When Zelo wakes up the room is dimly lit. The curtains in the room have been pulled shut and there's no light coming through them. The only light there is comes from a small lamp in the corner. Zelo can feel his eyes open and then close again. At first he's not completely sure where he is, but as he turns around in the bed, he remembers. His muscles ache and there's a slightly uncomfortable feeling in his body, slight pain. And he remembers everything. He buries his head in the pillow and wonders if he should try to get up or just stay there until someone comes to wake him up. He doesn't remember the last time he's actually slept this comfortably, the bed is so soft and he wants to stay. But he also wonders what time it is, and how long he's slept. He wonders where the guy he fell asleep with is, where Yongguk is.

He turns to lay on his side and tries to let it all sink in, but it's too hard. He feels like he shouldn't think about it, shouldn't think about what someone's done to him, what he's let someone do to him. He's quite sure he should feel disgusted and he should hate himself for letting it happen, but he doesn't. There are too many thoughts on his mind again and he just wants to shut his brain off.

He sits up in the bed, but it feels a bit awkward and he has to get up. He stands there for a while, clueless of what he should do next, he wonders why he's alone in there and starts to look around. The room he's in is quite large, with a simple decoration. The bed is definitely the eye-catcher in the room, Zelo hadn't realised how big it actually was. There are bedside tables there, few tables and drawers and shelves, and three doors. He walks up to the only window in the room and pulls the curtain away so he can peek outside. It's already getting dark outside, the sun is about to set. He closes the curtains and walks up to the lamp in the corner. On the table next to it he spots a small note and realises it's for him. It's a simple note, from Yongguk.

'Baby Zelo,
I hope you've gained some of your strength back. The bed must be comfortable?
You should go downstairs to eat something, Jongup will help you with anything you need.
I've left you some clean clothes in my bathroom, take a shower when you wish.
- BYG'

Zelo can't help but smile when he reads the note, but when he realises he's smiling, he immediately wants to frown. What is he supposed to feel like? What is he supposed to think? He doesn't want to think. He walks around the room for a while, touching his fingers through surfaces and small things he finds in the room, books, decorations, clothes hanging in the clothes rack. It feels weird to be inside someone else’s house, someone else’s room. It’s been a long time since he’s been inside a building that someone would call their home, this room must be Yongguk’s home. After a while he feels comfortable enough to look around more and he tries to open one of the doors in the room. It’s locked. So he had been right about the secrets too. Who would have a locked door in their bedroom, and what could be behind it? Zelo tries the door handle once more, wishing the second time it would magically open. But it doesn’t, so he goes to the other door and it leads to a small bathroom, with a toilet and a shower. He steps in and closes the door behind him.

There are clean clothes and a towel on the table next to the sink and he supposes they are for him. He looks at himself through the mirror above the sink and he's not sure if he even knows the person looking back at him. His hair is a mess, his eyes seem empty, his cheeks are hollow. He wants to look away, because it's not the Zelo he remembers. He turns to the shower and wonders if the water will really clean him up, all of him.

- - -

The warm water feels good on Zelo's skin. He doesn’t remember the last time he’s felt so clean, the water and soap washing all the dirt from his skin. But it doesn't seem to cleanse his mind and thoughts like he had hoped. His thoughts wander back to last night, to small touches on his skin, to Yongguk's smile. He knows he probably shouldn't think about Yongguk like that, he should hate the guy for everything he did to him last night. He should hate those two guys who brought him here in the first place, but he can't bring himself to feel hatred towards any of them. Yongguk had made him feel good hadn’t he? Even if it had hurt, he’d tried to be gentle, and caring somehow. He’s not sure if anyone else has ever looked at him like that. With eyes full of lust, yet with a hint of worry. Maybe Yongguk had actually cared about how he’d felt.

