Taemin woke up with drool drying hard in the corner of his mouth and the feeling of his nose being smushed into something hard. Grunting, he sat up and noticed that he had been using Minho’s shoulder as a pillow. He froze as the realization of what that meant filtered into his brain. 

He had started out on his own side of his bed when the movie night had begun but clearly had moved closer to his roommate in his sleep. He rubbed his nose and felt the imprints of Minho’s shirt on his cheek. 

His close proximity to his attractive and kind friend and the fact that he was a teenage boy, had caused him to develop a certain problem overnight. Thankfully before he could feel anything more than a quick embarrassment, he heard movement from the other side of the room. 

“Who ate the cherries?!” Jonghyun yelled as he shifted and fell out of the bed. Taemin watched as he hit the floor with a thump and a curse. 

“Idiot.” Key muttered, slipping easily out of the bed and over Jonghyun, awakened by the noise. “Lets go back to our room and get changed, you smell like sweaty sleep.” He stretched and yawned, rubbing his hair. 

Jonghyun tried to glare at his partner, sitting up. “You know your breath isn’t super great in the mornings either.” His eyes were still mostly closed and it was obvious that he was still exhausted.

Key chose to ignore that and shuffled his way to the door, “Jonghyun come.”

“I am not a dog!” Jonghyun growled, making Taemin giggle, as he pulled himself off the floor. 

“Woof, woof.” Minho mumbled, rolling over and wrapping an arm around Taemin’s waist, he pulled the younger back down and tucked Taemin under his arm. “Key let the doggy out so I can go back to bed. I don’t want to clean up after him if he marks in the house.”

“Neither of you are funny.” Jonghyun sulked his way out, slamming the door behind him. 

“Why must he be so loud.” Minho complained, face down in his pillow. 

“Because he’s so short?” Taemin suggested from his new position, trapped under Minho’s arm. He felt the heat of his earlier embarrassment rising again and he wiggled. “Hyung?”

“Mmm?”

“You’re crushing me.” 

“Oh. Sorry.” Minho shifted, turning back over and rubbing his face with a groan. “We should probably get up and get ready though.”

Taemin’s heart thumped wildly in his chest. “Yeah.” His voice shook. He would have liked nothing better than to settle back in bed with Minho’s arms around him but considering his waking problem was returning, he didn’t want to risk it regardless.

“There’s no point in being nervous.” Minho said, misreading the situation as he sat up and slid off of Taemin’s bed. “You’ve technically already met Jinki and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.”

“Or some crazy psycho who tried to kill Jinki with make due with his threat to kill me. But you know, no reason to be nervous.” He may have sounded a bit more bitter than he meant, but the thought was true. The scary thought starting to take precedent in his mind over other trivial, teenage romantic problems. There were deeper issues at hand than his subconscious (and if he was truthful to himself, real time) lust for his roommate. 

Minho nodded but his words relayed the opposite, “It will be fine.” And with that, Minho excused himself, grabbing a set of clothing and disappeared quickly into the bathroom. 

Groaning, Taemin closed his eyes and pressed his head back hard into the pillow. He heard the shower turn on and despite the seriousness of the day and their situation, Taemin allowed his mind to drift into territory he hadn’t let his mind slip into before. 

It had taken him the first few years of puberty to compartmentalize his childhood abuse into something that had happened and something that he was forced to get over by himself. Of course the wounds and the trauma still lingered but he had accepted that as a part of himself and like the rest of his childhood he refused to allow it to define who he was now. 

He always felt odd when he chose to fantasize about real people so he tried to keep the men in his mind faceless, the old faces of foster fathers sometimes slipping in uncontrolled and causing him to abandon his search for release. 

But more and more he found himself searching out the image of someone with dark shaggy hair and large eyes. 

Sighing, Taemin allowed himself to slip into his thoughts and listening to the sounds of the water running in the bathroom, he allowed himself to imagine that Minho was in there doing the same thing he was. 

