Annyeonghaseyo, my beloved readers~ Gomenasai for the long- wait! This chappie is something of a filler, and I do believe this fic will be going on for quite a while longer... So please stay tuned and continue to support me! Or, rather us, as my co-author Naminyan helps me t-r-e-m-e-n-d-o-u-s-l-y. <33 Thank you to everyone who is enjoying this story! You all deserve a ton of SHINee merch!!!

           As the doors to the van slid open, Taemin and Minho had a brief conversation with their eyes for a moment regarding the seating situation. Taking no notice to any of this, all that Key registered was that s were taking forever… Hello? Key is freaking tired here! Move over, es… With a huff, Key climbed into the very back seat as Minho quickly took control and pushed Onew out of the way to claim the seat beside him.  Onew gave no thought to pushy Minho.  His incredibly tired state and naturally peaceful, non-frictional personality did not feel like getting into an argument, especially not with the stubborn Flaming Charisma.  Jonghyun, Onew and Taemin squeezed into the miniscule three row seat in front of Minho and Key; the limited elbow room was due to the staff having been stuffing equipment they couldn’t fit in the other vehicles into this one all day.

            Total exhaustion overwhelmed all of them simultaneously; a collective sigh from the SHINee members was felt but not heard.  Onew, Taemin and Jonghyun each fell asleep in turn.  Key silently stared out the window; it began to rain.  The moon faintly illuminated through the cloudy, inky nighttime sky, gracing the Earth with enough of her full light to fill one to the brim.  His eye was caught by a single raindrop as it traced its path down the thick window, leaving tracks of even smaller raindrops in its wake, which in turn found their own paths, leaving streaks of their own to be remembered by.  Each raindrop was one of a kind, sort of just like people, in their own right.  Never did even one raindrop clone another to perfection.  The starting and stopping point of every raindrop was different.  Never did one raindrop leave the exact same tracks or separate from a larger raindrop as another. Beautiful.

            This was Key’s way of getting away from the reality that was eating away at him lately.  A mixture of sorrow and rage was making him feel like a gaunt, energy lacking zombie.  Why did this stress him so much?  Why did it have to be this way? Why did he have to be so emo about this anyway?!  The only thing that would be able to cure this was the culprit itself.  But no way could he even…  It could ruin their friendship they’d built up forever if things didn’t go right. He truly, wholeheartedly valued his friendship with Jonghyun… it was really awesome. They could totally be themselves with each other, act retarded, pick on each other, laugh like idiots together. He would never find someone who he felt the same towards as he did Jonghyun.

            His resolve had been unshakably strong before, and it still was, but his secret insecurities caused him to fall into the vortex of negative thinking, his thoughts a whirlwind of low vibrations. Should he just ignore this problem and let it go on forever, keeping his big mouth shut? But Key wasn’t even too sure how well that would work out, since he did possess an admittedly big mouth. Or would that hurt him even more in the long run?  When push came to shove, his truest hope was for Jonghyun to be happy, as much as he hated to admit it. How would he go about this? How could he?  What if Jjong and Se Kyung went further with their relationship and got married or moved in together?  He’d just watch from the side lines with a broken heart… waiting, just waiting.  Was this just a stupid crush that would go away in a couple of months? (He clung stubbornly to this thought… he could NOT be in love). Even if that were the case, how would he keep on living without those feelings for him?  He’s around him 24/7, they all even live together in the same dorm.  Things could really only just get worse from this point, as far as Key could see.  Everything about Him drove Key crazy. The aroma surrounding Jjong, his big cute eyes, the way he always looked good no matter what he was wearing or what state his hair was in (to Key anyway), even his blissful, idiotic ways just filled Key with so much joy.  And, he was driven even crazier knowing now that he definitely wasn’t his.

            Key’s mind continued to spew out negative thoughts, tripping him up so that he face planted straight into the mucky thoughts. What if he never could be his?  Key leaned on his arm rest, fixing his melancholy eyes on the tiny puddle at the crease of the bottom of the window. He sighed pointedly and subconsciously glared daggers at the back of Jong’s limp sleeping head, before quickly tearing his eyes away.  He couldn’t handle these feelings right now.  As much as he wanted to rip Jjong’s head off, he couldn’t stop the warm, almost burning hand of love from snaking its way up his heart and caressing it annoyingly as he basked pathetically in Jjong’s sleeping presence. What were these stupid emotions?  Why couldn’t they just go away, or at least pause for simply a moment? 

