“Taemin what’s up with your house? It’s too big!” You yelled as soon as Taemin picked up his phone. Though he only laughed in reply it did feel a little comforting. His house felt cold. All of the walls were white except for a picture here and there, only the pictures looked like they came with the frames. All in all, the place felt empty. How was this the place where Taemin lived?

“I’m sorry Ai. There should be a construction map in the drawer somewhere.” He replied to you in a more serious tone. That was too vague and you wanted to scold him for it but the painful memory of seeing him on the hospital bed wasn’t out of your head yet. You had doubts that you would ever forget about it.

“You have more than one drawer idiot,” you smirked as if he could see you, “do you have a guest room by the way? I’m awkward enough living in your house without you in it.” After giving up on trying to find the map you headed to his room and started taking off the sheets just to do something. Your hands were shaking and you needed them working on something even if it was something that useless. Taemin’s room was gross. His floor was covered with dirty clothes and you noticed a couple of take away boxes on his desk. The contents of those were not things you ever wished to see but you knew you’d have to put them in the trash sooner or later.

“Ah I do. But if there’s anyone else you have to stay in my room! It’s the only room with a lock..” At his words you threw a glance at the door and indeed noticed the keyhole under the handle. At some point today you would put an effort in finding the key that matched it, you decided.

“Why would there be anyone else?” You suddenly realized while tossing his laundry in a basket to wash it later. The doorbell rang as if irony itself poured into human form and was waiting outside the building.

“I live across Dong Bang Shin Gi, you know them right?” Taemin explained while you made your way to the door. It felt like he was going to give you some bad news. Before you realized it you were standing in front of the door. A pair of knuckles hit against the wood.

“Vaguely. Someone just knocked, what do I do now?” The only thing you knew was that you shouldn’t be panicking but it was harder than it sounded. This would be the time your acting would be put to the test. You wished Taemin could stay on the phone to guide you through it but at some point you would have to do it on your own. He needed to rest.

“Act normal. And keep a low voice. Let’s hear it! Say idiot?” You could hear Taemin grin on the other side of the phone.

“Idiot.” With that imitation perfected you opened the door. In front of you stood a handsome male who you only vaguely recognized as Junsu, the dolphin voiced singer from DBSK.

“Morning Taemin!” His greet seemed off somehow. Taemin’s image wasn’t such an easily approachable one yet this boy was cheerful. Maybe it was because he was older or he was just weird. At the moment you didn’t want to question it.

“Hey. Give me a moment.” In Taemin fashion you pointed at the phone and turned away from him. You hoped that Taemin would give you any clues to help but since you couldn’t really ask for them you tried to act normal.

“ Dongsaeng, I have to go. Rest, I’ll take care of everything.” Apart from the first word nothing in that sentence was a lie and you figured if you were Taemin, he would be you. Before Taemin could answer and Junsu might hear that it was him you hung up. You’d call him that night to apologize.

“So what brings you here?” You asked while slipping the phone into your pocket. Junsu just stood there for a few moments looking confused before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“Can I come in?” Was he pouting? You shrugged and suddenly felt a jolt of pain go through your shoulders. Probably from the accident. Junsu came in as soon as you stepped aside and waited for you to close the door. It was confusing that he kept looking at you like a puppy.

“Spit it out. Whatever it is that makes you look at me like that.” It was getting very uncomfortable. Junsu sighed and reached out to take your hand. Caught off guard you stepped back and gave him a weird look.

“You were in an accident this morning.. I saw it on television. You were taken to a hospital. Are you okay?” That explained why he had been giving you weird looks.

“I’m a little sore but for the rest I’m good.” You answered as shortly as you could. The less details he had, the easier it would be for you to remember what you told him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The question sounded so weak that you couldn’t help but chuckle. It hurt your stomach to laugh so you stopped almost as soon as you started while Junsu still gaped at you.

“No thanks. There isn’t much to talk about.” The act felt painful for you. In an attempt to escape the awkwardness you slipped your hands into your pockets and walked towards the living room. Junsu wasn’t ready to give up on conversating apparently.

“I didn’t know you had a dongsaeng Taemin.” Taemin hadn’t told him, apparently. Why hadn’t he told this to you? It seemed important to you. And how were you going to explain that to Junsu now?

“Yeah I just visited her.” It felt safe to put extra emphasis on the word ‘her’ but you restrained yourself. It would seem too weird, after all why would Taemin emphasize that?

