They waited for a while. One week turned into two, and then suddenly three weeks had passed. Every day Hoya did the same thing. He woke up, he ate, he left for work, and then he did research all day until it was time to return home.

Dongwoo was slightly worried. He had a gnawing fear in the back of his mind that the younger man was falling back into a schedule. Every day, when they reached the apartment a little after nine, Hoya would collapse on the couch and would be sleeping by the time Myungsoo and Sungyeol came in, not even a full minute after them. He would say goodnight to the couple, and then walk over to stand beside the couch. He cuddled up beside the sleeping figure and threw an arm on top of him. And although at some point during the night, Hoya would hug Dongwoo closer, it didn't lessen his fear.

He didn't want Hoya to drift away, after all he had done and all he had gained from forming a close bond with the other.

But, he knew that no matter what he did, it wouldn't help. Until the case was over and Sungyeol was safe, Hoya would be immersed in his own little world.

Dongwoo hoped the day would come soon.

“I swear I'm reteaching you the alphabet.”

“You might actually want to do that.” Woohyun advised, playing with a paddle ball he had found in the back of the shop. “I think you'd have more luck with that.”

Sungyeol crossed his arms. “I'm slow, not stupid.”

“If that makes you feel better, then you can say it all you want.” Woohyun dodged a projectile pencil. “Hey! That could have killed me! Dongwoo, I think your student needs to go to the principal's office.”

The old man at the register rolled his eyes. “Kids these days.” He'd been kicked out of his office by Hoya and instead worked as the cashier. Business had doubled. Now, they saw almost twenty people in one day due to Sungyeol, Woohyun and Dongwoo. People enjoyed their antics and came by daily to say hello.

A middle-aged woman walked into the store and headed straight for the back. “Is Sungyeol here?”

The boy jumped up. “It's the lady!” He ran over and threw his arms around the woman. “What did you get me this time?” He asked, not even making the attempt to be polite. After all, he had met the woman by accidentally dropping a bag of flour on her. He'd apologized, but she'd told him not to worry about it. So, he didn't. He had dropped all honorfics around the woman. For some reason, she loved it.

“Child, you grow a foot everytime I see you.” She tsked, noting the huge height difference between herself and the boy. She pulled out a plastic bag. “I brought some things.”

Sungyeol grinned widely. “What's in it?”

“I remembered how you were doing badly with your studies, so I got you three books on math.”

“Boo.”

“And chocolate.”

“I love you!” Sungyeol snatched the candy from her hand and gave her a peck on the cheek before settling on the floor.

Dongwoo sighed and accepted the textbooks. “Thank you very much.”

“Don't mention it.” The woman gave a laugh. “Kids like that make me feel young. Now, I think I'll need some assistance getting food today.”

Woohyun made his way to his feet. “I'll do it.” He walked over and linked arms with the woman. “What does my favorite customer need today?”

Dongwoo stared at Sungyeol. “Gigolo.” He muttered.

“Hey, it makes her happy.” He replied, gently peeling down the wrapper of one of many chocolate bars.

“You know what else would make her happy?”

“What?”

“If we opened these books and you started learning.”

“No!”

Sungjong reached the store a little earlier than usual. When asked, he whined that none of his friends wanted to do anything, so he would just have to deal with boredom. Woohyun pouted and turned away, and the four made their usual circle in the middle of the lobby. No one else would be coming; the old man had already left.

Sungyeol took yet another candy bar from the bag.

“Aren't you going to save anything for Myungsoo?” Woohyun questioned.

“Of course.” Sungyeol flipped his bangs out of his eyes. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?” He reached into the back to pull out another treat and came up empty. He picked the bag up and looked inside. “Dammit. Well, I'll just give him something else.”

Three pairs of eyes widened at the teen.

“A kiss!” He shouted, standing up to throw the bag away. “You all need to get your minds out of the gutter.”

“Or you need to stop being so innocent.” Sungjong snapped.

Sungyeol turned and the two began a glaring competition. I lasted a long time, until Myungsoo entered and Sungjong was declared winner.

Sungyeol diregarded the loss and ran over to the tired man. “Hey, L. So I got some candy today, but I kind of ate it all.”

Myungsoo smirked. “That's okay. I wasn't in the mood for sweets anyway.”

Sungyeol grinned as his hair was mussed. “You're awesome.” He pulled the man over to the circle and they both sat down.

Sunggyu walked in an hour later and all but collapsed beside Woohyun.

“Long day?” The man murmured, Sunggyu's soft face.

The suited man nodded and closed his eyes.

“This is boring.” Sungjong announced. His eyes suddenly lit up. “We should play truth or dare.”

“No.” The reply was unanimous.

Sungjong pouted. “You all are no fun.”

“We can go home.” Hoya suggested from the front door.

Dongwoo stared at the man. Usually they had to force him to leave. “Are you sure?”

The man shrugged. “There's nothing else for me to do here. We may as well leave.”

Dongwoo bit his lip as a flash of resignation showed on the other's face befoe he turned quickly, facing the exit. “All right. You ready to go?”

Sungyeol yawned and stretched, forcing Myungsoo to duck his head to avoid being hit. “Yeah. Let's go home.”

The remaining three waved as the group left, promising to lock up when they decided to go. Hoya threw them the key and hurried out.

Dongwoo had to walk pretty fast to keep up with the man. Every so often he looked up and saw that the other's face was devoid of any emotion. He sighed. In the back, he could hear Sungyeol and Myungsoo panting lightly as they tried to keep up.

Hoya practically sprinted up the stairs. Dongwoo was fairly sure that the man had been on a track team at some point. He pushed the doors open and saw that the man was frozen in front of the door. He ran over and saw the slightly square-shaped face with more life in it than in the past weeks. He followeed the brown eyes to stare at a manila envelope on the floor, stamped in red with 'IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED'. “Is that...”

Hoya turned to face the other man, his face lit with a smile. “This is it.”

A/N: I apologize. It's short. But, I just needed to get this bit over with. I think the next part will probably be longer. 

Haven't got that much longer to go!