Chapter Text
Jeongin wakes up next morning back in his bed, warm underneath his soft pastel blanket. He stands up slowly, he’s more refreshed than ever and maybe a little nauseous due to those cookies but nothing so severe to stop him from devouring Woojin’s breakfast today. He disjointedly moves around his room before he feels something soft and very much alive graze past his feet. Like every normal human, Jeongin’s startled state is one where he jumps back in surprise but somehow holds himself back from letting out a scream by shutting close his mouth.
He peers down at the floor and there stands Diego, licking his paws and staring at Jeongin, smug almost, for causing Jeongin to lose his shit so early in the morning. Jeongin lets out a sigh of relief, crouching down and beckoning Diego to come closer which he does. Jeongin lets out a laugh as he rubs Diego’s soft fur, scratching behind his ears, listens to him let out a purr. His hands catch at Diego’s collar which has a letter attached to it and it clicks.
“Ah,” He says, “So, keeping your promise I see?” He takes out the letter from where it hangs. He huffs, reading the said schedule. Okay, yeah. His adventure starts now, he guesses. He picks Diego up, opens up his window and Diego meows as what Jeongin thinks is a farewell. “Bye, buddy. See you soon.” He waves to the cat as it jumps out the window.
He leaves it at that, the schedule at his desk, he’ll bother with it after breakfast. He does all his morning routines and makes his way to the kitchen and there stands the very familiar sight of Woojin humming as he gracefully moves around the kitchen, he can’t believe how easily he’s taken a liking to this kind of normalcy (though he guesses with so many things that don’t seem normal here, the moments he gets with the other eight are everything he holds onto now.)
Woojin turns back to look, he smiles at him before he continues stirring the pot, “Good morning, Jeongin!” He chirps, voice still sweet like honey.
“Good morning to you too, hyung.” Jeongin smiles.
“I thought you’d wake up late today, maybe not even attend breakfast.”
“Hyung,” Jeongin laughs, “I’m eighteen. I swear I do, not so mature things, but throwing a temper tantrum is the least likely option in my list to reacting to problems.”
Woojin lets out a surprised laugh too, “talkative today?”
“I guess it’s one of those days.” Jeongin shrugs.
“Is it now?”
They fall into a comfortable conversation, skimming from one unimportant topic to another, it reminds Jeongin of home, of staying back and watching his mother cook him dinner during evenings, talking about the little town and it’s people’s lives. With Woojin, it seemed like a bitter reminder at the very beginning, Woojin with his honey-laced voice and calm aura, Woojin with his pretty face and even prettier laugh, whenever he talks Jeongin swears to god he isn’t exaggerating when he says it sounds like a song, now it’s a warmth that seeps into his skin (the same way the ghost feeling of Minho’s hands leave his skin burning), Woojin’s warm and today of all days, Jeongin wants to bask in it.
“By the way,” Woojin says, “Yesterday night was your first strike.” Jeongin makes a confused sound, “Every time you miss breakfast or dinner you land a strike and it’s up for records there,” Woojin explains pointing to the fridge where stuck a sheet of paper, nine names on it, Jeongin’s at the very end with a single red cross beside it, “Five strikes and you’re punished.”
“I see Hyunjin hyung with four and a half crosses.”
“Half crosses are for being more than fifteen minutes late.”
“There’s a set time?”
“You’ll just feel it in your bones after a while.” Woojin laughs out.
“Hyunjin hyung probably doesn’t still.” Both Jeongin and Woojin snicker.
“Out of all those strikes, three and a half are from running late.”
“Well,” Jeongin says, “What’s the punishment anyway?”
“For starters, you’ll have to help me around with tasks, cooking, shopping and you take on everyone else’s turns for cleaning and whatnot for a week, I’ll be there to assess whether or not you’re doing a good enough job.”
