Minho and Taemin made it back to the dorm with relatively little difficulty, despite the late hour, although one hobo wearing an odd-looking blue feathered hat did stop them to ask for spare change. Both boys threw a few coins into the hat for the old man before continuing on their merry way.

Minho, his arm still looped through Taemin’s, stole quick glances at his younger companion, torn between screaming in anguish knowing that Taemin loved someone else and grabbing Tae, spinning him around, hugging him tightly and refusing to let go.

Taemin, completely unaware of his hyung’s conflicting emotions, trudged back to the dorm in silence, so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice at first that it had begun to rain. Then it started pouring, droplets of rain the size of malted milk balls falling from the sky, as if the heavens knew the turmoil within the two young men and was sending its own form of punishment, just to see what would happen. Lightning rent the still night air, splitting the clouds with violent flashes of light, illuminating the darkness only to revoke the gift of sight mere milliseconds later. The booming sound of thunder followed shortly after, shaking them from their all-consuming thoughts.

“Dammit! The hair noonas will kill me if I ruin these extensions!!!” Taemin yelled over the noise of the storm. He awkwardly covered his head with one arm while the other quickly pulled Minho through the nearest open door, the pair making a rather loud entrance, nearly knocking over the basket of umbrellas next to the door.

“That’s convenient.” Minho stated, as though Taemin was completely unaware that an umbrella would be useful in the middle of a storm.

“Well, it is a convenience store…” Taemin grumbled, focused more on his ratty wet extensions. It’s gonna take a LOT of y aegyo to make the noonas forget this one…he thought, dreading the idea of using his innate cuteness to get his way.

Minho sighed and grabbed a random umbrella (a bright green one with frog eyes on the top to be specific) from the large basket by the door, and strode over to the checkout desk to buy it.

“Hello, sir. How may I help you?” It’s raining and I am holding an umbrella, what do you think you can help me with? Minho’s inner sarcasm almost turned into word vomit, but as an idol, one of the numerous talents he’d acquired was keeping his mouth shut at the appropriate times.

He settled with an are-you-really-that-thick? glare and handed the ajusshi the frog-brella. “I’d like to buy this please.”

“Very good, sir. That’ll be 15,000 won please.” The clerk held out his hand to accept the money. Minho wordlessly handed over the cash, exact change, and walked back over to Taemin, who was still fiddling worriedly with his hair.

“Yah, stop messing with it, you’ll only make it worse!” Minho ordered sternly, gently smacking Tae’s hand away from his head.

Taemin glared for a minute before admitting the truth behind Minho’s words. “Arasso…”

Minho ruffled the dancer’s hair affectionately. “Let’s go home, maknae.”

Taemin smiled cutely up at his hyung. Dammit, stop looking at me like that! It’s already hard enough to be so close to you, especially when our feelings are so far away. Minho swiftly removed his hand from Tae’s messy hair.

The strange couple left the convenience store, Minho opened the frog-brella as they left, only to have it almost ripped from his grasp by the fierce wind as they were battered by pounding rain.

Taemin, noticing the frog-esque nature of their shield against the storm, chuckled to himself. “Hey, hyung. Did you pick that umbrella because it looked like you?” His comment earned him a charismatic scowl from the older boy.

“Whatever, mushroom maknae.” (referring to his old hairstyle from the time of their debut) Minho replied, pushing Taemin’s buttons in revenge. The no-longer mushroom-haired teen stuck out his tongue in response, saying, “Well, I’m still cuter than you!” Yes, I’m very well aware of that, Minho thought dryly to himself.

“Yes, but I don’t look like a girl~” Minho taunted the younger. Taemin wasn’t one to get angry often or over such trivial matters as appearance, but the only insult that really got under his skin was when someone questioned his masculinity. This being the case, the maknae halted in the middle of crossing the street, spinning furiously on his heel to face Minho.

“I. Am. NOT. A girl.” He jabbed his pointer finger towards his hyung’s face to emphasize his point. Minho, torn between giggling like a mental patient and stepping away from his dongsaeng in fear, decided on a strange mixture of both, simultaneously laughing and moving backwards. He really couldn’t back very far though, because Taemin also had a tight grip on the umbrella they shared.

“Oh, so you think it’s funny, huh? Well, what if I was a girl?” Taemin stepped closer to Minho, leaving their faces mere inches apart, each one able to feel the body heat radiating off of the other. “What would you do then?”

Though the maknae clearly meant that as a rhetorical question, Minho’s common sense and all logical thought were banished from his brain when he registered the physical proximity of the dancing machine. As if in a dream, he reached up to cup Taemin’s face with both hands, cradling his jaw gently as if the boy were made of dust that would crumble away into nothingness the second he touched him.

Minho, gazed into Taemin’s lovely chocolate orbs, wide with surprise and leaned in to kiss the boy, only to freeze millimeters from their lips touching as the sudden realization of what he was doing clicked in his mind and he noticed the hint of fear in the young dancer’s eyes. What have I done?

Taemin stood motionless in shock and fear, though thinking back on it later, he’d wonder why his heart beat so fast at the closeness of his hyung and question the tingling warmth that spread from the places on his face and neck where Minho touched him.

After coming to his senses once more, Minho leapt away from the maknae as if his skin burned from touching the unearthly beautiful creature before him. I just…we almost…dammit, I shouldn’t be doing these things…I should even be THINKING them…

We are all human, nothing more, though some seem to think they’re above others, and nothing less, despite those who fail to recognize their significance. Like the bright stars in the dark night sky, we can appear through the haze of the clouds in our lives, surprising even ourselves with our strength. And every once in a while, a star burns so bright that its light reaches us long after its flames are extinguished. Minho, though he did not fully understand, somehow knew that he’d be one of those people. Music is the blood that fuels the body of creativity and brings people together, and even when SHINee disbands to become individuals rather than a band, their music will continue to influence people’s lives.

A/N: Yeah…so first of all, I’d like to apologize for the random philosophical thoughts at the end of this chapter. I just go off on tangents like that sometimes but I felt like it was important and a good life lesson so I left in it the chapter ^^’ As always, let me know what you think and tell me how you feel about my new writing style (third person rather than first person point of view). Comments and subs are always appreciated and I always reply to my comments so talk to me~ ^.^ have a wonderful sunSHINee day!