Title: Paranoia
Pairing: 2min
Rating: PG-13 (for Key's potty mouth)
Genre: Fluff
Summary: In which Taemin is afraid of ghost stories and Minho doesn't think they should share a bed.


The streetlight buzzed and flickered, startling the teenager as he walked back to his dorm from a late-running dance club practice. The sidewalk’s usual grey color was stained darker in parts from the shadows the trees overhead threw upon its surface, dancing as the wind blew through them. He pulled his coat closer to his body and tried to throw off the feeling creeping through his veins. As he walked by the cafeteria, he glanced at his reflection, wide scared eyes reflecting what little light shone down from the widely spaced streetlights. As he looked back forward, he could have sworn he saw her following him out of the corner of his eye. He tried not to think of the scary legend that his friends had relayed to him during their break as they all chugged down as much water as they could to cool off their overheated bodies.


“Did you hear that story going around school?” a small mousy kid that Taemin thought was named Dan said excitedly, practically jumping up and down in his seat. He paused for dramatic effect, looking around to make sure everyone was listening.

“Are you gonna tell us or not?” Kim Kibum, another international student from Taemin’s home country, scowled while he looked down at his broken nail disapprovingly. Come to think of it, Dan was the one that turned the wrong way and pushed Kibum down, an action that had brought about the broken nail in the first place. No wonder Kibum’s patience with the short boy was lacking.

“Well the one about the dead girl on the subway” Dan stated like everyone knew about it.
And apparently they did, because James, a tall chocolate skinned senior, said “Oh yeah, my friend heard it from a friend of the guy who died.”

“Of insanity” Dan continued.

“Oh my God,” Kibum said, “can you just tell the story like normal people? Not everyone has heard it.”
Taemin nodded inwardly, silently happy that Kibum was there to tell them off for being vague.

“Well, it was 4AM on the subway downtown in Chelsea, and this guy from the math department was waiting for the train” Dan said, apparently unphased by Kibum’s remark.

“And there was no one in the station, which is real creepy because there are always so many people during the day” a girl named Veronica chimed in.

“Yeah,” Dan continued, “but then two other people are walking in, not together though, like separately.”

“And the girl steps out close to the edge of the platform, like to see if she can see the train” James blurted out, obviously unable to contain himself.

“So the guy who had just walked in after her taps her on the shoulder and she whips around all startled like” Dan said, “and the guy just pushes her into the tracks.”

Taemin squeaked, scooting a little closer to Kibum, who puts an arm around him.
“What the ?” Kibum says, eyes widening.

“I know, but it gets weirder,” James said, “so the guy climbs down one of those old rusty ladders and carries her back up, just like nothing happened.”

“At this point, the math department guy is like freaked out because dude, a guy just pushed someone onto the tracks for no obvious reason,” Dan remarked, taking another swig from his water bottle, “but when the train pulls up, the guy carries the girl into the same car as the math department guy and sits down right across from him, leaning the girl’s head on his shoulder.”

Around this time, Taemin looked over at Kibum and saw the older boy pointedly roll his eyes, obviously not believing the story at all, but rubbing his hand in gentle circles on Taemin’s back anyway.

“So the math department guy glances over, trying to see if maybe the girl is okay or it was just a prank” James said, taking over again, “and her eyes are just open, staring at him, like not blinking at all. And when he looks closer, he can see that her chest isn’t moving and her neck is kinda at a weird angle.”

“So like, he looks over to the side and the guy is staring at him too” Veronica states suddenly, adamant about taking over from there, “and then he puts his finger up to his lips and says ‘shhh’ and closes the girl’s eyes before they get to the next station.”

“And he rides for 6 stations that way, other people getting on and off, but he’s too afraid to say anything ‘cause like the guy is sitting right across from him. Then he gets off, the guy’s stare following him the entire way” James states, “and while he’s walking home, he swears he sees the girl’s reflection in the glass of one of the store-front windows, following him.”

“And for 2 weeks, it’s like that all the time, all he can see is her dead stare and her unmoving chest wherever he goes, then he just went crazy and died.” Dan finished.

