Off-Air (Oneshot; Jongho; ~2.2k)
When Jinki drives Jonghyun home from the radio station meeting, he learns a little more about his off-air life than he’s expecting.
“So why do you dislike that Choi guy so much?” one of the other DJs asks as Jinki sits down next to Jonghyun.
It’s weird for them to all be here together: a huge gathering of DJs and radio staff all gathered into a tiny bar. But Jinki’s excited for a night out without having to be on interacting-with-consumers behavior, so he figures he’ll let it unfold as it will.
Jonghyun takes a sip of whatever soju concoction he’d ordered before looking over.
“Well first off he’s my number one competitor for my time slot.”
“You know you don’t own the hours of 12-2am, right?” Jinki teases.
Jonghyun glares and Jinki isn’t sure if it’s at the comment or the interruption. “Second, it’s annoying to have listeners calling in to talk about another DJ while you’re DJing, if you didn’t know. His music is too broad in genre. Like I get it’s a show of soundtracks but I’m not and never will be emotionally ready to switch from “My Heart Will Go On” right into “Footloose.” Also he’s too damn tall.”
Jinki nearly spits out his drink at the last item in the list. The other DJ had wandered off halfway through the spiel, but now Jinki’s interest was piqued.
“Too tall?”
“He’s 6’2” and that’s too tall.”
“And that matters...?”
“Jinki I know you’re my boss and you know I cherish you in that way and also in a friendly way but you’re too tall to understand my feelings about people who are too tall. Your complete averageness in terms of height prevents you from understanding the full plight I speak of.”
“First off I’m the show producer not your boss. Second of all I’m only two inches taller than you, tops. I thought you had to be under 5’4” to complain about height. Third, how do you know his exact height?”
Jonghyun ignores his comments in favor of finishing his drink. As silence falls between them, Jinki finds himself reminiscing of the now locally famous Choi-Kim radio rivalry.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this purple dusk radio?”
“Yes it is. I’m DJ Jonghyun and you’re lucky caller number 4!”
“Oh my goodness!”
“What’s your name?”
“Miyoung.”
“I’ve got the prize package right here for you, Miyoung, all ready to go, I just need you to do one thing for me alright? Just tell me one thing you enjoy about purple dusk radio.”
“Well, to be honest, normally I listen to silver screen on channel 99...but I just happened to tune in to this station for the first time tonight and it really fits in with my music taste.”
“So what I’m hearing is purple dusk has a better selection than silver screen does?”
“It fits better with my likes, yes.”
“Well congratulations, Miyoung, you won! Just promise me you’ll stay tuned in to the better midnight show, okay?”
Jinki listens as the girl on the phone starts squealing in excitement and Jonghyun signs off for the commercial break. Once the “ON AIR” sign is deluminated, Jinki laughs at Jonghyun’s little victory wiggle.
“Did you hear that, Jinki? We saved another poor soul from having to listen to silver screen!”
Jinki jumps at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. It’s Kim Kibum, producer for silver screen. The rivalry between DJs didn’t extend to them -- mostly due to graduating from the same college program.
“Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all.”
“You looked pretty far away there for a second, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“No, not at all. I was just remembering an old show.”
Kibum slides into the seat that previously held Jonghyun.
“Any particular show? I mean you’ve only been on this show for six years now.”
“A particular one but for no particular reason.”
The conversation is interrupted by the bartender appearing. Jinki waits for Kibum to order, turning around to glance around the restaurant for Jonghyun. He finds him at another table with a few other DJs from their station.
“Minho’s got a significant other but he won’t tell me about them.” Kibum huffs once he gets his beer.
“If he won’t tell you about them how do you know he has one?”
“I overheard him on the phone and ‘I love you, honeybun’ doesn’t seem like something you’d say to everyone, now does it? Also he has a new ring, one of those ones that leaves an impression of a heart when you take it off.”
“Kibum, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; you make a great producer but you would’ve been a great detective.”
Kibum laughs before sipping his beer.
“So how are things at PYQK, besides the fact that Minho won’t share all the naughty details of his love life with you?”
“I never said I wanted the naughty details; even some sweet vagues would be nice. The station’s doing well. And at PYXQ?”
“Basically the same. Why doesn’t Minho ever come to these, besides the fact that Jonghyun’s here?”
Kibum scoffs as he puts down his beer. “He goes to work out after the show finishes like some kind of weirdo.”
“To each his own, I guess.” Jinki goes to take a sip of his drink, but pauses. “Weird question that I’ll explain the context of afterwards, but how tall is he?”
“Who? Minho? Bit over 6’ I’d say. Why?”
“Someone was asking Jonghyun why he doesn’t like Minho and one of the reasons was he’s too tall, but he said a very specific height, which I thought was a bit odd.”
“I think Jonghyun may be trying to get in on that sort of experience,” Kibum says with a giggle, pointing to where Jonghyun’s begun standing on a barstool and thanking people for coming to the party that he absolutely did not partake in planning.
“Oh jeez...I’ll see you later, dude.”
Jinki makes his way over to Jonghyun quick as he can; persuading him to come down off the stool isn’t easy but eventually he manages.
“I just wanted to make sure that everyone could see me!” Jonghyun explains with a hiccup as Jinki pulls him out towards the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” Jonghyun slurs, clutching Jinki’s arm to help steady himself.
“I’m going to drop you off at your house since you’re in no condition to drive.”
“How do you know that?”
Jinki gives him a stern look and continues guiding Jonghyun to his car. It takes Jonghyun a few minutes to remember his address to punch into the GPS but soon enough they’re on their way.
