taeminxbutt: "Wow. I enjoy 2min as kiddos. So cute and made me smiles so often too. Haha but can you do another interlude? Something like 2min's fight? Like any other young couple they must've through some conflicts in their relationship. Something like taemin being possessive over minho and he caught by surprise minho with other girl and it break his heart, taemin crying his heart out in front his parents. And minho being so eager to tell him the misunderstanding and even asked jongyu's help. I want jonghyun be the one who desperately want them to get back together and have biggest concern about their relationship. Hehe if you don't mind."

a/n Somehow the story flowed a bit different to the prompt and I apologize for it beforehand orz. This was supposed to come in February for obvious reasons but I wasn't able to complete it in time ;;; Also, it's probably cringe overload and long (4.6k ish words) and not proofread because i'm down with a cold sdfghjkl hope i did this justice ;;;
 

Something had been really off lately and Jonghyun finally realized it when the weekend came. Minho had been missing from Taemin’s side since the last couple of days, especially today because he always spent the Friday night with them because his parents worked late that day. He slept over too unless he had something planned on Saturday with his family.

Taemin too had been looking a bit troubled, was quiet and keeping to himself. Jonghyun didn’t want to interfere in case it was nothing serious but Jinki had the same suspicions and he slowly voiced them after dinner when they had settled with coffee in front of the TV. Minho’s absence was glaring, especially after Taemin had excused himself for the night instead of joining them or starting an excited or heated conversation about his day as usual.

After a quick chat, Jinki made some hot chocolate for Taemin and called out to him. Taemin came down from his room, thanking him as he took it. He was going to go back into his room but Jinki halted him, “Sit with us?”

“Jinnie rented out that new thriller movie.” Jonghyun said, “Let’s watch it together.”

“Okay,” Taemin answered, taking the other couch, letting his parents sit on the reclining one.

As the movie went on, both Jonghyun and Jinki were glancing at Taemin, hoping that their subtle attempt would either cheer their son up or would make him talk. But Taemin had just quietly finished his hot chocolate and had lain down on the couch, his eyes on the TV, his expression lacking his usual interest. Somewhere midway, he had turned away from the TV and when Jinki got up to check on him, he was fast asleep, but his nose was slightly pink and there were tear stains on his cheek. He sighed, looking to Jonghyun with a dejected face.

Jonghyun got up and put a blanket on their son. They switched off the TV and retired to their bedroom.

“He won’t speak about it,” Jonghyun whispered worriedly, “Whatever it is, it is a big deal.”

“Let’s talk to Minho,” Jinki suggested, “Even if he might not tell us everything since Taemin might have told him not to, we’ll still get to know something.”

“Yeah,” Jonghyun sighed.

Jinki had an important meeting so he had to be away the entire Saturday morning. Jonghyun was waiting for him to return and had sent Taemin out on an errand so Jinki and he could talk. When Jinki got home, he headed straight to the breakfast table where Jonghyun was seated, sorting out some of his books.

“Taemin?” Jinki asked softly as he took the chair next to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun poured him some water from the jug, “I sent him to the supermarket to grab some stuff.”

Jinki nodded, “Did you talk to Minho?”

“Yes, called him as soon as Taemin had left.” Jonghyun sighed, “They fought. Even Minho doesn’t know what happened, but Taemin just started ignoring him and won’t talk to him. It could be because he won’t be here for Valentine’s Day. He’s going out of town with his family today for a wedding.”

“Aw,” Jinki sighed, but he lit up the next moment, “I’ll guess I’ll just have to do something this Valentine’s to cheer up our son.”

Taemin handed his Appa the milk and eggs he had bought from the supermarket and headed to his room. He took out his homework and started doing it lethargically, sighing as he glanced at his phone. He had shouted at Minho to leave him alone and his stupidly obedient boyfriend was doing a really good job at that.

Valentine’s day was on Monday and since Minho was leaving today, he won’t be in town for it. It was their second Valentine’s Day together and though Taemin really didn’t think of celebrating Valentine’s a big deal, he had wanted to go on a date with Minho using that as an excuse. They had hardly been anywhere but to school, to each other’s homes and the park. All of their dates were just those weekly sleepovers or them running errands together. He was going to ask him yesterday and plan it with him. He had gone looking for him during lunch break and found him in the lab, talking to their class rep.

Taemin suddenly got angry thinking about it and he took his phone and threw it on the bed, out of his sight. Minho had said to the class rep, “The poem I wrote.” and had handed an envelope to her. It was red and decorated with love-themed stickers.

