¤Fight me¤

Minho plops onto the headseat of the colossal table and rolls up his sleeves to begin his lunch. Beside him, sat Dareum, already side-eyeing and slurping on a serving of ramen as if—as if he knew something was sure to piss Minho off. The older cousin throws him a bitter look and raises an eyebrow at the youngest one, who cheesily grins and gestures him to take his share of toasts sitting on a glass platter. The moment Minho's brown irises land on the hideous looking species of toasts, he zooms one into his face and looks past the crusty, black, 3rd degree burnt toast's hole in between. For a second there, he thinks it's just this one but when he brings another and another to his sight, he does not fail to comprehend the wicked plans of his wife. 

“What—this toast—” Minho scrunches his face so hard, Dareum is forced to halt his advancement on another fork full of ramen and titter into his lunch. “What is this?!” A holler echoes through the dining hall all the way to the kitchen, where Taemin is too busy piercing holes into his toasts with a hot rod. Instead of feeling an ounce of shame as Minho sometimes expects of him—and scolds himself right away for expecting the impossible—Taemin storms into the hall and places his gloved hands on his hips. He was wearing a teal blue apron and if it was not for the war between them, Minho would have found him cute—with that strained redface and disheveled black locks sticking in every direction possible on his head. 

Wow I am going insane. Finding cuteness in devil's son. 

“What now?!” Taemin retorts with a venom spewing tone and when he notices the toast in Minho's hand, he leans his weight on the palm pressed against the table and tilts his head to a side, eyes fluttering in a dangerous way of mock. “Baby—did your eyesight drop to your IQ level?” He gives a small smile before it is snatched right away from his face and he, now, stands with arms crossed, head bobbed forward to deliver his point. “Can't you tell it's a freaking toast?!”

At that, Minho lovingly eyes the toast before averting his eyes back to a fuming Taemin.“This—This is a toast?” He flips it in his hand and chokes out a chuckle at the centered hole in the toast. “Then what is this in between? A blackhole?”

“Maybe this is where your brain went? Anyways—” The younger does not fail to nag at the guard Minho almost slipped from his hand. He then leans in disgustingly close and purs in a singsong voice.“—It's smaller than the blackhole you made on my shirt this morning, though~” Oh that look of frustration on Minho's face grew by passing seconds and Taemin was enjoying it to the fullest. Propping the burnt toast on his plate, Minho shifts all the way back in his chair, wearing disbelief on his face and hisses.

“Why do you think I'm the mastermind behind all your miseries?”

The raging boy dishes out a little sarcastic beam before screaming and turning on his heels.“Because no one in this damned house is my enemy except for you!”

“Hey!” Taemin looks back over his shoulder and puffs his cheeks at Minho. “Bring your here and enlighten me how am I behind all of this?!”

“You—” The younger of the two sorely folds up his baggy T's sleeves and slams his hands on the table, in an effort to waver Minho's self-esteem but the other was taller and older for a reason. “—You've always envied me because on my birth, the title of 'the only child in this house' got stolen from you and everyone started giving me importance~” Taemin reasons with his usual 'I am y and I know it' smile. 

“Oh! Must I say what princess was born, no?” Minho sniggers in his face, inducing a scowl on Taemin's for the emphasis he put on misgendering him.

“It's OK, truth hurts man—” This was now Taemin's ego speaking and the older knew the boy left his brain in the gutter for, now, Taemin had his fingers beneath Minho's chin and was batting his eyelashes daintily.“—Oh! Must I also mention how my A grades always D-graded you!” He backs off and guffaws clutching his stomach in order to shoot any comeback Minho had in mind with his pun. However, the doe eyed cousin of his was devil's sister's son probably.

“God—Are you listening?” The man looks up at the ceiling and joins his palms together, enterwining his fingers in a knot and glares Dareum to do the same. Slytherin follows up rather forcefully and fakes a sob or two as well. “His delusions are getting worse by the passing seconds. I fear for my brainless and assless wife.” Nevertheless, Taemin was far from feeling insulted, so, the boy took this chance to coo at him just the way he hates him for doing so. It was unacceptable though, how Taemin's taunts included pet names Minho sincerely loathed.

“Aw~ Don't worry, dear hubby. I've always been better than you at everything. Be it studies, creativity or looks~” Within a second of his little speech, Minho's and Dareum's chortles get to his ear and he juts out his bottom lip in pure vexation when he sees Minho highfiving his brother. 

“Do humanity a favour and pour this chilly water over your brother's head and don't forget to take him to an insurance company for his rotting brain's insurance—” The older commands his youngest cousin and later ends with a stern tone, screeching any sniggering that was brewing at the back of Dareum's throat to a stop as he drills lasers into Taemin's face. “—It's about time it shows a blue screen error.” 

“Hyung, I almost choked listening to such self-given praises!” Dareum begins, adding fuel to the fire his brother was beginning to light in this dining hall but was nullified to a whining mess when Taemin rushes to him and grabs his lunch, bristwalking back into the kitchen after he had muttered something close to 'No lunch for snakes in Yeojung House'. “Asdfghjkl—I only got half a toast and he—” Minho cuts him in and raises a hand to punch the boy's inaudible complains. 

“Shut up! You burp half a toast by just photosynthesizing.” Then he dumps his wife's masterpieces into his brother's plates and flares his nose at his growling stomach. “Here! Enjoy this rotten toast your brother made.” A second later, Minho was on his feet, bellowing death threats at his enemy's mere existence. “ing don't take me lightly, Choi Taemin!!”

¤
Haesook sneakily shuts the door behind her, entering the eerie silence her husband was dragging around the room with his paperworks. She dances her eyes around the room for a while before locating herself by the bed's end and clears . 

“Hojin. How about calling uncle Soonjae on the wedding?” The referred elderly man gives a glance to his wife and shrugs, not yet tearing his attention from the paperwork involving his company's monthly affairs. He scribbles something on one of the coloumns and replies.

“I don't know. Ask Mom?” Haesook frowns inwardly at the mention and gets on her feet, pacing about the room. 

“Mom has refused to recognise him at t