Leeteuk sat at the table with Donghae, gently wiping his tears. "Come on Hae, you can do it" he said gently, caring for him as he fell apart.

"I can't hyung.. My body is tired, and my brain is even more tired. I can't do any more maths."

"It's only a few more questions Hae, and then you can go to sleep. I'll look after you, everything will be fine."

 

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Kangin gently hugging Henry, the boy crying into his shoulder.

"Henry, I know it hurts to be away from your family.. It's going to be okay, and we're all here to care for you. Now, why don't we start with history?"

Henry just shook his head and cried. "Please hyung, please write a note saying that I don't have to go to school..."

Kangin hugged him close, and gently rubbed his back. "School is important, I'm sorry but I can't write you a note.. I'll help you though, we'll do the homework together."

Writing essay after essay, Henry could feel his eyes closing and he would have fallen asleep at the table if Kangin hadn't been there to keep him awake. Providing endless cups of coffee, and gently helping the boy, they got the work done.

Henry didn't even get to put the work away before he collapsed, falling asleep on the table. Kangin gently picked him up and carried him to bed, slipping the essays into the boy's bag.

 

Leeteuk was still struggling with Donghae, the boy was exhausted and had given up on any hope of passing his maths test.

"Can't I just fail hyung? Please! I want to go to bed. I want to go home.."

Teuk held him close, rubbing his back. "Hae, I know that it's difficult, but you need to keep going. We'll care for you, and everything will be okay. Why don't you go to sleep now, and I'll wake you up earlier in the morning to study?"

Nodding gratefully, Donghae hugged into Leeteuk sleepily, before padding off to bed. When Kangin saw him, he called him over.

"Hae, can you sleep next to Henry? He's a little homesick."

Nodding, Hae snuggled the boy under the warm blankets, and fell asleep.

 

Walking into Ryeowook's room, Kangin saw Yesung and Wook asleep together at the desk, books still open with half finished homework. Wook's eyes had bags, and he looked exhausted. The boys looked younger in sleep, and they didn't even move when Kangin called their names. Feeling like Satan for disturbing their sleep, Kangin shook their shoulders gently.

"Come on Wookie, time to do more maths."

The boy was sweet, smiling weakly at Kangin before attempting some more of the questions. Yesung was a little more unhappy at having his sleep disturbed.

"Go away Kangin, we weren't sleeping, we were just taking a power nap."

"Yesung, when you decide to adopt Ryeowook as your dongsaeng you agreed to help him. You need to care for him. You can both sleep later."

"Shouldn't you be helping someone then? You're a hyung too!"

"I was just helping Henry, and now his work is over. I've come to check on you and make sure that everything is okay."

 

Yesung stood up. "Just go away Kangin!!" Leaving the room, he sighed and flopped onto the sofa, regretting his outburst. Lying on the soft cushions, he felt his eyes closing before he could stop them.

In the room, Ryeowook was struggling with his work, his eyes closing. He looked desperate for sleep, and Kangin wished that he could help him. Reading out the questions, he watched as Wook slowly answered them.

The work wasn't extremely difficult, but Wook was so tired that he kept making mistakes. Once the work was finally over, the smaller boy crawled into bed and slept, not even taking the time to change into his pajamas.

Kangin pressed a kiss to his hair, and tucked him in.

 

Kibum and Kyuhyun were working together, tutoring each other with the work. Kyuhyun was working on english, and Kibum was struggling a little with his maths.

"So if you subtract it, and then divide by 4..."

Kyuhyun was gently helping him, his words soft. "No, you have to divide by 8, not 4. Here, let me.."

Smiling, Leeteuk left the boys to work.

 

As they went into the living room, Leeteuk saw Yesung sleeping on the sofa. Placing a blanket over him, he pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. The boy looked younger, his eyes had bags and he looked exhausted. Leeteuk felt the same, but knew that he had to make sure that everyone was okay first. Although they had spent a lot of time together, this was the first time they had properly been in the dorm all together. It was exciting, but Leeteuk knew that it would take a lot of work.

 

Some of the boys were older, and didn't have to go to school anymore, but some were still spending their days in the classroom, and had the added stress of practice and training. Leeteuk knew that as the exams started to show, he needed to support the boys so that they could have as little stress as possible.

Seeing that everyone was okay, he finally went to sleep himself. Lying in the room next to Yesung, who Kangin had carried to bed, he closed his eyes with exhaustion. And felt warm arms wrap around him.

 

Looking at Henry, he saw his tearful gaze and wet cheeks, and he put his arms around him, feeling the love from the younger boy.

"What happened Henry, is it school?"

"It's just everything hyung... everything is so tiring.. School all day, and then practice and homework.." He sniffed gently. "And I want to go home.."

Leeteuk hugged him, knowing that Henry was so far from home, so far from his family. He couldn't just drive there for a few days and then come back. his hair, he gently kissed his forehead.

"Don't cry Henry, I'll do my best to help with homework and school, and practice will go well. You just need to nap whenever you can. Try and sleep next to me, then you'll feel a little stronger in the morning."

Feeling the boy's chest slowly rising and falling, Leeteuk smiled. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard the small shy words.

"I love you Teukie hyung."

