After you caved in to Coups’ threats, Coups took a step back from you and sat casually back on the chair, took out the sandwich, and began eating it. His expression relaxed, no longer stiff. He broke the sandwich in half and was about to eat one half of it, but then he looked at you.

           “Want some?” He offered kindly, holding out the other half of the sandwich in his thick hands.

           It took you a second to process this. “U-uh, no.” You said, narrowing your eyes at him. What was he playing at now?

           He just shrugged and gave you a smile and began eating the other half of it. He just sat there casually leaning back against the chair with without a care in the world.

            How was he so cool about this? Does he threaten people every other day? Or maybe he is biopolar?

            Joshua came back in with Dino, who was now holding a half eaten candy bar. They both walked in and Joshua sat down next to Coups at the table, and Dino stood next to Joshua. There were no more seats left to sit

            “Dino. You won’t be able to work the shop after school Tuesdays.” Coups said after swallowing his mouthful of sandwich. “You’ll be getting art lessons.” He said this with a blank expression, as if he didn’t care either way.

            Dino turned to you with a wide smile. “Really? Oh, great!” He jogged up to you. “What should I bring? I got a whole bunch of art stuff at home. Pencils, paints, you name it!” Dino bragged.

            You hesitated responding, and let out a heavy breath. You looked past Dino to see Coups’ casual demeanor had changed. He was now sitting forward in his chair, staring you down with an icy gaze

            “W-whatever you’re working on class, bring that.” You responded quickly after tearing your eyes away from Coups.               

            “Okay!” At the sound of Dino’s excitement, Coups relaxed again. He set the sandwich on the table and stood up/

            Coups walked up behind Dino and patted him on the back. “Come on, we have to get groceries before we head home.” Coups tossed Dino the brown paper bag that Joshua had given him. “Let’s go.” A smile barely detectable on Coups’ face.

            Dino pointed at his clothes. “Let me change first.” He asked permission with a bitter undertone. He was still in his work clothes; the jean one piece that was covered in dirt and oil.

            Coups looked at Dino for a second before giving him the nod of approval. Dino wasted no time going through a door that you assumed was used as a changing room.

            “We should get going too.” Joshua said. “I just stopped by to say hi. I have the night shift at the music store tonight, so we should be heading back.” Joshua said, jingling his keys in hand. Coups looked warmly at him.

            “See you soon.” Coups said patting him firmly on the back. “Jeonghan and I were thinking dinner this Saturday at your place.”

            “Wow, thanks for letting me know. ” Joshua grinned through a sarcastic expression. “I’ll talk to him about it tonight.”

            The walk out of the building and to the car was completely silent. Neither of you breathed a word until you reached the car. And as soon as the car car closed, Joshua turned to you with an urgency. “OhmygoshwhatdidCoupssaytoyou.” He said in one breath.

           You gave him an angry look, and slapped him in the arm. “Why did you leave me alone with him? That guy could be a murderer!”  You huffed, a slight whine of complaints ringing in your voice. “What happened to no solider gets left behind?”

            “Well a solider gets left behind if their Captain tells them to leave them behind.” Joshua defended.  “You saw the look he gave me.”

            “The look he gave you was nothing.” You said. “He physically cornered me until I gave into his demands.”

            Joshua just shrugged, obviously trying to convince you it was no big deal. But you saw his face when he had to leave you alone; even he was a little bit worried about the situation. He couldn’t change his tactics now, at least not with you.

            “Don’t give me that! The guy is scary! Admit it.”

            “Well you hung out with him at dinner, remember. So if you remember, you know that he isn’t always…intimidating. It’s just that when it comes to Dino…he’s protective.” Joshua said one corner of this mouth widening to show his teeth.

            “Protective is an understatement. I felt like if I denied him that he would’ve sold my organs on the black market.” You shivered at the thought. “He certainly made it feel that way.”

            “As I said. He’s protective.” Joshua said as he started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

           “And I’m saying that this goes beyond the bound of the ‘protective’ definition.” You said making a circle with your hands. “This is more in the ‘bully’ realm of definition.”

           “You don’t understand.” Joshua said, slightly frustrated. “I mean, Coups has been trying to be like a father to Dino. They live together and everything. I mean, you can’t say that you haven’t seen your Dad get a little nuts when it comes to things like this. All Dad’s, and frankly Mom’s too, do it, no matter how sane they are. They all can get a little over protective.”

