Index:

(MsK) - Mrs. Kim speaking
(MK) - Mr. Kim speaking
(HY) - Hyunki speaking
(HB) - Hanbi speaking

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Voices from many children intermingled with one another as they sang the all too familiar birthday song for one of the youngest children at the orphanage. Entering the dining area, Mrs. Kim pushed a large cart with a cake large enough to cut for all children to have at least one slice. The birthday boy sat at one of the many tables with all the other children around him. He wasn’t used to having so much attention on him, but the small boy was still happy that they were celebrating his birthday. “Okay Junghong! Make a wish and blow out the candles!” (MsK)

Zelo thought for a moment as he bit his bottom lip. There were so many things that he wanted to wish for, but one specific wish was quick to pull his attention. Blinking a few times, he stared at the candles and furrowed his eyebrows a bit as he focused all of his attention on the fires that flickered here and there. Taking in a deep breath, Zelo blew with all of his might as he tried to blow all of the candles out in one go. The second the last candle went out, the other children cheered as Zelo gave a relieved smile.

Yongguk gave Zelo’s shoulder a light squeeze as he grinned. Looking up at Yongguk, Zelo smiled happily as he pointed at the cake with pure excitement. “Look! Look! I blew out all of the candles! My wish will come true now, right?” (Z)

“Yeah. You did really good.” (BY) Yongguk didn’t really believe that wishes came true just because someone blew out all of the candles in one go, but he wasn’t about to ruin Zelo’s beliefs. Even if he is Zelo’s brother, that doesn’t really mean that he had the right to destroy what Zelo believed in. “Just wait patiently and your wish will come true.” (BY)

“Okay!” (Z) Zelo quickly turned his attention forward as Mrs. Kim gave him the first slice of cake. As Zelo quickly began to dig in, Mrs. Kim began to hand out slices to the children who wanted cake as well.

Once the cake slices were all handed out, Daehyun sat at one of the tables with his two slices of cake. He smiled happily, his lips as he slowly rubbed his hands together. Daehyun’s love for all things sweet were clearly evident with these cake slices alone. Why? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that Daehyun was the only one with two slices.

Reaching for his fork, Daehyun was just about to pierce the fluffy goodness before another figure soon occupied the seat next to him. Looking to his left, Daehyun watched as Young Jae set Mister Buttons comfortably onto his lap before looking up at him. Young Jae smiled a bit as he leaned in close. “I hope the cake is yummy!” (YJ)

“Do you want me to feed you or do you want me to try it first?” (DH) Young Jae thought on it for a moment. He could always just dive in and hope that the cake ended up tasting really good. However, if it didn’t taste that good, then Young Jae didn’t want to end up regretting his decision with eating it. Biting his bottom lip, Young Jae cut a piece of his cake off before holding it out to Daehyun.

“You try it first! Tell me if it’s really yummy, okay?” (YJ) Daehyun nodded before opening his mouth wide and taking in the piece of cake into his mouth. Once the fork was out of his mouth, Daehyun chewed a bit as he moved his tongue here and there to get as much of the flavor as possible. Once he finished with that piece of cake, Daehyun grinned happily as he cut a piece of cake from his own slice and held it out to Young Jae.

“It’s really good! Here, it’s your turn.” (DH) Young Jae smiled and bit his bottom lip with anticipation before eating the piece of cake that had been offered to him. Just as he began to chew and enjoy the cake piece, another kid quickly ran up to them, interrupting their newfound discovery.

“Daehyun, Young Jae, come on! We’re gonna play a game in the playroom!” (JU) The two nodded before Jongup went running back to go get his plate. While Daehyun stood up and picked up his plate, Young Jae looked down at his own plate with slight uncertainty. Noticing this, Daehyun tilted his head a bit as he sat back down.

“Are you okay?” (DH)

“Isn’t it bad to play while eating? I don’t wanna mess up my food..” (YJ) Daehyun had heard not to play with his food, but he wasn’t really certain if it was bad to play while eating. It’s not like they were playing with their food, right? So, maybe it would be alright if they played while eating. They just had to take a bite, then go off to play after they made sure that their food would be alright.

