[ "you mean the world to me. if anything happened to you, i don't know what i would do. you're my best friend. all i want to do is to protect you until the end" ] [ xu minghao ] [ triton | 18 ]
i figured i should post this now because i don’t want anyone to think i’m ignoring them ;v; BUT all plotting for minghao will officially be put ON HOLD from this moment on. i’m trying to figure some stuff out where he is concerned and i don’t want to commit to anything that might not work out. threads are still very much on, but i won’t be jumping into any new ones after today. and, uh, if i asked you to write a starter, you don’t have to unless you really want to ( i am trash i know ).
that’s about it! thank you for being patient with me.
yoojung watches her friends and laughs at their intense dog baby conversation. they really never have a dull moment when they were all together, there always had to be some kind of ‘dog baby’ topic that had them all chatting nonstop.
watching each person find a ‘not contaminated’ spot to sit in, she realizes that she’s the last one to take a seat and briefly surveys the room to find a good place. there isn’t one, it doesn’t take her long to see that. the floor, as been confirmed several times, is definitely not the place to sit. the couch was full, but she found no problem squeezing onto arin’s lap as she scrolled through the list of songs. with a tiny giggle, she knows what arin is going to say when she sees the song name pop up on the screen, and she’s already stood to her feet in excitement.
“what?” yoojung whines at the dibs taken as soon as the song began. “fine,” she sighs, and then grins. at the top of her lungs, so no one else could call it before she could, she shouts, “dibs on taeyang’s part then!” and she seems to have forgotten that the part she wanted had been taken as she finds her place next to vernon in the dance.
minghao really should feel offended at the turn the conversation has taken—it was an innocent suggestion, that’s all!—but he’s too busy petting shibe and scratching him behind the ears. he doesn’t care what anyone says, shibe is his lil baby so the whole charade wouldn't even be a lie. thankfully, there’s no way things will come down to that. everyone knows that once you’re inside the room, you’re home free—unless you order food.
looking up at vernon, minghao frowns. “what’s a furry?” he asks. he’s ninety percent sure it’s something offensive and potentially embarrassing so naturally, he wants to know. with one last pet, minghao stands up and stretches his arms over his head, throwing a smile back at arin as she speaks. “hey, it’s no problem! you know we’d do anything to make your birthday special, right? i mean, you only turn… um, eighteen once!” minghao did not momentarily forget his friend’s age, nope. that would be terrible.
he’s already reaching for the tambourine and heart shaped sunglasses lying on the table when arin selects their song, the familiar beat filling the small room in a second. minghao grins and pumps his fist into the air. “alright, yeah, let’s this party started!” since they’re calling dibs ( and minghao refuses to get stuck with seungri’s part ), he shouts, “daesung’s MINE!” before taking his spot next to yoojung in the dance. oh yeah, this is HIS time to shine.
though… he pauses when he notices that arin is still sitting. this definitely won’t do. minghao heads over to her, still shaking his tambourine, and leans down. “arin ~ hope you’re planning to dance! i know yooa’s going to, but it’s not the same if you’re not going crazy like the rest of us.” all this is delivered with a hopeful grin. minghao knows that yooa will drag her over if nothing else, but it has to be all of them. it’s just not the same if one fifth of the squad isn’t being embarrassing and bang bang bang-ing with the rest.
“yes, i smelled your food - everyone here can smell it, and that everyone means me.” she rambled, her eyes finding themselves staring at the boy’s lunch all together. snapping out of it, she cleared her throat, as to hide the embarrassment she felt, setting her face into a glare again.
“i am hungry, but i can’t eat ‘till my break.” she answered his question, picking up the boy’s chopsticks for him and closing his lunch. “now, please, stop eating - it’s a distraction, and smelly.”
minghao blinks. of course this isn’t a cafe. it’s a book dungeon. cafes have better drinks, better chairs, and people instead of dusty books. he doesn’t see why that means he can’t eat his food here, though. he has to eat his food sometime before class starts, so why not here? and even though the girl is trying to scold him, minghao can hear the loud growl rip through the room. “i don’t think your stomach agrees,” he says, smirking.