Jeongin laughs, a sudden burst of confidence, “Well if it means spending time with you it isn’t as much of a punishment is it hyung?” and Woojin promptly chokes on the soup he was tasting, turning around to stare at Jeongin, eyes-wide and Jeongin can clearly see the splotches of red forming on his cheeks from where he sits. Yeah, he thinks, it’s gonna be a good day.
Jeongin hears another familiar laugh, something he got properly acquainted with only last night, he honestly did think that it was his mind making up things about Minho yesterday but as his eyes land on him, he still looks as alluring as he did, long eyelashes, angular nose, pretty lips, and Jeongin suddenly feels the presence of ghost hands again and it’s almost as Minho knows exactly what he’s thinking as he squeezes his shoulder, taking the seat next to him, hands hovering over where Jeongin’s own hands lay comfortably on the table. Their eyes meet and Minho looks with a questioning gaze as if asking for permission to touch him and Jeongin gives him the smallest of nods. Panic settles in when Minho doesn’t and maybe Jeongin read all this wrong and wow what did he nod for? Is he dumb—Minho holds his hand, carefully lacing their fingers together and when Jeongin looks up, Minho has the brightest smile on his face.
“I can’t believe you’d be so weak against the youngest, hyung.” Minho says, exaggerated amusement in his tone and Woojin struggles to get rid of his flustered state as he lets out a weak protest.
And there in the kitchen, with Woojin cooking, ears still red as he tries to save his case all while Minho shakes his head and laughs, leaning into Jeongin, hands hanging down, knitted together, Jeongin, after all these days, finally feels like it’s a beginning of something new, and bubbly, and warm, not a wretched curse waiting for his downfall, Jeongin feels like this could be more than just something and maybe he’ll blame all the fairytales and stories and happy endings but he hopes above all—only for today will he entertain the thought—to find a home within the heart of these boys.
Breakfast was equally fun, in the few days, the initial awkwardness was gone, just boys talking over each other and stealing slices of bread. Jeongin realized in the few days that well, nine were a lot and he finds it amusing how he can never predict what’s gonna happen such as now, where Changbin, under the pretense of talking to Chan is slowly inching one of Felix’s already toasted and buttered bread away and how the first instinct Felix has when noticing it is to smack Changbin right on his head causing him to choke on whatever he was eating all while he continues to threaten him with a plastic butter knife (not a fine choice of weapon if you’re talking about killing someone, something about not enough threat.) He too feels Minho’s hand skirt around his plate and simply resorts to grabbing his hand and holding it instead of doing anything, he hears Minho let out a giggle, a silent whisper of ‘Oh, you caught me.’ And Jeongin simply stuffs his mouth with the bread. They eat like that.
After breakfast, Jeongin finds himself back at his room, staring at the scrolled letter still lying at his desk. He sighs, better see his schedule and follow it. He carefully removes the ribbon and reads through it. Today it seems that his first lesson would be taken up by Chan on defense and that is somehow calming. He hasn’t had much interaction with Chan other than him asking about how Jeongin’s day went or is there is any problem but Chan just has that aura that makes Jeongin feel like nothing could hurt him, calm, level-headed and equally fun.
Jeongin hears a knock on his door and moves to open it and Chan stands there, blonde locks falling just above his eyes, “Hey,” He casually says, “You got the schedule.” Jeongin nods, lifting the piece of paper, “Great! Do you wanna go now or sometime later?”
“Whatever you say, hyung.” Jeongin mumbles, all shy suddenly.
Chan just laughs, “Do you have something you’d like to do now?” Jeongin replies by vehemently shaking his head. “Well, shall we go now then?” Jeongin nods this time and Chan laughs again, loud and clear, dimples showing and Jeongin can’t help but smile.
“Let’s go, hyung.”
They reach the practice chambers soon, the staircase beneath the door spiraling downwards. Chan made sure to carefully hold his hands as he led him down, something about the gaps between the stairs being too big and not wanting Jeongin to get hurt, the latter making his heart a bit happier to see Chan genuinely care. The room spreads itself to as far as Jeongin can see, various swords, knives and other weapons spread around.
