After that journey that the two had, there wasn’t any need to sneak out anymore. The children stayed inside when needed to and listened to what the teachers had to say.

That was before Wonwoo mentioned that his birthday was coming up.

Now for most, this wouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s just someone’s birthday, just wish them well. But for Mingyu, it was a big deal. Once he heard from him that it was coming up, and in less than a week, the boy began to panic.

The brunette figured that Wonwoo and him were already at best friend level. For one, he helped him sneak out and they would alway share their food together every lunch. That’s basically friendships goals, right? Because of this, he thought it was absolutely necessary to get the other a gift.

But why would he need to sneak out? He could always just get a present with his mother at home, that way it’d be safer and much easier. Instead, he wanted to risk getting caught and possibly getting in trouble. The reason why was that he had some special for the boy, something that couldn’t be bought by his mother. Something he made on his own.  

Because of this item, he had do a few things. First was to make sure his mother would let him walk alone to the kindergarten and back; Which in fact, was easier than he thought. All he had to do was ask.

The next was to make sure he didn't walk home with anyone, especially Wonwoo. Although this part of the plan made his friend feel as if the it her was pushing him away; Not like Mingyu knew however.

Mingyu tipped toed to the gates of the kindergarten, looking around to see if anyone was around. The tallest of the kindergarteners snickered as he spotted no one, remember the route he took to sneak out on his last adventure: Only, this time, he wasn’t with a certain pink haired boy.

Which, of course, worked in his favour, because this was a mission he needed to do alone. Plus it was much easier without someone continuously shouting at you, he reasoned with himself. With determination, and slight fear, he escaped the grounds of the kindergarten.

There was a reason why he didn't just check on the item while he was walking home, and that sole reason was the same reason he got to walk alone. His mom.

She felt a bit lonely, seeing her son already ready to walk on his own and being mature, even when he hasn't reached his pre-teen days. So, that day she explained that to the boy and he genuinely felt guilty. And so, he had to let her walk with him.

He sneakily walked along the streets, remembering stories he had heard from Seungkwan and the others about how if they were ever caught on the streets alone, the police would throw them into jail. He almost shuddered at the fact, although he knew that the police were good people, hearing that story made his doubts grow.

But he quickly shook it off. Today wasn't a day to be worrying about the possibility of getting caught. Right now he just had to be fast. Go to the place then run back into the kindergarten like nothing happened.

The place he mentioned however, was a dark forest, not far from the kindergarten. It was a perfect place for the item Mingyu had made; He often congratulated himself on the discovery. It was his newfound pride, afterall.

He entered the forest, gulping as he followed a path covered by crushed leaves. He had to admit, the forest was a great place but it was also quite spooky. He felt chills crawl down his back with every step he took, fanatically looking from side to side to check if he was alone. The shadows that were often casted onto the trees towering over him added to a feeling of fear, not helping his current situation. Mingyu remembered his best friend however, and continued on, knowing that nothing was going to hurt him as long as he was fearless.

The brunette, after a long walk, reached an empty area. The sun shined down into the middle as trees of every type he could think of surrounded a single, bright green spout.

The sight was eye catching and would probably be appreciated by photographers and artist alike but that was not what he wanted. In fact, he frowned greatly as he saw the sight.

The reason why he felt so disappointed was because the spout was still that, a spout. He had planted an orange seed into the ground on the first day, watering it every time he got to, yet he didn't understand why there was no oranges yet. He was confused, and upset, for this was the present he wanted to give but it wasn't even ready. What he didn't know, was that growing plants was a long process.

“Gah, why can't you grow faster!?” He shouted in frustration at the spout, his frown only getting larger. He didn't want to just buy an orange and say he grew it, now that would be lying! And as his mother said, lying is bad to everyone around you. His last option was to give up. 

He hated that option, because he could imagine what Wonwoo will think if he, his best friend, didn't get him a present. In the worst case scenario, he felt like the other would leave him for another best friend!
 
‘Guess I'll just have to beg..’ He thought, sighing as he kicked the dirt below him as a last effort to get the anger out of his system.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard loud shuffling coming from the bushes beside him. At first, he assumed it was the wind. But as it continued and he felt no breeze against his skin, the only answer he could think of was that something was moving behind it.