someone actually works here? does this job even pay? he wants to ask, but this is the kind of thing his ma would smack him for. “doesn’t it smell good? my ma made it for me this morning because she knows it’s my favourite. i love fish. love it.” minghao pauses long enough to shovel another bite into his mouth. “why’s your library so empty, anyway? it’s sad if you’re the only person here.” not surprising, but sad.
he frowns up at the girl, tilting his head to the side. “... okay, but there’s no one here? so aren’t you technically on a break?” because he’s feeling generous, he’ll ignore the ‘smelly’ jab—it’s fish, it’s supposed to be smelly. “my offer is still there, you know. you can’t have half, but maybe a quarter. a quarter of yummy, yummy fish…” minghao picks up a piece and waves it front of the girl, grinning. “c’mon, you know you want iiiitttt.”
Dropping the box, fish in hand, he removed a sushi knife from the drawer. His face losing all signs of his usual smile, he prepared the fish and slowly sliced it into a flower presented on a plate.
Wiping the drool on his lips, he took his chopsticks and begun devouring the sashimi. Looking up, he noticed the boy was looking around the interior of his ‘actual’ home.
“What? Do you have problems you need me to solve again?” Siwon asked.
as someone who volunteers at the animal shelter every evening, minghao is bound to pick up a lot of strays. usually they’re scared and hungry dogs or lean, scruffy cats with the occasional rabbit or demon bird thrown in. he never expects to pick up a stray human, though. well, he doesn’t really ‘pick up’ siwon as much as trip over him ( literally ) on his way home from school one day. but everything else is the same as any animal that comes to the shelter: scruffy, eager for food, and kinda smelly.
minghao does his best to help by bringing siwon food whenever he has time, but there’s another benefit to helping out the weird old uncle too. minghao doesn’t know how or why, but siwon is really smart. whenever yewon won’t let him copy her answers after class, minghao brings his homework to siwon, who’s willing to do it for a price, aka: freshly caught fish from his dad’s boat. siwon always wants the whole fish. minghao just… doesn’t want to know.
he brings a largemouth bass wrapped in plastic today, humming under his breath as he makes his way through the winding roads to where siwon has set up camp outside an empty building. “ta-da!” he says, pumping his fist in the air. “minghao’s delivery service, complete!” and siwon barely acknowledges him, having eyes only for the food. minghao shrugs. he’s not offended; he has a lot of homework for siwon to complete—er, help with.
following siwon inside the store, minghao’s jaw drops open as he sees the posh interior. the ugly old building was hiding this the whole time? does siwon own this place? is he a secret billionaire or like, bill gates or something? he doesn’t have a chance to ask before siwon… pulls out a knife and WHOA that’s scary, maybe this is what vernon means by ‘stranger danger.’
he averts his eyes. the knife makes him really nervous, so he decides to study the place instead while siwon eats. “hm? oh yeah, i have a lot of chem homework. and, uh, calculus. i wanna get a B- at least because my mom’s getting suspicious about my grades.” he stops and turns back to see fish sliced as a rose. okay, “hey, can i have some or are you gonna pig out before i can get a bite again?” minghao stretches his hand out and grabs a pair of chopsticks. “anyways, i’m wondering—are you secretly a chaebol or something? or a robot? seriously, how do you know so much stuff?”
yoojung snickered, and though she didn’t say it, she was surprised vernon was such a scaredy-cat. sneaking a dog into a karaoke room was not that bad! there were way worse things they could be doing than that. clinging tightly to the strap of her messenger bag, she tries to lessen the weight off of her shoulder a little (shibe was heavy, okay) as they quietly make their way down the hallway. once they reached their room, she was practically shoved into the room by an all-too-anxious vernon.
