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Mingi is ten when he goes to live with San.
To ten-year-old Mingi, San feels larger than life. He’s tall and muscular, looming over Mingi’s much smaller, scrawnier form, and though he only has one antler, short and glistening black where it sticks out from the top of his forehead, San is the most regal and imposing guardian dragon Mingi has ever seen.
Mingi isn’t a huge fan of his care worker, but he hides behind her anyway, shy and nervous.
To Mingi’s surprise, San squats down to Mingi’s level and greets him kindly, speaking a quiet “Hello” and holding out his hand for Mingi to shake. Even when Mingi doesn’t return the gesture, leaving San’s hand extended alone, San’s smile doesn’t waver.
“Welcome home, Mingi,” San says gently. “I’m glad you’re here.”
San is the first grown up to talk to Mingi like a real person, like he and his feelings are important. Mingi is going to remember this moment forever.
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
The number of antlers a guardian dragon has dictates the number of foster children they’re tasked with caring for. San says he once met a dragon with four, but Mingi doesn’t know San well enough yet to tell if he’s exaggerating. Since San only has one antler, he only has Mingi, and Mingi will be the sole child in San’s care until Mingi either gets adopted, or he turns 18.
At ten, 18 feels like a lifetime away, but San assures Mingi that he’ll find a family long before that.
“I’ve never had my own family,” Mingi tells San matter-of-factly. San’s face dips into a frown but Mingi doesn’t notice. “Actually, I never had my own anything until you.”
They’re sitting at the kitchen table, San reading a novel while Mingi puzzles through his math homework.
“Well,” San says after a hard swallow and a few furious blinks, “now you do.”
“I like having my own room and stuff,” Mingi continues conversationally, unaware of San’s emotional turmoil. “But I get a little sad when I’m by myself, after being with so many people for so long.”
“I’m sorry it’s just me,” San apologizes sincerely.
For the first time, Mingi looks up from his work. He reaches out and puts his hand on top of San’s. “I’m not sorry,” Mingi says sweetly. “You’re the best.” He goes back to his work and San tries not to cry.
Later, when San is making dinner and Mingi is “helping” by hovering behind San and squinting in careful observation of San’s every move, Mingi says, “It’d be nice to have a friend though. Even just one would be enough.”
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
San’s house is quaint and cozy, and sits on a street of other quaint and cozy little houses. He’s not the only Being who lives in the neighborhood, nor is Mingi the only human. However, for a long time, Mingi is the only child.
Seonghwa moves into the house next door when Mingi is 12-and-a-half. He’s a guardian dragon like San, but he has three antlers to San’s one. Seonghwa has no foster children yet, but he does have a Hongjoong.
Hongjoong is Seonghwa’s best friend from forever, apparently. He’s also a human, like Mingi, and he works for the government as a care worker.
“Since Hwa is a guardian, it felt like the obvious choice.”
Mingi is a little unsure about Hongjoong at first—his smiles are very pointy—but Seonghwa he loves immediately.
“When are you going to get a kid?” Mingi asks Seonghwa every time he sees him. “I’m tired of being the only one around.”
Seonghwa, who is always gentle with Mingi, usually says something about the timing being right when the timing is right.
Hongjoong, on the other hand, if he’s around whenever Mingi brings it up, likes to tease Mingi that San could always get another foster child, if Mingi’s so bothered about being alone. Without fail, this response always leaves Mingi flushed with irritation as he yells at Hongjoong for breathing.
“You shouldn’t antagonize him,” San tells Hongjoong after one such incident.
“He’s so cute when he’s sulking though,” Hongjoong argues. “All bark and no bite, like a little baby wolf.”
“I’m pretty sure wolves have a whole lot of bite,” San says in exasperation, “but okay.”
“You’re cute too,” Hongjoong adds cheekily. “Feel free to bite me anytime you want.”
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
Five months after Seonghwa moves in, and less than a month before Mingi turns 13, Seonghwa finally gets a foster child.
Actually, Seonghwa gets three.
“You’re my birthday present,” Mingi tells the newest additions to the neighborhood.
Two of the children shrug in easy agreement. Mingi’s only older than one of them, a human boy named Wooyoung, but the other boy, a human named Yeosang, doesn’t seem to mind. And anyway, they were all born in the same year, so it doesn’t really matter.
The third child, a boy named Yunho, is a few months older than the rest of them. He’s much quieter than Wooyoung, and much taller than Yeosang, even at 13. He’s not taller than Mingi though.
Interestingly enough, Yunho is a dragon. He does not easily agree to being Mingi’s birthday present, and the two boys end up in a scuffle that San and Seonghwa have to break up.
“You just met,” San says in exasperation as he runs a hand through his hair. “How are you already fighting?”
“He hates me,” Mingi cries. His nose is bleeding and his knees are scraped.
Yunho, who has a rapidly forming black eye but no other noticeable damage, says nothing.
