Slam!

Jonghyun and Jinki, lounging in the living room after a long day of schedules, jumped; startled out of their relaxing moment.

They both looked to the source of the noise.  

Kibum stood unmoving at the doorway, looking shell-shocked. 

Not wanting to startle the boy, Jinki stood up slowly and moved towards Kibum, “Key, are you ok?” he asked softly.

No answer.

Just wide, unblinking eyes, fast but short breaths, and a slight tremble.

Jinki and Jonghyun made eye contact, extremely worried about their band-mate, friend and brother. 

As Jonghyun left his chair, Taemin came out of his bedroom, “What is all the fuss out here?!” he questioned loudly.

Then he stopped short, stunned by the drama playing out in the living area.

Jinki, now standing in front of Kibum, tried to make eye contact with the obviously distraught young man, “Key?  Please, tell us what’s wrong.  We want to help.” 

All he could think was a fan had attacked Kibum, or maybe a sunbae had said something cutting.

Again, no answer. 

Taemin gingerly approached his adopted-Uemma, “Key?  Come sit down. Let me get you a drink.” he said, escorting, more like supporting, Kibum to their large, cushiony couch.

After sitting him down, Taemin went to the kitchen and came back in with a soda.

Jonghyun had sat down next to Kibum, rubbing his hands to try and regain warmth and circulation, “Can you tell us what happened?  We are family, you know you can trust us and tell us anything,” he quietly begged.

As the boys gathered around Kibum, he drew a deep breath, wrapped his arms around himself and visibly collected himself, “I don’t even know how to start…”

Jinki said softly “How about what just happened? If it’s not too painful?”

Tears filled Key’s eyes, and slowly began falling down his cheeks, “I’m so embarrassed!” he exclaimed, “I’m so stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” he cried out as he pulled on his hair.

Taemin quickly put the soda on the end table and grabbed Kibum’s hands to prevent further damage. “Please, stop Eomma! You’re scaring me!”

That quickly got Key’s attention. 

He immediately hugged Taemin.  “I’m so sorry, Taebaby, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Both Jonghyun and Jinki put their arms around the two younger boys, and each other, as best as they could, and just held still.  After a few moments Tae and Key released each other, interrupting the impromptu hugging.

“Please, Key, tell us what happened”, implored Jonghyun.

“You all will hate me”, came the soft, slight voice of their normally brash diva, “I know I hate myself for all of this, and feel like such a fool.”

Jinki spoke in his most authoritative leader voice, “You know we could never hate you!  You are part of our family, we love you and nothing will change that!” hastily embracing the young man again.

“And there is no one on the planet less foolish than you,” reassured the maknae.

Gathering his thoughts, Key began sharing his troubles.

“You all don’t know, but I have been dating Woohyun since our debut in ToHeart.” 

Pausing for a moment to gauge their reactions, and seeing nothing but interest and concern, he continued. “We had been doing great, seeing each other much more often than either of us thought possible. Not only did we get many opportunities to meet on our free time, we were able to perform together, even appearing on a number of the same music and variety shows.  We both wanted to come out to our respective band members, but Woohyun said he was concerned that both groups would not be as supportive as we wanted or needed..” 

At this point, Key looked at his brothers with apologetic eyes.  He knew s would always support him, as they have always supported and guided each other, so this declaration could be perceived as an insult to his group.

After a very deep breath, he continued, “Though I knew you all would be behind our relationship, I agreed to wait to tell anyone.” 

At this point, Kibum lets out a watery laugh, obviously not amused, “Little did I know, Hyun was just using this time to pursue another relationship.”

Taemin gasped, very incensed for his hyung, “That jerk!  Why…  what… how could he do this to you!  You guys were friends for so long, even before ToHeart! I can’t believe he would pull something like this!” 

Jinki and Jonghyun nodded adamantly, infuriated for their beloved bandmate.

“Well, believe it,” Key responded dejectedly, “This evening we were supposed to meet at the cute little coffee house just a f-f-few blocks from h-h-here…” he began, stuttering a bit, and looking everywhere but at s, obviously distressed.

