Key lay on his back staring at the ceiling of the guest room that he’d been staying in for the past few days. It was much nicer than his own bedroom, with a queen sized, cushiony bed with fluffy pillows and a pretty blanket that was fit for a prince, and a wide window that overlooked the surrounding forest where the curtains were drawn and the panel open to let in a cool, late summer breeze. He really liked being there and had grown to enjoy the homeliness that the house had. Although his parent’s home was much bigger, it lacked the love and family feeling that Heechul’s did. While he did promise his friends to spend the last week of vacation with them, deep down Key wished he could just stay here for longer. But since he realized that his presence was causing Kibum anguish, he figured it would be best to give him some space for a few days.

With that thought on his mind, Key sat up and resumed what he was doing before, gathering up his clothes. Not all of them were his, though. He’d only intended on staying for one night and had only packed one outfit but ended up staying for several days. Heechul had been kind enough to let him borrow some of Donghae and Mir’s clothes, which Key appreciated a lot since they both had much more fashionable clothes than his own (which Heechul had claimed credit for, saying that none of his kids had any sense of style what so ever; so he did their shopping for them).

Glancing at the clock, Key realized he needed to hurry up and leave. He’d stayed later than he’d planned; spending nearly two hours sitting with Kibum until he fell asleep, and Minho was probably wandering where he was. But a knock on the door halted his work, and Key looked up to see Heechul standing in the doorway.

“Leaving soon?” Heechul asked, moving towards the bed and taking a seat next to Key. Key shrugged and set the shirt he was holding aside, wistfully wishing that he could keep it.

“Yeah, I’m going over to my friend Minho’s house tonight,” He explained idly. Heechul nodded and took a deep breath before letting it out, studying Key for a moment before speaking.

“What were you and Kibum talking about earlier? I noticed that you were in his room,” He said carefully. He hadn’t been pleased when Donghae had said that Key was in Kibum’s room again, especially after he’d warned the boy twice to stay away from Kibum. It was already bad enough that he’d seen Kibum’s meltdown, and Heechul didn’t want him to get Kibum worked up again.

“We didn’t really talk about anything because he was crying. But he said that I’m mean to him, and I don’t think he really likes me that much,” Key confessed frankly.

“And why would you think that?” Heechul pressed, his eyes hazing over slightly as his protective side began to stir. Key shrugged and kept his mouth shut for a minute.

“Because, I sometimes I say things without realizing that they can be hurtful. I guess I was being mean to him, but not on purpose,” He replied, smiling sheepishly.

But Heechul didn’t buy that for a minute. He frowned and raised his eyebrows, umma senses tingling.

“Really? Tell me, Key, didn’t you say that sometimes your friend’s parents let you stay over a lot?” Heechul asked him.

“Yeah, my friend Minho’s parents took care of me a lot growing up. My parents didn’t really care what I did or where I was, so the Choi’s took me in more often than not,” Key confirmed.

“So they kind of raised you, didn’t they? Taught you manners and morals?” Heechul inquired, talking in his motherly, lecture voice.

“Yeah, I guess,” Key replied in a quieter voice. He didn’t understand where this was going or what it had to do with anything, but Heechul cleared that up quite quickly.

“So what do you think they would say if they knew you were acting like an impudent brat?”

Key’s eyes widened slightly as the words struck him and he quickly shut his mouth tight.

“Don’t sit here and lie to my face saying that you didn’t know that you were being mean to Kibum. I know your type, Key, and you don’t fool me for a second. You knew that whatever you’ve been saying to him was hurtful, and that’s what you wanted. Now, I’d say that this is strike two in my book and if you pull another stunt like this then there will be no more coming over, no more Donghae, Mir, or Kibum,” Heechul lectured harshly. “Unlike them you have the ability to easily make friends, which is something they all want to badly. All three of them are so desperate for friends that they look past your faults. But I’ll be damned if I let anyone come and treat them any less than what they deserve.”

Key lowered his his head, his eyes clouded and dark. Heechul was right, he did purposely try to hurt Kibum, but he just couldn’t help himself. He didn’t even know why he felt the need to act that way, and only towards Kibum out of all people. Kibum who had only ever been nice to him and tried to be there, and all Key had done was treat him like garbage when Key of all people knew how it felt to be treated that way because of his parents. And because of this, Key felt ashamed.

Never in his entire life had he actually been lectured by anyone. The only form of punishment he’d ever received was beatings from his father and harsh, degrading words from his mother, but that didn’t actually count as punishment because he’d never done anything to deserve that. And any other time, whether it be at school or getting into a fight with one of his friends, none of the adults felt the need to punish him, knowing very well what happened at home. So to get this from Heechul just made it feel that much worse.

“I’m sorry,” Key murmured, not able to lift his head and look Heechul in the eyes.

