Jieun watched in satisfaction as Yongguk tended to her ankle with a sorry expression on his face. She had successfully kept him here with her and prevented him from going to Daehyun, and she was proud of her skills. Maybe I should take up acting after all. She made a mental note to talk to her manager and the president about putting her in a drama.

"...hurt?"

Too caught up in her own thoughts to remember to conceal her smug smile and carry on with her damsel in distress charade, Jieun didn't realize that she was being spoken to until it was a little too late. "Huh?"

Yongguk raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Jieun swallowed the lump that had suddenly lodged itself in . She watched, panicked, as the kneeling man before her stood up, looking away. His jaw was clenched, she noticed, and she was afraid to speak, to move, to do anything while she had no idea what was going through his head. "I think you're fine, Jieun-ah." He seemed to glance at the clock without really seeing it. "It's late. I - we should go."

Jieun opened to say something, but Yongguk was already heading toward the door. Seeing this, she scrambled to pick up her things, internally debating for a few seconds whether or not to play the sprained ankle card even though she knew Yongguk had seen through it.

She did.

Quickly limping after him, she followed him around the first corner. Then she realized something. "Wait!"

Yongguk stopped, but didn't turn around. Jieun was getting annoyed. "My dorm is the other way." When the other didn't say anything, she narrowed her eyes, zeroing in on the space between his shoulderblades. "You are walking me home, right, Gukkie?" There it was again - that panicked feeling. She didn't like it one bit.

Finally, Yongguk turned his head, though not fully. She could only see his side profile and not his eyes, for they were downcast and partially hidden underneath his sweeping hair. "I called your manager. He's on his way." He turned his head so that he was facing forward once again. "Go back in. He'll call you when he gets here, which should be soon."

And for the first time in his life, Yongguk walked away from Jieun, too numb and dazed to even hear her calling his name, though he knew she was.

--

Daehyun was glad to be home.

Gingerly, he managed to open the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. When he was met with bright light, common conversation, and hearty laughter, he didn't know why he even bothered; it was barely past eleven, which meant that everyone was still awake.

But then everything went silent except for the voices coming from the television, and suddenly all eyes were on him. Oh. This was why he'd bothered.

Daehyun awkwardly cleared his throat, shying away from all of the curious, concerned gazes of his bandmates as he gently shut the door behind him. He his dry, bleeding lips, tugging on the hem of his shirt before he remembered the tousled state he was in. He didn't have to wait long for the questions to come.

"Dae...," Youngjae breathed out.

"Wh...what happened?" Himchan finished, sounding nearly as breathless.

Daehyun chewed on his lower lip, tasting the unpleasant mix of dried and fresh blood and feeling the roughness of dry skin. He was frozen. He could feel the film of tears rapidly forming, thickening. If he looked up, he could will the water away, prevent it from falling, but then s would see what he was trying to do. If he kept looking down, the tears would flood and stream down his cheeks, but at least he wouldn't have to see the expression on anyone's face. Daehyun inhaled deeply, held the breath longer than normal, and then exhaled.

Miraculously, his vision cleared. He looked up and smiled.

"Oh, you guys know how I am. I got lost and tripped on my way home. Well, now I'm suuuper tired, so I'm going to take a shower now and go to bed. We have a schedule in the morning, right?" He'd said it all so fast, faster and calmer than he'd thought possible. And all the while, he made his way toward his room, so that as soon as he got out whatever he wanted to say, he locked himself in his bedroom, his back against the door. He knew that there was no way the others were letting this go. But for now, just for tonight, he wanted - no, needed - some time to calm down so that he could pretend that he was okay when, really, everything was anything but that. Once Daehyun was alone, he slid down onto the floor, pulled his knees up, and cried.

--

As expected, the inside was filled with blackness - complete and suffocating. There was hardly a sound; it was late, and the members were probably asleep. Jongup looked down to his right at the pile of shoes and let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Daehyun was home.

Of course, he already knew that, but still a sense of immense relief washed over him.

Crouching down, Jongup's shaking hands reached first for the mask, and then the cell phone.  His blood, heart, and mind were racing, filling him with the worst possible scenarios. No, no - there was something he was missing. Daehyun was probably at home, laying in bed. But even he knew that was wishful thinking.

Still, Jongup called Junhong, who was definitely at the dorms. "Hello?"

"Junhong!" Jongup looked down the dark alley, trying to find any other traces of Daehyun. "Is - Is Daehyun..." He saw nothing and gulped. "Is he at home?"

Junhong was silent, and for a terrifying second Jongup thought the line was dead. But then the dreaded answer came: "No, hyung. Daehyun hyung and Yongguk hyung aren't back yet." A pause. "They're together, though, right?"

