I just want to take a moment to thank all the people who have subscribed to my story, I really appreciate it. I like seeing people enjoying my story, so I'm glad you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. *hugs*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo opened his eyes and found them wet. He drew a finger across his eyes and was stunned to see a tear or two dripping off the end. He didn’t know what to do with that; he hadn’t cried since he was six and found out that no one cared. It was easier to show those who didn’t care that he felt the same.

Someone banged the door open loudly and switched on the light, making the others groan and blink in confusion. Ravi’s alarm clock hadn’t even gone off yet.

"Get up!” Ahjumma said loudly, going over to the beds and shaking them vigorously, making the floor shake.

 "Go 'way Ravi.” Ken mumbled as he felt his bed jumping. “Five more minutes.”

“All of you get yourselves out of bed. The police are here to talk to you, and if any of you have done something stupid again I am not bailing you out. You’re on your own.”

Those words woke them up far more effectively than shaking the beds did. Suddenly feeling wide-awake, Leo glanced over at N in the bottom bunk on his other side, noting the crap-what-do-we-do-now look he had on his face. Seeing that made Leo feel a bit more nervous as well—he was used to N having all the answers.

Ahjumma left the room for them to fend for themselves, clucking to herself in annoyance. “If I have to give up my mornings one more time for them and the police, so help me...”

No one said a word or moved from their beds for a moment after the door slammed shut once more. Leo heard Hongbin creaking around above him before his feet appeared so he could jump down. For once Leo didn’t shove them aside, feeling like they could all use a break at this point.

A very long break that didn’t involve waking up.

"We have to stick together, all right?” N said as they moved around the room tiredly, unused to getting dressed a full hour before they had to. “If they ask anything too personal, just don’t say anything, follow my lead.”

“I don’t know about this. Maybe they think we did it.” Hongbin said anxiously as he buttoned his shirt and tucked it in, hiding the stain at the bottom from the last time he’d had his lunch dumped all over him. Noticing it, Leo shook his head.

“They have nothing on us.” N said firmly, pulling on his jacket.

Except all of our rap sheets, but that’s beside the point. Leo finished tightening his tie and waited for the rest of them to hurry up.

When they got downstairs, they found Ahjumma standing on the landing, fuming. “He wants to see you all one at a time.” Luckily she wasn’t paying too much attention, or she might have noticed the glances they sent each other. “And I have to be there since you’re all underage. Which one of you was it?” She peered at all of them, but was met with only stony expressions. She sighed like she’d expected nothing better and beckoned for Ken to join her and the police officer visible in her apartment sitting room just off the dining room. Ken looked scared, glancing back at the rest of the group, specifically N, every couple steps as if they could help him. N gestured for him to go and they all settled in the hardback chairs to wait their turn. Of course they would split us up. Why have us together where we can collaborate on the facts?

It seemed an eternity before Ken came out again, but it was probably only about fifteen minutes or so. They pounced on him and he looked like this was way too early in the morning for him to be dealing with so much stress.

“They just wanted to know about Hyuk and what he was like. I didn’t tell them anything; I said I didn’t know him very well, like we said yesterday. Mostly the police person was telling Ahjumma what happened.”

“Good.” N said as he stood for his turn. Leo watched him walk into the sitting room looking strangely lonely without the rest of them flanking him, protecting him. N might have been the oldest in the group, but he was also the smallest. Leo was visited by an unusual urge to walk into the room with him, protect him like he had failed to do with Hyuk.

The door shut and they settled in for another eternal wait, but N came storming out after only five or six minutes.

“What happened?” Ravi asked sounding surprised.

N looked furious. “If they think that’s how they’re going to get their information then they’re even dumber than they look.”

“What did he say?” Ken asked.

N gave Leo a nervous side-glance and then seemed to decide to just come out and say it. “I went in and sat down and just looked at him. He asked me a question, but I didn’t want to answer so I didn’t say anything. He looked at me very carefully in the eye and said that I should stop acting like a child like Taekwoon and start talking.” Four pairs of eyes narrowed in fury. “I stood up and told him that if he thinks he’ll get information out of us by insulting our friend then he has another thing coming. Then I walked out.”

