Seunghyun wasn’t sure of a lot of things.  What was going on outside was beyond his comprehension.  What happened to the world, no idea.  What was happening to Jiyong and the others, he had no clue, though he was doing a lot of hoping and praying that they were safe somewhere.

What he could be sure of though as he laid there in the darkness, was that he and Daesung were in good company.  These were good guys, his gut told him that.  Even Aoi, who still managed to annoy him from across the room with his constant snoring.  If nothing else, Seunghyun felt safe with them around. 

The other thing he was sure of was that Daesung wasn’t dreaming of lollipops and candy canes.  He clung to Seunghyun’s arm with such ferocity that if he gripped him any tighter, he was sure his arm would detach from his shoulder.  The fingers wrapped around his own seemed to be holding on for dear life as he pressed his body into Seunghyun’s, like he thought he could disappear from the world if only he could make his body small enough. 

Seunghyun wasn’t sure what he was dreaming about, he couldn’t make sense of the soft murmurs coming from the lips pressed against his neck.  He would mumble something in his sleep, shudder or tremble and then cling tighter to Seunghyun as though he was trying to keep him from slipping off the edge of a cliff.

But, nightmares or not, at least Daesung could fall asleep.  Seunghyun couldn’t even manage that.  All he could do was lay there wide-awake, trying to figure out where they went from here.  He was determined and sure that they would find the others, but what then?  Go with the original plan, try to find some salvation somewhere?  Because it was becoming pretty obvious to Seunghyun, even in just the couple days that they had been in this world, that the hope that somehow the world was going to be “okay” somewhere, well that was just wishful thinking.  Where they were now, that was probably the best they would ever find.  He was sure that was all that was left, no big survivor camp, just small pockets of isolated people while the rest of the world became a grinning monster. 

So this kind of life, of running and being terrified, of sleepless nights too afraid of what he’d see in his dreams, of Daesung clinging to him in his sleep as if he thought they would be torn apart at any moment…this was all that was left now? 

Since when did I become such a pessimist?  He sighed to himself, wrapping his arm around Daesung and pulling him close.

No, he wasn’t sure where they went from here, but he was sure of one thing: he would do whatever it took to protect Daesung.  That was now his number one priority.

Seunghyun eventually did fall asleep, though it wasn’t as restful as he would have liked as he dreamt he was a stowaway on a pirate ship with Captain Aoi at the helm.  Talk about having nightmares.  What actually woke him, though, were the long wet kisses covering his face.  He was still dreaming, so for one fearful moment he thought he had been thrown overboard, until he started to come back to reality.  But something still wasn’t quite right, unless Daesung’s tongue had doubled in size and smelled like dog biscuits.

“Koron!”

Seunghyun’s eyes snapped open to find a little black and brown face staring back at him. 

And then it all came rushing back, the reality of where he was and what was going on.  He covered his face in the crook of his elbow, wishing he could just fall back into his dreams.

“Sorry,” Ruki apologized, suddenly there and lifting his dog away.  “We were trying to let you sleep.”

“It’s okay,” he muttered, looking around and seeing that the entire floor was illuminated with bright sunshine streaming in from the windows.  It must have been close to midday, if he had to guess. 

Everyone else was gathered in the middle of the room, sitting on the floor in a small circle, quietly talking as they ate.  Seunghyun rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stumbled to his feet.

“I’m really sorry.  I guess Koron likes you.”

“It’s cool,” he managed a small smile, stopping to scratch Koron behind the ears before moving forward.  He found Daesung amongst the others and sat next to him, still feeling groggy.

“You were sleeping so well, we didn’t want to wake you.  Here,” he smiled, handing him a bowl.  Seunghyun just stared at it before looking back to Daesung’s soft smile.  “It’s ramen,” he said, laughing softly at the confused look on his face.  “Maybe you should go back to sleep.”

