Hyukjae had been sitting in the lobby of Donghae’s apartment for around 30 minutes now. He wasn’t stalling per se; he was just giving Donghae a chance to calm down a bit before he went upstairs. He knew that once Donghae returned and noticed his sudden disappearance he would call Hyukjae and try to talk to him and find out what happened and to make sure he was alright, and he would have answered the phone if he hadn’t been in a bleak hospital corridor talking to his sister whom he hadn’t seen in over 4 years.
  Actually, that’s a lie. He wouldn’t have. But he eventually would’ve returned the other’s call. At least, that’s what he told himself as he fidgeted in his seat.
  He had to completely turn of his cell phone while he was in the hospital because of the sensitive machines that his father was hooked up to, and he had done so willingly. It would be less of an interference. This meeting was uncomfortable and nerve-wrecking enough in itself. He didn’t need any distractions at the moment. But that had all happened hours ago.
  After a painful and long talk in the hospital cafeteria he had left his estranged family, promising his sister and mother that he would pay them another visit soon. Ryeowook waited for him the whole time, fast asleep in the car when Hyukjae approached and tapped on the window to be let back in. The other was hesitant to ask him how it went, but Hyukjae could read Ryeowook like a book, and answered his question before he had even formed it in his head.
  “I told her I’d come back and visit again soon. Hopefully he’ll be conscious by then,” he said as he sighed and leaned against the cool glass window. “It was horribly awkward, they both cried way too much, and I’ve never felt so stressed in my life… but I’m glad it happened,” he finished quietly. He could see the soft smile on Ryeowook’s face, and soon he felt a comforting hand on his, giving him a squeeze of encouragement.
  “I’m proud of you Hyukjae,” he said, before returning his hand back to the steering wheel. “I’m happy you’re finally going through with this.”
  “Well, honestly I don’t think I would’ve, if not for all of the encourage I got from- Damn! I forgot about Donghae!” Hyukjae suddenly shouted as he jumped forward, nearly shocking Ryeowook into another lane and a small green car on his right. He scrambled to pull his cell phone out of his book bag hoping that the other hadn’t noticed his absence yet. His heart dropped into his gut at the furious flashing of lights and icons on his screen
  “He’s been calling me for the past three hours, and I’ve been totally ignoring him and, dammit! What do I do?!” he asked as he frantically scrolling past all the missed called and messages that had been left on his phone.
  “Yeah, you should probably call him back. He’s been calling me all day too. And Yesung. I didn’t even know he knew our phone numbers,” Ryeowook said curiously.
  “I- I never told him your numbers. Oh man,” Hyukjae whined anxiously while he skimmed over the messages and listened as they progressed from worried to agitated to downright furious. Hyukjae had to hold back a whimper as the tone of Donghae’s voice got sharper and harsher with every voicemail he heard, feeling more afraid than he had remembered feeling in a while.
  “He said he’s going to call the police, Wook! What do I do?!” he panicked.
  “Call him?”
  “But I’m not ready to talk to him yet!”
  “Well, seeing as how there have already been people at our house, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that he’s pretty serious, so you’d better at least let him know that you’re okay. Preferably before I’m pulled over by the police,” Ryeowook said, simultaneously looking out of his rearview mirror.
  Hyukjae groaned miserably before opening up an empty message, fingers shaking as he nervously tapped at the screen.
  “’Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon.’ How does that sound?” he asked Ryeowook after he had been at it for 20 minutes.
  “I don’t care if you send him a picture of you winking and making that stupid duckface, just do something before the freaking government taps my phone and I’m being chased down the freeway by helicopters,” Ryeowook said, grabbing Hyukjae’s phone and pushing send before Hyukjae could erase it again.
  Hyukjae squeaked in mortification and reached for the phone, only to drop it on the floor when it started to ring and Donghae’s number and face flashed across the screen.
  “He’s calling again! What do I do?!”
  “I don’t know, answer it?!” Ryeowook said, irritation not at all concealed in his voice.
  “No!” Hyukjae said, kicking the phone under his seat.