Mingi becomes fast friends with Wooyoung and Yeosang, but Yunho remains an enigma.
Then, in March of Mingi’s fourth year with San, Mingi gets adopted.
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
“Stop slouching, Mingi.”
“Don’t be picky, Mingi. You should be grateful you have food at all.”
“Children should be seen and not heard, Mingi. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone asking any questions about where you came from.”
“If you don’t want your door to be locked, then stop running away. You should have thought about that before you acted out.”
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
“We just don’t feel like Mingi is a good fit for our family. Surely you can take him back?”
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
Mingi is fourteen when he goes to live with San. Again.
He moves back two days before Yunho’s fifteenth birthday. When the boys see him again for the first time, Wooyoung and Yeosang cry out his name in happiness, but it’s Yunho who hugs him first.
“Now you’re my birthday present,” Yunho says into Mingi’s hair. They’ve both grown but now he’s the one who’s taller than Mingi. Mingi presses his face against Yunho’s shoulder and cries.
Mingi takes a long time to readjust to living with San. He’s happy to be back, but it’s hard. Sometimes it feels like he takes more steps back than he takes forward.
“I don’t think I want my own family,” Mingi confesses to San at the end of one of the long days.
San wraps an arm around Mingi’s shoulder and tells him, “You’ll always have a family with me.”
Mingi doesn’t answer, but he does hug San back, and they stay like that for a long time.
By the time Yeosang, San, and Mingi’s trio of summer birthdays rolls around, Mingi’s mostly better, whatever that means. He no longer stuffs himself with dinner in order to finish his plate even though he’s full, and he’s back to laughing and chatting happily with his friends even when in public or around adults he doesn’t know.
For Mingi’s fifteenth birthday, Yunho gifts him a handheld video camera. “You left and we didn’t have anything to remember you by,” Yunho admits to Mingi shyly. They’re alone in Mingi’s room, sitting side-by-side on Mingi’s bed with their shoulders and knees pressed close together. “This is so we don’t forget you next time.”
“There’s not gonna be a next time,” Mingi tells Yunho confidently. “Who needs a family when I have you?”
He means the collective you, probably, but he maybe means it in the individual sense too. You as in Yunho specifically.
“I really missed you,” Yunho says. His hands are sitting on his lap and he moves one closer to Mingi, then stretches his pinky to loop with Mingi’s.
Mingi leans his head on Yunho’s shoulder and closes his eyes to enjoy the moment. “You’re a good guardian, Yunho.”
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
Two very important life events happen the year that Mingi turns 16: San and Hongjoong get married, and Yunho’s guardian antler grows in.
Though all guardians are dragons, not all dragons are guardians. Everyone who knew Yunho knew that he wanted to be a guardian, but simply willing that future into existence wasn’t enough. Yunho had to be good, kind, and trustworthy. After all, children are too precious to be cared for by just anyone.
Yunho cries when he finally gets the confirmation that the magic has chosen him to be a guardian. Seonghwa and Mingi cry too. Hongjoong claims that his sniffles and red-rimmed eyes are because of allergies, but Mingi knows better. They’ve come far from the antagonising pair they used to be.
San and Hongjoong get married in September in a simple ceremony at the local office of the Justice of the Peace. Mingi can’t sign as a witness since he’s not 18 yet, but he would if he could and it’s the thought that counts. Once the paperwork is finished, Mingi and the happy couple return to the house for a reception hosted by Seonghwa. The fall weather is perfect, sunny and breezy with the crisp coolness of Fall in the air.
There’s fairy lights strung up around the backyard, there’s soft music to set the ambiance, and there’s a wedding cake, lovingly baked by Mingi, Yunho, Wooyoung, and Yeosang, with careful supervision from Seonghwa.
When Mingi gets up to give his speech, it takes three tries before he can talk without choking up.
“I’ve never had a dad, but that’s okay because San is better than any dad I could have ever asked for,” he tells the crowd of San and Hongjoong’s family and closest friends. “As for Hongjoong…” Mingi trails off and the crowd laughs. “Well,” Mingi continues, “at least San loves him.”
Later, privately to Hongjoong before the couple leave for their week-long honeymoon, Mingi thanks Hongjoong and says, “We were happy before you, but you make him better. You make us better.”
This time, when Hongjoong cries, it’s so obvious that he doesn’t even try to claim allergies.
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
17 passes quickly for Mingi. In some ways, this year feels like the beginning of the end of an era. He and the rest of the boys will be graduating high school soon, and college looms on their horizons as a slightly terrifying, but ultimately exciting adventure. They’d like to stay together, if they can, and collectively work hard to all get into the same university, though for different degrees.
Wooyoung decides he wants to study dance; Yeosang gets admittance as a film and photography student, inspired, he says, by the camcorder that Yunho once gifted to Mingi. Yunho technically doesn’t need to go to college, since he’ll have to receive separate guardianship training anyway, but he chooses to enroll in child psychology to “better help the kids who come my way.” He only has one antler, like San, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to help as many people as possible.
