Taemin leaned down and brushed his lips against Mi-Hyun's. She giggled as he kissed her nose, her cheeks, and worked his way back to her mouth again. Mi-Hyun felt dizzy with love and the overwhelming need to tell him so.
"Wo ai ni, Taemin," she murmured.
He drew back, looking at her, wanting to see her face in his mind always. He smiled that beautiful maknae smile, loving the way her eyes never left his.
"I love you too, Noona."
And she was kissing him again. He was lost in her world, completely controlled and willed by everything his lover did.
The day slowly faded to twilight. Taemin wearily propped himself up on his elbows, watching Mi-Hyun as her breathing slowed and deepened.
Taemin whispered, "But you…"
His voice cracked with emotion and he buried his face in his hands.
"You love Jonghyun more…"
For a few moments all was silent. Then Mi-Hyun opened her eyes and stared at him seriously.
"Taeminnie, I don't want to hear that."
He swallowed nervously.
"I love all of you equally. I would never pick a favorite or choose one member over the other." She moved closer and slipped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. "Jonghyun and I spend so much time together because we are so alike. Our personalities match each other perfectly." She laughed bitterly. "To make a fair point, Jjong also fights with me a lot because we are both extremely confident and outspoken." She buried her face in his side. When she spoke again, her voice was muffled. "You and I never fight."
Taemin stroked her hair. He admired the smooth strands, each colored its own shade of the rainbow. Rainbows were just so typical of her. "I suppose you're right, Noona."
"Yep. Now shut up and let me sleep."
He laughed and rolled away from her. "Vicious girl! You hurt my feelings!"
"I didn't mean it!" Mi-Hyun protested, sitting up and looking panicked.
"You're so mean. We were having a moment there." He teased, pouting and sticking out his lip.
Mi-Hyun suddenly lunged for him. "You think that was mean?! I'll show you mean!" Barely concealing a smile, she pinned him down and drove her fingers into his ribs. He yelped and she grinned, tickling him harder.
"Mercy," he gasped, before a fit of laughter overtook him.
Her eyes flashed. "Never!"
Taemin wailed. "MI-HYUN!"
Out in the kitchen, Minho and Jonghyun stared in the direction of Taemin's room, wide-eyed.
Another shriek resounded down the hallway. Minho flinched while Jonghyun cracked his knuckes. Over by the soup, Key chuckled under his breath. "Sounds like they're having fun, eh?"
Jonghyun shot a look at Key and growled. "If that little punk so much as breathes on her, I'll…" He drew a finger over his throat.
"From what I hear he's doing a little more than breathing- OW! Hey!"
"OI!" Key shook a spoon at them. "Jjong, don't hit Minho. We need our Flaming Charisma in one piece for next week's show."
Jonghyun tossed his hair. "Are you sure two pieces isn't acceptable?" he asked impertinently, before punching Minho again.
"Okay, that's it, you sassy, conceited moron, you think you're so smart, eat this-" Minho looked around. His eyes fell upon a tomato. Without stopping to think, he snatched it up and flung it at Jonghyun.
Jonghyun's mouth gaped open in a round, comical "o" as tomato juice dripped down his face. Key spun around and stared, too stunned to laugh. Slowly, Jonghyun looked down at his brand-new blazer. The top was completely stained with red.
Nobody moved. Then Key- ever so sly- held up his phone and snapped a picture.
Shit went down.
Jonghyun dived towards Key. He yelped and dodged, before realizing that Jonghyun hadn't been aiming for him at all, he had been going for the vegetables. Time seemed to slow down. "NO! NOT MY TOMATOES!" he screamed in absolute horror. His hyung only laughed as he hurled a tomato at Key's chest. It splattered on his shirt. The excess juice dripped down his jeans, on the floor; everywhere. Key shouted and jumped around in circles, desperately trying to wipe the fruit off his clothes. Needless to say, it didn't work. Jonghyun was doubled over with laughter while Minho stood awkwardly in the background, not believing what was happening. "Nooooo," their distraught diva wailed. "I really liked this shirt too, now I can't wear it anymore because of- KIM JONGHYUN."
Jonghyun stopped laughing.
Key advanced on him, brandishing his soup spoon like an axe. "I don't care how well you sing, or how many girls think you're handsome, or how bling-bling you consider yourself to be, you are as good as dead to me. I will MURDER you. I will kill you SO HARD, you won't even-"
"Kill him so hard?" Minho interjected.
