"Onew! Yah! Wake up, I'm talking to you, pabo!"

Lee Jinki grumbled, scrunching his face up as he pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing his forehead; the 'yah' had been punctuated with a particularly hard flick to his face. 

"I'm sorry, Taemin-ah, carry on," the leader apologised, still sleepy. This seemed to appease the maknae, who continued his spiel as though he had never been interrupted.

"... And now that Jongin is back to being a brunette again, he says that it's very troublesome to wash his hair because the dark dye keeps on washing out and Kyungsoo hyung laughs at him, apparently," Taemin babbled, once again pulling Onew from his second attempted nap that day. 

"Hmm," the older member supplied halfheartedly. He hoped that the noncommital noise would trick Taemin into thinking that he was listening.

"I know, right? Kyungsoo doesn't understand because he's never had to go blond for a comeback, but when he finally does..."

Onew drew his fingers through his hair, checking the clock on his phone while he stifled a yawn; six pm - time for his pain medication for his throat. He leaned around the dancer so that he could reach his pain killers that were kept on the table at Taemin's end of the couch. Just when he gripped the pack, he tumbled face first into the younger man's back. Onew drew back quickly, cursing that 'damn Onew condition' under his breath.

Taemin giggled, passing his leader a glass of water. "If you thought I was a suitable pillow, hyung, you could have just asked,"

"I'm sorry, Taeminnie, I'm just tired. It's my first week back in my full schedule and I'd gotten used to actually getting eight hours of sleep every night." Onew explained as he popped two of the pills into his palm and swallowed them, gulping down a mouthful of water as he grimaced at the taste of the medicine.

"I understand, Jinki," Taemin said seriously, gently resting his hand on the singer's shoulder. "But I'm so happy that everything is back to normal now!  We really missed you, hyung," he told Onew sincerely. Jinki smiled back, touched. 

"I missed you guys, too. Speaking of the others," he glanced around the empty room. "Where are Kibum, Jonghyun and Minho? They should have finished getting the food by now. In fact," he continued suspiciously. "Why did it need all three of them to go, anyway? Minho usually manages on his own just fine."

Taemin swallowed, removing his hand quickly. He hated having to lie to s, but this little white lie was for a good cause, right? "Well," he began haltingly. "It was Key's idea, originally, but Minho said he was going to go with him to make sure that he didn't only buy food that he will eat. Yeah!"

"And Jjong went... Why?"

"Um..." The maknae racked his brain in an attempt to find a reason why the vocalist would have tagged along. "Because of his diet! You know, he always has to eat something different to the rest of us because he has to watch his body image. So he went to make sure that they bought something that he could eat!"

Onew grinned suddenly, throwing Taemin off slightly. Had he seen through the fibs that easily?

"He's so fussy! Gah! And the Shawols say that Kibum-ah is the diva of SHINee..."

Taemin tried hard to conceal his overwhelming relief that Onew hadn't noticed anything amiss about his fictitious reasons for the two of them being alone in the dorm, and changed tack at high speed.

"Hyung!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Do you want to play a game?"

Jinki frowned, snuggling back down into the sofa. "Actually, if it's alright with you, I think I'll just take a nap, if you're done filling me in on EXO's exploits. I'm drained."

Taemin panicked as the eldest member closed his eyes for the third time that afternoon. Why were the others taking so long?! And why did it have to be his job to keep Onew awake?!

"Wait, Jinki! What about TV? There's bound to be something fun to watch!"

Onew sighed, rubbing a hand across his tired eyes; they felt as though someone had thrown grit into them. "Please, Minnie. I'm exhausted."

"But-"

"Why can't you just let me rest?" he suddenly asked heatedly. Taemin froze, shock making his eyes widen. Onew barely ever shouted at him, and when he did, it was only because he had done something that was particularly annoying or hurtful. Jinki was a very easygoing person, very friendly and, to be truthful, the dancer thought that he acted more like the maknae of the group more than he did, sometimes. So the thought that he had hurt Onew enough to make him shout made him feel like a terrible person.

"I'm sorry," he apologised quietly, looking down at the floor. Where were the others?!

"No, I'm sorry, Taemin-ah. I shouldn't have shouted like that," the vocalist immediately replied throwing an arm around the maknae's shoulders. "I'm just tired. If you really want to talk, I'll stay up-"

"SURPRISE!"

The two of them jumped about a foot into the air at the calls from behind them, even though Taemin had been expecting it. Onew stood, swaying slightly on one leg as he attempted to glare at his group. 

"You nearly gave me a heart attack! Yah! Wasn't it enough that I was already out of action for the past how many months because of my surgery?!" he questioned weakly. Jonghyun grinned, looking more than a little demented, and shoved the cake that he was holding into his leader's arms. 

"Welcome back, hyung! We had the maknae stay to make sure that you didn't suspect a thing while we got party food!"

"It's your first week back!" Key reminded him unnecessarily, holding up a container of fried chicken. There seemed to be enough to feed at least a dozen people, but they all knew that they would get through it easily. 

"We've missed you, oh great leader!" Minho chipped in sarcastically, brandishing a bag full of drinks and other food around as Key fished into his pocket; he placed the cardboard crown haphazardly onto Onew's hair and they put the food down on the floor, moving around into the middle of the room. Minho was the first to notice the tense atmosphere of the room.

"Hang on, what happened while we were out? Why were you apologising to Taeminnie?" he questioned curiously. Key and Jonghyun glanced up at the words and looked from the leader to the maknae.

"Ah," Onew began, clearing his throat (the others winced; it was a habit by now). "I was tired and Taemin was keeping me awake. I see now that you three obviously put him up to it?"

"Aww, and you yelled at him for it? Poor Taemin!" Key mocked, ruffling Onew and Taemin's hair. "This is why we left him here. We knew that you'd go easy on him,"

"Shut up," Taemin grumbled, taking a chicken leg. "And next time," he added, "I'm going out to get the food! You three can stay here and face the wrath of Lee Jinki!"