Taemin, the youngest member of SHINee, had a lot of responsibilities for a boy his age.
He was still in High School, which added to his busy schedule. He woke up at six-thirty every morning, ate breakfast made by Key, brushed his teeth and hair, and was out the door by seven-thirty, the second youngest of the group, Minho, at his side.
School started at eight-fifteen and ended at five. The members of SHINee had two hours for rest, or in Minho and Taemin's case, homework, before having to be at rehearsal. They didn't get back till nine at night. They had one more hour to do whatever before having to be in bed, Manger's orders, by ten.
On weekends, his schedule was nearly the same, except they had photo-shoots, commercials to advertise, radio stations to talk and sing on, game shows and Dream Team to worry about instead of school.
Stuck with the same old boring and tiresome routine every week was tiring for the group's maknae and he longed for a break from it all. At least for a little while.
Today was no exception. It started off as usual, though this day was certainly more interesting than most.
He was woken by Jonghyun, the second oldest of the group and lead singer.
Taemin rarely woke up on his own. One of the other members, most of the time Key and Minho, would come in to wake him up and drag him from his bed.
The singer bounced on Taemin's bed, grinning sheepishly and shaking their youngest member awake.
"Tae! Wake up!" Jonghyun clapped a hand on Taemin's leg and gave it a gentle pat.
Taemin groaned and shut his eyes tighter, rolling over on his side and bringing the blankets up around his neck.
How can he have so much energy in the mornings?
Jonghyun laughed and pulled the blankets away.
"Don't make me pull you out of bed." He grinned.
"Hyung~!" Taemin whined, yanking the blankets away from the older boy and bringing them up to his nose.
Jonghyun began to hum a familiar tune, making Taemin open his eyes a little.
Juliet?
"Taemin~ "Jonghyun sung, adding his own lyrics but keeping with the tune...sort of. "You can do it, little maknae. Will you get up? If you keep sleeping, Key will be upset 'cause you missed breakfast! " Jonghyun held out the note, his eyes closed then cut it short when he realized that Taemin was still not willing to get out of bed.
"Alright, Taemin-ah, you asked for it!" Jonghyun chuckled and grabbed hold of Taemin's ankles then proceeded to drag the maknae off his bed.
Taemin, letting out a squeak, clutched at his blankets and latched on the top of the bunk bed that he shared with their leader, Onew.
He held on to it for dear life, hanging suspended in the air, Jonghyun holding his ankles.
Jonghyun was still laughing, which caused Taemin, despite the rude awakening, to laugh too.
His eyes widened when his fingers began to slip, his muscles not yet awake and functioning properly.
He paled.
If he let go…that would hurt.
He would land exactly on the wood unless Jonghyun managed to catch him before he fell which was nearly unlikely. The lead singer was too busy laughing.
Luckily Minho came in at the right moment, having entered the bedroom to retrieve his bag. The lead rapper rushed forward and released Taemin's ankles from Jonghyun's grasp. Taemin, before he could hit the wood of the bunk bed and while he still had strength in his arms, used the muscles in his arm to swing himself up and safely onto the bed.
Taemin grinned at Minho who offered a small smirk in return.
The second oldest turned around casually, snatched his bag from where it was lying on his bed, and then walked out.
Taemin and Jonghyun stared after him before Jonghyun turned around and grinned at his maknae, offering Taemin a hand.
Taemin took it and used Jonghyun's weight to pull himself up then the two of them followed Minho out the door.
SHINee's youngest rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawning largely and followed his hyung to the kitchen.
Onew and Minho were sitting at the table and Key was running around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for them.
Onew had his head on the table, still half-asleep, whereas Minho looked wide-awake, just troubled.
Jonghyun slid into the seat next to Onew and clapped a hand on the leader's back, grinning as always.
Taemin sat down next to Minho and watched as Key stirred something in one of the pots.
He frowned.
"Hyung? May I help?" He asked, hating to see Key work so hard for them even though he did it willingly.
Key smiled at him and gently shook his head.
"It's fine Taeminnie." Key sung, using the nickname Taemin had received from his older band members.
At first Taemin had resented the nickname, it made him sound young…weak, but now he had grown to accept it. After all, if his hyung's had bothered to give him a nickname, that meant they cared, right?
"Can I at least put the dishes on the table?" Taemin asked.
Key's smile widened, then it turned into a frown as the timer went off on the oven signifying that something was done.
"On second thought…maybe you can help." Key muttered.
Taemin stood up, smiling brightly. He loved helping his "mother" cook.
