The drive to the SM building was slow. By then, the rain was coming down in torrents, covering the windshield of the car in a sheet of water, even with the windshield wipers on. Pulling up in front of the building, the manager spoke loud enough that the group could hear him over the rain pelting the top of the van.

"Ok, you guys go on in- you're already late. Taemin, you can stay with me, I guess. We'll find a parking spot and we'll meet you boys in there."

EXO obediently filed out of the van, leaving a laughing Taemin as he watched his friends frantically scramble into the building.

But his laughter soon died down when he and the manager couldn't find a parking spot close to the building. The realization that they were going to have to walk in the downpour of rain made Taemin shiver, but he didn't complain. The van was parked a little ways down the street, and Taemin and the manager both climbed out and made a run for the familiar front doors of the SME building.

Despite their running, they were both drenched by the time they went inside. Taemin shivered as he took off his soggy coat and flipped his dripping bangs around to shake off excess water. The manager wasn't much better, with his shirt and hoodie both completely soaked through.

The manager sighed as he sat Taemin down in one of the empty conference rooms. Despite his own discomfort, the manager spoke in a surprisingly soothing tone to his charge. "Alright.." He sighed. "You just stay here kiddo, I'm gonna go find us some towels, and maybe something warm for you to munch on, ok?" Taemin gave a stiff nod, and the manger walked out.

Taemin finally allowed his teeth to chatter with the cold he felt seeping into his bones. He ached all over, and, thanks to his headache, any loud noise sent a shock through his system. His eyes began to water, but he stubbornly bit the inside of his cheek. 

'No. I'm not going to cry about this, it's dumb. Get a grip.'

Taemin heaved a heavy breath in, one-two-three, and out, one-two-three, to hopefully calm his unstable breathing and his frantic heartbeat.

He was beginning to shiver again as the manager came back in, carrying two towels and two cups of steaming something.

"Here," he said kindly, handing the shivering mess in front of him a fluffy towel and one of the cups. "Dry off as best as you can, I know it's not much." Seeing Taemin sniffing the drink to find out what it was (unsuccessfully, due to his stuffed sinuses) he chuckled and patted Taemin's dripping head. "It's coffee, kid. Here's some creamer and sugar- do with it what you will." He pulled the offered condiments out of his pocket and placed a handful of packets on the table in front of them.

"Thank you," Taemin mumbled sincerely. The manager gave him a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder, watching as Taemin took his towel and simply placed it over his shoulders to stop his hair from dripping onto his shirt (he was too tired to do much else).

Sitting across from each other, Taemin and the manager sat in comfortable silence, sipping their drinks and soaking up the warmth they offered until there was a knock on the door. Another manager poked his head in and briefly glanced at Taemin before addressing the other man in the room.

"Hey, would you come into the other room with me? We've got that little meeting with EXO, and you are their manager..." 

"So I should probably be present." The manager sighed. "Yeah, ok, I'll be there in a second."

The door closed with a soft click, and the manger stood to walk over and lean on the table in front of Taemin while he crossed his arms casually. He looked at the younger male apologetically. "I'm sorry I have to leave you alone, kiddo." He patted Taemin's head and ran his fingers through the hair to release the droplets of water still clinging to the ends. "You can just stay here, ok? I'll be back soon, and after the boys practice a little bit we'll go on home, alright?" 

Home. The word sounded so good to Taemin's ears. It wasn't really home, though. SHINee would have needed to be there for that. But even without his four older hyungs by his side, home with EXO wasn't bad at all. Being at home with them meant a million different things; warm milk tea, tasty food, comforting hugs, sitting in front of the TV under a fuzzy blanket, soft puppies his face, cuddles when the building's heater finally kicks on. Taemin's could feel his eyes get glassy just from the thought- going home was all he really wanted right now.

Taemin ducked his head and nodded, not trusting his voice. The manager either didn't see the emotion written all over Taemin's flushed face or he chose not to say anything; either way, he carefully walked out the door and left Taemin to his thoughts.

