Responsibility

Description: Manager hyung has family matter and Jinki has to go for Night Star's recording, but Jonghyun hates the idea of being the eldest at home.

Rating: PG (maybe, for swearing)

Characters: SHINee

Disclaimer: I do not own SHINee.  The story is purely a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

“No, hyung.  You can’t just leave me here, taking care of the other three.  It’s ridiculous.  You know I can’t-”

                “No, Jonghyun.  You can.  Okay.  Just make sure they are at the dorm before twelve and have eaten.  Key has his musical practice tomorrow, and Taemin will have to get ready for Immortal Song and Minho will have another photo shoot.  All of them have to get ready by morning so your job is to make sure they sleep early.  Okay, Jonghyun-ah?” Jinki asks him.  The look the younger gives him is very desperate, for him not to leave, but he has no choice.

                “But, hyung-”

                “No but Jonghyun,” he says sternly before the younger boy could protest, but seeing the glint of tears in the other’s eyes makes him lowers down his voice, “Jonghyun-ah, you know manager hyung is having a call from his family for an important matter and I have a show to handle.  Kibum, Minho and Taemin need someone older to keep an eye on them.  I have nobody to rely on except you, Jonghyun.  Please,” he almost begs.  Jonghyun sighs, as though the whole universe is put on his shoulders.

                “Can you just call in sick?” Jonghyun asks.

                “No, Jonghyun.  No,” he smiles at the shorter boy.  Jonghyun pouts.

                “Why not?” he asks again.

                “It is what people call responsibility, Jonghyun-ah,” he pats the other’s head before he leave for Night Star’s recording.

                Jonghyun hates the feeling of being at home, with three other members.  He doesn’t hate them, not at all, but he hates being the eldest at home.  He is just not used to it.  All this while, he has Jinki taking care of the other members, and him.  When Jinki is not at the dorm, he still has manager hyung with him.  He doesn’t need to worry about how to buy dinner, how to get the members stay at the dorm and even how to get the members to sleep.  He thinks he has become too dependent on them.  He sighs for the umpteenth time that day.

                Thinking that it might be better for him to get into action rather than just staring at his pet dog, Roo who can’t help him in this situation, he first thinks of how to get the dinner ready.  What would Jinki do in this situation?  He should cook, should he not?  But, thinking of the face Kibum might give and the never-ending criticisms of a bad-taste-dinner from Minho, he decides that he should just get packed meals from the nearby restaurant.  And so he goes out, in the cold air of the evening, clearly in disguise, because the last thing he wants to happen in this situation is to be kidnapped by fans.

                When he gets home, he sets the table ready for late dinner.  He smiles at his attempt to get the members to eat.  Maybe it is not that bad after all.  But, the smiles on his face turns into an unattractive thin line as his lips pressed together at the news he just heard from Taemin.

                “Kibum hyung went out while you were buying dinner,” that is enough to make Jonghyun’s heart jumps.  What if Kibum is kidnapped by fans?  What if Kibum can’t find way home?  What if…What if…

                “Where did he go?” he asks.  Taemin shrugs.

                “He went out with the 91-liners.  You know, Nicole, Min, Jinwoon.  Perhaps I should go as well,” Minho says, remembering that he was born in 1991 as well.

                “No, Minho.  You’re not going anywhere.  Sit down and eat your meal,” Jonghyun says sternly.

                Minho looks at Taemin questioningly and both of them are thinking what makes the elder sounds so serious and concern.  Kibum went out, that’s normal.  Jonghyun goes out sometimes.  It is not wrong, isn’t it?

                “You’re not going to look for him, right hyung?” Taemin asks while feeding himself a spoonful of chicken rice.

                “Hell yes, I am,” he says.  Minho looks at him weirdly while he dials Kibum’s number.

                “Jjong,” Kibum answers as the line is connected.  And Jonghyun frowns at his hoarse voice.

                “Where are you, Kibum?” Jonghyun asks impatiently.

                “Noraebang.  Singing my heart out with Nicole, Jinwoon and Min,” his voice sounds so dry and hoarse in the phone.

                “What the-Kibum!  What happen to your voice?!” he asks in horror.  He could hear Kibum laughs.

                “I sang and my voice turned to be like this,” Kibum says nonchalantly.

                “Shit!  Kibum!  You have a musical practice tomorrow.  Have you eaten dinner yet?”

                “No, hyung.  Why hyung?  You sound so much like a mother.  Chill!” he replies.

                “No, Kibum.  Get home now, okay?” Jonghyun says while glancing at Taemin, “Taemin is sick.  He fainted in the bathroom and I don’t know what to do!” he tries his best to sound very worried.  He does sound worry, but not of Taemin, but of Kibum.  Taemin almost chokes on his food, but Minho is there to quickly shove him a glass of water.

                “What?!  Hyung, make sure Taemin hang in there, okay?  I’ll be at the dorm as soon as possible,” and that’s it.

                Kibum keeps his promise though.  He is in the dorm very early but takes an hour nagging at how much Jonghyun has ruined his outing with his friends and that he shouldn’t lie to him about Taemin fainted.  Jonghyun just rolls his eyes and forces Key to eat, which he does after another set of whines about how Jonghyun should just let him have dinner with Jinwoon.

                “I wish Jinki hyung were here and I don’t have to eat a heavy supper,” he complaints.  Jonghyun sighs again.

