Index:

(WH) - Woohyun speaking
(YJ) - Young Jae speaking
(DH) - Daehyun speaking
(BY) - Yongguk speaking
(SH) - Seohyun speaking
(SJ) - Sungjong speaking
(S) - Sungyeol speaking
(JU) - Jongup speaking

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During the short amount of time that he has breathed, he had been told time and time again about how great his mother was. His father always constantly told him about how his mom was working so hard to get money and get him all the the things that he could ever want. He had been told that his mom was a kind and caring person, that she would do anything for him.

Young Jae idolized his mother.

Every single day, Young Jae would always imagine his mother as someone whom could do almost anything. She could cook the most delicious foods, she could buy anything that they wanted and.. she would hold him in her arms and tell him every single day, at every single moment, that she loved him with all her heart.

Now, don’t get him wrong. Young Jae loved his father a lot. Everywhere he went, Young Jae always carried a Teddy bear with him that his father had given him. It was definitely his most favorite toy since it was the first one that he had received. He called the stuffed animal ‘Mister Buttons’ due to the fact that the Teddy bear had a button for a belly button.

In a way, Young Jae had been babied by his father. After all, his father had tried to make up for the love that Young Jae’s mother was unable to give him at the moment, but that was alright. Young Jae truly loved his father and he could feel his mother’s love no matter where he went.

Or so he thought..

One day, Young Jae was playing in the living room when the front door opened. Turning his gaze towards the door, his father came in with a woman following shortly after. Young Jae’s eyes widened as his mouth hung slightly agape. His memories pulled familiar faces from the many family photos that his father had shown him, but one title for this woman came to mind.

This woman... was his mom.

However, life wasn’t the way that Young Jae had imagined it would turn out. Every day, Young Jae had been forced to do chores that his father normally did. Vacuuming, cooking breakfast, washing dishes, raking, dusting, anything that his mother could think of. This wouldn’t have been much of a problem if Young Jae was older, but.. the poor kid was only six years old at the time. He wasn’t even tall enough to see over the counter just yet, let alone being able to push the vacuum forward.

Years passed and Young Jae only found it tougher to live with his parents. However, he worked hard to receive some sort of praise or approval from his mother. Young Jae felt that maybe, just maybe, his mom was testing him.. to see if he was worthy of her love. No matter what he accomplished though.. he was always yelled at. His mother always found something at fault with Young Jae no matter how perfect he had been at the task given to him. He never understood it. Young Jae had only wanted once, just once, for his mother to tell him that he had done a good job, or even if he had done an okay job, but... if just never seemed to be enough for her.

Suddenly, Young Jae’s father soon grew ill. His mother refused to bring him to a hospital because as a nurse, she felt she was qualified enough to be able to determine the illness he had and how to cure it. Days turned into weeks, but Young Jae’s father never got any better. Young Jae wanted to help, he wanted to make his father get better, but he just didn’t know how. He didn’t have the knowledge necessary to cure him.

Young Jae laid with his father one night, all snuggled up in his father’s weakened hold as Young Jae held onto Mister Buttons tightly. Young Jae’s father ruffled Young Jae’s hair, causing the little boy to look up at his father with a happy smile. However, when Young Jae looked at his father, he felt confused as he saw the tears falling down his father’s face, but... a smile had graced his lips. With one last breath, his father spoke weakly, “Young Jae.. my son... I will always love you.. and no matter what your mom or anyone else tells you.. always... always... be who you want to be..”

Those.. were the last words spoken by his father.

Now that there was no one there to protect Young Jae, Young Jae’s mother only seemed to care less and less about her son. In fact, it seemed now that when his father had been alive, she had merely been holding back. Every day, his mother would yell at and hit Young Jae before finally.. she was tired of it all. She no longer wanted to take care of her one and only child. She no longer wanted the burden of having to care for the child she had deemed as a parasite. After all, he was only living off of her success. Without her, he would be nothing. So... why bother?

With his father no longer around, Young Jae’s mother had him pack his things before bringing him somewhere. What was this place? Why were they there? He knew that he didn’t like this place, but he couldn’t say anything about it. If he did, then his mother would have hit him yet again for misbehaving.

