Planning
The Little ThingsA few hours later, the smoke had cleared from the room. Onew and Taemin were still sleeping on the couch while the T.V. continued playing.
Taemin was passed out on Onew's body, both men from the waist up. Onew's eyelids drowsily lifted themselves. He blinked them rapidly, absorbing and processing the sight of his surroundings. He looked at the T.V. Was that on the entire time I was sleeping? He thought to himself. How long was I asleep?
He tried to get up but realized there was a weight that was holding him down. He tilted his head to his left side to see what was lying on top of him: a sleeping Taemin.
He had his arms wrapped around the leader. The latter scrambled out of the younger's grasp. Did they hit it off? The leader rubbed the back of his neck, thinking the situation a little too familiar. He remembered Taemin being just as shocked when they got drunk. Only this time, something was different.
Onew stopped rubbing his neck when he came across peculiar bumps. Hickeys. He looked over at Taemin's neck. The latter had them too. Onew sighed. Who knew weed could make you like that?
Onew panicked, brushing his fingers through his hair. What would Taemin think when he sees this? Scared? Embarassed? He sure was last time, when he thought something went down between them.
Unfortunately, Onew missed his chance to leave, because Taemin blinked awake and shot up. "Hyung??"
"Taemin..."
"Hyung I can explain-"
"Do you know what happened?"
"Hyung! What are those on your neck!?" Taemin noticed the bumps on the leader's neck. They resembled the marks Key got often when he was dating Minho.
"You have them too." Onew pointed out, hoping to make the situation less awkward. Instead, it had the opposite effect. "We should head back." He said abruptly as he stood up and searched for his shirt. Without hesitating, Taemin followed his lead and cleaned up.
On the way back to the dorm they were silent except for a few arbitrary exchanges.
"Taemin, you want me to drop you off at the studio?"
"No, take me to the dorm. We all gotta plan for Key's birthday."
"Any idea what we're doing?"
"Not a clue."
A few more minutes of silence passed before they spoke again. "Hey Taemin."
"Yea?"
"Thanks."
"Thanks? For what?"
"Last night."
Taemin froze. What about last night...
"I don't mean what we... did... I just mean thanks for inviting me over. I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time."
Taemin eased himself. "Oh. Sure thing." He smiled to himself. "We could do this again if you want. Hang out. Just the two of us." His small smile quickly disappeared. He didn't mean to make the talk awkward. "I mean, you know, since we almost always hang out as a group-"
"I know what you mean." Taemin sighed in relief. "I'd like that. Us hanging out. Just us."
"Yea." Taemin agreed. He smiled to himself again, relieved that Onew didn't take what he said the wrong way.
At the dorm.
The members sat in a circle in the middle of the living room.
"Alright," Jonghyun commenced the conversation. "Who's got ideas for Key's birthday?"
No one answered. "Come on," Jonghyun sighed. "Someone's gotta have something. We can't just let his birthday pass like this. Remember what happened last time we forgot?"
Taemin rolled his eyes. "Hyung, we didn't forget. We just didn't throw a big party or something. It's not our fault he wanted something extravagant."
Onew added, "It's funny cuz he even told us he didn't want us to make such a big deal out of it. Only to turn sour when we actually followed what he said."
Minho spoke up now, "But we should've known Key wanted something like that. You know Key likes it big and extraordinary."
Onew turned back toward the whole group. "Alright. We'll throw him a party right here. We'll surprise him."
"How will we get him here?" Taemin asked. "We're not promoting now. He has no reason to come here."
"I could ask him to pick something up for me." Minho suggested.
Jonghyun's eyes lit up. "Or we can throw it at his place!" He turned to face Minho. "Minho-ssi, you still know Key's password to get into his apartment, right?"
Minho felt three pairs of eyes on him. He thought to himself. "W-Well if he hasn't changed it after all this time... I could probably get in."
Jonghyun clapped his hands together. "So it's set. Kibum's apartment. Now we gotta plan this all out. Who's doing what? Someone's gotta make the cake, get decorations and a banner and stuff."
