ㅤㅤ “chapter one”
ㅤㅤ “MEET THE CHOI'S”chapter one
jitae's special day
jitae lets out a tiny yawn, small fists coming up to rub at his eyes as sunlight hits his face. his room looks the same with toys scattered across the floor, his scary homework sitting untouched on his red ikea desk and stuffed toys cluttered like a bunch of guards next to his bedroom door. the huge, customized calendar one of his hyungs had bought for him for new year's eve was tacked on the wall right across his bed and jitae squints at the numbers, his blurry vision gradually clearing and lets out a mouse-like squeak.
that's when it hits him. it's his birthday today!
just then his bedroom door bursts open and his whole family bustles into the room, a giant cake with a million cartoons on it coming into view. jitae can't help but laugh when they all cheer 'happy birthday' in their own way; joowon with jazz hands and jubong with a tone that screamed i-don't-wanna-be-here. junsoo places the cake at the foot of his bed, a hand lingering on the plate with caution as jitae scrambles out of the covers and towards it. there was a genuine grin on his hyung's face and jitae wishes that he could see it more, before blowing out the candles.
there's major chaos in jitae's packed bedroom, the family not caring the slightest that it's 5 in the morning and the neighbours are most likely still asleep, stuffing themselves with junsoo's homemade cake after the birthday boy cuts it. but the warm atmosphere slowly dwindles as everyone leaves the room one by one, either to go back to sleep or have an early start to the day and jitae soon finds himself alone in his room once again, left with just a stack of presents and ghosts of soft kisses that he recieved from everyone except for jubong who had left as soon as the cake was cut and seyong who had stubbornly stayed in the bacckground. the now eleven year old boy shakes his head to clear his thoughts. everyone had their own things to do and he understood that they couldn't devote all their time to him for a silly thing such as a birthday. that's what mom and dad had always told him when they called him over the phone from somewhere far away from seoul. this was how birthdays are supposed to be.
there are some days when jitae gets along extremely well with the other boys in his class. they sit together during class, chattering exitedly about their virtual pets' latest upgrades and giggling uncontrollably when the teacher calls one of them out for the disturbance. but there are also those days when jitae just can't find himself to care about what the others are droning on about and stares wistfully at the group of girls who always play house at the other corner of the classroom, where all the costumes are. its on these days when minhyuk often calls him out for it and makes everyone laugh when he calls jitae a girl. in his head, jitae has responded several times with something dramatic, making everyone admire him and follow his lead as he walks away from the table proudly. but it never works out in real life. after being mocked even more because of it, jitae just lets minhyuk say whatever before leaving the table alone to where the book shelf is, settling onto one of the bean bags and re-reading one of the picture books he knows by heart already.
his birthday isn't one of those days, however, and he eagerly shows off the new pokémon cards he got as a gift from his jungah noona, drinking in the attention he gets with a satisfied grin. but minhyuk still pesters him, envious of jitae's spotlight, snatching the birthday boy's ped bag from behind him and tossing all of its contents out, cackling while doing so. a pink feather pen joowon gifted him falls out too and minhyuk sneers when he spots it,
"looks like birthday boy jitae loves pink. how girly!" minhyuk picks up the pen like its an offensive object, pinched between his index finger and thumb. the boys who were admiring jitae mere minutes ago were now snickering at him and jitae never felt the urge to run away so strongly before.
before he can do anything though, ms. lin approaches the crowd with a stern expression on her face, having heard everything. the other kids are quick to scatter back to their seats, afraid of their teacher who looks like she is on her way to war. minhyuk is not as wise as his classmates, simply hoisting a hand on his hip as he watches the teacher cross the classroom. when she's finally towering over the young boy, she takes the fist out of minhyuk's grip gently but firmly,
"it's perfectly fine for jitae to like the color pink, minhyuk. where on earth did you get the idea that it isn't?" her voice is calm but the smile on her lips is tight and thin, forced.
minhyuk makes a face, jutting his bottom lip out in indignance, "my daddy told me to never like the color pink because boys shouldn't!"
ms. lin just lets out a sigh, "i will personally speak to your father, minhyuk. for now, please say sorry to jitae."
jitae could feel the tension in his shoulders relaxing, silently loving the way minhyuk glares at him as he mutters a quiet sorry before stomping his way back to his seat.
"it's okay, minhyuk-ie!" jitae giggles when minhyuk ignored him.
ms. lin helps him repack his bag, the classroom filling with muted chatter as everyone moves on from the spectacle just now.
"thank you, ms. lin." jitae says, remembering seojun's lecture about proper manners.
