Before Minho walked in, he resolved to always be by Taemin’s side no matter what his boss did or said. Of course, he would always try to be a good employee so he wouldn’t be killed, but that’s beside the point. Minho decided that he was going to be as good a… friend to Taemin as he could be.

Now, however, he was questioning that.

“Just put me to sleep.” 

Minho froze and withdrew his now shaking hand. Taemin had never done that to him before.  All the other times he had at least accepted it and sometimes even leaned into it! What was going on with him?

“I-i don’t understand… You hate going to sleep. You always want to stay up with m-“

“Just give me the damn pills, I don’t want to talk about this.”

Minho’s breath was caught in his throat as he swallowed hard and agreed, moving to his little table to mix up the right dose to make him sleep. All the while, hot tears slithered down his cheeks as he tried to keep his weeping to himself. 

“Minho are you… Are you crying?” Taemin seemed to show a little more compassion as he groaned and sat up on his cot. Minho shook his head and said that he was fine but now of all times, Taemin’s walls were coming down. “You are not… Get your over here.”

Minho wasn’t one to argue, but he could hear something in the back of his head telling him otherwise. 

“Manipulative, dangerous, sabotage…”

“I-I’m mixing your pills, Tae. You said you wanted them.”

“Well, now I’m telling you to get over here. I don’t want to sleep now, please.” There was almost a desperation in Taemin’s voice. Minho sighed and scooted his chair away from the table to go next to Taemin. Taemin’s brow was furrowed as he stared at his side, seemingly trying to find Minho in the darkness. 

Minho decided to be a little bolder than earlier and placed his hand on Taemin’s arm gently. The other flinched but gradually accepted it this time. Minho then trailed down Taemin’s slender limbs to hold his hand gently. The tears were flowing freely now.

“I… I’m so sorry, Taemin…”

“Don’t be. I get it. You don’t care about me, this is your job.” Taemin’s hand didn’t grip his as tightly as Minho would have liked.

“Please don’t be angry with me…” Minho’s voice scaled down into a whisper as he leaned in close. “I don’t want to hurt you. I never have.”

Taemin’s face turned back to being blank again and he even dared to scoff at Minho’s pleading. 

“Of course you don’t. I’m your paycheck. I know what you told Mr. Kim. You don’t give a damn about me.”

Minho perked up at that, backing away from Taemin and staring, mouth agape. How did he know about that meeting? No, there’s no way unless… 

“Damn that bastard!”, Minho exclaimed quietly, making sure his back was to the camera in the room. He then turned to Tae again and whispered, rushed. “I didn’t mean any of that! I was only telling him what he wanted me to say, I had no idea that would get back to you, Tae…”

“Well, it did. I don’t know what to believe anymore, Minho. It doesn’t seem like you even care about anything that happens to me from that conversation and yet here you are, crying in front of me.” Taemin’s voice was getting more frantic by the minute as his chains shook from his hand gestures. “From what I heard, it doesn’t seem like you see me as anything but this thing chained to a cot!”

Minho, bewildered, laid his head down, resting his head on Taemin’s arm. His body was shaking, the tears staining his pants as they fell. “I’m so, so sorry… I never want you to feel this way ever! It’s not my fault…”

Taemin’s arm was stiff and unwilling to be moved, but Minho could feel his skin shivering and a hiccup escaped his lips. When he looked up, he could see Taemin with a single tear running down his cheek as his eyes tried to find Minho’s eyes in his dark silhouette.

“I love you, Minho. You know, I tried to keep my feelings down but I just can’t. I don’t know if you feel the same way at all, but I felt like it needed to be said.” Taemin finished and turned his gaze down, his eyebrows furrowing as he let out a groan of pain. “Can you please get my pills now?”

Minho was unable to answer and simply nodded, his eyes wide as he turned from him to continue his work. “Love?” He thought. “Taemin… He loves me..?” Minho valued his life, so he obviously couldn’t say it back but… Did he feel the same way?

“I can’t. I can’t fall in love. Not now, especially not with him,” one voice in his head spoke.

“But why fight it anymore? If you die then it would have been for a worthy cause. He doesn’t deserve to be here, feeling alone,” said another.

When Minho turned back around, he saw Taemin, but it wasn’t in a way he had seen before. Yes, there was his soft skin and hair, and the other things that Minho loved but… 

“Sure, Tae. Anything for you.”

This was the best he could do for right now.

Minho reached back to grab the pills and gently touched Taemin’s chin to coax his mouth open. Taemin was still being hesitant and cold, but Minho knew it would work eventually because Tae’s hands were still chained. A few moments passed where Minho thought about not giving them to him and just leaving him be, but he shook his head and gave him the pills. 

Soon, Taemin was fast asleep, looking beautiful as ever even with his intubation and feeding tube. Minho sighed softly and, keeping his back toward the camera, took Taemin’s hand, bringing it up to kiss his palm quietly.

The ache in his heart begged Minho to at least whisper what he felt, get it out there, but… Something in him kept him from it. Was it Mr. Kim? Was it his own inhibition, his cowardice? He didn’t know.

Moments later, Minho packed his bag and left the room, stealing one last glance at Taemin before closing the door and trudging back to his dorm. Jonghyun and Onew were there, sleeping soundly and Minho vaguely wondered if they would ever experience anything like this in their lifetime.

That night was one of the worst he had ever had to live through, his dreams full of Taemin pushing him away and his cowardice swallowing him to nothing.

A/N: Hi, everyone... Well, hello to everyone that's actually stayed this long, hehe. First off, I am so, so sorry that this has taken this long to be put up. God, it's really been just over a year...

There's been a lot going on in my life especially since I am very close to graduating Highschool! I've gotten accepted into the college of my dreams and I have scholarship money waiting for me so I think I'm pretty on my way to the future! I'm also starring as Rosie in my theatre's production of Mamma Mia which is both exciting and stressful at the same time! I know my theatre kids out there reading this know what I mean, hehe.~

But yes... I have definitely put this on the back burner for a lot of reasons, the most prominent being school and just my own laziness because I am indeed a procrastinator. I know that this little chapter isn't anything to make up for how long it's been gone, but I hope all of you still enjoy it nonetheless! It does have a ton of drama going for it, hehe!

Anyway, thank you all for reading this chapter of Specimen! Please subscribe and comment to tell me what you thought of it! It really means the world to me whenever I see an encouraging comment or a new subscriber. It's an amazing feeling and I hope that all of you will continue this journey with me as I mature and change.

Now, will Minho admit that he has a crush or will he keep letting this crush him? Will Taemin's feelings finally being out there change anything? We won't know until next time!

I love you all! *hugs and waves* Until next update!... Whenever that may be!~