Oh my, two chapters in 24 hours!  I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 17

Key carefully folded and packed all of Taemin’s clothing and put them into boxes for the move.  He’d already finished packing up his things, except what would be needed tonight, and now he was moving onto the other’s things.  He planned to pack up as much of the dorm as he could before everyone else got home. 

Taemin was at school today and everyone else was scheduled for something, either appearances or lessons or the like, so Key was packing up the dorm.  He felt like it should be his responsibility anyway.  None of this would be happening, they wouldn’t have to leave their home, if Key and Taemin had never been together.  While he would never regret the discovery of his feelings and subsequent actions on them, he couldn’t help but feel guilty that his decisions were having this effect on SHINee. 

Key sighed and put the last t-shirt that would fit into the box.  He quickly tapped it shut and wrote ‘T-CLOTHES’ on the top.  He pulled over another flattened box and made short work of assembling it.  After all, he had done so many over the coarse of the morning that he would probably be making the motions in his sleep that night.  He continued loading clothing into the boxes until Taemin’s things were all packed away.  Then he moved onto Minho’s part of the closet. 

The rest of the apartment was packed away.  All the knick-knacks and gifts from fans had been boxed up and sent off to their new place yesterday.  Tonight would be their last night in what had been their first home together as SHINee.  They had all grown up, and grown together, here, in this small apartment.  He remembered how Jonghyun whined on the first day when he realized that all five of them would have to sleep in the same room.  How Onew was so excited about the oven because he could make baked chicken.  How Minho liked the park across the street because it was the perfect place to exercise early in the morning.  How Taemin liked the windows, because the view of Seoul from their at night was simply breathtaking.  But his favorite part was the kitchen, because that is where they really became a family one night after an apocalyptic food fight about a month before their scheduled debut.  Oh, it had taken days to fully clean that kitchen, and the smell had lingered for a few weeks more, but all of them sitting in the filth of the flung food, kimchi clinging to Jonghyun’s hair, and rice dotting Taemin’s face, had been the most hysterical moment that all of them couldn’t help but enjoy each other. 

Key realized that he was crying and got up to find the tissue box and hope that it hadn’t already been packed away.  Glancing at the clock though, he saw that he needed to go and pick up Taemin from school.  They hadn’t heard anything more from their manager in a while, but they still worried about Taemin, though to be honest, Key was getting a lot of enjoyment from being able to pick up his boyfriend from school.  It was something to keep the younger boy safe, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t enjoy the quality time together. 

Key waited just outside the gates, parked in an SM van, waiting for Taemin to come out.  The bells had just rung so he knew it would be a few minutes yet before Taemin would have all of his things together so he sat back to wait.  That is until he noticed the man standing awkwardly about twenty feet down from the gates.  It was rather warm out today, but the man was wearing a thick hoodie and a hat under it.  And despite the fact that the man stood in the shade, a large set of ill-fitting sunglasses attempted to balance on the man’s nose.  He kept glancing towards the gates as well.  His presence was making Key nervous, and not wanting to leaving anything to chance, Key got out of the van and walked up to the school.  Students obviously recognized him and pointed or called out to him, but he had a one-track-mind right then.

As he approached the gates he noticed that the other man seemed to become indecisive. Alternatively taking steps forward before turning around and going back to his original position.  On the third reenactment, and just as Key was preparing to walk clear through the gate, the man’s balancing act with his glasses failed and slid down his nose enough for Key to see his eyes. 

Fear lanced through Key as he recognized their former manager.  Taking off at a run, Key raced over the ridiculously large courtyard towards the main stairs.  He bolted up towards the third floor where he knew Taemin’s classroom was.  As he rounded the landing on the second floor he saw Taemin coming down talking with one of his classmates and laughing with them. 

The fear and adrenaline rushed out of Key like the air from a popped balloon.  He sagged against the wall of the staircase for support and tried to calm his own breathing.  Taemin was fine, their manager couldn’t get to him, the school knew not to allow him in anymore.  Taemin was fine, Taemin was fine. 

He could tell when Taemin noticed him standing at the bottom of the set of stairs he was descending.  The dancer’s face suddenly went from amused to concerned faster than Key could process. 

Taemin quickly bid goodbye to his friend before rushing down the rest of the stair and approaching Key.  “Hyung, what’s wrong?”  He asked, reaching out and laying one hand on Key’s shoulder. 

Still panting from his run, Key replied, “He…man-manager...outside…disg-disguise…”  Key bent over halfway and clutched his knees, almost screaming with joy when the air finally started flowing in.

Taemin really wanted to comfort his boyfriend but he knew that that could be dangerous.  Anything that could possibly be construed as romantic right now could be a bad thing for them.  Instead he said, “Okay hyung, okay.  Thanks for warning me.  Now take a deep breath.  In, and out.  In, and out.  Good, keep going that, in, and out.”

When Key had calmed down they started down the staircase.  Taemin then directed them out one of the side entrances, rather than the main one, and they would walk up to the car from behind, which wouldn’t bring them even close to where Key had said he’d seen their old manager. 

By the time that they finally made it to the car, the man was gone.  But Key had been so sure that it was their manager that Taemin wanted to believe him.  If only for the look of sheer terror that Key had had in his eyes when Taemin seen him at the bottom of the stairs. 

The two quickly made their way home and literally as soon as the door closed on their apartment the two were in each other’s arms.

“I was so scared that he would get to you before me!  I was so scared that he would hurt you!  I can’t let anything bad happen to you, I can’t!” Key wailed into Taemin’s shoulder, alternatively clutching at Taemin’s clothing and kissing his face.    

“It’s okay Kibum, it’s okay,” Taemin whispered, gently running a hand down the back of Key’s hair, smoothing the hair there.  Taemin honestly, had thought that Onew had just been being over-protective when he said that someone needed to even take him to and pick him up from school, but now fear was creeping into his heart.  As far as their manager knows, Taemin is the only “problem” in SHINee, so it would make sense that he would become the object of the crazy man’s rage.  With Onew in charge things had seemed to calm down and Taemin thought that they might be able to return to some semblance of normal soon, but apparently he was going to be looking over his shoulder for a while. 

Not even bothering to take off their shoes, the pair stumbled into the apartment and flung themselves down onto the couch.  Eventually they had both calmed down and were just sitting, shoulder to shoulder, one arm flung around each other, and their heads leaning against one another.  They sat there, enjoying each other’s company and comfort. And Key turned his head and placed a gentle kiss on the side of Taemin’s head, just above his ear.    

“Well, now that ten years have been shaved off of my life,” Key said lightly, obviously trying to erase the tension in the air. 

Taemin smiled a little and looked at his boyfriend who was clearly trying to move past the events of this afternoon.  “Alright Kibum!  Let’s see what you’ve got packed up today and we’ll see if we can get the rest of this done before the others come home!”

Standing up, Taemin held his hand out for the older one to take, a calm smile on his face as he waited for the other.

Key studied that hand in front of him.  No longer the fragile and thin wisp of something that he had been when they first met, now the hand was strong and sure, big and slightly roughened from calluses. Key placed his own thin hand within Taemin’s and felt protection and reassurance and couldn’t help but hope that together they would beat all of this crap that they were having to deal with.

Yay! Some Key/Taemin interaction!  Fun times!

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