( Taemin's theme )

Taemin had himself wrapped around a blanket, staring outside the glassy window that led to the sky.

He wondered if his anyone back at home were looking for him. Him and . . . Minho.

He felt awful not being able to set foot into his own house, unable to shake the creature had lived with him in there. If he just stayed there, he wouldn’t give off that he was missing. Only Minho.

They had to be worried sick and it made Taemin feel worse. Months had passed and to have no contact with them drives them crazy. Once they find out Taemin or Minho weren’t in the house, or didn’t return from the trip, they’d be setting off all the police alarms.

He sighed, setting his back against the wall and looking at the floor.

He was glad he didn’t feel insane anymore. He felt suppressed inside his own body and couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. He didn’t feel like himself, and that’s what mattered most.

To say he was back to normal was a lie. He still feared everything around him, but he was done with screaming, crying, and speaking gibberish. Everything around him was to be feared, but if people like him were actually living here, he needed to it up because soon enough, he was leaving.

He missed being outside. He’s barely gotten the chance while being here, and he was shaky towards it. Anything could be watching him and he didn’t fancy that.

It was hard to trust people here. Ever since the shape shifter tried reaching out for him, he questioned if certain people were real or a fake. But when he was moved to here, it felt a little safer—but he still couldn’t be sure. If he had to keep living here, he had to doubt almost everything to stay sane.

Someone knocked on his door and he raised his head slightly, “Yeah?”

  “It’s Luna,” the woman called, “Am I allowed—”

  “Please,” he cut her off.

Luna stepped in with a sincere smile. A bag was in her hand and she shut the door quietly, waving to Taemin a little before sitting beside him on the bed.

Honestly, Taemin found comfort with Luna. She was so gentle and so kind to him that it was hard for Taemin to reject her. She was the only person who acted like they had real feelings in this place. She made (bad) jokes, told stories, and even told about herself. She said she started to come see him because she was assigned to care for the people. She said he seemed like someone she knew and got a little attached and would even die to help him.

What he wasn’t fond of was when she talked about creatures. She told her how she ended up in this place vaguely, and how she never trusted any creature inside. But soon she met someone named Onew who opened her eyes and saw that many of the creatures were innocent; were harmless.

She included Minho as innocent.

She’d bring him up sometimes and mention he was ‘a good kid at heart’ who ‘doesn’t hurt anyone but let’s others hurt him’. She often says he doesn’t do well because his conscience would be stuck to Taemin and he’d feel guilty, so he wouldn’t function properly.

Taemin never wanted to believe her, but he had no reason to think she was lying.

  “How’ve you been today?” She asked, setting the bag down and leaning on the wall next to him.

  “Same,” he looked at her with half a smile, “Sort of anxious.”

  “That’s normal, you should know,” she lightly nudged his shoulder, “You’re perfectly fine.”

He nodded, looking elsewhere, “I have too much time to think. You should visit me more often.”

She laughed and and pulled his lengthy hair behind his ear. The dye had faded a lot, and the crown of his head was a discolored brown—yet he didn’t seem to care, “I do my best. I’ve got a lot of work to do, you know? I doubt you want to take my place.”

  “They’re keeping me cooped up in here,” he sighed, looking back at her longingly, “I just want to go home by now.”

 She crossed her legs and sighed, leaning her head on the wall, “You need to give Kapsoo an answer, then.”

Taemin groaned and plead to her, “I still don’t know. What’s the right answer?”

Luna pulled her bag from the floor and put it on her lap, “Whatever you think is right.”

  “Luna,” he groaned again.

  “I’m serious, Taemin,” she started rummaging through it, “What do you think about Minho?”

With her saying his name again, Taemin wanted to shutter but at the same time felt so longingly towards it. Split, like always.

Considering it, he felt bad when Minho was trying to explain himself. Without seeing him, Taemin was actually listening. When he did see him, it was like the comfort zone flew away. But Minho wasn’t doing anything—he was . . . pleading for Taemin.

