Chaeyeong let out a sigh of relief as she closed the gate behind her. For once, she was glad to be home, alone and away from the boys she had become friends with.

Hongbin and Wonshik had been unbearable the past few days.

Unlike the other day where words had been shouted and snapped between them, the pair of boys were completely silent in regards to one another. It was rather like how Wonshik acted towards her at times, only it was his boyfriend he was treating like an enemy. 

Seeing those two fight – genuinely angry at one another and not just a little arguement – was more disconcerting than watching the Song twins fight over something more than a simple annoyance. 

The tense atmosphere between them left Chae uncomfortable and feeling out of her element. Both Wonshik and Hongbin used her as a buffer between them, speaking only to her (which was unusual in and of itself, considering her tumultuous relationship with Wonshik alone) and making snide comments about the other's childish behavior to her, loudly and pointedly. 

From their place behind the trio's desks, Hyejeong and the Song twins watched Hongbin and Wonshik's back-and-forth like a tennis match. Chaeyeong felt like a very incompetent referee. 

Still, both boys had walked her to the gate after school, saying their goodbyes and leaving for home together instead of going separately. Even with the silence and disgruntled air between them, Hongbin and Wonshik still fell into step together, their pace in near perfect synchronization. 

Chae had shaken her head at them in bewilderment, pausing on her trip to the bus stop to wave at the rest of the boys as their followed their second year friends. She tried not to blush when she met Jaehwan's eyes by accident.

The tranquility of her house's garden was a welcome reprieve, quiet and serene apart from the singing of the birds who lived there. The spring had arrived in earnest now, frequent showers leaving the garden in a state of perpetual dampness. Droplets of water lingered on the blossoms in the bushes and on the trees, reflecting the afternoon sun prettily.

Chae stopped for a moment to take a picture for her Instagram. 

She hummed happily as she edited the picture a bit before putting her phone away. She checked the mail slot, which was more of an outdoor hamper built into the stone wall around the property.

The sight of a large box greeted her and Chae grinned widely at the sight of the familiar handwriting on the label.

Her uncle's thin, loopy handwriting, Eun Jeonyeong, was a terribly welcome sight. Chae tucked the box against her chest and hurried inside the house, flopping onto the couch and using her house keys to cut it open.

There was a box within the box, this one nicer than the shipping type and with a removable top. A letter sat on it, Chae's name written across it in here uncle's handwriting, and she chose to read it before opening the box.

Chaeyeongie-ah,

Happy Birthday! I'm afraid that this gift may not reach you in time for your special day, so I'm going to call and let you know that it's on its way. If it does arrive on time, then great! If it doesn't… then I've already called you and let you know. So, there's that.

I wanted to get you something practical, since you're a lot like your mother in that regard. (And unlike your father, that loser.) But, also like your mother, I know you'll bite my head off if I get you a toaster or something else that you can use but don't enjoy. (Not that I'm implying you don't like a good helping of toast now and then. You toast fanatic:p) Therefore, I got you a gift that is both practical and likeable. (At least, I hope it is. I'm an unmarried man who likes tourist shirts from Hawaii. What do I know?

I won't spoil gift, but I do hope you like them. I got you a good variety, I think, that works for the different occasions you might like them for.

Anyway, do call me when the gift arrives so that I don't have to keep freaking out about whether or not it actually made it to you or got lost in the mail system. 

Love, Uncle Jeonyeong

Chaeyeong laughed at the way her uncle's usual behavior translated through in his letter and set it aside to open the box, pushing the tissue inside away to reveal her (late) birthday gifts. 

She squealed at the sight of them, first pulling out the biggest gift out, a pair of black, knee-high leather boots with a small ring of cream-colored fur lining the tops. The second pair of shoes were Mary Janes, dark red and soft with thick straps and silver buckles.

Chae slid them on right away, admiring the way they looked against her feet and legs. 

The last pair of shoes were sparkly, silver pumps, the heels not so tall that she would be in danger of tipping over onto her face, but enough to give here a little height boost. They were closed-toed and had thin straps to wrap around her ankles, little beaded tassels dangling from the straps.

