Jonghyun had moved in with Jinki after a year of dating and it was really sweet, watching him do all the chores, bringing him breakfast in bed, indulging all his wishes. It was something really pleasant to experience, given that they were college students living away from home and had to do everything all by themselves all the time. But Jonghyun liked to do his own chores, at his own pace of course. But Jinki was always a step ahead, getting done everything Jonghyun had in mind before Jonghyun could plan it out.

All of it went over Jonghyun’s head when Jinki sorted out Jonghyun’s desk. It was messy as hell, yes, but he was going to do it…well, after the semester was done. Jonghyun began to feel offended whenever Jinki cleaned up after him. He was even going through his homework. Jonghyun felt that Jinki not only thought of him as lazy but also stupid…and that finally burst Jonghyun’s hypersensitive emotional balloon.

When Jinki had handed him his report, spell-checked, Jonghyun took it, feeling close to tears but also very angry.

With his pride hurt, he just threw the report at Jinki and huddled up in his room (which he barely used since they used Jinki’s room), locking the door.

Jinki knocked and knocked, but Jonghyun was too angry to answer, deciding to let Jinki figure out what wrong he did to deserve this.

When Jinki had given up, silence spread around Jonghyun and it brought tears to his eyes, making him think of all the reasons behind Jinki’s behavior.

It’s because he’s had more experience living independently.

It’s because he was enrolled in college for a term longer than me.

It’s because I’m younger and he thinks I can’t do what he can.

He sniffed, exhausted, closing his eyes.

Only if Jinki was younger than I.
 

When Jonghyun woke up, his head was hurting. Probably because he had been thinking too much continuously until he had fallen asleep, his thoughts unsorted in his head. He totally thought thatwail he heard was his auditory hallucination. He grabbed a pillow and decided to sleep in, hoping that another hour of sleep would shoo that headache away. But the wailing that reached his ears seemed more real with every passing second and he sat up, blinking in confusion.

When he walked out, the sound was louder than ever…like the source of it was within the same walls as he.

Was Jinki watching TV so early in the morning? Was all he could conclude. His eyes roamed to the TV…and it was switched off.

Okay…

He was now wide awake. He began to take cautious steps around.

Had a kid strayed into their backyard? Their place was still unfenced after all. He slid the door open to the backyard but there was nothing but scrambling squirrels that filled his sight. Somehow the sight calmed him- the smell of the wet grass, the soft, cool morning breeze- that did send a shiver down his spine- but was immensely refreshing.

His moment was disrupted when he felt a tug to his track pants. He flinched, turning and looking down to the place where he had felt the tug, hoping it was just him who had stepped onto the hem of his pants. But what met his eyes made him step backward in shock, making him trip over the of steps and fall onto the wet grass.

It was a little boy, his tiny beady eyes filled with tears, his overgrown bowl cut askew, his nose and cheeks pink from crying, his lips quivering as he said, “Hyung!”

Jonghyun blinked, “What?”

“Jongie hyung!” The kid pounced on him, “Room is dark! Jini is scared!”

Jini..?

Jonghyun squirmed, making the kid let go of him. He grabbed the kid by the shoulders, and squinted, taking a good look at his face.

OMFG !!!

Jonghyun’s chest was hit with something real hard, something that had remained after the hit, putting its entire weight on him. His mind was working like clockwork, only really, extremely faster, his heart beating rapidly as pieces of the puzzle started to fit together in his mind.

“My…wish came true…?” He half asked himself, his expression a cross between wonder and disappointment. “When I said younger…” He spoke out to himself, loudly, burying his face in his palms, “I didn’t mean a toddler!”

“Hyung?” Jini poked Jonghyun’s tummy, “Jini is hungry.”

“I don’t know what to feel,” Jonghyun squirmed at his poke, dropping his palms, his face still showing signs of being shook, “Let me analyze this situation.”

Jini pouted, but the next moment, his eyes widened in excitement, “Can Jini make beffast?”

Jonghyun nodded, realizing that he hadn’t processed the kid’s question and deciding not to care when Jini left him to analyze his situation, skipping away happily inside.

Okay, so Jinki’s now a kid. Jonghyun took a deep breath. A kid. Okay. Hmm. Hmmmm. Did a shooting star, the special kind of ‘em, pass over me last night when I made my wish? Or a fairy happened to be around and thought, “oh, it would be nice to grant this cute, unfortunate soul his wish?” Or wait, was it that fortune cookie he was nibbling on as he sobbed in the night? Those things were definitely mystic! Or…maybe it was the coin he dropped in that fountain a week ago…maybe the fountain granted wishes that were made a week later or something. Or was it the pigeon he freed from the bushes a month before? They say, birds bless you…and some birds are actually disguised forms of nymphs. Hmmm…

His thoughts that had been pacing around with him, matching step to step in their living room halted when a smell hit his nose.

Something is…. “Burning!” Jonghyun immediately headed to the kitchen and found Jini on a little baby blue stool (where did he even get that?! They didn’t have a kiddy stool!), stirring something on the stove. Jonghyun rushed over to him, finding him stir two whole eggs in huge, huge pot of water. He switched off the stove and picked Jini up, setting him down on the mat before he sniffed the air, trying to find the source of that burnt smell because there was no way those eggs could have burnt, let alone cooked, in that huge pot they had been put to boil in.

Jini was looking on, biting his lips, nervous. Jonghyun finally found the source- the toaster- and he ran to it, unplugging it before he turned the timer on them back to 2minutes from 15 minutes (wait…did toasters even have 15 minute counters?!). The toasts popped up, black and aflame. Jonghyun looked at them distastefully, watching the little embers calm down, before looking to Jini who was looking at the toasts, fascinated.

“Wow!” Jini hummed, “Hyung! Can we eat?”

“You are not eating this trash,” Jonghyun coughed, placing his palm over his nose as he used tongs to take those flaming toasts out of the toaster and dump it straight into the trash bin.

Jini’s lips quivered, “My beffast…”

Jonghyun’s senses piqued at that squeaky voice, “Hey,” He crouched down and held the boy’s shoulders, “That’s burnt and tastes yucky. Really very yucky. Worse than medicine.” He smiled, “Let’s eat something yummier?”

“Eggs?” Jini nervously suggested, his eyes trailing to the pot he had set up and Jonghyun chuckled, “Nice idea!”

Jonghyun picked Jini up and placed him back on the baby blue stool, before transferring those eggs into a smaller vessel.

“Behold, Jini.” He said, grabbing the salt and pepper shaker, “Hyung will make you the yummiest eggs in the world!”

(Which of course he didn’t, as he managed to burst those poor eggs and the yolk went flying everywhere. Jini was laughing too cutely so Jonghyun didn’t care of the incident much and poured both of them cereal.)

After having breakfast (and a very good time with Jini), Jonghyun no longer cared how his wish came true. He was on cloud 9 because he could do anything and everything- he could wash his own dishes whenever he pleased, not feeling guilty about seeing Jinki do it right away. He could clean by himself, again, whenever he pleased, and not feel guilty and irritated about watching Jinki clea