Snow was falling and the ‘great outdoors’, were covered in boundless fluffy white sheets of cold and glittery snowflakes as the boys sat around in their home, each doing their own thing.  

Onew sat on his comfy chair reading the novel series of Sherlock Holmes, while Jonghyun sat on the floor watching soccer, frantically waving his arms and cheering for random teams when they got near the net. Which team? It didn't matter. He switched every few minutes.

"Yeah! Kick that ball!" He yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

Luckily for him, Minho was nowhere to be seen. If he'd been there, he would have slapped Jonghyun upside the head for such an obvious and pathetic cheer. Moreover, he would've probably slapped his own head from embarrassment and would rue the day he took Jonghyun to an actual soccer game.

Taemin sat right across from the kitchen with a magazine in his hand, but not reading. He was eyeing Key eminently as Key waddled around the kitchen constructing some sort of food project with a look of determination and a fuzzy display of not-in-this-world. Something was occupying Key’s thoughts and Taemin suspected the longer he stared, the more he'd get out from him.

"I made American food! Hamburgers anyone?!" Key yelled from the kitchen.

"Ki Bum, take a break, we're full," Onew shouted back from the comfy chair.

"Yeah Bummie," Jonghyun called out. "There's enough food in the fridge to last us two weeks—go sleep or something!"

“I’ll leave it in the oven; eat it when you’re hungry. Oh, and I’ll make fries too! They always eat them together.” Key rushed over to the fridge and bought out some potatoes.

“UMMA!” Taemin put his magazine down and stood up. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to Taemin “Stop cooking! You always cook too much when something’s wrong.”

“N-nothing’s wrong...” Key said, shifting his eyes.

“Yeah? Then what were you doinghugging Jessica in the art department?” Taemin had that thought bothering him since he saw the two on the 3rd floor of the school. He finally had a chance to blurt it out and now is it was Key’s turn to have everyone’s eyes on him.

“He doesn’t learn,” Onew mumbled.

Key looked stunned for a moment. "You saw?" He said blandly. There was no way he could cover that one up.

“Yeah, and you didn’t even push her away.”

“Well you didn’t see everything."

“I saw enough.”

Key rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"How about Ji Yeon?" Jonghyun said.

 "What about her?"

"You..." Jonghyun laughed. "You know you're obvious right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Honestly, you think we don't notice you treating her that way? You never pay that much attention to a girl."

"Yah..."

"Don't try to deny it, Mr. I-Got-My-Heart-Broken-By-My-Middle-School-Crush."

"Shut up," Key retorted. He turned away clenching his jaw. But something inside told him everything Jonghyun was saying was true.

"Ki Bum, listen, we're your hyungs," Onew said. "We just don't want you to get hurt again." He paused.

"...And Ji Yeon, she means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Key hesitated for a bit. She was always occupying his thoughts. But that didn't mean he liked her. Did it? The room was in complete silence for what felt like a super long time before Key lightly nodded.

Jonghyun smirked.

Onew sent him a warning glance.

“What else do you know?” Key muttered with slitted eyes but still with in genuine curiosity.

“Well, some unrelated pieces of information, like for one, Ji Yeon looked a bit down when we were talking about Jessica and you.”

“You told her about us?!”

“Mm… yeah.”

“YAH! Why would you?”

"She would have to find out eventually," Onew countered indifferently.

Taemin who had just been listening quietly after his previous confrontation scooted into the comfy chair with Onew and whispered to him, “Did you show her ‘The Picture’?

Key’s ears perked up. “What picture?”

“Your student picture in middle school - yeah, I did,” Onew said coolly.

“YAH! ARE YOU CRAZY?!”

Taemin giggled mischievously and high-fived Onew.

“Oh my gosh…” Key groaned. He ruffled his hair and paced around obscurely with his hand slapped on his face. “The one with the…”

“Black hair--looked like it was done by an angry hair-dresser? Granny glasses? Bad skin? Yup.”

Key slowly put his hand to his forehead once more and shut his eyes. “I’m just gonna… ugh...--wait, did you say Ji Yeon looked down?—Well of course she’ll look down after seeing that picture! Gyah.”

“I think Onew means Ji Yeon seemed upset that you were with Jessica,” Taemin offered.

Key’s eyes lit up. He stood there motionless for about two seconds then blinked himself back into present-time.

“I… I gotta go…” Key quickly removed his apron--(which he had once tried to make look manlier by drawing knives, pick-axes, and chains, but it just turned out to look like random blobs on a pink background). He threw it aside and ran across the room.

“If you gotta go, you gotta go…” Onew sang.

Jonghyun poked Onew’s head. “He means to Ji Yeon’s house, you cucumber.”

Key grabbed his trench coat and headed to the door.

“Just don’t do anything rash!” Onew called out. “For example pinning her up against a wall and forcing a kiss on her like in the detention room!”

“How the heck did you-?” Key looked at Onew bewilderedly.

Onew smiled suspiciously and gave a short wave. Key scoffed and shut the door behind him. 

Just when he knew Key was gone for sure, Taemin got up from beside Onew and stretched. “Ahh, well, I’m just gonna…” Without finishing his sentence he sneakily abducted Key’s laptop and disappeared into his room.

“That kid… he always disappears into an empty room—with that laptop. I wonder what he does in there…” Onew and Jonghyun raised their eyebrows and exchanged looks. They both smirked.

--------

Ji Yeon ran around her house dusting and tidying. It was true, ever since her parents left, she had been more careless and the house was starting to look like it was under a house demolition. Well, maybe not that bad, but bad enough that her parents would rave about it if they were there.

Hence, Ji Yeon took the liberty to clean it up to make her parents proud and to prove to them she was capable of moving into her own house in the near future.

She and Annie were just about done when the sound of the doorbell went off.

*DING DONG*

“Got it!” Ji Yeon called to Annie and made for the door carrying her trusty and problematic mop.

She slowly turned the knob wondering who it could be at such on such a desultory day. The door opened to reveal a male standing at her doorstep. He was tall, with black hair, and an enticing visage.

“Ji Yeon,” he said, his voice smooth like velvet. He began to gently clatter his teeth. "C-c-cold..."

 I thought I'd write a shorter chap since the last one was over 2000 words U__U this one is about half of that XD

And seriously you guys make me so happy! Thanks for all the comments! Soo motivating :D♥

Love you all~! And I mean EVERYONE :)

I hope this chapter was okay ><

P.s. Here's a glimpse of a typical day in the SHINee dorm :3

If you're wondering where Jonghyun is... Onew's yelling at him to go fetch some fresh chicken from the market.