I checked up on Taemin again before we left by peeking inside my room and seeing that he was sleeping peacefully in my bed. Jinki tried to look at him past my shoulder, but I wouldn't let him. Closing the door I pushed him back into the hallway and put on my jacket so that we could finally leave for work.

“How come he was working on a cruiser?” Jinki blurted out as soon as we left the house I lived in behind. “He's so beautiful! He could be a model easily!” I rolled my eyes and nodded. Since it was pretty cold I reached into my pocket and pulled out my Panda gloves. Jinki chuckled when he saw them and said: “I might as well buy some of these, too.”

“I thought you didn't like them?”

“Not for me. For Taemin. He is so cute, he will definitely like them!”
I grimaced without him noticing and avoided looking at him.

“Hey, hey, Kibum.” he grabbed my arm and leaned forward so that he could look into my eyes. “Do you think Taemin will like me?”
 

“If you would finally stop,” I started, “being so annoying then maybe … just maybe … yes.” his eyes widened in excitement and he bounced up and down for a moment before calming down again.
“For goodness sake.” he said happily. “I've never been this excited!”
 

“Why?”
 

“Oh well.” he grinned wider than ever. “He's gonna come to the shop later, isn't he?” I nodded. “I have to look cool then!” he stopped in front of a shop and checked the way he looked in the window. “I have to make a good first impression. Otherwise he might think I'm stupid or something.”

“Well, you are quite clumsy, if that's what you mean.” he pouted, but smiled quickly.

Jinki spent the whole way to the shop with gushing about Taemin being pretty, beautiful, perfect, whatever and I got pretty pissed about it. Not that he wasn't right, but I disliked how he was fancying my crush. Of course I did not tell him, but he seemed to be able to tell since I was getting pretty quiet around him. That's why I was really relieved when we finally got to the shop and I could leave him go after his business.
I was working at the counter, Jinki worked in the kitchen, so I didn't have to face him again until lunch break … and during that time I was going home in order to get Taemin-ah … I furrowed my brow at the customer in front of me when my heart beat up lightly at the thought of Taemin sleeping in my bed right now. He looked so adorable while sleeping in there this morning …

I forced myself out of my thoughts when a painfully familiar face appeared in front of me.

“Are you daydreaming again, Kibum?” he asked with a wide smile plastered on his face. “Or are you just spacing out, like usually?”

“Very funny.” I said and grinned at him. “What are you doing here, Jonghyun? I told you I'd come by this week.”

“Yeah, but I was wondering what you were up to.” he shrugged. “Plus. I'm really thirsty. Can you get Jinki to make me a cup of Coffee, please?” I slapped his arm playfully before turning my back to him and shouting Jinkis name through the opened kitchen door. He came over, greeted Jonghyun, but hurried off quickly in order to get him his drink. Jonghyun talked me into deserting my working space for five minutes – since there wasn't a lot going on anyway – and so we sat down on the rather big couches that were scattered throughout the room.

“So? How is it?” he wiggled his eyebrows, causing me to frown a bit. “How is what?” I asked. “You look stupid when you do that with your eyebrows, stop it.”

“Sorry, Umma.” he cooed and took a sip of his Coffee. “But you know exactly what I mean.”
 

“I actually don't.”
 

“How is he? He arrived yesterday, didn't he?”
I blinked and said: “You mean Taemin-ah.”
 

“No. I mean your cat.”
 

“I doubt that.”
 

“Yeah, difficult without having one.”

“You don't say, smartass.”

He grinned widely. “Come on, Kibum! I've never even seen the kid, just tell me about him already, will you?” I crossed my arms and legs and leaned back, asking: “Are you that desperate for information about him?”