And even though Taemin wanted to think it was all a lie, Luna was there to back Minho up again subtly. She kept trying to clear his name.

  “Is he really not . . .”

  “He’s not a killer, Taemin,” she quickly replied, “I’m telling you, doing away with that Intellude was the only way to save your life. He tells me he would change the entire scenario to make it easier for you to understand. He never wanted you to be like this—to be like us. He was hoping to never put you through trauma,” she sincerely looked at him, taking a device out, “He thinks about it all the time, Taemin. He thinks about you all the time.” She held out the camera to Taemin.

  “What is it for?” he asked, taking an arm out to grab it.

  “Proof,” she said, “Since you don’t want to see him up close—and well, you can’t either—I decided to show you what he’s like. He’s still the same, Taemin. He’s just without you. It drives him crazy that he doesn’t want to get out of bed.”

Taemin just held the camera, not too sure if he really wanted to look.

  “I’ll be back in an hour or two—I’ve got some things to attend to. You don’t have to watch all of it,” she said, “Just enough to see he’s still your boyfriend you grew up with.”

Luna kissed him on the head and got up with her bag, “Just make sure no one finds the camera,” and slowly exited with a smile.

Taemin exhaled slowly, turning the camera on and fidgeting through the settings. There was only one file inside. The only file he was meant to see.

He pressed play, watching the black screen turn green, the angle looking down on a sleeping body.

  “This is Minho,” Luna quietly spoke inside, “He’s sleeping just as normally as anyone else.”

Luna knelt down to his level, his sleeping face on the right side of the camera, slightly twitching here and there.

Taemin stopped himself from huffing a laugh, Always twitchy when he sleeps.

Minho mumbled a few things and Taemin stopped breathing. Hearing his voice got him nervous again.

  “He’s calling you, Taemin,” Luna whispered, “He’s asking if you forgive him.”

Taemin’s jaw tensed. He wanted to cry or scream. This was an odd feeling—he felt so uncomfortable but at the same time he was fine. He couldn’t tell which he wanted to be.

He kept watching as Minho slept to the point he started squeezing his eyes shut, one of them slightly opening, “Luna,” he rubbed his eyes, “What are you . . . doing?”

Luna answered him and Minho closed his eyes again, “Oh, that’s nice. Tell Taemin I said hi. Actually. . .” he yawned sloppily, “I was having a dream about him. Finally a good one, yeah . . .”

  “Minho, don’t roll over!”

Taemin couldn’t deny a small laugh.

Minho snuggled deeper into his blankets curling up and trying to get the red light out of his eyes, “We were all there. Happy, y’know?”

We were happy . . .

  “Taemin was as normal as ever, smiling . . . like he always had. So perfect, standing right beside me . . .” he yawned again.

You cheesy liar.

   “He grabbed me and stole me away from everyone. We were . . . alone and Taemin was so . . . yeah . . . bed . . . second’s the best, y’know?”

Taemin couldn’t deny a laugh again, feeling the heat on his face.

The longer it went on the more uneasiness crawled up Taemin’s throat. He didn’t want to feel that way at all—Minho looked completely harmless and completely out of it.

He wanted to be comfortable so badly, but he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t push past the image of Minho transforming into some demon. It wanted to convince him that wasn’t Minho at all.

He stopped the video three seconds before it was officially over and stached it under his pillow, laying down on it.

He blinked a lot and fidgeted with his hands. He was starting to think again and that was going to lead to overthinking.

He just wanted to be ready.

Ready to understand and let him back in.

But he couldn’t.

He wasn’t ready yet.

He just wasn’t ready.

----Note~----

AND HERE IS TAEMIN PRESENTLY.

ISH.

This was the reaction Luna was going to come back for until she found out about being suspicious.

But I promise you, she still goes back to see Taemin.

Hope you enjoyed. <3

~FlaMinhoe