"Hey, I hope you didn’t mind that earlier, you know it’s all just for the fans."

"Of course," Minho answered indifferently. He ignored Taemin’s playful elbowing to his side as he walked out of the kitchen.

"What’s with him?" Jonghyun asked, cocking his head toward the hallway.

"Nothing, why?" he answered, trying to take the bottle of orange juice from Jonghyun’s hands.

He scoffed, and Taemin watched the elder’s expression as it changed from disbelief to disappointment.

"Really nothing, Taemin? I like to think we know each other better than that.."

Taemin pursed his lips while he thought. “He’s… tired?”

The elder groaned as he went to stand behind the counter. “We’re all tired. Something else is bugging him. You have to notice. He never tells when he’s upset.”

Jonghyun broke the cap’s seal and downed half of the bottle’s contents before addressing him again. “So go find out.”

"Alright," he said, moving towards the next room. "But why don’t you go if you’re the one who’s so intuitive?"

"Because I’m teaching you how to handle Minho. And learning by doing is always the best method." Jonghyun smirked as he considered his word choice.

"Hyung, no."

"What? I didn't mean to!" He snickered to himself and added, in a lower voice, "Not like it wouldn’t help though."

Jonghyun then took his juice and went to the couch where his laptop had been set.

Taemin rolled his eyes, regretting having asked.

He knocked softly twice on the door and then turned the knob to let himself in.

"What’s up, Taemin?"

The greeting was anything but enthusiastic. Minho was at the foot of his bed, slouched over his phone.

Taemin lingered by the door, and waited for him to put it down. When he didn’t, he decided to just get to the point.

"You okay?"

"Tired."

"We’re all tired," he said, using Jonghyun’s words, "but you seem upset."

"Do I?"

"You’re not looking at me, for one."

"Is there a two?" he shot back.

"Yeah, sass."

Minho finally looked up from his phone and tossed it aside. He drew a breath and quickly exhaled. “Fine. I’m.. annoyed.”

"Oh." Taemin went to sit beside him. "Why?"

"What you said." He turned his face and inched away, feeling slightly embarrassed to be admitting it.

Taemin let his mouth hang open before saying anything. “Hyung, those were dumb questions, and I had to answer! We’ve been at this for years. Why did this one bother you, huh?”

"Yeah, but your answer could’ve been, I don’t know, more sensitive?!" Minho glared at Taemin before pushing himself off the bed.

"You mean like you?" he muttered.

"Oh that’s real nice, Taemin, thank you so much!"

"Hey, I-" The memory of Jonghyun’s disappointed face interrupted his next defense. "Fine. I’m sorry …and I’m sorry."

Minho leaned against his dresser and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Really, Minho, I don’t get it. They asked me a simple -typical, might I add- question. Who would I prefer if I were a girl, you or Jonghyun? I picked Jjong, so what? I thought I could be less predictable this time. Are you really going to be like this over that?"

"Wow," Minho said flatly. "You managed to say so much and still miss the point."

"You can’t be serious." Taemin tilted his head back as he gauged the other’s reaction.

Minho was staring hard at the floor, biting the corner of his lip.

"It’s not a big deal, hyung. It’s not like I was saying anything for certain. I’m sure you’d do just fine around a girl."

Minho remained silent, his eyes landing everywhere but on Taemin.

The slight pink tinge of the elder’s cheeks made him smile.

"Again, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ..hurt your feelings, ‘kay?"

Minho nodded, keeping his head low, and cleared his throat. “Okay. I’m sorry too, I guess.”

Taemin laughed to himself as he leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “Good. Want to go eat something now and forget about this?”

"Sure." He went forward to take Taemin’s hand and pulled from the bed. The two were about to leave the room when Taemin stopped abruptly, causing the other to bump his chin on the back of his head.

"Ow, what ar-"

"Before we forget about it though."

Taemin spun on his heel and found himself between Minho and the door. He raised his chin so that his lips were almost touching the other’s face.

"I want to make sure you don’t dwell on it. Maybe you would be awkward around girls…" He whispered the next part as seductively as he could manage. "But you’ve done just fine with guys."

He would’ve his lips for added effect, but a bright shade of red colored Minho’s cheeks, and his round incredulous eyes made him break character. Taemin laughed against the door. He knew it was probably mean, but he couldn’t pass up the chance.

Minho swallowed hard. He couldn’t help but be flustered. On an impulse, he brought Taemin’s head to his lips and he kissed his forehead.

"You brat." He gave Taemin an annoyed look as he hurried out of the room. The smile in his eyes deceived him, however.

He followed Minho out, still laughing.

"Why are you blushing?" he heard Jonghyun ask Minho. "Don’t tell me Taemin literally had to learn by doing!"

Minho was a gaping red mess and Taemin wasn’t laughing anymore.

 

 

 

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A/N: Sorry this wasn't much. I wrote it pretty quickly as I have other stories to keep up with. I know it lacks detail and other fancy writing stuff, but I just really wanted to get this off my chest, so to speak LOL I hope you got a kick out of this. I made a fuss just reading the translation that inspired this jfc ahhahahha

Anyway, thanks for reading! :) <3