“Okay,” Chan claps his hands, “So I think for the beginning, we’ll keep things simple. Physical fights, punches, kicks, everything in between then we’ll try weapons later.” Jeongin nods as Chan walks him through some of the different styles of punches also, telling him how they can be used in different situations. He demonstrates it first in the air and then on the punching bag and Jeongin can see how his muscles clench and relax as he moves in tightly clad pants and a sleeveless shirt. (Jeongin swears to god he doesn’t let his mouth fall open in awe as he stares at Chan’s muscles but Chan would say otherwise.)
It’s time for Jeongin to try these himself and he knows what to do. Chan comes and wraps his knuckles carefully just to make sure that it doesn’t hurt Jeongin all that much and Jeongin thanks him quietly. He observed Chan and he already knew the basics of things Chan just run him over, posture, fists, what would break your fingers and what would hurt the most. He grounds his feet at where he stands, fist curled and he swings. He feels his hand come in contact with the bag and he tenses his leg to ensure he doesn’t lose his balance.
Chan lets out an amused noise, “You’re good at this!”
Jeongin chuckles, “My brother used to train me too,” he says, rubbing his hands, “I had a knack of getting into trouble.” Though Jeongin isn’t all that good now, the sickness took away a huge chunk of his strength and along with that, he hasn’t had much practice with fighting recently, forgetting some of the finer details as such.
“You? You’re so cute and small, I can’t believe someone would even try to fight you.” Chan says and Jeongin positively turns a bit red.
“Come on, hyung! I am not that cute!” Jeongin pouts and Chan lets out a very vocal protest.
“Have you seen yourself, so cute!” He accentuates his words by pinching Jeongin’s cheeks, “Who wouldn’t fall for this lovely baby?” Chan laughs cutely, dimples showing.
“Well, the town’s elites for one.” He whispers, voice quiet but filled with bitterness. He still remembers getting toyed around by them in the fields or tormented in the school.
“Hey,” Chan’s voice is soft too but something stands out in his tone, Jeongin notes it as concern first, “Did they do something to hurt you?” Chan comes straight to the point and Jeongin realizes it’s anger that laces his words.
“Nothing much, hyung. Just used to hate me and well, took it out as children do. Stupid stuff like stealing my notebooks and throwing them around or purposely tripping me. The only time they took it way too far was when they punched me and I came home with purple bruises.” He feels Chan stiffen beside him, “That’s when Jonghyun hyung decided to teach me to fight since I wasn’t letting him go and beat them up.” He grins at Chan, “I beat them up alright! They never bothered me again.” Jeongin purposefully leaves out the part where he got beat up almost every day except it stayed hidden under his shirt because they didn’t want anyone to know, they kinda just slipped that day and went too far and he only ever fought back when they started aiming their insults and threats towards Yohan. He’d have to say though the sound of their bones breaking as he punched them was a bit satisfactory, they never did bother him after that.
Chan breaks into a grin too, locking Jeongin’s head in his arms and ruffling his hair, “That’s my baby!” he exclaims and Jeongin lets out a laugh, his heart a bit erratic at the fact that Chan just called him baby and my in the same sentence. “I can’t believe how stupid elites can be. Worry not, I won’t let anyone hurt you!” Chan puts on an exaggerated determined look and throws Jeongin into another fit of laughter as he pumps his fist, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Jeongin simply extends his hand, his little finger poking out, “Promise?” He asks playfully, a surge of feelings hidden behind it, he remembers Jonghyun making the same promise and even if he still got pushed around, he remembers how at ease he stayed after that, a certain promise, that he won’t let Jeongin get hurt, he liked doing that, fooling his heart with playful promises that the other would forget soon but Jeongin wouldn’t.
