jinki / jonghyun ; glitter glow ; pg
so like au where Jonghyun is an elf with glittery skin and a little bit of a local celebrity for his music and Jinx is the human doctor mage that stops by his house every night to help him sleep through his insomnia
“I saw some of your show today,” he says. Jonghyun pauses in the middle of reaching down for his hot mug of tea, looking at Jinki over his shoulder. The natural glitter spots on his golden skin glow a little pink, just for a second.
“Did you?” he asks, shyly, curiously, lifting his mug to take a sip.
Fireflies flit around Jinki's head as he makes his way down the cobbled road, his horse leisurely carrying him along. They make a turn off of the main city road and pass by houses and shops, all familiar to him for one reason or another, be it from purchasing supplies or visiting for his own work, until the carefully laid out path transitions into a small dirt dirt road. From there, it's all the way to the end of the fence, another turn, and then one, two, three, four little stone cottages until he reaches Jonghyun.
Windows glowing with light, chimney smoke only visible against the night sky because of how it covers up a wispy trail of stars, and, if Jinki listens hard enough, a soft voice carrying a tune from all the way around the back of the house.
That's where Jinki goes after dismounting from his horse, patting her gently and tethering her to the fence in front of the house. He makes his way along the fence, squeezing himself between it on his right and the neighbors fence on his left, until he gets to the back and finds Jonghyun where he always is. Behind bushes laden with berries and planter boxes growing new crops, sitting on his swinging bench next to the back door, eyes fixed on the stars, Roo curled up in his lap. A steaming mug next to him. Fuzzy pajamas and thick socks on his feet. A sleep mask around his neck. Singing a soft song about nothing. No words even, just emotions.
“Good evening, Jonghyun,” Jinki calls softly. Just loud enough to be heard, for Jonghyun to notice him. When Jonghyun does, he smiles, his pointy elf ears perking up under silver white hair.
“Hi Jinki,” he says. Gently picking up his puppy in one arm, he carries her to the back gate to let Jinki in. For an elf, he's pretty short, so when their eyes meet for just a moment, Jinki only has to look up maybe an inch or two. Close enough to see the golden star-shaped blotch in his left brown iris. Jinki has it memorized but it's always nice to see it in person every night.
“How did you sleep last night?” he asks as he closes the gate behind him. Jonghyun makes a shrugging kind of noise, turning carefully so as to not disturb Roo and walking back to the house.
“Okay,” he says. “I woke up once, but fell asleep pretty quick after.” Jinki hums in affirmation. That's good, then. He's been having a weird week, what with preparing for his show and everything. At least now that that's over he can try to get back into his schedule again.
“I saw some of your show today,” he says. Jonghyun pauses in the middle of reaching down for his hot mug of tea, looking at Jinki over his shoulder. The natural glitter spots on his golden skin glow a little pink, just for a second.
“Did you?” he asks, shyly, curiously, lifting his mug to take a sip. Jinki nods. Not a whole lot; he was making his rounds around town, doing all of his other house calls, but every time he passed the midtown amphitheater he saw Jonghyun down there, center stage. Singing soft and gentle, rough and aggressive, smooth and seductive. Strumming away at his guitar with just his fingers, no pick. Pouring his soul out into the crowd around him, hoping they would pick it up and use it to better themselves, their lives, at the very least, their moods.
“I did,” Jinki affirms. “You sounded really incredible. I'm actually surprised I didn't run into anyone else around your fence tonight.” Usually in the days following one of Jonghyun's shows, rude and invasive fans like to gather around his house and bother him for more time than he's consented to give them.
“Oh, yeah,” Jonghyun says. He glances to his fence gate as if to make sure it's really deserted before he moves to his back door and opens it, standing aside to let Jinki in. “I finally got some good protection spells that actually work. Anyone that I don't want coming in just, you know, forgets why they came down here in the first place and turns back around.” he sips his tea again as Jinki nods sympathetically. He wants to mention something about it being awful that Jonghyun has to do that, but he's here to be soothing and relieve stress, so he doesn't.
“I'm glad that I'm not in that crowd, then,” is what he says instead, smiling, tilting his head. Jonghyun smiles back, eyes turning into little crescents, as he leans on the door behind him to close it.
“Of course,” he says softly.
They leave the little entrance hallway, heaping coat rack and orderly little piles of shoes, and enter the kitchen. Jonghyun's mom is in there, sat at the table, carving one of her little wooden sculptures under one of her floating balls of magical light. She looks up when they enter, finding Jinki and smiling.
“Hello, doctor,” she says. “Is it bedtime already?” she asks.
“Mmhmm,” Jinki hums. “Same time every night,” he says. “Especially after a big day like this.”
“Yes, yes, did you see him at his show today? My pretty baby?” she asks. Her glitter glows white with pride as she reaches out and pats Jonghyun on the waist. Jonghyun is smiling into his mug as he downs the rest of his tea over the kitchen sink. Jinki can tell. But it's not until Jinki says, “Yes ma'am. He was gorgeous,” and Jonghyun catches his eye that Jonghyun’s glitter lights up pink again. Placing his mug into the sink and filling it up with water, Jonghyun now cradles Roo with both arms. Turning around and bending down, he kisses his mother on the cheek.