“I think it’ll be okay. There’s a big table in the playroom, so we can leave our plates there!” (DH) Well, if Daehyun said it’s okay, then maybe it really was okay. With a small nod, Young Jae scooped Mister Buttons back up with one of his arms before picking up his plate with the other one. Looking at Daehyun, Young Jae nodded a bit before following Daehyun towards the playroom. Now that they were actually heading there, Young Jae did begin to wonder what sort of game they would end up playing.

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“Duck.. duck... duuck... annnd... goose!” (Z) Zelo practically smacked the back of Jongup’s head before he began running. Rubbing the top of his poor head while furrowing his eyebrows, Jongup quickly got to his feet before chasing after Zelo. Although Yongguk was currently mentally disapproving the way Zelo hit Jongup’s head, Daehyun was a bit too busy eating his cake. Leaning in close, Young Jae blinked a few times before looking at Daehyun.

“Um.. c-can I.. have some?” (YJ) Daehyun looked at Young Jae for a moment before nodding. Cutting off a piece, he had just gotten the piece of cake safely into Young Jae’s mouth before he soon felt a light tap on his head. Looking around, Daehyun blinked in confusion as he finally noticed that Jongup was going around the circle. Luckily, Jongup hadn’t chosen him, otherwise Daehyun would have already failed at chasing after the younger boy.

As the kids were busy playing and possibly eating, a different group was slowly making their way towards the playroom. The one leading the group, Mister Kim, motioned his hands here and there as he explained to everyone about the orphanage and possibly any rooms that were of importance whenever they passed a certain room. As they came closer to the playroom, Mister Kim smiled a bit as he turned slightly to look at the group. “You are all free to interact with the children and choose from the variety of kids that are here at the orphanage. I’m sure any one of them can be a great addition to your families.” (MK)

Turning the corner, Mister Kim smiled a bit as he saw Taeyeon chasing Jongup. He clapped his hands, causing all of the children to turn their attention towards him and the people that lined up behind him. A few of the kids felt a little uneasy, hiding behind the other kids that they felt comfortable around while a few of the other kids instantly seemed to have hope light up in their eyes. “Alright kids! We have a few visitors here, so do be on your best behaviors.” (MK)

All the kids agreed in unison before turning back to their game. Young Jae looked at the adults with uncertainty, his arms tightening on Mister Buttons before he looked back at Daehyun. He moved a little closer, his hand slowly reaching towards Daehyun before he grabbed hold of Daehyun’s arm. Looking down at Young Jae’s hand, Daehyun blinked with curiosity before looking up at Young Jae. “What is it?” (DH)

“Why are there lots of adults here?” (YJ)

“Oh, you don’t know? The adults are here to adopt one of us. If you get adopted, you get a new family.” (DH) Daehyun didn’t sound all that happy about it, but he held a smile regardless. Young Jae thought on Daehyun’s words as he loosened up a bit. A new family sounded nice, but if he ended up getting adopted, then he would end up being separated from Daehyun. Biting his bottom lip, Young Jae looked up at Daehyun again. He was about to ask Daehyun a question, but a light tap on his head pulled his attention.

“Goose!” (L) Young Jae looked around in confusion before quickly getting to his feet and following the instructions he had been given earlier. Daehyun smiled a bit as he watched Young Jae trying hard to catch Myungsoo. Sadly, Young Jae didn’t necessarily make it as Myungsoo quickly took hold of Young Jae’s previous spot. Young Jae looked at Daehyun with slight distraught, though he already knew that there was nothing Daehyun could do about it. With a slightly determined look on his face, Young Jae took in a deep breath before he continued on with the game.

While the children played, the adults all stood off to the side. Each person were judging simply based off looks and actions on which child drew their attention. If the person came with someone, they would speak with that person to discuss whom they wished to talk to. Before long, the adults all went up to Mister Kim to arrange the meetings that they had been allowed.

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Sitting alone in one out of two of the classrooms that the orphanage had, Young Jae looked around as nervousness and fear circulated throughout his entire being. Along with Seohyun and Yuri, they had been picked by the people that had come to adopt a child. Young Jae didn’t necessarily know what he was supposed to do besides answering the questions that the couple that had picked him would ask. He did know that he was supposed to also be on his best behavior, which shouldn't be too hard since Young Jae was usually the type to steer out of trouble anyway.