The final gift was not a pair of shoes, but a thick, knit scarf that was delightfully soft and black to match her boots. Chae put it on at once, marveling over how cozy it was and she rubbed her cheek against it. It felt like her pillow did on a morning where she was not particularly inclined to get up. 

She sighed happily and pulled her phone out, scrolling through her contacts and clicking on her uncle's number, now in a much better mood than she had been all day. 

"Chaeyeongie-ah!" Her uncle's voice crackled in her ear, soft and lilting, the twang of his Busan accent reminding her of her mother's.

"Uncle," Chae greeted warmly, his familiar voice like a breath of fresh air. She had always been fond of her uncle, his playful nature the same as her mother's had been and so different from her father's. Hearing him speak brought her a feeling of home, like a trace of a scent she had been familiar with in childhood. It pulled at the strings of her heart, making her long for home, even though she was already there. 

A home that was made of people and warmth rather than brick and mortar. 

"Did your gifts finally get there? I thought it might be late, but a month is a bit much…"

Chae snorted. "Almost exactly. And you sent it early in February. Do you have enemies at the post office?"

Jeonyeong groaned. "Could be. They probably got tired of me begging them to rush my manuscripts to the publisher's. I know my editor is."

"You know, there's this marvelous invention. You may not have heard of it, being such an ancient and traditional being, but around here we call it… email." Chae teased, familiar with the love-hate relationship that her uncle had with his editor. 

"Black magic." Jeonyeong scoffed playfully. "Besides, I feel safer sending it through mail. Less chances of someone hacking into my accounts and putting spoilers out there on the web. Anyway, I couldn't email you your present, so hush and enjoy the reliability of the mail system."

"Yes sir!" Chae offered him a mock-salute and flopped over to sprawl out on the couch, admiring her new shoes. "I really like the scarf and the shoes, Uncle. They fit well – and they're really cute!"

Jeonyeong chuckled. "Glad you like them, Princess. I admit, I did have a little help from an employee. Lovely lady. Nice smile."

Chae ooh-ed at him. "Is that so? Did you get her number? Shall I expect to be a bridesmaid soon? Little baby cousins to spoil?"

"Are you channeling Jeongsun right now? My nosy sister would be the type to in about my love life from the grave."

"Well, you need at least one sensible woman in your life to pick at you about getting married. Mom can't do it, so I'll bear the title instead. Eun Jeonyeong, get married!"

"It's amazing – you sound exactly like her. Whine and all." Jeonyeong snorted in disbelief. "Who are you to talk, anyway? You still don't have a boyfriend of your own."

Chae winced theatrically. "Ooh. That stings. I'll have you know that I've at least got better potential than you."

"Eh? A boy? Do I have to come threaten some little boy into treating you right?"

"Not quite. He's just a friend. My… best friend's friend, actually."

"Uh-huh." Jeonyeong sounded unconvinced. "But you say that he's got potential."

"Well," Chae signed, dragging out the word as she turned over to stare at the blank television screen. "He's becoming more of a friend. He's very sweet… and charming! He's cute, kind, loyal to his friends. But not so much that he can't admit when one of them' being a jerk without good reason."

"One of his friends is a jerk?" Jeonyeong caught the strange tone in his niece's voice right away. "To who? To you?"

"He's gotten better." Chae sighed, not bothering to try to deny the fact. "Wonshik – that's the kind of jerkish one – is just having trouble sharing his boyfriend. Who is also my new best friend. Things are… improving. Sort of."

"So I do have to come threaten a little boy."

Chae rolled her eyes. "I'd rather you didn't. I'm perfectly capable of making my own threats, thank you. Besides, I could bend Wonshik in half with one hand. He's got no backbone – I've seen the proof."

"But it still bothers you."

Chae hesitated. "…. yes. Hongbin, my friend, is the first person I've been close to in so long. I don't want to lose him as a friend, but I don't want to come in between him and Wonshik, his boyfriend and the friend he's had for, like, forever."

"And does this friend of yours care that his boyfriend isn't nice to you?"

"Yeah. The rest of their friends feel the same – well, maybe not Taekwoon, but I don't know him all that well. Jaehwan, the one with potential? He didn't hold back when he was talking about Wonshik's personality. I dunno though. The way he talks, it seems like Wonshik's a stray dog – growling at first because he doesn't trust you, but able to warm up with a little time. At least, that's the way I see it."

