Slowly, he chewed on his crunchy eggs.

Were eggs supposed to be crunchy?

Last time he checked, no, eggs were not supposed to be crunchy, but he wasn't going to let them go to waste simply because Ah-In didn't take out the eggshells. Not only did that mean he got more calcium, but he also didn't care, because there were other things on his mind.

That being said, it was way too early for anything but breakfast.

"Well, you know what they say about having big feet." Han-jae said, the tone in his voice letting them know that his words had a double meaning.

Kang chuckled into his mug, his eyebrow quirked up as Tae-Hyung hummed around the food in his mouth," Is it what they say about having big hands?" Again, while the men chuckled at their suggestive words, he and Ah-In exchanged looks, the woman visibly unamused by the conversation topic.

Don't get him wrong, he liked a funny dick joke every once in a while, but not at seven in the morning, during breakfast. The fact that Kang's parents were present made him even less inclined to join in on the jokes. Even more so when he saw Ah-in's expression.

Ah-in gave him a knowing look, the same look that Kang would make whenever he was feeling mischievous and after clearing her throat, she daintily lowered her cup. When the men turned to look at her, she smiled at them. It was a pleasant smile, he almost expected her to politely tell them to stop.

She did not tell them to stop.

She was ruthless. "Would you like to know whose penis looks like your fathers?" He snorted and tried to hide his amusement by taking a bite of his crunchy eggs, especially since Kang looked so horrified. Despite his noble attempts, more than once, he almost spat it out.

"MOM."

"NO!"

Tae-Hyung snorted into his mug and sent coffee spraying all over the table. After he finished coughing up a lung, it wasn't long until the older man was laughing heartily, hard enough that he was bent over the table as the other two stared at their mother in horror. Kang looked horrified, as did Han-jae, the two of them turning red enough to emulate a cherry in their silent horror.

Ah-In almost cackled in her seat, she threw her head back in laughter as she raised her hand for a high five, only for Han-jae to push it back down, "Put your hand down I'm not giving you one!" Han-jae yelled out and without missing a beat, she used her other hand to ask for a high five from her husband, who returned it with a satisfying smack.

Now that made him nearly choke on the food in his mouth. He nearly snorted it, quickly stopping himself as he struggled to control his laughter. He leaned his forehead onto his hand to hide his face, his shoulders shook up and down as he tried his best to keep his food in his mouth because it was either spitting it out or choking on it at that point. He could feel his face turning red from the exertion.

"Mom why!" Kang nearly shrieked out, looking thoroughly horrified at his mother's suggestion. "Don't say stuff like that!"

"Mother, why have you forsaken us!?" Han-jae called out dramatically, the researcher pulling up the collar of his shirt in an attempt to hide his face.

The words were strained, "What's the problem?" Ah-In stammered out, her shoulders shaking with laughter, "I know what they look like, I changed your diapers-"

"That's not the point!" Han-jae interjected, his face just as red as everyone else, only it was red out of embarrassment, "We don't want to know if they look alike!"

At last, he swallowed the mouth full of food, just in time for Ah-in to continue her antics. "Wellllll," She dragged out, a teasing smile on her face, "If I remember-"

"NO!"

"DONT!"

Now that he could open his mouth, he was laughing freely, even more so with the annoyed look that Kang was giving him, "It is not funny!" oh it was funny, so funny in fact, he couldn't even give a verbal answer with how hard he was laughing at the man.

It was just genuinely funny. Instead of Ah-In telling them to stop making dick jokes, she decided to mentally scar them by offering to tell them that bit of information. That only suggested that she remembered what Kang's and Han-jae's dicks looked like and she remembered it well enough for her to be able to compare them to her husbands. It must have been horrifying to be on the other side of the joke.

Wordlessly, he nodded his head, somehow managing to control his chuckles as he hid his smile behind his hand. His stomach started to ache faintly with how hard he was laughing and if it wasn't for the slight pain from Han-jae's jab, then he would have kept on laughing at the brothers' misfortune.

Well, he did stop, but as soon as he saw Kang's and Han-jae's red faces, it wasn't long until he was laughing all over again.

"That's what you get for making dirty jokes with me!" Ah-In said happily, a sense of accomplishment in her voice, "I don't know why you thought you could win when I've been with your father for the past-"

"Mom." Kang cut in tiredly, making him restrain his laughter again, "Please stop."

Ah-In grinned, looking almost identical to Kang as she gave the teenager a knowing look.

He returned the smile. He was a believer in sleeping in the bed you made and the situation was merely a consequence of their actions. They did not have his sympathies.