He jumped a bit, his head instantly turning as he looked at the door that had just opened. A woman with brown hair came in, followed by an older man with a hat. The woman’s hair was a little past shoulder length, loosely hanging off of her shoulders as they lightly bounced with each step. She wore rather fancy looking clothes that were a light peach color, giving off an aura of innocence. She wore a suit of some sort, though she had a knee-length skirt on as opposed to pants. As for her blazer, it had about two pockets and a few stitched in flowers of a darker color, giving the blazer a more stand outish look. Underneath her blazer was a white button up shirt with some sort of ruffles in the middle that seemed to comfortably hang a little over her blazer. She even had a miniature top hat clipped to her hair with some sort of mesh coming out from it. There were a few white feathers and beads coming from the hat as well, but it was still enough to grab Young Jae’s attention. After all, he hadn’t seen anything like it before. But besides all of that, the woman had a warm look on her face. It was the sort of look he had imagined on his own mother for the longest time.

As for the man, he seemed to stay by the door as the woman walked up to the seat in front of Young Jae. The man wore a black suit with white buttons. His button up shirt and the gloves he wore were also white, contrasting against the mostly black clothes he wore. The hat he wore looked interesting too, looking similar to that of a boys cap. He was old looking, his hair entirely a dark gray color as he wore thin, wire-framed glasses. He even had a mustache and a goatee of some sort that matched his hair color. His gaze was sharp, but he also seemed just as warm as the woman.

Once the woman was seated, Young Jae looked up at her as he tightened his hold on Mister Buttons. She sat up straight, her feet slightly off to the side, but it made her look like a queen or something. She had her hands neatly folded and resting on her lap, a smile gracing her lips as she looked at Young Jae. “Hello there. My name is Hanbi. What’s your name?” (HB)

“U-Um..” (YJ) Young Jae knew that it was impolite not to answer a person’s question, but this lady was a stranger. Although he now knew her name, that didn’t make her any less of a stranger than she was just a few seconds ago. He didn’t know if it was entirely alright to talk to her, but if Mister Kim said it was alright, then it should be fine. Plus, if he was in trouble, at least Daehyun was standing right outside the room in wait. “M-My name is.. Young Jae.” (YJ)

The woman tilted her head slightly, almost as if she seemed confused about something. However, a brief chuckle escaped her lips as she adjusted her position a bit. Looking back at Young Jae, Hanbi held her smile as she closely examined the boy’s features. Young Jae felt a bit uncomfortable with her just staring at him like this, but something at the corner of his eyes quickly pulled his attention. Looking back over at the old man, he merely smiled and bowed his head before Young Jae looked back at the woman. “Is he your husband?” (YJ)

This time, a light laughter escaped the woman’s lips as she held a hand up to to cover it a bit. Young Jae turned a bit red as he stared up at the woman, feeling like he had just said something that he shouldn’t have said. Young Jae lowered his gaze, as he waited patiently for the woman to finish laughing. Once she did, she cleared a bit as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “No, sweetie. He is my trusted servant. Please, introduce yourself.” (HB)

“Yes madam. My name is Hyunki. I have been working diligently for the madam for approximately twenty years now. The madam here is the most kindest woman that you may meet.” (HK) The man placed his right hand to his chest before bowing slightly once again. Young Jae slightly bowed his head too before turning back to look at Hanbi, whom let out a slight chuckle.

“Dear me, you flatter too much. Anyway, Young Jae..” (HB) Hanbi moved her chair a bit closer to Young Jae before assuming her previous position. Clearing once more, Hanbi smiled a bit. “How would you feel about being adopted by me?” (HB)

Meanwhile, two little boys had their faces pressed up against the window of the classroom door as they watched and attempted to hear what was being said. Jongup furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he looked up at Daehyun. “Daehyun, what are they saying? I can’t hear anything at all!” (JU)

“Shh! They’ll hear us!” (DH) Besides the fact that he couldn’t hear what they were saying either, Daehyun also didn’t want to get caught. If they got caught, then they could end up getting into trouble with Mister Kim if he heard about what they were up to. Still, he wanted to try and hear something. Since Young Jae was the one in there, Daehyun felt happy that Young Jae might get adopted, but at the same time.. he kind of hoped that Young Jae wouldn’t get adopted. That would mean that they’d end up apart from each other.. right?

