At this point, Daehyun was nearly jogging towards the front yard where his things were lying on the lawn and driveway. He stood up to Yongguk again. The last time he did that, Yongguk nearly scalped him and gave him a mouthful of harsh words that made him feel like crap. Daehyun really didn’t want that to happen again, but his emotions got the better of him.

Yes, Daehyun was kind of scared of his hyung, but come on! –the guy is taller than him, pretty damn scary, no doubt stronger, hard to read, and really damn scary. Oh, did he mention scary twice? Well he meant it. Yongguk was only known to him for less than a day and already he was scared of what that guy was capable of.

Daehyun was bluffing all the way when he yelled and threatened Yongguk. Pretty much blackmailed him as if he could even tattle on him or protect himself from him. Daehyun was only putting on a front of bravery. Yes, his mom taught him to be genuine, but survival dictates you either fight or flight. And so far in the case of Yongguk, the younger brother was choosing to fall right in the middle. He wanted to fly the on out of there, but his mouth was just too quick and it wanted to fight the spawn. However, so far he’s only seemed to anger the spawn and feel its wrath. Curse his damn mouth that thinks it can beat Yongguk. Daehyun has never acted like this. He’s come across his fair share of buttholes and meanies, but he’s never felt the need to fight them. Being the nerdy odd ball with oversized lips and short stature meant that Daehyun was a walking billboard for bullies. But the bullying stopped once he turned fourteen and started growing into an okay looking kid that was just a little quirky but likeable. He was just glad no one back in Busan ever found out he was gay because damn was his high school small. His best friend, NamJun, knew, but that was a given. Nam wasn’t gay, but he loved Daehyun no matter who he wanted to be with.

Nearing the front door, Daehyun heard heavy footsteps beginning to make their way down the stairs. Slightly shocked that Yongguk believed his bluff, Daehyun felt half confidence and half fear. Confidence because Yongguk feared what Daehyun would say to their parents, therefore giving him a tiny bit of power. Fear because Yongguk was either following him because he was going to help or beat him to a pulp. He was really, really hoping it was the former rather than the latter. Getting beaten to a pulp was not on his to do list for the day.

Leaving the front door open, Daehyun made his way to stack two boxes on top of each other so he could carry them. Bending over and picking them up, Daehyun began making his way back to the front door. He then stopped when he heard his hyung start talking,

“I’m only helping because I don’t want you running your mouth. You better say I was helpful and cheerful helping you, or else I really will make you pay for it. Don’t talk to me. At all. I’ll carry some boxes and put them in your room. That is the extent of my kindness. Don’t expect anything more from me. This is not our bonding time nor am I here on my own free will.”

Daehyun wanted to retort the last sentence, but felt that reminding his hyung that he actually did volunteer to help him, would have been a bad decision. He would settle for what he was being given: help and a not-so-vicious hyung.

Responding to the elder, “That’s fine. All I need for you to do is move boxes. No need for us to talk. Grab boxes and put them in my room. Done.”

No futher exchanges of words came from either brother. In less than half an hour all of Daehyun’s things were moved into his room. He didn’t have a billion things, but he had plenty for two guys to carry and make multiple trips back and forth.

With Yongguk carrying in the last box, he placed it on the carpet and promptly left Daehyun’s room in favor of his own. He didn’t say anything before he left, and Daehyun only knew he was back in his own room once he heard his door close behind him.

With a unbelieving scoff, Daehyun got up and walked over to his own door and yelled out a cheeky, “Thanks hyung~!” before closing his own door and locking it behind him. Safetly first, man. He then started placing his things inside of their new home.

Two hours later, he heard a knock on his door. Rushing over to open it, Daehyun was met with a familiar face he was quickly becoming fond of. Hyejin stood at his door.

Before she could greet him, he greeter her, “Hello mother, how can I help you?” He waited for her reply with a smile and he opened the door even more so she could see his progress.

“I just stopped by to see if you made progress. But you are almost done, which is great. Was Yongguk any help?”

Wanting to rat his hyung out, but fearing the repercussions, he told the truth, but made sure to keep any negatives out of it. “Yeah, he helped me bring up all my things. We managed to get the multiple trips from the lawn to my room all done within twenty or so minutes. We were pretty quick. I’ve only been organizing my tings for the last two hours. I still have quite a few things to put away, but the majority is done.”

Daehyun figured the more information he provided, the less she would inquire about. Daehyun didn’t want to lie, but he also wanted to live to see tomorrow.

“Fantastic! I’m glad to hear he was some help to you. That boy is always busy with his school life, so I was uncertain if he would be able to help you. But hearing he was helpful makes me happy! I want you two to be not only brothers, but also friends. A year only separates you, so I want you to get along.” Smiling again, she peered into his room.