"I love you too Henry."

 

In the morning, Leeteuk woke Donghae up at 5 in the morning for his maths homework, and found the boy already up and working on it. Kyuhyun was at his side, and Leeteuk smiled at the pair.

Going to make breakfast, he called for the other boys. When there was no reaction, he went to their rooms to call for them.

 

Seeing Ryeowook in his room, Kibum hugging into him, he felt sad. Ryeowook was having his first day at the new school, and he knew that the shy boy was nervous.

"It's stupid hyung, I feel like I'm 5 years old all over again" he had said, and Leeteuk smiled at the sleeping boy in front of him. He did look about 5 years old, his skin soft with sleep and his limbs tangled with Kibum's.

Leeteuk felt terrible for disturbing their sleep.

 

Going from room to room, he gently woke each member, either for practice or for school.

"Come on, wake up. It's time for breakfast."

As everyone sat at the table, Leeteuk went around pouring coffee and making tea. As he watched the younger members go to school, he hugged them and straightened their ties, wishing them well. They smiled and hugged back.

 

As they went, Kangin came over to him, and hugged him gently from behind. "How do you feel?"

"Like a parent. I just hope that they do well.. Their parents are trusting me to look after them.." he whispered. Kangin just hugged tighter.

"They'll be fine.."

 

After practice, when everyone was back from school, Leeteuk's heart sank to hear the small sobs and sniffles.

"Who's crying? Let me hug you."

He found Donghae weeping into the sofa, and he gently hugged him.

"I failed my maths test hyung.. He ripped my test up and said that if I don't do better then he'll drop me from the course.."

"I'll help you Hae, you won't fail. You just need to work hard at maths for the next hour, and then it'll be time for practice. Do you want me to sit with you?"

Seeing the gentle nod, he watched Hae get out his books and he dropped a kiss on his head. Sitting next to him on the sofa, he started to read out the questions and explain the work. When Kyuhyun came into the room, Leeteuk quickly called him over.

"Kyu, can you help Hae with his maths?"

"Sorry hyung.. I need to help Ryeowook.. He's really upset.."

Leeteuk got to his feet. "You help Hae, I'll look after Ryeowook."

 

Almost running to the boy's room, he saw the small figure slowly doing his homework, whilst wiping his tears. Squeezing his shoulder, he saw the boy flinch a little. 

"Sorry hyung.. I just h-hurt that shoulder today.."

"How did you hurt it Wookie? What happened to make you cry?"

The boy sniffed harder, and rolled up his sleeve. On the skin was a large bruise, and Leeteuk gasped.

"I have one on my shoulder as well.. From the boys in my class.." He looked at Leeteuk with tears in his eyes, and the older boy hugged him close. Being careful not to press against his shoulder, he gently removed the boy's blazer and shirt, wincing when he saw the purple bruise. It looked painful, and Leeteuk left Wook doing his homework whilst he went to get an icepack. 

 

In the kitchen, Kibum and Henry were practing their korean together, and Leeteuk smiled at the pair.

"How was school?"

"It was okay.. Hyung, can Wookie come into my class?"

Leeteuk nodded. "I'm going to ask about him changing, you'll look after him won't you Henry?"

"Yes, he was so sad in the car, and he kept wincing when someone would accidentally touch his shoulder.."

Fetching the icepack, Teuk went to the boy's room and held the cold pack to the boy's shoulder whilst he was doing his history. Helping the boy with the work, he smiled at him.

"Everything will be okay Wookie, I'll try and get you into Henry's class."

Smiling gratefully, Ryeowook hugged into Leeteuk and felt his eyes closing.

 

Leeteuk wanted to cry as he shook the boy awake. Of all the members, he hated waking Ryeowook up the most, because the boy was so sweet about it. He never grumbled, he just smiled weakly and rubbed his eyes. It made Leeteuk feel so guilty.

"Come on Wookie, you need to do your homework.."

 

As Wook settled down to do the essay, and Leeteuk left to check on the others, Henry came in and hugged him. Looking at the paper, he saw a small mistake in the english words. Gently correcting him, he smiled at Wook.

"Thank you Henry.. I'm just so tired.."

"Me too.. And I miss my brother."

Cuddling together on the bed, Wook felt Henry gently his hair, and he hugged into him.

Gently snuggled on the bed, they napped together, exhaustion setting in. With all the homework and studying and practice, they had forgotten what it felt like to not be tired all the time. They lay cuddled together, with their hands holding tightly to each other's. When Kyuhyun came in to check on Ryeowook, he saw that the homework was finished, and he sat on the bed, unsure of whether to join them. After a short pause, he finally gave in to the tiredness and lay down, hugging into Wook as he did so. After a few moments, Kibum joined them.

 

Leeteuk came in and saw them cuddled together, the babies of the group. Placing a blanket over their tired bodies, he gently pressed a kiss to their hair. He knew that they were exhausted from the work, and that being away from home was making them emotional, but he was glad that they had each other, that they didn't feel lonely.

Lying down to cuddle them, Leeteuk knew he would do anything to protect the group, to keep them together. He would protect his new family with all his strength.

 

As Kangin came into the room, and lay down next to him, they shared a smile, feeling like new parents.