“Yah! That’s not fair! You’re cheating somehow!” Kibum exclaimed, throwing the controller and pouting as Taemin beat him for the fifth time in a row.

Taemin just laughed more. “It’s a racing game; how can I cheat?”

“I don’t know yet, but you are.” Key folded his arms stubbornly, yet still agreed to another race. In fact, Taemin had a feeling that Key would keep agreeing until he won.

It was an unlikely duo, but the two boys became close friends very quickly. Minho and Jonghyun were both very jealous at first, and against their friendship, but eventually they calmed down. Jonghyun came around first, reasoning that Key needed a friend and Taemin was too young for him anyway. Minho stopped minding after a long (and way too loud for Key and Jonghyun’s liking) night of Taemin showing Minho just how much he loved him.

Most of the time, Kibum and Taemin just played games on the Xbox (as they were now) Taemin put in Key’s room. Sometimes they just sat and talked, and sometimes they listened to music. Taemin never told Jonghyun much about his time with Key, but that wasn’t because of Jonghyun not asking; it was because Taemin was respecting Key’s privacy. Besides, he wants the two of them to get together on their own.

“Not that I don’t enjoy kicking your -”

“Lee Taemin, watch your language!” Key snapped. Since they had become friends, Key had become a sort of mother figure for the young boy.

“Sorry umma; kicking your at this, it’s getting kind of boring winning all the time. Don’t you want to do something else?”

“Like what?” Key asked with a shrug. “There’s not exactly a wide range of entertainment options in this room.”

Taemin hesitated before saying what had really been on his mind for the past week and a half.

“No disrespect umma, but no one said you had to stay in this room. There’s no lock on the door, front or back, and there’s not a troll outside guarding your door. Believe it or not, Jonghyun hyung isn’t out there, ready to pounce on you, either. I go to school during the day and Minho has a job. Just because you’re confined to this house, doesn’t mean you can’t leave your room. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you just asked, Jonghyun hyung would take you out somewhere.”

Key said nothing more on the subject as he picked up the controller and started a new race.

~ ~ ~

Later on that night, or rather early the next morning as it was just past 1am, the other three members of the house were asleep, but Kibum was wide awake. His mind was going over what Taemin had said to him. Of course, he knew the younger boy was right, but he didn’t want to admit it earlier. Now, as he lay restless in bed, he wishes he had just left the room earlier that day, if not to face his fears, then to just get it over and done with.

“Man up, Kim Kibum; it’s just a house.” The blonde boy psyched himself up. There was no reason for him to stay locked inside this cage he had built in his mind. After all, what Tae had said was true; he was the only one blocking his way to near-freedom.

Pushing his covers aside, Kibum got off of the bed. On shaky legs, he started towards the door. His hand gripped the knob and a shiver crawled up his spine from the cold of the metal. With one last deep breath, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open. His eyes widened at the view.

Jonghyun’s house was larger than any Key had seen. Before him was nearly nothing but open space with a few couches, a coffee table, a jukebox and a staircase in his eye-line. There were two halls heading in opposite directions, and Key could spot at least two more doors.

“Whoa.” Key muttered as he took in the polished white walls and high ceilings. There was artwork of all types everywhere; from the paintings on the walls to the small sculptures above the fireplace to the sheet music that was scattered everywhere.

Kibum picked up one of the half-written songs and looked at it. He couldn’t read sheet music, but the lyrics alone told him that this song was a good one. He looked at the title; ‘Best Place’.

‘Hm, cute.’ He thought, putting the paper back exactly how he found it. He wanted to make sure that he left no trace of ever leaving his room; that would lead to questions from Jonghyun and an I-told-you-so from Tae.

Being careful not to break anything, Kibum let himself get a closer look at the sculptures. Some he liked more than others, but even the odd ones out complimented the others. For instance, the Rubix Cube type shape made out of coloured glass, all the smaller, coloured individual cubes twisting upward and fanning out like a tornado was Key’s favourite of the sculptures, yet it was beside a black, incomprehensible blob and although Kibum didn’t dislike that particular sculpture, it wasn’t one of the more clearly beautiful ones. Sometimes, Kibum thought, it takes something a little odd to make something else’s beauty a little more obvious.

~ ~ ~

Jonghyun sat in his room, head in his hands, as he contemplated his life. How did it get like this? Waking up at one in the morning, every morning, to get his first fix of the day; making sure no one was around because he just feels so ashamed when his friends witness his using. He feels like a failure because he knows they all disa