Taemin hadn't realized it until he was alone with nothing to do, but he quickly learned that he had left his phone in the car when he had rushed out to get into the building. He contemplated putting his head down and taking a nap, but he knew he needed to keep his cell phone on him at all times- it was something SM was very clear about. In case of a sudden radio show, or a surprise meeting, or even if his hyungs just needed to call him, the SM mangers needed to be able to reach him.

Taemin groaned, realizing he was going to have to go out into the rain and get in the van. He carefully stood up and put his wet jacket back on his shoulders, shivering at the cold water that'd settled into the cloth. 

He walked out of the empty room and carefully made his way to the room where EXO and several managers were talking, and knocked on the door before entering. 

The manager that had given Taemin the coffee looked surprised to see Taemin walking around, while the twelve boys grinned, watching Taemin squirm under the gaze of so many people. Taemin didn't miss the frown and the creasing of Jongin's brow when he noticed his friend's wet clothes.

Looking at the manager, Taemin said, "Can I use your keys to get into the van? I think I left my phone when we came in."

The manager dug into his pocket and fished out the keys and threw them to Taemin who caught them easily. "You sure you wanna go back out there? It's till coming down pretty hard."

Taemin nodded his head. "I'll be fine." EXO looked like they wanted to protest, so Taemin slid out the door before anyone could say anything.

He walked to into the main lobby, where the woman at the front desk smiled at him kindly and asked, "Do you need anything, honey?"

Taemin couldn't help the small smile that came over his face as he blushed at the nickname. "No, ma'am. I'm just going out to my manager's van to get my phone- can you let me back in when I come back?"

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "I'll be right here waiting for you."

Taemin bowed his head in thanks and walked out into the rain. The manager hadn't been lying; it hadn't let up at all- it was still coming down in torrents. And Taemin was beginning to see hail mixed in with the water on the ground, so he figured that wasn't a good sign. 

He quickly walked down the street and got into the van. He closed the door behind himself and sat in one of the seats. He was already soaked to the bone- jacket, shirt, and the left side of his pants were all wet because of the sideways rainfall. He shook his head in frustration and quickly grabbed his forgotten phone (checking for any missed calls or messages, just to be safe) and walked back to the building.

He pressed the button at the front doors to buzz the front desk, where the woman from before recognized him from outside the glass doors and pressed the button to let him in. He scrubbed his feet across the foot-mat just beyond the doors so that he wouldn't slip while he walked around, while the woman gave him concerned looks. Taemin saw her reach into one of the many drawers around her, before she held out a towel to him. "Here you go, kid."

Taemin was quick to refuse, not wanting to trouble her. "Oh, no, it's fine-"

"Take it, sweetie. Seriously. You're dripping wet, and you look sick. Are you feeling okay, baby?"

The woman strongly reminded him of his own mother (or Key, when he was in the mothering mood), and Taemin found he couldn't say no to her. He walked over to the desk and took the towel from the woman, smiling sheepishly and mumbling a quiet "thank you, and I'm feeling fine" under his breath.

The woman gave him a worried look, pursing her lips and furrowing her brow, but she didn't say anything more. Taemin took it as his cue to leave and quickly made his way back to the conference room where he had previously been left alone. Sitting down in his soaked clothing, Taemin miserably opened his phone to check for any messages.

There was nothing- if he was excluding the continuous stream of worried texts he got from the SHINee members. He looked at the most recent messages and couldn't bite back the smile, or fight the laughter bubbling up his throat, despite his current situation.

Taebaby, how are you feeling? Make sure you're resting, kid. No running around and getting worse >:(  -Key

Taemin, make sure you eat something! Get better soon, the radio shows aren't the same without you, dude.  -Minho

When are you going to call us?? Your favorite hyung misses you, maknae :(  -Jonghyun

Taetae, call us soon! We miss you lots '^'  -Onew

Taemin smiled and felt his eyes watering at the tender concern and care SHINee constantly showed him. He went to make a call to his hyungs, when the door to the conference room opened to reveal his best friend.

"We managed to haggle our way out of practice, Tae!" He grinned. "We're going home, alright?"

Taemin nodded his head at his friend, and watched as an unexpected, but familiar, flash of protectiveness swept across Jongin's face.

In three quick strides, Jongin had kneeled in front of Taemin's chair and had cupped his friend's face in his hands. His tanned face was filled with worry as he breathed, "Dude, what happened? You look like you're going to cry," in one panicky breath.

