When Kibum woke up the next morning the first thing he noticed was that he could not move. He opened his eyes and found his face pressed against the couch cushion. He tried to wriggle his way to freedom but his brother was laying half on top of him, squashing him half to death.

“Mir, get off me,” Kibum moaned, attempting to elbow his brother in the side. He was too crammed to even budge and since Mir weighed more than he did he couldn’t exactly push him off either.

“Shuddup."

Kibum huffed impatiently and lifted his head so he could bit Mir's shoulder as hard as he could. His brother yelped loudly and rolled off him, falling to the floor with a loud thud.

"Oops, I'm sorry!" He apologized quickly, sliding off the couch to make sure he hadn't hit his head on the coffee table. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to make you fall. I'm really sorry."

"It's fine, Kibum," Mir said, pulling himself up. He smiled at his brother to show that he wasn't mad. "Come on, I can hear my dad in the kitchen. Maybe he'll make us pancake for breakfast is we ask."

Kibum nodded and quickly followed him out of the living room. They walked into the kitchen and were instantly hit with the homely aroma of fresh coffee, which Hongki and Jia were nursing two cups of at the table. Mir instantly walked over to his father, smiling brightly as he hugged him good morning and gave him a kiss on the cheek before moving on to Jia. Kibum watched silently, feeling a little uncomfortable as if he were intruding on their little family. That plus he just plain didn't like Jia, like at all.

"Good morning, Kibum," Hongki said, beckoning him to join them. Kibum sat down next to him, smiling softly when Hongki reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"What time did you two end up falling asleep?" Jia asked, taking a sip of coffee. "The TV was still playing when I got up this morning."

"Whoops! I guess we must have fallen asleep during Spirited Away," Mir said with a laugh as he opened the refrigerator to grab some milk for cereal.

“Oh, Kibum. Heechul called me wanting to know where you were. Make sure you tell him when you stay over, especially if I’m not home,” Hongki told Kibum. Kibum nodded slightly but said nothing as Mir handed him a bowl. He could practically feel Jia’s eyes staring at him, trying to decipher what was in his mind. He hated the fact that she always seemed to know what he was thinking, it made him uncomfortable enough that he’d whined to Heechul about to so many times that he finally got his way and didn’t have to see her anymore.

After they’d eaten breakfast, Mir dragged Kibum to his bedroom and closed the door. The younger of the two jumped onto his bed and patted the spot next to him for Kibum to join him.

“How come you didn’t tell umma you spent the night before you left?” He asked Kibum curiously. It seemed odd that Kibum would spontaneously just up and leave without telling anyone. Mir knew for a fact that Kibum told everyone in the house that he was leaving before he actually left.

Kibum sighed softly and stared at his hands.

“Just because. Can we talk about it somewhere else?” He said, looking at Mir hopefully. He didn’t want to say anything with Jia in the house. For all he knew she could be lurking and listening in on them. But Mir understood that so he nodded and rolled off the bed.

“Yeah, let’s get dressed and go to the park,” He agreed, walking over to his closet and pulling it open. He pulled out an outfit for Kibum to wear, dark and black the way Kibum always dressed.

Before they headed out of the house, Mir called out to his father that they were leaving. He linked his arm with Kibum and they strolled in a comfortable silence. It seemed like old times like this, back when they were still dating. Mir sighed contently and looked at Kibum with an adoring expression, which Kibum replied with a roll of his eyes.

When they arrived at the park it was still early enough in the morning that it was pretty vacant other than a few elderly couples walking around hand in hand. Being the childish boy he was, Mir decided to run ahead, yelling at Kibum that they were racing to the top of the hill. Not nearly have the same level as energy as Mir did in the mornings, Kibum calmly trekked up the hill where Mir waited impatiently for him.

“Took you long enough! Isn’t it awesome up here? Umma and appa used to take me to have picnics up here all the time when I was little,” Mir said brightly as Kibum sat down next to him on the lush green grass. It was long and the strands tickled, but indeed it was pretty awesome to be up there. The hill was high enough that they could oversee the entire park and see the sun beginning to peek over the tops of the trees.

“So what’s with you, Kibum? You seem a little blue,” Mir asked seriously. Wanting to be a psychologist like Jia one day, he prided himself on observing people and their emotions. While Kibum was one of the best people at hiding his feelings, Mir could tell when there was something bothering him.

“Do you know what’s been going on with Donghae and Eunhyuk? That they’re fighting and Donghae came home early?” Kibum asked him.

“Yeah, I know that they’re fighting. I even know why they’re fighting too and honestly I think that Donghae’s in the wrong this time,” Mir said, staring out at the white clouds that lazily floated in the sky. Kibum looked at him curiously; he didn’t even know what had happened to cause all this.

“What do you mean?” He inquired. He was hoping that if he knew why his brother’s were fighting he would have a better insight on how to help Donghae.

