A/N: So I'm pretty much an awful person, cause I haven't updated this in ages and people probably don't even remember requesting anymore... T_T

I'M SO SORRY!

I'll do my BEST to update this before I update anything else.

Anyway, this is an TaeKai oneshot, for IvoryRayne . I hope it makes you a little happier, even if it took so long. 

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Chapter 5: TaeKai

For Jongin this was war.

It didn’t matter if they were friends, or if they had been trained side by side for years. It didn’t even matter that he was, probably, completely in love with the guy.

Four years ago, when SHINee debuted, Kim Jongin had waged war against his best friend.

Lee Taemin was a lot like Jongin. Same face, same talents, same dreams.

Only, if Jongin was darkness, Taemin was light.

In the face of troubles, Jongin got mad and lost his faith. Taemin on the other hand became even more determined and positive. Jongin had an uncanny ability to adapt; to look mature and strong, when he was neither. His best friend was the kind of person who was forever stupidly innocent and vulnerable. He also made no effort to hide it, or act his age. Jongin was certain that no one, not even his parents, worried about him. But everyone took care of Taemin and smothered him, like he was a five year old boy. People called Jongin ty and wild. Taemin was the personification of purity.

To put it simply, they were two sides of the same coin.

Light and Darkness.

So, it was only natural that they would be at war.

The reason of this war was childish, Jongin admitted it, yet, at the same time, it was very important.

His best friend had debuted at fifteen. He had been crazily famous. He had proven the world that age did not determine talent.

Taemin had made both their dream come true.

And Jongin was left back at the trainee dorms, alone, feeling like all his efforts had gone in vain. He could have hated Taemin at that time, because he was simply too jealous. However, the part of Jongin which was annoyingly in love with his best friend protested. Then he contemplated giving up, but he soon realized he was too proud to do it. Instead he made up his mind to beat Taemin in his own game.

So he waited. Preparing to debut and become even more famous and even more impressive.

Until one day, it was announced that EXO was debuting as well.

And soon they were on stage, shining just like their sunbaes and performing proudly with their own songs and their own dances.

The first battle was won like that.

Because Jongin had debuted nicely, almost just as nicely as his best friend.

However, the dark-skinned dancer lost the second battle before it even started.

When it came to image, pretty, polite and innocent Lee Taemin was someone Jongin could not defeat.

After all, people always preferred light over darkness.

The score at that moment was 1-1.

And the third battle was starting.

“Are you even listening to me?” A voice called out, making Jongin jump up in surprise.

“Yes, hyung…” He drawled back, straightening his sweater and taking his position. “So Maxstep?” He added, looking at the older guy from the mirror of the dance room.

Luhan raised an eyebrow, showing that he was uncharacteristically annoyed, but he didn’t say anything back. He just nodded and soon they were so engrossed with dancing –or at least Jongin was- that neither had a chance to speak.

Two hours later, they were lying on the floor, drenched in sweat, chests heaving and faces burning.

“Why do we keep practicing that? Shouldn’t we wait for the rest before we dance Maxstep?” Luhan sounded confused.

“It looks stupid when it’s only the two of us. Plus, I wanted Eunhyuk hyung to show me how he does that spin…” The Chinese guy whined, causing Jongin to roll his eyes.

“I can show you. It’s not a big deal.” The dark-skinned dancer hated nagging the most.

“You’re a terrible teacher. You do every move too fast and expect me to follow immediately.” It was not a complete lie. Still, Jongin chose to ignore it.

“I’m not a terrible teacher.” He shook his head to dispose of the thought.

“Yes you are. Only Taemin can follow you. The rest of us, normal humans, just sit there watching.” Luhan sat up with a sore expression on his face. 

“It’s not my fault that you can’t dance.” That might have been too much, Jongin realized it, right after the words left his mouth. Had Luhan not been such a nice person, Jongin was sure, he’d be glaring at him right now, or even worst yelling at him.

Luhan was a good person, though.

So he only stood up and left the dance room to get some water. The Korean was thirsty too, but he didn’t think Luhan would be too keen on bringing him water at that point.

