After the awkward silence Minho and Taemin had shared, Taemin decided to help Minho with placing some of his stuff in the room. Being the bubbly and kind person he was, he gave Minho some advice and asked if he could help along, which Minho answered yes at. Taemin had smiled the whole time, while the not so full room became a bit fuller with Minho's stuff and even seemed to be a bit more vivid. Taemin sat down when they were done and blushed from Minho's deep voice that thanked him for helping him out. The only thing he did was mumbling a 'you're welcome' back, but he wasn't sure if Minho had heard that or not.

With another awkward silence, Taemin saw Minho glaring at him with a soft smile. “I'm going to visit Yoogeun now.” Taemin nodded and quickly laid on his bed with his big book placed in his face to hid his blush, and started to read the interesting things again. Well, maybe that was, but he actually was bored to read all these things. Algebra was maybe something he was good at, but for real, he seriously hated it dearly.

Humming, he skipped the next page and stopped at the first sentence. Did I heard Minho going out, or--? Taemin couldn't remember if he had heard Minho's footsteps, and realized it had been silenced for a little while now. Curious, he placed the thick book down and glared at his left, being surprised to see Minho still sitting there. His handsome face was pointed to the window in the middle of their wall and beds, his big eyes widened more than that they already were. Taemin raised a brow from admiration and turned his head to the window where Minho's gaze was. A smile appeared on Taemin's lips when he looked at a pigeon sitting on the nightstand, carefully washing and shaking his feathers.

Minho gasped, as the pigeon stopped and moved over to Taemin's way. Taemin laughed from Minho's dumbfounded face and held up his finger, that the pigeon hopped on.  “Hey. Hello there, Minnie.”

Taemin smiled at Minnie's pigeon sound and looked up to see Minho's mouth hanging on the ground, figuratively. He laughed.

“Y-you.. A-and that pigeon..” Minho stuttered out, blinking and then rubbing his eyes if it was real what he was seeing. “Yes. It's weird, huh? This is a wood pigeon. A very rare bird in this country. He suddenly showed up when I was born, and since then, he always showed up on the nightstand or on places that I can see him, letting me know that he somewhat takes care of me and looks after me. We became close, being friends, and we always mention to stay with each other. Whenever you see him, you will see me. That's the funny thing. But he is unsure when it comes to other humans, he only trusts me, by the way.”

Minnie made another pigeon noise again, that changed Taemin's face and made him go looking for something in his drawers. The pigeon stayed standing on his finger, even though Taemin was shaking his hand a bit, and titled when his head when Taemin showed a little bag of food that was mentioned for him. Taemin threw some on the nightstand and the pigeon hopped over to eat it gratefully.

“Awesome, don't you think?” Taemin gazed from the bird to Minho and grinned from the still dumbfounded and, somewhat hilarious, face he gave. “They are marvelous creatures. You want to feed him, too? Here, have a try.”

The youngster scattered the seed for the bird in his hand and showed it to the elder. Minho seemed to be hesitated and thinking, but he soon opened his hand and let the seed fell in his hand. He slowly moved his hand to the nightstand, as the wood pigeon flinched. He said no words, showing that his aura was calm and bright, and threw the seed gently to the bird that seemed to jump away first. Taemin glanced at Minnie that did looked scared, not feeling comfortable at all. After a few seconds, the pigeon reacted carefully while hopping over and picked the seed up.

Happiness and warmth filled his body, as Taemin looked from the bird to Minho, that showed a huge smile. The two exchanged a glance, before looking back at the bird again. To borth their surprise, the wood pigeon had jumped of the nightstand and now stood on Minho's cabinet. “Wow.” Minho's eyes widened. Just when the bird looked up and connected his gaze with Minho, Taemin's stomach arched as the butterflies tried to find a way to escape.

“He.. He seems to like you.” He spat out. Minho frowned. “He does?”

The pigeon then flew up from the cabinet, that made both Minho and Taemin shock, and flew out of the room, dissapearing outside in the cold dark night. “Yeah, or he wouldn't even had stand on your cabinet and.. He stared at you! Oh my God. It's just that.. You seemed to won his trust already. That's.. good.”

“And strange.” Minho answered. “You said that he only trusted you, a few minutes ago.”

“I still can't understand that, either.” He honestly said, sounding a bit sad. For all those years, he had learned from the wood pigeon that the bird didn't liked humans, and didn't even dared to look them in the eye, except for himself then. But this sudden movement from Minnie was rather strange and unusual. Did Minnie gave Taemin some sign that he still wasn't getting? Maybe. Taemin didn't knew back then. He could only blink and stay in thoughts. It even was so deep, that he didn't noticed Minho leaving the room silently, to check up on his younger brother.

----------

“And? Is everything going well with Yoogeun?” Taemin asked as Minho stepped inside the room from visiting his younger brother. Minho gave a pensive glare and bit his lip. “Yes. I think so. He sure was happy to see me again.”

“Ten o'clock. It's time to go to sleep. Lights out and don't you dare to come out of your bed until it's tomorrow morning!”

Minho jumped up from the voice that came out of nowhere. With Taemin's laughter in his ear, Minho looked up at the little boxes in his room that must have transferred the voice through the room. He sighed, and closed the door so that he could crawl inside his bed. Warm and safely, he thucked himself in and turned to Taemin to wish him a good night before he turned off the lights. Minho closed his eyes immediately, and felt his body drift off.

Suddenly, he heard a squeak. His eyes flashed open to see Taemin crying face in front of him and backed away from shock. When he calmed down, he ressured the younger one with a few words in a calm tone, just like he always did with Yoogeun-ah, and  the tears away. Taemin sobbed quietly and hiccuped from the question he wanted to give. He took a breath before doing so. “Minho, can I sleep with you?”  

If Minho wasn't pulled against the wall, he sure would've falling out of his bed while hearing that question.

Minho's heart stopped and he frooze. He thought of the possibilties of having someone, a boy, sleeping against him in the same bed, and also thought of what Taemin actually meant with the 'can I sleep with you' question. Minho slapped his head mentally. . It's nothing disgusting, it's just to find some comfort, he thought.

A smile showed, as Minho nodded and made more place for Taemin, that immediately crawled in the warm place, as they both sank more into the sheets. The warmth surrounded them again and they snuggled more against each other for more comfort and more warmth. Minho felt his head explode with million questions, his body turning hot from the sudden pressure of someone laying against him. Especially because this someone is a boy. A beautiful boy.

Sobs sounded. Minho's eyes looked down at the boy.

“They killed them.. They killed them because I was pretty.”

“Huh?” Minho frowned. What is he talking about?  He sneeked his arm around Taemin's waist when he heard it again. “They killed my parents in front of my eyes. I saw it happen, everything, and they took me with them. The only reason, was for me looking pretty and feminime, or something.” Taemin sobbed again, clenching Minho's shirt for grib, as Minho sighed.

“But Taemin, you aren't just pretty.” Minho looked down at the Taemin that gave a confused glare. “You are beautiful.”