Young Jae didn’t understand, but.. it soon began piecing itself together as his grip had been transferred from his mother to a person he had just met. Eyes widening, tears streaming, Young Jae attempted to chase after his mother. He screamed for his mom to come back to him, that he’ll do better. He would try- no, he WILL do better. He can cook better, he can clean better, he’ll do anything just so that she would stay with him for even just a moment longer. He didn’t want to be left alone, not after his father left him.

However, the person he was with was holding him back. Minutes passed before finally, Young Jae had given up. Only one thought remained though..

He would never be able to get his mother’s approval anymore.

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Life at the orphanage was difficult for him. The owner of the orphanage, Mister Kim, had insured him that the orphanage would be a safe place for him to live in. Young Jae had believed him and the first day there had helped convince Young Jae that the orphanage really was a good place to live. After all, there were a lot of children he could play with, all kinds of different toys just waiting for him to play with, and Mister Kim told him that there was plenty of food for him to eat all day! What more could he ask for?

Of course, the second that Young Jae was no longer under Mister Kim’s protection, that’s when they decided to move in. They weren’t necessarily the type of kids that Young Jae was used to being around. This group of kids didn’t hold back when it came to picking on Young Jae.

Did they care? Not really.

“Leave me alone!” (YJ) Young Jae screamed as he ran as fast as possible. Tears streamed down his face, making it difficult for him to see where he was going. No matter where he looked, no matter where he went, there just didn’t seem to be a place safe enough for him to stay. It was troublesome, especially since his legs were threatening to give out underneath him and the side of his tummy was hurting after running for so long.

Young Jae stopped for a moment, looking around frantically before he began running once more. He didn’t understand why he was being picked on! It wasn’t fair and Young Jae hated this, but he couldn’t stop to try and figure it out. He had to keep running in an attempt to, hopefully, find somewhere where he could feel secure, a place where he can be safe. A place where he could fit in for once..

Sadly, a hand soon took a hold of Young Jae’s sleeve and pulled, causing the poor boy to turn and trip over his own feet, landing roughly on his backside. Before Young Jae even had the chance to fully comprehend what was happening, one of the kids straddled Young Jae to keep him from running once more or to even ball himself up in a vein attempt to protect himself. No matter how much Young Jae cried, no matter how much he shook in fear and held his Teddy bear up in an attempt to defend himself, he knew that he wasn’t going to get away without getting hurt.

“Did you really think you could get away from us, crybaby Young Jae?” (SJ) Sungjong crouched down, tearing Mister Buttons out of Young Jae’s grasp before tossing it to Yuri. Yuri caught it, wrapping the Teddy bear in her arms in a protective manner as she watched on. Taking a handful of Young Jae’s hair, he pulled at it as he produced a tear-filled wail from Young Jae. Sungjong grinned a little too happily as he leaned in close. “You can’t get away from us! Show him what we do to runners.” (SJ)

Sungjong forcefully shoved Young Jae’s head back down, causing Young Jae to hit his head against the ground. Getting to his feet, Sungjong took a few steps back as he folded his arms and held his grin. Young Jae kept his arms in front of his face as he felt the boy on top of him start to move. Once the boy was off of him, Young Jae quickly balled up and laid on his side. If he hadn’t of done this as quickly as he had, the kick he felt on his back would have probably been a lot worse.

Kick after kick, stomp after stomp, Young Jae would continue to cry out in pain as the tears endlessly streamed down his face. No matter which side it was, he would feel someone’s foot coming into contact with him. Who knew how long they had been at it until the bullies had their fill? The last hit he received was when they threw Mister Buttons at him before walking away, but even then... he stayed in his position. Young Jae rocked back and forth as he wept, his hands shakily holding the top of his head as he kept his eyes shut.

He wished that had been the last of it all.

After spending at least an hour in the same position, Young Jae finally worked up the courage to move. Slowly pushing himself up, he looked around before quickly pulling Mister Buttons close to him. Tears began welling up inside him once more as the aches and pains made themselves more noticeable. It took him a while, but once on his feet, he started to make his way back to the orphanage. He really wanted to go home now.

Once back at the orphanage, Young Jae quickly made his way to his bed and quickly hid underneath the blankets. He shut his eyes tightly as his whole body shook from fear. Would they beat him up again at this very moment? Was it his fault that no one liked him? Why... did no one like him?

