A/N: This is the second of a double update; make sure you read Chapter 8: Harmony before you read this!

The tension was thick in the air the next morning, when Jinyoung finally returned home, after being sent back by his superior.

“So, uh, rough night?” Chanshik asked, trying to relieve some of the tension.

Uncooperatively, Jinyoung slammed his fist on the table, causing Dongwoo to flinch and shield his face with his arms. Deciding to ignore Dongwoo’s state of distress, Jinyoung stalked back to his bedroom and flung the door shut.

Chanshik watched the scene unfold before him in shock. Dongwoo was sobbing mutely, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

“There, there, Dongwoo-hyung. Jinyoung-hyung isn’t mad at you. He’s just feeling frustrated at work, that’s all.”

Dongwoo shook his head disbelievingly, thinking of how disappointed Jinyoung had to have been after the scene he caused in the good doctor’s office.

Chanshik continued to reassure Dongwoo that he wasn’t the cause of Jinyoung’s anger futilely. Dongwoo was rejecting all of Chanshik’s attempts to get through to him.

“What was going on?” Chanshik thought, thinking back to the day before, when Jinyoung brought Dongwoo home, the both of them having obviously cried. Something big happened yesterday.

Chanshik made a mental timeline of the events that transpired. First, Jinyoung-hyung carried Dongwoo-hyung home. Then, he put Dongwoo-hyung on the couch and told me that he was going back to the lab and he wouldn’t be having dinner that night. And then, he just left! What the hell is going on?

Chanshik had to find out just what happened that made the two of them cry. And to do that, he had to find out what they were doing and where they were. It was time to start the machinery.

Jinyoung-hyung said the night before last that he was going to sneak Dongwoo-hyung into our old school so he could learn Korean. Never mind that it was both stupid and risky, it would help Dongwoo-hyung out. Hmm… did they get caught? No, Jinyoung-hyung is smarter than that. And even if they did get caught, it wouldn’t make the both of them cry. Dongwoo-hyung maybe, but definitely not Jinyoung-hyung…

What about after? A lecture is only about two hours long but they came back in the late afternoon. Should I just ask Dongwoo-hyung? No, that might upset him again.

I need to check Jinyoung’s schedule.

Making sure the sleeping Dongwoo-hyung was in a comfortable position on the sofa, Chanshik got up and slowly opened the door to Jinyoung’s room. As he expected, Jinyoung was sleeping. This shouldn’t be difficult. Chanshik did a mental dance and padded as quietly as he could into the bedroom. His calendar should be stored in his phone. Chanshik’s eyes darted about the room. Aha! There it is. Chanshik tip-toed toward the redhead’s bedside table and cautiously slid the phone toward the edge of the table. Then, he placed his left palm where the table ended and pushed the phone further with his right hand. Mission Accomplished. Chanshik smiled and clasped his fingers over the phone. Return to base.

Not taking any chances, Chanshik continued to tip toe until he was out of the beast’s cave and the entrance was sealed. Feeling like a child who had just cheated on a test and got away with it, he placed the phone on the kitchen table and perched on the chair.

Mission 2: Retrieve data.

He unlocked the screen of the phone.

. Password required.

Well, this is a minor spanner in the works. No matter, he would definitely be able to figure it out before Jinyoung woke up and found his phone missing.

There are four digits and nine numbers. 10^4 = 10000 possibilities. ­­­Do I have time to try them all? Probably. Do I want to? Nope.

Let’s see…… What would I choose if my name were Jung Jinyoung?

Chanshik paused. Feeling his chest swell with anticipation, he entered the first digit: 1.

“I can do this,” he reassured himself. “I can do this.”

He punched in the remaining digits, 2, 3 and 4, rapidly with his eyes closed, not daring to look.

When he finally opened his eyes, he was met with the home screen of Jinyoung’s phone.

What? I can’t believe it. I hacked into Jung Jinyoung’s phone!

Chanshik ran around the kitchen in frenzied excitement.

I can’t believe it! Jung Jinyoung’s password is 1 2 3 4!

He laughed silently, not daring to make a sound for fear of waking Jinyoung up. He returned to his assignment, still shaking from suppressed laughter and opened the calendar app, scrolling to yesterday’s agenda.

Korean class… Lunch… Appointment with Dr. Shin… Whatever happened took place either at lunch or at Dr. Shin’s office. It would be difficult for me to figure out where they had lunch, so I should tackle the appointment first.

Chanshik nodded his head determinedly as he scrolled through Jinyoung’s list of contacts, having decided on his course of action.

“So, you’re living with Dongwoo-ssi and Jinyoung-ssi?”

“That’s right. I’m calling because I’m worried about them.”

“Ah, yes. How is Dongwoo-ssi’s condition today?”

