Index:

(YJ) - Young Jae speaking
(DH) - Daehyun speaking
(HC) - Himchan speaking
(BY) - Yongguk speaking
(SU) - Sunny speaking
(J) - Jessica speaking

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something about breakfast always seemed to make the day start off positive. It may not be the case for most people, but for Daehyun, he always felt happy whenever he had breakfast. It may be how bright the sunny side up egg looked with its white and slightly browned exterior or its shiny yellow yolk that seemed to always entice a person’s interests. Maybe it was the light, fluffiness of a pancake that softened up a person with its warmth, especially when the stickiness of the syrup added an explosion of sweetness to the brew. Of course, it may also be because he was eating peacefully with Young Jae.

Daehyun and Young Jae sat at one of the many circular lunch tables, their meal laid out in front of them as it lured its viewers in with its delectable looks and enticing scents. How could one resist such a temptation when it was within arms reach just begging to be eaten? Daehyun definitely wasn’t one of those people as he practically dug into his food the second their plates had been set down.

They ate happily, their stomachs gleeful that it was being filled with delicious food. Sure, they ate here everyday, but the food that Mrs. Kim made just never failed to taste delicious. As a small amount of time had passed, Daehyun couldn’t help but slow down a bit as he watched Young Jae eat. He really wanted to try something that his parents used to do, but he wasn’t necessarily certain that Young Jae would agree to doing it. Though, why was he almost convinced that Young Jae would turn down his idea? The only way that he would obtain his answer was by actually trying.

He took in a deep breath, unsure about how to ask Young Jae this simple request. His parents did it all the time, so it should be relatively alright to do. Plus, they did it with him sometimes too, especially when he had been younger. Though.. he wasn’t entirely certain if it was something that everyone did. Just as he was about to scrap the idea altogether, Young Jae finally looked his way. Young Jae paused, his mouth just barely closing around the spoon as he blinked innocently. Slowly, he pulled the spoon out of his mouth before holding a hand up to his mouth to speak without showing off the contents his mouth currently held. “Why are you wooking at me?” (YJ)

“I.. uh.. um..” (DH) Daehyun rubbed the back of his head as he turned slightly red. He didn’t really know why he was embarrassed. The thing he wanted to try was normal, or at least it seemed normal to him. Young Jae tilted his head in slight confusion as he waited for Daehyun to say what was on his mind. “Um.. Can we... feed each other just once..? I.. really wanna try doing it with you..” (DH)

“Okay!” (YJ) His eyes widened as Daehyun stared at Young Jae with disbelief. Daehyun really hadn’t expected Young Jae to agree to his request with little to no hesitation. Was it really okay? Well, it should be fine. Normally, if Young Jae didn’t like something, he would actually hesitate for a moment before denying his idea or he would reluctantly agree. However, that didn’t seem like the case here. This time, Young Jae sounded happy, almost excited, to fulfill his request. “I wanna feed first!” (YJ)

Quickly yet carefully swallowing the chewed up contents in his mouth, Young Jae got a spoonful of his own food before holding it out to Daehyun. Daehyun looked down at the spoon with slight confusion before smiling. Opening his mouth, Daehyun took in the entire spoonful of food before Young Jae carefully slid the spoon out of Daehyun’s mouth. Daehyun happily chewed as Young Jae set his spoon down before moving a bit closer to Daehyun. “My turn, my turn!” (YJ)

“Okay, okay! Hold on..” (DH) As Daehyun chewed, he quickly got a good amount of food onto his spoon before picking it up. Once he was certain that the food wouldn’t fall off, he turned to Young Jae as he held the spoon out to him. He was still rather surprised by how excited Young Jae seemed to be by this. In fact, he seemed happier as he ate the food that Daehyun offered him. This did, however, bring up another thing he wanted to try. This idea made Daehyun feel a lot more embarrassed than he did before, but he could at least ask, right? “Um.. Can we... try another thing also?” (DH)

“Like what? Do we get to eat more?” (YJ) Daehyun quickly nodded as his face reddened a bit once again. He looked down towards the table, his eyes focusing on the two cookies that were neatly stacked on a separate plate. Picking up one of the cookies, he broke it in half and set one piece of it back onto the table before looking back up at Young Jae, whom had been looking at the cookies as well before making eye contact once again with Daehyun. It was clear that Young Jae wanted the cookie, but he was a bit too shy to say so.

