Have you ever played hide and seek in town? Because that’s exactly what Donghae and Kibum were doing at the moment. It was only eleven in the morning, they’d been booted out almost two hours ago, and after walking around in the cold weather that November brought, they were cold and bored and needed something to entertain themselves since they couldn’t go home until Heechul said they could. So when Donghae had suggested they play a game, Kibum thought they’d go to an arcade or something, but no, this was Donghae, the forever childish kid who’d never grow up. So now he was trailing through town, feeling quite lost and foolish, searching for his playful brother, and wondering if he’d ever make it home in time for lunch.

He sighed for the millionth time in the past ten minutes as he tried in vain to locate Donghae. It was getting really cold out and his jacket was doing little to keep him warm. Since finding Donghae seemed merely impassible (because nothing’s impossible), Kibum just gave up completely and settled on walking around and searching for something to do. He realize that it was Thursday and tomorrow he would have to take Tiffany out on her date (last night Heechul had gotten a phone call from her asking for Kibum, just to inform him that yes, it was a real date and no, they weren’t going to be spying on Jessica and Taecyeon). Seeing as he’d done nothing to plan ahead, he figured he could stroll through town and look around to find something suitable for a date, because he was actually a very classy person.

Unfortunately, he’d been out of dating for so long know and given the circumstances and his recent change of personality and attitude, Kibum found it rather awkward to plan a date and not wanting to do it more and more with every passing moment. But it was for Tiffany and she’d been such a good friend to him this year so he promised himself to make the night special for her. With that thought, he’d decided on…Okay, time to find Donghae. I need help…nothing.

“Hey, why’d you stop looking?” Donghae asked from behind him. Kibum whirled around and sighed in relief that Donghae was there.

“I didn’t stop looking, you just – wait, why are you behind me? Were you following me? Gosh, you’re such a stalker, Donghae, stay away from me,” Kibum said, mock glaring at his brother.

“It was the best hiding spot! But you did stop looking, I know it! What are you doing, anyways?” Donghae said as they continued to walk on together. He noticed how Kibum had subconsciously latched their arms together while they walked and wandered if this counted as cheating on Eunhyuk. Nah, he and Henry sleep together all the time, if anything he’s cheating on me. Oh, Eunhyukkie, we need to have a talk soon.

“I’m not doing anything. This is boring and there’s nothing to do and I’m cold,” Kibum complained, whining like a child, which amused Donghae quite a bit. He tried to imagine if Kibum did aegyo he’d probably be able to get anything he wanted.

“Wanna go get lunch then? There’s a shop over there and it’ll be warm,” Donghae offered, pointing down the block. Kibum agreed and they quickened their pace to get out of the chilly weather.

When they entered the shop, Donghae ordered them food and instructed Kibum to get a table for them, even though the place was almost entirely empty besides the owner. He grabbed their tray of food and walked over and sat across from Kibum and they began to eat, enjoying the warm escape from outside. Of course, just like always, Kibum stopped eating after a little less than half of his meal was gone.

“Kibum, how come you have an eating problem? I mean, I know it was because you did drugs and that sort of messed you up, but you haven’t done them in months. Shouldn’t you be able to eat better now?” Donghae asked him curiously, hoping he didn’t come off as being insensitive.

“I guess, but I’ve been like this for months, before I even started doing drugs,” Kibum answered him, not feeling offended at all.

“What do you mean?” Donghae inquired, still eating his meal. Kibum shrugged and ate another mouthful, remembering what Heechul said about taking it slow. I can eat a little more, it doesn’t hurt yet.

“Well after…they left, I was on my own with no money or anything. The food that we’d had didn’t last long and before I knew it, everything was gone. So basically I couldn’t eat even if I wanted to,” Kibum informed him, remembering back to the first few weeks after his parents had abandoned him. Things were so bad back then, he was always so hungry and had no way to obtain food.

“Why didn’t you ask for help or get a job or something? Like, I know how that is. When I was living alone, when I was only fourteen, I had to fend for myself too. I got a crappy job to take care of myself. How come you didn’t do that too? You are old enough,” Donghae said, feeling a little defensive after hearing what Kibum said. He knew all about how hungry it could get and how hard things could be, but even at fourteen he did what he had to do to take care of himself.

“No offense, Donghae, but my story is nothing like yours and I didn’t have the same experience as you did,” Kibum said bitterly. He knew all of what Donghae had went through and he could understand why the older boy