The little boy looked so dejected as he ran the back of his hand across his nose to wipe the snot that mingled with his tears leaving a streak of dirt across his cheek as he tried to dust himself off. He didn’t want his hyungs and dongsaengs to see him like this. Gulping back his sobs, he slowly stood up only to feel a throbbing pain on his forehead. It felt like he’d have another bump. As to why the other kids kept teasing him about his wide forehead, he’d never really understand. Truth was, he’d rather they about his forehead than being an orphan. Unfortunately, they for both.

        “Chunnie!” Yoochun heard himself being called by Junsu. Wiping his face hastily with the bottom of his shirt, Yoochun stood up quickly and grabbed his bag and turned to see Junsu being tugged back by his older brother Jaejoong as they made their way through the school’s playground.

            Hunching his shoulders a bit, Yoochun slung his bag on his shoulder only to wince in pain as he felt the consequence of shoving his shoulder against the bigger boy who was bullying him earlier that afternoon.

            “Chunnie!” Junsu said cheerfully as he grabbed the taller boy in a bear hug, his little face beaming beautifully.

            Yoochun winced again as he felt more spots in his body in pain due to the blows landed by the other kids who joined the bully earlier. “H-Hey Junsu.” He said extracting himself from the shorter boy’s hug. Junsu, Jaejoong, Yoochun and his brothers Yunho and baby Changmin all came from the same orphanage.

            “Yoochun are you alright?” Jaejoong asked concern etched on his face as he brushed Yoochun’s hair off his forehead noticing that the boy was sporting another proper bump.

            Shrugging Jaejoong’s hand away, “It’s nothing.” Yoochun said as he adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag and began the walk towards home.

            Jaejoong pursed his lips as he looked at his younger brother who asked, “Why is Chunnie sad? He’s not happy to see me?”

            “Yoochun is just tired baby.” Jae said with a sigh as he looked at his younger brother’s sad face. Junsu adored Yoochun and pretty much followed him around everywhere. It was a proper sight seeing Yoochun leave the orphanage for his first day of school. Junsu was so inconsolable that the only way that Yoochun could leave was if Jae promised that he could start school the year after so that he could walk to school with Yoochun everyday.

            Jae knew that Yoochun was being bullied in school which is exactly why he decided to fetch the boy from school daily. Since his highschool wasn’t very far from Yoochun’s he would take the longer route home in hope that his presence would scare off potential bullies. Unfortunately that morning, Junsu begged Jae if he could come walk Yoochun home from school which meant that Jae had to rush home from school so he could pick up Junsu and walk towards Yoochun’s school. Apparently, he was too late when he realized that the bullies already got to Yoochun before he did.

            “Come on, let’s go home.” Jae said thinking of how he would have to explain to Yunho what happened when he got home from his part-time job later that night.

            When Jae and Junsu caught up with Yoochun, he was already half-way down the road kicking dirt up with his feet, his bag dragging behind him. Junsu who was trying to extricate his hand from Jae finally got himself free and grabbed Yoochun’s bag and carried it proudly. Yoochun looked back at the younger boy and gave a gentle huff and smiled at the younger boy. Reaching inside his pocket he reached for Junsu’s hand and placed an origami frog on it.

            Junsu’s eyes widened as he marveled at the paper frog on his chubby little hand. “Did you make this Chunnie?” he asked.

            “Yes.” Came the reply.

            “Is this really mine then?” Junsu asked as he gently touched the paper frog.

            “Well…” Yoochun seemed to hesitate. “You’ll have to share it with Changmin since I only made one.” He said looking guilty when he seemed to remember his own younger brother.

            “Ooh, of course Chunnie!” Junsu said with a bright smile, relieved that he could share it with the maknae.

            “But you’ll be the one in charge of it okay? Because Changmin’s still so small he might hurt it or worse eat it!” Yoochun told Junsu patting him on the head.

            Junsu’s face was in horror at the idea of the little frog being eaten by Changmin. “Yes, yes, I’ll take care of it Chunnie, I promise.” The little boy said clutching the paper frog towards his chest.

            Jae couldn’t help but smile at the two. They’ve really taken to each other like a duck to water for as soon as Junsu saw Yoochun, it was hard to find a time when they wouldn’t be together.

            Yoochun and his brothers came to the orphanage about a year ago when their parents died from a car accident. Changmin was just born a couple of weeks before their parents died and Yunho was still a year from being declared by the state as an adult and so they had to enter the orphanage together.

