The next day, Taemin waited for his parents to leave to attend a meeting with a potential future business partner before he walked the familiar path to the gameroom. As he was booting up the game he chewed on his lip thinking about the conversation he'd had with his mother this morning.

"Taemin, soon you'll have to start coming to these meetings too you know, it's important for you to learn what mommy and daddy are doing in the business. One day you'll have to take over, you know?"

"I know, mom..."

"I know you're only fourteen, honey, but one day you won't be anymore and you can't always stay home and play your videogames. One day you'll have to step into the real world."

She'd left after that with his father, her heels clicking across their polished hardwood floors. Taemin had just gotten up and gone to his gameroom to turn the game on.

"I'd rather be playing in these worlds instead", he thought grumpily.

As soon as the game flicked to life, Taemin entered Paradise Planet. He had his headset now, he wasn't going to waste any more time wandering about the lesser Worlds. It was his goal now to meet as many people as he could, spike his score, and unlock the higher level Worlds.

Taemin strolled along the streets when he spotted Sandy sitting on a bench by a park, feeding some pigeons little crumbs from a plastic bag. He walked over to her and waved and she smiled warmly back at him as he plopped down next to her.

"Hello, Taemin! Meet anyone yet?" Taemin chuckled.

"Not yet, I'm working on it."

"You should visit my friend, Jonghyun. He's a nice guy and he can show you around and help you meet some more people if you'd like? He's pretty well known and his apartment is not too far from here." Taemin clenched his controller tight at the prospect of finally making progress in the game and he quickly agreed, accepting the instructions from Sandy to guide him to Jonghyun's apartment complex.

He walked with purpose to the area, it was only a few blocks down, and entered the building with ease, striding to the elevator. Jonghyun's apartment was on the tenth floor with a nice view of The Deck off to the side. 'Must be nice to see that every time you wake up' Taemin thought absentmindedly. He had only just begun to wonder whether Jonghyun actually slept considering he was a program when the elevator doors dinged open into a small lobby space with brightly lit hallways on either side lined with red carpeting.

As he walked to the apartment door, 324B21, he could hear loud music, a dance-funk genre, emanating from the inside. Taemin knocked gently and waited a few minutes, then knocked harder. The blaring music from the inside was relentless, his knocking useless.

Taemin started pounding on the door and calling out, "hello? Is anyone in there?" He had just raised his fist to bang on the door again when it flew open, his eyes widening in bewilderment at the shocked brown eyes staring back at him from beneath a fluffy mop of silvery white locks. The man inside the doorway stood a few inches shorter than Taemin, clad in a tight fitting black sleeveless shirt and loose acid wash jeans. His light brown Timberlands were unlaced and heavy looking on his feet and probably a couple sizes too large.

"Uh, hey? Can I help you, man?" The guy asked. Taemin realized he'd been staring and snapped out of it, clearing his throat.

"Uh, yeah, my name's Taemin, uh, Sandy, you know Sandy? She sent me to you so you could like, show me around and stuff." Very articulated, Taemin, very well said. The man's expression however, brightened.

"Oh! Yeah I do know her, we're friends, I used to work in this coffee shop she used to enjoy coming in and she was a regular so we'd always talk and stuff while I made her order, she's a good friend. I'm Jonghyun by the way, unless you knew already, I'm actually about to go downstairs to grab a drink, want to come?"

"Uh yeah sure, why not?" Jonghyun grinned and stepped out of the apartment, swinging the door shut with his hip before breezing past Taemin and clunking his way down the hallway to the same elevators Taemin had just exited from, "Uh, dude, aren't you gonna lock your door?"

"Nah, my roommate's in there, he's watching the place. Besides, in this World no one really does anything bad unless you're a dickbot, but even they get straightened out pretty fast."

"A what?" Taemin choked out as Jonghyun tapped the lobby button in the elevator and the doors slid shut. He leaned back against the side wall of the elevator and turned to Taemin.

"A dickbot, dude. I mean technically speaking they're called DCbots, short for disorderly conduct. You know, rowdy programs who can't stay in line and they do lame stuff and break the law? Kibum and a few of our other friends call them dickbots because that's basically what they are...just ." He laughed softly as the doors dinged open and he beckoned Taemin out, who followed him as the pair approached one of the lobby's vending machines.

"Who's Kibum?" Taemin asked.

"Oh he's my roommate. He's a really chill guy, I can introduce you two when we go back upstairs," Jonghyun said as he fiddled with his change before pushing some coins through the slot in the machine and punching in a number code, "he's the one who came up with the dickbot thing."

"I see..." Taemin didn't know what else to say so he just stayed silent as Jonghyun grabbed his drink from the bottom of the machine and walked back to the elevators. As he turned to punch in his floor number, Taemin caught sight of the code on his arm; 324B21. Same as his apartment number. It was right where Sandy's code was and if Taemin remembered correctly, it would probably be on the same spot on all of Jonghyun's clothes.

