There was no way—no way that this person could be Choi Minho. That just didn’t make sense.

            Confused, Taemin stepped back from his computer, leaving 2Min_Dreamer hanging on the other end with an ambiguous “BRB” that he had no intention of picking up again. Not yet. Not with all the questions racing through his mind. It was bad enough that he’d basically screwed this person online—but to think that it was actually his hyung of all people...?

            His cheeks flushed at the mere thought of it. Him and Minho--together...

            "Impossible!!!" he argued with himself.

            The odds were astronomical. Besides, that would mean Minho was the one writing that , the one imagining doing all those things to him—the one who wrote that amazing dream. The one who broke Jinki-hyung’s nose...

            Suddenly, clarity...

            Oh my god, it IS him...

            Only he would have picked up on the severity of their arrangement, the only one who would have known about the reality of “OnTae.”

            “Minho...” he mumbled under his breath. “What are you doing over there? What does this all mean?”

            Is this why you ran away...?

            It was clearly more complicated than he realized. Taemin decided to talk to a different hyung. He needed clarity. It was time to employ the logic of someone who could translate intentions better than anyone—time to seek out the services of personality expert, Kim Kibum...

* * *

            “Umma, have you ever been in love?”

            “Chinchaa~? Wae wae?” He genuinely seemed taken aback by the question. “What’s this for all of a sudden?”

            “I’m just wondering, is all...”

            “Lee Taemin, no one just wonders that kind of stuff for no reason.”

            “Well, okay—I guess, what I meant to say was, have you ever had anyone secretly in love with you?”

            “Probably. If it’s a secret,” he laughed, “I’m sure I’ve lots of admirers.”

            Taemin smiled. “Seriously, umma. Anyone ever confessed to you?”

            “Sure. I’ve had lots of confessions in school. I don’t know how high I have to turn up the ‘gay’ dial before the girlies get it...” He sighed. “It’s tiring being this pretty, really.”

            Here, the maknae smothered a laugh. Key-hyung was a firecracker, as always.

            “So... no one you mutually liked? Like a—a guy?”

            The atmosphere changed a little. Key hid a nervous laugh behind his mouth, as if he’d suddenly become shy. There was pinkness in his cheeks. “Ne, Taeminnie, what are you asking me this for...”

            “I just—”

            But he couldn’t get the rest out before Kibum continued: “Did Jjongie say something to you? He did, didn’t he! That little—you can’t believe anything he says, you know... he really has no sense at all.”

            It shocked him, honestly. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Those two were so weird, especially lately. Everything was going crazy in the SHINee dorm: Minho was writing and cyber-ing "fans," Jonghyun and Key were smitten and shy and secretive--and Jinki was running around playing a game that no one knew the rules to, all in the name of loyalty or protectivness or some other such attribute that Taemin didn't really understand but still appreciated.

            “Uh—never mind. Forget it,” he grinned forcibly. This wasn’t the conversation he’d expected or was hoping for, and it was clear it was never going to be.

* * *

           Just why the hell was Taemin asking me that? Why now, of all times? Coincidence or—does he know something? This was what Key was thinking ever since he’d walked away, saying he needed to find Onew for some reason. Honestly, Key wasn’t really listening at that point. He couldn’t get past the question—it was like he had some insight on that conversation he’d had not long before. That one. The one he almost wished he’d never had. Well, almost. It certainly had its... highlights. Its perks.

            So, this was how it happened: Taemin had left to go his “mom’s” (Key knew that the sneak was lying, but was waiting for the right time to call him out on it). Jinki-hyung had schedule for something or other, and Jjong—well, he was lingering about the house as usual. Key never had to look far to find his hyung. Kim Jonghyun was always close by...

            A nice lazy afternoon. An easy, somewhat boring Sunday. Maybe it was because he had stayed up late the night before talking to that idiot online, or maybe it was the cold weather outside; whatever it was, Kibum was too tired to move off the couch. Instead, he camped up with the remote control and did absolutely nothing for two hours except flip through channels aimlessly.