Daehyun bit his bottom lip as he watched Young Jae speaking. What was he saying? Moving away from the door, Daehyun let out a slightly annoyed huff as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall opposite of the door. He just needed to be patient and wait for them to finish talking before he could talk to Young Jae and ask him what happened. Looking over at Jongup, Daehyun chuckled a bit. Jongup looked a bit funny with his sticking out while he had his ear pressed up against the window. Was that really how they had looked like the entire time? Well, it was alright. Whatever they could do was necessary to find out what was going on!

Pushing away from the door, Jongup let out a small huff before walking over to Daehyun and leaning against the wall next to him. Slowly, he slid down to the floor before gently sitting down. Looking up at Daehyun, Jongup reached up and tugged at Daehyun’s shirt a bit to grab his attention. “Daehyun? What are they doing in there?” (JU)

“I think they’re inter... inta... interrogating! They’re interrogating Young Jae to see if they want to adopt him.” (DH) Jongup slowly nodded as he turned his gaze back towards the classroom door. Daehyun smiled a bit as he reached down and ruffled Jongup’s hair. “I think we should all go play at the beach today! What do you think?” (DH)

Jongup thought on Daehyun’s question a bit before looking back up at Daehyun. “But.. isn’t it too cold to go swimming today?” (JU)

“It’s a lot warmer today! I think Mister Kim said that it’ll be warm only today and then it’ll be cold again! So we should go swim, right?” (DH) Jongup thought on it for a moment before nodding in agreement. They always did like going to the beach, though Jongup normally went for the sand anyway. He just loved building sand castles and this time, he planned to make the biggest sand castle ever created!

Just as Jongup had begun to imagine how he wanted to build the sand castle, the classroom door opened. Both boys quickly stood up straight as they looked up at the woman who stepped out first before being followed by the man who had accompanied her here. She smiled at the two, slightly bowing her head as she gave a small wave to the two. Both boys quickly bowed, their eyes wide as if they had been caught red handed. When the two adults continued walking, it became apparent that they weren’t in any sort of trouble. His attention soon went back to what he had been thinking of before as Daehyun’s gaze quickly locked in on the boy whom was currently sliding off of the chair. Daehyun jogged forward a bit, coming to a stop just a small distance away from Young Jae as he firmly stood on the ground. Young Jae looked at Daehyun, blinking a bit with a slightly dazed look on his face. “What did they say? Are you going to be adopted by that lady?” (DH)

Although he had been dazed just moments ago, those questions alone were quick to bring about a variety of different emotions before Young Jae nodded with a sad look on his face. Daehyun stood there, sadness quickly flickering past before he brought forth a solemn smile. Reaching up, Daehyun ruffled Young Jae’s hair a bit before pulling Young Jae into a hug. “That’s good, right? You’ll have a whole new family that will love you a lot!” (DH)

Reaching up, Young Jae grabbed hold of Daehyun’s shirt as he buried his face into Daehyun’s shoulder. It was supposed to be a good thing, but then that meant that they’d be separated. Young Jae didn’t want to leave Daehyun and everyone else. “Come on, let’s get going. We should gather everyone up so that we can all play together!” (DH)

Although he nodded, Young Jae didn’t lift his head one bit. With a small chuckle, Daehyun began walking as he carefully led Young Jae out of the room. Jongup followed close behind, not really certain as to why Young Jae was sad. He would have asked, but the thought didn’t really cross his mind at the moment. Besides his curiosity, Jongup was also looking forward to going to the beach with everyone.

