There was definitely something different about Kyungsoo and Jongin. Something annoyingly different and painfully obvious.

Luhan knew that they used to be best friends. Hell, everyone knew that. But then one day, the pair stopped talking. They didn't so much as dare to look at each other. But now, they're back to the way they were before, if not more closer.

That was strange. Ignoring each other yesterday, and acting like boyfriends today. That stuff doesn't just happen over night, never mind throughout the school day.

All Luhan was sure about were 3 things.

1. Kyungsoo and Jongin walked to school yesterday morning like always, ignoring each others existence. 
2. After school that same day, Jongin suddenly joined Minseok and Kyungsoo on their walk back home, and the two were looking all lovey-dovey. 
3. Minseok wasn't the same.

The last fact shouldn't bother Luhan, but it did.

Minseok was a man of few words. He never said much, Luhan even once thought the elder could go days without talking, but that wasn't the case. 

Minseok didn't usually initiate the talking unless it was someone he was comfortable with. Now that Jongin and Kyungsoo were back together, Minseok was feeling a bit left out, not talking as much as before.

"Jongin and Kyungsoo are really close," Minseok spoke up, surprising Luhan a bit. They were in their room, Minseok doing homework while Luhan was brushing his short hair. "I never knew they were that close."

"They used to be best friends."

"Really? I thought they didn't even notice each other. I never saw them talk before..." Minseok's voice wasn't bitter. It was hurt.

"They were friends before you got here..." Luhan trailed off quieter towards the end. "But then they had some kind of falling out, so they just started to ignore each other." The Chinese boy explained, watching as the older shifted uneasily. "I guess now they had some sort of falling in."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. And frankly, I don't really care." Luhan answered, wanting to move on from the subject that was causing Minseok pain. Except, Luhan's way of doing so only hurt the older boy more.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

.

Minseok shouldn't be able to get to Luhan the way he does, but he does.

Luhan wanted to say something. He so badly wanted to say something, yet nothing came out. 

"I'm just, confused. That's all." Minseok said. 

"Why?" Luhan replied. He didn't care about Kyungsoo and Jongin. But with Minseok, well that was a different story.

"They're really close, huh?" Minseok asked rhetorically. "They have each other."

"And... what? Are you jealous or something?"

"No!" Minseok was quick to defend. Luhan stifled a laugh. "I mean, maybe... a friendly type of jealous. You know what that's like."

Luhan shook his head, water that was still lingering from his shower flying off his hair. "Why would I know what that's like?"

"Haven't you ever been jealous?" Minseok questioned. "Like when your friend starts hanging out with another person, that kind of jealous?"

The Chinese boy shrugged. "Never cared enough."

"Oh." Minseok's expression change. "Not even with Kris? Or Yixing?"

The younger shook his head. "No."

"But they're your friends, right?"

"Are you always this nosy or...?"

Minseok let out a small laugh. Luhan felt something his heart skip a beat at the sound. It was unlike Minseok to laugh in a moment so serious, or just to laugh in front of Luhan in general was a rare sight.

"I guess I'm just nosy." Minseok smiled. "But hey, what are friends for?"

Luhan blushed at the comment. He actually blushed.

"Who said we're friends?" The Chinese boy snapped back. It came out softer than he wanted.

Minseok raised his eyebrows, visibly shocked. "Oh. I just thought... never mind."

Why does Minseok always do this to him? Why does Minseok always find a way to make Luhan care?

Minseok began to pack up his homework, putting it in his bag for school the next day. Luhan curled up in his bed, facing the wall, opposite of the elder.

"We are." Luhan said after several moments.

"What?" Minseok stilled for a second, waiting to hear a response. All Luhan did was snuggle himself further under his blanket.

After nothing, Minseok got up, turning off the lights and heading to sleep.

The next couple of days passed by in a hurry.

It started with Baekhyun coming back to the home, rocking a busted lip that still hadn't healed.

Everyone was told to sit on the couch while they waited for the jumpy boy to arrive, and they did as such.

"Hyunie!" Jongdae grinned happily as he saw his friend come through the door, shooting up from his spot on the couch to go to Baekhyun.

"Hey Jongjong," Baekhyun laughed, ruffling the younger's hair. Heechul stood at his side, helping the healing boy with one sole bag. "I missed you. All of you."

Jongin resisted the urge to snort with a quick jab to the side, courtesy of Kyungsoo.

