AN It's finally the end, after about two years (though it feels longer). I remember when the idea came to me. I was at my grandmother's house and using her comptuter to do homework (mine wasn't available at the time and I won't say why but it doesn't matter anyway, so) and, well I don't know how it came to me exactly, but it did and I was planning to make it a two-shot.   But then I got in to it more as more ideas came to me and voilla!   Now we have this really random, but cute 2min story <3 :')   And it's precious and I treasure it so much now, and not because I wrote it (though that's a reason as well xD) but because a lot of people, you guys, really love it! And I'm ever so grateful, so thank you! Thank you for commenting, subscribing and reading! And thankyou for sticking with this story and with me for this long! <3 Hopefully I can write more 2min stories soon. (I mainly write exo now but I do miss this otp's fandom too ;_;). But anyway, yeah, here it finally is. The long-awaited last chapter of (I think) my most popular and loved fic?   Please enjoy, and I'll see ya around~<3   -------------       "I should've stopped."       He hadn't left his apartment after coming back from the hallway. Instead, he's been stuck on his couch again with the news channel replaying its recent breaking news like the constant reminder it is.       "Why didn't I know better?" the self-targeted questions come again as Taemin kept his chin resting on his folding arms and stared through the reporter on the tv. "I should've stopped being so annoying, even though I was only trying to help...."       Why else would his encounter, and pior date, with Minho earlier have ended so horribly?       All along, from the very beginning when he had barged in on Minho to greet him as the new neighbour, he's only been cursed under breath, ordered to leave and overall labelled as annoying. And strange. The other description he could proudly wear over himself like a crown bearer, but being annoying? He knows about his tendancy to talk fast, and a lot, so much that someday people might offer to pay him to shut up. And he does also have a tendancy to drag people in to things just for the sake of having fun and letting go.       But it's not like he behaved that way for Minho just because he could, nor just because it was fun.       This past week has been important for both of them.       Minho was drepressed and wanted to win his heartbreaker girlfriend back, and Taemin wanted......He wanted to help Minho feel better but at the same time, not by praying that Seo would come back to him, but rather hoping that he would be enough to take over from her. He wanted to become the reason Minho smiled, laughed, felt his heart race, sent cute text messages to, thought about all the time and generally cared so much about.       But a request as selfish as this was bound to flop, and the results could only backfire on the person who's heart and mind were so wrongfully plagued by their own fantasies.       Taemin would just have to accept things as they are and wish all the best of luck to Minho and his second chance with Seoyun (even though he thinks she doesn't deserve an ounce of Minho's time after breaking up with him out of the bule and without a reason) because it's what a friend, and a nice neighbour, would do.       "I am a nice neighbour, but I can't--" Taemin shakily speaks, hiding away in his arms. "Just w-why does it have to hurt so much? I'm not going to be selfish anymore, so why?...."       “Hey, I’m back.” Suddenly the door opens after a few knocks (the consequences of moping Taemin leaving his door un-locked) and Minho walks in and straight over to the guy on the couch, who hasn't even looked up at him yet.       “Oh, hey Minho. So...how did everything go with Seoyun?"       "Good. Things went a lot better than I expected, that's for sure."       "Really? That's great."       Minho nods in agreement and takes a seat next to him, but leaves a space in-between them. "She wants us to be together again. Ha, isn't that something? I spent the last week crying over her and now all of a sudden, way out of the blue, she calls me and asks if we can be like how we used to be."       "Oh, that's fantastic."       "Yeah, it is." Minho agrees again, but the expression on his face would say otherwise. "Or at least, it was until I realised something. As much as I loved her, getting back with her wouldn't do either of us much good. She told me her reasons for breaking up with me in the first place--about how she wanted to give me space now that I'm in university and because she was scared that I'd cheat on her. And well...." He looks around the room, wondering how he can explain himself while his nerves are eating him. "While that really irked me, the oher reason why I can't get back together with her is because of you."       “So it's all my fault?!" Taemin questions, his head snapping up and out of his arms in a second and his eyes increasing in size, shocked to hear such a confession. "But I didn't mean to ruin your relationship with her!" So it seems like he had been too selfish then, gosh darn it! "Oh my god, if I knew--if at any point I knew of the damage my annoying self was doing to you guys then I would've stopped!"       