           Joshua looked at you expectantly, wanting you to answer the question. But this was just another question that you would rather left unanswered.
            “Coups and Dino live together?” You asked, trying not to look uncomfortable

            “Yea, ever since Hoshi went to college.” Joshua answered. “Hoshi and Dino lived together all throughout when Hoshi was in High School.” Joshua turned to you. “Just FYI, I noticed your little diversion there. I’m just letting you know, that I’m going to let it go this time. Because I am such an amazing guy, obviously.” He pointed

            “If you don’t mind me asking.” You said in a slightly strained voice, trying to completely disregard the last part of his previous statement. “Where is Dino’s parents? Shouldn’t he be living with them?”

            Joshua sighed and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Dino’s parents… aren’t in the picture anymore.” Something told you not to ask anymore questions about the topic.

            “So, then how did he come to live Coups? I mean, Hoshi, right? He lived with Hoshi first?”

            “Yea, Hoshi did. In fact, Hoshi met Dino on accident.” Joshua smiled a bit. “Hoshi had broken into the school late at night to do some prank, I forget exactly what. But while he was doing whatever he was doing, he saw Dino sleeping on the floor of a classroom.” The glow of Joshua’s smile dimmed. “Of course, Hoshi woke him up and asked him if everything was okay and even offered Dino a place to stay. Dino of course denied that anything was wrong and told Hoshi to, and I think I can quote this here, ‘Go bother someone else.’”

            “Hoshi let him go but the next night he came back again to continue whatever he was doing and he saw Dino asleep again. Hoshi offered again but Dino kept saying he was fine and that he was too tired to walk home. But Hoshi,” Joshua snorted. “Being Hoshi, was basically like, ‘okay then, I’ll just stay here with you.’ And he did. He slept at the school for four more nights until Dino agreed.”

            “Four nights?!” You said shocked. “Why didn’t Dino just come with Hoshi in the first place?”

            “You have to understand, Dino was a different kid back then, real troublemaker, but a good kid underneath all the that he had been through. He was failing out of school, getting into a fight almost every day, and always in detention. Real snot faced kid, who thought he knew everything. I bet you wouldn’t even recognize the old Dino if you met him.”

            Joshua explained further. “And when Dino finally moved in with Hoshi, oh God, we hated him.” You turned you head to look with wide eyes at Joshua. They hated Dino?

           “Oh yea, “ Joshua reassured you  seeing your shocked expression. “We hated him. He was just more trouble than he was worth, or that’s what we thought at the time.” He added quickly. “For example, Hoshi would offer dinner to Dino every night but Dino always refused to eat it. One night he said he would eat it, but Hoshi found it the next morning mashed into his couch. That couch was ruined.” You gasped.

           “Did Hoshi kick him out?” You asked, completely taken in by this story. It was hard believing.

           “No, and that’s what made us angry, that Hoshi would just take all of Dino’s crap that he was throwing at him. Don’t interrupt my story.” Joshua scolded you.

            “Anyway, for those first three months, Dino treated Hoshi as if he was nothing more than a hotel. He was so disrespectful We all warned Hoshi to ‘stop housing him and that he’s nothing but trouble.’ But Hoshi didn’t listen. Every time he brought it up, Hoshi would just change the topic quickly. He refused to let it be open for discussion.”

           “Did you hate Dino at first?” You asked. “I’m interrupting again, sorry.”

           “At first, no. I thought that the boys were overreacting, and that Hoshi was doing a good deed, by housing this homeless kid. Until, I left Taylor overnight at Hoshi’s house. And the next morning, I came to get her and she was covered in back sharpie.”

           You froze for a second, utterly confused at the statement. “Taylor?”

           “My guitar.” Joshua explained. “I was so mad at him after that. After he did that, I wanted him gone just about as much as any of the other guys did.” There was a bit of shame in his voice.

            “But anyway, back to my story.” Joshua circled back around to the original conversation. “Where was i? Oh yea, Dino didn’t like Hoshi, and we didn’t like Dino, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, okay. Anyway, apparently one time Hoshi saw Dink getting the crap kicked out of him in a fight and Hoshi intervened. I guess that changed things for Dino somehow. And then after that Dino began to get slowly more tolerant of us, and vice versa.”

            “How did that make Dino change his mind?”

            “I dunno,” Joshua sighed. “Things are so complicated, aren’t they?”

            “So they, Hoshi and Dino, lived with each other all of Hoshi’s high school years?”

