Jiyong let out a shuddering breath as he walked into the apartment after Seunghyun. Maybe they were visiting the latter’s friend and all, but he couldn’t help the rush of uneasiness that seemed to seep into his being, making his heart flutter wildly in his chest.

He didn’t even wonder why it was still beating when he was supposed to be dead anymore. Not like it mattered... He had gotten another chance, or so it seemed.

But why him?

Shrugging off his thoughts as he glanced around, he noted that the place where they were at wasn’t as scary as he had initially thought.

The hall was quite narrow, but the walls were painted a lovely shade of beige with some photos breaking its slight dullness. The furniture; a simple wardrobe and a shoe rack, were white, lighting up the small space a bit.

“Are you here already?”  The boy heard suddenly. The unfamiliar voice was sweet and oddly soothing, obviously belonging to a boy near his age – well, the age he had died, at least.

“We are, Dae.”Seunghyun answered with a low chuckle as glanced at Jiyong’s bare feet.

Apparently, his urges to flee had been so strong that he hadn’t even grabbed some slippers from near the door.

Seunghyun was a little worried about that fact, but he couldn’t help thinking that Jiyong probably would have told him if he had been extremely cold.

Well, he had been wrong.

Ever since he had been small, the only thing Jiyong had been able to hide properly was when he was cold. He could recall some times when he got sick because of that, resulting in him being scolded by Seunghyun,

It was so weird how he was there, right in front of the small boy, but different from how he used to be. Maybe not on the outside as he looked just like he did before, just as handsome and y, but on the inside.

He had been caring back then, too, but now he seemed much more protective over Jiyong. Almost as if he could more or less remember the younger boy being torn from him.

Said boy wasn’t quite sure if this was a good or bad thing. His Hyunnie had always been incredibly sweet to him, but he had never worried too much. Or at least, he never showed it.

Now that he had put the puzzle together, it was a bit weird to see the boy that would usually just chuckle when Jiyong would fall before helping him up, be so... fidgety, almost clingy. Even now, as he was staring at the younger who he barely knew anything about, he was squeezing his hand tightly.

It wasn’t annoying, it was simply odd. But maybe in an actually nice sense. For who knows how many years, no one had shown and love towards Jiyong. No one had paid attention to him, no one took care of him.

And now, Seunghyun did.

“Couldn’t you get in already?”The same voice from before tore Jiyong out of his pondering about his boyfriend then and now, making him shudder inwardly from the annoyance it held. It was almost menacing, yet sickly sweet.

How one could change their tones from normal, happy to something like that would always be a wonder to the boy.

“Yeah, but Yongie needs to wash his feet. Silly thing ran out barefoot.”Seunghyun said, laughing a little.

Silly thing. Was Jiyong really just that? A silly little thing that needed to be cared for?

He knew that Seunghyun liked him. He did, because he could literally feel the other teen’s attraction but... What if other then being a person the boy cared for, he was a nuisance, too?

He had always only caused trouble to people, anyway.

Even to Seunghyun, too.

Before he knew it, hot tears were streaming down his already flushed cheeks once again. His legs gave out suddenly, not strong enough to keep him up.

Seunghyun caught him with a worried yell, pulling him up.”Ji, baby what’s wrong?”He asked tenderly, one of his arms snaking around the small boy’s waist while he lifted his other hand  to wipe those bitter tears away gently once Jiyong was standing again, although a little unsteadily.

“Nothing...”The small blonde mumbled softly, biting into his lower lip as he struggled to stop the tears from running down his cheeks. He had no idea what had gotten into him. Whenever Seunghyun was touching, hugging, heck, even kissing him, he would bask in the love and tenderness...Even if they had barely even reunited.

Maybe he was just emotionally tired. However much time had passed since he had died, he didn’t know, but he did knew that he was exhausted, even after sleeping quite a lot.

It felt like this exhaustion wouldn’t go away soon...

Sighing softly, he leant into Seunghyun’s hand. All he wanted was to forget all his worries, all his thoughts about how the other boy was different, how maybe he would never love him again, only care for him.

It hurt to know that they had been together. It ached for some reason Jiyong couldn’t understand. Maybe the truth lay amongst the many details he had forgotten about his past...

Maybe.

“Hey, cheer up baby. I don’t care about my mom anyway.”Seunghyun said in a vain attempt to soothe the boy, thinking that Jiyong was upset because of how they had had to flee... Well, more or less as they could have stay, but it probably wouldn’t have been pretty.

“It’s...not that.”Jiyong whispered after a few moments, sniffing as he slowly nuzzled his nose into the taller boy’s shoulder, inhaling his scent. “I’m just tired, Hyunnie. I had a long day... and really, really long years before you helped me.”He said quietly.

“Of course you are, sweetie. We’ll just wash your feet and then we can sleep, okay?”Seunghyun said softly, his heart clenching painfully at how vulnerable the small blonde in his arms truly was.

But he was going to help him to get better, to be himself...