“Hyung! Why’d you do that?!” Himchan shouted as the waitress sat the food in front of the photographer and the girls, causing her to jump in surprise, nearly dropping the small stone pots. Heechul looked at her apologetically before trying to calm the raging Himchan.

“You do realize that I live with Yongguk, right?!” Heechul just stared at him calmly.

“Yes…And you do realize that you’ve said that about ten times, right? We’ve been sitting here for about thirty minutes and that’s all I’ve heard from you since we arrived. Now, would you like to hear about your job, or should I just tell your little boyfriend that you’re refusing the job he asked me to hire you for?” Himchan was about to interject when it finally clicked. Youngjae? Youngjae asked for him to be hired?

He shrank back to his seat across from Heechul as the girls giggled at his pink cheeks.

“I-I’m sorry, Hyung,” he said as he avoided his gaze.

“It’s fine,” Heechul waved it off and picked up his chopsticks. “Now eat so we can go to the studio and you can meet the rest of the staff.” As soon as he finished, he dug the chopsticks into the bowl, gathering a lump of noodles and bringing them to his mouth. Himchan stared at him for a moment before Heechul sent a glare his way, after which he immediately began eating his own meal in silence. All he could think about was Youngjae…

…………….

Youngjae was sorting the papers at the studio when he noticed what the style was for the shoot. He grabbed the papers and walked up to the new stylist, hoping he would be easy to talk to. As he approached the man, he felt like he was shrinking the closer he got to him. Once he was standing next to him, he hesitantly reached up and tapped his shoulder.

“Um, Mr. Wu?” The tall man turned to face him and Youngjae swore he could feel Mr. Wu's intense eyes boring into his face. He was incredibly intimidating. Realizing that he was gaping and the man looked entirely unamused, he remembered why he walked up to him to begin with.

"T-this is the theme for t-the shoot this evening..." his voice trailed as he noticed the man's lips curling up slightly at the corners. He held up the sketches and Mr. Wu’s hand gracefully grabbed the small stack of papers from his. His hands are huge… Youngjae’s eyes widened as he stared at the man’s hands.

“Thank you,” he heard him say, his voice jerking him out of his thoughts as he shook his head and quickly bowed, mumbling a “you’re welcome” before disappearing to hide the embarrassment on his face.

…………….

“What the hell do you want?” Taec asked impatiently as he examined their faces.

He noticed the tall boy in front of him was gawking at him just seconds before he spotted Jongup.

“Where the have you been?!” he shouted as Jongup cowered behind Zelo. Taecyeon suddenly lunged forward in an attempt to attack him through Zelo. Seunghyun forced his way between them before shoving him back into the doorway.

“I would advise you avoid messing with my cousin or Jongup for that matter.”

“And why should I listen to you?” Taec eyed Seunghyun with disgust in his expression.

“Because I—“ he began before Zelo tapped his shoulder and whispered in his ear as he pointed at Taec whose eyebrows furrowed in irritation. He didn’t like when people pointed their fingers at him; reminded him too much of the boy’s mother.

“He what?” Seunghyun gritted his teeth as he glared at Jongup’s step-brother. “YOU were the one who assaulted my little cousin earlier?” he said calmly as he approached him. Yongguk, hearing that little piece of information, suddenly became enraged. He threw himself in front of Seunghyun and immediately punched Taec in the face, effectively knocking him unconscious. Everyone just stared for a few seconds, surprised that he had actually punched him. He even surprised himself, but he was just so angry. He glanced at Zelo before averting his gaze to the ground as he walked away.

“Go inside and get your things, quickly,” he mumbled to Jongup as he stalked toward the van. Zelo just watched his retreating back before running after him. Seunghyun watched as his cousin blindly followed Yongguk for a few seconds before he turned around to see Jongup's other step-brother approaching the entrance.

“Taec, why is the d—“ Junho began before realizing that Taecyeon was lying unconscious in the doorway. “What happened?” He glanced up at Seunghyun and realized that Jongup was there as well. “Jongup!” he smiled as he rushed to his little brother and pulled him into a tight embrace. “What’s going on?”

“H-hi Hyung,” Jongup responded as he lightly patted his brother’s back. “I’m here to get my things.” Junho’s face filled with a mix of emotions. He didn’t want his little brother to move out, but he didn’t want him to be stuck with Taecyeon any longer than he had already been subjected to.

