I can't believe I'm late but omg SHINee's back! Minho finally got back from the military and all 4 members got together <3 I knew something was up when I woke up in the middle of the night for no reason (my phone was off so I didn't get notification on Key's live Insta TT_TT CURSE YOU TIME DIFFERENCE). That news almost made me scream just from happiness!

So to celebrate their reuninion here is an early chapter and things are gonna heat up for our boys starting now

Taemin had been working on his group essay with Taeyong. They've been doing most of the work separately and online but now they are at the library doing it together. Right now they are putting the finishing pieces together, going over the paper one last time.

“Finally glad it's done,” Taemin shuts his laptop and puts it in his bag. He stretches his arms up as high as it can go. He had been in the same position for way too long. “Five pages is a lot of work including the amount of research. I heard we have more group essays to do for this class.”

“It isn't really that much if you count the spacing and roundabout wording,” Taeyong shrugs. “I'm just worried that the professor would comment that it's written like an essay or the references we put is not the correct format. I really hope that doesn't happen.”

Taemin groans at the thought. “If he does that, he is crazy.” Everything that is his is all clear from the table they were sharing, putting his backpack on. “I'm gonna head home. You?”

Taeyong shakes his head. “Nah, I got some work to do for my other classes so I'm gonna stay – oh yeah Taemin, are you going to participate the company tours?”

Taemin raises his eyebrow. “Company tours?”

“Our school gets to visit company offices' where we can network with recruiters and learn more about the company,” Taeyong explains. “It's a good way to land a job when we graduate. They have a big poster thing right at the 2^nd floor near the escalator.”

Taemin blinks. “I never thought of that before.”

“Well you should definitely sign up fast because they gonna close the period soon,” Taeyong said. “I'm gonna visit three of the companies listed for next week, it's good to start early.”

“I'll check it out later.”

With a wave of goodbye Taemin heads out of the library. He stops by a crepe stand for a snack as a job well done. He feels someone falling into steps beside him and he doesn't need to look to know who it is.

“I'm not sharing my crepe with you,” Taemin said as he ate. “Get your own, moocher demon hyung.”

Minho raises his eyebrow at the name. “I'm not even going to ask.”

Taemin shrugs as he nibbles on his crepe, ignoring the demon as he wished. He thinks back to what Taeyong had said about visiting the company offices as a way to network and land a job. He even passed by the big poster thing on the 2^nd floor to confirm. The thought of the unknown future makes Taemin feel unease. Thoughts like; is he on the right track? What grade can he get on his next midterm to fix his average? What classes should he take next semester?

Thoughts like these tend to put him in a particular mood. Taecyeon said he will do what he can on his end to plan Taemin's future but he doesn't want that. It doesn't feel right for him.

“Little one?” Minho looks at him with concern – or some form of concern because demons are weird. “Are you alright?”

Taemin doesn't pause his nibbling. “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You're eating the napkin.”

Taemin looks at the crepe in his hand. “Oh.” In his self-musing he didn't pay attention to what he's eating. The crepe concave into one side of his hand.

But with his mood he turns the crepe around and eats the other side like he hadn't been eating paper like a goat. He doesn't even care if Minho is frowning at him, the demon can buy his own crepe.

Taemin stops mid chew when Minho lightly places his hand over his own. “I'm serious,” Minho said. “Is something wrong?”

Taemin scrunches his lips at the offending hand. He laces his hand through Minho's, moving it away as he consumes the rest of the crepe in one go. “Adulting is hard.”

Minho blinks at the answer, watching Taemin stuff the last bite of the crepe like a squirrel. “That's not even a word.”

“Yes it is, just look it up on SNS,” Taemin wipes his mouth with the half-eatened napkin. “Not like a demon would know – do demons use SNS?”

He thought it would be end of discussion but Minho wasn't having any of it, even reaching down to wipe a stray crumb from the corner of his mouth he missed. Minho even has that look on his face when he doesn't like something. “Is something on your mind, little one?”

“There's always something on my mind,” Taemin replies. “You'll need to be more specific.”

Minho's thumb rubs close to the corner of Taemin's lips. “What is going on in that head of yours that you would end up eating a napkin?”

“It's nothing, demon hyung.” Taemin moves the offending hand away. “Maybe I just like the taste of napkin once in a while.”