“Did you have a fight with Luhan hyung?” Jongin thought Taemin had the day off, but apparently he was mistaken.

“Taemin hyung?” He stared at his best friend questioningly.

“Yah! Why are you staring at me like this? Have you forgotten my face, you bastard?” Taemin was not one to shout easily. Nor did he use words like ‘idiot’ and ‘bastard’ often. So Jongin felt like he was somehow special, when he got to see that carefree and rude side of him that no one else saw.

“How long has it been since you went out to get ice cream with me? Huh?” The older guy sat next to Jongin, punching his shoulder with little force. “Speak up, traitor! Why aren’t you calling your favorite hyung these days?”

Of course, Jongin couldn’t say that he was at war and he didn’t want his opponent to use his secret weapons, namely his cute pout and shining eyes, to bring down his defenses.

“I was busy.” He ended up saying.

“Yeah, busy bickering with Luhan hyung about his moves in Maxstep.” Jongin wanted to excuse his behavior, but a glare from his hyung shut him up for good.

“If you wanted someone to practice with, you could have just called me. Gosh, you’re such a fool.” Taemin rolled his eyes, as the younger man grunted. The whole point of practicing on the days SHINee’s dancer had off was to avoid him. He couldn’t let the enemy see his secret moves.

Jongin threw an angry glance at his hyung.

“Don’t look at me like that Jonginnie!” Taemin childishly shut his eyes with his palms to avoid the other’s gaze. “I’m sorry for calling you that, ok? Ok?”

And there it was.

Taemin’s infamous pout; the only thing that Jongin found scarier than Kris hyung’s angry face, or Tao hyung’s martial arts performance.

“Ok, hyung…” Jongin said dejectedly, letting all anger fly away.

“Now should we practice?” The older of the two got to his feet and offered Jongin a hand to get up as well.

The dark-skinned dancer gulped loudly.

This was dangerous.

If he agreed to the dance practice, it would mean giving away his secrets to the enemy. On the other hand, what other option did he have?

“A-Another time.” Jongin ignored the hand in front of him and stood up on his own, awkwardly backing away from his hyung.

“Jonginnie?” Taemin’s surprised eyes followed him around the room, while he picked up his jacket and backpack and prepared to make a run for it.

“Jongin-ah!” The dark-skinned boy had almost made it to the door, when a hand got hold of his shirt and pulled him back.

“Hyu-ung!” He flied backwards, colliding with another body and landing back on the dance floor from which he had tried to escape minutes ago.

“Aish! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!” The dancer of SHINee wailed, rubbing his back and giving in, cause after all, he always gave in, Jongin crawled next to him and inspected his friend, who he had crushed down with him.

“I’m sorry.” Jongin brushed off a strand of hair from his friend’s face and fixed the other’s sweatshirt that got messed up from the fall.

“Feeling sorry…” Taemin bit his lower lip. “Don’t do it. Just tell me what I did wrong, for you to be like this towards me.”

The younger boy clenched his fists.

There was no way he could tell his best friend the truth.

Because, in his mind it might be ok to plot Taemin’s downfall and his victory as the most famous and successful one, yet out loud it would sound so bad. It would make him appear like an ungrateful bastard who put a foolish rivalry, over years of friendship. Which Jongin probably was. Still, he didn’t want to have to hear those words from his hyung.  

“I haven’t changed my behavior towards you. I’m-” He lied.

“Yes, you have.” Taemin interrupted. “For a long time now you avoided me and at first I thought it was normal, because we were both working hard. But ever since you debuted, it seems like you actually hate to see my face.”

This was ridiculous, Jongin thought.

That pale face, with the smart eyes and the perfect lips, he was not strong enough to hate it.

In the end, maybe he had lost this game, before it even started.

“No! That’s not true. I love hyung’s face!” The younger guy exclaimed. Then, upon registering his words he smacked his forehead and winced at the well-deserved pain.