He wonders what last night had really meant to Yongguk. Probably not as much as it did to Zelo, the guy was the first person he’d ever had with. And he didn’t really know how he should react to that, to the fact that he was no longer a , and that the first person he’d slept with happened to be a guy. He had never had a crush on anyone, he remembers when he was still back in school and remembers the guys around him always talking about the girls they liked. But Zelo hadn’t really been interested in girls and when they’d ask who he liked he’d make up some excuse to avoid the conversations. He had never really thought much about it, the fact that no girl had ever caught his attention. But what was that supposed to mean? When he’d seen Yongguk the first time yesterday, when he’d seen him later, he immediately thought that the guy was hot? Did that mean he liked guys? Maybe it didn’t even matter. His life was ed up as it was, maybe he didn’t need to figure out what gender he liked. Thinking about it and trying to put everything in a perspective, he started to feel content that it wasn’t really a bad thing to be attracted to Yongguk like that, it didn’t feel wrong to him.

And when he thought about it more.. About Yongguk's body, and those eyes, and that voice, he could feel himself getting hard. He doesn't remember the last time he's touched himself, and definitely doesn't remember the last time he'd touched himself while thinking about anything or anyone particularly. But as flashes of last night go through his mind, he can't help but wrap his fingers around his hardness. He thinks about the way Yongguk's eyes had traveled on his body, about the way his name had sounded when it left the guys lips. He thinks about the way Yongguk had pounded into him after he'd been relaxed enough to take it, and about the way Yongguk’s moans and grunts had been all because of him, because of how he'd made the other feel. And most of all Zelo thinks about the way Yongguk's fingers had felt around his , sending bolts of electricity to course through his whole body with each and every snap of his wrist and.. It's too much, Zelo can feel Yongguk's name leave his lips in a soft moan as he comes all over his own hand and he lets himself fall to the floor of the shower as the pleasure from his flushes over his body. He sits there, for a while, trying to catch his breath, thinking that his life really is ed up, but he doesn't really mind. If someone can make him feel like this, get him excited like this, he doesn't really mind.

Yet the thought scares him a little. Because he doesn’t know what is going to happen next. He had wished that Yongguk would be there when he’d wake up, so he could finally get some answers to his questions. Why was he really here? Yongguk’s note had said that he could eat and take a shower, but then what? Were they going to throw him out, or would they make him stay? Would he even want to stay if that was the case? He wasn’t sure, but what he did know, was that he wanted to see Yongguk again. And he wanted to know if Yongguk also wanted to see him again, or would he want him gone. Was he just a pretty face, a one night stand to the guy?

His mind is filled with endless questions and it hurts his head. He snaps out of his thoughts when his stomach growls loudly and he thinks it’s probably best to get out of the shower and follow the orders in Yongguk's note. Maybe he’ll find one of the guys around the house and get some answers in the meantime.

He takes his time drying himself off. His blonde curls seem to fall in all the wrong directions and for the first time in a while he’s got time to think about what he actually looks like, and he wants to look nice. He puts on the the clothes Yongguk's left him, jeans that are slightly too short for him and a t-shirt that’s slightly too big for him. But it doesn’t look all that bad, he takes one more glance in the mirror before stepping back to the bedroom and walking up to the table where the note was left for him. He reads it again, smiling brightly this time, before folding it and putting it in the pocket of the jeans. He steps out to the hallway and looks around. He doesn't want to pry, but with so many doors there, he feels curious again. He wonders what people even need a house this big for, he would be happy living in an apartment the size of Yongguk's bedroom. He tries the door handles of two rooms, but they are both locked and he huffs in disappointment, of course they would be.

Walking downstairs, he can hear some noises coming from the entrance where he first saw Yongguk and he makes his way there, quietly, not sure what to expect. There are double doors in the entrance hall that are pushed open and Zelo takes a peek inside before stepping in. He finds himself in a large kitchen and the younger guy from the night before is there, his back turned to Zelo as he goes through cabinets and drawers. Zelo wonders if he should have knocked.

"Uh, hi.." he says quietly, not exactly sure what else he could do.

The guy drops a plastic bowl that he was holding in his hands and turns around, sighing in relief as he sees Zelo standing in the doorway.

"Ahh, Zelo. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, not in this house anyway." he says, before leaning to get the bowl up from the floor. Zelo blushes slightly.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to.." he mumbles almost in a whisper..

