It hit him like lightning. Everything evolved around him. Which was a very weird thought, because he thought he was just on the sidelines of everything. He didn't have any friends other than hoodie-, no Himchan, at school. Yet, somehow, he was at the center of everything in this situation. Otherwise his friends wouldn't have known.

He felt really stupid.

How oblivious had he been?! It was obvious now that he really thought about it and he felt like facepalming himself into the next world. They arrived at his house, and he unlocked the door, trying to keep himself from slamming his face into the door. How could he have been so stupid?

“You look like you've figured something out,” Himchan said when they had entered the living room and sat down.

“You can say that again,” he mumbled, still not quite believing he could be so stupid. He got top marks in most of his assignments, yet he had failed so spectacularly in something that happened before his nose.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes,” he nodded, but didn't say anything further. Yongguk was still trying to figure out how anyone could be so stupid, which made it even more painful because he had been so stupid.

“You okay?” Himchan asked worriedly, and Yongguk looked over at the other. His eyebrows were scrunched together, making a worried little wrinkle between them. He wore the hood up as always, but his hair wasn't covering his eyebrows as it usually did.

“Did you get a haircut?” he asked curiously.

One of Himchan's eyebrows rose up under the bit of hair that was covering his forehead. “Yes?”

“When?”

“Last week.”

Yongguk groaned. “I'm so oblivious.”

“I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but yes,” Himchan smiled softly, his eyebrow lowering back in place. It was a very nice eyebrow.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” he muttered. Now he was thinking about Himchan's eyebrow?

“Hey, it's okay,” Himchan comforted him. “I wear a hood all the time, how is anyone supposed to notice?”

“That's not what I meant,” Yongguk replied.

“What then?”

“Nothing, don't worry about it,” he waved his friend off. Himchan nodded, letting it go. “So the person you've been protecting from the bullying is me?” he asked instead.

“Yeah,” Himchan nodded once more.

“How come I haven't noticed then?” he questioned more himself than anyone else.

“Well for one, you sleep most of the time, which means you don't get to see who does it,” Himchan answered. “That makes you an easy target.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Bullies go after easy targets, and things like throwing all of your stuff on the ground or taking your clothes from the locker room just makes you easy when you sleep,” Himchan went on.

“I was wondering why you were leaving me notes in my bag,” Yongguk told him honestly, even though it was a bit embarrassing. “I thought you were looking for something.”

A small chuckle escaped Himchan, but he schooled his face pretty quickly. “So you knew it was me?”

“I knew it was you leaving notes, so I was thinking I'd ask you, but...” Yongguk trailed off, not wanting to say the last bit. That was really embarrassing.

“But what?”

“I'm-uh, not that good at talking to people,” he answered.

“You're talking just fine right now though,” Himchan countered.

“Yes, but-” Yongguk stopped himself before he said too much. How could he tell his friend, that he had gotten too nervous to ask him, so he had invited him over for dinner instead? That would just be weird. He himself didn't even know how that transition had been made.

“Can we just forget that detail?” he asked instead of explaining.

“Sure, but now I'm really curious,” his friend agreed. He looked like he really wanted to know though.

“Besides throwing my stuff on the floor and taking my clothes from the locker room, what have the jackets tried to do to me?” he asked the other.

“Well, uhm,” Himchan started. “They've thrown small paper balls in your hair once in class, but I picked them all out before I woke you up.”

Yongguk remembered the time he found a pieces of paper in his hair when he got home.

“Sorry if that's creepy,” Himchan apologized.

“It's fine,” Yongguk waved him off. It was kind of sweet somehow, even though he'd really wished he knew he was the jackets' target.

“They've tried to break the stuff they've poured out from your bag too,” his friend continued. “And then there was the time Sunghoon almost punched you, but mostly I've been able to divert their attention from you, before they could get up to something.”

Yongguk sat in silence for a moment. How could he not notice this? Yes, he slept the day away, but he wasn't oblivious, was he? Okay, maybe he was, based on recent data, but he didn't feel like that.

“I wish you'd told me,” he finally said. “I wish my other friends had told me, when they figured it out.”

“Sorry,” Himchan apologized.

