After the initial shock, a smile broke across Taemin's face. 

"You recognize me." He said gleefully. Onew stared at the boy, in complete disbelief. How had Taemin found him? Had he gone through all this trouble to find him? Why? He'd said maybe five words to the kid....

He was drawn from his thoughts by Taemin violently shivering. It was then that Onew realized the condition Taemin was in. Soaking wet, his clothes stuck to his body, outlining his frail form. His hair was flat against his head, water dripping into his eyes, and his lips had started to turn blue.

Onew's heart broke at the sight before him, and before he knew what he was doing, he had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around the trembling boy. 

"Sit down, I'll get you something to drink. What would you like?" Onew said softly, leading Taemin to the nearest table.

Through chattering teeth, Taemin replied, "A latte would be fine, thank you." 

Onew nodded and left to fufill the younger's order, soon returning with a steaming cup of hot coffee.

Taemin smiled at the small rosetta design on top.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do latte art. This is really cool Onew-ssi." Taemin smiled brightly, and Onew looked away quickly. 

"Ah, yes, thank you." Taemin took a sip; his eyes lit up in amazement.

"This is the best tasting coffee I've ever had!"

"Thank you." Onew said again, before quickly shuffling off to take someone else's order.

 

For the next hour Taemin sat there silently, watching the elder make and serve coffee and pastries to old ahjummas, a soft smile upon his face. Working Onew was a totally different person from the Onew Taemin met on the bus, and Taemin longed to know more about this mysterious man. 

As Taemin watched, he began to realize a few things. First, no matter what a costumer was like, Onew's smile and soft tone never faltered, so much so that even the grouchiest ahjumma was smiling by the time she left. Another was that he never forgot to ask anyone how their day was, how their kids were, if their sister had gotten out of the hospital, etc. Not only that, but it seemed as if he actually cared about their answer. 

The kindness was foreign to Taemin, who lived in a world where you had to be tough to survive, and only talked to people when necessary, excluding Jongin of course.

Soon enough, the last of the costumers left, and Onew cheerfully said goodbye and locked the door behind them.

Onew finished closing up shop and walked over to Taemin.

"Do you have someone you can call?" Onew asked, sitting beside the boy. 

"My roommate- but my phone is dead." Onew bit his lip, unsure what to do. He couldn't just leave the boy alone to fend for himself. It was late, and Taemin was still soaking wet. Left with no other option that seemed right he said,"Come upstairs with me. You can get dried off in my apartment and you can use my phone to call your friend." 

"You live above the shop?" Taemin inquired.

"Ah, yes." Onew sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Is that okay?" 

"What? Yes, of course it is! I was just wondering." 

"Oh, right, of course. Let's just go up, shall we?" Sweet, caring Onew was gone, replaced with the overly formal, detached Onew. Taemin frowned and followed the elder, wondering why he was treated so coldly compared to everyone else. What had he done to deserve it? He internally pouted. 

At the top of the stairs, Onew stopped and unlocked the door.

"Here we are. My phone is on the table, I'll go make some tea to warm you up." 

As Onew went to the kitchen to start the tea, Taemin grabbed the phone off the table and headed into the nearest room to talk without bothering Onew. Dialing the only number he'd ever committed to memory, he silently begged for Jongin to answer the phone. 

"Hello?" Taemin nearly cried in relief at hearing Jongin's voice.

"Jongin. It's me." There was a pause, and then Jongin was yelling so loudly Taemin had to pull the phone away from his ear so as to not sustain hearing damage.

"You jerk! Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be at the party hours ago, and when you never showed up I tried calling you, but it went straight to voicemail! I've been so worried! I thought you had been kidnapped! Or murdered!"

Taemin stared at the phone, waiting for the rant to end. After another five minutes and a string of curses, Jongin  finished with a simple "Explain. Now."

"I missed my stop and tried to back track and ended up getting lost. It started to rain, so I ran into a coffee shop for cover. The owner was nice enough to let me come into his apartment and let me get dried off and call you, since my phone died."

"I knew leaving you alone was a bad idea." 

"Yah! Just come pick me up." 

"Can't you catch a cab or something?"

"You know cabs don't run this late at night."

"Well, is there anyway you could stay the night? I can't really drive right now, I was just going to crash at Donghae hyung's place for the night." 

"You've got to be kidding me. Five minutes ago you were worried about me, and now you're just going to leave me here?"

"What, you said you were okay!"

"That doesn't mean immediately stop caring you brat!" 

