Almost four hours. Almost. That was how long it had been since they first entered the waiting room. The clock now showed the time as being almost 6:30, and B-Bomb sat quietly, just waiting. Taeil, having cried himself to sleep, was now curled up in a chair in Pyo Jihoon’s lap, comfortable and warm in the other’s arms. The tears had long stopped and P.O was glad for the sleep the other was now getting, hating to see the boy he loved crying.

               B-Bomb, for lack of anything better to do, had gotten up at some point and walked right past the cops standing in the doorway, realizing they weren’t going to do anything to him, and had gone to turn off his car. He hadn’t bothered to move the vehicle to an actual parking space, but he did open up the trunk and grabbed a blanket from inside. The maid who had raised him had always told him to have a blanket in the car in case it was cold one night and his car broke down or he got in an accident. B-Bomb was confident he was a good enough driver that he’d never need the blanket, so he thought it had been pointless and he’d never use it. This proved him wrong now, however, as he watched Taeil curl into the blanket around him and snuggle closer into P.O’s arms. Well, all of him except one leg, which had slipped out of the chair from him being too big for P.O’s lap in this small chair. Taeil was little but even he couldn’t crunch into a ball that tightly. P.O was content just watching the small boy and the even rising and falling of his chest, and he was now lightly twirling his fingers through Taeil’s hair, gently lulling the other farther into his dream land.

               B-Bomb had to smile every now and then at Taeil’s innocence during such a rough situation like this. When he shifted in P.O’s arms to get comfortable, to snuggle further into his blanket and the warmth of P.O’s lap, both he and P.O would watch him gingerly. B-Bomb had known Taeil for a long time and he still had to wonder about the boy. Just hours ago Taeil had been so calm and responsible when Zico had been hurt; he’d taken it upon himself to care for his friend. But now the responsible Taeil had fallen away again to show the five-year-old buried inside, the Taeil who loved Legos and just wanted everyone to be friends.

               Now there was barely any noise in the lobby to be heard, but the silence seemed more overwhelming than ever. The only noises made were the desk secretary making a call or writing something down every now and then, the soft ticking of the clock, and the light whistling of air passing through Taeil’s slightly parted, rosy lips. Every noise was heard with the most acute precision, and B-Bomb had soon found himself tapping his foot to the rhythm of the ticking clock.

               Through all the silence and the tiny noises, now another small noise made itself known as Taeil found himself shifting in Jihoon’s lap again, one hand gripping onto P.O’s shirt. This time, however, he made a tiny whimpering sound as he snuggled his nose under the blanket keeping him warm. B-Bomb and P.O kept a careful gaze on him as he slowly let his eyes drift open, sight blurry from sleep. It took a few moments for Taeil to realize just how bright the fluorescent lights were in the lobby, and when he did he made another whining noise and scrunched his eyes shut, burying his face into his boyfriend’s open jacket to shroud himself back into darkness.

               P.O couldn’t help but chuckle just a bit at Taeil’s adorable nature, and he leaned down quietly to kiss the top of the other’s head. Taeil, who was still gaining consciousness, chose not to move from where his face was buried in the other, and his soft question came out muffled against the fabric as he let out another small whine. “Mmm…what time is it…?”

               B-Bomb raised an eyebrow, not exactly catching the sleepy question, but Jihoon cracked a smile just at the other’s voice. “It’s almost 6:30, baby,” came his soft reply, not much louder than a whisper. He didn’t want to be too loud when Taeil was still waking up.

               In response to P.O, Taeil made another soft whimpering noise before snaking his arms around the taller boy’s torso, clinging to him sleepily. P.O held the other gingerly, leaning in once more to kiss the top of his head. Taeil then decided to man up just a little, and he moved his face, shifting his gaze upward into P.O’s eyes. It was still too bright and it hurt his eyes, and as he squinted, he emitted another small whine. “Mmm..I’m hungry, Jihoon…”

               P.O gently pushed Taeil’s face back into his chest so he could close his eyes again, which Taeil promptly did, and the larger boy said, “I know, baby..it’s dinnertime. I’m pretty hungry too..”

