Minho had no idea what just happened.

He felt the tears streaming gently down his face, but ignored them in his attempt to chase after the beautiful man who was escaping him.

“Key! Key, wait!”

He knew it was only the vixen’s stage name, but he hoped it would still have some sort of impact. But he didn’t have time to see if his theory was true, before he felt two strong hands holding him hostage.

It wasn’t until his friend Jinki had made his way on the stage that the men let him go, although by then Key was already out of sight.

“What the hell man?” Jinki looked at him with concern, but Minho ignored him, his mind only on one person.

“Where is Key? I have to talk to Key!!”

Now it was Jinki who grabbed him and forcefully dragged him off the stage.

“This is getting way out of control.” Minho could hear the anger in his voice and felt the hand on his arm tighten.

“If I knew your little crush was to this extent I would have never let you up there with him in the first place. I didn’t know you were one of those guys, like seriously what is wrong with you!”

It was true that Jinki was essentially the one to blame for this situation. He was Minho’s child hood friend and the owner of the club. Minho would only stop by to visit once in a while, club and dance scenes not really being his type of thing, but he had happened to come on Key’s debut night and had been addicted to the place ever since. He thought himself a dedicated admirer of sorts, and though Key had never looked his way before, that never deterred Minho or his unwavering support. Having been concerned for his friend’s lack of a love life, Jinki offered Minho the chance to meet his desired in person and he had been more than eager for the opportunity.

Now here he was, being yelled at by said friend, and honestly he was quite offended by his accusations. The fact that he seriously thought him to be some sort of clingy ert, of all things, was beyond hurtful. He was just about to tell him so when Jinki started.

“Your eyes…”

Upon receiving no ending to that sentence, Minho hastily removed his phone from his pocket and flipped his camera to selfie mode. It was a little hard to see given the dark lighting of the club, but angling it a tad upwards allowed some of the stage lights to seep into the shot and show Minho exactly what he had hoped to see.

Two matching eyes.

The smile that broke out upon his face was warm and genuine and he could feel that same warmth spreading throughout his entire body, pooling lightly in his chest and making his heart beat a bit faster.

“I knew it!” He said.

“I knew it since the day I first saw him, he just never actually looked my way, and now…”

He was so ecstatic he couldn’t even finish his trail of thought, but one look at Jinki made the warmth inside him freeze on impact.

“What’s with that face?”

Jinki didn’t say a word, and instead shuffled his feet and looked down on the ground.

Minho was not expecting that type of reaction from his best friend. He found his soul mate for crying out loud! He should be happy for him.

“The thing is,” Jinki started, “I know Key fairly well, and I hate to break it to you but…I don’t think he’s gonna be as happy about this as you are.”

“You don’t know that_”

“Yes I do. Look I’m just giving you a warning, before you get your hopes up.”

Too late, his hopes had been up the moment he laid eyes on Key all those months ago. No way was he backing down now, especially now that he knew Key was his one true soul mate.

Minho just sighed and faced his friend, his determination evident through his honest expression.

“Let me just talk to him first.”

Jinki stared at him a good minute before deeming him a response, and unfortunately to Minho, it was not the one he wanted.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

“Are you kidding me Jink’s?! He’s my soul mate for Christ’s sake!”

“Well he’s still my employee! And I can’t just throw visitors at him without his consent.”

“Then at least give me his number or something! An address.., anything!”

“I can’t give out his personal information to anyone either, not even to my best friend. I’m sorry.”

Despite being upset, Minho couldn’t help but also be pleased with his friend’s morals. He knew Jinki was a loyal and trustworthy person, and just knowing that Key was under his protection from actual creeps, made him at ease.

He roughly dragged his hand through his hair, sighing out in frustration.

“Then what am I to do Jinki.”

It was then they both heard the slamming of a door coming from far down the opposite hallway.

Jinki quickly glanced at Minho as if he were about to sprint right into the line of fire, but Taemin greeted them both unexpectedly.

“Jesus Taemin, what have I told you about sneaking up on people!”

The other dancer just laughed at the older man’s reaction and gave him a brief pat on the back.

“Think of it as training.”

Before Jinki could respond, Minho cut in.

“Hi my name’s Minho. You’re Key’s friend right?”

Taemin gave Minho a swift once over and took his hand in a tentative shake.

“I usually just go by ‘Taemin’ but Key’s friend could be an adjective used to describe me.”

Minho could hear Jinki laughing behind his employee, enjoying the clever pun on top of Minho’s added misery.

“Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but Key’s my soul mate and I just want to talk to him for a little bit so we can figure things out.”

“Ah, so you’re the reason Key is crying his eyes out right now.”

Minho’s stomach dropped at the comment, panic seeping into his chest and holding tight, his breathing a little restricted at the thought that he had caused his soul mate pain. Is Jinki right? Will Key really want nothing to do with me?

Ignoring his mini panic attack, Taemin continued to scrutinize Minho, probably making sure he wasn’t some psychopath or stalker just looking for an opportunity to get to his friend, which Minho could appreciate. Upon coming up clean, Taemin sighed and put out his hand, insinuating he wanted to see Minho’s phone.

“I’m not about to give his number out to strangers, but I’ll give you mine. Once he calms down a bit I’ll talk to him and see if we can arrange something."

Minho about threw his phone into Taemin’s hand and watched as his fingers quickly danced across its screen, cementing at least some form of connection with his other half.

He smiled at the other man as he handed back his phone and made his exit, leaving the two friends alone once again. It was quiet between them before Jinki decided to speak up.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Then it’s a good thing he had a high tolerance for pain.

A/N: Comments and constructive critisicm are appreciated ~ Until next time!