inactive

!!! i will answer your questions!

so basically, they all currently live in this small cul-de-sac (a dead end part of a neighborhood in case people don’t know what that is like i did LOL) and eunsook and taeyeon have lived there ever since they were born because their parents are real close. taeyeon was born when eunsook turned three. 

junghee moved in a lil while after, then minjung and then gwiboon. 

other than eunsook and taeyeon who were practically growing up with each other, junghee was too shy to interact with eunsook, despite their age difference being only about a year and living in the same area for a while. so instead, eunsook really got to know minjung, who was happy to have a new friend after moving.

minjung warmed up to eunsook easily and quickly. she even considered taeyeon to be her little sister for a while. (mj’s mom: no sweetie we can’t adopt taeyeon. she already has a wonderful family.)

they were kind of a trio and then when gwiboon moved next door to minjung, minjung was excited to get to know her as well. 

for like, an 8 year old, gwiboon already had a sharp wit and she was funny. taeyeon found this great because she could easily poke fun at gwiboon and not have her staring blankly at her like when she said “super cali fragilistic expialidocious” twice as fast to eunsook.

this is the time when junghee entered their lives. like said earlier, she was really shy, like not standoffish, but afraid to approach people. gwiboon was the one who kind of roped her in hanging out with them because she always saw jung by herself and it made her sad.

one day, gwiboon saw junghee sitting by the sewer drain dropping stones through the grates so she plopped down across her from her and started talking. junghee legit almost ran away but there was something about gwi’s presence that made her feel less like crying so she stayed. 

it took some time, but junghee became more comfortable with the rest of them (though she tends to stay by gwiboon is stressful situations because she makes her feel better). 

they’re all really close with each other now and they go to a k-8 school so eunsook won’t officially leave them until she starts high school (i did that on purpose because i can’t have sook leaving so soon!). they all trust each other and love each other even when they don’t always get along.

when jonghyun is a pinterest nerd and has a funny idea

~

Taemin’s spinning left and then right on his swivel chair, staring at his bitch of an English essay when he hears not one, not two, but three things bang against his window. Knowing exactly what this is, Taemin pushes himself away from his desk and moves over to his window so he can open the blinds. The red blinking 2:30am on his bedside clock are yelling that it’s way too late.

“What the hell do you want?” Taemin whisper moans after he’s opens his blinds and damn near slams his window open. He rubs his eyes and blinks several times to minimize the blur of a person centered in his vision.

“Okay, like, I was sleeping and I just got the greatest idea,” Jonghyun whisper shouts back. Taemin can see that his desk is an utter mess, meaning he’s either created something or he just forgot to clean up the mess from last time he tried something on Taemin. “And, I was scrolling through Pinterest but I saw this thing, where you attach a string to two empty soup cans and it’s like a telephone.

Now, Taemin loves Jonghyun. In the brotherly sense of course. They’ve been next door neighbors for pretty much their entire lives so Taemin should be used to Jonghyun springing sudden ideas at him in the middle of the god forsaken night. But he’s not and he lets Jonghyun know.

“Why- What the fuck does- We have fucking cellphones,” Taemin sputters. He holds his hands out and knits his eyebrows that display utter confusion. “Y’know, the old dudes invented the phone for a reason.”

Jonghyun rolls his eyes. “I know but can you just test it for me? Please?” He folds his hands together.

Taemin takes a moment to assess the situaion before ultimately giving up. “Fine. Hand me the can.”

“Wait, like throw it?” Jonghyun asks.

“Well, how else am I supposed to get it?” Taemin raises his eyebrows.

“I was just gonna go downstairs to your house.”

“How would you get back to your house then?”

“Right.”

Jonghyun lightly tosses one of the cans to Taemin’s outstretched arms, thankful that the distance between their two houses isn’t too big. Jonghyun puts his can up to his mouth, straightening the string line, while Taemin does so with his ear.

“Can you hear me?”

Taemin fails to hide a small chuckle.

“What?” Jonghyun whispers into the can again.

“It feels like you’re whispering into my ear,” Taemin says back.

“And you like that?” Jonghyun asks back. He smiles, knowing that Taemin, who tries to act like he doesn’t care, is still a child inside.

“It reminds me when we were in fifth grade and Mr. Heechul had to separate us because we wouldn’t stop whispering about stuff to each other.”

Jonghyun giggles. “I can’t believe you still remember that.”

“I swear to god if we weren’t friends, I’d probably punch you right now.”

