Taemin ran towards Jonghyun’s body. He wondered how hard he’d fallen. He began to shout for the other guys as he jumped onto the lower level of the stage. Why had they snuck out to this stage in the first place? It wasn’t like they’d never seen a stage before.
“Guys! Onew! Minho! Kibum! Hurry up and get down here! Jonghyun fell.” Taemin shouted as he knelt beside Jonghyun.
Minho got there first closely followed by Key and Onew. He looked down, shock painting his face as he saw Jonghyun lying on the ground, motionless. Key froze when he caught up then laughed.
“He’s playing with us!” They watched Jonghyun for awhile.
“Okay jokes over Jjongah.” Taemin said playfully. There was still no response.
 Minho jumped down the two meters to get to Taemin and Jonghyun, not bothering to use the stairs. Onew jumped down as well. Key put his hand up to cover his mouth as tears welled up.
“Don’t touch him Taemin! We could make it worse.” Onew warned, his voice raspy with worry.
Key quickly jumped down at the secret fear that it was worse than it looked. Ignoring the jolt of pain up his legs from the high jump, Key ran and knelt beside Minho.
“Go call someone to help.” Key said to Taemin who nodded and rushed off to find someone close by at that time of night. Onew got out his phone and started to dial 119.
“Is he breathing?” Key asked as Minho leaned his head down towards Jonghyun’s mouth.
“Hello. We need help. A friend of mine fell down and hit his head.” Onew said in a panicked tone to the attendant on the other end.
Minho strained his senses to hear or feel any breath coming from Jonghyun’s mouth.
“PLEASE come quickly!” Onew begged once he’d told them the address. “Wait wait, what should we do in the meantime?” Onew paused as he listened to the woman. “I think he might have a concussion.”
Minho’s eyes teared up. Jonghyun wasn’t breathing. He moved his hand quickly to Jonghyun’s neck, feeling for the carotid artery that the singer was so famous for popping whenever he hit the high notes. Key looked at Minho’s face with a sinking feeling. Minho’s tears brimmed over as he looked at Onew. “He has no pulse.” He whispered, making Onew take a more violently insistent tone with the woman. Key stood up and turned around, pacing up and down in a controlled two-foot radius, not able to look at Jonghyun’s body.  
“He has no pulse! Isn’t there something we can do!?” Onew pleaded, listening to the lady warn him against doing anything. “We’re not mistaken!” Onew was about to carry on shouting when he calmed his expression. He listened to the woman’s questions. “He fell off of a stage…. Two meters… I don’t know, I think he hit his head.” Onew’s voice cracked.

Minho took Jonghyun’s hand into his own, watching his chest carefully for any sign of rise and fall motion. He listened to the sound of Key’s pacing footsteps and Onew’s frantic pleas for help. Minho looked back to Key with his hand held out. “Kibumie.” Minho said quietly. Key took his hand tightly and knelt beside him, taking Jonghyun’s other hand so that they formed a chain.
‘Dear God, please let him live. Please, please, please.’ Key prayed, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. Taemin slowed down as he saw Minho and Key kneeling over Jonghyun, crying. “The security locked us in while we were hiding from them.” Taemin said, losing hope. They’d have to wait for someone to cut the locks off the door before anyone could help Jonghyun.
“What’s happened?” Taemin asked, staring at Jonghyun and the streaks of tears on Key and Minho’s faces. Key tried to talk but his voice failed him, shutting down into silent shrills. Minho looked up at Taemin with pain on his face. “He’s dead.” Minho said what everyone was fearing to be true.
“You don’t know that yet!” Onew shouted, letting the stifled tears begin to fall. “No, no, please stay on the phone.” Onew continued to plea with the woman asking if the ambulance could cut through a lock to get to them. He heard the first good news since Jonghyun had fallen. They’d be able to get in since they were there already. Onew hung up and grabbed Taemin’s arm as he ran towards the entrance that the ambulance was at. The woman had told him which road they’d taken. They ran off as fast as their hearts were beating.

