"Is it just that your parents don't care?"

"Seungho . . ."

Inhye sounded placating, and Seungho knew she thought he couldn't understand.

"You have to . . . understand, our relationship with our parents has always been somewhat . . . complicated. Neither I nor my sisters were brought up the way Taekwoon was." she explained carefully.

Seungho held back a mocking snort. I don't see any parents to bring up that kid anymore.

"With Taekwoon being the only son in the family, no one knew what to do with him. He became very peculiar, and it didn't help that he was practically an only child. With how our parents constantly moved him around . . ." She sighed, remorseful. "He became very closed off, unattached, different. Like he was never apart of our family."

Seungho wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose until it fell off. It wasn't that he couldn't comprehend what Taekwoon's oldest sister was telling him because he knew exactly how Taekwoon was, but that wasn't the kid he knew now.

"I understand," he replied patiently, "and forgive me if I sound out of line, but it's not fair for your parents to just uproot Taekwoon whenever they want to. Not like this."

Inhye sighed again, and when she spoke, Seungho thought her heart might be breaking. "You're right. It's not fair."

Taekwoon glared daggers at his locker. In his ears gossiped whispers from nearby nosy students. The single strap of his back back hanging off his shoulder strained under his tightening fist.

A hideous, bold "FREAK" stained his locker as the centerpiece of vandalism blaring in his face, embellished by other nasty words and names. Knowing the school staff, they would probably make him clean it up himself.

. . . It was coming sooner or later, he thought, and probably wouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. He might as well get used to the way it looked.

Rather than being upset, Taekwoon's blood slowly simmered under his skin. A flash of rage wanted him to punch in the defaced metal, but a hand clapped on his shoulder before the impulse set in. He wheeled around, throwing off the hand and ready to fight.

Met with Jongdae's face, cautious but worried, he froze.

Jongdae bit nervously at his lip. "Are you . . . okay?"

Ire topped off Taekwoon's agitation even though Jongdae seemed sympathetic. He narrowed his eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know." he muttered with bite.

Not wasting another moment there, he shoved past Jongdae and away from the hallway of vulturous students.

"Taekwoon, wait!" Jongdae called out after him, but he wouldn't stop for anything.

Despite the undying anger, Taekwoon tried to reason with himself; wasn't this expected? Now that Hakyeon—Hakyeon, I hate him—opened his big mouth, Taekwoon was a target. And for what? Some stupid rumors that had no weight to them? This was ridiculous and Taekwoon wanted to make someone pay.

He was none too shy storming out of the school building and bee-lining for the gates, but as soon as he rounded a secluded corner—

"Oomf!"

Rage finally shot through the roof, Taekwoon clutched on tight to the shirt of whoever bumped into him—but when he snapped into steadiness, his eyes widened at Hyuk's roughed up appearance.

Hyuk slapped his hands off in a panic and Taekwoon hissed. In a fluster, Hyuk straightened out his shirt and swept himself off, trying not to gape at his situation.

All of Taekwoon's anger was replaced by stun as he took in Hyuk's roughed up appearance; disheveled hair, dirt smudging his face, pants crumpled and worn down, and one shoe wasn't even put on right.

He couldn't help but blurt out, "What happened?"

Hyuk jerked his head in a shake. "Nothing!"

Yet, Taekwoon knew he was lying. His palms were scraped and a couple nails looked chipped; had he ever looked like that before? Taekwoon couldn't remember. Hyuk looked like he took a bad tumble down a hill, but that couldn't be right—the scrapes were too fresh and the only hill around was on the other side of the school. Not to mention that it looked like he fell on concrete, not grass.

His rattled expression didn't back up his lying either.

"What happened?" he asked again, and before Hyuk could lie one more time, he continued, "You're not a very good liar, so don't."

The words seemed to do the trick; Hyuk's face fell and he shifted his weight uncomfortably. A long moment had to pass before he peeked up through his scuzzy black bangs, clearly deciding whether or not Taekwoon was trustworthy enough to tell.

Taekwoon raised an impatient eyebrow; today's lingering irritation would leak out on its own.

Hyuk mumbled something and Taekwoon leaned in. Call him quiet, but this was ridiculous.

"Speak up, say it again." he said with an edge. "Hyuk."

Hyuk's shoulders twitched just slightly. "I j-just got into a little scuffle, that's all . . ." he muttered, shifting one more time.

"A scuffle." Taekwoon repeated, though not as disbelieving. "You got into a fight?"