Slowly... tears began to escape from his eyes as he soon began to try and muffle his crying. Young Jae didn’t want anyone to know he was crying. If the bullies heard him again, they would know that he was back and they might beat him up some more. He really didn’t want that. However, he soon jumped as he felt a hand on him. He quickly sat up, pulling the blanket off of his head as he tried to move away from the stranger. His attempts at muffling himself had ceased right there as he let himself cry out, shaking his head incessantly as he kept moving back. “Calm down! I’m not here to hurt you.” (DH)

Young Jae moved as close as possible to the corner of his bed. Tears were still falling down his face as he quickly brought his legs up to his chest, using his legs as some sort of defense to protect both him and Mister Buttons. He was angry, but also scared. Still.. if this kid wasn’t here to hurt him, then why was he bothering him?! “What do you want?! I don’t want to be hurt anymore!” (YJ)

“I don’t want to hurt you.. I.. I wanted to see if you’re okay!” (DH) The tanned kid moved closer, but he stopped the second he saw Young Jae quickly withdraw even further, if that was even possible. The boy furrowed his eyebrows and pouted a bit before he moved away again. Digging into his pocket for a moment, the tanned kid pulled out a few pieces of candy and laid it on the bed before getting up from his seat. “There. I’ll leave lots of candy for you, alright? I.. I want you to feel lots better!” (DH)

With a grin, the boy waved before he began walking. He quickly stopped though as he turned back to face the slowly calming Young Jae, a small smile showing on his face. “If you need help.. I’ll come from now on. I’ll be your hero!” (DH)

Before Young Jae could respond, the tanned kid flashed a grin before leaving the room. Young Jae blinked a few times before wiping his face of the tears that had been on his face. Who was he and.. why did he want to be his hero..?

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The next day, Young Jae had quickly fled from the orphanage once the coast was clear. He didn’t want to be there anymore. It wasn’t a nice place to live like Mister Kim said it would be and although he didn’t know where to go, he felt like he could find a place that was safe for him to live. His father had told him all sorts of stories about princes, princesses, heroes, fairies, and many other things like that. He knew that if he could find something like that, then he would be safe! They would protect him... right?

Walking down the dirt path with Mister Buttons safely riding from within his backpack, Young Jae looked around curiously. The light from the sun shone through the leaves as it illuminated a sort of green light onto the path. The rustle of the leaves made Young Jae jump a bit, but the second he felt the light touch of the wind, he calmed down.

For once... he felt calm.

“See Mister Buttons? Not everything is scary! Look at the pretty leaves!” (YJ) Young Jae smiled happily as he looked around. Everything really was pretty to Young Jae and in a way, he just wanted to live out here. Just as he finally felt happy, he jumped when a rabbit hopped out of the bushes and ran across the path to the other patch of bushes. Once he had finally registered what it had been, Young Jae let out a sigh of relief as he began walking once more. “It was only a bunny rabbit, Mister Buttons!” (YJ)

Young Jae listened for a moment before nodding and giggling a bit. “Yea! Bunny rabbits aren’t scary. They’re cute and fluffy! Daddy even said that there’s a bunny rabbit that lives on the moon! Remember?” (YJ)

Young Jae listened a little bit before nodding happily once again. Entering a clearing, Young Jae’s eyes widened along with his smile as he looked towards a specific tree that stood proudly in the middle of an island that was surrounded by a shallow river that flowed through the clearing. The only sure way of getting to the tree was by crossing the bridge that connected the island to the rest of the land. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing that was breathtaking.

There was a tree house that sat on the tree with a staircase built circling around the tree to allow access to the tree house. Looking around, he could see that there were flowers of all kinds growing, showing off the many colors that worked well with one another. The only conclusion that he could come to was... that fairies must live here!

“There he is!” (SJ) Young Jae instantly turned around, his eyes widening as his gaze landed on a familiar looking group. The second they started running, Young Jae turned and began running as well. Sadly, he didn’t even make it to the bridge when he felt his bag being pulled, causing him to fall backwards. He quickly assumed the fetal position, shutting his eyes tightly as he heard laughter fill the air.

“Whaddya doing? Trying to run again?! I guess we have to show you just how bad you are!” (SJ) Young Jae’s eyes shot open the second he heard something begin to rip. Lifting his head, his eyes widened with horror as he saw one of the boys slowly ripping one of Mister Buttons’ arms. He could hear Mister Buttons’ cry for help, but he didn’t know what to do! His eyes began to fill with tears as the boy ripped it a little more.

