set the fire to the third bar

[bluedreaming]

For: bluedreaming
Title: Set the Fire to the Third Bar
Rating: R
Pairing: taekai
Length: 17k words
Genre: Coming of age, angst
Warnings: emotional abuse(?), mental illness, abandonment, language, sexual content
Summary: Taemin and Jongin have always been childhood friends, but now that they're older they don't want to admit that they're being pulled in different directions. They hit a moment where they're neither going forward or backward, until a crash takes Taemin out of his body and he's forced to see what Jongin's been going through in his absence.
Author's note: Title comes from the Snow Patrol song. To my recipient, thank you so much for these amazing prompts! I tried to incorporate as many as I could--hopefully it's not too confusing or convoluted. I hope you enjoy!

This was written by aquathenmarine for the kaitaem exchange.

"This heater is like, magical you know,” Jongin says suddenly, in the silence that they’re both struggling to fill.

For this exchange I wrote White Sheets.