The fear he earlier shook away ran back into his system as he felt the goosebumps trickle down his arms, thinking of numerous outrageous possibilities. 

What could it be? Could it hurt him? Would he be able to give the gift to Wonwoo at all? Such questions swirled around his mind as he began to lost the ability to think properly, imagining only what his attacker could look like.

Was it a murderer with his hand chopped off, or a large hound with three heads? Either way, it did no good to help him stay calm, only provoking his fear to enlarge in size. He had already lost the feeling in his legs, for he had trembled so much that his legs became numb.

He didn't have anytime to hope for his survival however. As, with a loud woosh, something came charging at the poor boy, knocking him off of his feet.

He squealed in fright, as he thought he was being attacked. The male continued to squirm under the weight of being sat on, shouting for help as loud as he could. Only then did he really start regretting leaving the kindergarten. Was he going to die here?

Of course not. His fear subsided as he realized that his ‘attacker’ wasn't doing much to attack him, let alone hurt him. He looked to the figure on top of his chest, the light shining down to reveal what he would have never expected; A dog.

Not any dog, but a petite animal that barked excitedly at the boy. Mingyu stared at the creature with confusion and cold sweat dripping from his face, seemingly scanning it as if he was a machine. “No three heads, no paw chopped off, nothing.” He whispered quietly, letting out a silent sigh of relief as the pooch speak again. He was glad it was much different than his fantasies, and he didn't have to deal with anything fearful as that.

“What are you doing here?” He sat up, finally regaining his composure as he stared curiously. He was sure that there wasn’t any houses nearby, and he was certain that none of the houses near the kindergarten had a dog like this. He would know after all, he’s often outside and lives a fair walking distance to the kindergarten.

“Coco! Where are you?”

A male voice was heard from the distance, seemingly answering Mingyu’s question to the dog. As soon as the voice repeated himself, the animal hopped off of the brunette, barking loudly as if calling for the voice to come forth. The boy stared at the now noisy animal with confusion. Was this her owner? He wondered in curiosity before noticing that a tall man picked up the creature in front of him.

He looked up at the other, observing him as if he was a detective; He grew excited of the thought, but quickly brought his attention back onto the man. The man held a large red bag abs had a shovel tucked under his arm. It made Mingyu wonder, was he also planting something? With a laugh, he began to scold the dog, as if she knew what he was saying. He always found it weird, how pet owners spoke to their pets as if they were babies. Maybe he’ll know when he's older?

But back on track now.

He had no idea who he was but he was determined to find out, only for a simple reason as that the two were the only ones there.

However before he could ask, the male beat him to it and questioned him first with a soft smile. Now everyone knows that you should never speak to strangers, especially if the stranger and you are alone in a forest and they are much older than you are. But for some reason, Mingyu felt as if he could trust him. He held a gentle vibe in his voice and smiled a trustworthy smile. Plus, the earlier overly excited pooch now laid calmly in his arms, completely relaxed.

Maybe he could trust him, right?

He gulped down his confusion that still held a small, tiny bit of fear that he’d never admit to, to answer the question. “I'm a kindergartener!” He replied. He wasn't going to tell a man he just met his name, his mother taught him better than that.

The male frowned, not anger but concern flashing throughout his facial expression. “Ah~.” He hummed out, nodding to himself. “Sorry, I know I'm a stranger. Are you lost?” He asked, the same worried feeling stuck to his voice. 

The brunette thought this was normal, after all, it looked like the man was an adult. ‘And most adults are worried about kids like me.’ He concluded. Not that he would ever mention that he was a kid, no way. Unlike what Jihoon and Minghao think of him, he's way too mature to be a kid. 

After noticing that he was taking a while to answer, he hurriedly shook his head and pointed at the spout that cause him to feel disappointment earlier. “I'm just here for this!” He replied, letting the man look at the spout in confusion.

“You're here for a spout?” He asked, his concern completely washed away by a puzzled tone. He noticed this and eagerly went to fix his sentence.

“Not any spout,” His scoffed, flipping the bangs of his hair slightly in content. “My friend’s birthday is soon, I’m planting oranges for him!” He explained, quite proud of himself before remembering the situation at hand. Quickly, his expression darkened and he avoided showing the emotion that crawled onto his face to the stranger. Although, it didn’t work at all, as the older picked him up with his free arm, dropping Coco so she could sit on the floor and dropping the shovel, letting it make a loud smacking sound against the dirt. He grinned at the younger, raising him into the air. 

