Taemin~

Key and Jonghyun came out of the kitchen, hearing all the ruckus, and they stopped immediately when they saw the six boys sitting at the booth.

“What the hell?” Jonghyun hissed. “EXO-K was already sent here?”

“The Dark Lord decided that if the shining angels of the Light could be here, then he might as well send in the ominous angels of the Dark, right?” Suho smirked.

“Move,” Taemin spat. Kai raised his eyebrows. “Humor me.” Smiling, Kai jerked his head over, gesturing for s to make room for SHINee on the other side of the booth. It was a tight squeeze for eleven people to fit into one booth, but they were all generally skinny.

“You guys should just go back,” Minho said calmly. “This isn’t anything for you to worry about.”

“Are you kidding?” Chanyeol snorted as he drank his bubble tea, his happy virus smile a bit more . . . sinister today. “This is a big event. The Lee Taemin of the SHINee has fallen in love with a Middle roamer. Do you realize how closely connected your father is with the Light Lord? This decision you make can destroy our world. Just think about that. I’m a Dark angel, telling you this when we love destruction.” He bit on his straw and chewed on the pearls angrily.

“Oh, shut up!” Key shouted, ready to dive across the booth to strangle him. Onew put a hand on his chest and pushed Key back, shaking his head.

“As much as we might hate to admit it, he’s right,” Onew said darkly. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop or give up. There may be a chance for Taemin.”

“Do you realize how selfish you sound?” D.O. said quietly yet harshly. “You guys are crazy! A Dark angel is telling you you’re selfish right now! Would you rather end up dying with your stupid Naeun or go back to the Light and watch her live? She’s going to die naturally anyways, Lee Taemin.”

“Shut up,” Taemin whispered, putting his head in his hands. He hated being reminded of that truth, that he was immortal and she . . . wasn’t. He rubbed his face and looked up, only to meet Kai’s eyes. They were still cold, but there was also a bit of sympathy - no, pity - underneath the icy gloss.

He turned away and looked at Jonghyun, who was next to him. “Taeminnie?”

“Go check on Naeun,” he whispered, just as she arrived with another piping cup of coffee. Taemin tensed as he watched Kai take the drink with a flirtatious smile. It wasn’t like Jonghyun’s playful getup - it was more . . . predatory.

“I’m sorry about earlier. How are your legs?” Kai mused. He reached for Naeun’s uniform, a black dress and white apron. Taemin, sitting on the other end of the booth, lunged forward and gripped Kai’s forearm.

“Don’t you dare,” he spat.

“I’m fine,” Naeun said calmly. She took Taemin’s hand off of Kai’s arm and gave him a look, the one that said, Don’t do anything stupid, or I’ll kill you. Idiot. She squeezed his hand tightly for good measure before she left. Taemin's fist shook as he watched Kai's eyes follow her along with his crooked grin.

“You and the rest of EXO-K can go back. I’ll find a way to do this. I can’t leave her,” Taemin told Kai. He matched his gaze and didn’t break away.

“Idiot,” Kai whispered. “Didn’t I just tell you that it’s a serious matter? It’s not just EXO-K. EXO-M is here, too.”

“What?! The whole EXO gang is here?” Jonghyun choked. He grabbed the orange juice Sehun was sipping and took a huge gulp.

“YAH!” Sehun shouted, snatching it back. “Baekhyun hyung! Defend me!”

“I only came for the food. Oh, and the whole break apart the shining angel and human love or whatever,” Baekhyun mumbled through his bowl of noodles.

“I’ll see you soon, hyung,” Kai mused, standing up. The rest of EXO-K followed behind him. “You know that none of us are leaving the Middle for a while. And you know exactly why.” And with that, the six Dark angels left the restaurant, the customers who had stopped to watch the group of handsome boys fight turning back to their food. Taemin stood calmly and began to clean up the dishes that the boys had left behind.

“Taemin,” Onew said softly. Taemin shook his head and smiled softly at his hyung.

“It’s too late. I was stupid, and I went too far. Naeun is involved now, and I have no choice but to stay. You know what the Dark Lord is like. Once something start, he ends it. He finishes it off. Who else will protect Naeun?” Taemin said, his words broken. He put the glasses on a cart an employee was pushing around before he could break them. "I shouldn't have tried to come back. Now Naeun is in danger, too."

“We’ll stay with you,” Key promised, “and protect her with you. There’s no other choice now. We have to stay with you and Naeun and find a way for everyone - everyone - to survive.” The five tired angels trudged back into the kitchen, where Naeun was waiting.

“Did they leave?” she asked, staring down at her feet.

“Mm,” Taemin answered. He stepped forward and hugged her. “I’m sorry.” She was stiff, but, oddly, she didn’t move away. “You guys can go home first. I need to find Kai and talk to him about something.”

“What? No!” Naeun pushed Taemin away and glared up at him. “Are you crazy?”

“She’s right. We’ll go with you,” Jonghyun said. Naeun shot him a glare, too.

“This is something for me to talk out with Kai. I know him better than anyone here.” Taemin hesitated and looked at Naeun, smiling. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid. He and I used to be friends - sort of."