Jongup decided not to answer that, not only because he didn't want to, but also because he didn't know how to. "Everything...Everything's fine. Will you, uh, will you just call me when he gets back?"

"Okay. Come home soon, hyung."

Jongup didn't answer that either, because he most definitely wasn't going back until he found Daehyun.

--

He got the call twenty minutes later. He picked up, knowing it was Junhong.

"He's home," Jongup said, more a statement than a question, waiting for confirmation.

"Yeah, he just stepped in. But...there's something wrong, hyung. His lips are bleeding, his hair is messed up, and his clothes are ripped and dirty. He said he tripped and got lost but...I don't know. The other hyungs say that we should wait until morning, give him some time, you know? And Yongguk hyung still isn't back yet, but I called him and I think he's on his way.... Hyung? Jongup hyung? Are you there - ?"

Jongup ran home.

--

Maybe he shoudn't have ran all that way; it was longer than he'd thought. But this wasn't the craziest thing he'd ever done.

Jongup walked to Daehyun's room and knocked softly on the door. No answer, as expected. He turned the knob and pushed the door. It didn't budge. Huh.

Assuming the door was jammed, Jongup used more strength until he was able to slither through the crack he'd made. Once he was inside the room, he noticed a small bundle to his left that appeared to be the caused of the jam, and it was falling over. Jongup reached out and caught him before Daehyun hit the floor.

Jongup took in the other's appearance. It was exactly as Junhong had described, but worse - oh, so much worse. Tear stains marred his dirt-streaked cheeks, creating multiple visible trails extending the entire length of his face. His skin, ridden with scratches and tiny cuts. Savagely torn clothing. Bruises on his wrists and right eye. And an unmistakable red mark on his neck that made Jongup's blood boil and his fists clench.

He sat down next to him, wrapping his arms around Daehyun, embracing him firmly yet gently, as though Daehyun could break if he held on any tighter. Daehyun's barely audible whimper broke his heart.

"Daehyun...." Jongup didn't know who he should be angry with, who to blame, because he couldn't help but feel that this was partially his fault, too. "What happened to you out there?"

--

It was past midnight when Yongguk got back to the dorms.

Man, what a day it was. He was confused, so, so confused. He thought back to Jongup's words.

There was that one word that he remembered better than the others. Coward. He was a coward.

Was it really possible that Daehyun believed in him so much as to wait for him the entire day? Did he believe more than Yongguk gave him credit for? It was unfathomable - no one would wait that long when it was clear that the person wasn't coming, right? It was unreasonable, illogical, insane, even. But he'd be lying if he denied the warm feeling in his chest.

He was tired - tired from dealing with Jieun, tired from this emotional roller coaster. He'd probably call her in the morning to apologize, but right now he just needed to get away, to be home, to sleep. But more than that, he wanted to apologize to Daehyun.

Yongguk noticed that Daehyun's bedroom door was slightly ajar. He wondered if the younger was already asleep. Yongguk peeked inside. His eyes widened in mild surprise.

Jongup was inside, tucking Daehyun into bed. Jongup gazed down at the paceful figure on the bed almost...lovingly. He then brushed Daehyun's bangs from his eyes before leaning down and kissing his temple. For some reason, it hurt to witness it.

"Sweet dreams, Hyunnie."

Shortly after, Jongup headed in his direction.

Yongguk backed away into the shadows, watching as Jongup emerged from the room, closed the door, and disappeared into his own bedroom. Yongguk waited for the shuffling to stop before he stepped out of the shadows.

He closed the door behind him and tiptoed over to Daehyun's sleeping form. He looked...what was the word? Serene, yes. Younger, yes. More vulnerable, definitely. But he also was...yeah, that was the word. Beautiful.

The moon was bright tonight. Though it casted a haunting light over everything in the room, it reminded him of melting silver - majestic, ethereal. He had made it to his bedside, where he knelt down and took one of Daehyun's hands in his own. The moonlight did not illuminuate the darkening marks on Daehyun's wrists, but Yongguk kissed that spot anyway without realizing it.

"I'm sorry, Daehyun. I'm so, so sorry. I know you can't hear me right now, and I'll tell you again when you're awake, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm really, truly sorry. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

That night, after Yongguk left the room and in spite of the silent tears running down his face, Daehyun slept with a small smile on his bruised lips.

Huzzah! An update!

This is still alive! [/fistpump]

I'm sorry this is so craptastic, though. |D

Comments and criticism are <3 ~

Feel free to demand faster updates from me because I need it huhu ;;