Kissing Key was terrible. Her eyelashes were clumped together because she had cried too much and the tip of her nose was colder than Taemin’s feet. In all honesty, it was worse than Taemin’s first ever kiss, which had happened in a cramped bathroom stall in middle school.

Every single one of the countless times Taemin had imagined kissing Key, he had thought it would be perfect. He had dreamt of soft lips and blushing cheeks and shy smiles.

But what he got instead were the cold, and the salty tear tracks below Key’s eyes and the bruise blooming on her face. It wasn’t perfect at all, yet all Taemin wanted was more.

At first he was perplexed when Key’s lips landed on his, but today so many weird and unexpected things had happened already that he kissed back immediately. That quickly shut his brain up, too.

There were no more thoughts, no more questions, just Key and Taemin in the cold. After a few seconds, Key pulled away with a shaky breath. It took Taemin a little while to awaken from his trance, but when he finally did, it hit him.

Key had kissed him.

Taemin’s eyes widened as he stared at Key incredulously. Why had she done that? Didn’t she love Jonghyun?

At Taemin’s shocked expression, Key quickly averted her eyes to look at the ground. Her fringe covered the upper half of her face messily, but Taemin could still see her bottom lip quiver dangerously.

He wanted to open his mouth to say something to her, but his muscles didn’t listen to him. It was her turn to talk, not his, and Taemin knew that all too well – he just didn’t want to make Key cry again. That had never been his goal.

After a long while of tense, awkward silence, Key cleared as if she was ready to speak now. However, before anything could come out of , something cold and wet landed right on Taemin’s forehead.

Startled, he looked up only to be hit by more drops of water. That was when Taemin realized how dark the sky had become – it was raining.

“I don’t-“ Key started, but she shut up again when more and more rain fell down from the sky, the rate at which the droplets hit the ground increasing rapidly.

“!” Taemin cursed, momentarily forgetting about the matter at hand. “We need to go somewhere else.”

“There isn’t a shelter anywhere close.”

Key looked at him with sad eyes while the rain hit her mussed-up hair and ran down her swollen cheek. Her lips had a blue shimmer to them, Taemin noticed. She had to be freezing and the rain was making it worse.

“We need to call someone for real, noona,” he told Key, failing to suppress his own shivers. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you, but we need to get away from here and somewhere dry and warm.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have my phone,” she said in a broken whisper, but Taemin shook his head.

“I’ve got mine. Do you know Jonghyun’s number by heart?”

“N-no, please not hyung!” Key’s eyes were shining with panic again as she weakly raised her hands to stop Taemin. “I don’t want him to know about this. He’s been struggling so much lately, he doesn’t need another worry to add up to his own. Please don’t tell him!”

Taemin bit the tip of his tongue until he felt a piercing pain that helped him think more clearly.

“Then Minho-hyung,” he decided. “I’ll call Minho-hyung or I’ll take you to my place where my parents are.”

“G-go on, call Ming.”

Taemin’s fingers practically flew from character to character as he typed Minho’s name into his phone. He was incredibly glad that he had saved the tall boy’s number just this week, without even knowing when it would come in handy.

His heart was beating too fast as he pressed the phone against ear which was hurting from the cold. The second Minho picked up, Taemin began to talk, “hyung, you gotta help me. I’m here at the park near Key’s house – I’m with noona, and it’s really starting to rain right now.

“W-we had to leave in a hurry, there was an incident with noona’s dad. Anyway, can you please pick her up? It’s really cold.”

Taemin heard Minho’s quiet curse at the other end of the line before the older responded, “alright, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes since I can’t drive. Do I need to bring anything?”

“Umbrellas would be nice. And shoes? We left our shoes at noona’s place.”

The line went dead and despite the cold and the rain that was beginning to soak through his clothes, Taemin let out a sigh of relief.

“He’s coming, noona,” he mouthed to Key, who was hugging her legs, shivering.

Without thinking twice, Taemin wrapped his arm around her shoulders again and pulled her close. It was as if the kiss had never happened. The only thing that mattered now was keeping each other somewhat warm.

As they sat in the rain waiting for Minho, Taemin realized Key was still wearing her over-knees. They were ruined now, covered in mud and grass, and it pained Taemin to think about how much Key loved them.