               B-Bomb, however, was hesitant to leave the lobby. “I feel like Zico’s gonna wake up any minute and if we leave he’ll think we just left him here. We can’t go anywhere..” B-Bomb frowned at P.O and then looked at the almost-asleep-again Taeil. He would really feel bad if they left right now, though he’d never admit how much he really cared. However, he had to admit he was hungry too.

               Just as he was about to say something about being responsible and waiting for results, B-Bomb found himself interrupted by his own stomach, which growled hungrily in a way that said, “Yo hey Imma letchu finish, but DAYUM I’m HUNGRY.” He blushed a little in embarrassment and P.O immediately gave him a skeptical look.

               Both of their eyes once more shifted to Taeil, who was seriously almost about to fall asleep again. P.O sighed as he watched his sleepy boyfriend. “Look, B-Bomb, I’m hungry, you’re hungry, little Taeillie is starving and we have to eat something. It’s dinnertime and we need food. I know we need to be responsible for Zico’s sake but goddammit we can just go pick up some fast sushi or something.”

               Instead of giving the response Jihoon was looking for, B-Bomb actually scoffed just a little and raised his eyebrows at P.O. “Taeillie? Is that what we’re calling him now? Seriously?” He then got up without another word and grabbed his keys from his pocket, motioning for P.O. to follow.

               Jihoon immediately knew they were going to get dinner when the other stood. He glared at B-Bomb half-heartedly as he gently lifted his boyfriend in his arms bridal style, Taeil so far gone into dreamland again that his head lolled a little to the side and Jihoon had to shift to bring his face closer to his own warmth. “No, that’s not what we call him, that’s what I call him. It’s just a cute nickname I came up with. If you were actually lucky enough to be dating someone maybe you’d give them nicknames too, jackass.”

               B-Bomb could only scoff again as they walked out to his car, cops long gone after they’d silently witnessed enough to talk themselves out of fining the boys. “I’ll have you know, Jihoon, that I happen to get laid quite often. Where do you think the nickname Bomb came from?”

               P.O could only roll his eyes as he got in the car and he comfortably situated himself and Taeil. In a mocking tone, he started, “I’ll have you know, Minhyuk, that I happen to have said if you were dating someone, not if you had a lot.”

               B-Bomb knew at that point that he had lost the argument, and he made a frustrated noise and glared at P.O before turning the ignition and driving out of the hospital parking lot. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, Jihoon calmly playing with Taeil’s dark locks of hair again, the soft whistle of air passed Taeil’s once again slightly parted lips being the only sound in the car.

               B-Bomb’s thoughts, however, were not so quiet. Though he would never admit it vocally, P.O’s words had bothered him. He always chose the easy-going path of uncaring laziness. He simply found that it was easier to not care about others than to waste his time cooing over everyone he saw. The son of wealthy parents whom he’d disappointed, B-Bomb seemed fated from an early age to be a partier who didn’t exactly trust anyone. His parents had held high expectations for their son, and he maintained a B to C average in school, but it wasn’t what they had wanted. They had hoped he’d become a wealthy, famous businessman like his father, or that he’d be something more than what he was.

               Lee Minhyuk was a dancer, something his parents had never approved of. Though his talent was far from lacking, they never cared for his performances and even discouraged them, telling B-Bomb frequently that he was simply living a fantasy and he would have to give it up sooner or later. Minhyuk had grown up knowing that his parents didn’t ever have time for him, that they were always too busy with their business to pay any attention to their son, and when they were paying attention to him, they were only calling him a failure in one way or another.

               He’d been brought up by the maid more than his own mother, and she, being a sweet, older lady, had always taken care of him and loved him. When no one else had time for Minhyuk, she did, and so to him, she was the one who was really a mother to him. The only thing B-Bomb had gotten from his own parents was money. And the only reason he got money? They had too much to know what to do with it. It was also the only reason he had a fancy sports car. They had too many cars to know what to do with them so they lazily told him to go pick one that he liked and that they didn’t care which one he chose or what he did with it.

