Something a Little Special

The next day, Taesun stood in the kitchen waiting for the timer to ding on the rice cooker. 

"Has anyone seen my phone?" Taemin called from his bedroom. 

Taesun frowned. "You didn't leave it at that dance thing, did you?"

Taemin shook his head before diving underneath his bed, shoving CDs and an old pair of sneakers out of the way. "Dang, I know it's here somewhere," he whispered to himself, before backing out and thunking his head on the bed frame. 

"Taemin-ah, what are you doing? You're going to be late!" His mother yelled as she came into his bedroom.

"Ow..." Taemin whined as he rubbed the side of head.

"Good lord! Since when did we turn your bedroom into a landfill?" His mother cried as she tried to step over various items scattered all over the floor of Taemin's bedroom.

Among the piles of clothes, books, crumpled pieces of paper, pens and pencils, half-eaten bags of chips, empty cartons of milk-in almost every flavor-, and even a whole piece of jerky stuck to the bottom of a shoe, Taemin figured his phone was somewhere deep in that abyss. 

He sighed and bit his lip. He could ask to borrow his mom's phone but it wouldn't really do any good, Jongin only knew the number that he gave him last night. Not that, that  was the reason he needed his phone or anything. 

"Taemin-ah, when you get home today you need to clean up this room before you even think of going out," His mother warned.

"But Umma, I have to work today!"

Taemin's mother stared down at her youngest son. His beautiful long hair that she loved so much and forbade him to cut was nothing but a grease ball of tangles. And the smudges around his eyes made him look more tired than he actually was. He clearly hadn't showered from the day before. She often felt at a loss of what to do with him. He was incredibly troubling and difficult, yet too precious to punish. She sighed and crossed her arms. "Tomorrow then. Promise me, Taemin-ah," she said trying her best to send him eyes that said she meant business.

Taemin beamed. He scampered across the floor and hugged his mother's legs. 

She patted his head in return.  "I know, I know. Now get to school! And wash this hair when you come home tonight!"

"Yes~" Taemin replied.

And with barely a spoonful of rice in his mouth before he was out the door, Taemin practically sprinted the whole 7 seven blocks to his Public High School.

A tardy bell later, Taemin felt like he was making the walk of shame to his seat. He kept his eyes trained on the floor as he trudged his way to a vacancy near the back, so he could sleep without getting caught. For Taemin, it wasn't the school work that was the problem, in fact, he was actually quite the model student. It was more so his peers that he just couldn't seem to agree with.

By the time lunch rolled around, Taemin was in the courtyard, earbuds in and dance-mode on. He always felt the most comfortable when the breeze was in his hair, the sun was on his face and his limbs could move as if they had a mind of their own. He wasn't purposely skipping lunch like his brother had implied, he simply didn't bring any food and didn't want to waste time standing in a long line just to get some gross piece of fishy bread. He'd just hit up the convenience store before work. Besides, if he had any free time whatsoever, Taemin spent it dancing. He had stayed up late the night before, still a little high after the strange events that had taken place after the competition and ok mostly because of Jongin. Either way he had spent hours surfing the web for dance videos. He came across the craziest video of a guy that was moving in such a way it looked like the video kept stopping and starting. It was really cool, so Taemin decided he would definitely incorporate it into his next dance performance. He found the move actually rather simple really. He raised his arm quickly only to dramatically pause, and then moved it again followed by another dramatic pause, until the arm laying by his side made it all the way up over his head. He figured he would call it the broken robot.

So lost as he was in his choreography, Taemin missed the incoming soccer ball by a mile, not until it him square in the face, launching the thin teen clear off his feet.

It hit him quickly, but he felt like he was moving in slow motion, almost like he was having an out of body experience. The world started tilting until it just stopped and everything went black, until he opened his eyes and simply saw the bright blue sky above. He didn't know what had happened. He just knew he couldn't hear the music anymore. And he could slightly register that someone was shouting at him. 

"Hey! Hey, you ok? Come on, say something!"

Taemin blinked, his eyes trying to focus on what he thought was some kind of amphibious creature leaning over him. "Are you real?" He mumbled.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

All Taemin could seem to come up with was, "Frogs?"

The boy asking the questions laughed and Taemin blinked again. He shook his head and looked back up into big eyes, a small face, and a friendly smile. Taemin realized the boy in front of him wasn't the only one laughing at him though, and immediately felt stupid. He looked down at his body splayed awkwardly on the ground and quickly moved to right himself.

"Hey, be careful, you might have a concussion," The boy said, his hands coming forward to grasp onto Taemin's shoulders. 