"I see," Jeonyeong's voice offered no hint as to how he felt. "Well, maybe you ought to trust in what he says. If they've known each other for a long time, then it's likely he's read him right. But, Chaeyeong-ah, don't get yourself hurt trying to hang onto them. If that boy realizes what a fool he's being, then that's great for you. But if he doesn't… I don't want to see you get hurt by him, Princess."

"Yeah," Chae swallowed thickly, just the thought of breaking ties with the boys to protect herself making her ache. "I understand."

------------

Hongbin stared at Ravi openly, the eldest glaring at the sidewalk as they headed back to the motel. Hyuk walked a few paces behind the pair, not wanting to get caught up in their argument. The rest of the hyungs were elsewhere, N having gone to work while Leo and Ken had snuck off on their own. 

Leaving the maknae to deal with the happy couple.

How kind of them.

A stab of irritation went through him, not entirely his own. Saetbyeol's ire was leaking through their bonds, the witch's anger only egging on the rift between Ravi and Hongbin. Hyuk scoffed under his breath. 

Even when they thought themselves free of her, she still managed to find a way to get between them.

The maknae's steps stuttered to a halt, Hyuk rubbing at his chest to try and chase away the sudden stab of emotion. He looked up at the older boys, worried that they had been likewise affected by the leaky bond.

They had. 

"Would you look at me!" Hongbin finally snapped, grabbing Ravi by the arm and whirling him around. The flower-boy's normally reserved temper was cut short and he rose to match his anger rather than try to stamp it down. 

Ravi looked just as angry, Hyuk's puppy-like hyung not rolling over to please Hongbin like he normally would. "What? Everyone else looking at you not enough? God, Hongbin, you're so greedy!"

"Stop acting like I'm the one who's done something wrong!" Hongbin shouted, no longer able to take the blame Ravi kept piling on him without reason. "I've turned down everyone who asks me out! I don't flirt back! I ignore everyone who shows interest in me! What more do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop acting like I can just stop being jealous all at once!"

Hyuk looked between the older boys with apprehension, concern overtaking the foreign anger within him. Things had finally come to a boil between Hongbin and Ravi and only Hyuk was there to do any damage control. 

"Hyung," Hyuk began, inching closer to the other boys.

"You don't have anything to be jealous of, Ravi!" Hongbin snapped. "None of us are running off after other people!"

"You can't honestly believe that." Ravi scoffed, jabbing a finger in Hyuk's direction. "He went on a date. With the same girl you're always making eyes at while I'm sitting right next to you!"

Hyuk froze, horror and guilt rising up in his throat and choking him. 

"Hyuk went out with his friend!" Hongbin defended, though he did not seem as feisty as he had a moment ago. He knew the truth about the maknae's crush on Chae and had been upset too when they had their weekend 'date' together. "He has the rot to go out with his friend, Ravi. Outside of us, she's the only one he has so don't you dare take that away from him."

He meant it. It was upsetting to know that the boy he loved had gone out with a girl he was crushing on, but Hyuk was loyal and would not overstep any boundaries for the sake of his relationship with the other boys. Hongbin trusted in that, at least. Like Ravi, he could get jealous, but he was not about to deny his youngest lover the opportunities that they had fought so hard to get. 

"You're saying I have to share him with a stranger then? Share you?" Ravi's lips were trembling, like he might begin crying at any moment. Even at his angriest, the tattooed boy was still soft at heart and more likely to cry than to hit something. "I can do that with Ken and Leo and N. I love them. But with someone I don't… I can't do that, Hongbin!"

"That's not what I'm asking you to do!"

"It sure as hell feels like it!" Ravi howled, stomping his foot like a toddler would when throwing a tantrum. "It feels like you're walking all over me, all over my heart then telling me to it up!"

Hongbin looked like he might cry too. "Ravi-ya," he began, moving closer. 

Ravi backed away from him and Hongbin stumbled to a stop. 

