Three Days Later: Saturday Night

"So basically," Jongin started, "Minho disrespected his own mother, tried to make it up by creating a customized frame for your mom that you ended up breaking, he lost the photo, you went to find it, he carried you away, and you got sick. Then he made you work the next day, you guys had a nasty animal fight, and you two took a shower together?" he tried summarizing most of the recent events that Taemin had told him. "You really need to call me more often. My brain doesn't have enough capacity to hold all of that in." Jongin laughed through the other line.

Taemin lifted himself up from his desk chair with a sigh and proceeded to climb into his bed, propping his back up against his mountain of pillows. "I will, and you pretty much covered it." The worker replied while taking the pillow that was supporting his head and hugged it tightly to his chest. "This is not okay. I'm supposed to hate him." He whined into the receiver.

"And you're saying that you don't hate him anymore?" Jongin asked confused. One minute Taemin loved Minho, then he absolutely abhorred him, but yet he was getting worked up over skinship.

"No! Of course I do! I mean, wait," Taemin paused for a second, trying to sort out all of his feelings that have been driving him absolutely mad that last few days. Scratch that, the last couple weeks. The man's frustration level towards his conflicting feelings grew so high, that he had to take a moment to muffle his screams with a scrunched up blanket and pillow. Taemin kicked his legs like a big baby and swore that he could feel his lungs starting to inch up his throat. You know, scream his lungs out. Jongin waited patiently on the other line for his friend to regain his sanity, and finally, Taemin returned in a state of composure.

"Seems like you're having a bit of trouble." He said, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, for pointing that out." Taemin said sarcastically and followed up with a couple of deep breaths. "Why does he make it so hard for me to hate him?" He asked, hoping that possibly, Jongin held the answer.

"If I for sure knew the answer to that question, I would definitely tell you. Trust me, because I'm tired of listening to you ." The younger joked in a playful tone. He thought that maybe he could try lifting his hyung's spirit that way.

"This isn't something I'm kidding about, Kai. I hate his damn personality and how he thinks he runs the world. To sum it up, I think hate everything about him, but for some reason, I can't stop thinking about him. I can't stop thinking about the way he held me in the shower." Taemin explained. 

The younger man was unsure about how to word the thoughts in his head in an easy way that won't put Taemin into a state of shock or denial. He couldn't just say, "Oh, you love him." That would make Taemin enter a huge denial phase that would be hard to pull him out of; especially when he's trying so hard to hate the man that he has feelings for.
"Well maybe it's because you've admired him for such a long time it's hard to let go. Do you feel a certain way when with him? Have you two been acting differently?"Jongin asked, trying to gather the small, but important information.

Taemin bit his lip while thinking of the last three days starting from the whole shower scene. He remembered that after Minho washed his neck, the idol had left him alone for the rest of the day. Actually, he's left Taemin alone ever since! It seemed as if he were avoiding the worker in every way possible. The only place where he has seen him lately had been for dinner since Kibum has been forcing him to eat with the staff for a reason unknown. Even then, Minho never even glanced Taemin's way.

Other than that, Taemin received no direct orders from him at all. Moving from one chore to another on the written list in his room, Taemin obediently did as the paper required him to do. But as he did so, Minho kept a good distance away. For example: yesterday he was sweeping the foyer and Minho stepped into the living room from the kitchen, with an alarmed face, he immediately turned around to where he had just exited. Or when Minho was lounging around in the living room, Taemin was vacuuming the carpet. Every foot that carried the worker closer seemed to push the idol farther away. Sort of like when magnets repel.

"Minho has been acting completely different ever since the shower together. We haven't said a word to each other ever since; I think he's avoiding me." Taemin said after racking through the clues in his brain and putting them together. The other question, though, Taemin had no exact answer to. 

Oh, how Taemin wished Jongin had the power to read his mind, or better yet; feel exactly how Taemin does. What he feels when with Minho is indescribable. He recalls looking up into those dark and perfectly shaped circles, and for once, not seeing a stuck up king, charismatic model, or hyped-up pop star. To be completely honest, even this hardcore fanboy had never witnessed this. Not on stage, not in an interview, not ever.

