Taemin stared at the blank canvas his familiar brush posed as if to spread color but he gave up half way and sighed. He was to do a project that represented his imagination and the worlds that could be created in it. Taemin was stuck between Disney World and his lack of motivation. He glanced at the clock at the far wall, the classroom empty, the setting sun painting the room in dark orange and lighting his hair on fire.

Maybe he should paint his daydreams.

Taemin paused at this thought. If only he could remember them in better detail than the blurry and unintelligible images he remembers now. He’ll do a rough painting, and see if he could later dream about them tonight.

With that he began to gather the tube of paint creating and mixing colors to the desirable hues he had remembered and with one final sigh he began to paint. Blues and whites smeared across, with hints of green and grays. When he had finished it was nearing seven and he was actually sweating.

What he had thought he would fail in doing, with mere shadows and nothing but abstract, he had found he had created a world entirely: Of ice castles, and snow-covered hills and gray stormy skies with a life of its own.

Taemin frowned when he really stared at this painting. The whole room around him began to darken, fade out, only the painting that seem to peer back at him. He heard voices, the sweet chuckle of someone so familiar he could swear he had heard it only recently. Before the sliding door behind him ripped him from his daydream and he was blinking away his daze.

He turned around expecting Amber who said she would visit him today. Only to find Choi Minho standing by the door.

“Minho-hyung?”

Minho approached him smiling at him with a bag of goodies, “Taemin-ah, I was waiting for you. What are you painting?”

Taemin looked at the painting, “Oh, I was doing my art project due later this week. Sorry, hyung.”

Taemin took interest in the bag of snacks now positioned on the table eagerly diving into them with his paint covered hands.

Minho’s voice was low and even, “Did you imagine this place?”

Taemin found the triple size banana milk carton before answering, “Well, not really. More like I’ve been dreaming about this place recently. It’s been haunting me, I guess? So I decided to paint it for my creative art for the week.”

Taemin didn’t see when Minho’s face twisted into a wry smile, his fingers making to trace the outline of the castle, or the snow-covered grass. He didn’t see when the smile turned into something unreadable, almost distant before they snapped back to focus. A smirk settling, burning.

“Taemin-ah, you should paint more of them. It’s probably telling you something.”

Taemin looked up at Minho, slurping on the milk, a bit curious, “Telling me something? They're just dreams, hyung.”

Minho smiled picking up the bag of goodies, “Okay. Let’s head home, then. Key’s probably waiting for you.”

Taemin huffed, grabbing his saddle bag and covering the painting, “Can’t we just hang out a little more?”

Minho paused before chuckling, “Just for a little bit, than.”

Taemin grinned.

';

“When I said we could hang out for a little bit. I didn’t mean catching a bus to the beach, Taemin.”

Taemin blushed, before kicking at the sand. His shoes were in his hands behind his back, bare feet in the sand. He wanted to come out here because it was cool here and no one ever visited the beach during the fall. He felt…needy. Perhaps, it was because Minho was here.

“It’s just for a bit. Anyway, it’s not like you’re in a rush to go anywhere.” Taemin’s eyes were twinkling at him, and Minho stared down at him before a smile spread across his face.

“You’re opening up to me.”

Taemin looked shocked, “What do you mean by that?”

Minho shook his head, looking back at the ocean. The sun was melting into the horizon casting blue and orange streaks across the world.

“Sometimes,” Minho breathed, his eyes distant, “I feel like I’m all alone in this world. There are friends, yes. But they come and go, and are only with you for some sort of comfort. Personal gain. Selfish satisfaction.”

Taemin flinched before staring at Minho. He looked all too serious, all too different. Loneliness. Taemin was frantic to amend, “But…I don’t think that way. I mean I’m your friend but I don’t think that way.”

A smile tugged at Minho’s lips before he looked down at Taemin. Eyes large almost pleading, lips full and slightly pout. Minho’s hand lifted from his side and glided past the soft cheek there that reddened at his touch. Blue eyes that shimmered with full eyelashes fluttered as his thumb brushed just under it. Red downed curls that seemed to conform to his hand as he ran his hand through them in a gentle caress. Deft fingers that traveled to the back of his neck and the skin there, earning a sweet shiver and breathy “Hyung” from the youth.

“You’re special, Taemin-ah.”

Taemin eyes widen as his heart jumped out of his chest and began to dance about in wild ecstasy. Taemin pushed the other's hand away and plopped his forehead against Minho’s warm chest. His small hands gripped the pockets of Minho’s light jacket. His face was red and he pouted, “You’re mean, Minho-hyung.”

Minho chuckled before enveloping Taemin in a hug who returned it, “I'm sorry, Taemin."

';

For the first time in Key’s months living with Taemin he was actually waiting for Taemin to get home, not the other way around. His grandmother had tucked in a while ago yawning cutely as she trekked up the stairs, “Wait for Taemin-goon, will you?”

So Key waited. It’s now turning to one in the morning, and he was growing irritable. Just when he was going to pull his phone out to call him, he heard the rustling of movement at the front door.