“Yes. Now go on or I'll spill this Coffee onto your clothes.” I gasped sarcastically, but took it seriously. Jonghyun would do that, he definitely would. And so I told him about Taemin. I told him how I had gone to pick him up and how cute, adorable and perfect was … how he was basically just perfection himself. Jonghyun was grinning happily all the way through and when I asked him about it he said: “I have the feeling that my Kibummie is gonna get rid of his ity soon.” I blushed and was about to tell him off, when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. Jinki had come over and was leaning onto my shoulder now.
“Talking about losing your ity?” he asked jokingly. “I'm an expert. Ask me all you want.” he grinned widely when I gasped. Jonghyun on the other hand only laughed harder. “You're impossible.” I mumbled and tried to hide that embarrassing blush that had crept onto my face.

Luckily the rest of the time with these two passed real quickly and I soon found my lunch-break approaching. Even though I sometimes had to go back to the counter in order to serve our customers their drinks, Jonghyun stayed all the way through and watched my every movement … he was a bit of a stalker, really. Yet, when the clock finally showed that I was having my time off now I sighed out of relief and put off my working clothes.
“Are you going to get Taemin now?” I heard Jinki ask. I turned my head and saw him standing in the doorway with a big smile on his face. “Yeah.” I said and hung my apron onto the clothes hanger. “I'll be back in a little while, so tell the others where I am in case they ask, please?”

“Sure, no problem. Do you know if there's anything he'd like to eat? I can make him something!”

“I'm pretty sure he will have eaten at home.” I said and gave him a cocky look. “Just relax, Jinki.” I told him when I put my jacket on. “He ain't a celebrity.” when I walked past him I patted his cheek jokingly and could have sworn that I heard him mutter He looks like one though.



*



When I was about to unlock the door to my flat I hesitated when I heard noises inside. I put my ear against the wooden door and listened more closely, feeling slightly surprised when I could hear Taemin sing. He was singing some song from one of those Idol-groups that were around lately, but it didn't sound really good … apparently Taemin wasn't one of the best singers out there.
Since I found that cute I stood there for a moment and just listened before I decided to go and pick him up for real now. He fell silent immediately when I turned the key in the keyhole and when I opened the door I saw him coming out of my room quickly.

“Hyung!” he chirped and hurried over. “I missed you!” he hugged me tightly and caused me to chuckle when he added “I really did, I promise!”. I hugged him back before I let him pull me inside the flat and close the door behind me. He smiled widely and asked: “Can we eat something before we go out? Please? I'm so hungry!”

“Eat?” I repeated and watched as Taemin eagerly started to put on his jacket. “But I left you food in the microwave, didn't I?”

“Huh?” he stopped for a second. When I saw his cheeks heating up I couldn't help but smile. “I-I know …” he mumbled and quickly looked down at his socks. “But I … kind of …” he didn't go on but leaned down and grabbed his shoes. “Okay, what was wrong with the food?” I asked and put my hands on my hips. “Didn't you like it?”

“I did!” he said immediately and I saw his eyes widen. “I mean I would have, but I … I kind of … blew it up …” he blushed even deeper and started tying his shoelaces so that he wouldn't have to meet my eyes. I narrowed my eyebrows though and gave him a confused look as I asked: “How could you have blown rice up? Is my kitchen still standing?” I walked around him and peeked inside the room just to see that it was just the same as always.
“I cleaned up of course.” Taemin muttered and got to his feet again when he finished getting ready. “I don't know how but suddenly … inside the microwave there were weird noises … like this.” he started imitating the noises, to me however it only looked like he was trying to imitate a fish. “And then it went all like Boom!” he formed a big circle with his hands and puffed his cheeks out. “So when I opened the microwave the rice was sticking to the inside and … yeah … I-I swear I cleaned it though and–”

“Taemin-ah, it's fine.” I said quickly and patted his head. “I'll buy you something, okay? Let's go.”

“N-Neh …” he giggled when I ruffled his hair before letting go of him. I opened the door for him and together we started making our way down the hallway and onto the streets.