“NO! Leave Mister Buttons alone!” (YJ) Young Jae pushed himself forward, clumsily running forward in an attempt to save his one and only friend. He stretched out his hand, his eyes remaining glued on his best friend. However, a foot tripped Young Jae, causing Young Jae to roughly fall into the dirt. Just as he tried pushing himself up, one of the boys grabbed a handful of Young Jae’s hair and pulled it back roughly. Young Jae let out a pained cry as tears streamed down his cheeks. Leaning in close, the boy spoke with a harsh tone in his voice that only caused Young Jae to cry out even louder.

“Watch, Crybaby Young Jae. Watch.. while we rip your stupid bear apart!” (SJ) Just as Young Jae was about to scream for them to stop, the one holding the bear suddenly dropped it as he rubbed the side of his head. Sungjong glared up at the boy, slowly getting angry. “What are you doing?!” (SJ)

“It’s not my fault! Something hit my head!” (BY) Suddenly, Sungyeol let out a yelp before something finally hit Sungjong. Sungjong stumbled to his feet, taking a few steps away from Young Jae as he rubbed his arm. He glared as he looked around angrily, his eyes finally landing on a tanned-skin boy that was currently standing on the bridge. The boy grinned, tossing a small ball up into the air before catching it.

“Hey, Sungjong! What are you doing here? I thought we told you that you’re not allowed here!” (DH) Young Jae looked up at the person on the bridge, his eyes widening and his mouth slightly agape as he stared in awe at the boy. It was the same boy from last night! He had tanned skin, which wasn’t seen all that well on the other children, maybe except for Yuri. Just like everyone else, he had black hair and dark brown eyes, but he was the only kid at the orphanage that had glasses. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt over dark blue shorts with black flip flops on, but.. that wasn’t necessarily what drew Young Jae’s attention. There was just a certain look to him that really caught Young Jae’s attention. It might have been the angle or the lighting, but... 

To Young Jae, this boy really looked like a hero.

“Daehyun, stay out of this!” (SJ) Sungjong glared at Daehyun, whom held his grin. A few more hacky sacks were thrown at the group, causing them to take a few more steps back. Soon enough, a boy a bit taller than Daehyun showed up with his arms crossed and his eyebrows furrowed. Only a split second later, a smaller boy came running onto the scene, quickly picking up the teddy bear before making his way over to Young Jae. He knelt down, a worried look on his face as he tugged on Young Jae’s hand. “HEY! You leave him alone!” (SJ)

Sungjong had taken a step forward, but was quickly stopped when another hacky sack came within mere inches of hitting him. Sungjong took a step back, glaring up at the tree house to see a girl wearing a white headband just barely duck out of his sight. The small boy tugged harder at Young Jae’s hand, having successfully gotten him to his feet. “Come on! B-Big brother Daehyun said to bring you to big sister Seohyun!” (JU)

Young Jae clumsily followed after the small boy as they made their way to the bridge. His eyes briefly came into contact with Daehyun’s, his own eyes widening as the tanned boy smiled and winked. Young Jae turned red as he lowered his gaze, having barely caught himself from falling over before making his way up the steps after the small boy. Every now and then, whenever given the chance, his eyes would land on the tanned boy whom was still standing on the bridge with that same heroic pose. The two opposing groups were currently talking, but he couldn’t really make out what they were saying. He could tell that Sungjong’s group was not happy though.

“W-Will they going to be alright? There’s too many of them..!” (YJ) The small boy didn’t answer his question as he continued pulling Young Jae up the steps. After a few more steps, they finally reached the top where the tree house was. The small boy pushed open the door, letting Young Jae go in first before entering and closing the door behind them. The boy quickly latched up the door before making his way over to the window, where a girl was currently sitting. “W-Who are you? A-Are you going to hurt me too..?” (YJ)

The girl turned to Young Jae as she smiled and shook her head. Getting to her feet, the young girl made her way over to a cabinet and opened it up, pulling out a small white box that had a red cross on it. It was obvious to most people that the red cross had been drawn on. Most likely, it had been used as a play thing, but judging by how serious the girl looked, it was quite evident that the contents inside were indeed, real.