As they reached the tenth floor again, Taemin could hear the same music as before, blasting heavily through the door. As Jonghyun kicked it open, a fresh wave of bass and vocals came streaming through the opening and colliding with Taemin's eardrums. They entered the apartment and Jonghyun jogged over to his stereo to turn the music down to a more acceptable volume as Taemin glanced around the room.

Jonghyun's apartment was quite a sight. To his left, deep purple walls littered with different posters and wall ornaments; shelves stacked high with records, CDs, books, and more shelf ornaments. He had a few couches - none of which matched - strewn around the living area and the kitchen area to Taemin's right consisted of white tile and black countertops with black barstools situated at the breakfast bar; the sink behind it matched the black countertops and was a stainless steel, piled high with dishes. Straight in front of him, Taemin could see directly through a floor length window with the sheer white curtains pulled back at either side. It was definitely eccentric to say the least.

As he walked across the parquet floor, across fluffy white plush carpeting in the living area, Taemin could see that to his right, past the kitchen, was one room, and to his left, past the purple walls leading into - were those blue walls? - was another room. The apartment was oddly decorated, as though different sections of a magazine had been cut and pasted into one room, but oddly enough, somehow it just worked.

"Hey, Taemin, come meet Kibum." Jonghyun called, his head popping out from the hallway past the kitchen. Taemin ambled over, meekly peeking his head around Jonghyun's body, into the room of the open doorway.

"You know, I'm still pissed you turned the music down, I was listening to that." Came a voice, wafting out from the inside. Taemin stretched his neck a little farther and then he caught sight of him, sprawled out on his stomach atop his bed.

Kibum's curly blonde hair was tied up with a little lime green scrunchie in an apple hairstyle at the top of his head. His red rimmed circular glasses were perched on the end of a straight nose, eyes still trained down on the magazine laid out in front of him on his bed, never looking up once. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt and blue shorts that ended just above the knee to reveal long, sleek calves, crossed at the ankles, bare feet swaying in the air.

"Kibum, look presentable, we have a visitor." Jonghyun chuckled. Kibum looked up lazily, but upon spotting Taemin, his hazel eyes sprung open, magazine slamming shut as he jumped up and strutted over.

"Oh, you didn't tell me someone was coming over! What's your name? I'm Kibum, don't believe a word Jonghyun says about me he's probably lying." Taemin chuckled at Kibum's abrasiveness.

"He said you were a nice guy, though." Kibum perked.

"Oh? Well in that case believe everything he says." Kibum stalked past and made his way to the kitchen, the other two trailing behind, Jonghyun chuckling as he mumbled 'you tell a lie about a guy having three arms ONCE and this is how it ends up.'

In the kitchen, Kibum was pouring some drinks into tall glasses and setting them on a tray to bring to the breakfast bar. Taemin perched himself atop a stool, Jonghyun jumping up to sit next to him and grabbing a glass before Kibum had even set the tray down. Kibum scowled, swatting at him, but Jonghyun retracted his hand before Kibum could reach, smirking back. Taemin looked back and forth between them before shyly accepting his drink.

"This isn't...alcoholic, right?" Taemin asked, "because I'm not old enough." It was just his character that was going to have the drink, Taemin thought, but it still didn't feel right to drink underage. Being raised as a prissy rich boy does that to you. Kibum barked out a short burst of laughter followed by a clap on the back from Jonghyun.

"No, of course not, it's just a mix of a few juices and ice shavings. How old are you anyway?" Kibum took a sip from his straw, eyeing Taemin through his lashes. Taemin gulped. Kibum was an attractive man albeit his questionable fashion sense.

"Fourteen," he mumbled. Next to him, Jonghyun effectively spat his drink out much to Kibum's dismay.

"Don't do that, jesus!" Kibum scolded.

"Don't swear in front of him, he's a kid!" Jonghyun laughed.

"Shut up, so am I!" Kibum said, turning to Taemin, "I'm seventeen, and Jonghyun is twenty, the old geezer." Taemin chuckled as Jonghyun swiped at Kibum's head, flinging the hair scrunchie off; his blonde hair falling down around his face. He brushed it back with his hand, growling at his roommate, "excuse him, he's a little immature."

"Oh please, I'm so mature. I pay the bills, that makes me mature." Jonghyun laughed. Taemin turned to Kibum.

"You don't work?" A hand flew up to cover his mouth when he realized how rude he sounded, apologies spilling out before Kibum laughed and waved it off.