 

-----------------------------

 

Outside the door, Onew paced back and forth, eavesdropping on Taemin's conversation and growing more worried by the second. Onew bit his lip, feeling the most conflicted he had in years. It was obvious Taemin had no way home, and no where to go. 

Before he could stop himself, he had flung open the door, startling Taemin, and stated, " Don't worry, you can stay here for the night, your friend can pick you up in the morning." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back, but it was too late. Grateful and relieved, Taemin excitedly told Jongin. 

"It's okay, Onew says I can stay at his house for the night. I'll call you in the morning."

Suddenly Jongin was yelling loud enough for Onew to hear him across the room. 

"Yah! Hyung, did you say Onew? As in the Onew you've been talking about for the past-" Taemin quickly ended the call, his face bright red. 

"Thank you Onew-ssi. I promise I'll be no trouble."

Onew didn't reply, instead handing him a cup of tea and saying, "You drink that and then take a shower. The bathroom is the door across the hall. I'll get some clothes for you as well, since yours are soaked."

"Okay, thank you." Taemin took the tea and Onew left in search of clothes.

By the time Onew came back, clothes in hand, Taemin  had already gotten in the shower, judging by the sound of running water.

Onew cracked the door open slightly, opening his mouth to tell Taemin about the clothes, when the words stuck in his throat and his eyes widened to twice their size.

There Taemin stood, in just his boxers, giving Onew a nice view of his slim waist, pale skin, and most of all, his small but perfect . As he watched, Taemin began pulling down his boxers. Onew blushed deeply and quickly shut the door.

What the hell. Get your mind out of the gutter. Onew scolded himself, taking deep, calming breaths. Once he deemed himself calm enough, he yelled out.

"Taemin, I have your clothes, I'm just going to set them outside the door, okay." Without waiting of a reply, Onew set the clothes down and walked away, dropping onto the couch tiredly. He heard the door open and shut, and Onew assumed that Taemin had grabbed the clothes. 

 

20 minutes passed when the lock clicked, and Onew looked up in time to see Taemin walking out of the bathroom, towel around his neck. It seemed even Onew's smallest clothes were too big, as the sweats were rolled twice, and the shirt hung off one shoulder, revealing his defined collarbone. 

"Thanks for the clothes Onew-ssi. You're the best." Taemin smiled, and hugged Onew, nearly sitting on his lap to do so. 

Onew gently pushed Taemin off, his cheeks dusted a light pink. 

"Ah, it's late Taemin, why don't we sleep, I'll get some blankets and make up a place for you on the couch."

"Can't we just sit here for a little while Onew-ssi? I don't wanna get up yet." Taemin pouted, and Onew couldn't refuse. 

"Okay."

...

"So Onew-ssi-" 

"Hyung." Onew cut him off.

"What?" 

"Call me hyung. Onew-ssi makes me feel old." Onew knew it was risky, getting closer to the boy, but he couldn't help it. 

Taemin smiled so brightly, Onew couldn't help but smile back, and feel like he made the right choice.

"Alright. So hyung, how long have you worked as a barista? You're really good."

"Ah, about.... three years now."

"Wow! You're really amazing hyung."

"And what about you Taemin? What do you do for a living? Or are you still in high school? Now that I think about it, aren't you a little young to be living on your own?"

Taemin looked away and fiddled with the oversized shirt.

"I... I take classes at the local dance school, and work as a delivery boy. I live with Jongin because the commute is easier." His words were flat, it was obvious to Onew that the younger was lying, but he didn't push it. 

The two sat there in silence for a while, when Onew felt Taemin's head fall onto his shoulder, and he looked over to see Taemin, eyes closed, breathing slowly. Moving softly as to not wake Taemin, Onew began pulling away.

Taemin let out a muffled groan, one hand wrapping around Onew and gripping his shirt, his head burrowing into Onew's chest. Onew stared, wide-eyed, at the boy, not daring to breathe.

Every time Onew tried to shift or move away, Taemin's grip tightened, and eventually Onew gave up in his futile attempt to escape. 

Taemin nuzzled his head against Onew's chest like a cat, and again, Onew was reminded of someone else, years ago. He quickly pushed the memory away and focused on keeping his breathing even, so that maybe he could get some sleep, despite his current condition. 

 

It was going to be a long night.

 

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I hope this chapter keeps you happy for a while, because I'm going to be on hiatus for the next month. Exams are coming in a couple weeks, so I'm not going to have time to work on this :( I promise when I get back, I'll be updating like I never have before. 

I do have one more thing I'm working on before I take a break, so check my blog for new posts as it will be up on there in a couple of days. 

Love you all~

~Onewjoo