A roll of thunder swept through the dark grey clouds that filled the sky like a sea of dreariness. It was early evening and a late thunderstorm was drawing closer and closer after a day of rain showers. Unfortunately, this meant that Heechul had forbidden Mir and Kibum to go out and play, knowing that they would just come back inside soaking wet and covered in mud, leaving him a big mess to have to clean. So for a good majority of the day, the two brothers sat around the living room watching lame horror movies and playing some old board games that they’d found in the basement. However, their patience only lasted for so long, and by five-thirty they were already restless and jittery.

Mir sighed for the fifth time that hour and longingly looked out the window, watching as rain droplets pelted the glass and caused it to rattle. The need to go outside and have fun was so overwhelming and just didn’t understand why his umma would not let them go out and play (besides the fact that Heechul had spent the entire day before mopping the floors and cleaning the walls). As much as he loved watching movies, especially scary ones since Kibum always got freaked, he just wanted to go out and burn off some of his energy. Maybe if I whine long enough mama will let us go out and play. Hmm…sounds like a plan! He thought triumphantly, moving to stand up from his spot on the floor.

“Umma, I’m bored! Entertain me,” Mir whined, walking over to where Heechul was sitting in his chair reading a book. Kibum glanced over at them curiously, instantly recognizing what Mir was doing since he did it often enough. And generally it always worked.

“Mir, I’m reading a book, go entertain yourself,” Heechul told him, glancing up from his book for just a moment. Mir jutted out his lip in a pout and crossed his arms, stomping his foot childishly.

“But, Mama! There’s nothing to do!” He complained in a whiny voice.

“Oh, so then you don’t need your phone, 3DS, iPod, television, xBox, Wii, or any of that?” Heechul replied in his umma voice.

“No,” Mir replied easily. He and Heechul locked gazes for a minute, neither of them blinking until finally Heechul sighed and set down his book, knowing that he was never going to finish it if Mir was around.

“Alright, fine. You two can go out and play in the rain,” He finally agreed exasperatedly. Kibum and Mir cheered loudly before he continued, “But if you dirty my clean floors I will beat you.”

“Come on, let’s go!” Kibum exclaimed, grabbing Mir’s hand and running for the front door. Neither of them even waited until they were away from the house to start splashing in puddles, because as soon as they stepped onto the front porch after walking out of the door they both leaped off the steps into the puddles on the ground. From then on it was a race into the woods, a competition to see who could step into the most puddles without a care in the world.

They whooped and hollered as the wind and rain blew in their faces, their bodies fueling on an adrenaline rush that put them in the best high.

“Aaghh! Let go, there’s a tree and I can’t stop!” Mir shrieked gleefully as they ran straight towards a large oak tree. Kibum quickly let go of Mir’s hand just in time for them to part ways and pass by the tree safely. As they scrambled to a halt, both nearly falling forward into the ground, they burst into a happy laughter that rang throughout the trees, echoing in the vast nature.

“Oh, God,” Kibum gasped between breaths as they calmed down their laughs, “We are such idiots, Mir. Who gets that excited from playing in the rain?”

“Apparently we do,” Mir said, giggling at their childish acts. Kibum grinned and held out his hand, which Mir took happily.

“Let’s go to the park. The bottom of the hill always gets a really big puddle,” He suggested with a sparkle in his eyes. Mir agreed eagerly and together they walked into town and made their way over to the park. The streets were pretty empty, just a few people walking home from long days of work with umbrellas in hand.

As the hill neared into sight, so did something else; something completely unexpected. Sitting on the bench at the bottom of the hill was Key, knees drawn up and he was soaking wet. Mir was the first one to spot him and when he did he scoffed in distaste and pulled on Kibum’s arm to stop him from walking, which alerted the older boy to whom else was there with them.

“Come on, let’s just go home,” Mir said, glaring in Key’s direction. He wanted nothing to do with that boy, not even to walk near him. Key was so rude and a jerk and had no right to call Kibum a murderer when he didn’t even know him. He was bad news, and Mir could tell that even after only meeting him once.

As Mir tugged Kibum’s arm, turning him around so they could leave, Kibum glanced back one last time. Maybe his vision was failing, or perhaps he was just imagining it, but…Is Key crying? Kibum wondered, pulling his arm away from Mir’s grip.

“Hey, what are you doing, Kibum? Don’t walk over there!” Mir whispered urgently, looking aghast when Kibum started walking away.

“Don’t worry about it; I’ll be back in a minute. Trust me,” Kibum said, walking backwards and giving Mir an encouraging smile. As he drew closer to Key, Kibum could clearly see that there were tears rolling down the boy’s face; it definitely wasn’t rain. When presence became known, Key hastily wiped his eyes and sat up straight and narrowed his eyes at Kibum.