“That’s stupid,” said Kibum, “it’s just an urban legend.”

“Whatever, after I heard it, I could have sworn I saw some shadow or something, following me,” Dan said waving off Kibum.

“Why the hell would she wanna follow you? You don’t even have anything to do with it!” Kibum says, getting up and going back into the dance room.

“You believe it, right Taemin?” James said, acknowledging the exchange student for the first time since break started.

Taemin just shuddered before shaking his head, trying to clear it of bad thoughts as practice was about to start up again. He didn’t want to believe, but he couldn’t help it.

He shuddered again as he deliberately increased his walking speed, finally being able to see the peak of the dorm’s roof in the distance. The slapping of his shoes against the pavement was even starting to scare him as he could swear he could even hear someone else behind him, but then again, it could just be the echo. He rounded the corner, deliberately looking straight ahead as he practically ran toward the stairs of his dorm. Just then, a hand held him back and he shrieked, closing his eyes tightly.

“Taem?” his roommate, a Korean-American student named Minho questioned as soon as the decidedly unmanly scream was pulled from Taemin’s body, “is something wrong?”

“Oh my GOD, hyung” Taemin said as he tried to catch his breath, “don’t scare me like that.”

“Haha, sorry, it just seemed like you were gonna pass me by without saying hello” Minho replied, throwing an arm around the scared teen’s shoulders, “can you let me in? I forgot my key again.”

“Yeah, just a sec,” the shorter boy said as he fished around in his backpack for the key.

After he unlocked the door, he and Minho walked up to their 3rd floor room silently, Taemin just glad that he was finally not alone.
Minho closed the door to their dorm room quietly and then addressed Taemin again, “so what’s got you so jumpy tonight?”

Now, if Kibum hadn’t believed the story, Minho definitely wouldn’t believe it. Moreover, Taemin kind of had a huge crush on his tall soccer player roommate (almost from the moment he laid eyes on the boy) and didn’t really want him to think of him as the kind of person that got scared about ghost stories, but he was really the only person that Taemin could offload on right now, so he decided to tell him anyway. Minho wouldn’t think less of him because of it; he just wasn’t that kind of guy. Or at least Taemin thought, and Taemin was an excellent judge of character. “Hyung, did you heard that story going around, the one about the girl in the subway?”

“Oh yeah, where that guy died of insanity?” Minho kind of chuckled a little under his breath, but stopped when he saw Taemin’s horrified expression, “you believed it?”

“Well, it just seems so much scarier when you hear it before walking home at midnight” he mumbled, a little embarrassed even though he knew Minho wouldn’t judge him.

“Hmm, I mean, it’s just…well if it were real, it would have been in the papers. And didn’t the story say that he was a student at our school? I mean if a student from this school died, we definitely would have gotten an email about it, you know offering counseling and all that,” Minho rationalized, pulling off his shirt and changing it to a pajama one.

“I guess you’re right,” Taemin said. It sounded so much more ludicrous when Minho rationalized the story and Taemin felt even more embarrassed. He joined Minho in his preparations for bed and snuggled under his fluffy comforter when he was finished as Minho turned off the lights.

“’Night, Tae” Minho mumbled, already half-asleep.

“G’night, hyung” Taemin replied, quickly drifting off into dreamland.

It seemed like he had barely gotten to sleep when he was suddenly on a subway sitting across from a couple. The girl’s long black hair swayed as the car walked back and forth, her head resting on her boyfriend’s shoulder as she slept. As he examined her closer, though, he noticed that her neck was bent at a funny angle and as he turned his head to look at her boyfriend, he brought his finger up to his lips and said, “shhhh”.

Taemin woke with a start and screamed, a cold sweat apparent on his forehead. He tossed his covers aside and ran the meager 2 steps that it took to get to his roommate’s bed.

“Minho, Minho, Minho, Minho,” he said desperately shaking his roommate’s body.

“Taem?” Minho said sleepily, “what’s wrong?”

“I just…I just…can I sleep here? I mean sometimes back in my house in Korea, my brother lets me sleep with him when I get scared and I thought maybe…” he trailed off.