“We.. um.. I saw my parents do it before and.. you put half of the cookie in your mouth and I eat the other half with my mouth. Can we... try that?” (DH) Young Jae thought for a moment as he tried to imagine how that would work. He liked being fed and feeding the other person because his dad had done it with him, but he’s never seen someone share food the way Daehyun described it. With a small nod, Young Jae took the cookie from Daehyun’s hand before putting half of the cookie into his mouth. He was going to bite it in half and hand the other half to Daehyun, but he quickly thought back on Daehyun’s explanation. If Daehyun had to use his mouth, then that means that he only had to hold it with his own mouth until then. Carefully, Young Jae held the cookie in his mouth before setting his hand down and leaning in close to Daehyun.

Daehyun felt his face and ears heat up as he saw just how close Young Jae was. It was still a confusing feeling for him, but Daehyun summoned up his courage as he leaned in. Little by little, the cookie entered Daehyun’s mouth, his heartbeat practically ringing in his ears as it raced as fast as it could. It was different actually doing this as opposed to watching it, but even with this weird feeling he had, Daehyun kind of liked it. Slowly, he bit down just about half an inch, maybe even less, from Young Jae’s lips as he broke the cookie in half. Had he not been careful, their lips would have touched and Daehyun was certain that Young Jae would start crying again. That was definitely something he didn’t want happening, so he was relatively glad that he had been able to avoid that happening.

The two boys chewed happily, Young Jae’s excitement oddly going up once more as he continuously glanced down at the remaining cookie half on the table. It was something he definitely enjoyed and for some reason, he wanted to try it again. “Can we do it again? I wanna bite it this time! Can I? Pleeeease?” (YJ)

Daehyun blinked a few times before nodding. Picking up the other half of the cookie, they both made certain that they were done chewing and had swallowed the contents within their mouth before Daehyun held half of the cookie within his mouth. Young Jae leaned in and had just bit down on his half, when a voice caused them to pull away with their respective halves. “Ewww! Boys aren’t supposed to do that!” (J)

The two turned their gazes, innocently confused eyes looking up to see Jessica, with Taeyeon following behind, walking up to them. Before Taeyeon could pull Jessica away to scold her, another girl quickly came up to Daehyun and Young Jae’s defense as she stood between the two different groups. Placing her hands on her hips, the shorter girl stared angrily at Jessica. “Yes they can! They’re allowed to do it because they’re married!” (SU)

“Boys can’t get married to each other! Only a boy and a girl can get married to each other!” (J) Sunny scoffed as she folded her arms.

“Too bad! They’re already married!” (SU) As the two continued going back and forth with their little argument, Young Jae looked back up at Daehyun as tears began to fill in his eyes. Feeling a hand on his hand, Daehyun turned back to look at Young Jae.

“D-Did we.. do something bad?” (YJ) Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he tried to think. He didn’t really know if they did something bad. One of the two girls could be right, both could be right, or neither one of them could be right so Daehyun didn’t really know which side to side with. Still, he wasn’t going to let Young Jae cry again. With a small smile, Daehyun placed a hand on Young Jae’s shoulder as he gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Don’t worry! We didn’t do anything bad at all. Even Sunny said that it’s okay since we’re married!” (DH) A scoff could be heard, causing the two to look back up at Jessica. Jessica didn’t necessarily seem all that happy, but once she folded her arms, she walked off towards the food line. Taeyeon seemed troubled, but she bowed and quickly apologized for Jessica’s behavior before quickly following after her.

Young Jae still felt a little uncertain about Jessica’s words, but with Daehyun here, he did feel a little better. Daehyun quickly turned Young Jae’s head before holding a spoonful of food out to him. Young Jae blinked in slight confusion as he stared at the food before looking back up at Daehyun, whom tried to give a comforting smile. “Here! I’ll feed you and you’ll feel lots better. Alright?” (DH)

“Mm.. Okay.” (YJ) As Young Jae ate the food offered to him, Sunny sat down across from them with a small smile on her face. Young Jae probably would have fed Daehyun back, but he felt a bit awkward with Sunny staring at them the way she was. He glanced up at Sunny, fiddling around with his fingers as he bit his bottom lip a bit. “Um.. Why are you staring at us?” (YJ)

