Taemin never thought he could hate someone more than his uncle... but Siwon came pretty ing close... He stuck to Taemin like glue. Everywhere he went, Siwon went. Never saying anything but always watching him... it was creepy. He didn't dare go anywhere near the east tower of the castle even though he desperately wanted to leave the dreadful place. Siwon was impossible to lose... 

Where he had perfected the art of loosing the slow, thuggish guards Alec used to send to tail him, no matter what he did, he couldn't shake him off. He had started hiding away in his room again just so he could have some privacy. 

Siwon wasn't always alone either. He had these two henchmen that seemed to follow him around; Jiyong and Dogho. Jiyong was loud and rather brash, usually going by the name GD. His eyes had a kind of sharpness to them that made you unsure of what he was thinking and made you question whether or not you wanted to find out what he thinking. It was almost like you could see the beginning of madness in his eyes...

Taemin hated Siwon but it was actually GD that scared him. The man seemed ruthless at times; kicking round servants and threatening people with the knife he carried around on his belt. He even heard rumors from the servants about the things Alec had GD do for him... Taemin wasn't usually intimidated by people but he honestly believed that GD would cause him harm if pushed...

Dongho on the other hand... Taemin just felt sorry for him...

What on earth was he doing here? As far as Taemin could tell his only job was to be pushed around by Siwon and GD... mainly GD...  He followed his two superiors around doing any and all they told him to do. He wasn't out spoken nor did he seem to have any kind skill in anything he did... He wasn't in the least bit intimating... in fact he was rather cute especially when he, rarely, smiled.

Whether or the boy could actually stand up for himself was something unknown to Taemin. Sometimes Taemin thought he saw the boy tick or get wound up by the out right bullying he received but despite Taemin's want for him to, Dongho never reacted to it. He just let Siwon and GD walk all over him as they spent their time watching Taemin's every move... 

He couldn't even hide in his room properly anymore either... Not always. They would periodically check the door to make sure it wasn't locked, because apparently that was now forbidden to him. The only time he got to himself was after sundown... How he somehow became more trustworthy at night he didn't understand but that at least gave him some leway. 

That familiar itch of wanting to get out the castle had come back at full force and it had only been a week since he'd broken into treasury. He was dying to get out and run about with "Flame" and his gang. He'd heard from Alec that the gang was still causing him trouble and oh how Taemin wished he was with them... 

But there was another reason he wanted to get out as well... One that he was worried even to admit to himself. Sure wanted to go out and annoy Alec with Flame, sure he wanted to laugh with Onew and Jonghyun, be pampered by Key... but above all of that, he wanted to see Minho... He couldn't really deny the main reason he wanted to get out was to see Minho again. He missed the older boy, despite only seeing him twice. He was drawn to the other. Maybe it was his large eyes, or his soft hair... or his deep soothing voice... Taemin sighed and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. 

It was one of those rare moments he was alone, in his room but he knew Siwon was right outside the door... like usual. 

As Taemin allowed his head rest on the back of the chair whilst he stared at the ceiling, he began plotting his way out of the his personal hell... This whole business of not having his door locked would have to stop and soon... tonight in fact. All he had to do was make sure no one else could open his door and beside him the only person he knew to have a copy of the key to his room was Alec...

Well then... Taemin would have to remedy that, wouldn't he? 

~*~

"You okay?" Tom asked as Taemin slipped through the window. 

"Yeah... I really hate doing that... I keep thinking about will happen if I fall..." Taemin said as he tucked the rope safely inside the room. He had locked his bedroom door, regardless of the rules and left his key in the door. The only way someone would get in would be if someone knocked the door down... He doubted Alec would go that far, besides, he should be asleep. 

"Sir, are you sure you need to do this... What'll happen if you get caught?"

"Tom, how many times have I asked you to call me Taemin and not Sir?" Taemin replied downright ignoring the boy's worries. Yes he knew he would be in serious trouble if he got caught but the freedom that would come with succeeding tonight would be well worth it. "You think you'll be okay tonight?"

Tom crossed his arms over his chest annoyed. "Yes I think I'll be okay Taemin" Taemin just chuckled at the other's tone. 

