The Longest Road

Chapter 7 – Lets be Kids Again

The water glistened invitingly and Zelo knelt down carefully so that he could see his reflection in the smooth surface. It was rare these days to find something as pure water and it was strangely fascinating. He smiled, surprised almost when the reflection smiled back, almost as if it were sharing some hidden secret with him and for a second it was oh so tempting to just take a step into the water. But a shudder went through his body, as a little lapped at the tips of his toes due to him walking around bare foot and he hastily pulled back. Instantly a fear crept over him, age old and from the times before all of this horrendous madness, of when he had been younger and nearly drowned in a small pond that belonged to a neighbour. It had been an accident, but it was still something that he hated the idea of.

Especially with what was to come, but for now he would push those thoughts out of his head because he had more important matters to deal with.

“Oh Zelo,” Youngjae’s voice carried across on the light breeze, “What are you doing there? Trying to be brave?”

Zelo shook his head in response, “Nope. Just looking. Clear water is a bit of a novelty these days.”

“That I’ll agree with,” Youngjae said with a bright smile, “But it sure makes fishing so much easier. I would invite you out...”

Paling considerably, Zelo jumped back away from the waters head and shook his head, “No. No way.”

Youngjae laughed at his taller, younger brother, marvelling at how despite the height he still managed to look like a frightened little boy when it came to bodies of water. Zelo would always be that small, slightly chubby little child who had stared at him with wide eyes and tried to attack him with sticky fingers as he scooted around the floor after something his elder brother had, in Youngjae’s eyes but it was nice once in a while to be reminded of that fact. It made Youngjae forget that his brother was part of a cure to the world, made him just happy to be around the usually energetic youngster and for a moment lifted the gloom that had generally settled over everyone who had been fortunate enough to remain human.

Zelo blinked and looked at Youngjae, “You laughed.”

“Well I was making a joke at you silly,” Youngjae replied, throwing his fishing supplies in the boat, “Of course I’m going to laugh at you.”

“You haven’t laughed in a long while,” Zelo smiled brightly back, his eyes curling up into happy little smiles of their own and Youngjae let out a groan. Within a few steps, he was over to the boy, squishing his face happily to make it pull some bizarre expressions before he none too lightly flicked the others forehead with his fingers.

“Yah! Stop being so cute!” Youngjae complained, actually smiling for the first time in a long while, “otherwise you’ll ruin my bad boy image.”

Zelo snorted, “What bad boy image?”

“This one!” Youngjae yelled, suddenly throwing himself forward to knock Zelo onto his back and promptly attack him with a vicious tickle hug that brought about a series of breathless giggles from the youngster as he desperately tried to wriggle away.

They flopped back and forth on the leafy ground, not caring for the mud, muck and twigs that were inevitably getting stuck on their clothes and hair and simply just enjoying the brief moment’s madness that they had been allowed to enjoy together.

Of course, naturally it was broken up way too soon when a deep cough came from above them and the pair stopped momentarily to look up. Yongguk was standing over the pair, an eyebrow raised in question though there was just the tug of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

It took all of a second for the two younger brothers to share a look and then they both leapt up to pounce on Yongguk, sending him crashing to the floor with a wheezing sound that quickly turned into complaints as nimble fingers sought out the most ticklish spots. Both one had forgotten where they were, it was something impossible to do for brothers and within thirty seconds Yongguk was laughing along with his two attackers as he tried to attack them back.

How long they rolled about on the floor, neither of the three could say but they were extremely muddy and covered in twigs by the time that they were finished which was certainly a sight to see. Eventually they came to a natural stop, fatigue crippling their muscles and bones, causing them to flop down onto the floor as if they were nothing more than children again and just lay there for a while. A few stray beams of sunlight filtered in from the tree tops above and the trio on the ground were happy to accept them for a while.

Zelo was the first to start giggling, “Yongguk hyung still had a funny laugh.”

“Oh, don’t start that again,” Yongguk said, grabbing the youngster in rolling sideways hug to flip him across his body so that he was laying in-between himself and Youngjae, sharing in a three-way hug like they really were kids again and simply mucking about. “I do not have a funny laugh regardless of what you say.”

