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Johnny didn't need to be Yuta's alpha to be able to tell when the younger was too tired to even function. And if the dark circles under his eyes and the way he was constantly on the edge of falling asleep wasn't enough of a hint of him being tired, the way he talked definitely was.
Yuta's accent was close to non-existent by now normally, so it was really obvious when his accent started to show. The others sometimes had difficulties understanding him at times like this, but for Johnny it was like Yuta was talking normally. Being at his side for so long taught him how to comprehend the accented words sometimes with mixed in Japanese sentences.
Taeyong was working late, so now the other alpha was stuck with the role of the caretaker. Johnny pushed a cup of tea in front of the omega who only muttered a half-hearted 'arigatou'. Johnny couldn't help but smile.
It was a month since his twelfth birthday, but to be honest, Johnny couldn't care less about it. He didn't get a present, nobody wished him happy birthday or gave him a cake. So it didn't even feel like he had a birthday to begin with.
It was the beginning of March, but it was still really cold outside. That was the only reason Johnny had decided to go closer to the place the smoke came from. If there was a smoke, there should be fire too, and Johnny was ready to bribe the grumpy homeless old man at it with the fish he had in the paper in his hands. It won't make the man friendlier, but maybe he would let him stay next to the fire to warm up.
He stepped out of the woods just to freeze down. He had signed up for a grumpy old man, not two boys in his age!
The two boys were curled up together next to the fire with two coats those were way too big for them. They were doing some kind of pointing game with their hands.
"Me" they said in the same time pointing at themselves with their hands clasped together.
"You" one of the said, pointing at the imagined person in front of him.
"Lou" the other said, pronouncing the word funnily. Johnny snorted, but the boys didn't hear him.
He had just pointed at another three imaginary person in front of them.
"He, she, it" he said, and the other followed suit, repeating the words and the movements.
"He, she, it."
Then the Korean boy parted his hands and made a circle for his shoulders until his fingers were pointing at his chest.
"We."
"We."
The circle now went from his chest to his shoulders.
"You."
"Lou."
And finally, they pointed at two imaginary people over their shoulders.
"Them."
"Dem!" The foreigner boy shouted up happier as they reached the end. The other smiled at him, but Johnny couldn't help but snort again. The boy's pronounciation was really bad.
But this time his snort didn't go unheard, because the foreigner boy looked at him in the next second, his smile turning into a curious look.
"Hi?" His greeting seemed more like a question. The Korean boy eyed Johnny suspiciously, and softly grabbed the other's hand, ready to pull him away.
When Johnny didn't reply, the foreigner boy tried again.
"Hi? It's nice to meet lou" he said, waving with his free hand.
Johnny couldn't help but laugh again as he stepped forward.
"I don't know any Lou, but I'm sure she's nice" he said, stopping so the fire lit his face and the boys could see him clearly.
The foreigner clearly didn't understand what he said, but the other gave him an angry glare.
"Don't be mean to him, he's just learning Korean now" he said. Johnny showed his hands up in the air, as a sign of giving up.
"Sorry, sorry. But I just couldn't leave it out" he said. The foreigner boy looked back and forth between them before eventually turning to his friend.
"Taeyong, what he say?" He asked, making the other looking at him.
"Nothing important. Don't mind it, Yuta" He answered, and seemingly this was enough for Yuta. He nodded softly as he leaned more into the other.
"Now, what do you want?" The Korean boy asked, looking back at Johnny. Johnny saw this question coming, so he simply lifted the fish up.
"To stay close to the fire. In exchange, you can have this" he said. The boys looked at each other, seemingly only communicating through glances and some shrugging, before Taeyong turned back to Johnny.
"You can stay, but we don't need the fish. Just don't be mean" he said. Now, this surprised Johnny.
He let his hand fall to his side, as he looked at them, dumbfounded.
"You aren't hungry?" He asked and the boys shrugged in the same time. This was a question Yuta seemed to understand perfectly well.
"We are, but we don't need you to bribe us. We'll figure something out if we really want to eat. You can stay anyway" Taeyong said, and for the first time since Johnny stepped forward, he wasn't glaring.
"Oh" was all Johnny couldn't mutter out before he went closer and eventually said: " Thank you"
Yuta gave him a big smile and a peace sign, and it looked like Taeyong also almost smiled.
Johnny smiled back at them.
And they shared the fish anyway in the end.
"I'm back" Taeyong sighed as he stepped into the kitchen finally. Yuta was sleeping with his head on the table till that moment, but he suddenly sat up like he was struck by a lightning.
"Okaeri" he muttered softly, before he eventually fell back onto the table, fast asleep. Johnny snorted before he looked at Taeyong.
"He could only speak Japanese for the past three hours" he said, and he know that this was more than enough for Taeyong to get it.
The other alpha nodded before he stepped to Yuta and lifted him into his arms from the chair.
"Alright. Thanks, I got him from now" he said, before he turned to bring his mate to their bed.
Johnny smiled to himself as he turned back to the fish he was frying in the pan.