               They had only let Minhyuk go to public school on and off as he was growing up, frequently taking him out for periods of time where they would complain that he shouldn’t “have to go to school with those peasants and their lack of funding.”

               And so, the less and less he saw people, the more closed off he became and the more accustomed he grew to living a solitary lifestyle. It became easier for him to shut people out because he figured he’d never keep any friends anyway; every time he’d had friends before he was ripped away from them because their parents didn’t have enough money and his parents forbade him from seeing them.

               He began to feel he’d never be able to open up to anyone or have any permanent friends, so he never cared much about people or cared to tell them his story. Instead, as he grew up he became reckless, using his fancy sports car to make him look cooler as he would go to every party within a 50 mile radius. He would always be the life of the party, catching the eyes of every girl and even some boys in the room as he showed off his y dance moves in the wave of loud, drunken teenagers. He never willingly gave anyone any information about himself, so he’d developed the nickname B-Bomb for himself so introductions would be easier. After so much partying it seemed that everyone in the city knew who B-Bomb was, but he still lived at home with his parents so when the parties were over everyone wondered where he went, where he disappeared to.

               “He calls himself B-Bomb and he’s the best dancer I’ve seen,” they would say. “I wonder where he goes when he’s not at all the parties?” they would ask. “I’d like to know more about his nickname and where it came from,” some would say. “If you wanna see B-Bomb all you have to do is go to any big party in town and he’ll be there,” was the rumor on the street.

               Of course with his popularity came , girls who would throw themselves all over him and sometimes boys just for the claim that they’d been intimate with someone so popular, that they’d gotten in his pants. Not that he minded that it was all any of them wanted; all it meant for him was that he was getting . And with the came his new nickname, Bomb, a play off of his original nickname as a way to show that he was really great in bed. More rumors started about “ Bomb” and how he could get anyone he wanted to take off their pants.

               All the while Lee Minhyuk lived his life at home with his parents in a quiet, solitary world, one where he spent all his time in his room on his laptop typing out all of his feelings since he couldn’t trust anyone with them. Compared to the loud parties, the booming music and the wild , his life at home was completely silent with no communication whatsoever. The maid had passed away from a heart attack and he had taken it hard, and suddenly he realized he really didn’t have anyone to talk to at all. He sure as hell wasn’t going to trust his parents, and when the new maid had come around as a quick and seemingly easy replacement in his parents’ eyes, he found he didn’t like her at all. He was older now and couldn’t find that connection with her. She hadn’t raised him, she didn’t know him and his life, he couldn’t talk to her. So instead he typed private journals on his computer, quietly losing touch with the world since the only person he loved was gone.

               He continued his double life of partying and solitary confinement until he decided he wanted to go to college like all the other kids, and with all the money he had and the lack of care from his parents, he packed up on his own and left for a college far from home, somewhere where he would never have to go back home and acknowledge that life again. Almost as soon as he left his parents had pretty much forgotten his existence since they had never noticed him anyway. Now they only called once every few months to “check in on him,” though every time they would talk to him it was obvious they didn’t truly care. They had the “I have better things to do” tone in their voice and he never really felt comfortable talking to them.

               B-Bomb had thought college would be different, and it was, but after so long alone he had found it hard to trust people still and had a hard time making friends. A couple weeks ago when he’d met P.O he thought maybe the other would understand his problems, since P.O had told him that he was also from a wealthy background. However, it turned out that unlike Minhyuk, Jihoon had not been a disappointment to his parents, who seemed much kinder and more caring than his own. Not only were they okay with P.O’s love for rapping and want to become an idol, but it appeared early on they’d found out he was gay and they were okay with that too. They’d met Minhyuk once when they first dropped their son off at college, which was how they happened to meet. They quickly fell into detailed discussion and B-Bomb had found himself longing for his parents to be like them.