"When I'm with Minho I feel," Taemin paused, finding an adjective to use in his brain. In the end he used probably one of the most basic words ever, "good." Nobody spoke for at least a minute after.

"I was hoping for something a bit more, what, descriptive?" Said the disappointed Jongin.

"Kai, it's hard to explain! I'm sorry, but it's almost impossible for me to put my feelings into actual words. I'm really just confused right now." The older boy snapped. "When he touches me, my stomach flips upside down and when we aren't together I," Taemin inhaled and wondered if this was the right thing to say, because he's only ever said this to Kai and his mother. "I miss him." Right after saying that, Taemin bit the corner of the pillow he was snuggling and let out a pitiful whine.

Across the Seoul metropolitan area, Jongin sprawled himself out on his couch with a wide grin. "Now that's what I wanted to hear." He whispered to himself but the words caught and pulled into the receiver, transferring them to Taemin.

"Did you say something, Kai?" The other asked since he missed the traces of that sentence while whimpering out loud.

"Oh, that was the television; It's on mute now." The younger one lied. Taemin just sighed at how hard life had been on him lately, and hoped that maybe things would suddenly be in his favor.
"I'm clueless on what to do." He pouted. 

Jongin changed his position on the sofa cushions to face towards his entertainment center, not looking at anything in particular until something caught his eye. The neon blue digital numbers changed on the clock, indicating that a minute had just passed by. Seeing that it wasn't really late right now, an idea sprung up inside of his mind.
"It's only 9:46; why don't you go use the dance studio to relieve some stress? It may even help to decipher what your heart is saying." 

The thought of dancing again thrilled Taemin to the point that he had jumped out of his bed and was already searching for comfortable clothes. "God Kai, you're a genius!" The worker praised his dongsaeng as he tossed a random pair of sweat pants and a tank top to the ground.

"I've always been a genius, my child." Jongin tried saying in an elegant and clever way. The way he said it, made Taemin think of an aging college professor with grey hair and glasses. He scoffed and then let out a genuine laugh along with his best friend.

With his night planned out and clothing ready for him, Taemin found no reason to stay on the phone any longer. "I'm going to go now, okay? I'm limiting my time to eleven, and I want to start as soon as possible." He said as he pressed the speaker button on his phone and started to his black pants.

Jongin chuckled, "Okay, have fun. I'll hang up first." And just like he said, the call was over at the push of a button.

Taemin realized how grateful he is to have a friend, or 'brother,' like Kai as he dressed himself in a hurried way. In less than thirty seconds, the man was out of uniform and checking himself out in his full length mirror that was placed near the closet. The tank top he wore was black, designed with various colors of triangles on the front. He thought that the light grey sweats went well with the outfit, and was happy that his random drawings looked fine together. Taemin reached for his iPod that sat on his leather bin and watched himself stick it into his cotton pocke, when he noticed the reflection of a foreign item sitting on his nightstand.

Looking over his shoulder, the man found that an exact replica of the original customized picture frame had been propped up next to the picture of his mom. Taemin rolled his eyes and made his way over to the gift and noticed that a sticky note was attatched to the frame. With furrowed eyebrows, he peeled off the paper and held it close to his face. "Sorry I that upset you, but I thought that your mother needed to be kept in a place as beautiful as she is. Just in case you change your mind- The one who had to carry your heavy body to find that photo." Taemin read out loud. 

All was well during the first couple lines, but as he read the sender's 'name' Taemin's face dropped a considerable length. "I," he started crumpling the paper into a tiny, wrinkled ball, "am not fat." With a short huff, Taemin sent the note over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back at where it landed. Instead, he reached for the frame and unlatched the back. A bit hesitant, the grieving boy shot a worried look to his mother, but in the ended up fitting the picture in place. Now that it was secured inside with the help of the latch, Taemin stood it up using the balancing beam, and placed it in it's original spot.

An appreciative smile showed up on his face as he thought, Key is great at these kind of things. It's easy to see that Minho wasn't the actual one who designed this. Glancing at his wrist watch, Taemin cursed himself for taking so much time in admiring himself in the mirror and thinking about the photo. The man trotted out of his room and shut it quietly, in hope of not gaining attention from anybody. But how did he know that she was my mom? He questioned, carefully making his way down the hall.

