!tw: character death.

Except that it is not home for Howon. He tries, like everybody else, to adapt to a new situation. Sunggyu watches him come and go with his new leg, stop at times, and massage his knee. Sometimes he participates with the automaton, but most of the time he lies around the house and in occasions, helps with minor chores.

He's seen kids like him come to St. Angie's before; they could never get over their injuries, come to terms with their lost limbs. Old Grinder would send them to the worst parts of the city then, and when the police retrieved their cold bodies he would bawl crocodile tears to later go back to get drunk inside his room with the least of care.

While Sunggyu is a muddle of confusion, wondering about what he's done nights ago, Woohyun is more practical than him. He gives Howon a nickname, Hoya, and puts him to clean every gear in the house because it's only when he has a pair of tweezers and a clock ticks, repaired by him, that a smile makes its way on his lips.

(But of course Woohyun would be the one to understand. He's always there, always supporting everyone, and Sunggyu doesn't know how to deal with the boy's love that seems unconditional for each one of them equally, because his own certainly goes far beyond favoritism towards the person who's been there for him all since this, this change started.)

The new therapy for Hoya doesn't work for very long, though. It could also add to the fact that he can't come to terms with what Sunggyu and Woohyun have done, and before they know it, his bed is made one early morning and neither his leg nor are coat where they're supposed to be.

"He's going back to Busan, isn't he?" Sunggyu says during breakfast. Next to him, Woohyun hums in agreement. "Do you think he'll make it?"

Master of Make-believes, please lie to me.

"With his leg as it is? Don't think so. Busan is too far from here for a boy his age, he won't go too far." Woohyun's sincerity strikes him even though he expects it. But Sunggyu knows the kids are listening—they always are—and he can't afford to discourage them with this. The quiet gasps following the boy's words confirm it.

"Don't say things like that," he mumbles loud enough for just the two of them to hear. Woohyun looks at him with hurt eyes, reflecting the burden Sunggyu's unconsciously put in him since the beginning.

But the look disappears, replaced by a comforting smile that makes Sunggyu choke down his feelings, bitter with himself. "Or maybe he will. Tell you what; we should go look for him after breakfast. Is that okay?"

The older nods, unable to meet his eyes. His gaze falls on the other boy's hands, clenched against the fabric of his pants. He hopes Woohyun's right because he always is, he should always be. The thought snaps something within him, the idea that he's put so much trust in a sole person, that he's allowed himself to be (maybe too) careless in front of someone.

As always, Woohyun's words become true. But alas, it's not his second prediction but the first. After an entire day of looking throughout the darkest parts of the city, asking questions to the wrong (and right) people, and nosing around for too long, the police turns to their door at night.

A detective carries a complicated recording machine, along with a group of computermen, and asks for the whereabouts of their master. Woohyun is quick in explaining he's been gone for a night, visiting relatives out of the state, and Sunggyu asks to tell them the news to them instead. They've found his body with the pockets slit and the fine, hand-tuned peg leg gone, and need someone to confirm his identification.

He had been dead for hours.

"What now?" Sunggyu is the first to speak once they've calmed the children and sent everybody to sleep. Behind him, Woohyun—still unsure of himself around him, the artisan notices—shakes his head.

Woohyun, the better of the two at the art of lying with fluency, was the one to go with the detective. He came back with the news that the man would be coming back the following day at the afternoon to speak with the Grinder, and big, fat tears he couldn't hide even behind his comforting smile.

"What now? I—We need to think about that." Woohyun keeps his eyes downcast and shoulders tense.

"Well there's not much to think." Sunggyu gulps down the guilt. Howon died and it's partially his fault. He didn't make the boy feel at home. He left everything to Woohyun and at the end it was too much. "We're going to jail, maybe even to the rope. How's that."

Woohyun swears under his breath. "I swear sometimes you have the worst plans."

That makes Sunggyu snap. "Is there something that bothers you? You've been distant. Hostile even."

