Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                The sound of the ticking clock echoed through the living room’s hollowed walls; making the room feel so empty. Everything was so silent, it made Taemin feel so uneasy. The dorm was never this quiet, especially since five boys lived within its walls.

               

                He glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed, it was already 5 minutes ‘til 1 in the morning and the SHINee boys were still incomplete. Taemin understood that all four of his hyungs had their own schedules to attend to: Onew-hyung had his practices for his musical, Jonghyun-hyung had his rehearsals for SM The Ballad, Key-umma had multiple appearances on different variety shows and of course, Minho-hyung had his Dream Team and Oh My School shootings but still all of them had made it a point to come home by midnight.

 

                So when Minho wasn’t home by midnight, Taemin made it his personal mission to stay up and wait for his hyung.

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                Taemin’s eyes began to close, he’d been waiting for an hour and 30 minutes now. “Just where is Minho-hyung?” he thought and looked longingly at the door. A few seconds later, he heard soft footsteps approaching from the bedroom. He looked back and saw his Key-umma clad in pink pajamas.

 

                “Taeminnie are you still up?” Key asked while rubbing his sleepy eyes.

                “Minho-hyung isn’t home yet.” Taemin replied. “He’s an hour and 30 minutes late now. Was his recording extended, umma?”

                Key sat next to Taemin on the couch and replied “Manager-hyung didn’t tell me anything but I’m sure Minho is on his way here now. Maybe they had a hard time shooting in this weather, I mean it is really cold out now.”

                Taemin smiled at Key’s words, no matter what his umma always tried to remain optimistic. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, umma.”

                “I’m always right, baby.” Key smirked. “Now, come here and lay on umma’s lap. You should at least be comfortable while waiting for that frog to come home.”

                “Of course you are, Umma.” Taemin laughed as he lied down on Key’s lap.

 

                Soon enough Taemin fell asleep to the rhythmic sounds of the ticking clock and his umma’s hands smoothing out his hair.

                “Minho-hyung, where are you?”

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                By the time Taemin woke up, he could smell bacon frying and hear Key cooking in the kitchen. Taemin stood up from the couch and rubbed his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen.

                “Goodmorning, umma.” He greeted sleepily.

                Key turned around and smiled at his adorable son. Sleepy Taeminnie is exactly what a person needs to brighten up their days. “Annyeong, baby. Have a seat, breakfast is almost ready.”

 

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                Five minutes later the aroma of fried bacon, fried rice and scrambled eggs filled the whole dorm and effectively woke up Taemin who dozed off on the dining table.

               

                “Umma, that smells so good.” Taemin said smiling. “Do you want me to go and wake the others up?”

 

                Then as if on queue all the other members walked out off their bedroom and into the kitchen. One by one they sat on their respective places at the dining table, all of them still sleepy.

 

                “Annyeong, Kibum-ah, Taeminnie.” Onew greeted his two dongsaengs with a kiss on the cheek for Kibum and a pat on the head for Taemin.

 

                Jonghyun sat down on Taemin’s right side, still groggy and unresponsive. Taemin smiled at his hyung’s antics, no matter how many hours of sleep Jonghyun could clock in, he would still wake up the same way and it amused Taemin to no end. A soft kiss on his head alerted Taemin out of his thoughts, he looked up and saw his favourite hyung: Minho. Taemin wanted nothing more than to smile up at Minho and give him his goodmorning hug but the thoughts from last night came rushing in and made his heart hurt so he chose to stay silent instead.

 

                The five shining boys ate their breakfast as they would normally do, Jonghyun stuffing his face with food, Key reprimanding his bestfriend to leave food for the others, Taeminnie trying to calm his umma down, Onew trying to save Jonghyun from Key’s wrath and Minho just watching from the sidelines like he always does.

 

                After breakfast, Taemin offered to wash the dishes for his umma because he was a good child like that and thought that his umma deserved a break. So, here he was lathering up plates and bowls with soap whilst humming one of their songs. Honestly, Taemin loved the little moments of silence stardom often took away from them. The silence allowed him to think about everything; his life, the family he misses, the friends he left behind, the dream that came true, the goals still left unfulfilled and the new family he has now. Each and every blessing was dutifully thanked for in the scarce moments like these.

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                “So, are you going to tell me exactly what I did wrong before I grovel at your feet or should I just go ahead and apologize already?” Taemin was so surprised he could’ve literally dropped the plate he was currently washing.

                He turned around and the happy tune he was singing left his lips. “Ah, Minho-hyung, its you.”

                “Well, who else were you expecting?” the tall boy replied “I’m the only one who has ever grovelled at your feet for forgiveness.”

                Taemin returned to his washing albeit the change in his mood. “Wrong. Onew-appa did once, when I threatened to tell Key-umma about extra chicken servings when he got mad at me for resting from homeworks.”

                “Okay. I guess, what I did this time was pretty big so I’m just going to go ahead and grovel at your feet now.”

                “Gee, I wonder what gave you that idea?” the maknae replied sarcastically.

                Minho walked closer to his dongsaeng and urged the young one to at least look at him. “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe it was because of how you practically ignored me all throughout breakfast and how you were all nice and smiley with all the hyungs except for me.”