Leo just stood there disbelievingly for a moment and then walked to the door where the police were waiting for him. The others called after him. “Leo, you don’t have to go in! We’ll tell them not to bother.” Leo lifted his shoulders in a shrug without turning around and reached the door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob as he heard voices inside and he didn’t turn it to go in.

"What? What is it?” Ken called over. Leo turned and sent him a murderous glare, miming zipping his lips with his fingers and pressing his ear to the door. The rest of them got the hint and shut up.

Leo heard Ahjumma’s voice first. “...School social worker saw him. I mean, it wasn’t normal, an eight-year-old who didn’t talk to almost anyone. She said he has selective mutism, where he’d only talk to certain people. But now he talks to no one, not even his friends.”

A man’s voice sounded and Leo clenched his fists, feeling the pain in his injured knuckles but ignoring it. It was the same officer they’d seen the day before, he could recognize the voice, thinking he could just waltz in here and talk about them like he had any right to. And he sounded intrigued with this newfound information about Leo. “That’s interesting. When did that happen? When did he stop speaking altogether?”

There was a pause as Ahjumma thought for a second. “About four years ago, when he was fourteen. There was an...incident, I guess is the right word for it, involving the police actually.” A file drawer opening, a rustling of paper, and a slap of a folder on the table. A longer pause as the officer read whatever it was she’d given him, and Leo had a good idea of what she’d given him.

"That was Taekwoon?” The officer sounded shocked and somehow sad. “Oh man, now that was a disaster.”

“He hasn’t spoken since. I can’t even tell you what his voice sounds like.”

Leo had heard enough. He twisted the knob and found immense satisfaction when the two adults in the room fell silent at his entry. The folder disappeared off the table and the officer gestured for him to sit down opposite him. There was a pad of paper and a pen sitting there waiting for him, though everyone in the room knew he wasn’t going to use them. Leo glowered at the pad and pen as expected and proceeded to ignore the fact that they were there. A picture facing the officer sat next to the pad, a picture of Hyuk, taken last year. Leo knew that picture; they all had their pictures taken once a year and Hyuk always had the biggest smile on his face, like he was so happy to see a camera that he just couldn’t contain himself. Leo’s pictures on the other hand, looked the same every year. He looked dead-on into the camera as if the machine had personally forced him to be there and made sure there was no hint of anyone living behind his dark, intense eyes.

"Taekwoon. Thanks for joining us.” Officer Bastard sounded careful, choosing his words as if the wrong one would make Leo blow up. Not like you gave us much of a choice did you?

“You and your friends were the ones who gave a body an identity.” Leo stiffened. Was that all Hyuk was? A body? “We think you might be able to help us find Sanghyuk’s killer.” His name. Is HYUK. Leo let nothing show on his face and just stared at him until he cleared his throat. “I know your friends said you didn’t know him very well, but even a little bit of information can be vital. What kind of person was he? Was he violent or quiet or did he do drugs or anything like that?”

What kind of person was he? As if you care. Leo felt as he had when he woke up, like the tears wanted to spill out, but he swallowed the lump as discreetly as he could. This man was not going to force emotion from him. How dare you come and ask questions about Hyuk like it’s any of your goddamn business! Knowing what kind of person he was isn’t going to help you find the lowlife who killed him. I’m not telling you he did drugs so you can judge him for his weakness.

The silence stretched on for almost a minute as Leo showed no signs of reaching for the paper to help them out. His face showed no expression, not even a twitch or a blink to let the officer know if he was on the right track.

"Look, Taekwoon.” Officer Bastard leaned forward and his voice grew harsher. “I’m going to be straight with you now, no more hiding what we know or don’t know. Bongcha-ssi has told me that the six of you are extremely close, and none more than you and Sanghyuk.” Leo wanted so badly to glare at Ahjumma, but he didn’t let his eyes waver from the officer questioning him. “If you know something that we or your friends don’t, it’s probably in your best interest to tell us. I’m sure you want to find Sanghyuk’s killer just as much as we do, probably even more.” He pushed the pad of paper toward Leo and held out the pen.

