“It’s time to lock up for the day,” the manager sighed, holding the keys aloft, poised in front of the lock. “Bye, little guys.” Aisles upon aisles and shelves upon shelves were lined with fluffy soldiers of every color, size, and shape. They seemed to fix their beady little eyes on the girl as she bid them farewell, saluting silently to her with them.

The girl – Jung Sungrin – traipsed through the bustling streets, where winter had made its first appearance: dainty flakes of heaven were descending from the sky. Her striped black and white scarf was wound around her neck and the ends were draped around her shoulders. Sungrin refused to wear boots, even in brutal weather; beat up sneakers hugged her feet. She tugged her olive green beanie further down, savoring its warmth.

There was something strange about this girl; her little gift shop, which went by the name “Sungie’s Workshop,” meant the world to her. Every day she would come – it became a routine – to be greeted by the faint jingling of bells and the large sign that roared, “No, we did not steal Santa’s workshop and write ‘Sungie’ in place of Santa. –shifty eyes— Enjoy your stay.”

▄▄▄▄▄▄

→Kim Ryeowook.

“Ah, oh my gosh! Here he comes!” Squeals split the air; the school ground practically trembled underneath everyone’s feet. A small boy, petite in figure, sauntered through the halls with his “wannabe” posse trailing behind. “Oppa! Oppa!”

The sea of girls nearly engulfed him as he strode past. They crashed into each other, waves merging in the choppy ocean, ushering a ship along the churning water. Kim Ryeowook was – in simplest terms –full of himself. After all, who wouldn’t be, having as many admirers as himself? He flaunted his popularity and charisma in front of everyone, and they couldn’t help but feel an attraction to him also.

Like most arrogant boys, he had a heart of steel. He took it for granted that there would always be a girl pleading for his attention at his feet. “Oppa!” Oh. And Ryeowook absolutely hated it when people called him oppa. “Oppa!” Oh, just shut UP already.

He found himself at his locker a few heartbeats later, where a girl was waiting patiently for him, flushed cheeks and all. She was – to a regular guy – pretty, but Ryeowook wasn’t a regular guy; he had incredibly high standards. “Wookie oppa?” Oh. He hated when someone would call him Wookie. “I got you something.”

Oh, joy. She presented him with a green stuffed animal, to which he frowned at. “Is that a dragon?” She nodded meekly. “Well, thanks but no thanks. You’re not exactly my... type. And never EVER use the words ‘Wookie’ and ‘Oppa’ in a sentence next to each other. Got it?”

“Y-You can keep it if you’d like, op—”

“DON’T CALL ME OPPA!”

And so the conversation ended in another bawling girl, her heart trampled on and rejected. Ryeowook, plushie in hand, observed his gift. It was cute, he supposed. It had this aura that he liked.

He’d keep it.

▄▄▄▄▄▄

→Park Karam.

“Why are we here again?” Park Karam asked in monotone, taking in the flamboyant display of stuffed snowmen and antique, dusty snow globes. He turned to find that his friends were no longer behind him, but crowded around the cash register. “Stop hitting on the manager.”

Sungrin’s right eye twitched slightly, as her patience was wearing thin. “I’m sorry boys, but you’re going to have to buy something if you want to stay.” Injoon sulked, and trudged over to Karam.

“Karam-ah. Buy something and Hyunmin will give you a hug.” Hyunmin didn’t refute his plea and held his arms wide open with a grin.

Mika pinpointed a specific toy that caught his interest. “That one.”

Four pairs of eyes trailed to where their friend was pointing. “Oh god. Why is it in that position?” Jay groaned, covering his eyes.

“I dare you to buy that one, Karam. Come on; you know you want to! It’s spreading out its legs just for y—” Karam promptly smacked him on the back of the head.

“Okay fine, if that shuts you up.”

“Yay! Hugs for Karam!” Hyunmin wrapped his arms around the boy for about a millisecond before springing away and toward Sungrin once again. Sungrin mentally face-palmed.

Karam placed the turtle delicately on the cool marble of the counter, tarrying while she ringed up his total. “Thank you, and have a nice day!”