At this point he doesn't bother to check if the demon is messing with him by only appearing in front of him but not others. And that incident on Saturday when Minho appeared in front of his friends is almost bad for his health. Luckily nothing out of the ordinary happened and Key had spam texted him to make sure he's alright.

But lately the way the demon is acting now confuses him. Almost like he actually cares for him. He starts to notice the small gestures the demon makes and how he responds. He doesn't feel lonely anymore. Maybe he dared to hope that he and the demon can become friends.

Taemin sighs. “I'm fine. I just have some things on my mind. It'll work out in the end.”

Minho furrows his brow, biting the bottom of his lip. But ultimately he conceded with a tilt of his head. “If you're sure.”

“Kai! Wait up!”

Kai had to hold back a snarl as Luhan tries to keep up. If he had been paired up with Baekhyun like last time, he could be wherever he wants by now. Unfortunately he couldn't ditch Luhan no matter how hard he tries.

Ever since meeting Taemin, he has become irritable over every little thing. He teleports to the clocktower whenever possible for a chance to see Taemin but to no avail. He ends up staying there for hours, trying to capture the remnant of Taemin's presence when it has been long gone. Their little moments etched deep into his non-existent heart.

“This will be our place, our little sanctuary.”

“Damnit Kai! Keep this up and I'm telling Suho!”

Kai inwardly groaned, finally stopping so Luhan can catch up to him. Luhan gasps for breath, clutching his knees. “What the hell has been going on with you?! Your legs are too long!”

Kai shrugs before continuing on in a much slower pace with Luhan keeping up. “Let's just get this over with and go home.”

“Chanyeol told me that Suho was thinking about moving us to another city for our meals,” Luhan said trying to make conversation. “There were a bunch of missing persons lately and the police is starting to get involved with more patrols and stuff. Do you think they are onto us?”

Kai doesn't say anything as he continues aimlessly, letting Luhan jabber away. Just as they were going to cross, a familiar fluff of hair caught his attention. The person is going in the opposite direction, Kai had to crane his neck until the person is out of view.

“Kai, what's wrong?” Luhan asked.

“N-nothing I –” Kai quickly walks in the direction of the person in interest. “Luhan I gotta go. I'll meet you back at the compound soon.”

“Wait Kai!”

Without another word Kai teleports away. He teleports to where he thinks the person of interest is heading just as the person is walking in his direction. When he realizes it's the person he's looking for, Kai smiles. “Taemin!”

Taemin looks up, recognizing Kai he smiles. “Kai!”

Taemin in all his glory has Kai feel breathless as he approaches. His oversized hoodie, his windswept hair, his little hands clutching onto his backpack's straps. The way his eyes light up and smile is what done him in.

The smile kept on as Kai rushes to approach him. “Hey Taemin, what's up?”

“Just going home for the day,” Taemin answers. “Got to finish up my paper.”

Kai just nods, follows Taemin who with his nonexistent sense of safety didn't question his presence. For some reason just being with Taemin feels right for Kai, even like this. And maybe Taemin feels the same way.

When they got to Taemin's neighborhood, Kai suddenly feels there is something odd. His eyes wide scanning everything around him from the buildings to the road, the uneven sidewalk. It all just felt surreal and familiar, tugging something inside his chest.

Taemin looks over at Kai curiously. “Kai, are you alright?”

“I'm fine,” Kai shakes his head. “Just feeling a little woozy.”

Just as he said it his stomach growl. Kai's cheeks colored at the timing causing Taemin to giggle behind his hand. He's supposed to be finding his meal with Luhan but he really didn't want to leave Taemin.

“I guess it's because you're hungry.”

He's hungry, a different type of hungry.

“Do you want to have ramen with me?”

If it was possible the coloring on Kai's cheeks spreads to his whole face all from his embarrassment. He wordlessly nods and follows Taemin to a small restaurant. The whole time he looks around the place and gets an unknown sense of feeling that hurts his head. The colors, the noise, the people. Even with Taemin sitting in front of him feels the same.

“You should get this,” Taemin points at the menu Kai didn't realize he's holding. “Don't worry, hyung will treat you.”

Kai chokes on the word. “Hyung?!”

Taemin giggles. “You said it felt weird for me to call you hyung,” he explains. “That means I'm the older one here.”

