Key sat down and sighed. So far today he had found out that the world tour had been cancelled, unpacked his own and Taemin’s bags, cooked chicken and ramen only for it not to be touched (apart from Jonghyun’s brave attempts) and washed up in the kitchen. It was only 2:00PM now and he wanted nothing more than for the day to end.

“Cheer up diva-cakes!” Jonghyun ran to the sofa that Key was on and jumped, doing a 180 degree spin to the right and landed on by Key’s left side. “Don’t make me tickle torture you again!” Jonghyun teased Key by waving his fingers in his face and gave him a menacing look.

“Jonghyun stop it!” Key slapped the cheeky dinosaur’s hands away from him wanting to have alone time but Jonghyun wasn’t giving up that easily. Just as Key turned away from him Jonghyun poked Key in his side earning a little squeak from him then who tried to squeeze himself into a tight ball to deny Jonghyun access to his ticklish spots.

“Don’t hide from me Kim Kimbum!” Key fought against the teasing Jonghyun who tried to pull him away from his position. When Key felt himself being pulled out of his position he quickly grabbed a pillow and used it to hit his hyung in the face. “Yah!” Jonghyun couldn’t help but laugh at how cute Key was when he was in one of his diva moods. After receiving a few more hits to his face that also messed up his hair in the process Jonghyun grabbed hold of Key’s wrist when he attempted to hit him again and shook it until Key lost grip of his soft but dangerous weapon. Without wasting anytime Jonghyun reached over and grabbed hold of Key’s right wrist and turned him around so Key was on his back face-to-face with hyung.

“Yah Jonghyun I don’t feel like playing right now...” Key put on his diva pout in an attempt to get his hyung off but instead Jonghyun smiled at him and placed his legs either side of Key and sat on his stomach so his victim couldn’t make a run for it. Key started to kick trying to shove Jonghyun off him but he knew his muscles weren’t just for show.

“You’re not going anywhere until you smile at least!” Jonghyun captured both of Key’s hands in his right and started to poke Key in the side with his left hand. Key’s high hitched squeaks filled the living room as Key was once again tickled tortured for the second time today. He couldn’t hide it anymore; Key knew he was smiling from ear-to-ear and Jonghyun seemed to be mirroring his expression, showing his puppy smile and crescent moon shaped eyes. Eventually after the two were laughing so hard that Jonghyun lost balance and fell off the sofa pulling Key with him. The two lay on the floor in fits of giggles. For the first time after the scandals started they were actually finding happiness again. “That’s better. You look great when you smile Bummie.”

“Ahem...”

Jonghyun and Key quickly looked up to see Minho with his arms folded and shaking his head at the sight of the two blondes with very messy hair. “H-H-How long have you been there Minho?” Key stuttered a few times in shock.

“Long enough to think you guys have something going on...” Minho walked into the kitchen leaving the two blushing boys on the floor. Was what Minho just said true? Key looked to Jonghyun who was fixing his hair and catching his breath. Could Jonghyun actually have feelings for him that he was not aware of?

“WHAT THE HELL?” Onew’s voice shook the whole household who watched him run down the stairs carrying his laptop in a panic. “I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY WOULD DO THIS!” Onew forcefully placed the laptop on the table causing a glass to topple onto the floor smashing into pieces.

“Aish! What is with my bad luck today?” Key threw his arms into the air and pushed himself off the chair he was sitting on, Onew’s actions gave him another job and he wasn’t too happy about it. As Key got a dustpan and brush and kneeled down under the table to clean up the mess Minho walked over to the table to see what had his hyung in such a state. Onew was normally a cheerful and smiley character so to he him suddenly so angry was a shock to him.

“Why what’s happened hyung?” Jonghyun came out of the study room to meet his friends who were stood with wide eyes and their mouths dropped open. What Jonghyun saw gave him a great shock and caused him to yell out in anger. “YAH! HOW CAN THEY DO THAT TO SM?” The table suddenly slightly jolted as a very shocked Key tried to get up from under the table when he heard his hyung raise his voice.

“OW! AISH JONGHYUN!” Everyone took their eyes off the screen for a second to see Key emerge from the table rubbing the back of his head; the temptation of laughing was very hard to control. Jonghyun and Minho quickly put their arms around Key to support him as he slowly got up. “If I’m bleeding and it stains my hair I swear I’m going to kill you!” Minho rolled his eyes and looked back at the screen. The last thing he wanted right now was to encounter another Jongkey moment.