"Might have knocked some sense into him," a girl in the gathering crowd teased.

"Doubt it," one of her friends offered, earning giggles from all around.

The boy looking at Taemin with concern started to frown. He took his hands off Taemin's shoulders, turned and stood to face the crowd. 

Taemin's eyes traveled from muddy soccer cleats, to socks covering very long and thin legs, to green shorts and a matching jersey, all the way up to a slender neck and a head full of brown wavy hair. Taemin's eyes widened at just how tall this dude was. Maybe a little taller than Jongin though? Taemin shook his head. He needed to focus.

"Hey come on, what's with that?" The tall boy questioned the rude girls.

The best-looking girl among the giggling group raised a single brow and crossed her arms.

"Don't be fooled by that pretty face, Choi. He's nothing but a ."

Taemin almost choked on his sudden intake of breath, the crowd around him gasping in horror as well. This felt mildly like the beginnings of some very terrible B-rated teen movie. Just great, he thought. He started preparing to run from this scene very soon. 

"That's enough. Stop being so hateful," The boy argued in Taemin's defense.

Taemin visibly cringed as he started backing away from the boy. He felt really sorry and silently wished the taller boy hadn't felt the need to fight back for him, considering he didn't know Taemin from Adam. And of course the boy's words only further angered the girl, who Taemin mentally noted must be stalking him, for she frowned and stomped her heeled foot against the ground. "Hateful?" She practically spat, throwing a delicate hand towards her chest as if she was offended. "I'm just telling the truth!"

Taemin scrunched up his face and squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for what he figured would come next. Please don't say it, please don't say it, he chanted inside his head.

"I know for a fact he works at that one gross gay club downtown. You know, the one that uses traps to seduce straight guys. Who knew the awkward little nerd was actually so loose?"

Ok, really? Taemin thought, still a bit dizzy but able to stand on his on two feet. For some unknown reason, could have been the ball to the face, Taemin reacted. Taemin fought back, or at least, he tried.

"Hey!" Taemin found himself shouting. "First of all, it's a very clean gay club, ok? Cleaner than your mouth, that's for sure!" 

The girl laughed, while that Choi guy turned back around and eyed Taemin with big shocked eyes. 

Taemin was about to make his second point when he realized he had maybe kind of outed himself to a very large crowd. Which, was something Taemin had never thought of before.

"See! I told you Minho!" The girl screamed.

Taemin quickly recovered, remembering who he was and where he was and then he paled and covered his mouth with both hands. "Oops," Taemin mumbled and then ran off to hide in the nearest bathroom stall, only cursing himself later for leaving his iPod and headphones behind.

But thirty minutes after that, Taemin found himself in the guidance counselor's office trying to explain the frenzy of rumors that had spread like wildfire around the school.

Lee Taemin works at that sleezy gay club downtown.

 Wait, you mean that scrawny kid that doesn't talk to anybody?

 He's having with strangers for money?

 Ew, who would do that?

 But with that face. . . 

 Wait, was him being a gay a secret?

"Taemin, you're a good student. Surely, these rumors are false." The older man tried, feeling as if Taemin couldn't be anything more than the angel he seemed.

Taemin pressed his hands together and offered his apologies. "I'm really sorry for causing so much trouble, this is all a misunderstanding. I needed a job to make money, and the club is owned by my cousin's family. He asked me for help. And, I only help with serving the guests. Really. I-I've never-"

The counselor held up a hand to silence the nervous teen. "It's ok, I understand. But maybe you should find a different job, son. I know this isn't some fancy private school and we have no right to dictate your personal matters, but this could get messy if a bunch of concerned parents get involved. You understand?"

Taemin nodded helplessly before he took his exit. 

The rest of the day went by in a blur until Taemin found himself racing through the red-light district towards the nicest, in his opinion, gay club in town. The walls were painted a shiny gold, and the floors were carpeted in a lipstick red. Everywhere you looked, there were gorgeous men and women scattered all around multiple circular tables and cushioned booths. Drinks in hands and smiles all around, the only noise Taemin could hear were the cackles of old ladies as they laid down more money.

"Oh! Is that little Taemin-ah!"

"Taemin-ah, won't you come sit with Noona?"

Taemin smiled and bowed towards the regulars as he made his way towards the back. He stood in front of a single black door with a giant gold star in the middle, and took a deep breath before entering.

"You're late! I need you to help with service at tables four and five." The black haired male sitting at the desk didn't look away from the pink-bejeweled mirror he held in front of his face. 

"But Key," Taemin whined.

