The next day, SHINee’s morning occurred as usual; Jong awoke, and then he woke up Key, who woke up Onew, who woke up Taemin, who finally woke up Minho. But, unusually, the beginning of said routine was quite awkward; Jjong had woken up cheerfully, and was happy to wake up his best friend Key; however, Key was not exactly happy to be awoken by him. Jjong had approached the sleeping Key as he always did, but he noticed that his sleep didn’t seem very peaceful; there were restless circles underneath his eyes, and as Jonghyun watched, he tossed over in his sleep, like he was searching for something.

“Jjong…” Key mumbled in his sleeping state. Jjong froze in his tracks. What? Did Jjong really just hear what he thought he heard? What could Key possible be dreaming about? Jonghyun wondered. After thinking for a few moments and not being able to come up with any possible explanations, he simply went on with what he was doing, and reached down to shake Key awake. When he touched him, Key’s eyes darted open.

“Good morning, sunshine,” said Jjong, a smirk playing on his lips. Key’s eyes finally found Jjong’s, and he looked as though he wanted to say something, but was at a loss for words. He instead smiled weakly before pushing himself up and, without uttering a word, stalked quickly off to the bathroom. Strange… Jjong registered, but decided to shrug it off as Key just being weird in the early morning and didn’t put any more thought into it.

-----SOON LATER-----

The delicious aroma of breakfast sizzling on the stove permeated Jjong’s senses and caused his mouth to water. Jjong, Taemin, Onew and Minho were all lounging about the living room of their dorm, waiting for their umma to make their breakfast before they had to begin their busy day. As all of the members’ olfactory senses were attacked relentlessly by the irresistible smells, Jjong’s stomach let out a loud growl. Everyone stared at him awkwardly, and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.

“What??” he demanded finally, his voice breaking the silence and mingling in the air with the sizzling and bustling in the kitchen, “Haven’t you ever seen a starving man before?!” he cried, pushing himself off the couch dramatically and disappearing into the kitchen.

“Yeah, you guys are so insensitive!” Taemin joked as he got off the couch and bounced after his hyung. Minho and Onew allowed a lazy moment to pass between them, then simultaneously stood up; Minho walked coolly to the kitchen as Onew followed suit behind him, hitting his shin on the edge of the couch painfully along the way.

“OW!” he yelped, clutching at his leg and hopping up and down. “Did you see that, Min—“ he began, and stopped in his tracks when he noticed that he was the only one left in the living room. “Yah, you guys always leave me…!” he whined to himself before following them into the kitchen, A.K.A. Key’s Sanctuary. A perfectly ordinary scene of Key cooking breakfast met all of their eyes. He had on his favorite apron, a bright, optimistic pink fringed by white, vanilla-frosting frills. Jjong smiled at the sight of his best friend and snuck up quietly behind him, slipping his arms around Key’s waist playfully as he cooed, “Yeobo~”

Key immediately froze, giving Jjong an uncomfortable feeling, like the feeling of his hair against his skin whenever he washed it in the morning and left it wet while he walked outside in the frosty winter wind.

“Yah!” he exploded, causing Jjong to jump and pull his arms back, unsure of himself. “What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you see I’m busy cooking here?! God, Jjong!” he continued angrily, the words rolling off his tongue quickly and harshly. His words struck Jjong in the chest like poisonous darts and tears threatened to bud in his eyes.

“Key…?” he questioned hesitantly, both of them forgetting about the other members in the kitchen. Key seethed visibly and whirled around to glare a hole through Jjong’s head.

“I can’t do anything with you here, Jonghyun!” he ranted on, even though the hurt was evident on Jjong’s face.

“Fine, I’ll just leave then!” Jjong retorted angrily, storming out of the kitchen with confusion, hurt and anger clouding his emotions. Key stood staring at a fixed point that no one else could see, his expression unreadable, as the smell of burning vegetables began to fill the room. His olfactory senses seemed to bring him back to his senses, and he took notice of Taemin staring at him with a concerned expression etched across his face; Minho also stared at him, appearing detached but concerned, and Onew looked away from Key awkwardly, but worriedly.

“Make your own damn breakfast!” Key yelled, impatiently fumbling with his apron as he tore it off of himself and threw it on the floor before storming off. The sound of an obnoxious BANG was detected, affirming all of them of Key’s retreat to the bedroom.

With the angry presences disappeared, Onew turned to Minho and Taemin with wide eyes.

“What’s up with those two? A lover’s quarrel?” he joked, a weak attempt to make the heavy blanket of tension covering the entire dorm, keeping all of its inhabitants in an edgy, too-snug embrace  a bit less unbearable. Taemin’s eyes snapped open wide and a nervous laugh escaped Minho before he hastily regained his composure.

“Haha, lover’s quarrel, yeah! Good one, Onew hyung!” Taemin exclaimed a bit louder than necessary, a rigid, obviously fake laugh tumbling out of his mouth until it ended in an “Oof,” as he received an elbow jab in the ribs from Minho. Onew stared at the both of them silently, a single eyebrow slowly creeping towards his hairline.

