AN: I felt very…lost when I wrote this.  

TWO WEEKS LATER:

Taemin was amazed that he hadn’t snapped yet. In fact, they were all surprised the youngest hadn’t snapped yet. The maknae lay in his bed one evening, wondering if it had been the best thing in the world for him to come home.

The last week had been full of awkwardness and tension. Jinki and Taemin didn’t talk to one another unless they were forced to. Taemin avoided Minho like the plague as well, preferring to spend most of the time they were all at home in his bedroom.

In fact, he felt like he'd only made things worse around the dorm in the past week. No one had really fought when he was there, but the maknae could tell there was an explosion waiting to happen. Both Jonghyun and Kibum felt it right to argue with Jinki and Minho when he was out of earshot about the situations at hand and while Taemin was grateful, he could tell it was also taking a toll on them and their own relationship.

The maknae shut his eyes. It was one of those times he wished he could disappear. Any time he had to be within the presence of Jinki and Minho, one of them either snapped at him, which caused Kibum or Jonghyun to get irritated.

His intention was not to cause problems coming home, but now that he was, he was at a loss. What did he do? What could he do? Jinki would snap at him any time he tried talking to Daehyun, and while it would normally piss him off, he didn’t react. He didn’t know how to react. It’s almost as if Jinki didn’t want him to move on even though he was the one to break it off.

His presence was neither a disturbance nor annoyance to the maknae, but rather it made Taemin long for the past. It made him wish he had been open like Jinki had wanted him to be. It was just…too awkward now. Did they start over as friends? Did he simply never look at him as anything but his hyung again? He was lost, and it made his stomach churn and his heart ache.

The maknae looked up when he heard a small knock.

“Tae? Can I come in?”

The dancer groaned, “Sure.”

Minho opened the door, shutting it softly behind him. Taemin refused to look at him, and despite wanting to feel jealousy, he shoved it away. Minho sat on the bed next to him.

 “Are you okay? You’ve been avoiding me.”

Did he really not know why? Taemin sat up, adjusting himself so that he stared at Minho.

“Hyung, are you just saying that as an opening, or do you honestly do not understand why I don’t want to be around you?”

Minho chuckled, “I want you to act normal around me, Taemin. I miss you.”

Taemin groaned and fell back on his pillow. “You’re making this extremely difficult, Minho-hyung.” He sighed, “Explain to me in what dimension I would be absolutely comfortable around you at the moment.”

“It’s not like I hurt—”

“But you did.” Taemin sat back up. “While I refuse to stand in the middle of you and Jinki, I refuse to play the broken ex. You did take Jinki away from me, and you did it by not caring about my feelings whatsoever. Of course I’m going to want to avoid you.”

Minho frowned, “I love Jinki, Taemin, I have for a while now.”

That killed every shred of happiness in him. Like he needed to hear that right now.

“And I’m not saying I want him back. By all means, take him and love him. You deserve to be together,” Taemin said snippily. He already knew this; otherwise HE would be the one with Jinki.

Minho glared at him, “I don’t like your tone, Taemin.”

“WELL, I DON’T LIKE YOU!” Taemin yelled.

He heard it then, the frantic footsteps making their way to his bedroom. He groaned and stood up, glaring at Minho.

 “Do not come preach to me about acting normal. I have every right to be pissed at you. Instead, I’m trying to keep the ing peace while you sweep our leader right off his feet.”

He went to his dresser and grabbed the two packages from its contents, shoving them into Minho’s hands.

“I’M JUST FINE, THANK YOU. JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE.”

He stormed into his bathroom then, slamming the door and locking it.

His bedroom door opened then, and the three eldest of SHINee stormed in.

“What the hell is going on?!”  Jonghyun yelled.

Taemin screamed from the bathroom. “EVERYONE OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!”

Jonghyun went to the door, “Taemin, open the door.”

“MAKE THEM LEAVE!” Taemin screamed in return.

Jonghyun looked at the couple, “Go. We’ll take care of this.”

Minho sighed and stood, handing one of the packages to Jinki.

“It’s addressed to you.”

Kibum shoved them out then, waiting until they had disappeared into Minho’s room to return to the maknae’s shutting the door quietly.

Jonghyun knocked on the door, “They’re gone, Tae. It’s just me and Kibum.”

