Sunday night was another one of those nights. It was late, probably past midnight, and everyone was asleep except for Kibum. He was lying in bed tossing and turning uncomfortably. His body hurt and felt hot as the Sahara desert. He was near tears because it was so uncomfortable; his body wanted the drugs so bad it wasn’t even funny. But he had to control himself, Heechul had said no drugs.

He’ll kick me out…I have to endure this.

That was the only reason why Kibum didn’t get out of bed right now and go seek out some party to get what his body craved, because he was too terrified that Heechul would make him leave if he did so. The need for that man by his side overpowered the need for drugs, so Kibum settled with dealing with the pain. He was trying to keep quiet and not cry out because he didn’t want to wake Donghae up. He was scared to let either Donghae or Mir see him like this; he’d been lucky enough that it hadn’t happened yet during the day in the last two days. He didn’t want them to know about his drug problem.

Donghae stirred in his sleep on the other bed and Kibum froze slightly, biting down on his lip to keep from moving. When he was sure that Donghae was still asleep, he slipped out of bed and left the room, closing the door behind him. He shuffled through the darkness and over to couch and plopped down on it, laying sideways to curl into a ball. Since he was alone, Kibum let the tears of pain spill over and quietly sobbed to himself, wishing it would just end already. He just wanted it all to end and go away.

I don’t…I don’t want to die though…

He scrunched up his face in pain and panted for air.

All of a sudden there was movement and someone sat down on the couch next to him and started to rub his back soothingly. He knew by the gentle touch that it was Heechul.

“It’s okay, Kibum, just breathe,” Heechul whispered to him.

“I-it h-hurts,” Kibum cried out miserably.

“I know, just take deep breaths,” Heechul instructed.

Kibum nodded and did what he was told to do. They just sat out on the couch for a few hours until Kibum finally started to calm down. Being completely worn out by it all, he easily fell into a deep sleep. But the night had grown late and when Heechul checked the time it was five-thirty in the morning; Mir would be waking up soon to go get ready for school. He didn’t want to risk waking Kibum up by carrying him back into the bedroom, so instead Heechul went in to grab the pillow and blanket and draped it over Kibum to keep him warm.

Since he was already awake, Heechul decided to just stay up the extra hour and get a head start on breakfast (because there wouldn’t be enough time to do that and try to wake up Mir, who detested Monday mornings more than anything in life). He headed to the kitchen and flipped on the lights so he could see. He mixed together the batter for pancakes and then put the bowl on the counter, not ready to bake them yet; first he had to wake up Mir, which would be a hassel itself.

He walked into his bedroom where his son was sleeping peacefully in bed and the lights. First he tried to do it the gentle way and shook Mir slightly and whispered for him to wake up. But the result of that was to get hand in the face and pushed away. So then he yanked off all the blankets and tossed them to the floor out of reach.

“Mieru, wake up,” he sang loudly, tickling his son. This seemed to work nicely, because Mir’s eyes shot open and he quickly rolled away to the other side of the bed.

“No, umma! Stop it!” He exclaimed through giggles.

“Come on, get up and dressed so I can finish making pancakes,” Heechul said, finally ceasing the tickling.

“You’re making pancakes!? Yay!” Mir exclaimed excitedly, jumping off the bed and sprinting across to his room. Heechul chuckled and went back out. Kibum was still sleeping soundly on the couch and Heechul went into the kitchen to turn on the stove to start making the pancakes. A few seconds later Donghae sauntered into the kitchen rubbing his eyes tiredly and sat at the table.

“Hyung, why is Kibum sleeping on the couch?” He asked through a yawn.

“He wasn’t feeling good last night,” Heechul answered him as he flipped some hotcakes onto a plate and handed it to Donghae.

“Is he okay?” Donghae asked, pouring sticky syrup all over his food.

“I suppose, it’s just something he’s dealing with right now. Listen, I have to go out after taking Mir to school. Stay with Kibum until he wakes up, okay? He’s not going to be happy if he wakes up alone,” Heechul said, bringing two more plates to the table. He looked back to see what was taking Mir so long.

“How come?” Donghae asked curiously, shoveling the sweet pancakes in his mouth greedily.

“Just because he doesn’t like being alone,” Heechul answered as Mir finally appeared, fully dressed.

“Umma, we have to go to school early so I can see appa,” Mir informed him as he sat down at the table next to Donghae.

“Alright, then hurry up and finish eating while I go get dressed,” Heechul replied. He had been planning on leaving earlier anyways since he needed to talk to Hongki too. Today he was going to talk to Jia and hopefully that would help straighten things out with Kibum.

Almost forty-five minutes later, Heechul and Mir walked through the halls of the high school to where Hongki’s classroom was; he was the music teacher. Mir ran straight to his father and hugged him tightly. They shooed Mir out of the room to go get his books and stuff from his locker so they could talk privately about Kibum.

“Jia is waiting for you at her office, she said to drop by whenever,” Hongki informed him.

“Great, thank you. I hope this helps,” Heechul replied.

“So, how did it go? They all get along or what?” Hongki asked him. Heechul paused for a minute to think about how to answer that question.

“Well…Kibum didn’t really interact with them much. I think he only said one thing to Donghae. I could tell Mir was bothering him with the endless questions, but he made an effort at least. He helped Mir with his school stuff,” Heechul responded.

“Yeah? Well it’ll take some time, he’s only been with you a week. Is he going to school today?” Hongki asked him.

“Hell no, I’m not sending him back there! Do you know how easy it is for him to just waltz in there and come back home high as a kite? Nope, he’s not going back. Besides, I know he wouldn’t go even if I forced him with the way he’s been clinging to me,” Heechul answered.

“Then why isn’t he here with you now?” Hongki said to him.

“Because he was asleep when I left so hopefully he doesn’t wake up anytime soon. Anyways, I should get going now, I left him with Donghae and that probably will be bad if I’m not there when he wakes up,” Heechul replied.

“Alright, see you later y,” Hongki told him with a grin. Heechul smirked at him and left the room and exited the school.

The office where Jia worked wasn’t far, just about ten minutes away. It was in a newly looking building closer towards the city, in an area with a lot of medical offices. Heechul parked the car and went into the office, even though the sign read closed. There was a receptionist there sitting at a desk typing away on the computer.

“Sir, we’re not open yet,” The young girl said, looking up at Heechul from behind the counter.

“I’m here to see Jia,,” Heechul told her. The receptionsist looked up and then realization hit her when she saw that it was Heechul.

“Oh! Right, sorry, I forgot you were coming today. Follow me please,” She said in surprise, quickly standing up and leading him down the hall. She knocked on a door and held open the door, and Heechul walked inside. Jia sitting behind her desk and motioned him to take a seat in one of the giant cushiony chairs.

“So are you here because you’re hearing voices or because you’re suicidal?” Jia asked playfully.

“Imaginary friends, actually. I’d like you to meet Mr. Binky Funstuff and Giggles the Madcap Elf,” Heechul said with a grin.

“Okay, so what’s the problem? Hongki just said you took in a boy who has issues,” She said.

“Yes, Kibum. I really don’t know where to start,” He answered.

“Start at the beginning and when you come to the end, stop,” Jia advised him wisely.

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