"You know what?" Han-jae brought the attention to himself as he stood up from the table, "I'm going on a run with you Kid. I need to get away from all of," Han-jae motioned to the entire table, though he focused more on his parents, much to their amusement, "this." That was fair. He supposed that he would be equally horrified if his mother made the same offer.

The sons were the only ones who weren't laughing, though, by that point, all of them had managed to calm down, their faces returning to normal as the embarrassment and amusement started to subside.

He did note that Kang did not look amused at his persistent smile, but he could live with that.

"I would love to go with you guys," Kang sighed, "But I'm going to help Mom and Dad pack, they're going to leave in a few days." He frowned at the news. They were going to leave?

Han-jae nodded his head in understanding. "I forgot about that. Where are you guys going?"

Had he been the only one who didn't know they were leaving?

"Already?" They hadn't been there for long.

He hadn't realized that he asked that out loud until the entire Kang family started staring at him, with varying emotions on their faces.

He had to fight a blush. He didn't mean to say it out loud. He didn't mean to show that he was saddened by their quick departure, but in his defense, they had only been there for less than a month. He would never admit it, especially not after he said that without thinking, but he wanted them to stay longer. He had come to like them. He had grown to trust the parents almost as he would trust Kang. It was not the same level of trust, but it was still there.

Ah-in smiled at him and he had to resist the urge to duck his head when she ruffled his hair. "We'll miss you too, kid. We'll be back in a few months if you want." He blushed.

"Now, we'll definitely be back in a few months." Tae-hyung decided, garnering a nod of agreement from his wife, "I'll bring you back a few souvenirs."

He felt his face turn a deeper red.

He really had been obvious.

Bashfully, he looked over at Kang and it was like his face was on fire when he saw his knowing smile. Kang motioned towards his parents with his head and he got the hint. "Thank you." He said quietly and the two parents gave him bright smiles, even Tae-hyun in that small smile of his.

That time, it was Tae-Hyun who ruffled his hair. The man was rougher than his wife, but it still brought him comfort either way, he nearly leaned into it as he would for Kang. "You're welcome."


After that spectacular breakfast, he and Han-jae had gone on the jog and thirty minutes into it, there was a problem.

Han-jae slowly eased his shoe off, his face scrunched up in pain each time he moved his ankle the wrong way. As a result of stepping on a rock during the jog, Hanjae had a softball-sized lump on the side of his ankle. The man's hands shook as he did so and he didn't need Han-jae to take off his shoe for him to see just how fucked the researcher's ankle was.

His ankle was twisted to hell and back, and he knew that Han-jae wouldn't be able to walk back to the house on it. To make it better, Han-jae forgot his phone, so they couldn't call anyone to go and pick them up. They were going to have to wait long enough until the others realized something happened, or they were going to have to walk back.

He sighed. Well, he said walk, but he knew full well that they were going to have to hobble back to the house and they were at least a mile away.

Maybe his ankle looked worse than it was?

He poked Han-jaes homemade lump.

Han-jae hissed while he slapped his hand away.

Maybe not.

"What the hell was that for!" Han-jae spat out as he held onto his ankle, "That hurt!" Han-jae had tears at the corners of his eyes and that cemented their fate. There was no way in hell Han-jae was going to be able to walk back on it.

"Sorry." He should have figured that Han-jae had a different pain tolerance, he was too used to working with battle-hardened men. Han-jae was a scientist after all, he wasn't like the soldiers and mercenaries he was used to working with.

"Alright." He grabbed Han-jae's shoes and tied the shoelaces to his belt loop. There wasn't a point in trying to force the shoe back on, he could tell that Han-jae's ankle had only gotten bigger since he took it off. "Let's go back. It's going to take us a while to get back." His words were emphasized by the fact that Han-jae's ankle no longer looked like an ankle, it just looked like a swollen mass of flesh that made it difficult to distinguish the joint. There was no point in trying to figure out if Han-jae could walk on it or not, it was a bad sprain. Even he had to admit that they were probably going to have to go to the doctor or at least help Han-jae stay off his foot until it healed.

Han-jae nearly whined but he still got to his feet-foot- with the kids' help. "I know." He dragged out and he slung his arm over the teenager's shoulder so they could start to hobble back to the house. "God, I twisted the shit out of it." He held onto Han-jae as well, wrapping his arm around the man's waist to help stabilize him.

He just hummed in agreement. Han-jae did indeed twist the shit out of his ankle, there was no denying that.

"Let's get going." He said that, but the process was slow.

Painfully slow.

By the twenty-minute mark, he just said fuck it at that point. They had made little to no progress due to Han-jae needing constant breaks so his good leg wouldn't cramp up.