Chan softly curls his finger around Jeongin’s, a firm hold, as he grins, eyes curved at the edges as he smiles, “I promise.” He says without any hesitation and nobody could blame Jeongin for forgetting to breathe for a second. Just like that, the two stand tied by a vague yet certain, playful yet serious promise. They stare at each other before laughing again, “Let’s go back to practice, yeah?”
Jeongin tries punching again, with Chan advising him on what would work the best, “The posture’s good for beginning but don’t tense your leg as much,” Chan points out, “If the target was moving and was able to block you, they’d probably land a good counterattack and you won’t be able to dodge.” Jeongin nods, listening closely, “Rather than that,” Chan’s hand pre onto his stomach, his heels digging into Jeongin’s ribcage and longs fingers spreading, “Tense this part instead. Also, use your knees and elbows for getting the hardest hits if you can’t properly land a punch.” Jeongin again resorts to nodding, a little flustered by how close Chan got. He tries it again, just as Chan told him to, he does stumble a bit but it does feel better, Chan all the while cheers from beside him. They continue for a while, going through with different things, Jeongin discovers that kicking is way harder than throwing a punch but he tries his best nonetheless.
Chan brought him a water bottle as Jeongin stood heaving, “Drink. I think this should do for today.” He hands him the bottle and Jeongin gulps it down in seconds, “Calm down, you’re gonna choke on it.” Chan says and a moment later Jeongin does indeed choke on it and Chan rushes to pat his head all while he laughs, “Told you so!”
Jeongin wipes the water off his mouth with his shirt, “Yeah, whatever hyung.” Jeongin rolls his eyes in the pretense of being annoyed.
“Come here you brat!” Chan exclaims before pouncing on Jeongin which he narrowly avoids breaking into a sprint, Chan following him close, scarily fast, “That’s no way to behave with your hyung!” He says from behind him, his laugh betraying whatever threatening aura he wanted his words to have and just when Jeongin tries to turn to avoid him, Chan extends his freakishly long hands and easily grabs him making Jeongin let out a squeal. Chan starts tickling him, making Jeongin bend in on himself as he can’t stop laughing, “Whatever, hyung huh?” Chan mocks him as he continues.
“S-Sorry, plea—” Jeongin cuts himself by laughing again because Chan’s just not stopping, “Please, hyung!” and Chan stops, a smug grin on his face as he hugs Jeongin from behind which makes Jeongin scrunch his nose in disgust, “Hyung, I’m sweaty, ew.” He whines. Chan lets him go for a second before he again locks Jeongin’s head in his arm, “Hyung!” He groans yet again, “You’re too mean.” And Chan just laughs.
“Wanna go home and eat some lamb chops?” Chan offers Jeongin, the grin still prominent on his face as he stares at Jeongin still trapped who just rolls his eyes before nodding, “You’ll have to wash up though.”
“I know!” Jeongin drags every word as he whines.
Okay, okay.” Chan tries his best not to laugh, “Let’s go!”
“Hyung, come on, you can’t be serious,” Jeongin says, exasperated, “Let go of me.” Yet, Chan continues to drag him like that, head trapped as he protests and whines, “Ouch.” He says emotionlessly, last-ditch effort as he tries to get Chan to leave him.
Chan just laughs. Again.
As promised Chan and Jeongin devour the lamb chops Chan cooked while Jeongin was busy taking a shower. Chan keeps on laughing at everything and Jeongin realizes that he doesn’t hate the sound (quite the contrary, he’s falling in love with it.) They talk about equally dumb things, Chan just fits; he’s the kind of person who’d be everyone’s favorite, he laughs easily and looks so effortlessly beautiful, his curly locks are just so pretty on him Jeongin couldn’t help but run his hand through it when he was sitting beside him, soft he thought as he let out a quiet gasp and Chan laughed (it sounds so flawless, Jeongin can’t stress it enough). They have fun, though Chan has to leave soon, buy groceries from the city and Jeongin has his next lesson to follow with Seungmin. The block was blank so he wonders what they’re supposed to do, he’s better off asking Seungmin himself.
