The next morning, Eunhyuk and Donghae strolled back to Leeteuk’s house hand in hand, each with a smile on their face. When they stepped through the front door, Eunhyuk told his boyfriend that he was going to take a shower, so Donghae headed into the kitchen where he could hear someone up and eating breakfast. As he walked through the doorframe, he found Kibum sitting at the table contently munching away a bowl full of Frosted Wheats. Not knowing what possessed him, Donghae quickly walked over and sat across from his brother and opened his mouth to speak.

“Me and Eunhyuk are having ,” He blurted quickly. Kibum glanced up from his breakfast and gave Donghae a scrutinizing look and rolled his eyes.

“Thanks for sharing,” He replied, shrugging his shoulders. Of course he already knew that the two were having , anyone with eyes could see that. That plus he'd walked in on them one day buck while Donghae was going down on Eunhyuk. He'd seen more of them that day than he'd ever wanted to.

“Well, I don’t know. I just needed to say it,” Donghae told him. Kibum shrugged again and stood up to take his bowl over to the sink to rinse it out, then returned to his seat and looked Donghae in the eyes seriously.

“Donghae, if you want to have then by all means have go to town. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you to rush into anything and end up getting hurt,” He warned cautiously. He expected his brother to take it seriously, but instead Donghae just laughed and waved it away.

“Me and Hyuk are going to be together forever, Kibum. There’s nothing to worry about, really. We use so I can’t get anything,” Donghae said with a grin. Kibum crossed his arms tightly and gave Donghae a disbelieving look.

“Yeah? Well, I also thought that me and Tiffany would be together forever, but look what happened to us,” He said seriously, his voice holding a bitter tone. The atmosphere got quiet and tense and the smile on Donghae’s face quickly disappeared.

“I know, Kibum. I’m sorry, you’re right. But what happened wasn’t your fault,” He said hurriedly. Kibum shrugged his shoulders and looked away, not wanting to discuss that topic any further.

“Just be careful, okay? I don’t want to see your hurt,” He said quietly. Donghae nodded earnestly and the conversation ended there as a sleepy Henry shuffled into the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Morning, Henry,” Donghae said with a warm smile.

“Morning,” Henry slurred tiredly, collapsing into the chair next to Kibum. Kibum reached over and patted his head like a puppy and Henry swatted his hand away. “Make me breakfast,” He demanded.

“Do I look like your mother?” Kibum shot back, raising his brows haughtily and perfectly mimicking Heechul’s mother look.

“Of course not, my mother is prettier than you,” Henry replied, sticking out his tongue childishly as he got up to get his own breakfast.

“Ignore him, he’s stupid,” Donghae said, standing up and walking out of the kitchen. Kibum quickly followed after him, and the two stepped out onto the front porch and sat down on the stairs, looking out as the sun slowly rose higher into the sky. They sat side by side in silence for several long minutes just enjoying the serene moment with just the two of them. It’d been too long since either of the boys had seen each other, just over a month since Donghae had come to stay with Leeteuk and Eunhyuk. It wasn’t until now that Kibum realized how much he’d been missing his brother; now he couldn’t wait for summer to be over to that Donghae would come back home where he belonged.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Kibum asked, breaking the silence. Donghae glanced over at him and nodded his head.

“Of course.”

“Be honest…when you first met me, what did you think of me? Like, how did I act in your eyes?” Kibum asked hesitantly. The question had always been in his mind ever since they had their fight last winter. But now he had a different reason for asking.

Donghae hesitated for a moment to think back to those first few months. He had a fond look in his eyes and a small smile tugged at his lips.

“You were absolutely rude, that’s what I thought of you. And a complete baby,” He said, grinning back at the memories. Kibum couldn’t help but smile bashfully as well and Donghae continued on. “You were so strange and I couldn’t understand you for a long time. Sometimes you were so quiet, always clinging to Heechul as if your life depended on it. But other times you just got so angry at everything. It was hard to deal with, but then I learned about everything you were going through and that made things easier, because then I knew how to help you.”

Kibum nodded and thought about that for a moment. He knew that he’d had problems before; everyone knew that. Kim Kibum had just been a troubled kid and that was just a fact. Of course I was rude, I was a jerk to Donghae, and Mir, for a long time. But I had a reason to be, even though that’s not any excuse, but still. So…Key must have a reason why he’s so mean, Kibum thought deeply. It’d been on his mind ever since their interaction in town yesterday. Surely the boy wasn’t just acting out for the fun of it, right? Unless he was just a bully, but Kibum didn’t think so. Bullies don’t sit in the rain and cry their heart out.

“Was it worth it, though? To go through all of that?” Kibum asked his brother softly, looking into Donghae’s eyes seriously.

“Kibum, I would do it all over a thousand times as long as I get to keep you as my brother,” Donghae replied earnestly, taking Kibum’s hand into his own and squeezing it comfortingly.

Kibum smiled, feeling his heart soar to the sky, and leaned over to give Donghae a hug. And like with that, his decision was made. Despite how mean Key was, Kibum was going to do whatever it took to get that boy to open up to him. There was a hurting boy hiding underneath that tough exterior, and Kibum was determined to help. Just like Heechul had done for him.