“Condition? Did something happen to Dongwoo-hyung?”

“I’m afraid I can’t disclose confidential information about my patients.”

 “It’s okay. You see, Jinyoung-hyung was really stressed yesterday when he came back. He’s been very tired lately.”

Dr. Shin asked concernedly, “Has he been getting adequate rest?”

“No, you see that’s the problem. Jinyoung-hyung has been working himself harder at work. I’m worried that he’s pushing himself too far. He got sent home from work today because his boss found him asleep at the office.”

“I see.  I’ll take note of this. As his roommate, please encourage him to rest more. It must be tough trying to support both himself and Dongwoo-ssi.”

Chanshik grew more alert at the last statement the doctor made. He hadn’t realised that Jinyoung might have been putting in more hours at work to help pay for Dongwoo’s treatment. And what about the utility bills? With Chanshik living in Jinyoung’s apartment, the burden on Jinyoung’s frail shoulders must have doubled.

Chanshik hurriedly bid the doctor goodbye and hung up. What on Earth was he doing to help Jinyoung out at a time like this? All he did was complain that Jinyoung was making him cook for all of their meals. He wasn’t even helping to pay the bills! His heart sank with the guilt. What kind of friend was he? He was nothing more than a leech, a parasite, the very life from his very best friend’s veins.

"If this is about this morning, I was just having a bad day, okay."

"No, you've been really stressed of late. We need to talk about this now."

"Look, I don't know where you got this idea that you can just barge into my personal affairs and act like you know better-"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. I'm just saying that if paying for both Dongwoo and I is getting too hard, I can go out and work, accompany Dongwoo at therapy. You don't have to take on the world all by yourself!"

"Work, Channie? Are you ing kidding me? You have exams to sit for, you need to be a detective. You can't be working at god damn Lotteria so you can continue living here."

"Well I can't just sit here and pretend you aren't at the verge of a mental breakdown, pretend the bills aren't pilling up and we might not have food left on the table next month!"

"Channie I can handle this, just go study for your god damn papers."

"No, no you can't handle this. Just look at you."

"I know I look like but I've worked it out and we should be okay."

"We're three guys living on one man's salary!"

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE GODDAMN MONEY!"

Stunned, Chanshik watched as Jinyoung left the table and retreated to his room, his plate of kimchi fried rice untouched.

Dongwoo hugged his knees to his chest. Jinyoung was so angry these days. Dongwoo scratched his scalp hard. Why couldn't they go back?

Dongwoo frowned. Am I a burden?

No, no I don't want to be a burden. Is it money Jinyoung's upset about? No, he said that wasn't it, but what if this is one of those times when people don't mean what they say?

Dongwoo felt completely helpless. There has to be something I can do.

He spent the next couple of minutes deep in thought, replaying the conversation in his mind.

Oh wait! He recalled the last bit. Maybe, just maybe if I made something else for Jinyoung and Chanshik to eat, they would be happier.

Jinyoung thought he was in a farm. The whole apartment smelt faintly of strawberries, and he could hear laughing in the distance. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

What the-

The whole room was spotlessly clean. Cleaner than it had been when Jinyoung first moved in.

I must still be dreaming.

He slapped himself once, twice, and still the room mocked him with its total sterility.

In a daze, he climbed out of bed, barely aware what time it was (9:00am, 14 hours after he had gone to bed).

“Morning!” Chanshik greeted cheerily, as if the previous day’s conversation had never even happened.

“W-w-what?” Jinyoung asked, eyes half-lidded.

Chanshik smiled cryptically, and gestured to the kitchen table, where a plate of freshly made pancakes with strawberry syrup was placed.

“Please sit, your highness. Will you be having coffee or tea this Sunday morning?”

Jinyoung stared at Chanshik, eyes comically wide and mouth agape.

“Don’t look at me like that, hyung. It was Dongwoo’s idea. He wanted to thank you for taking care of him,” Chanshik clarified, breaking character. “Dongwoo-ah! Stop hiding!”

Jinyoung stammered, “He-he didn’t have to…”

“Oh drop the act,” Chanshik interrupted Jinyoung’s thoughts loudly before lowering his volume to a gentle nocturne. “You’ve been so good to the both of us lately, hyung. Don’t pretend you don’t deserve it.”

He pushed Jinyoung into his chair and moved the plate of pancakes closer to him. “Now eat, while I get Fool #2 in here.”

“How did he even manage to make these?” Jinyoung asked between mouthfuls as Chanshik part dragged, part led Dongwoo into the room. “These pancakes are really good!”

“He got the recipe on the internet. These days, you can make anything just by following the recipe,” Chanshik answered, matter-of-factly.