Leo bristled. If they wanted to try to tell him what he wanted and what he should do, then he had no use for them. He took the pen and brought the paper toward him to write. The officer looked briefly hopeful, but the brightening in his eyes faded when Leo slid the pad back toward him and stood up to leave.

The man narrowed his eyes as he read the two words on the page and showed it to Ahjumma. Leo raised his eyebrows and his shoulders and left the room, leaving the two adults to shake their heads over his words: **** you.

Once Leo shut the door the others glanced up and he mimed for them to shut up. He pressed his ear to the door once again to hear part two of “Taekwoon’s inner turmoil.”

"Honestly, Detective, I didn’t expect anything else.” Ahjumma said, and her chair squeaked as he heard her lean back in it. Detective? “He’s angry, well angrier, and nothing you say is going to get anything out of him.” The other boys joined him and pressed their ears to the door as well. He saw the same fear he felt reflected in their eyes.

"I don’t know.” Officer Bastard sounded thoughtful. “I think there’s something there. He may try to have no emotions, but he’s not a robot. If the two of them were as close as you say they were, then he has to be feeling something.”

"I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything to justify that. They were close, that’s true, but honestly, it seemed more one-sided to me. Taekwoon never, and I mean never, shows any sort of emotional attachment to anything, no matter what or who it is.” That doesn't mean he wasn't a brother to me.

The voices lowered and Leo had to strain to hear what they were saying. “We know that this was most likely a drug deal gone wrong, Bongcha-ssi, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever find who did it unless we get a lead soon. You said Sanghyuk started on drugs a few years ago, right?” Never find who did it?? What is WRONG with you?

"That’s right. He’s gotten into more trouble at school for it than is worth mentioning. If I’ve screamed at him once, I’ve screamed at him a hundred times, but he kept with it. If you knew that, why did you ask them?”

Leo heard a sigh. “Because although you know he was doing drugs, they might know more, like who his supplier was. We could get a lead from them, but if none of them are willing to even tell me that he did drugs in the first place, they won’t give up anything else. I’ve seen it before, where friends and family don’t want to betray the deceased, or give them a bad name after death.”

“If that’s the case, there’s no point in questioning the rest of them. They’re not going to tell you anything.” Squeaks as the chairs scraped back across the floor.

“I figured as much.” Footsteps came closer and they all threw themselves back at the chairs just in time for the door to open and the two adults walk out. They glanced up like they didn’t care if they were talking about them or not and Officer Bastard stopped in front of them.

“Thank you, boys. It won’t be necessary to interview Hongbin or Wonshik.” He held out a business card to Ravi, who took it reluctantly. “If you feel you have any sort of information that might be useful to us, then give me a call, all right?”

He didn’t wait for a response that wouldn’t be coming and he bowed slightly before walking out the door. Once Ahjumma was out of sight up the stairs to wake up everyone else, they crowded around Ravi and looked at the card.

“Detective Choi Ilsung.” N read aloud. “South Korea Police Department.”

Leo snorted softly and looked away. That man would forever be Officer Bastard in his opinion.

Ravi suddenly looked at his watch and jumped to his feet, slipping the card into his pocket. “We’d better go soon.”

“Why? It’s still early.” Hongbin asked, looking longingly up the stairs where their beds were. It was obvious that he’d stay in bed all day if they didn’t make him go out and interact with the world. At the moment, Leo understood what he was feeling.

Ravi glanced at the rest of them. “You all have detention for a month. It’s better to be early than take a chance with being late.”

“I hate you.” N muttered, but he led the way as they trooped upstairs to fetch their bags. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm listening to the saddest song right now and it's giving me many sentimental feels. I made myself want to cry for Leo...

Oh, and prepare yourselves for the next chapter, cuz it's going to be seriously epic. At least, it's my favorite chapter so far =)

Please comment and let me know what you think!