Taemin tried to sneak into the living room, but his efforts were futile, as both Jonghyun and Key snapped their heads up when the younger walked in. “Tae, what are you doing up?”

                “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Taemin asked timidly, glancing over at the clock. It was way too late (or early) for anyone to be up.

                “You’re the maknae. You need the most sleep,” Key decided, rubbing Jonghyun’s knee. The latter was sitting on the couch and rocking back and forth slightly, biting one of the pillows.

                Taemin sighed. “Well, that’s the problem. I can’t sleep. I’m too nervous. I don’t think I’ve improved at all.”

                Key clicked his tongue and smiled inwardly. “Of course you’ve improved, Taemin-ah. You’re growing into such a mature and handsome young man. And we’re all extremely proud of you.”

                Before Taemin had a chance to respond, the front door of the dorm was thrown upon, and in stalked Onew, his head down. He closed the door loudly, apparently assuming everyone was up and leaned over the kitchen counter, his face in his hands.

                “Hyung, are you okay?” Taemin called out, genuinely concerned.

                “No, I’m not!” Onew had tears in his voice, and when he lifted his head to look at the maknae, his eyes were all red and puffy with tears steadily streaming down his face. He had been sobbing for a while, it appeared. “You know, today, when I was at the mall, I saw a few fans. They were from outside of the country, and they had traveled all this way in hopes to see us. And when I saw them, I wanted to rush to them. But I couldn’t, because I was with Manager-nim! He turned them away and asked them not to speak to me! Do you know how horrible that makes me feel? And it happens every single day! We always think we have it rough, but our fans…they have it so much worse than us. They really do.”

                “You see what I mean!” Jonghyun suddenly shouted through his pillow-filled mouth. He set the pillow in his lap, his face red. “They’re so weak! And we need to start standing up for them.”

                Key shook his head. “We can’t. We’ll lose our jobs. And plus, our jobs are what make them so happy. That’s the number one thing: we have to keep them happy. That’s where our satisfaction comes from in the end, right?”

                The others were silent for a moment, aside from Onew’s crying. Minho came down the stairs, his hair wet with sweat. Taemin looked over at him. “Hyung, have you been working out?”

                Minho shook his head, seemingly in a daze. “I’ve just been sitting in my room, thinking. I guess my thoughts were so deep, I started sweating.”

                Minho took a seat at the dining table, and Taemin scrambled instinctively into his lap. “What were you thinking of?”

                The older sighed, resting his chin on Taemin’s shoulder. “I have this fear that sounds really dumb, but I really have it. I’m afraid of…being forgotten. Like, especially with the fans. I’m afraid that one day we’re going to have a really bad comeback, and then it will be all “boo SHINee, kill them with black oceans” and we’ll end up being nothing. And then we’ll just be forgotten. We’ll be nothing in their eyes. We will have disappointed them, because they expect so much from us. And we need to do the best we can for them.”

                “Hyung,” Taemin whispered, taking Minho’s hand and lacing their fingers as he leaned back against Minho’s chest. “You won’t be forgotten. Not by the fans, not by anyone. I don’t think the fans could ever hate you. If anything, they’d hate me…I’m not doing so well with this new image thing.”

                Minho turned Taemin to face him and held the younger’s face. “Taemin-ah, the fans could never hate you either! You’re the adorable, fun-loving, banana-milk-drinking maknae that they all love. That I love. That we, your fellow members, love. You don’t need to keep trying to be manly, because it’s not in your personality. You will always be the cute little Taemin that we all love, and you shouldn’t think that you need to change yourself. We all love you the way you are.”

                Key stared blankly at the floor, shaking his head. “In the beginning, everything was okay. It was so easy and we were so happy. And now it just seems like everything . I want to just give up. You have no idea how many times I’ve actually wanted to just stomp right into Lee Soo Man’s office and just yell my resignation in my his face. Tell him just where to stick his slave contracts. Sue his for everything he owns. But…I can’t give up. I can’t break the fans’ hearts like that. They’re everything for me. Just like you guys are.”