“We couldn’t, though,” Jinyoung reminded before proceeding to ruffle Dongwoo’s long hair affectionately. “Thank you for making this for me. These are the most delicious pancakes I’ve ever tasted.”

Dongwoo decided to practice cooking in Jinyoung’s kitchen, with the encouragement of Chanshik. Jinyoung had understandably been apprehensive at first, but gradually relented after Chanshik’s constant assaults with his aegyo.

Dongwoo had an affinity for cooking, and picked up most dishes very quickly with Chanshik’s help in decoding the recipes. As he read more, he found his Korean improving quickly as well. Soon, Jinyoung and Chanshik could look forward to scrumptious dinners every evening. And as the two boys lavished praise on Dongwoo, Dongwoo got more confident with each passing day. He stood tall and proud, with his head held high. He wanted more, craved more.

Dongwoo found himself standing in front of a broken stove one afternoon. The gas was running, but it just would not ignite. The lighter in the stove was not working.

Dongwoo frowned. Both Chanshik and Jinyoung happened to be out that afternoon and were expecting dinner that evening. It wouldn’t do to have a broken stove.

“Should I…” he began thinking, before he gave himself a mental slap. “No! I can’t do that. I’m not allowed.”

But he soon found himself returning to that train of thought. “It would be so easy though… and I wouldn’t have to trouble them.”

Tentatively, he placed his right finger near the lighter and held the corresponding knob with his left hand. “Here goes…” he mentally readied himself.

It happened so quickly, his movements functioning on autopilot, that he could barely register the fact that it had worked.

The water in the pot swirled gently, spurred by the heat of the stove. The lit stove.

Dongwoo hastily withdrew his finger, though he wasn’t hurt, or even in pain. His eyes darted around his surroundings, just in case, though no one was at home, Just In Case, before he let out the breath he had been holding for the past half minute.

That was kinda… thrilling.

The heat was like a drug. As soon as Dongwoo felt the familiar heat at his fingertips, he felt as if he were flying. The heat drew him to push the boundaries, to flirt closer and closer with danger, and with getting caught. He wasn’t stupid. He knew how dangerous what he was doing was. He could be caught, disciplined, and punished. But it seemed as though he was truly safe, and alone in Jinyoung’s apartment. No one was watching him. There were no cameras, no watchful eyes. He didn’t get caught the first time, or the second, or the third. He wanted more, and he got more, more of that thrill, that rush, that chill.

He soon used his abilities frivolously and needlessly, getting more adept at controlling it. And as he improved, he pushed himself even further and harder. The apartment soon became a stage for a pyrotechnic laser light show every afternoon, and a simple bed and breakfast by sunset. Jinyoung and Chanshik remained completely oblivious to Dongwoo’s clandestine activities.

Dongwoo covered his tracks well. He left no evidence that he had done anything other than cook, clean, watch TV and use Jinyoung’s computer. But the closer he came to getting caught by either Jinyoung or Chanshik, the more thrilling it was. So he continued to play with fire, quite literally, feeling lighter as each room and each corner did too.

He was free; he was light; he was happy. And as long as he stayed behind that yellow line, he would continue to be, like a moth, happy moments from death by fire. But moths didn’t know exactly where that line was, and neither did Dongwoo. So when he found himself alone at home, one stormy night, everything changed.

Everything changed, once Dongwoo laid his eyes on that bright crack in the dark sky.

Eyes wide with wonder, Dongwoo picked up the kitchen stool and moved it to the window. He clambered up that old wooden stool and pressed his face against the glass of the window, waiting for the next flash of bright light to appear. It was a moment of magic.

Dongwoo pushed open the window and reached out into the blanket of rain, searching for that familiar warmth in the coldness of the storm.

In a flash, he got his wish, the force of it knocking him across the room. He yelped in shock and pain as his body frantically expelled all the energy it had just absorbed in one enormous split-second blast.

A/N: I'm so sorry for neglecting this story for so long. School really caught up with me in a bad way :/ The hectic lifestyle gave me little time to write, and when I did have time, I was so tired my inspiration well dried up. I'm not wholly satisfied with Chapter 8 (it feels so unrealistic T_T). But I don't want to keep you waiting indefinitely so I decided to post and maybe go back and edit later (after the whole story is complete?). Unfortunately I can't promise that updates will get quicker and better because school starts again next Monday T_T. And I spent nearly my whole Winter break overseas so I didn't get to write much either. I'm so sorry. But I hope you enjoyed this double update, especially the shocking ending! Ha. Betcha didn't see that coming. Or maybe you did. Oops.

On a lighter note, I hope you're looking forward to the boys' comeback with Lonely! Kya! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that album. I can't decide which cover to get though... all of them look too perfect! It will be hell waiting for translations of each magazine to come out hahahahaha.