  “Why not?!” Ryeowook asked in exasperation.
  “Because he’s just going to yell at me! You should have heard him Ryeowook, he sounds pissed! I’ve never heard him so mad before! And you know I can’t handle when people yell at me,” Hyukjae nearly whimpered in a rush. Ryeowook sighed, completely fed up with the situation.
  “Hyukjae, you can’t hide from him forever. You have to face him sooner or later.”
  Well, obviously Hyukjae opted for the latter. After Ryeowook nearly kicked him out of the car outside of Donghae’s apartment complex he had only made it to the front door when he was attacked by the apartment staff, all expressing worry and relief at him being found, and how worried Donghae had been running around the whole complex looking for him. This did nothing to calm Hyukjae down from their impending meeting, and the more he heard about how the security guards were looking in the trash chutes and furnace for his remains, the more he tensed up and contemplated bolting back out of the front door.
  That’s about the time the doorman came over to disperse the small crowd that had gathered around him, and suggesting that since Hyukjae was found safely everyone should be headed back to work. As soon as they left him alone, Hyukjae slumped pathetically into the golden couch that still decorated the lobby and let his head fall backwards miserably. He felt the couch dip beside him and spared a glance to his right.
  “Thanks for that, Shindong-sshi,” he sighed, grateful to the doorman who came to his rescue.
  “You looked like you needed some help,” the other shrugged. “Are you alright?” he asked, genuine concern in his features, unlike the other employees.
  “Yeah, I just had some family matters to attend to. I didn’t think Donghae would freak out like this though,” he said.
  “Donghae-sshi is just very protective over those he cares about. But he’s become much more… let’s just say worrisome ever since the accident. Disappearing on him like that probably really scared him, you know,” Shindong said.
  “I told you when I left this morning to call me if he came home early,” Hyukjae said accusingly.
  He hadn’t been completely thoughtless. He didn’t expect to be gone for so long, and had planned on being back before Donghae had returned home so that they could sit down and talk about it, but only after he had already moved out, so as to not alarm the children when they saw him taking his things out. While Shindong helped him and Ryeowook load up his things in the car, Hyukjae gave Shindong his number and asked him to call in case Donghae returned early.
  “Sorry, Hyukjae-sshi, but he came back when I was on break, and by the time I came back the place was already in an uproar, and you wouldn’t pick up when I tried to call,” Shindong said and Hyukjae sighed knowing he really couldn’t blame this on anyone but himself.
  “I had to turn my phone off while I was at the hospital,” Hyukjae said.
  “Hospital? Are you sure you’re okay?” Shindong looked concerned again.
  “No, it’s not like that. I was visiting my dad. I just lost track of time. I didn’t mean to make Donghae worry,” Hyukjae said guiltily.
  “Well, I’m sure if you just explain the situation to him, he’ll understand,” Shindong told him, giving him a supporting pat on the shoulder. “But I’d go with talking to him sooner rather than later. You don’t know what he’s been concocting on his own. You should go talk to him before his imagination drives him crazy.” Shindong gave him one last encouraging smile before standing up and going back to his post outside of the big glass doors of the apartment complex.
  Hyukjae exhaled deeply when he was alone, feeling his nerves starting to act up again, before ringing his hands together nervously. Shindong was right. It would be better to just get this over with. But he couldn’t go up there without some kind of plan, or script or something. He could start off with where he was today, maybe that would get him some sympathy. Although he has no idea how he would bring up the topic of him moving out after that. Maybe he should start with that instead?
  His mind was running through all possible angles of approach, and he could literally feel the gears turning in his head. Needless to say, he was extremely focused on his thoughts and not paying very much attention to his surroundings. So he had no way of hearing Shindong calling his name, or seeing him trying to catch his attention. He only snapped out of it when he noticed a pair of pants stop right in front of him. He looked up, his face masked in surprise, though that quickly changed into fear when he saw the angry face scowling down at him.
  “Donghae! What are you doing here?” he practically squeaked. Donghae didn’t answer him, only giving him a hard glare before grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him up, ignoring the yelp Hyukjae let out as he dragged him towards the elevators.
