This is entirely based on the video for {this} song.
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Taemin liked to read. It was his way of escaping from a mother who was never home and a dad who didn't care. At least in books he could lose himself in the lives of people he would never meet. He secretly wished one day someone would actually come to spirit him away, or he'd find out he had super powers or something. Like in the stories he was so fond of. But reality always had a way of creeping in and reminding him that it would never happen. Fiction was just that. Fiction.

Taemin would read anything he could get his hands on. Manwha, manga, books, comics, even sometimes magazine articles. His favorite story, though, was a graphic novel with a really cheesy title. If it hadn't been for the cover, Taemin wouldn't have even spared it a second glance in the corner bookstore. Come on. SHINee? That had to be the cheesiest title he'd ever read. But once he'd started reading, he hadn't been able to help himself.

Even though Taemin preferred to read novels like Speak and The Count of Monte Cristo, he could admit to reading a few cliche stories in his life. SHINee seemed to be as cliche as they come: an action-y dramatic graphic novel. What made it stand out was the characters. Super gorgeous pop-stars with dark double lives.

One of the characters, the leader of the group whose name was Jinki, was secretly an assassin. 2 of them, the rappers of the group whose names were Minho and Kibum, led an S&M lifestyle behind closed doors. And the last was a law-breaker that the police couldn't quite catch. He was the lead vocal of the group, whose name was Jonghyun. Taemin's interest was caught by the perpetual bad boy. His face was so... well-drawn. And he was a Robin Hood-esque character to boot. Taemin had always had a thing for anti-heroes.

SHINee had turned out to be less cliche than Taemin had expected. He constantly wanted to know what happened next. Taemin considered it a plus that it was realistic (as in, the way the story was presented was completely believable), and that it was impeccably illustrated. There were even times when he could swear that the characters winked at him. But it was fiction, so that was impossible.

He was in a cafe when it happened. He'd been sitting, drinking his caramel latte and thinking how nice it was to get away from the suffocating silence of his house. He hadn't really been paying attention to the story when all of a sudden, right in the middle of the panel he'd been reading, a hand reached up out of the book.

Taemin stared at it incredulously for several minutes. He had to be dreaming. There was no way something that like this could happen in reality. Despite his better judgement, he took the hand that had begun flailing around insistently. He momentarily felt the unpleasant sensation of being pulled through a resistant barrier and then... He was in an alley of some sort. Once again, Taemin  praised the illustrator's skill. Now that he was up close and personal, the art seemed even more realistic.

    "Hello Taemin," he turned around so fast he almost fell. Jonghyun was smiling gently. "Sorry about the, uh.. uncomfortable-ness when you came in." He gaped at Jonghyun, disbelieving that it could be anything but a dream he was in. "Hey, not to put a damper on things, but... the police are kinda after me. So if you don't mind, we need to go. Like, right now." Taemin felt his hand being grabbed and then he was running.

He focused on running. It was better than trying to make sense of his situation.

~_~

Jonghyun had said nothing after they stopped running. Even after he'd regained his breath, and let Taemin regain his. The silence was more than Taemin could take (he had plenty of that at home), so he cleared his throat and began talking.

    "Why?" Taemin was pretty sure he didn't have to elaborate. Jonghyun shrugged.

    "Just because," Taemin nodded. He was oddly disappointed, even though he thought he should've expected it. From what he could gather, Jonghyun was a bit of a heartbreaker. And those were the kinds of guys that Taemin strived to stay away from. "You have a pretty face." Taemin both scowled and blushed at the compliment. He heard it often enough he should be used to it, but he wasn't.

    "Better than looking like a dinosaur," he quipped. Jonghyun's smirk turned into a sarcastic smile.

    "Like I haven't heard that one before," Taemin shrugged noncomittally and sighed.

    "How long do we have to wait here?" Jonghyun looked at him levelly.
   
    "I couldn't tell you for sure. It all depends on how persistent this batch of cops is. I have had to wait for a couple of days," Taemin nodded but didn't say anything more. No one would miss him in his world. He'd only asked for the sake of asking. "Why do you ask?"

    "No reason," Jonghyun didn't reply. He grabbed Taemin's hand again and they ran. It had finally sunken in that the warm hand in his was real. This was reality. Jonghyun led him to a shabby looking orphanage in a panel far from their starting point. Taemin knew why Jonghyun stole from the rich after he saw the grateful smile on the caretaker's worn face. It was one of the most welcoming sights he'd seen in his life.

He was silently replaying the scene in his head when Jonghyun tugged on his hand.

    "Wanna see something cool?" Taemin nodded and Jonghyun led him to a blank panel. Jonghyun stepped around the border and when Taemin glanced up, he had the breath knocked out of him. Jonghyun looked like he'd stepped out of Taemin's reality, like he wasn't a character drawn in some book. And he was better-looking than Taemin could have ever imagined. "You're the one who looks illustrated now. We've switched looks." Taemin smiled softly.

