“Are you sure that you don’t want me to come inside with you? I can use my fail aegyo to make umma not yell at you again,” Mir offered as he and Kibum stood outside the house. It was late, nearing sun down and several hours after Heechul had texted Kibum. The latter felt rebellious and had ignored the text, but now was regretting it. Kibum was scared to go inside, worried that Heechul was going to be super angry at him and say more cruel things.

“No,” Kibum replied hesitantly. “If he’s going to be mad then you might as well escape it. Besides, you don’t have to get involved. I don’t want you and hyung to be on bad terms because of me.”

“Alright, but don’t worry, okay? And just call me whenever you need to talk, Bummie. Just because I act like a kid doesn’t mean that you can’t count on me for these things,” Mir told him seriously. He gave his brother an encouraging hug and bid him farewell before walking away.

Kibum turned to face the door and took a deep breath to calm himself. The porch light flickered on as the shadows began to grow longer on the ground from the sun setting. Knowing that there was no turning back, not without getting himself into more trouble, Kibum twisted the doorknob and stepped into the house, and the door shut with a loud thud echoing in the silent house. Most of the house was dark except a faint light coming from the living room, and he knew that was where Heechul was. Waiting for me, to lecture me or maybe to yell. I should have just come home when he texted me. Now he’s going to be mad at me again, and what if he gets mad enough and tells me that he’s tired of me being around here? Because he said that he’s tired of my clinginess, so that means he’s getting annoyed with my presence. Does that mean that he doesn’t want me anymore? That he doesn’t love m-

“Kibum? Is that you?” Heechul asked, walking out of the living room.  Kibum lowered his head and kept his gaze glued to the floor, unmoving. He felt a shiver roll up his spine as Heechul drew closer to him. His heart was racing at an unimaginable speed and his mind was completely blank. He didn’t know what to do or say and he felt completely anxious. He didn’t think he was going to be able to handle this, having Heechul angry and yell at him again. It’d hurt so much yesterday to hear those words come from Heechul of all people, it was like his biggest fear come true. So without a second thought, Kibum pushed past Heechul and ran upstairs to his room, ignoring Heechul’s call after him as he slammed his bedroom door shut.

Heechul sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair; this situation had gotten out of control.

“Hyung? Is Kibum back?” Donghae asked, appearing from the hallway. Heechul glanced over at him, Donghae clad in his pajamas and blanket wrapped around his shoulders. With red-rimmed eyes, Heechul knew that he’d been crying again, but right now wasn’t the time to deal with Donghae. He needed to give some attention to Kibum as well.

“Yes, Donghae, he’s back. But why don’t you go back to your room for awhile? I’d like to speak with him first,” Heechul told him. Donghae nodded and shuffled back to his own room. Once he was gone Heechul slowly headed upstairs, stopping in front of Kibum’s door and knocking twice.

“Kibum, can I come in?” He asked, but pushed the door open without waiting for an answer. He found Kibum sitting by the window, playing with the hem of his t-shirt. Heechul walked over and sat on the side of the bed and it was silent for several moments before he spoke.

“Parents aren’t always perfect, did you know that? We try to put on a happy face for our babies to keep them from worrying, but sometimes doing that can make your emotions bottle up and you explode. And sometimes parents can hurt their babies but they always feeling terrible about it afterwards,” Heechul said softly. Kibum glanced up at him, his eyes holding such innocence that the guilt Heechul felt tripled. “I’m so sorry for hitting you, Kibum. I shouldn’t have done that and I feel horrible for it,” He apologized regretfully.

Kibum nodded his head slightly and looked down at his hands. He felt his eyes sting and water up and his lip tremble. Heechul reached and pulled him into a tight embrace, but Kibum didn’t hug him back. As the two tears strayed he felt a pang in his heart. Hyung, that’s not what hurt me. It wasn’t your hand, it was your words, he thought to himself sadly, but kept silent.

“Okay, hyung,” He said, pulling away from Heechul to wipe his eyes. “I’m sorry for not telling you that I wasn’t coming home and for ignoring your text earlier,” He apologized as well.

“It’s okay, I know you were just upset. Anyways, Donghae wants to talk to you as well. Why don’t you go down? I’m going to start on dinner,” Heechul said, standing up. Kibum nodded and followed him back downstairs. While Heechul seemed happy with this, Kibum was not. But he pushed that aside and walked down the hallway to Donghae’s room, where the door was left open and his brother laying in bed with the television on.

“Kibum! Finally you came back!” Donghae said happily, reaching for the remote and putting the television on mute. Kibum nodded mutely and climbed on the bed next to his brother, where Donghae grabbed him up in a hug.

“Hyung said you wanted to talk to me,” Kibum said quietly, and Donghae nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, I wanted to say sorry that I pushed you yesterday. But I was really upset and everything, and it’s not like you’ve never done that to me, so…yeah. Sorry,” He said, smiling bashfully. Kibum closed his eyes, feeling his heart sink.

“Yeah,” He whispered back.

“So, wanna watch a movie or something tonight? Or maybe we can convince Heechul to let us make a cake!” Donghae suggested with a grin. While it was good to see Donghae smiling again, Kibum just couldn’t pretend to be happy with him. So he shook his head and mumbled something about being tired before leaving.