The sunrays enter Jinki’s room through his floor-to-ceiling window and thin white curtains. Jinki yawns and rubs his eyes, hesitant to wake up for a second. He throws the covers off his body and makes his way to the washroom.

He hears his mother’s naggings from the kitchen downstairs and sighs. He buttons up his white shirt and takes his belongings: a simple black backpack, his laptop and phone. Jinki makes no sound as he walks down the stairs, his mother’s nagging getting louder as he approaches the kitchen.

“… and stop giving your tutors trouble!” Mrs. Lee finishes and continues to make sandwiches for Taemin. Sitting at the dining table is Taemin, her younger son who in his second year of high school. From what he could make out from his bedroom, Jinki concludes that Taemin has driven another tutor crazy due to his mischievous ways. Jinki pulls out a chair opposite of his brother and smiles gently. Taemin reciprocates with his cheeky one. 

Mrs. Lee stops scolding her younger son, tired of having to nag at him. “Why can’t you be more like your brother? I never had to worry about him, even from young!”

Taemin rolls his eyes and continues eating his rice. “Mum, let Taemin be. He’s a wild spirit, something we should congratulate rather than criticize.” Onew says, taking sips from his morning coffee. Mrs. Lee gestures to him that he could start eating, and he digs in.

Taemin, with his mouth full of rice, says, “See? Hyung knows me best!” Mrs. Lee turned around to glare at Taemin. The teenager avoids her glare and turns his attention back to his rice. Jinki softly asks Taemin to hurry up, so that he could send him to school quickly. The brothers finish their breakfasts and they left the house.

Jinki pulls up at his usual spot and walks towards the lecture hall. As students pass by, he greets them with a slight bow, and stops to have small chats with lecturers when they see him in the hallways. He enters and walks up rows of empty benches, and sits down at his usual spot. Moments later, another man enters. His black boots make soft thuds as he walks on the carpeted floor. He sits behind Jinki, and slumps on the table. Jinki hesitates for a minute, before turning back to greet the man.

“Hi Jonghyun.” Jinki says.

The man – Jonghyun – looks up with sleepy eyes. He blinks twice before replying, “Hey, Jinki.”

“How’s the song coming along?”

“Don’t know. It’s tough to form a song with just ‘You’ve worked hard’, and I’m lacking inspiration lately.” Jonghyun replies. He sits up, leaning against his table. “You? Any progress on your side?”

Jinki shakes his head, and the project partners sigh deeply. Soon after, a few students streamed in, and groups of students follow. The lecturer enters the class, and the project mates focus on their own work.

Night falls, and Jinki drives home after a dinner with Jonghyun. He enters the house, hearing his mother’s gentle voice as she asks Taemin how his day went. Jinki coughs, signaling his return. “Oh Jinki-ah,” Mrs. Lee says. “You’re back. Go have a shower and rest, yeah? You can tutor Taemin after that.” Jinki nods and walks to the stairs.

He glances back at the kitchen, looking at Taemin with what seems like a mix of jealousy and guilt.

“What did you have for lunch? Did you eat enough?” Mrs. Lee asks.

“I had rice, lots of meat and kimchi soup. I ate the extra sandwiches you made, to keep myself full.” Taemin replies, laughing as he continues to stuff his face with bread. 

Jinki leaves and walks upstairs to his room. He quickly takes a bath, and sits at his table. Picking up his pen and paper, Jinki quickly scribbles down some words. He stared at them, as if hypnotized by his own writing. He shakes his head and grabs his phone. He scoots over to his keyboard and begins to play a few keys. Once satisfied, Jinki presses the record button on his phone’s recorder app and starts singing with piano accompaniment.

When will I hear from you?

The words that I’ve always wanted to hear

After a long, tiring day

As I return home

“You have worked hard, you have really toiled”

Are these words that difficult for you?

Jinki stays still for a long time, until he realizes that his phone is still on recording mode. He quickly presses the stop button and sighs. He shakes his head to bring him back to reality, and sends the voice recording to Jonghyun with a message. “Just got some inspiration, hope you can come up with something too ^^”

A knock on the door. Jinki opens it and finds Taemin outside, a textbook and a stack of papers in his hand. Jinki finds himself unable to smile at the younger, and dismisses it as being tired when asked. You’re the older one, you shouldn’t harbour such thoughts and emotions. Jinki begins helping Taemin with his schoolwork, praying that the younger would be able to do well now that his own brother is his tutor.

