A laugh escaped Jonghyun's lips as he stood outside with Taemin. He watched as the younger boy climbed up a large tree and hung upside down, tugging his ears outward and puffing out his cheeks. Jonghyun scrunched up his face and ruffled Taemin's hair. Taemin was trying to convince him to play, too, but he was sore. He hadn't had the heart to tell the boy that his 'massage' hurt more than it helped the night before. He thought it was strange, though. Minho and Key had been praising Taemin's skills, so he really wasn't anticipating the pain he felt as Taemin's small finger's worked his knots. He began to feel bad, watching Taemin play by himself, and hearing Key about his fear of heights, so eventually, he relented and climbed up into the tree with the boy he considered a brother. Taemin kept climbing higher and higher, though, and eventually it was too much for Jonghyun.

 

"Tae, it's too high." Jonghyun admitted, holding the branch for dear life. Taemin giggled a bit and relented.

 

"Yah. Sorry, Hyung. Let's go back down." Taemin said.

 

Jonghyun nodded and started making his way down, one branch at a time. His confidence was building with every move he made on his own, and he was beginning to relax as he stepped down. He was chatting with Taemin about silly things, and even paused for a minute to look around himself, and be amazed by the differance in perspective. He moved to step down, and brushed a particularly sore spot against a branch, causing him to flinch and lose his footing. It happened barely in the space of two seconds, but it felt like slow motion. He reached out to grab anything he could with his right hand, and smacked his arm on a branch, before he fell to the ground, landing on his left side.

 

At first, he just felt the air leave him, and the adrenaline rushing through him. He worked to catch his breath, and almost had it when the pain set in. By now, he could hear Minho, who had been on the other side of the back yard, yelling his name, and a heavy thud-thud-thud that signaled he was coming closer. He heard Taemin explaining in a pitchy voice what happened, and opened his eyes in time to see Key pull Taemin out of the tree, and set him safely on the ground. He felt someone petting his hair, and he could hear a fairly obnoxious whining sound that he soon realized was coming from his own lips. He turned his head slowly to see who was trying to comfort him, and was surprised somehow to see Jinki.

 

"You gotta tell me what hurts." Jinki said. "I need to know how bad it is."

 

"Let him breath for a minute!" Minho said. Jinki leveled him with one look.

 

"I need to make sure he -can- breath, Minho. Go get my cell phone, and calm down." Jinki said. Minho nodded, wide eyed, and ran into the house. Jinki looked back at Jonghyun. "Now talk to me. Don't downplay it."

 

"My leg's the worst. The left one. And my right arm." Jonghyun said. Jinki nodded.

 

"What about your breathing? Headache?" Jinki asked. Jonghyun shook his head, and started to move to sit up. "Do you want to try and stand?"

 

"Y-yah." Jonghyun said, starting to move into a normal sitting position, but moving his left leg was too painful and he shook his head rapidly. "A-a-aniyo."

 

"Should I call an ambulance, or just make you a doctors appointment?" Jinki asked as Minho came back. Jonghyun swallowed hard and shrugged a bit, visibly wincing when he moved his arm. "Or I could just drive you to the hospital."

 

"The hospital?" Minho said, coming closer. Jonghyun nodded, keeping his eyes low. He was embarassed, and he could see that Taemin was crying.

 

"'Minnie, don't be upset. I wasn't paying attention." Jonghyun said. "It was my fault."

 

"But if I didn't make you climb the tree-" Taemin started to say, but Key cut him off.

 

"If anything, it was me. I shouldn't have teased you." Key said, still holding Taemin close. Jonghyun sighed.

 

"Both of you, stop. I was the one who climbed the damn tree, I was the one who fell out of it. Now cut it out." Jonghyun said, still not looking up. Minho bit his lip as he watched Jonghyun become just a bit colder, but in a way that showed he cared even more than if he had said so. "And Minho, calm down. I'm not dying. I just got a little banged up."

 

"I'll bring the car around, ok?" He felt Jinki ruffle his hair before getting up and heading toward the house.

