“Did a tornado just past by this area?” Eric voiced once they stepped into the living room and saw the smashed furniture.

A sheepish Junjin coughed to cover his embarrassment and proceeded to one of the rooms in the cottage that he hadn’t laid his destructive hands on. He was about to lay Hyesung on the bed when Eric stopped him.

“Hold on, I’ll go grab some clean clothes from my car to cover the bed just in case the sheets are not clean and infect Hyesung’s wound” upon saying that he went out.

In a flash, Eric was back with a pile of clothes and 3 bottles of water. “Andy-ah, can you please go get a clean bowl and search the house for medical supplies.”

Hearing Eric’s instructions Andy went about his task and Junjin laid Hyesung on top of the clothes on the bed. Once Hyesung was settled, Eric pried the bandage open and checked on the wound. The sight of it worried him, “it’s not good and the antiseptic lotion is not clearing the infection. I hope Andy is able to find some medical supplies here. Mine is not strong enough for such deep wounds and I don’t have any antibiotics left.”

Seeing the deep wound and infection Junjin’s heart was gripped with fear “If there isn’t any, I’ll head into town to find some.” Junjin muttered and stood up. Eric being the clear headed one stopped Junjin “No, night is approaching, it’s not safe for you to go out now and you’ll have to stay here. Just in case Hyesung wakes up and not see you, he will get agitated again and might further aggravate his injury again.”

“But…”

“I know you are worried about Hyesung, but it is really not wise to do it now.”

Just when Eric finished his sentence Andy stepped in with a salad bowl and a box of aspirin. “This is all I can find in the cupboards, we are lucky there are still two pills left.”

After Andy handing the pills to Junjin, he stepped forward between Eric and Junjin to check on the wound. “Hyung, pass me the antiseptic lotion and pour some water into that bowl, we will make do with those first.  Don’t worry Junjin-shi; the wound is not bad enough to cause a coma, I’ve seen worst.” After explaining, Andy proceeded to do what he can for the wound. “Okay, after this we just need to tilt his head up and feed him the aspirin, he should be able to swallow” upon that he fed Hyesung the pills with water and just like what Andy said, Hyesung’s Adam’s apple moved and Junjin sighed with relieve.

“Cool Andy! Since when you know how to do this? You used to hate the sight of blood; you freaked out the last time you saw my injury during practice.”

“Ya hyung! That was like eons ago!” Andy whined while looking up at his hyung grinning at him proudly.

“Thank you Andy-ssi. If it wasn’t you I think I’ll be the one freaking out now.”

“Nah, it’s nothing. I actually learnt it from the people who saved me; this is my first time doing it though.” Andy replied and gave a small smile to Junjin. “Your hand?”

 “Oh it’s nothing, I almost forgot about it.” Junjin replied trying to cover his embarrassment.

“Let me see” Andy said and took Junjin’s hand before he could answer. Without saying another word, he proceeded to remove the splinters and clean the scratches.

“Thank you.”

“Okay done. Don’t worry too much Junjin-ssi; the aspirin should be able to control Hyesung’s fever. Tomorrow should be soon enough for us to go town and get better medication and bandages.” Andy said gently.

‘Yeah Junjin, no worries; there is a pharmacy in another town just about ten miles from here. I will go there tomorrow morning to look for medical supplies for Hyesung. Andy you stay here and look after them.”

 “But it’s not safe for you to go alone Eric-ssi, the town might be invaded by the zombies.

“I’ll go with you hyung.”

“No, I don’t even know the both of you. How can let you guys risk your lives for us.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine going alone and I have enough ammo to ensure my safety. I’ll be quick too, just tell me what you need. Andy you stay here with them just in case anything happens, they’ll need your help.”

“No, if you insist in going, let Andy go with you. I can handle the situation here, don’t worry about us.”

“Yeah hyung, let me go with you, it’s not safe for you to go alone” Andy added.

Knowing that it is useless to fight the two stubborn boys looking at him with concern, he conceded, “Fine then, I’ll go with Andy.”

“By the way Eric-ssi, I haven’t thanked you for saving my brother and bringing him here.”

“No need to thank me, I’m glad I did” he replied and grinned at Andy.”And just call me Eric, no need for formalities with me”

“I will be forever be grateful for what you guys did for us” Junjin expressed his gratitude again with a bow with his head.

“Junjin, you stay here with Hyesung. Andy and I will go out and bring some food for tonight.” Eric said while patting Junjin’s shoulder.

“Andy-ah, let’s go.”  Eric said affectionately and pulled him along.

“Okay hyung” Andy replied light heartedly following Eric out to his rover.

Eric drove the car into the front of the cottage and made sure it blocked the front porch to prevent any direct entrance to the cottage. Once satisfied, he opened the boot of his vehicle he took out a dagger and a handgun with a silencer.

