The next couple of days passed by fast without any new incidents.

Taemin got picked up from school by Key or Onew daily so there was no need to worry about him getting beaten again.

It was almost like every other week – still they had a lot of things to do. Jonghyun was called over to Japan for two days so he left on Thursday morning in order to be back by Saturday. Minho actually wanted to go with him but their manager had ordered him to stay in Korea – he'd be busy enough soon anyway.

Taemin and Minho were signed up for a photo shooting on Friday and Onew and Key were supposed to do an interview for a Japanese TV-show, which meant that they had to improve their Japanese within the next 24-hours.

There was barely any time the four of them got to spend together.

When Taemin met up with Onew after school there was only time for a little chit-chat and then it was time for doing homework and rushing off to their next appointment – the maknae fell asleep as soon as they got home right afterwards.

Right now, Onew was on the phone, talking to their manager and clearing last things up about their vacation. He still hadn't told the others about it but he wouldn't do it until Jonghyun wasn't home again, those were some news he had to share with everyone.

So the 'big news' had to wait until Saturday evening when they would finally be together again.

It didn't seem like much time passed.

In the blink of an eye Onew found himself in the car with the others, driving to the airport in order to pick up Jonghyun.

The last two days had rushed by so quickly he hadn't even notice that he had been asleep at all.

Next to him was Minho, Key and Taemin were in the back – Key nagging about Taemins hair.

“Yah, don't discuss with me!” Key said in his typical mother-like-voice. Onew saw him reaching out in order to fix Taemins hair. “You didn't brush your hair, and you know that! Don't say you did it if you didn't!”
“But I-”

“Shut it, Taeminnie.”

Onew chuckled and turned his attention back to the street in front of them.

“Hold still.” Key ordered and tried to flatten the spiky hair. “There. Now it's better.”

“Looks just like before.” Minho commented, looking at Taemin. Onew snorted with laughter but tried to hold it back – he didn't want Key to nag on him. He wasn't in the mood to.

“No it doesn't!” Key said loudly and Onew knew he had just shot Minho a death glare. “He looked like he had climbed directly out of the bed! It looks better now and- what are you doing, Taemin-ah!” there was a loud slap and Minho burst out laughing, clapping his hands together.

“What did he do?” Onew asked while stopping in front of a red spotlight.

“He tried to ruffle his hair again so Key slapped his hand.”

He turned around to the back and saw how Key was fumbling with Taemins hair again. He chuckled at Taemins expression and leaned over to touch his cheek. Taemin smiled at the touch but pouted again as soon as the leader let go of him.

“By the way.” Minho said when they went on driving. “You told Manager-sshi that you guys are in a relationship now, didn't you?”
“Yeah, we told him yesterday evening.”

“What did he say?”

“Uhm ...” he tried to recall what he had replied to that for a second. “I believe his exact words were “I don't care as long as no-one finds out about it.” He didn't seem very happy.”

“Neh ...” Taemin agreed lowly, obviously uncomfortable with talking about that topic. “He said we'd lose fans if they found out ...”

Key sighed loudly, dragging everyone’s attention immediately. “Manager-sshi is just not used to things like that. How is he supposed to know whether we'd lose fans or not … If they're real Shawols they'll stick to us no matter what happens or who we end up with.”

“I think so, too but … if we made it public then Manager-sshi will quit on us.”

“And we'd be put to an end quite soon if that happens ...” Minho added and narrowed his eyebrows at Onew who nodded half-heartedly. “That's why we can't get rid of him just yet, we have to find a good replacement first. So you need to stay secret for the time-”

“Aww, Taeminnie, don't cry …” they heard Key say in the back and Minho turned around to look at him. Onew had almost turned around as well until he realized that he couldn't – he'd probably drive against a tree if he did. “Taemin-ah?” he asked instead and waited to see if he'd receive an answer. Though all he heard was a quiet sniff and he hated the next spotlight for not being red.

“There's no need to cry.” Minho said. “You can make it public as soon as we found a better manager.”

“Oh grow up, Minho!” Key snapped. “We're not gonna get rid of that jerk any time soon. Still, you don't have to cry over this, Taeminnie.”

Taemin chuckled quietly and said: “I know I shouldn't cry. I'm happy abort me and Onew hyung. But … I was hoping we could tell everyone about it ...”

“Think like this.” Key said a bit louder, he was obviously trying to think of something funny to say. “Your relationship is like the one from 'Romeo & Juliette'. You love each other but no-one must find out because it could become dangerous. I know it's not the best state a relationship should be in but it's better than nothing, right?”

