Work Text:
VIII.
“Hand it over.”
Mingyu froze in his steps, clenching his hand around the small item. Stubbornly, he stuck his hand in his jacket pocket, childish.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Well, except from Jeon Wonwoo.
“Hyung, I have nothing. Seriously!”
With a pout he threw his hands up as if in surrender.
The cashier chirped a greeting. The doors of the convenience store slid open to welcome a group of boisterous students. Wonwoo stood in the middle of the aisle of noodles, looking at Mingyu, accusing Mingyu, with those beady, judgmental--
Wonwoo scowled.
“Mingyu, I’m not stupid. Give it. Or else.”
The threat was palpable, charged in every word.
Slowly, the suspect put down his arms and jutted his lips out further in a pout. He took the offending item out of his pocket and gave it to Wonwoo, almost apologetically.
Wonwoo knew him enough to know that he was sorry for getting caught, and not for the act itself.
“Ow! Hyung, did you have to flick me so hard!?” Mingyu whined.
Wonwoo snatched the lip balm off his hand and stalked to the cashier, Mingyu slumping after him.
The cash register rang and the screen flashed the amount.
“You don’t always have to buy it for me…”
And Wonwoo grumbled, “Damn right. I spoil you too much.”
Mingyu swooned.
I.
It started with people claiming that Mingyu was a delinquent.
Wonwoo, though not one for gossip, was intrigued. He shared a home economics elective with the younger boy and frequently worked with him. Rather than a delinquent, Wonwoo thought Mingyu was the farthest thing from it.
More like a human puppy.
Loud and cheery, Wonwoo was quite fond of his dongsaeng. He didn’t seem the least bit threatening or shady. In honor of their bordering-on-friendship acquaintanceship, Wonwoo spoke up in his defense.
“Soonyoung, what are you even saying? The guy’s practically a puppy.”
Indignantly, he squawked, “You don’t know that!”
Wonwoo rolled his eyes, sighed, and flipped a page.
“This must be all because of those damn youth dramas.”
His classmates immediately pelted him with denials and wads of crumpled paper.
II.
Rhythmically, the whisk tapped the rim of the bowl as Mingyu stirred the batter while humming a tune.
Wonwoo stared.
“Hyung, do you want a go?”
Kim Mingyu directed a small smile at him as he continued to mix.
“Ya, Kim Mingyu, are you a delinquent?”
The stirring abruptly stopped.
Whipping his head to face him, Mingyu sported wide eyes and a pout, the tip of his canine tooth slightly sticking out.
Wonwoo wanted to die from the cuteness.
He chuckled and patted his dongsaeng’s shoulder, reaching out to take the bowl. He resumed mixing.
Focusing on the batter, Wonwoo commented, “Don’t look so upset. I’m just curious about the rumors.”
“I’m not a delinquent!”
Wonwoo glanced at his partner and was not disappointed.
Mingyu looked like a bristly puppy.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
Rhythmically, the batter swirled in time with the whisk.
“Even if you were, I’ll still be here.”
Mingyu whined aloud and insisted, Wonwoo-hyung, I’m a good guy!
V.
“Kim Mingyu, you put that back where you took it.”
“What are you talking about, hyung? I’m not-- “
“Don’t test me. Put it back.”
They stood at the back of the shop, Wonwoo’s eyes piercing Mingyu in place. He swallowed and shuffled on his feet, head down. Tentatively, he held out the object: a pen.
His hyung took it.
“I could have just bought it for you.”
And Mingyu watched in admiration as Wonwoo did just that.
(Along with the bracelet and puppy eraser that he thought escaped Wonwoo-hyung’s eyes.)
III.
They started to hang out and become actual friends upon discovering that they lived in the same area and took the same route home as well. After one, two many times that they bumped into each other and had fun chats that lasted all the way home, the two decided it was better to just make it a habit.
Wonwoo found himself separating from Soonyoung and the others once he walked past the gate and looking for his tall companion. Without fail, Mingyu’s grin beamed at him, a loud and polite greeting ready on his lips.
Eventually, as the friendly chats became longer and the stories more detailed, the invitations to take a detour on the way home sprung up. Hyung, do you want to eat? Mingyu, come to the bookstore with me. Hyung, let’s drop by the convenience store first.
“You’re not in a hurry, are you?”
Almost always, the reply was in the negative.
Off they went.
IV.
These excursions naturally made Wonwoo notice his dongsaeng’s habits and quirks, both good and bad.
He was too observant to not catch on.
At first, they were small.
Post-its, keychains, erasers, bottle cap openers, candies. Easy to take and hide.
Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it go in favor of further observation.
Then, naive as he was, Mingyu got bolder.
Wonwoo frowned at his brashness.
Mingyu swiped a manga, a CD, a pair of earphones, a bag of chips; items more expensive, just a little bit bigger in size.
Wonwoo drew the line at Mingyu attempting to shoplift a book for him.
“Mingyu, I have caught you shoplifting every single time. I’m not stupid. I can buy that by myself.”
Tail in between his legs and ashamed, the younger one promptly burst into denials.
Wonwoo felt a nerve pop.
He flicked his forehead, and Mingyu yelped in pain.
“Give that book to me before I use it to hit you.”
Mingyu hurriedly handed it over and cried out at the injustice when Wonwoo hit him anyway.
(Mingyu walked out of the bookstore not just with a sore forehead, but with a big grin and the latest volume of his favorite manga inside his school bag. Wonwoo silently mourned for his wallet.)
VI.
So it went on.
Mingyu ‘picked’ objects up and hid them; Wonwoo called him out and bought all the stuff anyway, useful or not.
At one point, after “treating” Mingyu to a can of soda, the younger boy was unusually quiet.
Concerned, Wonwoo questioned, “Are you okay?”
Mingyu’s eyes darted at him, then back to the ground. He chewed on his lips for a moment.
(All nervous ticks, Wonwoo noted.)
“...Hyung, you don’t have to buy these things for me. It’s not like I need them. I just… feel like it.”
The last part was a whisper, a shameful admittance.
A beat.
Then Wonwoo ruffled his hair.
“A, hyung!”
“Kim Mingyu, this hyung has no one else to spoil.”
And if Mingyu’s cheeks blushed brightly and his breath hitched, Wonwoo would save his dongsaeng the embarrassment and pretend to be oblivious.
He was going to let it go, for now, in favor of further observation.
VII.
“...What the hell do you even need these for?”
He was thoroughly unimpressed and it showed in his expression.
Mingyu gulped.
“...Uh, I just took whatever I got my hands on…”
“Condoms? Really?”
“Um.”
His face burned.
Wonwoo exhaled and turned his back on him to go to the counter.
“Wha--! Hyung, why are you still buying it? I don’t--”
“Maybe you can use them,” Wonwoo murmured.
Mingyu stopped in his tracks, bewildered.
Wonwoo threw him a suggestive smirk and continued on his way to the cashier.
(He may be the shoplifter here, but his hyung committed the most serious theft of all.)