Heechul woke up late and spent his first half hour of consciousness adjusting his appearance in the same mirror that had made his reflection seem so foreign the night before.  Perhaps it was nerves leftover from the previous night, but he moved quietly, even as he left his room and moved down the bright corridor. 

                There were hushed voices coming from the kitchen.  Old habits dying hard, Heechul stopped to listen as he reached the entrance to the living room. 

                “—night’s sleep?” 

                “Eh, it was alright.”  That was Leeteuk’s voice, Heechul registered.  There was a long pause after the first words and then Leeteuk’s voice came floating up again.  “Did you know that Heechul was adopted?” 

                “No.”  The terse response was unmistakably Kangin.

                Leeteuk’s voice lowered and Heechul had to actually risk moving his head around the corner to hear him.  He saw Leeteuk and Kangin shuffling around each other in the small kitchen in a practiced, post-breakfast clean up routine.  Leeteuk was in the middle of continuing on with masked casualty, 

                “…tell you he dropped out of college ‘cause his parents disowned him?”

                Kangin’s back was turned to Heechul but he could deduce from the way the larger man stopped moving that he was surprised.  “No,” Kangin said, trying to keep a flat tone, “I had no idea.”  His voice suddenly became flustered as he continued, “That doesn’t make any sense.  Why adopt someone then change your mind?  It’s not like buying a shirt.  You can’t make returns on people.”

                “I know,” Leeteuk lamented, stopping to address Kangin directly.  “I was thinking about it all last night.” 

                Heechul pulled his head back around the corner and flattened against the wall, feeling suddenly panicked and guilt-ridden, maybe even betrayed.  He tried to pin down the origin of the emotions, struggling to work through what he’d just heard.  As he approached and dodged the answer, he felt himself growing enraged.  Grasping onto this assertive relief from confusion, he pushed off the wall and turned the corner, marching toward the kitchen. 

                His roommates were so engaged in their hushed discussion that they didn’t spot him until he reached the doorway.  Immediately breaking off their conversation, Kangin returned to cleaning but Leeteuk struggled to recover, awkwardly staying where he was and saying, “Good morning,” with half a smile.

                Heechul didn’t dignify the greeting with a response, but realizing he couldn’t just march to the kitchen then turn away, he improvised, brushing by both men to grab his sunglasses off of the counter.  Spinning around to make sure they sensed his anger, he headed back into the living room, hanging his sunglasses from the front of his shirt.

                “Is something wrong?”

                Heechul felt his resolve wavering at Leeteuk’s genuine tone, then balked at his own weakness.  Retaliating against the feebleness within himself, he growled at Leeteuk, “Nothing at all.”

                Shocked, Leeteuk moved out of the kitchen toward Heechul.  The feminine man’s sharp tone even drew Kangin into the living room.  He shadowed the scene from afar, watching without comment. 

                “What’s going on?” Leeteuk tried again, his worried gaze fixed on Heechul. 

                “I said nothing.”

                “It doesn’t sound like nothing.” 

                “Not this again.  Will you leave me alone?  Seriously, you make me want to kill myself.”

                It happened in a flash.  Kangin appeared from nowhere, shoving Heechul with unchecked force.  The smaller man’s back connected with the wall so hard that the room shook.  Heechul stayed against the wall stunned, his eyes frozen wide.  Kangin stared him down, his nostrils flaring, hands balled into fists at his side.  Leeteuk jumped between the two, futilely pressing back against Kangin and blindly shouting,

                “What the hell are you doing?!  He didn’t mean anything by it!” 

                 “Yes he did,” Kangin yelled, his murderous eyes locked on Heechul who looked back with primal fear.  “Don’t pretend for a second he didn’t know what he was saying.” 

                “Then I don’t care,” Leeteuk shouted, leaning all his force against Kangin’s chest and managing to force him back a step. 

                “Why are you defending him?” Kangin yelled, “He said that with every intention of hurting you.  He said me, as in, not only him, but me too.”

                “You can’t blame him for it.  He’s had it hard enough without you shoving him into walls!”

                Neither of them remembered that Heechul was still there until he suddenly flashed by them, heading toward the door. 

                 Kangin stayed where he was, sighing and shaking his head as Leeteuk bolted after the other man. 

                Heechul had already reached the street, limping quickly when Leeteuk arrived at the open door, calling for him to wait.

                Leeteuk got halfway down the front steps of the apartment building before Heechul turned around and fixed him with a stare that froze him in his tracks.

                “I’m done,” he said.  “I heard you in the kitchen.  I am not going to be your pity project.  I don’t need that and I don’t need you.”

                “Is that what you think this is?” Leeteuk breathed, voice incredulous with emotion.  “Then I’m sorry for ever making you feel that way, and I’m sorry that Kangin just exploded, and I’m sorry that life has so far for you, but please, just come back inside and we can talk about this.” 

Heechul rolled his eyes.  “You’re pathetic, Leeteuk.  It’s disgusting.  Kangin was right.  I meant what I said but you still want to go on pretending that no one has any bad intentions and everyone’s good and everyone just needs a bit of pixie dust to fix them.  You have this idea that there’s something to fix in people.  Well maybe people aren’t broken.   Maybe they’re just not made the way you want them to be.”

“What is so wrong with someone caring about you?”  Leeteuk begged, fighting the urge to start crying.

“Just go back inside and forget about me, Leeteuk.  Have a good life.” 

Then Heechul stormed away across the street, the effect only accentuated by the limping steps he was taking.

Leeteuk watched him disappear and then looked down at the cement steps, his breaths deliberately calm.  He reached out and took hold of the railing, sitting down slowly.  After a few moments of staring out into the street he felt his vision blur with tears.  He fought himself, but in the end he just rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and cried silently.

A/N   Gaw... :(    Um...yeah, .. (pull yourself together, kayeblaise!) So! I appreciate your patience in waiting for more characters.  One will make a cameo in the next update and then right around Chapter 10 (a bit after?) we'll get our first big new character which leads right into the next one not too long after so hopefully we'll get moving soon.  In the meantime, thanks so much for subscribing and commenting and even just sticking with the story. I appreciate it and I appreciate you all!  Let me know what you think if you have things to say, subscribe if you enjoy.  <3  Miuch love!

P.S. If you're confused by Heechul's reaction you can shoot me a wall post and I'll explain!  If you think you understand you can feel free to interpret below!