"No!" Hyuk exclaimed. His eyes were shining over with what looked like tears. "It was nothing! Nothing happened. I'm fine."

Taekwoon rolled his eyes. "I'm not in the mood for this today." he said bluntly. Hyuk opened his mouth, but he went on. "Come back to my house and you don't have to tell anyone. Just say I tripped you or something." Maybe Yongguk would kill him and put him out of his misery.

Hyuk gaped, too shocked to move for too long and Taekwoon had to grab his arm and pull him along. The walk was quiet and eventually, Hyuk got his arm back.

A scuffle? A fight? Who would get into a fight with little Hyuk? He was a good boy, a sweet kid. But then, oh right, Taekwoon remembered who he lived with, who his family was. The reminder actually made him angrier. Hyuk didn't deserve any crap from jerks who he had nothing to do with. He doubted it was because Hyuk caused any trouble either—he was too meek around others to even hurt a fly.

Here was the question though: Did Yongguk know? Ravi? Anyone? Taekwoon had never seen him roughed up like that before, not in all the time he'd been around him. Sure, he'd seen Ravi with a multitude of cuts and bandages, and that one time with the sweater blood, but . . . Ravi was different. Clearly.

If Hyuk didn't disagree with him not having to tell anyone, he had to assume no one else knew. He wanted to pinch his nose. More trouble to deal with . . .

Seungho was probably at work, so Taekwoon didn't bother stopping by to say he was home. He unlocked his apartment door and let Hyuk in first.

An awed, "Whoa," came out of Hyuk and Taekwoon remembered, right; it was his first time there.

"I've never seen such a fancy apartment before. I mean, I haven't seen a lot, but if I did, this would definitely be the most fancy." he babbled.

As a first-aid kit clicked open, Taekwoon vaguely thought about how glad he was Seungho forced it on him (there had been an incident with a cheese grater not too long ago, and he almost shivered at the memory).

He grabbed Hyuk's bag and set it near the door, and then pulled out a chair from the dining table.

"Sit." he commanded, and hesitantly, Hyuk did. He flicked his bangs anxiously and curled his hands into his lap.

Anticipation of Taekwoon asking what happened hung in the air as he pulled out what he needed to clean Hyuk up—but even though, yes, he wanted to know, it wasn't any of his business. He never wanted someone prying into his business like that, so he'd treat everyone else the same.

Whatever trouble Hyuk was into was his alone, and unless he asked Taekwoon for help, he'd stay out of it.

Nerves kept Hyuk stiff while Taekwoon patched him up, so Taekwoon finished as quickly as he could. Hyuk heaved a breath of relief.

Just as he was about to ask if Hyuk was hungry after returning from putting the kit up, Hyuk spoke up first.

"You're not gonna tell anyone?" he asked, hopeful.

Taekwoon shook his head. "Why would I? You're obviously going through the trouble of hiding it so much . . ."

"Yeah, but—" He bit his lip. "You . . . and Ravi-hyung are close now, so I thought . . ."

Embarrassment quickly flooded Taekwoon's face. He whipped around with wide eyes and the expression was so comical that Hyuk barked out a laugh.

"I'm not—We're n-not—" Taekwoon stuttered. "He's just—I'm—We're just—"

"Dating?" Hyuk teased. He must've been glad the conversation wasn't about him anymore. "Are you guys dating?"

Taekwoon sputtered indignantly, heart suddenly pounding in his chest. Him? Ravi? Dating? He began fanning himself, laughing in mostly disbelief. Just because they k—. . . did that thing, didn't mean they were dating. Just because Taekwoon wanted to see him . . . more, didn't mean he wanted to date him.

There was a pause.

"Hey," Hyuk then went on, less playful, "you do . . . like hyung, right? Because if not, I mean . . ."

A dark look flit through Hyuk's dulled eyes and Taekwoon quickly sobered up. Flashbacks to sitting in the cafe, about to be ripped into by Hongbin over a misunderstanding passed through his mind—something like that happening again wasn't what he wanted or needed.

Right before he could open his mouth to reply something stupid, there was a hesitant knock on the door. Though startled, he had to choke down the sigh of relief at not having to answer Hyuk. That was something he was going to have to think about eventually—especially if he wanted to see Ravi more. He went to open the door.

"S-Surprise!"

It was Jongdae, unmasking his hands from his face in an arc. Taekwoon's eyes widened. A stressed glance over his shoulder showed him Hyuk escaping into the bathroom.

