A/N: The chapters are growing longer aren't they? Is it too tedious to read?

Jiyong's POV

I've never relied on the use of a cell phone all that much. Calls could be tracked, signal loss, reception failure. Sometimes the voices on the other end isn't clear or background noise is picked up, so I choose to avoid them in general. For some reason, Seunghyun decided to stop using the communication device all together for excuse still unknown today.

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Age 14

Daesung's POV

"So yeah, my parents are going away for the whole weekend on some business trip! Wanna come over for a sleepover?" I was sprawled out on top of my bed with legs kicking high up in the air at the new found freedom. It was Friday night and I was chatting with perhaps my favorite hyung of all time as I watched my parents scramble around the house tidying up in the open bedroom door.

"Sure Daesung, I'd love to." Seunghyun's baritone sound was blaring out of the phone speakers. My smile stretched from ear to ear upon hearing the confirmation.

"Good, come to my house at 11 AM sharp tomorrow. If you're late I won't let you in!" He joined in on my laughter just as my mom zipped up the last suitcase at the house entrance. "Tell mommy you love her!" She cooed while beckoning me to her waiting arms. 

"I love you!" suddenly remembering that Seunghyun was still on the phone, I quickly turned my attention back to the electronic next to my ear. 

"I've got to go, see you at 11!" I quickly hung up on him and left the phone lying on the mattress to bid my farewells to confinement and greetings to independence for the next 48 hours.

Seunghyun's POV

"Good, come to my house at 11AM sharp tomorrow. If you're late I won't let you in!" I gave out a good natured laugh filling the large void of silence that followed right after. Before I could reply, he beat me to it.

"I love you! I've got to go, see you at 11!" The breath I was taking caught in my throat causing me to choke a bit on my own spit. What did he just say? "Dae-" my eardrum was soon echoing an annoying beeping that indicated the line was officially dead, not allowing me to ask him to set things straight.

"Daesung!" I shouted, but the tooting kept interrupting my speech. Daesung loves me? Of course, I can't be sure what type of love he was referring to; but it was enough to shock me away from my half-sleep half-dazed state I've been so amerced in. He means brotherly love right? I chewed my fingernails to the nub as I considered the possibilities.

He could be messing with me for all I know, he recognizes that I make a huge deal out of small things like this so it doesn't make sense that he would choose this kind of taunt. It was also the first time he ever told me that, ever told anyone for that matter. I don't see how agreeing to one of many get togethers would make him shoot the statement around like nothing.

It was 12:30 AM already, so it would be rude to try to consult any of my friends at this point; but I went on doing it anyway.

"Youngbae!" I decided to call someone who would most likely be the most helpful and wouldn't chew my leg off for waking them at this time. The boy on the other end groggily groaned through the phone as I heard him roll off his bed into sitting position.

"What is it Seunghyun hyung" annoyance lacing tightly between the words, I ignored the obvious disapproval to voice my problem with the group's life-observer.

"I need advice. What does it mean when someone tells you they love you?" I crossed my fingers for him not to judge the situation too much to make me reveal anything I didn't need to.

"...It means they love you " as expected of Youngbae to respond with something like that.

"No! How do you know what type of love they mean?" getting to business, I could feel him working the gears in his brain the best he could half past midnight. 

"Hold up... Who exactly are we talking about here?" the ever so dreaded question popped up as I sagged my shoulders for him to not be so nosy. I could either lie and wish for him to continue helping me after, or tell the truth and have a whole lot of complicated sent my way.

"No one in particular." Youngbae let out a sigh at the vauge answer, avoiding problems has always been my specialty. "Please Youngbae..."

"Well, you have to observe her actions to see if she is truly into you or not." it slightly bugged me that he just assumed it was female, which just kept reminding me of how much stranger my bearings are getting. 

"Oh... I see..." There was a pause as Youngbae's curiosity got the best of him again as he went on to ask another thing I could not respond to

"first, do you even love her back?" once again with the 'her'. But I chose to brush it off when encountering lack of sound out of my vocal chords. Did I love him? As a friend yes, but as more? How come I couldn't find myself saying no either. My heart was pumping rather fast.

"I have no idea."  I got the feeling that Youngbae would begin to hate me if I keep this up, but I guess this is how normal people react when they realize that their best friend is gay for them.

"Look, since you aren't going to give me any explanation at all on what's going on. I would like my sleep now." Youngbae clicked the phone off as I was left with yet another monotone screeching, when are people going to stop leaving me hanging?

"Detect Daesung's actions eh? When am I going to do that?" The best time to act would be the sleepover tomorrow. As long as the others don't interfere too much, I might finally get some answers to this heart-racing mystery. But what would I do if it was true?

*the next day*

As promised, I was at Daesung's doorsteps bright and early (for me at least) at 11 AM. I tightened my grip on one of my back pack straps as I pressed onto the door bell. Wind chime music hummed throughout the nearly empty one-story building as I spied Daesung sliding around on the wooden floor towards me.

