a/n: Luhan and Xiuho bits in this chapter ^^

Yixing insisted to wak Luhan home, afraid that something would happened to him, ignoring all Luhan said about he'll be okay and they still have to go to school tomorrow. There was no words exchanged between them along the way to Luhan's house, only a comfortable silence, it was just Luhan realized that Yixing was holding his hand tighter than usual.

They were standing in front of Luhan's house for a few minutes already, but somehow Yixing refused to let him go just yet. He was staring at Luhan's face for a few good minutes. His heart swelling, from all the love he felt for the blonde male. Sure, they were young, barely 18, but they already been trough much more than adults may be trough, he was really certain with his feeling.

Luhan confused by the way Yixing act, reaching his hand to cup his boyfriend's cheek, "What's wrong?" he asked with a soft voice, a little louder than a whisper.

Yixing put his palm on top of Luhan's hand on his cheeks, trying to enjoy the warmth a little longer as he continued to stare at the beautiful creature in front of him. After all things that were happened to Jongin, he started thinking, God forbid, what he might do if someone hurts Luhan like that. He couldn't even imagine what he would do, he was shivering just from the thought.

Finally, Yixing reached out both of his arms, pulling Luhan into a hug, burying his face in between Luhan's neck and the collar of Luhan's jacket. He breathed in Luhan's scent, filling his lungs as full as possible. "You do know that I love you right?" he said, mumbling to Luhan's neck.

Luhan smiled as he hugs Yixing back and nuzzled his nose to Yixing's hair. "I know, and I love you too."

"And you do know that I wouldn't let anything bad happened to you, right?" Yixing asked again.

"I know, and I would never let anything bad happened to you either." Luhan understands what that was about. It was so heart breaking to see Jongin being hurt like that, and there's no way that he would let anything bad happened to him or his friends.

"He would be okay, right?" Luhan asked after a moment of silence.

Yixing finally broke the hug and now back to looking into Luhan's deer like eyes. "He will," he said with a smile, "He's a strong boy, and we're all here to help him. He will be okay, we will make sure that he will."

Luhan smiled back at Yixing. Yixing was right, Jongin will be okay, and there are five of them who will help him no matter what.

"You need to go back inside, we still have school in the morning." Yixing finally said.

"Yeah, I guess... see you at school, okay?"

"Ok, good night!" Yixing reached out his hand for the last time to cup Luhan's cheek and closing the distance between their lips. He kissed him with a slow but short kiss, his lower lip slightly before pulling back. " I love you." He said it again just to make sure.

Luhan was beaming at him, "I love you too!" He said before walking into his house.

==========

Meanwhile, at Minseok's place, after all the other boys were gone, yes, that was after Suho's jealous "Is he going to sleep WITH you?" and Minseok's "No, stupid, I have two rooms in this house!" Jongin was in the guests room, well, that was actually belong to Minseok's parents, before they left of course. He was sitting on the bed with his back pressed to the bed post when Minseok came with a mug of warm milk on his hand.

Minseok then sitting on the bed near Jongin's knee, handing him the milk . "Thank you.." was all Jongin said with hoarse voice.

"How are you feeling?" Minseok asked, somehow feeling amazed at how his life changed so much. Just few weeks before, they were nothing but strangers, and no matter how hard Jongin trying to got close to him, he would just pushed him away. But now, Jongin was in his house, the only place at the time that can give him some kind of protection. It feels like dream, almost unreal.

"How am I supposed to feel?" Jongin asked him back, genuinely confused at everything. How could he not? Just few hours ago, his dad who supposed to protect him, was beating him up, choosing to trust his step mother, and now he was at his friend's house, somehow feeling safer than when he was at his own house.

Minseok fell quite, he didn't know what to do or say. All the smart remarks he usually has were gone. He couldn't find a proper thing to say at this time, something that would probably make Jongin feel better. All words became useless, no words were good enough to comfort his friend.

"Everything will be okay.." Minseok finally said, "I don't know how, we don't know how yet... But we will find a way to this."

Jongin lifted his head, looking at Minseok somehow with hopeful eyes, feeling like there's no one else he could trust other than his friends. And like a miracle, he smiled, the first one since Luhan found him being all miserable at the park. Maybe not that kind of happy smile, but there's a small hope in that smile.

Minseok smiled back at him before saying, "Go to sleep, you need a lot of energy for whatever we are going to face tomorrow. I'll ask Suho to bring you a pair uniform for school, he must know how to get one, he's good with this kind of thing."

"Are you two dating?" Jongin suddenly asked, caught Minseok out of guard.