Key bolted from his perch on the sofa and grasped the door handle, and was greeted with a sight.

Choi Minho had Taemin against the wooden panel of his grandmother’s traditional house. Taemin face flushed and pouting, and Choi Minho’s wearing a smirk that Key had never seen before on his usual platonic face. And when Taemin turned his head and looked at Key, eyes watery, Minho leaned forward and bit – bit- Taemin’s ear. 

Key’s whole body stiffened, and his body reacted before his mind could even catch up. Key wrenched Taemin from Minho, Taemin stumbled into Key’s body with a gasp. Key glared at Minho and hissed, “I seriously leave you two alone to your own devices only to have Taemin-ah goobled up by a ing player. Why the hell is it one in the morning and Taemin is now home?”

Minho ran his hand through his brown locks, like an Abercrombie model, eyes gleaming, chuckling, “I didn’t know you were his mother, Kibum.”

Key didn’t flinch.

Taemin was the one who broke the war, “I-We went to the beach, Key-hyung. I wanted to go, and Minho-hyung took me. We were just joking around, that’s all.”

Key didn’t seem to be listening. In fact his mind was going on a rampage. There was so much rage and his grip on Taemin’s forearms tightened until Taemin winced, “Key-hyung.”

Key didn’t let go however, his eyes were glaring at Minho who was smiling back.

Déjà vu, Key thought before smiling in strain, “Thank you for taking care of my dear cousin, Choi Minho. But I advised taking him home at an appropriate time.”

Minho his lips, “Ah, that’s true. I’m sorry, Kibum. Next time, I’ll remember that.”

His eyes turned to Taemin who face was flushed despite the cold weather, “Goodnight, Taemin.”

Taemin watched as Minho walked away, his eyes glazed. Key shouted, before slamming the door,, “Hopefully you get ed on your way home!”

Minho flashed his middle finger to the sky.

';

From that day onward, Key was with Taemin whenever he could get a chance. He took him to lunch, drove him to the school in the morning even though he had afternoon classes, and even went home with him despite the sun still waning in the sky.

“Why are you doing this?” Taemin asked when they were sitting at a café not too far from the school. Key was busy with his phone and sipping on his oolong tea but he answered anyway, “Doing what?”

Taemin gestured to the situation with his hands, “This.”

Key looked at him than, eyes a bit too serious, “Because I have to.”

Taemin frowned, “Does this have anything to do with Minho-hyung?”

Key barked a laugh, “That prick? You must be joking. We just don’t hang out enough. And anyway, the parties these days have become a little bland for me, you know?”

Taemin looked unconvinced. A silence passed between them, and Taemin’s eyes wandered outside. He had a dream last night of the painting that he created not too long ago. It was a beautiful dream, because everything felt so real. Even the warm arms that wrapped around his body from behind. Ah, so warm, so good.

“Stay away from him, Taemin.”

Taemin blinked, looking at Key, “What?”

“Stay away from Minho, Taemin. He’s nothing but bad.”

“How do you even know he’s bad?” Taemin was offended.

Key sighed putting his phone down.

He fixed his square black trimmed glasses, eyes impassive, “It’s because Choi Minho was a lunatic that became everything.”

He let it sink in before continuing, “I had to take an English class that I failed to take first semester. Choi Minho was in that class. He was weird. He mumbled to himself throughout the class. He dressed in the same clothes every day. His hair was really long, bags under his eyes and he smelled like he didn’t take a bath in days. He was a mess. I would never forget when the teacher was talking about a literature piece involving love and how it could last a lifetime that Minho suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted, ‘No, through generations!’ before walking out and never coming back.”

Key shifted in his seat looking bored now as he played with his straw, the sun hitting his face lighting up his blonde curls and making his dark eyes shimmer, “I didn’t see him till about two months afterwards. At first, I didn’t recognize him. He looked like a totally different person. A person you see now. Minho before those two months was nothing but soulless. Now, he’s athletic, handsome, charming, and devilish. He sleeps everywhere and breaks many girls’ hearts. Basically, a complete . But every now and then, when he thinks that no one is watching him, he’s still that crazy person I saw before anyone knew he existed. And I don’t want you hanging around him.”

Taemin pursued his lips, digesting everything that was said. People go through changes, he thought, and Minho did. For the better. Who was Key to complain about that?

Key frowned, “I know what you’re thinking. You have to understand that I know this guy longer than you’ve known him the few weeks that you’ve been hanging out with him.”

“I know. I just-I’ll be careful, Key-hyung. Thanks.”

Key watched how Taemin whole face tightened, brows furrowing, the grip on his oolong tea loose as his eyes stared at the ice cubes. Hard.

A/N:

uwaa! sorry for the long wait! after the new semester started, it's been real busy. but i had time to finish a chapter and currently working on the next one.

hopefully, you like! and hello~ to all the new subscribers!!

Comments are much appreciated! OHOHOHO!

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