He says goodbye to Chan who on his ruffles his hair, “See you later baby.”
Jeongin’s heart does a thing, “Not a baby!” He whines as he continues to chew on the food.
A while later he moves away, dumping the plate into the sink, he feels sort of guilty for not taking on work around the house, Woojin told him it’s just cause they’d have to figure out a new routine for the tasks and they want Jeongin to rest around for a while but still, it feels like he’s the only one who’s not contributing and taking advantage of their kindness, he does want to help them, he’d feel more normal and fitted into this place if he did. Maybe he’ll talk about it to Woojin tomorrow morning.
Jeongin goes on to find Seungmin next which doesn’t seem to be all that difficult at all since the boy in question was spread out on the couch watching some show on the television.
“Seungmin hyung?” Jeongin tries to get his attention and Seungmin just lets out an affirmative hum to confirm that he’s hearing whatever Jeongin’s saying. “Um…I, we have a schedule together...?” He turns his sentence into more of a question at the end since he can’t seem to figure out what to call it, lesson? Schedule? Class? Hangout session?
“Oh?” Seungmin says, surprised as he perks up on his elbow looking behind the couch at Jeongin, “Ah, the new schedule came!” He exclaims as he remembers while Jeongin nods.
“If you have something to do though I can just go into my room.” The witch did say it was just an outline and he guesses messing around with it won’t result in much though he did want to spend time with Seungmin since he rarely got any except some mornings when he woke up early and they chatted about different theories.
“No, no!” Seungmin’s quick to protest, “I was dying alone anyways, a little company would work. What do we gotta do?”
“Um, I don’t know, it was blank.”
Seungmin grins at that, “A free block then.” And Jeongin must’ve looked confused as Seungmin continued explaining, “We can do whatever we decide to do. Reading stuff, learning spells, defense, like I said, whatever.”
“Ah, makes sense.” Jeongin says, “So, what would you suggest we do?”
Seungmin’s smile widens even more, “Oh sweetie, I know just the thing.” He sits up on the couch, face leaning on the couch as he completely turns around to look at Jeongin, “I had hoped you would have the first shared block with me as a free one, so lucky!” Jeongin smiles too.
“Okay, hyung!”
“For now though,” Seungmin starts and Jeongin listens very carefully, hoping to follow whatever directions he gives him, “have you watched this movie?” He points to the TV and Jeongin didn’t expect that. He shifts his attention to television, focusing on the movie going on, yeah, doesn’t look like one he has seen before so he shakes his head. “Great then! Come here, I’ll restart it, it’s only five minutes in, I wanna cuddle!” Totally didn’t expect that but as Seungmin stares at him smiling, hands outstretched towards him, Jeongin can’t help but giggle too.
“Okay, hyung!”
They sit, huddled together on the couch for the entirety of the movie, laughing softly at the jokes, Seungmin making fun of the acting at points and Jeongin following his footsteps in the next scene. Jeongin, at the beginning of times, hated skinship but living with Yohan he slowly got used to it, he still gets flustered (not really but he’s not ready to admit that he’s been making a fool of himself around these boys just cause they are so imperfect in the best of ways and it isn’t all that fair to his poor heart.) but doesn’t mind it now. By the time the credit scene rolls in, Jeongin’s hanging on Seungmin, hands wrapped comfortably around him all while Seungmin just gently holds onto his arms.
“That was good.” Seungmin states and Jeongin nods along. “Wanna go on to the main event now?” He sits upright staring at Jeongin and as soon as Jeongin nods they are up on their feet and Seungmin’s dragging him out the door. Jeongin stumbles behind him, all the sudden urges of the boys in this house throw him off even though he reckons he’s a great runner.
“Hyung, what—?” He tries to say while he grounds each of his steps to ensure he doesn’t leave behind his shoe considering it isn’t even on his feet properly.
