“Kyuhyun!  I swear if you aren’t getting ready I will post the names of every crush you’ve ever had onto your twitter!” A very pissed off Heechul yelled from the bottom of the stairs.  The thundering of feet followed as a young boy with wayward auburn hair hurried down the stairs.  His white dress shirt was buttoned completely wrong and he struggled to tie his tie without falling.  Heechul let out a sigh at his younger brother’s less than stellar appearance.

          “Hold it!”  Heechul forcefully stopped the fair boy.  Kyuhyun looked up from his knotted tie to glare at his brother as the older male began to redo his buttons.  Once the shirt was more presentable, Heechul ripped the tie out of Kyuhyun’s hand and began expertly knotting it.  The elder finished off by straightening out his younger brother’s blazer and buttoning it.

          “There,” he patted Kyuhyun’s shoulder to emphasize the point.

          “Now you look absolutely dashing,” He smirked at the boy.  Kyuhyun growled and brushed past his big brother towards the front door.

          “What about breakfast?” Heechul asked as he grabbed the car keys.

          “Not hungry,” the younger grunted out.  Heechul sighed but continued to follow Kyuhyun out.

          The younger was already in the passenger seat by the time Heechul locked the house up.

          “So what’s got you’re in a bunch on this fine morning?” Heechul asked as he slid into the driver’s side.  As they pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, the younger replied.

          “Nothing really.  Just a lot of stuff on my mind,” Kyuhyun answered as he began rummaging in his school bag.  Heechul nodded in understanding and a moment of silence passed between the two.

          “Oh !” The elder of the two yelled out suddenly before breaking harshly.  Kyuhyun flew forward and felt the seatbelt painfully dig into his shoulder.

          “What?” Kyuhyun hissed and glared at his brother.

          “Your medicine, you didn’t take it this morning,” Heechul said quickly as he began to swing the car around to head back home.

          “It’s fine.  If we turn around we’ll be late!” Kyuhyun groaned.

          “It is not fine, Kyuhyun!  You need to take your medication,” Heechul retorted as they sped back to the house.

          “Hyung, I haven’t had an attack in ages.  Not taking my medicine once will not kill me,” Kyuhyun argued.

          “You haven’t had an attack in a while because you take medication.  We can’t take chances with your health, Kyu,” Heechul responded.  Kyuhyun slumped down in his seat and began muttering angrily.

          “Good boy,” Heechul smiled as they pulled up to their home.  He left the engine running as he jumped out and quickly unlocked the front door.  Seconds later Heechul dashed out of the house with a few bottles of different pills in his arms.  After re-locking the door and jumping back into the car they set out to school again.

          “Here,” Heechul handed his brother a bottle of water for the pills.  Kyuhyun snatched it roughly and popped a pill from each bottle into his mouth.  He guzzled down nearly half the bottle of water and then slammed it into the cupholder.

          The rest of the ride was silent except for Kyuhyun’s insistent angry mumbling.

          “Stupid, overprotective, brother-complex having-“  Heechul ignored the insults that Kyuhyun continued to spout quietly.  Heechul would admit that he was a bit overprotective of his younger brother, but with good reason.  Kyuhyun was lazy, and if left to his own devices would forego meals and showering for computer games.  This would normally be of no concern or harm to a normal teenager, but Kyuhyun required a bit more care than most.  Kyuhyun had been born with a heart defect, which caused him to have a rather weak constitution.  As a child, he was homeschooled because he was sick so often he couldn’t attend normal school.  By the time Kyuhyun reached middle school, his health was stable enough for him to begin going to school normally, but he still got sick quite often.

          Heechul was never overbearing when Kyuhyun was younger, but six years ago, Kyuhyun’s mother passed away from the same heart defect that Kyuhyun has.  Heechul was extremely shaken up by the woman’s death, she wasn’t Heechul’s real mother, Kyuhyun and Heechul only share the same father, but she treated Heechul like her own.  Her passing was an abrupt awakening for the older boy.  At the time, Heechul had still been a high school student.  He was known for his brash and brusque personality and often found himself at odds with his classmates.  His frequent fights at school coupled with his ‘no care’ mindset stressed his parents to no end.  When Kyuhyun’s mother died he couldn’t help but feel responsible; after all, he had been the cause of her sleepless nights and endless worrying.  Heechul began studying seriously and stopped picking fights.  He started helping his father take care of Kyuhyun and even got a part time job so money wouldn’t be as tight.

          Now at 22, Heechul had a steady job and had become Kyuhyun’s primary care giver.  The siblings’ father was often out of the country for business and only seen a handful of times during the year.  Recently, Kyuhyun had been going through a ‘rebellious phase’ as Heechul would put it, and had been stubborn with even the smallest things, like taking his medicine.  Heechul believed that it was due to Kyuhyun being excluded from upcoming activities at school due to his health, like the sports meet and the class’s upcoming trip to Jeju.  It had never been a very big problem before, but it was Kyuhyun’s last year of high school and he felt left out.

          “What time are you picking me up today?” Kyuhyun grunted.

          “I have a meeting until late today,” Heechul pulled up into the parking lot and stopped the car.

          “Walk home with Changmin, but be careful,” Heechul turned towards his brother with a warning glare.

          “Geez!  I’m not 5 anymore, I know!” Kyuhyun fumed as he roughly pushed the door open and slammed it shut behind him.  Heechul watched as his younger brother stomped away without a backward glance.  He sighed and stared up at the car’s ceiling.

