So here is the long-awaited third chapter of Sick Taeminnie!  I'm really sorry to have left this un-updated for so long but I am determined to finish it now that I have lots of free time. ^^  I hope you guys like this, I worked really hard on this chapter.  I think this might actually be the longest chapter yet!  Please enjoy this chapter!

Key was intensely worried about his Taebaby and it showed as he nervously fluttered around their kitchen, waiting for the water for the tea and coffee to boil.  

‘Oh I hope he’ll be okay...  My poor baby must be feeling so bad right now.’ 

Key’s worried thoughts were spiraling through his head and he wanted nothing more than to be back at Taemin’s side where he could keep an eye on him.  Jonghyun then entered the kitchen, his muscled arms full of blankets from various rooms in the dorm, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the anxious diva pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

He set the blankets down on the table and walked up behind Key and wrapped his arms around the slender waist of his boyfriend. Key leaned back into Jonghyun’s chest and kissed his cheek gently as he relaxed for the first time that night.

“Yoebo, Taeminnie will be okay.  We’ve just gotta watch him for a few days and take good care of him and then he’ll be back to his usually happy and cute self.”  His voice was warm and soothing and the comforting words helped to relax Key some more.

Although Jonghyun was trying to downplay the situation to soothe his boyfriend he was truly very concerned for their Taemin.  Since SHINee’s formation Jonghyun had taken the particular role of the protective big brother to Taemin, he was always making sure that no one was hurting Taemin and that he was happy.  He was the one that would go pick up Taeminnie from school most of the time if Onew was busy. Key always stayed home to make Taemin an afternoon snack for when he got home- he was a growing boy after all- and Minho was coming home from school at the same time as Taemin and since his school was farther away he couldn’t make it to Taemin’s school in time to walk home with him.  He was also the one that got the angriest upon hearing that Taemin was being bullied at school.  He could remember the day that they found out so clearly...

It was just over 2 months since the 5 boys started living together in the dorm.  They were preparing for their debut which wasn’t for a few more months and they were adjusting to living together and growing closer to each other as they learnt more about one another.  Things were going well for the five boys and- although they didn’t know it at the time- they were slowly becoming a family.

This was one of the increasingly-rare free days that the trainees had: they had no recordings or dance practices, no errands to run and Minho had no school for the day due to some minor construction on the school building.  The only one who had to leave the dorm was Taemin who sadly couldn’t spend the day with his hyungs because his school was open.

Key handed Taemin his backpack and his lunch and made sure that his uniform was straight as the boy put his shoes on. 

“Okay Taeminnie, we’ll see you later.  Onew and Minho will pick you up from school today so you’ll have lots of company on the way home!  Jonghyun, make sure Tae gets to school on time; I don’t want a repeat of last week when you got distracted and you two ended up getting lost and had to call home for directions to the school!  Understand?” 

Key brandished his spatula as a warning and Jonghyun raised his hands in submission.  He’d gotten plenty of whacks from Kibum’s Almighty Spatula over the last couple months, especially after the incident Key was currently talking about, and he did not want to get anymore so he would try his hardest to get Taemin to school on time. 

“Yeah I get it Kibum, I promise I’ll get him there on time today.”  “Good, now get going you two!” 

The two teens made their way out the door, Taemin happily waving goodbye to Minho and Onew who came out of the kitchen to see them off- Onew with a chicken leg in one hand (Of course XD) and Minho holding the milk carton.  Taemin started walking to the elevators as Jonghyun closed the door after waving to Onew and Minho as well.

“Ah wait Jonghyun!  Taemin forgot his mp3 player in the kitchen, just hold on to it until you get to the school or else he’ll just put it in his bag and forget where it is when he needs it.  Give it to him there and make sure he puts it in his pocket.”  “Okay, I will.  See you guys in a little while!”

And so Jonghyun and Taemin made their way to the school, making comfortable small talk and playing around with each other so that the walk to the school seemed like it was over quickly.

“Alright Tae, we’re here with time to spare!  Now I don’t have to worry about Key smacking me with his spatula!”  Jonghyun whooped happily and jumped around as Taemin giggled at his hyung’s behaviour.

“See you when I get home hyung, thanks for walking me!”  Taemin gave Jonghyun a tight hug and the older boy hugged him back and ruffled his hair with a bright grin before gently pushing him towards the schoolyard.

After making sure Taemin got onto the school grounds safely Jonghyun began his walk home alone, putting his hands in his pockets as a sharp breeze blew by.  He then realized that he forgot to give Taemin his mp3 player!  He groaned and smacked a hand to his forehead, knowing that Key would smack him with that dang spatula if he didn’t go give it to the maknae; luckily there was a walking distance between the gates and the doors to the school so he could catch Taemin before he went inside since he had only just gone in.

He jogged into the school yard and immediately started scanning the crowd of students for Taemin.  He finally spotted him about forty feet away from the entrance and saw that there was a small group of students standing in front of him.  Jonghyun thought that they were probably just Taemin’s school friends- he never really talked about school outside of what happened in class that day and the members just assumed he wanted to keep his friends to himself- and so he slowed to a walk, knowing that Taemin wasn’t going inside right away and he didn’t have to freak out.  But as he drew closer to the group he started to think that those kids probably weren’t Taemin’s friends.  They didn’t seem like they were having a friendly chat, they were... they were laughing at Taemin!!  Jonghyun started to jog to Taemin, feeling very protective in that moment.

