The last few hours of darkness slipped away as you lay next to Yong Guk, trying to sleep. Just as you slipped into sleep you heard a slight groan. You sat up rubbing your palm over your eyes. Yong Guk was sweating profusely, his face writhing in pain, breathing labouriously. You watched as his jaw flexed and relaxed repeatedly. You combed your fingers through your bangs wondering what to do. He was overheating, you had to do something to cool his body down and ease his discomfort, but what? You placed a hand on his thigh. The fabric beneath your hand was coarse and hot, like thick canvas. He also still had his boots on, laced tight and heavy on his feet. The only way you could think of cooling him down would be to remove his clothing and get him into some cool flannel.

You looked him over, he seemed to be the same size as your father was. Your eyes shot over towards the dresser by Yong Guk. Thank God, your mother never brought herself to throw his clothes away. "You always find a way to save me don't you Appa?" You whispered.

With a smile you got out of bed and tip-toed towards the dresser. Your fingers traced the carvings of your surname on the top, your father's handywork. You rummaged through the clothes looking for your fathers drawstring pijamas and clean socks. With the garments in hand you looked down at Yong Guk, his face still twisted. You placed the back of your hand on his forehead, he was burning up. You slipped your hand down turning it so that your palm held his face, your thumb caressing his cheekbone. "I promise I'll take care of you and your brother as long as you need it. You'll have a home here until you can get back on your feet. Don't let the nightmares worry you. Whatever happened before is over. You're safe now." You whispered to him. His face softened with a sigh and seemed to lean into your touch. "You can trust me."

You walked out of the room with forced resignation to ask for Junhong's help. You turned to your right to peek into the guest room when you heard sleep talking and mumbling. The sight before you was just too adorable to ruin by waking up the sleeping boy. His face was flat in the pillow, knees up by his face in the fetal position, in the air, arms straight... He could not be comfortable. You walked up to him and gently pushed him onto his side, stretching him out in a normal position as you ed the restricting military jacket he wore and slipped it off so that he lay in a muscle shirt. Junhong began to stir.

"Shhh..." You hushed him as you combed your fingers through his blue and blonde hair. His eyes fluttered as he muttered something you could not understand. "Shhh, there, there." You his back to soothe him before you unlaced and removed his boots in order to cover him with the blanket. You smoothed his hair and absentmindedly leant down to kiss his forehead. Your eyes widened and you instantly retracted your hand to you as you looked around wearily. Hopefully he wouldn't remember that in the morning. These boys barely knew you and you were already assuming skinship nuna role...

You shook your head as you walked towards your own room, nope no help there. Neri was knocked out and unless you wanted to mop up the mess of a spilled water bucket you wouldn't be able to wake the girl sleeping on your bed with minho the frog left to endure her drool waterfall. You chuckled to yourself as you walked into your parent's bedroom. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" You whispered harshly to yourself with a fist pump. Yes, you were ridiculous, but you were exhausted and as long as Yong Guk hadn't heard you, it was fine.

You ran the washcloth you had retrieved from the linen closet under the cold water in the sink of the master bathroom before making your way over to the sleeping figure and placed the rag on his forehead. He flinched underneath its coolness, eyes fluttering. The bright red color of his irisis was shocking...

You moved to the foot of the bed and sat at its edge between Yong Guk's feet picking up each boot, unlacing it, removing it, and placing it on the floor by the bed. With a deep breath and gritted teeth you stood up to remove his trousers. As you undid the button you held your breath. Carefully you dragged his pants down, slipping them off and folding them before setting them atop the boots. You turned around and looked over the half- and well-toned man who lay on the bed. Your cheeks burning red up to the tips of your ears. You swallowed and looked at the ceiling as you let out a shaky breath, desperately trying to calm yourself. You breathed in through your teeth as you slipped the pijamas on his legs. This was so awkward... You removed his bloody socks and sighed sadly to yourself. He must have walked for miles, his feet scarred and crusted with dry blood. Instantly you stood up and walked to the en-suite bathroom opening the tap. As you wated for the water to warm up you opened the doors to the vanity and removed a grey pale. You placed the back of your hand under the water to make sure it was the right temperature. You filled the pale, grabbed a few towels and walked back into the room. Kneeling by the bed you wet one of the towels and wrung it out to leave it damp. Gently you wiped the blood off of his feet, making sure not to spill water or hurt him.

After you dumped the water and handwashed the rags, you walked back into the room and slipped the clean socks onto his feet. You refreshed the washcloth once more before finally laying down to sleep for perhaps an hour, your eyes fluttered closed and soon your breaths came evenly as you drifted off to sleep.