Young Bae woke up, alone in his bed, shoulder throbbing. Grunting, he fought his way out of bed.

“What are you cooking, Ji Yongie? It smells great,” he called down the hall as he entered the bathroom.

Several seconds later, Ji Yong slid in the room with him, while he peed.

“What’s up?”

“Your mom’s here,” Ji Yong quickly informed him.

“Aish!”

“She’s been here almost an hour, cooking, cleaning, questioning.”

Young Bae sighed, his mom always worried over every little injury. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I love your mom.”

“I know. Help me get dressed.”

“Oh, my baby,” his mom gushed as they entered the kitchen. “Are you okay? I’m so glad you have such a good friend. I was so worried. Our Ji Yongie always takes good care of my baby.”

“I’m fine, Mom. Ji Yong-ah, I need-”

“Medicine’s on the table,” he informed him. “Sit down, it’s almost ready.”

“You didn’t have to make so much,” he said after swallowing his pills.

“Breakfast is important,” his mom refuted, putting the last of the dishes on the table. “Later, we’ll have a good lunch and a nice, big dinner. Tomorrow-”

“Mom, you should go home to Dad before lunch. You know he’ll just eat ramen if you aren’t there.”

“He’ll be fine. You need me here. I’ve already arranged for your sister to check in on him on Wednesday.”

“Wednesday? Mom, I’ll be fine, really. Ji Yongie is going to stay until I’m better. Right?”

“Absolutely,” he immediately confirmed. “He won’t have a moment alone.”

“No, that’s too much to ask. Kwon Ji Yong is a busy man too.”

“No, no, I don’t mind. I’ve been lonely anyways. It’ll be good to spend time together again.”

“Oh, you’re the sweetest. You’re going to make some lady very happy one day.”

“Ah, yeah.” He agreed, with a glance at Young Bae, who was smirking.

“Alright. I’ll go after I clean up.”

“You don’t have to clean,” her son countered.

“I do and I will. Quit arguing with your mother and eat,” she scolded.

“Yes, ma’am.” He took a big bite of rice.

However, it wasn’t until well after lunch that she really left. What she could have cleaned in thirty minutes, took nearly two hours. Then, she insisted on GD running home to pack some clothes. After that, it was too late to make it home in time for lunch. Then, there was more to clean. Finally, it seemed, she ran out of excuses late in the afternoon and headed home.

Young Bae dropped onto the sofa, exhausted by her visit. Ji Yong, sitting lightly at his side, reached over and began massaging his neck and good shoulder.

“Good thing you’re here or she may have tried to move in.”

“Sometimes, I miss when my mom used to come to visit and cook every week. Then she does and I remember why I’m glad that she stays busy with Noona. She keeps talking about marriage and blind dates.” Ji Yong sighed.

“Yeah, Mom’s been doing that too. Always going on about wanting grandkids. She even tried to set me up with Park Bom.” He shook his head at his mother’s cluelessness.

“Ay! Does she want alien grandbabies?”

“She’s not all that picky; she’s more concerned with speed. She’s been after Hyung, too. He’s already been on five blind dates this year." He paused. “Is it bad that I hope he picks someone soon? If he gets married, maybe Mom’ll stay satisfied for a while.”

Ji Yong laughed. “That’s what I thought with Noona. It worked for a few months, then she started in with getting me ‘settled’ too.” He sighed. “I can’t bring myself to break her heart, so I make up excuses about work to avoid the dates.”

“Not excuses these days. Last day we had off, I was so tired, all I did was sleep.”

“Same here.”

“Speaking of, that medicine’s making me tired. Wanna go…do something, anything?”

“With that arm?”

“I’ll be fine. Keep it simple; a walk or… I don’t know; something involving fresh air.”

“Alright, put on your most blending clothes and let’s go to the park. It was pretty windy out earlier, we can fly kites.”

Young Bae grinned, getting to his feet. “This is why you’re the best! I haven’t flown kites in ages.”

“We haven’t been on an outing at all in such a long time,” Ji Yong agreed. “If you’re up for it tomorrow, let’s go to the zoo.”

“Don’t we go to the studio tomorrow?”

“Nope. Boss gave us the day off again; he knows you too well.”

Young Bae raised his brows as he struggled into a simple black tee.

“He’s forcing you to relax. He knows that if we’re all practicing choreography you’ll end up joining us. And it won’t heal that way.”

Young Bae scoffed, but pulled on a worn baseball cap and mask. Neither wore sunglasses because they were more recognizable with them, especially since it was a cloudy day. Walking calmly from the building, the mere two to three reporters still stationed there, paid them no attention.

“Boss must have sewn it up nicely for most of them to leave already,” Young Bae said softly.

“Yeah. They were probably disappointed that you were the victim, not the drunk.”

“…How’s Dae Sungie handling it? Should we ask him over?”

“Maknae was planning to keep him occupied with their girlfriends.”

“Good. At least he’s not alone.”

Ji Yong nodded his head in agreement as they approached the kite rental station.

Together, they flew the kite in a big field, high up in the sky. There weren’t many others enjoying the windy day, so they had plenty of room to play. Young Bae jogged, making the kite chase him, while Ji Yong took turns performing tricks.

Finally, an hour or so later, they returned their rental, got some street snacks, and walked home. About halfway, Young Bae caught Ji Yong’s hand and swung it lightly between them, making the taller man smile widely behind his mask.

“What do you want for dinner? We could go to the grocery store,” Young Bae suggested, gesturing with their clasped hands, to a small store across the street.

“How about ordering something tonight and cooking tomorrow?” Ji Yong offered, worried about burning the food if his friend fell asleep.

“Call.”

Sure enough, they had no sooner ordered the food, than Young Bae passed out on the sofa. Hesitantly, but wanting to be closer, Ji Yong wedged himself into the corner and gently pulled him over to rest against his side, his head lying on GD’s shoulder. Content, he also dozed off.

They awoke, tangled up together on the couch, when the door buzzer sounded. Young Bae had somehow ended up half underneath Ji Yong, with a leg thrown atop one of his, and his face buried in the man’s back. It took a minute, and some blushing on Ji Yong’s part, to get up to his feet.

Dinner done, Young Bae began yawning again. They decided to just go to bed, even though it was still early. Ji Yong quickly cleaned up and grabbed them both clothes while Young Bae started the shower. He returned and pulled both of their hairs up into ponytails and took a picture with their cheeks puffed out.

Quickly, Ji Yong washed both of their bodies. Getting dressed afterwards, Young Bae sleepily chuckled.

“Why?”

“You better be careful, I’m going to get used to being taken care of,” he jokingly warned. “You’ll make me so lazy that I don’t even wash my own body.”

Ji Yong grinned, not mentioning that he would gladly take personal care of his friend’s body for the rest of their lives. He crouched in front of the shorter man.

“Get on,” he directed.

Young Bae smiled. “You’re going to carry me?”

“If I’m going to spoil you, might as well go all the way. Can’t have my precious Young Bae-ah using his own legs to walk.”

He laughed, but carefully draped himself over Ji Yong’s back, wrapping his good arm around his chest.

“Geez, did you eat some bricks while I wasn’t looking?” Ji Yong complained as he slowly made the way to the bedroom, legs shaking.

“Maybe.”

Ji Yong turned around and backed up until he could feel the bed against his legs. He tried to slowly sit down, but wasn’t strong enough and ended up plopping on the edge with a grunt.

“Guess for safety’s sake, I ought to keep using my own legs,” Young Bae said with a grin and pat to his friend’s shoulder.

A/N: Are you still reading? How are you liking it so far?