“No, no I’m good,” he muttered, staring at the noodles.  He really didn’t have much of an appetite, but he figured ramen was probably a luxury in this world so best not to let it go to waste.  “You’re pretty cheerful for such a bright apocalyptic day.”

Daesung shrugged, looking back into his bowl and swirling the noodles around with his chopsticks.  “What’s the point in being miserable about it?”

“None, I guess.”  And Seunghyun let the subject drop.  He preferred to see a happy Daesung over a sad Daesung, even if his smile was fake.  He supposed he still felt like it was his role to be the cheerful one in a world where no one else could find anything to smile about.

When Seunghyun looked up, mouth stuffed with ramen, he found five pairs of eyes staring at him.  “What?” he mumbled.

Everyone looked away, suddenly finding something more interesting to look at it and Seunghyun suddenly felt like maybe he shouldn’t have slept for so long.  And when he glanced at Daesung only to see him quickly look away, he became instantly suspicious. 

“What?” he repeated, this time more demanding. 

“It’s nothing.”

“It?  An ‘it’ can’t be a ‘nothing.’  What’s going on?”  He looked around the room again.  No one wanted to meet his gaze.  He was beginning to think maybe he was still dreaming and maybe he was about to be thrown overboard.

“We’re going to go look for the others.”

Oh, well no reason to be suspicious about that, right?  That was actually good news.  And yet, why was everyone acting so suspicious? 

“Well let’s go then.”  He set his bowl aside and started to stand up until Daesung grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

“Actually, we’re not all going.”

Seunghyun didn’t say anything, instead he just sat there, open-mouthed as he tried to piece things together with his still sleepy brain.  “Of course not,” he finally said, “because we’re going.”  He pointed to himself and Aoi.

“No, I’m going and you’re staying here.”

“Excuse me?  What do you mean you’re going and I’m staying?  Wait a minute, were you going to leave while I was…?”  He looked around the room and he could see the answer written on all their faces.  By waking up, he had foiled their plan to slip out while he was sleeping.  “You were seriously going to leave without telling me?  Why?”

“Because I knew you would react like this-”

“Of course I would react like this!”  He was on feet now.  He felt stupid and above all frustrated.  “No way, Daesung, no ing way!  You’re not going out there alone.  Not without me, no way, no how.”

Daesung took him by the arm and pulled him aside.  Seunghyun didn’t like the determined look in his eyes, the one that said he was going to have his way whether he liked it or not.  And damn it if it didn’t make Seunghyun feel like he was totally in the wrong.

“Hyung, please calm down.”

“Calm down?  Are you kidding me?”

Daesung sighed, realizing he was going to have do this in a completely different way if he wanted Seunghyun to understand.  He took both his hands in his own, gently rubbing his palms with his thumbs. It always had a calming effect when he used it on him, he hoped it would work just as well on Seunghyun.

“There’s no point in both of us going.  We’ve already talked about it.”

“I didn’t talk about it,” he said stubbornly.  “I was sleeping while you were all conspiring.”

“Don’t say it like that, we weren’t conspiring against you and besides you needed the sleep.  You were up all night, right?”

Seunghyun was resisting the urge to rip his hands out of Daesung’s because his efforts to calm him were working, but he wasn’t ready to stop being angry.  “Whether I was up or not has nothing to do with it.  I’m not letting you go alone, that’s all there is to it.”

“Well, good, because I won’t be going alone, I’m going with Aoi-san and Reita-san.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better how?”

“Would you please just stop being angry with me for a moment and listen?  They know the area better than either of us do.  We don’t know where we’re at, where we need to go back to find the others, if we get lost again, what would we do?  One burden is better than two if something were to happen out there.”

Seunghyun hated to admit that what he was saying made sense.  But he wasn’t okay with it.  He wasn’t okay with any of it.  He wanted to cry, because dammit, he was so frustrated and he hated the idea of Daesung going out there alone.  He could already feel the lump in his throat, but he still managed to ask, “Why you?”

