Hongbin looked closely at the figure of his boss curled in a ball on the cold ground in front of Wonshik’s tombstone. He looked like he was curled around something, his arms crossed tightly over the object he was squeezing against his chest. Taekwoon’s face didn’t look peaceful with slumber, he looked like the act of sleeping was bringing him a great amount of pain. There were dried tear tracks on his face. As much as Hongbin didn’t want to wake Taekwoon up he knew he had to. The ground under Taekwoon was cold, and it’s coldness was seeping into his slumbering form. Hongbin could tell that Taekwoon must have been in this spot for a while, considering that he was shaking and his nose and fingertips were bright red from the cold. Hongbin knelt down to the ground and started to shake Taekwoon awake. “Taekwoon. Taekwoon, wake up. You need to go home or else you’ll get really sick.” Instead of waking up Taekwoon only let out a long whine of annoyance before uncurling enough to let loose the thing he was curled around. Hongbin looked at what it was. It looked to be a purple teddy bear. It wore a little onesie that was decorated with little choppers. Wonshik let out a small gasp. “No way. He kept Jyani? I thought he would have been the first thing that witch got rid of.” “Any specific reason it’s named Jyani?” Wonshik let out a chuckle. “You know Jaehwan from the studio?” “Yeah.” “Well he would always come over our house when I was little, since he loved to annoy Taekwoon.” Wonshik looked fondly at his brother as he remembered. “Jaehwan gave me Jyani one day after my mom told him about my ‘illness’. He bought him for me so I always had a friend, even when I was alone in the hospital for the night. I guess Taekwoon needs him more than I do right now.” Hongbin looked back at Taekwoon, a sad sigh escaping his lips before he got back to the task of waking him up. His second attempt was more successful.

    Taekwoon’s eyes fluttered open. He let out a groan before fully stretching himself out. Just then Hongbin heard something hit the ground. He saw something glittering on the floor near Taekwoon’s lap, and when he picked it up he saw it was a bottle of wine. Hongbin tipped the bottle upside down, his suspicions confirmed as not even a drop of wine came out of the bottle. “Taekwoon did you drink this entire bottle by yourself?” In his response Taekwoon let out a little giggle. “Maaaaaybe.”  Hongbin couldn’t help but smile a bit at Taekwoon’s response. “Okay. Time to get you home.” Taekwoon seemed distressed by the idea of leaving the graveyard, to the point that he wrapped his long arms around Wonshik’s tombstone. “Not going.” “But Taekwoon, it’s cold outside. You’ll get sick if you stay out here.” Taekwoon rested his hot cheek onto the cool stone he was hugging tightly. “Not leaving my brother.” “Taekwoon-” “I’m not leaving him!” Tears had sprung to Taekwoon’s eyes, his words slurring as he got more upset. “Not again. Can’t leave him again.” Hongbin felt his heart aching from the sight in front of him, but he knew Taekwoon couldn’t stay out for much longer since his fingernails were starting to turn blue. Hongbin took a deep breath before slipping his arms under Taekwoon’s armpits and pulling as hard as he could. It only took Hongbin a few seconds to pry Taekwoon from the tombstone but Hongbin struggled to keep Taekwoon calm. Taekwoon was in hysterics, tears poured down his face as he tried to thrash out of Hongbin’s grasp. “Let me go! I can’t leave him again please!” Hongbin sat on the ground and held Taekwoon in his grasp,  his arms were wrapped around Taekwoon’s chest. Taekwoon started to claw weakly at Hongbin’s arms to get out of his grasp. Hongbin started to rock Taekwoon back and forth, whispering calming words into his ear. “It’s okay Taekwoon. You can leave. He’ll understand.” Eventually Taekwoon calmed down, his sobs had turned to sniffles as Hongbin felt him go lax in his arms. “Come on Taekwoon, let’s get you home.” Hongbin finally managed to get Taekwoon to stand and they started to walk to Taekwoon’s house.

    Halfway through the trek home Taekwoon had fallen back asleep. Hongbin decided to carry him the rest of the way home, with Wonshik giving him directions along the way. Hongbin noticed that unlike the last time Taekwoon was unconscious his face looked relaxed and peaceful. His dark eyelashes rested gently against his cheeks, and soft puffs of air escaped his mouth and hit Hongbin’s collarbones. Hongbin was relieved that Taekwoon was relaxed, but he mourned his back since he could already feel it getting sore from wandering around with a grown man in his arms. Finally they arrived at Taekwoon’s house. At the sight of it Wonshik withered a bit. “Hey you okay?” Hongbin asked. Wonshik looked a bit nervous. “Yeah. It’s just  . . . this place doesn’t exactly bring back memories of sunshine and rainbows you know?” Hongbin nodded. “Yeah I get it. Do you want to stay behind?” “No! I’ll go in.” Hongbin looked back at the house. “The question is how do we get inside.” Wonshik racked his brain for a bit before snapping his fingers. “ Oh! Taekwoon has a housemate that can open the door for you. That way you don’t have to fumble with trying to get Taekwoon’s keys without waking him up.” “That’s good to know. Thanks Wonshik.” Hongbin readjusted Taekwoon in his arms before going up at the door and giving it a few hard kicks, Wonshik following after him.

