April 19th, 2020

When Donghyuck awoke the next day, there was a pressing weight against his waist and side, and he glanced to the side to see a very familiar blob of brown hair. With a sigh, Donghyuck relaxed from where he had tensed and let himself melt into the soft mattress of the bed; even though Taeyong was a mafia boss, he still knew how to get a damn good bed. 

A shuffle brought his attention to the doorway and he saw Jaemin standing there with two figures behind him, hands and fingers intertwined behind his back for comfort. Jaemin was staring at the person sleeping soundly beside Donghyuck, stuck to his frame and hugging on tight like a koala. 

"Is that ...?" Jaemin trailed off into stunned silence; he hadn't expected Jaehyun to stay considering how he viewed the members living in the house and the actual mafia boss. Even Donghyuck had been hesitant on sleeping the first night, worrying that they would do something whilst he was asleep, but when he woke up the day after, with nothing but a sore neck from sleeping a weird way, he figured that sleep was something he didn't have to worry over. When he got sleep at least. 

"It's your brother." Donghyuck croaked, throat feeling dry in the early morning and he lifted his hands to his eyes, rubbing the crusted sleep from his brown orbs. Last night was a blur, a distant memory that he couldn't pinpoint particular moments and would not want to even if he tried. Jaemin pursed his lips, caught between staying and seeing Jaehyun, or walking away for his own good. 

"Guys, breakfast is ready!" A shout was heard and then Renjun and Jeno were tugging Jaemin away, whispering encouragements at him and promises of seeing Jaehyun later. Donghyuck glanced down at Jaehyun, only to see him stirring in his sleep, being awoken by the loud shout for those in the house to come into the kitchen for breakfast. 

"Hyuckie?" Jaehyun asked, blinking at him for a moment, memories coming back to him of the previous night and he snuggled closer to Donghyuck, yawning. "I'm starving." Jaehyun murmured, which made Donghyuck chuckle, smile spreading along his face as he stared down at Jaehyun's tuff of messy brown hair. 

"We can get breakfast, but before that I have to tell you that ~"

"Jaemin's alive?" Jaehyun finished and got to his feet, clambering out of the bed and rubbing his eyes, stretching his limbs. Donghyuck gaped at Jaehyun like a fish out of water, hurrying to crawl to the end of the huge bed, wide eyes focused on the elder. 

"What? How the hell did you know that?" Donghyuck demanded. Jaehyun laughed, pulling his jumper off his body to reveal a no-sleeve t-shirt, showing off his strong biceps and toned body.

"I'm not the Head of Police for nothing, Donghyuck." Jaehyun stated and Donghyuck jumped off the bed, smoothening down his hair as Jaehyun did the same, walking out of the room. With hurried footsteps, Donghyuck ran after Jaehyun, seeing him make his way to the kitchen and upon walking inside, saw Jaemin with his boyfriends sitting on one of the seats. 

"But how did you know?" Donghyuck demanded once more, sliding in front of Jaehyun and pressing a hand down onto his chest to stop him from going anywhere. Jaehyun stared at Donghyuck for a moment before giggling, slipping around the younger and making his way to sit down onto one of the chairs. 

"Hello, Nana sweetie." Jaemin looked up at Jaehyun in shock at being spoken to — Jaehyun was smiling warmly at him, eyes fond. "I missed you." Jaehyun murmured, leaning down to place a kiss to the younger's forehead and when he pulled back, Jaemin nodded rapidly. 

"I missed you too, hyung." Jaemin quickly said and Donghyuck stomped to Jaehyun, swiftly grabbing his plate he was about to grab and hide it behind his back. Jaehyun turned to Donghyuck, eyeing him for a moment. 

"Tell me how you knew! And for how long?" Donghyuck whined, electing a chuckle out of Jaehyun and a laugh from the doorway. Donghyuck stomped his foot and turned to Doyoung and Kun, watching them take their seats and Doyoung leaned forward. 

