Before Minho could start speaking however, Taemin’s phone chimed. He was about to ignore it, wanting to hear what Minho had to say more, when it chimed again. 

“Just answer it.” Minho said, “Its probably Key or Sulli, if you don’t answer it they’ll think something is wrong.” He moved over to where Taemin left his phone and handed it to his younger friend. “I’m not stalling, I said I would tell you and I will.” He said at the look that Taemin gave him. 

Taemin nodded, taking his phone. The message on the screen was from Key. Taemin sighed, “Key wants to know what’s wrong. He says Jonghyun is acting weird and he knows he was over here this morning. Apparently he smells like flour.” 

“Just tell him its none of his business.” Minho said, surly. 

Taemin glared. “I can’t say that.” He began typing on the screen. While he hated lying, he was well versed in half-truths and could avoid the truth without ever truly lying. “I’ll just say that he came over to make me pancakes because you were feeling guilty about leaving me last night.” His heart pounded as he spoke disrespectfully to Minho. 

Mouth gaping open, Minho simply nodded. He would take the hit today, considering it was partly true. Jonghyun was making pancakes because he felt bad, and not just because he was hoping to soften up Taemin. The older boy had let himself into the dormroom just as Minho was starting to pull out the pancake ingredients and had taken over. Minho wasn't the best cook and Jonghyun knew that if he was trying to make up for his ty behaviour, even tier pancakes were not going to help. 

Key was going to kill him and he deserved it. 

The phone chimed but Taemin didn’t respond. “He says fine. Just fine.” 

Minho groaned. “He’s going to kill me. Tell my mother I love her.” He tugged at his hair. 

A small smile graced Taemin’s face, it was almost comforting to know that somethings never changed. “He’s more likely to throw out all your football jerseys and replace them with ballet unitards.”

“True.” Minho nodded and moved over to sit down on his bed. “We don’t have long before class and I know that you don’t like to miss any so …” His voice trailed off. By now, the group had long learned about most of the conditions that Taemin had to follow in order to remain at the school. 

He was very lucky to have been given such a chance at such a prestigious private school, but with the generosity of the school (due to the publicity and tax write-offs they were getting) came lots of conditions. One being that Taemin could only miss classes if he was severely ill and had a note from the school doctor. 

“Maybe we should talk about this after?” Taemin suggested, hating that he was even suggesting it considering Minho was actually going to talk to him. “You promise to tell me though?’ He didn’t want to give Minho the chance to back out and go against his promise.

Standing back up, Minho nodded. “After class.” He paused, thinking for a second, his eyes going distant as he thought something through. “I think maybe its time to let Key and Jonghyun in on the secret too. If that’s okay with you?”

Taemin nodded, Jonghyun and Minho already knew he had wet himself, so what was it to let Key in on it too? He had come this far and admitted this much, why eliminate one of his friends and risk losing all his friendships?

“We will have to tell Key what happened last night, and fill Jonghyun in on what you just told me.” Minho’s voice was soft as he approached his roommate. “I know that its embarrassing and I wouldn’t have told Jonghyun but I was desperate. I was worried that it was Yunho.” He had the grace to look embarrassed. 

“I figured that.” The younger turned away to gather his school things. “Do you think Key will make dinner if I ask him? I really want his bibimbap.” While Taemin wasn’t exactly sure that he would want to eat later, if it was one of his favourites maybe he would be able to force down a little bit. 

“Key will do just about anything for you. I’ll call my mother and see if she will bring the groceries over this afternoon.” He made a mental note to ask her to send something sweet as well. He would rather have something alcoholic, but he knew Taemin wouldn’t touch it and technically it was against school rules, even though most of the older students ignored that rule. God knew they would need something to help get through this. 

“Thanks.” Taemin said. He knew that he couldn’t contribute to the cost but he had accepted that Minho’s parents provided the groceries he was eating because he was simply eating whatever was there. This was the first time he was asking for something specific and he knew that Minho would know that too. 

Making sure they both had everything they needed for class, the two boys left the room. 

They walked in awkward silence, the sounds of their dorm mates surrounded them. There was nothing that either wanted to say and so they simply kept quiet. Too much was swirling in their minds and without the safety of their dormroom, none of those thoughts could be let out. 

Sulli was waiting at Taemin’s first class for him and the roommates said an awkward goodbye. They had no classes together today and Minho had basketball practice at lunch so they wouldn’t have a chance to see each other until they met in their dorm later.

….

