Daehyun wakes up to sunlight streaming across his face, it feels warm against and skin, and brings comfort to counter the chilly morning. The still, freezing air provides his with no incentive to get up and he wants to stay curled up beneath the sheets, but he reminds himself that he needs to pick up Youngjae before they head off to school and doesn't want to keep the other waiting. Currently, he is still unsure as to whether or not Youngjae would wait for him at all, since he's been making sure that he arrives at the younger boy's house before he has a chance to leave without him. Daehyun doesn't want to find out. He looks around his tiny room with its white walls, and stretches before quickly slipping onto the hard floor, gasping as his feet touch the cold wood.

There is a tiny amount of excitement currently bubbling inside him, and if you looked closely you would notice it in the way he's moving a little faster in his morning routine. The bathroom, as usual, has been taken over by his big brother, who doesn't let Daehyun in despite the young boy sending his silent pleas through the door. So Daehyun is left standing with his hands wrapped around his sides, shivering against the wall and tip-toeing to keep as little contact as possible with the icy ground.

Normally, he wouldn't dare to knock on the door, but today is supposed to be an exception and the floor really is quite cold and Daehyun decides to risk a little brashness. Tentative, he reaches out a small hand and make a small tap.

His brother appears not have heard, so Daehyun taps again, a little louder this time but still quite hesitantly.

"Stop bloody tapping on the door!" The voice is angry and stinging, far from gentle. It's most likely just his brother being grouchy in the morning as he usually is.

"How long left?" Daehyun asks in a timid voice, this really isn't going as planned.

"Piss off."

Well that settles it then, Daehyun is going to have to wait until his brother is absolutely satisfied with his appearance before being allowed the chance to step inside the bathroom.

The door swings open violently, and Daehyun falls backwards quite abruptly because he had been foolishly leaning against the door.

"M-morning."

"Watch it stupid," his brother grumbles and brushes at his now slightly wrinkled clothing before storming out of the hallway and yelling to their mother for breakfast. Getting up from his backside hurts alot more than he had expected and Daehyun hobbles into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he's finished with washing up and sped down the stairs, he finds his mother with her back to him, her arms moving in circles as she washes the dishes.

"Good morning mother," he says politely, hoping to garner a little of her attention. She doesn't so much as turn her head and Daehyun thinks that perhaps she hadn't heard him.

"Good m-" he starts again, but decides to leave it instead, moving to sit at the table where his breakfast has long since cooled. The disappointment is hard to hide as he peers into the bowl on the table, there's hardly anything except for the scraped leftovers of the outmeal gruel his mother had burnt this morning.

But he's starving, and he likely isn't going to get any food until lunchtime. There's hardly any choice but to swallow it down to calm his empty stomach, it goes down in greasy lumps, leaving an intensely unpleasant sensation in his throat. He almost gags, feeling tears well up as he thinks of Youngjae's food and how much he misses it.

Jealousy fills him as he glances over the table at his brothers plate of aromatic beans and corned beef. The older boy is leaning back with his legs crossed and a book held in his hand, munching quietly on a piece of french toast.

"Can I have some?" Daehyun asks quietly, looking hopefully at the plate. The porridge hadn't done much to satisfy his hunger at all.

The older of the Jung siblings narrows his eyes and lookes up, raising an eyebrow in an arrogant manner.

"No," and his answer is absolute.

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"Why the hell are you so early all the time?" Youngjae groans as he answers the door. He's a little more scruffy than usual, obviously just woken up from bed and with a serious case of malicious bed hair. Daehyun giggles at the display of hedgehog spike lining the crown of Youngjae's head.

"I just wanted to get out of my house earlier," he replies, but this time his expression isn't as cheerful.

"Yeah well," the younger boy yawns, "I haven't even had breakfast yet and..."

He glances down at his watch, "I should still be asleep. Seeya."

"Hey wait!" Daehyun exclaims as Youngjae starts shutting the door on him, he jams a foot into the gap it and the doorframe - bad idea - and winces when the impact almost crushes his foot, "ow."

"Why did you put your foot there?" The younger snaps, noting his obvious pain and becoming slightly concerned.

"I don't know I..."