  Hyukjae stumbled along after him, trying to keep his balance and blabber out every excuse that came to his mind. Looking around to see if anyone was witnessing this blatant abduction, he nearly scoffed in disbelief at how everyone deliberately avoided meeting his eyes as they pretended nothing was happening. Only Shindong bothered to acknowledge him; Hyukjae could see him shaking his head and silently mouthing ‘I tried to warn you’ as he was recklessly thrown into the elevator as soon as the door opened.
  Hyukjae suppressed his urge to run as he watched the doors slide close, but he couldn’t shake the fear crawling up his skin and making his throat close up and fingers shake. He could sense the displeasure rolling off of Donghae in waves and he was squished up in the far corner of the elevator before he realized. He probably shouldn’t have, but the silence was driving him crazy so he opened his mouth to speak.
  “Um… Donghae?” Why was he talking? “About earlier…” Why is he not shutting up? “Are you… mad?” Oh God, he’s as big an idiot as Ryeowook always says he is.
  He watched as Donghae barely turned his head to meet Hyukjae’s eyes in glare that was so fierce Hyukjae recoiled back as if he had been hit. He quickly looked down and firmly clamped his lips shut before he said something to piss Donghae off even more.
  The ride up to their floor was briefer than Hyukjae would have liked it to be and then when the bell rang—Hyukjae was so riled up, it actually startled him—Donghae quickly walked out and down the hall, as Hyukjae meekly followed behind him.
  Donghae almost forcefully stuck his key in the lock and pushed the door open, standing back and letting Hyukjae enter first, who nearly ran inside because he felt nervous about being too close to Donghae right now.
  Speed walking into the living room, he heard the door close and Donghae approach him, his heart pounding with every step he heard coming towards him. He slowly turned to face Donghae a.k.a. his inevitable doom, but before he could even open his mouth he was interrupted by screams of his name and he turned around just in time to be ambushed by Jino and Kyuhyun.
  “Hyukkie hyung, where were you?!” Kyuhyun asked, pulling on his shirt while Jino clung to his leg. “We were looking for you and you weren’t here when we came back!”
  “Aww, Kyu, Jino-ah, I just went to visit somebody. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Hyukjae said as he gathered both up in a hug. He felt his heart clench at the way they held him so tightly, and suddenly everything became so much more real, and that much harder. Hyukjae quickly broke the hug before he could start crying in front of them.
  “Hey, don’t make that face,” he said, trying to joke, and rubbing a thumb across Jino’s cheek. “I need to talk to Donghae hyung for a second, but when I’m done, how about I take you guys to the park? Would you like that?” he asked.
  “Are you trying to bribe us hyung?” Kyuhyun asked.
  “Yep,” Hyukjae chuckled.
  “Then, we want ice cream too!”
  “Ice cream, ice cream!” Jino added.
  “Fine, fine,” Hyukjae conceded.
  “You just came back from the dentist. Ice cream is the last thing you need,” Donghae spoke up for the first time since he entered the apartment. Hyukjae jumped at the sound of his voice, but didn’t turn to look at him.
  “Please, Hae hyung!” Kyuhyun pleaded. “We'll brush extra good before bed tonight!” Hyukjae looked at the pleas on their faces and began to count down to when Donghae would give in. Five, four, thr-
“Fine. But you’re brushing your teeth as soon as you come home, and twice before bed,” Donghae said with a tired sigh.
  “Okay!” they both quickly agreed to Donghae’s condition.
  “Go get anything you want to bring with you and I’ll be done in a second, okay?” he told them, ruffling Kyuhyun’s hair and patting Jino on the bottom before they nodded and ran down the hall to their respective rooms, squealing all the way. Hyukjae smiled as he listened in on their excited chatter as they made their way out of his sight.
  ‘Now for the hard part,’ he thought as he turned around to look at Donghae, who was watching him with an uncharacteristic frown on his face.
  Hyukjae cleared his throat, and looked everywhere but at the angry set of Donghae’s face before giving him a small wave. “Um, hello?” Donghae raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing.