But Taemin didn’t seem to notice. He never seemed to notice, even though Jongin was far from subtle about his feelings. The member of SHINee had probably thought, all this while, that those stupid comments Jongin made from time to time were just his cute way of showing they were good friends. The dark-skinned boy wasn’t cute, though, so it was a wonder that Taemin believed something like this, instead of realizing the obvious truth.

“You love my face?” The pale guy stared at Jongin like he was Santa.

“Which part do you like the best? Eyes? Cheekbones? Forehead? Ears? Lips?” He squealed happily. “It’s the lips, right?”

Jongin had to take a lot of deep breath to be calm enough to reply to that.

And when he did, it didn’t sound half as persuading as it did in his head.

“W-what are y-you talking a-about? Of course n-not…” He choked out pathetically.

“Well, I like your lips. And your lips are like my lips. So you must like my lips.” Taemin smiled smugly, completely failing to see his friend’s terrified expression.

“S-stop talking a-about lips, hyung!” Jongin shook his head to get rid of thoughts involving his lips and Taemin’s lips.

“Fine.” The other complied, nodding. “In return, though, tell me why you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I-I’m not… Hyung… let’s stop this conversation.”  The younger guy was starting to stand up before he was pulled down by a strong hand wrapped around his own.

“Don’t do this, Jongin-ah.” Taemin’s melodic voice was making the dark-skinned dancer dizzy. “Talk to me.”

Jongin had probably lost to his hyung a million times already. And this was one million and one.

And so the EXO dancer plopped back down in the most defeated posture he could muster.

“It’s just…” He couldn’t exactly say that he had wagered war against his best friend. That is, if he wanted to keep being friends with him. “Taemin hyung is always nice to everyone. No matter who it is, you’ll pat their back and say ‘you can do it, fighting!’ that sort of thing.”

Jongin stared down at pale, delicate fingers that were still holding his wrist. “But… doesn’t hyung ever want other people to fail? ‘Ah, if only he missed one step, I could be the best’ don’t you ever think like that? Don’t you ever get jealous?”

At Taemin’s baffled expression, the younger boy felt his heart sinking deeper inside his chest. “Aish, what am I saying?” He messed his dark hair in frustration.  “Of course hyung has never thought of such awful things…”

Next to him, Taemin arced back, laughing almost hysterically, his mouth half open, his pretty cheekbones standing out in a highly distracting manner, as his eyes became crescent moons.

“Aigoo!” The SHINee member smiled brightly at his friend. “Is our Jonginnie jealous of his hyung?”

“I didn’t say that!” Even though Jongin practically had said that.

“I see now! This is why you’ve been avoiding me all this time. You thought I was better than you and you felt jealous.” Sometimes, Taemin’s bluntness made Jongin really uncomfortable.

As if his pants had just fallen off during a live performance, or Junmyun hyung had discovered the file in his laptop.

“Hyung is being really insensitive right now.” It was probably a rude thing to say, but Jongin had a habit of getting defensive when people made fun of him.

A loud sigh came from the pale guy, making the younger boy flinch a bit.

“Hyung gets jealous too.” Taemin muttered almost inaudibly. “When you only practice with Luhan hyung and only talk to Eunhyuk hyung about dancing, I get jealous too.”

The dark-skinned guy knew he wasn’t supposed to read too much into this. Because this hyung was so nice that everything he said sounded like a compliment, Jongin couldn’t make childish dreams about it.

It was only a stupid comment. No matter how hot his whole body felt, this was only a sign of Taemin’s brotherly love, nothing more.

And brotherly affection should have been enough, yet Jongin’s drumming heart dictated otherwise.  

“Still, Jongin-ah… if you want to beat me, shouldn’t you stop worrying about how well I am doing and start working harder?” EXO’s dancer snorted at the words.

“I’m working like crazy.” He retorted vexed.

“Are you now?” Raised eyebrows were definitely not Taemin’s strong point, but he passed the message across.

The younger boy pursed his lips together in a small pout. “Of course.”

“Then prove it.” Taemin stood up dragging his dongsaeng with him by default.

“Let’s have a dance battle. If you win, I’ll admit you’re better. How about it?” It was Jongin’s turn to raise an eyebrow at the sudden provocation.