“’s surprise!” Seungmin yells back immediately, not noticing Jeongin’s struggle and still sprinting holding onto his arm. Jeongin soon notices that they aren’t going towards the back of the house, instead going straight through the path he remembers coming with Jisung on and it’s only a little while later that they stand at the end, the force field probably starting from there as he can see the forest.
Seungmin’s out of breath, taking a while to recover while Jeongin stands not far away, relatively in better shape, “What?” Seungmin forces it out between his breaths and Jeongin can’t resist snorting at him before he slaps his hand over his mouth. It was probably way too rude considering how Seungmin doesn’t even properly know him but before he berates himself further Seungmin speaks, in mock offense, “Are you making fun of your hyung?” and Jeongin relaxes, they’re just messing around so he playfully grins while he shakes his head and giggles out a ‘no’. “Ugh, maybe I should leave you alone in the forests to teach you a lesson.” Seungmin mumbles and all Jeongin does is brightly smile at him. Seungmin stares at him for a moment before dismissingly waving his hands, “You’re getting away just because you’re cute. But, just this time.”
Jeongin grins even wider, “We’ll see, hyung.” He looks around for a second, “So, what are we here for?” He asks and Seungmin mirrors the grin Jeongin was wearing earlier.
“First, we make a pact.” He firmly says and Jeongin looks at him in confusion before Seungmin extends his pinky finger and Jeongin just looks at him suspiciously, “Come on, do you wanna do it or not?”
“I don’t know what it is though?” Jeongin questions and Seungmin just resorts to pushing his finger towards him again, more aggressive this time around, so Jeongin lets go and curls his finger around his.
“So, you promise to not talk to others about what we’re gonna do now?” Seungmin asks and Woah, what exactly are they going to do and why does this sound so risky.
“Is whatever we’re gonna not approved by others?” He asks Seungmin.
“Something like that.” He gets a shrug in response and suddenly he feels very unsure, is he even in a position to do something that could potentially piss the others off? Can he afford to do whatever Seungmin asks of him without being a burden? He thinks that if it indeed is something the others won’t accept doing maybe it’s dangerous and his clumsy self could land Seungmin in trouble and he doesn’t want that.
“I can hear you thinking from here.” Seungmin rolls his eyes, “If it calms you down, I did this with Hyunjin and Felix too and I guarantee it’ll be fun! Don’t you wanna spend time with your hyung?” His head tilts adorably, eyebrows scrunched together as he looks at Jeongin and who’s Jeongin to deny him.
“Well,” He sighs out, “I guess, I promise then.”
“Promise to?”
“Ugh, seriously?” He rolls his eyes yet Seungmin only continues to stare at him expectantly, “I promise to not tell the others.”
“Great!” Seungmin says, “Now grab my hand and don’t let go unless you want to dismembered.” Wow, what did Jeongin just agree to again? Seungmin holds on tight and then leaps into the forcefield and Jeongin watches his, eyes wide as he’s engulfed into the seemingly normal forest and disappears and before he can even register, he is tugged along with him. He closes his eyes, not knowing what to expect but he just stumbles into someone, he slowly opens his eyes only to look at a snickering Seungmin and he feels a bit embarrassed.
“Aw,” Seungmin coos, “Got scared? Don’t worry hyung’s got you.”
“No.” Jeongin scrunches his nose while Seungmin laughs and pinches his cheeks, still aggressively cooing. “Please, stop.” Jeongin’s still cringing and Seungmin lets him go. He straightens himself up, only now trying to notice the things around him. It’s still a forest, except it’s somehow more enchanting, the trees stand taller than the ones he saw with Jisung, the leaves lush green and around him are just bushes filled with wildflowers of all colors.
“Beautiful, right?” Seungmin asks, a grin on his face, “Told you it’d be nice.”
“We are outside the forcefield aren’t we?” The nod Seungmin gives is his answer and Jeongin sighs remembering how Jisung clearly advised him against going out of it even in the daytime.
