I woke up for the second time to a comforting warmth and bright light. Taking in everything around me, I began to function. I had my arm wrapped around Yongguk’s waist, his own grasping my hip protectively. Tufts of his hair were covering my nose, tempting me to sneeze. If I could have, I would’ve just laid there quietly, taking in all of Yongguk. This is the time of the day he was at his calmest, when he wasn’t awake. Before I had realized it in my state of day dreaming, Yongguk had softly turned around and was studying my face. He saw me come back to reality and rubbed my cheek softly with his thumb.

“I’m sorry, Junhong.” He whispered, his eyebrows wrinkling.

                My eyes widened in question and I laid my hand on top of his when I realized what he was apologizing for.

“Nothing that happened was your fault,” I whispered back to him. “I shouldn’t have gotten curious.”

I should have kept my curiosity to myself.

                Yongguk closed his eyes and pulled me close to him. There was a long silence as he buried his head in my neck and hugged me tightly. This situation seemed to harm him more than me. He seemed to feel as if he had failed in protecting me.

                We laid in silence for roughly half an hour, and I had begun to believe that Yongguk had fallen asleep when he slowly shifted into a seated position, facing the two windows in front of him.

“We should go down and eat.” He says, getting up and sliding his sweatpants on.

                I got up groggily and watched Yongguk trudge to the door, stopping to wait on me. The thought of him waiting on me threw a smile onto my face. He looked down at me when I got to the door and nudged him.

“What’re you smiling at?” he chuckled lightly and rubbed my head as we went down the stairs.

                Expecting to see Himchan dressing Ji Woon, I received a shock upon seeing Jongup and Himchan on the couch, knees touching and Ji Woon eating banana on the floor, fully dressed; even matching.

“Junhong!” Jongup jumped from the couch and onto me.

                After I managed to pull him off of me, he began to check me for any bruises or anything swearing at ‘whoever had harmed his best friend’. I smiled as he checked me over, reassuring him that I was still the same Zelo; just with a nappy head and stinky breath.

                Yongguk suggests that I skip school, to which Jongup perks up at and afterwards suggests that Himchan and he go drop Ji Woon off at his first grade class. They left a little after Himchan pulled Yongguk aside to talk. Jongup and I stared at them as they spoke quietly.

Suspicious turds.

“Let’s go get some ice cream.” Yongguk suggests immediately after the door closes.

                Always up for free ice cream and time with Yongguk, I immediately nodded and grabbed my jacket from the back of the couch. Yongguk smiled at my eagerness from the door, holding it open for me. I grimaced teasingly and pushed my way past him.

                We arrived at the park after a twenty minute silence of walking. Neither of us bothered to speak as we took in our surroundings on the way there. Yongguk had grabbed my wrist lightly while walking, pulling me closer to him. After I had managed to calm down after the shock, he slid his hand gently down my wrist and pushed his fingers between mine. I glanced over at Yongguk, who was staring at the grass below us.

Not so cocky now, huh, punk?

                Yongguk talked for a bit once we got the ice cream, never once letting go of my hand. He talked at times about how he’ll protect me and at other he would go off and talk about his past.

“The man seemed to have something wrong with him!” He exclaimed towards a pastime of visiting a haunted house, afterwards being scared less.

                The talk was innocent and put the both of us in a good mood. Just as I was about to recommend going home after three or so hours, Yongguk’s phone rang. He grunted and hesitantly pulled is hand from mine, grabbing at his phone. A sigh came once he checked the ID.

“Already?”

                Not another words spoken from Yongguk, he hung up as soon as Himchan finished speaking.

“Well, seems Himchan wants us home.” Yongguk grunted and shoved his phone into my pocket.

                Yongguk stared at my face, then shoved his hand back into mine.

“What?” he asked. “Want to spend more time with hyung?”

                I smirked irritably and jabbed Yongguk. Turds never change, afterall.

We arrived back to the house much later. Yongguk seemed to have an urgent need to drop a load into the park’s toilet; for twenty minutes. However, when we got home, there wasn’t just lunch waiting. Youngjae, Daehyun, Jongup, Himchan, and lunch were waiting in the kitchen. I gasped as Youngjae peaked around the kitchen corner. He dropped the pan he was holding back into the sink as he ran and squeezed the life out of me. Not even exaggerating. Daehyun followed him, squeezing my cheeks and smirking. There was a considerably happy air throughout the house. After all, it had been weeks (a month) since the four of us all had hung out.

