A Sparkly Encounter (A JongKey Fanfic)

A Sparkly Encounter (A JongKey Fanfic) THIRTY-EIGHT

“If you don’t mind… Could you wait here?” JongHyun asked Key when they’d reached the waiting room in the ICU unit. He really wanted to be alone with TaeMin during his visit.

            “Sure, I’ll wait here,” Key agreed. He disconnected their hands (much to his displeasure) and sat in the chair closest to the magazine pile. In a couple seconds he had last month’s edition of Vogue opened on his lap and was studying the latest trends and styles.

            JongHyun smiled at the vision since it brought back memories of their first encounter.

            After one last look to his new boyfriend, JongHyun set off for TaeMin’s room. The hallway was long – taunting even – as he made his way down. A part of him begged to turn around and run out the sliding doors, but he pressed on even though it had been hard looking at TaeMin hooked up to all those machines the first time he’d come here. He had just looked so small and frail… So pale…

            The door with TaeMin’s name engraved onto the bronze name plate on it was the only thing blocking JongHyun from seeing his childhood friend. Pushing it open he was met with not only TaeMin, but MinHo as well. The tall boy was hunched over the bed, his head resting on TaeMin’s legs. One of his hands was laced with his fingers like he was holding on to the last thing he had in his life.

            “MinHo?” JongHyun asked quietly. He shook the boy lightly to get him to wake.

            The younger boy started out of his cat nap, his head whipping around frantically as he tried to locate the source of the voice. When his bug eyes landed on JongHyun his whole body seemed to slump in disappointment.

            He had probably thought I was TaeMin, JongHyun thought guiltily.

            “Have you been here all night?” he asked, cautiously moving towards TaeMin’s bed.

            MinHo sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “Yeah… I didn’t want him to be alone on Christmas morning…” he said.

            A stab of pain hit JongHyun hard in the chest. The world must have been playing darts on his body. His heart was the bull’s eye and the dart had hit him dead center. He’d avoided TaeMin for so long despite claiming to be his best friend and here MinHo was staying overnight just because he didn’t want him to be lonely.

            One look at TaeMin’s paper white face and this current thought in mind, the tears pushed to JongHyun’s eyes.

            “Do you mind giving us a moment alone?” he asked. He kept his voice very soft, worried that he would give away his true feelings if he spoke at a normal volume.

            “Sure… I have to pee anyway…” MinHo passed a hand through his dishevelled hair. He gave one last look at TaeMin – taking in his face like it was the last time he’d be able to look at it – before leaving the room.

            Alone with TaeMin, JongHyun was really able to absorb the gravity of the situation. Wires hooked TaeMin up to a variety of different machines so they could monitor his vital signs. The tube pumping his lung for him hung out of his open mouth lifelessly. It was a depressing sight that made nausea rise up to JongHyun’s mouth. He was all but a bag of bones surviving on the artificial life all these anaesthetics and apparatuses were providing for him.   

            The chair MinHo had previously occupied was warm as JongHyun sat in it. He picked up TaeMin’s hand so he wouldn’t feel alone after all that company he’d had during the night.