Bedtime Stories (1/1)

AN: Unedited!BEDTIME STORIESWhen Taemin was a little boy, night times were always his favorite. His Omma and Appa would read him books that he picked from his book shelf, and he would fall asleep to tales about emperors going into battle and defeating massive armies or about superheroes going around and saving damsels in distress from burning buildings and going flying around the whole world. Taemin was always wide-eyed imagining those epic scenes in his eyes, and he would always have dreams about it that night. He never got tired of those stories and he always hoped that one day, he would get to be a hero and save the day as well.“So, Taemin-ah…what’s it going to be for tonight? Superman? Animyeon…”“Appa! Tell me about that big fight that the emperor got in!”“Didn’t I tell you that one last night?”“But, Appaaaaaa…”“Ahrasso. Ahrasso…lie down and then Appa will start reading…”He read the story, like he had read it countless times before, with made up voices for each character and random interjections of fight sounds. Taemin had reacted as he did all those other times, still as interested and invested in the story as ever. He still seemed to act surprised at the ending, and always exclaimed that he was going to be as “cool as the emperor” when he grew up, and all his Appa could do was ruffle his hair and kiss him on the forehead as he turned off the lights and said “I’m sure you will, son…”Eventually, Taemin grew up and he didn’t need his parents anymore to tell him stories, because he could read them himself. Picture books were replaced with novels, and soon enough, Taemin was reading chapters about superheroes before he went to bed, and mixed in with a little bit of Korean history, he still had dreams about being an emperor and saving his empire from wars and invading armies.Taemin was feeling anxious as he sat in the back row on the right hand side of the classroom. His teacher was going around and giving back their Korean history papers, and he was unsure of what he got. He was feeling tired when he did the test, restless from reading another chapter in his book, and he couldn’t remember what he wrote after he walked out of the test.The teacher put down his paper, and he closed his eyes momentarily before glancing at the top of his page where there was a red circle around his mark of 78. He was relieved. He had passed, but the note to see the teacher after class, caused him to fidget for the rest of the lesson.When the class ended, he slowly gathered his things and waited for everyone to leave before he approached his teacher. “Seonsaengnim…why did you want to see me?”“It’s about your answer about what happened during the war. You wrote that the emperor flew around the army and then saved the princess from a burning palace…”Taemin blushed. “Choisonghamnida…I guess I read too many stories the night before…”And then, books were replaced with the stories that ran through his head. He made them up in his own dream world, where he could sing and dance and perform in front of hundreds of people. He knew that he couldn’t fly around the whole world like superman, but he could go visit places around the world, by doing what makes him happy and making other people happy as well. That way, he could be his own type of hero.Taemin was on the final leg of the SHINee anniversary tour in Japan, and although he had a great time, visiting all the fans that had supported his group from the beginning, he really wanted to go home. During his solo stage, something made him look towards the side, and he couldn’t hide the smile that erupted on his face when he saw two people that he had been dying to see for over two months.Naeun was there holding a three year-old Jaemin in her arms. The little boy had headphone around his ears to block the sound, but he was also holding up a sign that read ‘Go Appa! Fighting! SHINee Saranghae!”Naeun gave a little wave and lifted up one of Jaemin’s hands to give a cheer as Jaemin showed a smile mirroring that of his daddy. He waved to them and then back at the crowd as he gave him all when busting out the final notes. He bowed and then ran off the stage to go and hug his wife and son.-----/////-----When Naeun was a little girl, she loved the time that she could spend with her parents reading her stories. Her mother read her fairytales, and then this was supplemented with Disney movies, and Naeun had become a romantic at a very young age, always dreaming about princesses and prince charmings dancing away until midnight and living happily ever after. Naeun would always giggle when the prince would tell the princess ‘I love you’ and then her appa would tickle her which would send her into a greater fit of laughter. The thought of love already colored her world with pink at a very young age, and she would always dream about finding her own prince, one day.Naeun was giggling again. Although she had heard this particular story about a thousand times, she couldn’t help but feeling tickled whenever something sweet happened between the prince and the princess. Usually, she would just listen to her Omma and Appa read the story and image it in her head, but tonight, she pushed the book down and saw the picture of the prince giving the princess a ‘bbobbo’.“Omma, what’s the prince doing?”