 

A moment later, Minho was beside him, ducking down to look him in the eye. He turned his head away at first, but eventually relaxed a bit and put his weight on the younger boy. He didn't like feeling as weak as he did in that moment, and so it was hard for him to let Minho and Jinki help him into the back seat, and even harder to let Key fuss over him the whole ride there, even as he continued to fight the tears the pain alone brought to his eyes. Jinki took a bit longer of a route to the hospital than he normally would have, explaining that the shorter way had more bumps, and would probably hurt him more. Somehow, when the hospital came into view, he felt less comforted than the others.

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After about two hours Jonghyun had a baby blue cast on his forarm, curving with his elbow, stopping halfway up his upper arm, and a light purple one on his leg, stopping before his knee. It took a little while, a few tests, and a childrens dose of tylenol, before Jonghyun got an answer to his question: Why?

 

"Why did my bones break from such a short fall?" He asked the doctor who was casting him. The doctor sighed and looked at him.

 

"Honestly, I don't know. But I'm going to find out." He said.

 

So it went that Jonghyun had blood drawn, a urine sample taken, and finally a curious nurse checked under his shirt after discovering his weight was so low. He felt extremely self concious by the time the doctor came back in, and actually looked to Jinki for support, being that Minho wasn't there.

 

"Let me put this simply." The doctor said. "You need to eat the fattiest, greasiest foods you can stomach for a while. There's a significant amount of bruising on your torso, and given your story and your weight, I would say it's a side effect of long-term malnutrition. It's easily fixed, as long as you gain some weight and eat plenty of food. Another thing, is that your immune system is pretty low. That can also be helped by gaining some weight."

 

"I'm trying. I just don't get hungry enough." Jonghyun said quietly. The doctor sighed.

 

"I know. It's a challenge we face with people who have been starving for a long time. You just need to eat several times a day, even if you don't really feel hungry, just try." The doctor said. "Another thing you'll need to do is take a calcium supplement. Your bones have thinned out, because your heart and other organs have been taking the calcium from them to keep you alive, and there has been nothing to replace it. Thankfully we caught this early on, and it's still reversable."

 

"Is there anything else?" Jinki asked, seeing that Jonghyun was still trying to take everything in. The doctor nodded.

 

"He should remain as stationary as possible, for as long as possible. I know that's a difficult thing to do with young men, but it should be a bit easier with the plaster in place. Once it comes off he'll need to start some simple exercises." The doctor said. "And..Jonghyun, if you've been experiencing any depression, it should start to get better as you get healthier. Things will get better, alright? Chin up."

 

Jonghyun nodded miserably and slid down off the table, Jinki supporting him on the left, and eased into the manditory wheel chair to be taken out of the hospital. He hadn't seen the other three boys since he was taken into a room, and now he wasn't feeling up for conversation. He quickly learned, though, that there is something to be said for shock value. When the younger boys saw the casts on him, they were all very quiet.

 

The silnce lasted through the whole ride home, and when they actually arrived Jonghyun leaned heavily on Minho as they walked into the house. The short walk wore him out, though, and instead if heading to his bedroom as he had orginally wanted, he opted to just collapse on the couch. Minho slid in beside him, looking unsure, but Jjong leaned against him, and they both relaxed.

 

"Are you tired?" Minho asked. Jonghyun shrugged.

 

"Mostly, I'm just thinking." Jonghyun said quietly. Minho hugged the shorter boy a bit closer.

 

"About what?" Minho asked.

 

"About...how if I didn't run, I would probably have met you guys sooner, been more educated, maybe not be so messed up." Jonghyun sighed, biting his lip. Minho tore his eyes from the younger boys face.

 

In less than a week he was certain he had fallen for the boy. Maybe he didn't love him yet, but he really did like him a lot, and he knew he was going to have a hard time sleeping without the boy in his arms at night. Sure, he was supposed to sleep in his own bed, but when Jonghyun woke up in the middle of the night, looking so lost and confused the night before, he gave in to temptation and slid into the older boys bed. He knew Jonghyun had trouble assesing his surroundings when he woke up suddenly, but for some reason the moment Minho wrapped his arms around him, he stopped worrying and went back to sleep.

 

"Maybe if you didn't run, things would have been worse. Maybe you would have gone to a different home, never met us. Maybe got picked on." Minho said. Jonghyun looked up at him, his eyes seaching the others face.

