The Hat

They say that who you are depends on the type of hat you put on.

sort-of fantasy, ‘reincarnations’

Drabble, 827w

The tinkling of the wind chimes signal a new customer. With a bright smile Kyungsoo walks to the front desk after putting on his work hat to attend to them.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

“Hey Jongin I got you something.”

Jongin barely even looks up from their flat screen tv, console in hand as he tries to enter rooms and shoot people at the same time.

“What?”

Annoyed, Sehun throws the paper bag at him and walks straight to the kitchen, mumbling about “inconsiderate roommates” and “why do I even bother’s.”

Jongin jumps a bit in his seat when the paper bag misses his face by an inch, landing on his shoulder instead. Frowning at his now dead character from the split-second distraction, he drops the console and takes a look at the package.

He shakes the paper bag and squeezes it in his hand. Jongin immediately smiles when he feels what might be inside the bag.

“Hey Sehun!” he yells. “Thanks for this!”

Sehun’s hand reemerges from the kitchen entrance, middle finger high up in the air.

Jongin chuckles and shakes his head before tearing the paper bag’s top to finally get a look at its contents.

And he was right, it was a hat.

Or hats, in this case, as he pulls it out and discovers that there are two inside.

Jongin immediately grabs hold of the red beanie and slips it over his head, grinning widely as he secures it in place.

He stands up and goes to the nearest reflective surface, which is the blank screened flat screen TV. He winks at his own reflection before concluding that it does look good on him, and that yes, Sehun is the best roommate ever.

He makes it known to him by jogging into the kitchen and giving him a violent but brotherly headlock, rubbing his knuckles on his head over and over while Sehun thrashes around.

“Dude what the —“

Jongin finally releases him and walks back out and into the living room. “That was me thanking you, Sehun!”

Sehun glares at his retreating figure and retaliates, “I am never gonna buy for you again!”

However Sehun’s declaration falls on deaf ears as Jongin’s attention is entirely fixated on the slightly tattered fedora on his now vacated chair.

In all curiosity he picks it up and turns it around in his hand, noticing the tattered edges, the worn-out texture and the vintage feel of its felt.

He takes the beanie of and slips it on, fastening it this way and that until it feels comfortable.

And a million memories and thoughts race through his mind that he’s sure isn’t his.

He closes his eyes and clutches the arm rest of the couch as he sees visions of black and white images of a young boy. His hair is as short and cropped, he has heart-shaped lips, he has a straight button nose, and he has charming doe eyes. In the memory he’s laughing in front of him—with him? His eyes turned into little crescent shapes, and he sees a hand—his hand?—reaching out to the boy and he takes it. They hold hands.

And now it’s of the boy in a tuxedo, his hair is gelled and Jongin feels like whoever is in the memory dressed up for something. Jongin sees an image of an ancient carriage. He—they get in. They talk but he can’t hear anything, he sees only his bow lips moving. The next scene is of the boy lying in bed next to him, a silver ring glittering on his finger as his arm covers his eyes. Jongin sees a hand reach out and caress the boy’s arm.

The next memories hurt his head as everything flashes faster and faster. It’s of the boy drinking, it’s of the boy laughing, it’s of the boy getting mad, it’s of the boy pushing him as tears rush down his face, it’s a blurry scene of him chasing the boy, it’s of him—

It’s of him screaming out the name ‘Kyungsoo!’

Jongin knocks the hat off his head, chest heaving and eyes wide as he tries to process what just happened. He looks around and sees that he’s still inside the apartment, still where he was before, and that everything he just saw didn’t really happen to him.

He clutches his head as he sinks to the floor, tears threatening to escape his eyes as his heart palpitates, his brain finally catching up with what he just experienced.

Sehun chooses this moment to reappear, and, upon seeing his friend on the floor looking a bit winded and frantic, rushes onto him.

“Jongin? Jongin what’s wrong?”

Jongin looks up to him, his hand grabbing Sehun’s arm firmly but not enough to hurt.

“I need to find Kyungsoo.”

a/n: ayyyyyyyy just letting you all know i'm still alive, albeit barely c;