Taemin hadn’t confronted Minho about it because he believed in him, and what he saw was just misleading, it definitely wasn’t what it looked like. Maybe Minho was just helping the girl out by writing a confession poem for her? It was Valentine’s Day after all. But watching it play out, Taemin had felt really hurt at that moment. He had casually asked him where he was but Minho had evaded that question. He had flipped then, not because of the scene he had seen previously– he believed that was just a misunderstanding. He flipped because Minho had lied to him, had not told him the truth behind something so trivial, it just made him feel like maybe they had drifted apart, maybe not much… but enough for Minho to stop sharing his little nothings with him. It just hit him like a ton of bricks and he started to avoid him out of his hurt and anger and even shouted at him when Minho tried to talk to him.

He really wanted to make up. He was really down yesterday, unable to think properly, regretting having shouted instead of clearly saying what had troubled him. It was clearer with the time that passed… that more than seeing him in a vague situation with the class rep, the fact that Minho hid something– something related to the poems– from him was eating at him. The poems were their thing. Minho always told him about stuff like this, that related to both of them. He told him everything that was going on with him. Even the trivial stuff. He never evaded anything that Taemin asked, especially not so guiltily. There were always a few things they didn’t tell each other or talk about and it was understood… but the way Minho had evaded him this time, it hurt.

After having gone wrong for the fifth time in the same derivation, Taemin finally gave up on homework. He turned and stared at his phone, biting his lip in contemplation. A few seconds more and he gave in. It didn’t matter. If it was important enough for him to know, he trusted Minho to tell him eventually. But right now, he can’t let both of them feel like this anymore, when probably nothing was wrong at all. He got up, grabbed his phone and dialed Minho’s number.

"The number you have dialed is out of service area."

Taemin tried again but the same message. He sighed and threw the phone back on his bed. Minho was probably already on the flight… and he didn’t know if he would even get reception after landing. Last time when Minho was gone, the calls were choppy and the messages hadn’t gone through at all.

A whole week. A whole week until Minho was back. Taemin regretted everything even more now...because they had parted on such bad terms. For a whole week, he was stuck feeling like this...and Minho would be probably stuck feeling worse.

He returned to his homework and somehow got it done. He went downstairs and found both his parents re-arranging stuff in the kitchen cabinets.

“Want some help, Jinnie?” He asked entering the kitchen.

“Aw, no, thanks, Taemin,” Jinki smiled, handing Jonghyun a couple of jars, “We’re almost done.” He ruffled Taemin’s hair after the jars were gone from his hand. Jonghyun was on the stool, arranging them in the upper cabinets.

“Yep, we’re done.” Jonghyun chirped, dusting his hands as he gave the cabinet one last glance.

“Okay~” Taemin said heading towards the coffee machine, “Want some coffee, Appa? Jinnie? I will make you some.”

Jonghyun got down from the stool, “Yes, please, thank you.”

Jinki chuckled, “I’ll make my little prince some hot chocolate then. Want some, right?”

Taemin nodded, smiling.

They sat at the breakfast table and finished up their drinks with the cookies Jonghyun had bought. Taemin was helping Jonghyun in sorting out his books and Jinki had somehow grew engrossed in one of them. Taemin was chuckling because Jonghyun was teasing Jinki but Jinki hadn’t noticed at all.

When done, Taemin decided to wash the mugs and after putting them away he stood in the kitchen, turned away from his parents, deciding to check his phone. His messages hadn’t been delivered yet but still, he tried to place a call. It didn’t go through so he sighed and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

Suddenly he felt a tickle to his side. It was Jinnie who passed him, chuckling, to throw the empty cookie box in the trash. When Taemin turned, Jonghyun was standing before him. He didn’t say a thing and just stepped forward and hugged him.

Taemin felt overwhelmed by his warmth. The next moment, he felt Jinnie hug him from behind.

“Whatever it is, it’s gonna be okay, hmm?” He heard Jinki softly whisper. Jonghyun was his head. Those words and their warmth broke that wall he was holding up. He leaned into Jonghyun, finding himself overwhelmed at how both his parents understood him even if they didn’t know anything, even if he didn’t say anything. He sniffled, tears pricking his ears, but that feeling of his heart dipping, of wanting to wallow and cry it all out was fading away, the more he stayed like that in his parents’ warmth.

A couple of minutes later, Jonghyun unwound his arms and Jinki also let go of him. Jonghyun wiped his tears before pinching his cheek, “That coffee tasted horrible, by the way.”

Taemin sniffled again, taken aback, “What? Really?” He turned to Jinki, “Jinnie? Please temme it wasn’t really that bad?!”

Jinki ruffled his hair, “Sorry~”

Taemin followed Jinki into the living room, “But I did what you always do. I swear I didn’t improvise.”

Jonghyun passed him and took a seat next to Jinki on the sofa, “The ingredients you used are still on the platform, just have a look.”

Taemin walked to kitchen island where he had left everything, forgetting to put it away. And on the platform was the coffee powder, the milk cart