Minho woke up groggy, feeling as though he’d been out drinking for hours. Fingers rubbing his forehead, trying to massage away the headache, he slowly sat up. Remembering why he had taken a nap, he groaned. 

Emotions settled, he now felt like an even bigger jerk. 

He’d ignored his roommate, essentially forced him out of his car, left for hours and then pretended to sleep so he wouldn’t have to face himself. “Great. Just great.” He muttered, dragging his legs off the bed and standing up 

He looked over to his roommates bed and saw the soft rise and fall of Taemin’s sleeping chest. A warm feeling came over him, almost the same as when he use to watch Jinki sleeping after a long night of studying. 

Jinki had been the studious one, staying up to the wee hours of the morning studying sometimes, falling asleep only just before Minho’s alarm would go off. Minho would take a moment to take in the peacefulness of his friend during the only time that Jinki wasn’t studying or working or worrying. Then he’d set the coffee pot before heading out for his morning run. 

Taemin looked so much younger in sleep, like all the trauma of his earlier days was erased. 

Blinking, Minho moved a couple steps closer. The position the younger boy slept in, all curled in on himself, the way his eyelids fluttered with whatever he was dreaming about and even something about his face really reminded him of Jinki. 

Shaking his head, he tried to just brush it off. It was just a coincidence, he had to tell himself as he moved to gather up all of the laundry, there was no way that what he was thinking was remotely right. 

Trying to keep quiet so he didn’t wake the younger and have another thing to feel like a jerk about, Minho went into the bathroom to grab the dirty towels basket. The funny smell from early assaulted his nose the second he opened the cupboard doors. 

“Eurgh.” He groaned, pinching his nose closed, “what is that? Screw it, I don’t want to know.” He dumped the basket as quick as he could on the other things and hoped that there wasn’t a moldy towel they’d missed last week. 

Grabbing his keys from his desk, he headed down to the laundry room. 

Uniforms were sent out on Fridays and delivered back on Sunday nights, but their personal weekend clothing had to be done in the dorm’s laundry. Sometimes Minho and Taemin went together, but generally they took turns, not carrying that the other was seeing their boxers. 

Especially since Key had bought Taemin new ones after that first fateful shopping trip, declaring his cheap and well worn ones, disgusting and useless. Sulli thought the ones with hearts were “adorable” and Jonghyun was all for ones with ridiculous cartoon animals. Left to his own devices, Key would have had him in silk or something equally uncomfortable. Thankfully, Minho had grabbed a similar style to his own and informed Key that they would do. Taemin’s were yellow and Minho’s blue, so luckily at least they wouldn’t mix them up. 

The clock on the wall over the washing machines read 10:57pm. Usually Minho would be getting ready for sleep right about now, but his evening nap had screwed that up. Three machines were currently running but no other students were waiting around. Not many people did laundry this late on a Sunday night. 

Grabbing one machine for towels and another for clothing, Minho began to sort. Once again while mumbling under his breath Minho tried not to breath in the rotten smell. 

Unfortunately it was easier said than done and it left Minho wondering what exactly it was, he’d figured now that it wasn’t his gym stuff (even though it didn’t smell good either) and he thought he recognized the smell. 

Reaching in blindly to the basket, he came up with a wet bundle of clothing.

Frowning, he shook it out. Shirt, socks, pants and underwear separated as they fell to the floor. Taemin’s things, he recognized, the younger boy being much skinnier than him and the yellow boxers giving it away. 

The shirt was damp, likely from the wet towels under it, but the pants and boxers were soaked. 

And the source of the smell. 

Gagging, Minho tossed the soiled clothing into the washing machine. He quickly threw everything else in and bolted over to the sink to wash his hands. 

Thinking back to earlier, Minho knew that these were the clothing that Taemin had been wearing. He might not have been in the best mood or the best company but he did take notice of those around him. 

Then he thought back to the unlocked door and Taemin’s quick retreat into the bathroom when he returned home. 

“.” He swore, something obviously happened. He felt stupid thinking that, but he didn’t know what, but it was beyond obvious that something did. 

Taemin never left the door unlocked when he was there alone. Even if Minho said he was just running down the hall to a vending machine, Taemin locked the door behind him and waited until he knocked and announced himself to let him back in. 

And the short shower? If Minho had been thinking clearly earlier he would have paid more attention to the fact that Taemin hadn’t taken a shower less than 20 minutes in three weeks.

Biting his lip, hating to leave their things in the machines while they were running, he took the chance and hurried back to their room. 

Taemin was still sleeping, but since he didn’t want to talk to him yet, Minho stayed quiet. Slipping into the bathroom again, he checked the bottles in the shower. He had a hunch and confirmed it when he lifted the body wash bottle. He’d opened a new one that morning, after his run and before he had headed off to the hospital. 

It was almost empty. 

The nasty smell, the wetness of Taemin’s pants, unlocked door, now clear terror in Taemin’s run and the empty body wash bottle. 

Anger flooded Minho’s system. 

He was not going to stand by and let something happen to another roommate. Another friend. 

He wanted to rage his way out of the bathroom, wake up Taemin and demand to know what happened, but he couldn’t do that. He could’t scare the boy again, not after the way he had been so clearly terrified early. 

So he made the only other choice he could. He left, quietly and reasonably. Closing the door quietly behind him and locking up the room. Ten feet down the hallway he pulled out his phone and dialled. 

“Hey, hyung? Yeah listen I need you to meet me in the laundry room now. Don’t Minho-ah me, just do it. Its important.” He paused as the person on the other end of the line asked a question. “I’d never thought I’d say this but hyung, this is more important than Jinki.” Another pause. “Thank you, see you soon.”

Kicking the wall at the end of the hall hard enough to dent the plaster, Minho fumed the entire way to the laundry and to his waiting friend. 

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Hey lovelies! I hope that the smaller sized chapters aren't too short. I'm trying to keep it so that I can update weekly and not let myself get ahead of where my mind is headed. 

Who do you think Minho called? What do you think Minho thinks happened? What's Minho going to do? Will he confront Taemin or let things go unsaid?

Tell me your thoughts please! Good, bad, in between.... I want to hear everything you want to say! Criticism helps my writing get better and praise makes me want to write more!!

Loves to you all! 

Kat