“You know you love me.”

it’s definitely a ride tbh LOL. when taebae was a little bab, babysitting was fairly easy. he slept a lot and played with his crayons (onew: don’t EAT!!!!) and watched power rangers a lot. it was easy watching him when he was like, 2 years old (they did it often because jonghyun had to go back to work after his leave of absence).

then taeminnie grew up and kind of formed his own opinion and that’s when jinki, minho and kibum realized they needed to be parents and make sure taem knew his place.

all three are good at being good parents and not letting taemin walk all over them (though jinki tends to be a tad more lenient than minkey).

when jinki babysits, he’s more of a ‘stay at home’ kind of babysitter. after taem finishes his homework, they’ll make a huge fort with a buncho jonghyun’s blankets and pillows and make popcorn. sometimes they’ll just watch power rangers or big hero 6, depending on the day or how early they start.

“can we watch the lion king?”

“we watched that yesterday. and the day before that.”

“but HAKUNA MATATA.”

“fine.”

taemin just loves his uncle onew even if he’s zoning out during the lion king (onew: this is the third time!!)

with minkey, they’re a lot more active. on weekdays, taem does his homework and then they’ll go for a walk or go to the playground. if he’s lucky, minkey will set up a playdate with kai and the two will just sit in the sandbox or run around like lil lunatics.

on weekends, they go farther out, like downtown or street markets or if taemin’s really luck, the amusement park!

“what’s that?”

“spicy chicken feet! do you want some?”

taemin’s face crinkles in disgust. “no thanks. cream bread please.”

taemin likes uncle min and uncle key because they like to take him out and if he’s extra cute he can try and get two packs of cream bread. it’s super cute and sometimes they’ll both take one of his hands and swing him around.

taemin does see kai again! however, jonghyun isn’t with him. during the winter time, jonghyun was busy at the office leading up until christmas so jinki and minkey were enlisted to help as much as they could.

one day, when taem and jinki were out at the grocery store looking for some easy-to-bake christmas cookies, jinki hears a tiny “kAI!” and then taemin is Gone.

now, jonghyun never told jinki nor minkey about kai. they know that taem goes to daycare when no one is able to take care of him but no one ever told them about his best friend.

and for a split second, jinki has panicked thinking some guy is luring taem away. he whips his head in the direction of where taemin has taken off (he’s six right now!) and sees him running towards a little boy. this little boy’s dad is chasing after his child as well.

“taemin! you’re not supposed to take off like that!” jinki scolds. he turns towards the other dad. “i’m so sorry, sir.”

the guy, who jinki soon finds out is named junmyeon, is very apologetic too and by the end of the conversation, taemin is scheduled to have a playdate with kai next saturday, after kai and his family get back from a family reunion for christmas.”

“tell chanyeol hyung and baekhyun hyung and sehun and kyungsoo hyung and minseok hyung and chen hyung i said hi!” taemin rambles, waving goodbye. kai shouts back an, “i will!”

jinki finishes shopping and taemin just babbles on about how much he loves kai and how cool he is and how he has a trampoline! (“hint hint uncle onew.” “look at your house. do you think there’s room for a trampoline?”)

jonghyun also sees taeyeon again when taemin is two years old. taeyeon had to take a break from the daycare because of family issues so when jonghyun took kind of baby taem there a couple of time (when jinki and minkey were busy) she wasn’t there.

one day, jonghyun brought taem to daycare because of a meeting and taeyeon was there!

“jjong! i feel like i haven’t seen you in forever! taeminnie’s so big!” she takes taemin from jonghyun and bounces him in her arms. “hi taeminnie.”

“hi,” taemin says shyly.

“so, how are things?”

that’s when jonghyun realizes he hasn’t told her about sekyung. he swallows and smiles awkwardly. “well, it’s just been me and taem for a while. we’re kind of getting used to things.”

taeyeon stares back blankly. something tugs in the back of her mind but she waits for him to say it.

“sekyung left. it’s been a bit weird but i have a lot of help. how are things with your family?” jonghyun changes the subject so quickly and taeyeon almost doesn’t realize. they catch up a little more and make plans to officially have coffee next week before jjong leaves for work. 

it’s a good time for taemin and jonghyun to kind of re-establish the normality of life before sekyung left and basically screwed everything up. as jinki and minkey show up more and more taemin kind of eases into it and he doesn’t think about his mom until he gets to be about six, because when he goes to school, they have to make mother’s day cards and he realizes he doesn’t know who his mom is.

sometimes, they’ll all just hang in Jonghyun’s sort of furnished apartment but on weekends, they LOVE to take Taemin out, especially Kibum.

like, one day, Taemin’s antsy and Jonghyun is just Not in the mood for another crying fest so Kibum giddily suggests they go to the park, since the weather Nice and everyone looks like they can get some fresh air. so they strap Taemin in a cute lil stroller (he’s wearing a smol hat) and head out.

when they get there, it’s like Taemin totally forgot about how he was about to break down crying because he sees the sun and he smells the nature and !!!! he loves it. he starts kicking his feet and waving his arms because he wants to move around. he’s

been learning how to walk and he babbles something really funny.