                Youngjae and Daehyun were together; it was obvious. I had figured it out the moment I walked in and my eyes caught onto Daehyun’s hands latched protectively on Youngjae’s hip. It wasn’t too big of a surprise, since the two were always teasing one another. They had been best friends for years. I met the two about a year and a half ago when I first moved out of my mother’s house. Daehyun had come over to my desk in class and nudged my shoulder, Youngjae following him.

“So,” Daehyun started casually. “You got the stuff?”

                After fifteen minutes of me insisting that I did not have his ‘stuff’, Youngjae busted out on laughter, punching the other in the hip.

“Yah, Jung Daehyun, cut it out.” He commented once he was through laughing.

                They were funny people, though quite convincing with their charades. I noticed after a few months of being close with them that they seemed more intimate than friends.

“Jello?” a deep voice pulled me from my memories.

                Yongguk was beside me, holding out my phone. It seemed to have someone on a line. I grabbed the phone gently, nodding my head at Yongguk as thanks, and held it up to my ear.

“Zelo, my baby!” Hyosung screeched from across the line. “Are you okay? Himchannie told me everything!”

                I rolled my eyes and grinned. After joking around a while, I finally let silence fall.

“Be careful, Zelo.” She said, just above a whisper.

“I could have defending myself.” I commented. “It was the element of surpr-“

“Not with him.” Hyosung interrupted. “With Yongguk; I know he’s a good guy, but don’t get hurt.”

I sighed,”I don’t know what you mean Hyosung, I don’t-“

                Before I could finish my defense, Hyosung yelled a goodbye and ‘I love you’ and hung up. She was something.

“Yeah, Ji Woon’s doing great.”

                Being interrupted in my thoughts, Yongguk came up behind me and picked me up. I screamed as I was thrown onto the couch and jumped on by the other five people in the room. Yongguk, who was closest to me, was laughing and jumping around with everyone on top of me.

“Guys, I can’t-“ I stopped, my body slumping over.

                Everyone stopped laughing as they saw my body slump over. A panic settled in the room and they began to pile off of me. I felt Yongguk’s large hands touch my face and mumble worries. Just as I heard Daehyun cough worriedly, I popped up and let out a sudden scream. Everyone in the room let out a startled cry, especially Yongguk, who fell backwards on the couch. I let out a series of strangled laughs and chuckles, unable to contain them. The five piled back on top of me, all screaming about how stupid that was and how they’ll never forgive me.

                Ji Woon came home from elementary school early that day and I had just come to the realization that Youngjae and Daehyun didn’t know about him.

“Hyungs!” Ji Woon pointed at the two as he walked in the door, holding Himchan’s hand.

                Youngjae gasped and Daehyun’s eyes widened. As soon as I was going to do an introduction, Youngjae threw his hands out and gave Ji Woon a huge hug. Daehyun walked over and crouched beside him, patting Ji Woon’s hair.

“How do you guys know Ji Woon?” I asked incredulously.

                After about an hour, we all had our stories straight. Daehyun had caught another kid picking on Ji Woon after school as he was waiting on Himchan. The girl had been telling him that he had better bring her money the day after for her lunch. So Daehyun and Youngjae ran over and scolded her softly and given Ji Woon to Himchan afterwards. It seems that Daehyun and Youngjae had been a hero in Ji Woon’s eyes. They also seemed surprised that he was my nephew.

“You’d think that you’d have colored the kids’ hair pink by now. Given him curls.” Daehyun joked around.

                It had been two hours after lunch when Jongup, Daehyun, and Youngjae decided they would leave. I had been sad about their parting, so the three invited me to go with them. After I agreed, I ran into the living room to alert Yongguk and Himchan, but came upon Yongguk sleeping on the couch with Ji Woon wrapped in his arms, drooling on his hoodie. I sighed, a grin spreading onto my face. I tried to lift Yongguk up to get my jacket from under him, whispering that I was leaving, but he grunted and cracked his eyes open sleepily. As I was about to apologize, Yongguk’s hand lifted up and rubbed my cheek softly.

“Be careful, Jello.” He whispered with a small grin on his face.

                My cheeks reddened and I placed my hand over his, afterwards whimpering and running away.

“Stupid!” I called after me, covering my red face.

A/N:  So after this I'm going to update sometime between Saturday-Monday nights. I'm happy to finally be writing regularly. I've been shipping banglo and daejae like CRAZY lately, so I'm happy to be writing this. >u< I hope you enjoy, bbs. <3