            “Yes, but then Coups had to take him in because Hoshi wanted to go to college, didn’t I tell you this already?” Joshua asked, teasingly.

            “That explains why they are so close, Hoshi and Dino I mean. Living with each other for years” You gestured.

            Joshua nodded. “They still are, Hoshi has Dino over for dinner almost every other night.”

            “I know.” You nudged him in his ribs. “I live with him. And I was doing a mighty fine job of avoiding Dino too, until Coups just had to come along.”

            Joshua smiled. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

            “I think you’re still under the impression that I will change my mind.” You said poking him, your arms legs crossed on the chair.

            “I think that I am still under the impression that sooner or later you will crack. You can’t keep this up forever.”

            You rolled your eyes. “What I was going to say.” You diverted conversation. “Coups threatened me into giving Dino art lessons.” This isn’t what you really were going to say. But you forgot what you were going to say, and you needed something to get off the current topic. Why did Joshua have to be so persistent?

            “I supposed as much.” Joshua sighed.

            “You did?”

            “I mean yea. But probably He didn’t directly threaten you, though.” Joshua shrugged.

            “Well I mean-. Wait, how do you know what Coups said? Were you eavesdropping on us or something?”

            “You don’t think that I’ve been ever threatened by Coups before?” Joshua said. “Over the years there have been plenty indirect threats directed at me . But don’t worry he doesn’t actually do through with them.”

            “He doesn’t?”

            “I probably shouldn’t be tell you this, seeing as I am also on the bandwagon of wanting Dino to take art lessons from you” Joshua sighed. “But no, they’re just threats. There’s no sustenance behind them. He doesn’t go through with them. He not like that anymore.”

            You did a double take. “Anymore?!”  You grabbed Joshua’s arm so quickly that it moved his hand on the steering wheel and the car swerved for a second.

            “WOAH!” Joshua yelled, “hands off of the DRIVER.” He tried to shake off your hand that had a vice grip on his forearm.

            “What do you mean anymore?” You repeated

            “Nothing,” He cleared his throat. “A joke.”

            “Just FYI,” You repeated Joshua’s words at him. Trying to imitate him. “I noticed your little diversion there. I’m just letting you know, that I’m going to let it go this time. Because I am such an amazing guy, obviously.”

            Joshua laughed at this. But he was now looking at the road with laser focus. Determined after you had so easily made the car swerved.

             “Does Dino like living with Coups?” You asked, giving the diversion question for him.

            Joshua grinned. “He likes Coups. But living with him, for Dino its so-so”

            “Why?”

            “Well, when Dino lived with Hoshi, Hoshi had a kind of fun older brother vibe. Sometimes Hoshi and him would stay up until three in the morning watching anime on a school night. Hoshi would make sure that his homework would get done but won’t exactly care if it was an A or a B, just as long as Dino passed. So Dino kind of got used to the more relaxed atmosphere.

           “But as you can imagine, Coups doesn’t let things like that fly. He’s stricter when it comes to details like that. He doesn’t let Dino get below a B in any of his classes. Makes sure that Dino goes to bed before midnight. There’s a lot of rules that Dino didn’t have to follow a few years ago. And Dino doesn’t like it.

           But I think it’s good for Dino.  Dino needs a bit of structure in his life. Coups can give him that.” Joshua added, a barely visible smile on his face.

            “So Dino works at the bike shop with Coups? Is that because he wants to work there or is he forced?” You asked, fiddling with the mini figurine that Joshua had tapped to his dashboard.

            “A bit of both. At first he hated it. Coups wanted to teach him some discipline, and give him a trade he could learn. Coups pays him under the table for all of his work and Dino’s starting to enjoy it, I think.”

            “That’s good, he seems happy.”

            “When he’s with us, he is happy. At school its different, he gets bullied a lot.” Joshua said, in expression darkening.

            “Why?” You said, shocked at the thought.

            “Kids are mean, and Dino has no parents. And they use that to pick on him. I will bet you a hundred bucks that that is why Dino snapped and fought that kid today, they probably made a snarky remark about him not having parents.” Joshua’s was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white. “Little jerks. Dino’s having a hard time adjusting without Hoshi as is, they are just making it harder for him.” He hissed under his breath.

            You grabbed his hand on the steering wheel. “Your fingers are going to fall off if you grip it any tighter.”

            He glanced down from the road to see his stark white hands hands. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” Joshua said coolly. His grip relaxing. “I think you just wanted to hold my hand.”