Taemin reached up to grab Jongin's wrist, but didn't move to pull his friends hand away from his face. Jongin's body heat actually felt quite nice on his chilled face. "No, I'm okay. I was just looking at some messages on my phone from SHINee, is all."

Realization dawned on Jongin and he pulled Taemin into a comforting hug. Taemin would never admit it to his friend, but he loved Jongin's hugs; they were always so warm, and he could feel all the care Jongin put into it.

Pulling away and blinking frantically to dry his eyes (Jongin's embrace had done little to stanch the flow of his wild emotions) he stuffed his phone in his pocket and left the room to get to the car. On his way outside, he saw Kris and Xiumin talking with the lady at the front desk, who was still giving Taemin worried glances. When they saw the woman's expression change so suddenly, they turned around and saw Taemin. Quickly thanking the woman and saying goodbye, both males walked over to join their "twins" in their venture to the car.

Naturally, as Taemin was beginning to think some higher power wanted to keep him sick, the rain had stayed as constant as it had been the past few days. The only difference was that it was now thundering every few seconds, and Taemin was sure he would be distracted by lighting tonight when he was meant to be sleeping.

The drive back to the dorm was quiet, only punctuated by the mumbled talk of the more awake members. Everyone else had their eyes closed, or their earbuds in. Taemin had his forehead resting against the cool glass of the window in the backseat, while Tao and Sehun gave him worried looks from theirplaces to the right of him.

As soon as they arrived in the dorm, Kris put a hand on Taemin's shoulder and steered his tiny friend to Kai and D.O.'s bedroom.

"Take a shower and get into some dry clothes, bud. Take a nap if you can- you look exhaused." He said with a frown. Taemin simply nodded his head sleepily and Kris ruffled his hair before walking away.

Taemin did as he was told, finding it hard to not fall asleep under the spray of warm water in the shower, and changed into a loose t-shirt and his sweat pants. Pulling the shades closed (not that it mattered with how gloomy the day was), Taemin plopped onto the bed. A nap sounded perfect- he needed to give Kris a round of applause.

As he was falling asleep, he heard the worried voices of several EXO members outside of his door. They were trying to be quiet, but Taemin could just barely make out what was being said. The voices all mingled together, making Taemin's head swim.

"Did you see him? Hyung... He looks bad."

"Yeah, he looks awful."

"Wow, that's sweet of you."

"Shut up, I'm serious- I'm worried he might get worse because of the rain."

Muttered curses reached Taemin's ears, but he drifted off to sleep before anything more could be heard.

Car horns blaring. A flash of headlights. Metal crunching. The pungent smell of iron. Warm liquid coating his hands.

Taemin looked around himself and he wanted to scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. All four of his hyungs laid unmoving in their seats, the car crushed around them and the windows blown inwards.

The scene shifted suddenly, and Taemin still couldn't move or make an audible sound. His hyungs were moving now, they were awake, but they were stuck in their seats, trapped between their seatbelts and the metal of the car that was encompassing them. Taemin could hear sound, screams and yells and pained groans, but the sound came at him like it was through a tunnel. It was echoey and surreal.

Blood coated Taemin's own hands, but he had no idea how it had gotten there. He knew it wasn't his own blood, though. There was the renewed sound of another car horn blasting, while headlights came closer to the car once more. The echo-like quality of his hyungs fear filled shouts filtered into his mind again, before the headlights came crashing into the van.

Taemin's eyes snapped open with another gunshot lighting shaking the dorm. He was trembling all over- his hands were shaking violently, and he could feel tears on his face. Putting a hand over his mouth to muffle any of his cries, he allowed himself to sob as the fear came crashing into him like the car from his nightmare.

SHINee had been in a car wreck- he was so sure. He'd never experienced a nightmare like this, he wanted someone to be here with him but he was too frightened to get out of the bed on his own.

Feeling as helpless as a child, Taemin allowed fat, frustrated tears to pour down his cheeks.

But for once, Heaven must have heard his silent prayers for someone to come to him, because his shielding sanctuary came in the form of a thin frame poking it's head into his doorway. Taemin heard a quiet gasp, and the figure all but sprinted to his side to pull him into a hug.