“My mom and dad used to do what you two did! It made me feel really happy to watch you eating like that. That’s why I don’t like it when Jessica talked to you like that.” (SU) Sunny sat up a bit as she heard a voice. Looking around, she blinked a few times before the voice came louder this time. With a grin, Sunny got up to her feet as she waved to the two. “Okay! I have to go! Himchan’s calling me!” (SU)

Without waiting for an answer, Sunny was off to go meet the source of the voice. Young Jae blinked a few times, mostly out of confusion, before looking back at Daehyun. Daehyun merely shrugged as he smiled a bit. “Let’s finish our food then go to the beach! I wanna explore somewhere super cool!” (DH)

Young Jae nodded as the two went back to eating. If it was really something super cool, then Young Jae was definitely looking forward to whatever it was that Daehyun was going to show him! Though, when he looked over at Daehyun’s food, he could see that Daehyun was only half way done. Hopefully, Daehyun would finish up soon so that they could go to the beach as soon as possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of the ocean waves lightly making its way up and down the beach could be heard as a small group of kids traveled along the beach. The sun was directly above them, signaling that it was now noon as the light kept them warm enough from the cool temperature that was slowly invading the area. Young Jae smiled, Mister Buttons safely held with Young Jae’s left arm as he used his right hand to hold Daehyun’s hand. Although some of the kids back at the Orphanage had giggled at them at first, Young Jae preferred to hold Daehyun’s hand since it made him feel safe.

“So where are we going?” (BY)

“I saw a really cool cave down the beach! That’s why we all have flashlights.” (DH) It still felt a little weird to talk to Yongguk like this, but he seemed to be a good person since he wasn’t bothering any of them. Young Jae seemed to like him at least, to which Daehyun had weird feelings about. He didn’t understand these feelings, but he knew that he didn’t necessarily.. like that sort of fondness Young Jae seemed to have towards Yongguk. Still, Daehyun chose to stay quiet about his feelings since it might hurt Young Jae's. “I think it’ll be fun to explore it!” (DH)

“But caves are creepy, right? What if there’s a sea monster living in there..! He’ll eat us!” (HC) Himchan held his arms as he unintentionally inched closer to Yongguk. Just the very thought of there really being a sea monster just sent all sorts of chills down Himchan’s spine. Maybe a little too much as Himchan now walked pressed up against Yongguk. Had anyone been paying attention to Yongguk, they would have seen that his face was a deep shade of red and his gaze was cast towards the ground. Only every now and then would he look back up at Himchan, whom seemed to not want to distance himself from the safe feeling of being next to Yongguk, even if he didn’t notice that he was this close to Yongguk.

“I don’t think there’s a sea monster there.. Even if there is, we can run really fast! Everything will be good, I know it will and I’ll make super sure that everyone is safe!.” (DH) Although only the four of them were heading to the cave, Daehyun was certain that him and Yongguk could keep Himchan and Young Jae safe if anything bad happened. Plus, a cave could lead to pirate treasure or bring them to a magical place! It would be loads of fun and be super cool if they could find something like that!

“Um.. Will you keep Mister Buttons safe too?” (YJ) Daehyun looked at Young Jae, whom was looking at him with curiosity. Daehyun merely smiled though as he nodded. Since Mister Buttons is important to Young Jae, then it was important to make certain that he was safe too. Young Jae smiled happily as he looked forward once more to make certain that they didn’t end up tripping on anything.

“Yongguk! Why are you so close?!” (HC) Finally, after walking for another minute or so, Himchan had noticed that he had been pressed up against Yongguk. Despite Yongguk’s slight attempts to move away, Himchan had continued closing the distance between them to keep that familiar feeling. Now that he had calmed down though, Himchan didn’t necessarily like being pressed up against Yongguk.