"How would you know that? You've been busy avoiding me." There's a layer of coldness underneath the control in Woohyun's eyes. Sunggyu notices the trail of tears drying on his cheeks. "If I thought you went for petticoats before, I got convinced you were more interested in younger boys."

Sunggyu runs his fingers through his hair. "This is not the time or place for this, Woohyun. We need to focus in finding a way not to get caught."

"No, it is." Woohyun limps his way towards him, but the older boy is quicker. For each step he takes Sunggyu retracts three. "You were the one who asked."

"Yes, but—" I'm not sure I want to know the answer, he thinks, but it's something pretty useless to say aloud. Instead, "I can't let the kids lose their family again. We're the only ones they have left."

"There you go with the family again." Woohyun raises both hands, frustrated. "And will you stop stepping back? I won't do anything to you."

That makes him freeze on his spot, finally catching the reason behind the boy's insecurity. "Is this about that night when you asked me what I thought of you? When you asked me if I saw you like a brother too?" When Woohyun shouts an eager yes, he plumps down in the bed, face buried on his palm. "There are bigger things at stake here. We should discuss this later."

"No, this is important. What if whatever happens never lets us make things straight?" Sunggyu looks up to find Woohyun standing in front of him, eyes more determined than the time he promised to make a home for the children. "You can't say you see me like a brother and then kiss me and avoid me. What should I make of that?"

Sunggyu sighs, dropping his hand to his lap. "You're telling me we have to discuss this at this very moment." Woohyun nods. "There won't be other time." Woohyun shakes his head. "This is the extreme relevance and everything else can wait just for us." The third time the boy moves his head manages to convince Sunggyu this is somewhat a good idea. "You're incredible."

"Does this mean you're giving in?" A grin too bright even in the dim-lightened room fights to break on his lips. The elder struggles not to mimic it because there are so many important things to discuss and they're here, talking about something he's not sure he wants to.

"Giving in to what? There are more important things to discuss now."

"You're right,"—Woohyun sits down next to him, shaking off his prosthesis—"but this is important too."

With the same oily hands he's been working, he's been searching for a boy dead before life gave him a chance to start again, Woohyun brushes his fingers along Sunggyu's clothed shoulders. The soft fingertips run until they set on his jaw and turn it slightly towards him, just enough to catch a glimpse of each others eyes and while Sunggyu is still grasping the fact he's just given himself away (and kissing won't resolve anything about their current issues because that's only told in romance novels he's only heard the girls talk about while cooking) the same soft lips press against the corner of his.

"There. Now that it's settled, we can continue with our discussion." Woohyun seems satisfied with himself, but for him it's not enough.

"I have the feeling our priorities are slightly askew," Sunggyu ends up muttering before pulling the other boy towards him with his fingers tangled on the black hair until they're lying on the bed, close to each other, and Woohyun breathes quietly against his collar bones. "Now tell me more about your plan."

"Sometimes I worry."

"About what? Our improvised plans always turn out to work. Now say it again."

And he has the nerve to call them our plans.

In front of the mirror inside their closet, Sunggyu takes a deep breath. "Quick, officer, he's going to kill himself!"

Woohyun scowls. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Well what do you expect? You're the good liar, you should be the one doing this."

"But the sisters know you as his right-hand assistant." Sunggyu's glare manages to send a shiver through his spine. "No pun intended."

He decides to overlook Woohyun's bad joke because, as much as he'd like to deny it, the boy is right (but when is he not?) Arranging his vest back in place to distract himself, Sunggyu changes the topic. "Do you think this is going to work?"

"For the tenth time, of course. What else is there if it doesn't?" Woohyun puts on his fake leg and stands up, moving next to him. Their frames barely fit on the mirror together, but it looks surprisingly fitting. Although it must be just him and his lack of sleep. "You're going to do great. Don't worry."

Sunggyu doesn't worry about the possible lies Woohyun likes to tell to make him feel better. They don't feel forced anyway.

With the humid weather of a rainy spring morning, Sunggyu watches the kids arrange the automaton so that it's easy for bystanders to think he (it) is going to jump while Woohyun punches some controls to make him move. This is yet the worst of their ideas, making it look like Grinder is committing suicide? At least the river is contaminated enough to dissolve the pieces.