“He’s giving the princess a kiss to show her that he loves her…”“Ohhh…”“When you love someone you can give them a kiss…like this…”Naeun laughed when her parents gave her a kiss on her cheeks and then she returned them, making sure to show her Omma and Appa just how much she loved them.Eventually, Naeun didn’t need her parents to read to her anymore, but she still kept those same books about fairytales on her shelf as a reminder to find her own prince in the future. But then, she left the world of princesses and became consumed in the world of vampires and eternity. She always found it fascinating to think about being with only one person and loving them forever and she changed her dream guy from a prince charming into a person that would love her forever.Naeun had a major crush on one of her classmates, but she never had the courage to confess. She had tried to find the words to tell him that she liked him, but one day, it got around to her that he had a girlfriend. She wasn’t very happy when she found out about it, but when the girl that he had been dating began crying one day, she knew that it was because of him. He was the bad boy type, and he wasn’t really expressive, and she realised that, even though she found that side cool and intriguing, it wasn’t the guy that she wanted to love. She wanted someone who could take care of her.So, she went home that day and took out her favorite fairytale and put a ribbon around it with a sticky note and left it in the girl’s locker.You’ll find a better guy.Your very own prince charming,Who is going to love you better than he did.And then, Naeun’s dreams turned into performing for other people, and singing and dancing, and then she realised, that once she became an idol, she would find it hard to find her eternal love. But then, she got put into this variety show about love and marriage, and she found her Edward – she found her prince – and she found her fairytale dream come true.Things had changed that night. She didn’t know if it was because she was drunk from a can of beer, or the atmosphere or something, but, that night was like something out of a fairytale. Taemin was a good guy – chakhan namja – and perfect for her. He made her laugh, and even though he always lacked two percent in looking cool, his kindness and care for her made up for it. Whenever he did something for her, he did it with his whole heart.They had taken a polaroid together and he had given her, her first back hug. She dismissed it when her friends gushed about it being romantic, but when she experienced it, she finally understood what it meant. She couldn’t stop the smile on her face. Everything was perfect – but it became even more magical when he had whispered into her ear.She was a goner. ‘Saranghae Naeun-ah…” and she died, and everything in her head turned pink and she couldn’t think straight. This was the guy, she thought. This one’s a keeper.-----/////-----Even before Jaemin was born, Taemin would tell stories to Naeun’s stomach. He didn’t plan it. It just happened whenever it was quiet and he and Naeun were just holding each other.“Hey baby…it’s your Appa…you have to know my voice okay? I just wanted to tell you that we’re really excited to meet you. There’s so much that I want to show you, and there’s so much to experience, that I promise you, whatever you dream up, I’m sure you’ll achieve it. Like me, I never thought that I could be a superhero but I went to the DC store at six flags and got the costume…”Naeun gently hit his back and laughed.“I’m joking…but I promise, we’ll have lots of fun when you and I play together…and then you can back me up so that your Key samchon won’t tease me anymore…like that one time…ughhh…I still shudder when I remember it…but I’ll save that story for another time…you and Omma need to sleep…”And when he was born, Taemin and Naeun made it a point to tell him stories. Taemin insisted on emperors and wars, but Jaemin thought that cars, trains and trucks were more interesting. However, father and son did agree on superheroes, and Taemin was proud of Jaemin for being his own superhero and being the sweet and caring little boy that he was.After bringing home Soeun, Naeun and Taemin became busy taking care of the baby, and the apartment was in chaos again with toys scattered everywhere. On one Saturday morning, Jaemin had decided to wake up early. He went into his sister’s room and dragged a stool over and checked that she was still sleeping.Then, he picked up some of her toys and put them in a box. He went into the lounge room and fixed the pillows on the sofa and then he got himself a glass of orange juice, and picked the individual cereal pieces from the box as his breakfast, while he sat in front of the television and watched his favorite cartoon on low volume.When Naeun had come out from the room to make breakfast, she found Jaemin sleeping face down on the couch with his arms and legs out, wearing his favorite superman pyjamas.The tradition of bedtime stories continued with Soeun. But it wasn’t just Taemin and Naeun who read the stories, Jaemin was Soeun’s very own personal story maker.Jaemin picked out a book from the shelf and walked to sit in the middle of his parents’ bed, in between Taemin and Naeun who was holding Soeun. He cleared his throat and opened up the book and began pointing at the first picture.“Once upon a time, there was a bunny who didn’t like eating carrots…”Taemin and Naeun gave each other a look, trying to suppress their laughter. Jaemin wasn’t able to read fluently and it was obvious that he was making up the words from the pictures. In this particular image, a white rabbit was spitting out his carrot.Jaemin flipped the page and scratched his head. The bunny had picked up the piece of carrot and took a bite and had a smile on its face.“but then she ate it because she was hungry…” he turned to Naeun. “Omma, why would he eat it if he didn’t like it?”Taemin ruffled his hair. “Do you want me to finish reading so that you can listen to the story?”Jaemin contemplated for a few moments before handing the book of to his father and settling in Taemin’s arms.“Yeah! Appa’s better at story telling anyway…”