          “I’m too young to be dealing with a teenager’s angst,” He mumbled to himself.

          Kyuhyun walked into the classroom, still in a relatively bad mood.

          “Whose got your in a knot,” Changmin, his best friend smirked.  Kyuhyun had known Changmin since they were both in diapers.  Before his mother died, her and Changmin’s mother were high school friends.  Due to their sons being the same age, they often got together for playmates as children.  When Kyuhyun began going to school, his mother enrolled him at Changmin’s school so he would feel more comfortable.

          “Heechul’s being an idiot,” Kyuhyun grumbled.  Changmin rolled his eyes,

          “He’s only doing those things because he cares,”  Changmin didn’t even need to ask for details to know what his friend was talking about.  Ever since the brothers’ mother died and their father began working more overseas, Heechul had taken on the role of Kyuhyun’s parent.  His protectiveness over his younger brother had always irritated Kyuhyun a bit, but recently, Kyuhyun found it unbearable.  Changmin knew that Kyuhyun was just frustrated with the limitations that his health placed on him, but the younger was never really good with expressing himself or his emotions.

          Kyuhyun slumped in his chair and placed his head on the desk.  He let out a frustrated groan and shut his eyes.  Changmin chuckled and got up from where he was sitting on his own desk to approach the smaller male.

          “Stop giving your brother a hard time.  He’s practically a saint for dealing with you 24/7,” Kyuhyun cracked an eye and glared.

          “Whose side are you on anyway?  Heechul a saint?  Don’t make me laugh,” he scoffed.

          “Compared to your bratty attitude he is!” Kyuhyun swung a fist at his friend who easily dodged.  Sports were not his strong point.  Before Kyuhyun could give it another try their teacher entered and Changmin quickly returned to his seat.  Kyuhyun compensated by giving the other male his deadliest glare from across the room.

          By lunch time, Kyuhyun had gotten over his anger at his best friend and sauntered over to Changmin’s desk.

          “Wanna go to the canteen?” He nudged the bigger male’s foot with his own.  Before Changmin could answer a boy with big eyes and impressive stature walked up to the pair.

          “Oh, Minho.  I was just asking Changmin if he wanted to go to the canteen,” Kyuhyun greeted the new male.  Minho shrugged his indifference and nodded a greeting to Changmin.  Minho was a year younger than Kyuhyun and Changmin, but had come to be friends with Changmin through the school’s basketball team.  Changmin then introduced Minho to Kyuhyun and the three became inseparable.

          “You look a bit red, Minho.  Wait, don’t tell me, did someone confess to you again?” Changmin commented and jumped out of his seat.

          “What the hell!  That’ll make it the fifth time since the new term began,” Kyuhyun whined as he lamented his own lack of love life.

          “Who was it?  Please don’t tell me it was Tiffany!” Changmin clutched the youngest’s shoulders and shook him slightly,

          “I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask her out!” Changmin cried and Minho brushed off the older’s hands.

          “No hyung, it was just Luna,” Minho sighed.  He hated making girls cry.

          “Can we talk about this on our way to the canteen?  I’m starving!” Kyuhyun interjected.  Changmin and Minho nodded, already launching into conversation.  Kyuhyun sighed and led the two out of the classroom and towards the canteen.  The canteen was in a separate building, a little away from the main building so students had to cross the field in order to get there.  The trio continued walking, discussing the astronomical reasons why Minho and Kyuhyun were polar opposites when it came to girls.

          Kyuhyun felt the abnormal palpitations a second before the pain.  He tried to discreetly hide his grimace by turning away from his friends who were still adamantly chatting, but his childhood friend Changmin immediately took notice of the older’s discomfort.

          “You okay, Kyu?” Changmin stopped and placed a gentle hand on the thin boy’s shoulder.

          “Yeah, fine,” He grunted out, trying to hide his condition.  Both males could sense the lie.  Kyuhyun was pale and looked rather clammy and Changmin and Minho both narrowed their eyes in concern.  Then Kyuhyun swayed strongly while clutching at the fabric above his heart.  Changmin immediately reached out and grabbed Kyuhyun before he could fall and lowered him into a sitting position.  Kyuhyun squeezed his eyes shut as the unbearable pain continued.

          “Do I need to call an ambulance?” Changmin asked worried.  He had seen Kyuhyun have a few attacks over the years and he could tell that this was a bad one.

          “No.  Just give me a sec,” Kyuhyun managed to whisper out.

          “I don’t know, Kyu, you don’t look so good,” Minho commented as he watched with concern.  A particularly sharp stab of pain pierced through his chest and Kyuhyun let out a whimper.

          “That’s it!  I’m calling an ambulance!” Kyuhyun heard Changmin’s voice ring out from somewhere, but he was beginning to feel lightheaded and couldn’t pinpoint the exact location.  After much effort, he managed to crack open a bleary eye and say a blurry Minho staring down at him in concern while Changmin yelled into his cellphone.  When did he end up on the ground and when did Changmin dial for help?  Kyuhyun couldn’t recall.

          “Hey Kyu!  You awake?  Stay with us, man!” Changmin’s voice echoed in the darkness that had consumed Kyuhyun’s vision.  , Heechul was going to kill him.  Those were Kyuhyun’s last thoughts as he faded out of consciousness.