"Jaehyun never tells anyone anything he doesn't want to. I grew up with him and nothing can get him to spill, not even that cute guy that wanted to know his phone number." Doyoung laughed, hand coming to his mouth as he did so and Donghyuck turned to Jaehyun, interested. 

"Cute guy? When was this?" Donghyuck asked, sitting down next to Jaehyun and having him snatch the plate back out of his grip. Jaehyun huffed to himself and leant forward to pile some food onto his plate. 

"I was fourteen, the guy was sixteen. He thought I was his age as I was quite tall for my age back then; he said his name was TY and that was all he could say. Still wanted my number." Jaehyun told Donghyuck for he knew that if he let nothing go, Donghyuck would keep whining forever, eventually going back to the question beforehand. Donghyuck stared at Jaehyun for a moment before pursing his lips. 

"TY, you say?" Donghyuck asked, leaning backwards slightly on his seat and Jaehyun gripped his arm when he looked like he was going to topple backwards. 

"It was ages ago, Hyuck. It was over seven years ago." Jaehyun told the younger and Donghyuck huffed to himself before digging through his pockets and pulling out a leather wallet, pushing a worn out picture in Jaehyun's hands, marks scratching the surface like he had been folding and unfolding it multiple times. 

"Is this TY?" Donghyuck pressed, lips forming into a thin white line as Jaehyun looked down at the picture, eyes lighting up with recognition. He nodded and Donghyuck let out an amused snort. "Well I'll be damned, Taeyong flirted with you when you were fourteen and you didn't even realise you had met him again." Donghyuck chuckled and Jaehyun's eyes enlarged slightly as he stared down at the picture in disbelief. 

"No, that's not Taeyong ..." Jaehyun trailed off and Donghyuck reached out and unfolded the final folded edge, a younger version of himself staring back at them. The younger version of himself was smiling joyfully at the camera like he had no care in the world, hand clutching Taeyong's; Taeyong himself wasn't staring at the camera, but looking onwards at what Donghyuck remembered as his parents as they took the picture. It had been the one out of the two picture Donghyuck had managed to salvage, that and some jewellery of his Eomma and Appa. 

"That's me and Taeyong when we were younger and our parents were still alive. It was at Taeyong's farewell party from the little boys school to the big boy school as they liked to put it, but it was really just an excuse to have a barbecue and some cake along with celebrations. My Eomma always loved to take pictures; there was a photo album she had but it went missing and hasn't been found since the tragedy." Donghyuck stated, tapping the picture gently as though it may rip. 

"How old?" Was all Jaehyun whispered and Donghyuck stared at the picture for a moment in thought, suddenly thinking of memories he had tried to banish eons ago as they resurfaced.

"Taeyong was ten and I was five." Donghyuck murmured and then dug through his wallet once more, pulling out another photo in much better shape than the previous one. He handed it to Jaehyun and the latter glanced at him momentarily.

"What is this?" He asked, unfolding it carefully and when his eyes landed on the picture, his eyes widened. He stared at the picture for a moment. 

"That's my Eomma and that's my Appa." Donghyuck said with a soft smile, staring down at the picture with a fondness his eyes hadn't held in a long time. "Taeyong's the little boy holding my Appa’s hand and the baby in my Eomma's arms is me: Eomma said that before the picture was taken, Taeyong had been whining about not getting to hold me in his arms. She said that she had never seen Taeyong so happy before I had come along." Donghyuck murmured, brushing back his bangs as he stared at the picture, tears stinging at his eyes. 

"Donghyuck, you never did tell us what happened on that day; you were our only witness ~" Jaehyun sent Doyoung a glare to warn him about overstepping boundaries. Doyoung just glared right back, eyes falling to Donghyuck once more. "I'm serious, Hyuck, your parents killers can get the punishments that they deserve if you would just speak up." Doyoung said, but Donghyuck wasn't listening as he stared at the picture before a watery smile made its way to his face. 