“So as the atoms vibrate, they cause the neighbouring atom to vibrate as well. This allows sound to travel. So now, why can’t sound travel in space?” Jinki asks. He looks at Taemin, who stares back with a blank face. Taemin contemplates for a moment, looking through his notes. A light bulb lights up in his head, and Taemin answers, “There are no atoms in space!”

Jinki laughs lightly. “That’s a vague answer, but you’re getting it. See, it’s 2 marks, you need to explain and not simply state. Sound requires a medium, a matter, to travel, and since space is made up of vacuum, there are no forms of matter for sound to travel.”

“So Star Wars is fake?” Taemin asks, pouting.

“It’s not entirely fake, because depending on the size of the explosion… Okay fine,” Jinki stops, seeing how confused Taemin is becoming. “Just know that sound needs a medium to travel. There are exceptional cases but you’ll learn that probably next year.”

Taemin shrugs, accepting the explanation. Jinki yawns, and looks at the clock. He picks up Taemin’s textbook to see what’s next to teach, and Taemin asks worriedly, “Hyung, are you okay? I think you need to sleep or do your own work.”

Jinki’s eyes widen in surprise. Taemin continues, “You should get some rest, you don’t look good.” Taemin stands up and packs his things. “You’ve been tutoring me for the past one and a half hours, I think I can manage the rest on my own. It’s just one more chapter anyway.”

“Oh… oh okay.” Jinki smiles at his brother, giving him a pat on the back. “Don’t go back to your room and start skiving okay?” Taemin argues that he wouldn’t, and the brothers share a laugh.

“You’ve worked hard, hyung.” Taemin says as he leaves Jinki’s room, leaving Jinki to stand there like a rock. Jinki is used to such perfunctory words, carrying hardly any neither meaning nor weight. This time, Jinki is touched by the words, and feels the immense weight from a short greeting. With a smile, Jinki closes his bedroom door and continues his schoolwork, until he falls asleep on his desk.

The next day, Jinki arrives at the classroom, and is pleasantly surprised to find Jonghyun sitting at the corner of the room. Wearing his usual black and white outfit combination, Jonghyun’s eyes never leave his laptop screen. His orbs glisten with child-like excitement, yet they have such manly seriousness it’s hard not to be curious at what Jonghyun is working on. Jinki moves over, making his presence known to Jonghyun. The latter looks up, and greets Jinki with a smile. “What’s up? I haven’t seen you so serious in my life, even though I’ve worked with you for two projects already.” Jinki teases.

Jonghyun hands Jinki his headphones, and Jinki puts them on. Jonghyun presses the spacebar and Jonghyun’s voice fill the headphones, with a familiar piano accompaniment.

My shoulders, my two stubby hands,

I hope they become your warm blanket at the end of the day

I want to match breaths with you naturally

“I tried so many times,” Jonghyun says as Jinki takes off the headphones. “but this is the best I could come up with.”

“It’s really nice.” Jinki says tiredly.

“Are you alright?” Jonghyun asks. This stuns Jinki momentarily, but Jinki shows his wide grin and crescent-shaped eyes, and Jonghyun is relieved.

“I guess it’s progress.” Jinki says. Jonghyun notices the look on Jinki’s face, but keeps his words to himself. Instead, he says, “Let’s work on this tonight.” Jinki agrees, and the two go about their day, attending classes and meeting different project mates.

Jonghyun sits in the empty lecture hall alone, and checks his watch. 8pm. He sits there, waiting for Jinki to come. He thinks about Jinki’s demo, and wonders what kind of life Jinki has at home. He thinks about how he must have suffered as he carries that ‘perfect child’ image.

Jonghyun thinks about his own family. A happy one, albeit slightly incomplete. His mother always asked him how his day went, if he had eaten, if he was tired. His older sister would always nag at him in a cute way, asking him to eat and be careful on the road, since he rides a motorcycle. He thinks about how annoying the two women can get at times, but smiles because they openly express their concern for him.