They heard Taemin sniffle before he opened the door. Tears poured from the boy’s eyes, as he stood there with a glare on his face. Kibum rushed forward and hugged him, petting the boy’s hair when he wrapped his arms around him in return.

“Tae-baby…"

“I-it’s not fair…I-I try to be ou-out of the way, I-I try moving on and h-he won’t let me! T-they won’t let me!”

He clutched Kibum’s shirt tightly, his knuckles going white. Jonghyun watched Kibum fall to his knees, taking the maknae with him so he could hug him tighter. The main singer trailed over to them, sitting down as well and rubbing the boy’s back.

“Let it out, Tae. Don’t hold it in, okay?”

“W-why can’t I be happy? W-why does Minho have to rub it in my face that he has Jinki now? Why can’t he just let me be?”

“Aish, I knew that Frog was up to no good. What did he tell you?”

“T-that I should act normal around him…” Taemin said.

He wouldn’t though. He had every right to be pissed and angry and want to avoid the elder. Minho would do the same if he were in his position. Kibum rocked him back and forth.

 “You can be happy, Taemin. Don’t listen to him right now.”

Jonghyun nodded, “Doesn’t your new friend make you happy?”

“I’ve barely gotten to talk to him…but yes.”

Taemin wiped his eyes and leaned away from Kibum. He wanted to be angry…so angry. He was sick of them taking everything out on him. He looked up at his two hyungs, irritation in his eyes.

Kibum smirked, “Be angry or be happy. Be whatever you want to be, but do not let them get you down.”

Jonghyun nodded, “Don’t even worry about them. Let us handle them. Don’t worry about making Jinki angry if you text this new friend and don’t worry about yelling at Minho.”

“D-do you both care if I go meet him?”

Kibum rubbed his back, “Taemin, do what you want to do. You’re not going to disappoint us.”

Jonghyun and Kibum helped him stand and wiped his tears. Taemin hugged them quickly and then dashed out of his room, taking his phone and coat with him. The couple had just emerged when the front door slammed shut and they heard footsteps rushing away. Jinki and Minho stood in the kitchen, trying to calm the other down when Kibum stomped his way in.

“What the hell was that supposed to accomplish, Minho?”

“I want him to act normal around me. Is that too much to ask?”

Jonghyun and Kibum rolled their eyes. The singer wrapped his arms around the diva.

 “Let me see if I can translate Taemin’s thoughts to you. Imagine if I were to somehow sweep Jinki-hyung off his feet and persuade him to dump you for me.” He looked at Jinki, “No offense, Hyung.”

“None taken,” the leader said quietly.

Jonghyun continued, “How would that make you feel?”

Minho snarled, “I’d want to punch you.”

“Wonderful. That’s exactly how Taemin feels," Jonghyun said, irritated that he had to explain it to the rapper like this.

Instead, the rapper sighed, “He needs to get over it. There was nothing left for them, and he wasn’t making Hyung happy.”

Kibum tapped his foot. “And he would get over it if you didn’t throw it in his face how you’re with him now or say…stop him from talking to this new fan of his.”

“No!” Jinki yelled.

He wouldn’t allow it. Taemin shouldn’t date outside the band and he would stick with that. Kibum glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. Instead, it was Jonghyun who spoke up.

 “You don’t have a say, Jinki-hyung. He’s old enough to date who he wants to date.”

“It shouldn’t be a fan though!”

“Why? Because a fan can give him more than he would find with another idol?” Jonghyun shot back, clearly irritated with the leader.

He knew Jinki was confused and hurt that Taemin was trying to move on, but Jinki had someone else now and he shouldn’t be worrying about the maknae.

“It’s not your place to say anymore, Hyung. You aren’t dating him, nor will you stop him from dating this boy if he wants to.”

WITH TAEMIN:

He nervously knocked on the door to Daehyun’s home, smiling when Minah opened the door.

“Taemin-oppa!”

“Minah! You should-”

Taemin looked up and smiled when he saw Daehyun. The boy ran towards him, embracing him tightly.

 “Hyung! I missed you!”

“Yahh, I missed you, too.” Taemin ruffled the boy’s hair. “Where’s your grandparents?”

“They had to work late so I was watching Minah…did you want to come in? Or can you not stay?”

Taemin ignored the vibrating in his pocket and smiled, “I can stay for as long as you want me.” 

AN: More drama comingggggg.