He would get her new ones as soon as possible, Taemin told himself as he held on to her.

The two of them were still huddled together like penguins in the rain when Taemin finally saw a tall person approaching. At first, Minho was only a blurry figure due to the heavy rain, but he seemed to be carrying an umbrella and other things Taemin and Key desperately needed right now.

As soon as he spotted them, Minho began to jog, falling onto his knees when he reached them. His hands shot out of his pockets and with expert movements, he began to run his fingers over Key’s injured face.

At the sight of her eye, he let out a quiet hiss, but unlike Taemin, Minho didn’t seem too fazed by the bruise. This couldn’t be the first time Minho had to deal with this, Taemin hazily thought as he forced himself to focus on the older.

“H-hyung,” he murmured, “sh-shoes?”

“I’ve got them, Taemin, here you go!”

Minho tossed him a pair of trainers which Taemin quickly put on after getting rid of his soaked socks. He felt sorry for ruining Minho’s shoes with his wet feet, but anything was better than walking on bare soles.

When Taemin turned back to Minho, he found him whispering to Key, yet he couldn’t make out what was being said. Finally, Minho’s back straightened and he pulled up Key’s almost lifeless body with him.

“She’s coming with me,” he said as he held the umbrella above both of their heads, as if Key wasn’t already drenched. “Are you coming, too?”

Minho seemed genuinely worried about Taemin and his frown deepened noticeably when the younger shook his head.

“My home isn’t far, I think…I need to be alone for a bit,” Taemin choked out, suddenly overwhelmed by everything that had happened within the last hours. “Please take care of her, hyung!”

“Call me when you arrive!” Minho told him.

However, when Taemin was about to turn away, he reached for his arm and squeezed it.

“I’ll see you at school on Monday. Don’t worry too much, Min, it’s going to be alright. If you need anyone to talk to, I’m here…”

“Thanks, hyung.”

As Taemin walked away, he began to cry quietly.

____________________________

When Taemin returned home, his mother was already waiting for him. Of course she made a huge fuss, demanding to know why he had turned up completely soaked and with shoes she had never seen before.

However, being the loving mother she was, she also made sure Taemin could take a hot bath although he hadn’t explained anything to her.

Taemin let her be. He let her fret while he was lost in his own thoughts. He didn’t tell her that every kind word of hers and every gentle touch made him feel sick because they reminded him of how parents were actually supposed to be – caring, understanding.

Every time the memories of Key and her father came back up again, Taemin wanted to scream. He wanted to cover his eyes and bury himself under his blankets until his brain was finally silent.

But there was nothing he could do against the horrible pictures that kept coming back to him.

As promised, Taemin called Minho when he had safely arrived. The elder seemed relieved that Taemin was alright, but he didn’t say anything about Key’s condition and Taemin didn’t dare to ask.

He didn’t eat dinner that night, instead going straight to bed. Taemin had thought he would fall asleep immediately because he felt so tired. The exhaustion was stuck deep inside his bones yet the second he was alone in the dark, Taemin remembered everything.

His chest ached when he thought about the way Key’s father had insulted her before launching a physical attack. How had he never known?

Now that he had witnessed Key’s father’s violence, Taemin realized Key had never mentioned him in her stories. She had never confirmed that he accepted her as she was, but she had always seemed tense when talking about him.

How often did he hit her? Was this a regular occurrence? And why hadn’t she wanted Taemin to call the police?

Taemin couldn’t answer all these questions on his own – it was simply impossible. Throughout the whole weekend, he had to suffer because of his own unknowingness and every time he thought about Key, he prayed that she had recovered at least a bit.

Taemin had completely banned the kiss from his mind, even if he was dying to know why Key had acted like this. However, her well-being was much more important than Taemin’s feelings, so he tried not to think about it.

On Monday, Taemin forced himself to go to school although he had hardly slept the last two nights. Nonetheless, he knew he needed to go for the sake of talking to Key and getting some of the answers he needed so desperately.

When he caught a glimpse of Jongin in the hallway, Taemin felt a pang in his chest. His best friend had never mentioned his father being abusive; he had never suffered any visible injuries either – so did his father only hit Key? And did Jongin know about it?

In his sleep-deprived state, Taemin bumped against another student while walking, the impact almost making him tumble to the ground. However, he managed to regain his balance one second and found himself leaning against someone’s locker the next.