Six hours later, Taemin said goodbye to Sulli at the entrance to the boys dorm, at least this time there were more people milling around than last night and while Taemin’s heart rate was quick and he could feel it beating in his chest, he did at least take comfort in that small fact. 

He was nervous in a way that he shouldn’t be, even before with Yunho he wasn’t so afraid in the dorms. He knew that the older boy wouldn’t attack him with so many of Minho’s friends and witnesses. Not in the dorms at least, not in his room.

But now, the safety of his room was compromised. Now Yunho wasn’t the person he was afraid of, Yunho was nothing. 

Swallowing hard against his nerves, Taemin headed down the hallway towards his room. While he was still a novelty to the rich and powerful children of Korea’s 1%, he was becoming less and less unexpected. People were getting use to him and no longer just stopped and stared as he walked by. 

His extremities felt cold as he stood in front of his door. Reaching out to grasp the doorknob, Taemin steadied himself and looked over his shoulders, as though he would see an assailant before they attacked this time. He wondered if he would ever feel safe in this hall again. 

Through the door he could just barely make out the sounds of male voices. The timber and pitch of Key’s voice the most prominent. It rose and fell as he spoke, his anger and frustration apparent  in the changing pitches of his voice. 

He knew that Key would be upset that he had been left out of the morning’s happenings, but he also knew that he was going to be even more upset when he heard what happened. It was something that Taemin was not looking forward to. 

Key’s brash and often overbearing personality could sometimes be smothering even though he meant well. Taemin was still getting use to it and often found himself enjoying the mothering that he didn’t remember getting as a child. 

Taking a deep breath to calm his overwhelming nerves, he turned the knob and entered the room. He unknowingly had tensed his shoulders in preparation for taking another hit from behind, but one never came. The tension eased as Jonghyun poked his head out from the kitchen, his wide smile put Taemin at ease. 

“Hey Taemin-ah.” He bounced out of the doorway and over to the youngest and took his school bag. He took the bag over to Taemin’s desk dropped it unceremoniously onto the floor. Taemin winced, glad that there was nothing breakable in it. 

Even though classes had hardly been over for half an hour, Jonghyun was already out of his uniform and dressed in grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt with the English word Nike across the chest. 

“I’ll just go change?” Taemin said questioningly as he tugged at his tie and stepped out of his shoes. 

“Minho’s in the shower right now,” Key called out from the kitchen. “Jonghyun get in here and finishing chopping the carrots so Taemin can change without you pestering him.”

“I’m not pestering him!” Jonghyun called back, pouting. “He likes my company.”

“I like your company too, but you still pester me!” The indignant voice of his ‘partner’ shouted. “Carrots now, or you don’t eat.”

Taemin grinned as Jonghyun continued to pout, stopping to ruffle the younger’s hair before continuing to the kitchen. He then moved to his side of the closet and pulled out a similar outfit to Jonghyun. He wanted to be comfortable for the upcoming conversation because he knew that the conversation itself was going to be more than uncomfortable. 

Unlike Jonghyun though, he chose a long sleeve t-shirt, to hide the scars on his arms that he wasn’t embarrassed of but just hated seeing. He changed quickly, hoping to be done before Minho appeared. 

The smell of cooking meat was filling the air and Taemin took a large breath and savoured the smell. He was very grateful for Key’s cooking, especially on Monday nights when the school cafeteria prepared “American” food. 

Having grown up mostly in America, he knew that the attempts at a hamburger were just that, attempts. It was one of the few things he missed about the States. The American’s enjoyed overlarge portions to be sure, but their hamburgers and fried chicken were second to none. 

He had just finished changing when Minho appeared from the steamy bathroom. “Hey.” The tallest said, drying his hair with a towel. The shaggy brown strands wildly shook with the force of his drying. It made Taemin laugh, reminding him of a puppy one of his foster family’s use to have. 

As usual he was only wearing his towel slung around his waist, so Taemin averted his eyes as Minho moved to get dressed. 

“Are you okay?” The elder asked, pulling his shirt over his head. “I mean, you look almost worse than you did when we left this morning.” 

Biting his lip, Taemin thought about it. His heart had slowed its rapid beating and he was no longer feeling so cold, but underneath those superficial feelings he was still just nervous. “I’m not sure.” He answered, “I think so, but I’m nervous.” 

He hated admitting any ill feelings, but he knew that his roommate only meant well. He also knew that he had to start letting his friends in to his life more, especially if he was about to drag them down with him. 

Minho made a sound of agreement and Taemin heard his towel fall to the floor. Rustling sounds indicated that Minho was finishing pulling on his clothing. Taemin let out a little shudder as he recalled the fact hat his attacker knew that he was gay. 