They were going far too slow for his liking. He kneeled in front of the man, "Get on my back." Han-jae was taller than him, but he was confident that he would be able to get them back to the house faster than hobbling around.

Han-jae scoffed, "Huh. So, you think I'm skinny?" That made absolutely no sense but nonetheless, Han-jae was climbing onto his back. As he thought, Han-jae was heavy, but he was strong enough to get them back home. "Thanks, Kid. Really." Han-jae muttered into his ear, getting comfortable on his back.

He just hummed. He bounced Han-jae further up onto his back, securing a better hold on the man before he started walking again. It certainly wasn't the first time he had to carry someone to safety, but it was the first time where he had to carry a person like that for such a long time. He was used to short, fast bursts of speed while supporting an injured teammate, not extended distances of full-on carrying a grown man.

As soon as Han-jae was better, he decided, he was making the man go on runs with them, he needed to exercise more, anything to make his body sturdy.

Han-jae tried to get more comfortable on his back, but after he accidentally knocked his ankle against the teen's leg, Han-jae found it to be more comfortable to hold his leg straight out. The man huffed a slight remorseful tone in his voice, "I can't believe I ate shit. This is why I don't run." He nearly scoffed at that.

"Well," he hoisted the man further onto his back. They had already walked farther in the last two minutes, "Maybe this is why you should exercise more," Han-jae snorted, "Or, use combat boots like I told you to." It was hard to twist an ankle in a combat boot, which is why prior to returning to Korea, his combat boots were also his running shoes. If the man had exercised more, with combat boots, chances were high that he never would have gotten hurt in the first place.

Han-jae scoffed, his grip tightening momentarily as the teenager bounced him once more, "Kid, I need subtitles to hear shows, I'm too old for stuff like that. I'll just end up messing up my feet."

Well to him, that sounded like a bunch of excuses. "You're not old." Han-jae was a year younger than Kang, meaning that he was only 28, not nearly as old as he was making himself out to be.

His ear was flicked. "Fine. Then I'm too out of shape for stuff like that. I haven't run like this since high school."

"That's your fault."

Han-jae groaned and he could feel the adult rolling his eyes, along with his entire head as it rested on his shoulder. "God, that's the exact same thing that Ham says."

The nickname made him scrunch up his brows. "Ham?" They stopped to cross the street, Han-jae taking advantage of his very free hands to press the button for the light. He caught more than one driver looking at them curiously as they drove past and if he cared a little bit more, the teenager would have been embarrassed.

Though based on the way he felt Han-jae almost duck down behind his shoulder, it was obvious that he was embarrassed by their situation. "Yeah. Ham. Hamchan, Ham. That's my nickname for him. Mom and dad call him Chan though. I used to call him Hammy when I was younger." 'Hammy' made him smile. The thought of calling Kang, the military major who was kind but also stern at times, Hammy, almost made him chuckle. It was such a childish nickname.

"That makes sense."

Han-jae hummed, the action making the entirety of the teen's back vibrate as a result. "Yeah. Actually, you need a nickname too." Han-jae added after a moment's pause.

They finally crossed the street and although it was still early in the morning, the street was starting to fill up with kids on their morning commutes to school. He had to take care to swerve around the children to make sure Han-jae didn't hurt his ankle further, or accidentally kick a kid in the face. "Do I?" He didn't think he needed one, Kang called him Squirt and everyone else called him Kid, wasn't that good enough?

Apparently, it wasn't. Han-jae shook his head, "Yeah. Kid isn't a nickname, that's practically your name by now."

"Kang calls me Squirt."

"Yeah but that's his nickname. Besides I don't think you would like it if everyone started calling you Squirt."

"Hm…" Well, that was a good point. It would be weird if anyone else called him Squirt because ever since they were back on the base, only Kang would call him Squirt while the other men usually had their own nicknames for him. It would peeve him if someone else tried to use Kang's nickname.

Han-jae must have known that he would have that sentiment. "Exactly. Hmmmmmmm, I'll call you Fox." He offered as if it was a logical nickname that made sense.

"Fox?" He needed to hear the reasoning Han-jae had with that offer. It didn't sound like a good nickname, it was an animal that was being offered up after all.

"Yeah. Because your hair is silver, like a marble fox."

He heaved out a sigh. Like he thought, it was a bad nickname with bad reasoning. Just because his hair was silver didn't mean he wanted to be called that. "No. That's a bad nickname."

Han-jae made an offended noise and without a second thought, he offered up another, "Crayola." Which was somehow worse than the previous suggestion.

"That's worse."

"Grey."

"That's a color."

"Tin."

"That's a metal."

"Silver."