"Don't worry about it. You must be hungry, let me heat up some food for you." the guy says, smiling brightly and humming while getting some food from the fridge and putting it in the microwave. Zelo is still standing in the doorway and he looks around the kitchen before he turns to watch the guy as he pours some milk on a glass and searches some drawers again. The guy is slightly shorter than Zelo, with hazelnut-hair that’s cut in some sort of messy mohawk style. He’s wearing a hoodie so not much of his body is really revealed, but Zelo’s got a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to beat this guy in a fight either. But his eyes seem warm and Zelo feels like he doesn’t need to worry.

The guy looks up at him again, after the microwave blings and he puts the food on the counter. "Oh.. I'm an idiot, I really don't know how to be around guests, I'm not usually the one to boss around the house. Please, do sit." he says, scratching the back of his head. Zelo shuffles his feet to sit on the chair next to the counter and looks at the huge plate of pasta in front of him before starting to eat it, gulping down some milk as well. He had forgotten about how good warm food tasted like and he devours the whole plate in a matter of minutes. The guy there chuckles as he watches him eat. Zelo just smiles up at him.

"So, you know my name. What's yours?" he asks the guy, leaning back in the chair after he's finished. He’s pretty sure this is the guy Yongguk mentioned in the note, but he wants to be sure.

"Oh, I'm Jongup. Sorry, honestly it's been a long time since we've had any guests in here." Jongup smiles awkwardly and takes the dishes in front of Zelo to move them to the sink. "You should make yourself comfortable around the house, it's going to be your home for a while if you wish so. Yongguk told me to take good care of you, so I'll try my best."

"Ahh.. Yongguk, where is he?" Zelo can't help but ask. He blushes slightly, but Jongup isn't paying attention, looking away as soon as the question leaves Zelo's mouth.

"He's.. Working." Jongup says with slight hint of awkwardness in his voice. Zelo doesn't ask more, even if he wants to, but he notes the pause between the words. "Come on then kid, let me show you around the house."

Zelo gets up and follows Jongup as they move away from the kitchen. Home, he thinks to himself. This house could be his home? He wonders what exactly Jongup means when he says home, what it includes, what are the ties attached to that word. And he wonders what kind of people let a stranger in their house and offer them a roof and food and let them call it their home. Probably the kind of people that want something from him, he frowns slightly as he thinks about last night again.

They walk around the house, Jongup showing him rooms after rooms and Zelo is curious about everything. The house looked quite old from the outside, but the decoration inside is very modern and simple. It's very bright in most of the rooms, and white, but not too white to make it look like a hospital. Zelo thinks that whoever decorated the house must have known what they were doing, it looks cozy, something you would like to call home. There’s a dining room next to the kitchen with a huge table that seems big enough for dozen or more people. There’s a living room with posh electronics and lovely soft couches and armchairs. There’s a goddamn huge library in the second floor with books after books and Zelo thinks that it looks like it’s straight from a movie. He wants to go through all the books in there and for a while he feels like a child again. He thinks it might be his favorite room in the house.

They move around in the second floor corridor and Zelo peeks out through the windows at one end of the corridor, but it’s too dark to really see anything outside. He also can’t help glancing at the door of Yongguk’s bedroom, secretly wishing he could go inside and find Yongguk there. But he follows Jongup to one of the doors closer to the stairs.

"Well, this is my room, but now it’s yours too, Zelo. We'll be roommates I guess." Jongup lets out a small laugh and lets Zelo inside the room. It looks cozy and somehow it reminds Zelo of his old room back in his parent's house, a room that was once his home. There are two separate beds there, in each corner of the room and Zelo spots his back bag on the other, neatly made bed and makes his way to it before sitting down on the bed. Jongup pulls a chair under a computer table and sits on it, facing Zelo.

"So.. Who are you people really?" Zelo asks after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah.. About that. I'm not sure what to tell you and to be honest I shouldn't be the one to answer your questions. Any questions you should ask, you should ask from Yongguk. He owns this house, he's kind of like the boss around here."