“Night Mom,” he says in his softest voice. Looking up, he adds, “Jinki? Come on.”
So Jinki comes on, smiling good night to Jonghyun's mother and following him down a separate hallway to his bedroom.
He's chosen to light his dark pink candles tonight, Jinki notes as they walk in. Two small ones on his dresser, one medium one on the headboard of his bed, all smelling like almost sickly-sweet flowers and soap before it gets wet. As Jonghyun gets into bed, pulling the covers over himself and gently placing Roo on his tummy, Jinki takes it upon himself to put out the two candles on his dresser without having to be asked. When he does it with magic, Jonghyun always says, there isn't any smoke.
When he's done, he walks to Jonghyun's bedside, first putting out the candle on his headboard and then sitting down on the chair next to his pillows. Jonghyun's mother made it especially for him ever since he started making these nightly visits to help Jonghyun sleep. The only light that illuminates the room now comes from the moon shining through the window, the faint orange magical glow that comes from the delicately carved wooden night light on Jonghyun's headboard.
“Comfy?” Jinki asks, reaching down to fix the edge of Jonghyun's blankets. Jonghyun, in his usual sleeping position on his back with one arm raised over his head under his pillow and his other arm bent to rest a hand on Roo's back, nods.
“Thanks for always coming here to do this for me, Jinki,” he says. “I know it's-- more than what you do for most of your other patients.”
“Oh,” Jinki says, because that's all he can think of to say in response to that. Whenever he makes a house call to Jonghyun, everything always feels sleepy and slow, warm and relaxed, and this moment is no different, but still, that felt sudden. Like a sudden thing to just say unprompted. “Well,” he says, “you don't have to mention it. it's not a big deal.” he reaches over to push Jonghyun's bangs out of his eyes, tug gently on the strap of his sleep mask to remind him to pull it up to his forehead.
“If I didn't want to do this, then I wouldn't be here,” he shrugs. It's as simple as that. “I don't charge for my services or anything. I see and treat people because I want to.and different people need different things. What you need is help falling asleep every night, so that's just part of your treatment. It's not special attention or anything.” Just the help that he deserves. That's really all there is to it. He doesn't need any extra thanks for just doing his job the best way he can. He smiles his best reassuring doctor smile, and when Jonghyun’s lips quirk up into a little smile themselves, he feels it in his heart.
“Yeah, well,” Jonghyun says. He one handedly pulls his sleep mask around each ear, letting it rest on top of his bangs. “Thanks. And-- Jinki?”
He says Jinki's name quickly, even more suddenly, eyes big and shiny in the dim light. But he hesitates after that, not saying anything further, biting his lip and looking down. He puts his hand on Roo and pets her gently, looking at her instead of Jinki. “Do you... Would-- would you.”
Jinki has never really seen him like this; hesitant and faltering. Usually he's sleepy and sweet at home, alert and comfortable in Jinki's office, passionate and energetic on stage. He touches Jonghyun's shoulder gently, concerned.
“Yes?” he asks. “You can tell me.” Whatever it is, Jinki won't judge him or anything. He's not that kind of person.
Jonghyun looks at him again, hesitantly, through his lashes. He falters for another few moments, then licks his lips, swallows, takes a deep breath.
Then, his breath seems to catch in his throat. His glitter flashes a pale mint green-- a color Jinki has never seen on him before. He just exhales that breath instead, heavy and long. He shakes his head as it goes, and an embarrassed smile creeps onto his lips.
“It's nothing,” he says. “forget about it.” Jinki doesn't believe him when he says it's nothing, but he does obey him when he says to forget about it. And when Jonghyun adds, “Cast the spell, please?” he obeys that too without hesitation.
“Eyes,” he says, tapping the corner of Jonghyun's left eye, his star blotch eye, with one finger.
“Eyes,” Jonghyun repeats, closing them obediently. His lashes fan out over his cheeks, soft, pretty.
“Breathing,” Jinki instructs, dropping his voice to a low, soothing murmur.
“Breathing,” Jonghyun repeats, the word half a breath itself. He breathes in slow through his nose, slower out through his slightly parted lips. His thumb rubs slowly over Roo’s back as she rises up and down with his breathing. Jinki pushes his own fingers through Jonghyun's hair, petting him gently, slowly, the way he likes, before he takes his own deep breath and starts to sing.
When Jonghyun sings, it's for fun, for entertainment, for passion. When Jinki sings, it's for magic. As he sings, he feels it building up inside of him, starting in his lungs, resonating through his vocal cords. It's just a soft lullaby, a simple one, but one of Jonghyun's favorites. He lets the magic fill him up, just like always, until he can shape it and form it into a sleeping spell and release it as he wishes.
He lets it go mostly through the hand petting through Jonghyun's hair, but lets a little of it hover over the air above him, so even after he leaves the magic will sink down and absorb into him for a little while longer. Not a whole lot; Jonghyun doesn't like to be put out for the whole night. He just likes the help falling asleep. But Jinki knows that as soon as he does fall asleep, Roo likes to get up and go snuggle with his sister or his mom instead, and oftentimes, her getting off of him wakes him up again. Jinki leaves just enough magic over him to keep him asleep until after that happens.