“Because I’m terrified, hyung, and I don’t want to just stay cooped up being scared all the time.”

“You can’t find a different way to face your fears?  Or at least let’s both go.”

“One of us should stay here and keep watch.  What if the others find their way here?”

It was sensible.  It was sensible and reasonable, but Seunghyun didn’t like it.  He didn’t like it at all.  “Then you stay and I’ll go.”

“But I want to do this…I need to.”

Seunghyun shook his head.  He was beyond upset at this point, but there was no arguing with Daesung, not when he was this determined.  So instead he turned back to the others, knowing that if he couldn’t change Daesung’s mind, he was going to make damn sure he was going to be in good hands. 

“Is it safe?”

“Relatively so,” Aoi shrugged. 

“It’s fine,” Uruha spoke, before Seunghyun could give a snappy comeback to Aoi.  “In the daytime, it’s usually okay.  It’s those guys going around causing havoc that will be the worst trouble.”

“You’re sure?  No angry hoards of smiling monsters running around?”

“I doubt it.  They don’t really care to be out in the day.  It’ll be okay,” Uruha tried to reassure him.  And while he did feel a little reassured, he still wasn’t happy. 

“Alright, but…there are conditions.”

“Hyung, come on,” Daesung muttered, still hanging onto one of his hands.  Seunghyun was sure he was probably embarrassing him right now, but he really didn’t care. 

“I’m not asking for a lot, okay?” he said, addressing Aoi and Reita.  “If you take him out there, you can’t let him out of your sight.  And I want you back before dark.”  He looked back at Daesung who was giving him a look that said he was being way too overprotective.  “If you’re not back before dark, I will go looking for you.” 

Daesung was frowning back at him.  “I’m not a child.”

“Dude, he’ll be fine,” Reita said, suddenly behind Suenghyun and clapping him on the back so hard he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.  “He’ll be with me and Aoi.  We’ll find your friends, we’ll meet back here, it will all be okay.  Put your faith in us type A guys.”

Seunghyun wasn’t sure how that was supposed to make him feel better.  But he looked at Daesung and squeezed his hand.  “I’m not alright with this, but…I understand.  I won’t be unreasonable.  I’ll be mad about it, but I won’t be unreasonable.”  He yanked Daesung forward into his arms, holding him tightly against his chest, running his fingers through his blond hair, burying his face in his neck.  He didn’t care that everyone was watching them when he kissed him.

“Be careful,” he whispered. 

“You worry too much,” Daesung smiled, kissing his cheek.  “Don’t spend the entire day worrying, we’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m serious, I’ll hunt you down if you’re not back before dark,” he threatened, following them towards the exit to the stairs. 

“Hey, kid.”  Seunghyun stiffened when Aoi grasped his shoulders.  “Make a deal with me.”

Seunghyun raised an eyebrow at that.  “A deal…?”

“Yeah.  You look after my guys, I’ll find and look after yours.  We’re the eldest of our respective groups, right?  It’s our job to look after everyone.”

Seunghyun looked over his shoulder at Uruha, Ruki, and Kai, all men who were at least five years older than he was.  “I guess that makes sense for you, since you’re an old man, but…”

“Just go with my logic and don’t question it, okay?  My point is I’ll return your boyfriend, safe and sound, so don’t do anything stupid, got it?  And you make sure those three don’t cause any trouble.”

Seunghyun was pretty sure he was talking to the troublemaker of the group, but he did as he was told and didn’t question him.  He looked back at Daesung, watching as he gave him another brief smile before he slipped through the door and then was gone. 

Koron was suddenly at his feet, jumping up on his leg and barking.  But when he looked down at the happy little face begging for his attention, Seunghyun only had one thought on his mind:  Please come back to me. 

Daesung…you have to come back to me.

“So, do you know which way you two came from?”

