It was in the middle of winter, snow blanketed the city of Seoul. The windows of the shops and homes were frosted over with the cold breath of the wind and air. The streets were silent, quieted with the forbidding of the contemptible season. Some in particular rebelled against the biting chill. Five boys, five friends set out on a walk to explore the white wonderland their hometown had become. The youngest of the five, Taemin looked about with wide eyes, reflecting the sparkle of the ice crystals. The boy's body was cold from the freezing air penetrating his thin clothing, but his hand was warmed by the taller boy beside him, clutching the younger boy's hand.  Both hearts were warmed also with the love that was there, the excitement, and the joy. They all walked along side by side, heads turning and eyes darting to take in the blinding beauty of winter. Though none of them noticed one of the members had fallen behind and now wore a playful smirk on his face.

    "Yah! Minho, watch out!!" Key yelled. The moment Minho turned his head a cold blast of snow hit him in the center of his face. Sounds of laughter came from the delighted Jonghyun who hit his mark perfectly. Minho let go of Taemin's hand and began to gather snow and transform the soft ice into a solid sphere. Behind him Taemin giggled, taking cover for the oncoming fight ahead. Jonghyun's laugh turned into a gasp as Minho chucked a snowball at him in return. Taemin quickly ran over to Key and the two began to laugh and chatter while they began to form snowballs themselves. The war was on. Deformed chunks of snow flew through the air as the five boys decided teams. Onew figured it was only fair that he joined Jonghyun since Minho's team consisted of 3. The soft cold ice numbed their fingers but it wasn't anything to stop them from having their fun. The boys hid behind trees, rocks, anything they could find to shield themselves from the snow missiles. While Onew was gathering more snow Jonghyun grabbed his arms and pulled Onew in front of him, allowing Key's snowball to smack him in the forehead. Onew closed his eyes and tight and scrunched up his nose at the sudden cold pain in his face.

    "Wow, thanks." Onew said sarcastically as he turned to look back at Jonghyun, who wore an innocent smile. Taemin hid behind Minho's tall frame once again, throwing handfuls of snow every so often. It was moments like this he wished would last forever. He faintly smiled at the thought. But of course it couldn't,  these things ended eventually, like life. But something else also came to his mind. What about love? Does it end like everything else eventually? Taemin frowned at this. Of course love could last forever, couldn't it? Taemin had a future envisioned for him and Minho and that future was full of love, like a happily ever after in a story, except without an end. Taemin puffed his cheeks in frustration and found that his arms had intertwined tightly around Minho's waist. He snuggled his face into Minho's back, feeling the welcoming warmth and the reassurance it brought. Minho's arm froze in mid air, about to catapult a snowball at the opposing team when he felt Taemin against his body. He lowered his arm and dropped the snow, dusting the ice fragments from his palms. His fingers were red and numb from the chilling sting of the frozen rain. Minho placed his frozen hands over those of Taemin's on his own waist and turned his head slightly to smile lovingly at his adorable lover with the pink tinted cheeks and his snow stung red nose. It was then Taemin felt slightly embarrassed.

    "S-Sorry." Taemin whispered with a small smile, letting his eyes drop to the now imperfect snow that had been trampled with their feet. He loosed his grip around Minho, letting his arms droop slightly.

    "Why?" Minho asked, looking at Taemin quizzically and somewhat worried. He held Taemin's hands in place at his waist. Taemin looked back up to Minho's concerned and confused face. He didn't want to express his small doubtful thoughts, it worried him and plus it seemed dumb now, seeing Minho's loving, caring dark brown eyes staring at him. He just ignored Minho's question and stare and hugged him once again but tighter, as if Minho would be carried away with the winter wind like a perfect snowflake drifting to an unknown destination. He rested his cheek on Minho's back and closed his eyes, completely forgetting about everything else.

    "Guys!!" I could use a little help!" Key squealed as Jonghyun and Onew pelted him with snowballs. It seemed the war turned into a two against one fight while Taemin and Minho were off in their own small world. After Taemin and Minho came back to the fight the tables ce again and Onew and Jonghyun were the ones being attacked by the never ending storm of snowballs. Jonghyun hit the ground and curled up into a ball, placing his hands over his head while Key continuously kicked up flurries of snow directly at him, since his hands were numb and burning at the same time from the biting of the snow.

    "Okay! Okay! Key! I surrender! Stop, you're getting snow in my ears!" Jonghyun cried, his voice muffled. Key sighed and began to laugh.

    "You're such a wimp Jongie!" Key shouted,  in a playful sweet tone. The snowballs ceased and the boys were panting, their breath being seen as mist coming from their open mouths. Taemin looked over at Minho and smiled, a glimmer visible in his deep brown eyes . They all began to walk along the street again, the sun had risin higher in the sky like a brightened torch. The city was somewhat awake now, people began opening their curtains and peer at the beautiful sight before them. Laughter was heard from houses with children, waking their parents and stumbling to throw on warmer clothes and earmuffs. The trees that the boys approached seemed like something from a painting, with the limbs iced over and gleaming as the rays from the sun hit them. They seemed frozen in time with a certain beauty only a painter or photographer could capture. The leaves were long gone, left behind in the months of autumn. Taemin ran up to one of thick trunks of the trees and hid behind it, peeking out at Minho and giggling as he ducked back behind it. Minho smiled broadly and sprinted lightly over to the tree and waited on the other side for Taemin to peek out again. When he did Minho popped out from his place on the other side and earned a suprised squeal from the younger boy. The others in the background laughed at the boy's reaction. Taemin's cheeks flushed a bright red that Minho thought was too adorable. He stoked the boy's cheek and placed a small kiss on his chapped lips. Taemin blushed an even brighter shade of red like the tulips of spring, but more beautiful. The group continued on through the forest, though they couldn't recall ever having walked through these woods before. They marveled at large branches weighed down with the burden of the snow, that had seemed so light. The sun's rays penetrated through gaps in the gray clouds that produced the snow, like the light would go off and on again and again.