"Stir the noodles for me please, while I get these rolls out of the oven."
Taemin nodded and did as he said.
Normally in Korea they had soup for breakfast and occasionally rice as a side dish but after traveling all over the world, and eating a large variety of foods, the band had changed their breakfasts depending on what they had liked the most in their travels.
This morning, Key was making buttered potatoes, a soup, apple-buttered rolls and fried apples.
Taemin's mouth watered at the smell.
Key pulled the rolls out of the oven and took everything else off the heat as Taemin put the plates and silverware down on the table in front of his hungry hyungs.
After eating and getting ready for the school day, Taemin and Minho left side by side in their school uniforms with their bags slung over their shoulders.
They walked to school every morning, enjoying one another's company and preferring to act like any normal kid their age.
They got enough attention as it was at school, they didn't want to add to it by arriving in a limo or anything.
"Minho-ah, what's wrong?" Taemin asked, noticing that Minho had not spoken all morning.
Maybe it's that math test…? I know he's going to ace it, though, so why should he be worried?
"Nothing. A lot on my mind…that's all." Minho replied in his deep voice, staring down at the ground.
Taemin frowned then suddenly smiled, his eyes and face brightening.
He slipped out of his backpack and carried it in his arms as they walked, unzipping it and fumbling with trying to find something, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth and his face scrunched up cutely.
Minho couldn't help but smile as he watched him.
Taemin's face brightened again when he caught hold of what he was looking for.
"Aha!" The maknae cried, revealing a small carton of banana milk.
"Will this help, hyung?" Taemin asked, his eyes bright.
Minho smiled and chuckled.
He shook his head.
"Aniyo, Taeminnie, you drink it." Minho said, smiling still.
Taemin look disappointed and pouted a little.
"Please, hyung? I don't like seeing you sad." He whispered, lowering his head, his golden hair falling over his eyes.
Pouting, puppy eyes and banana milk. Always works on hyung.
Minho grinned and captured his maknae in a gentle headlock, ruffling his hair.
Taemin smiled and looked up at him.
Heh. See?
"Please, hyung?" He asked again, giving Minho his notorious puppy eyes.
Finally, Minho sighed.
"Fine, if it will quiet you, noisy little maknae. " Minho said, feigning that he was annoyed with Taemin.
But Taemin, after having spent a few years with him, saw right through it. He passed the banana milk over to his hyung and grabbed one for himself.
Taemin brought his carton up slightly above eye level, holding it up.
"To a good day." He smiled.
Minho nodded.
"To a good day." He agreed, bumping their cartons of banana milk together.
They crossed the streets, using the crosswalk to get across the busy road, without really paying much attention as they took sips of their banana milk and Minho talked to Taemin about the math test he was taking first period.
Minho frowned when he saw Taemin's eyes widen.
"Taemin-ah? What's wrong? Did you forget something –?"
"Minho! Look out!" Taemin yelled, cutting him off.
Minho whipped around and saw the truck speeding towards them.
Quickly, he wrapped his arms around Taemin and attempted to dodge out of the way, trying to get the both of them to safety.
All that mattered in his brain right now was to save Taemin. He didn't even think about himself.
The truck hit them both head on, sending Taemin flying from Minho's arms and Minho skidding across the road.
His vision blackened and he could feel blood gushing down his head, he felt a rib crack as it collided with the road and his head slam into the asphalt.
Taemin lay a few feet away, unmoving.
"Tae – " Minho whispered, wincing in pain as he reached for his maknae.
His hand fell short, just inches away from Taemin's blonde hair.
He forced himself to move, to crawl to Taemin's side.
The effort it took was horrendous and so was the pain, but with sheer willpower, he got there.
He draped himself over Taemin's body and wrapped his arms around him, feeling tears run down his cheeks.
"Taemin." He sobbed. "Don't die. Don't be dead. You can't…you can't die on me."
He ignored the people yelling and screaming, ignored the press taking photos, ignored the cameras rolling and ignored the ambulance and police sirens that were in the distance. All that mattered was Taemin.
He wanted to keep his eyes open, to see if Taemin was all right, but his eyes closed against his will and was encased in black.
A/N: A story about SHINee! Yay! This my first story about them so I'm sorry if they are out of character. I tried to make them as in-character as possible but...not sure. So what do you think? Good? Crappy? Not worthy of having adorable Taemin and Minho in it? I'd like to know what you think so review please and thank you for reading! :D
EDIT: I edited ALL these chapters, added some more details, fixed the spelling errors I found etc. ENJOY :)