            Joshua smirked and you ripped your hand from on top of his. “Hey! As if, you and your ugly mug?” You smiled.

            Joshua gasped mockingly. “What? Are my hands not good enough for you?”

            “They’re too rough for my taste.” You grab his hand and flip it over to the calloused palm of his.

            “Well sorry if I’ve been playing guitar all my life.” He swats you away. “Beside what do you want a guy with baby soft hands or something? Lazy , who’s never worked a day in his life?”

            “Oh yea.” You leaned in. “Just what I want. Morbidly obese and counting. He would sit on the couch all day keeping those nice hands of his soft and I would work every day. That’s the life.” You sighed dreamily.

            “Working girl, you’ll be.” Joshua made a fist and shook it in your face

            “You bet. At work I’ll be a machine, working all day, making dat money. And at home I’ll be gentle as a rose. Wearing ol’ timey skirts, baking home made pies and taking care of my husband.” You couldn’t help but laugh even as you said it. Even you weren’t buying your own joke.

            Joshua laughed. “Oh, you in a skirt. What I would give to see you in one of them.”

            “ert.” You smacked him.

            Joshua looked confused, and then gave you a look of disapproval. “I don’t know what you were think I was thinking.” He hit you back. “But I was thinking that a picture of that would be perfect blackmail.” He smirked devilishly.

            “The day you see me in a skirt is the day I’ll be in my coffin.” You scoffed. “Skirts just don’t… agree with me.”

            It was true. You had the habit of sitting like a boy, legs spread out. Knees spread out, taking as much space in between them as humanly possible. Which was not the best habit to have if you weren’t a fan of flashing people every time you sat down. Also with your luck, the skirts were bound to get caught in things.

           Once you wore a skirt to church and it ended up getting caught in the bus doors as they were closing. Another time, you wore a skirt to wedding, same deal. The chairs at the wedding were those weird woven chairs, and you spent a half an hour trying to free yourself from it.

            You told Joshua all this and he was laughing so hard, his eyes were watering.

            “How did you get your skirt caught in a guys jacket?”

            “Don’t ask me.” You said dully. “He dropped something and it got caught when he was standing up.”

            “Okay, now I need to see you in a skirt. Just for purposes of watching the hilarity that would ensue.”
            “You’re horrible.”

            “I know.”

            And it wasn’t long before you were back in town. Joshua dropped you off at the bus station, promising plans for another time.

            At the apartment you were finishing up working on your homework when Woozi came in.

            “Just warning you,” Woozi said. “But Hoshi is looking for you.” He said as he closed the door behind him

            “What?” You said loudly.

            “Apparently you did something, don’t know what. But he’ll be in here any moment.” He said sitting down in his desk chair.

            “Why are you telling me this?” You asked crossing your arms over your chest.

            “Seeing you scramble is entertaining.” He said raising an eyebrow. He extended his arm and with his hand facing down he waved at you. “So…scramble.” He sat back in his chair watching you, while drinking from one of those mini juice boxes.

            “You look twelve.” You attempted a poor comeback.

            “Oh, I’m so hurt inside. Hoshi is going to be here any minute.”

            You stood up instantly. “Where do I go?”

            You heard the front door open. “Nowhere now.” Woozi laughed.

            You gritted your teeth. “You are sadistic.”

            “Nothing new.” Woozi said and opened his mouth wide. “HOSh-!” Woozi yelled, but you jumped on him. You grabbed the collar of his shirt and forced him up out of his seat and pressed him again the wall.

            “Shut your face.” You hissed quietly.

            Woozi just smiled, as you heard the door behind you open. You turned your head to see Hoshi in the doorway.

            “What did you-” Then Hoshi stopped at the sight of you pinning Woozi up against the wall. Hoshi became sheepish. “Oh, you guys are fighting again…”

            You dropped Woozi and he hit the ground with a thud. You stood stood still, your hands frozen in the same position they were in when you grabbed him. You looked a Hoshi with your eyebrows half up your forehead.

            “No! Oh, no- We weren’t.” You said taking a step towards Hoshi. You were too shocked to think clearly.

            Hoshi let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good then. I was really liking the peace and quiet. You guys fighting-” Hoshi shook his head from side to side violently. And then stopped abruptly.

            “Actually, can I talk to you for a second?” Hoshi asked, after composing himself. His face was soft, nonthreatening. It must not be serious.

            “Yea, sure. I’ll be right out.”

            Hoshi left after shooting you a smirk.

