Changjo and Yongguk were leaving school together when they ran into Bomi again. Changjo let out a small sigh, but walked over to his sister nonetheless. As he was heading over to her though, Yongguk grabbed Changjo’s arm, stopping him from walking away.

“Where are you going?” Yongguk asked.

“Noona’s going to take me home.”

“I’ll take you home,” Yongguk said as he started to lead Changjo away from his sisters’ direction and over to his car.

Changjo shook Yongguk’s hand off, but Yongguk quickly grabbed him again. Bomi noticed what was happening and quickly stepped in to stop it.

“I don’t know what is going on with you two, since just yesterday you guys were having in your car,” Bomi said as she looked at Yongguk, “but if Changjo wants to come with me then he will come with me and you will not stop him.” She finished as she stared Yongguk down, not wavering under his strong gaze. Even though he was taller than her and she knew that he could easily take her down, she felt like she still had to help her younger brother out if he looked like he was in trouble.

Yongguk his teeth before turning away from the two. He was annoyed that Changjo was acting so distant today, and that he wasn’t getting any, but he figured he would let it go for now.

“Just call me when you get home,” Yongguk said before he walked away to his car. A small smile broke out on Changjo’s face after Yongguk said that, because he knew that was his hyung’s way of saying that he cared about him. He made a mental note to make sure to call him after he fixed everything with his Key appa.

It didn’t take long to get home, but once they were sitting outside of his house he didn’t want to leave the car. Changjo thought that he would have figured out what he was going to say to his Key appa by now, but instead he was still as lost as before. He didn’t want to hurt his appa anymore, especially after seeing him breakdown this morning; he also didn’t know how to make things right either.

“Are you going to get out or do you want to come home with me?” Bomi asked, a teasing tone in her voice.

“You’re not coming in?” Changjo really didn’t want to go in alone, he was sort of hoping Bomi was coming in with him.

“Nah, appa told me just to drop you off because Kibum is home.”

Changjo didn’t say anything else. He simply nodded his head to his sister before gathering his courage to get out of the car and face the music. When Changjo got inside, however, his Key appa wasn’t there.

“Key appa! Key appa, I’m home!” Changjo called out, hoping that his appa would come out to greet him, but sure enough he wasn’t home. His car was still in the driveway, though. So Changjo didn’t understand how he couldn’t be home. Since his appa wasn’t home at the moment, he figured that this would be the best time to call Yongguk. That’s because he knew once his Key appa got home, he would have his phone taken away anyway. So Changjo quickly dialed the number he knew by heart by this point and waited for his hyung to pick up; it didn’t take long.

“Yoboseyo.”

“Hey hyung. I just got home, so I’m calling you like you asked me to.”

“Is your sister gone?”

“Huh? Oh yea. She just dropped me off and went home. Why?”

“I was just thinking that if you’re alone, I would come and kidnap you,” Yongguk said, letting out a small laugh.

Changjo bit his bottom lip lightly, thinking. He would love to hang out with his hyung, but he really needed to make things right with his appa first. So, even though he didn’t want to, he turned his hyung down.

“We can’t hang out today hyung. It’s not a good day.”

“Why? You were acting distant in school and after school today; now you’re saying you don’t want to be with me?!”

“What?! Hyung, I didn’t say that! I’m just saying…”

“Don’t worry Changjo-ah, I know exactly what you’re saying. Have fun doing whatever is more important than me.” Yongguk interrupted and hung up before Changjo could even respond. Changjo didn’t understand why Yongguk was so upset, but he immediately tried to call him back so that he could make things right. His call went straight to voicemail, however. Changjo tried multiple times, but each time he got the same result.

“What’s wrong with him? Why was he so upset?” Changjo thought out loud to himself as he lay on his bed, facing the ceiling. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I just told him we couldn’t hang out today.” Changjo was soon brought out of his thoughts when he heard the front door opening and closing. He quickly stood from his bed, but stopped himself from leaving his room.

