"Come on Taemin, get up. We still have to get Kai before we go to the hospital." Jonghyun had been the one in charge of waking Taemin up that morning, and he'd figured it wouldn't be hard at all.

He was wrong.

"Can't I just skip?" Taemin gave a groan as he rolled over, trying to block any light from the room from reaching his eyes. "I'm not getting any better."

"But you need this chemo done to be allowed to get the surgery. And that will help. Come on, you have to wake up anyways." Being gentle and nice like Key wasn't working anymore, so he resorted to grabbing the blanket Taemin was snuggled in and pulling it off the boy. "Now get up."

"Fine. Just give me the blanket back. I'm cold." He sat up and Jonghyun knew if there was still hair on his head, it would have been sticking every-which-way.

"Once you get out of the bed." Taemin didn't argue and just stood now, swaying a little since he was still not fully awake. Jonghyun helped steady him as he wrapped the blanket back around the boy. "Now Key made some breakfast for us and it's already done, so come on."

Taemin didn't even remember walking to the kitchen, but he found himself staring at a plate of eggs and rice with a little bowl of fruit as well. The others were all around him, laughing as they ate and talked, but he only stared at the food. What's the point of eating this if it is only going to come back up in a few hours? But his stomach grumbled and he nodded to himself, knowing why then. Because I'm hungry now.

He only ate a little of the food before he was full, but that was probably better for later. While Minho and Jinki cleaned up the plates, Key had taken him to get ready. As if he had needed help doing it like a little kid.

Maybe he did. "Why are you dressing me up for today?"

"Didn't Jonghyun tell you?" From the look Taemin gave him, Key had a feeling it was a no. "Kai's coming with us today."

"Oh..." Now that he thought of it, he could vaguely remember that being said as he was woken up. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"So we have Kai with us today..." It was Jonghyun's turn to film the chemo day and he sat in the back with the camera filming Taemin and his friend in the row in front and Jinki all the way up with the manager. "It's some time after seven and we are stuck in traffic at the moment."

"If you film every minute of this speaking to the camera, I'm going to slap you hyung." Minho didn't even look up from his phone he was playing on as he threatened the elder, making Taemin laugh. Kai only looked between all of them, enjoying the car ride even though it was so long and cramped. Are they always like this?

And it was as if Taemin could read his mind, because the maknae of SHINee looked at Kai, a large smile still on his face. "Welcome to my life with them."

"We aren't that bad..." Jinki looked at him from the front seat, turning around with his belt still on to see everyone. Once he saw Minho and Jonghyun fake fighting in the back, he couldn't help but smile at the diva stuck in the middle of it. "At least, not all of us."

"Hyung. The apples."

"That was once!" Jinki's half-yell silence the whole van as everyone turned to look at him and immediately, he quieted, fake-glaring at Taemin.

"You're 23! How can you not cut apples properly?" Taemin didn't seem to care about embarrassing him in front of everyone. If anything, it seemed like the plan. And if it was, it had worked.

Key was the first to laugh, but was followed not even a second later by Jonghyun and Minho. Even Kai was trying to not as he thought about it. "How do you not know how to cut apples?"

"Shut it Key. And I know." He turned back to the front, trying to act like he was angry. But the smile on his face gave him away easily.

"Now you do. After I taught you." Taemin tried to puff his chest out like he was proud, restarting the dying laughs. "I've never had a worse student at it."

"You were horrible at it too Taemin. My mother was the one to teach you how to do it." Jonghyun poked Taemin's head affectionately as he spoke, glad he was still filming. So they have met everyone's parents? They are that close?

"I was like six, hyung. I think I was allowed to not know how to cut an apple. You didn't then and you are older than me." Were they friends all the way back then?

"You said you would never bring that up!" Jonghyun's yell was practically drowned out by the laughs from the others and he only pouted like a sad puppy. "You lied."

"I said I would never bring it up to embarrass you. I never said I wouldn't tell them about it. Besides, I've said a lot about you as a kid in my videos. Enjoy watching that." Taemin gave a mischievous smirk to the singer before turning to the confused Kai. "Hyung and I grew up together. And we've been filming videos for when I'm gone."

"That's not why!" Key's yell cut through the van, causing Taemin to turn to him with what would have been a raised eyebrow if he still had them.

"Isn't it?"

"Forget about that. You haven't told your best friend that we were friends before?" Taemin looked to Jonghyun when he interrupted, shaking his head at the end. "I'm offended."

"Good. Continue to be."

"You guys go to see the kids while you are here?" Kai looked at the five in amazement as they got ready to leave Taemin's room after only being there for a little while. "And reporters don't follow you or anything?"

"I mean, we've had a few try and take pictures..." Key draped his arm over the younger's shoulders, directing him out of the room after the others as he talked. "But we surround ourselves with the kids and then they need permission. And most people have just left Taemin alone. It's only really the stalker tabloids that come sometimes. Security deals with them though."

"Wow..." He looked at all of them as they entered the elevator, not even minding Taemin's IV stand in the middle of it all. "You people... really.... You really are something."

"We know." Taemin said it, giving a half-smile as he did. "I was the one that wanted to go and they tagged along. It's just something to do and it makes the kids happier, so... Why not?" He gave a little shrug.

"And they are going to be happy to see you." Jinki nodded to Kai even though they all understood who he was talking about. "We were shiny new toys at one time, but you will be now." He didn't know if that should have made him scared or not.

But it did.

Taemin couldn't help but laugh at his friend as the kids crowded around him the second they were seated together. Bouncing one of the smaller kids on his lap, he looked at the younger-yet-larger boy. "So... What do you think?"

"Promise not to repeat this ever?" Taemin nodded his head with a curious look on his face and Kai gave a smile at the kids. "They are so cute!"

There was no stopping his laugh at how his friend had said it, so Taemin just ignored the pain in his chest to enjoy the moment. "Really?"

"Don't laugh at me!"

"Last I checked, I'm older. Don't try and boss me around." The kids seemed to have been masters at ignoring what they were saying.

Until the girl on Taemin's lap spoke up. "Oppa?"

"Yes Mi Sun?" He leaned forward to see her face as best he could.

"Why are you fighting with Kai-oppa when you two are friends?"

"Because oppas are just fooling around. We aren't really fighting." He gave a little peck on her check, making her giggle madly at it. "Is that okay?"

All that came was ferocious head-nodding from her that earned a smile and a little tickling from Taemin. Kai couldn't help but sit back and watch the whole thing with a smile. He would be a great dad. If he ever gets the chance to be... "Taemin?" The older boy looked at his friend, wondering why he sounded so serious all of a sudden. "Have you ever had a girl friend?"

Immediately, most of the older kids in the room were looking at the two and even the other members listened in. Taemin's cheeks became bright red—a feat for how pale he normally was. "Mi Sun, why don't you go play with Minho-oppa for a little while? He seems lonely."

"Okay!" She bounced off of his lap in seconds and skipped over to Minho, who lifted her effortlessly while he was still focusing on Taemin.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious. It's not like I would tell anyone. But from how you are acting, it's pretty obvious." As soon as he heard that, Jonghyun couldn't help but flinch, gaining the attention of Jinki and Key beside him. He only shook his head, still watching Taemin.

"No. I haven't. And I don't have one now." A few of the older girls in the room gave squeals as they heard that, but Taemin completely ignored them.

"Then why'd you get so defensive?" Taemin didn't answer at first, only lifting a boy even smaller than Mi Sun onto his lap when he had started to cry over a toy breaking.

Kai thought he had gotten distracted with calming the boy and had forgotten the question right before Taemin answered. "Because it's one of the things I want to do, but will never be able to."