It was raining so there weren't many people on the streets; however, the street lights were all and shining brightly as ever. They made Taemin feel safe as he walked on the street with his umbrella.
 
Then suddenly there was a blackout.  The few people that were on the street gasped or screamed at the darkness, but even knowing that there are other people out there, Taemin felt alone.  He couldn't see a single thing.  The moon was not shining tonight. It was utterly black.
 

He gripped the handle of his umbrella tightly as he contemplated if he should continue to walk or stay put. If he continued to walk, there's the possibility of getting into an accident and an injury.  If he stayed put, there is the possibility that the blackout might go on for an hour or more.
 
He remembered his cellphone but as his hand reached inside his pocket and touched the cellphone, he remembered that the batteries were dead. He looked around and wondered why the other people on the street weren't switching on their cellphones or holding mini flashlights?  Why wasn't there any emergency light from all the restaurants and stores on the street?
 
"Oh my God! Nothing is working! Not the generators! Not our cellphones! Not the flashlights!"
 
"What's happening?!"
 
"Is it the end of the world?!"
 
Taemin could hear the people panicking.  He could hear unsure footsteps walking in random directions.  He could hear the doors of the restaurants and stores opening and more people walking out.  Suddenly there was a lot of noise as people bumped into each other blindly in the darkness.
 
One person bumped Taemin with a lot of force. Taemin lost his balance and fall to the ground. He tried to stand back up again, but was prevented by the sudden swarm of people stomping on him and kicking him accidentally.  There was a stampede going on and Taemin started to get scared, because there were really people who died from getting stepped on during a stampede.
 
Suddenly, there was a hand that grabbed Taemin's arm.  That strong hand easily pulled Taemin up and guided him in one direction.  There was a lot of bumping going on but Taemin could feel that the owner of the hand that was leading him really knew the way.  Taemin wanted to ask but didn't because he knew his own voice would just drown against the people's panicked voices around them.
 
The more Taemin walked, the less bumpy and noisy it became until there there was silence.  Taemin didn't have any idea where they were but he could tell they were far from the street where he was standing when the blackout started.  There were a lot of questions in Taemin's mind but the first thing he said was "Thank you."
 
Taemin panicked as the guiding hand left his arm, but he felt relieved somehow when he bumped unto his savior.  He felt safe when his savior's arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace.  "You're welcome, Taemin."
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
"When it's dark, remember how the embrace from your savior feels."
 
That's what the doctor told him last time. Taemin had been going on therapy for his nyctophobia, the fear of darkness. He started going therapy because he's already in high school now and yet, he still fears the dark, like children do. He knew that boogeyman and monsters in the closet didn't exist but when it's completely dark, Taemin believed that all kinds of nightmares existed.
 
He got panic attacks whenever there wasn't any, or even just a little, light. It was really bothersome since it cost electricity to keep Taemin asleep at night and nobody could really tell when a blackout happened. Whenever a blackout happened, Taemin always ended up in an emergency room because of his panic attacks, which means more money spent on hospital bills, and an even greater risk of Taemin losing his life, if not his sanity first.  He couldn't even enjoy going to the movies.
 
"Is it possible that my savior in the hypnosis could actually be someone I know?"  Taemin asked the doctor.
 
"Maybe. There could be a person you would want to be your savior - like a crush possibly? Oh wait, you just said you have a boyfriend, right?"  The doctor asked as he continued to write down notes on the patient's chart.
 
"If he was Minho, I would have recognized him instantly,"  Taemin frowned because the voice and the feel of arms around him was entirely different from his boyfriend.
 
"There will be more sessions, Taemin.  You might find out who it is once you could get rid of your fear of the darkness."
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
On his way back home, Taemin found himself on the same street that he saw in his hypnosis session. It wasn't raining, though, so there were more people on the street.  He didn't even know this place to begin with. He just decided to wander around, since he didn't feel like going home, and somehow he ended up here.
 
"My savior could be here, but how do I find him among all these people?"  Taemin frowned but started to walk along the street, looking around.
 
There was one particular dark alley that Taemin was curious about.  It was the only part that was really completely covered with darkness. The street lights weren't able to stretch their brightness to the dark alley.  "I've been in therapy for quite some time now.  It'll do no harm if I can just stand in the dark for one minute."  Taemin convinced himself. He took some deep breaths before venturing inside the alley.
 
It gave Taemin comfort that when he looked back he could still see the lights from the street; but in front, there is complete darkness. He paused in his steps when he heard something.  At first, he thought the moan was from the ghosts. He was ready to run back to the street, but he told himself that it was probably just his over-creative imagination doing this to him.  There were no ghosts... at least not here and now.
 
The sounds didn't stop.  They continued, louder this time. The female voice was later accompanied by a male.  It took a few more seconds before the realization hit Taemin. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness and he could slowly make out a man with a woman against the wall.
 