He didn’t know what he was going to say or how his appa would react when he saw him and he was nervous. Changjo’s took a deep breath before leaving his room, deciding that he was going to have to face his appa eventually and that he rather just get it over with. Once he found his appa in the kitchen though, making dinner like any normal day, his breath caught in his throat and his palms started to become sweaty.

Key noticed Changjo when he turned around to go and get something out of the fridge. He gave him a small smile before going back to cooking dinner, trying his best to forget about what happened this morning.

“How was school Changjo? I’m surprised to see you home so early. You didn’t have any plans with your boyfriend?” Key asked, not facing Changjo and trying to keep his voice sounding as normal as possible.

He was able to fool Changjo though, because Changjo had no clue what was going on. He couldn’t understand why he Key appa was acting like nothing happened this morning. Changjo didn’t know how to handle the situation, so he walked over to his appa, cell phone in hand.

“Here you go appa,” Changjo said as he held out his phone, waiting for Key to take it.

“Keep it. You won’t be able to talk to your boyfriend if I take it right?” Key said as he turned to him, with a smile on his face. Changjo knew something was wrong, but he didn’t want to ruin what seemed like his appa’s good mood. He did, however, still want to apologize.

“Key appa, about what I said this morning…”

“It’s already forgotten. You only said that because you were in shock right?”

Changjo’s eyes went wide before returning to normal as he nodded his head and mumbled out a ‘neh.’ “So it’s fine. You should go relax until dinner is ready. Oh and Ricky and his boyfriend are coming over today. Just so you know,” Key said before returning to cooking dinner.

Changjo didn’t have anything else to say so he simply went into his room and decided to work on some homework until dinner was ready. He didn’t care that his appa was acting a little strange either, since he was back to normal, or somewhat normal. It wasn't long before Key called Changjo for dinner. Changjo left his room and saw that Himchan and Ricky were already there.

"Hey Ricky." Changjo said as he sat down at the table, hoping that he might even be able to fix his relationship with his best friend, now that he was here.

"Hey." Ricky knew it would be rude not to respond and he was going to be as polite as possible since Changjo's father was doing him a favor. He didn’t have anything to say to Changjo, but again would try and make conversation with him; for the sake of Key helping Himchan.

“How are you?” Ricky asked and Changjo was somewhat surprised that Ricky was initiated the conversation.

Maybe it won’t be that hard to make him forgive me after all. Changjo thought to himself. “I’m fine. If I knew you and Himchan hyung were coming over I would have invited Yongguk hyung,” Changjo said, even though he knew that his Key appa would never approve of Yongguk coming back over again.

“Why don’t you call him? He might still be able to make it; his house isn’t that far from here right?” Key then said and Changjo now knew that something was really wrong with his appa. He knew that he basically hated Yongguk, but now he was telling him to invite him over; this was far from Key’s normal actions and it was scaring Changjo.

“Umm…no it’s fine. He has a lot of work to do, so he wouldn’t be able to make it anyway,” Changjo said softly, also remembering the slight argument they had over the phone a couple of hours ago.

“Hmm. Ok then.”  Key looked across the table to Himchan and gave the boy a sad smile. He was remembering what Ricky had told him yesterday and from the looks of Himchan’s face, he could tell that he probably got it bad last night. Key decided that he would wait until after dinner, however, to bring it up.

Dinner progressed with very little conversation; Jonghyun had even made it home just in time to start eating as the rest of them were close to finishing. He was so happy to see that Key was still there and that he had calmed down since that morning. Jonghyun was actually really nervous all day that Key was going to run away; even though he took his car keys, but for some reason he couldn’t remember if Key knew how to hotwire a car or not. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he did know, however. Key was always someone full of surprises; that’s one of the reasons that Jonghyun fell for him.

Once dinner was over and the dishes were in the sink, Key went into the living room to get Himchan. The other four guys were all watching Music Bank in the living room when Key came in.