Noting that she was done talking, Daehyun formulated a response in his head.

“He helped me a lot today, so I’m sure he’ll be helping me in the future too. He’s very…thorough. And quick. I was surprised when we finished so quickly.” He completely avoided addressing the whole brothers and besties bit because he really didn’t see them becoming closer than enemies, but hey keep your enemies closer right?

Hyejin walked into his room and walked towards his desk where a few pictures in frames and out of frame were scattered. Picking up a few, she saw that they were of his with friends, him throughout different stages of his life, him with a lady, and the same lady alone. She guessed this was his mom.

Noticing what she had focused her attention on, Daehyun walked over to her. He then began talking about what it was she was looking at,

“That’s me when I was maybe seven,” he began while pointing at one of the loose pictures in her left hand. “I just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. The helmet did little to keep me from busting my lip open,” he chuckled. Continuing, he pointed at another picture in the same hand, “That’s me as Clark Kent at my best friend’s tenth birthday. I had a very last minute costume if you couldn’t tell. The boy next to me is the actual birthday boy. His name is NamJun. We’ve been friends for eight years. He’s pretty great. It was pretty hard leaving him back home.”

Cutting in to comment, Hyejin began talking, “You should invite him over sometime after you’ve gotten settled. Maybe he could even come on that trip I mentioned to you yesterday. We would love to meet and have him.”

Smiling at her, “That would be great. I’m sure you guys would love him. He’s pretty great and incredibly smart. When I wasn’t first, he was. We usually fought for first and second places.” He ended with a small and fond chuckle.

Continuing his original plight, he turned his attention back to a few of the pictures. It was the picture of the woman that was sitting at a kitchen table decorating a cake. “That’s my mom, her name is Shieun. Every year she would make me a birthday cake from scratch and then decorate it." He laughed before he started again, “In the beginning she was pretty bad. She would get the ingredients wrong or not follow the recipe completely. And the decorating; boy was she really terrible at that." He looked fondly at that memory stick in time once again be continuing, "even though the cakes took a a few years to start tasting good and the decorating took even longer, I'll probably miss this more than I thought I would."

Tears were stuck in his eyes, but refused to fall. The picture held a fond memory, so he didn't want to let it break him down. He needed to remain strong. If he was weak in this moment then he would be weak in every memory he had of his mom. He missed her beyond words, but he only wanted to be happy and grateful when he thought of her.

After Daehyun's recalling of his memory, Hyejin wrapped her arms around him. "I know how difficult it is to lose a parent. My father died when I was just a few years younger than you are. You'll never forget the pain or get over it. It just gets easier to live with as you get older. I still miss my father and I'll continue to do so. But it will get easier to live with with time. If you ever want to talk more about her or anything, I'm there whenever you need me. Anytime, sweetie."

Barely providing an audible response, Daehyun let out, "Thank you, mother. It means a lot to me. Your kindness is truly incredible." He tightened his arms around her and held the hug for a bit longer. After his mom died, people gave him countless hugs, but most of them felt artificial. This hug felt absolutely genuine and comforting much like Hyejin herself. So Daehyun decided to relax into it for a bit.

Maybe two minutes later, Hyejin spoke up, "You know, you're mom gave you her eyes. They and your mom are beautiful. If you want, we could put a few of your pictures into frames and hang them up with ours. Though I never met her, since she is your family and you are my family, that makes your mom and I family. What better way to show off family than to hang their pictures all over the walls? You don't have to do this, but if you want, all you have to do is tell me."

Pulling away from the hug and bringing his face down to meet the slightly shorter woman's, he smiled. "It would mean a lot to me. Thank you, mother."

Not able to hide her happy heart, the cheerful Hyejin spoke again, "Oh, sweetie, you need to stop being so thankful. Family means a lot to me, so I'll do anything to see them smile. We can go buy frames together and then find them places in the house."

"Yes, I would love that."

"Great! We can go next weekend. We still need to buy you school supplies and fit you for your uniform. School is starting soon! We can buy whatever you want. Speaking of buying things, did you see your new phone? It's all ready for you. Up and running, all it needs is your personal touches of contacts and um whatever youngsters put on their phones. Use it however you want. It's yours now. My number, your father's number, and your brother's number are all there for you. Call or text whenever you need anything."
"Understood!" Daehyun's cheerful attitude was back. Hyejin really knew how to make people feel happy. He only knew her for two days, but she was going to be a great mother to him.

"Great, well I'll leave you to it, so finish up your room. I need to put away some of the things your father and I got and then I need to get ready along with getting your father ready. See you later, sweetie."

