[CONTENTID1]Chapter Four[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]After manoeuvring Taemin onto one of his arms, Minho managed to unlock the door. The walk home had been tiring. Carrying a fully grown merman for twenty minutes wasn’t the easiest task. Thank God Minho was secretly a gym freak. He plonked Taemin onto his unmade bed before taking a deep breath.

“What on earth will we do now?” Minho stared at Taemin with a confused look. As fond as he already was of the boy, he still had no idea what to do. What if someone comes and finds Taemin? How would he explain everything?

During Minho’s internal dilemma, Taemin had begun exploring the sheets of his bed. The fabric felt soft between his fingers. He had never touched dry fabric like this before. It was another thing to add to his mental list of ‘odd surface textures’ just beneath the clumpy sand. As Minho left the room to go and lock the front door, Taemin fell back onto the bed. He wiggled around until his stomach was pressed against the duvet. The bedding smelt strongly of Minho; like a fresh breeze and some sort of woody scent he couldn’t place. Taemin decided to slam his face into the pillows to further enjoy his scent. God, Minho really did smell good.

Taemin only knew Minho had returned as he heard him inhale sharply.

“We really need to get you some underwear or something.” Minho spoke, before turning around sharply to dig through his chest of drawers. In no time, several items of clothing were thrown at Taemin

“Hey, come on! You have no right to throw these at me! If we were back at home, they would have your head!” Taemin’s squeaks were in vain as Minho continued pummelling him with clothes.

“I don’t know if they will fit. If push comes to shove, you’ll just have to wear Chaewon’s clothes before we go to get you some that will.” Minho’s words came out quickly.

“Is she that annoying girl I've seen before?” Taemin quizzed, although he already knew the answer. In reality, he really just wanted to gossip. How will he cope without gossiping about the new guards with Kibum for a whole week?!

“You- What?! When was this?!” Minho spun around as fast as he could, before staring at Taemin with his eyes insanely wide.

“NO! I mean- I’ve only seen her with you before. She hasn’t seen me, don’t worry.” his hands waved in front of his face as he dismissed Minho.

“Well, I mean at least she didn’t see you. But how do you know all this?!” Minho couldn’t wrap his brain around everything at the moment.

“I have very good hearing.” Taemin remarked from underneath the pile of pants. “And your friends always seem to hang out close to my rocks.”

“You’ve been watching me?” Minho’s eyebrow raised as he asked the question.

“I mean if you say it like that, it sounds like I have been. You are fun to watch. I like it when you take your shirt off the most though.” Taemin’s mischievous smile stunned Minho. Taemin was a heartthrob back at home, why not show Minho some of his charm?

“Stop saying weird things and just put the goddamn pants on.” Minho’s patience was wearing thin as he watched Taemin kick his legs in the air. “Actually, no. We both need a wash. The quicker we get it over and done with, the quicker we can sleep. I know I’m completely worn down.” He eyed Taemin. “You stay right there while I run you a bath.”

Completely unbothered, Taemin continued surveying Minho’s bedroom as he left to run a bath. Whatever that was. The inside of Minho’s small house was nice and cosy. It reminded Taemin of the quarters Kibum lived in. Not too small, not too big. It certainly wasn’t fit for a king; there wasn't a wall of swords or floor to ceiling paintings of past rulers, but Taemin liked it. There were many unusual contraptions throughout the house; like the big black rectangular thing on the table facing the bed or the small grey rectangular thing also on the table. What was it with land walkers and rectangles? Minho broke his chain of thought as he walked back into the room. 

“Let’s get you in the bath.” Minho stated before holding out his arms for Taemin to latch onto. After pulling himself up, Taemin happily accepted Minho’s arms as he linked theirs together. Minho slowly guided Taemin towards a different room in the house. It had a large oval shaped bowl in the middle of it filled with steaming water and bubbles.  

Minho turned to him before talking. “You’re going to have to take your jumper off before you get in the bath. Do you think you can manage climbing in on your own? Or do you need me to help?”

Taemin knew very well that he could probably do that. But if acting like he couldn’t meant Minho helping, he suddenly had no strength in his legs. He put on his best pout before humming.

“I’m not too sure. I don’t want to fall over again. What if I hurt myself?” Taemin’s eyes went wide as he stared at Minho. “Can you help me get in, Minho?”

“Yes. Now take off your jumper quickly before the water goes cold. There's towels on the rack over there for once you get out.” Minho let go of Taemin as he began flailing around in the clothing.

After watching Taemin struggle to get his arms out of the sleeves, Minho couldn’t watch any longer.

“Taemin, just stop. Put your arms up and I’ll pull it over your head.” Taemin did as he was told and was soon as as he was when he was born.

Minho really did try his best to keep his eyes above Taemin’s waist but picking him up bridal style again made it very hard. Taemin’s skin felt like smooth heated marble and smelled like th