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Looking around, Woohyun made certain that everyone was present. Well.. almost everyone. Taeyeon and Jessica were busy practicing for the upcoming audition with Myungsoo and Sungyeol helping them. Other than that, they basically had everyone here. Getting up to his feet, Woohyun dusted himself off, which quickly drew everyone’s attention. “Okay. Today, I think Yuri, Seohyun, and Young Jae are getting adopted. Since we have only a few more days left, Daehyun wants to play as much as possible. We have to make today really happy, especially since it’s also Zelo’s birthday.” (WH)

“Yeah! It’s my birthday, so everyone has to be super happy today!” (Z) Zelo jumped to his feet as he looked around at everyone. He didn’t want any sort of sadness on his birthday. It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion! He didn’t necessarily like that people had come today of all days to adopt one of them, but they could just pretend that it never happened for the time being. “Can we go play now? This is boring!” (Z)

“Hold on, Zelo.” (BY) Yongguk got Zelo to sit back down, though he was still a little impatient. Woohyun looked back around at everyone, seeing their attention slowly drifting back to him. He sometimes wished that he wasn’t the oldest, but it just couldn’t really be helped. At least they listened to him, otherwise he probably wouldn’t want to be the one that usually took control of various situations.

“Is everyone ready to go then? Everyone has their swimsuits and stuff on?” (WH) Everyone all nodded or voiced their answers. They either had their swimsuits underneath their clothes or, for the boys, they simply had a shirt on and just had their swimsuits revealed. Young Jae was rather fascinated by the designs on the swimsuits for the boys, but every time he looked at Daehyun, he was certain that his shorts were his normal shorts that he wore every now and then. Still, Young Jae didn’t bother questioning it since he assumed that his swimsuit was underneath. “Alright! Then let’s go!” (WH)

With a cheer, all of the kids gathered up their things before they began making their way down the tree house stairway. Once they were all firmly on the ground, Young Jae was quick to grab onto Daehyun’s shirt as he tried to walk as close to him as possible. Daehyun briefly looked down at Young Jae’s hand, but merely smiled as he made eye contact with Young Jae. “Is it fun to swim in the ocean?” (YJ)

“Yeah! It’s like a ginormous swimming pool!” (DH) Daehyun looked forward as he held his grin. Young Jae nodded in amazement, but he hadn’t even been in a swimming pool before. He could only imagine that it must be really fun, though he was also scared. The ocean had a variety of life in it, but the main thing that he was worried about were the sharks that could come up at any moment and eat him.

The second they were at the beach, the majority of the kids had dropped their things off into a pile, stripped down to their bathing suits, and had almost instantly ran off to the waters ahead of them. As for the remaining few, they made certain to set up the towels and even the few umbrella’s that they had been able to bring along with them. Once everything had been placed in a neat fashion, Seohyun sat down on her towel as she neatly folded up her clothes. Jongup and Zelo both sat next to her, their gazes looking at the baskets next to her. “Can we eat now?” (Z)

“Hm.. Not yet. I think we should wait a little bit cause it’s bad to play right after eating.” (SH) Zelo didn’t want to wait, but he knew that he’d get into trouble if he didn’t listen to them. Pulling his shirt off, Zelo got to his feet and stretched a bit before looking down at Jongup. Jongup innocently stared up at him as Zelo quickly took hold of his wrist and pulled at it.

“Come on, Jongup! I wanna build a sand castle!” (Z) Jongup got to his feet as he quickly picked up the pails and shovels before following after Zelo. Daehyun and Young Jae sat on their own towels that were set down to the left of Seohyun’s towel. Young Jae took his shirt off and folded it up before neatly setting it down and letting Mister Buttons rest his head on it. Patting Mister Buttons’ head, Young Jae had just briefly looked up and to his right when his eyes widened and his face reddened.

There, standing in front of him, was Daehyun in all of his glory. His clothes had been tossed off to the side while he stretched a bit, feeling the sun shine warmly on him. For some reason, Young Jae just couldn't pull his gaze away. Daehyun looked just as he had looked when Young Jae had seen him a second time at the treehouse except.. he felt a little weird this time. Almost as if he was feeling Young Jae’s gaze on him, Daehyun looked down at Young Jae as he blinked a bit in confusion. “What’s wrong? Are you waiting for me?” (DH)

“Y-You..” (YJ) Young Jae’s eyes slowly moved down before practically becoming glued on a certain part of Daehyun’s. What may have seemed inappropriate for others was actually complete innocent and amazement. “Y-You have a thingy too!” (YJ)

Daehyun stared at Young Jae in confusion as he briefly looked down at his private area. He blinked a few times before looking back up at Young Jae. “Yeah...? Of course I do! I’m a boy like you and all boys have a thingy!” (DH)

“R-Really?!” (YJ) Young Jae got to his feet as he stepped closer to Daehyun. Fascination practically consumed Young Jae as he continued to stare down at Daehyun’s private area. Almost as if he couldn’t really believe that it was real, Young Jae crouched down and briefly swiped at it with a single finger before Daehyun quickly took a step back and covered it with his hands.