“It's fine, you can't change the past,” Yongguk smiled at his friend. “But if I had known, then maybe I could've stopped them, or something.”

Himchan looked thoughtfully at him. “I bet you could,” he nodded slowly. “But you didn't have any friends at school before me, I've noticed,” he continued, his face suddenly serious and sad. “And being alone while being bullied, able to stop it or not, is a hard job.”

“You sound like you're speaking from experience,” Yongguk said, looking curiously at his friend. Himchan didn't seem like he had been bullied, but then again, all he had was accounts of after effects on the internet to go by. He didn't know what previously bullied people were like in real life, after they got out of it.

“I do speak from experience,” his friend said, looking sadder than he had ever seen him look like before. Yongguk didn't want the other to look like that. He wanted the different happy smiles back. “I had to switch schools, because it got so bad.”

Yongguk felt something break in his heart. How could anyone ever bully someone like Himchan? He was so nice and sweet, funny and cringe worthy in the best way possible.

“Which was why I didn't want the same to happen to you,” Himchan told him, a small sad smile on his lips. “I've learned how to fight after I got bullied, and when I saw Sunghoon and the others closing in on you... well I didn't want the same to happen to anyone else.”

He looked at his friend in wonder. Himchan really was a nice person. A good person. He knew it already, but this just caused the feeling in his chest to expand. Himchan had protected him from being bullied, even though they didn't know each other in the beginning. Yes, he wished his friend had told him, so that he could do something about it himself, but he couldn't help but marvel at his friend, who had thought of him before himself. The jackets could easily have changed their target to Himchan, but he had done it anyways, even though he had been bullied before. Because he had been bullied before.

That was strength.

“Thank you,” Yongguk said with a smile on his lips.

“Any time,” Himchan replied with a smile of his own, that wasn't sad. It was small, but happy, and it made Yongguk's heart beat a little bit faster.

“Want something to eat?” Yongguk asked and Himchan nodded. So they got up and went into the kitchen, so they could make some ramen. They talked as they usually did, sometimes coming back to the subject of the bullying Himchan had been protecting him from. Mostly they talked about music.

As they ate, they talked too, and Yongguk was once again in wonder at how comfortable Himchan was. It was unbelievable in some way, but very believable at the same time. It was how Himchan worked and it was like someone took a dream and made reality out of it. Everything about his friend seemed to be that way.

When his parents came home, they were still in the kitchen, talking. Yongguk couldn't help but notice the bright smiles on their faces when they saw Himchan with him, and he wondered why. Soon the other had to go, and with final smiles, they bid each other farewell. He couldn't keep the smile off his face, when he went back into the living room, where his parents sat.

“Did you have another project to work on?” his father asked, and Yongguk shook his head.

“No, he just came over for a visit,” he answered.

His parents' smiles seemed to get brighter. “We're glad you've found a friend at school,” his mother told him. “And Himchan seems like such a nice guy.”

Yongguk smile fell. He hadn't told his parents Himchan's name, so how could his mother have known? Himchan hadn't told them either, he had just smiled and said hello.

Then it hit him.

A couple of weekends ago, Himchan had been here, and his mother had said that Himchan had arrived. With his name. How could he have been so stupid?! He could've just asked his mother about Himchan's name, instead of just finding out what his name was today?

He had really been oblivious, and today was apparently a day of revelations.

“What's wrong?” his mother asked concerned.

“Nothing,” he answered. “I've just been really slow and bad with names.”

His parents laughed. “You can't be the best at everything,” his father told him.

Yongguk smiled back, before going up into his room. He needed to tell his friends about this, so he would wait until they were all online, and then call them.

“Hey Yongguk,” Hyosung greeted him with a smile when she answered the call. “What's with the 'important'?”

“Two sec, let me just get Youngjae and Daehyun too,” he answered with a smile. He could could tell them that he had figured it out. Finally. A few seconds later, Daehyun and Youngjae answered as well.

“What is up, lovely companions, and loveliest person on earth?” Daehyun greeted them with a gigantic smile.

“I think I know what happened yesterday,” Hyosung drew a disgusted face, while Youngjae was blushing.