"you're welcome, jitae. come to me if anyone bothers you again okay?" the teacher rufflles his hair, messing it up and jitae quickly smoothes it down, "and don't stop loving the color pink. it's my favourite too."
she takes out her sticker sheet from her back pocket and puts the biggest star ever on the back of jitae's hand, "happy birthday, kid."
when joowon comes to pick him up later that day, jitae excitedly shoves his hand into his hyung's field of vision, his eyes sparkling over his newest sticker.
"congratulations, baby." and joowon places a sloppy wet kiss on jitae's forehead as he takes the boy's backpack and takes him to the car where the other school-goers are already waiting.
he's being buckled in when jubong grumbles,
"how ing slow are you, joowon."
haewon is quick to snap back, "why are you even here, ? i thought you wanted to be independent."
"i had to meet the teacher for a check in session. it's not like i want to be here or anything."
"guys, please- " joowon tries to mediate the brewing row but is ignored.
"you didn't have to come in the car with us then."
"that's a good idea actually."
"feel free to leave, jubong-oppa." the car door slams shut as jubong leaves, the permanent scowl on his face. haewon settles back into her seat, face smug with triumph.
joowon tries to call after jubong's disappearing figure, giving up when the boy is out of sight. he mumbles expletives, kicking a tire in frustration when he moves to the driver seat. jitae flinches at the display of aggression, inching towards jungah who was sitting silently beside him. they were all used to jubong by now, and it wasn't completely uncommon for either seojun or joowon to lose their cool in front of them, as much as they hated it. she puts a comforting arm across his shoulders, rubbing slow circles across his arm and jitae finds himself slowly dozing off under the stiffling tension in the car.
jitae wakes up to feeling of being carried and the first thing he sees is seyong's expressionless face, but he knew his hyung was uncomfortable. jungah had probably forced the boy to lift jitae out of the car. he allows himself to be heaved out of the car's leather seating, before being promptly placed on his two feet and jitae almost falls with imbalance. jungah's reflexes are quick though, and she pulls him up while glaring at seyong who just looks away.
" -what the hell were you thinking?" jitae hears seojun's calm voice somewhere behind them and wonders what was going on.
"why do you care? i'm telling you to back off, seojun." says jubong and jitae is suddenly afraid to look behind. the arguments between seojun and jubong hyung were never pretty to watch.
he lets out a whimper at the commotion and haewon notices, grabbing his wrist and starts towards the house. jitae stares at her walking stick, trying to tune out the noise around him, as haewon blabbers about how annoying jubong is to jiu, who is walking at her other side. seyong excuses himself quietly but jitae quickly grabs onto the hem of his hyung's shirt,
"can you please take me to the park?" he doesn't want to stay home.
seyong freezes up, almost comically with wide eyes, and just when jitae thinks his hyung will say yes, seyong apologizes with the excuse of homework and scurries away to his room. jitae feels tears pricking his eyes but doesn't allow them to fall, skipping his way to the kitchen with a watery smile. he finds junsoo bustling with pots and pans as he prepares dinner. the man so engrossed in the task at hand that he barely notices the new presence in the kitchen.
jitae is content with watching his hyung prepare the family meal but he's soon itching to speak. it isn't easy for the normally excitable kid to remain in one place and he jumps on his feet and calls for junsoo's attention. startled, junsoo almost drops the pot in his hand and turns to finally spot jitae standing near the kitchen entrance,
"jitae, you shouldn't be here. shoo!"
"but hyung- "
"it's dangerous here. you know that, jitae. don't make me call seojun." jitae pouts but still obliges. he doesn't want to face seojun's disappointed stare that made him feel super guilty.
jitae sits alone on the front porch, intensely watching the neighbourhood kids playing around with each other, excited laughter filling the air. he wants to join them, but the choi family is an outcast of sorts, the neighbourhood aunties not liking the fact that no one came to greet them when they first moved in (seojun didn't know it was basic etiquette to do so, at the time. he knows now from all the whispers he hears when he goes out to dump the trash) and told their kids not to mingle with the 'mannerless' family. so everytime jitae tried to approach them, they simply ignored him. there were several times when joowon almost marched to one of the neighbourhood houses to give the residing people an earful but seojun always pulled him back. jitae wouldn't mind if his hyung did it, honestly, but if seojun hyung thought it wasn't right then that's how it will be.
today, however, the ball the kids were kicking around flew into the choi's backyard. jitae jumps up at the chance to help them, not noticing how muddy the place was and dirtying his new clothes as he rushes through the flower bushes one of the choi's were handling. he runs to the kids who look at him with open mouths and hands them their ball. jitae gives them his dazzling smile that his jungah noona said was going to be 'killer with the girls',
"hi! can i play with you guys?"
the kids whisper amongst each other until a tiny girl with pigtails nods in his direction. they resume their game of monkey in the middle, this time with jitae included in their bunch. the other kids warm up to him considerably, especially the one called seungmin who even drapes an arm across jitae's shoulders. no one has ever been that physical with him other than his family and it makes jitae smile. he finally has friends.
all too soon, seungmin's mother calls him back home.