Turning around, she happily walked over to Young Jae before pulling him gently over to one of the many chairs and sitting him down. “My name is Seohyun! It’s very nice to meet you! Here, let me heal you. I’m going to be a doctor one day!” (SH)

“W-Why do you wanna help me..?” (YJ) Seohyun set the first-aid kit onto the table as she pulled a chair up close to Young Jae. Sitting down, she smiled happily as she examined Young Jae. From what she could tell, there wasn’t any sort of wet blood that she could see, but she could clearly see the dried blood that Young Jae had neglected to clean up from yesterday. Opening up the first-aid kit, she pulled out a few alcohol rubs and opened up the packets before she began cleaning Young Jae up. Young Jae would wince or whine every now and then, but Seohyun would quickly try to make sure that it was nice and as painless as possible before patching the young boy up. Once she was done, with a smile, she patted Young Jae’s knee.

“Because Sungjong was being a big meany ! Also because Daehyun wanted to help you a lot, but he didn’t know how... but he said that today was the day!” (SH) Young Jae tilted his head in slight confusion. Daehyun wanted to help him? But.. why? Young Jae didn’t see any point in helping him. He was certain that he wasn’t worth the trouble... especially since his mother left him all alone. “Come on! Let’s go watch how Daehyun and Woohyun are doing!” (SH)

Seohyun got to her feet as she walked over to the window. Young Jae followed close by, instantly noticing the slingshot and the many hacky sacks that were stacked nearby. The small boy hid behind the Teddy bear as he held it up to Young Jae, the older boy smiling happily as he took Mister Buttons back into his arms. “I.. I saved him for you... B-Big brother Daehyun said that mister bear is important to you...” (JU)

“T-Thank you.. His name is Mister Buttons and he says thank you very much too.” (YJ) Jongup turned red as he lowered his head a bit. He smiled and nodded before moving over to the other side of Seohyun. Hugging Mister Buttons tightly, Young Jae turned to look down where everyone else was.

Young Jae didn’t know why they were helping him, but.. he really hoped that they were alright.

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“Sungjong! You think you can hurt him like that? That’s not a very nice thing to do!” (DH) Daehyun crossed his arms, a grin still on his face. Even though this was technically a serious situation, Daehyun would almost always find a way to smile. After all, he was the hero and a hero had to always cheer up others with a smile. “You’re being a big, bad villain!” (DH)

“Daehyun! Get out of our way! He’s MINE! I CLAIMED HIM!” (SJ) Sungjong was clearly not happy that Daehyun had stepped in at all. They were just getting to the good part, but Daehyun just HAD to get in the way and keep them from having their fun. Well, Sungjong was definitely going to get Daehyun back for this. He was definitely going to make Daehyun suffer until he cried a whole lot!

“He’s mine now, so go away!” (DH) Sungjong stomped on the ground angrily a few times as he balled his hands up into fists. Why did Daehyun have to ALWAYS take what was his?! No. Not this time! Sungjong was definitely going to take Young Jae from Daehyun if it was the last thing that he did. Young Jae was supposed to be his, NOT Daehyun’s!

“You can’t have him!” (SJ) Sungjong began running without much warning, fists raised as he came closer and closer to Daehyun. The others looked at one another before two of the other boys ran after Sungjong, mostly focusing their efforts on the other kid that had shown up with Daehyun. Daehyun only grinned though as he side stepped Sungjong’s first thrown fist, quickly pushing the kid and causing him to fall over the railing and into the water below.

Sungjong slowly pushed himself up as he began coughing the water that had made its way into his air system. His gaze shot up to his left as he found himself staring eye to eye with Daehyun, whom now had a slight look of worry. “You shouldn’t fight anymore, Sungjong! Young Jae doesn’t like you, so you should leave him alone!” (DH)

“I said that he’s MINE!” (SJ) Sungjong practically threw himself out of the water as he threw yet another fist in Daehyun’s direction. Sadly, Daehyun had side stepped the attack once again. The only difference was that he stuck his foot out and tripped Sungjong, causing the boy to fall face first into the grass. Pushing himself up, he glared at Daehyun, whom was now pointing off to the other side. Sungjong turned the other way, his eyes widening as he saw that both Yongguk and Sungyeol had been piled on top of one another and the other boy that had been with Daehyun was now sitting on top of them. The boy merely waved, a bored look on his face as he kept the other two from escaping. Sungjong turned his attention back to Daehyun as tears slowly began to fill his eyes. “T-This isn’t over Daehyun! I-I’ll get you back!” (SJ)