“When you guys are done with your flirting I’ll tell you what’s happened shall I?” Onew glared at the two blondes who were checking Key’s head for any signs of injuries. Taking a deep breath, Onew read the email that he had just received from the SM main office.

 “Dear artists,

It’s with great regret that I am to inform you that the company’s funds have dropped so much that we are unable to keep all of you on our team. Therefore we are now giving you all the option to stop your contracts for good and leave SM Entertainment. If you decide to leave we must make it clear that as soon as you do so your dorm will belong fully to SM Entertainment and that you need to leave the premises immediately...”

“That’s crazy who would leave SM Entertainment just like that?” Jonghyun interrupted Onew reading the email. Onew took a breath and continued to read.

“... We thank the now former artists Girls Generation, f(x), and EXO for all the hard work they have done with us in the past and wish them good luck with their new record companies. It’s sad to lose such hard working girl bands, and one very amazing and recent boy band. We are preparing for other artists to soon stop the contracts with us and it breaks our hearts but it would be in your best interest to try to get away from all the bad publicity as soon as possible.

-SM Entertainment Main Office”

Everyone looked at each other in shock. Not in a million years did they ever expect SM Entertainment to go broke. Key closed his eyes trying to hold back tears. They were all good friends with the SM artists so having them leave so suddenly was like losing them forever, needless to say that the news was slowing killing them all.

“Well that’s it then... I guess we should get this over with...” Key wiped his eyes and looked up to see his band members staring in pure shock.

“What are you talking about?” Jonghyun looked at Key is disbelief of what he was suggesting. “We’re not leaving SM Entertainment like that! When I made a promise to stick together as SHINee I meant it, and we can’t be SHINee if we split from the company... I know I read the contract and they own the name and our material unless we wrote it ourselves...” Minho walked over to his hyung, took him caringly but firmly by the shoulders, and looked him in the eye.

“Five years ago I walked into a room with four other young boys that I barely knew. Through that time we’ve sang, danced, toured, acted, joked, played, and most importantly grown up together. Grown to be a family Key, and if there’s one thing that families don’t do it’s split up!” It was beginning to become difficult for the younger to keep it together and he slowly blushed while holding back his own tears.

“He’s right. I look at you all and I can’t possibly imagine living without you now.” Onew walked to the two and embraced them in a hug followed by Jonghyun who squeezed in next to Key. “We are not braking up! Hell, SM will have to kick us out if they need to but otherwise we are staying right here!”

The loving moment was quickly broken by Key’s phone that started ringing, playing Kiss Yo; one of his favourite songs that he had performed as SHINee. A cute picture of Taemin with his pink lips around a green straw gulping down banana milk popped up on the screen. Without expecting anything Key picked up only to quickly pull his ear away to prevent his eardrum form being permanently damaged.

“YAH! DID YOU GET THE EMAIL, CAN YOU BELEIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING, ARE WE BRAKING UP, WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN?” Taemin’s voice was loud enough to be heard from Key’s phone without the need to put it on speaker. He had just received the email from his phone while he was out and it gave him a huge panic attack. Onew smiled at the sight of Key almost dropping the phone and took it from him, pressing the speaker button.

“Taemin calm down. Yes we got the email, no we can’t believe that this is happening but the sad truth it is, and no we are defiantly not breaking up!” The voice of SHINee’s appa calmed down the troubled child a little and he began to breathe normally, catching his breath again.

“We’ve just had this talk and we promise you Taemin we will never split up. Cross our hearts!” Minho couldn’t help but smile to himself. He knew Taemin was grown up now but he always saw that sweet innocent kid that he met five years ago. After Taemin had calmed down he told his hyungs that he was going to stay out for a little bit longer and hung up.

Taemin walked around the quiet streets outside of town, looking at his feet and quietly singing the lyrics to green rain. Even though his hyungs had promised him that a split was never going to happen he couldn’t quite believe them. All the other artists had split, so was it certain that SHINee was going to stay? Taemin kicked a can down the street with his hood up and hands in his pockets. He knew that he shouldn’t doubt his band members; after all they were his family. Taemin stopped at the corner and looked up at the cloudy sky. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be ok but he knew somehow his life was going to take a turn for the worse. It was gut instinct and unfortunately very accurate. Nothing could prepare him for what the day was to bring.