“Andy-ah, you take this to protect yourself. It’s inconvenient to be carrying a shotgun everywhere you go and loud noises attract those things. So just in case anything happens, try to use the dagger first to kill those things first but if they come too close just blast their head off with that gun.”

“Woah hyung, you can open an armory already” Andy exclaimed when he saw the amount of weapons Eric had in his vehicle. “All I have is that misery gun in the backhouse.” Andy grumbled to himself. “And don’t worry about me; I know how to handle those things. I won’t have made it so far if I couldn’t right?” 

“Oh… My Andy has really grown up…” Eric cooed and used his hands to ruffle the younger’s hair.

“Ya hyung!” Andy pouted when he hear the tone Eric used with him.

Eric laughed and continued to search through his ammo, finding suitable bullets and extra guns for everyone while Andy waited by the car, keeping watch on their surroundings.

Eric and he are childhood buddies; they were staying just two houses away from each other in the same neighborhood. Their parents were college friends and they often have gatherings at each other’s houses, so despite the two years difference in age they were best friends and being the only child in their family, they got along so well they were almost like siblings. They stayed over at each other’s houses, goes to the same school from pre-school to college; they even hang out with the same group of friends. Andy smiled on the fond memories they shared; skipping school together, basketball trainings, pulling pranks on their friends, drinking soju behind their parent’s back when Andy was just ten years old and spitted it out almost immediately, swearing not to touch it ever again and looking at girls in their college of course, but they were never serious with any of them.

They were having the best times of their lives but that summer break destroyed everything. Andy’s parents were going back to hometown to bring his grandparents to live with them due to the constant news on the virus outbreak. They insisted Andy to go with them as they do not wish to leave him alone in the city and since Andy was worried for them, he went with them. But Eric couldn’t tag along as he needs to stay with his parents.

Andy promised to be back within two days but that turned into months and when Andy finally came back alone to the neighborhood to find Eric, everything was already in ashes and his hyung was nowhere to be seen.

When Eric turned back and saw the intense frown on the younger one’s face, he knew what he was in his mind. “Andy-ah, you hungry?” Immediately Andy’s frown disappeared and was replaced by a huge smile.

Andy beamed brightly at his Hyung when he heard his voice, he was in a state of euphoria and he couldn’t control himself. He threw his arms around Eric and punched his lips onto his face shrieking “HYUNG SARANGHAE!!” in his ears while laughing out loud.

Eric’s heart nearly flew out of his mouth when the loud voice hit his ear drums.

“YA ANDY!! YOU CRAZY?! I’M GOING DEAF!” Eric hollered with his face bright red and hands covering the painful ear. He was about to hit Andy on the head for scaring the hell out of him but when he saw the happiness on Andy’s face and heard the laughter surrounding him, he laughed and returned the hug instead.

Four years apart didn’t change their friendship; they were still the dorky brothers who loved each other with all their heart.

After they have both calmed down and ensured their loud voices had not attract any unwanted attention, they proceeded to the passenger seat to take out the food supplies for tonight.

Once again, Andy was surprised by the amount Eric had. He was in awe of his hyung, he really did a great job surviving by on his own, whereas Andy had to thank the villagers that saved him from a mob of zombies and kept him safe since then. Until recently, one of the villagers was infected by the virus and started attacking everyone in the village and from there it started spreading until almost all the villagers were dead. Andy and a few others were the only survivors from the village, but a few days ago he too got separated from them.

“Back to earth little brother” Eric teased when he saw Andy in a trance again. Seems like Andy had a lot of things in his mind and Eric wanted to find out what happened to him these four years but now wasn’t the right time to do it so he tried to lighten the mood.

“Ya Andy, take whatever you want here. Your hyung is a professional hunter now; you don’t have to worry about going hungry. Wahahaha~~” Eric boasted and laughed stupidly at himself.

Andy rolled his eyes at his childish hyung and said “It’s more like you are so afraid of hunger you had to stock up enough supplies to feed that army in your stomach. I bet these won’t last you more than three days, you sure you can bear to part with your food?” Andy teased grinning.

“Ya, do you have to make me sound like a bear” Eric grumbled with a fake sad face and punched lightly on Andy’s shoulders.

Seeing Eric’s face, Andy broke into laughter again and Eric not able to pretend any longer joined Andy. It was so long since the both of them were in such a good mood and the sound of their laughter was music to their ears. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“No no no! Get away him! Argh! Get off ers! Jinnie!” Hyesung shouted in his sleep and flung his arm around in panic.

“Hyung! I’m here, I’m here hyung. Relax” Junjin grabbed Hyesung’s arms and press down on his legs to prevent him from hurting himself. “I’m here. Relax hyung.” Junjin repeated and slowly Hyesung’s movement stopped and his eyes fluttered open.

It was all dark when Hyesung opened his eyes “Jinnie?”

