thing that shed Jonghyun in a bad light, in fact they praised him a lot more than he felt he deserved, and they were 100% positive about the experience.

Soon enough, however, the questions moved back to the group, the fans caring more about their idols than some fan who won a competition. Since this was such a rare event, the fans present in the chat were not going to let this opportunity to ask their favourite people all the burning questions they had. Even Jonghyun, once the talk about him had died down – a part of the stream he stopped asking questions in because that’s just awkward – went back to asking simple questions about favourite foods and other such things. Jonghyun paid far more attention to Onew's answers than any of the other members, as was the nature of biases.

Soon enough, two hours had passed and the group were done for the day. They all looked willing to keep going, however, it was clear that the behind the scenes crew wished them to wrap up. The way Onew kept looking behind camera and nodding was a clear indication that something was happening back stage. So, wrapping up a few final questions, the group wished their fans goodbye.

“Thank you so much for coming to listen to us ramble for two whole hours,” Onew grinned, his eyes once again becoming little slits with the force of his smile. “I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did and I hope you consider buying our new album. We put a lot of work into it and I think it’s really good.”

“Yeah!” Taemin cheers, grabbing onto Minho and Onew’s arms and linking with them, “We tried really hard to make this or best album yet and I think we managed it, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.”

“Until next time,” Minho grinned.

“We are SHINee!” The group finished off, doing their signature pose as they introduced themselves.

From there the screen went blank and the number of viewers started to rapidly decrease now the event was over. Jonghyun grinned to himself. That was everything he had imagined it would be. He couldn’t have been happier to see the group again, even if it was through a screen. Due to their recording, they hadn’t been doing shows or signings recently, so Jonghyun had barely seen any signs of them since he met them in person three months ago and he was starting to miss their faces. They had been a constant in his life since they debuted and it was strange that, since getting closer to them – in the smallest way – he had actually seen less of them since then.

Reclining back on his bed and placing his laptop beside him, Jonghyun grinned sappily as he thought about how fantastic all the members looked and how nice they all were. If his thoughts strayed to one certain leader more than they did to any other member, well, that was just a fact of life. He wasn’t going to regret that in any way.

 

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CHAPTER NOTES: I really like writing SHINee. They’re fun characters to play with. Especially Taemin.