Jonghyun had been glued to the PlayStation for the past three days. When they weren’t working on the new album Jonghyun would be playing the newest game that had caught his attention one-hundred-and-fifty percent. Taemin would almost go so far as to say that even when they were recording Jonghyun was thinking about the video game. 

Mass Effect 3 released three days ago, and since then Jonghyun has played during every free moment they had, only pausing to get something to eat, drink, or when he had to pee really bad. It was almost scary, especially when Minho had asked Jonghyun if he could play too, and when they’d set up multi-player Jonghyun had yelled and cursed and bragged about his superior ME3 skills. Rather than trying to at least finish the experience of having more than one player, Jonghyun insisted Minho GTFO and  Minho had actually given up for once in his life, backing off, letting Jonghyun get through the game by himself. Jinki and Kibum weren’t the type to play video games and even if they were, playing with Jonghyun would probably result in a slap upside the head from Key and a sad, depressed leader. 

Taemin wasn’t too fond of video games, he’d rather watch than play. If he played, most of the time it was against Minho because—even though he would lose ninety-nine out of one-hundred rounds—his hyung was nice about beating Taemin. He’d encourage him and tell him how to get better, sharing his secrets and unknown button sequences that lead to a new fighting move. Depending on the game, Jonghyun was just like Minho, but in others… Let’s just say the older boy liked to win the game more than take the time to teach Taemin how to as well. But Taemin didn’t take it personally; Jonghyun was just being Jonghyun. 

Stepping into the living room, Taemin found Jonghyun in the same position he’d been in for the past four hours. The older boy had rushed back into the den right after dinner, ignoring Kibum’s shrill complaints about how much time Jonghyun wasted on the “stupid game“. 

“Hey, hyung,” Taemin greeted, sliding onto the floor by Jonghyun, both of them leaning against the couch instead of actually sitting on it. 

Jonghyun’s eyes flashed to the left, smiling brightly at Taemin before flitting back to the screen. “Hey, Tae.”

The younger boy sat watching for about five minutes before he became restless. His gaze was locked more on his hyung rather than the game, and Jonghyun didn’t seem to sense his stare at all, so enraptured in the game’s plot. Said video game had done more than just take up all of Jonghyun’s free time, but also took away from their quality time. Though it had only been three days since the game came out, Taemin felt like it had been a month. Normally Jonghyun stuck to the maknae’s side like glue, showering him with affection and was constantly groping the younger boy—much to the rest of the member’s amusement and disgust. The two were always together, continually pushing their skinship past the boundaries, to a point where it was more sensual than friendly. 

To say that Taemin missed those touches was an understatement. 

The older boy had warned Taemin before the game had released, telling him that he’d be pretty out of it for as long as it took for him to complete the game. He pleaded for the younger boy to understand, explaining that it wasn’t because he wanted to be away from him, it was simply because he had waited a whole year for this game to come out and he really wanted to put his all into it.

And Taemin did understand, somewhat, knowing that doing something you loved tended to take up all your attention, but he couldn’t really fathom how a video game could be that mind-blowing. Obviously it was enough for the couple to have taken a short break in their relationship. 

Jonghyun suddenly laughed and Taemin’s attention turned back to the game. He’d missed whatever was funny, but the characters were talking to one another, so he figured it was something one of them had said. It was interesting, to hear the game speak in English yet the Korean subtitled flashed at the bottom of the screen in almost too-small print. Taemin wouldn’t be surprised if this game made Jonghyun’s eyes go bad. 

“What happened?” Taemin asked, wanting to be in on the joke.

Jonghyun shook his head, a silly grin still plastered on his face. “Just some word Commander Shepard said. I’m not sure what it means, it just sounded funny.”

“Like the funny way you say Commander Shepard?”  

“Shut up! You said it just like I did!”

“My pronunciation’s better.”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

Taemin laughed, breaking the shouting match to pull Jonghyun into his lap. The older boy yelped, not used to being man-handled so easily, especially by someone younger than him, but over the months Taemin had enforced his size and strength, showing Jonghyun that even though he was older it didn’t mean Taemin couldn’t overpower him. Jonghyun never really complained. To Taemin’s, and the rest of SHINee’s, surprise, Jonghyun was actually very submissive.