"Nah, we have a deal; Jonghyun works and I just cook and clean and stuff. Obviously I haven't done much of that today...if I'd known you were coming I would've made something. Since it's a weekend, it's a lazy day and we've just been hanging out. By the way, did you hear the music we had on earlier?" Jonghyun stopped slurping on his straw and looked over to gauge Taemin's reaction.

"Yeah! It was actually really nice, it was a funk piece right? I'm into that stuff, so I liked it a lot." Kibum smiled, then reached over to pinch Jonghyun's cheek, wiggling it with no regard for the elder's discomforted yelps.

"See! I told you it was awesome!" He chuckled. Jonghyun rubbed his cheek, face reddening slightly.

"Have I missed something?" Taemin wondered aloud, and Kibum smirked back at him.

"Jonghyun over here wrote that piece. He's been working on it for a while. It's like his baby." Jonghyun flushed a little deeper at Kibum's words, sticking the straw back in his mouth, gaze cast downwards.

"Really? But that's so awesome! It was really good! What's it called?" Taemin smiled.

"Neon," Jonghyun mumbled, "I recorded it myself, actually." Taemin's eyes brightened in awe.

"That's really awesome, you're so talented!" Kibum smiled.

"Right? He's an amazing singer and songwriter. I tell him all the time but he never believes me." Kibum laughed, shrugging his shoulders, "So, Taemin, right? Tell me about yourself, what do you do? Where do you live in Paradise Planet?"

"Oh, I uh...I'm new around here, you know? I'm just...around." He figured it was a pretty lame reply but he wasn't sure if he should tell them he wasn't a program yet, he'd only just met the pair. They seemed friendly enough but he'd hold out a little more. If there was one thing his parents had ever taught him, it was never to reveal everything at first encounter. They seemed satisfied enough with his reply for now, though.

"Oh, okay. So Sandy said you wanted me to show you around, right? I can show you cool places and stuff if you'd like, does that sound cool? I work at this sick flower shop and-" He was cut off by Kibum's snorts of laughter, his hand slapping against the black quartz countertops.

"He thinks the flower shop is a sick job oh my god, a macho man like Jonghyun with arm muscles that huge and a killer voice and you'd never know he gets the muscles from digging weeds." Kibum's peals of laughter grew louder and he clutched at his stomach, eliciting small giggles from Taemin who eventually joined him in his outright laughter at the sight of Jonghyun's chagrin.

"Shut up, Kibum! You know it's an awesome job, and I make good pay, I practically own half the place and you know if I didn't work there you wouldn't get your ing fancy shrimp for your pasta dishes so cut it out!"

"Don't swear in front of the kid!"

"YOU'RE A KID TOO!"

Taemin figured he'd found some pretty cool friends.

***

He'd ended up spending the day with his newfound friends, hardly even leaving their apartment except to go across the street in the late afternoon to the coffee shop Jonghyun used to work at - and was still fairly popular at - to grab some drinks and head back upstairs. Taemin found that he quite liked the welcoming homely feel of the cool white kitchen tile beneath his feet and the newfound space of Kibum's teal bedroom. He hadn't asked to see Jonghyun's rooms (Kibum told him he had one for sleeping in, his recording room, and they each had their own bathroom, while the twin room that matched Jonghyun's room for recording on Kibum's side of the apartment was used for laundry) and he hadn't exactly been invited in - Taemin believed Jonghyun was still pretty shy about his music - so he hadn't pushed the idea. He spent most of the day relaxing with them in the living area, Kibum pointing out his favorite paintings on the wall to Taemin and telling ludicrous stories of how he'd come about to own them, Jonghyun animatedly telling him about his vast music collection and how he and Kibum had met.

"We met at this club, right?" Jonghyun started.

"But I thought Kibum was only seventeen?" Jonghyun laughed.

"Aw, Taem you're innocent. Kibum was even sixteen back then, but he snuck in. What a risk taker."

"You can be punished for that kind of stuff, if you're not careful," Kibum began. Taemin looked back at him standing at the sink, scrubbing their dinner plates clean, "If they even think you're a dickbot, they'll send you to Tinker Town." Taemin looked confused.

"What's Tinker Town?" Jonghyun side-eyed him before he began explaining.

"Tinker Town is basically a hidden World, man. You can't see it or visit it unless you're actually in it already, does that make sense?" Taemin's face scrunched up.

"Not really, sorry..." Kibum slipped his apron off, dried his hands and walked over to the living area, slumping down onto the white leather couch next to Taemin.

"What Jonghyun means is that Tinker Town is an inaccessible World. Basically, the people in charge of Tinker Town are always on the lookout for dickbots scattered in the different Worlds, right? If they find out, they sweep him up - or her," he added after Jonghyun nudged his shoulder ('always the social justice rights activist' Kibum had once said), "and carry them off to Tinker Town. Since it's a hidden world, nobody actually knows where it is, so I don't actually know how they bring you there...but basically - at least the way the stories go - is that they 'tinker' with you in there; that's where it gets its name."

