As Leeteuk slid his key into the lock on his apartment door, he suddenly became very aware of the eyes fixed on him.  He turned and looked down at Donghae.  The boy blinked back at him unassumingly.

 “Um, we don’t actually have to go inside if you don’t want.  And also, I have two roommates, but they’re like family to me so I promise they’re goo—.”

 “Leeteuk-hyung?”

Startled by the once familiar but now foreign address, Leeteuk stuttered, “Uh-yes?”

“It’s really cold.”

Biting back a laugh at Donghae’s forwardness, Leeteuk finished opening the door, leaned inside and called preemptively, “Hello?”

When there was no immediate response he put a hand on Donghae’s back and urged him forward a little bit, indicating it was alright for him to go inside.  The boy scrambled over the step into the apartment and Leeteuk followed after, hesitating as he went to shut the door.

Looking back for some kind of instruction, Donghae noticed the man’s hesitation and said, “It’s alright,” smiling reassuringly.  Realizing that he was the one who should be reassuring Donghae, Leeteuk decisively shut the door and walked into the living room.

Keeping a hand on Donghae’s shoulder, he called, “I’m back,” as he craned to spot his roommates.  He picked up on movement in the corner of the room and saw Kangin lean forward out of the armchair where, judging by the way he was rubbing his face, he had been napping.  His groggy eyes fell on Leeteuk and paused.  He blinked rapidly, eyebrows furrowing as his gaze slid to the small figure beside his roommate. 

At first unaware of the strange tension, Heechul strode into the silent room.  The smile on his face froze when he also noticed the unexpected addition.  “You do not have groceries,” he pointed out in a funny voice.

“Guys, this is Donghae,” Leeteuk more or less explained.

Heechul first glanced at Kangin and realized he wasn’t the only one who was confused.  He then gave Leeteuk a look, hoping for some kind of sign but, getting none, he navigated the bizzare situation on his own.   Rejuvenating his smile and getting on Donghae’s level he said, “Hey, Donghae, I’m Heechul, it’s nice to meet you.”

Donghae returned a shy hello then looked at the other man in the room as he got up out of the chair.

                Realizing his pesky intimidation was at work again, Kangin attempted to look friendlier and greeted, “Um, hey, Donghae.  I’m Kangin.”

                 Donghae nodded slightly.

There was an awkward pause while Leeteuk and Donghae both looked at Kangin.  Only Heechul remained looking at Donghae. “What happened to your knee?” Heechul’s level question saved Kangin from being the center of attention.

                Leeteuk looked down in surprise and saw a nasty scrape through the hole in Donghae’s jeans.  How had he not noticed that? 

                “Oh, that’s no big deal,” Donghae earnestly insisted, looking at his knee as if he had to check himself to confirm there was actually anything there.

                “Still,” Leeteuk frowned, “we should check that out.  Come on, we’ll go to the kitchen.” 

                He started to move when he caught the way Kangin was staring at him.  Realizing he was in trouble, he looked back at Heechul and gestured with his head at Donghae.  Then he announced, “Hey, Donghae, I’ll be right there.  Heechul will take care of you while Kangin and I go grab the medical kit.  Okay?”  The brown haired boy nodded vigorously and Heechul agreed it sounded good to him.  The two started to walk toward the kitchen.  Leeteuk mouthed thank you to Heechul as he passed by and his roommate simply smiled.

                As soon as Donghae was out of earshot, Leeteuk wondered innocently, “What’s up?”

Kangin wasted no breath, taking hold of the blonde man’s arm and moving him further away from the kitchen.  When he felt they were far enough away, he stopped and folded his arms, staring at his roommate expectantly.

                 Leeteuk stubbornly didn’t say a word, forcing Kangin to ask, “What are you doing?”

                “The shop-owner was giving him a hard time for stealing so I brought him back here.”

                “Why?”

                “He doesn’t have anyone else.”  Feeling defensively sarcastic, Leeteuk added, “If you want I could just throw him back outside—”

                “No, no, of course not,” Kangin interrupted with a wave of his hand, looking back toward the kitchen.  “Poor kid,” he mumbled under his breath.  Looking back at Leeteuk he said sternly, “But I’m talking about you.  Why are you doing this to yourself?”

                “What was I supposed to do?”

                “Call the police! Tell them you found a child and let them handle it.  There’s no use in you stressing over this. Now you’re going to get yourself attached and it’s going to kill you when they come to take him away.  You already lost one brother.”

