“Key-umma!” Shinee’s maknae skipped into the room and hugged Key enthusiastically.

“Oi! Taminnie, careful! You don’t want to mess with his IV!” Minho warned the younger as he followed Onew into the room. Key smiled and hugged Taemin in return.

“I missed you, Tae. I didn’t worry you too much, did I?” Key mumbled into the younger’s hair. He quickly shook his head no and grinned as he munched on a banana. The rapper showed a small smile before glancing at Jonghyun standing by the window, still talking on the phone. Onew frowned and turned the rapper’s attention away from the idol.

“Are you feeling okay, Kibum? You took quite the fall last night and had a terrible fever. The doctor said that it should come and go though..” Onew felt Key’s wrapped forehead gently with his hand.

“I’m feeling alright. I can’t wait to get out of this gown! It’s so dreadfully ugly and my hair probably looks worse!” Key haughtily complained. Taemin giggled in response to his outburst and handed a comb to his umma. Key smiled gratefully and tried to fix his poor untended hair. Minho smiled and tossed a wrapped lemon-poppy seed muffin onto the diva’s lap.

“My favorite!” Key squealed and blew him a kiss, “Thanks Froggie.” Minho stuck his tongue out teasingly but ended up grinning anyways because it seemed that Key was back to his normal self.

'Something seems off..' Onew thought worryingly, 'Key's definitely not happy as he looks..'

"So is he able to come home today?" Minho asked as he took a bit of glazed donut. With stuffed cheeks, Taemin looked yearningly up at a surprised Onew.

"Oi! How should I know?" he scoffed, "You guys can go fetch the nurse this time." Taemin swallowed the rest of his banana, hopped up from Key's bedside, and eagerly pulled Minho toward the door.

"Come oooonnn! You're pretty slow for a froggie, Minho-hyung," Taemin smirked playfully at the elder. Key chuckled at the rapper's protests as Taemin dragged him out into the hallway. Onew smiled, 'It's nice to see a real smile from him.'

"Bye Se Kyung, I'll talk to you later." Jonghyun laughed into his phone, "You're such a dork. Bye!"

Key's face fell momentarily but then returned to a similar smile.

"You shouldn't call your girlfriend names, Jjong. You wouldn't want to lose such a pretty face, would you?" he teased.

"Of course not, why would I?" Jonghyun sat on the other side of Key's bedside, facing Onew. "She's perfect." He stretched and closed his eyes, resting his head in his hands.

"You're just jealous," Jonghyun chuckled.

"Yeah.. I guess you could call it that," Key mumbled as Taemin and Minho followed a nurse into the room.

“Kibum, how are feeling this morning?” she inquired. Key smiled at her reassuringly.

“Completely fine, thank you for taking such good care of me!” Key sat up in his bed and bowed in thanks.

“You’re welcome, Kibum, it was my pleasure,” she smiled happily, “Now before I let you check out, I have some pain medication, more gauze to change out the one you have on, and we have to remove that IV of yours. Now would you like me to explain the medication and cleaning procedures first or take out your IV?”

“IV.” Jonghyun and Key stated. Looking back at each other, Key chuckled with a slight blush and Jonghyun grinned.

“Do I know you or what?” he laughed.

“You two seem quite close,” the nurse giggled along with them. “Now you might feel some pressure..” she warned politely as she proceeded to pull out the needle and holder. Key closed his eyes and turned his head away from his punctured arm, hoping it to go quickly.

“All done,” the nurse smiled and disposed the needle and wheeled the IV stand to the other corner of the room.

“Thank you,” Key smiled nervously and rubbed his arm to make the feeling go away.

“Now with your pain medication, you may take one pill if you start to feel pain in the back of your head, two if it gets bad. Don’t take more than 3 in the course of six hours, okay?” Key nodded. “The directions for this are also on the back of the bottle in case you forget,” she pointed to the label and set the bottle down on the bedside table next to Jonghyun.

“Now here is a bottle of ibuprofen, this is in case your fever rises again. You seem to be well now, but I would expect it to come and go over the next couple days. Directions are on the back as well.” She placed the smaller bottle next to the other.

Looking around the room, she addressed all of the idols, “Now here are some extra dressings and gauze for his head. His gauze should be replaced every two days at the most and he will need some help with that. I’ll let you guys figure that out but just so you know this will acquire one of you to help him.” She placed the gauze and wraps on the table as well and grabbed two bags from the closet. She handed one to Key and put his hospital souvenirs in the other.

“That is your bag of your clothes that your friends brought over. Once you’re done changing, you can just leave your gown on the bed and check out at the front desk, okay? It was nice helping you and as much as I’d like to say ‘Hope to see you again,’ let’s not make it so soon, alright?” she laughed and bowed to him respectfully.

