The Beat to my Stolen Heart (a SuperM x Reader story)

Switch

Word count: 1116

-----

As the door to the place opened, her eyes widened, looking over the person standing before them. He was about the same height as Mark, although his posture was a bit different. His hair was darker and his shoulders broader- altogether, he just seemed a bit older. It wasn't his similarities to her accompanying man that made him familiar, though. She recognized him on his own.

"Hey, Taemin! This is Y/N, she's who I was talking about." Looking to her for a moment, he bowed politely, backing up so as to allow them in. Mark walked through the door first, and Taemin closed it behind her. Looking around, she was astounded at the beauty of the apartment- or rather, penthouse. Everything had a light color to it despite how late it was outside. The countertops and walls were a pristine white, and the wood on the floors was a fairly pale beige as well. Some of the furniture was dark, as well as a fill-size grand piano, but it only complemented the area further. Granted, it wasn't completely perfect, as he had random objects littered around and spread out on countertops. Maybe Mark had done this to him last-minute as well?

Mark immediately walked to the sitting area, where several black couches sat in a cornered layout, a carpet and table in the middle with little items grouped in the center. He flopped down on one of the ends, pulling out his phone, touching the screen briefly before looking up at the both of them. Taemin just sighed and shook his head slightly, moving to sit as well. Noticing that Y/N had stayed in place, though, he pat the cushion next to him as he leaned back.

"You're free to sit down, make yourself comfortable." She nodded in gratitude, still feeling a bit out-of-place in the midst of his... evident standard of living.

"Alright, so as you probably already know, Taemin is kind of a big deal."

"Stop." The man in question rolled his eyes, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. Laughing, Mark held a surrendering hand up.

"Okay, okay- but really, besides SuperM, he's also in SHINee, and he does a ton of solo work." Y/N nodded- this was all information she knew already. Still, she didn't see where he was going with that.

"Your point?" She asked, only realizing after how rude it sounded. Quickly looking over to him, she fumbled, "I mean, obviously that's a great achievement, I just don't see how it's relevant to our situation?" He shrugged, clearly not offended.

"I'm as clueless as you, he just asked if he could come over." This surprised her. Mark had been acting like they had found the solution.

"My point is that you've been working with the company for like, a million years!" Mark exclaimed, as if it were the answers to all their problems. Taemin looked just as confused as she did.

"If that's all you need, you should ask some of the older guys. The Super Junior crew debuted way before I did."

"Yeah, but you're in SuperM with us!"

"Okay, well Baekhyun is older than me."

"And he debuted after you. Stop arguing!" Mark was still bouncing off the walls, clearly a juxtaposition to Taemin's calmer energy. Based on the few videos she'd seen of the two, she would have expected him to be more like Mark. Maybe he was just tired? "Anyway, tell her what you told me earlier!"

"And... what might that be?"

"I said that I wanted a different producer, and you said...?"

"That I didn't care who produced the album?"

"No! After that!"

"Uh..." he tried to think back. "I think I mentioned that you could probably just bring them in and ask the other producers to leave, but that they might go ask questions and get you in trouble."

"And?"

"And that if you really wanted it that badly, just have them produce it separately."

"Exactly!" Mark said with a grin. "See?"

"See... what, exactly?" Y/N asked. That didn't seem like a solution, just a lot of trouble for nothing.

"Here's the plan-" Mark moved on without even answering her question, leaning forward like it was a secret that he wanted to tell. "We ask the company if Y/N can produce, like I had originally thought. If that doesn't work, we just start bringing her in for the recording sessions and all that, ask the other producers to butt out. And then if they snitch, you just produce the album separately, and we switch them out at the last second!" While Y/N's face was painted with confusion, Taemin's switched to sheer horror.

"Woah,-" the older man interrupted. "I never said to switch the albums out. It's completely reckless. I just meant you could have it for yourself."

"That's no fun!" Mark argued.

"Alright, but you understand that the tracks are checked by a bunch of people before they're released, right? It's not some heist you can just pull, you'd have to switch them out in hundreds of places, without people noticing. It's just impossible. Not only that, but then you're in trouble with the company, the people who worked hard on the tracks are upset, it's just a mess." The boy's gaze shifted a little.

"Yeah, I mean... I guess that's not optimal, but-"

"But nothing, switching out the albums is not an option." Taemin sighed. "I'm happy to help you try and convince them to take Y/N as a producer, even just test her out, but I am not going to go any further than that." Addressing her next, he continued, "I'm sure you're a fantastic musician, but it's just not right." She nodded.

"I completely understand." Groaning, Mark held a hand to his face.

"Fine, I'll go talk to them tomorrow. But you're coming!" He pointed to Taemin.

"I'll be in for a recording anyway."

"Good. Now! Enough of that, let's go eat!" Taemin tilted his head slightly.

"Hmm?"

"I promised Y/N dinner for coming out so late."

"And you are not skipping out." She added pointedly, wanting to receive her compensation for this little side quest, even if she did get to meet another idol.

"Oh, I can cook if you two want." He offered. "There's plenty in the kitchen-"

"That's okay, I'd hate to make you put in the extra work." Y/N smiled politely, declining for his sake.

"Yeah, and you suck at it!" Mark laughed, earning him a dirty look.

"Whatever, Mark, you can't keep eating chicken tenders."

"Watch me!" The boy said, getting up. "Come on, Y/N- we'll see you tomorrow, Taemin!"