"come with me. i want to introduce you to my mommy!" before jitae can object, seungmin is pushing him towards his suddenly intimidating house. seunngmin's mother looks confused when she first sees him and then just gives a tight-lipped smile that jitae compares to one of those rare smiles jubong gives when he pretends to be pleased.
seungmin is animatedly introducing jitae to his mother, oblivious to her displeasure but jitae can see it clearly. seungmin's mom doesn't want him there so he tells seungmin that he'll meet him the next day.
"can i play with him tomorrow?" seungmin asks as jitae turns his back to them. his mom's reply is soft, but the 'no' is hard and jitae hears it loud and clear. he runs back to his home with tears running down his cheeks.
joowon and seojun are lounging in the living room, their heads over newspapers and laughing about something when jitae enters the house.
"oh my god, what happened to your clothes, jiji!" joowon is quick to rush to the boy. jitae plasters a grin on his face, "i finally played with the other kids, hyung. they called me again tomorrow." he doesn't want his seojun or joowon jyung to know about what that mother said because he knows they would go and have one of those super serious 'adult' talks. he doesn't want them to be upset in any way, seojun hyung already looks exhausted and joowon hyung was barely smiling these days.
"i can help him clean up, oppa." jiu offers, a towel draped over her shoulder when she passes by. joowon nods and reminds them to put the clothes in the laundry basket before gently pushing jitae towards jiu.
the bathtub is already filled with water by the time they reach the bathroom and jitae silently lets his elder sister help him out of his grubby clothes. it's unusually silent as jitae lowers himself into the tub, watching the clear water slowly turn murky with blank eyes. it doesn't go unnoticed by jiu, who begins to shampoo his hair and wash off the dirt on his body with a loofah.
unable to tolerate the uncharacteristic silence any longer, jiu asks solemnly, "you know that you can tell your noona anything, right?"
jitae nods in reply, but continues to stare emotionlessly at his reflecttion in the dirty water. suddenly, a wave of water is splashed on his face and jitae lets out a strangled noise, his nasal airways temporarily blocked. jiu is laughing at his misery right nest to him, the shower head clutched in her hand and jitae compeitively splashes water from the tub onto her dry clothes, cackling when she shrieks in protest. soon enough, it turns into a full-fledged water fight and the bathroom fills up with shrieks of laughter. it's a while before they cool down and by then, they have wasted buckets of water and jiu is dripping from head to toe. the both of them are still giggling when jitae steps out of the tub, allowing jiu to wrap a towel around him and towel dry his hair. she stops in the middle of frisking his hair and looks him at eye level,
"jiji, you're a kid who deserves all the happiness in the world okay? noona will make sure of that. so if anyone tries to make you sad, come tell me so i can go and beat them up or something." jiu grins and kisses his nose. the boy sniffles and nods his head, feeling overwhelmed with emotions.
she ushers him out of the bathroom, smilingly telling him to get ready for dinner and then shuts the door.
seyong is exiting his room as well when jitae steps out of his own. the young boy is still upset about the earlier incident so he ignores his hyung childishly and crosses his arms over his chest, looking extremely cute while doing so. seyong is looking at him guiltily but makes no move towards the small boy, who starts making his way down the stairs. halfway down, joowon calls out for everyone to hurry down for dinner and jitae begins to sprint, almost tripping on his own feet but seyong is quick to pull him up straight. jitae automatically forgives him then, turning to his hyung with his wide grin and chirps a 'thank you', seyong flushes slightly and just runs away without saying anything. jitae pouts and follows his hyung, not liking the fact that seyong ignored him.
he enters the dining room and sees jungah helping joowon set the long table, chatting casually about their day while doing so. seojun is nearby, on an important looking call, looking out the glass doors that led to the backyard. seyong is standing awkwardly behind jungah, looking completely out of place until the girl hits his shoulder and exclaims,
"stop being useless and help!" seyong just sputters but listens anyway, setting down the remaining utensils.
jitae rushes up to his joowon hyung and pulls the hem of his shirt,
"what's up, kiddo?"
"can i sit on cushions today? i want to be as high as everyone else!"