            “So your talking to Hoshi now, huh?” You heard Woozi’s voice after the door closed. You looked down to see Woozi standing up, a crooked smile on his face.

            “Oh you are tricky.” You pointed your finger at him, a look of realization on your face “You planned this didn’t you? Getting me to crack with Hoshi. How did you know I would do that” You thought back to when he first came in the room and he was purposefully pushing your buttons.

            He sat down in his chair. “I’m a man with a plan.” He sighed. “But you just made it so easy. One just has to make you angry and you let your guard down. Embarrassment is always an easy in”

            “Later, you are going to pay. So bad.”

            “I wouldn’t want to keep Hoshi waiting.” He smiled, gesturing to the door with his headphones in hand.

            You gritted your teeth together and gave him a piercing glare before exiting the room. Hoshi was waiting for you in the kitchen.

            “What do you want?” You snapped, trying to resume your cold attitude.

            Hoshi gave you a cheesy smile. “Dino just gave me a call. He said that you agreed to do art lessons with him.”

            “And?” You spat. “Is that all, can I get back to my work now?”

            Even at your harsh tone, Hoshi’s kind resolve didn’t fade. “I just wanted to say thank you, you have no idea how much this means to Dino, and me for that matter.” You saw the gratefulness in Hoshi’s eyes, and you thought about what Joshua had told you. About how Hoshi and Dino were practically brothers, closer than glue.

            Then you thought about when Hoshi had come into your room and politely asked for you to give art lessons to Dino. You remembered the sincerity in his voice. And the way his asking turned to begging.

           “So, I’m sorry for whatever I did to upset you. But don’t take this out on Dino… he’s just a kid.”

           The words that Hoshi had said to you that night rang in your head.

           When you resurfaced from your thought and you looked at Hoshi, you felt like you were seeing him clearly for the first time.

           Hoshi wasn’t some selfish bastard who only pretended to be your friend just so he could stay in the apartment. It may be true that he pitied you, but now you understood.

           It was the same pity that you received that Dino had received as well. For goodness sake, the guy slept at his school four nights in a row to make sure that some stranger that he never met before was safe. And then he offered him to stay at his house. Who even does that?

           Apparently Hoshi.

           When Hoshi saw you alone, he probably wanted to stop that. Just like he stopped that for Dino.

           You figured that the word ‘pity’ you had been using was the wrong word. Compassion was the right word. Or empathy.

           You felt as if your eyes were opened. You were seeing Hoshi in color now, not just black and white.

           “No p-problem.” You said, your cold exterior melting immediately.

           Hoshi reached for his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “And if you need any compensation just let me know. Are you doing one hour sessions?” Hoshi began rifling through his wallet.

           You put your hand on his forearm. “No, that really won’t be necessary.” You pushed his wallet, that he had been extending back into his chest.

           Hoshi looked shocked. “Really? Because it won’t be a problem. I can- “

           “Hoshi.” You interrupted him. “Really. It will be fun doing this for Dino. I know he will like them.”

           Hoshi smiled. “Oh, you have no idea. Dino almost ruptured my eardrums he was screaming so loud on the phone.”

           When you saw Hoshi smile, you couldn’t help but smile as well. His smile seemed to reach every plane of his face. His eyes were reduced to slits, and his nose crinkled up. “I’m glad to hear he’s excited.” You could barely hear your own voice; it was so soft.

           “Well then, I’ll let you get back to your work.”

           You were about to object saying you had none but you remembered that you had snapped about how you were busy, at the beginning of the conversation. “Oh, yea. Thanks.”

           When you went into your room, Woozi looked up briefly.

           “How close are Hoshi and Dino?” You asked Woozi randomly.

           “Why?” He snapped.

           “Because I need to know?”

           “But why should I tell you?”

           “Because you wanted me to talk to Hoshi, so you need to answer my question.” You said, slightly frustrated with his incompliance.

           “When Hoshi left to go to college for the first time, Dino only ate bread for two and a half weeks, because anything else made his stomach upset.” Woozi said. “That’s how close.”

           You sighed. You had been such a jerk. You had refused to give a kid art lessons. Is this the kind of person you were becoming?

           You slammed your fist down on your desk. The shame you were feeling now was deafening.

           Woozi jumped at the noise. He saw your defeated face but ignored it. And put his headphones back on, and physically turned your back on you.

           You didn’t like the person you were becoming. This had to stop.

Another chapter here for you.

Hint for next chapter: Joshua has a plan