“I…Taemin…I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“Why? Oh, I mean I know it’s weird here in America, but I just…I can’t go back to sleep like this.”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it that way…” Minho said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “I don’t know how to say it…I mean, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to sleep with me…”

“Why not, hyung?” Taemin was genuinely confused, as Minho normally pampered him a lot. He actually didn’t know that Minho was capable of saying no to him.

“Are we really gonna have this conversation now?” he said, nervously running his fingers through his almost shoulder-length hair.

“What conversation?” Taemin was still lost. Sure, boys who were in college didn’t sleep together in one bed in America, they hardly did in Korea. Taemin had been sure that Minho would understand him though and make an exception in this case. He had no idea what conversation he was talking about.

“Ummm…”

“Oh,” Taemin said, “it’s obvious isn’t it…” He was now sure he had picked up on his roommate’s uncomfortable feeling, and it was because obviously Minho had realized that Taemin had a crush on him (because it’s not like he had been hiding it all too well) and he didn’t want to make things uncomfortable between them (because obviously he didn’t feel the same way).

“What’s obvious?” Minho, said, now turning from the confuse-er to the confuse-ee.

“The way I feel about you, right?” Taemin said, suddenly very interested in the checkered pattern on Minho’s sheets, “I mean I guess it’s pretty obvious since I follow you around all the time, and invite you out to lunch with no one else there, and have that picture of us from summer vacation as the wallpaper on my iPod…”

“What?” Now Minho thought HE was dreaming, because those words were definitely not coming out of the cutest boy he had ever seen in his life’s mouth.

“Well, the fact that I kinda...love you?” Taemin said, still diverting his eyes toward the ground. Taemin didn’t cry, he didn’t cry, dammit! And he most definitely didn’t blush like a little schoolgirl. But his face was definitely red right now and his eyes were definitely wet, although he was proud to say that none of the moisture had escaped yet.

“Oh my God, Tae!” Minho said, practically jumping out of his bed and turning Taemin to face him, “No, I meant that you wouldn’t want to sleep with me because I might like…molest you in my sleep. I mean it’s not like I was hiding the fact that I like you way too much to be just friends very well… I mean, even Jonghyun called me out on it and God knows he’s not exactly bright when it comes to these things.”

Taemin looked up right then and Minho’s eyes were shining brightly despite the fact that it was definitely 4 in the morning and he was smiling that slightly crooked smile that Taemin loved. And Taemin laughed because they were both so stupid.
“Well hyung, you could molest me even when you’re not sleeping and I wouldn’t mind,” he said slyly, looking up at Minho with a glint of mischief before whispering in his ear, “I might even like it.”

Minho laughed and wrapped his arms around Taemin, pressing the boy's face into the crook of his shoulder, “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Can I sleep with you now hyung?”

“I don’t think you can ever sleep without me again.”

And then Minho leant down and captured Taemin’s lips and Taemin definitely wasn’t thinking about some creepy dead girl’s eyes, but about the love that shone out of Minho’s.

(“Ugh, hyung, morning breath!” Taemin giggled pushing at Minho’s chest.
“Middle of the night breath, you mean, because I definitely intend to wake up again in 4 more hours and you better be there to give me more kisses, even if they taste like morning breath.” Minho said, pulling Taemin back down in bed with him and curling around him, “now go to sleep, we have class at 9.”)






OMG, what is wrong with me? Why am I doing this instead of reading the 4 articles I have to read for tomorrow?? Get out of my head 2min!

Anyway, I hope it wasn’t too bad. I mean I’m not sure the opening blended well with the end. I’ve really got to work on that.
Oh, and actually the urban legend from this story came from the Epik High song “Paranoia pt. 1” which I think was based on an actual urban legend? Or maybe I just made that up. Anyway, once I was walking to a party while listening to that song and my campus was completely deserted and the alleyway was super creepy and I thought something was following me ‘cause the song is kinda creepy, you know? Then a raccoon came out of nowhere and started chasing me! So I ran all the way there and then everyone laughed at me D:. Anyway, I think that Minho scaring me would be way better than a (possibly) rabid raccoon, hahaha.
Anyway, feedback please! ♥