“It’s not me you need to be apologizing to. And if you’re sorry, then why did you do it in the first place?” Heechul responded, and Key shrugged his shoulders.

“Because…It’s just that…I’m jealous,” He said quietly. Heechul gave him a questioning look and he quickly continued, “Donghae and Kibum aren’t even your real kids, but you gave them a good life…a life that I never had.”

Heechul nodded slightly; he’d suspected this to come around sooner or later. He’d known the entire time that Key wasn’t coming around just because he was friends with Donghae and Mir, but because he wanted to be a part of their bond. After hearing several stories of what Key went through at home and how he’d never known what a real parent was, Heechul figured that Key was drawn to their family, because it was something he’d never had and wanted very much. But what he didn’t realize was that he did have a family; his friends, and that was the best type of family anyone could ask for.

“I know your parents aren’t worth anything, but you have a good life outside of that. You have lots of friends that love you, and you said it yourself that their families love you too. You’re not as alone as you think, Key. You just need to see what’s in front of you. Understand?” Heechul explained. Key nodded and quickly wiped away a tear that had escape, and Heechul smiled softly and held out his arms to give Key a much needed hug.

 As Heechul and Key left the house, Kibum awoke in his bedroom. He groaned softly coming to his senses, because the first thing he became aware of was the pounding ache of his head and the burning feeling from his eyes from crying so much. But despite how crappy he felt, nature called so he slowly sauntered out of his room, grimacing at the brightness of the hall light. After a quick stop to the bathroom, Kibum headed downstairs to the kitchen to get something to drink. He poured himself a glass of milk and brought it to his lips, feeling somewhat better as the cold liquid moved through his body, waking his senses up for good.

Milk in hand, he trudged out of the kitchen, ready to go back to his room and crawl in bed. But as he reached the stairs, he heard the distant sound of a television playing from down the hall, and decided to go see what Donghae was up to first since he hadn’t seen his brother since yesterday morning. The door was open so he shuffled in, where Donghae was lying on his stomach watching one of his favorite Disney movies.

“Bummie! What are you doing down here?” Donghae asked happily, quickly sitting up as Kibum set his drink on the nightstand and crawled onto the bed.

“Nothing. Just wanted to see you,” Kibum replied quietly, massaging his temples as his headache raged on. Donghae frowned unhappily when he saw Kibum’s disheveled look, his eyes were swollen and bloodshot and he looked exhausted.

“You look really bad. What’s been going on?” Donghae asked worriedly. Kibum shrugged and leaned back against the headboard, his dry lips.

“I just…I’ve been having really hard time lately,” Kibum told him, pulling Donghae’s blanket around his body. Donghae nodded slowly and scoot closer to his brother so they were sitting side by side. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but shut it just as quickly and pausing before trying again.

“Did I do something?” He asked timidly, glancing at his brother uncertainly. His heart sank when Kibum nodded his head and looked anywhere else but his eyes. There was no hiding that it hurt his feelings to hear that, but Donghae accepted the reality. He knows better than anyone how sensitive his brother was, but regardless of that fact he knew that there were going to be times where they hurt each other, intentionally or not; it was just part of life. But the only way that they were going to be able to move on and make their relationship stronger was to talk about it, so Donghae asked Kibum what he had done to contribute to this sadness.

Kibum explained how he’d been feeling from when Donghae had come back home and all the drama that had ensued. How much it had hurt when both Donghae and Heechul had yelled at him and pushed him away, especially when he of all people knew how alone that Donghae had been feeling and could have helped, because all he’d wanted was to be there just like they’d been there for him.

“And I depend so much on you and hyung for support. I always count on you guys to be optimistic and see the brighter side of things when I can’t, so when you aren’t…it just really affects me and I don’t know why,” Kibum finished up, wiping tears from his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how much you depended on me,” Donghae said quietly. He wrapped his arms around Kibum and held him tightly. He could feel tear drops wet his shirt, but said nothing and just continued to hold his brother lovingly.

“I’m tired of feeling like this,” Kibum said eventually. “I hate not having any control and having to take stupid medication to be normal.”

As fresh tears spilled over, Donghae kissed his head and patted his back comfortingly. He felt a sense of responsibility right then and the need to act like a grown up, because right now Kibum needed his big brother.

“Sometimes life is hard and it’s not easy to see the bright side of things. But I’m always going to be here for you, Kibum, and protect you from anything. And even if sometimes we get mad at each other, just know that no matter what I’ll always love you,” Donghae said quietly.

And later that night when Heechul came back home, he found the two of them sleeping together peacefully in Donghae’s bed, cuddled up to each other like babies.

 I'm going with the less angst path, sticking with the original plan. But there will be a little bit of drama, but nothing major. However, I will be writing the angst/major drama way it could have gone in Extras, so make sure you're still subscribed to that.