Taemin giggled and Onew was relieved when he saw the signs guiding him to the airport. He could comfort Taemin soon.

“Who'd be Juliette in their relationship?” Minho suddenly asked, earning a sudden laughter from Key and a choke from Taemin – Onew could practically see the maknae blushing furiously.

“Taemin-ah would be Juliette. Onew, you be Romeo.”

“Why am I Juliette?” Taemin asked quietly, protesting just a little. “I'm a guy, too.”
“Neh, but you're adorable and cute, Onew is not, he's just …. well he's into chicken so you be Juliette.”

“Being into chicken is not a privilege for being Romeo!”

“Being into chicken is manly, Taemin-ah!” Onew called and earned a loud laughter from everyone.

“Yah ...” Taemin moaned after they had calmed down again. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost.” Onew answered, still cursing the spotlights for not turning red at least once.

“Just a few more minutes.”

“Do you know the terminal Jonghyun will arrive at?” Key asked a bit sheepishly and leaned forward so he could at Onew who was still focusing on the street and the many turns they had to do from now on.

“Didn't you write it down?” the leader asked absent-minded. Key sighed.

“Neh, but I kind of forgot the paper ...”

“I got your paper.” Minho suddenly said and pulled something out of his pants pocket. Key yelped happily when he handed him the slender piece of paper. “You said you'd probably forget it.”

“I'm so smart I even figured I'd be dumb!”

“What kind of statement is that?” Onew asked with a chuckle and sighed in relief when they finally drove onto the parking spots of the airport. He couldn't bear with this anymore, knowing that his cute boyfriend had just cried again.

“I wrote down at which Terminal Jonghyun would arrive at because I knew I'd forget it,” Key started explaining, “but because I knew that I'd probably also forget the paper I gave it to Minho before I could actually forget it. That's smartness in your face!”

Taemin moaned loudly when they got out of the car. He stretched himself and wiped his face a bit, there were still slight traces of where the tears had rolled down his cheeks.

Key patted the maknaes shoulder, gave him a gentle hug and assured him that everything would be fine sooner or later.

Onew waited for Key and Minho to go on ahead before walking over to him. “You okay, Taemin-ah?” he asked and his soft cheeks slowly. Taemin smiled at him faintly and nodded slowly.

“Neh, it's okay hyung.” he said and touched the leaders hand on his cheek. “I'm not really used to all of this, I'm sorry. I just need a bit more time.”

“It's okay.” Onew said and felt somewhat happier when he saw that Taemin was smiling again. “I'm not used to it either. It's a bit awkward sometimes, isn't it.” he chuckled when he heard the maknae giggling quietly. He was about to give him a kiss when he remembered that they were still in public.

Damn it.

“Let's get Jonghyun, okay?” he said and let go of his face, earning a nod from the maknae.

They ran after Key and Minho who had waited for them at the entrance of the right Terminal.

“Everything alright with you two?” Minho asked when they stopped in front of them.

“Neh.” Taemin answered, gasping just a little bit. “We're fine.” Onew added and breathed in deeply – running could be a real pain, no matter what kind of distance it was.

He smiled at Key and Minho who smiled straight back.

“Yah, he's running late!” Key got onto his tiptoes to take a better look outside. “I can't see him anywhere!”
“Chill out, it's been only five minutes since people started coming out.” Minho said, trying to calm the singer down. “He may be in the back part of the plane.”

“He's still running late!”

They were standing in front of the rather small window of the Terminal, trying to spot Jonghyun somewhere. His plane had landed about ten minutes ago and people were already quitting the plane.

Key and Minho were taking away all of the space of the window and Key jumping up and down all the time didn't make it any better.

The window might have been slim but on the other hand it was very tall and almost reached the ceiling.

“Key Umma, I can't see.” Taemin complained, trying to look past them. “Could you move over a-”

“Sch, Taemin-ah!” Key snapped, still jumping up and down. “I'm trying to find your Appa!”

Taemin pouted at him and leaned against the wall next to them. Onew laughed and took the maknaes hand in an innocent way.

“Not much to see anyway, Taemin-ah.” he said and giggled at his expression. “You'll see Jonghyun soon enough anyway.”

“Neh but I wanna watch, too.” he whined and sulked.

“Tzz, okay, I got an idea ...” he bowed down in front of him, offering him his back. “Climb on.” he said. “You'll be much higher than these two mushroom-heads over there.”