"You're doing this on purpose." Han-jae just had to be at that point, they were all just terrible nicknames. They were all so terrible, Han-jae just had to be trying to come up with those terrible suggestions.

Again, the researcher didn't skip a beat in suggesting another shitty nickname. "Mercury!" maybe that's why he was giving such bad nicknames, he was so used to using big scientific names, he was terrible at naming things normally, hence the bad nickname suggestions.

"That's a planet." And what reasoning was he going to use for that one? Because it's small and he's smaller than Han-jae?

That time around, Han-jae was offended by his refusal of the nickname, "Hey that's actually a good one!" he said indignantly, garnering the attention of some of the students around them as they turned the corner to get to their neighborhood.

"No, it's not."

"Yeah, it is! Like the Roman God! Or the metal, mercury is like silver! Well mercury metal but mercury is also deadly and you, my little mercury, are also deadly." He almost wished that Han-jae used the smaller argument. It was a somewhat better point with him being deadly, he was trained to kill after all, but just the fact that his hair color was involved again made it a bad nickname.

"It's still a bad nickname." Next thing he knew, Han-jae was going to suggest calling him a weapon just because he knew how to use it. Maybe he should just let Han-jae call him Squirt.

"Quiet Mercury. Or I'll call you Fox instead."

"Fine." It was better than Fox.

They lapsed into silence. At last, they were within a few blocks of the house. The streets were emptying once again as the trickle of students started to slow, only a few students remained at that point.

"I'll call you Merc for short, is that better?"

"It's better than Mercury."

"Good enough."

Was it really though?

The sound of someone running up behind them made him turn around, and he found himself raising a brow when he saw a pair of girls – school girls based on their uniforms – running up to them. They both looked relieved when he did turn around and waited for them.

One of them held something out and without a second thought, he was taking a step back. It was a reflex, and he didn't get to look at what was in her hands before she did that. He should have looked and-

"Oh!" Han-jae said loudly, his voice light-hearted as he reached out for his shoe in the girl's hand, "Thank you! I didn't even realize that it fell."

Oh.

Oh, he felt like an idiot.

All he had to do was look down and realize that Han-jae's shoe had fallen off his belt loop and he wouldn't have reacted like that. He was just going to go ahead and pretend like he hadn't reacted like that.

One of the girls gave them a smile while the other one had her head tilted as she scrutinized the both of them for some odd reason. Even as her companion started to have a short conversation with Han-jae, she didn't stop staring at him.

He stared back and just like that, the staring girl averted her eyes, off put by what he did.

He felt Han-jae chuckle at the interaction before he bid the girls farewell, the two of them making their way back to the house. As she had earlier, the girl's eyes lingered on him, it took her friend tugging her along before they were on their way again.

What a weird girl.

It was quiet for a few seconds; he had thought nothing of it. It wouldn't be the first time someone had stared at him, though it was the first time someone stared at him for seemingly no reason.

Han-jae did not think nothing of it. "So…" He dragged out, "that girl looked nice." He said with a knowing tone in his voice. He could practically hear the grin in Han-jae's voice.

He raised his eyebrow, the action going unseen by the man, "What about her?" There wasn't a lot to say, she stared at him and he stared back until she looked away, it wasn't anything special.

The man scoffed. "Don't give me that. I saw the way you looked at her!" Han-jae poked his cheek, a teasing tone in his voice, "She was pretty, and she looked nice. It looks like she lives around here too. You should talk to her, make friends with someone your age."

He caught onto Han-jae's intent with the conversation and huffed to himself before he picked up the pace. They were almost home, and soon the conversation would end in favor of taking care of Han-jaes ankle. "I'm not interested." Besides, just because they made eye contact didn't mean there was a spark between them. Not to mention, he wasn't interested in relationships at all.

Han-jae laughed as if he said something particularly funny. Maybe he should hit Han-jae's ankle just to get him to shut up. "You haven't even-!" the researcher cut himself off with a yelp.

He may or may have not purposely clipped Han-jaes foot against the fence. Perhaps.

Who knows.

Han-jae yelped at the impact and by the time he was ready to talk again, they were already at the front door, much to the man's annoyance. "You little-" The door quickly opened after the teen lightly kicked it as his way of knocking. "…adorable thing…" Hanjae ended weakly, thoroughly cowed by the presence of his older brother.

Kang did not look particularly surprised when he saw Han-jae on his back. "He twisted his ankle?" that only made him question how normal it was for Han-jae to twist his ankle if Kang knew from a single look.

He nodded. "Yeah. And he forgot his phone." Kang heaved out a sigh and opened the door wider, allowing them to walk in, though he did raise an eyebrow at Han-jaes expression, he didn't question it.

