Next one-shot.

The one-shots in this series are going to be inter-related.  Stories that come later in the sequence might rely on you having read earlier ones.  There are also not necessarily going to be in chronological order so they might jump around somewhat in the series.  Just a heads up. 

#2 – Dim

Thunder crashed around the city of Seoul.  It was one of those intense summer storms that blow up out of nowhere, surprising everyone, confusing Weather Men and angering picnic-goers everywhere.  Despite it being only two in the afternoon, the sky was dark outside and the city had taken on a gray hue no matter where you looked. 

Lightning flashed across the sky and a multicolored cat sitting on a window seat high up in one of the multitude of high-rises that filled the city hissed angrily, it’s black grey and orange back curling and hair standing on end as it glared out of the window. 

“Ah, hush hush Abby, it’ll be fine.”  Twenty-seven year old Lee Taemin picked up the frightened cat that gave a pitiful meow and cuddled deeply into the man’s chest as he pulled it close, watching the storm for himself as it raged through the city.  His dark brown hair fell into his eyes and he moved it away with a quick jerk of his head and a sudden blast of exhaled air, he needed to get a haircut soon he thought absentmindedly. 

Taemin had been writing his newest article.  He had graduated from UCLA with a double degree in journalism and creative writing.  The Associated Press had taken him on as one of their East Asian Correspondents and he was working on an article about Chinese trade relations when the storm loudly announced its presence.  He had quickly powered down his laptop and pulled the cord from the wall.  Should lightning strike their building, as had happened before, he wasn’t going to loose all of his work and have his hard drive short out from a power surge. 

He put a calmer Abby in the bedroom that he and Kibum shared and hoped that being more insulated would help keep the cat calm. 

He walked around the apartment, unplugging most of the major appliances.  He was trying to locate a flashlight and just then the light shuddered out overhead.  He heard all of the power in the building cutting out and the air conditioner whining out to a stall before it clicked off too. 

“Figures…” Taemin mumbled.  He gave up on the flashlight and headed towards their kitchenette, knowing that there were candles and matches in one of the cabinets. 

Taemin managed to locate a short white pillar candle and get it lit with a match, after hurting himself several times trying to get the wick to catch flame he finally managed to get the flame to sputter to life.  Taemin busied himself with lighting a few more candles and placed them around their kitchenette/living room area so that he could see where he was doing, though the light was rather dim.

The gray hue outside and turned to pitch black that was only alleviated when the bright flashes of lightening tore across the sky. 

Taemin has returned to the window, holding his candle and staring out at the street below.  He could see many pairs of headlights, pulled off on the side of the road, their drivers not feeling safe enough to drive through the torrential downpour.  When the lightning flashed, Taemin could see the small forms of people, running down the sidewalks, holding ineffectual umbrellas and briefcases aloft in a vain attempt to keep themselves dry even thought the wind was blowing the rain about in all directions.

Kibum was out there somewhere in that mess the writer thought idly. 

His lithe lover had jumped into the world of fashion post-SHINee, not that anyone was really surprised.  He had started out as a stylist working within the KBS studio, helping other artists and such prepare themselves for their various appearances and had impressed designers with his eye for colors and trends.  One company had taken him on as an intern and he rose through the ranks through his hard work and sense of style.  Taemin wouldn’t be surprised if within the next few years he became one of the firm’s top designers.  But until then, Kibum was happy in his job and it had given him something to do when Taemin had been gone earning his degree for four years in the U.S. 

He really hoped that Kibum wasn’t out there in the storm.  Taemin strained his eyes through the flickering candle flame, as though he could see his boyfriend’s head from all the way up here in the dim lighting. 

It was a Saturday and the fashionista had only gone in because of a special event – the wedding of an important investor’s daughter – and the final fitting for the bride’s gown had to be that day.  The man had apologized up and down about having to go into work on a Saturday because with a smile and a kiss goodbye he had promised that he would be home for a late lunch. 

He would have left for home before the storm had begun and was probably cooling his heels right now in a subway station, or in a store hopefully having ducked in.  He really hoped that Kibum wasn’t one of those little running ants scurrying through the streets in this weather. 

Taemin sighed and moved away from the window and checked on their little Abby who was sleeping soundly on Taemin’s pillow.  Kibum often called Abby “their baby.”  As all of their friends seemed to be getting married left and right and starting their families, Abby was as good as Kibum and Taemin were able to get to their own family right now.  He lightly petted the soft grey head, lightly tweaking the cat’s one white ear and enjoying the light mewling that she let loose at the playful antic, opening one tired eye to stare at her owner before curling back up asleep. 

He walked out to the living room wondering idly what he was to do with himself right now.  He glanced around the apartment, still being alternately lit up by the incessant lightning strikes outside only to fad once more to the dim light of candles trying to compete with the dots dancing in front of his vision.  He sighed and tried straightening up a few books that lay scattered around, but they weren’t particularly messy people so it didn’t take too long.  He found himself crashing to the couch and laying down lengthwise to face the window and watch the storm progress.