“I’m here hyung and thank goodness you are awake.” Junjin whispered smiling and loosen his grip on Hyesung.

Hyesung turned towards the voice and brought his arm hand up to hold onto Junjin’s arm to sit up but he stopped him “Hyung, don’t move about. You need to rest so that your wound can heal faster. Drink some water and go back to sleep alright, I’ll be here.”

“Okay Jinnie.” Hyesung smiled at his little brother hovering around him like a mother hen and moved his head up to take a sip. Exhaustion was pulling him back to sleep again and he was about to close his eyes when a name appeared in his mind, he opened them again and whispered “Eric?”

Hearing his name Eric stepped forward. “I’m here, don’t worry. Just rest first”

Eric’s sudden presence gave Junjin a shock and he jumped in his seat. “Whoa, when did you come in?”

“We heard Hyesung’s shouting and came in immediately.”Eric grinned while answering.

“Oh”

Contented with both the face he saw, Hyesung closed his heavy lids and drifted back to sleep.

“We have a fire burning in the hearth and cooked some dinner, come and join us.” Andy invited Junjin to the hall where Eric and he prepared some food for them.

“Okay”

After the meal, Junjin volunteered to keep watch in the front porch while the other two rested in the room as both of them needs to go town once dawn breaks.

“Take this and if anything happens just shout for us” Eric said and passed his crossbow to Junjin.

“Sure, don’t worry and rest”

Eric nodded and went into the room where Hyesung and Andy were.

______________________________________________________________________________________

In the middle of the night Eric was awaken by a slight whimper.

“Hyesung?”Eric looked up from the hard wooden floor to where Hyesung was.

In the dimly lit room, Eric could see Hyesung was fretting in his sleep and he was mumbling something inaudible from his distance. He sat up carefully not to wake the sleeping Andy beside him and tiptoed towards Hyesung and  sat down on the bedside with his gaze fixed on the face engraved with a deep frown.

“Jinnie, Eric, where are you? No please… no…don’t leave me here” Hyesung was mumbling in his sleep and Eric felt the now familiar sensation tugging in his heart again but now he was no longer trying to ignore his feelings. He knows what he wants and he was grateful towards Hyesung; for he was the one that brought Andy back to him and together, his life too. He is no longer the loner that wanders around aimlessly looking for his buddy; he now had a person he loved and a family to call his own and he’s going to protect everything and everyone with his life.    

‘Hush Hyesung… its okay, its okay now. I’m here, you’ll never be alone again” Eric hummed while caressing his face and gently he brought his lips on Hyesung’s forehead; the soft touch seemed to have eased the nightmare as the crease on his face disappeared.  

“Eric?” Hyesung groaned, slowly opening his eyes and a smile tugged at the corners of Eric’s lips. How he loved the husky voice and the look of innocence on Hyesung’s face when he wakes up.

“Hey there” Eric crooned and slowly helped Hyesung up onto a sitting position and made sure his thighs are not hurting him.

‘Are you feeling better now? Do you want some water? I’ll go get it for you” Eric was about to stand up when he felt a weak tug on his arms.

“It’s okay Eric, I’m feeling better now and I don’t need anything. Just stay here with me?”

Eric chuckled at Hyesung’s words and sat down on the bed again.

“Why are you such a kid Sungie-ah? And to think that you are the older of the two. Junjin seems so much more matured” Eric teased and patted on his head.

“Ya! I’m not a kid and don’t treat me like one. And who says Jinnie is the matured one?! You should see how he behaves when it’s only the two of us. He’s like a baby, not doing anything, throwing tantrums and I will need to take care of everything. He’s just putting up a strong front when people are around.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Why would I lie to you?!”

“Haha! But it really doesn’t seems like it though. You look so vulnerable and in need of protection… at least to me… you are.”

“Ya! What…” Hyesung was about to argue with Eric when he saw the twinkle in his eyes and his words was caught in his throat. The candlelight on the bedside table was casting a warm glow on Eric’s face and Hyesung could feel his heart running a wild beat in his chest. This was the first time in his life he felt this way and his mind went blank.

Eric’s face turned serious suddenly and he took Hyesung’s hand in his. “Hyesung-ah, I know this is going to be very shocking to you and I don’t know how you will look at me but I want you to know, no I need you to know.” Eric took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Hyesung’s face as he needs to take in every single change in his expression.

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A/N: Surprise surprise! An early update today! Hope you peeps enjoy what I wrote. However, in later part I might do some slight edits to this chapter cuz I'm in a rush to post this today to keep up with my promise for a every friday update... and theres Ricsyung! (Although not much.. >,< )  But no worries though, there won't be changes to the flow~~

Cheers!! One week to Shinhwa's "HERE"~~ So looking forward even though I cannot be there... (T_T) Shinhwa fighting~ (Ooops... sorry out of topic) Oh yeah~~ Comments are very much appreciated and thanks for all your love and support! <3