“Why didn’t you tell me? I told you that you could trust me! Why do you insist on locking me out so much?” The older man pouted and you started wondering how old he actually was. Or if anything made any sense whatsoever in the lives of famous people.

“Sorry?” That word only seemed to make things weirder as Junsu’s jaw dropped and he immediately stepped closer to you, pressing a hand against your forehead before you could shove him away.

“You’re apologizing? Are you sick?” You opted between screaming and telling half of the truth.

“My sister’s in the hospital with five broken bones. Give me a break would you?” Your fear made you angry and luckily that was the exact reaction to repel Junsu. It made you feel bad when he looked at you with a sort of disappointed face so you sighed and continued. “We were together when the accident happened.. She didn’t get away with just a few bruises like I did..”

“I didn’t know.. Taemin why is your life so painful?!” Before you could stop him Junsu had wrapped his arms around you and was hugging you as if he was comforting a child. Maybe it felt like that for him. A jolt of pain went through your shoulder and you pushed him away lightly.

“Careful. Car accident remember? Either way why are you here again?” The pout was there again when he let you go but at least now Junsu didn’t look as sad.

“Right. No close contact.” A tad embarrassed he stepped back and threw a glance at Taemin’s collection of video games. That would be the best way to distract him. If it stopped him from asking questions all was well.

“Which one do you want to play? I’ll beat you in any game.” You grinned and nudged his arm lightly. He gladly took the chance to get rid of the awkward atmosphere and picked out a racing game. Luckily for you those were the only kind of games you played before. You didn’t even have to set up anything as Junsu seemed to know exactly how everything worked. From that you assumed he probably came by more often which was probably what Taemin had meant with ‘if there is anyone else’.

“I sure am lucky that you live so close. I want to play more often Taemin!” Junsu whined as the first round was about to start. Determined to win at least one round you didn’t take your eyes off the screen as you answered him which Junsu seemed to think was cool for some reason.

“Just come over when you want to then. That is if I’m around..” That sounded perfectly reasonable to you. Junsu cheered and accidently steered his car off the track. You laughed and took advantage of that to win the game. In a few more rounds you realized you were hungry and got up to cook something. Just before you could make a list of ingredients you remembered Taemin couldn’t cook so you would probably stick to boiling noodles.

“Taemin wait up!” Junsu immediately got up and followed after you to the kitchen, “you can’t cook! And I’m hungry too.” By waving around a few packages of instant noodles you shushed him and turned to boil some water.

“Grab me some bowls would you?”

“Do you want to hang out with all of us today?” That was sporadic. You raised one eyebrow as you had observed Taemin do when he was confused and crossed your arms.

“Why?” Now Junsu seemed to realize how out of nowhere his question had sounded.

“You could use the distraction.. But tomorrow’s good too if you have time then?” Why came to mind. Just why did he want that so badly? Didn’t he have anyone else to hang out with? Apparently Junsu took your cautious look as something other than what it was.

“I promise Jaejoong won’t be around.. Please? It’s only one day. I know you’ll like hanging out with us.” What? You narrowed your eyes at that but nodded slowly.

“I’ll ask my manager about my schedule. You’ll hear from me tomorrow.” After you finished cooking the noodles and ate them Junsu went home with a vague excuse that you forgot the moment he slipped outside the door. You needed to contact Taemin about the Jaejoong situation.

“You keep forgetting important things oppa. Like ‘I hate my neighbour’. What is that about?” It annoyed you so much that you didn’t even properly greet your brother when he picked up the phone. A light chuckle followed.

“I was going to tell you that.. He bumped into me while I was reading. He could have seen me coming, it was a big hallway and we were the only people in it. Yet he didn’t apologize. It really pissed me off that he thought he was right since he’s older than me. We haven’t gotten along well ever since.” So both of them were eight graders.

“But he is older than you! Couldn’t you have let it go?” You complained as you tossed the laundry in the machine.

“How was I supposed to know my sweet, perfect dongsaeng would be going there? I know it’s not easy for you to act tough. Just remind yourself it’s only a little bit more.” Then he went on a little longer about why he acted the way he did around his friends. You both agreed that it wasn’t a really good thing but you also knew he couldn’t change it. After telling him to rest and sleep soon you hung up and were left alone in the cold house that seemed too big for you. In the end you crawled into his bed to try and soak in the last bits of his presence in the house. The night was a long and dreamless one.

Author's note: Blueprint of Taemin's house