“Thank you for taking care of me, ganhosa-shi**,” Key smiled, “I’ll try not to come and visit all too soon.”

“Have a nice day, Kibum,” the nurse smiled and quietly left.

Key flipped the covers off of his legs and swung them around the side of the bed.

“I’m going to go change, be right back,” Key announced as he walked to the bathroom across the hall, exposing his slender back and black boxers to Jonghyun and the others as he left. This sight, this beautiful sight, Jonghyun seemed to be the only one that noticed. Taemin and Minho talked about activities for the day, and Onew’s attention was distracted with gathering up Key’s things.

Jonghyun couldn’t help but stare until he returned to his senses when Kibum shut the bathroom door behind him.

‘I knew Key had a nice body but how have I not noticed it until now?’ The dino blushed furiously and shook his head. ‘Girlfriend, Jjong! Remember your girlfriend! This is your best friend you’re checking out, KEY. Kim Kibum!’

Key returned wearing a loose tee and a tight pair of skinny jeans. His hair looked somewhat combed, but understandable. It’s a hard job when half of your head is wrapped up in gauze. He smiled shyly and placed his blue hospital gown on his bed before grabbing his bag of clothes.

Onew held his bag of meds, “I’ll take care of your medication stuff, Key,” Key nodded in approval and walked with the other idols out the door. Arriving to the front counter, Onew stepped up to check Key out while everyone else took a seat in the waiting room area. Jonghyun plopped down next to Key and sighed.

“I’m tired. I don’t want to do anything today,” Jonghyun slouched lazily. Key scoffed and kicked his foot playfully.

“You never do anything anyways, you dork,” Key smiled as Jonghyun laughed softly.

“That’s true..” he yawned and leaned on the diva’s shoulder as he closed his eyes. Key felt his face heat up and gently shoved him.

“You just woke up, haven’t you had enough sleep?” he teased. Jonghyun grumbled at his movement and moved to rest his head on Key’s lap.

“You woke me up last night, remember? My beauty sleep was disturbed,” he smirked as Key sighed in defeat. “Whatever.”

Key smiled inwardly and wished this moment would last, at least for a little while. Soon Jonghyun would leave again to visit Se Kyung but Key wanted this moment.

‘It’s selfish but I can’t help it,’ Key gently ran his fingers through the dino’s hair. ‘No matter what I try, I can’t stop loving you. It’s useless to try and convince myself otherwise, no matter how wrong it is..’ he admitted.

“Oi! Let’s go home!” Onew called from the door. Taemin jumped on Minho’s back for a ride to the car and Key nudged Jonghyun to make sure he didn’t fall asleep.

“Hey, Mr. Puppysaurus Rex. I want to go home, get up,” Key teased. Jonghyun groaned and sat up.

“Your lap is really comfortable. Why am I just finding this out now?” he questioned with a smirk. Key stood up and shrugged.

“You never asked, pabo.**” Key stuck out his tongue and sprinted to catch up with Minho and the others.

“Oi! Wait up!” Jonghyun laughed as he caught up to his best friend, “And who are you calling a pabo?!”

Key chuckled to himself and continued to tease the dino to no end. ‘I guess I’m okay with this for now,’ he thought as Jonghyun caught him in a back hug from behind. ‘He’ll forever have my heart anyway, even if he’s just a pabo.’

Onew smiled. ‘Key’s acting like himself again.. that’s good. But there’s something there, and I’m going to find out what, sooner or later.’ The elder grinned and playfully knocked Jonghyun upside the head.

“Yahh! Watch his head; you can’t be rough housing him 24-7 like you did before!” he scolded Jonghyun as he let Key go and rubbed his head. Key laughed and climbed into the van after Taemin.

“I call shotgun!” Minho called triumphantly as he plopped down in the front seat.

“No! No no no no no!! Shotgun is mine! It has always been and always will be mine!” Jonghyun protested.

“Come oonn, hyung! I wanna go home!” Taemin complained. Onew shoved the pouting puppy in the seat in front of Key, “Stop complaining.”

Key laughed as he pouted and ruffled his hair from behind him. “You’re such a nice hyung, letting Froggie have the front! Maybe you’re not a pabo after all.”

“Really?” Jonghyun asked.

“No, you’ll always be a pabo, Jjong.”

“You’re so mean.”

“I know, but you love me so that’s okay.” Key smirked as Jonghyun pouted.

‘Yeah, I’m okay with this. For a little while anyways..’

ganhosa-shi** - nurse

pabo** - fool