Title: The Playroom
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Pairing: Sibling!JongTaeKey and OnHo
Disclaimer: I don’t own SHINee

Jonghyun considered the playroom his favorite part of the house. It was his world, his kingdom, his turf that he so graciously let his peasants occupy. As first born, he reserved the unspoken right of sovereign...or so he thought. His superiority was about to get tested.

Jonghyun marched into HIS room with his chest puffed out until he felt a sharp stab. He yelped, cradling his left foot as he fell, on the brink of tears, but, he wasn’t going to crack. Big kids don’t cry anyway. He had to set an example because he couldn’t let Taemin know he was weak. Not that it mattered; Taemin seemed oblivious, babbling to himself in the corner.

“Oh no,” Jonghyun groaned. He saw Key’s toy soldier prostrate and broken. If it was one thing he was not able to control, it was Key’s reactions. He’s seen how severe Key’s temper tantrums can get and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one, so naturally, he didn’t want to be responsible for breaking his toy. He figured Key would accuse him of committing the ultimate pet peeve of touching his stuff without permission.

Just then, the toilet flushed and Jonghyun knew he had thirty seconds before Key walked through that door. That gave Jonghyun enough time. He ran across the room, slipped the action figure in Taemin’s crib, and busied himself with a remote controlled car. Sure enough, the toddler took the bait as his eyes fixated on the foreign object. Taemin was already reaching for the toy when Key appeared.

“Hey Jong, have you seen—” Key said. He picked up the lone arm of the action figure left on the floor.  “What happened to my toy?”

Before he could stop himself, Jonghyun said, “I’m sorry! It was an accident.” His face contorted into disbelief by his own betrayal. He cursed because the plan was to blame Taemin, not tattle on himself. Now that he thought about it, he was foolish to deny breaking the toy since Taemin couldn’t climb out the crib yet.

“My toy…”

“C’mon Key, it was a stupid toy anyway. I’ll let…” He wasn’t sure what he was going to let Key do.

“That was my favorite toy!” Key wailed. Confused, Taemin dropped the toy and started crying as well.

“No, no, shh,” Jonghyun said. He scrambled to cover his hand over Key’s mouth but Key pushed his hands away and cried even louder.

It was too late. Jonghyun heard rapid thumping in the hallway despite the disorder and resigned to make himself become one with the wall. He stayed silent, watching his fathers run side-by-side into the room. The two men turned to each other. “Minho, go grab Taemin.” The older one said.  Minho crossed the room and picked up Taemin. He patted the baby’s small back while rocking side to side in a soothing, consoling manner. His other father approached Key by bending down to his eye level.

“Jinki, look,” Minho nodded towards the crib. Jonghyun eyes followed the direction spotting the slobbered soldier. He waited with bated breath watching Jinki for a reaction but Jinki turned back to Key instead. “I made your favorite pasta. The ones with the aliens in it. Let’s go,” He grabbed Key’s hand and guided him towards the door. “While you eat lunch, I’ll be fixing your soldier.” They stopped in the doorway.  “Does that sound okay?” Key sniffled and nodded. Before Key crossed the threshold, he dropped his act, turned back to Jonghyun and stuck his tongue out.

Jonghyun sputtered. In the midst of everything, his place of serenity was developing into a battlefield, a site Jonghyun would associate his downfall with. It left a bad taste in his mouth because he realized Key was now his equal.  Their conflict was the undertone of something more competitive, more threatening: sibling rivalry. This meant war.