"What's up, Tae?" A voice asked from behind him. Taemin shuddered at the unexpected sound, as he was doing his best to creep away, and then slowly turned around to find a vacant looking expression. Of course, it belonged to the one and only Jonghyun who seemed to be just leaving the rest room.

"Oh, hyung. I-I- you scared me for a second." The younger one cackled awkwardly, trying to cover up how startled and nervous he was. "I'm going to the, uh," He tried looking around to see if there was anything to make an excuse out of.

Sure enough, Jonghyun was gripping the neck of a water bottle that contained about three-fourths full. Taemin flickered his eyes back up to meet Jonghyun's almond shaped ones and smiled, "I was headed towards the kitchen for a bottle of cold water." He lied, attempting to not be suspicious in any way though Jonghyun eyed the way he was tapping his fingers against his thigh. The older man seemed to noticed, but said nothing about it as he walked past Taemin and entered his room.

A sigh of relief was puffed out when Jonghyun's door shut with a click that was a bit louder than it was meant to be. Taemin froze out in the hallway when he could hear Kibum's voice scolding somebody through his door. No, Key's door was further down the hall, and he'd have to be in Jonghyun's room to sound that close. Oh. Taemin smirked and bit his bottom lip, understanding now, that those two were now sharing a room. "Well, good for them." He giggled as he carried on with his plans hoping that nobody would see where he was headed to.

Taemin was a bit alarmed when he saw that there was a place for a key to slip in and prayed that it wasn't locked up. With his hand on the cold metal handle, the young butler popped the door open without a sound.

Just fhen, Jonghyun slipped his head from around the corner, just in time to watch as Taemin slithered through the narrow opening he had made for himself. About one second later, light filtered out from under the doo, and the circular window that was built In the middle of the frame. Jonghyun pouted, knowing that he was barely tall enough to reach that and spy on his co-worker.

As soon as the lights brightened the room, the first thing he was happy to see were the long walls covered with mirrors. Overjoyed and way too energized for this time of night, Taemin skipped diagonally across the floor; his shoes screeching to a stop when he ended up at the opposite corner. Two shelves were placed parallel from each other; one holding the main stereo system, and the other carrying stacked CDs. Taemin examined both, checking for a docking system. Although he didn't find a dock there was an audio jack and to Taemin's luck, the wire was still plugged in.

The man wasted no time in hooking up his device and switching on the stereo system. Taemin quietly thumbed down his playlist of dance and electronic songs, not wanting to take a chance in shuffling all of them together in fear that Minho's voice would come up. Before touching the play button, Taemin adjusted the main volume and tested it out. Having it at just the right spot, the dancer proceeded to the middle of the floor and stretched out his tight muscles for the remaining two minutes of that song. As soon as it ended and the next one began, Taemin submerged into his own world of beats and fluid movements.

If you sat there to watch Taemin dance, there would be no doubt in anybody's mind that he really gives dancing his all. Not only could you see that through his moves    but his face as well. It was solemnly kept most of the time, but the way his eyes shimmered when in motion screamed 'determination' and 'passion.' Once in a while you'll see a quick grin, if you watch carefully. It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of thing, but when you do see it, it warms even the coldest of hearts. 

Back when he was younger, him and Jongin would perform on the streets and many stopped to watch. Bystanders always thought that the music was too loud for the two dancers to hear their compliments and criticism, so they freely talked about the street show. Taemin constantly listened in on conversations taking wild guesses on why he smiles every so often while dancing. Ranging from things like "That grin says that he's really enjoying it!" to "He's probably smiling because of the money he's gathering." 

But boy, were they wrong. His smile never had anything to do with money, or even enjoying his time in the spotlight. It was all because of his mother. He's seen old tapes of her dancing in musicals, school performances, and teaching during workshops    absolutely flawless. Taemin believes in angels and knows that she is in the sky watching over him. But what he doesn't believe, are talents being passed down by generations. To make it short, he doesn't want to believe it's himself that’s controlling his body, but his mom; reliving her favorite hobby through her own flesh and blood.

