“Taemin-ah! Are you ready yet? You’re brother is already here!” Kibum’s yell could have been heard anywhere in the apartment. Yet there was nothing, not even after a minute of waiting for a reply. “Taemin! Are you okay?” Still nothing. After checking his bedroom and most of the small apartment, there was only one place left. Knocking softly on the bathroom door, Kibum placed his ear on it to try and hear anything from inside. “Taemin? I’m going to come in, okay?”

There was no sound of protest but he definitely heard something move inside, so Kibum reached for the knob and felt it turn under his hand. So it is unlocked… Did he just do that then? Opening the door, he walked in and was shocked with what he saw.

Taemin was leaning over the sink, which was covered in red to the point of looking like someone had died in it. And yet he was perfectly calm as he held a towel to his nose, though the white was stained beyond red by now. “Taemin! Are you okay?”

He jumped a little when Kibum spoke, but didn’t turn around as more blood dripped down his hand. “Hyung, can you help? It won’t stop…”

“Why didn’t you ask me to come in before?!” He was already beside the boy, about to grab the towel for him, but Taemin shook his head quick, pulling away.

“You have to wear gloves. Remember what the doctor said. I don’t want you getting sick from me.”

His weak protest ended the second Kibum grabbed the back of his head though, taking the towel from the boy’s hand since there was no way for him to move now. “I don’t care about that right now. You’re more important than worrying about a little rash.” The diva tried to not act scared as blood dripped down his arm from Taemin, staining his white skin with it. After all, Taemin looked much worse off. “When did this start?”

“Just a few minutes ago. I was about to leave…” It was hard for him to talk with everything trying to stop the bleeding, but he managed. For another minute of pressure, they stood in silence.

Finally, Kibum pulled back slightly when blood stopped dripping. “I think it stopped now… Let’s clean you up.”

The towel was un-crumpled until he found a large enough clean spot. After running that under the water, he turned back to Taemin, grabbing the back of the boy’s head again to keep him steady as he started wiping the blood off. “Hyung?”

“Hm?”

“I think it would just be easier for me to shower again.” And Taemin was right. The blood wasn’t just on his face, but down his arms and even on his bare chest. It looked like he had bludgeoned someone to death and let their blood splatter on him with how much came from the nosebleed.

“You right…” He dropped the towel in the sink, seeing as it was doing nothing to help. “Don’t worry about cleaning up; I’ll do that later. And if you need any help, just yell for one of us.” He gave the boy a smile and went to ruffle his hair, only to remember he was covered in blood as well. “Take your time too, and I get the others back up here.”

As Taemin started to get ready for a second shower, Kibum turned to leave. “And thank you hyung. For helping me.”

There was no reply back, but when he saw the smile the diva had, Taemin knew he had heard the whisper.

The other three members and Taesun sat around the kitchen table and could only watch in horror as Kibum stood in front of the sink, scrubbing his arms to get rid of blood that didn’t seem to want to leave. “There was so much blood… So much…”

His whispers were quiet yet heard, and the four others in the room exchanged a worried glance. “What happened, Kibum? Is that all Taemin’s?”

Jinki didn’t even get a glance, just a nod. “His nose was bleeding so bad. And I called the doctor and they just said it was normal.” His shoulders shook a little, but he still stood there scrubbing at his arms with half a bottle of soap, trying to get his skin white again. “How is that normal?”

“That’s from a nosebleed?” Taesun seemed to be the most shocked, looking at the red-stained arms. “Did he break his nose or something?”

“It just started bleeding…” Kibum’s voice cracked and they all realized with a start he was crying. That’s why he won’t face us…

Minho, phone in hand, looked around the room. “‘Excessive bleeding is a side effect of chemo. The drugs attack not only cancer cells, but healthy cells as well. Blood can be affected and white cells are lost, making a person more susceptible to infections, as well as platelets and other types.’” He looked up from his reading. “Platelets are the ones that stop bleeding.”

“I think we all know that smart one.” Jonghyun looked at Minho with a look of joking annoyance. “I told you that you were our information man.”

None of them even realized Jinki was gone until he returned a few minutes later with a dressed-but-soaked Taemin. Holding a finger to his lips for the others to be silent, the youngest crept across the room to Kibum still trying to scrub the red from his arms. Without a word, he hugged the diva from behind, clasping his hands together in front of the other. At first, Kibum stiffened, only to relax into the touch when he realized who it was. “You need to use warm water hyung. Cold water only works for clothing.”