Getting to his feet, Sungjong was the first to begin running away. The girl and the small boy that had been with him followed suit and once the other two had been let go, they began running as well. Daehyun grinned happily as he fist pumped the air, turning to the boy whom was now walking towards him. “We did it Woohyun! We saved the damsel in distress!” (DH)

“Damsel in distress? He’s a boy though. Boy’s can’t be damsels in distress.. can they?” (WH) Daehyun crossed his arms as he began to think about this. That.. was true. In all of the stories that he had read, the damsels in distress were always girls. But.. Young Jae looked like a girl, so he could still be a damsel in distress, right?

“But what if he looks like a girl? Does that still count?” (DH)

“I don’t know.. We should ask Seohyun! She knows a lot of stuff.” (WH) Daehyun nodded happily as he turned and looked up at the window where Jongup was happily cheering and Seohyun was waving. His eyes instantly locked in on Young Jae, whom quickly shied away behind his Teddy bear. Daehyun grinned as he began walking, keeping his eyes on Young Jae until the other boy disappeared from his view.

“He’s really cute!” (DH) Woohyun, whom was following close behind him, crossed his arms and raised a single brow.

“Cute? Do you like him?” (WH) Daehyun thought for a moment. Like?

“Sure! Why not? I like everyone!” (DH)

“That’s not what I meant! Do you LIKE like him?” (WH) Daehyun thought for yet another moment. Why were there two likes? Was that supposed to mean something? Daehyun didn’t understand and out of confusion, he found himself scratching the side of his head as he continued to figure it out. Though, they were soon at the door and thus, Daehyun quickly forgot about the question as Jongup swung the door open to let them in.

“Daehyun! Woohyun! You did so well! Are any of you hurt?” (SH) Daehyun and Woohyun both shook their heads as Jongup closed and latched up the door once more. Daehyun quickly made his way over to Young Jae, whom was currently occupying a small corner with his bear attempting to hide him from everyone else’s gaze. Sitting in front of the timid boy, Daehyun grinned as he put a hand on Young Jae’s hand.

“See? I’m your hero!” (DH) Young Jae looked up from his teddy bear as he instantly turned a shade of red and hid his face once more. Daehyun rubbed the back of his head and furrowed his eyebrows a bit before leaning in as close as possible to the bear. He just didn’t understand why Young Jae was acting like this. Not once has he ever met a kid that was like this, well.. maybe except Jongup, but it was still weird! “Don’t be scared! We’re going to be your friends from now on!” (DH)

A few seconds ticked by before finally, Young Jae worked up the courage to lift his gaze once more. His face reddened and his eyes widened from surprise as he saw just how close Daehyun was, but he didn’t hide away this time. Okay, he did jump just a little bit, but he was just surprised! He bit his bottom lip as he tightened his hold on Mister Buttons. Were they really good people..? Were they really going to be his friend? “Um... w-why.. do you want to be my hero..?” (YJ)

Daehyun leaned back, taken by surprise by the question. Crossing his arms, he took a moment to think about this before a sudden thought popped up in his head. Of course, this thought had just been in his head just mere moments ago. He turned to look at Seohyun, whom jumped a bit by Daehyun’s sudden turn. “Seooo ~ Can a boy be a damsel in distress?” (DH)

“Damsel in distress? Um..” (SH) Seohyun puffed out her cheeks and put a single finger to her chin as she thought on the question. Looking around the room a bit, her eyes soon landed back onto Daehyun before a smile formed on her face. “I think they can! Boys need saving too, like Young Jae!” (SH)

With a satisfied grin, Daehyun turned to look at Young Jae once more, whom had nearly hidden behind his Teddy bear the second he had their gaze on him once more. With his arms still crossed, Daehyun nodded in approval as he leaned forward once again. “Because you are my damsel in distress! So I will save you all the time!” (DH)

“D-Damsel in distress..?” (YJ) Young Jae didn’t really know what a damsel in distress was. In fact, he didn’t even know what damsel nor distress meant so.. he wasn’t entirely sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. But... a hero wouldn’t insult someone, right? Right! With a shy smile, Young Jae nodded a bit. “O-Okay..” (YJ)

“Good! Seoo~ Can we add him to our group?” (DH) Daehyun turned to look at Seohyun once again, whom began to think once more. She turned around, looking around the small room before making her way over to the tree itself, which stood in the middle of the circular room. Opening up a compartment that had been built into the tree, she took out a small, clear bag that had blue polka dots all around it. Closing the compartment, Seohyun walked over to Young Jae before kneeling down and setting the bag onto her lap.

