Jealousy and bad food (1/2)

Taemin wasn't sure what he was expecting when he walked in the kitchen of their dorm but whatever it was, it surely wasn't a dishevelled looking Jinki covered in unrecognisable substances as well as the kitchen itself.

The kitchen was a sight to behold. There was flour everywhere, flour and egg yolk. Taemin saw something suspiciously-gooey-and-sticky object on the floor, the brownish yellow colour of it making him lose his appetite. There was a half empty bowl of what looked like pancake batter next to a puddle of the same batter on the kitchen top. The huge pan on the stove contain something that looked like a steak gone wrong, every single inch of the meat charred. Grey smoke was coming out of another pot and a plate containing what looked like burned pancakes was next to it.

But all that was not nearly as bad as the leader's state. His hair was peppered with flour, like snowflakes on a blade of grass, there was egg yolk stain on his t-shirt and strawberry jam on his nose. Though he did look as if he was just put in a tornado eye, Taemin could not help but squeal a little inside from how adorable the leader looked.

It seemed that Jinki wasn't paying any attention to his surrounding, he was too busy biting his tongue that peeked out in between his plush pink lips and frowning in concentration as he tried to open the cap of the salt bottle. When he couldn't, he puffed out his cheeks and let his breath out in a quick whoosh in frustration. Taemin had a sudden urge to just pinch those cheeks until they turned into delicious red tomatoes, making his hyung look even more adorable, if that was even possible.

Just then Jinki was about to turn on his feet and when he did, he would have seen Taemin and the maknae could not have that because he wanted to observe Jinki's tries of cooking more. So he quickly hid away from the door and peeked through the door's hinges. Jinki didn't seem to realise that someone was observing him, because once he turned around to put the salt back on the kitchen top, he turned around once again to 'salvage' his 'steak'. With a pair of chop sticks he tried to turn the meat but it seemed that it was stuck to the pan. It was almost animated, the way Jinki almost declared a war against the poor slab of meat. He kept on tugging and pulling onto the poor thing like it would be the last thing he was going to do. Taemin almost giggled but stopped the sound from reaching the oblivious leader by clamping his hands over his mouth.

After a while of wrestling with the meat, Jinki seemed to finally give up on it. He threw both the chop sticks and the pan on the kitchen top and quietly swore under his breath. The maknae's eyes widened with shock because Jinki was someone who barely ever swore. He was one of those people who thought swearing to be a sin! So it was very shocking to see this other side of his hyung.

What confused Taemin even more was, why was Jinki doing all this anyway? Everyone, including the dubu leader knew that Jinki and cooking was never a good idea. And as far as the maknae could remember, Key had banned the leader from his territory (the kitchen) after Jinki almost burned down the place in trying to boil sole water for his coffee. So, why was he even in the kitchen? Sure, Key wasn't around but Jinki usually respected all the members' wishes, so why? It made no sense.

Just as Taemin was pondering about those questions, another one kept on nagging at his mind. Who was it for? If Jinki was cooking for himself, he would definitely go for chicken, not steak. Also, Jinki liked blueberry pancakes but from the batter on the sink, this seemed to be something else, there was no blueberries to be seen. All the other members were supposed to be gone too because their vacation of two days started and all three went to their respective homes. Taemin's parents went to Jeju so he couldn't go and Jinki sort of stayed as well. Something about not wanting to leaving the maknae to fend for himself for two whole days. So, the cooking had to be for someone else, someone who definitely wasn't Jinki or the other members. The sudden pain in his chest at the thought of Jinki making so much of an effort for someone, was not too shocking for Taemin. He never denied his feelings for the leader. He knew it very well that he was indeed head over heels for Jinki. Simply, he loved him.

It wasn't love at first sight because the first time he met the honey voiced leader, he was barely a teen. Love and what it was meant nothing to him. The attachment he felt for his hyung slowly but surely grew to a point where he could not imagine his life without the leader by the second year of their debut. The thought of the band disbanding and them being apart scared him to death. What he never thought though was that Jinki could find someone to love as well. Someone who wasn't Taemin. Just thinking about it now made him want to cry his eyes out until there was no more tear left. He didn't even get to confess his feelings, it was all too late. Patting his chest, he was about to turn around and leave through where he came from when a loud gasp stopped him.

Jinki's gasp resonated through the kitchen walls and reached the maknae's ears, making him stop in his track. It sounded as if he was in pain and without even thinking about it, Taemin's legs already strode towards the leader's bent body on the kitchen table. He was clutching onto one of his fingers and Taemin could see something red oozing out of his hold.