            Jae and Junsu on the other hand have lived at the orphanage ever since their parents died a few years ago. Jae was pretty much the oldest teen at the orphanage until Yunho came who was only a couple of weeks younger than him. That made them friends pretty fast especially when Yunho took a part-time job after school and Jae helped the sisters who ran the orphanage in taking care of Changmin for which Yunho was extremely grateful.

           When they got to the orphanage Jae told the two younger boys to head to the room they all shared so he can go fetch baby Changmin from the sisters. With a nod of his head, Yoochun grabbed Junsu’s hand and led the younger boy to their room for Junsu had the knack of getting easily distracted by things around him and could lose track of time if left to his own defenses. When they got to the room, Yoochun took his bag from Junsu and shoved it in the trunk at the edge of his bed.

           “Chunnieee!” Junsu cried looking at Yoochun his little head shaking with disapproval.

           “What?” Yoochun said plopping down on his bed his head hanging off the edge.

            “You’re supposed to get cleaned up first and then do your homework!” Junsu said hopping on the bed and shaking Yoochun’s shoulders while watching the door just in case Jaejoong came in with Changmin who he fetched from the nursery. Jae’s rules were they had to ready and clean in time for dinner when Yunho arrived from his part-time job.

           “Aish!” Yoochun said sitting up quickly and pushing Junsu off of him when he hit a tender spot on his shoulder. Unfortunately, his push knocked Junsu off the bed just in time when the door opened and Yunho came in.

           Yoochun scrambled off the bed and looked at Junsu guiltily. The little boy was on the floor rubbing his where he thankfully landed. Unfortunately, Junsu began to cry.

           Yunho took a look at Junsu and his expression darkened a little. “What did you do Yoochun?” He asked ominously.

           “I… I didn’t do anything hyung.” Yoochun said cowering a bit.

          “I saw you push Junsu off the bed.” He said walking towards Junsu and helping the sobbing little boy stand up.

           “I… I didn’t hyung. He just… he just fell off by himself.” Yoochun said dropping his chin to his chest, the feeling of guilt overwhelming him. The door opened and Jae came in with baby Changmin on his arms.

          “Oh, you’re back.” Jae said setting Changmin on the floor who immediately made a beeline crawling towards Yoochun. “Oh, why are you crying Junsu?” Jae asked when he saw his little brother.

           “Yoochun pushed him.” Yunho said flatly his eyes glaring at his brother when Junsu all of a sudden wailed harder.

           Yunho snapped. He grabbed Yoochun by the shirt and turned him around to spank him on the .

           Yoochun began to cry when Yunho spanked him.

           “Stop it Yunho!” Jae said alarmed at Yunho’s actions.

           “Yunho hyung please stop!” Junsu cried too launching himself on Yunho and pulling on his arm. “Please stop hurting Chunnie! He didn’t hurt me, he just hurt the paper frog!” He cried.

           Yunho stopped when he saw Junsu’s crumpled piece of origami. Closing his eyes, his arm fell to his side. He then dropped on his knees and with a raw, ragged breath, hugged his little brother who was shaking with silent tears.

           “I’m so sorry Chunnie.” Yunho said. “Hyungie just got surprised, is all.” He said rubbing his hand across his brother’s back.

           Yoochun buried his face in his brother’s shoulder, wetting his shirt with the silent tears he couldn’t hold back.

           Jae couldn’t help but tear up at the sight. Yunho rarely raised his voice let alone his hand at his younger brother. Something bad must have happened at work that afternoon, he surmised.

           Brushing his hand on top of Yoochun’s head, Jae said, “Yoochun, why don’t you take Changmin and Junsu here and play for a little bit outside.

           Yunho reluctantly pulled away from his brother as he sad dejectedly at the edge of the bed he shared with his brothers as Jae handed Changmin to Yoochun who took Junsu’s hand and led him out the door.

          Jae waited to hear the door click and sat beside Yunho. “Are you okay Yunho?” Jae asked gently.

           Yunho didn’t answer. Sighing deeply, he slowly leaned onto Jae and put his head on Jae’s shoulder. “One minute Jae, just one minute, please hold me.” He asked brokenly.

           Jae nodded. Without a word, he put his arm around Yunho’s who started weeping silently. “I lost my job today.” Yunho said. “What am I going to do Jae?” he asked. “I need to save money soon. I need to get my brothers out of here or else they’ll get adopted and we won’t be a family anymore.” He cried.

           “Shhh…” Jae said understanding Yunho’s fears for he himself feared the same with Junsu. “We’ll think of something.” He said.

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okay... not really comment worthy so far, but what do you think?