Thirty minutes of nonstop moving left Taemin on the floor and gasping for air like a guppy out of water. A few moments passed, and the man rolled over on his side and began laughing to himself for no particular reason. He's just happy that he got a chance to do what he really loves again. Slowly, Taemin rose up and placed his hands behind him, transferring all of his upper body weight to them as the surround sound speakers sang no more.

The young man jerked his head to the side, examining the glowing speakers and wondering if he broke them. His heavy breathing went on as he crawled up to the mirror in front of him and grabbed his watch that he flung off a long time ago. It's been 32 minutes already? That means the playlist is done! He was amazed at how the short time felt as he was dancing. I guess they really mean it when they say 'time flies by when you're having fun.'

Lying down the watch once again, he realized that he wasn't completely satisfied with his performance yet and decided to keep going. With wobbly knees and a twitching hand, Taemin looked through the same playlist with a bored expression on his face. I don't want to go through this again... He thought with a frown. This was one of the times that he really wished that he kept a larger library of songs because the only other option to choose from was by Minho. His music is honestly the last thing he needs to hear right now but the choreography that matches the beats are killer. Only a couple of songs then. With a faint smile, he cranked up the volume a couple notches as he began dancing to Kibum's ringtone.

~~~~~

"Kibum told me to sleep early for my meeting tomorrow morning, but how does he expect me to do so when he's practicing my dances?! I thought I crushed his dream of being my back-up dancer a while ago." Minho said to himself as he blindly slipped socks over his feet and slid from off the edge of his bed. Fitting his feet into his pair of slippers, Minho slowly made his way through the darkness of his room and felt around for objects in his path. The bass of the practice room vibrated the floor upstairs and gently rattled objects throughout his room. 

Occasionally poking his hip or tripping over a fallen object, the master of the house finally reached his door and twisted it open. Although entering the dim lighted corridor, the change from pitch black darkness to light took it's toll on Minho's eyes. "Aish!" He whispered and then cursed Kim Kibum for forcing him awake. If he had his phone at this moment, Minho would have sent a text or called him to turn it down. But then again, Kibum probably wouldn't have noticed his phone ringing since the music was blasted too loud. 

After taking a moment to regain his eyesight, the man squinted and made his way down the stairs and to the source of the music. But who he saw was definitely not his manager.

~~~~~

"Damn it! Why is Minho practicing this late at night?! I need my beauty sleep!" Kibum yelled and ruffled his hair as he stomped past Jonghyun and up to the door's window.

"Bum, you're already beautiful, calm down." The other man said, placing the book he was reading on his lap. But just as Key reached for the doorknob, a thought hit the elder's mind.

"Wait, did you say Minho?" He asked with urgency.

The tone of voice was enough for Kibum to stop a moment and look back at his roommate. "Yeah, and I'm about to go beat him up!" He claimed. Jonghyun was about to say something, before Key's head was already out the door which was as far as it got.

Jonghyun was a bit worried since Key was about to go on a rampage. "Uh, Kibum?" He called after him and then immediately received a single pointer finger. The older man ignored this action and blurted, "It's not Minho!"