He wonders if being such a perfect child is stressful for Jinki. Jinki, when you think of the name, you think of almost perfect grades, a handsome face and ‘the child of two professors.’ However, Jonghyun sees Jinki as more than those labels. He notices the lines on the slightly older man’s face, the worn-out expression when night falls. He sees the troubles of the man, he sees the interesting character behind his bland image. He thinks of himself in Jinki’s position, and idea strikes him like lightning. He takes out a pen and paper, and begins jotting down some words.

9pm. Jinki enters the lecture hall, apologizing for the delay. Jonghyun smiles and says, “I think I wrote out quite a bit of lyrics, and it’s great progress!”

Jinki excitedly sits down beside Jonghyun and looks at the paper. He gestures for Jonghyun to sing. Jonghyun’s beautiful voice fills the room, and the large hall adds a nice reverb to the acapella.

Even though at the end of the day you cannot cry or laugh as much as you like

I’ll be by your side

You can whine, cry and laugh like a child

I will be there for you as you let yourself free

You’ve worked hard, you’ve really toiled

Jinki claps, and praises Jonghyun’s singing abilities. “You’re not too bad yourself.” Jonghyun says, cheeks reddening from embarrassment.

“Ah, but I really don’t have anything to show.” Jinki says, stretching.

“Then let’s just talk,” Jonghyun says. “That’s how ideas flow, no?”

“Maybe.” Jinki says.

“I’m curious,” Jonghyun says, his lips. “How are you like at home?”

Jinki is stunned, but shows no other reaction. He sighs, “Where do I begin?”

Jonghyun leans back against the chair and says, “What’s your relationship with your family members like?”

Jinki asks, “Why the question though?” He shifts in his seat uncomfortably.

“Then I’ll start with mine.” Jonghyun says. His eyes glisten, and Jinki gets himself ready for Jonghyun’s child-like rumbling. “You know I have an older sister and my mum. My father left us when I was like 3 years old, so I grew up without a father. Thankfully, my sister is like a boy, and I have a masculine figure to look up to.” Jinki laughs, a sweet laughter that Jonghyun has never heard before. It bounced off the ceiling and walls of the lecture hall, filling the room with the innocence and sincerity of the laugh. Jonghyun smiles dumbly at Jinki for a while, before continuing his story.

“They nag at me a lot, and always ask how I was at the end of the day. Sometimes it gets annoying, especially if I had a bad day, but I’m thankful.”

“You should.” Jinki adds in subconsciously. Startled by his own reaction, Jinki quickly adds, “I mean, you sh- Sorry.”

Jonghyun shakes his head. He looks right into Jinki’s eyes, freezing the latter in his position. “I wanted to know how you were, because of your demo you sent the yesterday.”

“It got me thinking, and I got curious. Worried even.” Jonghyun admits. Jinki stares at the man before him. He wonders why anyone would be curious and worried about his wellbeing. This beautifully handsome man in front of him, getting attention everywhere he goes due to his ridiculously gorgeous face, talking and livening up the room wherever there are groups of people, is actually curious about the plain, introvert top student that Jinki is. This fact is baffling to Jinki, even after staring at Jonghyun in silence for a long minute. Jonghyun tilts his head to his left, expecting an answer or response from the bunny looking man in front of him.

“Why are you so shocked?” Jonghyun asks. This brings Jinki back to earth, and Jinki takes another minute to process his answer. He looks at Jonghyun again, and finds reassurance, comfort even, in the man’s eyes.

“I…” Jinki starts. “I’m just not used to people being concerned about me.” Jinki retells the stories from when he was a kid. “From young, I’ve always been able to take care of myself really well. It’s like a gift from God. I never ever got my parents worried, and before I could become the child I was supposed to be, whiny and normal, my brother came along. From the beginning, I was told to be the responsible older brother for Taemin, I was told to be the reliable older brother for Taemin, I was told to be the role model for that little brat.” Jinki chuckles at his choice of vocabulary, and continues, “Safe to say I was jealous whenever my mother would be all over Taemin when he falls and cries. I wonder should things be different if I had acted like Taemin when I was a little kid.”

