"Jaebum, where is your shirt," Youngjae asked as he reached back for the grocery bags with one hand, the other firm over Yezi's eyes. In his haste to get away from her relentless attack, Youngjae had dropped the bags without a thought of where they may land. Luckily for him, the bags lay closer to him then to the door. Yet, the same luck proved to be unreliable because the bags were toppled over with their handles facing away from him. Youngjae needed to use just enough force to tug them in one by one without comprising his position with Yezi or letting the items slip through the bags' opening. Hopefully, he need only pull in the first one to get what he was looking for. 

"I can help you search," Yezi chimed in. 

"No."

She groaned.

After multiple times of bending over every which way, Youngjae's fingertips came into contact with the familiar squishiness of the item he was searching for. The bag crinkled under his touch as he pulled it in closer until he could dig his hand in. He wrapped his fingers around the package containing the underwear and was reveling in his excitement when he inadvertently relaxed his grip over Yezi's eyes. His fingers fell away and in the midst of defeat, Youngjae watched as Yezi teetered from side to side. 

When gravity proved to be less then useful at a time like this, Yezi added  all of her weight to her left side until she tipped over in that direction. "Oh," she said in a surprised manner as her eyes fell upon the sight of Jaebum who had done nothing to conceal his manhood. From her angle, not only did his smooth thighs appear thicker but also the one thing that Youngjae had been desperately trying to conceal from her. 

Springing forward, Youngjae threw a pillow from the nearby couch onto her face. With a muffled oomph, she peeled it away a second later. But a second was all Youngjae needed. Standing behind the couch, Youngjae told Jaebum to stay still where he was before dashing for the bathroom.

Bottles tinked and a steady stream of grunts escaped through the crack in the bathroom door. Jaebum took a tentative step forward but stopped short in time to see Youngjae returning with a bright yellow towel in hand. Out of breath, he set the towel down over the couch's armrest before fumbling with the underwear's package. He couldn't get the zipper to work so he poked his nails into the side and tore at the plastic. When a hole large enough to slide the fabric through was created, Youngjae handed it over to Jaebum. "Put one on." 

Jaebum made no intention of taking it. He looked back and forth between the package and Youngjae's hand. Exasperated, Youngjae shook it before shoving it closer to Jaebum's chest. "Jaebum, we don't have-"

"Don't couples help put underwear on for each other?"

Rationally, Youngjae knew there was nothing to be embarassed about. Animals were much more honest about ual matters then the average human liked to presume yet the thought that Jaebum was once a fish escaped Youngjae's body completely as a splurge of heat burst over the tips of his ears. "We're not a couple! Quit saying things like that." 

"A couple!" Yezi squealed, more to herself then to make Youngjae even more flustered but it worked nonetheless. He slammed the packet into Jaebum's chest and spun around on his heels. He was certain that his embarassment came from seeing Yezi watching them intently; her eyes analyzing every moment to confirm the status of their supposed relationship. 

He thought to tell her that whatever escaped Jaebum's lips was all far from the truth but if he did, the teasing would ensue and he wanted one less thing to worry about right now.

"Dry off," Youngjae said as he handed Jaebum the towel.

"Sorry. You seem upset."

"Distraught is the word you're looking for."

Jaebum smiled. He squeezed the water out from his hair until the outer strands were damp before patting away the few droplets that trickled down over his back and arms from the base of where his neck and hair met. Setting the towel down on the floor and sliding the package from under his armpit, he pulled an underwear out. 

He dropped the package. It landed on the floor with a thud that wasn't quite loud enough to hide the sound of Yezi rustling through her bag in search of what Youngjae could only assume was her phone. He told her many times before not to leave it in there for fear of cracking the screen or chipping the edges but not long after he started, his scoldings morphed into teasings. Yezi didn't know that he knew that she placed it in the pocket high above from everything else in her bag. 

It eased his worry knowing that she was growing up to be the trustworthy and kind young lady anyone who held her close could see. It was only with Youngjae that she showed a growing dash of independence that seemed like it nipped at his ankles. A part of him wanted to cradle her and continue to look out for her like the baby chick she still was. 

Youngjae reached out and gripped the couch's back. He was eager to mop up the water before it caused irreperable damage to the floor. "And where is your shirt?"

"I put it on your bed."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to ruin it." Jaebum shook the bundled fabric out until it uncurled to its full form. He was certain that his needed to slide in through the largest hole. With a set determination, he started to slip his feet in through the two smaller openings.

Youngjae thought to probe Jaebum on the matter but decided to listen in attentively instead. His need for a complete reason came true when not even a breath later, Jaebum spoke up. Of all the things he could have said, what he did say next brought a genuine smile to Youngjae's face. 

"This man on TV told me there would be rain today so I decided to take a shower."

Youngjae pinched the bridge of his nose as an excruciatingly drown-out sigh escaped his lips. "You can take a shower inside here."

Jaebum looked up from having situated the underwear's hemline in a comfortable position around his hips. 
"I- I didn't know how to work the tub."

"Enough of that. I'll show you later. Are you done?"

Jaebum nodded and rapidly tacked on a "Yes".

"Your underwear is on wrong," Youngjae said as he turned and headed for the closet at the end of the hallway. 

Jaebum looked down, confused with which way was the right way when Youngjae called out "Backwards" before disappearing around the corner. 

Jaebum returned to his original seat after having turned his underwear around the right way. He made sure to tuck his feet in as he watched Yezi dump the contents of her bookbag onto the carpet. She rummaged through a heap of school supplies and other miscellaneous items like pocky boxes before finding her phone slapped in between two marbled composition books. She grinned and did a little hop on her knees as she reached for it.

Youngjae reappeared with an unsightly mop in hand. Its only redeeming quality was a faint coat of purple around the metal ring that connected the mass of frayed strings to the pole speckled with dried-out stains of varying sizes. 

He took a glance in Yezi's direction and alarm seeped over every inch of his face, down to the bed of fuzzy hairs that grew over his upper lip. To make sure of what he was seeing, Youngjae walked up behind Yezi and peered over her shoulder. 

True enough to what he glimpsed from afar, the image of an unclothed man with his arms outstretched stood on the front cover of a book. He had seen one too many es today and prayed to the highest degree of nature that this would be the last one. Forever.

"Yezi. Why is that in your posession?" Youngjae asked as he pointed at the book in question. 

Yezi flicked a disinterested look in the direction Youngjae was pointing. "Oh, that," she said as she eagerly resumed messing with the settings on her phone's camera. "My friend left it behind after gym so I picked it up for her."

A second of silence morphed into a feeling that Yezi couldn't brush off. She stop