The three of them stood out on the sidewalk as if the possibility that they would suddenly be attacked by monsters was nonexistent.  Daesung looked around trying to see if he recognized anything but he had hardly paid that much attention and it had been dark anyways. 

“I’m not sure.  Where did you find us at?”

Aoi pointed in the opposite direction from where Daesung was looking.  “A couple blocks back that way.  How far did you stray from your friends before I found you?”

“I don’t know, a block or two.   I’m sure I can probably recognize the street or something if we head back there.”

“Well let’s hope so,” he said, walking off, “I have to have you back before dark, remember?”

Daesung rolled his eyes as he followed behind.  “He’s just being overprotective.  Though he probably will go hunting for us if we’re not back before dark.”

“Well let’s hope he doesn’t because I don’t want to have to go find him because he got lost in the dark again.”

“Well, you said it’s safe, right?  So it shouldn’t take us too long…”

“I said it was relatively so and that’s assuming your friends stayed in one spot.  But with you two riling up those things plus, those idiots roaming around, I would bet that’s highly unlikely.”

“So why are you even bothering?” Daesung frowned. 

Aoi didn’t say anything as he slipped between the narrow gap between two cars and kept walking as if he hadn’t heard the question at all.  Reita draped his arm over Daesung’s shoulder with a smile.  “Because if he didn’t bother than he knows you and Seunghyun would have gone looking yourself and that would have bothered him even more.  See, he’s really kind of a sweetheart-”

“Shut-up, Rei,” he warned, glancing back over his shoulder.  “Listen, this is what the world is now.  You might as well just get the idea that everything is going to be okay in a few days out of your head.  There’s no government, there’s no help coming, no cure for whatever the hell happened, there’s nothing except us and them.  We’re the minority now and excuse me if I think it’s a good idea to band together.  Besides, you’re just kids.  What kind of man would I be if I just abandoned a bunch of kids?”

“I told you he’s a real sweetheart,” Reita whispered.

Daesung shook his head.  It just wasn’t his nature to give up on the world so easily.  “You’re not much of an optimist, are you?  What makes you so sure?  Don’t you think it’s a little too early to be giving up on mankind?”

Aoi stopped in front of large store window, the glass broken and shattered into a million pieces.  “It’s not so much that I’m giving up on mankind.  I just think maybe we’re the ones the world has given up on.”

Confused, Daesung stepped forward to see what Aoi was looking at it, but the moment he did he had to look away to stop the nauseous feeling that started to overwhelm him.  It looked like a massacre in there, a mangled mess of twisted limbs and bashed in skulls, blood everywhere.  And they weren’t monsters either, their skin looked perfectly normal, at least from what Daesung could catch a glimpse of.

“That looks fresh,” Reita said covering his mouth.  Even he couldn’t look at the sight for very long before turning away. 

“Yeah, looks that way.  And it wasn’t caused by those monsters, either.”

Daesung assumed Aoi had a stomach made of steel since he hadn’t looked away from the scene once.  “How can you even tell…?” he muttered.

“Their heads are bashed in,” he replied matter-of-factly.  “Those train-loving monsters don’t bash your skull in, they’re more likely to try to rip your throat out.  I would say this is the work of those guys terrorizing the area.”  Aoi looked around, surveying their surroundings and his sudden urgency only put Daesung more on edge.  “If we want to find your friends, we need to move.”

Daesung followed, not at all liking Aoi’s quickened pace.  A moment ago they had been walking as if the world was perfectly normal and for a moment, a split second, Daesung felt like things would be alright.  Now, after seeing what those people did, he was suddenly aware of a different kind of monster and he became a little less hopeful for the world.

“I hope you have enough optimism for all of us,” Aoi said over his shoulder.

“Why…?”

“Because I’m not so sure we won’t find your friends the same way.”