“I’m sorry Jongup. Sorry for everything. I should have protected you from him.” Jongup shook his head.

“It’s okay, Hyung. Besides, he would’ve just done the same to you if you tried.”

“Well,” Junho sighed, “let’s get him out of the way so you can get to packing.” Smiling, he ruffled Jongup’s hair a bit before walking back to Taec’s body and lifting his shoulders to drag him through the threshold and into the living room, where he left him lying on the floor near the couch. He didn’t want to waste any energy on someone who wasn’t deserving of it, so he didn’t bother moving him onto the couch and simply walked away to help Jongup.

…………….

Daehyun and Jongup were alone in Jongup’s room after a while; Seunghyun and Junho had gone to sit in the living room to make sure that if Taecyeon woke he stayed where he was. They were silent as Daehyun packed some books into a box while Jongup pulled all of his clothes from the dresser. As Daehyun was clearing the bookcase, he noticed an old picture of Jongup and his family. Hesitantly, he picked it up to get a better look.

Jongup was maybe six years old. He was hugging tightly on what appeared to be Taecyeon’s arm while Junho held onto the man who was in the picture with them. The man had one arm draped over a woman and the other wrapped around Junho. There was no doubt that Junho was this man’s son; they were nearly identical. Daehyun stared at the picture. At how happy they all seemed to be at the time it was taken. What happened to them? He thought as he glanced at Jongup. He was folding a shirt and sighing every so often. His eyes were moist as if threatening to overflow with tears at any second, but he held them back. Daehyun watched as Jongup placed the shirt into the box and then moved on to fold a pair of jeans. He seemed so exasperated and drained. Suddenly, Jongup’s head started to turn in his direction, so Daehyun jerked his gaze back to the photograph in his hands. Jongup noticed and dropped the pants onto the bed and approached the desk.

“That’s an old photo,” Jongup said, his voice cracked, breaking the silence. He reached out and gently took it from Daehyun’s hand. He then pointed to the woman. “That’s my mom.” He smiled a sad smile and Daehyun avoided looking at his face. He stared at the picture and just let Jongup talk. “I used to look up to him.” He didn’t even have to point out who he was talking about. Daehyun knew it was Taec he was referring to. “I u-used to ask him to play with me a lot when we were younger…” He trailed off as his voice began to waver. Daehyun spared him a glance and noticed that this time his eyes were glossy and the tears were just at the edges of his lashes. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. he thought to himself.

Jongup was silent for a few more seconds before he finally spoke again.

“I don’t think that anyone is really to blame for anything that has happened to me. I just…tend to take it out on everyone anyway. And I—“ he stopped talking once again and Daehyun forced himself to look at him once more. He found Jongup staring at him and that the tears that were threatening to fall had finally slid down his face and were dripping into his shirt. What he didn’t realize, however, was that he himself was crying. Jongup reached up to touch Daehyun’s face and wiped away a tear he didn’t even know was there. Why am I crying? When did I start crying?

“Why are you crying, too?” Jongup asked almost as if he had read Daehyun’s mind, his hand still cupping Daehyun’s face. He didn’t answer and they simply stared into each other’s eyes for a moment until suddenly the door opened and Seunghyun walked in. They instantly drew apart and continued with their tasks. Seunghyun eyed them for a moment before he spoke.

“You guys almost done in here,” he asked as he cocked an eyebrow at the pair’s red faces. “We need to hurry up and get out of here before he wakes up. No telling what might happen if he does. Just…get what’s important.” He then walked out of the room, the awkward tension in the air suffocating him. And the room immediately fell to an awkward silence as they finished packing Jongup’s things before they finally left the room with the boxes.

Just as they were walking through the living room, Taec began to wake up. He sat up and held his head in his hands. The first person he noticed was Jongup as he was just about to walk through the door.

“You little ! I’m gonna kill you!” Jongup jumped and turned around for a split second and ran out the door. Before Taec could do anything, Junho immediately pinned him down on the floor, but not without a struggle. “Get the off of me! I’m gonna get that little !”

“No…you’re n-not!” Junho groaned through gritted teeth as he forced himself over his brother. Taec threw him off and was about to try to chase Jongup, but the moment Junho was out of the way, he came face to face with Yongguk again. Yongguk punched Taec in the gut.

