“Should we wake him up?”

“Shh, Keep your voice down… let him sleep a bit longer.”

“What if he has a concussion though? Shouldn’t we wake him up?”

Youngjae brain felt clouded and his eyelids felt like they were weighed down with fifty pound weights. But, the deep voice sounded oddly familiar. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“No… We’re not going to wake him up. Now… go, shoo.”

No. Wait. Youngjae desperately tried to open his eyes; he pushed every ounce of energy into just trying to reach out to the familiar, soothing deep voice that bounced around his head.

“Unn…P…O….”

Daehyun looked back from where he and Himchan had been trying to drag Yongguk from the room in which Youngjae was sleeping in. He glanced at Himchan, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “Who’s P.O?” He asked.

“I have no idea…” Himchan replied, glancing back at Youngjae.

Yongguk glanced back at the newest member of their gang, noticing how tense Youngjae looked despite his presumed unconscious state. While Daehyun and Himchan were distracted, he pulled away from them quickly and went back to Youngjae’s bedside, kneeling down and watching the younger boy. Awkwardly clearing his voice, he reached out upon instinct and took Youngjae’s hand, “Hey… Youngjae?” He spoke softly, a grin full of gums crossing his face as Youngjae visibly relaxed, his hand sliding against Yongguk’s. “Youngjae… Can you open your eyes for a minute? Just for a second, then you can go back to sleep…” Yongguk squeezed the hand that was clasped within his own with gentle reassurance.

A pair of dark eyes fluttered open only partially before slowly turning on Yongguk. “P.O…. look… funny…” He mumbled, his eyes not even focused on the elder as he was already starting to fall back asleep. Yongguk waited patiently next to the bed until the grip, no matter how soft it had been in the first place, on his hand to loosen completely as a relaxed sleep over took Youngjae. He slipped his hand away before standing up. “I think he does have a concussion… His eyes were dilated.”

Himchan rolled his eyes, “Okay, okay, fine, so you were right. Daehyun, wake him up ever few hours and keep an eye on him, okay?”

Daehyun nodded quickly.

“Alright, c’mon Yongguk… The other two kids are worried to… probably still sitting up awake in Jonguppie’s room, let’s go at least tell them everything is okay…”

Yongguk shrugged, following Himchan out before peaking back into the room, “Daehyun… You know where to find us if you need anything, okay?”

Daehyun took his turn to roll his eyes, “I’m fine… We need to worry about Youngjae right now, okay?” he said, pushing the two out before closing his door. Immediately, he went over to the edge of the bed and collapsed onto the floor with a heavy sigh, leaning his back against the soft mattress.

Every few seconds, he found himself turning to glance back at Youngjae’s sleeping form until finally he turned around all together, resting his folded arms on the bed and laying his cheek against his forearms.

“Why’d you do it, Youngjae?” he mumbled, watching for any signs of the younger waking up. “Did you think I wasn’t strong enough to handle a few punches?” Daehyun reached over, lightly tracing his fingers over the discolored bruise on Youngjae’s jaw line. “Just because I’m talking to you right now, does not mean this conversation is over, mister. You got that…” He warned, his eyes closing slowly, “I mean it, Yoo Youngjae…” He yawned softly, “You’ve… got a lot of explaining... to do…” Daehyun’s eyes drifted closed and his body relaxed.

Youngjae woke up with a start, his headache jolting him into full consciousness so quickly he was sure that his stomach had somersaulted into his throat. His vision was still a bit fuzzy as the small light coming from the open bathroom door stung at his eyes. He let out a small groan of pain, the whole side of his face throbbed in tune with his heart beat and it didn’t help the headache he had in the slightest. He blinked several times as everything came into focus, and was rather surprised to find Daehyun sleeping at the edge of the bed, his head rested upon his folded arms and his legs stretched out beneath him.

“Dae….” Youngjae cleared his throat, wincing at the harsh sound of his own voice. He felt like someone had rubbed sandpaper up and down his throat before making him gargle with cinnamon. He tried to swallow the saliva in his mouth to help with the insane dryness, but it only seemed to make it worse. “D… Dae…” Youngjae tried again, reaching out and touching Daehyun’s arm lightly.