"TO HELL WITH GRAMMAR!"
Minho suddenly found himself covered with lettuce.
"FOOD FIGHT," Jonghyun yelled with glee. It was on.
Meanwhile, in what seemed like another universe, two other young people were acting like children as well.
Mi-Hyun was on her back being tickled so hard she thought she might faint. Her shirt was long gone. Taemin had access to all the area he wanted, and he was sure taking advantage of it. "Who's the mean one now, dearest?"
She gasped for air. "You're- so- EVIL!"
He smiled devilishly at her. "Say you love me."
"I won't- AI! Okay! I LOVE YOU! I'M YOURS! You own me, I am your property, I will do anything you say! Please!"
Taemin smirked again, knowing his evil maknae side drove her crazy. "Beg for me."
Mi-Hyun screamed. "TAEMIN! AHH!"
A loud and very irritated voice shouted out from the kitchen. "All right, I can't take this anymore. That little bastard's getting a tomato to the face!"
Taemin froze and blinked. "What?"
Jonghyun threw the door open and chucked a tomato at Taemin.
Then stopped to assess the situation.
The dancer was straddling a shocked Mi-Hyun's waist. An also rather… shirtless Mi-Hyun. He forced himself not to stare (damn, she's curvy) and moved on. Her hair was wild, her face was flushed, but Taemin was fully clothed and looking normal- except, of course, for the fact that he was now covered in tomato innards. They were both staring at him with undisguised confusion. Jonghyun began to experience that awful (and in his case, familiar) feeling when you've made a fool of yourself.
"But I- we thought you were…" He stammered helplessly.
Key popped up behind him. "Oh so you were cuddling? How cute! It sounded like you were violently screwing each other with a hammer!"
Mi-Hyun yelled something incredibly profane about Key minding his own business and his own tomatoes.
All this time, Minho had been lurking somewhere behind them with a giant tomato in his hand. He chose his moment carefully, planned his aim perfectly, and let it fly, confident that it would end up where he wanted it. Sadly, he failed epically, and the unfortunate fruit ended up all over Mi-Hyun's chest. Which wasn't such a bad thing, when he thought about it.
Minho grinned. "That's a good look for you!"
Her hands flew to her bra and she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "WHAT THE HELL? How many tomatoes do you HAVE?!"
Taemin rolled off of her and crouched on the floor in an attempt at looking fierce. "They'd better have enough for us to pound them within an inch of their lives," he snarled.
Jonghyun burst out laughing.
Mi-Hyun jumped off the bed and sent him the dirtiest look she could muster. "Don't laugh at him, he's taller than you." She reached behind her head and mimed throwing a ball. "And I was the best thrower on my team in high school."
"Oh snap," Jonghyun muttered, and he ran.
********
A few minutes later all the vegetables were gone.
Mi-Hyun groaned. "My hair… it's ruined…"
"Tastes like tomato," Key noted from his position sprawled underneath her.
She hissed through her teeth. "Calla-te."
"Practicing your Spanish? That's good, you definitely need it, you suck."
Mi-Hyun tried to kick him, but got Minho instead. "Oops, sorry Minnow!"
"That nickname is awful, and would you please get off of us?" Minho pleaded, his voice strangely high-pitched.
"You threw tomatoes at me. No."
"But you're so big. This is painful."
"ARE YOU SAYING I'M FAT?!"
"N-no, I meant big as in, uh, tall-"
"BASTARD! PUNK! MIN-WHORE!"
"OW!"
"The kitchen is a mess," Taemin called. "Who's going to clean this up?"
Key snorted. "Make Min-whore," (Mi-Hyun giggled) "and Jonghyun do it. They started the fight anyway."
"Ehh?!" Jonghyun protested. "Mi-Hyun should do it! She's a girl!"
Mi-Hyun jumped up. "You're all awful! I'm out of here. I, uh, need to practice the new song, I can't seem to get the second verse right!" Before anyone could argue she fled to Taemin's room, presumably to put some clothes on.
"Should have thought of that while you were fooling around with Skinnybones, eh?" Jonghyun yelled irritably. "Whore," he added under his breath when she didn't bother to answer.
"Someone's jealous," taunted Taemin before he followed Mi-Hyun.
Then the door opened.