Kai gave an amused huff. “It feels weird to call you hyung when you are much smaller than me.”

“I'm still growing,” Taemin pouts. “Not everyone can be tall, deep voice and handsome like you.”

“You think I'm handsome?”

Realizing his mistake, Taemin quickly calls over the waiter to take their order. Kai watches with amusement the waiter was waiting for Kai to order first but it was Taemin who took the lead. He hide his smile behind the menu, watching Taemin turned bright red and fumbled their order.

When the waiter left, Taemin turns back to Kai. “If you're gonna be mean I'm not going to treat you, dongsaeng. I just got my allowance so I was feeling generous today.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kai makes some appeasing gestures. “I will be a good dongsaeng to you, Taeminnie hyung.”

For a beat they didn't say anything before they burst out laughing. It was an odd feeling but for Kai it just feels right.

They didn't have to wait long and barely ate their side dishes before their order came. To Kai who hasn't eaten food for a while, it looks so appetizing that his mouth watered at the sight. He watches Taemin out of the corner of his eye and follows his lead. When Taemin adds fried shallots to his noodles, Kai adds the same amount. When Taemin dips the quail egg into soy sauce, Kai follows suit. When Taemin eats the sauteed eel followed by the noodles, Kai eats the same way.

It looks like Taemin finally caught on when he catches Kai's eyes. “Are you copying me?!”

Kai coughs, quickly picking up some kimchi from the small plate. “Nope,” he said with his mouth full. “I just really like ramen.”

Taemin half-heartedly scoffs. “It's fine,” leaning back in his chair smirking. “I think it's cute that my dongsaeng would copy me. What year are you born anyway?”

“You're taking this hyung and dongsaeng thing in stride,” Kai said, purposely avoiding to answer the question. “I bet you're the maknae in your group.”

Taemin groans. “You have no idea how much I get treated like a baby because of my hyungs,” he complains. “For once I want to establish dominance and shout I'm the hyung here! We're only – I don't know – 2 or 3 years apart and still I'm a baby.”

“Exactly,” Kai wholeheartedly agrees. “I'm the second youngest in my group and I still get called a maknae. It's actually funny when my hyungs try to boss me around when most of them are shorter than me.”

“You have brothers?” Taemin tilts his head, curious. “And there are people even taller than you?”

“No, I meant my group,” Kai clarifies. “We're not related or anything but they are all that I have. And yes they are taller than me by a few or so centimeters.”

“I get it,” Taemin nodded. “I have a big brother but I was talking about my friends too. Honestly it's not a bad thing they treated me like a baby. They're all older than me and even though they treat me like a maknae I feel like I can always count on them. That they cared a lot about me.”

“Hmmm...” Kai taps the chopsticks he's been using for his ramen to his lips. “You know I think I prefer you as my hyung. You're much more tolerable than them.”

“Really?” Taemin asks, his eyes narrow suspiciously. “Is it because I treat you to food?”

Kai chuckles. “That and also none of them are as cute as you.”

Finishing their dinner Kai waits for Taemin to pay for their meal. Suddenly Taemin smacks his forehead causing Kai to look over him with concern of the sudden action. “Are you alright?”

“It's nothing,” Taemin waves him off. “I just realize I forgot to bring that ring the last time we met.”

Kai fondly smiles, bringing up his hand that has the ring. He felt happy when Taemin remembered what they talked about last time. Before meeting Taemin his ring is nothing but a dull accessory. Now it feels like a beautiful thread connecting them to each other.

“It's fine, Taemin,” Kai pats his shoulder, his hand lingers there as something stirs under it. “Maybe next time when we meet at the clocktower?”

He hates how he sounds and hopes Taemin doesn't notice the desperation in his voice.

“Of course,” Taemin replies smiling. “Let's meet up soon. I'll text you.”

The smile on Kai's lips become stiff, stopping himself from pointing out he doesn't have a phone. It doesn't lessen how he feels when they parted ways from the restaurant. And with Taemin's absence left him a blank space in his heart.

Kai's stomach growls as he rubs it. He just ate ramen with Taemin and yet he still feels hungry. Human food can't sustain him. He requires something more.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't noticed a blur coming towards him in a blink of an eye. He barely turns only to be caught by a hand to his throat, choking him as he was slammed into a wall.