 

"Yeah..maybe." Jonghyun said. They were quiet for a little while after that, each lost in his own world, so they didn't notice Jinki standing in the doorway with a bowl of noddles.

 

"I'm sorry." Minho said softly. Jonghyun looked up at him, confused. "I shouldn't have let you climb that tree. I should have caught you when you fell."

 

"Stop it. Everyone needs to stop apologizing, it's ok. I should have been more careful." Jonghyun said. "I was doing just fine until I fell."

 

"You were not." Jinki said from the doorway, surprising both boys. "Honestly, you're lucky you fell when you did. Otherwise, we could have been facing a much more serious problem down the line."

 

Jonghyun lowered his head a bit, looking embarrassed and upset. Jinki sighed and sat beside him, pushing the food into his lap. Jjong started to protest, but after seeing the look on Jinki's face, knew it was pointless, and began clumsily trying to eat with his left hand.

 

When Jonghyun was comfortably tucked into his own bed that night, he realized he didn't want to sleep alone. The night before, he remembered waking up from a bad dream, and then suddenly, someone was there. Someone he could hold on to, that made him feel safe. He let his eyes wander to Minho, who seemed to already be sleeping, and he studied the other boys face for a while, quietly admiring how handsome he was. By now, he'd had the time to think, to realize that he did like Minho in a way he hadn't known he could. He rubbed his nose against the patterned blanket and wondered silently if he was the only one with these feelings. He thought back to all the things Minho had said to him, and realized that, for as many things as the younger boy had said that might lead him to believe he felt the same, he had said an equal amount to lead him to believe he didn't. After a few minutes of arguing with himself, he finally decided he would talk to someone, probabaly Key, about it the next day, but for now, he pulled together his courage.

 

"Minho?" He called out. The other boys eyes flickered open and went to him. He blushed a bit. "Where you sleeping?"

 

"No. Im having trouble, tonight." Minho admitted. Jonghyun sat up slowly. "Are you alright?"

 

"I'm ok..could you come here?" Jjong asked quickly, afraid he would lose his confidence if he took his time. Minho smiled and went over to the other bed, sliding easily under the covers and letting Jonghyun settle against him. "Will you come visit next weekend? With Taemin and Key?"

 

"Of course." Minho said, smiling.

 

"And can I come visit?" Jonghyun asked.

 

"I think Jinki's going to make you. He doesn't want you to hurt yourself when you're home alone." Minho laughed. "But we're starting school again this week. We had vacation last week, but next month we go on break for the summer."

 

"School?" Jonghyun said, sounding surprised. Minho nodded.

 

"You'll probably just do your work while we're in class, but I'm in class longer than Key and Taemin." Minho said.

 

"Why?" Jonghyun asked. Minho shrugged a bit.

 

"Taemin's really smart, and so he finishes his work quickly." Minho explained. "More quickly than Key or I can. He is also in a lower grade, so he has already seen the work when Key and I do it."

 

"But why are you in class longer than Key?" Jonghyun asked. Minho laughed a bit.

 

"My work is harder than Key's. I'm in higher classes." Minho said. "It takes a little bit more time for me to do my work, because there is more of it. I'm in line for early graduation."

 

"Oh." Jonghyun said. He chewed his lower lip for a moment before glancing up at Minho's relaxed face. "Will I be doing middle school work?"

 

"No, they're probably going to test you this summer on the things you need to know to graduate. If you pass, you're done with school. If you don't, they'll put you in the highest level of classes you can take, so you can graduate." Minho explained. Jonghuyn sighed.

 

"I haven't read a book in a year." He admitted. Minho looked thoughtful for a moment.

 

"Well, you could probably borrow one of Taemin's. He reads a lot, you know." Minho said. Jonghyun nodded and yawned, and Minho smiled. "Go to sleep. We can talk about it in the morning."

 

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I didn't mean for this to be so long. I thought about scrapping it a few times, but I'm just going for broke here and posting it.

 

I'm also posting this on all my stories, as well as my home page, in case you want to know what's taking so long with an update or you just need someone to talk to (believe me, I've been there), feel free to email/IM anytime. I'm always online, not always working. Feel free to give me the extra kick in the ars- I mean, motivation.. >.>

 

Anyway, here:

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