“Palli palli, you guys have to leave before Zi gets up,” Kyung said as he pushed Yongguk and Jongup towards the exit.

    “Look, thanks for helping me,” Yongguk said sheepishly as he struggled against Kyung’s pushing.

    “Ne,” Jongup agreed, “kamsamnida.”

    Taeil rolled his eyes and acted like they hadn’t been about to kill both Yongguk and Jongup just yesterday.  “Yeah, yeah… just go already.”

    Kyung nodded and ran around Yongguk and Jongup to open the front door.  “Man, if Zico would have caught either of you two here, he would have…”

    “Would have what?”

    Kyung paled and froze up when he saw Zico standing on the other side of the door glaring at all of them, looking ready to kill.

    “Tell me, what would I have done?” Zico asked again, walking into the base, forcing the others to step back.  He slammed the door behind him and looked pointedly at Taeil and Kyung.  “What. The. Hell. Are they. Doing here?”  Zico was seething.

    “Uh… ehem… well, you see…”  Kyung scratched the back of his head as he searched for words to tell Zico.

    Yongguk stepped forward even though Jongup grabbed his arm warningly.  “They helped me.”

    Zico looked at Yongguk incredulously.  “What?!”

    “After we went through that window, I’m not sure what all happened, but we were pretty messed up.  They brought us back here and had some private doctor patch us up.  We would have bled out and died otherwise.”

    Zico looked back and forth between Yongguk, Kyung, and Taeil.  “Are you kidding me?!  I wanted you dead!  We wanted you dead!”  Zico focused on Kyung and Taeil and asked, “What the hell happened?  You couldn’t just leave him there?!”

    “Yongguk helped us,” Taeil replied quietly, “it’s the least we could do for him.”

    “The least you could do was leave his there to die!” Zico shouted.  “Did you forget what happened to Kyung?!  He was almost killed!”

    “That wasn’t Yongguk’s fault, though,” Kyung said.

    Zico looked at Kyung surprised.  “He left you.  I told him to watch your back, and he left you all alone!”

    “I don’t need protecting,” Kyung replied, shaking his head.  “I don’t blame him with what happened.”

    Zico looked at Kyung and Taeil, stupefied.  “What…?  But… why…?”  Zico sighed and looked at Yongguk, glaring.  That’s when he really noticed Jongup standing behind Yongguk, and Zico suddenly remembered the dream.

    Everyone noticed how Zico seemed to calm down, and it worried them all.  “Zi- Zico?” Kyung called out to his lover hesitantly.

    Zico took a step closer towards Yongguk and Jongup and asked, “You both seem amicable towards Bang Yongguk, but what about this one?”

    “Mwo?” Kyung mumbled.

    Jongup stiffened nervously when he saw Zico staring him down.

    “Why is Moon Jongup here?” Zico asked calmly.

    Taeil and Kyung looked at each other, alarmed by how calm Zico was being.

    “He came to stay with me,” Yongguk spoke up.  “You attacked our home.  We still don’t know where are friends are.  Where else was he supposed to go?”

    Zico smiled.  “It’s fine.  He can stay,” Zico said friendly-like.

    All of them looked at each other with wide, confused eyes.

    “Actually, they were just leaving,” Taeil said slowly to Zico, who shook his head.

    “Ani.  Bang can leave if he wants.”  Zico looked at Kyung and Taeil, eyeing them carefully.  “That is what you two want, right?  You don’t want to kill him?”  After Kyung and Taeil agreed that they did not want to harm Yongguk, Zico continued, “Then Bang can go, but Jongup stays.”

    “What?!” Yongguk shouted.  He stepped back, closer to Jongup, shaking his head rapidly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kyeo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Zelo was fidgeting.  He was nervous and didn’t know what he should do.  Jaehyo had woken him up for breakfast, but as soon as they entered the kitchen, Jaehyo ran off to check on Himchan.  B-Bomb had supposedly eaten already and was with U-Kwon.  That left Zelo alone with P.O.  Zelo cursed himself and wondered why he didn’t go with Jaehyo to check on Himchan.

The things that P.O told him suddenly flashed in his head.  “Those two got pretty close before the park.  …they were flirting.  …a lot of times they flirting.  …they just kind of got closer…”  That’s why Zelo didn’t go with Jaehyo.  He sensed that they should be alone, or as alone as they could get with B-Bomb and U-Kwon in the same room.

