"Jongin, I'm cold", Taemin said quietly in a hoarse voice.

Jongin's attention quickly shifted to Taemin on the bed who's eyes were still closed but turned to his side and curled up in the blanket to gain some heat, still holding Jongin's hand outside the blanket. Jongin felt so relieved that Taemin was awake but when he the hair away from his face he could feel how hot Taemin's forehead was. Taemin hummed at the feeling.

"Mmm your hand is warm", Taemin said weakly with eyes still closed.

"Baby you're burning up. Let me go get you some water and a cloth and I'll be back real quick." Jongin was about to get up but Taemin held his hand a bit tighter with the strength he had left.

"Don't leave... Stay here, I'm fine." Jongin understood what Taemin meant; he didn't want to be alone, afraid Jongin would leave him or he would break down suddenly. Jongin sighed and turned to the SHINee members who were the only ones in the room.

"Can someone get a bowl with cold water and a small cloth? Or just ask someone out there for the things." No one seemed to listen to Jongin's until Jinki reacted and quickly left the room to. Taemin opened his eyes slightly to see who was in the room since they apparently didn't know their way around this place. At first glance he saw Minho and Jonghyun who still didn't know if they should go closer or stand by and wait but they got their answer when Taemin brought the cover over his head, let go of Jongin's hand and buried his head in the pillow. Jongin seemed to understand what he wanted so Jongin told them to wait in the living room. On their way out Jinki came back with water and a cloth then left behind the others. "You can come out now." Jongin lifted the cover from Taemin's face.

"Why are they here?" Taemin asked weakly.

"We told them to come. I wanted them to see what they've done to you", Jongin said and put the cloth in the water bowl and squeezed the water from the cloth before he put it on Taemin's forehead. "They seemed kinda worried when they got here but I didn't let them get close to you. If it doesn't go well with them today I'm not letting you go anywhere near then again." He noticed Taemin's worried look. "I know you're afraid of what they'll say but you have to talk to them. I'll be there with you, everyone will in case it goes bad. So don't worry and trust me on this." 

Taemin nodded and closed his eyes. He seemed tired so Jongin let him sleep. He changed the water in the cloth and pecked his cheek before he left the room. The SHINee members were all sitting on the couch while the EXO members were standing at the sides. To say that seeing Kibum crying was a shock would be an understatement because why would he cry after everything he did?

"I really didn't think this would happen", Jongin heard Kibum say. "This is all my fault. I'm so sorry... So sorry..." Kibum put his face in his hands and cried. Jonghyun, who was closest to him, wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer. They were all wearing gloomy expressions and looked like they were about to cry at any second. Jongin joined everyone in the living room but he definitely didn't keep quiet to ease their minds.

"What did you expect him to do if you behaved like that?" Jongin asked as he made his presence known. He had already shouted at them but now he was a bit calmer and could control his words and he still had things to say and ask. "Tell me, if you ignored him and made him feel like his presence is annoying, did you think he would still be his happy self? Didn't you think something would happen? That he would lose himself along the way?" Jongin tried to keep his voice as calm as possible to not start more unnecessary drama. "I'm sure you saw a change in him. Why didn't you stop from the beginning? Don't say you didn't notice how he stopped eating or how he sometimes looks lifeless because that's so obvious even a kid would notice."

"We... We didn't really think about it. We were so focused on what we thought were wrong so we never really thought about it from his perspective", Minho said as he looked down on the floor ashamed. Jongin scoffed and almost started laughing.

"Heh are you serious right now? Didn't you miss him? Didn't you even give a tiny thought to how he must me feeling? What's so wrong anyway? Being homoual is as normal as being straight, it's just that you chose to think differently. Stop being so close minded and just accept it. Didn't you say he's like a little brother to you? Why throw him away for something so simple? Can't you even try to accept it? Nothing changed with him, you just discovered a new thing you didn't know before." No one said a word and it passed Jongin off a bit. "If you don't fix this now I'm never letting you see him again. And if you so happen to go near him I won't hesitate to hurt you and I don't care if someone sees, I'm going to protect him from people like y-", Jongin was cut off by Yifan's hand on his shoulder. 