“D-Don’t touch! That feels weird!” (DH)

“What are you two doing?” (SH) Seohyun had been completely engrossed in her book to have noticed what they were doing. When she looked over, all she saw was Young Jae’s reddened face and Daehyun’s hands clasped over his private area. She was briefly confused, but she merely dismissed her confusion. “You’re not doing anything bad, are you?” (SH)

“N-No! Nothing bad at all! Me and Young Jae are just going to go swim!” (DH) Daehyun quickly grabbed Young Jae’s hand before pulling him onto his feet. Before Young Jae could get a word in, Daehyun had begun running while pulling Young Jae along. Young Jae barely had any time to catch himself, but he was relatively glad that he had been able to. Although it was technically softer than cement, having sand in your mouth, eyes, or even nose, just wasn't a fun experience.

Reaching the water’s edge, the two came to a stop before Daehyun finally released his hold on Young Jae’s wrist. With a small sigh, Daehyun turned to look at Young Jae with a grin. “Do you know how to swim?” (DH)

“I’ve never swimmed before, but.. um.. h-how come you’re ..?” (YJ) Daehyun placed his left hand on his hip as he scratched the side of his head. Was it really that weird that he didn’t have a swimsuit on like everyone else? Actually, Woohyun was swimming too, though it seemed like Young Jae must have missed that small detail.

“I don’t need a bathing suit to swim, right? I like being when I swim! But.. you don’t know how to swim? Hm.. That's okay! We can stay near the sand then.” (DH) As Daehyun began walking into the water, Young Jae bit his bottom lip as he looked down at the water. He always imagined that water would be fun to play with, but now that he was actually here, it was... somewhat terrifying. Taking in a deep breath, Young Jae practically ran forward before jumping and throwing his arms over Daehyun’s shoulders. Daehyun barely kept them from falling forward as he felt Young Jae’s legs wrap around his waist. Looking over his shoulder a bit, his gaze was instantly filled with Young Jae’s hair as he realized that Young Jae had his face buried into his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” (DH)

“It’s scary... Can I ride on your back a little bit..?” (YJ) Daehyun let out a small sigh before smiling and nodding. Looking forward once more, Daehyun continued forth as they went deeper and deeper into the water. Young Jae shivered upon feeling the water slowly engulfing them, causing him to tighten his hold on Daehyun. When the water finally reached their shoulders, Daehyun quickly put his hands on Young Jae’s legs as he attempted to pry them away.

“Y-Young Jae! You’re starting to hurt me!” (DH)

“S-Sorry..” (YJ) Young Jae loosened his hold over Daehyun’s tummy as he slowly looked up. His eyes widened a bit as he saw just how far out they were. He nearly lost his grip, but Daehyun was quick to use his hands to keep Young Jae safely up. Luckily, they were in water, so there wasn’t much worry when it came to falling and getting hurt. However, since Young Jae’s feet weren’t firmly on the ocean floor, there was always the possibility of drowning and that would be an awful first experience. Once they were settled, Daehyun let out a relieved sigh before looking back over his shoulder.

“Are you okay? What do you think about the water? Isn’t it nice?” (DH) Young Jae nodded a bit as he looked around. Gathering up his courage, Young Jae slowly moved one of his hands out into the water as he moved the water back and forth. With a small smile, Young Jae giggled a little as he splashed a bit.