"Seunghyun! This is the first time you're not late!" The bubbly young boy clapped his hands together in approval as he allowed me into the house. I hesitated at the doorway before stepping inside and kicking off my shoes like old times. Still not completely comfortable, I threw my stuff on the couch and stretched in hopes of easing the nonexistent tension groping at me as Daesung continued to smile cheerfully.

"Yeah... So when are the others coming?" I said to break the silence of being alone with him. Normally I would have been running around testing the new figurines he has collected throughout the month, a hobby the 5 of us had acquired just this year. Daesung and I were basically having a competition on who could obtain the most in a small span, Youngbae did it for the fun, Seungri liked to make the toys himself out of random objects or Lego, and Seungri was basically Jiyong's own little doll that he argued 'for no one to touch and is and forever will be better than ones any of us losers will ever find'. 

"They aren't coming." I froze at the thought of bonding individually with the boy. Something that I didn't particularly mind.

"My parents said I could only have one person over in fear that we would wreck everything, so I chose you." He finished nonchalantly as he went to the kitchen to pass me a can of coke while getting one for himself as well.

Catching the bottle swiftly from the air, I cracked open the lid and took a long, acid filled sip. So he just admitted that I was his favorite out of the 5 then, or at least who he deems the most responsible. But we all knew Youngbae deserved that title, though I guess he COULD be reckless in some areas... Only when it came to winning.

I added the first clue to my mental list of evidence on solving this brainteaser. Daesung was full of secrets I've come to realize. A couple years ago when I had opened up to him fully, his unrevealed information spilled little by little beneath the heart shattering smile. He spoke of not only his sorrows or worries, but of happy things as well. I honestly felt flattered to be one of the exclusive ones who got a peek into Daesung's inner thoughts. Which pointed out another thing about the problem, he isn't the kind to tell something as big as an 'I love you' during the moment, you had to earn it.

"Oh, that's cool." I dealt with the liquid during my dilemma going on right inside of my head. Discarding the aluminum inside the recycling bin, I finally loosened up a bit out of my stiff state to cover the entire sofa with my limps. "What do you feel like doing today?"

"I... Kind of want to play adventure...!" I groaned from my face-down position on the sofa while waving a hand to say otherwise.

"We're too old for that!" I complained as the thought of actually moving struck my mind. Daesung's footsteps drew closer to my side until I felt a pair of hands latch onto my legs to give me a little tug. Kicking and flaring my body, I struggled within his grip as he literally dragged me out into his front yard. I moaned into the ground, eating gravel and dirt the whole way.

"Fine, you win" Getting help from the assaulter I managed to stand on two feet again as the two of us went into all out commando mode, jumping right into character expect for the fact of Daesung never letting go of my hand.

"Sergeant, I think I see some enemy troops arriving this way on the east side of port." Daesung gestured to an upcoming car making a turn for our neighborhood with his free hand. Deciding to follow him, I put on a hard face while scouting for any safe harbors for us to duck into. "There!" I squeezed Daesung's palm in mine while leading us forward down the block, the youth waffling the whole way.

We hopped along the tiles, careful not to step on any of the cracks in the pavement in fear of being electrically shocked by enemy traps. Soon running out of energy on my part, I began to relax my hold on him and put our sprinting to a halt. "Go on without me!" my hand was slipping from his sweat moistened palm as I looked upto his mockingly horrid face.

"I leave no man behind sir!" Swinging my arm around his shoulder, he provided sturdy balance as we limped to safety. I silently wondered when he had gotten so strong, are those muscles I see on his forearms? I hope the guys won't start looking for mine as well once one of them notices.

Getting over the attractive new difference I've witnessed on him, Daesung found some cover from the unforgiving afternoon sun under the open staircase of one of the more wealthy buildings in his complex. It was two stories, so we got shade right beneath the outdoor steps leading to the second floor. The grass was clean and healthy, making our skin cool while lying in its company. It wasn't too big, but just large enough for the two of us to settle nicely, feet kicked out in front as we overlooked the quiet street. I took a note to come back here later on.

"Are you all right commander?" Daesung asked still playing pretend. I shook my head slowly, eyes never leaving my rescuer's. I felt his hand reach out to brush some grass flakes and strands of hair from my less-chubby face. I shuddered under the touch while still staring into his chocolate brown, cheeks warming up despite the cool weeds crowding around my head.

"Here, let's rest." Hand still not leaving mine, he slid down beside me to enjoy the zooming cars together. I noticed his unkempt black hair sticking up in my face slightly as he shifted his head closer to my chest. After this my list would be probably overflowing by now if I wasn't having so much fun. I watched the boy next to me as he counted the amount of red cars that drove by with a light grin playing on his lips.

When day turns to night, we headed back to his living room careful to keep tabs of the new hideout. I came out of the bathroom in my  graphic-T with a dinosaur planted smack in the middle and checkered pajama pants to find Daesung in his doraemon button ups searching through his CD rack for a good movie for us to see.

