Chapter 2

Several hours later, Key found himself to be the only member of SHINee still awake in their dorm.  Taemin never relented and opened the door so the other members were now splayed out on the couch and the floor trying to catch some sleep.  Key however was sitting back at the kitchen table, where this whole fiasco had started.

*flashback*

They had had a long day of shooting a music video for their latest single.  It was a complicated shoot with a new director for them so it had been a very tiring day.  While they were piling into the van to go back to their dorm their manager announced from the front seat that they needed to have a meeting when they got back to their dorm.  Onew tried to talk him out of it since it was so late, but he insisted, said it was something of “vital importance to SHINee and its future.”

Since they only have five chairs in their kitchen, Taemin had moved to sit on the counter and allow their manager to have his usual seat.  This, it turns out, made it even easier for Taemin to be singled out.

“I found something today.”  And he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.  “One of you has been keeping secrets.  A big secret in fact.”

He thumped the paper down on the table and they recognized it quickly as a picture.  There was a light ‘thump’ sound from Taemin sliding off of the counter to come and see the picture too, but Key took one look at that photo and wanted to try something, anything to keep Taemin away, but it was too late.

Jonghyun, who had been drinking some water, made choking noise and almost spit it out on sight.   Minho on the other hand said the damming words, “Whoa, Taemin!   Who’ve you been making out with?  How come we didn’t know you were seeing anyone?  Wait…is that a guy…?”  

Taemin had frozen mid-way to the table, but he suddenly knew what this was about.  He cast his eyes about, anywhere but at their manager, trying to find an understanding gaze, but there was none.  All eyes were transfixed on that photo.  A photo he had been sure was still in his pocket in fact.  He reached for it and found it gone.  Internally cursing himself he realized that it must have fallen out at some point during the chaos of the day. 

“That’s right!”  Said their manager, “A man.  That is our supposedly innocent Taemin, kissing a man.”  He sneered through all of his words, making it quite obviously known what he thought about men kissing.

Now the picture was such that it was obvious that the other man had taken it, by holding the camera high above their heads.  So while Taemin was easily recognizable, the other man’s face was not so clearly seen.  “Who is it?!” their manager had yelled. 

Taemin was silent.

“I said, WHO IS IT?!” he demanded again.

This had gone on for a while with the other members of SHINee watching like a tennis match, except Key whose eyes were seemingly glued to the floor.  He kept trying to look up, to see Taemin, to maybe let him know that Key stood by him…but he couldn’t move.  It was like his body was refusing to respond to him. 

“If it was a girl I could understand, but this is a man Taemin!  A man!  It’s unnatural and I will not have it in this group!”

“Well damn it!  We love each other!”  Taemin had finally responded and Key’s eye’s finally snapped up while a soft gasp had escaped his lips.

*end flashback*

“Oh Taemin…”  Key muttered softly, pushing the palms of his hands into his eyes in frustration.  “I’m so sorry…” he whispered to the silence of the room.

He looked back down at the table, and the camera that was lying on top of it.  He flipped through the pictures in the camera’s memory and came to the one he wanted to see, a high-angled shot of two men embracing each other, smiling happily.  Then he clicked to the previous shot, another high-angled shot, one that was identical to the one still crumpled and sitting on their table.  He flipped back and forth between those two photos.  He and Taemin had looked so happy there…they had finally said the words ‘I Love You’ to each other for the first time since they had started seeing each other.  Key had taken the photos to commemorate the occasion – just last week.  Taemin had asked for a copy for him to carry around, and Key hadn’t thought anything of it…now it had gotten them both in trouble.  Well only Taemin right now, but Key wasn’t going to let that stand.

He stood up suddenly feeling energized and determined. 

No one messed with his Taemin.