                Taemin scoffed. “At least you noticed. I thought it would once again escape your notice since you’re so busy and all.”

                “Seriously, Taeminnie, what did I do wrong this time?” the rapper pleaded.

                Taemin turned around and wiped his hands on a nearby towel before replying to his hyung’s question. “Okay, fine. Last night I waited up for you to come home from wherever you were and you didn’t even have the decency to call the house about you’re whereabouts. It got me so worried. I mean, seriously, hyung! Would it have killed you to at least text me or something? You were almost 2 hours late and if it weren’t for Key-umma’s company, I might’ve freezed to death in the living room and now you ask me what’s wrong?!”

                “Woah, calm down, Minnie—“

                “Where were you?” the younger one interjected. “If its a valid excuse I might forgive you, if it isn’t, well you can kiss your precious forgiveness goodbye.”

                Taemin crossed his arms and Minho gulped, an angry and unforgiving maknae is the last thing he wants. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d wait up for me because I thought Key would’ve forced you to bed after midnight but I guess not. I had Oh, My School shooting last night which ended a bit late because one of the cameras broke. We finished shooting at about midnight.”

                Taemin did the math in his head. If the recording finished at midnight then that left Minho-hyung with about an hour and 30 minutes left. “And after, where did you go?”

                “Out. Eunhyuk-hyung invited me to drinking with him and Donghae-hyung so I—“

                “Your reason for being late last night was because you went on a bonding session with the SuJu hyungs?”

                “Yeah, I went out with them and got a drink or two. Is that bad?”

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                Silence.

                Complete.

                And.

                Utter.

                Silence.

                It was like the calm before a maknae storm and Minho was caught in the middle of it.

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                And then all hell broke loose and unleashed the furious maknae.

 

                “YOU CAME HOME LATE LAST NIGHT BECAUSE YOU HYUNG WHORED?!”

                Minho was literally taken aback. Sure, he’d seen Taemin mad before but to actually see the maknae this mad scared the out of him. Taemin was never this mad at him. Ever.  “Hey, calm down, Taem. I was just spending some time with the SuJu hyungs. I’m so—“

                “Don’t even say it.” Taemin said coldly and then abruptly walked out of the kitchen even before Minho could properly apologize. “I’m done.”

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                When Jonghyun noticed something was up between the 2 youngest, he didn’t say a thing. When Onew noticed it, he was confused but stayed silent. When Key noticed that his 2 sons were fighting with each other, the umma instincts kicked in.

                “Okay, I’m giving you two choices,” he randomly uttered over dinner “A, Taemin’s going to be a good son and tell umma something or B, Minho will be a good boy and will the one to tell umma something.”

                Onew and Jonghyun choked on their spoonfuls of rice but the two remained expressionless and cold. “So, which choice is it?” Key asked. The 2 eldest looked pleadingly at the younger 2 begging them to please say something before Key got pissed at everyone or in other words before hell froze over. But then there was only silence, neither one wanting to give in so Key turned to plan b.

                “Yah! Choi Minho, what did you do to my baby this time?”

                “I didn’t do anything! Why don’t you ask your precious little son about what happened?”

                Key turned to look at his son expectantly. “Well, Taeminnie?”

                Taemin didn’t even flinch. He just continued eating his dinner and effectively ignored Minho’s earlier jibe at him. “It’s nothing, umma. I just got sick and tired of Minho, that’s all.” And with that the SHINee’s Maknae stood up from the dining table and left his hyungs utterly speechless.

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                With plan A and B not working, Key turned to plan C which explains why he’s standing outside Super Junior’s apartment ringing the doorbell.

                “Coming!” he heard a voice cry from the inside and a few seconds later the door swung open and revealed his Sungmin-hyung.

                “Annyeong, Sungmin-hyung!” he greeted politely. “I came to see Leeteuk-hyung. Is he home?”

                Sungmin smiled at his dongsaeng, it was always a pleasant surprise to get a visit from the SHINee members since the rarely saw each other apart from business and office related stuff. “Hi Key! Why don’t you come in and I’ll call Teukie-hyung for you.”

                Key thanked his hyung and waited patiently in the living room.

                “Teukie-hyung! You have a visitor!” Sungmin called.

                “Who is it?” Leeteuk called from the room.

                “Key-dongsaeng.” Sungmin answered.  A few seconds later and to Key’s surprise, a lot of footsteps and a lot of doors banging was heard. Soon enough, Super Junior members started appearing one by one into the living room and all of them were happy to see him.

                “KEY!” Leeteuk cried happily and gave his dongsaeng a big hug.

                Key smiled fondly at the leader and of course at the other members. Although they all worked in the same company, they rarely saw each other out of work and had rare times of bonding. “Hi Leeteuk-hyung.” He said hugging back and soon after gave 11 more hugs to Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, Kibum who has back at the dorms and Henry and Zhou Mi who were visiting from China.

                “So, what brings you here?” Leeteuk asked after all the hugs and greetings were exchanged.

                With the question Key’s face lost all its earlier happiness and was replaced with a glum look. “I need you help with something, hyung.”

