And here we are again!

This story has hit 100 subscribers! Considering that this pair isn't very widely shipped I am countring that as a huge victory.  Thanks to all of you guys who read this and try and help me out and keep encouraging me to continue writing.  100 prompts is a daunting undertaking but you guys totally make it worthwhile!

Thanks and enjoy!

This one is dedicated to idticd who gave me the idea for this based on their experience as a child.  And a little bit of a shout out to SilverKey as well who also tried to help me with this prompt and a little of that idea did make it into this story towards the end. 

#44 – Burn

The day was cold, dropping drastically to below freezing during the night and seemingly laughing at the sun that feebly attempted to warm the air around it when it rose in the morning.

It was so cold really, that Taemin hadn’t wanted Kibum to even go out to work that morning, a mock interview for new recruits to SM Entertainment, with Kibum having taken up a post training new young talent for the company.  Braving the cold weather would show the trainees dedication to their goal. 

You could tell from the temperature of their home around the windows of their apartment that outside would chill anyone to the very bone.  Looking outside one could see only a few brave souls out baring the frigid temperatures, scurrying around with their huddled forms trying to get inside just as quick as they were able. 

The news was reporting it as a recording breaking low and Taemin would have told his other half to call off, but Kibum wasn’t the kind of person who would ever bail on people who were depending on him being there, so he never even brought it up but to hug the man a little harder and kissing him lightly on the lips before tugging up Kibum’s scarf to cover the lower part of the man’s face to try and brave off the cold. 

It was the weekend though so at least the children didn’t have to bare the cold to go to school, but even then Munhee was off at a friend’s place who lived a couple of floors above them in their building.

So it was just Jinae and him in the apartment today.  Taemin and Jinae were going to watch a movie together and Jinae was making some hot chocolate for the two of them to enjoy.  She had the milk warming on the stove and Taemin had gone to double check his email to see if his editor had anything to say about the last article he had submitted. 

The shrill shriek of the kettle echoed through the apartment, followed quickly by padded footsteps rushing to turn off the flame. 

“EEEEEKKKKKKkkkkkkk!”

Taemin’s head snapped up as the shriek echoed through the apartment.

“Jinae?” He questioned, rising from his chair in his office and already heading for the office door.

“Sorry Papa, I’m fine!” the thirteen-year-old’s voice carried, but Taemin could hear a slight choking in her voice and knew that something was up.

Taemin walked down the hallway to the kitchen to see Jinae, feet firmly implanted in their slippers and overrun by her too-long sweatpants.  She had one sleeve of her sweatshirt, one that had belonged to Kibum once upon a time but had been claimed by their daughter during one of Kibum’s business trips because it “smells like Appa,” shoved up her arm passed her elbow and she was doing a strange kind of dance as she held her right wrist in her left hand and blew air onto her bared forearm. 

A high pitched mash up between a squeal and a moan escaped her lips as she continued to hop around.

“Sweetie…” Taemin trailed off, reaching out and grabbing her hand and moving her arm closer for him to see.   

A bright red mark seared its way from just above her wrist straight up at least six inches, a narrow line that was practically ruler straight as though she had taken a red marker to her skin. 

Taemin quickly started the cold water at the sink and placed her arm under the flowing stream, resulting in a hitched sighed from his daughter.

“What happened?” He asked quietly, looking into eyes that so mirrored his own in shape and color. 

“Something on the TV shocked me…” she said, biting her lip.  She looked up at her father and he could see the pale tracks of two tears that had made their way down her cheeks during her shock.  “I jumped and the milk sloshed out of the kettle…” She sniffled and turned her eyes down towards their feet. 

Taemin leaned over and kissed the crown of her head, and continued to hold that arm under the running water.  “It’ll be okay sweetie, Papa will help.”

Jinae shoved her free hand against her face, whether to wipe off her tears or to attempt to stem any more from falling Taemin didn’t know but he pulled her small frame against his side and ran his free hand up and down Jinae’s upper arm. 

After a few minutes Taemin turned off the water and examined Jinae’s arm.  The edges of the mark were already starting to fade back into her normal skin tone and Taemin gave a little sigh.  It wouldn’t be a terribly bad burn, nothing to worry about seeing a doctor for, just something that would be tender for a couple of days at worst. 

Taemin gently kissed the skin around the mark and smiled up at Jinae.  “You’re going to be fine.”  He wetting down a paper towel with cool water and squeezed it out so that it wasn’t dripping water.  He grabbed her other hand and tugged her back into the family room, hot chocolate forgotten for now.  “Now what movie were we going to watch?”

And they settled down on the couch, Jinae lying with her head on a pillow atop her father’s lap.  As the movie began she had clutched the damp towel to her arm, but as the movie progress both the pain and her awareness of it faded and she didn’t even notice when the towel slipped from her fingers and landed with a dry thunk on the floor, having lost sense lost any of its moisture. 

The door banged open and Kibum burst into the apartment, shaking snow from his scarf as he quickly divested himself from his rapidly dampening clothing and the warmth of the apartment began to melt the snow covering his body. 

“Appa!” Jinae shouted with a smile and jumped up from the couch to run for the door. 

Taemin paused the movie and made his way over as well, picking up the discarded scarf and hat and hanging them on pegs by the door as Kibum hugged their daughter. 

“How was your day Appa?” She questioned, looking up at him.

