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A lot can change in a year.
For example, Jongdae went through an unfortunate anime phase where he fell in love with magical girls and hummed Sailor Moon songs to himself all day long until his friends (Kyungsoo) threatened to throttle him.
For example, Chanyeol adopted a pet ferret and spent many days cooing over it until their werewolf friend (Kyungsoo) developed a sudden interest in wanting to cook the ferret for dinner. The ferret has since been sent to a loving home free of blood lust.
Most importantly, the growth spurt finally hit Jongin and the tiny tot is tiny no longer, suddenly almost doubling in height at the blink of the eye, his fangs growing just as pronounced.
“Is he adopted?” Jongdae muses sometimes as he watches Junmyeon fret over Jongin outgrowing yet another outfit.
“Height jokes don’t belong in this house,” Minseok snaps. He pulls at Jongin’s pant leg, trying to stretch the fabric to cover more than his ankle. “Maybe no one will notice how short all of Jongin’s clothes are.”
“And have him wander around practically half naked like an uncivilised dog?” Junmyeon spits, slapping Minseok’s hand away.
“Hey,” Kyungsoo pokes his head into the living room and says, wounded.
“No offense.”
“When did you come in?” Jongdae frowns. “We really need to work on locks in this neighbourhood.”
A lot can change in a year, but the only thing that remains constant is Jongin’s unwavering hero worship for Chanyeol. Chanyeol is used to having a little shadow pattering after him by now, marveling at how Jongin grows up day by day.
At least Jongin stopped calling Chanyeol an angel some time ago, or so everyone thinks.
When it’s just Chanyeol and Jongin though, Chanyeol regales Jongin of stories of all the other guardian angels and Jongin laps up the stories eagerly, always happy to hear what his angel Chanyeol does in his free time.
Jongdae too is more than happy to abandon Jongin in Chanyeol’s clutches, taking advantage of every excuse to skip out on babysitting duty and go skate in the park with the other teens.
Today sees Jongdae gone as usual, leaving Chanyeol and Jongin curled up on the bean bag in the Kim residence. Chanyeol is engrossed in reading Tales of Baby Dracula outloud to a rapt Jongin.
“And when the clock strikes 12, do you know what happens?” Chanyeol asks, voice hushed.
Jongin shakes his head, eyes wide. “What?”
“Baby Dracula spreads his wings for the first time in his life and poof, becomes a bat!” He punctuates his last words by suddenly unfurling his wings, the majestic feathers shooting out into the air.
Jongin bursts into peals of laughter and Chanyeol wraps his wings around them, rocking them both in a warm cocoon as they giggle together.
“Halloween is coming soon,” Chanyeol says, once their laughter has died down and Jongin’s giggles trails off into hiccups. “Have you thought of what you want to be for Halloween this year?”
Jongin thinks for a bit, stroking his hand down Chanyeol’s wings. He’s big enough now to go around trick or treating without the help of his brothers, though his short legs mean that he can’t walk too far down the neighbourhood without feeling tired.
Finally, he grins and jabs a finger into Chanyeol’s ribs. “I’m going to be Chanyeol!”
“Me?” Chanyeol asks in surprise. “Why me?”
“I’m going to be an angel for Halloween!”
“You’re already an angel.” Chanyeol pinches Jongin’s cheeks. “You have the wings to prove it!”
Instantly, Jongin’s face crumples. “I- I spilled water on the wings.” He cried all day after the accident.
“Oh, no no no, don’t cry!” Chanyeol flutters his wings in distress and cups Jongin’s cheeks in his palms. “We’ll go to the costume store and buy you a new pair of wings okay?”
Jongin presses his lips together and nods, easily placated by the thought of getting more wings of his own.
“How about this?” Chanyeol asks, holding out the fifth pair of wings so far. This particular pair is stunning, made up of snow white and sleek feathers plucked from magicked swans so that the wings always seem to shine under the light.
Again, Jongin shakes his head, refusing Chanyeol’s selection.
“What sort of wings do you want, Jongin?” Chanyeol asks patiently. There aren’t that many wings left in the store, especially ones that fit Jongin.
“Wings that look like yours,” Jongin says decisively.
“Uh.” Chanyeol’s eyes dart to the other end of the room, to the section with satanic markings and offerings. His type of wings can’t be found where they’re standing, in the holy angelic section, but he’s not about to point that out to Jongin.
Unfortunately, Jongin follows his gaze and brightens when he sees a pair of dark red and gold wings hanging on a mannequin. “There!”
In a flash, he has darted over to the much darker section of the store and has his hands on the wings, yanking the mannequin down.
“Woah there!” Chanyeol catches the falling mannequin just in time and the wings slip onto the ground at Jongin’s feet. Standing side by side, the wings really do look similar to Chanyeol’s wings, more demon than angelic, but it’s exactly what Jongin is looking for.
Except for one detail. No one makes child sized demon costumes.
“It’s too big,” Jongin says sadly, looking up at Chanyeol. “I can’t be a guardian angel like Chanyeol.”
“You’ll be a guardian angel one day too, Jonginnie.” Chanyeol picks the wings up and dusts it off, admiring the markings on the feathers. “You’ll grow up big and strong and protect your family.”
“Family? Chanyeol?” Jongin leans his cheek into Chanyeol’s thigh, smushing his face into his jeans.
“Not me, your family.”
“No!” Jongin yells suddenly, pushing Chanyeol’s leg and running away to hide behind a stack of plastic pumpkins.
Taken back by the uncharacteristic behaviour, Chanyeol crouches down next to Jongin, taking care not to crush the delicate feathers on the wings he’s holding.
“I don’t want a new family,” Jongin whispers, shaking his head and nervously tapping on the pumpkins. His voice falls softer, until Chanyeol has to lean in to hear, “I’m going to marry Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol almost drops the wings. “What? You can’t!”
“Why not?” Jongin shoots Chanyeol a petulant look and turns his head away, refusing to look at him.
“Because you’re,” Chanyeol struggles, lost for words. He blurts the first excuse he can think of, “you’re too young.”
“Am not!” Jongin yells. He bunches up his fist and holds them stock still at his side, little body almost trembling with indignation. He looks so cute Chanyeol has to bite his lip to hide his smile. “I’m seven.”
“When you grow into these wings, I’ll think about marrying you then,” Chanyeol says soothingly, petting Jongin’s hair with one hand and holding up the wings with the other.
“Really?” Jongin asks suspiciously, but his voice is starting to lilt with hope. “You’ll buy them for me?”
Chanyeol messes up Jongin hair and beams, mirroring the smile now blooming on Jongin’s face. "I'll buy them for you, but how about we look for another costume that fits you?"
If so much can change in one year, surely Jongin would grow out of his little crush by then?
“Eat a lot and grow up well, little one.”