Chapter Two: Temper, Temper

"I'm Yong Soo and I'm here to tell you to leave Yao-hyung alone! He doesn't like you and you're freaking him out! And –and if you don't want to then, uh… I- I should warn you that I know martial arts! I invented taekwondo, you know!"

Ivan giggled uncomfortably, resisting the urge to pull out the pipe he kept by the door and beat this strange person senseless. "I… am sorry. I must not understood. English is… not so good, da?"

The boy merely turned his head and scoffed. "This must be what Yao-hyung was talking about."

Ivan felt the muscles in his face twitch as he struggled to keep smiling. "Oh? Who are you again?"

"Yong Soo!" The boy exclaimed, exasperatedly. "I said that already! But it doesn't matter anyway." He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. "Just leave Yao-hyung alone and we probably won't see each other again."

"But how you know Yao?" He couldn't imagine Yao, his sweet, quiet Yao, who was only playing hard to get, willingly hanging out with this person.

"I'm his brother, of course! Can't you tell?"

As he looked more closely at the boy before him, he supposed that he could tell. Or maybe all Asians just looked alike to him. He shrugged. "Yong… Soo…" He pronounced slowly and carefully. It felt awkward to say, but it was a nice name. Not as nice as 'Yao' though, of course.

Yong Soo frowned and leaned away from him a little. "Yeah, that's what I said. Just kept in mind what I told you about Yao-hyung." He turned toward a shadowed area of the hall. "Hey, Arthur?" He asked, smiling, his demeanor instantly changing. He almost glowed with energy. "Do you think you can show me back to the gate? I don't remember the way."

Arthur? The smile slipped off of Ivan's face. It couldn't be the Arthur he knew, right? But as the man stepped out from the shadows, nodding his head and pulling the suddenly hyper, young Asian off, Ivan saw it was. A cracked smile appeared on his face. So Arthur was in on this too, huh?

-o-o-o-

Yong Soo burst into the house. "I'm home, da-ze~!" He sang out happily. "Is Lee still here, or did he leave?" He pouted at the thought. Lee better have waited for him or he was going to get poke-tortured tomorrow at school.

"Yong Soo?" Yao ran into the entry way, looking slightly frazzled. "Im Yong Soo! Where have you been, aru? You suddenly disappear and you don't tell anyone where you went-"

"That's not true!" Yong Soo interrupted desperately, trying to prove his innocence before his brother got too angry with him. "I told Lee before I left!"

"Lee?" Yao sounded confused.

"Yeah, he was in my room when I left. He still there? I wanna ask him about his cousin and-"

"Never mind all that, aru! Where were you?" Yao was frowning deeply and Yong Soo knew he was in trouble.

"I just… I wanted to help…" he pouted and looked at his feet. What was Yao-hyung yelling at him for? He was only being a good brother and making that stalker leave him alone. That was what Yao-hyung wanted, right?

"And what is that supposed to mean, aru?" Yao let out a sigh and threw his arms above his head. "Ugh, I guess it doesn't matter. You made it back safe and before curfew. Just go wait in your room until dinner is ready, aru."

Yong Soo nodded, smiling again, and hummed contentedly as he made his way back to his bedroom.

~ The Next Day…

Ivan didn't know what he was doing. No, that wasn't right. He knew what he was doing; he just didn't know why he was doing it.

He had found his Yao earlier than normal this morning. He was walking with three other people; when Ivan found him in the morning he was usually alone. One of the people with his Yao was Yong Soo and the other was- Ivan wrinkled his nose- Kiku. He didn't know the third one. He was another Asian, but a very serious-looking one. Yong Soo was talking to him animatedly and poking the side of his face. The shorter boy mostly ignored him. Suddenly, the group split in half at a fork in the road and Yong Soo energetically waved to his brothers, his long sleeves flapping wildly, as he left with the serious-looking boy. And Ivan, though he didn't know why, deterred from his normal routine and followed them instead of his Yao.

"Ah… Lee… Why didn't you tell me about your cousin?" Yong Soo whined.

"I didn't think it was important," the other boy, Ivan supposed his name was Lee?, replied evenly. "We don't talk often."