            Well, that dino must have been bored too, because somewhere in that matrix of time, Jonghyun came and laid on top of Kibum and tried to wrestle the apathy out of him, saying, “Whatcha doing, yeobo~?”

            Key slapped at his shoulder. “I’m trying to watch this—”

            “No, you’re not,” was the immediate argument, “I can see your eyes drooping. You were falling asleep.” Jjongie started tickling Key’s ribs.

            “Anio~stop it!” he protested in a flood of giggles.         

            But he did not stop. Far from it. He continued the roughhousing for quite a bit longer, his body weight pressing awkwardly into Key’s frame.

            “What are you doing?”

            “What are you doing?”

            He tried again: “What are you watching?”

            “Why the hell are you so nosey?”

            Jonghyun grinned. “Why are you so secretive?”

            “Secretive?” he guffawed. “I’m not the one with secrets...” And even though he intended it to be an elusion to Taemin’s activities, he could tell that Jonghyun was still oblivious to all that—rather, his face seemed to soften then, as if he was embarrassed or as if he’d been caught in his own dubious past times... 

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

            Key was newly interested. After all, there was no way that Jonghyun could outsmart him. He was sure now that there was a secret to pry out of him. He squirmed from out of Jonghyun’s grasp and sat up. “Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?”

            “Hm? What do you mean?”

            “Oh come on, let’s stop the Q&A already. Speak forwardly and tell me what’s on your mind. You know I hate riddles.”           

            “Um...”

            “Bad start.”

            “Kibummie!” he inserted with a burst of energy. “Why do you always do that!”

            “Oh? Do what?”

            “Make me—make me feel like you’ve got something on me...”

            “Do I?” he smirked. “Obviously, because of your dubious character.”

            “Dubious! I haven’t even done anything!”

            “Yet...”

            He snickered here. “Coming from the one who reads fanfiction when nobody’s looking...”

            Key felt his face heat up, but his tongue was tied.

            Had Jonghyun stopped there, perhaps the afternoon would have passed differently. But he went and said: “With your personality, you’re probably best friends with someone like KeyIZAwesome91.”

            Wait—what? What the , did he just say—

            “Who the hell is ‘KeyIZAwesome91’?”

            His eyes fell, panicked.

            You stupid dino, did you only just now realize your mistake?

            “I, ah... er—”  

            Key started laughing wildly and sat up on his knees; it was like catching a child with his hand in a cookie jar. Easy, and o so enjoyable.

            “Just some name I made up—”

            “Bull, bull!” he cried. “You’ve been on FFC! Jjongie—oh my god!”

            “I mean I—”

            “You hypocrite—you’ve been reading it, too!”

            “Well, I got curious after that one day...”

            “You better not be reading that JongKey , Jonghyun.”

            The tone seemed to frighten him a bit. He made a pinching gesture with his index finger and thumb. “Maybe just a little...?”

            Key began to push him violently, even though it was somewhat playful at the same time. “You sick son of a —are you serious? Are you to that crap!?”

            “Wait wait,” he chuckled, trying to control his attacker’s swing by grabbing his wrists. “Hold on, Kibum, you’re overreacting!”

            “You better answer me—”

            “Well, that’s not why I read it, no. I was just curious what our fans thought is all. You know, to help figure out what kind of fanservice gets them going. Though I’ll never understand why it does.”

            Key refused to be distracted. “Are you or not?” he asked, firmly. “That’s all I care about.”

            “No, Ki-ah, I’m not . Why would I?”

            He squinted his eyes. “Are you sure?”

            “No...”

            “Not even once?”

            A hesitant, ambiguous expression. “I swear I didn’t...”

            “Kim Jonghyun, you’re a ing liar!!”

            “I’m serious!!”

            “Then what’s with that look?”

            “I mean, I woke up one night and was...”

            “Was?”

            “Well, er—wet.”

            “So? You had a dirty dream?”

            “Uh, yeah... after reading one of the stories...”

            Well, this was kinda sweet. For some reason, Key didn’t mind so much. He smiled then, and patted Jonghyun’s cheek. “Aw, you’re like a little boy.