“What do you want?” Key said as Kibum came to a stop in front of him. Kibum almost pitied him; it was a sight for sore eyes. He was soaked to the bone, water was even dripping onto his eyelashes from his sleek black haircut and his clothes were practically clinging to his body. When Kibum looked at Key’s clothes, he frowned slightly. Why is he wearing jeans and a hoodie in the middle of the summer? I know it’s cooler from the rain today, but it’s still seventy-three degrees right now.

“Well, I was just wondering if everything was okay. It looked like you were crying,” Kibum told him, shuffling his feet nervously, wiping some of the rain out of his face. It seemed to be coming down even harder. Key stood up so that he and Kibum were face to face, less than a foot between them. Key smirked cockily with a glint in his eyes and sleeked closer Kibum so that they could feel each other’s breath on their faces.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” He whispered in a low, husky voice.

Without warning, Key placed his hands on Kibum’s chest and shoved him backwards. Kibum stumbled and lost balance, toppling backwards into a large puddle. With an entirely baffled expression, Kibum looked up Key angrily.

“Why’d you do that?!” He exclaimed, peeved, as he stood back up. “I was only asking if you were okay!”

“Why do you even care, murderer?” Key hissed before he turned and walked away, and Kibum stalked back over to Mir who was waiting for him by the gates.

“Mir, let’s go!” Kibum growled, stomping past him. Mir quickly followed after him, biting back a grin when he saw a big wet print on Kibum’s .

“Kibum, why’d you go talk to him? He’s a mean person, obviously. You are supposed to avoid people like him. He’s trouble,” Mir reasoned rationally. Because that what he was taught by everyone he knew. All his parents told him to avoid people who weren’t nice to him, so did his brothers who always looked out for him. And yet there Kibum went and got pushed into a puddle.

“You wouldn’t understand, Mir. Just drop it; I don’t want to talk about it,” Kibum snapped, feeling irate about the entire situation.

Trouble? Key was trouble, yeah, Kibum could see that easily. But wasn’t he trouble as well? When Heechul first found him in the park, a drug overdosed teen with an attitude, he surely thought that Kibum was trouble and yet here they were almost a year later, a happy family that loved each other.

Kibum didn’t know what Key’s deal was, but one thing was for sure. Seeing that boy sitting on a bench in the park alone in the rain, crying and looking completely bleak and deplorable, Kibum couldn’t help but remember something from a long time ago.

“Shouldn’t it make you feel better that someone does care about you?”

The memory stuck out in his mind like it was yesterday. It was almost like destiny, because if Heechul had never walked by him in that park on that rainy day, and if Kibum had not gotten a fever and called Heechul as a last result, and if Heechul had never come to his rescue and offered him a home and a second chance…where would he be now? Still that anorexic, drug addicted depressed boy? Or perhaps the darkness would have completely conquered him by then and he’d have finally commit suicide successfully. Would anyone have found him, or would his body be rotting in that house? That hellish prison that he once called home?

Just thinking about any of it made his eyes well up with tears that he couldn’t stop. Mir glanced at him sideways and reached for his hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze that Kibum didn’t respond to. Mir just didn’t understand; he probably never would. Donghae would, though, because he knew what it was like to be alone and to cry alone with no one there to care. Seeing such a sight that reminded him of himself, and knowing the love that Heechul had shown him, Kibum couldn’t bring himself to just walk away.

When they got back home, Kibum stormed through the front door and instantly headed towards the stairs. As his stomps echoed throughout the house, Heechul sauntered out of the living room with a bemused expression on his face, looking at Mir curiously. Mir shrugged and just pointed upstairs before walking towards the bathroom.

Once upstairs, Heechul knocked twice on Kibum’s door and slowly pushed it open. What he found was Kibum sitting on his bed with his head in his hand, shoulders softly shaking as sobs wracked his body. Heechul tutted and went over to sit next to him on the bed, gently placing his hand on Kibum’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Kibum? Why are you crying?” He asked soothingly. Kibum looked up at him with a distressed look on his face, open and closed his mouth twice before just shaking his head and Heechul wrapped his arms around him comfortingly.

“I’m so lucky I have you, hyung,” Kibum whispered shakily, burying his head into Heechul’s shoulder.

Because just the thought of life without Heechul, had he not found Kibum in that park and took him in, that thought was absolutely terrifying. A new nightmare that sent a chill through his spine.

“Did something happen? Did Mir do something to upset you?” Heechul asked him. It was a little surprising for Kibum to be upset; he hadn’t cried in so many months now, all thanks to the medication he was on; it helped him balance things out so depression didn’t cloud his mind.

“No, Mir didn’t do anything. I just…I don’t know,” Kibum replied quietly. And they just sat there together for awhile, and soon enough the warmth of Heechul’s arms wrapped around him disintegrated the anxiety.

Because it didn’t matter what would have happened, because everything did happen so there was no point in thinking about the what if’s.

And Kibum would do it all over again in a heartbeat.