                Jonghyun nuzzled Key’s shoulder lovingly and embraced him from behind. Key suddenly found himself breaking down, and Onew was almost literally yanking his hair out. There were no words as they five just all cried, letting out all of their guilt, sorrow, and pain.

                “I wish they knew,” Onew sniffled, tearing his hands from his hair. “I wish they all knew how much we try for them. How much stuff we put up for them. How grateful we are to them for putting up with stuff for us! How much we love them and wish to please them.”

                “Then let’s do it!” Jonghyun suddenly decided, sliding from behind Key and down onto the floor, sitting on his knees at the coffee table.  He picked up a pen and turned a spiral notebook to a fresh page.
“Seriously. Jinki hyung, go get your guitar.”

                Onew looked questionably at his friend before shrugging slightly and heading upstairs to retrieve his instrument. Key sank down onto his knees beside Jonghyun. “What are you planning, sweetie?”

                “Let’s write them a song! Let’s freaking tell them, show them, how upset we get. How much we owe them.”

                “How we lose sleep over them,” Taemin added, sliding out of Minho’s grasp and onto the floor, crawling to the other two. “How much we want to run away but can’t, because they’re so dependent on us. How we live to please them.”

                “How we know what they’re going through,” Minho continued, standing up and joining them. “How we can’t put into words how much we love them. How we’ll never forget them, and we hope they’ll never forget us.”

                “How much we ache for them when we see them in pain or distress,” Onew offered as he descended the stairs, guitar in hand. “How much we appreciate them always being there, through the good times and bad, believing in us.”

                Jonghyun scribbled all of this down furiously before turning to Key. The blonde boy moved his lips several times before whispers eventually came out. “For bringing us such wonderful memories. For being so dedicated to us. For being there at the beginning and sticking with us for so long.”

                Jonghyun kissed Key hastily on the cheek before turning and writing again. He scratched down everything the others threw out at him as Onew sat and poked his finger, finding rhymes and creating verses. He then picked at some chords on his guitar while Minho worked out a rap in his head. Before long, they had a song, as meaningful and beautiful as the feelings they felt.

                “Can we get it on the album?” Minho asked as the sun came through the window.

                “Our teaser drops in five hours,” Onew explained. “The album’s already finished. They probably have already shipped it off to be packaged and ready to be put on sale next month.”

                “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Key said as he stood up, his phone already pressed to his ear.

                When the album was released, Jonghyun came rushing in to the others who were packing their stuff to get ready for the comeback stage that night. “You guys! Have you seen what they’re already saying about the album?”

                “All I know is that Joonie hyung texted me and said congratulations,” Onew said, lazily thumbing over his phone. “And then he said things I’d much rather not say to you.”

                “I mean the fans,” Jonghyun clarified. “They love it. They love the album. It’s not just Sherlock, it’s the whole thing! And you’ll never guess what the consensus says their favorite song is!”

                Taemin looked up expectantly. “Our feelings song?!”

                Jonghyun nodded excitedly, and Key screeched, jumping over to hug him around the neck. “They love it! They really love it!”

                And later that night, after the boys were chilling backstage, following their comeback stage, an interviewer sat with them. She asked them all kinds of questions from regular fan-service questions to ones about the album. Then she asked something that made all five sets of ears perk up. “And the last song on the album seems to be the one that impacts the fans the most. Is it true that the song is dedicated to the Shawols?”

                “It is,” Onew said, looking to Jonghyun. “We wanted to thank them for everything they’ve done for us.”

                “We wanted to be honest,” Jonghyun explained. “That’s why the song is called Honesty. Our fans mean the world to us, and they deserve the appreciation.”

                And the Shawols continued to go crazy, excited that they could say that SHINee wrote a song for them. SHINee was happy, seeing all the smiles and praise. And that night when they returned to the dorm, they got a great night’s sleep full of happy dreams and relaxation…until it was time for the next schedule. The next day to show their love and appreciation for their fans.