    P.O stared at Zelo, confused.  He liked Jongup, even though the younger didn’t reciprocate his feelings.  But after that dream, he couldn’t help but to think of the B.A.P maknae more and more, and when the younger came into the kitchen with Jaehyo, P.O felt his heart skip a beat.  He figured it was his nerves, but he wasn’t too sure.

    “You haven’t eaten anything,” P.O mumbled, startling Zelo.

    Zelo looked up at P.O with wide eyes before looking down at his untouched plate of food.

    “Aren’t you hungry?” P.O asked quietly.

    Zelo shivered at the dull and vibrating sound of P.O’s deep, husky voice and shook his head.  “A- ani.”

    P.O continued to look Zelo over.  The younger was back to staring at his own lap, looking like someone had given him a death sentence.  P.O sighed realizing how the atmosphere was so think and tense, and it was all his fault – because he got caught up in the moment.

    “Mianhe,” P.O mumbled before he rose from the table and started to walk out of the kitchen.

    Zelo quickly popped his head up and asked, “Where are you going?”  Zelo blushed as if he hadn’t really meant to ask that, but rather stay sitting there silently.

    P.O shrugged and replied, “I’m going to go clean my weapons… maybe check the inventory.”

    Zelo stared at P.O before slowly nodding.

    “Listen,” P.O said, sighing again as he went to sit next to Zelo, “about yesterday…”

    “You kissed me,” Zelo mumbled.

    P.O grabbed the back of his neck and nodded.  “Yeah, mianhe.”

    Zelo looked at P.O, feeling more confident at seeing P.O being nervous.  “Why did you?” Zelo asked.

    “Molla,” P.O answered, standing up again.  “I like Jonguppie, not you.  So I don’t know why I would kiss you.”

    “Oh,” Zelo mumbled, looking down at his lap again, confused about why P.O’s answer seemed to have bothered him.

    “Ani, I didn’t mean it like that,” P.O told Zelo, lightly grabbing the younger’s shoulder.  “I don’t really know you that well, but you seem like a great kid.”

    For some reason, Zelo’s stomach twisted when he heard P.O call him a kid.

    “You saved Jongup from Zico,” P.O continued, “and you even took care of Himchan-hyung after you were attacked.  That’s… I mean, that’s awesome.  You’re… pretty cool.”

    Zelo snorted.  P.O took it as Zelo not believing what he was saying, but Zelo actually found it amusing, listening as P.O struggled to find the words to assure him.

    P.O sat back down next to Zelo again and stared the younger in the eyes.  “And you’re cute.  I wasn’t lying last night.  You are so damn cute!  You’re like a little baby or something.”

    Zelo frowned, and P.O tried so hard to resist squealing and affectionately attacking Zelo.

    “Ah!” P.O shouted before he grabbed Zelo’s face, mushing his cheeks.  “Just look at you!  Your cheeks are so cute!”  P.O was having a hard time resisting – he wanted to squeal so badly.

    Zelo looked at P.O through his blinking brown eyes and blushed when he remembered what happened the last time that they were in that same position.  P.O stilled, and his eyes widened when he remembered the same.

    P.O cleared his throat and stared into Zelo’s eyes.  The younger stared back at him with eyes that were beginning to blink less and less.  P.O realized that Zelo wasn’t pushing him away, but he knew that didn’t mean that Zelo wanted to be kissed either.  P.O wondered though – wondered if he truly was growing feelings for Zelo, wondered if he really did want to kiss the younger, wondered if Zelo wanted to be kissed by him.

    Just as P.O was beginning to lean in, the door to the kitchen swung open and banged against the wall.

    “He’s awake!” Jaehyo shouted with a big grin on his face.

    P.O and Zelo turned to look at Jaehyo, but P.O’s hands remained on Zelo’s face, and the two remained their close proximity.

    “Uh… what’s going on in here?” Jaehyo asked slowly.

    Their eyes widened, and P.O quickly let go of Zelo and straightened in his seat.  Zelo blushed when he realized that he too had begun to lean forward.

    “It’s nothing,” P.O said quickly.  “Who’s awake?”

    “Is it Himchan-hyung?” Zelo asked, standing up, hopeful.

    Jaehyo shook his head.  “Ani, it’s U-Kwon.  U-Kwon is awake.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Apprenticeship~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Hell no!” Yongguk yelled.  “If you think I’m going to just leave him here…!”

    “I’m not going to hurt him,” Zico replied, smirking.

    Taeil and Kyung looked at each other with confused expressions.  “Are you okay, Zico?” Taeil asked.

    Zico turned to Taeil and replied, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

    “Because everyone knows you want to kill Jongup,” Yongguk said through bared teeth.

