The first thing Minho noticed upon entering the apartment was the shoes. There were more shoes than he had between his mother, father, and him- even though he’d never cared for shoes that much. Immediately he could tell they were Key’s. Shaking his head, Minho wondered over the strange quirks that the person Jonghyun liked so much possessed. Then again, Taemin could either be emotionally manipulative or blissfully innocent, and he looked two years younger than he actually was. And here Minho was.

Key deposited his shopping bags, muttering to himself about the trouble of making kimchi but not actually seeming that bothered by it. Taemin, meanwhile, grabbed onto Minho and proceeded to give him a tour of the apartment. It was quite small, to Minho’s surprise, but then again, he didn’t know what he had expected from an apartment owned by two teenagers. His apartment seemed large compared to theirs, but Minho knew it wasn’t- going to actual house, the likes of which Jonghyun’s family owned, made Minho realize how cramped his living quarters actually were.

They were in Taemin’s room, which really was tiny. Minho glanced around while Taemin hummed to himself a tune he couldn’t recognize. “Uh, Taemin, shouldn’t we help Key make the kimchi?”

“Oh, I’ll do that after I’ve given you the tour. He probably hasn’t started yet, and you know….” Taemin gestured vaguely. “Our apartment isn’t that big. Can you cook, Minho?”

“Not really.” Minho responded. He could make the basic necessities and follow a recipe, but he had no particular skills domestically, cooking or otherwise. “Taemin?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Taemin had been closing his eyes as he sang to himself under his breath- switching songs, it sounded like one from the musical, but at the question he opened his eyes and stared at Minho in a rather adorably confused state. “Do what?”

Minho tried to find a way to articulate what he was feeling. “I mean…before I joined the play, we didn’t really know each other, but you’ve been really...nice to me after I joined up. Like inviting me over to your house for dinner. I’m not really…I mean, I’m….” An awkward person explaining that they’re awkward to their crush never ends well. It only worsened matters, especially in Minho’s case.

However, Taemin broke into a smile at that, for whatever reason. “Well….I know we didn’t talk much before, but I did know who you were.Like I said, I saw you at soccer games and such. But ….you’re tall.”

Minho blinked. “What?”

“You’re really tall, you know? You look kind of intimidating.”

“Um…”

“But then you joined the play and it turns out that you’re a really nice person! Even though you’re a flirt.” Taemin grinned at Minho, and he couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

 “...what?” Maybe he had been trying to flirt with Taemin, not that he’d ever admit it, and maybe Jonghyun was always telling him that he was always subconsciously flirting with girls and like, half the class but Minho wasn’t doing it on purpose. Mostly. Besides, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

“But I like you, Minho.”

“Taemin?”

The moment Minho said Taemin’s name, the younger turned towards the door. “All right, we should probably be helping Key-umma with dinner! He probably won’t get mad at you, but I know he’ll get annoyed if I don’t pitch it.”

As Taemin headed towards the door, Minho’s mind fully processed the information. But I like you… “Hey, wait!” Minho called. But Taemin only turned his head slightly to flash at Minho a wink before leaving the room.

A wink. Minho was fuming. And blushing furiously. Where does he think he can get off saying stuff like that and the just leaving? Little devil. What did he even mean by that?

Minho had wanted to bring it up with Taemin, but since Key was around, he was rather wary. Key seemed to be very protective of Taemin, truly like a mother, which made Minho hesitant.

But even with what Taemin had said ringing in his ears (if Taemin hadn’t gone and winked at him, Minho might have chalked it up to overreacting to the entire thing) Minho found himself enjoying the dinner immensely. The kimchi was good and he found that Key was actually quite funny. Somewhat of a diva, but funny too.

In fact, Minho was reminded of eating dinner at Jonghyun’s house. Even if his was bigger than Taemin’s and Key’s, it had a warm family atmosphere and beat out eating alone at his house any time. Since Minho had started the play the time after practice had become his least favorite, but for once he was actually enjoying dinner time.

That's why when dinner was over and Minho had helped clean up, he was feeling vaguely disappointed. He glanced out the window, where a crescent moon was suspended in the sky, surrounded by sprinklings of stars. He decided that he should probably take the bus to get home, since he didn't feel like walking alone late at night.

As Minho slipped on his shoes, he noticed Key doing the same while talking to Taemin. "I have to cover another shift tonight, so I'll be a little later than usual. Just don't forget to do your homework. And it's your turn to do laundry..." As Key continued to gently nag Taemin, the younger cast a look at Minho, grinning.

"Well, we should be off, then." Key said, and stepped out the door. Minho glanced back in one more time to look at Taemin here he sat by the window, sipping banana milk while staring slightly out the window.

Then Taemin turned and noticed Minho. He gave him a small smile, similar to the wink, as if to say, "This is between us," Or he could've just been torturing Minho. Quickly he shut the door and headed out alongside Key before they diverged at the staircase.

A/N: So there are only about two chapters left in this but we are thinking of doing a sequel of sorts if anyone is interested. Let us know!