The first time Daehyun sees him, it’s on the first day of twelfth grade. 

Daehyun is four. Youngjae is three. They both live in close, but not quite, neighborhoods in the outskirts of Seoul. The year is 1998, and their lives are about to change- probably for good- and it all starts when Daehyun hits Youngjae over the head with his lunchbox in preschool, and Youngjae starts to cry.

The first time it happens, it’s 3AM. The second time it happens, Taehyung has G-Dragon’s Who You bursting through his earphones. The third time it happens, Taehyung’s bed turns into the most comfortable place on Earth. The fourth time it happens, they both know it already. The fifth time doesn’t happen.

Green light hits the white covers and draws small patterns on Youngjae’s skin, and Daehyun breathes in and smiles. It feels like spring in his ribcage.

This time, they both have stars in their eyes.

Daehyun doesn't feel like he's home- until Youngjae comes for a visit.

Daehyun thinks that this is, by far, the happiest he’s ever been in his entire life.

There are three things you should probably know about Yoo Youngjae: 1. He is prone to forgetting his keys inside his apartment, often choosing to stay at his (unbelievably stupid) best friends’, Moon Jongup, until the locksmith arrives to help . 2. He hates messes. 

It’s not the first time this happens; anxiety attacks visited Youngjae once a month at least, and every time they did Daehyun did his best to help Youngjae fight through them, because he promised to stick to him in sickness and in health, and he’ll stay true to his word, goddammit.

Because it’s all clearer now; he’s Zhang Yixing and Zhang Yixing means nothing without Kim Junmyeon next to him, nothing at all.

"What I still don’t get is why they call it the birds and the bees," Jongup remarks lightly, and all hell breaks loose.

In which Jungkook is the king of hell, Taehyung is the Grim Reaper, Jimin gets a second chance and Namjoon is in charge of costumes.

He already knows that the only one who’s brave enough to deal with his mental breakdowns is Junmyeon and he whimpers and grabs the older’s hands in a death grip, feeling his entire body shaking. 

After their escape from the facility they were held in for years, Baekhyun and Jongdae struggle to regroup with their friends, who are all scattered across the globe.

"What," Daehyun starts as soon as he’s in front of his petrified son, his eyes menacing and his hands on his hips, "the hell happened?"

The door to room 269 is shoved open and Daehyun walks in, nearly sobbing at the sight in front of him.

In which Daehyun spends the entire night blogging and Youngjae is literally done with everything.

It’s a clear Sunday morning and they’re all sitting together when Jongup drops the question.

He deserves to cry.

They adopted three times, and each and every time was its own different roller-coaster ride; but roller-coaster rides are fun as long as you have someone to hold on to.

Daehyun has learnt from experience that Youngjae can be pretty frightful when truly mad, and he doesn’t want to awaken the beast. 

It's become a game of sorts; Jongdae leads, and Baekhyun follows.

Cicadas drone on and the air conditioning’s on full force, huffing through the vents in the walls like a careful whisper. 

Jongdae smiles and tries to focus on breathing.

Jongup splutters. “Shouldn’t you be following the instructions, dad?” He asks hesitantly, glancing at his twin. Junhong just looks horrified. "I don’t need them." "You’re not even using the hammer right!"