Myungsoo listened a bit to the wind howling outside, knowing that he was warm and happy, well protected in his little hut.

What made it even better was that he was safe, too, a feeling that he hadn’t had in awhile. He aimlessly stared straight ahead at nothing but the black, thinking that maybe, just maybe, this feeling could be kept.      

“Hyung?” A soft, high-pitched voice whispered from behind him.

Myungsoo turned around to face Sungjong, who he had been sharing the bed with. He smiled, asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sungjong pouted. “It’s just…we…we’re finally real brothers now, right?”

The older boy followed Sungjong’s eyes to the bed that Woohyun and Sunggyu were sharing, their arms obviously wrapped around each other.

“Don’t be silly, we’ve always been brothers. This way, it’s just more…official.” Myungsoo reached out his left hand, patting Sungjong’s arm. “Go to sleep, okay? We’ll talk more in the morning.”

Sungjong happily obliged, pulling himself all the way under the covers. Just when Myungsoo was about to do the same, he heard some rustling from the bed in front of his.

It was probably one of the other boys, he had figured, and made a note to himself to thank them because without them, Woohyun and Sunggyu would’ve never gotten together.

It was cold, but Sungyeol had managed to ignore the fact. He wasn’t wearing anything but what he’d come with, a pair of black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep in, thus making him go outside.

As he was sitting on the rock and staring at the moon, Sungyeol could hear talking coming from inside. It sounded a bit like Myungsoo and Sungjong, but he wasn’t familiar enough with them to make out their voices.

Subconsciously, he let out a little grin knowing that there were people in there, people like him, people who knew the pain that he’d gone through, and they accepted him for it. Here on this tiny island, nobody could play him for his money. They wouldn’t get anything out of it anyways.

No matter the way he looked at it, Sungyeol deemed this place somewhere better than anywhere he’d ever been at before. Life or death crisis, he’d choose being stranded on an island with six other boys that cared for each other rather than a big room filled with toys and thoughtless memories.

“…Hyung…”

Sungyeol craned his neck to look behind him, the smile of his face never faltering. “Oh. Dongwoo. You’re awake?”

“Yeah,” the smaller boy shrugged, walking up a bit to sit beside Sungyeol on the rock. “Couldn’t…sleep.”

“Me neither. It’s nice out here, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Dongwoo replied, and Sungyeol couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of remorse for the boy. And he didn’t even know why.

“What’s wrong?” Sungyeol asked quietly, turning his head and resting his chin on his right palm.

“Wrong? Nothing’s…wrong. It’s just…nothing.”

“Nothing?” Sungyeol laughed nervously (because honestly, he’d never really laughed before in his life). “I don’t think it’s ‘nothing’.”

Dongwoo didn’t say anything back, only stared at the sand below them as he kicked his feet back and forth.

“Dongwoo…”

The boy flinched at his name, looking straight up into his hyung’s face. “Do you…you saw, right? What happened between the hamster and his hubby?”

Sungyeol mentally laughed at the nicknames, both of them knowing more than well enough what the two teenagers’ names were. “Yeah. They kissed…and got together.”

“I was thinking about it,” Dongwoo started, playing with the tips of his index fingers and making crosses with them, “what exactly made them like each other so much? I mean…I know Myungsoo and Sungjong wouldn’t understand because, well, they’ve been living here their whole lives, but…don’t…guys…don’t they usually…”

“Go with girls?” Sungyeol finished for him when the latter couldn’t for himself. “I know. I’ve seen all the movies, trust me. I know more than well enough about it. There are special cases, you know.”

“Yeah, I know, but do you think it’s because they’re…” Dongwoo made a circular motion with his hands around the beach, “stuck here together, or do you think it’s because…”

“I think it’s because they actually do love each other,” Sungyeol answered. He looked away from Dongwoo and back at the night sky. “I think, whether or not they were stuck on this island, they’d still find their ways to each other somehow.”

Dongwoo just nodded, wide-eyed at how his choding hyung had turned into a philosopher (alright, no, not philosopher, but please. He was 9 years old, what would anybody expect from a nine-year old?). “Then do you think it’d be weird if…you know…I…”

Sungyeol gave Dongwoo a good two minutes of pondering before turning back at him and asking, “You what?”

“I wanted to be like that with a guy, too. I don’t know. Something like that. Like…Woohyun and Sunggyu.”

The older boy let out a knowing smile, biting his lips in. He’d seen more than enough kindergarten couples, having his first French kiss in pre-school himself. This was the same, except…different. More special?

“Hoya, right?”

Dongwoo could only solemnly look to the ground, nodding. “He’s only 8. And I don’t want him to think I’m weird.”

“Yeah, and being nine is so much more mature,” Sungyeol said sarcastically against his will.

“Hyung!” Dongwoo pouted. “I just need help.”

Sungyeol looked behind him into the door, staring at the three sets of bed. From here, he could tell that Woohyun and Sunggyu hyung were already sleeping, along with Hoya. Sungjong seemed to be too, and occasionally Myungsoo would twist and turn.

He looked down at the blanket on the ground, where he was supposed to be sleeping by himself.

“Hey Dongwoo…I think I have an idea.”

“Idea?”

“Hoya likes me, right?” Sungyeol asked, turning his entire body to face Dongwoo. “Not like, but he’s not scared of me, right?”

“…Not that I know of, no.”

Sungyeol grinned mischievously at Hoya’s bed, nearly missing his tricking self already. “He somewhat trusts me too, right?”

“I guess so.”

“How about if I go to sleep in your place, and you go to sleep in mines? Then, when Hoya wakes up and discovers that he’s no longer sleeping next to you, I’ll say that it’s because I don’t like hard surfaces or whatever that thing I’m supposed to be sleeping on is, and you agreed to switch with me.”

Dongwoo’s eyes grew bigger than they normally would, nodding. “Then?”

“I’ll be the amazingly modest Lee Sungyeol I always am and tell him that it’d be fine for us to switch back if he wanted us to, even if I’d break my back sleeping there. If he says to, then he chooses sleeping with you over my back safety! And if he doesn’t, well, meh, we’ll think of some other plan.”

The younger boy’s lips pursed into a little trickery pout, nodding. “Okay!”