"Innie!" 

The day was warm and bright, sun kissing every blade of grass that bent and swayed at the six and eight year old's disturbances. 

"Come on hyung! Run faster!" The youngest yelled to the oldest, looking over his shoulder at the wide eyed adolescent as he ran towards the marbled path. 

"No! Innie this is bad!" The oldest whined, staying positioned in his seated spot in the middle of the stretch of endless grass across the estate. 

Suddenly, the youngest stopped, his eyes wide with wonder and back arched with a tilted head, staring at the monstrous manor that towered over all 50 acres of land. Its highest points were presented in pointed black shackled roofs and east to west towers - walls stretching below the roofs, built from warm red brick and peeling white moldings. The windows, about 40 just on the front face of the manor, were arched high and framed with dark oak that matched the stained wood of the great french doors that beaconed welcome. I front of the pair of doors, were the grandest marble steps the 19th century had  probably ever been blessed to see, and the long since dead stallion topiary standing parallel to the gargoyle that warded off evil.

"Woa..." Jongin, the youngest, said in a breath at the sight, his missing top front teeth showing from his peeled back upper lip. "Hyung!" He yelled suddenly, turning his body around to look at Kyungsoo, the oldest of the two that has yet to move from his spot in the grass, a oo look on his features. 

"No." Kyungsoo said automatically, knowing what was crossing the tanned boy's mind. "I'm not doing it!" He said louder, standing finally and moving to march off towards the line of trees they came from. 

"B-But... Hyung..." Jongin whined, his arms to his chest. staring at Kyungsoo making his way back towards the treck back home. 

~

The scene dripped from Kyungsoo's mind, all seven seconds of it, and morphed into the same setting, though it was night. The Jongin that was once 4 feet tall, grew to 6 - a grown man.

~

“Jongin…” Kyungsoo murmured into the cool air of the night surrounding them. “Come on… This isn't necessary… Really. Lets just go back to my place an-“

“Jesus Christ hyung, for one minute, just shut up an let me do something nice for you” 

The dark night stood in a stark contrast to the vision that just accompanied Kyungsoo's sleeping mind. This time around, the air was cold, the sky at its peak darkness, the grass just beginning to cling onto the low fog that started to blow in from the bog a mile away from the estate. Soon, that moisture would bead into dew just as the sun was about to rise, wetting the couples feet as they fled from the scene they were just about to enter, a scene that Kyungsoo was finally about to enter... After all these years. 

“This isn't nice this is torture… It’s freezing, my head hurts, I'm shivering, I cant breath, you know what the cold does for me Jongin, It tightens my throat… I feel like I’m going to throw up.. Damnit Jongin couldn't we just go to the diner or something like normal people? Why is it always these stupid locations with you~” Kyungsoo went on a tangent, continuing his long line of nonsense that Jongin blocked out, not hearing a word - He was used to Kyungsoo’s useless words of reluctance. 

~

The scene changed again, another snippet of seven seconds on the way, both replaying the night that had just ended. 

~

“Watch your step…” Jongin whispered.

Kyungsoo emerged about ten seconds after Jongin did, his shoulders shrugged, wide eyes looking around frantically, his hands clutched to his chest before they grabbed onto Jongins wool covered arm.

Stretching before them was the old manor they visited once as kids

“W-Wh-” Kyungsoo started, his naturally wide eyes turning wider, opening to show even more of the whites as his pupils expanded to the whole of the brown warmth. “Jongin…” He finally began to get out from his lips. 

Taking one step, Jongin’s hands moved to hold Kyungsoo’s waist so he didn't trip as he moved one leg over the ledge of branches and onto the soft moist grass below. Kyungsoo’s eyes ran over the surface of the whole, a soft breath leaving his lips as he whispered, “Why here...? It's haunted Jongin, I don't want to go in. Just because it's eleven years later doesn't mean I still w-” 

Jongin laughed quietly, cutting off Kyungsoo's useless banter.“Of course it isn't. I wouldn't take you somewhere I thought you wouldn't b-“ 

“You took me to a bloody concert when we were in the states Jongin.. Don’t tell me you wouldn't bring me somewhere I wouldn't be safe..” Kyungsoo interrupted in his usual smug mumble. 

With a roll of hooded eyes in response, Jongins hands gave Kyungsoo a little push to start walking down the little down step of a hill that lead to the main large french oak doors. Kyungsoo’s eyes stayed firmly planted on the ground to watch his foot falls, making sure he didn't misstep and in return, end up falling in one of the well known traps that the estate was rumored for encompassing. 

“You’re fine hyung...” Jongin murmured to reassure him, knowing exactly what was on his mind - he should at least. he’s known him for his entire life.

With a determined and concentrated hum as a response, Kyungsoo walked himself down towards the marble pavement gingerly, sighing once he let his weight on the apparently stable marble that now lay underneath his feet. His head lifted finally, his neck hurting from the constant down hill set stare, gaining a well earned crick of a crack in congratulations.

There it was. Towering over his small fragile looking body, Jongin smiling geniusly at himself as he looked up, his eyes warm as ever at the thought of the night before him and his other half... The exact look he had eleven years ago when he looked up at it for the first time. 

“Welcome back to Michaelis Manor hyung.”

~