"Okay, have fun at the dinner."

"Oh, I'll try sweetie. A bunch of boring doctors and other professionals. They have had these dinners every few months going on years now. Still as boring as the first one." She joked, but she had a few good friends there that made it tolerable. She was just being extra playful to put a smile on Daehyun's face.

Not failing her, the boy grinned from ear to ear and let out a "Still, have fun and I'll see you later!"

Before she walked further down the hall, she half waved over her shoulder without looking back. He chuckled at how young she always acted.

Turning back to his room after closing his door, Daehyun analyzed his things. He was almost done packing. Maybe another hour and he would be able to call it quits. He would even finish a few hours before dinner. He soon got back to work and started putting more things away.


An hour and a half later, Daehyun finally finished. He stood back and looked around the room admiring his hard work and new room that now looked completely like it was his. All his things were in the perfect places. Everything surprisingly fit and looked right at home. He smiled before heading to his bed to relax a bit. Unintentionally, he fell asleep.

Another hour or so he woke up from his nap. Looking around for his phone, he checked the time. Ah, a quarter until six. Guess I slept longer than I thought. As if to confirm his thoughts, his stomach growled.

Speaking his thoughts aloud this time, “I’ll head down and see if dinner is ready.”

Getting up off the bed, he stretched a bit to get his muscles warmed up. He then decided to look around for his gray bunny slippers. Finding them slightly pushed under his bed, he reached for them and slipped his feet into the fluffy softness. Heading over to the door, Daehyun turned the knob and began making the walk downstairs.

Finally getting to his sought after destination, he looked into the dining room first. He saw that the table was nearly empty safe for the usual setup it had at all times. It usually had a few center pieces and placeholders.

Taking it upon himself to go in search of the food, Daehyun headed into the kitchen. There he found Sunmin. She was pulling something out of the oven. It looked like pizza, so trying to get the cook’s attention, he cleared his throat in a louder than usual manner. Looking up at him, the two met eyes and both smiled. She was the first one to speak.

“Oh hello, Daehyun. I was going to head upstairs to tell you and your brother that dinner was ready. Since your parents aren’t here, I thought I would treat you guys to a ‘fun’ dinner.” She said the last bit with a gesture toward the food she just removed from the oven.

“I didn’t know you knew how to make pizza. Is that from scratch?”

“Yes, it is actually. It’s just a recipe I found online today and thought I would give it a try. I hope that’s alright with you?”

Providing her with a reassuring smile, Daehyun responded to what sounded like a question, “Of course! I love pizza! But then again what teenager doesn’t?”

“Glad to hear that. I know your brother loves pizza, but hardly eats it. He likes eating healthier foods when he can. He rarely breaks his rule, but with the stress from school being just around the corner, I figured he could use a pick me up.”

“That’s awfully kind of you. Will he be joining us?”

“Us?” She furrowed her eyebrows and pouted her lips in a questioning way, and then as if the gears in her head finally began turning once again, she continued, “I actually won’t be joining you guys tonight.” She continued with another smile, “But you will be dining with your brother. I was going to head upstairs to call him down after I set the pizza in the dining room, which I still need to set.”

“Oh, we can eat at the island. It’s only us anyway. Plus, I kind of like sitting at the island; it has seats that sit up high, so my feet dangle a bit.” He gave a chuckle before continuing, “It makes me feel like a kid again.”

“Well if you insist. I’ll just go call your brother, and then get out of your way.”

“I’ll call him for you. You can head home now if you’d like. I’m sure you have plans or something you need to so. No need to stay here any longer.”

“Thank you Daehyun. I actually was looking forward to spending the evening at home with my husband and daughter.”

“You’re married and have a child? Please, do go home! I wouldn’t want you to miss out on an evening with your family! I can call for him as soon as I see you walk out that door.” He laughed softly.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go now then. Thank you for being such a help. I appreciate it. I’m sure my family will too. Thank you. I’ll just go get my things and head out.”

She exited the kitchen and headed towards the hall. She stopped at a door right under the stairs. He hadn’t noticed that door before.

“We have a door there? I didn’t know that! That’s kind of cool.”

Laughing at Daehyun’s innocent and surprised observation, she explained the door’s purpose. “This acts as a closet. It holds plenty of jackets, shoes, a few cleaning supplies, and other things. It’s half closet and half storage.”

Stepping out of the storage area, she held a purse in one hand, and a pair of flats in her other. She began removing the other shoes she had on and exchanged the two. Placing the dirtier shoes back in the closet, she closed the door.

“I’ll be going now. Don’t forget to call your brother down. Thank you, Daehyun.”