It surprises Jinki to realize he’s never been to Jonghyun’s house. The latter had visited him many times for holiday parties and garden dinners but not once in the four years they’ve worked together on purple dusk had he ever gone to -- or been invited to -- Jonghyun’s place. The house isn’t that big, but it has a pretty little garden in front and there’s something charming about it that seems perfectly Jonghyun. As they walk up the driveway, Jonghyun seems to perk up and Jinki is somewhat relieved to see a light through the living room window.
“My house!”
“Well I’m glad you recognize it.”
Just as quickly as it appeared, the perky feeling dissipates and Jonghyun stops in his tracks.
“I don’t have people over at my house.”
“I just want to make sure you can get in, I’ll leave right after okay?”
“I...don’t want...can’t let people know about him.”
“About who?”
“Him.”
“Come on, I just want to make sure you can get in.”
Begrudgingly he starts walking again, searching his pockets for his keys. Eventually he finds them but after four attempts to unlock the door it's clear he’s too drunk for such a delicate operation. Just as Jinki goes to offer to try, the door opens.
If Jonghyun revealed himself to be an alien at this very moment, it wouldn’t surprise him more than seeing Choi Minho standing in Jonghyun’s doorway.
“Oh, hello, Jinki. I...wasn’t expecting anyone to be with him.”
“I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here either, least of all you.”
It takes Jonghyun a moment to process that the door is open but once he does he immediately wraps himself around Minho, seemingly forgetting about Jinki’s existence.
“Baby I had fun at the party and I missed you.”
Minho’s cheeks turn pink as Jinki’s jaw drops to the floor.
“Do you...why don’t you come in for a bit so we can talk?”
“I...if that’s fine with Jjong I’d like that.”
It takes a few minutes of fussing and denied kisses for Minho to send Jonghyun off to shower. He joins Jinki in the living room after a moment, sitting opposite him.
“Don’t the two of you hate each other?” Jinki asks before Minho has a chance to say anything.
An odd smile crosses Minho’s face. “Only publicly. We’re very affectionate at home, as you can see.”
“How long have...”
“Have we been together?”
“I was going to say be friendly but yeah that’s also included in the question I guess.”
“We met in college, partnered for a project in a journalism elective.”
“Really. Did you get unpartnered for bad behavior or something?”
“No, actually-”
Minho’s interrupted by Jonghyun unceremoniously plopping on the couch with the highest amount of dramatic flair he can muster, still oblivious to Jinki’s continued presence. He’s snuggled up to Minho and asleep before he can even react. As confused as Jinki is, it’s a warming sight.
“As I was saying, we actually got along really well. Got bonus points on the project for being cooperative. We got into the habit of hanging out and things just...kinda went from there. We’ve been living here since I graduated. Sleepy here inherited it from his grandparents.”
“So wait...why the rivalry? Like we all legitimately thought that you two hate each other.”
Minho chuckles, but Jinki can’t tell if it's in amusement or in sadness.
“It was his idea, oddly enough. I don’t know if you remember the predecessor to silver screen, but it was... to put it kinder than Kibum would, it was a mess. So when I got hired, it was made very clear that if I didn’t make it successful, I would get fired, Yunho -- the producer that pitched it -- would probably get fired, and the station would basically have to resort to playing ads and royalty free spa music during that slot. Jjong had already got purple dusk comfortable by that point so he was trying to give me pointers and things. It didn’t really help though; Kibum always said it wasn’t my hosting that was driving people away, it was the bad taste left from the old show. Obviously he couldn’t just give me a shoutout, being on different stations at the same time and all, so he came up with hyping the competition. I always thought that we should’ve included you guys on it, but he said it’d make it feel manufactured if you all knew and also tried to play it up.”
“Oh, so that’s why I’ve had to hear Kibum complain about not knowing about your love life for two years now.” Jinki teases.
“Oh man, he’s got you hooked in on that too? I swear I can’t make a personal call at the station without at least 4 people scooting as close as they think they can get away with to eavesdrop.”
“If it makes you feel better, he was just as inquisitive about when I started dating my now-wife back in college.”
“I am not surprised in the least.”
An awkward silence falls between the two as Jonghyun starts to snore and Jinki struggles to process.
“It was hard to get used to the act, when we first started it. We’d both come home all apologetic -- ‘I know I said you sound grating but your tone was so nice today’ or ‘I’m sorry I was so mean today, but how can you not be mean when the theme of the show is noir films’, that kind of thing. Now it’s just a bit of a game. I always listen to the podcast recording when I go to the gym and come home telling him he’s recycled insults.”
Jinki chuckles and checks his phone. There’s a few messages from Kibum, asking him where he’s headed off to and if he took Jonghyun home.
“I suppose you should probably be heading home now. I know we live the night life already but I’m sure your wife would appreciate you coming home before the sun.” Minho says as he tries to wiggle his way out of Jonghyun’s grasp.
“You’re probably right. We don’t have the luxury of the same working hours like some people do.”
They walk to the door and Jinki half expects Jonghyun to wake up, but he doesn’t.
“Thanks for bringing him home. While it is amusing that such a lightweight enjoys gatherings so much, I do worry about him getting home in one piece.”
“Oh it’s no trouble. Even if it was, this dramatic turn of events made it worth it. Good luck with your show tomorrow and surviving Sherlock Holmes- I mean Kibum’s investigations.”
Minho cracks a smile and nods a thank you, waiting til Jinki gets into his car to close the front door. Through the living room window he can see him carrying Jonghyun to bed. His phone pings again, Kibum continuing to be nosy. For a brief moment he thinks to share the news with Kibum but instead closes his phone and heads home. What Jonghyun and Minho do in their off-air time really isn’t any of his concern; plus, he’d grown fond of Kibum’s investigations being thwarted.