“This image stuck with me as I grew up. I wanted to be the best brother for Taemin. And that’s how I ended up being ‘reliable’, ‘dependable’, and ‘gentle’ in everyone’s eyes. Every time I harbour childish thoughts of wanting to be… babied, guilt rushes in to drown away the thoughts, because I was too old for that, and it feels wrong to even think that way.” Jinki’s fingers twitch, and he clenches his fists. Jonghyun reaches out, his stubby fingers wrapping around Jinki’s. Jinki looks up, surprised by the sudden contact, but cannot react because of Jonghyun’s tearful gaze.

“I understand.” Jonghyun whispers.

Jinki realizes in that instant, that Jonghyun is simply just a compassionate man, and smiles. He whispers a word of gratitude, and wipes off the tears threatening to fall from Jonghyun’s eyes. Jonghyun remains still, letting the broken man take care of him. Jonghyun looks up at Jinki, who smiles gently back with a tear rolling slowly down his cheek. Jonghyun uses his thumb to wipe it off. “I’m sorry for asking.”

“It’s okay. It’s nice to let it out.” Jinki says. He looks away, and his eyes fall on the notepad in between the two of them. He picks it up and sings. Jonghyun smiles, and closes his eyes. Jinki’s voice is undeniably sweet and gentle, just like the being he is. He finishes singing, and Jonghyun enthusiastically claps.

They sit in silence for a moment, until Jinki speaks. “Thank you, Jonghyun. No one has really shown me so much concern, aside from Taemin, though he does that only once in a while.”

“That’s crazy. Come sit with me for lunch next time, or we can just sit somewhere else together. Don’t let your image chase others away, let people know you better.” Jonghyun says. The sound of distant thunder forces the two to leave the comfort and warmth of the lecture hall, and they go on their separate ways after multiple goodbyes.

Back in his room, Jonghyun writes the song out, hoping to complete it and present it to Jinki. After spending the rest of the night writing lyrics, he puts his pen down and looks at his clock. He quickly plays the melody on his keyboard, careful not to wake his family up. When he is done he glances at the clock again, done with the day’s work. Well, two hours of sleep beats getting none.

He wakes up late, of course. Jonghyun runs out of the house without eating breakfast and climbs on his motorcycle. He zooms his way to school, careful not to exceed speed limits (he’s a good citizen) and avoiding cars. He reaches class right on time, and smiles at Jinki who had saved a seat for him. He slides into the empty spot beside Jinki, mumbling an apology and a word of thanks. In the middle of lecture, Jonghyun slips a note to Jinki, and they both smile.

Lecture ends, and the day was free for the students for there are no other classes for the day. Jonghyun and Jinki stay behind, but not for long. Jonghyun’s rumbling stomach sends the two of them to a café near the campus, and Jinki watches as Jonghyun chomps down his huge sandwich. “Ahh, the taste of this is beautiful.”

“That’s because you’re hungry.” Jinki teased. “Now that you’re done, what’s the ‘90% masterpiece’ you wrote?”

Jonghyun quickly takes out his notepad, and a sudden thought hits him. “I just realized we both love using notepads. Such old fashion Romeos we are.”

“What does Romeo have to do with this?” Jinki asks.

“Nothing. Anyway, I got most of it down, and I played it on my keyboard. I saved it to my phone, a tedious process. Here, have a listen. There are some blank parts, I’ll tell you where.” Jonghyun asks for Jinki’s earpieces, and share an ear bud each. Listening carefully, they engage in serious discussion, or Jonghyun engages in a one-man discussion. Jinki pays attention to the lyrics, blocking out some of Jonghyun’s enthusiastic ramblings. He smiles, the lyrics giving him strength he never knew he had.

“So, how is it? It’s still incomplete and I might have over-estimated the state of completion-” Jonghyun says a millisecond the melody ended.

“No, it’s really nice. And I think I have ideas for the missing portions. Let me listen to the piano a couple more times, and I’ll get it out in a while.” Jinki says, grabbing the notepad and pen from Jonghyun. And so, the two sit quietly at the corner of the café, with Jinki concentrating on the song playing through his earpieces and trying to fit the syllables in.

