The Punishment.

Having Kyuhyun at home all summer wasn’t supposed to be a bad thing—it was supposed to be a punishment for the naughty little ‘angel’ however because Kyuhyun was… Kyuhyun, it turned into a punishment for his parents as well. 

The first day after the incident with Heebum _{(see chapter 8)}, Kangin began to suspect that maybe this was a bad idea. Normally during the day the kids were all running around outside keeping an eye on each other so that if he came home during his break it was okay if he and Leeteuk snuck off to the bedroom for some ‘fun’ time.

But now Kyuhyun was in the house. 

And just as Kangin was about to pull off Leeteuk’s shirt the little angel came into the room to announce that he was done with his nap and ‘Oh hi Appa’. 

Kangin spoke to Leeteuk but he just responded with, “We have to punish him at some point… Otherwise he’ll always assume he can get away with anything.” However Kangin wasn’t listening very well thanks to the disturbance. Still, in the end, he went with whatever Leeteuk said because he knew best. 

Reason One: The Appliances.

A big problem with having Kyuhyun home all the time was that he would get into everything. And I really mean everything. The thing with the blender _{(see chapter 4)} didn’t compare to what Kyuhyun and Hyukjae did with the rice cooker one day when it was raining and the brothers were stuck inside. 

What he did to the washer though was even worse. How a 5 year old even knew how to use a washer was totally beyond Leeteuk when he saw all the suds pouring out of the laundry room with a Kyuhyun in the middle of it, yet somehow he did. That mess was at least easier to clean up and didn’t totally destroy their washing machine. 

It was probably after that third appliance got destroyed by the bored Kyuhyun that Leeteuk finally agreed with Kangin and allowed Kyuhyun to go outside—the original punishment only lasted about two weeks before it was changed to ‘staying in the yard’. Somehow staying in the yard was just as bad as being stuck in the house but they didn’t have to replace any more appliances. 

Reason Two: Hair Products.

This summer was rainier than most and as a result the boys had to stay inside more often than not. Hyukjae at least had Donghae and Henry to keep him company but Kyuhyun was left all to himself since he had been deemed ‘too evil’ to play with them by Hyukkie. 

As a result, Kyuhyun was still left to his bored devices. The last thing he wrecked had got him a stern talking to from Omma Teuk, so he knew that he couldn’t play with anything like that… ‘What would be a good interesting room to play in?’ Kyuhyun thought as he wandered around the house. 

He stopped in front of the bathroom and got a huge grin on his face. Inside were all sorts of wonderful products and ‘toys’ or so Kyuhyun had deemed. 

A large box of stuff was pulled out from underneath the sink and set on the toilet so he could dig through it. 

“Omma-Teuk always puts this stuff in his hair…” A bottle of cream was pulled out and shaken a few times before Kyuhyun poured some on his own hair. “Or does he use this?” A few other bottles were pulled out and poured into the sink, which Kyuhyun had cleverly plugged with a new hand towel. 

Quite the concoction was built in the sink with at least 12 different products, the young boy having no clue what any of them did. But the stink was fabulous. He also had yet to notice when he started to spread the gunk into his hair exactly what it was doing to not only his hands and the towel but his hair as well. And the sink. Probably the floor. It was everywhere. 

The stench is what alerted Leeteuk that something was wrong. Using his nose much like a dog would he followed the smell to the bathroom and let out a loud scream. This alerted the other three boys who dropped what they were doing and ran over there too. 

“KYUHYUN WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Leeteuk yelled, running into the bathroom and grabbing the boy by the waist, putting him into the bathtub immediately.  “Aish… it’s everywhere…” 

In the doorway, Hyukjae and Donghae gasped followed by a delayed Henry. “Uncle Teukie said a bad word!” Leeteuk heard Donghae and shook his head with a sigh. 

“Hyukkie, can you please take your friends back to the playroom so I can clean this and your brother up? Thank you.” He didn’t wait for a response before shutting the door to the bathroom and opening up the window to let out the smell. 

“Kyuhyun, what were you thinking! Do you have any idea what this stuff is?” Leeteuk asked as he pulled the clothes off of him and began to wash his hair. 

“Nope. Not a clue.” Kyuhyun replied nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just ruined over 90 dollars worth of products. 

Leeteuk could only sigh again, scrubbing the hair harder as he realized it was as he had feared—dyed and totally ruined. 

It took over 3 weeks to get the stain out of the sink and Leeteuk had to dye the 5 year old Kyuhyun’s hair all over again a week later, leaving him with severely damaged and puffy brown hair. 