“Yah, I heard that.” Key grumbled without taking his eyes off of the window.

Taemin laughed and climbed onto his shoulders, clinging to his neck and hair carefully.

Onew rose again, Taemin yelped and tightened his grip a bit while laughing loudly. Carrying him to the window Onew stood close behind Key – he could look over his shoulder anyway.

“Better not, Taemin-ah?” Onew asked and grinned up at the smiling maknae above him.

“Neh!” he answered loudly, watching what happened outside. “Thanks, hyung!”

They had wait for a couple of minutes but when Key finally spotted Jonghyun they were all happy and excited to get their hyung back – even though they hadn't been apart for a lot of time it felt like they had been separated for weeks.

Jonghyun entered the airport building and before he had the chance to take a look around Key had already flung his arms around him and hugged him tightly. “You're late!” he yelled and shook him. “What the hell took you so long!?”

He only laughed at Keys nagging and hugged him back, dropping his backpack.

The others came running after them soon and each one of them hugged Jonghyun as well, Taemin last.

“Aww, my cute little son.” Jonghyun greeted Taemin and held him tightly. “You've grown so much, did you eat more vegetables?”
Taemin chuckled and tried to break away from the hug. “Don't make fun of me, Jonghyun Appa.” he said through gritted teeth and kept on smiling and chuckling.

“I missed you, Taeminnie.” he said and let go of the maknae. “Hope Key took good care of you while I was gone?”

“Yah, what's that suppose to mean!?” Key said and slapped the back of the singers head hard. “Of course I did! What else did you expect!?”

“Better be careful about what you say next ...” Onew said and grabbed Taemin by the wrist, pulling him away from Jonghyun and back to himself. “And leave my Taemin-ah in one piece, will you?” he added with a grin and noticed how Taemin blushed at the “my Taemin-ah”-part and giggled. He said: “Neh, one piece would be great.” and grinned at the others.

“So, how was Japan?”

They were in the car again, all together this time. Onew drove, Minho was next to him again and the other three were cuddled up in the back, Taemin sitting on Keys lap because one of Jonghyuns bags hadn't fit in the trunk anymore – it was now placed on the third car seat.

Key had his arms wrapped around Taemins stomach, holding him tightly. And Onew couldn't help but to feel a bit jealous of him even though he knew it was stupid. Key was Taemins Umma after all.

“Stressful.” Jonghyun answered and leaned over to pinch Taemins cheek. “I'm glad to be back. Me and the others were working non-stop and only rushed from one appointment to another. We didn't have any time to take a look at Japan … still it could've been worse I guess. At least we shot some nice pictures for that fashion line.”

“Aww, poor Jjong.” Key said sarcastically and rested his head on Taemins shoulder. “You haven't been to Japan in … how long …. three weeks by now?”

“Pff, don't you dare making fun of me either, Key.” Jonghyun said and threw a quick glance at him before looking outside the window again. “So what did you do while I was gone?” he then asked Onew and Minho. “Bet it wasn't much fun since I wasn't here.”

“It was more fun because of that.” Minho replied glibly and chuckled, earning himself a death glare from the singer. “Nah, just kidding. We were quite busy as well.”

“Rushing from one appointment to another, too.” Onew added. “Studying Japanese for hours … eating fast food only. Taemin-ah was so tired he fell asleep as soon as we got home again.” Jonghyun laughed loudly and pinched the maknaes cheek again – Taemin started pouting again and tried to shove his hand aside.

“I already missed that pouting.”

They went on talking for a while until the conversation had died completely. It wasn't that bad though – spending a couple of minutes in silence could be nice as well and Onew kind of enjoyed it. And still he didn't mind hearing Taemins voice again when he asked: “Onew hyung, can we go on a vacation soon?”

Off-Guard question – he seriously hated it. “Y-Yeah, sure we can ...” he stuttered and had almost given away the surprise of them going to Europe soon. Clearing his throat he went on: “Sure we can. As soon as we've got some more time.”

“Don't forget school, Taemin-ah.” Key nagged and tickled him gently, earning a loud “Yah!” from the maknae. “You only got two weeks of holidays from Monday on ...”

“Manager-sshi's probably got us booked out already.” Minho added and sighed deeply. “I don't wanna see our schedules for next week.”

Onew chuckled and drove onto the parking spot in front of their dorm – he couldn't wait until dinner. He'd finally tell everyone about their vacation and was excited about their faces.