Taemin took a rough breath, he would have to tell the other boys. He couldn’t let that detail be hidden for fear that it could still be used against him and he might as well give it up before someone forced it out of him.

“You can turn around now.” Minho’s voice was amused as Taemin was jolted out of his thoughts. 

“I’m gay.” He blurted out, the words still heavy on his mind. Clasping his hands over his mouth, Taemin’s eyes went wide and he stared at Minho. 

Minho blinked twice and squinted his eyes. “What?” 

“I..” Taemin trailed off. He tried again, taking a deep breath. “I’m gay.”

“Okay…” Minho drew out the word. The English that Taemin was speaking didn’t quite make sense to Minho. He really shouldn’t have slacked off in English lessons with Jonghyun. Making a mental note to really work on his English more, considering his roommate often slipped into the foreign language when stressed, Minho blinked as Taemin screamed. 

Getting angry at Minho for disregarding the importance of what he was saying, Taemin huffed and screamed, “I’m gay!”

The sound of something hitting the kitchen floor drew Taemin’s attention from Minho’s confused face. 

Key came rushing towards him, dressed stylishly in ripped jeans and a flannel button-up, “Why are you screaming Taemin-ah?” The words were English as Kibum approached the two younger boys and made Taemin realize that Minho wasn’t ignoring him, he likely didn’t understand. 

Kibum stopped in front of him, waving his hand at Minho, “Go lay out the table.” Rolling his eyes Minho tried to argue, saying Taemin was talking to him. He was ignored and sent firmly on his way. 

“I didn’t realize.” Taemin began but was cut off by his older, mothering friend. It was more comfortable speaking in English sometimes and he still often forgot that he was required to speak Korean now. So many years of being forced to speak only English and learn his Korean on the side had done a number on him. 

“You always slip into English when you’re upset.” Key began, “Jonghyun and Minho have been working to improve theirs but some words aren’t common in the world of business. Gay isn’t a word they necessarily need to know.” He placed a hand on his younger friend’s shoulder. “Is this what today’s been all about?”

“No.” Taemin’s voice was so quiet Kibum had to strain to hear it.

“So then why?” Key’s face was genuinely concerned. 

“Aren’t you disgusted?” Taemin said, trying to throw off Key’s hand and meeting resistance. The older wasn’t letting go, but he burst into laughter. 

“Oh honey.” He began, arm clutching his stomach as he laughed. He knew that the other two in the kitchen would be listening in, they were hiding something already and clearly would want to know if that something was being admitted in the other room. “You have spent much too much time around narrow minded people. Sure Korea isn’t as forward thinking as we could be, but you’re forgetting that I am a man engaged to a man because of a marriage contract our parents drafted before I was born and refuse to break because of the money they would lose.” He raised an eyebrow, as if to say what do you think about that?

“I didn’t think of that.” Taemin said, ashamed for a moment before getting pulled into a tight hug. 

“I know you didn’t, people forget that little fact when they start in on their homophobic bull. Gay, straight, ace or ually attracted to pineapples, who really cares?”

“Pineapples?”

“I don’t really know where I was going with that.” Key admitted. “Now, lets eat and then you can tell us why Jonghyun bolted out of bed at midnight, refused to tell me what was going on and then still was up and out of our room before 6am, when usually I’m dragging him out of bed at 7:30 in the hopes that he can look half way decent for class.” 

Taemin gave him a small smile, “It’s a very long story I think.” He said, allowing Key to pull him towards the kitchen. 

“Well its a good thing we’ve got all night.” Key said, leading him in to the delicious smelling room. “You know you can tell us anything.” He gave Taemin a thoughtful look. “I’ve realized that you probably haven’t really been able to confide in anyone before and while I hate that you don’t just come talk to me, I do understand. I won’t push you like I would those other two. I promise.” He held out his right hand, pinky finger extended. 

Taemin laughed, wrapping his own right hand pinky around Key’s and shaking it. “I promise.”

------

Well Taemin may not have meant to let that secret out but so far its only for the best!

My mind is blanking on anything clever to say here so I'll just leave it with all my thanks to my lovely readers! Thank you! You guys the real MVPs! 

And speaking of MVPs, anyone else gutted by the news of Onew's impending enlistment? Even though I think we all knew it was coming before the end of this year, its still hard as a fan who isn't use to the whole conscription military service thing. It still seems weird as a Canadian when I read about mandatory enlistment. 

I'm a glutton for comments so please please please tell me what you think!

Love to you all!

Kat