                Leeteuk didn’t answer, looking down at his finger nails evasively

                 “You’re already thinking about keeping him, aren’t you?”

                “Yeah, well, why not?” 

                “Because, Leeteuk, he’s not a puppy.  You can’t just take in a child because you want to.  There’s a system, it can take years to work these things out.”

                Leeteuk knew Kangin was right.  Just because he knew he could look after Donghae didn’t mean that he’d just magically get to.  Really, he was well aware of how foolish he was being, how wishful he was thinking.  Just for one night, though, he wanted to pretend he could give Donghae the chance to feel safe.   He was too trusting, that boy and at least for one night, that trust didn’t have to be betrayed, did it?

                Realizing his prediction was already coming true, Kangin sighed, “Aish, you let your heart rule your head, Leeteuk.  Don’t worry about it tonight.  We’ll figure out what to do in the morning.” 

                Leeteuk brightened slightly. 

                Kangin grumbled and turned away, heading toward the bathroom where they kept the medical kit.  Slowly, with a long glance back toward the kitchen, Leeteuk followed.

                When they reached the kitchen, Heechul turned to Donghae and rapped his knuckles on the table.  “Come on,” he said, “we can get a better look at that knee from up here.”  He swooped the boy up and set him down on the table. He was much lighter than he looked, but it was what Heechul expected.  He was pretty sure he could feel his ribs through the worn out sweatshirt.

                “So!” Heechul announced with an air of cheerfulness once the boy was settled on the tabletop.  “Tell me, Donghae, how do you know our Leeteuk?”

                “He showed up and saved me from a shop keeper,” Donghae said, studying Heechul.  The boy wasn’t as wary as Heechul would have expected or liked, but he did have the same survival based curiosity that he had himself. 

                “Yeah, that sounds like him, alright,” Heechul mused, leaning back against the table next to Donghae. 

                Eye brightening, Donghae asked, “So he does that a lot? Like that superhero kind of stuff?”

                “I guess,” Heechul laughed.  Mindful of the fact that he was talking to a kid, Heechul suppressed a rather crass comment about Leeteuk in tights.

                Donghae swung his feet, his decrepit shoes hitting against the table leg with a dull thunk.  “That’s really cool.  If anyone else had asked me to come back somewhere with them, I’d have kicked them where it hurts and run, but Leeteuk seems really nice.”

                Heechul was simultaneously amused and distraught.  He began extracting tiny pieces of the puzzle of Donghae’s life.  He didn’t know how much Leeteuk already knew about the kid, but it couldn’t hurt to find out for himself the kid’s story.  There was no doubt in his mind that Donghae was an orphan, at least.

                “So,” he said poignantly, knowing the question was baited, “your parents were okay with you coming over?”

                Donghae stopped swinging his feet.  “I don’t have parents,” he said quietly.

                “Me either.”

                “Really?” Donghae sounded eager.

                “Yeah, never have, and never will,” he grinned, inspired by Donghae’s apparent excitement over having something in common.

                “You don’t miss them?”

                “Can’t miss what you don’t have.”

                Donghae stared across the kitchen at the far wall and finished, “Yeah, I guess.  I miss mine.”

                Filing this information away for later, Heechul spotted Leeteuk returning with the medical kit.  “Hey, superhero, we were just talking about you!  Apparently you swooped in and saved the day again.”

                 “I wouldn’t say that,” Leeteuk brushed the comment off, but he was smiling.  “Here,” he continued, setting the medical kit on the table.  “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”

                He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down in front of Donghae.  The hole in the knee of Donghae’s jeans was wide enough that he could see the entirety of the scrape.  It was pretty nasty looking, not exactly fresh, but it hadn’t begun to scab over either.  Leeteuk guessed it had happened earlier that day. 

                Putting on a bit of a show, he tsked sympathetically.  “You’re pretty brave if this isn’t bothering you.” 

                “Oh, I’ve had way worse,” Donghae assured him.

                “How did you get this one?”

                “Jumping over a stone wall,” the boy practically grinned.  His excitement got the best of him and he absentmindedly swung his foot.  Dodging quickly as the foot came toward his head, Leeteuk caught the boy’s shoe in his hand.  Donghae smiled sheepishly.  “Sorry.”

                “That’s okay,” Leeteuk assured with a slight chuckle.  “Now,” he reached up and grabbed the medical kit, opening it on his lap.  “Is it okay if I put some peroxide on your scrape to make sure it’s clean?”