"We'll meet back here afterwards okay?"

"Okay, be careful"

"You too..." Taemin said softly before they both left the bedroom below his room going opposite ways. If he got caught tonight, sure he wold get in trouble but if Tom got caught... He didn't want to know what would happen to the serving boy... But whatever happened tonight, Taemin would make sure everything would be alright. 

Taemin ran through the halls as quietly as he could, pausing at any and all corners to listen for movement. He couldn't let anyone see him tonight. He didn't want Alec to know his keys were gone until it was too late. 

From what Taemin knew of Alec, he carried a set on keys on his belt. It was a rather full set so Taemin could only assume the key to his room was on that. The only other place in the castle he could imagine keys to be kept would be with the caretakers. But Taemin doubted that he would be able to search both Alec's room and the service quarters of the castle and get back to his room quick enough.

That was where Tom came in. He'd managed to talk the serving boy into searching the caretakers rooms for keys. He was worried for Tom but if the boy said he could do it, he would trust him.

Where Tom was heading for the back of the castle, Taemin was heading for the front. Alec's bedroom was on the top floor at the very front of the castle. From there could oversee anything and anyone entering the castle. It suited his nosy, busy-body attitude to life very well; having to know everything... Part of Taemin wondered if Alec also liked to think that one day he would catch Flame entering the castle one day.

Of course that would never happen and Alec would forever be in the dark as to how Flame got into the castle, as he should be.

There could be one fatal flaw in Taemin's plan though, something his entire plan relied on; he had no clue of Alec's sleeping patterns. He just had to hope that by the time he reached Alec's room the man was asleep. Taemin also had to hope that Alec wasn't a light sleeper. He had left his room well into the night... it must have been about three in the morning and the really was no one about. Most of the torches that lit the hallways were out, the only light came from the windows, not that the light that shone through actually lit up anything... perfect.

The castle was harder to navigate by night, sure Taemin had explored the place but it had so many twists and turns in it, it was easy to get lost, especially in the dark. He had to be wary of torch light as well  because where there was light there were people. As he got to the front of the castle, the castle became more alive. There were guards all over the lower floors watching the entrance, doing their job of course, but it made it hard for Taemin to get to the top floor. 

It was like breaking into the treasury all over again; waiting for the right moment and running to the next hiding place, only this time he was alone. There were no smiling faces waiting at the next corner and no Minho whispering to him in that deep voice of his that everything would be okay. But he had to keep going and not get caught. Alec could not find out that he could get out of his room without him knowing. He had  to see "Flame" again and there was no way he would allow a few guards to stop him from achieving that goal...

It took some time, and a lot of waiting in awkward hiding places, but Taemin finally made it to the floor his uncle slept on... there was one problem though. There was a guard posted outside his uncle's room. Taemin hid around the corner, head leaning back on the stone wall trying to think of what to do. 

There was only one guard up here, thankfully, and there were no guests so Alec slept alone up here, so all Taemin needed to do was get rid of the guard. He not only had to get the guard away from the door, but he also had to keep him away from the door long enough for Taemin to get in and out of Alec's bedroom unseen.

He glanced at the stairs he had just come from, an idea forming in his mind... a stupid idea, but an idea all the same. 

Taemin bit his lower lip as he headed back to the stairwell, this plan could horribly backfire if something went wrong... was the risk really worth it? A picture of Minho's smiling face flashed into his mind and Taemin decided that it was... He must have really lost his mind. 

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Taemin checked the hallway; it was completely empty with one lonely torch lit at the end of it. Slowly he walked over to the torch staring at it with worry in his eyes... "Here goes nothing" he whispered into the silent hall. 

Taemin grabbed a tapestry that was hanging on the wall and yanked it down so it laid crumpled into a heap on the stone floor. Taemin stared at it for a moment, this really was a stupid idea... Checking the rest of the hall Taemin let out a breath, there wasn't much else here that was flammable and the stone floor and walls were unlikely to catch fire so nothing should go wrong right?