“You know nothing,” Youngjae replied. “You have too vague information to come up with a certain conclusion.” He was sporting a new hickey on his throat.

“Based on Daehyun's happy expression, your blushing when I mentioned it and your new hickey, I would say I have a solved the case,” Hyosung grinned, while Youngjae pointed his tongue out at the screen. “We all know, only you can make him that happy, so chillax bro,” she continued and threw a couple of handsigns.

Yongguk groaned along with Daehyun and Youngjae. “Please don't do that ever again,” Youngjae replied.

“I second that,” Daehyun said and Yongguk nodded along fiercely. Hyosung merely laughed at them.

“You haven't been getting much sleep lately, have you?” Yongguk asked teasingly, but also concerned.

“Sleep is for the old,” Hyosung declared. “But don't worry, I've got sleep time this weekend,” she added for the sake of his worrying. It seemed to appease Youngjae and Daehyun too, because their smiles turned brighter.

“So, Yongguk, what is this 'important' thing that you need to tell us?” Daehyun asked.

“I've figured it out,” he told them.

“So you know who hoodie-guy has been protecting?” Youngjae asked to clarify.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And I've also figured out his real name.”

“Hold up!” Youngjae exclaimed. “You've figured it out and figured out his name, all in the same day?”

Yongguk nodded once more. “Yup.”

“Praise the lord!” Hyosung exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air.

“Amen!” Daehyun added. “I think I'm turning religious. Our prayers have been answered!”

“Shut it,” Yongguk grumbled, but couldn't help but break out into a smile after.

“How did you find out?” Youngjae asked.

“Well...” Yongguk started hesitantly. He had hoped they would have just left it at 'hallelujah', but he should have known better. However, he did want to turn over the new information with someone who wasn't involved today, so he told them. Everything from waking up and punching one of the jackets (their mouths fell to the floor at that point), to having a slight meltdown over how oblivious he could be (they snickered and looked at him with judging eyes).

“So now you know,” Daehyun stated with a nod after he had finished his tale. “Now we just need one more realization, and we'll be there.”

“What realization?” he asked.

“You'll get there,” Daehyun laughed, while the others smiled along.

“And now we can call him by his real name instead of 'hoodie-guy',” Youngjae added.

“Yeah,” Yongguk smiled softly. He liked that. Himchan, not hoodie-guy.

“I still can't get over the fact you punched one of them,” Hyosung said.

“He wasn't very nice,” Yongguk defended himself. “But it was kind of a spur of the moment thing.”

“I wasn't saying it's bad!” Hyosung smiled. “I'm just saying it's not like you.”

“But don't make it a habit,” Youngjae added.

“Don't worry, I won't,” he told them. Though if the jackets were mean s to Himchan, he might just do it again. Even though he knows that his friend could defend himself.

Yongguk smiled to himself. Himchan. He was so...

“What are you smiling about?” Daehyun interrupted his thought.

“Himchan,” Yongguk answered. “He's a really nice person.”

Youngjae chuckled. “Yeah, we've noticed.”

“Let us meet him some time,” Hyosung suggested.

Yongguk's eyes widened in horror. “No!”

“What? Why not?” Daehyun asked.

“Yeah, what's so wrong, that we can't meet him?” Youngjae added.

“You're not meeting him, I know it'll end up as a disaster,” Yongguk replied.

“But why?” Hyosung questioned.

“You guys are horrible people, and you'll embarrass me,” he answered.

“The faith you have in us is disappointing,” Daehyun clutched his heart, as if he was actually offended.

“I hadn't even thought about embarrassing you, but it's a great idea,” Youngjae grinned, with Hyosung nodding along with a laugh.

Yongguk buried his face in his hands. What had he ever done, to deserve such embarrassing friends? He frowned. He was a bit worried about tomorrow. The jackets would be back, and he would have to face them. Himchan would be there though, and with that thought, a smile reappeared on his face. It was nice to have a friend at school.

And I am back!

And Yongguk finds out how oblivious he has been xD Praise the lords, hallelujah, etc etc, whatever one says in these situations ;)

Tune back in again, at some point in time that is unknown, for the next update ;P

Peace out (^_^)v