“I really like it..! It’s like taking a bath!” (YJ) Young Jae hopped a bit as he looked around with excitement now. With Daehyun keeping him safe, Young Jae felt practically invincible. “Can we go deeper? How deep can we go? I wanna go super deep!” (YJ)

“We can try, but.. um.. I’m not super tall and I dunno if I can swim good while carrying you...” (DH) Young Jae frowned a bit, but he didn’t want to force Daehyun to do anything if it meant that they could get into trouble. He leaned in a little closer, rubbing his head against Daehyun’s as he smiled.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to go super deep then. I just really like being in the water!” (YJ)

“Do you want to try walking by yourself?” (DH) Young Jae’s eyes widened as he quickly shook his head. Daehyun chuckled a bit as he began walking around once more. “That’s okay. We’ll have loads of fun anyway!” (DH)

“M-Mhm..!” (YJ) It was weird feeling almost as if he weighed nothing. It was just like in the bathtub, except there was a lot more room to move around in. Even though he was holding onto Daehyun, Young Jae was still enjoying himself. This new experience was something he was glad to share with Daehyun and everyone else.

“Take that!” (WH) Daehyun instantly turned away as water came splashing towards him and Young Jae. Both boys shut their eyes, spitting out whatever water managed to make it into their mouths as Woohyun continued to assault them with water. With a sly grin, Daehyun barely opened one eye as he began splashing water back at Woohyun. Laughter ensued as the two fought their watery war, trying to see who would be the best at splashing. “I’ll defeat you, Daehyun!” (WH)

“I-I’ll help him!” (YJ) Using one of his hands, Young Jae blindly began splashing water. Sadly, he was either missing entirely or just barely hitting Woohyun, though it was a bit difficult to tell since Daehyun’s splashes were bigger. Still, it’s the thought that counts, right? At least Daehyun appreciated that Young Jae was trying to help.

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Jongup and Zelo were hard at work building the biggest sand castle ever created. Sadly, the sand just didn’t seem to want to stay in place. It was rather frustrating for the two youngest boys and nothing they did seemed to work. Sitting down in frustration, Zelo kicked one of the sand piles before looking up at Jongup. “Make it work, Jongup! It won’t stay!” (Z)

“I don’t know how.. Should we ask big sister Seo?” (JU)

“Yeah! Go do it!” (Z) With a nod, Jongup turned before making his way over to Seohyun. Seohyun had gone back to reading, enjoying the gentle breeze that blew as she continued to sit underneath the shade that the umbrella provided. Although the point of going to the beach was the sand and the water, Seohyun much preferred a good book. Sadly, it seemed like her reading would have to wait a bit as a hand soon pulled her book down before a face soon filled her vision.

“Um.. Big sister? How do we keep the sand from falling again?” (JU) As Jongup pulled away, Seohyun leaned to the side a bit to see Zelo throwing sand at the sand pile. With a small smile, Seohyun put her bookmark into her book before getting to her feet. Looking at Jongup, she took hold of his hand before she began leading him back to the pile. Once they were back to where Zelo was, Seohyun let go of Jongup’s hand before picking up one of the buckets.

“Here, let me show you!” (SH) Seohyun smiled a bit as she made her way over to the ocean before carefully filling the bucket up with water. Once she was satisfied that she had a good amount of water, Seohyun made her way back to the two before setting the bucket down and getting down to her knees. Looking around, she got another bucket and picked up one of the shovels before she began to fill it with sand. Every now and then, she would pour some water into the bucket before filling it again with sand. Once it was completely filled, she turned the bucket over and quickly set it down on the ground before pulling up carefully. The wet sand had completely slid out with ease for her, holding the shape of the bucket as she set it down before looking at the two. “Like that! You need water to keep it together. Um.. You can also pile the wet sand too with the shovel.” (SH)

“Ooh...!” (JU & Z) Both boys looked at the bucket-shaped sand before the two quickly began getting to work. With a smile, Seohyun got to her feet before making her way back to her towel. Seated comfortably, Seohyun picked her book back up once more before she continued reading.