Taemin pressed his face into the crook of the figures neck, openly sobbing, little hiccups escaping him as he quivered from head to toe.

"Taebaby, what happened?" 

Taemin immediately recognized Lay's gentle voice. Just like his first day in the dorm, Lay seemed to sense when something was wrong.

Taemin only shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it. His hyungs- he needed to know they were okay. He needed-

"Hey, are you okay?!"

Lay had left the door open in his haste to get to Taemin, and Jongin must have heard the small wails escaping his best friends throat from the other room. Jongin always seemed to have acute hearing when it came to such a sound. Taemin wasn't a crybaby, by any means. So when he cried, something was very very wrong, and Jongin knew it.

He wasted no time in crawling over the bed to be beside Taemin while Taemin sat, still tucked under the blankets, pulled into Lay's chest while he shook with the force of his panicked tears.

Slowly the room began to fill with worried boys who had heard the commotion. It was only 1:30 in the afternoon, but most of the group had been napping their way through the day. They were all in sweats and pajamas, pilling into the small room that held their sick friend.

While this happened, Lay had been able to get a basic understanding of what had happened. Through Taemin's blubbering, he had understood that his dongsaeng had had a nightmare. Taemin apparently believed whole-heartedly that SHINee had been hurt somehow- he still wasn't clear on the how, but Taemin was terrified. Lay could feel Taemin's heart thumping against his own chest, and he worried the boy would throw himself into an anxiety attack.

Lay pulled Taemin away carefully, and cupped the boy's puffy, tear stained face. "Taebaby, you have to calm down." Lay could feel Taemin's fever raging under his steady hands and he cursed to high heaven.

Taemin could only shake his head again- he knew he should, but he couldn't. His heart was racing and he felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest. More tears slipped down his face and the EXO boys became slightly more frantic. The room buzzed with barely controlled panic; no one knew what to do.

Jongin pulled his friend back near the headboard where he was sitting. Taemin sat comfortably in his arms, with his left side pressed into Jongin's body. Jongin leaned his head down to be near Taemin's ear. "Taetae.. You're alright, you're okay... Hush, shh.." Jongin's vision blurred with his own tears- he didn't know how to help his friend. He barely registered Lay quickly explaining to EXO that Taemin needed to talk to SHINee.

Suho handed Lay the phone without hesitation, even without a full understanding of the situation, as Lay quickly dialed the first SHINee member to pop up on the contacts list- which happened to be Key. Key answered with a happy "Hello!", but as Lay explained the situation at hand Key felt his throat tighten.

"I don't know Key, his fever's really high and he had a nightmare about you guys and he's about this close to throwing himself into a panic and I just need you to talk to him and calm him down, okay?"

"Okay, give the phone to Taebaby." Key sounded calm, but while Lay passed the phone to Taemin he could hear Key's frantic yell of, "Jonghyun, Minho! Onew! Come here!"

Taemin pressed the phone to his ear and waited for someone to say something, because there was no way he could talk. He had tried to say something to Jongin mere seconds before, and all that had escaped him was a stiff cry that had Jongin pulling him in tighter.

"Taebaby?"

Hearing Key's voice sent relief washing through his fever-jumbled brain. Taemin sniffled in response and hiccuped another sob. EXO stood around in a protective huddle, wringing worried hands and hoping beyond hope that this calmed their friend.

Taemin listened carefully to Key's comforting voice. "Hey buddy, I heard you're not doing so good. You're supposed to be getting better, maknae." His tone was chiding, but his voice held nothing but gentle love for Taemin.

Taemin cleared his throat so that he could speak. "Hyung," his voice sounded pathetic, even in his own ears. "A-Are you guys okay? I-I had t-this dream..."

"I know, bud. But we're fine- it's just that fever messing with you, alright? Don't worry about us; I know you're probably pretty freaked right now, but EXO is going to take care of you. And we're going to be home in a few more days, alright?"

Taemin made a small sound of affirmation, and Jongin could already feel his friends breathing slowing down from the panicked breaths he was taking in a minute before.