“What? Did I tarnish your good boy records?” Seungmin cheekily asks, “Honestly, I didn’t even think you’d agree to come after I told you to promise me that, you look too much like the ‘too scared to bunk any periods’ kinda kid.”
“Hey, don’t go assuming things!” Jeongin defends himself, “I bunked classes, okay?”
“Which ones?”
Jeongin shrinks a bit, “S-sports.”
Seungmin laughs, “Look!”
“Whatever, it’s a period! It counts!” Jeongin crosses his arms and pouts.
Seungmin coos again, “Okay, okay whatever lets you sleep at night, Jeongin-ah.” Jeongin just whines in protest, not having any argument against it, “Well, let’s continue talking on the way up, ‘kay? It’s a good amount and it’ll take time, don’t wanna be here after sunset, we still have to reach the place I wanted to show you.”
“Oh, we’re hiking?” He asks, a little amused.
“What? You thought we were gonna make flower crowns here?” Seungmin says sarcasm dripping out of his words.
Jeongin scoffs, “It’s not that bad of an idea.”
Seungmin thinks for a bit, “Point.” He says, “Maybe we’ll get Hyunjin and Felix to join too next time.” And Jeongin’s heart does a thing hearing that there’s gonna be a next time, a smile on his lips that he can’t stop.
It’s just that he doesn’t have any particular memory of doing anything remotely interesting or dangerous with his friends, as Seungmin said Jeongin had been a little too much of a scared child to agree on something like sneaking out of his school and messing around in the farms, maybe all he needed was a little persuasion that his friends never did because he was Yang Jeongin, the goody-two-shoes who was a study machine, nothing interesting but here it feels like a different world. He doesn’t need to hold a reputation, everything’s new, a chance to rewrite himself just the way he is, awkward, clumsy, snarky, imperfect, he never got the chance to show his flaws to his friends back in town but here he stands opening up to these eight boys, a blank canvas, an opportunity to paint the prettiest picture and who’s Jeongin to refuse such an offer. To every part of living his life that he missed earlier, he’ll fulfill it now, sneaking out, breaking rules and everything in between. (With the eight boys his mind helpfully supplies and now, Jeongin is rather more thrilled knowing that.)
“Let’s go.” Jeongin says and they promptly start their journey upwards.
They reach the end of the trail fairly later, Seungmin still has to take a break to even out his breathing, taking support on a tree while Jeongin just stays slumped against another one, not exactly in need of rest but doesn’t mind it.
“Your stamina sucks, hyung.” Jeongin states.
“Shut up.” Seungmin barely wheezes out causing Jeongin to crack up laughing. Seungmin weakly smacks him before huffing and grabbing his hand to go off-trail. They come to a clearing and Seungmin steps aside to let Jeongin look at the place. Jeongin can’t help the gasp that leaves his mouth, there’s a damn waterfall in front of him, he has never seen one outside of his textbooks or television, they are standing at the edge from where the waterfalls and it’s so beautiful, he can see the wildflowers decorating the land, various colors just spread out everywhere. Jeongin hears a click go off and he turns to stare at the sound, noticing that Seungmin has a camera in his hand.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it,” Seungmin says, “You don’t mind right? Me taking a picture of you?”
Jeongin smiles softly, “No, I don’t. Can I see?” He asks and Seungmin passes him the photo, Jeongin looks nice, a goofy smile on his face as he stares on the scenery in front of him, “Ah, you’re great at this hyung!” Jeongin laughs out and Seungmin’s shy all of a sudden.
“Yeah?” He says, “I like taking pictures. Something about capturing the moment, you see, there’s nothing quite like looking at a picture and feeling exactly what you felt when it was taken.” Jeongin nods for a moment, comfortable silence enveloping them before he grins.
“Hyung, Can I take a picture too?” He asks, pointing towards the camera.