“Taemin!”  Just as Taemin turned towards him one of the bullies took the opportunity and shoved him to the ground; Taemin was caught off guard and fell hard onto his back, letting out a shocked and slightly pained cry at the impact.  Jonghyun was almost 100% certain he saw red as Taemin hit the ground and all he could hear was Taemin’s cry and the mocking laughter of the bullies.  When he reached the fallen boy he shoved the bully that had pushed Taemin back, as he was standing over Taemin and laughing at him, and immediately knelt at Tae’s side.

The maknae looked up at him, his big brown eyes dazed and looking up at his hyung as if he were shocked to see him there.

 “H-hyung?!  I t-thought you went home!”  His eyes grew teary.  He had promised himself to never let his hyungs find out about this.  Ever.

Jonghyun ignored Taemin’s statement, he needed to know if Taemin was okay.  “Are you hurt?”

“H-huh?” 

“I said: Are. You. Hurt?”  Jonghyun’s eyes were blazing with barely controlled fury and he had his teeth bared in an angry scowl but it was not at Taemin, it was directed at the bullies that had done this to him.  Taemin had never seen his hyung like this in the time he’d known him and he found himself answering before he realized his mouth was moving, “I’m okay hyung, my back hurts a bit though.”

Jonghyun pulled the maknae to his feet and gently dusted him off.  He then grabbed Taemin’s shoulders gently and pulled him close so that he was facing Jonghyun and not the bullies, who hadn’t moved since Jonghyun had shown up.

“Do they do this to you a lot?”  Taemin looked at his feet and nodded ever so slightly, tears welling up in his eyes.

“E-every day, hyung.”  His voice was small and weak: he was ashamed that he had let this happen.

 Jonghyun’s hands tightened on Taemin’s shoulders and he used one hand to gently push up the younger boy’s chin.  “This isn’t your fault Taeminnie and I am going to make sure that this never happens again.”

He softly wiped a couple tears from Taemin’s cheek and then turned around on the bullies with a threatening glare.  His eyes zeroed in on the one who pushed Taemin- the ringleader of the group, it seemed- and stalked close to him until he was practically chest-to-chest with him; Jonghyun may have been shorter than the student but he was really scary when he was angry and it was clear that the kid was truly scared of Jonghyun.

“If I hear that you or any of your friends ever lays a hand on him again trust me you will see me again and I will have some friends with me that will not be happy to hear that you’ve been messing with Taemin.  And if you think that I’m scary right now then trust me you will wish that it was me when you meet one of those friends because he is utterly terrifying when he’s mad.” [A/N:  I’m sure everyone knows who that is.]  The bully nodded frantically and he and his friends ran into the school as fast as they could when the bell rang.

Jonghyun then grabbed Taemin’s hand and dragged him out of the school yard, turning down the street to head back to the dorm.  Taemin could only helplessly follow his hyung, tears still streaming down his face.  Taemin rarely ever cried but now that his hyung knew that he was being bullied- a secret he had tried so hard to keep from the members so that they wouldn’t worry- and the knowledge that he was about to tell all the other hyungs about it was just too much for the poor boy to handle.

It took minutes to get back to the dorm and the second they were inside Jonghyun slammed the door shut behind them.  “Yah!  Kim Jonghyun, don’t go slamming doors like that when you come in the house!” Kibum’s voice came from the kitchen where the diva then emerged from, brandishing his spatula again.

“Look Key you can hit me with the spatula as much as you want but only after we deal with this problem.”

 “What problem?!”  Key was confused and irate and wanted answers from Jonghyun ASAP.  Minho and Onew came out of the living room with confused looks on their faces to see what all the yelling was about.

“This problem!”  He then pulled Taemin out from where he’d been hiding behind his back, trying to keep his hyungs from seeing his tears.  The three others gasped at Taemin’s appearance and they rushed forward full of questions. “Minnie, what happened?  Are you alright?”  “Why aren’t you at school, Taebaby?”  “Taemin, are you crying?”

Jonghyun shushed the others, his eyes promising to tell them the whole story later, and just gathered the trembling maknae close and gestured for the others to join in the hug.  So the five teenagers stood in the entrance to their home and just tried to comfort their poor hurt maknae and this moment unknowingly cemented a bond between them that would stay in their hearts for the rest of their lives.  This was truly the day that SHINee was born.

“Yoebo?  Jonghyun? Helloooo!  Earth to Kim Jonghyun!” Jonghyun was suddenly brought out of his memories at his boyfriend’s irritated voice.  “Um yeah?  Sorry I was just thinking about something.”

Key just cocked an eyebrow at him and blew out a slightly annoyed, slightly amused huff but let it go.  The electric kettle went off suddenly, signalling that the water was done boiling and Kibum went to grab the tea and coffee for them to drink. 

Jonghyun leaned his elbows on the pile of blankets on the table and watched Key bustle around the kitchen with a content smile on his face.  He had the best friends a guy could ask for, an amazing boyfriend whom he loved and a successful career with SHINee that he had no doubt would continue for many years- his life was perfect.

Suddenly Minho’s panicked voice ripped through the silence in the dorm.  "Taemin, hold on! Please hang on Minnie, please! I- I LOVE YOU TAEMIN!"

Key and Jonghyun looked at each other in panic and they both raced towards the bedroom, the same thought on their minds. ‘Please be okay Taemin!’

I hope you guys liked this chapter!  I like the JongKey parts I put in and Key's Almighty Spatula! XD  I've also always liked how Jonghyun is really like a big brother to Taemin so I put a lot of that into the flashback.   Thanks to all my subscribers and please don't hesitate to comment on this chapter!  ^^ 

Btw this isn't really a cliffhanger, it's just kind of filling in on what Key and Jonghyun are doing while Taeminnie and Minho are talking in the last chapter.  The next chapter will be Onew's turn and hopefully I can pull together some sort of cute scenario for our favourite Dubu Leader. ^^