I knew something was wrong when I woke up the next morning. Jinki was standing beside the bed, arms crossed, and Jessica was standing opposite of him, her posture implying she wasn't very happy. I sat up slowly and Jinki glanced back at me, then refocused on Jessica. I had fallen asleep listening to his iPod, and I pulled out the earbuds slowly.

 

"Jinki?" I said softly. He shook his head, reaching his hand toward me absently. I grabbed it, taking it as reassurance that I wasn't the one he was mad at.

 

"I know you don't like it. I don't either, but I can offer them an ultimatum they can't ignore." Jessica said. She looked at me, then back at Jinki. "Besides, you need to stay calm for his sake."

 

"What can you say to them?" Jinki asked, his tone containing a razors edge, almost invisible, and deadly sharp. I grabbed his sleeve, and he glanced at me again, moving closer to me. He brought his hands to my shoulders and started rubbing them absently. I nearly groaned out loud as he massaged a tender spot, but in the back of my head I knew he was just trying to distract me. I listened, even as I was lost in my own world.

 

"I can tell them they need to sign the consent form or we'll take them to court. So far, we've kept this out of the news, but it's going to go public tonight." Jessica said, sighing. "We'll have enough of the country behind us that they'd just be better off signing him away than fighting us."

 

"But what if they know it's a bluff?" Jinki asked. "Taemin can't take the stand, and they can use that against him."

 

"They won't think of that." Jessica said quietly. "They're not that smart."

 

"What's going on?" I asked. Jinki looked back at me again, then sighed and sat beside me, pulling me into his lap. I looked at him with big eyes, and he ran his fingers through my hair. "Please, tell me."

 

"Your parents need to sign a consent form for you to get married under the age of 18. If they won't sign, we'll have to take them to court to try and revoke their rights, then have someone we can trust take custody and sign the paperwork." Jessica said. "If we tell them we're going to take them to court if they don't sign there's a chance that they'll sign it, but there's also the possibility that they won't believe us at first, so we might have to bluff. Scare them."

 

"You can't scare them. They're not afraid of anything." I said, shaking my head. It was true, after all. They didn't know what fear was, unless they were instilling it in me. I leaned back against Jinki, letting his warmth be my comfort.

 

"Taemin, I know it's really hard to think about it this way, but you need to realize they're not monsters. They're just people." Jessica said. Jinki tensed, and I curled up against him. "All the times they scared you, had that power over you, this is your chance to scare them back. To have power over them, and make them realize they can't hurt you forever."

 

I stayed quiet as I thought about what she was saying. She was offering me an opportunity to stand up for myself. A chance to be the stronger one in the situation. I took in my own posture and evaluated myself. Even at my best, I wasn't intimidating. At all. But could I pretend to be? Would that be enough? I rubbed my head against Jinki's chest, enjoying the heat under my skin. I wanted to kiss him again. It was so strange to me, how this urge came up more and more often. Sometimes multiple times throughout the day, and I was powerless against it, like everything else. I didn't kiss him when I wanted to, though. In fact we hadn't kissed in two days, but the fact that I was aware of that shocked me. I nodded slowly, agreeing to what Jessica was saying.

 

"Tae.." Jinki said, sounding stressed as he my hair. "Listen to me. If we do this, you need to make it seem like you'll go through with this. I don't know if you can do that. I can't be with you all the time you talk to them, or their lawyer. They would say I'm influencing you."

 

"I'll be ok." I told him, knowing he thought I was weak. "I can just pretend."

 

"Will that be enough?" He asked. I nodded, snuggling with him

 

"I'll go and contact their lawyer." She said, stepping out of the room. I looked up at Jinki as soon as the door was closed.

 

"Jink?" I said, using his nickname. He looked down at me, surprised. I hadn't called him that since the summer. "I love you."

 

"I love you too." He said, my hair.

 

I leaned up and kissed him slowly, and he responded sweetly after a moment of surprise. I never kissed him, but I couldn't help myself this time. It was too much to wait for him, and I wanted to keep on kissing him forever. He didn't seem to have any objection as he slid his arms around my torso. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him slowly, ocasionally breaking away, only to come back again a moment later. I put all my weight on him and felt my eyes flutter closed as the sensation overtook me. I'd never been happier. I'd never felt more like I belonged. That was how I knew I could do whatever I needed to do, as long as I could end up back here, in his arms.

 

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I got so caught up in our own private world I almost didn't noticed the sudden flash of light from the corner of the room. I pulled back from him sharply and looked toward it's origin, finding a man with a camera, and the flashes coming again and again. I gasped and ducked under Jinki's arm, sliding around behind him. If nothing else, I was a master of hiding behind things. Jinki leaned forward slightly, looking defensive, and the man lowered his camera a few moments later, looking sheepish.

 

"I figured the best photos would come when you weren't expecting it." He said. Jinki didn't relax, and I pressed myself against his back. The man sighed. "I'm here to do the interview."

 

"You could have knocked." Jinki said, his tone harsher than normal. I tugged on his shirt.

 

"What interview?" I asked. He looked back at me and sighed.

 

"The story's gotten out, lots of rumors." Jinki said. "I..meant to talk to you about it before we got distracted."

 

"What am I supposed to say?" I asked, glancing over at the man with the camera, who was now holding a recorder. Jinki pet my hair.

 

"Just answer the questions he asks if you can, and if you can't, say so." Jinki said. "Don't worry too much about it."

 

"But why did he take pictures?" I asked, glancing over his shoulder. He shrugged a bit.

 

"Because he has no respect for people's privacy." Jinki said. "Can you come sit with me?"

 

I eyed the man in the doorway warily and silently moved under Jinki's arm, my eyes never leaving the stranger. In my comfort zone, it was easier to answer the qestions I was being asked. More than once, however, I would start talking without really thinking. It was a terrible habbit I was developing, and when I realized I was doing it I would freeze up, falling silent suddenly and sometimes for several minutes. Jinki would rub my arm, or kiss my head, and I would come back to reality and ask for the question to be repeated, embarrassment flooding my features. What was wrong with me? Eventually, I just curled up against Jinki, my eyes closing as I made an awkward attempt at blocking out the rest of the world.

 

"Taemin?" Jinki said softly. I looked up at him, my eyes stinging.

 

"I can't do it anymore." I admitted. "I don't like to think about it. I tried, I'm sorry."

 

"Don't be sorry," The man asking all the questions said. I looked over at him, then covered my eyes. "You've answered a lot of questions. We're grateful."

 

"Ok." I said, nodding. Jinki kissed my head softly.

 

"To answer your last question, we plan to get married before the end of the month." Jinki said. "I haven't gotten to go pick up a ring for him yet, I've been busy with him here, but he's agreed to be with me."

 

"This story just gets crazier and crazier." The man said, laughing softly. I peeked out at him, grinning myself as I spoke up.

 

"You don't know the half of it."

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Sorry, sorry, I know, I've been bad. D: I've got 11 stories I'm working on at once here, though. Cut me some slack? :<

 

Really though, I don't know how many of you read my blog and whatnot, but I've been really sick. Like. It's ridiculous, and it's been going on for at least a month now. This chapter was written a while ago, but I didn't have the brain power necessary to put it on the internet.

 

I love you guys. Thanks for reading. ;~;