“Do you need any help Taemin?” Jonghyun’s eyes followed the boy as he was continuously walking from one side of the room to the other and back as he gathered things to pack for the hospital stay for who knows how long. He could tell just the constant walking and crouching for things was making him tired, yet the maknae refused to take even the smallest break.

“I got it hyung. But thank you.” None of them were used to his voice yet. It seemed that the coughing attack had done something, because Taemin’s voice was nowhere near as loud and smooth as it was before, only low and hoarse like an old smoker’s. But he didn’t 'got it'; as Taemin crouched to get something from his lowest drawer, he was falling and landed on his with a little thump on the ground.

Jonghyun hadn’t even moved to check if he was okay when the door flew open and Kibum was there, the other two right behind. “We heard a thud. Are you alright Taemin?”

The youngest didn’t answer at first, using his now-sitting position to lean back until he was lying on the floor and looking at the ceiling. A poster of all of them from the debut days was up there for moments when he used to do the exact same thing, but that was ages ago. Before he was sick and before they were really big. It was like a reality check then and it did the same thing now. “Why is all this happening? Why us? Why me?”

There might have been four brains that could have come up with an answer, but none of them were able to. Tears ran down from his eyes and started to go into his hair, but Taemin didn’t care as he looked at the picture of them all young and smiling. “What has changed since then? Was I sick then too, and just didn’t realize it? Or was life actually perfect for that small amount of time?”

“Taemin…” Kibum stepped forward and crouched next to the crying boy, looking up at the picture and then back down at him. “I have an idea for tonight.”

“What? I still have to pack. And I’m tired.” The diva ignored that and looked back at the poster, a smile forming on his face even though his eyes showed his true sadness.

“Why don’t we make tonight the perfect night? Just like back then.”

“Do you see anything you like here Taemin? Doesn’t matter the price, you can get it.” The stars twinkled in the sky brightly above their heads as the five walked through the market they used to go to all the time as trainees. It wasn’t all that cold out for the night, yet Taemin was bundled in pants, a long sleeve shirt, sweater, and a jacket by Kibum before they even left the apartment and he was glad for that as they walked, snuggling into the layers. And none of them wore their typical disguises, sticking as close to the days as trainees as possible. Fans obviously recognized them, but it was as if they could tell it was a special night and kept away for the most part, letting the group just enjoy the shops.

The maknae shook his head, but in doing so, found something that he did. Before he had even fully paused in walking, the others were already a step ahead of him and were walking to the stall, taking the silent Taemin with them. “Look at these! It’s like there is one for each of us!” What Kibum said was true and he was pointing to exactly what Taemin saw—the stuffed animals.

“What one do you want Taemin?” Minho was already pulling out his wallet, ready to pick up the first tab, but he shook his head.

“Each of you pick one. So I’ll think of you even when I can’t see you every day.” And they listened, since it was what Taemin wanted. Kibum went right for the cat, while Jonghyun went opposite and picked the dog. Minho grabbed the last of the frogs and Taemin couldn’t help but smile that they all chose one that looked like an animal they were known for.

But Jinki only stared at the ones left, confused as he could possibly be. “I don’t have any animal nicknames!”

“There’s a chicken hyung. Just get that and don’t eat it.” Minho plucked that one up and handed it to Jinki to look at before turning to Taemin. He held it up to his face and the others copied while Taemin took a picture with Kibum’s camera. Yet when he went to walk towards the cashier, he was pulled back and the camera taken from him as another one was taken of all five by the owner of the camera himself.

“This one is for us to hang in the dorm. So we can always see your huge smile.” He let them go then and together they all paid for their own animal before tucking them into Taemin’s many pockets or, in Jinki’s case, sticking it in his hood. With the boy honestly laughing, his face lit up in joy, Kibum couldn’t help but take a few pictures without him knowing. We are never going to want to forget this Taemin. Never.

“How about French fry covered hotdogs? We haven’t had those since the time we were on ‘Taxi,’ have we?” Jonghyun nodded to the stall and jogged over to get on the line before it was too long, letting the others walk at a pace that was slow but still slightly tiring for the youngest. “Taemin!” People around them looked when Jonghyun called out the younger’s name, but they ignored them as Jonghyun waved him over, already next.

Taemin jogged the distance and tried to act like it didn’t hurt him to breathe after it, but the pained look in Jonghyun’s eyes told him that he already knew. “Yes hyung?”

“Do you want anything else? A soda? Ice cream? Candy?” To everything, he shook his head and Jonghyun barely held back his sigh as he turned to the counter and ordered the insanely large amount he knew Minho would eat and few for the rest of them.

The first one went straight to the maknae as Jonghyun gathered the money and paid, grabbing the bag with the rest as soon as he had. Taemin didn’t dare take the challenge of eating it while walking and waited until they returned to the others to even begin to open the wrappings. “Can we sit somewhere to eat?”