By the time he finishes his lullaby, Jonghyun is asleep. Jinki can tell by the little things: his thumb has stopped moving on Roo’s back, his eyelids are relaxed instead of slightly scrunched with the effort of keeping them shut, his mouth closes and his head lolls a little to the side as his breathing evens out through his nose. Jinki smiles, proud, pleased. He pulls Jonghyun's sleep mask down over his eyes for him, gives Roo a soft little pet on her head, and stands up to leave.
~
The next morning, Jinki is enjoying a nice coffee and donut breakfast at his favorite little bakery in town when he glances up at the jingle of the door opening and finds Jonghyun walking in, arm around his sister's shoulders. Jonghyun glances around the place casually as they walk to the counter and does a double take when he spots Jinki. His glitter flashes red, just for a second, showing his surprise. Jinki smiles and waves, always happy to see him.
Jonghyun waves back, three fingers, smile pulling far more to one side of his face than the other. Then, it's Jinki's turn to be surprised as Jonghyun quickly turns and says something to his sister, kisses her on the cheek, and then turns back and walks up to Jinki's little table.
“Hi Jinki,” he says brightly.
“Morning,” Jinki says back. He's a little confused but mostly just happy that Jonghyun has come over to talk to him. “How did you sleep?” he asks.
“Oh, great, actually, really really well,” Jonghyun smiles. He puts one hand on Jinki's table, the other hand on his hip. His glitter very faintly glows a soft golden, the color it usually is when he's onstage, confident and sure of himself. “And, hey, speaking of last night,” he says. He hesitates, looks down, licks his lips, looks back up. “Remember when-- I kind of wanted to ask you something?” he asks.
“I do,” Jinki says, curious. He thought about it all night, until he went to sleep himself. This seems like a remarkably quick turnaround from “it's nothing, forget it” to “actually, I do want to talk about it.” “Have you decided that it isn't nothing after all?” he asks. Jonghyun's glitter flashes pink, then green again, which Jinki does feel a little guilty about, but before long he's back two glowing golden again.
“I have,” he confirms. “I wanted to-- I want to-- I've been wanting to-- that is to say, I mean. Not, like. If you-- I mean-- gosh.” he covers his eyes with his hand, one of his embarrassed gestures that Jinki has come to grow very fond of. “I had this planned out so much better in my head,” he says, pushing his fingers through his hair instead, smile sheepish. “Last night and this morning. Two different confessions, and now I've messed them both up.”
“Confessions?” Jinki asks, very intrigued. Out of everything that he was thinking, a confession was very low on the list. Not a confession from someone like Jonghyun, someone so confident and flirty and outgoing, someone so attached to his privacy and quiet time and family life. He was expecting a request for therapy. a favor. Maybe permission to refer a friend to Jinki's services. Definitely not a confession. But still, as soon as he asks the question, Jonghyun's eyes go wide, his hand covers his mouth like he didn't mean to actually say the word, his glitter glows the most vibrant and sparkling pink that Jinki has ever seen.
“Um,” he says, muffled behind his hand, and then he just covers his whole face with both hands. “Gosh. Damn it. Whatever. Yes,” he says. He looks up from his hands and his glitter isn't glowing any color anymore, but his face is pouting, a slight puff to his lower lip that is incredibly adorable. “I want to-- Jinki,” he says. He looks down again but only for a second this time before he looks up and takes a step closer. “Would you want to-- maybe sometime-- go on a date with me?” He asks hopefully.
And even though Jinki could already tell that that's what Jonghyun was going to ask him, when he actually does, it still catches him off guard. He doesn't have glitter embedded in his skin, but he can still feel his human cheeks flushing, filling with color. Frick. Still, he manages to keep his cool almost as well as Jonghyun does, smiling a lot wider to cover up his embarrassment and only nervously playing with his fingers under the table.
He hasn't really thought about dating in a while-- he's so busy, and he likes having his own place all to himself. He's not exactly aromantic, but he's not exactly alloromantic, either, so it's never really been high on his list of priorities. and he never really saw Jonghyun as the type to get a crush on anyone. Not when he flirts with everyone but only says I love you to his mom and sister and puppy.
But he can't deny that his nightly visits to spend time with Jonghyun are some of his favorite parts of his days. That he thinks Jonghyun is very attractive, from a personality standpoint and from a face standpoint. Admirable, fun to be around, easy to have a serious conversation with.
And maybe Jonghyun feels the same way. Maybe Jonghyun, at some point, during one of their sleepy nights, started feeling a shift in his emotions. Maybe it was when he started asking Jinki to put out his candles for him. Maybe it was when he told Jinki to start coming around the back of the house instead of knocking on the front door. Maybe it was when his mom carved him that chair. Maybe it was when he got his new protection spells and made sure to include Jinki in the list of people that could pass through them.
Maybe, on their date, Jonghyun will tell him.