“Hahaha! He looks like a poodle!” Donghae said, holding onto his laughing brother who kept muttering ‘Puppy Kyu’ in English around his giggles. Kyuhyun swore he’d get revenge on them for laughing at him. Even if it was fluffy, Kyuhyun liked it! If only because Omma-Teuk did…

Reason Three: Bug Glasses.

“TEUKIE-HYUNNGGG!” Zhou Mi yelled after he set down Sungmin with his bag to go run and give his hyung a huge hug!

“Zhou Mi-sshi! What are you doing here?” Leeteuk asked as he returned the hug of the taller man. 

“Just thought I’d come stop by, I was in the neighbourhood!” The sunglasses on his face were taken off and set inside his bag, which was being scoped out by Kyuhyun from the kitchen. 

“Hankyung-sshi wasn’t home, was he?” There was a reason he was known as Omma-Teuk by more than just his children. Leeteuk knew everything. 

Zhou Mi smiled sheepishly and sat down on the couch. “Nope, he wasn’t. So I thought I’d visit! Minnie’s lonely with only Wookie to play with.” 

“Hi Kyuhyunnie…” Sungmin said softly then, waving to the young boy with poodle hair and glasses who gasped as he was discovered; it wouldn’t have been hard to spot him though since Kyuhyun wasn’t a very good ninja. 

“Uh. Hi.” Kyuhyun glanced over to his umma and the tall lanky one who always got his name wrong and then over to the blond kid guarding the purse. “You should go play with Hyukjae.” Kyuhyun said, glancing to the purse and then back to Sungmin. 

“I wanna play with you.” Sungmin said with a smile. 

“Yer older than me.” 

“So? I wanna play with you.” 

“… Fine whatever.” Kyuhyun grabbed the purse and then Sungmin’s hand and pulled the blond boy in pink to his bedroom. Sungmin couldn’t have been more delighted! 

“Your hair looks really cute!” Sungmin said once they reached the room. “uhm… what are you doing with Baba’s bag?” Because Sungmin knew it wasn’t a purse, but a bag. 

“Looking through it.” Kyuhyun said bluntly, staring at the huge bug eyed glasses and throwing them towards an open drawer in his dresser. 

“Uh… but… those are Baba’s things… not yours.” Sungmin went over to go take the glasses back from the drawer. 

“So? He left it lying around in MY house. So it’s MY stuff now.” Kyuhyun looked at one of things. “This looks like a girlie thing.” It was lip gloss; it was thrown back into the purse. 

“No… That’s not the way things work Kyuhyunnie—you should put all of Baba’s things back in the bag now.” 

“No. I dun wanna—hey! Put those back!” Kyuhyun yelled when he noticed the sunglasses in Sungmin’s hands. 

“They’re not yours, Kyuhyunnie!” Sungmin held them up in the air in a childish way to get them away from Kyuhyun but it didn’t matter, Kyuhyun was almost as tall as him even though he was two years younger so he jumped up and grabbed them easily. 

“Let go! Gimme!” 

“No! They’re Baba’s!” 

And a tug of war ensued that nearly broke the glasses. In the end Kyuhyun got ahold of them and shoved Sungmin to the ground before running away. The sound of the back door slamming followed by Sungmin crying was heard by the two adults who went running off after their respective children. The sunglasses were lost for several days until Hyukjae found them when he was looking for an alien costume for Henry. After that they were returned to Zhou Mi by Leeteuk. 

Reason Four: Lazy Boy Catapult.

For someone so young, Kyuhyun definitely knew how to hold a grudge. It was hard to believe that he was Leeteuk’s son with the way that he acted sometimes. This was no exception. 

The boys had one of those ‘punching bag clown dolls’ the ones with the weight on the bottom so that they bounce back up after you hit them. Well Kyuhyun had pulled it out into the living room after drawing Hyukjae’s, Donghae’s and Henry’s faces on it like a totem pole. 

Also from the toy room Kyuhyun had pulled out an entire basket of toys. It was set next to Kangin’s Lazy Boy chair then Kyuhyun pulled on one of their dress up hats—an army helmet. 

“Ready the cannon.” He said to himself, placing a stuffed bear in front of the foot rest of the chair. “Aim.” Again to himself as he shifted the toy and then ran over to adjust the clown. 

“Fire!” Kyuhyun yelled before tugging on the lever that pushed up the foot rest. It shot up and the bear went flying to the ceiling before falling hard on the coffee table. 

