The next morning, Kibum woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside his window and an owl hooting merrily somewhere off in the distance. Sunlight leaked through his open curtains and lit up the room brightly, enough so there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. He cracked open his eyes wearily and blinked a few times before realizing that he was staring at the back of Donghae’s head. He sat up, yawning, and rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes before looking down at his brother. Donghae looked really peaceful when he was asleep, almost like an angel. The serene look on his face made Kibum hope that he was having good dreams, escaping the sad reality he was facing.

Carefully lifting his hand, Kibum gently brushed the hair out of Donghae’s face. At his touch, the older boy squirmed in his sleep before tiredly opening his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Donghae mumbled, furrowing into the pillow. He didn’t know what time it was, but it was too early to be awake yet; even if the sun was already up.

“Sorry, go back to sleep,” Kibum whispered, moving off his bed. He shuffled out of his bedroom, making a quick stop to the bathroom before heading downstairs to the kitchen. Last night’s storm was long gone, but when he glanced out the window above the sink, he could see large puddles and broken tree branches all over the yard. Knowing that Heechul hated yard waste lying around, he made a note to go out there and clean up later on.

Opening one of the cupboards, Kibum pulled out an orange bottle containing his medication and dumped two of the white pills into his palm, then went to the refrigerator to get some orange juice so he could swallow them. He grimaced as they slid down his throat; even after so many months he wasn’t used to taking them and still detested it, but Heechul insisted that it be done and he couldn’t very well go against Heechul. After grabbing grabbing a granola bar, Kibum left the kitchen and ventured over to the living room. It was still a mess from last night; obviously Donghae hadn’t cleaned up from whatever he and Key had done. Wait a minute…where is Key anyways? Didn’t he spend the night? Kibum wandered curiously. His question was answered when he looked over at the couch by the television where there was a folded blanket and pillow, but no Key. Deciding that the boy had probably left, Kibum decided to go back up to his room, where he found Donghae awake and texting on his phone.

“Is Key still downstairs?” Donghae asked without looking up from his phone. Kibum shook his head no, his mouth full of food, and sat on the end of his bed.

“Nope; I guess he left. What are you doing in here, anyways?” He asked, brushing his hands of any crumbs before flopping backwards. Donghae put his phone aside on the nightstand and crawled over to his brother.

“I was worried about you so I decided to sleep up here. You were crying in yourself when I came up. What were you dreaming about?” He asked. Although he sounded nonchalant about it, since Kibum had stopped crying once he’d laid down with him, he was actually a bit worried. He knew that if Kibum was having nightmares then it was his fault and he’d get in trouble for it.

“Dunno. Anyways, the yard is a mess so let’s get that cleaned up before hyung gets home,” Kibum said, rolling off the side of the bed. Since he didn’t seem too bothered by whatever was plaguing him last night, Donghae let out a mental sigh of relief.

“Okay, I’ll go get dressed then,” He said, darting out the door. Once he was gone, Kibum smiled to himself.

A few hours later, the yard was cleared of all debris and Donghae and Kibum trudged back into the house hot and tired. There were no words between them as they each went to the bathrooms to take cold showers. They were both sweaty and covered in mud, much in need of a cleansing.

Once he was dressed in clean clothes, Kibum headed back downstairs. He glanced towards the hall and since he didn’t hear the shower water running he headed over to Donghae’s room where the door was open. Stepping inside, he saw his brother sitting on his bed staring at his cell phone. He slowly walked closer and then noticed that Donghae’s eyes were misty. There was no need to guess what was wrong, so he sat next to his brother and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

“Just ignore it, Hae,” He said softly. “He’ll come around eventually.”

Donghae glanced at him and nodded slowly, putting his phone on the bed and leaned into Kibum. He closed his eyes, but that didn’t stop the tears from falling.

“But it hurts so much…”

Sorry that it's short, but I thought that we needed a little bit of brotherly love.

Oh, and you guys are catching on to what I'm doing with Key and Kibum ^^

tee hee hee it's coming soon~