"I can't," the tattooed boy whined, covering his face with trembling hands. "I can't just let it go, Hongbin. It hurts too much and I get so mad… and I feel so bad for not being nice to your friends because I can't get over myself. I know she hasn't done anything wrong. I know that she's a good person and I want to be nicer… But I can't help how jealous I feel when unseen you together. How well you fit. How she's able to click so easily with you when it took us years to feel so comfortable around each other. I'm so scared that you're going to look at her one day and see something better than I could be for you…"

"Hyung, no…" Hyuk whimpered, stumbling past Hongbin. He clutched at Ravi's arms, trying to tug his hands away from his face. For once, all of the maknae's strength seemed to fail him, weak in the face of Ravi's tears. 

"Ravi-ya," Hongbin breathed, reaching out for him. "Baby… I love you. I could never… Ravi, I'm so sorry you've been feeling like this. That you couldn't come to me about this.  That I've been part of the problem. But… you can't keep living like this, baby. You have to talk to me, let me know so that I can help you. I know everything's scary, sometimes even worse than it was in that dungeon. But we have to keep moving forward. Together. We're not going to leave you, Ravi. You're the one we love, the one we want to be with for the rest of our lives. Not someone we've just met."

"How can I trust that? Trust her?" Ravi cried, trying to squirm out of Hyuk's grasp. "How can you be so sure that your heart won't change with time? I'm afraid, Hongbin. I don't want you to see someone new that's not broken like the rest of us. Like me. I don't want to be left alone when the rest of you find something better. You're all fitting in this world so well… finding things and people to like. I don't have anything to tie me to this world except for you guys. If you go away… there won't be anyone left to understand me. To understand everything that's happened to us."

Ravi's legs gave way beneath him and he sank to the ground, Hyuk following. The older boy was crying openly now, finally pulling away from Hyuk to cry into his knees. The maknae sprawled out on the sidewalk before him, looking between his older lovers with lost, watery eyes. 

Hongbin took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves, sinking down to kneel beside Ravi. 

"Ravi, baby," He pleaded, dropping his head onto the elder's shoulder, fingers clutching at his sleeve helplessly. "Please, don't cry… We're not going to leave you. I know, this world is scary and that there's a lot of new fears to face with it. It's not as simple as only having a woman with needles to fear, but that doesn't mean we have to give up.

"It's not something you can run away from. It's life. The one we dreamed about and fought so hard for. It's an experience in new things. Things we didn't even consider having to worry about when we left everything else behind. But, baby, if we don't follow through on our plans for having a new and better life then we might as well still be in our cages." Hongbin said firmly, trying to meet Ravi's eyes to convey his seriousness. "Ravi, I love you. I love Hyuk. I love Ken and Leo and N. I love you all so much it feels like my chest is gonna burst if I don't let it out and let everyone know. But, baby, I want to live. I want everyone to live out wonderful lives full of happiness and the ability to be whatever they want, to do whatever they want. And that includes you, Ravi.

"Meeting new people is part of that. Forming new relationships with them. Relying only on each other can't work forever out here. Our world's too big for that now. But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you all alone in it. I want to be part of your world. I want to be one of the pillars holding it up the way you do for me. I want my world to be a little bigger, but I can't even begin to imagine one without you in it. I love you too much to ever let you go, Ravi." The confession broke the dam and Hongbin felt his tears pool and spill over. He sobbed, pressing closer to Ravi and pressing a kiss against his knuckles, over every inch of his face that he could reach. "You know that, right? I love you. I won't ever go away from you, I swear. I'm not going to walk away from you for the first girl who confesses to me – or for one who's become my friend. I promise you that."

"Hyung," Hyuk murmured against Ravi's hair, the maknae shaking as he spoke. "I'm sorry I have a crush on Chae. I can't help it. But I swear, it's just a crush. It doesn't mean anything. I won't leave either…"

Ravi whimpered beneath their embrace, feeling overwhelmed and guilty for getting them so upset over him. He pulled away, wiping at his eyes and staggering to his feet. "I can't –" he gasped, unable to put into words the urge he felt to run away from it all. To run and hide until the feelings within him quieted down enough for him to think and allow his lovers' words to sink in and reach him.

Hongbin and Hyuk looked up at him with wide, panicked eyes, their tear-stained faces making Ravi's chest throb painfully.

He whimpered again, feet moving without permission, and he turned tail and ran away.

"RAVI!"