Sweat dripped down Taemin's face, his breath ragged, his heart beating fast against his chest. He wasn't sure how long he had been dancing, all he knew was that it wasn't enough. He could still see Onew's face, still hear his words clearly in his ears. 
At times like these, dancing was his only release, his only way to escape. On the occasions he came to dance when he was upset, he would go for hours. There were a few times where he would run out of songs he knew dances to, and would begin making up new routines just so he had a reason to escape for a few hours more. Twice, he had danced so long he had passed out, only to be found by Hyoyeon, and was scolded after for not taking care of himself. 
Taemin had a feeling it was going to be one of those times. 
Wrappers from energy bars littered the bottom of the trash can, and there were at least five empty bottles of Gatorade lined against the wall. Taemin felt like his body had been split into two, his brain energized and blood flowing, but his arms and legs weak from the extensive workout. 
A glance outside told him that dawn was fast approaching, the once pitch black sky now streaked with pinks and oranges. His mind told him it was time to quit, to go home, but immediately balked at the idea; after all, he had no home now. He could hardly go to Jongin's at this time, and there was no way he was going back to Onew. 
Onew. That jerk. How could he just step on Taemin like that, and call him someone else's name? It hurt not only his heart, but his pride as well. How pathetic was Taemin that Onew didn't even see him as anything but the second Kibum? He had tried being patient with the elder, knew Onew wasn't used to relationships anymore, but he had reached his breaking point. After everything, he was still just Kibum 2.0. 
"Jerk." Taemin muttered, glaring at his wallpaper, which was a picture of Onew making coffee he had secretly taken one day during work. "You're still stuck in the past, confusing me for somebody else. Should I even call you Onew? You say you are, but you keep acting like Lee Jinki. Well guess what, I don't know Jinki. So I guess that means I don't know you." 
Taemin didn't care how childish he sounded, it wasn't like anyone could see him now anyway. It felt oddly relieving to reprimand the elder, even if he was only talking to an image on his phone. Even so, his heart still ached, and the only way out, Taemin knew, was to stop resting and start moving. 
Taemin threw his phone to the side, where it landed safely on his bag in the corner. Taking one last sipfrom his bottle and ignoring the pain in his head and his heart, Taemin pressed play and began dancing once more.