“Of course.” It wasn’t what they would normally do, but any of them could see he was tired from the walking and the jog on top of that and found a quiet spot under a tree draped in fairy lights to sit. The bench was only big enough for three of them, but Minho and Jonghyun gave that up to the others and leaned against the tree behind them. As they began to eat their own meals, Kibum looked at Taemin focusing so hard on not being messy and pulled his camera out, snapping another picture without his knowledge. With a smile, he turned to the others. “Group picture for old times’ sake?”

With their hotdogs on sticks together likes cheering glasses, they took the picture with their biggest smiles, Taemin like his younger self again—smiles and laughter and just plain cuteness. As they started to dig in, he took a few bites before holding it away, telling what they all knew was coming—he wasn’t going to be able to stomach the whole thing. Jonghyun had just hoped he would have eaten more than the few bites he had. “Thank you. For everything you guys have ever done for me. And for this. It is perfect. So thank you.”

Jinki laughed and slung an arm around the younger’s shoulders carefully. “What are you thanking us for? We are only acting like hyungs.”

He didn’t answer at first, looking back at the food and then to the night sky, littered with more stars than when they had first arrived. “Everything. From our trainee days to now. You have believed in me when other people haven’t. Jinki-hyung, you gave me singing lessons when SM wouldn’t because I had a broken voice.”

“That was nothing. I just said what they had said in class back to someone.” Jinki tried to brush it off, but Taemin shook his head quickly.

“It meant a lot to me. So thank you. And Jonghyun-hyung, you taught me how to sing like you do to impress people and then I started getting more parts that should have been yours, but you never got mad and always congratulated me on it.”

“Parts you deserve.”

“But they should be yours, not mine. Kibum-hyung, you are a better dancer than me and you do I lot more than I do when it comes to things for the band, but I have always gotten the solo dances for songs even though I’m younger than you.”

“Because no one dances like you Taemin.” Kibum gave him a smile. “Everyone knows that.”

“Exactly. You dance better than me.” Taemin looked away from the diva, only to look right back at him. “And without you, I’d be a fashion terrorist.” He didn’t leave time for a response though, looking at Minho finally. “And Minho-hyung… You and Kibum-hyung already split up rap parts, but I kept getting lines when you were working so hard for them already, and I wasn’t doing anything for them.”

“That was nothing. You can rap and it sounds better like-”

“And when you got injured,” Taemin cut in, having to say it all then or he felt like he wouldn’t be able to, “I was put on Dream Team for you, and then we ended up competing with each other and people were saying you must have been bad if I could win, even though you were winning. And you’re the visual of the group with Kibum-hyung, but I was the person companies wanted in more ads and you had a whole drama about you but people talked more about my few episodes in different ones.” He had tears in his eyes as he looked around at them. “I’m not a perfect dongsaeng or even a good one, but you guys put up with me for years. So thank you. For everything.”

“Taemin…” None of them knew what to say to that, but Jonghyun’s one word held enough emotion to sum it all up. “We never saw you like anything like that. You’re the best maknae we could have and a great dongsaeng and just a really good person. None of us are perfect, but you’re the closest to it.”

He only shook his head. “I know I’m not, but I wanted you all to know that. I’ve never said it enough, so I wanted to say it at least once, while we were all together like this. It’s just a perfect night. Thank you for that too.” For a while, they sat there just talking about random memories from their debut, but eventually they were walking through the late-night market once again. After all, they had the whole night ahead of them and nothing to do but make Taemin the happiest person on the planet.

As they passed one shop, Kibum was the one to stop as he looked at something. “You guys go on ahead, there’s something I want to check. I’ll catch up in a few minutes.” And they listened, leaving the diva to whatever he wanted to do as they browsed little places and just had fun, making jokes and taking endless pictures. When he returned, he was swinging a bag from one hand but hiding it from everyone. “It’s a surprise,” he said. “You’ll see soon.”

Taemin could say he was almost afraid of what it was.

As the night got later, the maknae’s yawns were becoming more and more common and he looked like he could sleep standing up as they reached the end of the shops. “Can we head back now? I’m really tired…”

“Not a problem Taemin.” Jinki flashed him a smile, but when the youngest stumbled, they all jumped forward to catch him before he fell. “Why don’t you let someone carry you?”

And he only nodded, barely able to keep his eyes open. Another yawn stretched his mouth wide and before he opened his eyes from it, his feet were off the ground. “I got you Taemin. Just sleep.” It was Jonghyun’s voice in his ear, but Taemin just nodded again, listening to him and falling asleep in minutes.

As soon as they were sure he wasn’t able to hear them, the four were talking. “Who’s going to tell him about manager-hyung’s message?”

Kibum and Jinki exchanged a glance, knowing it would be one of them, when the diva stepped forward. “I will. I’ll do it tomorrow morning.”

Jonghyun nodded and glanced down at the bag that was still clutched tightly in his hand. “What did you get there kitty?”

“Shirts with Taemin’s name on it for all of us. They were part of a thing for our group. They had all of ours, but his…” Kibum looked at the sleeping beauty on Jonghyun’s back. “I don’t know what we are going to do without him, so I wanted to have something to show him we support him, now and forever.”