Thanks to FairyLust for reviewing!

As for your question, yes, they split up due to financial reasons. Yao was the only one of them old enough to work, and he had to balance that with school.

Chapter 2 - Suspicion and Texts

Yong Soo woke up nearly four hours later, at around 6 o'clock. He yawned, rolling onto his side.

It took him a little while to wake up, passing in and out of consciousness for quite a while. It was nearing 6:30 when he finally rolled out of bed; outside, the sky was quickly lapsing into darkness.

Stepping into the hallway, Yong Soo headed straight for the bathroom closest to his room. Their house had three bathrooms in total, two downstairs and one upstairs.

Locking the door, he quickly stripped off his shirt. He pulled the old tee up and over his head, lazily dropping it onto the sink counter.

He turned his back to the mirror and turned his head, examining his wounded and bruised back.

The bruises always got worse before they healed. Large, purple-blue bruises covered almost every inch of his skin, crossing over his ribs and all up and over his back. Smaller bruises, from the end of the belt, crawled up the back of his neck and across his shoulders.

The worst was the gash from the buckle. Yong Soo had disinfected it several times using two different antiseptics, though he hadn't been able to bandage it himself. It had scabbed over mostly, and though it gleamed a bright red, it was clean and should heal just fine. Yong Soo was sure it would leave a scar, though.

Yong Soo jumped rather violently as a too-loud knock echoed around the bathroom. From the other side of the door, Yao called out, "Hurry up, aru! Dinner's ready!"

Pulling his shirt back on, Yong Soo unlocked the door. On down the long hallway he went, down the staircase, through the living room and kitchen and into the dining room. Wordlessly, Yong Soo sat in the seat between Chio and Leon.

"Been a while, hasn't it, da-ze? I betcha missed me," Yong Soo teased, throwing a short glance to Leon, who in turn gave him a weird look.

Leon snorted, and gave him a playful shrug. "In your dreams, loser."

Yong Soo sniffed, sticking his tongue out in response.

From the other end of the table, Jade chimed in, "You two never stop, do you?"

To which both Leon and Yong Soo immediately replied, "Of course not!"

Dinner went well, for the most part. Yao gave Yong Soo a weird look when he excuse himself from the table with his plate only half empty, but said nothing.

Yong Soo, oblivious to the pair of eyes burning into his neck, went back upstairs.

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"Is it just me," Kai drawled slowly, "or is he acting strange?"

"I noticed it too," Mei added idly.

Across from Kai, Yao frowned. He sat still, staring at the staircase that Yong Soo had just went up. "You shouldn't worry too much, aru. He's just grown up is all. Considering this is the first time we've seen him in over a year..."

"Have you told him yet?" Kiku said.

Yao sighed heavily. "Not yet, aru. I was going to wait a while. From what I've heard, and how he talks, he seems to really like his...er, brother's house. I don't even know if he'd want to move back in."

As the rest of the family cleared out of the dining room, Chio couldn't help but sigh. Of course he wants to move back in, Chio had wanted to say. Have you not seen his eyes, you fools?

Chio had notciced. He'd noticed it all. Though Yong Soo smiled and laughed when he spoke of Hyung, his eyes were cold and clouded. Though he still seemed as bright and cheerful as ever, Chio couldn't help but notice how he flinched, or his eyes seemed to flash at every too-quick movement or too-loud voice.

And, as it was, Chio was the only one who noticed.

Absentmindedly fanning his face with his fan, Chio dried off his plate and placed it on the counter, before heading out back and into the garden.

He had some thinking to do. A lot of thinking.

0000 LINE BREAK 0000

Upstairs, Yong Soo laid sprawled over his bed, smiling down at his phone as the group chat went off with a new message every few seconds.

Feliks: You, like, totally should've let us come with you

Alfred: Yeah, dude! We finally would've got to meet the rest of your family! No offense dude, but that older brother of yours is kinda stuffy.

Yong Soo: Yeah, right. You guys would've burned down the house by now.

Alfred: Not cool, dude! That was one time!

Feliks: Like that was totally uncalled for.

Yong Soo: 'One time' Al? We burned the entire barn to the ground!

Alfred: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!

Yong Soo laughed, dropping his phone back onto the bed. Opening up another contact, Yong Soo typed a new message.

Yong Soo: I miss you

xxx: How's it being back home, huh?

Yong Soo: It's nice, if not a bit strange. I wish you could be here with me.

xxx: So do I. Anyways, Tino is making us all get together to play twister or something. Bye hun, ttyl.

Yong Soo smiled. As nice as it was being back home, truly home, for the first time in years, he still missed his boyfriend. They'd been dating for two and a half years, and had known each other for four.

He had met his boyfriend's family countless times (they did go to school with each other, after all) and someday, Yong Soo wanted him to meet his own family. They both lived in similar situations, with his boyfriend living with his own four siblings just as Yong Soo had before the split.

Someone knocked on the door, and Yong Soo sat up. "Come in, da-ze!" He called out cheerfully.

Chio poked his head into the room, blinking at Yong Soo. Wordlessly, he walked in, closed the door behind himself, and sat down on the bed.

"Where you live now," Chio started carefully. He gazed at Yong Soo over the rim of his fan, absentmindedly swaying it in front of his face. "With that...man, Hyung was it? Do you like it better?"

Yong Soo's eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he gave a rather dumfounded "What?"

"Would you rather live here?"

"I..." Yong Soo closed his eyes. He took a moment to gather his bearings. Quietly, he admitted, "Yes."

Chio frowned behind his fan. Going quiet once again, he left the room, once again closing the door and leaving Yong Soo alone.

The Korean sighed and collapsed back onto his bed once again, staring up at the ceiling with tear-glazed eyes.

Again, a text went off on his phone, and it dinged.

Hyung: When are you coming home?

Yong Soo sighed, burying his face in his hands. He hadn't told Hyung that he'd be spending a whole summer at Yao's house, in fear he wouldn't let him come.

Now, that was sure to get him beaten once he went back home. He didn't bother to respond to the message. It's not like Hyung could beat him when he was back home, anyways.

For the first time in a while, Yong Soo felt safe. Warm. Often, Yong Soo would stay with his friends or boyfriend to get away from Hyung. Alfred had a pretty large family (mostly his siblings) of himself, Matthew, Jett, Jason, Michael, Michelle, Camille, Wendy, Peter... not to mention his three uncles, and two fathers Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Bonnefoy!

Yong Soo, when he couldn't stay with Alfred, would often turn to his boyfriend. Staying with the family of five was always rather...interesting. Hell, they'd even taught him to play hockey at one point!

That, though, hadn't ended too well. Especially when Tino had hit the puck just a little too hard...

Yong Soo's cheeks went pink at the memory and he coughed into his sleeve, which in turn made him sneeze.

Yong Soo wished he could stay here forever. Safe, away from Hyung...

Another, sharp jolt of pain from his bruised back quickly reminded him of Hyung's words, from so long ago: "You'll never be safe from me."