“you wanna play Taeminnie? you wanna go on the playground?” Jonghyun asks in a super corny baby voice that makes Minho pretend gag behind his back.  

Taemin responds by clapping so Jonghyun takes him out of the stroller and they go to the baby playground. Taemin waddles around like a baby penguin, eager to touch anything and everything. he trips a lot but wobbles right back on up and continues his attempt at being coordinated. Jonghyun’s heart swells.

then he has to scold him for trying to eat ants.

Jinki buys them all ice cream and Jonghyun shares his with Taem. tbh, they all just share the mixture of strawberry, sorbet and mint chocolate chip but it’s cool they love each other.

Minho also tried to do some cool flippy thing on one of the bars but underestimated how small it would be and ended up banging his head against it. Kibum died laughing, according to Jinki.

on the days when the rain is shitty and forces them to stay inside, Jinki invites them all to his apartment so they can watch movies, preferably just Power Rangers because it’s Taemin’s fav or Pororo. it’s really sweet uwu they bring their blankets and Jinki brings out popcorn and baby wafers for Taemin.

“hey Minnie Bee, Power Rangers or Pororo?” Minho asks. he holds up the colorful dvd cases, allowing Taemin to point to which one he wants.

“No,” Taemin pouts.

“No what? Neither? Bolt?” Minho picks up the Bolt dvd case and shows it to Taemin. his expression immediately lifts up.

“Please,” he says nicely because Jonghyun wasn’t about to raise a disrespectful child just because Sekyung was gone.

Minho grins and pops the dvd in the case. he places Taemin on his lap and looks around. Kibum and Jonghyun are talking. the rattling from the kitchen is definitely Jinki.

“hey Jonghyun can Taem have strawberry wafers?” Jinki shouts.

“yeah, bring some for us too,” Jonghyun replies.

they end up finishing the bag of strawberry wafers, but of course, leaving some for Taemin.

they continue to do days out and days in as Taemin grows up, and it becomes easier once he can fully walk by himself and talk and voice his opinions. since they started doing this with Taemin since he was a baby, Kibum has been dying to go to the amusement park together, which will happen.

after Sekyung left and took everything with her, Jonghyun knew he was in some desperate fucking need of furniture. i mean, he still had a bed and the really old coffee table Sekyung hated but he needed like, a table or a couch or some god damned utensils so he wouldn’t have to keep reusing disposable spoons.

this, my Friend, is when Jonghyun finally meets Minho and Kibum. Jinki had noticed Jonghyun using the same bedsheet as a makeshift curtain since the day she left (so it’s been like two months??) and he himself knew he had no taste so he enlisted Kibum, who also dragged Minho along.

“nice to meet you. i’m Kim Kibum, your new interior house designer.”

Jonghyun couldn’t believe that was the first fucking thing that came out of this guy’s mouth the day they met. he grins awkwardly. “Kim Jonghyun. nice to meet you too.”

essentially, Kibum dragged them all to this nice furniture outlet, something not too pricey because Jonghyun wasn’t a god hecking millionaire.

like, he made enough money but he was still working up on the positions. plus, he had to take some time off right after Sekyung left so he could sort out his life. he’s not a crappy intern though lol he’s actually just a cool work-in-progress businessman aka a well-working employee at the SM building in downtown Seoul.

money wasn’t the only issue at this point. Jonghyun was just really worried Kibum would go on some buying spree and leave him with no money.

“since we don’t want to blow your wallet all at once, how about we get you a table and some chairs? you know, so you don’t have eat over the counter.”

“i need some utensils first,” Jonghyun replies, grimacing. damn you, Sekyung.

Kibum opens his mouth in realization, then presses his lips tight together. “let’s do that first then.”