Jonghyun takes his time looking at Jinki and studies his features. Jonghyun gazes at Jinki’s small but beautiful eyes. His eyes hold so much depth, as if he held the world in his eyes. The way he plays with his lips makes Jonghyun smile. ‘Cute.’ He thinks. He wonders how much depth does this little gentle being hold, having worked with him twice the year before. He continues gazing at the angel before him for the next two hours, wondering why it doesn’t bore him.

Jinki breaks into a grin, and looks up at Jonghyun. He hands Jonghyun the notepad, and starts singing softly. They started to sing louder and louder with the piano melody playing in their ears.

Like the water in a bathtub that hugs you warmly

Without a single gap

At the end of the day which was filled with embarrassing mistakes

You were there waiting for me

The small shoulders of yours, the two small hands of yours

They become the warm blanket that hugs me at night

You’ve worked hard, you’ve really toiled

I hope that to you, my shoulders and stubby hands

Become the warm blanket that hugs you at night after an exhausting day

I want to match breaths with you naturally

Onew continues the next stanza on his own, and Jonghyun pays full attention to his voice and the lyrics.

At the end of the day I cannot laugh or cry as much as I would like

But as long as I’m with you

I will whine, cry and laugh like a child

And meet the awkward side of myself

Jinki stops singing, and the rest of the cafe burst into claps. The girls swoon over the handsome men with beautiful vocals, screaming and squirming without shame. Jonghyun and Jinki look down in embarrassment, but Jonghyun quickly stands up and bows to the ‘audience’, earning more cheers from the people (mainly the females). Jinki quickly packs up and pulls Jonghyun out of the store, and Jonghyun chuckles while nodding in appreciation at the girls as they pass.

“I guess we’re more or less done with our project. The deadline’s in a week, and that’s more than enough time to polish things up. I’ll sing everything and send you a demo tonight, and you can work on the piano since I’m not that good with it. Deal?” Jonghyun asks, stretching as they walk down the street. He rubs his stomach, clearly still famished despite the sandwich earlier. They stop to eat black bean noodles at a nearby Chinese restaurant, and chat heartily over a simple lunch.

Back home, Jinki enters his house with a huge grin. He announces his presence slightly louder than usual, causing Mrs. Lee to come out of the kitchen. “Why are you so happy today, Jinki?”

Jinki’s smile falters at the question, but it returns as quickly as it disappeared. “Nothing, my project mate and I finally almost done with our project. We’re left with composing, which I will be doing for the next two days or so.”

“That’s great. Go and wash up, I think you can skip on Taemin’s tutoring today.” Mrs. Lee says as she walks past Jinki into her room.

“Yes, mum.” Jinki says, a foolish smile on his face.

After coming out of the shower, Jinki receives a message from Jonghyun. He opens it, and Jonghyun’s sweet and emotional voice fills his room. “Crazy.” Jinki speaks his mind. “Crazy where this friendship is going. Ridiculous.” He laughs.

Then he notices the extra bit at the end, and smiles. He sits up, and stares at his phone for a while. Tears well his eyes, and he thanks the Lord for sending such a dear friend to him. A friend who understood him, even though no one else did. A friend who was a reassurance, a form of comfort, a reliable and dependable person he yearned to have as a child.

수고했어요, 정말 고생했어요

(You’ve worked hard, you’ve really toiled)

그댄

(You)
 

나의 자랑이죠
(Are my pride.)

I'm finally back! I wrote this quite some time ago but I never got around to post it up because I felt like it wasn't good enough. But after re-reading it several weeks later, I feel like this isn't as bad as I thought it was. Jongyu has been my OTP in SHINee for a while now, and I thought why not? I don't see much Jongyu love around, and I felt obliged to write something for them. It's not interesting, but that's how I imagine their interactions to be: sweet, mature, understanding. There's always that look of understanding between the two of them that I absolutely love, and since their personalities are rather on the opposite ends, it feels like they become a slightly different version of themselves whent they are together. Either way, Jongyu is a ship that deserves to be loved ^^

I hope you liked this fic! Sorry if I made Taemin the airhead teenager but it kind of fits the story so... I'll give Taemin a better role in the future haha!

Thanks for reading~