Youngjae loses his first tooth during recess one morning and shows Kyungsoo the tiny pearly white nestled in his palm. He isn’t quite sure what the proper protocol is for this kind of event and asks Kyungsoo for his opinion.

“It just fell out! What do I do? Do I stick it back in? Wanna help me glue it back?” Youngjae furrows his eyebrows, concerned because teeth are supposed to be in your mouth, not in your hand. And what if because this one fell out, all the rest of them fall out since there’s a gap now and his teeth aren’t snuggly fit? He’ll look dumb with all his teeth missing. Youngjae definitely doesn’t want to look like a baby with no teeth for picture day.

Kyungsoo purses his lips in concentration, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the little tooth as if it had personally offended him. Coming up with a blank, he releases the tension in his body and the lasers he is currently shooting at the innocent little object, and looks back up at Youngjae.

“I dunno,” Kyungsoo shrugs, “maybe we can ask one of my hyungs. They probably know what to do.” Youngjae nods his head in agreement and the two head off in search of one of Kyungsoo’s many siblings. They don’t move far when they spot Jongdae running across the black top in the opposite direction. Kyungsoo hails him over, flailing his arms above his head, “hyung! Jongdae hyung!”

Jongdae comes to an abrupt halt before walking over to Youngjae and his brother, “what? Watcha want?”

Kyungsoo glances over at his best friend and Jongdae, too, turns his attention to Youngjae. Youngjae then proceeds to explain his worries regarding the insubordinate tooth, and opens his palm for Jongdae to see. Jongdae blinks down at the little white tooth and laughs, these kids are so adorable. Kyungsoo and Youngjae glance at each other, slightly perplexed. Had they broken Jongdae hyung?

“Hyung?” Kyungsoo pokes his brother in the tummy anxiously.

Jongdae’s laughing sidles down to a giggle as he glances at his brother’s worried expression. “Sorry,” he coughs, breathing returning back to normal. “You guys are just so cute.” Jongdae smiles, starting to explain to the two boys that losing teeth is completely normal, it will happen gradually, and no they won’t all fall off at the same time, it is all part of growing up, don’t worry.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if you lose one soon too!” exclaims Jongdae as Kyungsoo pushes a finger in his mouth. One of them had been a bit wobbly lately. “Look, really, it’s gonna be okay,” Jongdae reassures them, pointing to one of his lower incisors that is barely peeking through his gums. ”See? Lost this one last week and I’m getting a new one.”

Jongdae then lowers his voice, leaning in closer, and whispers mysteriously, “you guys heard of the tooth fairy?” Kyungsoo and Youngjae both shake their heads. “What’s that?” Kyungsoo asks with wide eyes.

“Losing your tooth is kinda cool because you get to trade your tooth with the tooth fairy for money,” Jongdae explains. “You just put your tooth under your pillow at night, and when you’re sleeping, the tooth fairy will come take your tooth and replace it with money!”

Kyungsoo and Youngjae slowly turn their heads toward each other, eyes round with wonder. What?! But this is amazing! But Youngjae’s smile fades into a frown, turning back to face Jongdae. He is about to ask him how the tooth fairy will even get inside his room when daddy Yongguk always makes sure to lock all the doors and windows, when Chanyeol hyung launches out of nowhere, tackling himself and Jongdae to the ground. The two boys roll away a few times from the momentum of Chanyeol flinging his body at Jongdae, arms and legs tangled here and there.

Baekhyun catches up to them shouting, “yeah! Jongdae you’re it!”

--

Himchan is overly enthusiastic because this is the first tooth any of his sons has lost. He has Yongguk take pictures to commemorate this moment, Himchan coaxing Youngjae to smile with his teeth, Youngjae struggling and swatting his daddy’s hands away (“No daddy, no! I look dumb, no! I don’t want to!”). Himchan then races Youngjae up to the room, helping his son wrap his tooth in tissue and carefully place it under the pillow, while Yongguk just stands back, smiling, and allows his better half do enough worrying and fussing for the both of them.

Later that night, Youngjae sneaks daddy Himchan’s flashlight into his and Daehyun’s room, and hides it in the crack between his bed and the wall. As soon as their daddies kiss them goodnight and close the door, heading over to Jongup and Junhong’s room to tuck them in, Youngjae clicks the flashlight on and points it around the nooks and crannies of the room. Youngjae sees his brother’s shadow above him as Daehyun leans over the side of their bunk bed.

“What are you doing?”

Youngjae points the flashlight at Daehyun’s face and he flinches. Youngjae repositions the light at some point over Daehyun’s shoulder instead so that he isn’t blinding his brother but can still see his face.

“I’m waiting for the tooth fairy,” Youngjae replies. “Jongdae hyung says the tooth fairy comes to take your teeth and gives you money.” Daehyun nods, “mmm. That’s cool.”

“Yeah, So Kyungsoo and I talked about it. The tooth fairy is a fairy, right? So she’s gotta be magic right?”

“Okay,” Daehyun drawls.

“So we thought maybe if we can catch the tooth fairy, we can use her magic to help us take over the world!” Youngjae spreads his arms open, flashlight now pointing at a corner of the ceiling, Daehyun once again engulfed in darkness. Youngjae returns the light over his brother’s shoulder and continues, “so I’m gonna stay up and wait for the tooth fairy and pretend to sleep when she comes and catch her.”

“Oh,” Daehyun says, “well, I’m gonna sleep. Good luck with that.” Daehyun’s face disappears and Youngjae hears the bed creak as his brother settles down into his blankets.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Youngjae calls back and also settles into his bed more comfortably. He tucks the flashlight under his arm, pointing up at the underside of Daehyun’s bed, and makes little finger shadows to keep himself occupied. He can do this, piece of cake.

--

Youngjae wakes up to the sound of Daehyun whining as daddy Yongguk tries to wake him up and get ready for school. Youngjae huffs in annoyance as he finds a dollar under his pillow.

a/n: lol the one chapter sans-mayhem. this is actually a precursor to imminent chaos. i have a general idea of how i want it to go but i just gotta tame my brain and put order to my thoughts so i can actually type it out. sorry. incoherence is my middle name TuT