Jonghyun admits, it’s embarrassing. He’s had several mental breakdowns, he doesn’t have utensils and he may get fired (that was just added for dramatic effect but he hasn’t been all too productive at work lately).

piecing and rebuilding his life after Sekyung left was difficult and it was something that Jonghyun never would have imagined doing. to him, it was like their marriage and Taemin tied them together forever. turns out that was all a lie.

sometimes, Taemin got into moments when he just wanted his mom and even Jonghyun rocking him would do nothing. other times, Jonghyun would just cry in his room because he’s just so upset. usually, Jinki will find out and comfort him and Minho will play a dumb joke to cheer him up. it always works.

and like mentioned earlier, Jonghyun took some time off of work to buy some furniture, adjust baby Taemin to not having a mommy to hold him (Jonghyun didn’t think his arms were anywhere near as soft as Sekyung’s) and just get used to being alone.

he wasn’t always alone. someone was always over and hanging out, whether Jonghyun asked them to or they was just popping by. Taemin quickly grew fond of his new uncles and Jonghyun appreciated the help sososo much.

it was just a lot of work, physically and mentally. Jonghyun was kind of thankful, in a way, that Sekyung took all their furniture because at least he wouldn’t have to be reminded of when they used to be together. and it gave him a chance to start all over with himself.

first, i apologize for calling jonghyun’s ex-wife sekyung but i COULDN’T COME UP WITH ANYTHING ELSE FORGIVE PLS

It definitely went both ways. After Mrs. Not-His-Wife-Anymore left, even with Jinki helping as much as he could, Jonghyun was still HELLA stressed out. The idea of being a single parent was something he never really thought of and when it actually happened, he had no idea what to do. He didn’t know if he could be a good dad to a baby who didn’t understand where Mommy was.

Like, about a week after she left, Jonghyun was leaning against the kitchen counter sipping soup out of a can (because she took his table and most of the fucking utensils) and he just started crying. It kind of just hit him all at once and he was so scared that Taemin wouldn’t be able to be a normal kid because of this huge dilemma.

But….. Taemin, being the sweetie pie that he is, noticed his pops was crying and even as a baby, barely 2 years old, he crawled on over to Jonghyun’s leg and just like, latched on.

And Jonghyun was confused at first, saying, “Taeminnie? What are you doing?”

Baby Taem couldn’t speak so he just looked up at Jonghyun with his big cute eyes and smiled because Daddy! I love you! This, of course, just made him feel better and so he scooped up Taemin and convinced himself that yes! I can do it.

In terms of the other way around, about a month after she left, Taemin kind of picked up on his mom not being there anymore. He didn’t understand why but this made him really antsy and upset because he couldn’t explain why he was angry with words.

One day, nothing was really going right for Jonghyun. Taemin was being fussy and rejecting literally every attempt Jonghyun made to calm him down. He didn’t want a bottle, he didn’t need a diaper change, he didn’t want his toys. nothing was working and it was stressing the fuck out of Jonghyun. He called Jinki and even he didn’t know why nothing was working until

“He wants his mom.”

And Jonghyun just… pauses. “What?”

“He’s fussy because he wants Sekyung. She hasn’t been around for a while so it makes sense why he’s being like this.”

This just makes it even worse for Jonghyun. “What the hell am I supposed to do then? I can’t just call her and force her to come back and make him stop crying.”

“He’ll cry it out eventually. Luna told me about that before. Just let him cry and then he’ll get tired.”

So Jonghyun does and when that doesn’t work, he finally scoops Taemin up and tries to rock him. Surprisingly, Taemin stops screeching. Or, the volume goes way down.

“It’s okay Minnie. I’m right here. Daddy’s holding you now, right? I miss Mommy too but but it’s just gonna be the two of us for a while, okay? And uncle Onew.”

Jinki laughs, diverting Jonghyun’s attention. “No one’s called me that in a while.”

“i want it to your nickname for Taemin when he starts talking,” Jonghyun whispers back.

And basically, Jonghyun and Taemin were in a lot of distress when this situation first started but they’re there for each other, and Jinki helps too! (Minkey hadn’t entered their lives quite yet)

of course my sweet anon!!!

so Basically when jinki and jonghyun were freshies in high school, they used to be best friends like, i’m not kidding. Best Friends, with two capitals. they did everything high schoolers did together.

“i want mcdonalds.”

“hyung it’s like 3am wtf.”

“but 24 hour breakfast….”