"I was eight when it happened. And I still remember it like it was yesterday." Donghyuck suddenly said, ignoring the others that walked into the room, Mark and Taeyong included in the bunch of males. "Eomma had allowed Taeyong to go to his friends house, but he had forgotten his clothes and none of the friends clothes fit him, so he came back. My Eomma was reading me a bedtime story when Taeyong came back and it wasn't too long before they came." Donghyuck murmured, fingers creeping forward and fiddling with the ends of the pictures, seeing Taeyong peer down at them in curiosity, only for his face to pale immediately after. 

"Is that ...?" Taeyong whispered, leaning over Donghyuck before shakily taking the picture from his hands and staring down at it for a moment. "You kept these?" Taeyong asked, turning his face to peer at Donghyuck, watching as the other gulped and nodded, looking down at his fingers as his thumbs twirled back and forth. 

"Yeah, they couldn't find the photo album." Donghyuck muttered and Donghyuck felt Taeyong's warmth fade as he hastily walked out of the room, returning moments later with a thick book full of pictures; a scrapbook of memories his Eomma had created when they were far too little to remember. Donghyuck reached for it when Taeyong dropped it onto the table, glancing at Donghyuck. 

"I haven't opened it since that day, because I was too scared, but open it with me, Hyuck-ah?" Taeyong asked, uncertainly, shoulders relaxing when Donghyuck nodded and placed his hands over Taeyong, both of them helping each other open the thick book. Inside, on the first page, was a little caption and everyone leaned forward to read it. 

"Eomma said that this album had everything in it; pictures of our grandparents and Eomma and Appa's wedding, our birth showers and every moment in between that." Donghyuck recalled, fondly the hand written caption. 

"She always was a strange woman." Taeyong mused, referring to the little heading their Eomma had put. 'Colours of the rainbow in form of our memories', it read and Taeyong chuckled, hearing Donghyuck giggle along at the silly picture in the corner their Eomma had put along with another at the bottom left corner; it was all of them making goofy faces at the camera with pure joy written across their faces. 

"She always helped me when I was feeling down." Donghyuck breathed as he turned the page, hearing the sound of the pages separating after a long time of inactive use. Taeyong stared down at the pictures, seeing the faces of his Eomma and Appa in their teenage years staring back at them. 

"You have Eomma's eyes, Hyuck-ah, always have." Taeyong said, the page delicately like it was a dream that would disappear if pressed too hard. Donghyuck leaned closer to Taeyong and into his embrace, ignoring the way his brain screamed at him to not do anything stupid and to not trust the guy he used to call brother, but his heart — his heart was saying to forget everything and start anew. He didn't know which side was winning yet though, so he settled for the little space in between the two rivals. 

"I do?" Donghyuck whispered, tears prickling his eyes and as seconds ticked by, they slid down his cheeks although he made no noise, they were just silent tears of sadness. Taeyong noticed and reached out, wiping the tears away with his sleeve, tutting to himself quietly. 

"Of course you do. The only reason I recognised you is because of your eyes; you've grown up so much and I'm sad I missed that when I had the chance." Taeyong murmured regretfully and Donghyuck peered up at him through wet eyelashes, face forming into a desperate look. 

"Why did you leave me, hyung?" Donghyuck cried, eyes pleading for him to answer as more tears streamed down his face and Taeyong didn't bother wiping them away this time, leaning back slightly to stare at Donghyuck in surprise. Donghyuck, hidden under all the hard pretexts and hard exterior he had built up, was still the same little boy Taeyong had watch grow into a little teenager and then stopped all too suddenly; yet Donghyuck hadn't changed and Taeyong didn't know whether he should feel relieved or not. 

"It was your own safety, Hyuck-ah. If no one knew I was your brother then you had a higher chance of living. Our parents ... they weren't who you thought they were, angel, they were — let's just say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Taeyong said softly and Donghyuck pulled back, hastily wiping his eyes as little sounds of pain fell from his lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Donghyuck whispered, staring at Taeyong with pearly eyes and Taeyong brushed back some of Donghyuck's hair. 

