Lee Taesun had always hated Choi Minho. With a burning passion.

Life was good before that kid came along, was what he always muttered under his breath whenever the ridiculously tall giant of a boy came over to their house and rang their doorbell like he owned the place.

Alright, well, not exactly like he owned the place. The boy was polite- Taesun would give him that.

But courtesy aside, the boy was a thief; a rotten, dirty old thief who stole little brothers with his damned ‘flaming charisma’. His damned charisma that certain lovesick brothers kept going on and on about even as they watched soccer games together in what was supposed to be time for brotherly bonding and certainly not for boyfriend-gushing.

---

It all started when Taesun walked into Taemin’s room one evening and was witness to his little brother rolling around on his bed, resembling something close to a burrito with the way he was wrapped around his blankets. Taesun was not certain if the tiny squeals he heard were produced by mice hiding between the walls of their home or if they were coming from his burrito-brother.

From the way Taemin looked to be trying to hide his wide smile into his pillows, he could have only guessed that it was the latter.

“Oi,” He began amusedly, leaning against Taemin’s desk (and making a mental note of reminding his little brother to clean up after himself) “What’s gotten my little bro so worked up?”

Taemin jerked upright at his voice, and it amused Taesun even more to know that the younger was so caught up in whatever he was daydreaming about to notice he’d come in. “H-hyung!” He flushed a deep red, having been caught unaware and unguarded. The blankets were still wound around him, but Taesun still saw the tell-tale gleam of a phone clutched up to his little brother’s chest. “H-How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” He said back with a knowing expression, leisurely walking towards Taemin and setting himself down on the edge his bed. With one hand, he motioned for Taemin to hand over his phone. When Taemin shied away from him, he pressed some more with a teasing smile. “Show me. I wanna see.”

Taemin gave in without any more urging, and that was when it became an evening of great discovery for Lee Taesun.

Apparently, Taeminnie liked boys, and he especially liked Choi Minho.

---

It was okay, he supposed, that his younger brother didn’t like girls like how most boys would. It didn’t make Taeminnie any less loveable, in his opinion.

What wasn’t okay was Choi Minho.

Before he knew it, Taemin was receiving presents left at their doorstep and getting whisked off to dates on weekends and spending less and less time with him.

He did not possess the brother complex that his drinking mates constantly accused him of. They always about it, the obnoxious gits, but at least whenever Taesun barked at them with Who the hell are you calling overprotective with matching flicks to their foreheads, they shut up as quickly as they started yapping (and with their tails between their legs, oftentimes).

So no, he most certainly did not have a brother complex. He just hated seeing that Choi boy on their couch with his hands all over Taeminnie, tickling him and grinning all cheeky-like and sometimes Taesun imagined him to even be feeling smug because he was the one Taemin was choosing to hang out with over his dear brother.

He just sometimes ended up pouting (oddly enough, Taemin’s friend, the obnoxious Jonghyun brat, would always be around to make fun of him when he did) when Taemin didn’t cling to his side anymore when they were in the cinemas and the boyfriend just up and decides to come along to be Taeminnie’s knight in ing shining armour, horror movie or not. Taesun had had to pull them away from each other on more than one occasion in the darkness of the cinemas.

---

But then there were also times when Choi Minho wasn’t as infuriating as he usually was.

Like when he saw the boy carrying Taeminnie on his back so that he didn’t have to walk through the puddles of water the morning rain had caused that day as they walked to school. Or when he heard (accidentally, of course) how Minho kept telling his little brother how he was still the greatest dancer he’s ever seen when Taemin didn’t get into the university he’d set his sights on. Or when he saw how happy Taemin seemed to be every time he got home, humming a new song every so often whenever he came over to him to tell his hyung he was back, packed with new stories to tell him about Minho this and Minho that.

---

He still didn’t like Choi Minho, perhaps with less of a burning passion than before. He was a good guy and all that, but for Lee Taesun, he would always be a sneaky, conniving brother-thief. Perhaps he’d find it in his heart to forgive him after a thousand lifetimes or so.

---

“I do.”

“I do.”

But then again, if Taeminnie was happy, then maybe he had nothing to worry about.

No, that wasn’t a ing tear on his face. Some dirt got in his eye, that was all. 

I hope you guys liked it! Comments are always appreciated.