“Do we really have to leave him alone?” Kibum looked from the manager to a sleeping Taemin on the couch, completely oblivious to the fact he had been moved from his bed.

“I understand none of you have left him by himself since we found out he was sick, but nothing is going to happen to Taemin from being alone for a few hours.” Jin let out a sigh when he saw Kibum wasn’t giving up that easily. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll get some free members from other bands to come and check up on him. Okay?” Hesitantly, he got a nod and Jin grinned. “Then you better get ready.”

With the four running around the apartment as they got ready, Jin sat down on the couch by Taemin’s feet and started making calls around. After having a day set up for watching on the sick maknae, he finally relaxed back into the couch and watched the muted news. When that became boring, he watched the sleeping boy as he tossed and turned every now and then.

And when the four piled into the room all ready to go, he acted like nothing had happened and stood to lead them out, telling the day plan the whole time. Taemin didn’t even have a clue that anything was happening around him.

Amber was the first one to check up on him. Entering the apartment with the key the manager had hidden for her, she was first afraid to find how silent it was. Grabbing the note with her name on it from the many taped up on the wall, she walked in while reading it. “‘If he’s still sleeping, wake him to give the anti-nausea medicine in the purple bottle and some food—at least soup.’ That’s easy enough. Right?”

Seeing the small boy completely passed out on the couch, she made her way to him quietly, crouching next to his head once she was close. “Taemin? You have to wake up.”

There was only a groan at first before his eyes cracked open, adjusting to the dark room easily. “Why are you here?”

It was informal and rude, but she only smiled a little and shook her head, having never seen the maknae like he was as he was waking up. “Your hyungs had to go to last minute schedules all day so your manager asked me and a few other people to watch you today.”

That might have been too much for his half-asleep mind, she figured, as he only blinked at her before nodding. “Oh.” Her smile only became a little bigger. “You’re a dinosaur like Jonghyun-hyung.”

We are the dino siblings… “Come on, you have to take your medicine and eat.” Gently helping him sit up, she guided him to stand and then to shuffle through the dorm to the kitchen. After sitting him in a chair, she grabbed the purple bottle set out and got a pill for Taemin like it said. “Is there anything specific you want?”

“Pancakes.” It was the first thing he had said that didn’t sound like he was half asleep and as she handed over the little pill with a glass of water, Taemin was looking at her with wide eyes. “Can you make pancakes?”

“It’s about the one thing I can make…” She looked around the spotless kitchen before turning her attention back to Taemin. “Do you guys have pancake mix around here?”

“Yeah… Here.” Taemin took the pill quickly before standing and opening the cabinet next to Amber’s head, motioning to boxes of the mix lined up on the top shelf. “Kibum-hyung bought a lot of it since it’s one of the few things I’m eating.” He went to reach for a box, but the older girl beat him to it.

“I got it from here, but you can help if you want.” With a smile to the younger, she started measuring. Taemin got some water and poured it in the powder to help make the batter and they took turns mixing it. The maknae had a radio at some point as Amber started the actual cooking and they were both dancing around and singing along to the songs that came on, smiling and laughing the whole time.

Every now and then, Taemin took a few pictures as Kibum would normally do, wanted to show the hyungs that he didn’t need them for everything. As he was about to snap one of himself, Amber threw some of the mix on him, starting a war of defending herself as she continued trying to cook. By the time the bowl of batter was gone, there was pancake mix on both of them and a plate of food. Neither cared about having to clean up the mess as Taemin dug in and Amber even ate a few, because they were both smiling and enjoying it. To think I thought it would be awkward since he’s the one member I’ve never really talked to…

“I have to admit,” Taemin said with his mouth full of food, “you’re a lot cooler than I thought you were going to be when you first woke me.”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not.” Their laughter continued.

Cleaning up the kitchen was a task Amber took upon herself for the most part, shooing Taemin off every time he tried to help. When the phone rang though, she let Taemin get it—it was his apartment after all. “Manager-hyung!” There was a pause. “Oh, you want to talk to noona. Okay.” He slid into the kitchen just as she managed to clean the last of the mix off the floor, holding the phone out. “It’s for you.”

“Hello?” The phone was cradled between her shoulder and ear as she shifted to cleaning the counters, not even realizing that Taemin hadn’t let the room.

“I hate to ask you on such a short notice, but could you watch Taemin all day?” There was a pause and before he could even continue, she cut in.

“It’s not a problem at all.”

“Thank you.” And he did sound truly thankful. “Some of the members of SuJu were supposed to help out next, but their manager just called to tell me they had schedules come up as well. Henry might stop by for a while just to give you a little break, but I don’t know when.” There was the sound of something happening in the background and he let a few whispered curses out. “I have to go now, but I can’t thank you enough. If you ever need something—”

“I’m just helping out my friends. No need to thank me.” She heard more noise in the background. “I have it under control here, so you go pay attention to the others.” And normally, a manager wasn’t bossed around by a celebrity—especially not one they weren’t in charge of. But right then, all that mattered to Jin was that it had all worked out. And he listened.

Ending the call, she turned around and was face-to-face with Taemin. “What was that about?”

“The other people that were supposed to come later to watch you couldn’t make it, so your manager was asking if I could stay all day. It’s not a problem, so I said sure.” Now that the counter was clean and it was almost impossible to tell they had even made anything for breakfast, she turned started to leave the room, Taemin following right after. “What do you want to do then?”

When the four tired members and their manager made it to the door to the apartment that night, they were all shocked to hear the laughter from inside. When they entered and announced they were there, it was a few seconds before there was a call back. It didn’t take long to figure out why though, when they entered the living room. Taemin was curled up on the couch, surrounded by a sea of pillows and blankets and his eyes twinkling with humor as he looked from the television to his hyungs and then back. Amber was sitting on the ground in an obviously less-comfortable position, but it didn’t seem like she cared as she looked at them and smiled. “Hyungs! Come here and watch this!”

And none of them wanted to turn down the maknae, so even as tired as they were, the four stumbled in and sat on the couch with Taemin while Jonghyun took a place on the floor by Amber. He hit a button on the controller in his hand and the video started again, showing clips of them from before they had debuted, all the way back when they were trainees. “We were so tiny back then! I was fourteen and Jinki-hyung was nineteen! Think about that!” He was all smiles as he looked around at them, but then he seemed to notice that all of them were too tired to care. The smile dropped. “Never mind. You can all go to bed if you want.” All of them heard the crestfallen tone in his voice as he looked down at Amber. “Amber-noona, you should go back to your dorm too. Everyone is probably missing you.”

She understood his way of asking for privacy and stood in a single motion, patting Taemin on the shoulder and giving a smile to them all. “I’ll be going, but don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.” None of them even stood to show her out, but she understood why and left within the minute.

Only once the dorm only had the five in it did Taemin look around at them. “We had fun today, you know. You guys killed it.”

He didn’t let them say anything more as he stood and disentangled himself from the blankets and pillows. Grabbing what was his, he started towards him room. With a sigh, Jonghyun grabbed his own from the pile and started after the maknae, leaving the other three alone in the silent living room. There would be a time for them to fix it.

It just wasn’t then.

I have a question for my readers! I'm writing future chapters (way...... future. Chapter 45, to be exact), and I need groups that SHINee is close to and my mind in blanking. If anyone wants to comment with a group, it doesn't matter what company or anything and it can be solo singers/groups/entertainers/etc., it will be greatly appreciated!