“Am I missing something, here…?” he asked slowly, uncertainly. Minho and Taemin exchanged uneasy glances. After a pregnant, awkward pause, Minho swiftly took the lead of the secret salsa.

“I have no idea, hyung. Those two are usually joined at the hip. Maybe they had a fight?” he suggested, diverting Onew’s fearsome focus from himself and his uke.

“Well, they do have a lot of arguments,” Onew allowed. “They don’t usually like to hold grudges into the morning, though.”

Taemin shifted uncomfortably.

“…Then again, Key is such a diva, he would definitely stay angry until he gets what he wants.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing more than what they usually argue over,” Minho added, ostensibly calm.

“Nevertheless, I think I’ll go and talk to Jonghyun. He seemed pretty upset, you guys know how emotional he gets…” Onew trailed off, exiting the kitchen without pressing any farther.

Taemin at last emitted a drawn-out sigh and went to the vegetables on the stove, which Key had thankfully at least remembered to turn off even in his incomprehensible state of fury. The vegetables now resembled something closer to charcoal than a delicious and nutritious meal. He poked it as his tummy grumbled sadly, a pout forming on his lips.

“I’m gonna need some banana milk after all this stress…” Taemin muttered to himself softly. Minho picked up his words, however, and quietly retrieved a plastic bottle of the delectable drink out of the refrigerator.

“You mean this banana milk, Taemin ah…?” Minho questioned in a quiet tone. Taemin recognized that tone, and he slowly turned around, suspicion radiating from his facial expression and body language. However, when he noticed the bottle of banana milk in his hyung’s hand, a delighted smile presented itself on his face.

“Yes! Thank you, hyung!” he squealed joyously, lurching forward to grab the banana milk from Minho’s hand; he could already envision himself chugging it, oh so happily. What a beautiful moment it would be! However, just as Taemin was reaching for it, Minho pulled it away from him.

“Ah ah ah,” Minho warned, wagging his finger at the younger one. Taemin’s eyes widened in annoyed disbelief; you didn’t mess around with Taemin’s banana milk.

“Hyung…” he said dangerously, his tone a cutting one, which was rarely heard from him. However, Minho remained unfazed. He held the milk over Taemin’s head and smirked devilishly.

“You have to kiss me first, Taemin ah,” he teased. Taemin’s eyes looked like they were gonna bug out of his head.

“Hyung!” he cried, blushing slightly. He began to jump for the bottle, determination twinkling in his dark eyes. Minho laughed evilly as Taemin struggled for the bottle, and each time he lunged for it Minho would take a step back.

“Give it, hyung!” Taemin demanded, frustrated, pressed against Minho’s chest as he reached desperately for his beloved banana milk. Minho’s back soon made contact with the wall, and Taemin now had the advantage with him pinned with his back to the wall. A Lucifer-like smile brushed across Taemin’s lips as he ceased his struggling and made eye contact with his lover.

“Minho ah~” he purred, dancing his fingertips lightly across Minho’s chest until goosebumps arose on his skin.

“Taemin…”

Aforementioned boy had Minho in a seductive trance, his lips becoming pouty and his gaze quickening Minho’s heartbeat. He bit his lip lightly as his other hand found its way to Minho’s belt and tugged at it playfully. He slowly walked his fingers down his chest, keeping his touch light enough to encourage more goosebumps, and Minho shivered, enjoying the role of seductee too much to remember anything existed outside the two of them. Taemin lifted himself up on his tippy toes and brought his lips a mere inch away from his lover’s, his breath hot and controlled. He saw Minho close his eyes expectantly, and seized his chance…

“Tickle attack!” he cried, attacking Minho’s midriff expertly, automatically inducing loud laughter from his victim. He snatched the banana milk out of his hand in Minho’s ultimate moment of vulnerability.

“HAHA!” he exclaimed triumphantly.

“Yah! That’s no fair!” Minho cried, pouncing towards the younger boy and tickling him mercilessly. Taemin erupted into laughter and tried to squirm away, and they were both laughing now.

“M-M-Minh-ho! B-BABO!” he choked out before collapsing into more giggles. Minho then collected him into his arms and stole his lips, and he could feel Taemin’s smile against his lips and he thought his heart would just fly away. It was a short kiss, sugary sweet and, Taemin thought secretly, a little better than banana milk.

“I got my kiss,” Minho stated, playfully cocky. Taemin stuck out his tongue and held his banana milk aloft.

“Well I got my banana milk!” he announced, as if this clearly ended the discussion; and, indeed, it did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^0^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Translation: “Uke” – the passive one in a romantic relationship (a.k.a. the bottom ;))

Please forgive me for the “secret salsa” line…it just made me laugh too hard not to keep in there….omg.

I honestly have no excuses for why it's been so long since i posted last. I'm simply a lazy author, I shall admit... But, alas! This story is definitely not over (my co-author would never let me quit it XD (not that I want to!)) So, please be patient and continue to support me! I hope I still have some readers!!