“You look really cute today, Taemin-ah.” I said when he buttoned up his jacket. It was a rather grey coat with black spots all over and big buttons. He was wearing black and skinny jeans, which fitted really nice with his blonde hair. He smiled at me then and said: “You look cute, too, Kibum Hyung! I like your hair today!” he reached out with his hand and grabbed one of my hair strains, twirling it in his fingers. “It feels really fluffy!” I laughed at that and offered him to take my hand – my heart beat up a lot when he intertwined his fingers with mine.
We took a slight detour over one of the markets near to the Coffee-house, because I wanted to buy Taemin something to eat. While we strolled through between the many shops I told Taemin to look for something he wanted to eat and he said that he would, but never said anything, not even when we finished looking at everything. In the end I asked him and he said that the only thing he had seen was too expensive and that he didn't want to trouble me. I told him off though and got him to tell me what it was that he wanted – it turned out that he wanted to eat crepe.

“Thank you, Kibum Hyung.” he said shyly and beamed when the crepe was handed to him by the salesman. “Do you want some, too?” he asked before he even took a bite himself. I denied that though and watched as he stared eating. I found it really cute how he was smiling so much as he continued to eat. He had his free arm linked with mine as I guided him towards the Coffee-house. Since he was eating so slowly he was still not finished when we got there in the end. I was not surprised to see that Jonghyun had left by now, he had still been hanging out with Jinki by the time I left in order to go and get Taemin. I couldn't see Jinki, so I guessed that he was in the kitchen.

“I need to go and get my apron.” I told him and watched as he struggled to bite off a piece of his crepe. “Wanna wait here?” he blinked at me and nodded, and so I sat him down at a table and said that I was gonna be back in a minute. I was a bit irritated when the kitchen was empty, but put on my apron and other working clothes again. I saw that Jinki had forgotten to put away some ingredients, so I cleaned up first before I decided to go out for work. However, when I opened the door and saw Jinki sitting with and talking to Taemin I frowned – especially because Taemin was laughing quite a lot. He did what he always did, covering his smile with his smile with the back of his hand as he leaned forward in order to hear Jinki better.

Lee Jinki … what in the world are you doing …?

I walked over and greeted Jinki as soon as I was close enough to be heard. Taemin turned his head to look at me and smiled widely as he did so. “Hyung, where were you?” he cooed and sat up a bit. “Jinki Hyung said you were probably eaten by a monster or something …”

“Did he now?” I asked and smiled down at him. “Don't listen to your Hyung too much. He's really weird.” I looked at Jinki who seemed absolutely happy now that Taemin was there. “Anyway, are you still hungry, Taemin-ah?” he shook his head and said: “Jinki Hyung said he would buy Kimchi for me tonight!” his eyes were shining brightly as he said that. “It has been ages since I last ate Kimchi … It's really exciting!”

“I hope you don't mind if I kidnap him tonight?” Jinki asked and rested his chin on his palm. “But it's impossible not to ask him out, you know?” Taemin giggled again and covered his smile as he blushed.

It would have been a lie to say that this didn't hurt me.

“O-Of course not.” I said and tried to maintain my own smile. “But please just –“ I twitched when I heard someone using the bell on the counter in order to order something to drink or eat. “Hey, we need to get back to work!” I said and ruffled Taemins hair before I hurried off. I apologized to the customer and took his order just when Jinki joined me and took the piece of paper from me. “Hey, Kibum?” he said and waved me closer to himself. “Thanks for introducing me to him.” he said and hugged me real quickly. “Don't worry, I'll treat him real well.”

“Oh.” I raised my eyebrows but still tried to smile. “That's fine, Hyung, really.”



*



Taemin had helped me and Jinki serve the customers and prepare the food and drinks all day, thus he seemed to be slightly tired when we finally finished our working day. I really adored to watch him running after us and trying to help, especially because he was still a bad waiter and cook. On the other hand, what I didn't like was the way that Jinki was flirting with him all the time. And I wasn't sure, but Taemin either really liked it or was too oblivious to realize that. Since I didn't like him being too close to Jinki I always tried to find an excuse for Taemin to help me with something or being close to me.

“Hyung, your job seems like lots of fun.” Taemin told me as he followed me around while I mopped the floor in the kitchen. “It's more fun than mine!”

“Really?” I smiled when he tiptoed around, trying not to make the floor dirty again. “Do you really want to work already?”

