No one really knows what goes on in another person’s head. The only way to find out is to ask them, and really, what are the chances they’re going to tell you the complete truth anyways.

At least that was what Taemin thought.

He liked to think about different scenarios his hyungs could be thinking about by reading the expressions on their faces. He knew that even if he asked them what was on their minds, they’d tend to give a fairly routine reply.

Minho would often reply that he was thinking about some competition he was in with one of their Super Junior hyungs or about the latest game he had watched on his downtime.

Jonghyun almost always remarked that he was thinking about how hot he thought that the girl in front (beside, behind, whatever) of them was. Either that or how he was shorter than him, the maknae of the group.

Onew confessed he thought about what it would be like if one day he told everyone he really didn’t like chicken as much as the media portrayed and that really he just liked meat the best of the foods in general. But he never spoke about how his image of the awkward/ clumsy leader affected his inner most thoughts.

Key scoffed at him whenever he asked what was on his mind and “Tae-baby I am much too busy to think about anything other than what I am currently busy with.” was his standard, never changing, answer.

Taemin, however, just couldn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe it because he knew how much his own thoughts bounced around and why wouldn’t his hyungs be the same? One moment he could be thinking about Banana Milk, the next the choreography for the latest SNSD song (that he knew Key would be dragging him about to learn next) and again his thoughts would bounce, this time to less innocent thoughts.  Things that the cute maknae shouldn’t be thinking, according to manager-hyung, who was in charge of keeping the cute maknae’s image that of the cute, aegyo filled baby.

So Taemin watched.

He watched the way Key and Jonghyun looked at each other when the other wasn’t looking.

He watched how Key would get riled up when Jonghyun remarked, “Did you see her? Red dress. She’d be taller than me in those heels, but I think I could live with that. Don’t you Key?”  Even though Key denied any such feelings for the older man when confronted with it, Taemin watched as his eyes darkened and the haughty attitude was replaced by false amusement at Jonghyun’s standing on tip-toe to check the girl out better.

He noticed how Jonghyun would stare at Key one heartbeat too long just seconds before finding that random girl to gush over. It annoyed Taemin how Jonghyun never made a move on her because he knew what everyone else knew. What Key especially knew.

Gay and Korea just did not mix that well.

Taemin noticed the hurt in Jonghyun’s eyes when he talked about the girls’ good looks, and listened closely to some of the compliments. Her delicate feline features and interesting fashion sense sounded to Taemin to be more fitting to Key, and how sometimes those descriptions of those lovely ladies sounded more like gushing about a certain singer/ rapper/ dance/ diva.

Taemin thought he just knew that Jonghyun and Key were lying to themselves, and that it hurt worse lying to your own self than it did the others.  But no one ever admitted the truth so how did anyone know for sure.

Taemin saw that the fans didn’t seem to care that Onew wasn’t some chicken obsessed freak. He was the only one who saw the slight decrease in eye-smile when Onew had to talk about his love for chicken. He was the one who watched for the happy crinkles at the side of Onew’s eyes to disappear only to be replaced by sad, stressed ones.

And by the gods if he had to look at Onew’s face after one more OnChicken story. Well, no more cute aegyo baby.

Then there was Minho-hyung. Taemin knew that most of the time, Minho’s answers were true. Yes he was just thinking about the competition with Donghae, who could do the most sit-ups before puking, or the bet he’d made with Henry about who looked more foreign; Canadian born Henry or Alien Frog face Minho. (Poor Minho was in the lead by “anonymous” pole via the internet.)

It was the times when Minho said he was recalling that save such and some goalie made that Taemin knew Minho was holding something back.

Minho was the hardest for Taemin to read, even after living together for so long and becoming the very best of friends. Of all his hyungs, inside SHINee and outside, Minho was the one he trusted most to tell him what was really going on inside his head.

But Taemin knew, no matter how straight forward and truthful Minho was, somewhere along the line he wasn’t being told the entire truth.

Even the day Minho kissed him and told his confession, Taemin knew there was something more behind Minho’s no holds bared exterior.

He knew because when he kissed him back, Taemin was keeping something from Minho.

It went unspoken that they could never share this outside the all-encompassing dark. No lights or open windows. All electronics that could potentially lead to ruin were cast out of the room.

The other members being too wrapped up in their own turbulent thoughts would never have guessed the secrets kept in Minho and Taemin’s heads. It was better that way.

It was also better that Taemin didn’t know what Minho was holding back. Taemin was happy not knowing if he was just the flavor the year. Since some days that’s how he felt about Minho.

Like Key and Jonghyun, the youngest members knew one day they would marry nice, beautiful girls and have nice, beautiful children. They would grow old having made astounding leaps and bounds into fame, fortune and future.

Taemin was happy that in the minds and hearts of fans 2min and JongKey lived strong, since in real life they were little more than confused boys, shoved into adulthood far before they were truly ready.

No one really knows what goes on in the minds of the people they are with, but Taemin was satisfied with knowing that he didn’t know.

He was satisfied because when the day comes and people are truly honest with each other and there are no secrets to be held totally and completely in your own head, he would finally have to admit things to himself that right now he could keep buried so deep inside that not even he had to know them.

They say you never really know what someone else is thinking, when really you can’t know because you never know what you're even really thinking.