“I can’t help it. You moved closer to me.” (BY)

“Nuh uh!” (HC) Himchan moved away from Yongguk before folding his arms and letting out a small huff. He didn’t want to believe Yongguk’s words, but he almost didn’t actually care about the situation. Actually, with everyone else, he normally wouldn’t care how close he was to the others. This time, however, he seemed to be this way with only Yongguk. Himchan may not understand why, but he wasn’t going to question it. After all, he didn’t want to seem like he was wrong for whatever reason. Still.. he didn’t want to seem mean too. Looking at Yongguk, Himchan turned slightly red as he furrowed his eyebrows. “Fine.. I really did move closer to you, but it was an accident..” (HC)

“Why are you mad..?” (BY) Yongguk had just barely glimpsed over at Himchan, but that glimpse was enough to see the furrowed eyebrows that Himchan was sporting at the moment. Himchan’s expression quickly changed into surprise before he looked away. He felt bad for looking that way, but he couldn’t help it. It was just something that happened, though.. Yongguk didn’t seem to mind. Himchan let out a small yelp as he felt an arm around his shoulders. Looking to his left, he stared at the hand on his shoulder for a moment before he turned his head back towards Yongguk. “I’ll um.. I’ll protect you from the sea monster like how Daehyun will protect Young Jae.” (BY)

Himchan could see the blush on Yongguk’s face, which confused Himchan a bit. Of course, he, himself, still ended up blushing as he turned his gaze away. Daehyun and Young Jae, whom had been following right next to them, just simply listened to the conversation the two had. Only until it became awkwardly quiet did they come close to their destination.

Daehyun seemed to perk up a bit as his hand slipped out of Young Jae’s. Young Jae frowned slightly, but was soon filled with curiosity as he saw Daehyun running along the rocky surface. Looking down, Young Jae hugged Mister Buttons as he carefully followed after him with Yongguk and Himchan. The surface was wet from the sea spray, so it would’ve been best to be careful. Daehyun didn’t necessarily seem to care about how slippery the surface was though as he turned around and waved his arms while hopping. “We’re really close now! It’s in the front!” (DH)

“D-Don’t run!” (YJ) Daehyun stopped hopping as his arms lowered just a bit. He thought on Young Jae’s words before nodding a bit. Lowering his arms back down to his sides, Daehyun turned back around as he went back to following the path. Young Jae had hoped that Daehyun would come back and hold his hand, but maybe it would be alright for the time being. As long as Daehyun held his hand in the cave, then it should be fine.. right?

“Wow! Look at how much the water keeps hitting the rock!” (HC) Young Jae turned to look at Himchan, whom had rushed up after Daehyun, only to stop at the edge of the path that turned around the corner. Young Jae and Yongguk stopped a small distance away, only to see the water spray the curious boy. Himchan let out a disgusted sound as he tried to spit out the taste of the salty water that had invaded his mouth. Although Young Jae had a worried look on his face, Yongguk couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle before walking up to Himchan. Placing a hand on Himchan’s head, Yongguk ruffled Himchan's hair before he helped the boy up to his feet while leading him away from the edge.

“I don’t think it’s a good thing to stand close to the water. You’re wet too! You have to take off your clothes and let them dry.” (BY) Himchan’s eyes widened as he quickly looked up at Yongguk in disbelief. He wanted him to be ?! Himchan didn’t want to be ! Plus, he wasn’t THAT wet. So what if his entire front was soaked through?! That doesn’t mean that he would be better off !

“N-No! I don’t want to take off my clothes..” (HC) It’s not that Yongguk had an ulterior motive or anything. He had just been told that it would be bad to walk around in wet clothes because then, they’d end up getting sick. Zelo normally complied and just walked around in his underwear, so it was a bit of a surprise when Himchan had denied his suggestion.

“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.. I wasn’t making you.” (BY)

“Then I won’t.” (HC) Himchan smiled victoriously, as if they had been in some sort of heated debate. As Himchan skipped forward, Yongguk scratched the back of his head before looking over at Young Jae. Young Jae instantly stood up a little straighter as he looked back at Yongguk innocently.

“Let’s go. We can’t leave them alone, right?” (BY) Young Jae nodded before walking alongside Yongguk. Yogguk folded his arms as he briefly glanced at Young Jae. Would Young Jae know how to get on Himchan’s good side? It was a long shot, but there was always a possibility, right? Still, he decided to scrap the idea regardless. As much as he wanted to get closer to Himchan, whatever reason that may be, it would be better to do it himself.