"T-Tinker?" Taemin squeaked. Jonghyun laughed.

"Yeah, they like, reprogram you to be "good" again, but really they just kinda dehumanize you, man. I mean, we're not humans but you get the drift, right? They reprogram all the feelings and opinions out of you so you end up like a first World robot and then they leave you in Tinker Town. If your offense isn't that bad, they might let you go back to your own World, but they make you serve like two years down there first - so they can ensure you've been appropriately "sculpted" into a better robot or something - and then when you get back, they keep tabs on you all the time to make sure you don't fall out of line again. Strict stuff." He paused to yawn and Taemin noticed his canines were quite pronounced. Jonghyun caught him staring and laughed it off, "programming defect. They left it like that because it wasn't a hindrance." Taemin just nodded slowly and smiled.

"Weren't you telling the glorious story of how we met?" Kibum inquired after a moment.

"Oh yeah! So we were at this club, right? Kibum was dancing up a storm and some weird dudes were falling all over him so I got them to back off-"

"He pretended like he was my older brother and they ran with their tails between their legs because of how muscled he is," Kibum interrupted.

"Right. So anyways, my big muscley arms saved Kibum's life -" Taemin snickered at this "- and I bought Kibum a drink to apologize for the jerks. I didn't figure out he was underage until after he got drunk too fast to be normal and started telling me about his high school days like it was yesterday."

"At time the it really was yesterday!" Kibum laughed.

"God dude, lemme finish!" Jonghyun growled. He reached into the little glass bowl they had on a table next to the couch, fished a lollipop out of it, unwrapped it and shoved it between Kibum's teeth. The younger scowled back but accepted the cherry flavored treat, clicking it against his teeth with his tongue. "Like I was saying, so I have this drunk kid on my hands right? I didn't know what to do so I just made him drink a bunch of water and tried to sober him out. Anyways eventually he told me his name and that he snuck in because he thinks he's some daredevil but the friends who he was supposed to come with bailed on him because they were too chicken."

". I used the word ." Kibum retorted.

"Kibum stop swearing in front of Taemin."

"It's barely a swear word!"

"Don't use vulgar language in front of him then, jesus christ!"

"Wow, Jonghyun, you don't have to swear in front of Taemin."

"Kibum, so help me god."

"Uh, guys?" Taemin piped up. The two looked back at him, giggling in his seat, "I wanna hear the rest of the story."

"Oh right, uh," Jonghyun cleared his throat, "so yeah I asked him where he lived and he said he was in and out of places all the time - a runaway obviously - so I asked if he wanted to room with me because at the time I was just using Kibum's room for storage and I can't cook for -"

"Language!" Kibum scolded, and Taemin burst out laughing again.

"Kibum, I will strangle you! So I can't cook for my life, and Kibum said he could, so I told him if he took care of all the housekeeping stuff he could live here so long as he didn't run up my bills and here we are." Jonghyun gestured his arm around the apartment.

"Grand finish for a mediocre story," Kibum snorted.

"Eat your ing lollipop and shut up." Jonghyun immediately turned to Taemin, "Sorry for all the swearing, kiddo, honestly." Taemin just laughed it off.

"But on a serious note, where do you live Taemin? Want us to drop you off, or do you want to crash here?" Kibum asked.

Taemin faltered. His hands played with the controller in his hands as he weighed his options. He wasn't so sure he should let his character stay at Kibum and Jonghyun's apartment, but he couldn't ask them to walk him back...walk him where? Taemin usually just signed out of the game whenever he was bored of playing, no matter where his character was. He had nowhere to call home in the game because he was just a player; he didn't need a home.

"Mind if I just crash here?" He asked. It was probably a smarter choice. Sign his character out when they went to bed; sign in before they woke up. They'd never know.

"Sure dude, you can room with me." Kibum smiled. His smile was friendly but Taemin gulped. Kibum was a handsome guy, but behind that handsome face was brains. He could tell in the way Kibum spoke about the paintings on the wall. Intellectual and articulate. Masked by his street appearance and vulgar language not many people could probably tell but Taemin had grown up in a rich household. He knew a clever person when he saw one, and he'd have to be extra careful about not letting Kibum find out that he wasn't a program.

"Sure, I'd love to!" He said.

Taemin was good at hiding secrets. He'd been keeping secrets from his parents since he knew what a secret was. He could keep this secret from Kibum. He'd never suspect a thing.

Hey guys, LifeisSHINee here. This is the next installment, there's plans for more development between Kibum and Taemin's relationship starting in the next chapter or so so don't worry, the Taekey is coming! Thanks as always to any readers and take care!