                Donghae nodded, but Leeteuk was pretty sure he had no clue what peroxide was.  He reached into the white box and grabbed the bottle and a cotton pad.  As he started opening the bottle he heard Heechul ask nonchalantly,

                “Why were you in such a hurry that you jumped that stone wall?” Leeteuk perked his ears to hear Donghae’s response.  He was slowly starting to realize that those seemingly harmless questions Heechul posed were often subtle blindsides.  He had this uncanny knack of knowing exactly the question that needed to be asked.

                “Oh,” Donghae hesitated, quickly covering his pause by rambling, “there are just some boys that ask me to steal for them sometimes.  They’ve been banned from some of the stores already so they want me to get things for them but I don’t like to steal, really, so…” he trailed off with a shrug.

                “This might sting a little,” Leeteuk said unobtrusively, hoping Donghae would continue talking freely if he wasn’t distracted.

                Donghae nodded, but didn’t even flinch as Leeteuk applied the peroxide pad to his knee. 

                Heechul seemed to sense that Donghae was waiting to say more so he prompted cleverly.  “I bet you outsmarted them today, huh?”

                “Oh yeah, I totally gave them the runaround.  It’s not like they actually need the stuff I steal for them anyway.  If they needed it I’d be happy to help but they’re just doing it cause they’re jerks.”

                As Leeteuk finished applying a large Band-Aid to Donghae’s knee he interjected, “Is that what you were doing today?  Stealing for them?”

                Looking incredibly embarrassed, Donghae said, “Uh, no, actually… I was just doing that for me.”

                Feeling terrible, Leeteuk fumbled over his words.  “Oh, that’s okay!  Really, I completely understand. I mean, I don’t understand, I just…I can see how…”  As he dug himself deeper and deeper into a hole, Heechul came to his rescue.

                “Poor Leeteuk here’s an angel,” he joked.  “He just swoops in and saves us common people from ourselves.  He malfunctions in the face of wrongdoing.” 

                Donghae laughed, his smile lighting up the whole room.  Leeteuk felt once more a bittersweet feeling tugging at his heart.  Why did life have to be so complicated?   Tucking his emotions away for the moment, Leeteuk pouted and complained, “So now you’re going to gang up on me!” 

                “Sure are!” Heechul continued.  “Donghae and I are good pals, now, right?”

                “Yeah, we have stuff in common!”

                “What is that?” Leeteuk wondered with mock skepticism. 

                The smile vanished from Donghae’s face as he realized he’d been backed into a corner.  He tried not to sound sappy and just said, “Oh, well, he doesn’t have parents either.”

                Trying to help Donghae keep the conversation light-hearted, Leeteuk offered, “Neither do I actually.  Not anymore.” 

                “They’re dead?” Donghae asked sympathetically.

                Leeteuk nodded.  “Yeah, but I was lucky, I knew them longer than either of you, I guess.”

                Donghae nodded, he seemed sad, but not as uncomfortable as a moment ago. 

                Beginning uncertainly as he placed the medical kit back onto the table, Leeteuk said, “Donghae…what happened to your parents?”

                The boy froze.  It didn’t look like the question had caught him off guard, but rather like he couldn’t fathom a response.  His mouth opened and shut several times, his liquid brown eyes round.  Leeteuk waited patiently for is response but as the moments ticked on, the boy seemed to just become more and more trapped.  His entire countenance began to crawl with agitation.  His fingers twitched and his breathing became audible as he tried and failed several times to say something.  Unnamable emotion welled at the back of his eyes until finally Heechul couldn’t take it anymore and began to say something.

                In the same moment, Kangin walked into the room.  “What’s going on here?” he asked.  His voice, just like his very presence, gave an air of authority that stopped the three in their tracks.  Raising an eyebrow, and scanning over the boy and his roommates, Kangin continued, “Here you are, sitting in a kitchen with a growing boy and you’re not feeding him?  That’s just inhumane.”

                 The humor caught them so off guard that the atmosphere broke and they fell into smiling freely again.  Leeteuk, having learned from Heechul, did let his gaze linger on Donghae for a moment longer to see how he reacted and saw that while he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes. 

                “Come on,” Kangin said, clapping his hands to break them into action.  “Let’s see what we can scrounge up to make seeing as someone,” he looked poignantly at Leeteuk, “didn’t actually get any groceries.”

                “Yeah, but Donghae’s way better than groceries,” Leeteuk affirmed.

                “Very true, but he’s not edible as far as I’m aware,” Kangin said, dramatically rubbing his chin and looking at the boy out of the corner of his eye.