“Mhm, and what’s there to be upset about?” He questioned with a smile that could bring back even the deadest of things. With that, the brunette couldn’t hold it in, especially when the smile made him feel extremely relaxed. He dropped his weak facade, tearing up as he brought his tiny hands to his eyes. The man, with his face flashing panic, began to coo him back to his cheery appearance, rubbing his back to calm him down.

Eventually, it worked, and the male soon brought Mingyu back to the ground; Of course, crouching down to wipe the rest of his tears. He felt now that he could fully trust the man before him. He knew that a random stranger wouldn’t do that unless they actually care for your well being, and he knew this man did.

“Now could you tell me what made you cry?” He asked softly, continuing to pat his head in concern.

He nodded, walking toward the spout with a sigh. “This was for my best friend and now it’s ruined.” He responded bluntly, thinking that the other would understand his struggle.

The male raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

Mingyu tried to not look offended but of course, it didn’t work. He could not understand understand how he couldn’t see it, he ought to teach him how it’s wrong. “Can’t you see it? It’s a spout!” He exclaimed, before continuing on after seeing that his explanation wasn’t enough. “I need it to be a tree, so I can show him that I grew it all by myself!”

The silence after his last sentence was so thick that you could take a knife and have trouble cutting through it. The brunette stared up at the man who seemed to have an unquestionable blank stare. Well, not unquestionable for Mingyu. After all, it baffled him on how easy this was to get, yet an adult couldn’t get that this was a problem! 

It surprised him even more when the male began to laugh loudly, hunching over. When he continued to laugh with no signs of stopping, it angered him. How could he laugh at something so important, how rude of him! “Hey!” He shouted, puffing out his cheeks. Even Coco, who had been quiet this whole time, barked to get the male’s attention back on track.

Once he began to calm down, only showing a smile from his previous outburst, he opened his mouth to speak. Mingyu was still bottled up with anger and confusion, wanting the answer to why he laughed so much. The brunette never found anything he was doing to be funny, it was a serious matter.

“Tell me, is he really your best friend?” The male asked, making the younger growl at him.
“Of course he is! I already told you!” He shouted in frustration. ‘Man, this guy doesn’t get it at all!’ He thought to himself, crossing his arms to further show his anger. 

“Then, I don’t think he wouldn’t care.”

“Huh?” The brunette blinked owlishly, all of his anger subsiding and being replaced with nothing but a blank mind. “What do you mean, ‘he wouldn’t care’?” He inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Best friends are people who are very close, and uhm..” He thought for a moment before opening his mouth with a sun shining smiling. “Will accept each other no matter what. So, I think he’d be happy that you even thought of him while doing this.”

“Oh.” He muttered out, embarrassed and baffled at his earlier anger. It was so simple, why didn’t he think this? ‘Of course Wonwoo would accept just the thought of someone doing something for him.’ He thought, now disappointed in himself because of how he thought of his friend.

The male quickly noticed this, and in an effort to encourage the other again, he softly patted his head. “It’s okay, I’m sure he’d understand.”

The boy pouted, shaking his head. Even if he did understand, it still left him wanting to give him a gift. After all, all the other children would have gave him a gift, but he would have only said a simple, ‘happy birthday’. It would hurt the small pride he kept for so long; Well, maybe not his pride, because he still firmly believed that having too much pride was a bad thing.

He continued with his depressing train of thought until it was put to a halt by a suddening digging sound. He turned his attention to where the sound was coming from, only to see the man digging up his so ‘hated’ spout.

He gasped in horror, betrayed that the adult he put trust in threw it away as if it was a simple piece of trash. He couldn't believe the sight. In an effort of stopping him, he quickly latched himself onto his leg. Which, in fact, did stop the male, but made him look down at him with a bewildered expression.

“You can’t kill it!” He cried out, burying his face in his sleeve as one free hand began hitting him with all his might; Which was so very soft for the adult male. The sudden hatred vanished into thin air as he saw the other even lay a finger on the spout, worrying about if it would hurt it or worse, destroy it. It would have confused him if he had the time to think but this wasn't the time.