“hey, hey, he’s a good dog! he was doing well, we looked like normal people trying to get to their room! they would’ve had no reason to stop us!” she says, and she’s grinning in excitement. it only takes her a moment to heave the heavy bag off of her shoulder and she lightly places it onto the floor before opening the top to allow their favorite puppy to finally roam.
yoojung bends down to pet the pup before she clasps her hands together excitedly, still crouched over on the floor. “our first order of business,” she begins, before standing up straight again. “which song are we doing first?”
all things considered, sneaking a dog into a karaoke room isn’t the weirdest thing minghao has ever done with his friends. it’s definitely up there on the list, but there have been stranger things. shibe belongs with them anyway—it’s arin’s birthday party and the whole gang absolutely needs to be there or it won’t be the same. whatever trouble it took to sneak shibe out of the animal shelter and now into the karaoke bar via yoojung’s backpack is worth it!
minghao helps yoojung adjust the straps of her bag so she does have to shoulder ( shoulder, ahahaa ) shibe’s weight alone. “dude, calm down,” he tells vernon, holding back a laugh. “no one’s going to catch us. if they do, i have a blanket in my bag—we can wrap shibe in it and pretend he’s a baby.” vernon stresses over the weirdest things sometimes, but part of minghao is worried too, though more about the possibility of shibe pooping on the floor or something.
once they’re inside and the door is locked behind them, minghao squats down, scratching shibe behind the ears as the dog wanders over. “hey guys, be careful! the floor is kinda sticky and gross.” this is supposed to be an all age karaoke place but… he’s suspicious. you never know. well, if the floor’s this disgusting, it doesn’t matter if shibe does go to the bathroom here. “oh, oh, oh! do we wanna go hard or start with a ballad or something?”
or. no. “WAIT! it’s arin’s birthday, so we should let her pick.”
her eyes widen, and then she’s smiling. “triton?” now that she hears his voice, she clearly recognizes him as her classmate, xu minghao, despite the drastic changes to his appearance. you really learn your friends’ faces when you sit next to them in class for a whole year. “minghao, oh my god.” then comes the shift from the excitement to just blatant disbelief. how likely would it have been that her classmate and friend was a magical boy? “wow, you even have a cool alias! i didn’t even think of that.” she says, and then she’s pointing a finger up at the top of his head.
”what’s with the bow?” yoojung says finally, and she’s hardly holding back the giggling. “i mean–” she snorts. “it fits you so well!”
minghao prays the rookie doesn’t pay too much attention to his little flub. one of the first things every hero learns is that civilian identities and hero identities are separate! with the exception of vernon, minghao doesn’t want anyone to know who he is or what he does after hours. clearly, it’s going to be hard. he can barely manage to keep surprise birthday parties under wraps. this is going to be impossible. but the rookie uses his alias instead and minghao heaves a sigh of relief. “yup, that’s me! and you—”
oh god she knows his name. she knows his name. MISSION ABORT. MISSION. ABORT.
he laughs nervously, twisting his ring. “uh, no, just triton? i don’t know who this… mingming is.” the back of his neck feels hot. minghao tugs at his collar and looks away. how… how did she know his full name? witchcraft? or maybe they know each other—nah, there’s no way any of minghao’s friends would be here as rookie heroes. witchcraft it is! “look,” he begins. “can you maybe, uh, just call me triton please i’m trying to be a hero.” a hint of pleading enters his voice as he scratches his ear and tries to look un-minghaoish, in case anyone’s listening in on them.
before he can attempt to ask her name again, the rookie hero points to his head ( he knew this stupid bow would be his downfall ). she snorts and minghao bristles, shoving his hands in his pockets. “don’t make fun of my bow, man. that’s not nice.” he squints at her suspiciously. “wait, do you know me? other me, i mean. who are you?”
Hopefully, he brought enough apple crumble pie for all of the teachers. It’s horrifying to think that he’d been too sleepy to remember cinnamon on the first batch, then had to completely redo it. Go big or go home. Baking is for the strong.
“Little do you know, life still has fun things in store for me after the big 3-0,” he laughs. “I have plenty of time to get divorced twice and evicted from my apartment. Which teacher are we talking to first?”
he’s trying real hard to hold back a snicker as sunggyu reaches over to ruffle his hair, half-hearted protests of how he’s seriously messing up minghao’s hair escaping his lips. they turn into actual, pained protests when sunggyu whacks him on the back of his head. it doesn’t hurt that much, but… c’mon. this is minghao’s school. he doesn’t need to be seen getting a smack from his dad. fake dad. whatever. “you know i’m eighteen, right? that sounds like the prehistoric ages to me.” he’s exaggerating, of course. minghao might be bad at math, but he isn’t that terrible.
