Due to the hour that Youngjae and Daehyun had managed to sleep in to, it was given that they were the only ones present at the table.

The silence weighed around them as they both focused their attention on their only slightly gone cold breakfast. It wasn’t that Youngjae didn’t want to talk to the older; it was just Youngjae felt like something had changed. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was enough to make the air heavier and the silence just that much more oppressive. Maybe he was just imagining it, but it didn’t explain why Daehyun hadn’t said anything yet either.

Maybe his head just hurts… we did drink a lot last night. Youngjae told himself as he shoveled a spoon full of eggs into his mouth, chewing slowly.

There was no real reason for them to be awkward around each other, after all, it didn’t seem like anything had happened the night before, and Daehyun had said himself that he didn’t remember much either.

Unless the other was lying and something had happened.

What if they had kissed?!

The eggs that Youngjae had been attempting to swallow caught in his throat as he hacked rather violently, trying to clear his wind pipe, reaching for the glass of water that sat in front of him simultaneously.

“Are you okay?!”

Youngjae threw up his hand, waving off Daehyun before the brunette could even get out of his chair to check on him, “F...fine!” he said quickly after he managed to catch at least a third of his breath, his eyes already tearing up as his throat still felt constricted. He cleared it softly, taking small sips of water to try to sooth it. “I’m fine… Sorry… Went down the wrong pipe…” He said quickly, wincing mentally at the slight strain in his voice.

“Are you sure, Youngjae?”

“Y…Yeah!” Youngjae gave Daehyun a thumbs up before standing up, “I’m actually full… I… I’ll talk to you later, okay?” he said, clearing his plate and taking it to the kitchen quickly before Daehyun could get in another word. His ears were burning and he wasn’t quite sure why he suddenly felt suffocated in the elders presences, but he just needed to get out of there before the “what if”s and “maybe”s smothered him into a fit of anxiety and panic.

He isn’t quite sure where his feet are taking him, but soon, Youngjae finds himself in an unfamiliar part of the large yacht, wondering if this counted as being ‘lost at sea’ as he tried to back track and at least find out what part of the ship he is in.

“Youngjae, there you are~”

Youngjae turned in confusion at the feminine voice calling his name. He was greeted with the sight of the girl that he had first seen when he had woken up.  She smiled sweetly, walking over to him and hugging onto his arm, tracing light lines up his sleeve with her fingertip as she rested her head on his shoulder, “What’s wrong, oppa~” She asked, blinking up at Youngjae, “You look like you have something on your mind…” She batted her eyelashes up at Youngjae, “I could help you… You know… relieve some stress, if you’d like?” She offered, still tracing patterns along Youngjae’s arm.

His ears burned red as the thoughts of the girl’s suggestion filled his mind. He was shocked for a few moments as his mind reeled at the thoughts of just what this girl had in mind, then it clicked. The memory of Himchan’s voice came back to him in that split second, so this is what the black haired male had meant by a ‘plethora of girls willing to throw themselves at his feet’.

Unfortunately though, Youngjae didn’t want some random girl for a mere 20 minutes, maybe longer if they were lucky. He didn’t want just a quickie or a meaningless before they parted.

Call him a hopeless romantic, but, Youngjae wanted love. He wanted to be in love, to be loved fully and whole heartedly and know that when that moment of passion was over, that the other would still be there, would still love him all the same. In the end, this girl would never be able to give him that.

A small smile crossed his lips as he tried to ease out of the girls arms without seeming to be rude, “N…No thank you.” He said, looking at her.

“But, Oppa-“

“Jae Hyung~!!”

Youngjae didn’t have a moment to contemplate on which voice echoed through the hallway as he was all but tackled out of the girls grip and hit the floor, hard. Groaning softly at the weight that now sat on his lower back, keeping his torso pressed into the chest, Youngjae tried to turn his head back, “Zelo, what is wrong with you?!” he asked, trying to push the other off so he could at least roll over.

Zelo merely grinned in response, “Nothing's wrong with me, Hyung. You just didn’t brace your feet enough. Don’t worry; you’ll do better next time.”

Another groan left Youngjae’s throat at the mere thought of more tackle hugs from the maknae of their group. He was thankful when Zelo got up before pulling Youngjae up to his feet, dusting off his clothes and straightening everything.

The younger boy looked up at the slightly shocked looking girl, grinning, “Sorry, Noona~ I wanna play with Jae hyung.” He said before taking Youngjae’s hand and dragging him off down the hallway.

“Zelo! Don’t you usually play your games with Jongup?”

“Well, yeah, but… Jonguppie hyung gets seasick easily, and since the boat isn’t anchored down right now…  hyung’s currently hurling over the side rail… Which, no offence to him, isn’t very much fun.”

“Will he be okay?” Youngjae asked, a bit worried for Jongup to be completely honest. Seasickness , and the always smiling brunette defiantly didn’t deserve to be blowing chunks into the sea instead of enjoying the view and the fresh air.

“Oh, he’ll be fine… he’s always like this.” Zelo said with a small laugh as he pushed open a door and pulled Youngjae out into the sunlight. “C’mon, this way hyung~”

“Zelo, what are we doing out here?

“I want to play Titanic!” Zelo said happily as he continued to pull Youngjae up to the front of the ship. Before Youngjae could protest, or tell the younger he was being silly, Zelo proudly declared, “I call dibs on Rose!” before rushing up to stand right at the bow of the ship, holding his arms out wide as he took in the sight of the ocean laying out before him.