Mingi doesn’t know what he wants to do. “I just want to be here, with all of you,” he tells San thoughtfully. They’re seated at the same kitchen table that San’s had since Mingi first moved in at ten, and it’s a nostalgic reminder of all of the conversations they’ve had while sitting in that same spot.
“You can live here as long as you like,” San reassures Mingi. But they both know it’s not true.
Technically, foster children are supposed to move out of a guardian dragon’s care once they turn 18 and become legal adults. This is to open up the home of the guardian to a new child, especially since the guardians are limited in the number of children they can care for at any one time.
But Mingi doesn’t want to go. San is his guardian dragon and this is his home.
“No promises,” Hongjoong tells them when presented with the issue, “but let me see what I can do.”
In January, eight months before Mingi turns 18, Hongjoong has him and San sign bunches of paperwork confirming and declaring all sorts of information from Mingi’s birthdate, to the length of time Mingi’s lived with San, to lists of references for San’s character and Mingi’s health.
In March, five months before Mingi turns 18, Yunho turns 18 first. He moves into an apartment two blocks away from San and Seonghwa’s neighborhood, and spends every free moment studying for guardian dragon training.
In May, three months before Mingi turns 18, San starts the process of removing his name from the guardian dragon registry so that no more children can be placed in his home. Secretly, so does Seonghwa. It’s delicate because if the process is completed too early, Mingi will have to move, but that knowledge doesn’t keep Mingi from being impatient about it.
In June, two months before Mingi turns 18, Yeosang turns 18 and moves out of Seonghwa’s home to go live with Yunho. Thanks to Yeosang, they see more of Yunho that summer than they have for the last three months. Wooyoung spends so much time at Yunho and Yeosang’s apartment that he practically lives there, but Seonghwa threatens that if Wooyoung moves out too early, Seonghwa will cry.
In August, Mingi turns 18. But before that, Mingi gets adopted.
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
That year, the first of the month is a Monday, and Mingi, San, Hongjoong, and the rest of their little found family are gathered in the entry hall of the local courthouse.
“This is it!” Wooyoung cheers excitedly. Yeosang, never far away, is grinning from his spot at Wooyoung’s side.
Seonghwa, Wooyoung, and Yeosang give Mingi tight hugs before stepping aside for Yunho.
“You’ve got this,” Yunho quietly encourages a nervous Mingi. He also gives Mingi a hug, but he takes a moment to press a kiss to Mingi’s forehead as they separate.
Hongjoong lays a comforting hand on Mingi’s shoulder, then kisses San quickly and lets them all know that he’s heading inside. Seonghwa, Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Yunho head over to a couple of visitor benches to wait for the hearing to finish.
Before San and Mingi follow Hongjoong into the courtroom, San pulls Mingi to the side and cups his face with both hands. “No matter what the court says,” San tells Mingi firmly, “you’ll always be my son.”
He brushes away a few stray tears that drip from the corners of Mingi’s eyes, and smiles when Mingi makes a comically agonized face. “I can’t believe you’re making me cry before we have to talk in front of people!” Mingi whines. He steps forward, sweeping San into a hug and nuzzling his face into San’s neck like he used to do when he was smaller and in need of comfort.
San smells just like he always does: like home.
Though the precedent is not there, and it’s highly unusual for a guardian dragon to retire as early as San is choosing to retire, the judge grants their request and approves Mingi’s adoption.
“Better late than never, kiddo,” the judge says warmly in his closing remarks and congratulations. “Every child deserves a family, even an unconventional one like this.”
It’s a mere eight days before Mingi’s 18th birthday, but in that moment, Mingi feels like a kid again. For a brief moment, he’s ten and terrified of the world, and then there’s San, on his knees and reaching out to Mingi to welcome him home.
⏳ ⏳ ⏳
Epilogue: Ten Years Later
“Babe!” Yunho calls for Mingi from inside their house. Mingi is two doors down, sitting outside in the backyard with San, and he only hears Yunho calling because Mingi had just finished painting the second bedroom and had left the windows open to air it out.
“Babe!” The call comes again, much closer this time, and Mingi waits patiently for another minute or so before Yunho comes running out to them. San smiles fondly at them when Yunho kisses Mingi hello and their matching wedding rings, still barely three months old, glint in the late afternoon sunlight.
“Hi,” Mingi greets his husband. “Everything okay?”
Yunho looks puzzled for a moment, then begins to practically shake with excitement when he remembers why he came over in the first place.
“The care agency called,” Yunho tells Mingi, and San by proximity. “There’s a little boy who needs somewhere to go, and we have the room. His name is Choi Jongho.”
“We’ll always have the room,” Mingi agrees, looking between his husband and his father with obvious affection. “I can’t wait to welcome him home.”