"What? Me? And Suho? No, no, we're not!" Minseok said, flailing his hands in front of his face.

Jongin smiled once again, he thought Minseok was actually really adorable. It's kinda obvious that Suho and Minseok like each other, but none of them have the initiative to make the first step. Suho probably afraid that Minseok would recoil if he moves to fast, while Minseok, well, Minseok just being Minseok. "Suho is a nice person," he started to talk again, "Believe it or not, he never liked anyone before, let alone dating."

Minseok was surprised at Jongin's words, he didn't expect that Suho never liked anyone before, someone like Suho can get anyone he wanted, even though he also realize that even if he can get anyone, didn't really mean he wanted anyone.

"It's none of my business." Minseok said, trying to hide his feeling, playing with the fabric of Jongin's blanket.

Jongin raised his eyebrows, "There's no need to hide your feeling in front of me, I might be stupid, but I'm not blind. Beside, didn't I say that Suho is a nice person? I didn't say it because he's my friend, but because he is. He is polite and respectful. He didn't even go to parties or clubs, and most of the time he spent his time with us or just driving around by himself. He's always lonely without us."

Minseok can only sighed, he was mentally drained from too much information in one night. "Just go to sleep now!" he said, still refuse to give a comment about Suho. He then stood up, going to go to his room. But just right before he turn the door knob, he heard Jongin saying something, "He's worth it, I mean it."

"Good night Jongin," Minseok said as he opened the door.

"Good night!" Jongin responded to him before he closed the door.

Jongin staring at the closed door for a few minutes after Minseok left, he was trying to tell himself to not cry, but he was just a boy, a kid barely 18, he missed his mom who died 10 years ago, and ever since then, his life were never be the same anymore. He gave up, lying on his bed, he cried himself to sleep, wrapped in a warm and fluffy blanket Minseok gave him a while ago, somehow still thankful that he was there that night instead of on the street somewhere.

==========

Suho was lying in his bed, totally awake. He still can't believe in what just happened to Jongin. It wasn't the first time his father beating him up like that, and every time, Jongin would go back again to that house, giving another chance to his father, just to got hurt again. He and Yixing were losing their patience already, however they still want to respect Jongin's decision while protecting him from afar, but enough is enough, and going back to that house would do nothing good to Jongin. But again, how were they supposed to tell Jongin to leave his dad, the only family he has?

Just when Suho was about trying to sleep, he heard his phone vibrating on his night stand. Blindly reaching out in the dark, he finally got to check it, it was a message from Minseok. Why would Minseok texted him in the middle of the night? He thought, afraid that something happened to Jongin, everything was possible at the time.

From: Minseok

Are you sleeping already?

Maybe it wasn't something bad, he thought again. He wasted no time to reply to Minseok's message.

To: Minseok

No, I haven't.. What's wrong?

He waited about a minute until he got another text.

From: Minseok

Can I call you?

He smiled at the text, feeling happy just with the fact that Minseok wanted to call him first. But instead of replying back to Minseok again, he decided to just call him.

Minseok picked up his call on the third dial tone, "Hello?"

Suho's heart swells just listening to Minseok's voice, "Hey.. what's wrong? Is Jongin okay?" He asked.

"Well, yeah, he's okay... depends on your definition of okay, of course." Minseok answered from the opposite line.

Suho relieved that it wasn't something about Jongin, "So, what makes you wanted to call me then?" He asked again.

"Uh....." Minseok hesitated, making Suho raised his eyebrows, waiting him to continue. "Jongin need a pair of uniform tomorrow, and obviously I can't make him to use mine, so.... I was wondering if you can help.."

So, it was about uniform, Suho thought, a little bit disappointed. It was an easy thing for him. "Yeah, sure! It's not a big deal."

"Oh, okay then..." Minseok said, somehow feeling awkward, he didn't used to talk in phone with Suho. "I'll hang up now, sorry to disturb you."

And just right before Minseok hung up the phone, Suho quickly calling his name, "Minseok, wait!"

"Yeah?" Minseok was half surprised, half expecting Suho to continue the conversation.

"Nothing," Suho said, he honestly just wanted to listen to Minseok's voice just a little bit longer, but he didn't want to bother him, and he didn't know what to say either, "Good night!" He could only say that.

"Oh! Yea, good night!" Suho could almost swear he heard a little bit disappointment in Minseok's voice, but maybe it was just him hallucinating.

a/n2: HOW? .__.

a/n3: I wasn't kidding when I said I write this on my phone, all of these u_u