As she began to untie the blue ribbon that held the bag closed, Young Jae slowly began to lean forward as curiosity began to kick in. He watched as Seohyun finished untying the bag and stuck her hand inside. Her attention stayed on the bag, staring through the clear plastic as her eyes finally lit up the second she grabbed a hold of what she was looking for. Seohyun pulled out the object, quickly revealing a white, gray, and black beaded bracelet. Taking a gentle hold of Young Jae’s left wrist, she placed the bracelet onto him before pulling her hands away and smiling. “There! You’re now a member!” (SH)

Young Jae lifted his left wrist up a bit, examining the bracelet with awe. After a few seconds had passed, he looked back at Seohyun as his expression soon changed into one of confusion. “U-Um... a-a member of what..?” (YJ)

“Of our group!” (DH) Young Jae turned his attention towards Daehyun, whom had a proud look on his face. Why he had a proud look on his face, it wasn’t really known. The only reason Young Jae knew of this look was because... his father often wore it whenever he looked at him. “That bracelet is supposed to show our friendship! See? We all have one!” (DH)

Daehyun rose his left wrist, revealing the same colored bracelet. Young Jae looked at Seohyun, whom repeated Daehyun’s action. Getting to her feet, Seohyun took a hold of Young Jae’s hands and pulled him to his feet as gently as possible. “Come on, Young Jae! I wanna play with my bear with you too!” (SH)

“I-I wanna play too, big sister!” (JU) Young Jae reluctantly followed after Seohyun, giving Daehyun one last glance before disappearing into a different room. Daehyun chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head, following after them with Woohyun following close by. Well, they did want to join in after all. They had Teddy bears of their own.

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Time went by quickly as the children all had fun playing with one another. Young Jae couldn’t help but feel really happy to play with other children and to actually feel.. wanted by someone other than his dad. It really helped lift Young Jae’s spirits and he knew for sure that he wanted to stick with everyone within this group.

Soon though, the playing came to an end as Seohyun mentioned that it was almost dinner time. The group quickly cleaned up the tree house, putting whatever things that they used back where they belonged. Once Seohyun had approved of the cleanliness of the tree house, Woohyun led the way out of the tree house with Seohyun close behind. Jongup turned to Daehyun, taking a hold of his hand and tugging at it. “Come on, big brother Daehyun! Let’s go eat!” (JU)

“Go ahead! I wanna walk with Young Jae a little more.” (DH) Jongup instantly turned and glared at Young Jae, whom quickly hid behind his teddy bear once more. Jongup, however, couldn’t necessarily stay mad at Young Jae. After all, he was his new big brother and he had a lot of fun with Young Jae today! Walking up to Young Jae, Jongup gave the boy a big hug before he ran off to catch up with Woohyun and Seohyun. Daehyun scratched the side of his head before making his way over to Young Jae and taking a hold of his hand. “Come on! I wanna show you something REALLY cool!” (DH)

“B-But.. what about dinner..?” (YJ) Even though Young Jae’s curiosity was peaking a bit with Daehyun’s words, he was feeling a bit hungry. Okay, so he was actually very hungry. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast, though technically, neither had everyone else that had been at the tree house. Still, he did want to eat at that moment.

“We’ll go soon! Come on, pleeeeease? It’ll be really cool, I promise! You’ll like it a lot!” (DH) Young Jae buried half of his face into the back of his teddy bear’s head as he thought for a moment. Since Daehyun was his hero, then.. it was probably best to follow him. Plus, heroes don’t lie so that meant that the place really was cool!

“O-Okay.. I-I’ll go with you.” (YJ)

“Great!” (DH) Daehyun grinned happily as he gave Young Jae’s hand a light squeeze before leading the way. Making their way around and down the spiral steps, Daehyun looked around once at the bottom to make sure that no one else was around. Once he was sure, he turned away from the path that led to the bridge and led Young Jae towards another path that went in the opposite direction.

