Growing up, Jihoon thought liking someone in a romantic way was stupid.
The concept of love and sort was far too confusing and he really couldn't understand how thinking of this person 24/7 was good. That was tiring. And why would you even dedicate yourself to someone but still ends up getting hurt?
He witnessed how his sister cried hard when her boyfriend broke up with her.
He saw Yoongi got totally wasted when this girl he likes left without any notice.
And Jiho? Well, Jiho was still romantically stupid for his one sided love over Manager Ailee. That dude was a proud masochist but only to the woman he loves. And that never fails to make him cringe every time.
Basically and truthfully speaking, falling in love was something an idiot would do and he would like to not become one.
But then... he came.
"Suspended?" Jihoon frowned after hearing Jisoo's statement. The older man looked up from his phone and nodded, worry evident in his eyes.
"Yes." Jisoo said. "Apparently he got into a fight and got suspended for a week. He also said that he caught a cold 'cause somewhere in the middle he was thrown into the pool."
Seungcheol burst into a laughing fit after hearing that. "Is he serious?" Though it quickly died down after receiving a glare from Ailee who looked less amused with the news. The boy cleared his throat before mouthing a quick apology.
"You understand that this is bad right? If the media were to find this you're screwed." the woman asked Jihoon who was currently sitting on their hotel room's sofa. They were going to return to Seoul that afternoon as their business in Daegu was finished. But seeing things as it, they were sure to be bombarded by the media the moment they set foot in the city. "That kid was bad news in the first place. You shouldn't have taken him. He's going to be your own downfall." She added and rubbed her temples.
Jihoon frowned but didn't said anything.
Seeing that it was time to intervene, Jeonghan stood up from where he was sitting and went behind Jihoon. He placed his hands on the boy's shoulder as sign of comfort and assurance. Something that they probably all needed. "That dating scandal can be easily covered up, right? It shouldn't impose that much of a problem if Woozi clarifies that she's still dating that thing." He said, roughly pertaining to Wonwoo.
"That's right." Jisoo smiled at Jeonghan. Although he knew that his friend still loathes Mingyu, Jisoo was quite happy that he was becoming less meaner to the boy. He guess Mingyu's innocent ways was starting to get into the man.
"You have a point," Ailee sighed and crossed her arms. "but I'm warning you Jihoon. Don't get too close with Mingyu. You have a certain task to fulfill. We can't have him ruin you." The woman reminded and Jihoon could only bow his head.
"I know that." He grumbled and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
I know that.
[ #prettyu ]
But he was dead worried.
Seungcheol was minding his own business that morning and was happily trudging the hallway of Woozi's Agency. It was nice to be back. Daegu was nice but it didn't have his love's nice homemade fruit juice and lunch boxes so it wasn't as nice as how he wanted it to be. He was in the midst of his happy thoughts, thinking nothing but his husband's cute butt and their equally cute daughter, when he was yanked into the deepest and coldest part of hell. Or some place like that.
But we all know he was just exaggerating. He was merely got dragged into a dressing room.
A hand was immediately on his mouth before he could open it. The first thing that he did was to look at his attacker. When he saw no one in front, he looked down. And almost as fast as it came, his fear disappeared.
He removed the hands on his mouth and sighed. "Geez, you scared me. I really felt my soul leave my body."
Jihoon, who was currently posed as Woozi, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "As if." He snorted to which Seungcheol pouted at.
"What's with the sudden attack anyway? You're planning on staring on a horror movie or something?" the older man joked and leaned to the nearest wall.
Jihoon visibly went flustered at that. Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at the younger's uneasiness and the faint pink color on his cheeks. What the hell? Seungcheol had to do a double take to make sure that this really was Jihoon and not some possessed doll who came to take his soul.
"You..." he softly murmured. So soft that the older barely even heard it. "Y-you know where Minggu lives right?" he then stuttered much to Seungcheol's surprise.
The older gaped at him with his arms crossed.
If one were to ask him if he really do know Jihoon then he'd confidently say yes. He had known the boy for about eight years now. Thanks for being a friend of Yoongi's, Seungcheol along with Jisoo and Jeonghan, were already a well known faces within the Lee household. To Seungcheol, Jihoon was this grumpy kid who was allergic to anything that concerns love. The kid would always gag at any couple that he sees being all lovey dovey on movies and stuffs. Still, that didn't stop from telling his sob story about his one-sided to his now husband to the younger.
Wait.
Love?
"Holy shit..." Seungcheol gasped a laugh and stared unbelievably at the boy in front of him. "You like him! You like Kim Mingyu!"
And as if to support his accusations, Jihoon turned fifty shades of red.
"What?! Where the hell did that come from?!" the younger exclaimed. "I-I don't like him!"
"Holy fuck you do!" He gasped before shrinking even further into the wall, horror evident on his face. "the world is fucking ending."
"Do you want to die, you old man?" Jihoon snarled. "I just want to visit him because I'm worried. Is that bad?"
"I'm only twenty three you know." Seungcheol clarified, slightly regaining his sanity because of Jihoon's insult. "And it isn't. What's bad is the fact that you're blushing like a teenage girl." He said with suspicion glinting in his eyes.
"I am not blushing." Jihoon glared. A statement that completely contradicted his red face.
"Yes you're not." The older sarcastically said. "But fuck. You like those types of guys? And I thought you were straight?"
"I'm pansexual you scum. I thought I already told you that?" Jihoon glowered at the older man who was now wiping his tears with a white handkerchief.
"You have grown, Jihoonie." Seungcheol sobbed into the fabric and it took all of Jihoon's will to not kick him on the crotch. He also fucking ignored him. This guy was going to meet his end.
"Oh my God!" Jihoon groaned and rolled his eyes. "Just shut up! Do you know where he lives or not?"
Seungcheol stopped his sobbing and snorted, pocketing his handkerchief after. "Of course I do. But what are you going to do? Visit him? I don't think that's a really good idea." The man said in a serious tone.
Jihoon was about to contradict that but he realized the older had point so he just closed his mouth and hang his head low.
"Unless you can go out as Jihoon without shaking but we both know that's not possible."
"How would you know?" the younger grumbled.
"Well, can you?" Seungcheol challenged, arms crossed and suddenly looking mighty. To say that it pisses Jihoon was understatement. Nobody shows him that smug look that got away alive. But what he hated the most was not Seungcheol's tone itself, it was the fact that the older man was right.
After for about a minute of staring, Seungcheol sighed. "Fine, I'll take you to him. You know I can never say no to you when you look so sad like that." He tiredly said to which made Jihoon snap his head up in disbelief. "But!" Seungcheol raised his hand even before Jihoon could start rejoicing and smirked.
"You'll have to do whatever I tell you."
[ #prettyu ]
Jihoon cursed as Seungcheol grinned and watched him in amusement.
"See? You look so cute wearing that." The older man cooed as he arrange the black beret on the younger's head.
If posing as Woozi was crazy then letting Seungcheol dress him up as a girl was crazier. Jihoon tiredly watched his reflection on the mirror and thought that karma was finally catching up on him. Instead of wearing his usual long wig, a bobbed wig that reminded him so much of a kindergarten girl's hairstyle was on his head. To add to his already childish hair, the older man even went as far as making wear a black overalls shorts on top of a long sleeved button up shirt and a huge black rimmed glasses.
This dude was definitely mocking him.
"I shall now name you as Choi Jiyeon. My very first born." Seungcheol proudly stated.
"Shut up you damn lolita enthusiast." Jihoon grumbled and rubbed his head. He could already feel a headache coming and he hasn't even saw Mingyu yet. "I knew I should have asked Joshua hyung instead."
"But you didn't!" Seungcheol grinned. "and now you're stuck with me."
"God, talk about regrets."
"Oh please. Stop being so dramatic, kid. Let's go." And he was dragged out of the dressing room before he even knew it. The moment his feet touched the outside ground, he suddenly felt nervous.
Shit.
Was what he thought.
'they're not going to recognized me, are they?' despite not being in his original form, Jihoon felt himself sweat and his vision suddenly turned. The boy inwardly cursed as his eyes caught a sight of a woman who was looking weirdly at him. 'Oh my god! She noticed'
She fucking noticed!
He felt cold beads of sweats roll from his head to his chin with the thought of getting caught.
What am I going to do now?!
He can't be revealed.
They can't notice me!
He had already come so far.
Fuck I don't want this!
Suffered so far.
Stop staring at me!
He can't...
Please don't look at me!
He should not be caught...
Please stop!
That will just ruin everything.
Please stop–
"Jihoon!"
Jihoon snapped into reality and Seungcheol's worried look was what he saw first. He didn't even realized that they had already arrived at the parking lot due to his fear. He was breathing heavily and he knew that he was so close in breaking down.
"Calm down, okay?" The older cooed and wiped his sweat with his handkerchief. "Nobody noticed you. Nobody recognized you, okay? It okay." He continued and Jihoon, with his quivering lips and misty eyes, didn't stopped himself from hugging the older man. Seungcheol merely sighed and smiled, patting Jihoon on the head.
Some people, no matter what their form will be, never changes. And Jihoon was one.
"I'm sorry." The younger murmured into the fabric of his clothes.
"Don't be... It's not your fault." Seungcheol said in the sincerest way that he could. "Let's go now, okay? I'm sure Mingyu would be happy to see you."
Jihoon blushed the notion and pushed the man away. "Who cares? I don't." He grumbled as he made his way the black car which was owned by Jisoo himself. He secretly stole his keys when he wasn't looking.
Seungcheol laughed under his breath and shook his head in amusement. How can this child be so damn dishonest? He grinned widely and followed Jihoon to the direction of a black second hand Honda civic. He snatched the key from the younger before he could even open the door.
"You know what I think?" Seungcheol said with his grin still widely intact. "I think you and Mingyu makes a cute couple."
Jihoon never felt his blood rush to his face that face and it nearly gave him a heart attack. If killing was legal then Seungcheol would have died that instant. Jihoon was about to open his mouth and spat some acidic words when he realized something.
The younger shook his head and sighed. "That's not possible." He murmured with sadness.
The frown that replaced his smile was his instant reaction to Jihoon's statement. Seungcheol couldn't even resist when Jihoon took back the keys and opened the passenger seat. "Why do you think so?" he asked the boy.
"Because..." Jihoon started as he took a seat. "We contradicts each other. And think about it..." he smiled, although it didn't reached his eyes. "Who would even truly love someone as pretentious as me?"
[ #prettyu ]
Mingyu's house was just how he pictured it to be.
It was two storied and peach. It was as normal as any Korean household could be.
Jihoon sighed as he stood in front of the Kim Household and for once, he don't know what to do. Seungcheol had dropped him off earlier and said he was going to fetch his daughter while he and Mingyu talk. Come to think about it, what were they even supposed to talk about?
This was so stupid.
And might as well go home.
Jihoon was about to turn around and get on with his life when the front door opened. He stood there completely frozen when a woman went out of the door with trash bag in hands. It didn't need a genius to guess that this woman was Mingyu's mom. They both have the same sunny aura that he was starting to go blind of.
"Oh, hello." The woman greeted after noticing the petite girl in front of her gate. "May I help you?" She smiled, which finally broke Jihoon from his frozen state.
"M-minggu!" he inwardly cursed himself for stuttering and gulped. Calm down, he whispered before bowing to the woman in front. "G-good afternoon, Ma'am. Is Mingyu home?"
"Are you a friend of my son?" She asked, although her eyes glinted in delight after Jihoon said he was looking for her precious firstborn. To her, Jihoon was currently this potential daughter-in-law. A very cute potential daughter-in-law.
Just your daily frustration of a mother who's son never had any girlfriend in his entire life. Although Mingyu was still young, Mrs. Kim was about to lose it.
"Umm... yes..." He hesitantly answered. "I guess I am..."
"Wonderful!" The woman exclaimed before putting down the trash bags near the trash can. She'll just leave that to the garbage truck. "Come in! Come in! Oh my, how rude of me. I am Mrs. Kim as you already know and what might your name be?" she asked while already dragging a shocked Jihoon inside their humble home. Was she always like this?!
"Wooz—" Jihoon thankfully managed to stop himself before he could even spill his real identity to this woman. Trust no one after all. "Jiyeon... my name's Choi Jiyeon."
"Kim Jiyeon? That's a nice name, don't you think?" the woman teasingly grinned when they finally entered the living room.
When he thought that his blood couldn't rush faster to his face than earlier, he was dead wrong.
"W-what?" he stuttered to which the woman merely giggled at.
"Mingyu's room is the second door on the right. Just enter I'm sure he'll never mind." The woman gave him a knowing smirk before skipping to the direction of the kitchen. "Oh, if you can. Please ask him why he got into a fight in the first place? That child still would not confess of his sin."
And she was gone as fast as she came, leaving Jihoon to awkwardly stand in the living room.
What the hell was he supposed to do?
The boy took a shaky breath and turned his head to the direction his mother had said. And again, he felt nervous. As nervous as a girl who was about to confess to her crush. Forcing his feet, Jihoon started marching to where Mingyu's room was located. Although it was only a few steps away, Jihoon felt like it was an eternity of walking before he finally arrived in front of the white door with a puppy sticker on.
He smiled.
He took the knob with his hand and turned it. His room, in comparison to his, was small but it looked livelier than how Jihoon's could ever be. There were pictures on the wall, something that lacks his, stacks of books on his mini shelf, game posters on his walls and a single table with their family picture on top just beside his bed.
Mingyu's room was the exact definition of the boy.
"Mooom..." he heard a whine and the instant, Jihoon's eyes fell into its owner. In the middle of his messy bed, a giant burrito was currently residing. "Everything hurts." Even though he couldn't see it, he was a hundred percent sure that he was pouting.
The older rolled his eyes before closing the door behind him. He marched to Mingyu's bed and saw a mop of raven hair peeking on top. He wasted no time and slipped his hand to where his head was peeking and startled its owner.
"You're burning." Jihoon murmured in his own voice. All of his pretentions thrown away the moment he was alone with Mingyu.
Mingyu, who flinched after feeling his cold hands, slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the intruder. It took some moment before his eyes could adjust to the brightness and the a look of disbelief covered his face at recognition.
"Jihoonie..." he whispered in shock.
Jihoon had to keep himself under control upon hearing Mingyu whisper his name in that dazed and awestruck state. "Yeah... it's me..." he dumbly said. "I heard from Joshua hyung that you got suspended, and... I dare say, you look really bad." He commented after seeing the bruises that was barely hidden under the thick blanket.
There were fresh cuts on his lower lip and a purplish bruise on his left eye. Jihoon at that very moment wanted to punch whoever did this to the younger.
But instead of responding, one tan hand freed itself from the blanket and slowly crept up to his cheek and caressed the older in a way that made him feel so fragile and important. "You're real..." the younger murmured as a smile crept onto his lips. "You're really here."
At that very moment, he felt time stood still.
Jihoon gulped at the look he was receiving from the younger and couldn't help but to put a hand on top of the one on his cheek. Why was this? He wanted to ask as he felt his heart ram hard under his chest. "Of course I'm here. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well..." Mingyu started, his thumb tracking circle on the older boy's cheek and he nearly lost it. "It's just that, why would you even bother coming here? You have more important things to do."
Jihoon sighed, pink hues on his cheek, as he sat on the floor beside Mingyu's bed. "What makes you think you're not important?" he murmured. You're more important to me than you could think of. "Everyone in my crew is important to me. Bear that in mind." He reasoned out, feeling suddenly empty when Mingyu retracted his hand and slid it back to the comfort of his blanket. "Why did you even got into a fight? That's so not you." Jihoon frowned with just thinking about someone throwing a punch at Mingyu.
Mingyu stared at him for a good few seconds before burying himself into his cocoon. "He was talking bad about you." He heard him say, although slightly muffled by the fabric. "I just can't sit around and listen to that. You're not like that... hyung is more than how people sees you."
Upon hearing that, Jihoon felt his heart flutter and he had to cover his mouth with his hand to calm himself down.
"You really are an idiot..." he murmured, trying his hardest to not let the happy tears fall. "I don't expect everyone to like me... you should have just walked away."
"I can't..." Mingyu peeked his head from the blanket and stared at him in all seriousness. "I can't because what gave them the right? I can't just sit still especially when it's you they're talking bad about."
"Jihoonie hyung is an important person to me, okay? You are important. So don't expect me to just sit around when someone is badmouthing you."
Why are you so nice to me?
He wanted to ask. He was the one who dragged him into this hellhole and the least he could do was to hate him. So why don't he? Why, instead of walking away, he threw a punch. And for the sake of what? For Jihoon. Why?
"Hey, hyung..." Mingyu called out after not getting any response from him. Jihoon looked up from staring on the floor to Mingyu who was currently giving him that breath taking smile. "Can I hug you?"
He wasn't sure if was to much for his nerves that he completely panicked, but the moment his unconscious response left his lips, he regretted it. "No."
When Mingyu's face fell, all Jihoon wanted to do was to kill himself. Because in all honesty, Mingyu looked like a kicked puppy.
"I mean! You can't! Not just yet..." he stammered. "you can't hug me until you're not well. When you do..." he bit his lips and blush. "When you get better, feel free to hug me... okay?"
The instant, the younger beamed and nodded. "That's a promise then?" he asked in full expectation. He slipped one of his arm out and raised his pinky in front of Jihoon, prompting him to promise.
Jihoon couldn't help but to roll his eyes at his childishness. To think this guy was only a year younger than him, not to mention taller than him —everyone's taller than him but let's not get to that— was unbelievable. But Jihoon was also a child of his own, so he smiled and wrapped his pinky on Mingyu's. "it's a promise."
Instead of letting go, the younger surprised him when he intertwined their fingers and pulled it under his head, nuzzling his smooth skin that nearly made Jihoon's heart stop functioning. "that's a promise." He mimicked before closing his eyes and finally deciding to sleep.
A promise.
#PrettyU
This is nearly 4k words... Why. (ಥ_ಥ) such a shocking fact for someone as lazy as me. btw is everything going too fast or that's just me?