  “I got your message…s, and I’m fine as you can see,” he vaguely gestured to himself. “I really didn’t mean to worry you. I just lost track of time.”
  “For five hours?” Donghae asked, with a look of unbelieving incredulity on his face.
  “I was preoccupied!” Hyukjae defended.
  “You were preoccupied,” Donghae deadpanned. “Well, so was I. With thoughts of you tied up in the back of some white van, unconscious in some abandoned warehouse, in disguise on some plane to America, sinking to the bottom of the Han River; you know, things like that,” Donghae shrugged like it was no big deal, but Hyukjae could see the conflicting emotions in his eyes.
  “B-but I wasn’t. I was- I am just fine-“
  “How was I supposed to know that?! I come home and you’re gone, no message, no note- and your room EMPTY! Do you know, can you even fathom how worried I was? What am I supposed to think when I come home and see you gone without a trace?!” Donghae stormed closer, bringing his wrath crashing down on Hyukjae with every step.
  "I didn’t mean for you to see that without me here,” Hyukjae’s voice came out quieter, but that didn’t stop the volume from increasing in Donghae’s voice.
  “Like that’s so much better! What the hell Hyukjae?! Just what are you trying to do?!” Donghae nearly screamed.
  Hyukjae looked down, willing himself not to get upset, not to break down, but it was hard when he could so vividly see the anger in Donghae’s eyes, and hear the frustration in his voice.
  “I… I didn’t mean to… I’m s-sorry,” Hyukjae said with his head down and eyes clenched shut as he took a step back.
  Donghae sighed, the sound closer to a growl, as he tried to reign in his anger. Even though Hyukjae had him completely out of his mind with panic for the better part of the day, he didn’t want to upset the other. Now that he knew he was okay, he really just wanted answers.
  He walked past Hyukjae, who flinched as he felt Donghae come near—he couldn’t help the pang of guilt he felt when he saw that—and dropped down tiredly onto the couch. He let his head fall onto the back of the couch as he draped his arm over his face, trying to calm down so that he could do more talking and less screaming.
  A few minutes passed and he could hear Hyukjae’s breathing quiet down, though the other still hadn’t lifted his head and was still pretty much curled into himself.
  “Hyukjae,” Donghae broke the silence, and Hyukjae jumped a little at the sudden noise. “Have a seat,” he said.
  Hyukjae turned around slowly, still avoiding Donghae’s eyes, and walked hesitantly to sit on the couch as far away from Donghae as he could.
  “I didn’t mean to yell at you, but you scared me half to death Hyukjae,” he said, gentler this time.
  “I-I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I would worry you so much.”
  “Of course I’d worry about you, Hyukjae. Why wouldn’t I? Don’t you know how much I care about you? I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that you had left like that,” Donghae turned to look at Hyukjae now, but the other still couldn’t meet his eyes, though it was for different reasons this time.
  “Where were you anyway?” Donghae asked.
  “At the hospital,” Hyukjae answered without thinking, but he quickly had to amend it when Donghae sat up with a loud ‘What?!’
  “Calm down! I was just visiting my dad. He’s in the intensive care unit, and they don’t allow phones on that side of the hospital, so that’s why I didn’t get any of your calls, until I left.”
  “Oh,” Donghae said, suddenly at a loss for words. “Well, are you okay? Is everything alright?” 
  “Yes… and no. When I first got there, I was prepared not to feel any sympathy for him. I guess I kinda thought he deserved it,” Hyukjae frowned when he said that. “I’m an awful person. Who thinks something like that about their own father?” he asked with and disbelieving frown on his face.
  “Hyukjae, don’t say that. You’re not. It’s perfectly understandable that you would feel that way after what happened,” Donghae said, placing a comforting arm around Hyukjae’s shoulder.
  “But I feel like one. I mean, I know he said and did some awful things to me, but in spite of that… he’s still my father,” he sighed once before speaking up again. “You should have seen him Donghae. I’ve never seen him look so helpless before. I really didn’t think seeing him like that would affect me the way it did. The doctors say they don’t know how long it will be before he wakes up, or how bad the damage will be when he does. I… I almost didn’t want to leave him. I was almost afraid I wouldn’t be able to see him again if I did.