The boy with the controller signals him and despite his anxiousness, he nods to confirm he's received the order. He strolls until he's close enough to an official trying to warm himself up, but not enough to be seen. With the slight drizzle falling over him, Sunggyu wonders if this is the right thing to do.

It's then when doubts start filling him up again, followed by an immense sense of guilt and misery. Those emotions claw at him, empowering every sense of security he's ever felt. How can he do this if his family thought of him as disposable, if he didn't even manage to keep his limbs together? How, when a kid died under his watch and everyone else has been forced to lie all this time?

The drizzle grows to become a downpour while Sunggyu fights back the tears because he's not one to cry in public, that's reserved for cold winter nights behind the bathroom door, and what's worse, those were suppose to have ended already. At the end he loses the battle, giving in to the tears that burn down his cheeks and mix with the rain.

But then he thinks back of their lazy mornings, of the smile of the young children and their cheers and their security and their trust. He also thinks he thinks of Woohyun's encouragements and the times he's got them out of trouble with his words (and deep inside, of the proud smile when he finished the Faberge egg and the shy kisses they've shared in the death of the night, when nobody has seen and nobody has told.)

Sunggyu can't betray that.

"Quick, officer, he's going to kill himself!"

The sisters, convinced they're heartbroken for the loss of their master, make their best attempt to lend a motherly embrace. Most of the kids take advantage of the opportunity of warmth. At least they're good actors.

Sunggyu doesn't cry, but the heaviness of realization that a new patron will come to take care of them as soon as they find one is enough to have a strong feeling of dread settling on his chest. The sisters have promised that, even though they notice how things are under control despite the Grinder's absence.

"If only we could find another way." He's not one for regrets, but the familiar sense of powerlessness fills him like bile crawling up his throat.

Woohyun grunts something from his place in front of the desk, focused on another small device he's building. "That's going to be hard. I don't think we can keep up killing off our caretakers. They're gonna end up noticing sooner or later."

What a waste, Sunggyu thinks, all of this potential and effort going to waste. And him and Woohyun, what is there for them? What is going to happen to them?

"How much time do you give this?"

"What do you mean?" Woohyun finally looks up, and the only thing Sunggyu can see is bad-hidden doubt (with thick sadness underneath that just hurts.)

"To St. Angie's." He swallows, feeling his throat constrict.

Woohyun drops his tools and leans back on the chair, crossing his arms behind his head. He huffs. "Two years, maybe?" Then, with a less dreamy tone—that still makes him sound like he cares, at least to Sunggyu—"But that's for us. You got less time, don't you? I bet you'll be turning 18 soon."

Sunggyu nods. "Yeah, in…" He trails off, widening his eyes with realization. "What day is today?"

"April 28th, why?" His voice acquires confusion.

He laughs—a bitter, unpleasant sound even for his own ears. "Why, dear. I'm pretty sure I've just become 18 years old today."

Woohyun looks at him with astonishment. His face twists in a grimace shortly after, just to be replaced with a thin (fake) smile. "Well, happy birthday. And I think it's illegal for you to call me dear now, by the way."

His words manage to put a smile on Sunggyu's face, despite the bitterness of the situation. They stay in silence after that, each one wrapped on their own thoughts, until the younger boy decides to move again.

He takes the object he was working on between his fingers. It's a slim piece of wood yet to be painted with the key placed carefully in the back. Woohyun winds it up once, twice, and then lets go. Half of it opens, allowing him to see a human figure. He realizes the parts that separate are wings and when the figure looks up, a genderless angel with a face strikingly similar to his own meets his eyes.

"You're kidding," he says with a cracked voice he doesn't mean to let out. Despite that, he continues rambling. "This is not possible. You can't be serious."

Woohyun's smile grows so much the crooked row of his bottom teeth show. "Do you like it? It was meant to be your goodbye present when you left St. Angie's, though I didn't expect it to be so soon. It was supposed to open all the way, and then bat its wings."

When.