                Laughing, Donghae jumped down off the table, his knee apparently not bothering him, and announced, “No, I’m not.  But if I was, I wouldn’t have had to steal stuff.  I could have just broken off a finger or something.” 

                “Donghae!” Leeteuk chided at the disturbing image, but Kangin offered Donghae a high-five, which was enthusiastically returned.

                At Kangin’s urging, Donghae headed over to the cabinets.  Leeteuk saw Kangin smile sadly at the back of the boy’s head as he walked by and realized suddenly that he wasn’t the only one affected by Donghae’s arrival.  He should have realized having a kid around would by just as difficult a memory for Kangin as it was for him.  They’d both lost a younger sibling. He tried to give his friend a sympathetic glance but was interrupted when Heechul, who had been silent until then, asked, “Leeteuk, can you come help me with something in the living room?”

                “Sure!” Leeteuk said, “but we should make it quick.  I don’t think it’s safe to leave Kangin alone in a kitchen; he might burn the whole place to the ground. “

                A loud clanging caused everyone to jump.  Donghae turned around sheepishly, a pan lying at his feet.  “Sorry,” he said in a trembling voice, reaching down to pick it up with a shaking hand.

                Taking a moment to recover, Leeteuk assured, “No, it’s okay,” hoping that the reason Donghae was acting the way he was because he’d frightened himself as much as he’d frightened everyone else.

                “You two scurry along,” Kangin shooed his roommates.  “Leave this to the men-folk.”

                Heechul scoffed happily but he seemed focused on Donghae even as he exited into the living room.  Leeteuk took just a moment longer before he followed after him.

                “Isn’t he just the sweetest kid on the planet?” Leeteuk said to Heechul when they’d wandered far enough away from the kitchen. 

                “Definitely, definitely,” Heechul said distractedly.

                “Something bothering you?”

                “Not really.  I just wanted to point out a few things to you.”

                “Okay, shoot, I’m listening.”

                “Well, two things.  First, and I’m sure you know this already, but he’s really trusting.  I’d go so far as to say too trusting.” 

                “Yeah, I had noticed.”

                “So you know that means he’ll be really hurt if you betray him.”

                Taken aback, Leeteuk said awkwardly, “I know.”

                “Well, I don’t know what you’re planning but you better tell him soon because if you don’t, he’s going to get attached to the idea of staying here.”

                “What’s the second thing?” Leeteuk pushed Heechul to continue, remembering what Kangin had suggested about waiting until tomorrow to worry about it.  He didn’t want to think about what he was going to have to end up doing.

                “The second thing is his parents.  He clearly remembers them because he says he misses them and he’s too trusting to have lived on his own for too long.  Judging by the state of him I’d say he’s been living on the streets just shy of a year or so.  He’s pretty thin, but he doesn’t look sickly like he’s been out there for years.”

                Impressed by Heechul’s insight, Leeteuk did him the courtesy of letting him continue uninterrupted. 

                Heechul concluded, “and because of that, I’m pretty confident his parents didn’t pass peacefully.  It was something traumatic.  He probably saw it.”

                Stunned by this final insight, Leeteuk stopped, mouth open, allowing his brain to process Heechul’s words.  He tried to figure out how the feminine man had come upon his conclusions.  He realized it made sense that if two parents died around the same time, that it wasn’t an illness or the like, but he couldn’t puzzle out how Heechul could make such bold assumptions.

                Recognizing Leeteuk’s confusion, Heechul elaborated, “He’s a trusting, loving kid who somehow still ended up living on the streets.  He would be a lot less open if he’d run away from foster care, which means he probably took off after his parents were killed, whatever happened.  Probably gone before the police showed up, if they even showed up at all.  And you saw how he acted when you asked him.  His brain practically shut down.  That means he’s doesn’t want to relive it.”

                Leeteuk was too stunned to speak. 

                Heechul shrugged.  “I just know what to look for.  You meet a lot of people in foster care.  You can learn a lot from them.” 

                “Thank you,” Leeteuk finally managed to spit out, not sure how else to respond. 

                “You’re welcome,” Heechul said, “although I’m not really sure how much of a help I’ve been.” 

                The black haired man turned and started to head back to the kitchen.  Leeteuk just stared after him, still in minor shock. 

                An hour later, Leeteuk was sitting across from Donghae at the dinner table, watching him practically shovel food into his mouth.

                “Slow down,” he warned with an amused tone.  He wasn’t really that amused, but he didn’t want to sound like he was chiding the boy for eating.  It was great that he had such a bit appetite, but it just reminded him that he’d probably spent many nights with nothing to eat, slowly starving.