'I should've stopped, so why didn't I?'     "Give me her number, quickly. Minho, I'm so sorry! I'll call her right away and apologise as well! Maybe it's not too late, I'm sure she can--"       “Taemin, thank you but that's not necessary."       "Of course it is! Seriously, just tell me her number and I'll--Oh..." It's a bit late, but the memory of putting his phone in a home-made boat (using pins and spare paper he found lying around and a piece of sponge) vividily comes to him, and his plan dissolves just as quickly as it had been born. "It's not a problem, I can go out and use a payphone!" But that idea flopped as well because then he remembered that Junsan had been released and what if he runs in to him? "Err, or I can email her? What's her addre--" He didn't have a computer, his job as a waiter just about paid for his apartment and the bills! "Haha....I-I can always write her a letter! Right! Because being mainstream is too mainstream!"       "Don't bother, it's fine, really." Minho reassures. "Taemin, I'm thankful to you."       "What?! Why?!"       "From the day that we first met when you barged in on me , what were your feelings back then?"       “My feelings....for you?" Taemin repeats, blinking in wonder. "Hm, let's see....I praised the heaven's that you were hot, it was a blessing. But most of all, I was really glad you were my neighbour and I wanted to get to know you because you seemed pretty cool."       “Okay." Minho nods as he takes it all in, content with the honest and simple answer. "Now tell me, what would you think if I felt something towards you?"       “W-What are you saying?..."       "Honestly, I'm not sure myself. I just know that I like you, more than I thought I ever would. You're definitely annoying, there's no denying that, but at the same time it's like you've opened up a place in my heart or something and I can't ignore it anymore."       “No, this isn’t right! You should be with Seoyun, Minho! You spent so long crying over her--”       “Exactly, crying." Minho ephasises, and then gives him a look where he raises his eyebrows a bit to emphasise the point he just helped surface. "But when I’m with you, there’s never a moment when I’m not smiling.” Except of course when he's driven insane, but screaming and eye rolling and taking painkillers to fix the headache that's sure to stay for a while is a million times more easy to deal with than tears from a heartbreak, any time.       Minho swears it is.       “No, you’re not thinking straight." Taemin says, shaking his head in disbelief. It's what he's wanted for a while now--for Minho to be interested in him, but it wouldn't be right. "You don’t want me--”       “Taemin, for god's sake wake up! This isn’t a normal routine for me! I don’t just go out of my way and worry to death over anyone, only those I truly care about! And--look, I'm not saying that I'm gay," Minho, as much as he's confessing, can't forget the ordeal he's been through with Seoyun, who he was crazy in love with and has just seen the last of for a while. "But there's something about you--no, it's everything about you."       Taemin's flattered, really he is. And hearing such sweet words and knowing that they're genuine is a dream come true, but he's also thinking of the same think, and other things as well..."Minho, you might get hurt if you stay with me."       “You won't hurt me, I know it.”       "I don't mean me." Taemin shakes his head. Biting his lip, he hesitates with saying anything more because there's no reason for Minho to be dragged in to such a messy, horrible situation. But he deserves to know what he'll be getting involved with if he's still so insistent on spilling his heart out. "Do you remember that guy, the one who was released from prison? Y'know, the guy on the news that's been playing its breaking news story since last night?"         “Yeah," Minho says, though he's not sure what this has to do with anything.       "Kang Junsan." Taemin inroduces, giving his tongue a rough reminder. "When he got arrested I was there. You wanna know why? It's because the police had to storm in to my apartment to get him."       "Oh my god, Taemin--"       "And do you know why he was in my apartment?" It's coming closer to the finale now, only one more step further to go. But it doesn't make it any easier for Taemin. "It's because he and I were together, like properly together." As together as any two people in a relationship can be, but not near to thinking about marriage. It was faced paced, the exciting but soft and adorable kind, just up until the part where their ending took a wrong turn.       "....What?" Minho's feels like everything dusty and big, and hard to swallow is forming together in his throat and obstructing his ability to speak. It's that, or how slow and dumb he feels still trying to understand what he thinks his ears heard but translates wrong in his head. "No, you--this is a joke right?"       'If only.' Taemin pitifully thinks. "How could I joke about something like this?"       'Oh god. Oh ! Taemin...' Minho panicks.       “