“Yah … that's not what I meant …” he mumbled with a smile. “But it's still fun, you know.” I stopped walking and handed him the mop. “Wanna try?” he grinned and nodded as he took it from me. “Very funny.” he said and stuck his tongue out at me. “This is no difference to before, you know …”

“Of course I know.” I agreed. “But you were the one to say that it was lots of fun.”

“Kibum Hyung is really silly.” he said and shook his head. “Catch me?” with that said he suddenly ran away from me and over to the other side of the room. I laughed at him and hurried after him just to have him dodge me as I tried to grab him. He laughed real loudly as he ran in big circles, still mopping the floor and avoiding to get caught by me. The floor was completely wet and clean in no-time even though there were our footprints showing off. Taemin did put on a good fight, but I eventually managed to corner him and wrap my arms around him from behind. He let the mop drop and squealed my name as I held him tightly. When I blew cold air into his neck he shivered and tried to get my arms off of him.
“Is Hyung still silly?” I asked and tickled his side softly. “Is he?” I pressed softly and felt my heart beat up when Taemin turned his head so that he could look at me. His eyes were teary because he was laughing so much, but his smile was as beautiful as ever. When he gasped a No I felt my own smile widen. Taemin squirmed as I tickled him a bit rougher. “Hyung, stop it!” he shouted and threw his head back so that it was resting against my shoulder. “You're not silly!”

“Really?” I asked and eventually stopped tickling him. “Not silly?”

“No you're not …” Taemin said quietly and gasped for air. I liked how he leaned onto me with his weight. One of his legs was in between the gap of mine and it actually startled me to be as close as we were now – it reminded me exactly of how we had shared the bed last night. “Kibum Hyung is just a bit weird.” Taemin said as soon as he had gotten enough air into his lungs again. “Even weirder than Jinki Hyung …”

“Is that so?”
I felt my heart sink a bit when I heard Jinkis voice suddenly. Turning my head I looked back to the door and saw Jinki standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest – he was still smiling though. “Neh!” I twitched softly when Taemin suddenly shrugged me off and turned around so that he could face Jinki. He gave me a bright smile before he hurried over to him. I watched as Jinki leaned against the door frame and rubbed Taemins arm softly. “Do you wanna go and get some Kimchi now, Taemin-ah?” he asked and I felt a heavy stitch in my chest when Taemin nodded and gave Jinki his teeth-flashing smile as well. Before I knew it we had all put on our jackets and were standing in front of the now closed Coffee-house. Jinki and Taemin were talking real eagerly about where to go and buy the Kimchi while I was only staring at them.

“Have you ever been to Dongdaemun, Taemin-ah?” Jinki asked. “It's a big shopping center, I'm sure we'll be able to find some good Kimchi there.”

“Sounds great!” Taemin agreed. “Let's go?”

“Do you mind, Kibum?” Jinki asked as we reached the crossroad and had to stop at a traffic light. “I'll make sure to take Taemin-ah home so that he won't get lost. I promise.” he added when I raised my eyebrows. “It'll be fun, Kibum, really.” I noticed how Taemin looked from me to Jinki and back again, there was something in his eyes that I couldn't really classify. “As long as you bring him home again I don't mind.” I told him and shrugged. “And please don't be too late, okay? I need to work tomorrow … and you, too Jinki.”

“I know, I know, don't worry.” he said and grinned. “Okay then, let's go, Taemin-ah.” when he offered Taemin his hand I felt uneasy, but when Taemin took it I felt my heart ache.

Why would he take that guys hand …? He had taken mine before as well, hadn't he …?

Didn't it mean anything to him or did he like Jinki more than me already?

“Have fun you two.” I said and waved them Goodbye. “I'll see you soon, Taemin-ah.” he seemed to be about to say something when Jinki pulled him as the traffic light turned green. “See you tomorrow, Kibum!” Jinki said loudly and pulled Taemin with him, right over the crossroad. I just stood there and watched as they walked on ahead and for a little moment mine and Taemins eyes met. His eye-smile was a bit muffled somehow, he didn't look as cheerful as he had before. However, even though I felt really uncomfortable with letting him and Jinki go just like that I smiled and waved one more time before he and my friend disappeared in the big crowd for good.