"How about this," Onew said, "Taemin and I will make the cake. You and Minho will prep the decorations."
Taemin looked at his hyung. "How are we gonna make a cake? We're not bakers."
Jonghyun smiled. "Just get one where the cake is already in batter form. All you have to do is add oil and eggs or something."
"Alright. We'll do that." Onew assured.
"So we'll start now?" Jonghyun asked.
"Yep. Taemin, let's get the cake."
Minho and Jonghyun stayed in the dorm while the other two went to the grocery store. The two in the dorm worked on a colorful banner with the words "Happy Birthday" on it. They also got streamers and set up the confetti. They talked quite a lot while they worked. At one point, Minho decided to ask something that has been bothering him for a while.
"Hyung, can I ask you something?"
"Anything. What is it?"
"How do you and Sekyung noona still keep in touch?"
"Keep in touch?"
"I-I mean stay together. You know, with the paparazzi and fans constantly following us."
Jonghyun smiled and leaned back when Sekyung came to his mind.
"We show each other as much love as we can. When we're active we can't see each other. If we can't go out in public, we'll keep in touch through calls and text messages."
"But don't you hate not seeing her? Wouldn't you rather see her in person?"
"Look Minho, just because I can't see her in person every day doesn't mean I'll love her any less. Of course I want to see her and eat dinner outside with her, but we both know that's not possible. We try to show our love and support for one another as much as we can, even if it means talking through texts for a long period of time. If you make an effort to communicate with the one you love then everything will work out."
"Why do you say that?" Minho asked, still both skeptical and jealous that Jonghyun and Sekyung stayed together for so long.
"I'm not saying it will work for everyone, because some people can't stand not seeing each other for a long time. But Minho, I haven't seen Sekyung in over three months yet after three years we're still together and still regularly communicating."
Minho let those words sink in. Perhaps that was his mistake with Kibum. He thought if they couldn't be together in person, it was pointless being together at all. Maybe that's what caused things to diminish...
Jonghyun recognized the remorse in 's face and changed the subject. "Let's worry about the decorations. How should we set up the streamers?"
"We could hang them from the banner like this. But we should do that when we go to his apartment."
They continued setting up for Key's party.
Meanwhile Onew and Taemin returned from the grocery store. They got ready made cake mix as well as some ingredients to make seaweed soup.
They made their way to the kitchen and started right away. Taemin made the cake while Onew handled the soup. Taemin made the cake batter diligently and finally got it in the oven. He wanted to finish as soon as possible to talk with Onew.
Onew chopped the seaweed and the garlic while Taemin - who was waiting for the cake to finish baking - silently watched him. Onew stopped chopping when he noticed the maknae looking at him. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just you look so serious when you cook."
Onew chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be baking?"
"I got like half an hour until the cake's done. Til then I'm just gonna sit here. And watch you." He placed his elbows on the counter and supported his head with his hands. Onew couldn't help but smile when the maknae's eyes seemed to increase in size and his smile stretched from one ear to the other. He really looked like a doll.
Onew chuckled. "Taemin, are you ok? You're acting all cute."
Taemin smiled wider. "You think I'm cute?"
"You're always cute. You just refuse to admit."
Taemin subtly inched closer to his hyung. "I like acting cute on my own time."
Onew took a break from chopping to face Taemin. He sat in the seat next to Taemin. "And that's basically every time we're alone."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Not bad." They were getting closer and closer to each other. "You just never act this way with the other members."
"Maybe I just like being cute around you." The two faces were just inches apart from one another. They slowly moved closer. Their lips would have collided with one another had they not been interrupted by a voice.
"How's the food going?" Jonghyun asked, entering the kitchen. Taemin and Onew faced him and quickly pulled away from each other.
"Still got half an hour for the cake." Taemin answered.
"It's gonna be another 45 minutes for the soup."
"Looks like you two are havin' fun," Jonghyun smirked, eyeing the two members, who looked at each other and then back at Jonghyun, not quite knowing what to say. "With cooking of course."