“Himchan-ah, can I talk to you for a second?” Key asked and everyone looked at him confused, except for Ricky.

“Ah…neh.” Himchan was hesitant, but got up from his spot next to Ricky, nonetheless.

“Oh and Jonghyun could you please do the dishes? I didn’t get around to doing them yet.”

“I’m watching this right now Key. I have to look and see who Bomi’s competition for next week is going to be. Oh good! They’re having their goodbye stage! They won’t be on next week!” Jonghyun said as the next group came on. Key simply smiled and nodded.

“Ok, I’ll do them then,” he said before turning his attention back to Himchan, “Come with me.” Key tried to put a soft smile on his face, so that Himchan wouldn’t worry; even though the conversation they were going to have wasn’t going to be a good one. He brought him into his bedroom and closed the door so that they would have some privacy.

Himchan had no clue what was going on, but he was getting more nervous by the second. Key sat on the edge of his bed and patted the space next to him for Himchan to sit.

“It’s fine. I think it would be best if I stand,” Himchan said nervously, but Key shook his head and patted the spot next to him again.

“Come, sit. I would be more comfortable if you sat down.” Himchan wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before walking over to the bed and sitting next to Key. Once he was seated Key decided to not waste any more time and just start speaking.

“Himchan, there’s something that I have to talk to you about and there’s no easy way for me to say this, so I’m just going to come out and say it,” Key said as he placed one hand gently on Himchan’s cheek and looked the younger boy in the eyes. Before Key could do anything else though, Himchan took a hold of his wrist and removed Key’s hand from his face.

“Umm… Kibum sir… I’m really flattered, but I’m dating Ricky and you’re married. You’re really good looking, but…”

“Wait, what? You thought I was hitting on you?!” Key exclaimed, taken aback by what Himchan was saying.

“Aren’t you? I mean you brought me in your bedroom, closed the door, and we’re sitting on your bed.”

“Oh my God! I brought you in here so we could have some privacy. I figured you wouldn’t want everyone hearing your business. Would you have felt better if I brought you in the bathroom?” Key said as he started laughing. He couldn’t believe that Himchan actually thought he was hitting on him.

“Oh…I’m sorry. I just thought…”

“It’s fine. Really. Thanks though, for the compliment. I’m glad to know that you think I’m really good looking,” Key said as he tried to calm down and stop laughing. Himchan started to blush slightly, but Key knew that his cheeks were probably redder than he could see.

“Sorry…what did you want to talk about then?”

The smile slowly started to fade from Key’s face as he remembered why he had brought Himchan in his room. He took a deep breath and got his thoughts in order before speaking again.

“Himchan, the reason I brought you in here is because Ricky asked me to talk to you. He’s worried about you.”

Himchan’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t say anything just yet. He didn’t know what exactly Ricky had told Key and he wasn’t going to give himself up if Key didn’t actually know anything.

“Why would he be worried about me? I’m fine,” Himchan said, pretending to not know what Key was talking about, even though he had a hunch. Key let out a sigh before getting up and getting a small cloth from his vanity table.

“Your father abuses you, doesn’t he?” Key said, getting straight to the point.

“What? No, of course not. Ricky must’ve been mistaken when he talked to you,” Himchan said as he continued to deny what Key was saying. Key simply shook his head before raising the cloth to Himchan’s cheek and wiping the makeup off of it. Himchan quickly covered his now exposed bruise and stopped Key from wiping his other cheek. Key got up to throw the cloth away, before coming back and slowly lowering Himchan’s hand from his face, revealing the large purple-ish bruise.

“It must’ve hurt a lot when he hit you,” Key said in a low voice, trying to comfort Himchan and not scare him away.

“How…how were you able to tell I was covering it up?”

“I’ve been a stylist for many years; I can always tell when someone is wearing makeup.”

Himchan felt embarrassed to be so exposed to Key. No one knew that his father would hit him like this, even though it didn’t happen often. “So, what do we do now?” Himchan asked, not knowing what Key’s plans were.

“Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to the police?”

Himchan shook his head no, not surprising Key in the least. “Well, do you at least want to move out? I mean you’re nineteen years old already, so that makes you a legal adult.”

“I don’t have enough money, yet. I’ve been working a part time job on the weekends, but I don’t have enough for two months rent and the deposit.”

“How much do you need?” Key asked seriously.

“Another 200,000 ₩. I only have enough for the deposit right now.”

Key then got up and fished his checkbook out of one of his drawers. He started to fill out the check until Himchan quickly snatched it out of his hand.

“No, I don’t want to take your money,” Himchan said as he slowly gave back the checkbook and bowed slightly, to apologize for his rude behavior. Key had a small smile on his face as he ruffled Himchan’s hair softly.

“It’s ok, stop bowing. Are you sure you don’t want the check? I don’t mind giving it to you?”

Himchan shook his head again before asking “Why are you being so nice to me? We’ve only met twice and it’s not like I’m dating Changjo. So why?”

“Because I’ve been in the same situation, but unlike you, I did some unfavorable things to earn money and move out as quickly as I possibly could.”

“Your…your father hit you too?”

Key shook his head. “No, my mother. I got out by the end of middle school though. I don’t know how long you’ve put up with this, but if I can help you get out I would like to.”

“But, what will happen after the first two months pass. Are you going to keep paying for it?” Himchan knew he would be able to raise the next month’s rent by that point, but he just wanted to make Key see how unreasonable he was being.

“I’ll keep paying for it until you can support yourself. I seriously don’t mind.”

Himchan let out a sigh before bowing again. “Thank you for your generosity and concern, but I rather not take your money and just handle my home situation on my own. He doesn’t hit me often and once I graduate, I plan on getting some scholarships and going away to college,” Himchan said as he stood up straight and looked Key in the eye with determination. Key patted him on the shoulder and gave him a small smile.

“Ok. I told Ricky that you wouldn’t change your mind if you talked to me, but it was worth a shot, right? Now come, let me fix you makeup so no one out there knows, but if I can offer a word of advice,” Key stopped and sat Himchan on the chair in front of his vanity table.

“Yea.”

“Don’t leave Ricky in the dark. That boy really cares about you and it might even help you to have someone to rely on and talk to about this. Even if you don’t want to report it or press charges, just talking to someone that you care about will make you feel better. Ricky would probably also be sad if he found out you were keeping things from him,” Key said, trying to give his best advice to Himchan as he fixed up his makeup. Once he was done, he put the makeup back in its original spots and Himchan checked his face out in the mirror.

“Wow, you did a really good job.”

“Of course I did! This is my job! Anyway about what I said…”

“Again, I thank you for your concern, but I rather not worry Ricky about my personal life at home. So I would actually like to ask you to not tell him about what we discussed today. Can you just tell him that I’m fine?”  Key was about to say something, but shook his head and smiled instead.

“Ok, I will and here. This is my cell phone number. Call me if you ever want to talk or if you’re really in trouble. I’ll try to always pick up,” Key said as he handed Himchan a small slip of paper with his number scribbled across it.

“Thanks. For everything.” Himchan said with a smile, before exiting the bedroom.

Key watched Himchan walk out of the bedroom and sighed again for what felt like the hundredth time, in the short span of time that he spent with Himchan. I wish I could’ve helped him more, but he seems to know what he wants. I just really hope he decides to get away from his father as soon as he possibly can. Key thought to himself as he walked back out into the living room, rejoining the rest of the guys.

            While Key was talking to Himchan, Changjo had decided that he would try and talk to Ricky as well. So, not long after Key had taken Himchan away, Changjo took Ricky with him into his bedroom.

            “Why did you bring me in here? I was watching Music Bank.”

            “I wanted to talk to you. So…how are you?” Changjo said and he hated how awkward the situation was with Ricky.

            “Fine.”