Youngjae couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the others pure childishness as he walked over, instantly wrapping his arms around the younger boy as he rested his chin on Zelo’s shoulder and listening as the blue and black haired boy let out giggles of laughter.

“You really are something else, Zelo.”

“What do you mean, hyung?”

Youngjae sighed, puffing out his cheeks gently, “It’s just… You don’t seem like you belong here…”

Zelo let out another laugh, “Maybe I don’t… but… I could never leave the hyungs after all that they have done for me…”

“What do you mean?”

Zelo smiled a little, his eyes focused on the horizon as he let his arms drop to his side, “I was eight when I really got to meet Yonggukie hyung…” He said, “It was the best day of my life… Hyung got me ice cream and told me stories and promised I’d never have to go back…” Zelo unwrapped Youngjae’s arms from around him before flopping down to sit on the ground, dragging Youngjae with him. “My parents were always fighting… I don’t think there was ever a moment when they weren’t screaming at each other when they happened to be under the same roof… But… Hyung was always there for me. At the time I didn’t even know his name, but every night, I’d slip out of my apartment and he’d be waiting for me in the hallway with snacks for me to eat, because Umma always forgot to make dinner on the nights Appa would show up.”

Despite the words that were leaving Zelo’s mouth, the younger boy didn’t sound bitter at all. A bright smile still lit up his face as he continued on, “He even gave me presents sometimes, weird hats that were much too big for me and stupid scarves that always tended to cover up my whole face when I wore them.” Zelo laughed a little, turning to look at Youngjae, “He just wanted to see me smile, but, I cherished every last one of those stupid things.”

“What happened that night, Zelo?” Youngjae asked, afraid of what the younger would say. He couldn’t imagine anything bad ever happening to the younger boy, nor did he ever want to. Zelo just had this air around him that made Youngjae want to protect him, protect the innocence within him and just hide him away from every bad thing in the world.

“Appa came home drunk and… Well… he’s a violent drunk. Umma wasn’t much better though. He took the first swing, and, I don’t blame her for fighting back. Neither of them saw me, which was how it had always been. I could have sat at their feet crying, and they would have never noticed me… But, when the vase Umma had thrown at Appa missed… well… She didn’t know. Yongguk heard the crash, and, I guess I must have been crying pretty loud, because he kicked in the front door and drug me out of there, promising that it would all be okay, that he wouldn’t let anything else hurt me.

“Yongguk knew taking me to his apartment wouldn’t be safe, it was just next door to my parents, after all, and his parents would have asked questions. So he took me to Yoseob hyung’s, panicking the whole time because he was scared that I’d need stitches and he knew that the hospital would contact my parents. Yoseob got me to calm down enough so that he could check over where the glass had cut open on my temple, calming Gukkie hyung down enough so that he’d listen to the fact that it really was just a scratch.”

Zelo smiled widely, “Yongguk hyung didn’t want me to go back, even though Yoseob hyung kept telling him that it was technically kidnapping, and that I needed to go back to my parents… So I hid under the first bed I could find and refused to come out until the promised me that I could stay.”

Youngjae counted slowly on his fingers, looking a bit confused, “So… Yongguk hyung already had the gang going at 14?” he asked in confusion.

Zelo let out a small laugh, shaking his head, “No, we didn’t actually start anything on the underground until hyung was 18. It was actually an accident… Yongguk hyung was just trying to save Himchannie hyung, and he told a couple of lies to make himself seem tougher and… they just stuck. Yoseob hyung thought it was a good idea to keep going with it though, saying that if he and Yongguk were going to continue to help people, then, having some street credit would help them in keeping the local gangs away.”

Youngjae nodded a little, reaching over and ruffling Zelo’s hair, “You’re too cute for your own good… You’re parents were stupid for arguing so much and not seeing what was right in front of them…” He said.

“Maybe… but, I’m thankful. I miss them sometimes, but, I like Yongguk hyung. He’s always nice to me, and the other hyungs look out for me…” Zelo smiled at Youngjae, “We’re family. And now, you’re family too!” He said proudly.

Youngjae couldn’t help but smile back, “As great as that sounds right now… I’m still not sure if I want a tattoo.” He admitted.

“Oh, they really aren’t that bad!” Zelo said with a grin as he turned his head to the side, tugging down his collar and moving his hair aside. The small bunny tattoo sat right behind his ear, where the skin became soft right at the edge of his jaw line. Youngjae took note of the bright, baby blue color the younger had chosen with the crossed out circle design. “It hurt a little but… it’s something that we all share. It’s a little part of the family that you can always care around with you, and when times are tough, you can know it’s there and know that no matter what, you have the support system of the others…” Zelo looked back out at the horizon. “So what do you say, Jae hyung…”

Youngjae couldn’t help but smile in response, “It sounds nice…” he said truthfully, looking at the younger boy. In that moment, he didn’t have any conflicting thoughts; his mind wasn’t torn between any decisions. He felt at peace, like everything was right in that exact moment as Zelo’s thoughts on family washed over him.

In that moment, Youngjae felt like he had finally found his home.

I decided to move Zelo's back story, because other wise, this chapter really would have had nothing in it, it really would have been just a filler. So... i really hope it doesn't seem as fluffy as it felt. It feels better moved right here anyways.

I want to give a special shout out to Mangoo for what was one of the longest and sweetiest comments I have ever received on this site, when I read it earlier today, i just knew I needed to come home and type up another chapter.

Enjoy the YoLo. /bricked

Cuddles,

Lynn