Suddenly, he could feel a hand tugging his arm with full force causing him to fall backwards, landing on the person behind him.  A hand covered Taemin's eyes.  "You're too young to be watching this." And the voice excited Taemin because it was the same voice in his hypnosis session.
 
When Taemin's eyes adjusted, they were back on the bright street. His excitement turned into a disappointment when he saw who his savior was.  It was none other than the well-known nerd at school, Lee Jinki.
 
Jinki was really a definition of a nerd, from thick eyeglasses to 80:20 gelled hair to carrying thick books around, from being clumsy to being the smartest in class.  "You shouldn't have been in the dark alley in the first place.  I thought you have nyctophobia,"  Jinki spoke again.
 
The weird thing was Taemin never really noticed Jinki's voice, as he was always distracted by Jinki's nerdy looks and personality.  Jinki actually has a deep baritone and very manly voice.  If they were in the darkness like before, Taemin could have mistaken Jinki as a really cool, handsome guy.  Looks like some things are better kept in the dark.  Wait... did he just relate darkness to something as a good thing?  Woah... an improvement.
 
"Um... Taemin?  Are you okay?"  Jinki asked again as Taemin never spoke to him and only continued to stare.
 
"Do you sing?"  Taemin blurted out randomly.
 
"Huh? No."
 
"Oh.  I should go now.  Bye!"  Taemin started to run away leaving a confused Jinki to stare at his retreating back.
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
"Are you ready, Taemin?"  The doctor asked.
 
"No,"  Taemin no longer looked forward to his hypnosis sessions. Not after finding out that his savior was Lee Jinki.  He told the doctor about this.
 
"You haven't seen your savior's face yet.  Maybe his voice is just like Jinki's but he isn't really Jinki,"  The doctor explained.
 
Taemin sighed as he hoped that the doctor was right.  He got himself ready to go under hypnosis again.
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Taemin was in the darkness once more.  At the moment, he was comfortable as he held hands with his savior.  "What's your name?" Taemin asked, hoping that his savior might answer differently.
 
"You already know it."
 
"Lee Jinki?"
 
"You don't have proof because it's dark and you can't see me.  You can give me another name.  You can even give me a face if you want. Just use your imagination."
 
Taemin gave it some thought but Jinki's face always comes up in his mind so he tried to make Jinki look less like a nerd instead throwing away the eyeglasses and changing the hairstyle. 

"Onew,"  He gave his savior a new name.
 
"Then Onew it is."
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Taemin was holding an umbrella as he walked on the familiar bright street at night.  He did a double take as he saw a familiar guy standing at the side of the street, taking shelter under the awning of a store.  It was none other than Jinki, minus the eye glasses, his hair completely wet along with the rest of his body.
 
"Onew."
 
Jinki looked up and saw Taemin.  "Did you just say something?"  It seemed like he heard something from Taemin but he wasn't too sure because of the loud noise that the rain was making against the road.
 
"You look so much better like this,"  Taemin continued to stare.  It was more or less the same image he had pictured Onew to look like.  His hand reached out to touch Jinki’s cold and slightly wet face.
 
"You... you're standing too close."
 
Taemin realized just how close they were not because Jinki told him but because he could feel Jinki's breath against his own lips when Jinki spoke.  "Oh."  But before he could back away, there was a sudden blackout.
 
Before Taemin could start panicking, he felt cold lips against his own and an arm around his waist pulling him closer to Jinki's body.
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
"Can you go to therapy with me? It's going to be my last session."
 
"Aren't you supposed to be asking your boyfriend to do that with you?"
 
"Minho and I broke up."
 
"Oh."
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
"I don't want to be hypnotized.  I want to do it awake and conscious this time around."
 
"Are you sure?"  The doctor asked.
 
"Yes.  I think I'm going to be fine with the real Onew next to me."  Taemin's hand reached out to hold Jinki's hand, feeling comforted at the way Jinki's hand had a good grip on him.
 
The lights were turned off.  Panicked feelings started to fill in Taemin's heart when Jinki released his hand and stepped away from him
 
"Is it too much to hope for that I'm the reason you broke up with Minho?"  Jinki spoke in the dark.
 
"No,”  Taemin felt at ease hearing Jinki’s voice and felt like melting when he was embraced with familiar warmth and love. “You really are the reason I broke up with him.  The reason I can face off the darkness.  The person I really want to be with.”
 
THE END

A/N:  This fic was an entry in the shawol_haven 16 challenge at livejournal and I'm proud to say that this fic won 1st place <3 This fic was supposed to be longer but because of the word limit which was 2000 words, I had to  revise a few parts but I'm happy it still turned out quite fine~ ^^ The picture above is the theme for this fic.  I decided to post this fic as my 100th fic here in aff since this fic is special to me <3

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