Taekwoon turned back to Jongdae, still baffled. "What are you . . . What are you doing here?"

Guilt flashed over Jongdae's expression, but a smile quickly resumed. "I'm here to see you, duh!" he said, like it hadn't been more than a month since they last talked. It was when Yixing was still here.

At Taekwoon's fatigued expression, Jongdae's face and shoulders fell. He shifted his weight uncomfortably and rubbed at his arm in self-consciousness.

"Look, I know I . . . I know I messed up . . ." he mumbled, head dropped, "Avoiding you wasn't a good idea. It was stupid. I was. Stupid, I mean. I was stupid. It was just—when Hakyeon told me what happened and all that, I just . . ."

Taekwoon's eyes were narrowed at this point. "You just, what." he almost snapped. "Thought I was a bad person? Thought I became the member of some gang?" His tone made Jongdae flinch, but he didn't care. He turned around and shoved his fingers through his hair in stress. "You left. You left me. You left me." he repeated like he couldn't believe it, pacing. "You left like everything was an act, like you were just acting nice to me. How could you do that? Just because I was hanging out with people who have bad rumors surrounding them?" He spun back to Jongdae. His face was heating up quick, nose beginning to burn.

Pure shame soaked Jongdae's face. Taekwoon stared and some part of him knew he felt bad about everything—that didn't make him feel better though. He felt betrayed.

At his sides, his fists curled tightly.

He was on the verge of dismissing Jongdae, who was busy blinking rapidly to keep tears from his eyes, for good until his chin turned up with a watery smile.

"I've never heard you talk so much at once."

With an expression that was just as watery and emotional, Taekwoon paused at the words—and then coughed a surprised laugh of incredulity.

Once he did, it didn't stop, and before he knew it, he was curling over on himself, tears falling from his face because the stress of the day finally cracked him. He laughed and then laughed some more because Jongdae started too, with his own mix of crying and laughing.

They both cracked up, probably for different reasons, but together; leaning on each other, supporting each other standing. Heaps of stress drained out of Taekwoon's body with the fat, ugly tears rolling down his face. He couldn't remember the last time he cried like this.

A voice behind them cleared in the throat awkwardly.

Both of them slowed and straightened out, leaning on each other still. Taekwoon paused again because he remembered—Right, Hyuk . . . Crap.

Extracting himself from Jongdae, he wiped furiously at his face and tried not to hiccup.

"Am I interrupting something?" Hyuk asked almost cheekily, but some defensiveness edged at his tone.

Taekwoon shook his head and headed to the kitchen for paper towels so he and Jongdae could wipe their puffy red faces.

"H-Hi there," Jongdae greeted, clearing his throat. His wave at Hyuk was cautious, but friendly at least. It could be worse.

"Hi." Hyuk greeted back, but that was all.

Taekwoon came back with a roll of tissue paper and tore off a stretch of it for Jongdae. They spent the next few minutes blowing their noses, wiping away snot and tears, catching their breaths.

"Should I . . . go or something?" Hyuk asked, sounding out of place.

Taekwoon sniffled and looked at him. If he left now, things might turn sour. Taekwoon wasn't lying about not wanting another misunderstanding to happen. To add to that, he wanted to put some of Hyuk's worries to rest; one, about telling the others what he discovered today and two, how he felt . . . about Ravi. There was too much at stake to let him leave.

It wasn't like he wanted to kick Jongdae out either, not after the whole soap opera episode they just had.

Couldn't they just . . . both stay?

He decided then and there that yes, they both could.

"Stay." he said, and looked pointedly between them.

His brain already scraped up a compelling argument to back up his command, but Hyuk replied first.

"Okay." he shrugged, and when Taekwoon looked to Jongdae, he offered a reassuring half-smile.

After that, a few hours passed with ease. Taekwoon was cautious at first because between Hyuk's jitters and Jongdae's predetermined prejudices, something really messy could've been born. Instead, the three of them took it slow and both of them found they had more in common than they thought: their love of fighting video games, stealing Taekwoon's snacks, and also having fun at Taekwoon's expense.

Jongdae wasn't off the hook, not by a long shot, but Taekwoon couldn't even begin to describe the relief he felt. Some days had gone by when he really thought . . . But no. He'd worried for nothing. Feelings of betrayal still lingered, but he was just glad his friend—the first friend he made here—came back to him.

If only Hakyeon were as easy to come around, he tiredly thought.