  “How ironic,” Hyukjae scoffed. “If you would’ve asked me a week ago, I probably would’ve told you I didn’t care if I ever saw him again. I didn’t know how much I had missed him until I saw him. My mom and sister too. Although it was under these conditions, it was nice to see them after all these years,” he said with a sad, sort of half-smile.
  “Hyukjae, I’m sorry.”
  “Don’t be. As bad as it may sound, it was a bit easier to see him while he was unconscious. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to go had he been awake,” Hyukjae admitted.
  “Are you going to go back to visit?” Donghae asked after a brief moment.
  “Hmm, well I told them that I would. I probably should keep my promise,” Hyukjae said.
  “You don’t have to unless you want to. You know that right?” Donghae asked.
  “Yeah. I know,” Hyukjae said, nodding his head that had somehow ended up leaning on Donghae without him noticing.
  They sat in silence for a while, Donghae waiting for the right time to ask his other question and Hyukjae waiting for Donghae to ask.
  “Is that… all that happened today?” he carefully asked.
  “…No. I, uh… well, Ryeowook told me that our apartment was finally finished,” Hyukjae tentatively voiced out.
  “…Oh. Really?” Donghae asked, not really sure what he should be feeling right now.
  “Yeah. So, he helped me move out this morning. That’s why all of my stuff was gone.”
  “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” Donghae said, feeling inexplicably hurt.
  “Well, it was really last minute, and I was going to tell you today, but I was gone longer than I expected and I didn’t know you’d come back so early either, so everything sort of went downhill from there.”
  “But you didn’t have to rush into it. You could’ve talked to me about it beforehand instead of springing it on me after everything was done,” Donghae said.
  “I just wanted to do it and get it over with before the kids had a chance to see and get worried. I didn’t know how they’d take it, and I didn’t want to take any chances,” Hyukjae admitted.
  “I guess that’s understandable,” Donghae sighed. He wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to them either. Unfortunately, it seems like they had all forgotten that Hyukjae’s living with them was only a temporary thing. Donghae didn’t think the day when he would have to leave would ever come, especially not so soon.
  “When are you going to tell them?” Donghae asked.
  “Probably after we come back from the park. I’ll need to explain why I’m not going to be sleeping here anymore to them anyways,” Hyukjae frowned, not looking forward to it at all.
  “What are we supposed to do without you Hyukjae?” Donghae asked aloud without realizing it, startling himself and Hyukjae.
  “Hey, it’s not like I’m quitting. We’re just going back to how things were before. You know, before my roommate burned down our apartment.” He heard Donghae let out a small chuckle and felt himself relaxing more when he felt some of the tension leave Donghae’s body.
  “And I’ll still be here all the time. Don’t worry; you can’t get rid of me that easily. I’m not going anywhere,” he said, and missed the smile that bloomed on Donghae’s face.
  “Yet,” he added just as Donghae had relaxed a bit more.
  “Yah!” Donghae exclaimed, as he felt Hyukjae move in laughter.
  “I’m only teasing. I couldn’t bear to leave Kyuhyun and Jino,” Hyukjae said.
  “And?” Donghae asked when he noticed the lack of his name.
  “And of course I’ll miss Kangin hyung too,” Hyukjae snickered quietly.
  “Oh, you’re going to regret that,” Donghae announced before Hyukjae was mercilessly attacked by his wiggling fingers.
  “Stop, stop, stop!! I’m s-sorry!” Hyukjae screamed out as Donghae attacked his sides and tried to keep him in place on the couch.
  “You don’t sound very sorry to me,” Donghae grinned wickedly as he watched Hyukjae flail around on the couch and try to gasp for air.
  “But I AM!” Hyukjae yelled, trying to get some of the air his laughs were stealing back into his lungs. Using all of the strength he could gather, he rolled to the side and right onto the floor, with Donghae not too far behind. The fall shocked a startled yelp right out of him, and he was happy to feel that the tickling had halted, although the pain from his back and head connecting to the floor was not really all that great of an alternative.