"And what about that.. Himchan guy?" Zelo asks with curious voice, hoping he’s got the name right. He looks up at Jongup whose lips turn up in a quick smile at the mention of Himchan's name.

"He and Yongguk are best friends, sort of. They've known each other for a long time. And yeah, you might also want to know about the two other guys that live here, Daehyun and Youngjae. They've all known each other since they were kids I think. They are like family."

"What about you then?"

"Me? I was brought here some months ago, much like you yesterday. Ahh.. I belong to Himchan." Jongup says and looks down, and Zelo thinks he can see sadness wash through the guy's face. Belong is a strong word, Zelo doesn't know what to make of it.

"But you shouldn't worry, Zelo." Jongup says as he looks up at him again. "All you really need to know is that these people can take care of you. It's not a bad place to live. Himchan might seem cold, and Daehyun barely talks to strangers at first, but they are not bad people. Even if.. Well. I'm not completely sure what happened between Yongguk and you last night, but I can guess. And you should know that he's not a bad person. It's a lot better living in here than on the streets, believe me, I know. And I'm grateful that they ever took me in. You should be too."

Zelo blushes and looks down. Obviously Jongup would know, probably everyone around the house knows. But Zelo feels a relief wash through his mind as he thinks about what Jongup's said, his mind clings to the words. Jongup's probably been through the same thing as he has, he doesn't really know and doesn't want to know. But he feels content being inside the house, he's glad to have heard those words coming from someone else's mouth. Maybe it's not so wrong to think about Yongguk the way he does, maybe there’s really no need to feel disgusted about what has happened. Zelo can’t help asking the question that’s been on his mind since he’s woke up.

“Does he want me to stay?” he asks it quietly, trying not to show any emotion through the question.

“He told me to keep you here until he’s back.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question.” Zelo looks up at Jongup, raising his eyebrow at him.

“You really are impatient.” Jongup laughs at him, but it seems genuine to Zelo. “You can ask him when he gets back.”

- - -

Zelo spends the rest of his evening going around the house, getting used to his surroundings. Jongup makes them more food at some point and they eat it in the living room while watching some random comedy on the TV. Zelo learns small things about Jongup’s past as they talk about things that matter and don’t matter. Jongup’s also lived on the street before, but he’d definitely had it rougher than Zelo. He’d gotten himself involved with wrong kind of people and ended up doing stupid things because of them. Jongup says that these people saved him, that Himchan saved him, but Zelo notices that he doesn’t go into much detail when talking about the guy. He also says that Zelo will learn everything he has to learn about the people who live around the house and that Yongguk will tell him everything he needs to know.

They watch the rest of the movie in silence, after talking for so long. But Zelo can’t really concentrate on the movie. He wonders where Yongguk is, it’s already past ten in the evening and he wonders how long the guy usually works. Maybe he’s doing a night shift? Or maybe he’s not even really working? He wants to ask Jongup more, but he knows he won’t get any answers about Yongguk from him. It seems to be some kind of silent rule around the house, to not ask about the other’s business. But Zelo wants to know and he feels impatient. His thoughts start to wander again and his eyes start to feel heavy. He can feel his eyes close against his will but he tries to keep himself awake, he wants to be awake when Yongguk comes home. He feels like he doesn’t know anything about the guy, yet he can’t stop thinking about him. And it doesn’t take long for those thoughts about Yongguk to turn into dreams as he falls asleep on the sofa.

~ ~ ~

A/N: yay chapt 2! i'm sorry for the lack of yongguk!zelo interaction keke. but honestly needed to write a bit about zelo's thoughts etc. jongup (awkward puppy aww) & zelo bonding time i don't even know. and yes did you catch any himup yet? there's gonna be slight mentions every now and then anyways. and yay yongguk's coming back from work in the next chapter. ehh.

i really want to thank you all for subscribing and for your lovely comments, you guys make me so happy ;~; <3 hope you enjoyed the chapter and ububu.

gonna update again later this week, i'm pretty sure ^^ thank you all~