Kai grunts at the impact, hands scrambling to the hand on his throat. “What the fu – ”

“What is your purpose with Lee Taemin?”

The man's voice is low and threatening. When the man didn't receive an answer, his fingers tightened their hold on Kai's neck causing Kai to choke on words and air. He finds himself off the ground by almost a foot just from the man's hold on him.

He managed to get his eyes open against the spots dancing behind his eyes. A handsome man close to his height he hasn't seen before. His eyes held an unearthly glow that it barely touches the surface of what he's capable of. The hold loosens up just barely for him to talk but the death grip is still there, with only one hand to hold him up off the ground.

“What?!” Kai manages, gasping out the word.

“I hate to repeat myself,” the unknown man reprimands, voice sharp and the hand on his neck tightens as a reminder. “What are you doing with Lee Taemin?”

“We were just eating dinner,” Kai chokes out, his feet dangles trying to find purchase. “Who the hell are you?! What the hell you want with Lee Taemin?!”

“Dinner?” the man says with a curious curl to his voice, “That doesn't sound right. You claimed to have ate –” his hand not holding Kai's throat moves, points at Kai's stomach just barely touching – “but I can hear your stomach growling. And yet – ” his hand slowly goes to the center of his body, pointing at where his heart should be – “the sound is coming from here...”

Kai swallows at the complication, his hands start to sweat and his eyes looking around wildly for a way out. He can't teleport while the man has a hold on him.

“The hell are you?!” Kai grunts. “You his stalker or something?!”

The man tilts his head and his free hand draws back. Kai watches in horror as black fire starts to form in his palm until it consumes his entire hand.

Black fire.

Kai's eyes widen, thrashing desperately against the man's tight unyielding grip. The black fire that burned Kris alive. What happened to Kris haunts him, the horror and desperation. This is the man who killed Kris.

And now he will kill Kai in the same manner.

“I wonder – ” the man glances down at his own flame covered hand, contemplating – “if you are even human.”

Kai gasps, desperation kicking over drive now. He kicks back hard at the wall he's being held against to push his body. Surprised the man loosens his hold for only a second. It's all that Kai needed to teleport out of there.

And he succeeds. He finds himself hands and knees on stone pavement, gasping for air immediately coughing. He shakes, trying to breathe past the convulsion of his throat, his forehead pressing down on the ground. In what seems forever, he drags himself up, clutching the wall for support to see where he teleported.

The top of the clocktower.

Kai collapse against the wall in relief. Thankfully the dangerous man is no where in sight. He tentatively touches his neck, it hurts and sure enough to bruise from the unknown man's death grip. And just from a glance at his reflection feels like a heavy collar formed on his neck. The pain throbs but the fear lingers on what he could have escaped his death.

Kai shudders, clutching himself tightly.

“I can't believe I forgot to ask for his phone number.”

Taemin wistfully looks back at the direction he left the restaurant. Meeting Kai had lifted up his mood and enjoys spending time with him. He was in such a good mood that he forgot to do the most obvious thing. Exchanging phone numbers.

“Taemin you are so stupid,” he scolds himself. “Maybe I'll see him at school. Better yet, maybe I can catch up to him.”

Movement behind him caught his eye. “Demon hyung?”

Greeting him is not Minho he comes to realize. It's someone unfamiliar who towers over him. Everything about the person feels cold and dangerous that has Taemin instinctively take a step back.

Taemin swallows his nervousness and meets the stranger's eyes. “Can I help you with something?”

A chilled smile is his answer before his vision turns dark.

So in case any of you missed the Umbrella Academy reference, here it is again lol

I added a taekai tag just because at this point of the fic there is more chemistry there than 2min and Kai is considered the competing love/friend/whoknows interest (not giving everything away :)). The endgame will still be 2min. If you adore taekai you might want to check out my fic Never Gonna Fly Again and I do hope you leave some feedback (comment, subscribe, upvote).

With that said check out my doodle of Onew on my twitter if you get the chance! It's based on the MV Blue but it does have something to do with Onew's origins in this fic. Show some love!

And I do have future fic/fanart projects that are demanding my attention. It's all mumble jumble in my head but it does involve vampires and Jojo (these 2 things may or may not be separate

Until next time!

Edit: I added the gif anyway lol