Youngjae chuckled in response, snuggling into Zelo’s back, “You know that our baby brother cannot lie to save his life, hyung. If he says you have a funny laugh, you have a... hey, ow!”

“Little brothers sound respect their hyungs,” Yongguk said, smirking just a little bit towards the pair after he had finished smacking Youngjae around the back of the head.

“Not hyungs who have a funny laugh,” Zelo said cheekily as he snuggled against his elder brother merrily.

There came an almost surprising white flash that was quickly followed by several towels being flung at them and then a cry of, “Think Fast!” before a sudden stream of water came spurting straight towards the trio on the floor. Immediately there were cries of indignation, curses and a yell come roar as Yongguk leapt up to try and find out just had happened only for the sound to turn into a spluttering spurt because the hose was pointed directly at his face. Striving forward against the torrent of water that was coming at his face, Yongguk was eventually able to see who the perpetrator was and with a playful predatory growl he took off after Jongup who merely laughed at his elder brother’s misfortune.

Though has he ran, he threw the hose to Himchan who immediately turned it back onto Zelo and Youngjae which immediately sent up a whole wave of loud cries and immense madness that quickly had everyone laughing. If they hadn’t have felt so safe in this place, they would have been extremely worried about the prospect of their noise drawing forth the walkers but there was just something in the air that afternoon that made them feel safe, free and able to just let loose and have some fun.

The next few hours were spent running around, dozing one another in water, flinging mud and leaves about like there wasn’t a care in the world and generally making such a mess as to have certainly been berated by their parents should they have been around. The only reason they stopped their fun and games was the fact that a pure exhaustion hit them and caused all of them to crash down onto the ground at the same time, just close enough to one another that they could reach out and easily touch one another but far enough part that they didn’t hurt themselves when they fell.

For a few long moments, there was only the sound of their heavy breaths in the air and the faint echoes of the joy which they had just randomly shared in the most childish of manners for no reason other than it felt right to do. Exhaling heavily, Zelo was surprised to find his breath escaping in a large plume of smoke before him and then he felt something soft and cold land on his cheek. Blinking he frowned and tried to find what it was, only to see that it had melted but more soft cold landed on the edges of his fingertips as he extended them up towards the sky and he blinked.

Very slowly he sat up, staring around him in confusion before realising what was happening. “Snow?” he breathed out, causing a stir from his brothers who had almost drifted off into a quiet slumber after playing so much. It was hard to think that something so simple and fun could wear out his brothers in such a fashion but it had been a long while and that got Zelo thinking once again.

Slowly he stood up, watching as more white began to fall in an ever-increasing amount from the sky above and for a second he began to wonder just where it had all come from. “It’s snowing?” he heard Jongup say behind him, sounding a mixture of childishly excited but also grown up annoyed, “Oh, I don’t know if I should go and curl up by the fire or build a snowman.”

“You’ll get in and get dry with the rest of us before we catch our deaths of cold,” Himchan snapped playfully towards him, “I’m not dealing with you when you’re sick with everything else.”

Daehyun stepped closer to Zelo, wiping away some tears which had begun to leak down from his eyes unbidden, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Blinking as if he had just been woken up, Zelo stared wide eyed at his brother for a second before turning to look up towards the sky, “Minho always said that he was happiest in the snow.”

Daehyun frowned and was about to ask when Zelo shook his head and started to head indoors, his demeanour changed and the elder brother was concerned. He frowned at the words and then glanced back up into the sky but before he could question, Youngjae had wrapped an arm around his neck to drag him indoors so that they could all get dry and warmed up before having something to eat. The snow could potentially cause them problems for gathering food depending on how long it lasted but they had stocks for now so that was a relief.

Zelo was notably quieter for the next hour or so, just wanting to be left alone in the corner to cry his eyes out but he would not speak of any reason why until the bath was ready and steaming up the place. Even then his answer was vague but appeasing for now and slowly the joy which had seen the six brothers tearing through the mud like kids returned as they washed their half-frozen bodies and made plans for keeping warm in this unexpected snow storm. Zelo knew it wouldn’t last too long but he did feel just a little ashamed of wanting to keep it for a while longer.

“I’ll join you soon,” he whispered as he waited for the soap to wash his hair, “Just be patient Minho.”

authors babbling: getting into the last sections of this fic and I hope you're all enjoying it still