Key moved the mirror a fraction and glared at his cousin behind hazel-colored contacts. Uncrossing his distressed jean-clad legs, he stood and beckoned the squirming younger boy towards him. "Come here."

Taemin obediently went to Key's side and was stunned to find his face being cupped with both of his cousin's hands. 

Key's glare only got worse as he examined the nasty purplish-green bruise dotting the skin around Taemin's left eye. Key's hands moved to Taemin's bony shoulders where he shook the injured boy. "Who did this to you? Tell me. I swear, I'll cut a for laying hands on this perfect face."

Taemin gasped in shock before he chuckled and took Key's hands from his shoulders and held on to them tightly. "I got hit by a soccer ball." 

Key tsked and rolled his eyes. "Jesus, you scatter brain."

"I know, I know and I lost my iPod too, but Key! One of the girls at my school I guess found out. . . about me working here. My counselor suggested I find another job because... you know, this place doesn't exactly have the best reputation. But that's what I told them! I said it was super clean, and I know i'm putting you in a bind, but I don't know what to do, I need a job," Taemin gushed, all panicky. 

Key sighed. "That . Great, now I'll be short-handed."

"Hey, but what about me?" Taemin pouted.

Key eyed his cousin. Dirty hair, mascara stained eyes, bruised skin, wearing a raggedy old t-shirt -at least two sizes too big- and grey sweats. "Taemin-ah, what are you, homeless?"

Taemin looked at Key like he was crazy. "What? Hyung, you know perfectly well where I live."

Key burst out laughing. "Oh forget it, what about the dancing, you've been getting good money from that, right?"

"Yeah, but it's like once a month, and the money last time was way more than usual. I still need to be able to help my mom out what with my dad being AWOL and all."

Key crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess you can't work here forever. Call Jonghyun, he was saying something about some coffee shop his sister's brother's cousin owns or who knows what. "

Taemin brightened. "Oh! Really?" 

Key shrugged. "Sure, give him a call."

Taemin ran a bashful hand against the back of his neck. "Ah, actually, I kind of lost my phone. And. . .I don't even know his number."

Key flung his hands in the air, completely done with his silly cousin. "Figures." He chuckled as he sauntered in diva-like fashion back to his desk. 

"Do you know it?" Taemin asked, hopeful.

Key chuckled again as he grabbed his phone off the desk. "Do I know it? I know everybody that's anybody in this town," He replied, dialing the number and handing the phone to Taemin.

A few rings later and the familiar voice of the muscly, platinum-haired MC came over. 

"Yo Keybummieee~ What do I owe the pleasure?"

"JJong! No, its me Taemin. Do you know anywhere hiring?"

"Huh, Taemin? Wait! Work? Here?! Hahaha. . . look, your brother gives me enough as it is for not keeping an eye on you at all times while you're here."

"No, no I can't trade one club for another that would kind of defeat the purpose. Anyways, Um. . . I can't actually make coffee, but Key said something about a shop or something. Maybe I can like wash dishes? Although i'm not really good at that either..." Taemin sighed, feeling defeated.

Jonghyun frowned on the other line. He kind of had a soft spot for his friend's cute younger brother. "Hey, cheer up, I'll make a phone call and see if they need any help." 

Taemin almost dropped the phone. "Really?" He practically squealed. 

Jonghyun laughed. "Really, but no promises, just a phone call. You still have to be interviewed and all that."

"Ok ok, I get it. Oh my gosh, thank you so much!"

And with that, Taemin gave his farewells to a few of the regulars and hugged Key goodbye and helped out a bit until it was well past eleven at night. He practically danced the whole way home, feeling lighter than air and hopeful about the future.

Take that ugly rumors! Not that those would actually stop, but it was better than nothing.

By the time Taemin crept into his house, his mother was already asleep. He quickly showered, making sure to wash his hair twice and got into bed. With a sigh, Taemin stared at the ceiling of his bedroom and then suddenly felt like he had forgotten something. He sat up in bed, frowning. He locked the front door right? He didn't leave the shower water running did he? Wait, did he have homework? Taemin shook his head. No, that wasn't it.

Suddenly, very quietly, Taemin heard the shrill of a cell phone. His cell phone.

Taemin's heart rate dramatically accelerated. As if he had seen a bug, Taemin jumped out of his bed and dove across the floor until he found the ringing phone inside one of the half-eaten bags of chips. "Hello?!" He breathed.

"Taemin-ah, it's me."

Taemin's face fell instantly at the sound of Taesun's voice on the other end of the line. Ah, that'