"What? You guys didn't miss me?"

"Of course they did." Heechul responded, his voice bitter and stale. All nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't the same without you, hyung." Sehun answered.

Then, after all the commotion of Baekhyun arriving and getting settled in, everything once again fell back into the normal routine. Group was still group. Dinner was still dinner. Chores were still chores. There was only one thing that didn't go back to normal, and that was their caregiver.

Despite Heechul being around more now, he still found a way to spend less and less time at the home.

"I have a lot of paperwork." Was always the caregiver's excuse. Nobody questioned it, even though they all knew it was a lie. At most, the boys saw Heechul 3 hours a day. That's a big change from when the caregiver would always be at the group home before everything happened.

"Is he always like this?" Baekhyun whispered to Jongdae during dinner, referring to how Byungwook, the substitute caregiver, was currently yelling at Chanyeol.

"Yeah, but we have to get used to it. Who knows if - when, Heechul-hyung will be back for good."

The next thing that happened, was that Luhan almost let it slip that he possible, maybe likes Minseok.

"Yah, be careful baozi!" Luhan pulled the smaller boy back, saving him from almost stepping on glass shards. Thanks to Baekhyun, who managed to break a glass cup his second day back.

"Hyung, are you okay?!" Baekhyun asked, Jongdae at his side as the two swept up the mess. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming in. My hands are still a bit shaky, so it maybe wasn't the best idea to try and reach for a cup from the top cabinet."

"It's okay." Minseok responded, still in Luhan's grasp. The elder could feel Luhan's chest pressed up against his back, the Chinese boy's arms holding onto his shoulders tightly.

Luhan rolled his eyes. "Really? Are you guys stupid? Minseok could of gotten hurt."

The two shared an unplanned smirk. "Oh, sorry hyung. Didn't mean to upset you too." 

Luhan glared at the jumpy boy. "Baekhyun, your bruises are almost all gone. I'm sure you don't want any more to replace them."

Baekhyun laughed at the older's empty threat, knowing Luhan well enough to know that the older boy didn't resort to violence unless absolutely necessary

"Touchy."

That night, when Luhan and Minseok were getting ready for bed, Minseok brought up the topic again.

"Luhan, why did you call me that?"

"Call you what?" The younger questioned, not understanding what Minseok was talking about.

"Baozi. Why did you call me baozi?"

Luhan flushed a bright pink color. For a boy who never blushed, Luhan had seemed to be doing that a lot now-a-days.

It was a spur of the moment. Baozi. In fact, whenever the Chinese boy thought of Minseok, which was now often, he always referred to the older as Baozi. Minseok, specifically his chubby cheeks, always reminded Luhan of the Chinese bun. 

"I just did. You look like a baozi."

"What's a baozi?"

Luhan smiled to himself. "It's a type of bun in China. They're good."

"Oh. But why did you call me that?"

"You remind me of a Baozi."

"How?"

"Your cheeks. They're cute." The last part slipped out on accident, but Luhan's smile only spread as he saw Minseok redden.

The next big thing that happened was Tao. 

Zitao was back, and there couldn't have been more tension in the house.

He was allowed back because the fight was supposedly not a big deal. At least, that's what the judge told Heechul, and Heechul explained to the boys.

Their couldn't have been anyone more livid then the caregiver. Luhan, in his 5 years of being at the home, had never saw Heechul so angry. Well, only once, but that was when the caregiver walked in on Baekhyun and Tao fighting. But other than that, the caregiver usually kept his calm. Even when it was discovered that Luhan's ex-roommate killed someone, Heechul still wasn't even this mad.

"The judge said that boys in group homes fight all the time." Heechul paced back and forth in the living room. "He said that as a caregiver, it's my job to discipline you guys and make sure you guys don't get into fights! I can not believe this!" The caregiver let out short and quick breaths. "But of course this is all my fault! Why wouldn't it be?! And now, because of me, Tao is coming back!" 

Heechul stopped to stare at Baekhyun. The caregiver's feeling were clear.

The next day, Tao was escorted by a police man back to the home.

The young Chinese boy was still wearing handcuffs for some reason, only to be finally let go of when Heechul signed one last paper.