“Hmm…” Kyuhyun observed the situation with a questioning hum before going over and picking up the bear before setting it back down. He tried again this time but without going through all the motions. He just pulled down on the level and watched the bear fly. This time it hit the television behind the clown and Kyuhyun smiled. 

Several more toys were launched towards the clown doll, plenty hitting but others hitting other things. A few picture frames were knocked over; one even broke as well as a vase. But what really rued the day was when Kyuhyun tugged down on the level and the foot rest only half shot out. 

His eyes opened wide. This wouldn’t be good. This was Appa’s favorite chair. Kyuhyun looked around the room and then quickly picked up the mess from the toys, being mindful of the broken glass and once everything was put away he ran and hid himself in his room. 

When Kangin came home later that night and sat in his chair, he noticed something was off about it right away. After he tried the foot rest and it didn’t work he just… laughed. Granted he was also shaking with anger, but Leeteuk was there and helped to calm him down before he was able to scream at Kyuhyun. A new chair was bought and Kyuhyun was never officially punished. Though the idea of Kangin yelling at him scared him enough to not mess with the new chair. 

Reason Five: The Red Cowboy Boots.

Those damned boots. Kyuhyun hated them with a passion that burned greater than a thousand suns! Okay maybe not that much, but they definitely were the bane of his existence that summer. 

Since his brother Hyukjae acquired them he had been a total pain going around spouting off that he was a ‘cowboy’. Hyukjae being a cowboy somehow automatically made Kyuhyun the bad guy, whether it be an alien or mad scientist or whatever.

 But what if Kyuhyun wanted to be a cowboy too huh!? Cowboys were awesome! Aliens weren’t cool—he didn’t want to be the alien or the mad scientist. That’s why he never wanted to play along with his brother and his friends. And why he hated those STUPID boots! 

Kyuhyun was determined to get revenge of those boots. Or Hyukjae. Whichever would be easier to get revenge on... 

Finally an opportunity presented itself. Kyuhyun found the boots all alone without being occupied by a Hyukjae and snatched them away. Getting the boots was the first step. What to do with them though once he had them was another question. 

Now to say that Kyuhyun was just slightly evil wouldn’t be correct enough. He was also quite devious. He knew that he didn’t want to get in serious trouble for what he was going to do to destroy those boots… So after pacing around his room with the boots staring at him from his bed, he finally figured it out. 

After changing into ‘ruin-able’ clothes, Kyuhyun took the boots into the bathroom and stuck them in the tub. Then he dug under the sink for that stuff that Omma-teuk used to clean the bathroom and began to pour it all over the boots. Finally he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and grabbed the scrubber and began to ‘clean’ the boots. The bleach in the cleaner began to tear at the paint on the boots, causing Kyuhyun to smile with delight. 

“Omma-Teukkie!” Hyukjae yelled, standing by the door around the same time that Kyuhyun was in the bathroom with the boots. “OMMA-TEUKKKKKKIIEEE!!!” 

“What, what, what is it dear?” Leeteuk came out from the kitchen to find his eldest son staring at the shoe rack in shock. 

“Where are my boots?” 

“The cowboy boots?” 

“Yeah. Where are they?” 

“I don’t know. Are they not in your room?” 

“No, Omma-Teu~uuuk! I know I left them here because they got wet the last time we went out to play!” 

“Well I don’t know what to tell you, dear. Try looking around for them?”  Leeteuk was in the middle of making their lunch and didn’t want it to burn.

“Ommmmmaaaaaa…..”

“Don’t whine at me Hyukjae, you are completely capable of looking for them yourself. You’re eight now, remember?” Leeteuk was already headed back to the kitchen to finish lunch. 

Hyukjae sighed heavily then said, “Fiinnnneeee….” And trudged into the living room and began to look. 

When he got to the bathroom he let out a scream that alerted Leeteuk of ‘danger’ and he moved the food off the burner and ran to the sound. 

“KYUHYUN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? MY BOOTS!” Hyukjae had half jumped into the tub to try and save his favorite shoes and was struggling with Kyuhyun who only let go once Leeteuk showed up in the doorway. 

“Yah! Kyuhyun! What do you think you’re doing!?” 

“They were dirty! I was cleaning them!” 

Hyukjae was cradling the boots now, crying since they were ‘totally destroyed’ in his point of view. 