               Now, a couple of weeks later, they’d visited again and Jihoon had immediately told them about Taeil, who they gladly accepted into the family. Taeil had been a bit surprised as well, but P.O’s mom had simply chalked it up to, “We knew Jihoon was gay since he was little. He always loved hot pink and he wanted to paint his room pink with princess designs. He enjoyed shopping for clothes even as a small child and there were just so many typical, little things that hinted us off. When he finally came out to me I had to laugh about how nervous he was and I told him I’d known all along and was just waiting for him to tell me.”

               Minhyuk was easily surprised by the explanation. If B-Bomb had once mentioned his biuality to his parents, assuming they’d paid attention, they probably would have fed him live to alligators or sharks. Due to this, B-Bomb found he and P.O really weren’t anything alike at all. Jihoon was happy, social, fun to be around and a jokester, all qualities B-Bomb seemed to be lacking in.

               Maybe this was why Taeil had chosen to allow P.O to take him on that first date. Taeil was quiet, reserved, never really told anyone anything about himself and Jihoon was just the opposite. He wore his heart on his sleeve and it was a good balance for Taeil. B-Bomb had met Taeil in his freshman year and right off the bat he appeared shy, but happy. He had always held an innocent air around Minhyuk, though he’d always wondered why Taeil seemed so familiar. As B-Bomb kept making more friends at his new college, Taeil was the first person he opened up to. It was too easy, even for B-Bomb. Taeil was just too easy to trust and talk to and before he’d even known what he was doing, B-Bomb had told his life story to Taeil.

               It was then that Taeil had realized why he’d seemed so familiar to B-Bomb. They’d met before college, many years ago, when B-Bomb was still just Lee Minhyuk. Taeil had remembered every detail of how they’d met, the circumstances under which they knew each other from years before. B-Bomb could see in his eyes that he knew, but Taeil never told him the details of how they met. Whenever he would ask, Taeil would change the subject or pretend not to hear him.

               Taeil was very secretive in his life, and even now, in their junior year, all he knew about Taeil was that he had a dark, brooding past, something an outside viewpoint might just think was dramatic but under the circumstance, B-Bomb knew better. Taeil had told Minhyuk he understood hardships and going through pain to get where you were, and had gone so far to tell Minhyuk that his happy, innocent state was real, yet at the same time a mask for much darker things. He was a very mysterious boy and B-Bomb still didn’t know anything more about him and his naturally quiet lifestyle.

               This was why B-Bomb was so baffled by the boy. The way he innocently slept here, now in the car as if life were a cloud to float on, the way he played with Legos and childishly kept them splayed all over the floor of their room, the way he baby-talked his fish and called them “fishies” when they so obviously couldn’t understand a word he was saying. B-Bomb just too easily wondered how Taeil kept such an innocent nature all the time when he knew Taeil had obviously had a rough life before college.

               Taeil always took everything with a grain of salt. He was always a shoulder to lean on for his friends. He was happy, easily trusted, and so everyone told him their stories, their secrets, all the dark things they wouldn’t tell anyone else, and Taeil just let them. He seemed happy that he could be there for his friends to talk to and it never seemed to bring him down on the outside, but B-Bomb always wondered if maybe it bothered him on the inside, even just a little. And now thinking of it as he quietly drove to the market for sushi, he wondered if Taeil would ever really open up to anyone; to him, to Zico, to his own boyfriend Jihoon.

               In his time here, Minhyuk had gone from being completely untrusting to…well no he was still untrusting. But at least he’d made some friends who he could talk to, Taeil, his friends U-Kwon and Jaehyo from some of his music classes, and now he knew P.O and he’d probably get to know Zico over time since he was Taeil’s friend. But it seemed the same couldn’t be said for Taeil. His quiet and shy personality kept him from reaching out to people, and he had a hard time making friends. He’d only ever reached out to Zico and Minhyuk, and then B-Bomb had had to introduce him to P.O. Taeil didn’t even reach out to talk to Jaehyo and U-Kwon when B-Bomb had them around, preferring to either leave or be in his own world with his Legos and his fishies.