"That's enough. Try to calm down and hear them out", Yifan said. Jongin was about to protest but Yifan's intense stare made him shut up. Jongin sighed and was about to sit down when he saw Taemin's standing in the doorway looking adorable in Jongin's blue pyjama that was too big for him.

"Taemin..." Taemin looked almost afraid to enter but that's understandable. Everyone's attention turned to him, including his own members, which made him take a step back. Jongin remembered Taemin's fever and was in front of him in a second. "You shouldn't be up already. I thought you were sleeping. Go back and rest a bit." Jongin put his hand on Taemin's forehead to check the fever but Taemin moved away.

"Let's get this over with. I can't sleep if I'm anxious..." Taemin mumbled. Jongin dropped his hand and looked concerned.

"You sure? You're not in your best condition right now." Taemin just nodded and Jongin knew he couldn't refuse, after all it was better to do it now instead of waiting. Jongin went to the couch and sat down opposite from the SHINee members with Taemin following but kept a small distance from Jongin. Jongin tried taking his hand to comfort him but Taemin moved his hand away, not wanting to show any sort of "disgusting" acting. It was quiet and the tension could be cut with a knife until Kibum, who had stopped crying for now, started talking. 

"Taemin... I'm really sorry for all this. It's all my fault this; if I hadn't said all those horrible things no one would've ignored you. I started it and they followed. I'm so sorry..." Kibum's voice trailed off as if he would start crying again.

"Does that mean you don't hate me anymore?" Taemin sounded so hopeful and innocent that Jongin wanted to just lock him in and never let anything harm him again. 

"We never hated you", Jinki said. "Oh god I'm such a bad leader and it's my responsibility to take care of everyone... We all learned being homoual is wrong since we were small and I know it's no excuse to how we acted but I guess we felt like we had to protect ourselves. That just sounds so stupid right now and I we understand if you hate us but we all regret it." 

"... There was this kid in middle school who was gay", Kibum started all of a sudden. "He was nice to everyone but one day rumours started going around that he's gay and everyone started bullying him until he transferred. I was one of those bullies and it just grew on me to treat different people like that or simply ignore them. I never thought about their feeling but now I feel so guilty... I didn't want things to be like this... I'm such a bad person and I understand if you won't forgive me but I'm really sorry and I'll do whatever it takes for you to forgive me... But just know that we accept you for who you are now and won't care about your uality if you're still the Taemin we love." Kibum knew he sounded stupid for saying they accepted him now but Jongin's words got to them. He expected to be yelled at or anything but what he got was not what he expected.

"I forgive you", Taemin said with a small smile he could manage at this time. "I know you didn't mean for this to happen and I can't say it didn't hurt but if everything can go back to normal then I'll forgive you all." Jongin was sure he was dating an angel. Everyone was quite surprised at the response. Jongin took the chance to jump closer and bring him into a side hug.

"He may have forgiven you but I won't go back on my words when I said if you hurt him again I will hunt you down", Jongin said but this time less scary. The atmosphere was lighter now but there was one thing on someones mind.

"Umm Taemin?" Minho called out. "That day when we had a photoshot I kind of saw... Umm red lines on your arm. What was that?" Minho hoped it wasn't what he thought it was but judging from how Taemin looked at his lap and held his arm was enough confirmation. It also kicked in Jonghyun's mind who had been quiet all this time.

"Don't tell me you cut", he said bluntly, then realised he shouldn't say it like that when Jongin sent him a glare.

"I did..." Taemin said quietly but enough so they would hear. "But I won't do it again! I have you back so I'm going to be okay. I promise", Taemin said hastily but his hyungs were already looking guilty again. Taemin felt bad about it and wanted them to forget it and move on like he just did. "Can I get a hug? A group hug?" He said instead. His hyungs were immediately by his side hugging each other.

"I know it's our fault but we missed you. Welcome back into the gang", Minho said happily.

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It's almost 4 am and I stayed up just to write this so it may have some grammar mistakes but I wanted to update this week (even tho it's Monday now but I haven't slept yet soooo :P). I think I'll wrap this up soon, not much more to write now that they accepted their relationship but I'm really in the mood for some fluff so I'll probably make a few fluffy chapters before ending it. I'm going to sleep now. See you next week! (this week. It's Monday already XD)