Zitao looked awful. He had dark circles under his eyes, overshadowing his natural ones, and he had a few fresh bruises of his own. Where ever he was, they didn't treat him kindly. And now, nobody even looked at him. It was like Tao was a disease that you could contract just from looking. But at least here, the bully didn't have to worry about being beaten up.

Heechul was back full-time now with Tao's return. There was something missing with the caregiver though. The spark of energy he used to have was gone. It was lost.

"Your not going to talk to him?" Minseok asked, referring to Tao.

"Nope." Luhan answered, popping the 'p'.

"You know, he seems a bit lonely."

"Aren't we all?"

The next, and finally change that happened, was two days after that.

It was Friday, and that meant group. Group typically lasted an hour, and during, their wasn't much talking going on. But today wasn't like a typical group day.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jongdae sighed, taking a seat between Baekhyun and Minseok. "I doubt anyone wants to be around that..." Jongdae glared at the boy who was looking at the ground, fumbling with his fingers. "That thing."

"Jong, stop." Baekhyun tugged at his friend's sleeve nervously.

"I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking."

"And how do you know what we're all thinking?" Kris asked from across the circle, his arms crossed. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that you like to kiss ." Jongdae shot back.

Kris cocked an eyebrow, his posture tightening. "Nah, not really. But I do like to kick it. Want me to show you?"

"Guys, just chill, okay?" Chanyeol said.

"Not my fault that that kid over there thinks he's the ." Kris spat back. Jongdae rolled his eyes.

"Not my fault that that defends a bully."

"Do I need to remind you that Baekhyun is the one who started all this with his stupid little prank?" Kris said.

"Do I need to remind you that Tao is the one who ended all this by almost killing my best friend?" Jongdae responded with the same venom.

"He wasn't defending Tao." Yixing chimed in. 

"Well gee, that's a shocker." Jongdae scoffed. 

"If you plan on making it through another day, I suggest you stop talking." Kris said through gritted teeth.

"Is that a threat?" Jongdae smiled, not taking it as seriously as he should.

Suddenly, the whole group erupted in chaos, trying to keep each other calm, but only making everything worse in the process. Kris stood up, and so did Jongdae. The intention was obvious, and it was obvious where things were heading.

"STOP!!" The caregiver screeched out, his voice a booming box that shut everyone up in a split second. They all turned to look at the caregiver, all standing with wide eyes. "You guys don't get it!" Heechul sprang up, his demeanor much scarier than it has ever been before. "I know you guys don't care about each other. I get that. I really do. I didn't expect that just because you live together that you would all get along." His vision blurred with tears that he was unwilling to let fall out. "It was foolish of me to think that you guys actually cared about me. It was stupid of me to put my trust in troubled kids. It was stupid of me to hope. But I did, because I thought,... I thought that you guys would at least have the decency to be good human beings."

This outburst, it was nothing like the caregiver. This was a completely different man. 

"I tried to still have hope for you guys though, despite everything. I thought that maybe if I spent enough time away, you guys would realize how important friendships, relationships are. But you never, did!"

"Is that where you were all this time?" Jongdae asked, his voice cracking. Everyone turned to him. "When you weren't with Baekhyun at the hospital, all those hours, you didn't come back to the group home. You were by yourself, weren't you?" Heechul didn't move. "We know. When I visited the hospital, Baekhyun told me. He told me how you were only allowed to be there with him for an hour a day. That's all his parents would let you be there. You lied. You told us that you spent all your time with Baekhyun, but you didn't. You just didn't want to come back here."

The caregiver let out a shaky breath. "Can you blame me? Who would want to come back here?" It was silent. Heechul cried. He cried in front of the 12 boys. "Now I see what everyone else sees. Now I understand why people look down on this place, on you guys. You really can't be saved."

Heechul grabbed his keys out of his pocket, picking out a certain one. He headed towards the door, his hand on the knob before he stopped, refusing to turn around.

"That day of the fight, my mom saw." They all stared at the caregiver. "It was my birthday, and I stupidly thought that I could prove to my mom that I picked the right career. I thought that you guys would have cared enough about me to just do that. To just show her I chose right. But now I know you guys don't care for anyone but yourselves." He opened the door. "Have fun with your lives. I really do wish you all the best."

Nothing more was said, and in the blink of an eye, Heechul was out the door...

***

Duh duh duh! Well, I really like how my story is moving along. Tell me what you think if you want! I appreciate all comments <3 Hoped you enjoyed this chapter!