Entering the cave, they could see Daehyun standing there with his usual pose, staring off into the darkness that was waiting to engulf them. Young Jae shivered a little, slowly walking up until he was gently pressed against Daehyun’s back. He peeked from behind Daehyun’s shoulder, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the darkness. “A-Are we.. r-really going in there..?” (YJ)

“Yep! There has to be loads of adventures just waiting for us in there!” (DH) Young Jae huddled a little closer to Daehyun as he tightened his hold on Mister Buttons. Now, Young Jae wasn’t as afraid of the dark as Daehyun may have been, to which he forgot about for the moment, but when it was mixed in with a spooky looking cave just ready to gobble them up whole, then it just seemed like a terrifying idea! It didn’t seem like a good idea to go in by themselves, but Young Jae was willing to do so if Daehyun was there, which he luckily was. “It’s okay, Young Jae. I’ll protect you!” (DH)

Daehyun turned around before placing his hands on Young Jae’s shoulders. He looked into the scared little boy’s eyes as he gave a reassuring smile. Daehyun didn’t want to tell them this, but he had been too afraid to go check the cave out himself. With his friends there with him, then it didn’t seem so bad. Well.. it was still bad, but he wasn’t as scared because he felt like he had to stay strong for them. “O-Okay.. It will be okay because.. you’re there to protect me and Mister Buttons..” (YJ)

Young Jae weakly smiled before Daehyun turned and stood next to him. Taking a hold of his hand, Daehyun looked at everyone else, making sure that they were ready for the adventure that laid ahead of them. “Are you guys ready?” (DH)

“Yeah.” (BY)

“I guess...” (HC) With everyone set, the group began to trudge forward. They each took their flashlights out, flashing the light wherever it needed to be. With four different sources of light, it made the inside of the cavern not as scary as it had been just mere seconds ago. Still, even with slight comfort from the light, there seemed to be an endless void of darkness directly ahead of them. It didn’t necessarily help that the ocean behind them echoed off of the walls, making it near impossible to hear what could be lurking inside. They should be relatively safe as long as they stayed together though.

Along with the sounds of the ocean waves echoing through the cavern, the sound of their footsteps bounced off of the walls all around. They had managed to keep their lights pointed either towards the ground, to their side, or ahead of them, but one of them soon accidentally pointed their light up at the ceiling out of curiosity. In that instant, regret and fear filled their entire being as the ceiling began to shift. A scream soon erupted from Himchan’s mouth, causing the other boys to jump, before the ‘ceiling’ soon sprung to life. Instantly, the boys all held their arms above their heads, screams erupting from each and every one of them as they crouched low. Panicked voices could be heard, each one of them trying to figure out what to do before Daehyun finally moved Young Jae to the ground before using his own body to shield Young Jae from the bats. Noticing this, Yongguk quickly did the same with Himchan, allowing them all to become silent as they nervously waited for the bats to pass.

Young Jae tightened his hold on Mister Buttons as he buried his face into Daehyun’s shoulder. He closed his eyes tightly, one of his hands unintentionally turning and reaching up before grabbing hold of Daehyun’s shirt. Daehyun let out a slightly surprised gasp before furrowing his eyebrows and pressing his body a little more down onto Young Jae. He was going to keep him safe no mater what!

After what felt like an eternity of endless screeching and flapping, the area around them finally became quiet enough to bring some sort of relief to the poor boys. While Yongguk and Himchan slowly sat up, Daehyun stayed put. Even if he wanted to be brave and be the hero that he dreamed to be, Daehyun was still a bit scared and thus, didn’t want to open his eyes to see that the bats were coming back to attack. They laid there awkwardly, waiting for who knows what. Young Jae was beginning to turn red, embarrassment starting to take over the longer Daehyun laid on top of him. He wasn’t used to anyone being on top of him, so it was making him feel rather uncomfortable. Taking in a deep breath, Young Jae finally tugged at Daehyun’s shirt. “U-Um.. Daehyun..? I think they’re gone now..” (YJ)

“H-Huh..?” (DH) Slowly, Daehyun opened his eyes and lifted his head a bit to see Young Jae staring back at him. They stared for a moment, exchanging a blink or two before Daehyun finally pushed himself up to a sitting position. Holding his hand out, Young Jae put his hand into Daehyun’s before being pulled up. Looking around, Daehyun’s eyes finally landed on the other two. “Is everyone okay?” (DH)

“I think I’m fine.” (BY)

“Mm.. I think so. Yongguk saved me..” (HC) Himchan looked at Yongguk, whom happened to be looking his way as well. Himchan instantly looked away, his face turning red a bit as he got to his feet. He shivered a little, feeling a little gross before remembering that his clothes were currently wet. Looking down, he blinked a few times before looking at Yongguk. “Did you get wet..?” (HC)