“You had better stay away from Jongup from now on and don’t you EVER let me see you near my café ever again.” He practically growled as he seethed with anger. Then, pulling Taec up by his shirt collar, he whispered a threat into his ear. “And if you do anything to hurt Zelo…no one will find you.” Yongguk then threw Taec back onto the floor and stomped out of the house.

…………….

After Yongguk punched Taec in the face…

Yongguk was breathing heavily as he stared at the dashboard of the van. The feeling was just coming back to his hand, and it was excruciating. He bit his lip as he glanced down to his hand in his lap. Suddenly, another hand appeared and shrouded his. Looking up, he found Zelo. The tall maknae wore a melancholy expression as he gently caressed the new bruises that were forming on the skin.

“Hyung, why in the world did you do that?” he asked and Yongguk remained silent. He didn’t want to make conversation; he didn’t want to reveal anything he thought should never be said. “Hyung?” Yongguk continued to avoid his gaze and his questions as he stared at the floorboard of the vehicle. “Hyung, why would you do something so stupid? Why would you hit someone who had no—“

“Because I like you, okay?!” Yongguk practically shouted. Zelo’s eyes widened as Yongguk jerked his hand away from the grip the boy had on him. He turned to face the steering wheel as his face flushed. He had no intention of ever telling the boy how he felt; it was wrong. He suddenly heard sniffling and knew that Zelo had begun to cry.

“You’re so stupid!” Zelo shouted through the tears as he began to drum on his back with his fists before he finally threw himself on Yongguk and pulled him in a tight embrace. “I-I like you, t-too, Hyung…” He sniffled again as he buried his face into Yongguk’s neck. Yongguk simply placed a hand over Zelo’s arm.

When they all left the house, Zelo was sleeping in the backseat as they all sat in complete silence throughout the entire ride. Seunghyun was completely aware of the tension that seemed to be seeping from the rest of the group as he sat completely unaware of the reasons for that tension.

…………….

Once Daehyun and Jongup were alone once again, an uncomfortable silence blanketed the room. Daehyun wanted to say something to him, but didn’t want to make the situation worse that it already was. After all, they had a bit of a moment that he didn’t quite understand while packing and the boy’s step-brother did just threaten him not long after they gathered his things from the house.

Instead of talking, Daehyun opted to stare at the boxes that were currently crowding his doorway. He began thinking about everything that had led to that moment and how his life never seemed to be calm and relaxing. With Jongup around, nothing had really changed, but he no longer felt lonely while he was home. He was no longer alone, yet the two never really talked.

Jongup sat on the farthest side of the couch and stared at the rug under the coffee table. He was thinking about what had happened earlier when Daehyun had begun to cry. He wasn’t even aware that he was crying and Jongup had tried to console him. Jongup didn’t understand that gaze that they shared as they stared into each other’s eyes, but there was something there; some kind of emotion that they both felt for those few seconds that their eyes held contact.

“I—what…what was that earlier?” he spoke softly as he broke the silence and glanced at Daehyun who visibly stiffened when he felt Jongup’s eyes on him. He slowly turned to face him.

“W-what was what?” he stammered a bit in response. He wasn’t sure if they were thinking about the same situation. He almost hoped that they weren’t, but a small part of him was almost desperate for him to say that it was.

“When…when we were in my room…back at the house,” Jongup was worried that Daehyun might not want to talk about it, that he would prefer to pretend it never happened. Daehyun nodded as he understood that he was indeed referring to their moment of understanding? Was that what that was? He allowed his head to fall against the back of the couch as he thought about a way to respond to his question.

“I—I don’t know.”

A/N:

Omg an update! :D

I’m sorry if this chapter jumps around a bit, but I had to include some stuff that will come up again :P

I hope you enjoyed this though ^^

It’s 2677 words and I’m already working on the next chapter =D be happy lol

But seriously, I’m so sorry it took me so long to get this written -_-; I had more than enough free time lately, but I wasted most of it on sleeping and reading other people’s stories & watching videos…or just doing stuff with my family :/ I still desperately need a job, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get a job any time soon before I have to go back to school in August ;-; *forever broke*

Anyway...sorry for rambling :)

Please, comment and let me know how I’m doing…let’s me know if I need to fix anything and sometimes gives me inspiration to write more~

-meant4theflies

and this is totally relevant :P