Sunggyu swallows the idea that the other boy had been preparing himself for the day he left because it was meant to happen, wasn't it?

Before, at nights down the hole when Good Old Grinder used to beat him up or when he bandaged injured kids, he used to grind his teeth in frustration and wish for the day he left to come faster. Now he doesn't want to go, to leave Woohyun and the others to suffer under someone probably worse than the Grinder.

"I want to stay here," he realizes aloud.

Woohyun, with a resigned sigh, says, "It's natural. I don't think there's anyone who's cared so much about the kids except you. But I don't have any clever ideas anymore."

"No more lies?" Sunggyu holds the wind-up angel between his fingers. "I can't believe you just did this, with my face nonetheless. So corny," he muses.

"Sunggyu," the older boy's call makes him look up. "You seem strangely calm for our situation here, even though you were about to cry just a second ago."

"Was not!" He rises up. Woohyun grins at him with a confidence that says I know you're lying. Sighing, he sits back down. "Well, I guess now you know how it feels when you're the one coming up with ridiculous ideas."

"Does this mean you've thought of something?" Woohyun's surprise causes an odd sense of hope to settle on his chest, wide, like it's going to burst.

"You were the one who said our improvisation always seem to work."

Like with any other plans they've come up with during their time as rulers of St. Angela's, Sunggyu finds himself unconvinced. But like always, this option becomes the only one with a chance to save them.

The mother superior looks surprised when he asks to have a talk. He can't blame her; who would want to discuss business with a kid?

"Mother superior, I just wanted to tell you I've become of legal age today." Sunggyu puts on a shy smile and takes off his hat to create a humble impression.

"Oh, congratulations then, Sunggyu dear." She pats his shoulder with a positive, but slightly confused, expression. "What do you plan of doing now?"

"Well, mother, this is why I wanted to speak with you. I assume you've seen how Mr. Grindersworth behaved around me. He even referred to me as his assistant in more than one occasion, if you remember." The woman nods and Sunggyu takes a deep breath. "So, considering you must be lacking a person to occupy the place as the caretaker of this place, I would like to, well, run St. Angela's formally."

"Oh, but dear." twists on a pitying smile that Sunggyu finds close to infuriating, but speaks nothing about it. "That is not possible. The Governor won't allow someone so young to become the superintendent so easily."

"The Governor doesn't have to know, mother superior. I don't see why having a temporal superintendent would cause a turmoil." Still, she still looks unconvinced, so he has to elaborate further. "This is the best opportunity you can give us, ma'am. These children are like a family to me, and I'm sure they see me as part of the family too. It would be the best for our home to stay the way it is despite, eh, my Master's absence."

He hopes the bitter tone of the last part of his words go unnoticed by the woman. Luckily, it does, and the Abbess's relaxed face brings him an even wider sense of hope fluttering inside him.

"Where have you learned such persuading ways?" She ends up giving in with a smile growing less obnoxious.

Sunggyu smiles. "I've learned from the best."

{epilogue - "homecoming"}

Woohyun makes his way through the living room like he owns the place, dragging his bad leg along with confident steps. He carries a box and a mischievous grin.

"Good evening, everyone. Mind if I stay for dinner?" The kids cheer in joy from the kitchen. Of course, Sunggyu rolls his eyes. Everyone loves Woohyun.

The younger man walks up to the counter where the other man is leaning, lips barely touching the skin of his cheeks. At last minute, though, Sunggyu turns his head sideways and wraps him on a one-armed hug.

"Not here," he mumbles, fighting a childish giggle. Then, in a louder voice, "What brings you here so early in the month, recruiting more staff for your workshop?"

"Yeah," Woohyun grins, placing the box on the bar located in the dinning room. "Some of the guys have decided to move south and I'm lacking a good artisan for, eh, aesthetic reasons, I suppose."

"I'd be more than glad to help you." Sunggyu brings a basket hanging from the hook on his arm and a kid from the other. "If you need me, that is."

"Nah, with you devoted more to this asylum than to a workshop? I don't think so. Besides, who wants an old man like you anyway?"