He walked into the living room and carefully set the man on the couch. Han-jae's ankle had swelled up further so he went to the kitchen without a thought to grab an ice pack before joining them once more. Kang had already brought the ottoman over and propped Han-jae's leg onto it, elevating it just in time for the teenager to hand over the ice pack.

Han-jae's ankle no longer looked like an ankle. It looked like an extension to his calf with toes poking out at the end.

They exchanged looks.

Kang looked defeated as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Can you pull out the car while I get this idiot's stuff? He needs to go to the doctor. Han-jae, call mom and dad and let them know what happened, they went to the store. Idiot."

"Yes sir."

"I'm telling mom you're being mean to me :(." He wasn't going to question how Han-jae enunciated that, but they had bigger problems to deal with.

Painkillers, a phone call, and another piggyback ride later, the three of them were in the car, Han-jae spread out in the backseat as they took him to the doctor. Kang sighed as he turned onto the highway, "I'm going to get you ankle braces at this rate Han. This is the third time." He raised an eyebrow. Maybe Kang should get Han-jae ankle braces if it was the third time Han-jae had twisted his ankle.

Or combat boots.

It would be hard for him to twist his ankle in combat boots.

"Oh, be quiet." Han-jae groaned out, "At least play some music. Something upbeat to help me with the sorrow of my ankle."

That in particular, made Kang grin. Kang didn't need to turn away from the road for the teenager to be able to see the mischievous mood the man was in. "Upbeat huh?" Kang handed him his phone. "Squirt, play I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany."

"No!" Han-jae was quick to protest that. "Merc don't you dare play that 80's pop! Play Thunderstruck before anything!"

He just watched as the brothers got into a back-and-forth discussion.

"It's from the 60s first of all! And why the hell are you calling him Merc!?"

"You did not just try to say a song from the 60s is upbeat! And that's his nickname! Mercury!"

"That's a shit nickname!"

"It is not!"

"Yeah, it is! Is your brain just as fucked as your ankle?!"

"HEY!"

He snorted. Loudly.

Just like that, the car fell silent, and for a few seconds, all he could hear was the sound of the car on the road.

Han-jae poked his head into the front, his glasses halfway down the bridge of his nose as he looked at the teenager over the brim of his glasses. He did not look pleased. "That was not funny."

His intense stare made it funnier. It was like Han-jae was trying to intimidate him into agreeing that it was not funny, but it was just the way that Han-jae was staring at him that made it difficult to not laugh.

The corners of his lips upturned slightly.

Han-jae's eyes narrowed.

"It is a bit funny." Kang said and just the way Han-jaes neck cracked when he whipped around to look at his brother pushed him closer to the edge.

A small chuckle escaped him and the way Han-jae looked at him again made him truly start laughing. He looked almost crazed, and it made it far funnier than it had a right to be.

Han-jae reached around the seat and started to lightly poke him, each poke punctuating his words. "Stop! Laughing!" He didn't stop laughing and when Han-jae poked him in his ribs, he couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter as he almost spasmed. "Oh! So, you're ticklish there?! Well! This! Is! What! You! Get!" Han-jae yelled as he poked the teenager in the ribs again, earning another bark of laughter as he squirmed around in the seat. He slapped Han-jaes hands away, but as soon as Kang started to take part in the antics, getting in his own jabs to make him laugh even as he drove, he lost the battle.

"S-stop it!" He stammered out in between laughter, his stomach ached for the second time that day with how hard he was laughing. Their laughter filled the car as they kept on making him squirm in the seat.

Then Han-jae cried in pain after he knocked his ankle against the back of Kang's seat.

He and Kang started laughing again, Han-jae's hisses of pain edging them on. They were laughing so hard, Kang was hunched over the steering wheel, gasping for breath as he tried to keep them from careening into another car. The teenager would have fallen out of the seat if it wasn't for the seatbelt. He was laughing hard enough for his face to turn red once more.

It took a while, but Kang was finally able to control his laughing enough that he could look over at the teenager next to him without bursting into laughter.

The kid was still trying to catch his breath, chuckles falling out every other breath as his face slowly returned to its normal color. That was the hardest he had ever seen the kid laugh, the biggest smile he had seen on the kid yet. It was the closest he had ever seen the kid act like a normal teenager.

It was a good look on him.

Han-jae whined from the backseat, "My ankle really hurts now."

A single look was enough for them to lose it all over again.

"Ok, now you have to play ACDC." Han-jae whined, his tone portraying how he felt about the situation. "I need to drown out my sorrows."

"Okay okay," Kang conceded as he got off the freeway, shortly turning into a parking lot soon after, "We'll do it on the way back. We're already here."