    They seemed like ghosts walking through the deadly quiet forest. Shadows danced along the roots of the sleeping trees as the clouds moved from the path of the sun once more. Key eyed Minho and Taemin as he saw that their hands had joined together again as if they couldn't be separated by any earthy force. He couldn't help but be jealous of the two boys. Yes he had Jonghyun but he didn't treat him like Minho treats Taemin. Jonghyun wasn't much of the romantic type and didn't like things like holding hands in public. Key frowned and looked away from the younger boys, before they would catch him staring. He quickly glanced at Jonghyun beside him. He noticed their hands were so close, almost touching. He slowly brought his hand closer to Jonghyun's and made contact with his soft skin. He slipped his hand into the older boy's expecting him to pull away quickly. To his suprise Jonghyun just looked over at him with a soft smile. Jonghyun gripped Key's hand and the two went along like that. Key smiled to himself and blushed slightly. Maybe it was because they weren't in town where people could see them that Jonghyun did that but it didn't matter to Key at the moment what the reason was. 

   Onew was somewhat ahead of the group, leading the way. He saw what seemed to be a clearing up ahead and slowly approached it, he had an eerie feeling about these woods but continued on. The trees opened up into a wide space. What he saw was the most beautiful thing he had seen all day. There was a frozen pond in the center of the clearing that seemed perfect and untouched. The light gleamed from the reflective ice and he could see the image of himself and the sky above in the mirror like ice. The others stood back a bit as the older boy examined the pond but walked up beside him as they realized what he was looking at. Curious Taemin darted over to the pond and crouched down beside it with big brown eyes. He giggled at his expression and ran his hand over the smooth, solid surface. Minho stood beside the younger boy and smiled at how easily Taemin was entertained.

    "Be careful Taeminnie-ah" Key called from behind them. Taemin looked over at his Key umma.

    "Yes, I know Key! I'm not a little kid!" Taemin wined to the latter boy. Key sighed and rolled his eyes.

    "You still are to me!" Key called over to the maknae. This made Taemin pout and so he stood up and crossed his arms, walking away from the pond. Jonghyun marveled at the shiny iced pond.

    "Do you think it's solid enough to ice skate on?" Jonghyun questioned, still staring at the ice, trying to determine how thick it might be.

    "Don't even suggest trying it because Taemin will want to try it too and then, who knows what will happen!" Key warned, glowering at Jonghyun. That was half the truth, the other half was that Key didn't know how to ice skate and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of his lover. Taemin again pouted at Key's words.

    " Why is it always because of me that we never get to do anything fun?" Taemin sulked.

    "Oh Taemin, don't be like that! I just don't want anything to happen to any of you." Key replied, mimicking Taemin's pouty face. Taemin sighed and unfolded his arms, giving in to his umma. He couldn't blame Key for being worried about everyone, someone had to. Though Taemin ignored his Key umma's cries when he began running circles around the pond like a stubborn little kid. Taemin absolutely loved this pond now, it was like his special place. He would stare at his reflection and giggle when Minho would come up behind him and make funny faces. Jonghyun sat under a tree with Key, whispering things into his ear, causing the younger boy to shudder and giggle at Jonghyun's words. Onew sat alone, staring at the two couples. He did feel left out sometimes but he knew he would find someone one of these days, whether it be a guy or a girl, it didn't matter to him, he just wanted someone to love and someone to love him. He overheard Taemin bring up ice skating again and knew Key would get mad if he heard the maknae bring it up again.

    "Minho-ah why don't we come here after dark and ice skate while Key umma is sleeping? We can spend all night out here!" Taemin whispered with excitement to Minho. Minho looked thoughtful and a little worried.

    "I don't know Taemin...we don't even know if this ice is thick enough to stand up on, rather skate on." Minho said, eyeing Key to see if he might be listening.

    "Miiiinnnhooo-ahhh" Taemin whined, pulling on Minho's sleeve. "Pleeeeeease?" Minho looked down at Taemin, seeing his wide brown eyes watering and his lip quivering. He knew it was just an act but he gave in anyways.

    "Okay,okay, but we have to make sure Key is fast asleep tonight. And if the pond isn't solid enough then we will go striaght back home. Got it?" Minho said, looking around once more to see if anyone was listening. Taemin nodded excitedly and jumped into Minho's arms and wrapped his skinny arms around Minho's neck.

    "Yes! Thanks Minho!" Taemin squealed, forgetting to conceal his excitement. Key looked over at them and tilted his head.

    "What's going on?" Key asked, narrowing his eyes.

    "Oh,uh..Minho hyung is going to take us to go get hot chocolate!" Taemin lied convincingly. Minho went along with it and smiled at the others and nodded.

    "Uh, yeah, I know a great cafe close by in town, my treat!" Minho smiled widely and began walking out of the woods with Taemin close by him. The others looked at each other and shrugged, getting up and following the two other boys.

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A/N: Wow, longest update I have ever written on here, i don't know if it's any good but I'll work on the second chapter anyway. Sorry if I misspelled anything or if some things don't make sense. I didn't' feel like looking it over again haha