Key and Minho sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, listening for the ambulance, listening for Jonghyun’s breath to stutter to life, listening to the sound of each other’s muted cries, listening to anything beside the painful silence coming from the boy lying in front of them. As if they’d been there for an eternity they didn’t know exactly how to react when the medical team came with a stretcher. The men checked Jonghyun for a pulse while Minho and Key were forced to leave Jonghyun’s side. The man shook his head at the other EMT and they picked Jonghyun up and carefully placed him onto the stretcher. The last thing Key felt was Jonghyun’s cold hand slipping out of his own. The boys followed close by as the medics rushed towards the ambulance. When they got there they loaded Jonghyun and the stretcher into the vehicle and climbed in to begin CPR.
“Wait. You have to let us come with you.” Onew reasoned.
“I’m sorry, you aren’t allowed in the ambulance.”
“Can you at least tell us which hospital you’re taking him to?” Key asked in a deep voice.
“Asan Medical Centre.” Then the man shut the door and the ambulance drove away with the siren on full blast. The boys stood in stunned silence for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what had just happened in the past 20 minutes.
“We have to get there!” Minho said, taking out his phone and calling their manager.
“Jin. There’s been an accident.” he whimpered into the receiver.
______
SHINee sat in a row of seats in the private section’s waiting area of Asan Medical Centre in Seoul at 2 o’clock in the morning. Their eyes red and their hands linked, they prayed. Just 1 hour ago Jonghyun was joking around on the empty stage. Laughing at Taemin’s reaction when Minho’d jumped out and scared him.
Key listened to the sounds of all the machines in the ICU unit. He wondered why they were in ICU if it was merely a head injury. Jonghyun would be okay. He’d tell himself that and dismiss all other options. They were in ICU because Jin had dropped the idol card and insisted on the best care. That’s all it was.

Taemin watched Jin pace up and down in the hallway. He felt uneasy and looked away to a family who was sitting opposite them. Obviously too distraught to notice the idols in front of them.
A few minutes later a doctor came out to speak with Jin privately. Onew wondered if Jin was even the most qualified ‘family’ to deal with the doctors. They were Jonghyun’s family, not their manager.
SHINee sat on the edge of their seats, watching their managers body language as the doctor spoke with him. Jin turned and kicked a dustbin that was next to his leg, then he bent over and began to cry. They’d never seen Jin cry before.
The reactions varied between the boys. Taemin bawled, letting everyone around know how much pain he was in. Minho leaned over and hugged him. He’d never lost anyone in his life before. In fact, none of the SHINee members had ever lost someone extremely close to them. Not as close as Jonghyun. As their brother. Onew and Key stood up to kneel in front of Taemin and Minho. Jin rushed past them to get to the bathroom so they didn’t even have a chance to comfort him.

Minho stood up suddenly, surprising Taemin, Key and Onew. “Excuse me.” Minho’s voice fractured with the indescribable sadness. The doctor looked at him with kind eyes. “Please can we see him.”
The doctor nodded and opened the door as Minho pulled Taemin up. “We should be with him right now.”
The boys slowly lead into the room of their best friend. Onew didn’t want to look. He could already feel the denial begin to sink in.
The sound of the flat-lining hospital machine was almost too much to handle. Weren’t the nurses supposed to have switched that off already? They surrounded his bed. Jonghyun’s usually lively face was vacant of all emotion. They’d never see his inquisitive eyes again. Never see his oddly warm smile. Never hear his voice. Key lay down on the bed, crying silently. Taemin followed suit and soon the whole of SHINee was lying on a simple hospital bed. Jonghyun was still somewhat warm. They lay there crying too long to remember but not long enough to bring him back. A few nurses came in after awhile.
“I’m sorry but we have to take him away now.” One short woman said softly, obviously only following the orders of her supperiors. The boys reluctantly got up. Their eyes almost cried out beyond what they thought was imaginable. They were forced to leave the room. Each one stealing one last look at Jonghyun’s beautiful face to commit to memory.

Jin walked up to the boys. “What do I tell the fans?”

___

*I know I was supposed to warn people about the death-fic thing but what's the fun in that?

Did you cry? I only teared up while I was writing it. (Took only one afternoon to write ~airpunches~ which was amazing since it's only purpose was to get my creativity flowing for my other fic.) Made me quite depressed afterwards to imagine Jonghyun dying but I went with the dramatically correct ending.

Comments are very appreciated