“I didn’t want to use it from your shower…” He let the maknae switch the water until it was almost burning him, and then let him help with scrubbing with one hand wrapped in a plastic glove to cover the catheter and the other completely clean from the whole ordeal. Jinki had gotten the others out until it was only the two of them alone in the room. “How’d you clean up so fast?”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had to clean dried blood up.” Kibum didn’t even want to know when the other times were. “You let it soak in the warm water for a minute and then it is easier. And petroleum jelly gets rid of it right away, but we don’t have any.” With the gently scrubbing from the other, his arms slowly became their normal color again. And once Taemin’s help wasn’t needed any more and Kibum was only washing the littlest bit away now, he expected the maknae to go join the others.

But he didn’t. Taemin’s arms stayed wrapped around him and even got a little tighter. When a head nuzzled into his neck, Kibum tried not to jump at it. “Thank you for helping me hyung.”

“I wish I could have done more. Like I said, call for me earlier next time.” He shut off the water and went to turn around to grab a towel, but Taemin refused to let go of him. “I need to get a towel Taemin-ah.”

“Here.” One was gently wrapped around his hands, drying them without any work on his part. “I don’t want to let you go.”

“Why not?”

“Because that means I’m ready to leave you.” A single drop of water fell onto his shoulder. “But I’m not.”

“Hyung,” five heads snapped towards Taemin, but he didn’t notice as he pointed to a music shop, “it’s me!”

And it was him; a life-sized cutout stood up in front of the shop. There were the other members too, but the one thing that stood out was that there were piles behind theirs, yet all of the ones for Taemin were gone. People are going to miss me, aren’t they? “You're surprised? With our comeback, we’re the big things right now.” Jinki rubbed the younger's head, since no one else was seeming to react to it.

“But we’ve never had cutouts before!” He bounced over to the cardboard and stood next to it, slinging his arm over the shoulders of the fake-him. “Kibum-hyung! Take a picture! We’re twins!” Taemin was all smiles as Kibum dug out his camera and took the picture, bounding back over as soon as the flash was gone. “How’d it come out?!”

“You have to wait a few seconds first!” He waited until the picture appeared on the screen before turning it towards Taemin. “What do you think?”

“He’s taller than me!” And it was obvious in the picture, even with Taemin standing on the tips of his toes. “I thought they were supposed to be life-sized!”

“That’s what you get for lying about your height and always wearing insoles!” Jonghyun stuck his tongue out at the other. “I, at least, am honest in saying I’m short.”

“Because you are hyung.” Minho’s comment was said like he was completely disinterested in the topic, and he very well could have been.

Taesun was only left wondering how they were good friends with how much the five argued. Even if it was all in good humor.

“Aren’t you going to eat some, dongsaeng?” Taesun watched as Taemin poked at the food on his plate, but otherwise didn’t eat anything more than the few bites he had.

The other four exchanged a look, but before any of them could explain, Taemin shook his head. “I’m not hungry. It’s just a side effect of the medicines.” Suddenly, though, he was shooting up from the seat in the food court and left without saying anything, jogging as fast as he could through the crowd.

“Where is he—Where’s Minho going?” Taesun looked from where his brother had run off towards to the rapper running off after him.

Around the table, Jinki, Jonghyun, and Kibum looked at the brother, as if wondering if he really didn’t realize. And when they realized he didn’t understand, Kibum couldn’t help shaking his head. “Not trying to be rude or anything, but do even know anything about the medicines he’s on?”

“I know they are supposed to be killing the thing in his chest…” The statement told them what they already knew and he looked down at the table, ashamed. “I’d tried looking up some of it, but when our parents found out…” There was no need for him to continue after that.

“They make him very sick. His hair fell out from it and they make him get sick every time he gets them.” Kibum traced a pattern on the tabletop as he spoke before looking to make sure Taemin wasn’t heading back yet. Not that he expected him to. “Taemin barely eats now from them. And as you saw earlier, it messes with everything—that caused him to bleed earlier.”

“Basically,” Jonghyun cut in, making sure the Lee brother was looking at him before he continued, “it’s going to look like he is getting worse before he gets better.”

“If he gets better.” Jinki hated to be the one to bring the mood down, but he had to make sure Taesun understood it all. “They aren’t even sure if what he has is cancer, but this seemed to be the best option. Taemin decided to try it.”

“He’s going to die, isn’t he? I’m going to lose my little brother…”

None of them even knew Taemin was there until he wrapped his arms over his brother’s shoulders, much like he had done with Kibum in the kitchen that morning. “Even if I’m not here anymore, I’ll still be with you hyung. I’ll be with all of you.”