Seungmin chuckles at his excitement, “Go ahead.” He gives him the camera and as soon as it’s in Jeongin’s hand he slings his arms over Seungmin, turning the camera to face them, ‘smile’ he yells and Seungmin lets out an amused laugh, head thrown back a bit and Jeongin laughs with him too as he clicks the picture and he steps back then, handing the camera back to Seungmin but he holds the picture, shaking it as it slowly forms and Jeongin just stares at it for a while when it develops, a wide smile appearing on his face as he looks at it, at both Seungmin and Jeongin looking so utterly happy, laughing like there’s no tomorrow.
“Here.” He extends the photo back to Seungmin, “For hyung to remember how happy I am to sneak out with him like this.” He smiles brightly and Seungmin takes it, stares at it too before he looks up, the bright smile adorning his face.
“Thank you, Jeongin.”
They settle down on the ground and return to their useless banters, most of them just Seungmin teasing Jeongin while he whines it, a little after which they start their trip back down, successfully entering the forcefield before sunset. They joke around as they enter the house, both going to the bathroom to clean themselves up before dinner and then just lazily lounging on the couch with Jisung and Minho playing checkers on the floor. Today went well, Jeongin thinks preoccupied with laughing at Minho for making a dumb move and rolling on the floor in agony all while Jisung hollers in victory, Seungmin moving his head in disapproval beside him and Jeongin just decides to rest his head on his shoulder as he continues to laugh, so fucking well.
----X----
Seungmin smiles looking at the photo, Jeongin and him laughing freely, the wildflowers decorating the background. He thanks Jeongin, hopes he knows the sincerity his words carry, hopes his voice isn’t shaking because Seungmin feels like crying as he stares at Jeongin.
Seungmin places it very carefully into his pocket and returns to their conversation but he can still oddly feel the warmth of the picture, something that makes his breath catch once in a while, his heart so utterly content with its presence, so content as he makes Jeongin laugh yet again. It beats erratically here and there and Seungmin’s left to hide his gasps and hold back his tears because he hasn’t felt this complete in a long while.
His mom did warn him, to mask his sensitive heart which he succeeded in, carefully layering it with thought out banters and numerous useless topics but occasionally he’d have to put it down and now he’s all but a weak boy overwhelmed because it’s as if he’s found what he’s missing and it’s right in front of him, with the prettiest smile as his shoulders shake and he tries to cover his mouth and he remembers.
Remembers his mom again, standing in the kitchen, hugging him close, running her fingers through his hair as he cried because he had to leave her to come here and she told him that he’d find new people and Seungmin said he didn’t want to. She had just laughed, ‘Oh sweetie,’ she had talked softly, a smile on her face, ‘but you will, new people who you would want to show yourself to, who’d love you for all you are, you and your extra sensitive heart.’ She had poked his chest playfully, ‘Doesn’t it sound compelling, Seungmin? To make moments you’d cherish for a lifetime, to have all breath knocked out of it when everything fits,’ She had chuckled a bit, hands stilling for a moment and Seungmin had looked at her to find her eyes shining, ‘To find a home in the hearts of people who you’ll have beside you forever.’
Seungmin didn’t understand then, his stubborn heart too fixed on cursing out the universe for messing with him. Later, when he encountered the other boys, slowly getting to know them, bit by bit, as they opened up and he did, slow, very slow, there’s still so much he has to know about the others, the others have so much to know about him, about how he feels too much and he wants them to accept him as what he truly is and for the first time in a long while it’s not fear that makes a hole in heart as he feels what he does, it’s just warmth, something he guesses would have to do with the way Jeongin’s smile could light up the entirety of the place, the need to start opening up because how long will he stand behind the carefully constructed walls.
Jeongin fits. Fills the blank space Seungmin felt, which most likely everyone felt. Seungmin’s happy, so happy he could cry, almost does when Jeongin softly holds his hand on the way back home. Home, it’s closer to being a home today than it was yesterday.
A slight shift, a slight nudge, a slight change and Yang Jeongin in the center of it and Seungmin’s more happy than not.
—A little something about what Seungmin feels
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