Once they were out of the clearing and back in the forest, Young Jae looked around as the shadows became more evident. He shivered a bit, not because of the cold, but because of how scary everything looked. He knew that there were monsters in the forest and because it was nearing dark, then it only meant that those monsters would be coming out soon. “W-Will we leave before it’s dark..?” (YJ)

“I dunno. Don’t worry though! I’ll protect you!” (DH) Young Jae nodded, but he still couldn’t help but feel scared. He tightened his grip on Daehyun’s hand, which stood as the only thing keeping him from running away. Young Jae had even moved up closer to Daehyun, pressing himself against the older male as a small whimper escaped his lips. Daehyun couldn’t help but look back just slightly at Young Jae, but a look of determination made him continually think of how he’ll definitely protect Young Jae from the bad guys.

After countless seconds ticked by, they finally emerged out of the forest. Daehyun stepped to the side and grinned happily as he turned to Young Jae, whom had just looked forward to see where they were. Young Jae’s eyes widened and his mouth hung agape as he stared in awe at what was before him.

It was a beach and beyond that was the vast ocean. The sun was starting to set and it just gave that warm glow that made Young Jae feel safe. Daehyun led Young Jae closer to the ocean before the pair sat down. Young Jae couldn’t help but keep his eyes on the ocean, failing to see Daehyun staring at him with a grin. This was his first time seeing anything like this! Young Jae had seen it once in a coloring book, but he hadn’t colored it anything like this! “What do you think? I found it! I really like this place a lot..” (DH)

“I-It’s.. really pretty.. Mister Buttons likes it too.” (YJ) Young Jae looked down at his Teddy bear and moved the arms up and down, almost as if it was overjoyed, before looking over at Daehyun. “Um.. how did you find this place?” (YJ)

“My mommy showed me. She said that daddy brought her here ee~veryday. But... that was when they were still alive...” (DH) Daehyun looked out towards the ocean before laying down. He stared up at the sky, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall out. Taking in a deep breath, he turned his head and looked up at Young Jae, his eyes widening when he saw that the boy had his face buried into the back of his Teddy bear’s head. He pushed himself up, putting a hand on Young Jae’s shoulder as he frowned a bit. “What’s wrong? Do you have a tummy ache?” (DH)

Young Jae shook his head. After a few seconds passed, Young Jae pulled his face away and quickly wiped his eyes with his arm before looking at Daehyun. “I was sad.. because my mommy left me all alone. She didn’t want me anymore.. But.. I feel really happy because of you, Daehyun!” (YJ)

Young Jae giggled a bit as he laid down, looking up at the sky. Daehyun eyed Young Jae with curiosity before grinning and laying next to Young Jae, touching his shoulder against the younger boy’s. “I promise to always, always, ALWAYS make you happy! I will be your hero from zero all the time, no matter what!” (DH)

Young Jae looked at Daehyun with a bit of a confused look on his face. Zero was a number, right? How could anyone be from zero? It.. didn’t really make much sense to Young Jae. “From.. zero..? Why zero?” (YJ)

“Woohyun told me that zero’s the hero! So that means I have to be from zero.. I think. Okay? Do you accept my promise?” (DH) Daehyun held his hand up in the air and towards Young Jae, all of his fingers closed except for his outstretched pinky and thumb. Young Jae looked at it for a brief moment before nodding and enclosing his own pinky with Daehyun’s. They then sealed the promise by connecting their thumbs with one another. “Okay. It’s settled! I’ll be your hero from zero from now on!” (DH)

“O-Okay..!” (YJ) As the two pulled their hands away, they looked at each other and grinned happily before looking back up towards the sky. Young Jae may have been sad that he no longer had his parents, but... he was super happy that he now had Daehyun to watch over him.

Maybe... life wasn’t as bad as it had seemed.

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[[ My Own Thoughts:

Yay >3<
First chapter has finally been released!
Hopefully it’s a good chapter for everyone. x3
I certainly liked it a lot. -/nod-

Comments are loved!
I love talking with everyone and seeing their thoughts on the fanfic.

Side note, just...
Gonna leave these pictures here.
Since I’ll be updating the front page once they grow up..
They can at least stick around this way ;; ~ ]]

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The Characters: