The seven of them quickly went up to the tower while the trio shared their embarrassing stories and memories of their trips to Namsan Tower. Everyone was surprised by how often they were there but it was pretty fun listening to all those stories. Seungmin felt as if he was on some kind of a school trip. And he was truly enjoying it, finally getting a taste of the human life he could only ever dream of before. It felt surreal but he tried to enjoy this moment to the fullest because once he returns back, he is almost hundred percent sure his parents will be waiting for him, ready to punish him for not listening to the 'curfew' they set for him.
"We are finally here!" Jisung exclaimed as the elevator they took stopped at the very top of the tower. All of them ran towards the railing, which was covered with keylocks in various shapes, except for Minho and Jisung. The two of them stayed behind, watching the rest of them have fun. Jeongin, who looked behind at them, thought that they looked like proud parents of their kids. Jisung just rolled his eyes at the remark but once he averted his gaze towards Minho, he realised that it was true. The two of them indeed looked like their parents.
"Why aren't you there with them?" Jisung asked as he pointed at the five boys that were admiring the view of Seoul in front of them. The angel expected Minho to enjoy this moment or at least pretend to be enjoying it. Jisung has been here numerous times so he did not really need to even get closer to the railing.
"I could ask you the same thing," Minho said and Jisung pouted.
"I am scared of heights," he admitted, as he looked away from the devil, feeling embarrassment flow through his whole body as he pouted even more. "The first time I was here, I threw up. Right there,"
Pointing towards one of the trash cans near the railing, Jisung had no idea why he was telling the older all of this. Especially this embarrassing memory, that not even Jeongin and Felix knew about. He immediately put his head in his hands, trying to hide his already red face.
Minho chuckled, "I am also scared of heights,"
"Really?" Jisung looked up at him, some kind of hopeful spark evident in his dark eyes. He eyed the devil from head to toe just to detect if he was messing with him for whichever reason. But Minho looked serious about it, nodding to Jisung's question. The younger boy's lips formed a line. This action enlarged his already chubby cheeks. His eyes widened once he felt the devil poke his cheeks. That gesture made his face heat up even more. He turned to the devil, before saying: "What did you do this for?"
Minho shrugged, looking in front of him. "You've got quite chubby cheeks."
"You've got a problem with that?" Jisung put his hands on his hips as he looked the boy dead in the eye, frowning. "They are my only charm,"
"I think you've got several charms. It's cute."
The angel choked on his own saliva when that sentence hit his ears. He wanted to blame this on the air they were breathing up there but seeing the smirk on the devil's face, he realised this wasn't some kind of hallucination. He was not hearing things.
"Why are you flirting."
"Because we are at Namsan Tower. Wanna put our keylock up there as well?" he pointed at the railing with laughter as Jisung visibly showed his aversion to that horrendous idea. He shook his head, acting out vomiting. Minho could do nothing but roll his eyes at the childish boy. However, both of the boys had smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the moment as well.
"Wanna disappear for a while?" Minho scooted closer to Jisung, whispering the question into his ear. Jisung turned around, not realising how close the devil was. Just a few inches away, his sweet breath hit the younger boy's face. Gulping, the angel scanned his face,
"Sure," he agreed.
☙
The two boys were now standing in front of a giant convenience store. Jisung was wondering why the devil brought him here. He expected that Minho will bring him anywhere but to a convenience store — somewhere he has been to many times. Something that's not even special (not like he expected anything special).
"Take this," Minho uttered as he took out a piece of jewellery from his pocket. It was Jisung's 'invisibility' ring that should've been hidden in Seungmin's pocket, considering they have decided the angel is the only trustworthy person out of them that won't lose it the first moment he has it in his hands. Jisung took it with wide eyes, before sliding it on his ring finger.
"Where did you get that?" he wondered, examining it if it was truly his belonging.
"Stole it from Seungmin," Minho admitted as if it was no big deal. He took Jisung's hand and led him towards the entrance of the convenience store. Jisung felt a blush spread across his cheeks for the umpteenth time today as he let himself get dragged by him. "Let's have some fun,"
Jisung smiled. It was getting late and the sky looked as if Vincent Van Gogh took his brushes and created another stunning piece of a starry night. He didn't mind spending time with the devil about whom he said the worst things and reminded everyone of how much he hated him on every occasion. He felt really comfortable in his presence even though he would never admit that.
Minho led him to a random aisle, realising that the store was rather empty. That seemed better for them, though.
"Wanna scare some people?" Minho smirked as he looked at Jisung, not fully realising he was still holding his hand. Jisung looked at him, cackling. He nodded, down to any kind of adrenaline and fun —something they rarely get to experience in the Imperium. The devil then led him to another aisle, where more people were present. He came towards the shelf with cereal boxes on it. "Watch this,"
With a swift motion, Minho knocked off at least three boxes of cereal. They landed on the ground with not so loud thud, catching the attention of the people who were calmly shopping. One woman turned around, trying to detect if there was anyone in the aisle that might have knocked it off. Then she concluded that it must have been draught that knocked it off. She came over it and picked the boxes back in their place. After she turned around, ready to leave, Minho hit the exact same boxes that fell on the ground yet again. The woman turned around, a weirded out expression on her face. She once again crouched down to pick up the boxes when Minho took a few more and dropped them onto the ground.
Startled, she dropped the ones she was holding and backed away.
Minho turned to Jisung who had his eyes wide open. He expected anything but this.
"Wanna try?" Minho mouthed slyly, his head pointing towards the woman and the boxes. Jisung came closer to him, a bit unsure.
"I will take it to the next level," he smirked, crouching down and grabbing one of the boxes. He made sure the woman was watching as he picked up the box painfully slowly from the ground. The woman's eyes widened as she watched the box levitate in front of her. Then Jisung threw it on the ground with full force and the woman let out an ear-piercing scream as she turned around and quickly left. Minho laughed at that, praising Jisung for good work. The angel could only smile as he saw one of the workers run up to aisle 19, seeing the mess on the ground. The worker, whose nametag said Dongwon, looked back at the woman running away from the store, seemingly empty-handed. Dongwon sighed as he approached the two boys.
"People are so disrespectful these days," he sighed as he picked the boxes up, putting them up before taking the one Jisung threw on the ground as it was damaged. Jisung felt sorry for the boy as they were just the cause of the more work he will have to take care of. But the adrenaline flowing through his veins was much stronger than the rational sense in his head. He went to the back of the aisle while Minho stayed behind, watching the kid play.
He felt extremely happy during that moment. He wasn't sure if it was the vandalism they were currently accomplishing or the fact that Jisung had the widest smile on his lips now. He was literally glowing as he took a jar of mustard and threw it on the ground. The jar shuttered which caught Dongwon's attention. The boy turned around, seeing the shuttered jar on the ground with mustard all over the place.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Dongwon stood up, looking around. "This is not funny. I will check the CCTV if you won't come out now. Let's settle this nicely!"
No one else was present in the store as of now. If Jisung was in Dongwon's place he would probably run away already, scared to death. But since he wasn't in Dongwon's place, he was enjoying it. Maybe way too much since he took yet another jar of mustard and let it fall to the ground. It was fun seeing Dongwon's terrified expression as he came closer to Jisung. It seemed like he could see him but Jisung knew that was bullshit. He exchanged gazes with Minho who still looked amused by the whole situation.
Once Dongwon stood in front of Jisung, he extended his hand as if he wanted to caress the younger boy's face. Jisung was frozen in place when his hand came through his body as the boy quickly shook his hand.
"Weird," murmured, "I would've sworn I saw something move here,"
Jisung's eyes widened. With that, he decided that enough is enough as he quickly passed by the worker and went towards Minho who was looking at him, a bit concerned.
"You good?" he asked. Jisung nodded, this time being the one to take Minho's hand and lead him out of the convenience store to the big and empty parking lot. Minho got an idea as he noticed the younger boy was a bit shaken up from the earlier events although he did not quite understand why. He quickly let go of the younger's hand and disappeared from his side for a while.