"Can I-" Taemin was interrupted by an involuntary hiccup of air. "Can I talk to the others?" Taemin's tried again. His voice was timid and still very tear-filled, but he could at least talk.

Taemin's answer came in the form of Minho's strong voice coming through the speaker of the cell phone, as protective and comforting as ever. "Taetae! Oh my god, hey buddy, are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm okay, hyung.." Jongin pet his friends hair away from his face with a small smile. Taemin returned the smile while he continued to listen to his hyungs voice- he hadn't realized how much he'd missed hearing it. "I uhm, I just had this dream.. You and the others were in a car wreck or something.." Now that Taemin was beginning to wake up little by little, the dream was drifting into the back of his mind as the voices of his so called "brothers" trickled into his ears.

"You know it was just a dream, right? We're fine, kid..." Minho trailed off and sighed audibly. "Jeez, you scared me so bad.. It's our job to worry about you. Not the other way around, you know?"

Taemin gave a watery laugh and wiped the remaining tears from his face as he snuggled closer to Jongin's warmth. The rest of EXO was slowly beginning to calm down, as they all somehow found a spot on the bed with Jongin and Taemin. The relief in the room was palpable.

Taemin could hear a scuffle on the other end of the line, along with a muffled curse from Minho, before Jonghyun's voice filled the phone.

Jonghyun, for his part, had always reminded Taemin of a puppy. His hyung was easily excitable, but he was always ready to jump to the defense of his friends. Sometimes it was a mix of both- like right now. His hyungs voice was wild with uncontrolled distress.

"Taemin?!"

"I'm here, hyung." Taemin's eyelids were beginning to droop again. He cuddled closer into Jongin's warm arms, he could feel himself beginning to shiver again.

"Are you okay?! What the hell happened?"

The curse, no matter how small it was, made Taemin flinch slightly. He knew his hyung was only speaking out of worry, and it was coming out as anger (Jonghyun and Jongin had that in common, he noted bitterly).

"I-I'm okay hyung. It was just a bad dream." Taemin felt his pale face flush slightly. "I just wanted to hear your voices."

Jonghyun sighed heavily on the other end of the line. "God, Taemin." Taemin could hear Onew and Key whispering something to Jonghyun before Jonghyun's voice returned. "I'm not mad, Taebaby. I'm not. You just scared me, is all."

"I'm sorry.."

"You don't need to be." Another sigh, before his hyungs voice returned to a happier, more relaxed tone that Taemin was more accustomed to. "How are you feeling, kid?"

"Tired, if I'm being honest... But I'm okay. EXO are taking good care of me, I swear." The twelve boys in the room beamed at Taemin happily.

"I knew they would." Taemin could hear the smile in Jonghyun's voice. "Alright, talk to our fearless leader before you pass out." Taemin hummed in acknowledgement before Onew's gentle voice came through the line.

Wasting no time, "Are you okay?"

Taemin sighed. "I've been through this with the others, hyung. I'm okay~"

Onew chuckled. "I figured you were, I just wanted to hear it for myself. If you had said you weren't okay Key would already have us on a flight back to Korea, no doubt." This was followed by the sound of skin hitting skin, and Onew letting out a muffled, "Ow, I was kidding Kibum, jeeze.."

"Can I talk to Taebaby again?"

"No Jonghyun, get away- hey! Minho, give it back!"

Taemin closed his eyes and let his head rest on his best friends shoulder, listening to his hyungs bicker through the phone. Suho noticed Taemin's flushed face and droopy eyelids, and carefully extracted the phone from the boys weak grasp. "Hey guys, Taem- guys?"

Suho gave Taemin a look that had Taemin breaking into a fit of giggles. "Taetae, are their insults usually so... Creative?"

Taemin nodded his head and tried to tone his giggles down. His lungs were starting to hurt, and he let out a congested sounding cough that had the rest of the boys groaning while Suho was trying to tell SHINee that Taemin needed to go to sleep.

"Nooo!"

"Taemin, why?!"

"You , dude."

Taemin's eyes widened slightly. "What? What did I do?"

Jongin tapped Taemin's chest and explained with worried eyes, "Your chest is congested, Tae. First of all- you're supposed to be getting better! Stop getting sicker, brat."