“No more…I can’t go anymore,” Jiyong panted, sinking to his knees against the wall of the nearest building.  They had been running and hiding half the night from monsters they couldn’t see.  They had no idea where they even were, but at the moment Jiyong didn’t really care because his legs felt like jelly and could barely breathe, let alone gather his bearings enough to figure out where they were.  All he wanted was a moment to relax, to let his aching muscles rest, to maybe try and get the pounding in his head to stop.

“Let’s not stay out here.  Inside,” Youngbae said, he himself half out of breathe as he pointed to the broken door of a small boutique.  Jiyong shook his head, unwilling to move until Seungri took his arm and helped him inside.  There the three of them stumbled over broken racks and clothes strewn across the floor and collapsed behind the counter.

“Damn, those guys are relentless,” Seungri muttered.  “Finally find some survivors and they’re pyschopaths!  I’d rather take the zombies at this point…"

“Some people are just quicker to lose their humanity,” Youngbae muttered.

“Anyone that loses their so-called ‘humanity’ in less than two days didn’t have any to begin with.  Like I said, they’re psychopaths.  They want to kill us, what if that’s what happened to-”

 Youngbae threw his hand up and covered Seungri’s mouth.  “Don’t even say it.”

“Whether I say it or not doesn’t make it true or untrue,” he said, shoving Youngbae’s hand away.  “I’m just being realistic.”

“Well, I’m still trying to be hopeful, not realistic, so stop it.  Let’s just take a moment to catch our breath, okay?  Hopefully we’ve lost those guys…”     

Jiyong wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, barely listening to anything Youngbae or Seungri were saying.  He couldn’t understand why he felt so dizzy. 

“That’s it…I give up.”

“You’re just tired,” Youngbae said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.  He desperately wanted to sleep, he was so exhausted. 

“No, I mean it,” Jiyong mumbled, “I’m done.  I can’t move another inch.”  He his lips, wishing he could have just a few drops of water.  “My head is pounding…”

“You just need to relax,” Seungri said.  “We’re safe, just calm down.”

Jiyong didn’t believe that for a minute.  Nowhere was safe, not anymore, but he let his body sink down against Seungri’s anyways, hoping for a few minutes of peace.  But then came the footsteps and the creak of the door being forced open and Jiyong just wanted to cry in despair.  Why couldn’t they just have a moment to catch their breath?  This was crazy, why couldn’t they just give up and leave them alone?  Next to him he could feel Seungri tense up as he found his hand gripped it hard in his sweaty palm. 

Jiyong just couldn’t take anymore. 

But Youngbae and Seungri weren’t going to give up that easily.  Just as Jiyong was giving up, the two of them looked at one another and agreed to stand up and fight.  No more running.  No more being chased by all kinds of monsters and being terrified.  If they were going to die, well, then they were going to go down fighting.

Youngbae rummaged under the counter for anything they could use as a weapon and found a pair of scissors.  Not the best weapon if he was going to go up against a guy with a baseball bat, but he figured he was quick enough to dart in and get one before they got him.  Seungri had managed to find a weapon as well, a broken metal rod laying amongst the debris around them, probably broken from one of the clothing racks.

Now properly armed, Youngbae motioned for Seungri to stay quiet and to stay down until the footsteps got closer.  They could clearly hear them shuffling through the broken mess of the store, making their way through toppled over clothing racks and broken glass. 

Youngbae nodded, counted to three with his fingers and with their weapons held high, they stood up, ready to bound over the counter and put up as valiant as fight as they could or die trying. 

“Youngbae-hyung?  Seungri!”

They both stopped with their bodies already half-way over the counter.  For a moment they were pretty sure that what they were seeing was an illusion.  After all they had been up all night, they wouldn’t have been surprised if their minds were playing a cruel joke on them.  But then Seungri practically leaped over the counter, grabbing Daesung and nearly hugged the life out of him.