"Who... Is inside of the studio then?" He asked surprised.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you the whole time."

~~~~~

The sharp pops of his limbs, isolations of his joints and the clean, memorized choreography he presented looked so effortless and easy. The way a single wave of his hand caused a chain reaction to the rest of his body and made him seem like a single rolling wave of water totally mesmerized the speechless Minho in every single way. He stood at the door, staring in through the window at Taemin, observing with eyes the size of tea saucers. Minho wondered how somebody could cover his own dance and portray such fluid movements so easily. He had to admit; Taemin had him beat as a dancer.

Minho placed his hands on the door in front of him to keep him stable as he memorized Taemin's facial expression. The idol felt entranced by Taemin's intensely aggressive demeanor as he maneuvered between fluid and sharp dance styles. One moment, a door stood between him and the next room, and the next the smell of sweat surrounded him. Minho thought that he was in such a trance while watching that he mindlessly fell though the swinging door because all of a sudden he found himself looking up into the moistened face of Taemin.

"Oh, hey there." Minho tried playing it off like he didn't just intrude.

"Were you watching me the whole time?!" Taemin demanded to know, embarrassed that he was caught dancing to Minho's music. He felt stupid because he memorized his dance moves and knows them by heart. 

"No! No, just this song." Minho swore, helping himself from the floor as Taemin went to go turn down the music. "Where did you learn to dance like that?" He wondered, looking down as he stretched the hem of his white tank top.

"I'm self taught. Why, are you jealous?" The younger one casually walked up to the idol and bent down in his face with a smirk. Minho blushed, thinking that Taemin's cocky attitude was  insanely attractive.

"You wish! It's my own song, so of course I'm better than you! Original over the copy. You'd know, right?" Minho referenced Taemin's freak out about the photo of his mother.

The shorter dancer laughed unenthusiastically and said, "Really? Then show me." With that, he turned back up the music and pressed the 'next' button on his screen. And I need to remind myself to burn that frame later. 

To Taemin, the next song was perfect. The beginning to 'Lucifer' incorporated many of his favorite moves, but to Minho, it was the most horrible dance to compete with. Minho knew that he had no chance to win this from the start, but he at least wanted to perform a song that won't make him look like a clown next to this 'professional.' As the two waited for the tutting section to start, Minho kicked off his slippers and settled for the use of his socks instead of sneakers.

"Ready to be proven wrong?" Taemin caught the other's eyes in the mirror; five seconds away from starting to move.

"No need for that anymore." The idol mumbled, and on cue, both men began the same way.

That was, until Minho fell behind a couple of beats. Choosing to dance in his socks was a huge mistake.

Or so he thought.

Closing in on the end, the two men’s mouths were hung open; thirsty for both air and water. The droplets of sweat formed shook off their foreheads and were left to sit on the floor. Less than a minute was left and Minho did his best to keep up with the fast moving choreography but his problem was on his feet. 

There isn't much left. Just get through this and don't mess up- He told himself just as he accidentally misplaced his footing which sent him plummeting into Taemin, bringing them both down for the count.

"Minho, you ing-!" Taemin winced in pain and literally yelled straight up into Minho's face three centimeters away from him, "cheater." He finished in a whisper. The weight of Minho's body added more stress and pain to Taemin's back, as he struggled to fill air into his lungs. The man below the idol paid no mind to the struggle whatsoever when he felt Minho's hot breath fan over his face. His heart sped up instead of slowing down like it should be when he's resting. As Lucifer ended Taemin's eyes filled with lust looking at Minho's dewy complexion. He thought it was ironic how 'Love Like Oxygen' started playing in the background. 

Minho had enough.

This was it. He'd spent the last week away from Taemin so that he could do some deep thinking about him. He wanted to know why his heart wouldn't stop fluttering when with the worker. He wanted to know what made this man so goddamn special that it made his insides tingle and brain turn to mush. He wanted to know why he had thoughts about kissing his lucious lips.

Maybe watching him move in perfect harmony with the beats sealed the deal. Maybe it was the compelling eyes he owns which made Minho feel like he was a sailor lost at sea. Or perhaps it was the way Taemin was his lips at this moment, tempting Minho for a taste. 

This was the type of moment that he was delighted to be caught in: one with opportunity. Gently, the older cupped Taemin's left cheek that flushed a rosy color. Instinctively, Minho shut his eyes as he began closing the space between them.

Four centimeters from his lips.

Three centimeters from his lips.

Two centimeters from his lips.

One centimeter-

"Jonghyun you !" The abrupt clicking of a door and a familiar yell startled the two and Minho rolled off of Taemin's body in little to no time. Minho and Taemin watched as in tumbled the two spies: Jonghyun and Kibum.

A/N: Jonghyun and Kibum, what are you two doing?!?! They were almost there! Come on, so close! Omo, my heart was beating so fast when writing the last part ><;; My fangirl/authornim heart flutters just like Minho's! I'm sorry for adding the Love Like oxygen part, I feel so cheesey, and I laughed at  myself for it kekeke. Until next chapter!
         Annyeonghigaseyo!~ Queen S