"Still…" Yong Soo crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

Ivan almost giggled, but held his hand over his mouth. Yong Soo was rather cute. When he wasn't making ridiculous threats, that is. Although, Ivan looked up as he recalled the moment, he supposed Yong Soo looked rather cute when he was angry as well. A lot like his Yao. He smiled; it wasn't like Yong Soo could actually do anything to him anyway. When he thought about it that way, even the threats were kind of cute. Like a scared kitten. Ivan really did let of a giggle at the point. Yong Soo didn't even notice, or if he did he didn't show any sign of it. The other boy however- 'Lee, da?' Ivan questioned- turned around swiftly, his hair and clothes whipping through the air from the sudden movement. Ivan simply waved at him cheerfully. Lee frowned and stared at the older boy suspiciously before turning back to his companion.

Ivan followed the two for a while, listening to Yong Soo talk quickly to the other boy, sometimes so fast it was incoherent to the Russian. Yong Soo laughed loudly about something his friend muttered and Ivan smiled. He liked Yong Soo's laugh; it was so… real.

-o-o-o-

Yao was nervous. He knew something was wrong; he hadn't seen Ivan all day and he was sitting down for lunch in the campus cafeteria. And he wasn't the only anxious one either. Arthur, who was already at the table, jumped as Yao sat down.

"What's the matter with you, aru?"

Arthur laughed nervously, "Oh nothing, nothing. It's not like I helped your crazy brother scream at Ivan in the hallway of his dorm building yesterday!" He banged his head against the table. Once. Twice. Then looked up at Yao with pitiful eyes. "The brute is going to kill me."

"Crazy- wait, Kiku? Did Kiku do something again, aru?" The last time Kiku tried to get revenge against Ivan over whatever it was they were fighting about, Yao honestly didn't knew nor did he want to, he had strewn tacks all over the floor in front of Ivan's door and knocked. Unfortunately, Ivan's roommate, a friendly brunette with chronic stomachaches whose name escaped Yao at the moment, was the one who answered the door. And walked into the hall. Barefoot. That was bad, but Yao couldn't really imagine his quiet little brother screaming at anyone, not even Ivan. Plus, Kiku was home all last night, right?

"No, no," Arthur waved his hand dismissingly, his chin still resting on the table. "Of course it wasn't Kiku. He was standing at the gate and I asked him if he needed help." He sighed. "Bloody signed my death warrant is what I did. He seemed so friendly… And he told me he knew Lee. But then he started screaming at Ivan about you and-"

Yao's eyes widened, "Wait, it couldn't be… Yong Soo?"

"Huh? Yes, I believe that was his name. Really, how many brothers do you have that you haven't told me about?" Arthur asked sullenly.

"Aiyah! That's what he meant by trying to help, aru?!" He didn't answer Arthur's question but, really, it was all Yao could do not to start ripping out his hair at this point.

"Oh my, it seems like someone is having a bad day." Yao looked up to see Francis and his friends standing behind Arthur.

"That doesn't even begin to describe the day that I'm having," Arthur mumbled bitterly. "Now sod off, you bloody frog."

"Now, now, there's no reason to be so hateful."

"I believe there is ample reason."

"Aw, what's the matter?" Antonio, the only decent one of the three in Yao's opinion, asked as he sat down next to Arthur.

"Da, vhat is matter?"

Both Yao and Arthur turned their heads so quickly, they might suffer from whip-lash later. Ivan stood directly behind the eldest Asian, a pleasant smile on his face.

Silence greeted him as he took a seat next to Yao and pulled a bottle of vodka out from inside his coat. "Vell? Vhat is matter?"

"Just having a bad day," Arthur replied, not looking Ivan in the face.

"Oh? Is too bad." He hummed softly as he set the bottle on the table. Then he turned to Yao. "Why did you not tell about Yong Soo?"

Yao scoffed. "I don't need to tell you anything, aru."

"He is much cuter than other brother."

"What?" Now that surprised Yao. Partly because he wholeheartedly disagreed with that, but mostly because Ivan didn't seem to be upset in the least. Genuinely not upset, not the fake twitchy smile he sometimes got when he pretended not to be upset.

"Oh! Do not vorry, I think Yao is much cuter." He smiled in what Yao assumed was supposed to be a reassuring way.

"Like I care about that, aru." Yao grabbed his only half-eaten tray of food and stood up. "I need to get to my next class." He was going to have to have a talk with Yong Soo when he got home this evening.

A/N: Uh, oh! Yong Soo's in trouble~! *laughs* I'm sorry if all the POV changes are confusing or whatever. I'll try to minimize them in the future.