Whispering a quiet apology to Key in case the tapestry belonged to his family, Taemin grabbed the torch off the wall and dropped it onto the tapestry not waiting to watch it catch fire. Instead he ran to one of the suits of armor that lined the wall and pushed it over creating a loud crash before running to another suit of armor past the stairwell and slipping behind it, crouching down. He was just in time as the guard ran down the stairs, instantly seeing the fire and panicking. 

Whilst the guard panicked with his back to Taemin, Taemin slipped out of his hiding place and ran up the stairs, his heart racing. Hopefully he hadn't just somehow burnt the castle down. 

But ignoring his worries about the fire he had just created Taemin reached his uncles door and slowly opened it, listening through the darkness. A smile graced his lips when he heard loud snoring, Alec was fast asleep. 

Taemin kept the door open a little so he had some light and so he could hear if the guard came back and went about his search for Alec's keys. 

Alec's room was rather... plush...

Everything looked overly expensive, Taemin could even make out piles of counted gold on Alec's desk. All the chairs were well lined and padded and the dim light showed the satin and silk sheets his uncle was snoring on. 

But Taemin pulled himself back to why he was here. 

Where were his keys?

He checked the clothes hanging off the back of an arm chair, finding nothing on the belt, the was nothing on the desk either or on the chest of drawers. Taemin was beginning to panic. He began looking in the drawers and saw nothing besides more gold and clothing. Now what?

Taemin crept over to his uncle's sleeping form and nearly smacked himself in the face. They were right there! Why hadn't he checked the bedside table before?

He slowly reached for the keys, feeling his heart pound in his chest, flinching every time he thought he saw his uncle move and wrapped his fingers around the vast amount of keys. He had already decided he wasn't going waste time looking for the one key in particular, it would take too long, he was just going to take them all. Taemin couldn't care less about the inconvenience this would cause Alec.

Taemin practically ran back to the door, holding the keys with both hands so they wouldn't make any noise and listened. He could hear yelling from down stairs, good. 

He left the room, closing the door behind him finding no guard there. He headed for the stairwell and crept down, heart pounding again. There were three guards standing around the now extinguished tapestry. The lack of fire meant lack of light and that made it easy for Taemin sneak back to his hiding place behind the suit of armor. Now he just had to wait for them to go back to their posts...

~*~

"Tom?" Taemin called out in a whisper as he entered the room below his own but he got response. He frowned softly through the darkness. Tom should have gotten back by now, what if he had been caught?

Taemin was pulled away from his train of though by a soft groan. His eyes followed the sound to find Tom curled atop the bed. Taemin smiled softly both in relief and amusement before crossing the room to sit next to his sleeping form.

Taemin shook the sleeping boy gently regretting waking him, watching as he opened his eyes slowly.  

"Taemin..?" He mumbled, yawning as he sat up. 

"Are you okay"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got the keys" Tom yawned again.

"Really? You found some?" the noble replied excitedly. 

Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, passing them to Taemin. He then pulled out one single key and passed that to Taemin also. "That's the keys to the bedrooms" Tom mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Taemin began to feel very guilty for keeping the boy up so long.

"What about this one?" Taemin asked holding up the single key he'd been given.

"Hm? Oh, it's a skeleton key" the boy answered. Taemin stared at the key. A skeleton key. He hadn't even been aware one of those existed in the castle. "Supposedly it'll open any room in the castle..." A thought flashed through his mind at that... He could use this key... or at least someone he knew could use this key...

"Thanks Tom" The boy had gone all out, they hadn't even been sure that there were keys with the caretakers. "You're the best manservant ever!"

"Hm..." Tom gave him a sleepy smile. "Can I go to bed now?"

Taemin laughed but nodded. "Of course, thanks again."

The two dragged themselves off the bed, Tom heading for the door, Taemin for the window. 

"Tom, if you don't get enough sleep, you can use my bed after you bring my breakfast up" Taemin called to the boy. 

"I couldn't Sir... um, Taemin" He corrected himself 

"I insist, and if you don't accept that, then I order it as your superior" Taemin replied poking his tongue out at the other.

Tom just chuckled, bowing slightly and bidding him goodnight before slipping out of the door.