See you later, Taemin-ah.



*



It was nearly midnight when the doorbell finally rang.

I opened up to a very tired looking Taemin who had an arm wrapped around his shoulders by Jinki. As soon as the door opened up Taemins face seemed to brighten up and he quickly leaped forward in order to hug me. He didn't let go of me however and so I wrapped my arms around him as I thanked Jinki for bringing him home. Jinki seemed to expect Taemin to hug him Goodbye since he repeated wishing him Goodnight for about three times and tapping his shoulder, but Taemin didn't let go of me whatsoever. When I noticed how Taemin was leaning onto me more and more I told Jinki that he was probably just too tired – but he still seemed disappointed. I wished him Goodnight and locked the door behind him.

“Are you okay, Taemin-ah?” I asked and rubbed his back soothingly. He nodded and hummed a Yes into my chest. “I guess you're tired?” he nodded and I felt how he yawned. I smiled. “Come on, I'll get you to bed.” when he loosened his grip on me I used that opportunity to get him off of me and back into my room. “Do you wanna sleep with me again tonight?” he nodded again and let me sit him down on my bed. He lay down on his back, stretched his arms and closed his eyes. “Hyung.” he muttered. “I'm so tired …”

“What in the world did you eat?” I asked with a chuckle and pinched his cheeks. “Only Kimchi?”

“No …” he yawned widely. “Hyung bought a bit of alcohol, too.” I gasped at that and leaned down to him. “Breathe on me once.” I told him. When he did so I shivered when I could actually smell alcohol – so he really was speaking the truth. “I'm gonna make Jinki pay for that.” I said and was about to get up when Taemin grabbed my wrist. He rolled onto his side and breathed out deeply. “Don't go now, Hyung.” he muttered and pulled his knees up to his chest. “Jinki Hyung is really nice.” he smiled and I found it really cute how he fell asleep within the next few seconds.

You sure are something, Taemin-ah …

I his soft hair for a moment and waited for a while before I carefully moved Taemin until he was lying in bed properly. I actually did want to change his clothes for him, but figured that it would probably be a bit too awkward to … well … strip him. And so I only freed him off his jacket, pullover and shoes and socks. When I covered him with the blanket I couldn't help but smile widely when he immediately huddled himself into the blanket. I sat next to him and watched him for a little while until I also grew tired. However, I first got my cellphone and send a short text-message to Jinki.

To: Lee Jinki

Msg.: You gave Taemin-ah alcohol? Are you crazy!? You idiot! >_< I don't think that he goes well with alcohol. Never tried, but I don't want to as well … Imagine him being drunk … *cries* Anyway, I'll kill you if you let my Baby drink again, okay? -_-''

I actually received a reply within five minutes only.

From: Lee Jinki

Msg.: Hahaha, I'm sorry, Kibum! But we were in a restaurant and he said he had always wanted to try Japanese alcohol … so I bought us a bottle of Sake, you know? Neither of us drank much though, so there's no need for you to be worried. I'll remember that the next time we go out though, I promise. ^_^ I'll see you tomorrow, Kibum! Thanks for the great day! ;)

I sighed at that, turned the alarm on and put my phone away as I got under the blanket myself. When I turned the light off Taemin sighed and moved a little closer to me until we were almost face to face. I smiled at that, closed my eyes and put my arm around his waist so that I could pull him a bit closer. Even though he seemed deeply asleep he turned his head so that his forehead was pressing against my arm. I noticed how he was sweating a little and used my free hand to wipe the sweat off of him. Afterwards I brushed his hair out of his face and placed a kiss on the space in between his eyes.

“Goodnight, baby.”


*




Like I said, I am back to writing again.

I don't think anyone is online today (I need to go back to my family now, too) but I wanted to leave this chapter as a tiny Christmas present .... I actually finished it two weeks ago or so but was continously trying to improve it and in the end I decided to keep it for Christmas ...

Merry Christmas and Thanks for reading!!~ ^_^