Kibum laughed, a hearty laugh that ended in a dry cough.  Some snow had transferred itself from his coat to her jet black hair and was already melting to droplets of water that gracefully slid down to the tips of her hair.

“It was good princess, it was good.” He said while running one of his long fingers down the side of her face before stepping back out of the embrace to remove his jacket.

Which skirted against Jinae’s forgotten burn.

She hissed, inhaling sharply against her clenched teeth, holding her arm protectively against her chest, suddenly remembering the earlier incident.

Kibum had frozen, one arm in his coat and one are freed, staring in surprise and slight shock at his daughter. 

“…what…?” he mumbled slightly before Taemin jumped in, pulling Jinae’s opposing hand off of her irritated skin.  Kibum’s keen eyes caught the reddening in an instant and quickly tore his other arm from his coat, letting it drop to the floor and grabbing Jinae’s arm, one hand clasping hers and the other at her elbow.  His lips quickly formed an O shape and he blew cold air on the offending mark. 

“Darling,” he said after a few moments, “how did you burn yourself?” 

“Hot milk from the kettle,” Taemin supplied.

“Have you put any ointment on it yet?” Kibum asked, eyes drifted from daughter to husband. 

Taemin’s own eyes drifted away and he pursed his lips while scratching the back of his head and suddenly clearing his throat.

“Taemin!” Kibum exclaimed, getting to his feet and laying a quick smack to Taemin’s arm.  “Jinae sweetie, go to the bathroom and get the ointment and put it on your burn alright?  I’ll be right there to see if it needs a bandage.” 

Jinae skipped off to the bathroom, hiding a small smirk on her face that told the world that she knew her Papa was in trouble. 

Kibum turned to Taemin with a quirked eyebrow. 

Taemin meanwhile looked incredulous.  “Really?  You’re going to be mad at me over ointment?”

“She might get a permanent scar from this if we wait to long.” Kibum reasoned.

“Oh come on.  How many times have you or I burned ourselves while doing something and how many permanent scars do we have from that?  Scars yes, but not from goofy things like this, this happens to everyone at some point.”  Taemin waved his arms, taking in the abandoned mugs on the counter and the kettle sitting off-center on one of the stove burners. 

Kibum could feel his temper taking him.  It had been a long day.  The trainees had been far more obnoxious than he could ever remember himself and the other trainees being during his time.  The temperatures that morning, so cold that his face had stiffened immediately upon walking out the door of their building, had started the day off on a horrible note.  The horrible notes continued through trainees who couldn’t seem to get it together and talked back to their instructors more than they listened to them, along with literal horrible notes when many of them couldn’t seem to find the pitch.  The whirling snow on the way home had taken visibility down to near nothing.

He wasn’t really mad at Taemin, a little irked that he hadn’t thought of the ointment, but Taemin was right, he was overreacting. 

Kibum took in a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes, biting his lips together and tilting his head back.  He held that air for a long moment in his chest before releasing it through his mouth, before dropping his head back down and re-opening his eyes to see Taemin looking at him, his calm gaze leveled on Kibum’s.

“Alright, alright,” Kibum sighed, “You win and I’m sorry.”

Taemin laughed lightly, “How’d that taste coming out of your mouth?”

“Like dirt.” Kibum said promptly, bending over to pick up his coat and hang it up in the hall closet.

Taemin lightly smacked Kibum’s bottom, causing the other man to shriek slightly and whip himself around, hands instinctively guarding his .

Taemin smirked, “Love you Bummie!”

Kibum just shook his head, “Nothing for you tonight mister, keep yourself warm.”

Taemin just laughed again.  “But you’re the one who snuggles up into me.” Taemin pointed out, poking Kibum in the side once as the older man tried to sneak past him.

“OWH!” Kibum huffed as he succeeded in passing his husband in their narrow entryway, “I just can’t win today.”  And he through his hands up in the air and rounded the corner to help Jinae.

Taemin just shook his head at his Kibum, trying to hold in his laughter because it would start to border on mean at this point. 

Then Kibum’s head popped back around the corner.  “And I love you too Minnie.”  He said softly before disappearing once more. 

But the need to laugh was gone, replaced by the flutter of butterflies that had never gone away in the twenty-six years that they had been a couple.  The fires of passion still carried them away and scalded their flesh.  They were still as enraptured by each other as they had been when Taemin was a naïve little seventeen-year-old who thought that love would make everything okay.  There was work involved and strength and perseverance, but here they were.  All these years later, having built a warm home and a caring family and still totally, completely, absolutely in love with each other. 

Taemin fought down his blush and went to dump the now horrifying milk and clean out the kettle before Kibum found out and yelled at him.

But he still couldn’t have asked for anything more.      

The exchange towards the end (“how’d that taste?” “like dirt.”) is based off of a similar line (or it may be the exact same wording, I can’t remember) in the movie The Blind Side.  I loved it in the movie and started using it myself and it just kind of slipped in here, but I liked it so I wanted to give it due credit.    

As always - please let me know what you think. 

And keep the ideas coming.  Remember to check out the table in the forward to this story and look through the titles.  If it's red I have nothing to go on right now and could really use your help.  Also, if the prompt is black I have an idea, but I haven't started writing anything so feel free to offer up some bits of advice on that too.  Some of the inspirations from you guys have been some of my favorite stories to write *cough* Nightmare *cough*.