Being gone for a few hours turned into being gone all day. By time Heechul arrived back at Leeteuk’s the sun had already set and it was close to dinner time, so he knew he’d come home to hungry children. But in his defense, he’d been out shopping at the market buying everyone a week’s worth of yummy snacks. He just hoped Leeteuk wouldn’t be too miffed about him being gone for so long.

“I’m home!” He called out as he stepped through the front door. He walked into the kitchen with two large paper bags full of snacks and set them on the table. He heard the sound of feet running from all over the house and seconds later he was jolted back as someone glomped him.

“Hyung! I missed you so much! I was so lonely without you today and I was moping around and and and so Teukie umma gave me ice cream! Isn’t that incredible! I love him soooo much!” Kibum exclaimed excitedly, looking up at Heechul with beaming eyes. Heechul chuckled softly and tried to pry Kibum off of him, but the younger boy just wasn’t having any of that. It had been hours since his Heechul was home, he wasn’t letting go anytime soon.

Leeteuk entered the kitchen with Henry and Donghae in tow, Eunhyuk, Sungmin, and Mir had gone off and he didn’t know where they were, nor did he care to go look for them.

“Uh, you gave him ice cream?” Heechul asked incredulously, wrapping his arms around Kibum’s body.

“Surprise? Well he was just pouting and I wanted to make him smile!” Leeteuk said in defense.

“Okay, bye hyung! I’m playing hide and seek with Hyuk and Minnie and Mir and I was supposed to be looking for them but I forgot so now I have to look again!” Kibum exclaimed, running out of the room. Henry watched after him with his eyes wide in amazement. He still couldn’t believe that the ever so quiet Kibum was acting exactly like Mir.

“And Teukie umma gave him ice cream at lunch time,” Donghae said in a hushed tone. Heechul just laughed and began to take out the items that he’d bought and handed them to Henry to put away.

“What took you so long?” Leeteuk asked, walking over to give Heechul a hug.

“I was talking with Hongki for awhile after the meeting,” Heechul replied, handing a box of cookies to Donghae. Once his back was turned, Donghae took the cookies and ran off with them. Heechul just rolled his eyes; does he think that I didn’t see that? Silly boy.

“I’ll get him, umma,” Henry offered, quickly following after Donghae.

“So how did the meeting go?” Leeteuk asked as he and Heechul put away the rest of the groceries. Finally it was peace and quiet as all the boys were off running around and out of their hair. Heechul paused for a moment before answering him.

“Ms. Park said that Mir’s being bullied,” He said after awhile. They’d finished their task and sat at the table across from each other to talk.

“Yeah, but we already knew that. Why else would he be skipping class?” Leeteuk said.

“It’s just…we’ve been saying all along that the other kids are mean to him and yet none of his teachers would listen. Only now that he’s about to get kicked out of school do they care, only to save their own asses. I really hate that school, Teuk,” Heechul vented.

“Isn’t there another high school where you live? Why not let him transfer there?” Leeteuk suggested, reaching for his boyfriend’s hand.

“We’ve thought about it, but it’ll just be the same as always. Mir is different from others; he just doesn’t fit in well. They’ll just bully him there as well; at least here he has Hongki to go to when things get rough at school.

“Well hey, if they keep messing with him then we’ll let him take Sungmin to school, that way Minnie will use his kung fu ninja magic and kick their asses,” Leeteuk replied brightly.

“Hyung! I don’t want to play hide and seek anymore! I want to stay with you because I love you and you’re the bestest hyung ever!” Kibum announced proudly as he bounced into the kitchen once again. Heechul laughed and held out his arm for Kibum to come over.

“You’re too cute, Kibummie,” He said with a grin.

“Nooo I’m noooot! I’m Kibum, I’m a man, men aren’t cute! I’m cool!” Kibum declared triumphantly, causing Leeteuk to muffle a laugh. He’d been acting like this all day since lunch time and it was a source of great amusement for Leeteuk. He’d never seen this side of Kibum before, so it was rather entertaining.

“Alright then, Mr. Cool, do you want to help start dinner?” Heechul asked with a wide smile.

“Yes! I want to help! I’ll always do anything you ask me, hyung!” Kibum promised with sparkling eyes. It was true, too. He was such a mommy’s boy that he’d do anything Heechul or Leeteuk asked of him, always on their side.

As they began to cook dinner for everyone, Kibum started to babble on and on. To him, it was irrelevant and whatever popped into his mind, but to Heechul and Leeteuk it was the greatest source for information on all the other boys.

“So Eunhyukkie and Hae did something naughty, not the nitty gritty on the bed ‘cause they said they were going to wait for , but other bad things. Henry heard them do it and and and Donghae wanted to tell me but Henry stopped him but he said that Hae and Hyuk were being bad brothers. So I told them to stop it and so they stopped. Isn’t that amazing!?” Kibum rambled happily as he stirred up the rice. Leeteuk and Heechul shared a look, not exactly pleased with that. But they couldn’t do anything about it, because the original purpose of Donghae coming here was so he and Eunhyuk could relieve the they’d both been going through. Although the adults had not intended for them to do it in the house, really. Eunhyuk had his own house for a reason.

“What else has been going on?” Heechul pried gently.

“I dunno,” Kibum sang delightedly.

“Kibum! Why’d you stop looking! We’ve been waiting forever for you,” Mir complained as he and Sungmin walked into the kitchen. Kibum looked over his shoulder and smiled at them, then abandoned what he was doing.

“But I couldn’t find you! And I don’t wanna play anymore, I wanna stay with hyung and talk and talk and talk,” Kibum replied happily.

“Kibummie you’re so funny! We should start dating again,” Mir decided contently. Sungmin tutted and went to go sit at the table, rolling his eyes at Mir’s ridiculous logic.

“Oh, well bye-bye then!” Kibum said randomly skipping out of the kitchen. Heechul glanced back and just shook his head.

“Sometimes that boy makes me wander…”

Nearly forty-five minutes later, dinner was finished and ready to be eaten. While Sungmin set the table and Mir went off to find Henry, Donghae, and Eunhyuk, and Heechul went to get Kibum. He walked do