The mass of people moving through the corridor made him dizzy. No matter how hard he looked, he didn’t spot Key’s familiar black fringe. Instead, there was a sea of students he had never seen before, who were chatting away in obnoxiously loud voices.

Taemin bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood, hoping the pain would keep him somewhat sane. Suddenly, he heard someone call his name and whipped around immediately.

“Taemin!”

It was Minho. The tall senior was walking towards him, towering over most other people in the hallway. When he reached Taemin, he let his eyes wander over him once before he shook his head.

“You look like . Let’s go somewhere else.”

“H-hyung, I have school,” Taemin protested weakly as Minho pulled him away, but he didn’t mean it.

In reality, he doubted he would make it through a single lesson this morning. First, he needed to see Key and make sure she was alright.

Taemin’s stomach was churning with nervousness as he let himself be dragged along by Minho, who seemed to know where he was going. After a while, they reached one of the school’s back entrances which was hardly used by any students in the morning.

In front of the door, Minho stopped.

“Let’s go outside for a bit, shall we? Hyung will buy you a coffee and then we can talk a bit.”

“But my teacher,” Taemin said again.

“It’s no problem. We’ll type out an excuse saying you were sick and…I’m pretty good at copying handwriting. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.”

Taemin had meant for his voice to sound firm, but instead it came out croaky. Minho didn’t comment on it, though, pushing the door open instead and leading Taemin outside. The two walked in silence for a while, getting further and further away from the school.

Soon it was eight o’clock and Taemin knew he should be in class right now. However, he couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty.

When they passed by a coffee shop, Minho made Taemin wait outside for a few minutes before coming out with two steaming plastic cups.

“Take it,” he told Taemin and the younger gratefully obeyed – god knew he needed the caffeine badly right now.

“Let’s sit,” Minho said and pointed to a nearby bench.

Taemin only nodded. He knew what was about to come, but what he didn’t know was if he was ready for it. His heart began to pound faster as he sat down, holding the coffee cup with both hands.

“So,” Minho started in a voice much quieter and softer than his usual, “I don’t fully know what happened on Friday. I can imagine it but…maybe you should tell me from the beginning.”

“I…” Taemin started but quickly interrupted himself. “Where is Key?”

“Kibum is with Jonghyun,” Minho replied. “He’s sick, this whole…thing was too much for him. At first he was with me but he kept getting worse so I called Jonghyun-hyung.”

Taemin swallowed audibly. He still remembered how Key had begged him not to call Jonghyun in an attempt to spare him additional worries. Kibum’s condition must have been terrible if he had actually caved.

“We wanted to go to the movies together,” Taemin recounted, his voice not yet shaking. “Key called me up and told me she needed company and I didn’t want her to be alone. I came to pick her up but she needed to change and…”

Taemin let out a shaky breath, trying to keep calm although the memory brought tears to his eyes.

“…she went downstairs. It took her quite a while so I went looking for her, but when I came down the stairs her father was there. He started y-yelling and I got really startled at first because I didn’t see her – I thought he meant me.

“And then… Then he said really terrible things to her and sh-she was crying, but I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t move an inch. And her dad ripped off her wig and dragged her up the stairs and then he- he hit her two or three times, I don’t know anymore, but it was terrible. I don’t- I should have helped her.”

Taemin sniffled. He had tried so hard to keep calm in front of Minho, but he hadn’t been unable to stop the tears from running down his cheeks rapidly. A few drops fell into his coffee cup, making the liquid slosh upwards and run over his thumb.

“Taemin-ah…”

Minho’s voice sounded apologetic as he took Taemin’s hand.

“It’s okay, Min. I know it’s hard, it was hard to witness that. It’s terrible and cruel and I hate it just as much as you do, but it’s not your fault. Please believe me. There’s nothing you could have done better. You did a great job at getting Key out of there.”

“B-but she still got hurt, hyung.”

“I know she did. But Taemin…”

Minho looked at Taemin intently, as if he wanted to make sure he was really listening.

“Key was already hurt many times before that. I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth.”

“Why would her father even do something like that?” Taemin sobbed as he held on to Minho’s hand tightly. “It’s so cruel! She was begging him not to hurt her, hyung, yet he still did. I don’t understand…”

“Listen, Taemin. I can’t tell you the whole story because I don’t know everything. No one but Key does. But I can try to explain it to you as well as I possibly can, alright?”