He quickly snatched the leader's hand to his and dragged him to the sink, turned the tap on and let cold water flow over the deep cut on his chubby finger. All the red made him a bit nauseous but he didn't even pay attention to that. To be honest he didn't pay attention to anything other than tending to his hyung's wounds. So, he missed his longingly the older was staring at his face as he concentrated on holing the elder’s arm at the right angle so that he would not get hurt but his wound would be cleaned too. Neither did he notice how the leader’s heart beat was as fast as his own nor the way his lips stretched into a soft smile.

'Why do you have to be so clumsy all the time? God! I swear you were born to make me have mini heart attacks every day!' His voice was cold and a bit mean but Taemin didn't mean it like that. It came out all wrong. He wanted to comfort the leader and say soothing words but instead he let his jealousy reign his actions.

Jinki's smile faltered a bit and his head sort of fell, eyes glued to the floor. The small happy one was now replaced by a sad apologetic smile.

'Mianhae. Hyung is a pest for being like this. I'll try to do better next time.' His voice was quiet and a bit sad and Taemin didn't like it. It wasn't like Jinki at all, he's the bubbly, always happy go lucky type of guy. His voice always reverberated with joy and happiness and that's how Taemin liked his hyung's voice. When he looked at his hyung's crown of soft brown hair, he could not help but feel a little guilty. He wanted to apologise to Jinki and he wanted to do it looking straight at hose large brown eyes so that his leader would believe him. He knew that if he didn't, Jinki would probably keep blaming himself for burdening his dongsaeng, the leader was kind of childish like that.

Taemin cupped the elder's cheeks and tilted up his face do that they were face to face, eye to eye. When Jinki tried to get out of his grasp, he tightened his hold and kept the other's face in place. Looking deep into his eyes, he said,

'You're not a pest hyung, neither are you a burden of any type. I'm just worried about you hurting yourself. Arasso?'

Jinki's face brightened as soon as he heard that, more than that, his eyes were sparkling again. Taemin sighed in relief and turned the tap off.

'Let's get this treated before you get an infection, ne?'

Saying that he didn't wait for his hyung's reply and just dragged him off to the kitchen table and pushed him to sit on one of the chairs and wandered off to find the first aid kit.

'There's one at the top shelf of that cupboard.' Jinki chuckled as he saw how frustrated Taemin looked, rummaging through the shelves of the kitchen top.

Taemin nodded and smiled at the leader thankfully and got the small blue box out.

He took a seat next to his hyung and got the tube of savlon and a plaster out. Seeing the savlon Jinki flinched a little bit. Taemin smiled at his hyung's adorableness. Which 23 year old got scared of savlon's stings in open wounds?

'You'll be fine hyung! You can hold onto me if you are too scared.' He smiled reassuringly.

Jinki with his huge chocolate eyes looked at Taemin all scared and pleading, but nonetheless he did hold onto Taemin's arm and closed his eyes.

'Do it quickly Minnie. I want it to be over and done with as soon as possible.'

'Ne hyung.' Putting the savlon on a cotton ball he cautiously dabbed it on the cut on his hyung's finger and chuckled as the hold on his arm tightened.

'You'll cut off my blood circulation, hyung.' He chuckled and put the plaster around the stubby finger. When Jinki whimpered, he swept down to put a small kiss on the plaster and as soon as he did, he sort of regretted it. He sat up straight quickly, hoping that Jinki would not read into the kiss. The leader's eyes were still closed right as was his hold in the maknae's arm. So he was safe it seemed.

'Hyung, it's done. You can let go of me now, before my hand dies or something.' He joked.

Jinki slowly opened his eyes, just a fraction and peeked through it. He looked so cute, like little rabbit peeking to see if there was a fox around or something. Once again, Taemin wanted to just hug him to death. Jinki opened his eyes fully when he noticed the plaster on place and smiled. Taemin's heart lurched forward at that signature eye smile of the dubu leader. He wanted to trace that smile with his own lips but just then his eyes fell on the food on the stove. White smoke was coming off the pit now and he remembered that Jinki had been cooking for someone. His heart fell and he retracted back.

'So, why are you doing this anyway? Is someone coming around?' Taemin blurted out the question that nagged him for so long.

Just as he said that Jinki's expression changed and his eyes widened.

'Oh my God! My pasta! Oh my God!' He quickly got up and checked the pot and gasped as he saw its content. Grabbing a mug of water he quickly splashed it onto the pot. Then he turned around to face Taemin and sighed.

He walked up to Taemin, taking his hands he ushered the maknae away from the kitchen and in front of their room. He then pushed the shocked maknae inside and ordered,