He had to hurry, knowing that he didn’t have long and he didn’t want to be caught with his hand down his pants after Minho had spent the night sleeping in his bed. Pulling the pillow out from under his head, Taemin breathed in the scent that Minho’s sleeping body had left behind. 

He finished, with teeth clenching his bottom lip, just as the shower shut off. Wiping his hands on the inside of his pants, he stood up on shaky legs and gathered his own clothing, running into the bathroom the moment Minho had stepped out of the door, hair dripping down his neck. 

The door clicked closed behind Minho and the older boy sighed. The room had a heady scent in the air and Minho flushed realizing that he and Taemin had basically committed the same personal act at the same time less than 10 feet apart. 

He wondered who the younger thought about, believing that it wouldn’t be so depraved as to be his roommate. His friend’s brother. 

Rubbing his now aching forehead, Minho set to cleaning up from their night. He stripped both beds and put the sheets in a laundry bag for the laundress to collect later and remade the beds with clean sheets. Regardless of what Taemin had done in the privacy of his bedroom alone, there were crumbs and food stuck to the bedding from the snacking in bed before everyone had fallen asleep. 

The shower shut off for the second time that morning and Minho waited until his roommate emerged from the steamy room, the hot moist air escaping when the door opened. 

“How can you shower with the water that hot?” Minho asked curiously. 

Taemin shrugged, “Its nice. Growing up there were always timers and controls on the hot water in my foster homes. So its nice to be able to shower with water that isn’t cold to luke warm with a 2 minute time limit. My skin is a lot thicker than it looks.” 

“Every time you tell us something about growing up, I just want to get on a plane and destroy everyone that had anything to do with hurting you.” Minho said truthfully. “And now, I just…” He trailed off, not needing to explain any further. 

“Thank you.” Taemin said, biting his lip in thought before rushing over to his friend and wrapping his arms around Minho and holding tight. “I am so lucky to have you.”

Shocked at the show of emotion and at Taemin’s touch, Minho made a choked noise. 

“Sorry did I hurt you?” Taemin asked, quickly releasing Minho and stepping back.

“No you just surprised me.” Then Minho smirked, “You think your twiggy arms could hurt me?”

“Shut up!” Taemin laughed, punching at Minho. “Even sticks can hurt with you poke someone in the eye with them.” 

“I’ll watch my eyes then.” Minho smirked, wrapping his arm around Taemin’s shoulder to show that he was okay with impromptu touching. “Never be afraid of hugs.” 

Taemin gave him a funny look, raising one eyebrow, “Okay hyung.” 

Minho’s phone rang then with the ringtone that Key had set up for him. “How are they ready already?” Minho grumbled, frustrated at the moment he thought was building being broken. 

“Maybe they showered together?” Taemin suggested, mouth twisted in a smirk. 

“So you’re saying we would have been quicker if we shower together?” Minho said without thinking, face turning red like Taemin’s as they both realized what he meant and as they both individually remembered what they had both just done separately. 

They separated awkwardly and Minho answered the still ringing phone. “We’re on our way. Meet you in the parking lot. Yes we will stop for coffee on the way. No Jonghyun is not allowed to eat in my car so if he wants food, we’re going to take his car if he wants food. Okay see you in a few.” He hung up. 

“Come on, Key needs coffee and Jonghyun is ing he wants something flaky and sweet for breakfast. I need something with caffeine if I’m going to make it through the day and we should both eat. I’ll buy.” 

-----

Less plot more 2min! Something more light hearted as the angst gets ready to build up again.. 

Also, personal side note... Birthdays!!! December 9th is not only our darling Minho's birthday but mine as well :) I am.... a year older than Jinki and I'm not quite sure that I want to admit my physical age is getting older... mental age younger than Taemin most days! 

Anyways, all the love to my readers, commenters, and lurkers :) I love reading your comments and I always mean to reply but I fail. All my love to you guys though, you all make this so much more fun! 

As always, let me know your thoughts! 

Loves to you all

Kat