old jokes are just fun with grandpa sunggyu.
but twelve years still feels like an eternity to him. heck, a year feels like an eternity to him. minghao can’t picture what he’ll be in twelve years… who he’ll be in twelve years. it’s far, far away. and sunggyu calls it ‘only.’ if that isn’t a generation gap, he doesn’t know what is. well, there’s the horses and rocks thing too—”if you don’t want us to call you old, then…” he trails off, giving sunggyu a pointed look. “also, uh, did you really ride horses to school? for real?” and because he’s minghao, he’s willing to believe in horses. because frickin’ awesome.
minghao’s eyes zero in on the baked goods in sunggyu’s hands. the good goods, ah, why can’t he just eat them instead of giving them to the teachers? “hey, hey sunggyu. i’m kinda hungry,” minghao whispers. “can i have a slice of pie?” holding his hands out, he gives sunggyu the most pathetic, pleading look he can muster. his stomach growls on cue for emphasis. “quick, before we get to room 203!” minghao coughs and adds, “my chem teacher’s pretty hot too. maybe she can be your wife number one. i’ll hook you up for pie.”
i figured i should post this now because i don’t want anyone to think i’m ignoring them ;v; BUT all plotting for minghao will officially be put ON HOLD from this moment on. i’m trying to figure some stuff out where he is concerned and i don’t want to commit to anything that might not work out. threads are still very much on, but i won’t be jumping into any new ones after today. and, uh, if i asked you to write a starter, you don’t have to unless you really want to ( i am trash i know ).
that’s about it! thank you for being patient with me.
“how many fucking times do i have to tell you my name is ric—“
“DUCKY,” minghao repeats firmly. the red haired boy in question looks at him the way people look at the gum they find stuck on the bottom of their shoe. nah, not even gum. the way people look at the dog poop stuck on the bottom of their shoe. minghao doesn’t know why—ducky’s a great name. he wishes he was ducky. after all, minghao LOVES ducks!
“anyway,” he continues, dropping down beside ducky on the bus bench. ducky scoots away. minghao shifts closer. ducky scoots away again. minghao moves closer. ducky narrowly avoids falling off the bench thanks to minghao’s ninja sharp reflexes, but now it might be a little awkward since minghao has his arms around ducky’s waist real nice and close. he lets go before the other boy can eviscerate him. “you know, with our hair, we’re…” minghao pauses and grabs a lock of ducky’s red mop to hold up against his forest green hair. “christmas!”
and one, two, three… hold the applause, everyone!
ducky looks even more disgusted than before, if that’s even possible. “you’re a weird kid,” he says flatly. “and what the fuck, don’t touch my hair.”
minghao drops his hand. “but… i thought it was cool. we’re matching! also, everybody loves christmas so everybody has to love us. get it? because we’re christmas.”
“no.”
alright then.
the silence stretches on. minghao swings his legs, watching the cars zip by. he half-expects ducky to leave, so when minghao hears his voice again, he almost chokes on his own spit. “weren’t you going to dye your hair red, not green?”
“uhhhhhh i messed up?” it’s kinda true; minghao is of the firm opinion that instructions are optional. ducky snorts and mutters something that sounds like, ‘no one messes up that badly.’ or he’s sneezing. minghao prefers the sneezing. his cheeks heat up. “h—hey, you’re the one who said red was your brand! i don’t wanna… steal it or anything.”
“... you’re a really weird kid.”
minghao scowls, but he can’t argue with that either. he is kinda weird. not as weird as ducky, though. “you know what’s weirder?” he says suddenly. ducky turns his head and minghao swoops in, planting a quick kiss on ducky’s exposed neck, his chapped lips rubbing not… unpleasantly against ducky’s skin. “it would be nicer if i had mistletoe,” he snickers.
chin resting on the mound on books piled on the table, minghao watches yewon fill out the day’s maths worksheet with the same gusto she uses to tackle magical hero business. he guesses it works out since she has the class rank to show for it. meanwhile, if minghao applied the same kind of effort to his own homework, he’d still be at the bottom. giving it your all only takes you so far when you’re naturally… not smart.
he should probably crack open at least one book to make it look like he’s studying. but what’s the point? minghao isn’t going to read it. he continues to study yewon instead, lord yewon of the nerds and his favorite smart person at this school. lord yewon who’s going to go to hogwarts or something after graduation ( the place starts with an H, he’s sure ). when she’s done, he’s probably going to ask to copy her answers—messing a few up on purpose so the teachers won’t get suspicious—but the wait is killing him.
“yewonnie, i’m bored,” minghao purses his lips together and stares up at her through his lashes. “how much longer?” he’s not trying to rush her, honest, it’s just… yeah, bored.
she scratches out an equation before glancing towards him. “oh?” brushing the hair away from her face, yewon gives him an apologetic smile. “you don’t have to sit here with me.”
“uh,” well. he doesn’t, but that’s not the problem. he likes hanging out with yewon. “no, no. it’s cool. i don’t mind, but i just…” he trails off. “my phone died.” darn that short lived battery—and minghao’s own needy, impatient butt. he can’t have the worksheet answers and yewon’s attention and a full charge, “sorry, i’ll be quiet.”
yewon’s pencil stops moving. “you could do your homework?” she suggests carefully, looking up in time to see minghao pull a face. “it’s not too hard. you could try, minghao.”
he bites his lip. ““i’m not a brainy pants like you.” minghao doesn’t admit he’s already tried to finish the stupid worksheet a couple of times but—nope, no luck. his mind doesn’t work like this. “i don’t get it. i don’t get math at all. i’m trying but it’s… i’m dumb.”
“you’re not dumb—”
“i am.”
silence settles between them until yewon sucks in a breath and says, “i could tutor you if you want.”
“... what?” the dreaded T word. minghao has gone through far too many already. “but—you’re busy with hogwarts and stuff—”
“it’s harvard,” yewon corrects, trying not to giggle. “and… it would be fun! it’ll help me learn better too.”
minghao hates tutors with a passion, but… with yewon, it wouldn’t be too bad. yeah, maybe it’d actually be okay for once and then he won’t have to beg to copy off her all the time because she’ll be there to help him anyway. “o..okay.” he nods once, firm and resolute.
yewon’s eyes widen in surprise. “really?” minghao’s the kind of person to RUN when things like study sessions are even hinted at, so he the fact that he’s still here and grinning at her has gotta be weird. “we can start with this worksheet, then—”
she gasps as minghao pulls back, heat flooding her cheeks. yewon’s hands fly to her eyes. minghao managed to catch her off guard as she was talking and planted a gentle, whisper soft kiss on her eyelids, and now he leans back in his chair looking smug. “that’s your payment, lord yewon.”
when they were kids, vernon once found a sticker sheet of glow-in-the-dark stars in his room and gave it to minghao because he didn’t know what else to do with it. grinning from ear to ear, minghao enlisted his help in sticking them on the ceiling of his bedroom so that whenever he slept, he would always have a little bit of light ( and a little bit of vernon ) there with him.
he stares up at the same ceiling now and sighs. the glow of the stars has dimmed with age—it’s so faint that the room in plunged in darkness, the only other source of light coming from his digital alarm clock. 2:30am, the red numbers read. minghao feels like knocking the clunky plastic monster off his nightstand. he can’t sleep and it’s starting to piss him off. insomnia is one issue minghao has never had to deal with, so this is new. he doesn’t know what to blame. maybe it’s the heat or the stress of living an alternate life as a magical hero or—maybe it’s vernon’s loud snoring.
nah, it can’t be the snoring. vernon sleeps in minghao’s bed more often than he does in his own. minghao is used to the sound and sometimes he can’t sleep without it. the noisy, chainsaw-like confirmation that vernon is there beside him is reassuring. better than any safety blanket minghao has ever had. no, it’s definitely the stress and the heat and the stupid bruise on his hips that hurts every time he touches it. heck. gotta hide that one from vernon.
speaking of whom… “vernon?” minghao asks, still staring up at the ceiling. “you awake?” their legs are tangled together, vernon’s arm draped over minghao’s bare chest. his face rests close to minghao’s neck and every time he exhales, a thrill shoots down minghao’s spine. he’s ticklish as heck and that’s his sensitive spot. “vernon?” he tries again. no answer, just snores. “vernon, i wanna talk about some stuff wake up.”
he shifts until he’s staring at vernon’s sleeping face. his eyelashes are so long that minghao gets distracted for a second trying to count them. wait, no, not the point. he pokes vernon’s cheek instead. “vernon… VERNON… “
“the fuck, hao?” vernon mumbles, reaching over and trying to… minghao doesn’t know what he’s trying to do, but vernon ends up almost sticking his fingers up minghao’s nose before minghao bats his hand away. “i’m trying to sleep.”
“i can’t sleep.” minghao cringes as the words tumble out of his mouth. he was going to lead into this differently, but it’s too late to dance around the topic. and this is vernon, for crying out loud. he can never keep anything from his best friend.
vernon’s eyes flutter open in alarm. “what…” he rubs the sleep out of his eyes and glares at minghao, now wide awake. “you… how long have you been awake? and why didn’t you tell me earlier?” the concern in his voice makes minghao wish he’d never woken vernon up in the first place, not when he doesn’t know how to answer.
“a while,” he says finally. “and, i dunno, i just…” there’s a lot going through his mind, he decides. that’s the problem. there’s way too much going on in his mind and he just needs to settle down. but he can’t because everything is weird and different ever since they signed that stupid contract. “do you… do you ever regret stuff? like… regret…” minghao trails off, frustrated. part of him doesn’t want to admit it.
“regret letting you put anchovies on the pizza tonight? yeah.” vernon tries to smile, but all minghao can see are his sea-glass eyes filled with worry. “do you mean… aku and…”
minghao closes his eyes and turns over, burying his face in vernon’s chest. “maybe. yes. it’s just.” he pauses. “i never asked for this, y’know? we didn’t. and what if something bad happens? what are we supposed to do? what if i can’t protect you and you get hurt? what if—”
“hao, you idiot.” vernon cuts him off. “why are you stressing over this now?”
“but—”
“just go to sleep, dude.” when minghao doesn’t respond, vernon wraps his arms around him and pulls him closer. “regrets aren’t for 2:30am. uh, they could be, but you’re stressing about dumb stuff. nothing’s going to happen to me or to you.” his voice drops down to a low whisper. “i promise.”
minghao wants to laugh, he really does. he stays still in vernon’s arms before pulling his head back and pressing his lips to vernon’s chest, right above his heart. “you know what?” minghao murmurs. “i regret some stuff, but i don’t regret meeting you.”
he can hear vernon’s breath catch. “come off it,” he grumbles, and minghao finally chuckles. vernon’s right, maybe. nothing is going to happen to them because he won’t let it. “hao,” vernon continues, “want me to count down from 100 with you? it might help you sleep.”
a whole week has passed since SAND JAWS and minghao isn’t any closer to catching the whale dung card who attacked him. at this point, it isn’t even a matter of pride as much as it is an obsession: minghao needs to find him and make him pay for sending the weird magical thing after him. well, it was kinda cool to see, and he does get an exciting party story to tell ( how many people have punched a shark, sand or not? that’s right, just one. xu “shark puncher” minghao ). but it was dangerous too! what if a normal human had come across that instead?
this is more than revenge; minghao needs to contain a public menace.
thankfully, he knows what the guy looks like. the glimpse he got when he came out of the water was fleeting, but he can’t forget a face like that anytime soon. on the other hand… the guy is a ninja. no matter how hard minghao searches for him, not matter where he goes or who he asks, no one has seen a hair of him. someone else might have given up by now—he’s chasing a ghost—but minghao refuses to fold so easily. he will find him. he WILL.
like fate or a bad drama, he sees the guy again at the beach beside a sand castle and YES that is definitely the barnacle sucking butt. minghao would recognize him anywhere. “YOU!” he says, pointing at the man dramatically. the other people at the beach turn and stare. “YOU—WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU—” the man takes off and minghao, momentarily stunned, sprints after him soon afterwards. this slippery piece of kale—!
minghao chases him into the side streets when the man stumbles. narrowly avoiding plowing into him, minghao stops and grabs him by the collar. he slams him against the wall, breathing heavily as the sweat trickles down his back. the expression on the man—card’s—face is priceless in that moment. minghao’s lips twist into a triumphant smile. he can’t believe this is it. this is it! he’s finally got the sand attacker after so much and—and minghao doesn’t know whether to punch him or yell at him or keep staring into his eyes ( why are they so nice? too nice for a sand butt ).
so he goes with the first thing that pops into mind. minghao kisses him hard enough to bruise, teeth knocking against his as he accidentally bites down and draws blood. the metallic tang fills his mouth as he pulls away, eyes shaking. “i—” well, he’s done stupider things. not by a lot, but he has. “d— don’t send sharks after people, got it?”
with how often it happens, you’d think minghao would be used to it by now, but no. puffing up his cheeks, he tries to channel jaebum’s stern face. minghao fails miserably ( that look is probably patented ) and comes off as about to cry instead. honestly, it’s bad enough having a giant polka dotted bow on his head whenever he transforms into his alter ego without people laughing at it. even if that person is yoojung, minghao won’t stand for it anymore. anyone who makes fun of it is going to get a terrible punishment! it’ll… well, he hasn’t decided what it’s going to be yet, but it’ll be really bad.
but inter-league rookie training sessions always go like this. minghao transforms, yoojung teases him, and he sulks the whole time until it’s time to go home. he usually cracks at this point and offers to walk her to her house because it’s late and yoojung is his precious little underclassman friend, even though sometimes he’s sure she is way more mature than he is. just sometimes.
now isn’t the time to dole out a punishment, though. they stand together in the middle of the field, ready to train. and yoojung is still laughing at his bow, sheesh. minghao reaches over and taps her on the forehead. “shouldn’t you be worried about doing a good job, not how dumb my outfit is?” wait, heck, he just admitted his outfit is dumb—and it definitely is, but minghao would like to keep some shred of his pride intact. “a-anyways!” he says quickly, adjusting the hairpiece. with fumbling fingers, he slips his ring off and activates his trident. “let’s go over the drills before it gets late.”
hours later, minghao and yoojung walk home, a little bruised from training but still okay. the perfect punishment idea finally hits him and he stops before turning to her, holding back a snicker. “here.” he pulls the bow off ( another will pop into place any second ) and place it on yoojung’s head. “next time you wanna tease me, you have to wear this for three whole hours, okay?” minghao steps back and admires his handiwork. “but…” he gives yoojung a quick peck on the lips, just a brief brush of their lips as his mouth curls up. “it looks better on you anyway.”
the reason why minghao stubbornly clings to yoongi despite the other boy’s clear annoyance is because it’s nice to be the hyung to someone for once. everyone minghao meets—whether in the league or in the neighbourhood—is older than him ( yoojung doesn’t really count; he’s an oppa to her anyway ). while minghao loves being taken care of by other people, sometimes he wants to switch it around too! minghao wants the chance to fawn over someone and lavish them with affection and gifts and so many hugs—
fortunately or maybe unfortunately, yoongi’s the first tiny young friend minghao has been able to latch onto. in some ways, he’s a guinea pig for whatever ‘big-brother’ things minghao wants to try out: laser tag, horror movie marathons, rollercoasters, mukbang broadcasts, you name it. today’s supposed to be the day minghao drags yoongi to the beach with him, but it starts raining halfway through the walk there.
they duck under the awning of a flower shop, minghao holding his jacket above yoongi’s head to shield the other boy from the rain. “i can’t believe it ‘s raining!” minghao exclaims, frowning at the fat raindrops falling at an alarming rate. “maybe we should have checked the weather—i mean, hyung should have checked the weather, ahaha.” he ducks his head, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. why does he mess up so often? all minghao wants is to be a good brother.
“but this isn’t so bad. the rain’s… soothing.” minghao loves water, falling from the sky kind included. “and i have snacks. there’s a chocolate bar in my pocket. it could have melted though.” with his luck, it probably did melt. wow, he sucks really bad. minghao winces as his arms start to cramp up. “i’m sorry for being a terrible hyung! we were supposed to have a GOOD time, not get stuck with… this.”
but hey, there’s always tomorrow. “at least we’re together.” swiftly, he leans down and pecks yoongi on the cheek, grinning the whole time. “next time, i’ll buy you an ice cream.”
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