From his voice alone, he could have sworn Han-jae was tearing up. "You guys are so mean." Kang pulled up the car to the entrance, and while he went off to grab a wheelchair, he helped Han-jae out of the car.

Then he felt bad because Han-jae actually had tears in his eyes.

Any lingering amusement went up in flames. "Does it hurt that much?" It had to hurt a lot if Han-jae was tearing up from the pain after he took some painkillers at home.

Han-jae nodded, his lips pressed into a white line as the teenager helped him out of the car and steady him. His foot carefully hovered over the pavement as they waited for Kang to return. "Yeah. I hit it pretty hard."

Well…

He awkwardly patted Han-jaes shoulder, trying to provide comfort as Kang had done for him. That's how he does it right?

The man snorted, a slight hiss escaping him when he let his leg drop a bit too much. "Thanks, kid. All I need is a 'there there' now."

Was he serious?

He didn't know if Han-jae was being serious.

He started patting Han-jaes shoulder again. "There there…?"

"I was joking," Kang finally arrived with the borrowed wheelchair before he left to go park the car. "But thanks kid." Han-jae sat down heavily into the wheelchair, a sigh of relief escaped him as he did so. "I hear kissing boo boo's help them feel better too." The man lifted his leg to emphasize the 'boo boo'.

That time he knew that Han-jae was being an idiot.

He started to push Han-jae into the hospital, "This is why Kang called you an idiot."

That made Han-jae laugh. Maybe he should remind Han-jae how much his ankle hurt so he could focus on that instead of laughing at him. "If you're so smart, why don't you tell me where to go then."

That sounded easy enough.

He pushed Han-jae into the lobby, he just needed to find the front desk and then the idiot on wheels could handle it from there.

He just needed to find the right one, among the three different front desks that he saw in the lobby, each of them having a different sign above them that did nothing to clarify anything for him.

Han-jae turned to look at him, an expectant look on his dumb face. "Well. Which one smarty pants?"

"I'm telling Kang that you're being mean to me." That was the only defense he had left because he truly had no idea which front desk he was supposed to go to. He knew that he wasn't supposed to go to the emergency one, because Han-jaes ankle was not an emergency, or the visiting one. Was it the admissions one?

"The admissions will admit me to the emergency department." Damn, Han-jae for being observant.

"Quiet." Then where in the fresh hell was he supposed to go if none of them were it?

That's what he gets for calling Han-jae an idiot.

"What are you guys waiting for?" Kang sidled up next to them with a confused expression before he started to walk somewhere, and without a second thought, he started to follow the soldier, "The faster Han-jae gets his ankle checked, the faster we can go."

"Han-jae was being mean and wouldn't tell me where to go."

"Merc was being mean to me first."

Kang let out a soul-heavy sigh as he led them to a smaller lobby, "Be nice to Han-jae Squirt. Han-jae be nice to Squirt. And stop calling him Merc."

"Fight me."

"Keep it up and I'm hitting your ankle."

"Merc, Ham is being mean to me."

"You deserve it."

"Aw," Han-jae moaned out as he almost dramatically dropped over to the side, "Everyone is being mean to me today." He said mournfully and he embellished his words with a sniffle.

Kang rolled his eyes before he started to talk to the clerk, informing the woman what had happened and if they were able to squeeze in among the other walk in's.

"So," Han-jae started quietly, lowering his voice further when Kang gave him a look to shut up, "since the conversation was cut short because you nicked my foot against the fence," Shit, he didn't think Han-jae noticed, "that girl looked nice."

He nearly groaned at the re-emergence of the girl as a conversational topic. "I'm not interested." And unfortunately for him, there were no nearby fences to make him shut up again.

"Come on dude. Even if you don't think she's pretty," Kang started to finish up with the lady and he gave them another glance to try and silence his brother. One that Han-jae ignored without a second thought, "You should still talk to her. She can be your first friend."

He huffed. "You're already my friend." And what did he mean by first friend? He would argue that the entire Kang family and Kang's men were his friends as well. He had friends.

"I'm honored, but you need friends your age. We're all older than you, she can be your first friend that's your age."

"The doctor can see you in half an hour," Kang cut in as he led them to the chairs, "and who can be whose first friend?" Dammit, he had been hoping that Kang was too busy with the lady to overhear the conversation.

"No one."

"A girl from the neighborhood." Han-jae talked over him and it was almost a physical effort to keep himself from succumbing to the urge to ram Han-jae into the chairs to get him to shut up.

Instead, he peacefully parked him next to some chairs. Han-jae better not ever call him mean again.