            “That’s good. It’s nice to know you’re doing well,” Changjo really wanted to hit himself after saying that. It was obvious that he had nothing to talk about.

            “This is ridiculous. I’m going back out.”

            “Wait!” Changjo grabbed Ricky’s arm to stop him from leaving. “I just want to talk to you. You know we don’t ever see each other anymore.”

            “And whose fault is that? You’re always too busy with Yongguk to care about what is actually going on with me,” Ricky said after pulling his arm out of Changjo’s grip and crossing them in front of his chest.

            “That’s not true! Plus, aren’t you always with Himchan? You’re no different than me!” Changjo hated that Ricky kept trying to make it seem like he was the bad guy in their friendship, especially when Ricky was doing the same things that he was.

            “I still make time to hang out with my friends, when they want to hang out. I don’t just blow them off all the time.”

            Changjo scoffed before saying, “What friends? I was your only friend and then you cut me off for some stupid reason!”

            “And this was that reason. You always put me down! I will let you know right now that I don’t need you and that I do have friends that aren’t you! Now, if you’re down yelling at me…” Ricky turned to leave, but as soon as he started to open the door Changjo slammed his hand on the door, stopping him and trapping Ricky in between him and the door. Ricky turned around to glare at Changjo.

            “What are you doing? Let me leave!”

            “I’m not done talking to you yet!” Changjo let out a soft breath to calm himself. This was not how he planned on the conversation going and he didn’t want Ricky to leave mad. “I’m sorry for what I said before. I know you have friends and I’m just…jealous of them and Himchan I guess. They get to all hang out with you and you keep pushing me away.”

            “I didn’t push you away, you pushed me away and instead of always trying to catch up to you I decided to just let go. It was too tiring chasing after you,” Ricky said, also calming down. He really did want to be friends with Changjo and if this was their chance to fix things then he was going to at least try as well.

            Changjo looked down at Ricky and looked him in the eyes. They were still standing really close together and Changjo wondered when Ricky became so much shorter than him. “I’m sorry,” was the only thing he whispered out as he continued to stare at Ricky, wondering when he became so pretty.

            Ricky felt his heart speed up slightly by how intensely Changjo was staring at him and their closeness wasn’t helping him to calm down. Only when Changjo started to lean closer to Ricky as if about to kiss him did Ricky say something.

            “Umm…Changjo what are you doing?” He asked and that caused Changjo to stop immediately and pull away as he cleared his throat.

            “Uh…nothing,” Changjo let out an awkward laugh, “I mean, you look different Ricky.”

            “Different?”

            “No! Not in a bad way or anything! Just, I don’t know, cuter or something.”

            “I look cute?” Ricky didn’t know how to respond to what Changjo just said, but from past experience he knew that Changjo was probably simply speaking without thinking.

            “Yea. Ah! You’ve had with Himchan haven’t you! I’ve heard that after some people have they become prettier. So that must be it, right?!” Changjo exclaimed, like he just made the biggest discovery in his life and Ricky shook his head. Just as I thought, he’s speaking without thinking again.

            “No, I have not had with Himchan or anyone else for that matter and can we please not talk about my, non-existent, life?” Ricky said as he felt his face heating up. Changjo noticed that Ricky was blushing and couldn’t help, but think that it was cute.

            Wait, why do I keep thinking that he’s cute? It’s Ricky! I’ve known this kid since we were 5! Changjo shook his head to try and get rid of the weird thought circling his brain.

            “Yea, sure. Let’s head back out and watch the last bit of Music Bank,” Changjo said as he placed his arm around Ricky’s shoulder and led them back out into the living room. It wasn’t too long after that, that Key and Himchan came out to join the rest of them.

            They all watched the rest of Music Bank and then hung out for another thirty minutes before Himchan and Ricky left and the Kim household started to get ready for bed. Even though tomorrow was Saturday Key and Jonghyun still had to work. So they said goodnight to Changjo, who they figured would probably be up late doing whatever it was that teenage boys did nowadays.