Lightning flashed, “One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, four…” Thunder pounded through the streets.  The center of the storm was a little over three miles away.  Taemin continued to count like he had been taught as a child and realized that the storm was moving away, though the dark skies continued. 

All of a sudden a light knocking at the door caught his attention.  Taemin was confused.  Who knocked?  They had a buzzer and most of their friends had the code to their keypad…who was that?

“Who’s there?”  He called standing up from the couch.

“Tae baby, it’s me!  Keypad’s not working…”

“There’s no power,” Taemin called as he rushed to the door and skidded on the polished wood in his socks.  He heard a light laugh on the other side of the door as he thumped loudly into it, but grew concerned as that laugh turned into a cough. 

Pulling open the door, he revealed a soaked Kibum.  Clothes clung in rather unflattering bunches around his body and his hair had fallen flat and plastered itself to his face.  A face partially hidden by Kibum’s hand which he was coughing into and a concerned frown overtook Taemin’s face.  He pulled the older man in, feeling the clammy could of his skin immediately. 

“You’re soaked to the bone, get in here and let’s dry you off.”

Kibum struggled to get his wet shoes and jacket off as Taemin dashed off for a towel.  He returned with a pile of them in his arms, immediately setting off to handle the dripping hair.  They had both wound up with an inch of each other on height, though Kibum still had him beat in that regard.  It did make attempting to dry off the top of his head easier though.

Kibum sneezed before taking over the toweling off himself.  Taemin had busied himself with picking up the wet clothing off of the floor and Kibum looked around.  “If it weren’t for the storm I would think you were trying to create mood lighting…” He said.

Taemin snorted, “Yeah, the mood of ‘I don’t want to stub my toe in the dark.’”

Kibum laughed, which once more turned into a cough.

He couldn’t see Taemin’s face through the fading light, while the lightning was coming to a close, it didn’t appear like the rain was going to give up any and the skies remained dark, but he didn’t have to see the younger man’s face to know that the frown it held was deepening. 

He knew that Taemin wanted to yell at him for being out in the rain when he got colds so easily so he headed him off, “I just wanted to keep my promise,” Kibum said softly, pulling the towel down from his head and absently ringing it between his hands.

He heard rather than saw his lover’s reaction.  It was strange, he thought in the back of his mind, that even though he couldn’t see him through the dimming candle light, he knew exactly the expression that he would be wearing on his round face.  He heard the rush of air as Taemin exhaled forcefully from his nostrils, and he knew that the other would be biting his lower lip just slightly, eyes trained on the floor. 

He heard the soft padding of feet before Taemin wrapped his arms around Kibum, holding him close as though water wasn’t seeping into his clothing from Kibum’s drenched ones.  “You shouldn’t have been out in the storm anyway, but it’s okay.”  He gently petting the other’s head and then pulled away, “Now come on let’s get you out of those soaking wet clothes…”

Kibum let Taemin pull him along by the hand to their bedroom.  When he opened the door, he felt the slight brush of Abby moving past his legs before entering their room. 

With a sudden mischievous thought, Kibum smirked and pulled back on Taemin’s hand, forcing the other to spin and them to wind up back in each other’s arms.  “I just had a great idea…” he mumbled quietly, their lips playing tantalizingly close to each other but not meeting.  Looking into Taemin’s eyes, which he could see regardless of the lack of light he said,  “How about we get me out of these clothes,” he paused and tugged lightly on Taemin’s shirt, “and get you out of those…”

Two pairs of eyes glittered in the dark as they quickly latched onto the same train of thought, “Take advantage of my ‘mood lighting’ as you called it?”  Taemin asked, laughter clearly present in his voice. 

“Exactly…” Kibum breathed before leaning in to kiss the love of his life.

From their bedroom located in the depths of their apartment, they didn’t even notice when the power came back on.  They were a bit busy. 

It was a conscious thought to call Key, Kibum in this chapter.  In my head, Key is a name for everyone else and a childish kind of name.  It's the name of the image that he crafted for SHINee.  Kibum is just who he is.  No acting, no pretention, just him being him, not having to hide anything from Taemin because there was nothing else to hde.  So that's why I used his real name instead of Key.

This kept wandering on me while I wrote it.  I would take it one direction, then it would suddenly head off somewhere else.  It has had about four different plots as I wrote it, and this is the one that I liked the best.

BTW, seriously, please check out the table in the forward and look at the upcoming prompts.  If you have any ideas for any of them feel free to run them by me, because as I've gone through writting down ideas for all of them, I keep finding myself heading down similar paths and you guys won't want to read the same story about ten different ways so if you have a plot idea please share.