"sure, baby. why don't you go get some cushions from the living room?" jitae nods and runs to the couches in the living room.
when he is back with three cushions in his tiny arms, junsoo has brought the food out and the rest of the family is seated at their regular spots. seojun is still engrossed in the phone call, but this time he has moved out to the backyard and joowon anxiously looks at his back, barely paying attention to the others. jitae his head to the side and calls out to his hyung, who looks out of it for a second before noticing the cushions in jitae's arms and helps him set it on his seat. his attention is elsewhere once again, before he can place jitae atop the cushions and junsoo, watching the whole scene sighs and does it himself.
there's a clatter of plates and utensils as everyone digs into their food, only the two eldest waiting for seojun to return. joowon keeps glancing in seojun's direction, worry on his face. the rest are chattering amongst themselves and jitae turns to junsoo,
"hyung, the food is super tasty!" junsoo gives him a grave smile and jitae wonders if the adult hyungs are onto something that no one else knows.
when seojun finally enters the house again, his face is pale and resigned. joowon quickly pulls his chair out for him and junsoo serves food on his plate quietly. the whole table stills but jubong, who was still fired up from the afternoon, taunts,
"look who's finally decided to grace us with his presence."
haewon slaps her spoon onto the table, "jubong, i swear to god you need to learn to shut up." her outburst triggers the whole table, everyone wanting to get a word in. jitae coils into himself in his seat, cowering from all the noise. joowon is frantically trying to get everything under control while junsoo just examines his nails in a bored fashion, biting the inside of his cheek. seyong just continues eating his food while jiu tries to talk over haewon.
"guys can you all please shut the up!" jungah shouts.
joowon is quick to scold her, "jungah, stop swearing!"
seojun's got his head in his hands when he finally bursts,
"i swear to god all of you, calm the down!" when joowon doesn't point out seojun's use of cuss, jungah protests loudly. she shuts up when seojun glares at her though, shrinking into her chair and plays with the food on her plate. jubong stands up from his place,
"i don't have an appetite anymore." he announces and stalks back to his bedroom/ seojun lets out a huge sigh and the whole table resumes their eating, the atmosphere now damp with no one wanting to anger seojun any further. jitae just stares at his plate and doesn't touch the food. no one notices him struggle to get off his seat, stumbling and banging his baby toe against the table leg. he bites back tears when the pain courses through his nerves, stiffling a sob and starts limping back to his bedroom. he doesn't want to have dinner anymore.
jitae is already in bed reading one of the books he got for his birthday when someone enters his room. he looks up to expect joowon, but when seeing junsoo at the entrance of his room, he feels disappointed. he didn't hate his hyung, but jitae was most comfortable with joowon and he wanted his hyung to cheer him up.
"hey champ." the greeting is awkward, accompanied with a short wave and jitae calls his hyung in. junsoo has a tray of food in his hands, steaming with an amazing scent. jitae's stomach grumbles in response and the boy scratches the back of his neck sheepishly.
"idiot. you should've finished your dinner," junsoo scolds lightly, "i made some kimchi fried rice for you. open up."
jitae allows junsoo to feed him his food, continuing to read his book and paying no attention to junsoo whatsoever. he was still a little bitter over the fact that joowon hadn't come to see him. did his hyung forget that it was almost bedtime?
when the food is finished, junsoo sets the tray on the bedside table and hesitates a moment before saying,
"i'm sorry about that ty birthday dinner. it shouldn't have been like that."
jitae just shrugs, "it's fine, hyung. i've had birthdays like these since i was a baby."
"and you shouldn't have had those ty birthdays. i'm sorry for not trying harder- "
just then joowon enters the room, interrupting junsoo,
"hey jiji, are you ready for your bedtime story?" the man steadily ignored junsoo and jitae notices.
"can junsoo hyung read to me today?"
joowon finally acknowlegdes junsoo and begrudgingly hands him jitae's favourite bedtime storybook. he tucks jitae under the covers as junsoo starts reading with a frown. not liking the turn of events, and settles in next to the birthday boy. joowon presses a kiss to jitae's forehead, running his fingers through the boy's hair in a soothing manner and wishes him a 'happy birthday' again. the younger boy smiles contentedly, letting his hyungs' voices lull him to sleep.
" -and they all lived happily ever after." junsoo shuts the book with a resounding thud, and looks up. he finds joowon asleep, curled in a foetal position around a snoring jitae with his arms wrapped around the younger boy protectively. junsoo finds himself sighing, pulling out one of jitae's spare blankets and draping it over joowon who wiggles his toes contentedly in his slumber. junsoo almost laughs at the man's ridiculous expression but stops himself, remembering that joowon was someone he wasn't supposed to like. he turns off the lights, whispers a soft 'good night' into the dark, and closes the door softly.
authors' note
i wrote most of the chapter so lmao i'm sorry for the y writing style. this is why i let beth do the rough draft, not me okay.
holy we got super close to 4k words ugh, damnit.
btw i got a cameo lol. im the next stan lee guys mwahahaahah. - Annie
why did we do this to baby jitae. i can't believe we made him cry on his birthday. we're monsters.
and... we'll edit this later, so sorry for any typos. - beth
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