A young man answered the door, he looked worried out of his mind as he yanked it open. “Taekwoon, do you know how late it is? I was about to go hunt you down.” The young man looked up and saw Hongbin there. “I don’t think he knows how late it is. He’s not sober enough to tell time, nonetheless be concerned about it.” The young man moves toward Taekwoon quickly. “Oh my God! Is he okay? He wasn’t hurt was he? That idiot I told him not to go drinking today. Oh, come in! You can put him on the couch.” Hongbin carried Taekwoon in and out him on the couch the young man directed him to. “Thanks for bringing him. And you are?” The man said extending his arm out to shake hands. “I’m Hongbin. I know Taekwoon from work. And you’re his house mate I’m assuming?” “Yeah. I’m Sanghyuk. I’m kind of his half housemate, half babysitter.” Hongbin let out a chuckle. “Well I should get going. It’s pretty late.” Hongbin turned to leave but he saw Wonshik standing at the door leading out of the room. “Can you stay here for the night? I’m worried about Taekwoon but-”, Wonshik looked at his hands, “I can’t touch him.” Hongbin smiled at Wonshik before he turned back to Sanghyuk. “Actually, do you think it would be okay if I slept here? I don’t want to intrude but it’s so late and my house is on the other side of town.” Sanghyuk nodded. “Sure, I don’t have a problem with it. Let me just get you some blankets and a pillow, are you okay with sleeping on the other couch?” “I don’t have a problem with it.” Sanghyuk left the room to get the blankets while Hongbin made himself a bit more comfortable by taking off his jacket and shoes, since he was too busy carrying Taekwoon to do so earlier. “Thanks Hongbin. I’m so glad that I finally have a way to take care of him. Usually on nights like this I have to sit by and watch.” “No problem. Consider me your hands and mouth for the night.” Wonshik smiled at the words coming out of Hongbin’s mouth. “Well since you’re my mouth for the night can you ask Sanghyuk a few questions for me?” “Sure, what do you want me to ask?” Wonshik bit his lip before answering. “Can you ask him how he and Taekwoon met? And why they’re living together? Back when Sanghyuk moved in I still didn’t have enough energy to leave the house. And they never talk about Sanghyuk’s life before he moved here. ” “I’ll be sure to ask him.” Sanghyuk came back into the room at that time.

    “Here you go. This should be good for the night, but don’t be afraid to let me know if you need something else.” Sanghyuk said as he handed Hongbin a large pile of blankets. “Thanks.” Hongbin set up the blankets on the couch. Once he was done he turned back to Sanghyuk, who was propping a pillow under Taekwoon’s head so he didn’t have a crick in his neck the next morning. “You seem to care a lot about him.” Hongbin said as he took a seat on the couch. Sanghyuk smiled fondly at Taekwoon. “He’s like the big brother I never had.” “So how did you two meet? He never talks about his personal life at work so I didn’t even know he had a housemate.” Sanghyuk’s face fell a little bit. “Ah well. We met at the coffee shop that’s not too far from here. I worked as a barista and he was a regular. At first he was really scary, so we didn’t really talk much. But I think he started warming up to me, he started having little conversations with me. Asking about my day and talking about stuff he was working on. Soon we just became really close friends.” “And that’s why you guys live together right?” Sanghyuk’s face fell a little more. “Not exactly. My parents  . . . died in a crash when I was little.” “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Hongbin said as he walked over to Sanghyuk and squeezed his hand. Hongbin checked to make sure there were no spiritual connections made with Sanghyuk. There were none. Hongbin sighed in relief knowing that Sanghyuk’s parents had crossed over. “So what happened after that?” “I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle. They weren’t exactly keen on the idea of having me live with them. They pretended that I didn’t exist. I would talk and they pretended not to hear me. During meals they didn’t talk to me, or if they did it was to tell me not to eat so much of their food. I didn’t even have my own room. They had me sleep in the living room on the floor, sometimes they stepped on me like I was part of the floor.” Hongbin squeezed Sanghyuk’s hand tighter. “That’s awful.” “The worst part was no one even noticed. All those years of being starved and neglected, and not one person noticed. I even told people about it, but my aunt and uncle were good to their own children and they would always spin the story so that it looked like I was starving myself and pushing people away when they got concerned. So I was stuck in that hell. That is until I met Taekwoon.” Sanghyuk looked at Taekwoon once again. He put his free hand on Taekwoon’s arm. “It started out in subtle gestures. He made plates of food and told me to eat them because they were new recipes he was trying out that he wanted a second opinion on. Or on the rare occasions he didn’t have the time to cook he would buy me food and pretend he bought too much for himself. I was growing really fast, but my aunt and uncle never got me new clothes when I outgrew my old clothes. Taekwoon noticed how small everything was, so he started bringing clothes. One day he asked me about what life was like for me at home. I told him everything, and he got me out of that house a few days later. We’ve been living together ever since.” Sanghyuk tightened his grip on Taekwoon’s arm. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank him enough for everything he’s done for me.” A few tears escaped Sanghyuk’s eyes at that point.

Hongbin wrapped Sanghyuk in the biggest hug he could.