Onew awkwardly smiled. "Yea. How are the decorations coming along?"
"We're done. On Key's birthday we're gonna set them up while he's away. At that time you guys will bring the food."
"Got it." Jonghyun left and went home.
Taemin and Onew were left alone in the dorm. After the food was finished they talked in the kitchen until it grew dark.
"Hyung, you ever notice how you act like a dongsaeng to Jonghyun Hyung?"
"No I don't! What are you talking about?"
"You act all coy around him. No wonder people think he's the leader of the group."
"Yah! That's just how he is. He likes taking the lead. Doesn't matter cuz I'm still the leader."
Taemin scoffed. "Sure you are. But Hyung, what do you think about Minho and Key hyung's situation?"
"Minho and Key? What about them?"
"Are they ever gonna kiss and make up already? It's getting annoying now cuz they're always moody and sappy cuz they're not together. Why'd they break it off anyway?"
Onew sighed. "They'll definitely get back together once they learn to love each other no matter what happens."
Taemin raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I thought they loved each other."
"Not enough. I doubt they actually loved each other. If they did love each other they probably forgot at some point. Why else would they break up over schedules?"
"Oh. So that's what it is?"
Onew nodded and leaned closer to Taemin. "I'm just saying as a bystander, even if they didn't see each other for a while that's no excuse to abandon each other permanently. They should make efforts to love and show love as much as they can. Not necessarily be all lovey-dovey, but just to show that you're there for them. It's these little things that you do that matter for the relationship."
Taemin nodded in agreement. "That makes sense..." He couldn't finish his thought because he was distracted by Onew's eyes. He was only a few centimeters away from the leader's lips. He felt himself slowly moving closer to them, but he couldn't tell why: was he moving toward Onew; was Onew leaning in; were they both doing it?
Taemin partially expected Minho to barge in - since he resided in the dorm - and interrupt before their lips could touch. This expectation left Taemin startled when it didn't happen, and he felt his lips press against the leader's.
It wasn't anything too steamy; it was just a sweet, long kiss. Taemin abruptly separated their lips but didn't pull away from Onew. He began to panic.
"I-I'm sorry." He whispered. "I don't know what came over me-"
"No, no, no, it's fine." Onew replied, leaning closer. "It's fine." He planted his lips back on the maknae's to shut him up. This one was a bit deeper but not too steamy. They hastily pulled apart yet again when they heard the front door open.
It was Minho, but he didn't look toward the kitchen. Instead, he made his way to his room and closed the door.
Onew turned back toward Taemin. "It's late. You should probably go home now."
"Yea... yea... I should." They walked together to the front door. Before leaving, Taemin turned around to face Onew. "Hyung, do you think maybe ... you and I could... you know... catch a movie or get a drink sometime?"
Onew smirked. "Taemin, are you asking me out on a date?"
Taemin felt his confidence faltering. "Maybe?"
Onew chuckled. "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, I'll go on a date with you. You pick the location. I'll go with you."
Taemin couldn't hide the smile that took over his face. "W-we'll talk about it. I'll text you."
"Sounds good to me."
After a moment of silence Taemin decided it really was late. "I-I should go now." He turned toward the door.
"Wait, Taemin," Onew said, grabbing hold of Taemin's arm. Taemin turned back around. Onew raised his fingers to the maknae's jaw and planted a quick peck on his lips. "Drive back safely."
Taemin blushed. "I will, hyung." He nodded and went out the door, finally releasing the biggest smile he's ever had in his life.
FINALLY this chapter is complete! sry it took so long. i was working on my other fic andcame across writer's block for this but here it is! also sry if thre re so many errors here. it's 11:00 at noght here andi JUST finished this, and i am in no mood to edit right now. anyway hope u enjoy! Things are looking good for ontae :D
Also just a heads up the end is coming soon! I'd estimate no more than 5 chapters coming. i also have ideas for my next fic which i will ask u guys about soon. so stick around!
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