“What’s wrong with you, hyung?” He frowned at the pale man. “You don’t like competitions.”

“Well, we need to settle this once and for all, so you can go back to being my adorable dongsaeng.” SHINee’s maknae said matter-of-factly.

“This is stupid.” Jongin was in the middle of an eye-roll when the other guy stepped closer, looking straight into his eyes with unnerving seriousness.

"You want to prove your talent.” Taemin pressed a hand on his friend’s upper torso.  “And you’re angry at me. And you only play with your new group mates. And you keep ignoring me.” He began hitting Jongin’s chest with his finger.   

“And I.” Tap. “Can’t.” Tap. “Stand it.” Tap.

Jongin was sure he was losing it.

“Fine.” He croaked out. “Dance battle. I’ll do it.”

“Let’s dance to something we both know.” Without waiting for an answer, Taemin rushed to the stereo and connected his ipod there. “How’s ‘Mirotic’?”

“Improvising allowed?” Jongin started stretching a bit, keeping his eyes glued on his hyung.

“Definitely.” The other replied and the music had already started playing when they met in the middle of the practice room.

The older man’s posture had changed completely and now he was crossing his arms and throwing them out in front of Jongin in an obviously provocative way.

Then, he slid to the left, changing steps according to the rhythm, practically gliding on the floor and finally bending down, throwing his right hand out and giving Jongin a fiery glance through his bangs.

Before registering it, the tanned boy was stomping his foot down in front of his hyung, slamming the air with his arms while his body waved to the music.

Jongin could have changed that mouth-covering-gun-pointing move and done something even more imaginative. But the original seemed oddly appropriate at that point. He put his palm over his lips, glancing briefly at Taemin who was breathlessly following him with his eyes, and fixed his fake gun at the other’s chest.

It was payback time.

Now, as they were both facing each other, their moves started to get faster with the beat. When Taemin’s left foot went back, the tanned dancer made sure his went forth and the instant Jongin pushed his body backwards, the older guy moved his right arms up to rest on his shoulder. Taemin didn’t look willing to step back just yet, so Jongin stubbornly arced his body in a wave and tilted his head so close to his hyung’s neck that his lips were almost touching the white skin.

And things went downhill from there.

It was becoming more of a frantic heat-exchange than a dance battle, their bodies sticking close together with arms and legs tangling together and the younger boy could sense muscles he didn’t know he possessed tightening.

Taemin’s left hand was long ago holding onto his waist, keeping them at an identical pace, while Jongin was getting dizzy by the feeling of his hyung’s wet hair brushing across his nape as they moved.

Everything was in synch.

Moves and breaths and even heartbeats.

Jongin thought this was heaven.

But then the voices of DongBangShinKi sunbaenims were singing the last verse and Taemin’s fingers crawled up, sliding under the boy’s shirt and caressing his skin and Jongin was suddenly freezing on the spot and widening his eyes in complete shock.

The music stopped suddenly, leaving them both in the middle of a silent room, sweating and too close for comfort.

“What’s wrong with you?” Taemin’s heavy voice came from somewhere close to his ear.

“DongBangShinKi sunbaenims said it too.” The pale guy cleared his throat as if he was about to say something serious.

“You can’t escape me.” He breathed out, moving back a little to look at Jongin. “I’ve got you under my skin.”

The EXO dancer felt chills running down his spine for a moment, before they were replaced by the feeling of lips pecking his own and a blissful sensation erupting inside his burning body.

“I won…by the way.” Taemin muffled between kisses. “You need to try harder… next time.”

“I only lost the battle, not the war.” Jongin said proudly. “And… I thought hyung was shy.” He felt himself being pushed against a wall, hands clawing around Taemin’s clothes for support.

The pale dancer grumbled slightly into the kiss. “I had to do something. Because Luhan hyung said you were very, very frustrated and it was getting on his nerves.”

And Jongin briefly wondered whether the real winner in this war was actually Luhan hyung -who was getting free dance lessons for the rest of his life from him- before letting it go and focusing on making out with his worst enemy, or best friend, depending on how you saw it.