“No problem, Ms.Sunmin. Have a lovely night.”

“You too. Good night.”

Daehyun shut the door behind him after he saw off Sunmin.

With a bit of reluctance, he began up the stairs to the Devil’s lair.

Once outside of his hyung’s door, he stood there for maybe a minute. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do this. Should he knock and wait for a response? Bang and shout through the door that dinner was ready and be done?

Before he could make a decision, the door opened starling Daehyun.

“What do you want?” spat Yongguk.

“Um, dinner is ready.”

“Why are you telling me this? Where’s Sunmin?” The older boy asked looking over Daehyun’s shoulder as if Sunmin would pop out and answer him.

“She just left. She made pizza and left it in the kitchen for us.”

“Oh.”

That was all the answer Daehyun got before he felt the older stare at him for what felt like years (but was really only fifteen or so seconds). He then felt his brother hit his shoulder as he headed towards the stairs.

With a roll of his eyes, Daehyun began muttering something barely audible, “You could of said ‘excuse me’, you big jerk.”

Stopping in his tracks, Yongguk turned around, and looked into Daehyun’s eyes from five feet away, “Did you say something?” Yongguk looked as if Daehyun gave him the wrong answer, he would pounce on him like a starved lion.

Quickly answering, the younger shook his head, “Nope! Didn’t say anything!”

“Didn’t think so.” He then turned back around and started for the stairs again.

God, he’s so difficult. Why’s he gotta be so damn scary all the time?

Daehyun stopped thinking about the rude guy, and started heading towards the kitchen too. Food is all he needed to get through this. He even gave himself a small pep talk.

Think of the pizza, Daehyun. Just think of the yummy pizza waiting for you instead of the spawn.

Dinner went on as awkward as ever. The two boys sat in the seats they had earlier for breakfast. Daehyun had sat the pizza between the two boys once he saw Yongguk sitting at the seat with just a plate in front of him. It was like he was waiting for Daehyun to serve him or something.

Spoiled brat.

Rolling his eyes for a second time in less than five minutes, he grabbed the pizza from the counter and set it in between them.

Before Daehyun even sat down, Yongguk had grabbed a slicew and already managed to take a few bites.

Psh, quit acting like you’ve been starving for days or something. I’m not going to eat it all! You can breathe between bites!

Though Daehyun thought he was being better than the fast eating Yongguk, he really wasn’t. He too, began swallowing down the pizza instead of swallowing down breaths. The two boys seemed to be in a silent competition.

Who could blame them though? The pizza was delicious. Sunmin found an excellent recipe and as soon as Daehyun saw her next, he would sing her and its praises.

From the looks of it, Yongguk seemed to agree. And Daehyun’s thoughts were soon confirmed once he heard what sounded like a soft moan coming from Yongguk. Once Daehyun heard this, he got embarrassed for his hyung. He even blushed a bit, and he decided to peek at his hyung through his peripheral vision.

It didn’t look like Yongguk knew he had just moaned, or if he did, it didn’t seem as if he cared. The elder looked completely normal. This in turn had Daehyun thinking that maybe he was hearing things. But once again, he heard it. This time feeling braver, Daehyun turned towards his hyung and to his surprise he locked eyes with Yongguk. Wanting to look away to break the eye contact, Daehyun began turning his eyes down, but he stopped once he heard Yongguk moan once again.

Daehyun completely and obviously blushed again. He turned his head quicker than he wanted to. He then heard a quick laugh and scoff before he heard the seat the older was sitting in scrape across the tile.

Without uttering a single word, Yongguk was out of the kitchen and out of both seeing and hearing distance.

Losing his appetite, Daehyun stopped halfway on his last slice. He then gathered up the dirty dishes and washed them. He cleaned up the kitchen a bit more before turning off the lights and heading upstairs to his own room.

Once upstairs, he heard the shower running in the bathroom. He immediately thought back to his hyung’s moans as he was eating the pizza. He must have known Daehyun heard the first moan, and decided to and moan some more on purpose.

What a jerk. And a ert!

As he was walking into his room and closing his door, Daehyun innerly chastised his brother for being a creep. But then he regretted it as soon as he remembered the fact that his brother was in the bathroom. Images started popping into his head of a wet, sudsy, and hyung. Daehyun started feeling his crotch heat up from the images, and immediately felt dirty.

Oh my god, Daehyun! What the hell are you thinking!? That’s your brother!

~

AN

Longest chapter so far! It's a bit longer than usual. I think it was like 500+ words more than my usual cutoff.

Thank you to darkblood for upvote 17!

Thanks everyone for reading!

Don't forget to comment and/or subscribe!

-Nana