“Go on…”

Taemin was aware that he looked terrible with red eyes and snot sticking to his nose, but he was willing to listen to Minho. Anything was better than knowing nothing at all.

“When I first saw Key’s bruises, we had already been friends for a year or so. It happened on accident when we were changing in the locker rooms at the gym. You know Key’s always shy when changing, so we waited until we were the only ones left.

“I saw them and immediately confronted Key about them, but she found excuses. But a few weeks later she showed up on my doorstep after having been beaten up badly, so I guess she already trusted me enough to share this with me.”

Minho sighed deeply as he recounted his own experiences with Key and her father so far.

“From what she told me, I know that her dad doesn’t beat her often. He doesn’t accept Key as she is, so when he sees her wearing feminine clothes or wigs he flips. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but her father also keeps making disrespectful comments when one of her friends is around. It’s subtle but noticeable.

“Key’s never really relaxed when he’s home. It’s a good thing his working hours are so predictable or else it would be a whole different kind of mess…”

Minho trailed off and Taemin couldn’t speak either. He needed a few moments to process all of this newly gained information. The thought that Key was suffering at home still made him feel sick.

It was no wonder she’d had such a hard time trusting him at first, if her own dad hurt her on a regular basis.

“Does Jongin know about this?” Taemin finally rasped out. “Does…his dad do it to him as well?”

“He doesn’t,” Minho immediately said. “It’s only a thing between him and Key. I’m not even sure if Jongin knows about this whole thing. I think Key once mentioned that her dad never hits her when Jongin is there.”

“Actually,” Minho in air through his nostrils before blowing it out the same way, “there’s another thing you should know about. Key is suffering, but she doesn’t think her father is wrong to hurt her. She keeps finding excuses for him.”

“Oh god…”

Taemin wanted nothing more than to bury his face in his hands, but he was still holding the coffee which had gone cold by now.

“I know.”

Minho looked at him with eyes full of sorrow.

“I… When you talk to Kibum, you’ll see what I mean.”

“Alright.”

Taemin felt like he was lying. Nothing was alright, not when Kibum – Key – was hurting like this. He thought he would never be able to wrap his head around this whole situation – it would always seem surreal to him.

“How do you deal with it?”

Minho shrugged.

“I try my best to help somehow,” he said. “I comfort Key and offer her a safe space. But in the end, we’re all powerless.”

The last words carried a bitterness that Taemin had never heard in Minho’s voice before, a bitterness that made him shudder. He had been beating himself up over things had turned out last Friday, but suddenly he realized he wasn’t the only one with regrets.

Maybe he really couldn’t have done anything to help Key.

It’s okay, hyung, he wanted to tell Minho. You’re doing great. Key trusts and needs you so much.

But the words didn’t come out. Instead, Taemin said, “I don’t wanna go back to school, hyung.”

“It’s okay, Min,” Minho said with a small smile. “I have volleyball practice soon since we’re playing an important tournament in spring, so I get to pass class today. You can come and watch. I’ll tell them you’re my little cousin and you’re not feeling well or whatever. It’s okay not to go to school for one day.”

He sounded absolutely genuine and Taemin felt relieved. He knew he wasn’t ready to face Key yet, but he also couldn’t pretend everything was normal.

Suddenly, he remembered something that made him freeze for a second.

“Hyung?” he quietly called out to Minho. “There’s another thing. It’s just like you said it would be – I realized I…I’m in love with Kibum. I’m stillin love…”

_________________________________

if i said i hated the last chapter, i'll know say that i rlly like this one. it might be bc i absolutely love minho's character - he's just so kind and caring and doesn't get enough spotlight. in general, minho x taemin interactions are probably my favourite to write (uwu). 

also, you might want to know that i'm finally free - i had my last two finals last week (monday & wednesday) and as of now, i am only doing what i want to do. for the first time in like, two years, i am not stressing myself anymore bc there's nothing i absolutely need to do (like studying). i'm also proud of myself bc i got the best grade (which is 1.0 in germany) and i worked rlly damn hard for this - i reached all of my goals and i'm happy abt that.

i'm hoping that june will treat you all kindly - see you next week.