“I mean, Donghae screwed up big time and this really is his fault and I don’t blame Eunhyuk for being mad,” Mir said unsympathetically, shrugging his shoulders. He loved Donghae, he really did, and this wasn’t about picking sides. While he may have been the youngest, Mir understood more than everyone gave him credit for.

“No, what did Donghae do?” Kibum asked impatiently.

“He brought a boy into Eunhyuk’s house; the house that’s only meant for Eunhyuk and whoever he lets in. Donghae’s the only person that’s ever been in there besides Eunhyuk; not even Henry and me have been there. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Donghae let that boy kiss him. Obviously Eunhyuk got the wrong impression; Donghae would never cheat on him. But the fact that Hae brought a boy in there...well, I just think that Eunhyuk has every right to be angry with him,” Mir explained his opinion.

Kibum was silent for several minutes as he digested this information. It made no sense, honestly, and the entire situation just seemed rather…juvenile to him. All this melodrama was because of something as silly as jealousy? Donghae moping around the house, no doubt that Eunhyuk was doing the same, and the tension that it was causing, was all because of a stupid misunderstanding?

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Kibum declared a few minutes later. Mir shrugged and nodded his head slightly. He did agree to some extent; this was pretty stupid but it was happening and when he thought about it, Donghae really was in the wrong.

“I know, but you know I’m right. Donghae messed up,” Mir replied.

“Yeah, but he’s been trying so hard to apologize! All week he’s been in so much pain because Eunhyuk won’t answer his phone calls, and Donghae really wants to fix this. So, Eunhyuk’s being really unfair,” Kibum said.

“Yeah, it is. But Eunhyuk’s really stubborn. But Kibum, we need to just stay out of it and let them fix it. Henry and I don’t want this to go beyond them fighting and affect is all,” Mir told him. Hearing this, Kibum frowned.

“It already has, I think. Hyung and Leeteuk have been fighting all week, more so than usual,” Kibum informed him.

“I know, Henry told me. But we aren’t sure exactly why they’re fighting. Do you?” Mir asked curiously, picking at the grass.

“Not a clue, but hyung isn’t handling it well. He’s been in a bad mood all week; Donghae too. They both yelled at me yesterday,” Kibum said, his voice changing into a sad tone as he moved his eyes downward.

“So? Umma yells at all of us,” Mir replied, flopping backwards onto the grass.

“Yeah, but…he was being mean,” Kibum mumbled.

“Then be mean back, that’s always fun and it gets on umma’s nerves. Just don’t overdo it because when he blows up you get in a lot of trouble,” Mir said, grinning at the fond memories that appeared in mind. Kibum scoffed and rolled his eyes; he’d never even think about misbehaving.

The conversation ended there and Kibum lay back next to Mir. All worries disappeared as he relaxed and watched the clouds flow by. The silence didn’t last long as the happy yells of children floated up from the playground, but that only made the day seem brighter. Kibum sighed contently and glanced over at Mir, who’d rolled over onto his stomach. He was about to suggest they go into town and head over to the movie theater; mornings tickets were only four dollars. But before he could say anything, Mir sat up with a unreadable expression on his face.

“Look,” He said, pointing down the hill. “It’s Key.”

“Oh! That reminds me, did he ever apologize to you? We talked and he’s being nice now,” Kibum said, almost excitedly as he sat up as well. After last night’s ‘heart-to-heart’ Kibum hoped that he and Key were going to be friends from now on.

“Something like that. He showed up at my house a few days ago. When I answer the door and gave me a candy bar and ran away. I guess that counts. What did you do to change his mind about being mean?” Mir replied, watching as Key leaned against the short brick wall surrounding the park.

“Nothing really. I just told him what I’ve been trying to tell him this whole time and he listened. Think we can all be friends now?” Kibum asked hopefully.

“I don’t know. We don’t really even know him. Hey, who do you think that is?” Mir asked suddenly, as some boy walked over to Key. Kibum crawled closer to the edge of the hill and peered down discretely.

“Probably his boyfriend. He told me last night, ‘cause I was here before I came over,” Kibum said. They both watched in silence as Key and his boyfriend gave each other hugs and walked off together; both noting the happy look on Key’s face.

“I wish I had a boyfriend,” Mir said, sighing dramatically and batting his lashes at Kibum.

“Try Donghae again, I hear he’s single,” Kibum said with a grin.

“You’re terrible, Bummie,” Mir laughed.

“Yeah, says the one who purposely acts bad to make hyung angry!” Kibum retorted.

“Whatever. Let’s go play. Race you again!” Mir yelled, rolling over the side of the hill. Kibum chuckled and stood up to walk down. But before he could take a step his pocket vibrated. He pulled out his phone and frowned as he read the new text from Heechul with a frown.

< When do you plan on coming home? >