                Leeteuk had been much quieter since his conversation with Heechul.  Heechul now sat on his right, his dark, spider eyes discerning entire lives from a gesture or a look.  Kangin sat on his other side, seeming rather proud of himself for successfully making the food they now ate.  It wasn’t actually half bad, either. 

                “This is really good,” Donghae said through a full mouth.

                “See!” Kangin exclaimed triumphantly.  “Maybe now Leeteuk will let me cook more.”

                “When have you ever wanted to cook?” Heechul shot back.

                “That’s beside the point.”

                Leeteuk rolled his eyes to hide a smile and put his hands up onto the table.  Donghae was grinning wildly, looking between the three of them with bright eyes.  They’d managed to try to force a comb through his hair earlier but it hadn’t ended well.  The boy did look a little bit better though.  Maybe he could schedule an appointment to get—  Realizing he was planning into a future they didn’t have, Leeteuk’s shoulders sagged. Well, he couldn’t do anything about that, but he could at least feel like he was doing something now.

“Hey, Donghae?”  He already knew his roommates would agree with what he was going to say.  The boy swallowed and looked up, his eyes never failing to throw Leeteuk’s heart into a bittersweet frenzy.  “It’s pretty late,” he pointed out, “and I have tons of extra rooms here.  Do you think you’d want to stay for tonight?”

                Donghae’s eyes widened even more if it was possible, and he nodded vigorously, his knotted hair bouncing as he did.

                It was another hour before Leeteuk felt satisfied with the way he’d set up the spare bedroom on his and Kangin’s side of the apartment.  He found he didn’t actually have any sheets that fit the twin bed in that room, but he’d managed to find clever ways to tuck in a set of full sheets so that they weren’t too overwhelming.

                He was disappointed that he couldn’t find anything for Donghae to wear to bed, but the boy had insisted he was used to sleeping in his old sweatshirt and jeans and would have felt strange otherwise.  Leeteuk wasn’t sure if this was the truth, or the boy once more lying to try to make him feel better. 

                Donghae had bounced around on the mattress with glee when Leeteuk had first shown him the bed, but he had finally settled down.  After making sure the boy was comfortable, Leeteuk said, “Goodnight,” from the doorway as he flicked off the light.  The last thing Donghae had mumbled after he’d also said goodnight was, “Thank you, hyung.”  And Leeteuk had felt his heart swelling and tearing apart all at once as he shut the door.

                He stayed outside the room for a while, trying not to think about what he was going to do.  Finally, he failed to push back his thoughts and headed down the hall to the living room, needing space to mull things over before he retired to bed as well. 

                He thought he was alone until he heard light footsteps.

“Hey, Leeteuk.” He turned expectantly to see Heechul standing in the entrance of the living room. “Don’t make a promise to that kid you don’t intend to keep.  Don’t say you’ll adopt him if you don’t mean for life.”

Leeteuk realized two things in that moment as Heechul disappeared around the corner to his bedroom.  One, there was no way that he wasn’t some kind of mind reader.  And two, someone had broken that same promise to Heechul.

A/N  Things I had planned on doing today:  researchpaper/chapter/otherresearchpaper/otherhomework/cleanroom/etc.  Things I did today: Finished Chapter. XD  <3  SO a few things! 

1.  cynder8 pointed out that I never said how old Leeteuk, Heechul, and Kangin were.  That's a problem. XD  SO I intend to put it in an actual chapter very soon, but just so you guys can have an idea, they're all about the same age and I'm thinking, like 24/25? Maybe?  Sound good?

2.  I realize I rushed scenes at the end of this chapter.  Heck, I rushed lots of things. XD so I apologize for that, but I can get so easily caught up in little moments that the plot wouldn't get anywhere if I lingered.  So forgive me XD <3

3.  Um, Donghae's parents, I feel like I should warn you I have no intention of saying what happened to them XD, not because I don't want YOU to know, but because it's important to later chapters (much, MUCH later chapters) that Leeteuk etc. don't know (there's a bit of an overarching mystery that ends up happening, but that's none of your concern for the moment XD <3)  I'm finding ways to still deal with the emotional factor with Donghae without having anyone know what actually happened.  However, I'm going to leave enough clues that you can probably figure it out.  I'm not that subtle.  So if you have any ...burning...questions.  I'll probably just tell you.  XD 

On that note:  Comment if you shall, Subscribe if you will!  I love you <3 :D