    Zico smiled at everyone.  “Is it such a surprise that I could change my mind?”

    Yongguk scoffed and looked at Kyung and Taeil disbelievingly while Jongup remained silent and clung to one of Yongguk’s arms.

    “Why would you change your mind all of a sudden?” Taeil asked.  “…unless your obsession with killing him turned into another obsession?”

    Kyung gasped.  “You better not!” he shouted.  “Woo Jiho!  Do you want to sleep with Jongup?!”

    Everyone stared at Zico, waiting for the Red Tiger leader’s answer.  When Zico started to laugh Kyung frowned, Yongguk glared at him, Taeil looked surprised, and Jongup took a step back.

    “Why would I want to sleep with him?” Zico asked condescendingly as he pointed at Jongup.  He then tilted his head and looked Jongup up and down as if he began to consider it, but Yongguk side-stepped, blocking Jongup from his line of sight.

    “We’re leaving,” Yongguk growled.

    Zico smirked again.  “When did you get so protective over him?” he asked Yongguk.  “The last time you were here, you hated him.  Now you want to protect him from the mean Red Tiger leader.”  Zico teased Yongguk.  “It doesn’t matter, because I don’t want him dead anymore.  I want him to join us- as a Red Tiger.”

    Jongup gasped and Yongguk took a step back, surprised.

    “Wait… what?  Are you serious?” Kyung asked.

    Zico nodded.  “He has potential,” he said nonchalantly, shrugging.  “I could teach him a few things, and he could become a good asset for us.”

    Kyung and Taeil looked to be thinking about it, but Jongup was shaking his head.

    “I don’t want to be a Red Tiger,” Jongup said, stepping forward, but still remaining behind Yongguk.  “I won’t be one.”

    “You don’t have a choice,” Zico replied, glaring at Jongup.  “You tried to kill me.”

    “You tried to kill me!” Jongup fired back, astonished that Zico would try to play the victim.

    Zico smirked and looked as if he could care less.  “Fine, don’t join us,” he said, “but I’ll have to kill you.”  Zico stared at Jongup darkly.  “Do you really want to go back to running from me, trying to hide, wondering where I might be, if I’m coming for you, wondering if today will be the day that I finally kill you?”

    Jongup looked worried, which Zico expected.  Zico smirked and said, “Either join us or be hunted down.  You choose.”

    “That’s bull!” Yongguk shouted.  “You can try to hunt him down all you like, but I won’t let you touch him!”  Yongguk grabbed Jongup’s and shoved Zico out of the way as he head for the door, pulling Jongup behind him.

    Zico snarled when Yongguk pushed him and was getting ready to attack the older, but Jongup made him pause.

    “Wait,” Jongup mumbled, pulling on Yongguk’s hand.

    Yongguk turned around and looked at Jongup incredulously.  “You can’t possibly be thinking about…”

    “I’ve had nightmares ever since that first time I’ve met Zico.  I’ve been running from him for so long, and I can’t keep doing it anymore.  I don’t have the strength,” Jongup confessed.

    “But Jongup,” Yongguk responded softly.

    “I’ll go crazy if I have to endure this torture any longer,” Jongup told Yongguk.  He sighed and took a step back before turning to face Zico.  “I’ll stay.”

    Zico smirked and nodded.  Kyung and Taeil just hung in the back, not really knowing what to say or how to react.

    “Hyung,” Jongup said, turning back to Yongguk.  “Go find Himchan-hyung and Zelo.  Tell them that I…”

    Yongguk interrupted Jongup.  “I’m staying with you,” he said.

    “But Himchan-hyung and Zelo…”

    Yongguk shook his head.  “I'm not going to leave you here by yourself.  I’m staying with you.” Yongguk left no room for argument.

    Zico smiled, although it seemed more wicked than genuine.  “Welcome to the Red Tigers,” he said.  Zico then looked at Yongguk and added, “This won’t be like the last time.  You won’t be a temporary help.  You’ll be real members – permanent members – both of you.”

    “Ne,” Jongup responded quietly.

    Yongguk glared at Zico, but nodded.  “Ne,” he responded.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N:  In the next chapter, U-Kwon will be awake.  Finally!  Also, I plan to reveal what Zico is thinking in having Jongup join the Red Tigers, so look forward to that.  Also, does anyone else think that they wuld have a meltdown if Zelo was sitting in front of them looking adorably cute with those habitually blinking eyes? Lately Zelo has looked more mature and y, IMO, but he still looks cute at times, and I just want to pinch his cheeks and coo.