“Oh my god, you’re real!  Hyung, he’s real!  It’s really him!”  Seungri was all smiles as he looked at Youngbae but when he turned back to Daesung, he punched his shoulder with an angry frown.  “Where the hell did you go!?  And where’s TOP-hyung?  Aren’t you two together?  Oh no, he’s not…those guys, they didn’t….”

Daesung took a firm hold of Seungri’s shoulders.  “Just take a moment and breathe, okay?  Seunghyun-hyung is fine.”

“He is?  Are you sure…?”  Seungri was so relieved he looked like he was about ready to burst into tears. 

“Yeah, he’s fine.  We left him with the others, it’s all okay.”

“We?” he asked, finally taking notice of Aoi and Reita.  “Who are these guys?”

“This is Aoi and Reita and it’s a long story,” Daesung smiled, relieved that they had found them so easily.  It was just pure dumb luck that they had decided to step into this particular store.  He felt like he was on a roller coaster today, one moment completely terrified, the next relieved. He was just happy they hadn’t run into any monsters of any kind.

“How did you find us?” Youngbae asked, climbing over the counter.

“Pure luck,” Aoi said.  “We’ve only been out here for maybe an hour looking for you.  I actually didn’t think we would find you, let alone find you so close to where we’re staying.  But, do you think you can explain why you almost killed us?”

Seungri answered, still too hyped up to relax.  “We were chased all night by those zombie things but they stopped when it hit daybreak.  But then, these guys found us.  Completely normal guys, not sick at all, and they tried to kill us.  They’re crazy!  They’ve been chasing us all morning.”

“Perfect,” Aoi muttered.

“They’re really close,” Reita said quietly.  “We shouldn’t stay here.”

“Reita’s right.  We should head back before they find us and before Seunghyun gets the brilliant idea to come looking for us.  Our place isn’t far from here.”

“Great,” Youngbae breathed a sigh of relief at just the thought of being holed up safe somewhere. 

“But wait, where’s Jiyong-hyung?” Daesung asked back on his roller coaster and becoming worried all over again.   “He’s with you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he’s just exhausted, probably fell asleep,” Youngbae said, moving back around the counter.  “Hey, Jiyong, come on, we’re finally getting out of here—Jiyong?  Jiyong!”

Daesung froze when he heard the panic in Youngbae’s voice.  He had never heard him like that before.  He dashed around to the other side of the counter, Seungri on his heels, and when he saw him, Daesung’s heart felt like it had dropped to his feet and shattered.  Jiyong was collapsed on the floor in a small heap, covered in a fine sheen of sweat, his face the palest shade he had ever seen. 

“How long as he been sick?” Aoi asked quietly.

“Sick?  He’s not sick, he’s just exhausted, we’ve been running all night,” Seungri said, his words coming out in one long ramble.  “He’s just tired, right, hyung?  Right?”

Youngbae, kneeling next to Jiyong was at a loss for words. 

“I don’t know,” he finally said.  “I don’t know, I thought he was okay…”

“Okay, we can figure it out later, right now it doesn’t matter, we just need to get out of here-”

“Too late,” Reita suddenly said, pushing them all back behind the counter.  “They’re here.”

They all ducked back down behind the counter, Youngbae lifting Jiyong up into his arms as they huddled together.  Outside, sounding not so far from where they were, they could hear the laughter and the voices getting closer and closer. 

“Did you see them?” Aoi whispered.  “How many were there?”

“I don’t know, maybe ten or so?” Reita whispered back.  “Even so, they have weapons, our odds aren’t good here…”

“So what are we going to do?” Daesung asked.

“I don’t know,” Aoi admitted.  “But I promised Seunghyun I would take care of you and your friends, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to start breaking my promises now.”

_______________________

It's been awhile since I updated, sorry D: I plan on trying to update my other fic next, but hopefully I won't be so long between updates on this one again :P  I'll do my best!^^

Also, if you don't know GazettE very well or at all, don't be too concerned, this is still a Todae fic at heart! I like the idea of the two bands hanging out together lol XD  

Comments are <3!