Onew was running. The world was in slow motion as he desperately tried to reach the boy whose life was in grave danger. 

Their shared life passed before his eyes: a million smiles, laughs, tears, touches. All about to be destroyed by a simple act of stupidity.

"Watch out!" He tried to yell, but his mouth was slower than his feet, not a single sound coming out.

He stared, horrified, as he watched the boy crumple to the ground as the car hit his side, but before Onew could reach him, the scene changed. 

No longer at the scene of the accident, but in a small, light yellow kitchen, filled with the sounds and smells of good cooking. 

"It's so nice to have you here, dear. My son really has a good friend." A familiar woman smiled lovingly at him.

Inside, Onew's thoughts swirled with fear and anguish, "right... Friends." He knew it was too good to be true, for the two being together was a taboo thing in Korea, but still, it was just so hard to keep it a secret...

 

The sound of a door slamming open awoke the elder, who quickly sat up- or tried to anyways. Sometime during the night, the two had become even more entangled, so that Taemin was now completely on top of the elder, one leg in between the elder's thighs, both hands tightly gripping his shirt. 

As he attempted, once again, to push the younger away, a thin, platinum blonde male waltzed into the living room. 

"Oh Onew-" the blonde stopped cold, struck by the sight before him.

"Well. Isn't this just an interesting surprise?" The blonde smirked stupidly.

"Yah, hyung, it isn't what you think. He just needed a place to stay for the night-"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." 

"Yah Lee Joon-" 

"Calm down, I'm just messing with you. Like I'd actually believe you'd do anything. You're way too uptight."

"Not everyone can live life so carelessly hyung." 

"Says you. So, who is this sleeping beauty anyways? And can I have him if you don't want him, because he is seriously fine. Wait, he is legal right?"

"LEE JOON!" 

"Alright, alright." Joon raised his hands in surrender. Meanwhile, Onew's yell had awoken the slumbering younger, who was now rubbing his eyes cutely. 

"Yah, Jongin, why are you yelling so early- Onew?" Taemin stared at the elder in confusion for a moment, before memories of last night flooded his mind.

"Hey Taemin.  Sorry to wake you up like that." Onew said gently.

"It's okay, thanks for letting me stay the night- omo, what time is it?" Taemin disentangled himself from the elder and began searching for his phone, only to find it missing.

"Hyung, did you see my phone?" 

"It's charging over by the window, Tae."

Taemin spotted it and sighed in relief.

"Thanks hyung." 

Joon watched from the sidelines, enjoying every second of it. In the two years that he'd known Onew, the quiet boy had not once brought someone home, in fact, the kid barely spoke to anyone under 40. Joon was an exception, but he was just Onew's roommate, under the condition that he wouldn't question anything about Onew's past, and he never had.

However, the beautiful boy that he'd seen just moments ago sleeping on Onew wasn't Joon, and he sure as hell wasn't over 40.

So... Who was he?

"And who might you be?" Joon asked. Taemin turned to him, surprised.

"Oh! Hi, I'm Lee Taemin. I got caught in the rain last night, and Onew was nice enough to give me a place to stay."

Well, that explained it. Sort of.

"Oh... Okay." Joon looked at Onew, who just shook his head, as if he didn't know how to explain either. 

"Don't worry, I'll be going as soon as my friend comes to pick me up. In fact, I'm going to call him right now." 

"Wait, calm down." Joon couldn't let what might be his dongsaeng's only chance at love go to waste. "I brought breakfast. Why don't you eat with Onew and I before you leave?"

"Oh, arasso." Taemin replied, setting his phone down.

Joon set out the meal, which consisted of about a dozen pastries, on the small coffee table, and the three sat around it to eat.

"I still haven't introduced myself, have I?" Joon asked, putting three pastries onto his plate. "Oh, ah no." Taemin replied.

"Well, I'm Lee Joon, Onew's gorgeous and hilarious roommate." Joon stated, smiling flirtatiously at the younger. 

Taemin laughed, completely oblivious to the blonde's advances.

"Nice to meet you Joon-ssi."

"Cutie, you can call me hyung." Joon leaned closer. "Or jagiya. That's even better." 

Taemin blushed and looked at Onew, unsure what to do.

"Yah Lee Joon! Stop hitting on him." Onew yelled, coming to the poor maknae's rescue.

"Aww, you're no fun Onew." Joon pulled back, secretly smiling at Onew's reaction.

The three continued eating their meal, occasionally stopping to ask or answer each other's questions. 

As they were just aout finished, "I'm y and I know it" started playing, and Taemin realized it was from his phone. He grabbed it quickly and answered, while Joon and Onew shared twin looks of confusion.

"Yeoboseyo?" 

"Hey hyung. I'm leaving Donghae's right now, where do you want to be picked up?"

"Oh, umm, I'll just meet you at the first bus stop I find." Taemin couldnt explain why, but for some reason, he didnt want Jongin to know where Onew lived. "I'll call you once I know where I am."

"Got it. See you soon hyung."

"Bye." Taemin ended the call and looked back at the two men currently staring at him. 

"That was Jongin. I should get going now. Do you know where the nearest bus stop is?" 

"Go straight, it's about two blocks down." 