He pushes at the door in panic as Youngjae attempts to close the door again, mumbling, "would you kindly step out so I can go back to sleep please."

"Youngjae!"

Both boths flinch from the shrill voice of Mrs Yoo sounding behind Youngjae like an angry horn, "is that the way to treat your guests?"

"Guest?!" The younger boy splutters out in disbelief, madly waving his hands at Daehyun, "guest?!"

"Of course," his mother says as a matter of factly, "and I expect better of you."

There's a ripple of panic across Youngjae's face before he tenses and turns to Mrs Yoo, "he can't come in."

He only gets a raised eyebrow in return, and though its accompanied by some understanding the situation is completely disregarded and his mother replies slowly, "sure he can."

"But-"

"No buts, he's a guest."

Youngjae looks down and gives an audable sigh, "fine."

He turns back to Daehyun and swings the door open a little wider, "Please do come in for some breakfast," he deadpans.

With a grin, the older boy trudges his way into the hallway and follows his friend and past the staircase. His almost bumps his chin on the top of Youngjae's head when the younger whirls around without warning and narrows his eyes, "no raiding the fridge."

He nods obediently in response. Satisfied, Youngjae continues along into the living room where he stops again, lifting his arm with certainty and pointing towards the plush leather couch in front of the television.

"Sit," he commands, and Daehyun does so. He really doesn't know what the hell is going on and why Youngjae is being so strange but he figures anything is fine as long as he gets some breakfast. The younger hurriedly bounds through the kitchen doorway and slides it closed behind him, leaving Daehyun to his own devices.

It seems that he's exhausted every science text book title lining the shelf to his right, and there's really nothing else interesting to look at before Youngjae roughly slides the door open and calls out, "breakfast is ready."

"Please do take a seat," Mrs Yoo gestures towards one of the waiting wooden chairs. Daehyun does so enthusiastically, all the while taking in the beautiful aroma of eggs and bacon.

Youngjae's brother grins at him and gives a small, "hey Daehyun, you watch the soccer game last week?"

He grins back, "Yup, it was brilliant."

Mr Yoo is already sitting at the head of the dining table, the daily news splayed out in front of him with a few coffee stains, its currently opened to the business section. When the man glances up Daehyun gives a small nod and says politely, "Good morning sir."

He's met with a sideways glance from Youngjae which says, "if only my parents knew what you were really like...I'm sure they'd kick you out straight away."

The message is very clear, since he and Youngjae understand each other like that. Plus the younger boy's glares aren't very difficult to decipher.

"Morning Daehyun," Mr Yoo says cheerfully, "how's school?"

"Good," he lies, and recieves another malicious stare from the boy beside him.

"Good good," pips Youngjae's father, "all is good."

Mr Yoo is indeed quite odd.

He digs in, fork stabbing through the crispy bacon and egg in one go so that the yolk runs out and coats the peppered meat nicely. Then he proceeds to gobble everything up in one go, ignoring the disgusted grimace of Youngjae who hasn't even gone through his first piece of bacon yet.

"Would you like some more bacon?" Mrs Yoo smiles at him once he's finished. Mrs Yoo is a saint.

Daehyun loves Youngjae's parents. Youngjae's mother is an all round god of motherliness, or perhaps goddess as you would say, her cooking could probably bring even the strongest knight to his knees. Her insistence on dishing out second helpings at each meal is a super bonus. And she likes to feed people, namely Daehyun, which is a wonderful sign that everything is right in the universe. Youngjae's father, albeit a little bit odd, is a jolly old guy with an acute passion for fishing rods. Sometimes he likes to tell a few funny fishing stories at the table, occasionally he and Daehyun will team up for a little round of teasing Youngjae about how serious he is. These usually entail talking about how if Youngjae was a clown, he'd frighten all the children with his angry glare, after which Youngjae will flash an actual glare and Daehyun, Youngjae's brother and Mr and Mrs Yoo can have a little bit of a laugh.

Sometimes when Daehyun is with Youngjae's family, he forgets about his own back at home and wishes he could have parents like Mr and Mrs Yoo, and brothers like the Yoo siblings. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like to live in this cozy little home with its floral wallpaper and its oddly shaped door handles and the laughter of the people inside it. But the kitchen clock says that school is about to start soon and he and Youngjae really need to head off if they are to get there without being late.