“You can wait to tell us what happened, if you need some time, but you know we are here for you,” encouraged Jinki.  

Jonghyun nodded and moved closer to Key, putting an arm around him and holding him close. 

Taemin, sitting across on the coffee table, held one of Key’s hands with both of his own.

Shaking his head, tears rushing down his cheeks, Key began to sob while trying to explain. 

“I was running a little late, and had texted Hyun that I would be a few more minutes.  I didn’t hear back from him, but assumed he just hadn’t gotten my message yet..” 

A soggy laugh, a soft whine, and then Key continued, “I walked in through the front door and headed to our favorite table, and there he was.."

"..but he wasn’t alone."

"He may have gotten my text, but he was evidently too busy cuddling and kissing some girl to pay attention to his phone. I thought at first, ‘maybe this was a family member, or really close friend,’” Key barked out a harsh laugh. 

“Hyun didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed at being with someone else in such a compromising position. He just looked up at me, gave me a sly grin, and said ‘well, we won’t need to worry about telling anyone about our relationship now, will we?’” 

Now weeping too hard to continue, Key stood up to run to his room. 

His brothers were having none of that. 

All three gathered around him, hugging him and speaking soft words of comfort and love to their distraught friend. 

After countless minutes, the troubled young man calmed down enough to be escorted to the kitchen for some food and time with his bandmates.

As they entered the kitchen, Taemin pulled Jinki aside, asking what they were going to do, and what to tell Minho.  

Always protective of his friends & family at any time, Minho would go ballistic when he heard this development in regards to Key. 

Having come into the trainee program around the same time, and though not always understanding each other nor getting along well, Minho and Key were actually the best of friends.  

Their differing personalities, and strengths, truly complimented their relationship very well, even occasionally causing moments of jealousy in other groups due to their palpable closeness. 

This news would send Minho into a rampage that would not bode well for Woohyun, or this new “lady love”.

Jinki paused, thought through all the perspectives, and then said in a near whisper, “Well, we have to tell him the truth, and then let the cards fall where they may.  Our first priority is helping Kibum through this.  The rest will have to come later.”  

Taemin nodded, agreeing with his hyung, and followed Jinki to the table to sit with Key.  

Jonghyun pulled out some ingredients to make a breakfast meal, though it was late evening, trying to fix some comfort food.

After finishing their meal, Taemin escorted Key to their shared room.  

Though still distraught, Kibum was no longer shaky, and seemed to have calmed down considerably.  

Wrapped in Taemin’s arms, he quickly fell asleep.  

After waiting a lingering while, the younger gently untangled himself from his hyung, and went back to the living room.

Jinki and Jonghyun were deep in discussion when Tae appeared.  “What are we going to do now?” he asked.

Before either senior could respond, the door to their dorm opened and entered their second youngest.

“Hey guys, I didn’t expect you to be up this late!” a surprised, smiling Minho said.

The three apprehensive boys looked at each other, trying to formulate a response that would not feed a fire that was about to combust in their living room.

Picking up on the tense environment, and looking puzzled, Minho said “What’s wrong?  You all look like somebody died.”

“Not yet…” the maknae mumbled.

Earning a glare from the leader, Taemin offered to get everyone snacks and drinks, in order to remove himself from the room.

“Come here and have a seat, Minho”, Jinki instructed.

“Okay, have I done something wrong?”, quizzed the mystified younger as he took a seat on the sofa.

Jonghyun jumped in, saying “No, not at all.  We just need to discuss something that came up with Key.”

Standing up quickly, Minho said, with a great deal of alarm,  “Is Key okay?! Is he hurt?!”

Grabbing his arm, and urging the young man to sit back down, Jinki reassured him, “Nothing physically is wrong.  But, there has been something that happened and we really need you to be rational, and not fly off the handle.”

Now more concerned than ever, Minho turned imploring eyes on his hyung-duel. “Please, tell me what’s wrong!  Is Kibum here? Can I see him?”

Taemin, coming back into the room, quickly put the tray of beverages and snacks down onto the coffee table and leaned over to hug Minho, “Hyung, calm down, and please listen to us before trying to run off.  It will be better for everyone, but especially for Eomma.”