“Cleaning them? Oh Kyuhyun you…. Ugh. I …” Every great Omma has an end of their rope and Leeteuk was quickly reaching his with Kyuhyun.

“Hyukjae, give me the boots. We’ll try to buy you a new pair, okay? Go clean up in the kitchen. Kyuhyun, you did a VERY bad thing here okay?” While he was scolding him, his tone was clearly more exhasperated. “You don’t clean boots with Soft Scrub. You shouldn’t even be using this stuff at all.” He started to clean up the fluffy haired devil he called his youngest. “It’s dangerous chemicals that kids shouldn’t touch. Okay?” 

“Okay Omma…” Kyuhyun faked a sniffle, letting Leeteuk clean him up. “I just wanted to be nice…” 

“I’m sure you did, but ask for help next time before just… going off and… doing your own thing. Okay?” 

“Okay…” And while Leeteuk washed off Kyuhyun’s hands he was able to hide his grin of triumph. Not only had it been a victory (i.e.: Hyukjae had cried) but he also wasn’t in trouble!  All in all a good day. 

Reason Six: Henry…

That little boy, Henry; Kyuhyun didn’t quite know what to make of him. Sure, he was cute but so were Wookie and Minnie-hyung. Plus he couldn’t speak Korean well at all. The only person who understood him even after 4 months was Donghae and Kyuhyun just hated that. He also didn’t like that he was expected to become friends with him, like he was supposed to become friends with everyone in his class at school. That was totally unrealistic. How was Kyuhyun supposed to know if he and Henry were going to get along?

As it turned out they didn’t get along, if only just because Henry and Donghae stuck together like glue and Donghae and Hyukjae stuck together like glue so now all three of them were some weird that made no sense to the friendless Kyuhyun. 

Because they were supposed to become friends but then didn’t Kyuhyun held a little grudge against him. As if it was Henry’s fault completely that they hadn’t become friends; of course it wasn’t Henry’s fault but probably Donghae’s since he wouldn’t let his brother out of his sight, but that’s another story. 

Kyuhyun’s bad attitude was starting to bubble up and got worse as the summer dragged on. It was August and school would be starting in a few weeks. Yet again it was raining outside so the four boys were stuck inside.  

Trying to be a part of the group Kyuhyun was sitting near them but not with them completely since he figured they didn’t want him to participate. 

But Donghae had different ideas. He thought that since they’d been rather mean to Kyuhyun all summer that he’d be nice now. So he sent Henry over to bring him towards the table where they were coloring. 

“Kyunnie. Come play.” Henry said, holding out a couple of crayons he’d brought with him. 

“What?” 

“Come play! Play. Hae Hyukkie. Henli. Play…. Plaaaaay us.” Henry tried hard, pointing to the people as they were mentioned, even himself, and then over to the table finally where they were coloring. 

“I don’t wanna.” Kyuhyun said, going back to his blocks. 

“Kyunnniiieeeee… Come play!” Henry said again, shoving the crayons in his face and tugging at his sleeve. “Play play play play!” And he gave a huge smile to him; since Baba and Appa never could resist his smile maybe Kyuhyun wouldn’t be able to either. 

But that smile, the way it made his cheeks push up and his eyes disappeared; Kyuhyun hated it. So he got up and shoved Henry away. 

“I SAID I DUN WANNA!” 

Henry stumbled back as he was shoved like that, sniffing back a choke of tears. Donghae was up immediately and over by his side. 

“Kyuhyunnie, don’t be mean. Henli just wants you to play with us. We all want you to play with us.” He said, looking over to Hyukjae to get some reassurance about it; Henry was already nodding from where he stood, rubbing a hand over his cheek. 

“Yeah, Kyu~ come color with us. It’s awesome. Omma got us some awesome activities books.” Hyukjae loved his brother and had already forgiven him for the boots accident. And why not? He had got an amazing new pair of sneakers to replace them. 

“But…” Kyuhyun faltered and that hopeful look at Henry’s face was just too adorable! It was unfair. So he shoved him again into Donghae and snatched that cap off his head. 

“NO!” Kyuhyun yelled, “I don’t wanna play! Leave me alone!” 

“But Kyunnie…” Henry said, tears sliding down those squishy cheeks as he reached out for the cap. 

“NO LEAVE ME ALONE I HATE YOU YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!” Kyuhyun ran away after he yelled that, Henry’s eyes going wide from the statement. How could he say such a thing!? Henry turned to Donghae, eyes full of questions. 

