Short - sorry!

Chapter 35

Ever since Taemin’s uality had been revealed, Jonghyun had been distant.  Not obviously so, but every action that he had taken towards his dongsaeng had been double checked and run through his head for how it would look rather than just jumping upon whatever thought ran through his head like he normally would have. 

He felt awful for the thoughts that he had had about Taemin and Key both.  He felt appalled at himself for having fed into the poison that his parents had seeped into his brain throughout his childhood.  He wanted to make it up to them but he didn’t know what to do.  How does one ask forgiveness for what they had thought? 

Jonghyun wanted to start over, a fresh start to his relationship with Taemin, Key and all of SHINee.

Taemin cautiously took the plainly wrapped gift from Jonghyun, looking very much like one who knew that they were taking a bomb into their possession.

Jonghyun did not look good.  He was paler and thinner than Taemin remembered him being, and his eyes seemed to overflow with pain and sadness.  Dark circles stood out heavily under his eyes and he swayed slightly on his feet.  Taemin didn’t know what was wrong with the singer, but he wasn’t in a good place it seemed. 

Jonghyun gave a weak smile, “Come on kiddo, it’s not y trapped or anything, just open it up.”  Jonghyun was shifting from one foot to the other, seemingly more anxious than any of them had ever seen him, and that was including during their debut.  He was hoping that maybe, this could be a road to forgiveness for him, just putting his foot in the door and trying to rebuild the relationship he had with s, fully accepting of everything this time. 

Taemin glanced at Key before his gaze returned to the antsy singer, giving a small smile of what he hoped was support; he searched for the seam in the paper.  Taemin tore off the wrapping paper as enthusiastically as he was able to considering his condition.  Revealing a book, he flipped it over to read the title, So Your Boyfriend is an Axe Murderer: and 101 other things you should ask about before things get serious…

Taemin couldn’t help but bust out in peals of laughter, which quickly evolved into coughing fits and pain throbbing through his side, but the cheering up had made it all worthwhile.  It was so ridiculous that Taemin couldn’t stop himself.  Even better was the unspoken gift.  Taemin knew that the book wasn’t the real present.  It was Jonghyun’s way of saying, without saying anything at all, that he was openly acknowledging the fact that Taemin has a boyfriend, openly acknowledging their relationship with each other, and accepting it.  Though the book looked funny too.    

At Taemin’s hacking coughs Key had jumped into action, sitting the boy up in the bed holding a pillow against the younger dancer’s chest, trying to ease his breathe through rubbing his back and making the maknae sip on some once-cold water that had been placed by his bed.

Jonghyun had winced when he heard the coughs and suddenly wanted to kick himself.  He had wanted to cheer Taemin up, not injure him further!  This was not going how he had planned at all.  Wallowing in his own misery he missed Key picking up the book which Taemin had dropped into his lap during the coughing fit.

“’So Your Boyfriend is an Axe Murderer…’” The diva mumbled while reading,“Ya!  Dino!”  Key exclaimed, rounding on the singer and holding the book aloft, almost like a weapon, “Oh please, I would never use anything as common an as axe and you know it.” 

There was a moment of silence in the room before all five of them collectively collapsed into laughter.

And the road to recovery began, for all of them.