Kang's eyebrows went up and he looked exceedingly curious. "A girl?" he asked, staring at the teenager with an incredulous look, "You want to be friends with a girl? Why was he so surprised?

He didn't know if he should be offended by Kang's reaction or not…

"No," Han-jae clarified, though that just seemed to confuse Kang even more. "There's this girl who gave us back my shoe after we dropped it. I'm just telling him that he should try to be friends with her. You know, so he could have a friend his age."

"Ohhhhh," Kang dragged out, his mouth in an 'o' shape as he did so, "Oh yeah. You should become friends with her Squirt. You do need friends your age."

He scowled. Not only were they not dropping the subject, but they were suddenly deciding for him that he needed to make new friends when he was perfectly fine with the friends he had. "I'm fine with the friends I have." Besides, as anyone could tell, he was just as sociable as a rock.

Unknowingly, Kang said the exact same thing as his brother. Kang ruffled his hair, "I'm honored Squirt, but you do need friends your age. You gotta get all that social development good stuff."

"I don't need social development." He grumbled as if he hadn't called himself sociable as a rock a few moments prior.

They answered without hesitation. "Yeah you do."

"Definitely. Look," Kang added when he saw the disgruntled look on his kid's face, "assuming you ever see her again, just talk to her for a little bit. We don't even know if she lives around our neighborhood so no need to get all bitter on us."

He hated that Kang had a good point...

After taking a deep breath, he listened to Kang's advice. The soldier was right, they didn't know if they would ever run into the girl ever again, there really wasn't a point in getting upset about it when it had yet to happen. "Okay. Fine"

But that only caused him to wonder about something…

"I'm not that bad. Am I?"

The brothers exchanged looks.

"…so, what do you think happened to your ankle?" Kang deflected, his brother more than willing to continue the deflection.

Bastards.


Kang went in first, allowing his brother to hobble into the house as he held the door open. Han-jae traveled further into the house, his crutches allowing him to be independent again as he went to the bathroom.

It had taken them a while to be seen due to some problems, and since his parents had picked Squirt up to take him to dinner as a last-minute bonding session, it was just the two of them at the house.

Kang had to admit that he was surprised that Squirt had gotten so attached to his parents. He didn't think the kid would warm up to them within the two weeks. In fact, he had expected the kid to take far longer to do that. His kid was just like that, yet, his parents had managed to win the kid's trust in a record-breaking two weeks.

Either way, he wasn't going to complain. It was a good thing. If only he could get the kid to make new friends like he had been able to trust his family.

Kang sat down heavily at the kitchen table and for a few minutes, all he did was sprawl himself on it. It had been a tiring day and even though he wasn't in the mood for it, it was time for another session of tediously trying to find the squirt's family. After letting out a loud groan, Kang pulled his laptop towards him, his chin still resting on the table as he logged into it.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted to keep on looking.

He was barely on page four and despite him looking at almost eight thousand Yu surnames, he had yet to track down the kids' family. It felt like it was a pointless task that had no end in sight. He'd been perusing over the pages for nearly two months and he was barely on page four out of five hundred.

Kang sighed heavily.

After he accepted his fate of spending yet another evening searching the website, he almost cried out of relief when he saw that he was getting a phone call, even more so when he saw that it was from the soldier he had entrusted Sunny to.

"Yeah?"

"Major Kang," Sergeant Kim greeted cordially, "I just wanted to give you an update on Sunny. She's already halfway through her quarantine and so far, "He sat up straight, "she's been doing fine. She should be released on schedule. You can pick her up from the airport in eight weeks' time." Though his words were formal, Kang could hear the tone of excitement in Sergeant Kim's voice and he was right there with him.

Kang had been on the verge of leaping out of his seat by that point. "Are you sure?" he struggled to keep the excitement out of his voice, "I thought we had to wait for another four months?" Last time he checked, the rules were that foreign dogs with no documentation had to be quarantined for half a year to make sure they didn't introduce diseases into the country. They had only been there for less than two months and she was already halfway through quarantine?

Sergeant Kim hummed into the phone. "I'm sure. Sunny just needs four months of quarantine, not six since I got her papers together. You can pick her up in eight weeks." Kang could have wept from joy.

Just two more months and Sunny was finally able to come home with the kid. Kang could only do so much and as much as he loved the kid, Kang knew that he couldn't stay with Squirt at all times like Sunny would. Once Sunny was reunited with her owner, the kid is going to be kept busy trying to keep her in line, and she would only give him more structure to his life. Not only that but Kang had a feeling that the kid was going to need Sunny for stress relief once he started attending school again. Hell, maybe Sunny could force her owner to interact with more kids his age once he started taking her on walks.