  “Are you okay?” Donghae asked as he hovered over him on the floor.
  “No. I hit my head,” Hyukjae said, rubbing at the afflicted spot. “It’s all your fault. That’s why you shouldn’t tickle me!” he nearly pouted, shoving at Donghae’s chest as the other laughed at him.
  “I’m sorry,” Donghae cooed at Hyukjae as he tried to smooth down the other’s hair, from where it got mussed from their tumble to the floor.
  “Yeah, yeah,” Hyukjae mumbled as he felt Donghae’s fingers run through his hair. The latter was close enough for Hyukjae to feel his breath skirting across his cheeks, and that was enough to bring out a soft color to his cheeks.
  “Hyukjae- Oof!“ Donghae let out a grunt when he felt something small collide into his back and he had to catch himself before he fell completely on top of Hyukjae.
  “Hae hyung! What are you doing to Hyukkie hyung?!” Kyuhyun yelled as he pounded on Donghae’s back with his small fists.
  “I’m not doing anything! Honest!” Donghae said as he took the abuse.
  “He’s lying, Kyu! Get him!” Hyukjae yelled from where he was pinned to the ground.
  Kyuhyun was quick to yell out a high battle cry before launching himself onto Donghae’s neck. The latter had to roll over to avoid collapsing on Hyukjae and Kyuhyun was quick to continue protecting Hyukjae with a couple of well-placed hits. Donghae quickly grabbed Kyuhyun up in his arms and sat up as the 6 year old continued to kick his feet around and tried to get out of the cage of Donghae’s arms.
  “Hae hyung, you meanie!” he fought in Donghae’s hold.
  “Why did you sick the munchkin on me?” he asked as Hyukjae rolled over in laughter, nearly knocking over Jino who had came out to see what all the commotion was about.
  “Serves you right for always bullying me! Kyuhyun’s the only one who cares about me,” Hyukjae said as he sat up and held out his arms for Kyuhyun. Donghae released him when he began to fight harder and he quickly ran into Hyukjae’s arms and clung to him, only turning around to stick his tongue out at Donghae and issue a warning.
  “Don’t bully my Hyukkie hyung!” he said as he crushed himself to Hyukjae.
  “What did I tell you, brat? Hyukkie’s mine!” Donghae said,
  “Nuh uh! He’s mine!” Kyuhyun yelled back and Hyukjae couldn’t help but roll his eyes. These two had the same argument almost every week.
  “Yah!” Donghae yelled out.
  “Mine! Mine!” Jino joined in, squealing and jumping on Hyukjae, who quickly opened his arms up for him.
  “Now look at what you’ve done,” Hyukjae said.
  “I didn’t do anything! Kyuhyun started it!” Donghae yelled and pointed at Kyuhyun.
  “Did not! You started it!” Kyuhyun yelled back.
  “No you!” Jino squealed while shaking his head excitedly, once again joining in on the fun. Hyukjae sighed, knowing that they’d never leave if he didn’t interfere now.
  “Hey, I thought you guys wanted to go to the park,” Hyukjae said, quickly catching Kyuhyun and Jino’s attention.
  “We do!” they both yelled out, heads whipping back to Hyukjae and eyes wide.
  “Then, go put your shoes on so we can leave,” Hyukjae said, releasing them as they scrambled towards the front door where their shoes were.
  He and Donghae stood up at the same time, and Hyukjae gave him a disapproving look while he looked back sheepishly.
  “Just how old are you again?” he questioned incredulously.
  “Old enough to drive everyone to get ice cream,” he smiled goofily and Hyukjae could only shake his head with a smile as Donghae grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the door just as Kyuhyun and Jino had started calling out for them.
  Donghae all but pushed them all out the door when everyone was ready, and he lingered at the door for a second while they walked down the hallway. As soon as Hyukjae noticed him still at the door, he called out to him, and Donghae quickly pulled his face together into what he hoped was a sincere smile as he walked to catch up to them.