Taemin leveled his friend with a poker face. "I'm older than you."

"Besides the point. Anyway, congestion in your chest can lead to pneumonia, dude."

"So," Luhan continued. "Now you need medicine for a fever? Chest congestion? Stuffy nose? Aaand a sore throat?" He trailed off with a meaningful look as he counted them off on his fingers.

Sehun cut in with a laugh, slinging an arm around Tao. "You're going to be poppin' some pills, hyung."

Taemin grumbled and curled into a tighter ball so that he was continually swallowed up by Jongin's larger body. Jongin carefully placed his chin on top of Taemin's head.

And, quiet enough for only Taemin to hear him, mumbled, "Come on, lets get up and get you some medicine, okay? Your fevers pretty high, I can feel it through my shirt."

Jongin knew he could just pick Taemin up and carry him into the living room- he was strong enough and Taemin was light enough- but Taemin still had his pride. He wouldn't take very well to being carried around while he was conscious. 

Struggling to stand, Taemin carefully untangled himself from his friends warm hold and the blankets still pulled around him lithe figure. EXO watched with careful eyes as their sick charge stood and wobbled dangerously. Kris and Xiumin moved first, moving to stand on either of Taemin's sides and guiding him out of the crowded room as the rest of the group trailed behind.

Rushing ahead of the rest, Chanyeol plopped down on his usual spot on the couch and waited patiently for Taemin to come over. Not one to disappoint, once Kris and Xiumin dropped Taemin onto the couch, Taemin crawled his way over to Chanyeol and put a pillow on his friends lap, curling up once more. Chanyeol ran his hands through his sick dongsaeng's hair- very soft, he noted- and listened to the older members rifle through the kitchen looking for medicine and food.

Fifteen minutes later, a bowl of steaming soup and a glass of ice water were placed on the coffee table in front of Taemin. Chen sat on the sliver of couch by Taemin's hip and gently coaxed the kid into sitting up to eat so he could take the medicine. "It's not good to take medicine on an empty stomach," he'd said.

Taemin sat eating his soup, and watched the boys squabble over what movie to watch- "No way! We've seen that a hundered times!" "Yeah, and we're gonna watch it again, because its a fricking good movie.". He looked at Chanyeol sitting in his place, Taemin's pillow still sitting in the giants lap, and glanced down the couch to where Chen and Baekhyun were sitting. It never ceased to amaze him how the beagle line became so tame when they were concerned. ("Tame" being a loose term- they hung around Taemin like mother hens, but he noted that they still took part in the movie-debate from where they sat.)

Taking the medicine that was offered to him and finishing the food, Taemin drank half of his cup of water. The group had finally decided on watching The Hobbit, and with the black-out curtains pulled tight to block out the rainy day, the living room looked like a mini movie theater.

Chanyeol looked down at Taemin, who had returned to his spot upon finishing the food, and watched the kids eyes droop closed, and open again, valiantly trying to stay awake. "Go to sleep, Tae," he whispered, and ran his fingers through Taemin's fluffy hair in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

Taemin soon lost the battle with sleep, and Chanyeol prayed that this sleep would go undisturbed, so that the poor boy could start healing up.

Aha.... Hi guys. ♥ ♥ ♥

So I give you angels full permission to hate me. ^^;

Soooo I'm officially on summer break! No homework and a decent amount of sleep means I get to update! (─‿‿─)

And just so you gorgeous lil babies know, I see every single one of your comments. Wallposts, messages, comments, everything! I'm just too much of a baby to reply, because I'm kinda ashamed of myself that you guys are commenting and subscribing and I never update (╯•﹏•╰)​

And just to answer the question I'm always getting (because I'm a y author), I will not drop the story. I'll finish it one way or another, I swear! (๑ ง`•ω•´)ง

Which begs the question, do you guys want me to finish the story NOW? Like, wrap it up in a chapter or two more, or do you want me to keep doing these crazy "I-swear-I'll-update-I-just-dont-know-when" things? I'm fine either way- it's totally up to you guys! :)

I'm going to tally it up based on the comments, so tell me what you think guys!!

♥ ♥_ I LOVE YOU ALL _♥ ♥