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"Happy birthday Daehyun ssi!"

Said boy turns to face the speaker and discovers a pretty caramel haired girl grinning up at him.

"Thanks Mari," he grins back, he watches as a red haired boy moves up to the two of them with a hot chocolate in his hand.

"Hey guys," the boy says happily. Moon Jongup is his name if Daehyun remembers correctly. He's the one in charge of stunts and jump shots in photos. Daehyun's seen quite a few of them, the most impressive of which have Jongup posing in mid somersault while somehow managing to keep his snapback from falling off his head. He's also one hell of a smiley guy.

"Nice to see you actually on time today Jongup," turning back to Daehyun Mari continues, "we've planned a celebration of sorts since work finishes early today"

"Celebration?" Daehyun asks quietly.

"Well its sort of a welcome party and birthday party in one, since the welcome thing is a little bit overdue," Mari narrows her eyes and glares sideways at Jongup, "because someone was too lazy to do some proper planning." 

"What?" Jongup perks up in genuine surprise, looking like a confused puppy, "what did I do?"

Mari clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes in annoyance, "ugh. You're so dense."

"What?"

"Didn't I tell you and Junhong do prepare for Daehyun's birthday?"

"You did?"

"Yes, I did."

Jongup's eyes widen slowly. Its quite amusing to watch them go from his usual half moons to what you might find on a shocked owl. Daehyun finds his shoulders being gripped rather tightly by the muscular kid, "Hyung! It's your birthday?"

Daehyun winces and nods awkwardly, "yeah."

"Oh," the short male steps back and scratches his head as if in deep thought. He then looks up with the angelic smile he seems to hold about 99 percent of the time Daehyun sees him, "happy birthday hyung."

There's a little slapping noise and the two boys look at Mari while she facepalms herself, "geez, I have no idea how you manage with such crappy memory, didn't I tell you last week?"

"Uh-uh," Jongup looks uncertain, shifting from his left foot to his right, and back to his left again. He grins innocently in an attempt to cover up the fact that he may or not have been listening to Mari noona the last few times she talked to him, "maybe?"

She squints suspiciously at him in return, and looks as if she is about to do some more nagging before a voice cuts through the thoughts of all three of the models and a tall adolescent bounds up to the little group with an enthusiastic, "hey guys!"

"Hey Junhong!" Jongup looks extremely glad - he actually looks either glad or happy 99 percent of the time - to have a distraction arrive on the scene, "We were just talking about a celebration. Did you know its Daehyun hyung's birthday?"

The lanky boy opens his mouth in surprise, suddenly alot less bouncy as before. His pink curls shift a little as he twists to face Daehyun, "hyung, it's your birthday?"

"Yeah," Daehyun says again for the second time that day, feeling the strangest sense of deja vu.

"Oh," Junhong quickly glances over to Jongup for some sort of help. There's a quiet interaction of shifty eye movements before the boy finally returns to a toothy smile and pats on Daehyun's shoulder, "happy birthday hyung."

"Oh my god," Mari exclaims, "hopeless, the both of you."

Daehyun chuckles a little.

"Anyway," Mari directs her attention back to the birthday boy once she's given the two idiots a good nagging, "come to the lounge after your shoot okay?"

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Youngjae is being extremely fidgety today. Daehyun can't say anything for certain, but it looks like the other is worried about something. The boy had been quiet for the entire time they were walking to school this morning - not that he isn't quiet most of the time anyway but there haven't been any snarky remarks about how annoying Daehyun is and usually he's full of those. Daehyun is about to move over to the younger boy's desk to see what's going on but the click clack of heeled shoes on the ground tells him that the teacher has arrived in the classroom.

Her arrival brings all the kids to attention and like a wave through the class, the children straighten their backs and sit up with their chests puffed.

"Good morning Mrs Park."

"Good morning children," she smiles to her class and then nods towards one boy in particular, "and happy birthday Daehyun."

There's a little gasp of astonishment as the children digest the new information, they all look towards him in excitement, "it's your birthday today?"

Daehyun nods, and glances over at Youngjae, who is still silent.

"Alright kids," Mrs Park claps her hands together to get the children's attention, "what do we always do for someone who has their birthday?"