"What are you doing?" the angel asked as he saw Minho come back with a shopping cart. The devil just smiled as he gestured for the angel to hop in. Jisung raised his brows. "Are we in an American rom-com teenage movie?"
Minho chuckled, "That was oddly specific and no. Hop in."
Jisung did as he was told, slowly climbing into the cart with Minho's support. The metal grid was very uncomfortable to sit on so Jisung took off his jacket and then sat on it. Minho frowned upon seeing the boy just in a shirt during this cold night.
"Are you dumb?" he asked him, as he took off his own jacket and put it over the boy's shoulders. The younger boy tilted his head to the left, watching the devil in front of him who was now also just in a shirt. Jisung immediately handed the jacket back to the devil.
"What about you, dumbass?"
"I don't really get cold unlike you, angel. So, wear it." Minho's voice was a bit stern now so Jisung decided not to argue any further as he put the jacket on, receiving a smile from the devil which he ironically returned. "Ready?"
"Ready for what?"
Before Jisung could get the answer he wanted to hear, Minho suddenly broke into a run while pushing the cart in front of him. Jisung yelled upon the sudden action as the older boy spun him around.
"Are you crazy?!" Jisung yelled before erupting into a laughing pit while holding on to the cart for his dear life. The expression on the angel's face highly amused the latter as he spun and ran with him even more. Minho admired the way the angel's hair flowed in the air and the way his cheeks were slightly tinted with pink because of the cold weather. A bright smile was evident on his face and Minho was too immersed in watching the younger boy's face to even realise he was yelling at him to stop.
"Please, stop! I think I'm going to throw up,"
Minho immediately stopped in his tracks, making sure the boy was okay.
"Breathe deeply," he advised him, watching as the angel rubbed his eyes and got out of the cart.
"I am never doing that again."
Minho pouted before apologising. He didn't think this could happen to the younger one as he just wanted him to have fun but it seemed like it was the exact opposite.
"No, no, no! Don't apologise! It was fun, I promise. I just get dizzy easily," he tried to assure the devil who seemed a bit sad because he did not know the limits. But Jisung truly did not mind, it was a fun and nice experience. He actually would do it again, if Minho was more gentle with the cart because wow, was his head about to explode.
"Well, I'm still —" the devil's voice was cut off with a sudden ringing. It sounded like a phone but neither of the boys had one and there was currently no one around them. Jisung frowned as he looked around more carefully. It was dark all around except for the few lanterns on the parking lot and the store's logo shining brightly. But the angel soon enough noticed a small light on the ground not so far from them, realising that it was a phone.
"Look, there! Someone must have lost it," he gestured towards the phone on the ground and the two of them went closer. Minho took a closer look at it before turning towards the angel.
"I fear it's here on a purpose." the devil said but it rather came out as a whisper, picking up the phone and showing the caller. Jisung's breath hitched as he saw The Devil's Number on the screen. Minho was just as confused as the angel but at least he was a bit aware of what this might be.
"Pick up the call," Jisung watched Minho's side profile. The devil did not look happy when he heard the suggestion.
"It might be a trap. There is no way I am picking it up."
"Please," Jisung pouted. "It's most likely some kind of a joke — maybe someone lost their phone for real and this is the way they have someone's number saved."
Minho knew that that was definitely not the case. Call him dumb but the pleading look on Jisung's face made him give in.
"Fine, but you will stay behind me."
"And why would I do that? It's just a call, it's not like someone is going to jump out of this." Jisung folded his arms on his chest as he listened to the never-ending ringing of the phone. Minho rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Jisung," he turned around to face the younger boy, grabbing him by his shoulders. "Just do it, okay? Please. The only thing I am asking you for."
The younger boy groaned, "Fine, but put it on the speaker at least!"
Minho nodded as the younger boy hid behind him, leaning against the devil's back with his hands still folded on his chest. Once Minho picked up the call, a voice hurriedly called out, full of pain. A voice the two of them immediately recognised.
"Minho! Minho, listen to me!"
"Hyunjin?" the two boys said in unison.