"Thanks hyung." 

"So, umm.. why was that his ring tone?" Onew aske; Taemin rolled his eyes.

"He must have changed it again. He insists its his theme song."

Joon grinned at Onew. "Hey, make my ring tone that!" 

"No hyung."

Taemin laughed and looked around, soon realizing he still had on Onew's clothes.

"Oh, hyung, where are my clothes?" He'd never hear the end of it from Jongin if he came home in another man's clothes.

"One moment, I'll get them for you." Onew ran off to find Taemin's clothes, leaving Taemin alone with Joon.

"So Taemin..." Joon smirked, moving closer to the maknae.

"What-what is it?" 

"Who are you?"

Taemin blinked, confused. "I'm Taemin."

"No. I mean, who are you? Onew never just lets people stay the night. Who are you? His brother? His cousin? His boyfriend?"

"No! None of those. I told you, I got lost and he gave me a place to stay."

"I'm telling you, Onew doesn't just let people stay over. Or call him hyung."

"And I'm telling you, that's what happened!" Taemin replied angrily, but only managing to look cute.

Joon smiled and leaned back. "Fine, you win. But only because you're too cute to say no to."

"You-"

"Here you go Taemin." Onew said, handing Taemin his clothes. 

"Thanks hyung." He said, rushing off to the bathroom to change.

Onew glared at Joon, sure he had said something to torture the kid.

"What did you do?"

""Yah, why do you always accuse me of doing something?" 

"Because you always do."

Joon huffed and stormed off, probably to the kitchen to get more food. Taemin came out of the bathroom and handed Onew back his rumpled clothing.

"Thanks again for letting me stay, you're really a life saver. See you around, hyung." Taemin waved goodbye and left. 

Joon walks out of the kitchen, a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth.

"He didn't even tell me goodbye!" Joon pouted.

 

 

After a quick call to Jongin, Taemin sat at the bus stop, and as he waited, thoughts of Onew filled his mind. He remembered the feeling of Onew's strong arms wrapped around him, the way he just wanted to burrow his head deep into Onew's chest because he smelled so nice. Instead, he just sunk his face deeper into his jacket, which had close to the same smell after being washed by the elder last night.

A beat up old car stopped in front of him, and he heard his name being called.

"Yah, hyung, get in here." Taemin slid into the passenger seat and leaned his head against the window. 

"Thanks Jongin." 

"Whatever hyung."

The ride home was strangely silent, like the calm before the storm. It made Taemin nervous, and he wasn't sure what to expect from his friend. Even getting out of the car, into the building, up the elevator, all the way to their doorway, was completely silent.

That's when it ended.

 As soon as they were in the house, a wave of questions crashed down on him.

"Who did you stay with last night? Did I hear you correctly, did you say Onew?" 

"Yes."

"As in, the Onew, the one you met on the bus six months ago?"

"It was four months, and yes."

"Hyung!" Jongin yelled, grabbing Taemin's shoulders. 

"Wh-what?" Taemin said, startled. 

"You know what this is? It's fate!" 

"It's just coincidence." Taemin said, despite every cell in his body screaming for him to make the elder his. Although being such a high energy, loving kid was usually a good thing, it was also his biggest fault. When he likes someone, he falls quick and falls hard. 

No, he'd made the mistake of jumping into a relationship too early before, but not this time, not with someone who could quite possibly be the one. 

"Hyung. You've been talking about this guy for five-"

"Four."

"Four months, and despite the completely unlikely possibility of you ever seeing him again, you had hope, and now that you found him, you aren't even going to try to get him?"

"I don't want to scare him off." Taemin said softly. Jongin dropped his hands.

"So what are you going to do then?" Taemin smiled, the smile he only had when he had a plan he was positive would work, even if it was completely stupid.

"Trust me Jongin. I've got a plan that'll make him like me without me doing anything. Just wait."

Jongin raised an eyebrow, but didn't dare ask what the plan was. Usually, he was better off not knowing.

"Whatever you say hyung."

"Alright, well, if you're done questioning me, I'm going to go practice." Jongin caught Taemin's wrist before he could leave.

"Oh no you don't. You've practiced enough. Come play video games with me. It's been too long since I've beaten you."

"Yah you brat, wow says you'll beat me?"

"I do!" Jongin laughed, running towards the living room.

"Prepare to eat your words Kim Jongin!" Taemin yelled, following the younger,

"You wish!" Jongin's called back. With that, the serious conversation was done, and the two were back to their normal, idiotic selves.

Of course, it was Taemin, and nothing would keep him from Onew for long. That was why, the next day after dance practice, instead of heading home with Jongin, he made up an excuse and headed off in the opposite direction. Despite Jongin's whining about wanting to play more video games, Taemin left, roaming the streets, his mind already spinning with plans to make Onew fall for him. As he walked, Jongin's words from the day before teased his mind, and he couldn't help but think.

Is it fate?

 

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Hi! 

So it's exams week, and while I could be studying, I instead opted to spend a three hour car ride (6 hour round trip) writing! Yay! I seriously have 4 chapters written and waitng to be edited. I'll be posting them throughout this and next week. Thanks to everyone who stuck with this story despite me taking forever to update. You guys are the best!

love you all~