The male, however, was very puzzled because the other’s actions. “But I'm not killing it?”

“Yes you are! What else would you be doing!?” He shouted in response, letting the male frown.

“I guess it does look like that.” He muttered out with a disappointed sigh. He placed the boy back onto his feet as he dug through his long forgotten bag only to pull out a pot. “I thought it would be good if we put it here, then you can give it to him and still grow it at the same time.”

Mingyu blinked owlishly as he spotted the pot, taking a moment to let the new information sink in before gasping sharply. “So you were only trying to help?” He mumbled, disappointed in himself. “I'm sorry.”

He looked to the younger with a gentle smile, patting his head. “It's okay, how about we do this together?”

With a nod and a relieved expression, the two got to work on putting the spout into the pot. Of course, they got emotional support from the extremely peppy dog, Coco.

As they finished, the male handed Mingyu the pot with the spout sticking out ever so nicely. “Be careful with that thing, okay?”

The brunette nodded, flashing a happy grin. “Thanks Mr..?” He then reminded himself that he still had no idea who he was. He was still a stranger but he felt like that he could be a friend; Even if he was just a child and the other was an adult.

“Jinyoung,” He responded, patting his head softly. “Just call me Jinyoung.”

“Mr. Jinyoung!” He smiled, waving goodbye to him; And Coco; Before leaving the forest with glee. After a while of walking, he had spotted his mother from just a few steps away. He had made a new friend, he was going to give the best possible gift to his best friend, and his mom would probably be so proud of him! His day couldn’t get any better!

Or so he thought.

As he tugged on his mother’s skirt and saw her face soaked with tears and panic, his happiness faded. “Where were you?!” She screamed, crouching down to let him see how angry she now was. “Why are you so dirty?! Why did you leave?!” Soon, he was getting scolded for not being at the kindergarten when he needed to be. 

Mingyu stayed confused throughout the whole thing, he had no idea what he was doing wrong. He thought that if he was doing this for the sake of his friend, it would all be okay. He didn’t understand why she was so angry. Unknowing to him, his mother was also quite confused.

Just as he was going to explain himself, his mother picked him up and carried him back to the kindergarten, spout and all. There, she began speaking to the teachers, now putting the blame on to them for not looking after them properly. Mingyu took this time to find Wonwoo, who was watching silently.

“Won--” Before he could finish, the boy glared at him, showing many of the emotions that his mother did before. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” The ravenette repeated, shaking his head. “Mingyu, you had us all worried! Your mom too! She was so sad!”

“But Wonwoo,” He started, voice quivering as he showed him the spout. “I got this for your birthday.” He didn't know so many people would get so sad or mad because of his mistake of sneaking out. His guilt overcame his senses.

Wonwoo blinked owlishly at the gift, taking it in his tiny hands as he observed it. After he did, he sighed, which put a crack in his spirit. Did the other not like what he got? Was all that for nothing?

“Mingyu, thank you, really,” He began, placing the pot on the ground as he stared at the other. “But please tell me if you're going to do something like this.”

By his expression, Mingyu could tell that his friend was feeling the same way his mother was feeling. Without protesting any longer, he nodded. He never wanted to make another person feel this way again.

With that, the two decided to see what was happening as his mother was speaking to the trio of teachers. She was scolding them more than chatting, which was a reasonable action towards the situation. But that wasn't what surprised Mingyu.

No, what really surprised the other was that beside his mother was another angry parent, whose frown was implanted onto his face and eyebrows would forever stay down. And beside that male’s feet, was a crying boy.

To be exact, a red-eyed, tear soaked Jihoon.

The brunette’s eyebrows shot up as he spotted the other, hurriedly turning to the ravenette for answers about the sudden despairing state of the pinkette. 

The other responded after frowning loudly. “Remember that stunt we pulled when you guys snuck out?” Mingyu nodded quietly, afraid of the answer he had a feeling would be told.

“His dad found out. And since he thinks that the teachers aren't good enough,” He paused for a second, taking a deep breath.

“He's gonna take Jihoon to another kindergarten.”

[Two months, you guys waited for two months ㅠㅠ I'm so sorry I take so long to update- Also dang that concert though. Thanks for reading!~]