                “What is it about?”

                “Minho and Taemin are fighting and I don’t know how to fix it.”

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

Meanwhile, at the SHINee dorm...

 

                Taemin was tired. He just came home from a dance rehearsal for an upcoming performance on SBS Gayo Daejun then he went to his school to get some school material that he wasn’t able to do because of some schedules and now he had to finish his winter homework.

 

                “Argh, I hate this.” He groaned when he entered their dorm. “I hate homeworks. Its the winter break why do I have to do this?”

                A chuckle from the hallway nearly surprised Taemin to death. “Talking to yourself isn’t healthy, Minnie.”

                Taemin squinted his eyes, surely Minho wasn’t standing in front of him, all chilled out and relaxed, they were still in a fight, after all. “What do you want, hyung? I’m not in the mood.”

                “Why don’t you come to my room after you’ve put all of that down in your room? We’ll talk there.”

                Taemin started to protest but was cut short by his hyung’s voice. “No buts, Taemin. I am still your hyung, even if we’re fighting.”

                “Hmph.” The younger one said in a huff as he did what  he was told.

 

                When Minho got to his room, the smile on his face still hadn’t left him. He secretly loved being older than Taemin, especially in times like this where Taemin was still bound by laws of respect to his hyungs and his poor dongsaeng couldn’t  do anything against it.

                He walked over to his bed and lied down. Knowing Taemin as he did, the little one will take his sweet little time and make his hyung wait; it was Taemin’s version of rebellion. It didn’t work because in the end he’ll be a good child and come over. It was a cute try, though.

               

                Five seconds later, a knock on Minho’s door revealed a pouting maknae when he went to open it. “Glad you could make it, Minnie.”

                As expected no reply. Taemin went over and sat on his hyung’s bed still with a pout on his face. Clearly showing that he didn’t want to be here and that he was still mad at the older boy.

                Expecting this, Minho went over to his bed and sat next to Taemin. “First of all, I would like to say I’m sorry for making you wait for me the other night.”

                “In the cold.” Taemin interrupted softly.

                “In the cold.” Minho repeated then added. “I’m sorry for being so inconsiderate and not even having the heart to text you about my whereabouts. I’m sorry for coming home late—“

                “Almost 2 hours late.” Taemin corrected.

                “Yes, that too.” Minho agreed. “I’m sorry for hyung- and not spending enough time with you. I’m sorry for making you upset. I’m sorry for breaking all my promises. I’m sorry for everything, Taemin. Please forgive your hyung. Please?”

                Minho kneeled down in front of his dongsaeng in hopes of getting the younger to look at him. “Please, Minnie? I’m on my knees already.”

                “If I forgive you right now you’ll end up doing everything again and I’ll just get hurt again.” Taemin replied. “I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to cry because the jealousy inside me is eating me up. I don’t want to feel unimportant to you anymore.”

                Minho was shocked. “Taemin you’ve always been important to me.”

                “No, I’m not. I used to but not anymore.” He sniffed in reply. “The Super Junior hyungs are more important to you now, not me. You’ll much rather spend your time with them and not me. You love them more than you love me.”

                And with that last sentence Minho finally understood why Taemin was so mad at him. His Taeminnie was jealous of the Super Junior hyungs because he thought Minho loved them more than he did for Taemin. “Taemin , listen to me. No one will ever be more important than you. No one will ever take your place in my heart, you want to know why?”

                “Why?”

                Minho leaned in and kissed Taemin softly on the lips. “Because I love you.”

                Taemin’s reply was unexpected; he began crying. “Hey, Taemin-ah. Stop crying.”

                His request fell on deaf ears as Taemin continued crying and Minho worried that maybe he’d upset the maknae instead. Minho was completely at lost on what he should do; was Taemin’s a supposed reaction to his confession? Was the maknae mad at him or even worse disgusted at him.

                The realization hit Minho like a slap in the face and rejection flooded through his veins like water from Antarctica. Words spun in his head like a merry-go-round and hurtful feelings choked him, was it already too late? Was the incident the previous day the last straw for Taemin?

                “—I love you too, hyung.”  A soft voice whispered in his ear before he was engulfed in skinny limbs, a mop of brown mushroom hair and the familiar scent of Taemin.

                “What?” Minho asked dazed.

                Taemin pulled away from and looked at him funnily. “I expected a better reply than that, Choi. Where did Minho the “Taemin Swooner” go to and why was he suddenly replaced by frog alien?”

                “Haha. Very funny, Taemin.” He mock frowned.

                The next sound he heard was by far the nicest one he heard that day; Taemin’s laugh followed by a kiss but not before Taemin muttered a possessive: “Mine.”

 

Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc.

 

                Key came home confident about the plan he and the Super Junior hyungs devised but when he entered through their front door and saw his 2 sons making out lovingly on the couch he smiled and opted to text his hyung instead.

                “Looks like I won’t be needing the plan afterall, hyung.” He typed. “Thanks though, I love you.”

                Key counted one through ten before he coughed and said: “YAH! CHOI MINHO WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING TO MY BABY?!”

               

END.