“I’m home,” Jeongin greeted the Hyunlix couple happily, smiling so as to show off his lack of braces.

“Wow,” Felix blinked as he took in the youngest, “you look so different with them gone.”

“Does it look bad?” Jeongin asked, head cocked to the side slightly.

“Nope,” Felix smiled, moving closer to get a better look, “not bad at all.”

“You’re growing up,” Hyunjin remarked, looking over the youngest carefully, “you aren’t a little kid anymore.”

“Nope,” Jeongin replied, “not anymore.”

--

“Can you hand me the salt?” Woojin asked, his request directed at anyone in the kitchen.

“Here, hyung,” Jeongin said, using his powers to hand the requested item over to the other.

“Whoa,” Jisung gasped, “Innie, your control has gotten so good.”

“It really has,” Sanghyuk nodded, patting the teen’s head, “you’ve grown up a lot, Innie.”

“Thanks, big brother,” Jeongin replied, blushing at the praise.

“I’m proud,” Woojin said, hugging the younger before returning to making lunch for everyone.

--

“We’re home,” Jisung called, holding open the door so everyone could enter.

“How’s the mission go?” Taekwoon asked, looking up from the flies laid out before him, Sanghyuk, and Chan

“It was so cool,” Seungmin grinned, “You should have seen Innie.”

“He was amazing,” Minho nodded, throwing an arm around the teen’s shoulders and pulling him into a hug, “those fake heroes never saw it coming.”

“Fakes?” Jaehwan frowned as he entered the room, “as in more than one?”

“There was only supposed to be one hero,” Sanghyuk said, getting up and moving to check the four younger men over, “what happened?”
 

“No idea,” Jisung shrugged, “we cornered the target, but five more just…..popped up.”

“Like an ambush?” Chan said, his words loud enough to draw a few more of the group into the entry way.

“Yeah,” Minho nodded, “but Jeongin didn’t even flinch! He just grabbed the biggest, heaviest thing he could find in the alley and started swinging it around. They were all down before they could even try thinking of a counter.”

“That’s so cool!” Felix cheered, rushing to hug Jeongin.

“They were all weak heroes,” Jeongin said, blushing slightly at the attention, “probably just debuted.”

“They dead?” Hongbin questioned.

“No,” Seungmin explained, “Innie just knocked them out. We didn’t know anything about anyone but the target, so……”

“Better to spare someone who could be good,” Jaehwan hummed, “good.”

“I’m proud of you,” Sanghyuk said, “all of you. You’ve done really well, especially you, Jeongin.”

“Thanks,” Jeongin said, blushing as everyone echoed their leader’s praise.

--

“Hyung,” Jeongin said, taking a seat on Seungmin’s bed.

“Off,” the slightly older teen said, putting down his book with an annoyed huff.

“But hyung,” Jeongin scowled, “I have something important to show you.”

“You can do it without sitting on my bed,” Seungmin countered.

“Fine,” Jeongin huffed, rolling his eyes with Seungmin quickly moved to smooth out the sheets.

“What do you want to show me?” Seungmin asked when he was done.

“This!” Jeongin grinned handing a piece of paper over to the other, “teacher said I’m learning at the same level as other kids my age. Can you believe it? I could just, like, walk into a high school and they’d put me in a class with other kids my age. That’s awesome, right?”

“It is,” Seungmin nodded, smiling proudly at Jeongin, “have you shown the others yet?”

“Nope,” Jeongin replied, “I’m gonna show it to everyone at dinner. Think they’ll be happy?”

“I know they will,” Seungmin smiled back, “you…..you’re really growing up well, Innie.”

“It’s ‘cuz of everyone,” Jeongin answered honestly, “both because, like, if they hadn’t saved me I’d be dead and because they’re always there helping me and stuff.”

“I love our family,” Seungmin sighed fondly, thinking of their beloved family and everything they had done for both him and Jeongin.

“Same.”

A/N: so I wrote the part about Jeongin’s braces coming off and then the next dang day, what do I see an article about on Soompi? Haha I was not ready for him to get his braces off. It’s one step closer to him being an adult and my proud parent feelings aren’t ready for that yet haha. But for real? I can’t wait to see the Stray Kids members grow up, I got to see the VIXX members mature and grow as both performers and people and……dang if it hasn’t been rewarding.