A/N: Themes of alcohol and a couple bad words here and there. Un-beated. I'll revise later. Enjoy ♥

"But hyung-"

"No buts, Taemin."

"Not even yours?"

"Let's go."

Minho begrudgingly led a very drunk Lee Taemin away from the loud, alcohol-filled frat house that was the final stop of their campus's infamous "house crawl". Minho had reluctantly agreed to go with his friends, Jinki, Jonghyun, Kibum, and Taemin. They had somehow managed to separate around sometime between house 4 and 5, and by the time they reached house 8, Jinki, Jonghgyun, and Kibum were nowhere to be found. That left a heavily intoxicated Lee Taemin practically drooling on Minho's shoulder as the latter attempted to keep the younger upright. Taemin, however, had insisted that "I'm not that drunk!", even after Minho had held his hair back as he threw up in a bush.

"But hyung-"

"No."

Minho was conflicted at the moment. He has been harboring a rather pathetic crush on the younger for quite some time now. The two were great friends and shared a lot of similar interests. However, Minho was too afraid of destroying their friendship, and thus determined that just staying friends was better than risking everything. So, here he was, senior year, supporting a swaying and slurring Taemin away from the house crawl, slightly annoyed but overall, mostly protective.

He led the younger down a couple more streets, stopping once to allow Taemin to throw up once again. As he held Taemin's hair back for the second time tonight, he could hear the younger choking back a few sobs.

"I...'m sorry," Taemin slurred, wiping his mouth on his oversized sweater, "for ruinin' your night..."

"Hush," was all Minho said, assertively yet calmly, as not to make the younger feel worse. From there, the two continued a little further, Taemin's swaying becoming worse and worse until he tripped over nothing and nearly faceplanted onto the concrete sidewalk.

"," he muttered under his breath, staggering into Minho's arms. The latter looked down at Taemin's face and frowned. Taemin's eyes were droopy, his hair was messy and tangled, his cheeks were bright red, and he honestly smelled atrocious. There were tears coming from his eyes, and Minho's heart broke a little from the sight.

Minho, being the good guy he was, manuvered himself and Taemin so that he could piggyback the younger home. Luckily, Taemin weighed almost nothing in comparison to his height. The walk to his apartment wasn't too far, either. So, without saying anything, Minho began his journey.

The rest of the trip was silent but peaceful. He could feel Taemin's soft and shallow breaths on his neck, and could nearly feel his heart beating against his back. If Taemin hadn't been drinking, perhaps this moment would never have happened. If they had never gone to the house crawl, perhaps things would have still remained the same between them.

Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.

Minho walked for another 5 minutes or so before arriving at his apartment. He gently got Taemin off his back and used his key to open his door. He led the younger inside, and without any hesitation, led him to the bathroom.

"You smell like ," Minho said as Taemin kneeled by the toilet, "do what you need to do. I'll be back in a couple minutes with tea. Just...don't choke on your own vomit."

Taemin let out an odd mix between a laugh, a sob, and a cough before raising a weak hand. Taking that as a sign of thanks, Minho hesitantly left the bathroom and ran to the kitchen to make tea. He decided that a relaxing peppermint would do the trick, since it supposedly helped upset stomachs. So, he his water boiler and waited a couple minutes until it was hot enough to pour into a mug. He decided that using a thermos would be the best idea, so that if Taemin's shaky hands slipped, he wouldn't spill scalding hot water all over himself. So, Minho placed the teabag in the thermos and then poured in the boiling water, filling it about 3/4 of the way. Making sure the lid was screwed tightly, he made his way back to the bathroom, where Taemin was still hunched over the toilet.

"Hey," he said in a soft voice, placing the thermos on the sink. Taemin managed to raise his head slightly,