Taemin slept the whole way to the river, and he wasn’t entirely sure if Key or Jonghyun noticed. He had difficult dreams, some of which involved stark reminders of the day of the car crash. He thought he wouldn’t be able to remember any of it; they’d said in the hospital oh so many years ago that he wouldn’t be able to remember anything due to the amnesia, but he did. He wondered if maybe it was all just a figment of his imagination, maybe he was just imagining the way the car went up in flames and seeing his parents’ terrorized faces as thick smoke choked him.

“We’re here,” Key shook him awake, pausing momentarily before adding, “Taeminnie-yah.”

It was far too cute, the way Key was calling him by a pet name, and it was a little scary to Taemin.

They left the train and met up with Jonghyun’s friends, who were waiting for them at the stop. One was tall with a brilliant smile, and the other was slightly less tall but also quite handsome. Taemin looked around, hoping Minho would already be there, but he wasn’t.

“Kyuhyun-hyung, Zhou Mi-hyung! Nice to see you! This is my Key…I mean, my friend Key, and this is Lee Taemin.”

“Nice to meet you, Key-ssi, Taemin-ssi,” Zhou Mi said, smiling. “We came last night and we thought it would be nice to pick you up! But where’s Minho?”

“He said he’d be a little late,” Kyuhyun said, putting his hand on Zhou Mi’s shoulder. “He’s taking a taxi, he just texted me saying he’d be five more minutes.”

“Okay! Jonghyun-ah, your friend doesn’t look too well. Taemin-ssi, are you feeling okay?” Zhou Mi asked, looking at Taemin concernedly.

“Ah…I…” Taemin began. Key glared at him. “I’m fine.” But he knew he wasn’t. His head was spinning and he was shivering despite his thick jacket. The others were talking, but he could barely hear them.

“Omo, Taemin-ah, are you okay?” Zhou Mi asked.

“I’m fine,” Taemin said again, though he looked completely the opposite.

“Yah, Kyuhyun-hyung!” someone called. They all turned to see Minho running towards them. Taemin smiled in spite of his apparent illness, and he felt Key’s hands clamp down on his shoulders. Minho scowled a little as he noticed Key’s proximity to Taemin.

“Hi guys. Kyuhyun-hyung, thanks for inviting me. I guess you already met Taemin,” Minho said, still looking a little put off, but he noticed that something was up with Taemin. “Taemin-ah, you look really pale.”

“He’ll be fine, Minho-yah,” Key said, tightening his grip on Taemin. “I’m taking good care of him.”

“Key really cares about Taemin-ssi,” Jonghyun explained to his hyungs. Minho laughed.

“Really?” he asked. “Because—”

“Let’s go,” Kyuhyun interrupted, sensing that something was amiss. They hardly spoke the entire way to the house, and Taemin was sure he would have fallen down had it not been for Key’s arms around his shoulders.

Taemin sat down in the doorway as soon as they got to the house, and everyone else was too busy setting out futons and arranging luggage to notice that he was out of sorts.

Finally, Key and Jonghyun left, laughing and walking much closer to each other than they normally did, and Taemin smiled, knowing that his plan really was working.

Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun left after them, Kyuhyun grumbling something about hating going to the mall.

Minho found Taemin a few minutes after that.

“There you are,” he said. “I was wondering if maybe you’d run away.”

“I wouldn’t run away from you, hyung,” Taemin said weakly. “I just needed some time to relax. I’m feeling a little…off.”

“I knew you were,” Minho frowned. “But you kept saying you were okay. Why?”

“I didn’t want to worry anyone,” Taemin replied. “It’s better this way.”

“Well, are you feeling up for something relaxing?” Minho asked, sitting down next to Taemin.

“Like what?” Taemin asked.

“We could go fishing, maybe,” Minho suggested, and Taemin smiled. It did sound relaxing, and he liked that he would be able to spend some quiet time with Minho.

The place where they decided to go fishing was quite close to the house, so they sat happily by the riverside after a few minutes of walking, Minho supporting Taemin so he wouldn’t fall down.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Minho asked continuously, and Taemin replied yes every time.

They sat there, just chatting about small nothings until Taemin suddenly felt his fishing pole tug.

“Hyung!” he cried. “I think I have something!” He got up, feeling it pull harder, and he pulled it back as hard as he could.

And suddenly his lungs started to clench up, and he dropped the fishing rod.

“Taemin? Taemin-ah?” Minho cried. “Are you okay? Taemin?”

And the next thing Taemin knew, he was waking up in the hospital. He looked around, his eyes finally meeting Minho’s large brown ones.

“Was it another asthma attack?” Taemin asked, and Minho nodded.

“Oh, Taemin-ah!” Zhou Mi cried, rushing over to Taemin. “Are you okay? Minho was so frantic, he was panicking like crazy, I thought you were dead or something!”

Taemin laughed, and Zhou Mi smiled.

“Minho really cares about you, it seems,” Kyuhyun said, winking, and Minho pouted at him. “Anyway, I’ve tried to call Jonghyun a million times, but he’s not answering, so I’ll be right back after I call him again.”

“I’ll come with you, Kyu,” Zhou Mi sang, following Kyuhyun out of the room. Taemin looked to Minho and smiled.

“You were really scared?” he asked, and Minho nodded.

“I didn’t think you’d faint,” he explained. “I was just hoping you’d be okay, you know? I wouldn’t want to lose you…you know because you’re an awesome friend and I’d feel bad if like you died while you were with me I mean I’d feel more than bad I’d feel awful and I’d miss you because you’re an awesome friend you know and that’s why I was hoping and that’s why I was so worried. Yeah.”

 “You talked really fast, hyung,” Taemin giggled. “But thank you. I’m glad you care.”

“Of course I do! I’m not like Key.”

“You’re not,” Taemin agreed. He liked Minho much better. Minho smiled at him, and brushed a few strands of hair away from Taemin’s face.

Taemin felt his heart rate increase, and he realized that maybe, just maybe, they really were more than just “awesome friends.”

A/N: Oh hey long time no update. It's been like a month. Thank you to 2much2min for getting me back to this thing. I know the chapter is super short buuuuut...yeah I'm kind of not feeling this story anymore. But I won't stop writing it, there might just be month long breaks between chapters...

Thanks for all reading though!! 

♥ Exie