Instantly the elder sat up straight, his eyes wide with confusion as he looked around. That was, until he noticed Youngjae staring back at him, “Oh! You’re awake! How long have you been up, how are you feeling? Can I get anything for you, you know if you weren’t hurt right now, I’d knock you a good one myself, but that’s not the point—Youngjae, You’re going to have to speak up, I can’t hear you.”

Youngjae frowned, his head throbbing with each syllable Daehyun let pass from his lips. “Water?” he tried again, blowing out a gentle sigh as Daehyun finally seemed to get it and jumped up to go get a glass. Youngjae couldn’t help but flush a light pink as Daehyun came back with the glass, helping Youngjae to sit up before he himself held the glass for Youngjae, even carefully wiping away the small drops of liquid that had dribbled out from the corner of the younger’s lips. The blush only intensified as Daehyun helped him lay back flat before tucking the covers carefully around him. “Hyung… you don’t have to do that…” he mumbled softly, embarrassment laced within his voice.

“Yes I do… You almost got your brains blown out of the back of your skull because of me. So shut up.”

Youngjae winced a bit at Daehyun’s tone before taking note of the way that the older wouldn’t quite look at him in the eyes. “I… I’m sorry.” He offered, mistaking Daehyun’s guilt for apparent anger.

“Don’t apologize.” Daehyun warned, shaking his head as he sat at the edge of the bed Youngjae lay in. “So… Who’s P.O?”

Youngjae spluttered, looking shocked as he stared up at Daehyun, “W-what do you mean?”

The elder shrugged softly, “Iunno… Yongguk and Himchan helped me bring you in here when we got back, and you called Yongguk ‘P.O’… something we should know about?”

Youngjae sighed softly, shaking his head. It made sense that with his confusion and probably minuscule hold on consciousness, he’d mistaken Yongguk’s deep voice for P.O’s. “It’s… nothing really.”

Daehyun raised an eyebrow, silently prompting Youngjae to continue one.

With a slight huff of annoyance, Youngjae did just that, “Look, he was just a good friend of mine… His voice was just about as deep as Yongguk hyung’s. I guess I just miss him, and thought Yongguk was him earlier.” He said with a blush.

Instantly Daehyun faltered, “O…Oh, I’m sorry, Youngjae… I didn’t realize…. I’m sorry about that…”

“It’s fine, Daehyun… I just took one too many knocks to my noggin. I’ll get everything sorted back out in no time, okay?”

 “Well… Next time… just… Promise next time just let them hit me, okay…”

“I can’t promise that.”

“Youngjae! Just do it!”

“No!” Youngjae matched Daehyun’s glare, “If we were put in the same position, I’d do the same thing over and over again.” He sighed a little bit, looking away from Daehyun as his cheeks went a bit pink beneath the bruising, “Well… because I just… I know even if I get hurt, you’d have still gotten me out of there. It’s not that I didn’t think you could handle it, hyung… I just know I wouldn’t have been able to hold out if they would have hurt you.”

Daehyun looked away too, staring at the ground as he thought about what Youngjae had said as an awkward tension settled in the air. “Would you still have made the ‘your mom’ quip?” he asked quietly.

Youngjae let out a small laugh, “I’m not sure… That Hoya guy really has a good arm.”

Daehyun laughed a little, “Yeah…” he sighed a little bit before looking down at the floor, “You had me worried, Youngjae…”

Youngjae’s smile faltered a little, “Hey… I’m fine, Dae hyung…  It’s what friends to for each other… take punches to the face… right?”

Daehyun shook his head, “No… it’s what family does for each other…” he said, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at Youngjae.

Youngjae couldn’t help the small bubble of emotion that welled up in his chest. He knew that he should argue; say that they are just friends. Youngjae couldn’t let himself get to close to these guys; it would only make things harder in the end. Yet… the word just felt right. Family. Youngjae had a family again.

With a smile that matched Daehyun’s, Youngjae nodded, “Yeah, family.”

=___= i really disliked how this chapter turned out. I have to go to work in a few minutes, so i couldn't spend alot of time working on proofreading and going over it like I normally would (not that I have the energy to do such. I slept like absolute crap last night with intense kidney pain. Mum says i'm probably dehydrated again, but there's nothing I can do about it, because I can't miss work. *dies*

The next update will hopefully be better and be... alot more coherent? I don't even know. Please don't forget to comment (even if you tell me how y this chapter is, in which, i'll agree with you).

Cuddles,

Lynn