               Sometimes it worried B-Bomb and he wondered if Taeil would overflow and explode one day in a mess of tears, though so far the only thing he’d cried over had been Zico being in the emergency room. Maybe Jihoon had been right, there were a lot of things you didn’t know unless you were in a relationship with someone. Maybe P.O had the advantage of getting Taeil to talk to him or something.

               But what had made Minhyuk upset about what P.O had said wasn’t that he was right, it was that B-Bomb had tried to get into a relationship and couldn’t. Taeil was the only person he’d talked to in depth about his life, he was the only person who knew these things about him. Jaehyo and U-Kwon were close but he hadn’t shared any intricate details with them or anything, and he still didn’t know how much he trusted either of them. It didn’t mean he didn’t want to trust them though, and he’d really tried. He had really, honestly tried to trust the two enough to a point where he might develop feelings for one of them, to get into a real relationship with them, but he just didn’t have it in him and it made him ually, mentally, and emotionally frustrated all at the same time. Was he doing something wrong? Was there something wrong with him? Was he just going about it the entirely wrong way? He didn’t know but he was always a loner and while part of him preferred it, another part of him was lonely and desperate for someone to cling to.

               So truly, what was it that bothered Minhyuk? It was that he envied Jihoon. He envied Taeil. He envied the fact that they had each other and he was jealous and frustrated about not being able to have something special like that with someone. So when Jihoon brought up the fact that if he'd been dating someone maybe he'd understand, it didn't just hurt B-Bomb, it frustrated him.

               And currently, B-Bomb was so deep into his thoughts that he almost drove right past the market, but Jihoon woke him up with an, “Umm…Minhyuk Hyung we’re here.”

               The first break of silence in the car had B-Bomb blink rapidly and shake his head with a, “Huh? Wha--?” before he realized oh hey idiot you’re driving. “Oh, right,” was his only reply when he actually figured out what the hell was going on, and he pulled into the market and parked quickly.

               It took them very little time to get their sushi and get out. P.O had left Taeil in the car to sleep peacefully wrapped up in his blanket. He already knew what kind of sushi Taeil would want and just decided to buy it for him. They also picked up some sushi for Zico in case he was awake and hungry when they got back. When all of their sushi was bought and paid for the two returned to the car with their bag of goodies, P.O once again situating Taeil in his lap as he tried not to wake him up.

               B-Bomb’s long thought process had made the ride to the market seem like an eternity, but the ride back seemed much quicker and before they knew it, the boys were back at the hospital. B-Bomb grabbed the bag of sushi and P.O. silently lifted the sleeping Taeil out of the car. The shift in movement didn’t wake him up, but he did shift and wrap his legs around P.O’s waist, his small, childlike hands clutching P.O’s shirt like a koala bear.

               Zico wasn’t awake when they returned, but a nurse informed them that he was out of surgery which implied he’d had some sort of surgery in the first place. Both B-Bomb and P.O were surprised, but it was P.O. who spoke up. “Whoa whoa whoa wait. Hold up a second. He was in surgery?”

               The nurse nodded and explained, “Yes, his nose was not just a simple fracture. It appears whoever broke it did so with some force because his nose was completely shattered and we had to correct the alignment. He has bandages over his nose, which is typical to help the healing process so it doesn’t move. He’ll have to breathe out of his mouth for a while because obviously currently he can’t breathe out of his nose, and if he tried it would hurt.”

               During the explanation, Taeil had woken up and he shifted and groaned a little, small whines escaping him. He was able to just barely process what was going on with Zico, but he didn’t care because the nurse had woken him up and was being too damn loud, and the lights hit him as he let his eyes open again and he whined, burying his entire face into P.O’s neck. “Mmmmm too looouuud…too briiiiight…” He clutched P.O’s shirt harder, and P.O automatically rubbed his back, cooing and shushing him gently and telling him to keep his eyes closed. He repeated what the nurse had said in a quiet tone.