“damn fine but you’re driving.”

and it was really sweet. they thought of each other like brothers and they were joined at the hip all the time.

and then jjong got a girlfriend, which will turn out to be his now ex-wife. jonghyun was hella whipped for her and ofc he still made time for jinki because he’s like his bro bro. but falling outs happen (trust me i lost a best friend of like eight years from falling out). jinki was constantly busying himself with prep for college and jjong was getting a job and hanging out with the gf.

like, they tried to make it work. but their texts always went like

jinki: wanna hang out? i don’t have work today?

jonghyun: my shift ends at 3 and i promised gf i’d hang. after 6?

jinki: student gov meeting at 6:30 sorry

jonghyun: oh srry another day then

and it just got increasingly awkward until they just stopped talking altogether. their schedules senior year never matched and it felt silly almost to be hanging onto a friendship that was falling apart. so they just stopped. they were no longer Best Friends with two capitals.

but when jjong’s wife leaves him and he’s too embarrassed to consult his older sister (he hasn’t talk to his mom or sister since he got married but that’s a story for another day) he actually calls him (yes he still has his number) and jinki is like !!!!

“hi… it’s jonghyun. from high school.”

“oh. hello.”

“yeah, i’m in a bit of a really shitty dilemma so if i could just get some advice i’d really appreciate it.”

“of course.”

so they meet up at mcdonalds and its still really awkward but jinki sees jonghyun’s baby taem and kind of pieces the situation together.

“i know, i’m not asking you to adopt my son. i just don’t know what to do.” jonghyun is crying and freaking out but jinki calms him down and they work it out. he cries for a while but then they buy some mcnuggets and it’s a lot better when they reconnect for four hours.

i kind of rambled through this but i just really love Best Friends jongyu and even after everything they’re still gonna try to be buddies again.

yes! don’t worry baby taemin was fine. since they both worked, they both tried to make time for their smol son but on days when they new they’d be working late, they‘d take him to this daycare that’s owned by jonghyun’s close friend, taeyeon. and taem likes it there because kai is usually there and they beat each other up with stuffed animals.

and thankfully, taem was at daycare the day the wife just left. she took everything that wasn’t related to taemin in any way, packed it up, and left without a word to jonghyun. like she left his baby toys but took the couch and the bed sheets.

so when jonghyun came home, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. and he knew his wife was being really distant but he assumed it was stress from work. he walks around and it like shit.

and then he remembers taemin. he noticed that she didn’t take anything belonging to taemin but he didn’t know if that was a decoy and she really took taemin while jonghyun was at work. so he runs to the daycare in the pouring rain and slams the door open and there he is. taemin’s just sitting on the plushy carpet with his cute lil jumper on, banging a stuffed elephant against kai’s head. relief washes over him.

taeyeon asked what happened but jonghyun in his shocked state just says he’ll be taking taemin and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. that’s when he calls onew and reconnects.

minkey weren’t a part of jonghyun’s life until later but they definitely pitch in and help with watching taemin on some of their days off. these days, they do notice that jjong gets really tense when he has to go to work without taemin because he’s worried he’ll come back and taemin will be gone (would his wife come back and steal him?) but minkey and onew promise to always watch him.

no matter what.

like, when jjong was stuck at this hella long meeting, minkey so graciously offered to be the babysitters and while they were watching taeminnie, they remembered how jonghyun described just how awful it was when his wife abandoned him and their child and how it made jonghyun think he would never be a good dad.

also imagine minkey just being absolute Suckers for lil taem like minho spoils the hell out of him when he becomes a toddler and key is just really bad at saying no, whether it be about playing dinosaurs or buying a quick ice cream snack.

and onew is awkward as heckie around taemin at first bc unlike minkey, he’s a bachelor with no child experience. he is That unprepapred and he feels bad so he tries to make up for it by watching taem when jjong has weekend meetings or whatevs.

imagine single dad jonghyun with his lil baby son taemin. jonghyun’s wife up and left them, like legit disappeared when a week after taemin’s first birthday. she didn’t explicitly state why, nor did she leave anything in their apartment left for jonghyun. she basically just took everything while he was at work and left him up to his own devices. and jonghyun is a typical dude and he needs help so he calls onew and is like “tf my wife is gone help me” and this au is going to be about how jonghyun raises baby taemin while he’s working with the help of his recently reconnected bestie onew and his across the hall roommates minho and key.

song: boys meet u by shinee

taemin knew that everything was going a bit too perfectly but guess what he still loves jonghyun

AHH so when i found out i’d be writing for this cursed song, i actually enjoyed it the most hahahaha. sorry it’s a bit crappy but thanks for waiting!

Taemin can’t really help feeling uneasy, especially when everything in preparation up until this moment has gone perfectly and smoothly. It’s a beach, for God’s sake and Taemin just knows something is going to go wrong.

Jonghyun had insisted that they wear some form of matching outfits, much to Taemin’s dismay. Of course, making Jonghyun smile is all he really wants but he doesn’t want to look like a fucking sailor boy in the process.