Jinki lays atop a long abandoned tree house some way into the forest and overlooks the park. He observes as other children play and laugh and say things he can't hear. There's a slight breeze, bringing in the sent of earth and flowers and Jinki thinks this is his favorite place to be. So quiet. So peaceful. So--Thunk. Jinki lifts up onto his elbows and listens. All he hears is the wind in the leaves and a bird chirping in a distant place. As he gets ready to recline himself the noise comes again. Thunk. Thunk. He turns onto his stomach and peers over the edge, looking for the cause of the disturbace, but sees nothing. Army crawling to the other side of the roof, he looks off in the opposite direction from before. A new thunk sounds and direct Jinki's attention to the right. This time he sees something, someone, about the same size as him.

"What are you doing?" Jinki calls down, making the someone jump and spin on his heel, eyes wide. "I'm up here," he says.

"W-who are you?" 

"You're in my forest. Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Well, you didn't."

"True. My name is Lee Jinki. You?"

"Choi Minho." There's a slight pause before he continues. "What do you mean your forest?"

"Well, technically my pa's. He owns this entire forest. Or at least, as far as I've ever been able to walk." Which isn't far, even if it felt like it to Jinki at the time. "So, what are you doing here?"

Minho clears his throat and straightens his shirt. "I live here now."

Jinki's eyes widen and he scoots closer to the edge of the roof. "You're living in my forest? Did you run away from home?"

"No," Minho says, cheeks puffing. "I'm living in a house here."

"But...the only houses here are my dad's and his guest house."

"I can show it to you," Minho offers and Jinki promptly crawls to the branch leading to the window of the treehouse and hunkers down onto it, nearly slipping twice. After he's inside it takes just a short while to climb down the makeshift ladder, planks nailed to the tree, and motion for Minho to lead them to his so-called house in the forest. 

"How old are you, anyway?" Jinki asks.

"Nine. How old are you?"

"Eleven," Jinki answers, smiling triumphantly, like he's actually accomplished something by being older.

Minho stops and looks to both sides before turning left. It gives Jinki enough time to recognize the trail they're on, rather realize he recognizes it. Just a few minutes of chattering pass before Jinki is standing in front of Minho's self-proclaimed house. His dad's guest house.

"I see you guys have met." His dad comes out from the guest house, a smallish but beautiful lady behind him. "This is Ms. Choi and her son, Minho. They'll be living in our spare house from now on."

"I told you my house was here," Minho says, pursing his lips.

"We still have some things to go over though. How about you two go to the park?" Jinki's father turns to Ms. Choi, as if he forgot she was there. "If that's okay with you. It's not very far off, and a friend of mine lives right by. I could call her to keep an eye on them."

Ms. Choi's face relaxes at the mention of a chaperone and she consents. "But be careful, boys. And remember what I taught you about strangers, Min-ah."

Minho's nose scrunches at the nickname and Jinki sort of side-eyes him before signaling with a nod toward the park.

The walk is generally quiet, just the crunching of the foliage under their feet and the occasional noises you'd expect to hear in a forest. But Jinki supposes Minho doesn't know what to expect when he jumps at the sound of a nearby rabbit. Unfortunately the jumping causes him to twist his ankle and fall to the ground in quite a pathetic heap.

"Are you okay?" Jinki asks, offering a hand for the other to grab. Minho squints at Jinki's silhouette, the sun filtering down through the leaves and casting green light on his outstretched hand and he thinks the older boy kinda-sorta-maybe looks like a prince. But maybe it's just something in his eye...

Five years later Jinki sits atop a tree house some way into the forsest and overlooks the park. He watches as children play and laugh and say things he cant hear. Baby birds cheep in a nearby tree and a cool fall breeze swirls the leaves on the ground. The thunking he now knows as Minho rolling over logs with his foot sounds and he rolls onto his stomach to peer down at the other.

"Do you remember the day we met?"

"I remember spraining my ankle and getting covered in dirt," Minho answered, voice laced with bitterness.

"Yeah, that was sure some scary bunny."

Minho glares at the log he was entertaining himself with and changes the subject. "You're going to fall off of there one day."

"I have before," Jinki replies, smiling crookedly at the memory.

"So why do you keep going back up?"

"Because I have you to catch me now."

Minho scoffs, but color rises to his cheeks. "I know it's tempting to want to fling yourself into my arms, but try not to, alright?"

A grin spreads across Jinki's face as the younger boy finally looks up at him. "I can't make any promises."