            Key’s jaw clenched up as he felt said emotions taking over him.  The whole photo shoot scene with Jonghyun and Se Kyung played over and over again in his mind.  It was like some other being was controlling his mind, torturing him with these new memories.  The way Jjong and Se Kyung had embraced for their kiss made him scream internally as the boiling fury inside of him bubbled up and struck out against him, hissing cynically from atop his stovetop of a heart. A traitor teardrop managed to make its way down his exhausted face.  Once he realized it he quickly swiped it away; then he heard a deep whispering voice in his ear that sounded like it was coming from the depths of the earth right beside him.

“Key,” Minho gave him a comforting pat on the back, “you know I don’t agree with any of this either, it makes me just as angry as it does you, maybe even more.  You don’t have to cry over it though; I’ll make sure things work out for you.  Just remember I’m right here to give you a comforting hand if you need it.  You’re not alone on this Key.” Under Key’s intensely questioning gaze, he elucidated, “Taemin told me everything.” Key’s face first contorted into a mask of anger, but in less than a second had morphed sincerely into one of understanding and gratefulness.

            Key nodded his head. A couple more, now relieving teardrops escaped from his eyes.  He wiped them away with the cuff of his oversized jacket.  He continued to depressingly stare out the window, drifting rhythmically in and out of sleep.  He stole a glance at Minho who he could tell was also fighting sleep, but there seemed to be something he couldn’t stop staring at; come to think of it, his hyung’s gaze had not shifted since their last tender exchange.  Key tried to trail his eyes to what exactly he was looking at.  Of course, he should have known it would be Taemin, who was out like a light on Jonghyun’s shoulder.  Was this what he was really fighting to stay awake for? 

            Key was too utterly exhausted to ask questions, but just as soon as he decided to get comfortable and drift off, the car stopped and, voila, they were at the dorm.  The internal car lights all when the driver swung open the door.

“OK, we’re here!” the driver announced, too robustly for the cranky SHINee’s tastes, and everyone who was asleep found themselves perched solidly back on this reality. 

Key peered over at sleepy eyed Minho who was unbuckling his seatbelt.  Onew, Taemin and Jonghyun filed out of the cramped car, thankful to be home at last with their comfy beds beckoning promises of a full night’s restoration to their sleep confused ears.

“Yah! Why do you have to be so loud?” an aggravated Taemin began to argue with the poor driver who appeared exasperated and frightened at the same time. Minho rolled his eyes knowingly and quickly made his leave of the vehicle. Taemin continued: “Don’t you think that maybe you should use slightly more pleasant tones right now?! My hyungs and I have been working really really hard all d…ay…lo...ng…” his ranting dwindled into nothingness as he began to fall asleep standing up against Minho’s wide chest. Minho had snuck up from behind him and collected the cranky maknae in a gentle, calming embrace. He leaned his head low and whispered into Taeminnie’s ear, “Yeobo… Leave the poor driver man alone… I’ll buy you fresh banana milk tomorrow…” Taemin was coherent enough to nod compliantly and abandoned the confused driver to stumble sleepily into the dorm, in his half asleep state refusing childishly to let go of Minho’s hand the whole time.Although he was the last into the dorm, Key was still the one who valued hygiene the most and was undoubtedly the first to make it to the bathroom.

            He flicked on the blinding lights and put his body on autopilot as he brushed his teeth. He washed out any remaining hairspray from his hair and toweled it dry before climbing into his pajamas and collapsing dramatically on the bed.  Taemin had been having a conversation with Minho on the other side of the room and then got up to go use the bathroom after him.  Key finally drifted off to sleep.

            Key awoke sobbing from a dream.  His thin hope of escaping from reality in his dreams had been vanquished cruelly as he found out that everything that had been bothering him simply seemed to attack him in his dreams.  He sat up in the darkness that seemed to weigh down on him like a thick blanket and looked over at the other members, who appeared fast asleep.  A quiet feathery voice became apparent beside him, “Hyung?” Key looked over at Taemin who was now sitting up concernedly beside him. Taemin scooted closer to Key and leaned his head on his shoulder.  “Why are you crying?”

            Key really just wanted to snap back at him at being so naïve.  I don’t know, why would I be crying?!  It was only common sense what the answer was.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Key replied, Taemin’s soft, sleep roused hair.  “Go back to sleep, Taemin.”

            Taemin fell back down to the bed and Key pulled up the covers for both of them.  Taemin fell asleep to Key his hair.  Key switched laying positions to his other side and drifted off.