    "You're quite a charmer, aren't you?" the smirk on Jonghyun's face answered everything. Taemin only smiled and shook his head. He was right in the middle of saying something when he found himself in a headlock.

    "Jonghyun. You know we're not supposed to bring people inside," the sharp voice in his ear made Taemin flinch. It didn't sound nice at all.

    "Well I'm sorry I can't follow those stupid rules. Besides, I like this kid," Jonghyun was obviously aggravated.

    "I'm not a kid. I'm 21," Taemin deadpanned. Jonghyun looked surprised, and Minho made some sort of surprised noise in the back of his throat. "It's alright, I know I don't look my age. Honestly, though, I don't mind. Jonghyun seems like a nice enough guy." Jonghyun beamed with satisfaction.

    "Of course you wouldn't mind," Minho muttered. "Fine. Because I'm such a good friend," the sarcasm in Minho's voice was unmistakable, "and because I'm not a huge fan of the rules either, I'm going to let you go. But you know Kibum and Jinki won't be half as nice as I was." Taemin took a gulp of air after he was released from the headlock. "Good luck, Taemin."

Taemin threw up a hand haphazardly in a gesture of thanks before following Jonghyun. They'd been walking for a good half hour or more when he heard people following them. He knew Jonghyun could hear that people were following them because of the occasional glances they shared.

Taemin figured it was probably Jinki and Kibum. He acted like he couldn't hear them. But when he heard them sigh faintly with relief, he broke out into a sprint next to Jonghyun. When they finally reached another blank panel, Jonghyun ripped it open. Taemin could see his own reality seeping through, but he grabbed Jonghyun.

    "What are they going to do to you?" Jonghyun shrugged nonchalantly and smirked, but Taemin read the desperation and fear in his eyes.

    "Beat the crap out of me. And possibly kill me," Taemin pretended not to hear how Jonghyun's voice broke towards the end. But ignoring the sound of Onew and Key steadily approaching was impossible. Taemin looked at Jonghyun sadly. "I'll be fine. Go."

    "Please, come with--," "I can't," Taemin was suddenly childishly angry, wondering why. He didn't have a chance to ask before he felt himself being shoved through the opening into his reality. He was disoriented. Hadn't he been sitting at a table...? So why was he near a trashcan? He wondered, and when he looked up, he was embarrassed at the number of people staring at him. Practically the whole cafe. He gingerly picked his copy of SHINee out of the trash and ran out the front door.

As he ran, Taemin wondered about how Jonghyun was doing. He really hoped Jonghyun could outrun Jinki and Kibum. It was all he could think about, until he had finally gotten home and opened the novel. Because he'd already read the book countless of times, he expected to see Jinki getting caught taking someone out. But the story had somehow changed, and now the pages were full of chase scenes. Chase scenes that involved Onew, Kibum, and a very frustrated and scared-looking Jonghyun.

Eventually, though, Jonghyun's endurance waned and Jinki and Kibum caught up to him. He faced them grimly, preparing himself for whatever they were about to do to him. They didn't say a word before they started punching and kicking him. Taemin couldn't help protesting out loud, though he felt incredibly silly. He didn't even know if they could hear him or not. He really wished someone would reach out to him from the book right about now.

He flipped through the rest of the pages, watching as Jonghyun got pummeled by people he'd once called friends. His eyes watered, and he teared up at the scene in the very last panel. It was Kibum and Jinki walking away while Jonghyun was left practically for dead. He felt like it was his fault to a degree. He didn't notice when Jonghyun slowly picked himself up. He started banging against the panels around him, trying to break free, until finally his drawn form simply disappeared off the page.

Taemin heard a knock on his door and when he opened it, Jonghyun stumbled in. Jonghyun slammed himself against the walls, struggling to keep his body in one reality. His form flickered back and forth between the white of the graphic novel and the color of Taemin's reality before finally settling on the color of Taemin's reality. He looked like he'd just ran a long-distance marathon, but he was smiling. Taemin couldn't help his own smile, though he was still worried about Jonghyun.

    "You're an idiot, too. You know that?" Jonghyun just laughed and hugged Taemin close to him.

    "You're the first person I ever had the guts to do this for, Taemin," Jonghyun murmured lowly. "I could feel every emotion you projected when you read that book. Anger, sadness, happiness, humor... and yes, I could even feel the crush you have on me." Taemin's cheeks flamed with embarrassment. "It's okay, though." Jonghyun gripped his chin. "I have a crush on you too."

There was a light peck on his lips before Jonghyun pulled back, smirking, but there was a distinct blush on his cheeks that caused Taemin to smirk as well. Taemin figured that his life was about to get a whole lot more interesting than any book he'd ever read.
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I love 80's pop music. = w = I grew up listening to the song this is based on, and it's one of my favorite 80s songs.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

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Til next time, loves. ^o~ ☺ ♥ ♫