"Hey Seunghyun, do you want to watch 'The Avengers'?" He asked me while not looking up from the DVD casing, scanning through the blurb mindlessly. I shrugged as I went to pop some popcorn.

"Anything's fine."

So that's how we got to sitting in pitch darkness with the TV blaring out dialog from the actors I didn't really pay much attention to with a huge tub of butter filled popcorn shared sitting on part of each of our laps. I amused myself by stuffing my mouth with the yellow snack and smirking at the way Daesung sprung out of his seat each time an exciting event occurred on screen. 

"They left out Spiderman, forever alone much." I commented while I finished the last of the corn. As if I didn't say anything at all, Daesung's eyes were glued on the characters going through a touching moment I couldn't quite grasp. Darn my slowness at everything. 

Snores from Daesung were evident as he collapsed onto my chest before the credits could roll. I pushed the vacant bowl onto the coffee table to let him sleep on me more comfortably as the CD player switched from DVD mode back to live TV. It seemed that another movie was also playing at the exact same time, Forest Gump.

I really don't get that movie, not just because of my inablility to understand certain concepts. But besides the fact that Forest has helped in all these historical events, is why the girl doesn't fall for him no matter what. I believe love should be blind, not just based on someone's IQ or appearence. Yet she turns away her greatest chance at love just because of one factor.

'love shouldn't be based on gender either' a haunting voice echoed in my mind as my eyes pointed down to the snoozing boy snuggled into my chest. They say that everyone looks younger when they were sleeping, and I would be the first to testify. Daesung's face completely cleared as a soft smile danced around his features, causing me to instinctively trace his lips, nose, and eyes adoringly.

For once, I allowed myself to banish the mental list to the darkest part of my head and just be happy. Be happy that a smiling angel was cradled gently in my arms, be happy that I've grown to gain his trust, be happy that there was the smallest chance that this boy may love me. And be most grateful of all when I feel that maybe... just maybe I loved him too.

*the next day* 

I was gently nudged awake as I opened my eyes to Daesung's face inches away from mine, who jumped off the couch worried that I might murder him for his action. I rolled my eyes before sitting upright on the couch, recalling the previous day's adventure and missing the extra warmth given to me with an added body on top of mine.

"Good morning..." He slightly smiled still in his doraemon pjs. I nodded while searching for a nearby clock. 10:17 AM.

"Well.. I'm going to go make brea-" I held up a hand for him to stop talking. I in cold air while warming it with my over worked blood vessels as my heart beat increased tenfold. Just ask another time, I told myself. 

"About what you said through the phone on Friday..." my expression must have resembled a 'deer in the head lights' as I watched the younger scrunch up his eyebrows together to remember. Please remember so I don't have to continue speaking!

"What about it?" My stomach clenched as I opened my mouth once more, "Well... You kind of..."

"Kind of what?" Daesung cocked his head to the side while his mouth formed a shape of a perfect 'o'

"Kind of said you loved me..." 

The confused expression was still plastered on his face as he thought through the conversation last Friday night. Why did I bring this up before I even knew my real feelings? It was like the angel and devil were pulling at each other in a game of tug-o-war. The angel being the part of me who knew this was wrong and I should have just put the harmless statement behind us like a normal person would have. And the devil telling me that I might as well be selfish just this once and let my heart decide.

From baffled, to troubled, then enlightened, his smile was back brightly lighting up his face as he pointed at me in laughter. I don't see how asking about his feelings is funny, so I continued to stare incredulously at him as he held his gut and the arm of the sofa for support. 

"What?" I had a putout expression masked on my face at his delight. Can't he take anything, especially something like this, seriously at all?

"I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to my mom!" He said between giggles and slaps to the knee. I found myself smiling too, though it was anything but my real emotion I felt tug at the back of my heart

"O-oh! Aha! That's a relief!" I lied while giving out a few chuckles myself. The smile now finally falling from his face, he pointed to the kitchen entrance and and I waved him off to make his food. Spine hitting the back of the sofa, I sighed while running my fingers through my hair in defeat. Thank god I didn't tell him about my thoughts before I cleared that misunderstanding up. 

However, no matter how much I try, I cannot bring myself to smile. I should be happy, glad that I didn't have to deal with such a complicated crisis. And I am... To some extent. I had not only humiliated myself with being so caught up with this the whole sleepover, but deluded my mind to finding my inner feelings for the smiling boy.

What was worse, was the fact that I think the devil was still winning.

Daesung's POV

As I was heading to the kitchen, my head spun around to see the sighing 15 year old popping his white headphones in and bobbing his foot to the beat. he was going to say something, I could feel it. But why didn't he? I tried to push it to the back of my thoughts as my growling hunger called for my full attention.

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I was kind of hurt that Daesung didn't ask ME to go on that sleep over. But I can't be everyone's favorite hyung. What's weirder is that whenever I call Seunghyun for anything at all, he asks me to confirm it a million times before finally hanging up. Seunghyun's dfferent, that's for sure.

A/N: This was the transition where TOP develops feelings for Daesung, so yeah. Hopefully I fulfilled it justice.