            After getting ready for bed, Key and Jonghyun were lying in each other’s arms; Jonghyun slowly running his fingers through Key’s hair as he thought about the situation earlier. He wasn’t thinking about Key’s breakdown though, no he was thinking about when Key asked him to do the dishes. Usually if he would have said no, Key would have ed him out, but instead he just let it go. Jonghyun knew that he probably shouldn’t think too much about it, since it wasn’t that big of a deal; he just couldn’t help it.

            “Key, how are you feeling?” Jonghyun hesitantly asked, he didn’t want to upset Key but he did want to know how he was feeling.

            “Tired. It’s been a long day.” Key said as he snuggled closer to Jonghyun.

            “Yea.” Jonghyun went silent for a moment and Key figured that Jonghyun was done talking, so he started to close his eyes as he embraced Jonghyun’s warmth. “About this morning Key…”

            “I’m sorry for overreacting, but can we please just forget about it?”

            Jonghyun didn’t want to simply forget about it and he wanted to talk it out with Key, but he decided that they could always talk about it later. So he agreed.  “Sure. Goodnight Key.” Jonghyun said as he placed a kiss on Key’s forehead and pulled him closer to his body.

            A few hours later, Key felt his phone vibrate and quickly stopped it, as to not wake Jonghyun. Key had never actually fallen all the way asleep, since he was anxious. He quietly checked his phone to see the message that said I’m here. It was 3:47 in the morning and Key was tired, but this was something he had to do. Key got out of the bed as quietly and swiftly as he could before heading out of the room. He retrieved the bag that he had packed earlier and hidden in the closet by the front door. Key opened the bag and took the two notes out that he had written, one for Jonghyun and one for Changjo. As he looked over the notes though, he was having second thoughts. He didn’t know if he should leave the notes or not, but in the end decided that it would be best to leave them. So he went into the kitchen and placed them on the counter. Once he had everything, he took one final look in the house and with a sad smile said goodbye to it.

            Key quickly walked to the car that was waiting for him, threw his bag in the back, and got in the passengers’ seat. He looked over to the person in the driver’s seat and gave them a smile.

            “Thanks for picking me up and thanks again for taking me grocery shopping this morning. I’m happy that I was able to make them one last dinner. They even have leftovers for tomorrow.”

            “Key…Are you sure this is what you want to do? Do you really want to leave like this? Like a ghost in the middle of the night?”

            Key nodded his head as he looked back at the dark house the held a sleeping Jonghyun and Changjo. “Yes. It’s better this way, for everyone. They’ll be better off without me anyway. Now, shouldn’t we get moving? I don’t know about you, but I have work in the morning.” Key said as he let out a small laugh.

            “Yea, as long as you won’t regret this later. I mean I don’t mind you staying with me at all, I just don’t want you to be sad.”

            “Don’t worry Insoo, like I said, this is what’s best for everyone.” With that final statement, Insoo nodded his head, started the car, and soon Key was leaving his home and love ones behind; even though it did sadden him, he just had to keep telling himself that it was for the best, because it wasn’t only that they didn’t need him, they also didn’t want him. Changjo made it painfully clear how disgraceful Key’s past was this morning and Key didn’t want to bring down the two people he loved the most in the world, any longer. 

I'm sorry for the long update and the horrible formatting of this chapter. AFF seriously hates me and won't copy over the formatting that is in my word document and I simply don't have the patience to sit here and indent every line that isn't indented manually with my spacebar. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and again I'm sorry that there is no side talk. It was really hard to write this chapter since I went to B.A.P's LOE NY show and mother ing Yongguk (and the rest of B.A.P) are the nicest most beautiful creatures ever! It was just so hard to write Yongguk as an after seeing the show, especially since he's my bias! Yet, I always make him the bad boy in my fics, lol. Ok this is getting long so I will stop here. See you all next time. 

~Lolo