                “I wish he were here too,” he whispers to himself before he stands for himself, refuse to admit defeated, “It’s not my fault you took one hour to nag and whine.  If only you eat your meal earlier, it would be dinner.”

                Kibum snorts at that and he resumes eating.  There’s another set of complaints while he is eating but all Jonghyun does is turning his ears deaf.  He accompanies Kibum eating though, despite Kibum being all bitchy.        Jonghyun flinches at how raspy Kibum’s voice has become.  He thinks again what Jinki would do in this situation.  In the end, Jonghyun mixes honey with warm water and even squeezes a bit of lime juice into it.  He puts the mug in front of Kibum and gains another look from Kibum.

                “What?  Why?” Kibum almost could not ask.  It is unusual for Jonghyun to care about the others in the dorm.

                “That’s for your throat.  Please be okay by tomorrow.  You know you have musical practice tomorrow and I know as hell that nobody on the set wants Kibum to have a damaged throat before the practice even starts,” Jonghyun says.

                “Are you sick, hyung?  Kibum tries to touch Jonghyun’s forehead, but the elder gently pushes his hand away.

                “No, Kibum.  I am healthy and well-aware of my responsibility.  You finish that drink, take bath and go straight to bed, eh, Kibum-ah?” he says.  Kibum looks confused but nods anyway.  Jonghyun smiles and walks to the living room after that to ask the others to sleep as well.

                The other two busied themselves with games, clearly having battles against each other.  Jonghyun shakes his head at the sight of them.  He sits on the couch and clears his throat to get their attention.

                “What now, hyung?  You ask us to bath and we already did that,” Minho says while hitting the button furiously.

                “It’s time for you to sleep,” says Jonghyun.

                “What hyung?!” both of them asks synchronously.

                “I said that it is time for you guys to sleep,” Jonghyun says.

                “God, hyung!  It’s only eleven!” Minho protests.

                “I know and you have photo shoot tomorrow, Minho.  No one wants eye bags for photo shoot.  And Taemin have to get enough rest for Immortal Song tomorrow.  I know how stressful it would be standing alone on the Immortal Song’s stage.  It is good for both of you to get enough sleep,” says Jonghyun rationally.

                “No, hyung.  It’s still early!” Minho is clearly protesting again.

                “Minho!  You have to sleep early.  God knows how hard it is to wake you up early in the morning, you heavy sleeper!” Jonghyun raises his voice.  Minho rolls his eyes and quickly gets into the room they share together.

                Jonghyun is glad when Minho straight away goes to sleep right after he puts his head on the soft pillow.  He switches off the light and walks to the other room, where Jinki, Kibum and Taemin are sharing with each other.  He looks at Kibum who is already asleep on his bed.  His eyes move to Taemin.  He could see the younger boy’s eyes are still blinking at the ceiling.

                “Taemin-ah?” he asks.

                Taemin looks at Jonghyun who is standing at the doorframe.  He blinks at the older again and again.  Then, Taemin pouts at him.

                “I can’t sleep, hyung,” Taemin says.  Jonghyun smiles at him.

                “Just close your eyes, Taemin.  Everything will be fine,” he says while switching the light off.

                “Hyung, usually Jinki hyung sings for me to sleep,” Taemin says.  Jonghyun’s eyes almost drop out of the sockets.

                “And when he has a late schedule, did manager hyung sing for you?” Jonghyun asks, almost afraid to hear the answer.  The thought of manager hyung sings makes him cringe.

                “No.  But, I have always hoped you will sing for me to sleep.  All this while, hyung, really,” Taemin says, almost begging.

                Jonghyun sighs again and walks to Taemin’s bed.  He sits at the corner of Taemin’s bed and strokes his head.

                “What song do you want me to sing?” he asks.

                “A lullaby?” Taemin smiles.  Jonghyun chuckles and nods, and that night Taemin sleeps with Jonghyun’s voice playing in his head.  When Jonghyun is sure that all of them are asleep, he takes out his laptop and thinks it would be the best for him to procrastinate on Twitter while waiting for Jinki to come home.

                Jinki comes home very late at night, and the first thing he sees after he opens the door is the sight of Jonghyun sleeping in front of his laptop, in the living room.  He chuckles seeing the small form of the younger before him, sleeping with head on the keyboard of his laptop.

                “Jonghyun-ah,” he wakes Jonghyun up.  He knows that it is not that hard to wake Jonghyun up since he is a light sleeper.  He stirs right after JInki calls his name.

                “Hyung!  Hyung!  I’m glad you’re back!” he says, with puppy eyes sparkling and imaginary tails wagging to left and right.  Jinki laughs.

                “Yes, I’m glad that I’m back too,” he says.

                “Hyung, I did what you asked me to do.  I bought them dinner.  And they were at the dorm before twelve.  And they slept early too!  I did well, right, hyung?” Jonghyun asks him.  Jinki pats his head and laughs again.

                “Yes, Jonghyun.  You did well,” he pats the other’s head.

                “Hyung?”

                “Yes, Jonghyun?”

                “I swear, I’ll behave well and I won’t ever create problem for you again,” the younger says and Jinki laughs.

                “You are never a problem to me, Jjong,” Jinki says with a smile.

                And that night, both the eldest of SHINee sleep in the living room, singing for each other to sleep.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Mom and dad left me with my two younger brothers at home and I hate the feeling of being the eldest at home.  I wish my sister were here.

Dedicated to my elder sister <3