"Right. Thank you, Sergeant Kim." Kang struggled to keep the excitement out of his voice as he bid farewell to the soldier.

Kang didn't even get a chance to express his joy before papers were slapped onto the table, making him jump as a result. "Alright!" Han-jae sat down heavily into the chair, a bright smile on his face as he placed his crutches to the side, "Let's get this started. Or I will do it myself."

What was he talking about? Do what himself?

"What?" Kang pulled the top paper towards him to figure out what Han-jae was going on.

Adoption papers.

They were adoption papers.

Kang didn't have a chance to fully process what he was looking at before Han-jae leaned in, "We need to start figuring this out now. I looked it up online and it turns out that the adoption process can take a really long time, and because your kid doesn't have a real identity or citizenship, it might take even longer. Let's start figuring this out now."

Well, it was not to say that Kang was against the idea of adopting the kid, but he still wanted to at least try to find the kid's family before he started the process. Especially since he hadn't been as devoted to the search as of late…

Han-jae noticed the look on Kang's face and he was not amused. "Either you file the papers and he's your kid or I do and I get-"

Kang nearly ripped the papers trying to take them. "Give me the papers."

Han-jae gave him a shit-eating grin. One that Kang decidedly ignored in favor of looking over the papers.

Ok, first things first, he had to organize his thoughts. Sunny was going to be ready to be picked up in eight weeks, which was great, but that meant he was going to have to subtly start collecting dog supplies without the kid noticing. And two, Kang knew that he was going to have to become the kids' guardian to get him back into school, and with the topic of adoption, becoming Squirt's guardian would most likely expedite the adoption process.

So, he had to hurry up and become his guardian.

Han-jae slid more papers in front of him. "I figured you would need these. If you start now, you can be the kids' guardian in the next two months. Just in time for the new school year to start."

He almost blinked in surprise. Han-jae was on a roll, almost as much as his ankle. "You heard that?"

That earned a dead-panned look from his brother. "You and Dad suck at whispering, I heard everything. Anyways, just fill out the paperwork and you can turn it into social services tomorrow while I distract Merc." The terrible nickname almost distracted him.

Almost.

"Got it." Kang started to look over the form. There were a few parts where he would need a notary to be the witness for the signatures and such, but there were a few parts that he could fill out beforehand.

He had barely put the pen onto the paper when they heard the front door open.

"We're home!" their mom called out, their father and the kid doing the same shortly after.

They spasmed. Frantically, they gathered up the papers and slid them under the laptop to hide them. To make matters worse, the papers flapped around obnoxiously loud in their rush.

Thankfully, by the time the Squirt walked past the kitchen, he didn't notice their nervous state as he said a quick hi before going off to do something else.

Their parents were a different story.

Their father was already holding out his hand by the time he walked into the kitchen, his eyebrow raised as he waited for them to provide the papers they had tried to hide. Right behind them was their mother, patiently watching the entire scene as she did the same.

There was no point in arguing with their father. Besides, they were going to find out eventually so there wasn't a point in hiding it either.

Despite what Kang was telling himself, it was still embarrassing, he couldn't fight the blush as he took the papers out from under his laptop and slid them toward his father.

The man smiled widely when he saw what the papers were and within seconds, he was covering their mother's mouth, muting her loud gasp when she realized what they were.

She wrenched her husband's hand away from her mouth. "Are you really going to do it?!" She whispered excitedly, nearly vibrating in place as she flipped through the papers, her smile getting wider the more she looked at them.

It was heartwarming to see their reactions.

"Yeah," Kang whispered back, smiling as he confirmed it, "I'm gonna adopt him."

She gasped quietly, "My first grandchild." Her hands went up to her mouth as she nearly bounced in place, exuding the energy of a child rather than one of a mature woman. Their father rolled his eyes fondly, though they could tell with his smile that he was just as happy.

"Kang." The squirt called out and the only one who didn't frantically hide the paperwork was their mother, who rushed over to hug the teenager as he exited the hallway. "Uh. Thank you?" Squirt was exceedingly confused as he hugged her back, his eyes flicking toward them for answers, "What's this for?"

"Oh! Um-" she pulled away, and since she couldn't tell him that she was ecstatic about his upcoming adoption, she looked to them for help.

Han-jae took one for the team.

"We just told her about your new friend." He said happily.

Just like that, the kid looked absolutely done for the day. His expression dropped from a confused one to a deadpan one as he let his annoyance be known, "She's not my friend." Thankfully, the squirt didn't notice their parents' piqued curiosity as they turned to the brothers for answers.

Kang decided to help. "Not yet anyway."

The way Squirt scowled was almost amusing. But it kept him from finding out what they were planning so Kang could live with it.