"Hey, I still can do well on my own." The truth is that Sunggyu hasn't either picked up a brush or come close to a mold in years.

Everyone sits down along the big table. Kids take turns in filling their plates with warm meat and soft breads. Between the comfortable chatting at the table and occasional disagreements (all of which Sunggyu promptly shuts down), they keep talking.

He grabs a bit of the sauce and smears it on Sunggyu's cheek while teasing. Too bad the other man has to wait for him to wipe it off while the children giggle, since his only hand is busy wrapped around Woohyun's underneath the table.

That night, like always, Woohyun decides to stay. (On his room nonetheless. That brat still knows nothing about manners or personal space.)

It's funny, Sunggyu thinks while taking off his vest, because as much as they've become nothing like the shy kids full of trembling hands as they fumbled with clothes and emotions, Woohyun lets his childishness show a bit too much from time to time. What is even worse is that Sunggyu doesn't even mind—much.

This is one of these occasions. From where he's shaking off his boots, Sunggyu watches the other man's back arch as he maneuvers with the box he brought. He mumbles a couple of curses under his breath—same that the older prohibits on the Home and should be scolding him for them now-and after some time, a final shout allows him to turn to face the man on the bed.

"Lying down already?" Sunggyu scoffs at the teasing voice. "C'mon, I want to show you something."

"I am sitting down, not lying down. And why don't you come if you want to show me whatever you have in there."

"With what costs me to drag my leg over there? You'd be here already." So Sunggyu complies, not with much enthusiasm.

When he reaches the worktable-turned-exhibition table, Woohyun has a box covering the object placed in the center, among the tens of wind-up toys he's always bringing for Sunggyu. He counts to three, and when he takes off the box, the older sees a small, rotating lamp with silhouettes painted on the shade. It also has a wide base where a small key protrudes. After winding it up, light flows from somewhere inside it and the shadow starts spinning.

But that isn't the only thing. Sunggyu hears, with fascination growing unable to be pushed down, bubbling inside his chest, that same tune from years ago echoing in the entire room. The notes are simple, similar to the ones from the music boxes the kids build on their free time, but they manage to stir Sunggyu's heart. The shadows, too, fill the room, to genderless figures dancing around them, growing big and then small.

The older man is too busy noticing every detail he misses the hands sneaking around his waist until he's pulled into a hug. Woohyun laughs that throaty laugh of his, burying his head on the hollow of Sunggyu's neck, and of course, pleased with himself. Sunggyu does the same.

He pulls the caretaker around the room in a clumsy dance. But even so, he moves in a way that makes him look like he owns the place. In a way he's done, years ago, when they assumed total control of St. Angela's, and he owned Sunggyu too (just as much as he owns Woohyun anyway.) In a sense, he still does.

They stumble with their steps until the music stops, and when Sunggyu steps on the other's metallic foot, fall down to hit the cold floor while still laughing like they're teenagers again.

"How's business?" Sunggyu asks casually, making himself comfortable on the other's chest. It's not like Woohyun can run away from him.

"Better than ever." The movement of his stomach as he laughs feels pleasant when Sunggyu climbs up. "And with those energetic boys running around like they know what to do I can come home more often."

The feeling settled on Sunggyu's chest when he realizes the other man still thinks of St. Angie's as a home even though he's moved away and opened his own workshop can't compare with anything else, not even the warm hug from a little kid or their embarrassed expression when they accidentally call him dad.

"That's good." He places a kiss on Woohyun's cheek. And another. And another. And then a thousand more. "Welcome home."

well that went surprisingly smooth. except hoya's death, oops.

between six marvel movies (no but seriously, my sister wanted to marathon them—chris hemsworth is a god btw) and writing y drabbles (coughs up blood and sugar), i managed to edit this final chapter today (cheesy epilogue included and all.) i'm sorry this wasn't as quick as the other updates, and it probably wasn't as well edited either （；￣ェ￣） still, thank you for reading, and don't forget to tell me what you think! (because you know, i like your comments like a lot lot lot.)