Soon after, Daehyun finds himself thinking that being the birthday boy isn't actually such a bad thing. While terribly out of tune and a little screechy, the birthday song brings a smile to his lips and he blushes as the entire class sings for him.

"Happy birthday to you..." the class finish almost in unison, although a few decide to extend the "you" part for a little too long, and they all laugh before settling back down for day's lesson. Daehyun is happy, but only for the most part, because Youngjae was the only one who didn't sing.

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"Hey let's sing the birthday song!" Mari jumps up and yells out to the group and winks at Daehyun.

"Gosh really Mari?" Another girl laughs, "we're models not singers."

"Aw come on guys," Mari whines, "what's a birthday without a birthday song?"

"It's more of a nightmare than a gift to be honest."

"Can't believe you're saying that."

"I believe you forget this every year."

The slender girl shrugs and huffs in dismissal, "whatever guys, we're singing."

---

"Hey what's wrong?" Mari asks a little while later, "you look like you don't want to be here."

Daehyun snaps back into reality, "nothing's wrong."

She gives him an odd look, "is it because our singing was too bad? You aren't even eating the food."

"No," Daehyun manages a small smile. "and the food's really great, really."

Mari tuts quietly, "I knew I shouldn't have let Miho cook. Gotta tell her stop putting mayonaise in everything."

"I do like the food actually."

The girl still looks skeptical, "no you don't, you're usually eating as much as you can when off set."

He laughs a little, "I guess so, actually I probably should be heading home."

"Eh? Already hyung?" Jongup bursts in from the side, "but we only just started."

"Yeah? You're going home already?" Junhong joins in and pouts. He would have looked sad if not for the cluster of cherry tomatoes held in his right hand.

Daehyun nods quietly.

"But hyung..." the two younger boys whinge in unison.

"Oh well," Mari says and calms the two disappointed boys down by patting them on the shoulders, "don't worry kids, I'm sure it's because there's someone back home he wants to return to. Right Daehyun ssi?"

"Yeah."

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Finally, the school bell marks the end of the day, which Daehyun has spent trying to figure out what's wrong with Youngjae, who's thoughts seem to be on something that he won't talk about regardless of the amount of questions and prodding. To be honest it's starting to get Daehyun worried, has Youngjae started to hate him?

"It's a secret," Youngjae had said during lunchtime, and that was the only thing he'd said the whole, which made Daehyun feel extremely uncomfortable. He's been on his toes the entire afternoon, waiting for some terrifying bombshell to be dropped between the two of them.

They start their daily commute back home, Daehyun pacing next to Youngjae while gripping tightly onto his backpack handle and constantly looking sideways to try and figure out what the other boy is thinking. He can't get a reading other than that Youngjae seems to be very worried.

"What are you thinking about," he asks again, feeling sweat beading on his forehead.

"I told you its a secret," Youngjae says.

"Can't you tell me?"

The younger boy his head towards him and sighs, "no."

"Pleaaaase," Daehyun whines and cuts in front of the other, "we're friends right?"

Youngjae purses his lips and stays quiet, pushing past the older boy to continue along the path. The sandy haired boy can only follow in silence, head drooped and heart feeling heavy.

They reach Youngjae's house all too soon, and Daehyun is standing at the foot of his doorsteps and waiting for Youngjae to disappear behind his mint coloured wooden door. He has a feeling that Youngjae doesn't want Daehyun going inside today.

Instead, the younger boy bites his lip and suddenly moves closer to grab onto Daehyun's arm, "what are you doing standing there? You're coming with me."

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Daehyun walks up the stairs briskly, eager to open to use the key to open the door and get inside, and not just simply for the sake of getting out of the cold. Inside, the house is warm and he's immediately greeted with the smell of delicious cooking and steamed rice. He takes a good sniff and closes his eyes in apreciation.

"Youngjae I'm home!"

"You don't have to announce it so loudly every time," the younger boy yells before peeking out of the kitchen looking slightly irritated and with a wooden spoon clutched in his hand, "scared the hell out of me again."

"Sorry," Daehyun smiles, "I'll be more quiet next time."

"So you say....dinner isn't ready yet, so just wait a bit okay?"

"Yes sir."

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