“Baba… Appa…. D-d…dead..?!” Of course Kyuhyun had been referring to Henry’s biological parents but Henry was at a stage where he considered his parents Geng and Siwon, so when Kyuhyun said that he thought of them first.  

“What!? No! They’re not dead Henli! Kyuhyunnie just being mean.” Donghae was immediately hugging him, arms wrapped around him tightly. Hyukjae had slide off the couch and looked at the brothers before going to get Leeteuk. 

Kyuhyun ran to his room after he’d said that and was sitting on his bed, hugging his pillow with the cap on his head. He knew what he’d said was mean… and hadn’t meant to say it. But it had just slipped out! And now he was regretting it… It wasn’t that Kyuhyun didn’t want to color. He just… wanted Hyukjae to ask. Not Henry. 

“Kyuhyun.” Leeteuk’s voice was firmer than it had ever been before. It scared Kyuhyun. 

“Y-…yes, uh-Omma..?” 

“What you did was wrong.” All the parenting advice he had got over the years was out the window. Nothing ever spoke of something like this. The end of his rope had been reached. “You shouldn’t push people. You shouldn’t steal their things. And you most DEFINITELY shouldn’t tell them that their parents are dead!” Kyuhyun choked on his emotions as Leeteuk continued to talk. “Henli-sshi is still very young and regardless of if his biological parents have passed on, you should never EVER tell a child something like that. How you, a five year old, could make a statement like that…”

Leeteuk was fuming. He had had faith that Kyuhyun was an angel deep down and he was just troubled at the moment because he was having a hard time adjusting but clearly it was something more. 

“You had better go apologize to Henli-sshi and hope that he forgives you.” Leeteuk couldn’t believe he was scolding a five year old like this. Kyuhyun was crying silently on the bed and only nodded to his Omma’s words. Never had his angel of an Omma who always called him his little angel talked to him like this. His head fell into his arms so he could finish crying and Leeteuk just waited. 

Once he had dried his tears, Kyuhyun went over to his Omma who walked him over to where the three friends were all playing. It had taken just as long to calm Henry down again though he still had the sniffles. He loved that hat and he still didn’t believe that Baba and Appa were okay. Not after what happened with Mama and Baba. It’s not like they could call them at work to check either!

“H-… Henli…” Kyuhyun got a gentle push on his back from Leeteuk and he added, “sshi…” At the end, eyes downcast. The cap that he had stolen was being held in his hands. 

Henry looked up from what he was doing and over to Kyuhyun with a huge frown tugging on his cheeks which were red from the tears. 

“Wae?” he said softly, sniffling and rubbing his cheek once more. 

“I-… I brought back your hat!” Kyuhyun held out the item with a slightly hopeful smile. His tears had left his cheeks red as well. The hat was taken by Donghae and put back on Henry’s head with a swagger tilt. 

“Come-samy dah…” Henry said, sniffling again before looking down again; Kyuhyun got another gentle push and he cleared his throat. 

“Henli-sshi… I-… I also…. I. I uh…” 

“You can do it Kyuhyun.” Leeteuk urged. 

“I’m sorry!” Kyuhyun shouted, bowing at a 90 degree angle and saying the rest to his feet quickly, “Ididn’tmeantosaythatandIreallydon’thateyouIlikeyouyou’rejustreallysquishyandIdon’tunderstandwhatyousayatallandandand…” He gasped for breath at the end, standing back up straight with tears once more b his eyes. “I-I’m just really sorry!” 

All present had wide eyes, except for Henry. He didn’t understand most of what Kyuhyun said except for ‘I’m sorry’. But he apologized, so that was enough for him. Henry slide off of the couch and went over to Kyuhyun who flinched before Henry just hugged him. 

“It’s OH Kay..." Henry said in English with a big smile before looking over to Donghae who nodded. “SARAENGHAE KYUNNIE!” 

Red cheeks were suddenly redder for the five year old who just blinked at Henry and nodded before replying, “S-saraenghae Henli-sshi…” 

Donghae and Hyukjae jumped out of their seats at that moment and tackled Henry and Kyuhyun with their own hugs, shouting the same sentiment to the pair. 

Meanwhile, Leeteuk was just smiling brightly. Out of everything that had happened he definitely thought that Kyuhyun had finally learned … a lesson. And a lesson was good enough for now. 

A/N: aklsjflkajsdflkjasdfkalololol I laughed a lot while writing this. And flailed and fan-girled so much. Baby Henry totally gets to me all the time. I can’t even... He’s just far too adorable for his own good.