“What?” (BY) Yongguk looked down at Himchan’s clothes before looking down at his own. There were only a few wet spots on his own clothes, but it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t ignore. Getting up to his feet, he held the hem of his shirt and stretched his shirt out a bit before looking back up at Himchan. “I didn’t get wet too much.” (BY)

Setting his shirt back down, Yongguk looked over to see Daehyun and Young Jae now walking up to them. Young Jae hid a little behind Mister Buttons while Daehyun grinned. “Let’s keep going! All of the movies showed bats flying out, but then there’s no more! I think there won’t be anymore bats.” (DH)

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna get hurt!” (HC)

“I’m super sure! And if there are more, then me and Yongguk will protect you both! That’s good, right?” (DH) Himchan didn’t necessarily like the idea of being protected, but at the same time.. he liked it. Did it make sense? It never seemed to make sense, but Himchan merely nodded before he began to wring out his clothes.

“I hope the adventure is more fun than being super wet and being attacked by a bajillion zillion bats..” (HC) Once everyone was ready, the group began trudging forward once more. Just as Daehyun had said, there didn’t seem to be anymore bats on the ceiling above. Still, the deeper they went, the darker it seemed to be. There had been even a few twists and turns that soon took away the sunlight that had been shining from the cavern entrance.

All throughout the travel, Himchan would whine or complain about something. His clothes were weighing him down, thus tiring him out a lot faster than everyone else. Plus, he felt chilly with the clothes on him and he had even let out a small sneeze or two every now and then. It didn’t take long before the group had to stop and rest so that Himchan had at least some sort of comfort. “We should go back soon.. I think Himchan’s getting sick.” (BY)

“I am not.. I’m just really tired!” (HC) As if to back up Yongguk’s thoughts, Himchan let out another sneeze before shivering a little bit. He brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs as he tried to gather as much warmth as possible. Yongguk moved closer to Himchan before wrapping an arm around Himchan’s shoulders and pulling him in as close as possible. Himchan turned slightly red, but he looked away a bit as he accepted Yongguk’s warmth around him. “I wanna see what’s in here first..” (HC)

“Then we’ll be super quick! I don’t think this cave is too big. We can still almost hear the ocean!” (DH) Even with the light behind them gone, they could still hear the ocean waves crashing against the stony edge. Though, the more Daehyun listened, the more he realized that they could clearly hear the ocean from both sides. Furrowing his eyebrows a bit, he looked off to the direction that they were heading towards as he scratched his head a bit. “Are echoes supposed to sound like they’re coming from ahead of us?” (DH)

Neither one of the other boys seemed to really know the answer to that as they either vocally answered or merely shrugged. Getting up to his feet, Daehyun dusted himself off a bit before flashing his flashlight forward. “Stay here! I’ll go check and see what’s ahead, okay? I’ll come back to get you guys if I find something really cool!” (DH)

“C-Can I come with you? It’s not good if you go alone..” (YJ) Daehyun nodded before holding out his hand and helping Young Jae get up to his feet. He held Young Jae’s hand tightly before looking back at the other two, whom had also gotten to their feet.

“We wanna come too! It’s not fun if you get to find everything..” (HC)

“Are you sure?” (DH)

“I’m super sure! Come on, let’s go already!” (HC) Taking Yongguk’s hand, Himchan pulled the older male along as he began moving forward. Yongguk barely caught himself, being caught off guard by the sudden pull before a small tint of red graced his cheeks. He hadn’t expected to be able to hold Himchan’s hand this way, but it must be a step closer to being possibly good friends with Himchan.

Daehyun looked at Young Jae, whom gave him a small smile and nodded before the two followed after Himchan and Yongguk. The four boys traveled as close as possible, making sure that each boy shined their flashlights at different areas so that they were able to keep themselves from falling over. The sound of the ocean seemed to get louder as they traveled further into the cave, which did confuse the boys a bit. It was a bit more confusing once they saw a light shining from the end of the tunnel. Still, even with this confusion, they moved forward. They were determined to make it to the treasure that they assumed would be at the end of this cavern.

Little by little, they made their way closer to the light. Despite being in the dark for not too long, they still had to shield their eyes from how blinding the light currently was. It didn’t take them long before they finally emerged out into the light.