In his life, Onew had made many, many mistakes. Simple ones, like forgetting his keys, stupid ones, like not putting the lid on the blender when making a smoothie, to ones that he would always feel bad about, like the time he had to take care of his neighbor's garden and accidentally sprayed the flowers with weed killer instead of water. 
None of those compared to what he had just done. In one second, he had completely ruined his relationship with Taemin. Just one slip of the tongue- although Onew had to admit, it was much worse than most misspoken words.
The worst part was, he didn't even know why he had said Kibum's name. It had been ages since he thought of the younger to be the other, and he hadn't at all since they had been dating. Yes, he had compared the two a bit, and had also wondered if he had jumped into the relationship so quickly because of his original impression. That was long ago though; he had learned that he loved Taemin, just for being Taemin. 
His only worry was that he would hurt Taemin, and now, that fear had to come to life. Now, he could only hope that the dancer would return. 
When Joon came in, bag of food in hand, he had perked up momentarily, only to sink back into the cushions when he realized it was only the blonde. 
Joon had tried for a while to get Onew to move, to speak, to do something, anything, but when even chicken couldn't get a reaction out of the barista, Joon gave up and went to his room, unable to deal with the depressed man any longer.
Hours after Taemin left, Onew was still frozen on the couch, eyes glued to the door. Hoping against hope that at any moment Taemin would come rushing through declaring that he would forgive the elder, and the two could continue on in peace. He spun his phone nervously in his hands, checking it every few minutes to see if the younger had replied to at least one of his many messages. 
When morning came around, the door had yet to open, and Onew's phone remained silent, not a single message from Taemin coming through. Not long after the sun rose, Joon emerged from his room, and upon his sight of the elder, he quickly called Minseok and asked him to cover for Onew for the day, under the pretense of him being ill. It took a bit of convincing- it had originally been Minseok's day off- but after Joon said Luhan could come as well, the younger finally agreed and hung up.
Joon shook his head in pity as he glanced at Onew, taking in his disheveled state.
"Take a shower Onew. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure Taemin wouldn't appreciate you letting yourself go like this."
"I can't go, what if Taemin comes back?" 
"I'll be here, it's fine. Go." Onew shook his head, turning his eyes back to the door, gaze so intense Joon wondered how he hadn't burned holes in the door yet.
"You can't sit here and mope about forever waiting for him. If he comes, he's not going to leave if you aren't there." 
"I'm not moping. I just don't want to miss him. Anyways, don't you have a job to get to?"
"Don't you?" Joon shot back.
"Minseok is working."
Joon shook his head at that, but decided to ignore him and left for work. The door shut with a bang, and once again Onew was alone. 
Just as he was debating whether or not he should go to Jongin's to apologize to Taemin, his phone rang loudly, vibrating in his pocket. His heart jumped in his chest, hoping against hope that it was Taemin. Instead, Jongin's name flashed on the screen, causing Onew to nearly dropped his phone in shock.
Breathless, he answered. "Jongin! Taemin-"
"Care to explain why my best friend is currently passed out on the floor of the dance studio, and looks as if he spent the last few hours crying?" Jongin's voice is cool, but Onew can clearly sense the anger simmering right beneath it.
"He was crying?" Onew asked, voice small.
"Yes, and judging from your voice, I'm going to assume it's all your fault." In another situation, Onew might have laughed at Jongin's blunt words.
"It is, I-" the words caught in Onew's throat,his stomach turning at the mere thought of what he had done. 
"What? What did you do?" 
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to..."
"What the hell happened Onew?" Jongin snapped, losing his patience.
"I accidentally called Taemin, Kibum." Onew whispered. Saying the words out loud, hearing them hang there in the silence, was so much worse than thinking them. 
"You what?" Jongin screamed, Onew cringing and pulling the phone away from his ear in an attempt to save his hearing. "Do you have any idea how that affects Taemin? Every time we talk, he worries about if he's actually enough for you, if you love him like he loves you. I can't believe I stood up for you and convinced Taemin you did! How could you Onew?" 
Another wave of guilt washed over Onew, choking him. He hadn't known Taemin felt that way, had been worrying all this time. Didn't the younger know how much Onew loved him? 
"Where is he right now?" Onew asked, feeling desperate. He couldn't let Taemin go on thinking he wasn't loved any longer. 
"Sleeping. I don't know how long he's been out, but I don't expect him to wake up for a while."
"I'm coming over. I can't let him continue thinking I only love him because of Kibum." 
"No." Jongin said defiantly.
"No?" 
"You heard me. Onew, what you did crossed more lines than I can count. I wouldn't blame Taemin if he never spoke to you again."
"I know, but-" there was a click, and the line went dead. The usually composed barista nearly lost it at the moment, fighting the urge to scream at his phone. 
Onew closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to 10 slowly. When he opened his eyes again, he was physically much calmer, although his mind was still scattered. He still had to fight the urge to rush out the door and to the dance studio. 
Three days. I'll give him three days before I go after him. 
Three days seemed like an easy enough amount of time to wait out. Surely Taemin wouldn't avoid him that long.
By the time two hours had passed, Onew though he'd never felt so alone in his life. He had no idea how he'd survive another two and a half days. 
The next day at work, Onew was barely functioning. Forcing himself to smile and be chipper for the customers was torture. His mind was mush, functioning wasn't possible. At least, that's what it felt like to him. 
When he glanced up at the clock and realized that Taemin's practice began in less than a half hour, he cracked. Onew couldn't help it, he had to see Taemin. It didn't matter if the dancer never wanted to see him again, Onew at least had to let him know just how sorry he was.
With a short nod towards Minseok, he ran out the door and down the street, completely forgetting that he had a car. It wasn't until he was three blocks from the studio that he remembered, but by then it didn't matter. All that mattered was telling Taemin he was sorry. 
Please understand Taemin. Please, don't let my mistake ruin us.

"Go away Hyung." Taemin said, avoiding Onew's gaze. 
"Taemin, please listen to me." Onew begged. This was going nothing like he thought. He knew Taemin was mad, but he wasn't even giving Onew the chance to explain. How was he ever supposed to convince Taemin that he loved him, not that he loved him because of Kibum?
"Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to practice."
"Taemin-ah, I'm begging you-"
"Did I ask you to? Keep your pride, and go home. If it's forgiveness you want, touch luck. You can't always can't what you want. Goodbye Onew-shi." 
Taemin spun around and stormed back into the practice room, slamming the door behind him. 
Hanging his head and mentally beating himself up for being such an idiot, and made his way down the hall. Outside, the sun was bright and cheerful, a stark contrast to his mood. 
A bus pulled up right as he got to the stop, but at last moment, he decided to walk home. He didn't want memories of when he first met Taemin attacking him while he drowned in self pity. That would only make things worse.
Busy contemplating what he could do to win back Taemin's heart and trust, he didn't notice when the crosswalk turned red, warning him to stop.
"Sir!" A high school boy called out, trying to stop Onew. 
"Hmm?" Onew turned around, his ears barely registering the sound of a car horn. 
"Watch out!" He yelled, just a Onew heard the sound of screeching tires and turned to see a car barreling towards him.

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okay, so I only left this on a cliffhanger because I've already got most of the next chapter done as well, which means two updates instead of one before I leave.  The next one will be up later this week, and then nothing for about two weeks, probably.