"Our parents had a family business that had been passed down for generations. I, Donghyuck, am working in that family business and because of Appa's death, I have taken over." Taeyong murmured, watching realisation dawning on Donghyuck's face, hand coming to his mouth as all the missing puzzle pieces clicked into place inside his mind. 

"No ..." Donghyuck breathed, staring at Taeyong in shock, tears stilling, one hanging on to his eyelash and when he blinked once more, it cascaded down his face in an elegant way. "Appa was ... he was the Mafia Boss before you which means ..." Donghyuck couldn't finish the sentence, so Taeyong decided to do it for him. 

"Our Appa was 'Mafia Red', yes, because he took down so many bad people and corrupted governments. Eventually though, I suppose it came back to bite him in the ." Taeyong said with a shrug, fingers picking at the scrapbook before he turned to page. He noticed a little detail in the corner of one of the pictures and pointed at it with a smile, reading the caption to find it was where they had first met. "Eomma was a stripper in one of Appa's clubs." Taeyong stated and Donghyuck's eyes blew wide as Jaehyun choked on his toast, Jaemin patting his back gently. 

"She was stripper?" Donghyuck asked and Taeyong nodded, drawing a circle around the bars name in the background with his index finger as a way to organise his thoughts. 

"Yes. They met at '7th sense' which was the bar Appa owned. They called Eomma 'Queen Victoria' because she was ruthless on stage, but delicate like a flower off stage. Everything about her was elegant and she was the dancer that bought in the most income and to this day, she's a legend among all of Appa's bars. She basically stopped them from going bankrupt." Taeyong explained and then sighed, hand stilling. "Appa met her when he went to the bar with his soon to be wife, his fiancé; they weren't in love because our grandparents set them up to be together, an arranged marriage you could say." Taeyong said and Donghyuck reached forward and gripped Taeyong's hands, squeezing them gently. 

"What happened after?" Donghyuck asked. After all, this was all new to him too, and he wanted to know of his parents past really badly.

"Appa was in love within the first moments of seeing her on stage. It wasn't that she stripped for him that drew him in, he said it was the passion in her eyes when she danced. It was the way her body moved and how she danced like it was her last night on Earth." Taeyong said, quietly, smiling down at their intertwined hands. "When Appa went to our grandparents, be practically begged to be set free of the arranged marriage, and they agreed. They told him to bring Eomma to them and because of the fact that she was basically in their lives already, aware of everything that went on behind the scenes, it wasn't like it was a risk. So, they fell in love and got married and then had you and I." Taeyong finished, Donghyuck staring at him for a moment before tears streamed down his cheeks once more.

"I miss them so much." Donghyuck choked and Taeyong pulled him closer, resting his chin on Donghyuck's hair, seeing multiple individual strands of hair fly around as soon as he exhaled a long deep breath. Donghyuck shivered in his brother's embrace and sniffled wetly, Taeyong feeling the younger's tears soaking his shirt. He didn't mind, however, rather enjoyed being Donghyuck's pillar he could lean on because he hadn’t been there for Donghyuck before, but now he was. 

"I miss them too. They'd be so proud of you, angel." Taeyong said and Donghyuck let out a soft whimper, clutching Taeyong's shirt, fingers twisting in the fabric as he leaned closer into his brother's embrace. 

"I missed you too, Yongie-hyung." Donghyuck breathed, feeling Taeyong freeze momentarily underneath him. Then as if time had restarted, arms slipped around him and he was being hugged tighter, Donghyuck breathing out in content with his face buried in Taeyong's shoulder. Taeyong smiled against Donghyuck's hair, nuzzling into the soft strands with a grin. 

"I missed you more, Hyuckie." Taeyong murmured, kissing the crown of Donghyuck's head before settling back down, both content in their positions, ignoring the others as they carried on eating, stuck in their own world.

~/~/~

Lé gasp, is Donghyuck finally trusting Taeyong and his gang. Also, I bet you didn't see that coming, did you??

Terrible writers block with all my stories, however, I am over that and ready to go: already have a schedule for updating all of my fics so ... yeah. Hope you angel's enjoyed the new update!! 

Eummie