Punch Drunk Love (Jongkey/2MIN)

Thirty Three

ALL (BUT MOSTLY ONEW)

"Remember guys, tonight is your comeback concert, you can't mess anything up and you certainly cannot do anything risky on stage. You only just came back from London after the '2MIN'" - he used his fingers to make speech quotations - "incident and we can't have another repeat of that, okay boys?" their manager said to them with a stern gaze as they prepared to go on stage in front of their fans at the Tokyo Dome.

They had been preparing for this concert for what seemed like years. The sheer amount of effort and preparation that had gone into this concert was mind-boggling alone, and the boys were as eager as ever.

But despite the fact that their manager had everything set in stone, the boys had decided earlier that month that whatever happens at that concert, simply happens. There's no way around covering up a fall or a messed up lyric, so the best they can do is just apologise and carry on the way they usually would...

Happily.

Minho was the most excited for the concert (he didn't get the name Flaming Charisma for nothing, you know). Everyday after they came back from London he rehearsed non-stop, from dawn 'till dusk, wanting only to give the best performance he could give his fans.

The others, of course, trained hard as well. They would meet every morning in the practice room and dance to the best of their abilities, before singing to their hearts content.

However, Onew was having a hard time keeping up. Although the other four knew that Onew was bound to make a few mistakes here and there - as was per usual of their leader - nothing before compared to how many times Onew messed up that week trying to master the moves to a song, or get his high note correct and perfect.

***

An hour before the show started, Onew was pulled aside by none of than the maknae.

"Onew, are you nervous or something? Don't be nervous; it's only like, the biggest show of our career!" he joked with a hint of laughter, but essentially it was true.

"It's not that, it's just..."

"Ji-Min," Taemin finished his sentence for him. Onew simply nodded and hung his head, as if he was ashamed of his feelings and his behaviour. His mind had been fully focused on what Ji-Min had said, and what Ji-Min had done, which was that she married a man that wasn't him.

He hadn't seen her since the wedding, which had been almost three weeks ago. He could've easily called her, even if just to say hello, yet he hadn't. Ji-Min had arrived back home from her honey-moon last week, and Onew had been tempted to call her and see how it was. But he didn't. He hadn't done a lot of things when it came to Ji-Min. He was one of the "I'll-Stay-Silent-And-See-How-It-Goes" sort of person, which wasn't great when it came to his emotions, and when it came to his emotions it would just always goes wrong. Even his middle school crush of three years never found out about how he felt. It wasn't because he was afraid, or nervous about them finding out; it was something else. He didn't know what.

It was just what made Onew Onew, and it was exactly what made Onew lonely.

"Onew, I know you probably don't want to hear this but--"

"But I have to let Ji-Min go? Yeah, yeah, I know. It's difficult," Onew cut in, feeling angry at Taemin even though he had no reason to. It was one of those "don't shoot the messenger" moments. Everyone was thinking it, it was just that Taemin had the courage to tell it to him to his face.

"Actually, I wasn't going to say that..." Taemin mumbled, blushing.

"What were you going to say then?"

"I was going to say that you need to man up," Taemin said, hitting him on the shoulder as if to prove that the maknae was also manly, but it ended up being a weak slap instead, followed by an awkward laugh on Taemin's part. "I mean, just for tonight."

"It just sounds ridiculous coming from you," Onew chuckled, managing a smile as Taemin just shook his head at himself as if he was agreeing. "But I understand. I'm not going to ruin this for you, I promise."

Taemin nodded in appreciation behind pulling his leader into a hug, smiling as he dashed back over to where the others were preparing themselves to go on stage.

Onew spent the rest of the hour prepping himself for one of the biggest nights of his life, but the sad fact was that he was sure that he wouldn't be able to get Ji-Min out of his head.

***

ALL

"Are you ready?" Their manager asked, grinning at them as they sorted out their microphones for the final time.

Taemin was practising his dancing at the back for his solo performance of Danger, while Jonghyun was staring at himself in the large mirror that lined the wall, warming up his voice for what seemed like the tenth time since they had arrived at the stadium. And no matter how many times the others had warned him that he might damage his voice if he carried on singing right before a perfomance, he sung anyway.

All of the five boys nodded, walking over to gather around their manager. Two body guards stood on either side of the entrance to the stage, emotionless and staring straight ahead. "You go on in five minutes," one of them said, nodding once.

"Onew!" Key called when he noticed that their leader was still at the back, spinning on his heel nervously. Key couldn't tell if it was one of the moves he couldn't figure out, or if it was just a nervous habit.

Jonghyun held out his hand for Key's, squeezing it tightly and shooting him a nervous grin. Key did the same back, moving over slightly to hug him and whisper reassuring things in the shorter boy's ears. Minho was glancing over at Taemin, who seemed lost in his own thoughts. Interrupting Taemin's thoughts just before a show would only piss the maknae off, so he left him alone and worried over himself for a minute.

"Two minutes."

Taemin took a deep breath, all of a sudden seemingly aware of his surroundings.

"Good luck!" Taemin mouthed to Minho as he saw Minho's concerned stares, knowing that their mics would start up in a second and not wanting his voice to be caught on the speakers. But it was also partly because he was nervous and didn't trust his own voice just yet. Taemin was funny like that: his nerves built up just before a perfomance to the point where he almost wanted to run away from it all, but once he was actually on stage, he was a complete natural at it.

"On stage. Now."

Their manager waved at them as they disappeared from his view, and took their places on stage.

--

A/N: This story is so nearly finished! We hope you guys had as much fun reading it as we did writing it!

After this one is finished, we plan to start another including both SHINee, Exo, and maybe a little bit of Big Bang and Teen Top.

See you in the next chapter!

- F