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Laying there on their towels, the two stared up at the umbrella that now covered the both of them. Daehyun smiled a bit as he raised his right hand, staring between his fingers. He didn’t necessarily know why he was doing this, but it was just something that he felt like doing. Looking to his right, Young Jae blinked a few times before looking at Daehyun’s face. “What are you doing?” (YJ)

“Will you make one more promise with me?” (DH) Daehyun lowered his hand back down as he turned his head to look at Young Jae. He smiled a bit as he raised his left hand, stretching his pinky out to Young Jae. He hoped that Young Jae would make at least one more promise, this one promise that felt more important than all of the other promises that they’ve made. “Will you promise that we’ll meet each other again when we’re older?” (DH)

Young Jae looked at Daehyun’s pinky before pushing himself up to a sitting position. Daehyun quickly did the same, his pinky still held out as he continued to hope that Young Jae made this promise. Young Jae’s eyes remained on Daehyun’s pinky, trying hard to decide if he should make the promise or not. Though, it didn’t really take him long to come to a decision. After all, he wanted to meet Daehyun again. Raising his pinky, he slowly interlocked his pinky with Daehyun’s before looking up at Daehyun and smiling a bit. “I-I promise to meet you when we’re older..” (YJ)

A bright smile soon came onto Daehyun’s face as he tightened his pinky around Young Jae’s. Slowly, the two turned their hands a bit as they sealed the promise with their thumbs. The second the promise was sealed, Daehyun leaned in close and gently pressed his lips against Young Jae’s. Young Jae’s eyes widened, frozen in place as Daehyun lingered for a moment longer before pulling away. The two stared at one another, Daehyun’s face turning red once he realized what he just did. “Y-You.. a-and... m-me... we...” (YJ)

Daehyun was mentally trying to figure out why he had just kissed Young Jae again. Despite the fact that he actually enjoyed kissing Young Jae, to which brought great confusion and an answer to Daehyun, there was still the fact that they weren’t supposed to kiss until they were older. Quickly, Daehyun grasped onto a reason behind his actions as he tried to keep Young Jae from crying. “I-I only wanted one more kiss before you left! Just one more! I forgot to ask if it was okay and um.. uh.. I just did it. I’m sorry! Will you forgive me, please?” (DH)

Just one more before he left? Young Jae looked down as he tried to think. Was it alright if they had one more kiss? Maybe it would be alright just this once. Although they weren’t supposed to, Young Jae... kind of liked having a kiss from Daehyun. His eyes slowly looked back up as he made eye contact with Daehyun before nodding a bit. “It’s okay if it’s one more, but, um.. I-I want one too..” (YJ)

“Wha-” (DH) Just as Daehyun had done, Young Jae leaned in with little to no warning before stealing a kiss from Daehyun. However, unlike Daehyun, Young Jae quickly pulled away, his face completely red as he looked away with embarrassment. Daehyun stared in slight disbelief, but he quickly pulled Young Jae into a hug in an attempt to hide the tears that were starting to well up. “I’ll miss you a lot, Young Jae..” (DH)

He was taken by surprise by Daehyun’s actions. Daehyun was usually the strong, heroic type in Young Jae’s mind and seeing him like this felt.. very different, almost as if he was vulnerable about being separated. Young Jae’s own tears began to gather as he wrapped his arms around Daehyun’s waist. Closing his eyes, Young Jae buried his face into Daehyun’s chest. “I-I’ll miss you a lot too..” (YJ)

“Do you.. still have that stone I gave you?” (DH) Young Jae nodded his head, but didn’t voice his answer. Daehyun smiled a bit as he pulled away slightly before getting Young Jae to somehow sit up. Looking into Young Jae’s tear-filled eyes, Daehyun held his smile as he placed his hands on Young Jae’s shoulders. “Keep it safe, okay? If you feel super lonely, take out the stone and think of me, okay? I’ll try to keep you safe from far away.” (DH)

“W-Will.. Will it work?” (YJ) Daehyun nodded, bringing a small smile onto Young Jae’s face. Looking around a bit, Young Jae quickly took hold of Mister Buttons before pulling him close. Daehyun watched as Young Jae somehow produced the stone from the ribbon that Mister Buttons wore before holding the stone tightly in his hands. “I’m thinking of you now so that you can keep me safe all the time. Will it really work?” (YJ)

“I think it’ll work really well.” (DH)

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[[ My Own Thoughts:

Sorry for the lateness, but I somehow managed to finish this chapter >3<..
And yes... their childhood is soon coming to an end ;;..
I quite liked their childhood and there could have been a lot more done, buuut ~
Everyone must grow up eventually.

Comments are loved!
I like to see if everyone is enjoying the fanfic so far. x3
And I also like to see if I’m doing well enough or if I need improvement and such. ]]