Looking around the area they were in, they were both inside and outside of the cavern. They had emerged into a large circular room that had a lake in the center. There were small islands here and there that held various trees and other plant life on them. The ceiling above wasn’t necessarily there, which would explain why the plants had been able to grow so well. It would also explain why the light was so strong at the entrance. Young Jae couldn’t help but stare in awe, having seen something like this in one of his books. Sadly, he couldn’t remember which book he had seen it in.

After a moment or so of staring, Daehyun finally took a step forward as he looked into the water itself. It was clear, allowing them to see the shallow ground below. He couldn’t necessarily see any dirt, but it could be underneath the layer of loose rocks that littered the ground. Taking yet another step forward, he paused for a moment before crouching down and narrowing his eyelids. He stared for a moment before reaching into the water and prying loose one of the many stones. Pulling it out from its wet confines, Daehyun stared at it for a moment before smiling a bit. “Look! It’s super shiny!” (DH)

“I wanna see!” (HC) Young Jae and Himchan both quickly made their way up to Daehyun before leaning in close to see the rock. Their eyes lit up and their smiles shined as they saw the light beautifully reflect off of the stone. It was almost as if there was a rainbow of some sort implemented into it, but it mostly showed a pink and blue type of color. “Wow! Are there more?” (HC)

Himchan quickly looked out into the water before he began walking around in search of more shiny stones. Yongguk finally walked up to the duo, his eyes looking at the stone before sitting down next to Daehyun’s right side while Young Jae sat on Daehyun’s left side. Daehyun leaned in a little closer to Young Jae, a smile on Daehyun’s face as he held out the stone. “Here. You can have it! It can be a.. um... a... a memento! You’ll remember me if we go away from each other, okay?” (DH)

“O-Okay..!” (YJ) Young Jae held out his hand before Daehyun gently placed the stone onto Young Jae’s palm. Young Jae smiled happily as he pulled his hand a little closer so that he could closely examine the stone. Closing his hand around the stone, Young Jae looked at Daehyun as he held his smile. “Thank you!” (YJ)

A grin came onto Daehyun’s face as he turned to look back out towards the water before leaning back and using his arms to prop himself up. Although they hadn’t really found the treasure that Daehyun had hoped for, they at least found a really pretty place to go to. “Yongguuk! Come here!” (HC)

Yongguk perked up a bit as he looked over at Himchan. He could see Himchan waving one of his arms as he pointed at the water. Getting to his feet, Yongguk looked down at the other two with slight uncertainty before running up to Himchan. Young Jae smiled a bit as he leaned against Daehyun and pulled Mister Buttons into a tight hug. “I’m sleepy, Daehyun..” (YJ)

“Do you want to sleep here?” (DH) Young Jae shook his head, but his eyelids were saying otherwise. Young Jae looked down at Daehyun’s outstretched legs, his eyes honing in on the thighs that were practically inviting his head over. With a small yawn, Young Jae shifted around a bit before resting his head on Daehyun’s thighs. He made himself as comfortable as possible before placing one of his hands on the thigh closest to him as he began closing his eyes.

“I-Is it.. okay if I sleep a little?” (YJ) Daehyun had turned slightly red, but he hummed in response as he examined the side of Young Jae’s head. He smiled a bit, raising his hand just enough to brush the hair away from Young Jae’s face. Young Jae’s eyelids had flickered a bit, but they remained closed as he let out a relieved sigh. “Okay.. Don’t leave me alone.. okay..?” (YJ)

“I won’t leave you alone. I’ll always stay by your side!” (DH) A small smile crept onto Young Jae’s face as he nuzzled his head against Daehyun’s thighs. Daehyun still felt a little weird with Young Jae’s head on his lap like this, but he didn’t mind it all too much. “Have a really good nap, okay?” (DH)

“Mmkay..” (YJ)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[ My Own Thoughts:

I hope this chapter was nice. x3
I quite liked it..
Okay, it felt a little rushed at some areas..
But I just wasn’t capable of thoroughly explaining a few parts.
So I apologize for the rushed feeling in this chapter. @_@

Um.. Oh, right!
For those of you curious..
The kiddies will be growing up at Chapter 13.
So just 2-3 more chapters left until the romance can finally begin to blossom >3<..
Of course.. it won’t start immediately. Mwaha. x3 ]]