Taemin’s arms twined around Jonghyun’s waist, his chin coming to rest on the older boy’s shoulder with the impression that he’d watch him play his game this way. Jonghyun relaxed, leaning back against his boyfriend’s chest, fingers still twitching over the controller. 

This lasted another five minutes before Taemin’s hands started traveling, tired of lying  innocently over his hyung’s stomach. Moving slowly at first, making sure Jonghyun didn’t get suspicious, Taemin leisurely trailed circles over his chest, his shirt keeping their skin separated. Getting no reaction from his, he pushed it further, sliding his hands up, smirking when he finds the nub under the thin t-shirt, two fingers circling the sensitive .

Jonghyun tensed, letting go of one side of the controller to swipe at Taemin’s wandering hand. “Knock it off, Minnie.”

Taemin pouted. Normally Jonghyun would turn into putty in his hands with that move, but now it seemed like it didn’t even affect the older man. He brushed off the rejection, moving his hands down instead, towards Jonghyun’s lap. Unfortunately, his hyung was wearing jeans, but getting the buttons undone wouldn’t be too much of an issue. His fingers worked swiftly, leaving Jonghyun’s pants open, giving him enough space to slip his hand lower and cup—

“Stop it, Taemin!” Jonghyun growled, pausing the game and grabbing Taemin’s wrist tightly and with a hard jerk, tugged his wandering hand out of the jeans he was just about to explore. 

The younger boy froze, not used to hearing such seriousness from the his hyung; and nothing near that bitter. He muttered a quiet ‘okay’ before gently, but hurriedly, removing Jonghyun from his lap, rushing out of the room before the shocked, hurt tears spilled over.

Mass Effect 3 had stolen his boyfriend.

A week later, Taemin was lying in bed, on the edge of sleep, when he felt the bed dip and a body slide up beside his. Peaking one eye open, Taemin examined Jonghyun’s sullen face, pouty lips and broken puppy eyes, before raising an eyebrow at his hyung’s attitude. 

“Worst ending ever.” Jonghyun mumbled, burying his face into the pillow, making it almost impossible for Taemin to understand him.

After the incident before, the two of them had been avoiding one another—or more accurately, Taemin was avoiding Jonghyun and Jonghyun was playing his game. He’d gotten over the initial pain after crying for ten minutes in the bathroom, and had told himself to calm down, to act like nothing had happened. But he couldn’t kid himself. It was like Jonghyun had replaced him for a video game, and who wouldn’t feel pathetic after that? Kibum had tried to confront him about the sudden change, but Taemin just shrugged and told him that Jonghyun was busy, and that it was no big deal. Key didn’t comment even if he did know the younger boy was lying.

“Worst ending ever?” He questioned, not really interested but what else could he say? 

Jonghyun awkwardly nodded. “It waf all fo’ noffng. Noffing!”

Taemin couldn’t really follow, but he hummed anyway. “So you finished?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you go back to being my boyfriend, now?”

Jonghyun peaked up from his hiding spot, giving Taemin those kicked-puppy eyes again. “I was always you’re boyfriend, Tae. I’m sorry I snapped at you, but I didn’t know you were gonna do it and I was at a really important—”

Taemin broke him off, leaning forward to flick his finger hard over Jonghyun’s vulnerable forehead. A trick Jinki had showed him—nothing compared to the ttakbam, but it hurt all the same.

Jonghyun flinched and yelped, rubbing his forehead immediately as though it would get rid of the sting. “Okay, okay, maybe I deserved that. I’m really sorry, Taemin, I get a little crazy when I play a game I like. But don’t get the wrong idea. You’re the most important person in my life, way more important than any video game ever.”

“Are you just saying that because Mass Effect had a crappy ending?”

“No, of course not!”

“You better be telling the truth, because I’m gonna have to punish you for leaving me alone for more than a week.”

Jonghyun squeeked at the gleam in the maknae’s eyes, and knew that he’d be in trouble for a long while to make up for the lost time he had wasted.

“We have to take pictures tomorrow! We’re supposed to be shirtless! Taemin—oh!”

“Just make sure they don’t get a picture below the chest, hyung~”