Taemin stared at the vast amount of keys in his hands. He would have to find somewhere decent to hide them in his room... but that would wait... first he had to climb up that infernal rope again... 

~*~

"Guess what I heard from Jessica?"

"What?"

"There's someone special passing through the square today" Onew grinned nudging Minho playfully with his elbow. 

"Who?" Minho asked slightly annoyed by the others' behavior. 

"Lady Devaro!" Onew sang happily but was immediately unhappy with the lack of response he received.

Amazingly, Minho was also surprised by his own lack of enthusiasm by the news. Had he really been so hung up her before? Minho would have liked to say that he didn't really know what had pulled his interest away from the lady of the castle, but he knew that was a lie.

He knew exactly what was occupying his mind instead of Devaro.... Or should he say who was occupying his mind...

Minho sighed softly trying not to loose himself to his thoughts, again.

"Hey Minho!" Minho turned his head to see the Dino walking over to him. "Have you heard the news?" Jonghyun raised his voice is a suggestive manner at the end of the sentence and Minho instantly knew what he was referring to. 

Minho sighed again but replied anyway. "Yes I've heard" he shook his head ignoring the looks the other two were sharing. "Can we please just get back to selling?"

They were at market again, three of them selling eggs... well at least two of them were, Jonghyun was just doing whatever he wanted, whilst Key held the fort at home. 

Minho had never minded selling at the market every week but there was something somber about it this time round. Again, he knew why. 

A week and a half had passed since the night that they had broken into the treasury with Tom and they hadn't seen the boy since. Minho had been so excited the next market day, expecting to see the new edition to their little group come smiling round the corner but nothing happened. He had gone the whole week disappointed, and here they were again, a week later in the same position. 

Though he wouldn't admit it to his hyungs, he had even contemplated trying to contact the boy that seemed to occupy his mind so often. But not only would that risk Tom getting caught it would also be useless as the boy had practically admitted that "Tom" wasn't his real name... 

Minho wanted, no needed, to see that smile again. Those bright chocolate, innocent eyes... but it seemed that just like last week Tom wasn't going to show up. 

Minho sighed, an increasingly growing problem and served a woman in front of him. 

Tom obviously found it hard to get out of the castle, the hidden passageway, the hidden clothes, the fact that he changed his name... but Minho still thought he would be able to see the other again... He had said so right? 

Minho blushed slightly as he recalled them snuggled in bed that morning. Sure all of them had been in that bed but something about the situation made Minho's heart race. He was also sure that he had felt Tom kiss his forehead before he left but he had no way to prove it... he wanted it to be true though.

"You're not even gonna try to sneak a peek at her when when her coach passes?"

Minho snapped out of his thoughts? "What?"

Jonghyun sighed. "You're no fun"

"I'm so very sorry" Minho said sarcastically with a slight smile. 

Jonghyun gave him a small smile back, moving to stand next to him. "So why the sudden disinterest in Devaro?"

"It's not sudden" Minho protested. 

"Hm, very true" Jonghyun mused.

Minho raised an eyebrow wondering what on earth the Dino was on about now. 

"In fact, I think the arrival of someone else may have something to do with that" The Dino teased. 

Minho's eyes widened before he looked down quickly. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" 

"Sure you don't" Jonghyun chuckled back. 

Minho ignored him, and the rising blush on his cheeks and went back to pretending to sell eggs. 

This went well... until he felt a pair of hand cover his eyes. He immediately thought it was one of the two idiots beside him until a voice behind him spoke up. 

"Guess who!" A cheerful voice sang and Minho's heart leapt. 

Minho spun around feeling the hands drop to find the very person he wanted to see beaming back at him. 

"Hi" Taemin said brightly. 

Minho was lost for words, the happiness in his chest close to overflowing. "Oh to hell with it!" he thought before embracing Taemin into a hug and lifting the smaller male into the air.

~*~

Whew... chapter done. 

You know it's actually quite hard to think up all these little escapades and how they work but all is well ^^

I had major writers block with this chapter but please let me know how I did with it ^^

More 2min to come!

Comment please

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