“That’s not a real smile,” Naeun whispered. "Your eyes scream murder." Taemin didn’t know what to say, shocked. “I swear, if you do anything idiotic . . .” She didn’t finish and left the kitchen, leaving SHINee to think.

“Stupid EXO,” Onew mumbled. “I can only understand Kai because he likes fried chicken.”

“You idiot!” Minho growled, smacking their leader over the head.

Naeun ~

Where was he? Where was he?! Naeun had been waiting on the couch since ten o’clock, when everyone else had gotten too tired and went to sleep. It was midnight now. Naeun bit her lip nervously and propped her elbow on the armrest, resting her head in her palm.

“Yah. What are you doing on my bed?” a tired voice croaked. Naeun jumped up as Taemin walked slowly into the living room.

“Yah, Lee Taemin!” Naeun hissed. She couldn’t see him very well in the darkness of the night, the only light source coming from the moonlight through the window. She led him to the couch and set him down. “You . . . did you do something stupid?” Taemin didn’t answer for a while, just collapsed on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I promised, and I broke the promise.”

Naeun clamped shut and looked for the light switch on the wall. The single light on the ceiling fan clicked on, and she in her breath. The corner of Taemin’s lip was cut, and fresh blood covered the wound. On the right side of his face, he had a dark bruise on his cheekbone. He didn’t even bother to try hiding it.

“What did you do, you idiot?” Naeun sighed. She opened the pantry and searched for an aid kit.

“I went to talk to Kai. You know, we used to be best friends when we were little? A bunch of us were, SHINee and EXO. All the Dark and Light angel kids were close until our parents taught us about the difference between us.”

“I don’t think it’s you guys, though, that hate each other,” Naeun said earnestly as she knelt in front of Taemin on the couch. “I think it’s just how you were raised. Like how society affects the humans.” Taemin was staring at her intensely as she took out the medicine from the aid kit. “What?”

“I tried to talk him into siding with us. There would be a chance, you know? For you and me . . .” Taemin trailed off.

“There’s nothing for there to be a chance between us,” Naeun said flatly, using her ring finger to dab medicine onto his cut. He winced as she brushed the wound lightly. Or maybe it was her words that caused him to do that.

“He said that there was a very small chance of that happening, them siding with us,” Taemin continued, ignoring Naeun’s comment. “But then he said . . . I’m sorry. I tried to talk him out of it, and that’s what got me this stupid bruise. The cut was from stupid Suho, though. He was wearing a stupid ring.”

“Stop saying stupid, stupid,” Naeun muttered. “What did Kai say?”

“He’ll be attending the school, so he can keep an eye on . . . us. And . . .” Taemin groaned and pulled away from Naeun, tilting his head back so he could stare at the ceiling.

“Hey, I’m not done!” Naeun scolded, looking for a Band-Aid. Taemin looked back down.

“EXO is made up of two groups. You only saw the half of it today, EXO-K. There’s an EXO-M. And both of them are going to visit your house - tomorrow.”

. . . . . . . . .

“Okay,” Naeun replied. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked for a perfectly sized bandage to put on the cut.

“Do you realize what that means? That’s twelve Dark angels, Son Naeun,” Taemin whispered. "Coming to your house. Tomorrow."

“Wow. That’s a lot,” Naeun commented, her tone disinterested. She smiled as she found a pink Band-Aid with pandas wearing wings printed on its surface. Perfect.

“You’re too calm, you know,” Taemin murmured, not noticing the fact that Naeun was pressing a girly bandage onto his face. She started to giggle. Taemin’s eyes widened as Naeun’s giggling fits grew longer. “Are you . . . laughing? Why?”

Naeun clutched her stomach, trying not to burst into loud laughter and wake everyone up. The bandage suited him so well.

“Ani. It’s nothing,” she giggled. Taemin's lips pulled into faint smile, and her giggles faltered.

“You look a lot better when you’re smiling,” he noted.

“Whatever,” Naeun replied, clearing . “I can’t believe you went and started a fight that you lost.”

“Hey!” Taemin protested. “I gave Kai a good beating, too! You’ll see tomorrow; I totally whipped his .” Naeun smiled as she pulled out a blanket from the cabinet. She tossed it at Taemin.

“See? There’s something good to those Dark angels coming over. I can see the good beating you gave to him,” Naeun said softly as she turned off the light. She was walking away when she heard Taemin add one more thing under his breath.

“If he tries anything on you, you can watch me give him another beating."

A/N:

heeeey-YAH!

I was going to update this morning, but then my parents forced me to go out with them

I was in the car listening to KPOP and isolating myself from my family. So basically it looked like

When I finally got home, I had to do chores.

Then my sis went on the laptop and I was like

So just know how much I went through to update this <3

My life is pretty boring, but I'm trying to entertain you guys in my autor note gifs so LAUGH.

I hope you continue to read! Sunscribe, comment, and upvote please!

But I'm not forcing you.

But please.

Thank you. :3c

-pannashawol