               When all was quiet from their end, the nurse spoke again. “His ankle wasn’t broken but it was sprained so he has a bandage around his foot and ankle, and we’ve elevated his leg for the time being so the swelling will go down. We recommend he elevate his leg with a pillow or whatever is available that’s soft if he can for a while. He had some shattered ribs and one was dangerously close to puncturing a lung, but with additional surgery we corrected the problem to re-align his ribs. Obviously you can’t put bandages around his ribs so they’ll just have to heal on their own, but he does have bandages around his chest due to surgery.”

               Before she could continue, Taeil spoke up again. It was muffled from his face being buried in P.O’s neck, but it got across to them all. “Mmm..when he was awake he was clutching his left arm..” was all he said sleepily, but the nurse got his point.

               “Ah, yes,” she said. “He severely tore a tendon in his upper arm at the bicep, and we actually had to surgically correct that as well. Tendon tears can be extremely dangerous and he may not have been able to use his arm again without it so it was of vital importance to fix it immediately. Once again you’ll see bandages on his left arm from where the surgery took place. Other than that he only had small scrapes and bruises which are plainly visible but won’t cause him much pain. He needs to take it easy for a while and we have prescribed pain medication which you’ll have to go pick up at the pharmacy.”

               Suddenly none of them wondered why it had taken so long for Zico. They thought he was beaten up pretty badly but not enough to need three separate surgeries, and now they understood completely. After her explanation, the nurse mentioned that they should be able to release Zico tonight but that he would have to use a wheelchair for a good week before he was on crutches, and he would need to take it easy. From what Taeil had learned about Zico, he was used to getting beaten up, but not like this. This was a hate crime; this was far more than what Zico had ever been put through before.

               With that, P.O carried Taeil back to the waiting area, where he now noticed the oh-so-convenient couch in the lobby that they’d failed to use before and hadn’t even seen. He immediately took advantage of the much bigger space, sitting with Taeil and placing the other much more comfortably than he had been in that small chair. Taeil settled in quickly but still managed to keep a firm hold on P.O, snuggling into him as he quietly mentioned his hunger again. “Mmm..I’m hungry…” he whimpered out.

               Jihoon didn’t have to say a word to the sleepy boy as B-Bomb immediately handed him their sushi, taking his own and sitting down in a chair next to the couch. He took out some water bottles they bought and handed them to P.O. And with that, Jihoon, being so much more alert than his boyfriend, happily took to feeding small pieces of sushi to Taeil. And Taeil, still ever-tired, happily accepted the small gift of food, chewing thoughtfully as they waited for Zico, all of them much more relaxed knowing Zico would be okay.

               And so they once again played the waiting game as the moon rose overhead, the stars outside littering the sky with brilliant sparkles, a nice way to end a bad day for them all.

--

Aaaaand now that it's over you all hate me silently for saying I would update this like three days ago when I didn't. >A>; BUT I have good reason. This chapter is /way/ longer than any of the others. When I originally planned to have it done that night, the words kept flowing and I kept knowing it wasn't done yet. My chapters finish themselves, just going until they reach their own stopping point. I just let go with writing and watch where it takes me. c:

SO here's a lot of background for you, B-Bomb and P.O's stories.

Taeil though...what could Taeil be hiding? Why is he so quiet and what's in his past that's keeping him from trusting anyone enough to say anything?

Hmm..I guess you'll just have to wait any see in another chapter. C:

I hope you like this chapter! I know it's more of a filler really but I thought it was important to give some background information as to why our boys are so quiet or antisocial, seemingly. xD;

Also Taeil being cute. Because Taeil is cute. :| Zico and Taeil are my top Block B biases and I just die at Taeil all the time and I think he's adorable SO I MADE HIM ADORABLE. >:U

Also delete the non-chapter or keep it up for laughs? :D

Review the chapter for me if you liked it! I love comments instead of silent readers! Gimme feedback or predictions or questions or just discuss something with me. I don't like silent readers! :U

And of course if you like it enough, subscribe so you can find out what happens next! C: