it had been a week since the twelve hour meeting with changmin and they had already toured the platinum blond's house. it was a nice, average sized, modern looking place with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a wonderfully large kitchen. bora too had been introduced to the visitors and proved to be quite an energetic soul who talked animatedly about anything other than work, which she seemed to have complications with. she looked awfully familiar to minho and jisung, though they were unable to place what struck their memory about her.
everything looked safe and clear after their thorough check and the most concerning thing they found was the not-so-secret stash of alcohol galore belonging to bora exclusively.
a worry for jisung because it raised questions whose answers provided he did not fully trust. the blue haired settled on discussing the matter with senior mr. park, grandpapa, and confirmed the woman's drinking habits and that she preferred doing so out of the house, much to the relief of jisung. still, he insisted on waiting for a time when she was in the act of drinking to judge how safe of an intoxicated person she was.
for the time being, though, all his friends had gathered at the changlix household to hangout with baby youngjin and finally become acquainted with one another formally. the connections they all made proved the world to be much smaller than one would think, or at least theirs. chan and jeongin knew felix and changbin from their university days. jeongin knew seungmin and hyunjin through hyunsuk whom he taught. felix was well acquainted with hyunjin through work and knew seungmin through jisung and their shared interest in the midnight blue haired's novel in progress. only chan needed introductions to seungmin and hyunjin and everyone got along nicely.
they chatted of pregnancy horror stories, a genre jisung was familiar with and, though in the past suffered the terror they induced, found humour in the less-than-delightful recounts. the group also discussed work and schooling, learning that chan worked in an entertainment company as a producer. felix and jeongin made sure to tease jisung about his one-eighty change from anti-romance enthusiast to falling in love in record timing.
the conversation divulged into stories of how each pair of lovers met and seungmin and hyunjin's reigned as most cliché, the highschool sweethearts bound by their love and an unexpected child. jeongin and chan were runners up with the campus crush and a crushing freshman getting locked in an elevator for hours filled with comfort cuddling for a claustrophobic jeongin. then came felix and changbin's café encounter and last place was minho and jisung who literally met at walmart. how romantic.
but that was just how jisung liked it and minho couldn't complain as long as jisung was happy so the memory brought a smile to both their faces. that is, minho couldn't complain as long as jisung and soomin were happy, the eight year old must be included as well.
soomin and hyunsuk were watching movies on jisung's phone in youngjin's room, vacant of the tiny boy who clung to his papa constantly. the infant cried and fussed whenever someone else tried to pry him away from the freckled ginger even for a second. the viewing selection had been a compromise that the two made considering hyunsuk wanted to watch feel-good or romance and soomin wanted action or horror. barbie and the three musketeers happened to be the perfect mix and the pair enjoyed watching the movie together. after it finished they messed around with jisung's phone and contemplated watching another movie or playing a couple games.
"soo?"
"yeah suk?" soomin furrowed her brows as she tried to decipher the layout of jisung's contacts.
"t-thanks for being frien's with me."
soomin looked up at the sad smile on hyunsuk's face and immediately put the phone down, reaching out to wrap the petite brunette in a hug. "what are you thanking me? you don't need to thank me, i like being your friend."
"b-bu' you ge' pick' on cause of me an' when i ge' pick' on you always help me bu' when you ge' pick' on i d-don' help much." hyunsuk mumbled quietly, wrapping his own arms around soomin and smushing his cheek against her shoulder.
"don't blame yourself for that, we only got picked on cause those meanies had nothing better to do. and you do help me! you always make me feel better and are a really great friend."
"really? you don' think i'm annoying? an' my speaking 'rouble d-doesn' bother you?"
"i think you're annoyingly cute. everything about you is cute. your eyes, your nose, your lips, your hair. your voice and your speaking too. hwang hyunsuk is one hundred percent cute." hyunsuk giggled as soomin pinched his cheeks, booped his nose and tickled his sides as she spoke. "and your laugh."
"thanks soo, you're c-cute too."
"i know i am, now come help me change my daddy's name from 'walmart dude' to 'daddy.' "
although the pair continued to mess around and successfully changed jisung's contact for minho, giggling mischievously all the while, soomin still felt a heavy weight in her heart. hyunsuk had speech deficiencies practically from birth, the cause still undefined. unfortunately for the boy, his parents couldn't afford speech therapy and saved up until they could meanwhile hyunsuk's speech only seemed to worsen as he grew older. the petite brunette was quite smart for his age though, top of his class even among students a grade older than him and he would have soared through school like a breeze if not for the kids who'd harass him any chance they got.
different tended to be looked down upon by society and elementary school grounds were not exempt from the prejudice's range. few joined in on the taunting though, the prime instigator having been youngdo. the worst part, soomin would say, was everyone else watching as they were tormented. kids they were acquainted with silently witnessing their torture. jeongin had lectured the entire class on bullying and bystanding and how equally horrible both acts were but the lesson did nothing to change what had already been done.
many fellow students apologized to soomin and hyunsuk for turning a blind eye to their suffering but none of their 'sorry's could reverse the tears from hyunsuk soomin would struggle to wipe away. soomin didn't want their words of remorse, she wanted them to make up to her and hyunsuk the liquid sadness they dripped and the pain the shared.
but that didn't seem to be happening so instead of entertaining them with acceptance she had ignored them and encouraged hyunsuk to do so as well, though had trouble doing so with his polite nature. soomin took it upon herself to ensure no more harm would come to her and her loved ones and she was going to do her best to keep her promise. and so the eight year old and seven year old continued watching barbie movies to pass the time until the gathering came to an end and all went to their separate homes.
"take care you three, drive safe!" felix hugged the trey as they stepped out of the doorway, propping a sleeping youngjin on his hip who had passed out after being fed.
"will do, you guys take care of yourselves too. we'll see you soon hopefully, i'm gonna miss hanging out with youngjin." jisung kissed one of the boy's cheeks who didn't rouse in the slightest, mouth open as he breathed softly.
"i'm sure he'll miss you too, it seemed you're the only other person he wants to hold him except his papa." changbin smiled defeatedly, referencing everyone's countless attempts to persuade the baby to trust them only to be denied, including changbin.
jisung laughed. "true, but i'm sure he'll warm up to you soon enough, he probably just mistakes me for lix."
"maybe. anyways, we had a great time, call us if anything."
"bye!"
minho and jisung led a sleepy soomin to the car, driving home in a comfortable silence as they simply enjoyed each other's presence.
"what's on your mind?" jisung looked to minho as he spoke, tearing his gaze away from the view of houses and streets zipping by.
"two things really. one, i'm really happy. after felix left home and never spoke to me again for years i felt terrible. i lost my only brother, he was practically dead to me. now i get to be an uncle and it's hard to believe how drastically things have changed but i'm really happy." jisung smiled at that, realizing him and the older were much more similar than it seemed. both abandoned by people they loved who had now found their way back into their lives. "and i have you to thank, if not for you i wouldn't be here right now."
"well then, we should call it even early because we both know the 'thank you's will go on back and forth forever." minho laughed this time and replied with a 'sounds fair.' "but what was the other thing?"
"oh, yeah. does hyunsuk have a speech impediment?"
jisung's smile faltered. "yeah, he's had it since forever. trouble pronouncing 't's and 'd's as well as stuttering. he's really shy because of it, he doesn't talk much to people he doesn't know well if you couldn't already tell."
"yeah, that's why i was asking. i heard him talking to soomin earlier too and just wanted to confirm. is he going to therapy then?"
"no, it's too expensive. seungmin and hyunjin hope to get him in eventually but not right now. especially with getting ready for a second child." jisung sighed and minho bit his inner cheek.
"if you're suggesting to help them pay then i don't think so. that's not really something you just accept, and they don't even know you that well." minho huffed at jisung's words, filling the cheek he bit with air as he turned into the han's apartment complex parking lot.
"but there must be some way to help them out, right?"
jisung smiled sadly. "if there was i would have already done it, life's not easy with a child and some things you just have to deal with."
"love, i know you don't like it when i offer but i really want to help out with you and soomin. i'd rip the stars out of the sky just to add light to your lives. and i don't want those words to just be words so please let me in. i want to be fully open with you."
jisung groaned, gripping his hair and mumbling a 'too cheesy' before answering. "i'm still considering."
"hey, wait. you basically said the same thing to me. what do you mean cheesy?"
❥ 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝟘𝟡/𝟘𝟚/𝟚𝟙
im chem rn so no thoughts head empty only ionization energy and boss bitch by doja cat loo,, thank you for #1 in changlix bon bons muah love you go check out my one shot book cause yes we love self promo >:DD
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