He jabbed Injoon to get his attention before opening his mouth to speak, but the boy shook his head. “You bought it with your money; you’re keeping it.” Karam opened his mouth again. “And don’t try to wheedle your way out of this.”

What other choice did he have?

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→Cho Kyuhyun.

“Lee Sungmin,” the boy snarled through gritted teeth. Somehow, his eternal rival had managed to toilet paper his house successfully overnight, with Kyuhyun oblivious to his actions until now. There were clumps of it everywhere, flung to and fro and as disheveled as Kyuhyun’s hair itself. Frazzled and dazed, he staggered out to his front window and proclaimed, “This means WAR!”

He needed a cannon – and he was going to whip up a homemade one, even if it took him all day. He grabbed a couple of blank blueprints and a pencil. Cho Kyuhyun is not one to rely on others.

And a few minutes later he returned home with a store-bought artificial slingshot. He loaded it with a baseball, and released. The projectile was flung to Sungmin’s house and flew through an open window. A shriek. “YAH! CHO KYUHYUN!” His words were followed with the same baseball flying through HIS window.

This started an all-out battle, complete with shouts of victory or frustration. “TAKE THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT!” Sungmin screeched, catapulting pink blobs that suspiciously resembled ice cream.

“STOP DAMAGING MY HOUSE’S PERFECT EXTERIOR!” Kyuhyun retaliated by shooting a shoe out the window.

Zhou Mi, his friend who had temporarily taken residence in his home and who had suddenly appeared by his side, screamed. “I JUST BOUGHT THESE SHOES, KUI XIAN! IF THEY GET ONE SPECK OF—” A strawberry ice cream blob plopped into the launched shoe. “I’m going to kill you, Kui Xian.”

“Yea yea whatever. Let me just kill Sungmin first. YOU’LL NEVER GET US ALIVE!” His exclamation was punctuated with a fit of spluttering and coughing as something fluffy smacked him directly on the face.

“Ooh, look!” Zhou Mi snatched the object from his hands. “It’s a sheep-lamb-thingie!”

▄▄▄▄▄▄

→Lee Donghae.

He sighed, scurrying down the empty, cracked sidewalk whilst clutching an umbrella in his damp hands. His friends had opted to ditch him again for that new club that had been constructed just down the block rather than spending the night over at his house.

[I loved her; my precious owner.]

It wasn’t that Lee Donghae wasn’t popular among his friends – far from that. It was just that his best friend, Lee Hyukjae, had gone on a temporary vacation to who-knows-where; the weather here was just too chilly for his liking.

[She was just a little girl back then, and I, still in my halcyon days.]

Hyukjae, or Eunhyuk as he liked to call him, was the one who truly understood him – the only one who he could open up to. The sky, now murky with dark storm clouds, seemed to be against him today; he could barely see his own two feet as he walked, and the wind acted as an opposing force, driving him backwards.

[But eventually she grew weary of me.]

Fortunately, Donghae’s tranquil two-story house erupted from a distance, and he charged toward it, anticipating a long shower and a book in bed. Something caught at his feet and he tumbled, using his hands to break his fall.

[She no longer needed me as a teen.]

“People like these disgust me,” he growled, dusting himself off. “Leaving their trash all over the place.” Something caught his eye, a sodden mess of orange-brown fur. One thing was for sure, it hadn’t come from his neighborhood.

[And so she disposed of me in the trash, where I was transported to a whole nother world.]

The shower would have to wait – he’d have to tend to this forgotten fox toy first.

▄▄▄▄▄▄

→Lee Taemin.

[“Grandma, guess what?” the little 5-year-old crooned. “I’m a big boy now!”

“Really? That’s great. Now, does a big boy want a big bunny?”

“Ooh, Big Boy Taemin likes Bunny.”]

The ten-year-old boy blinked back tears, pulling out a used shoebox – the edges were punctured, the lid ripped. He would never think to open this millions of years from now and pore over its contents. The last he saw of his beloved possession was the leg protruding from a hole in the container as he pushed it into a closet.

[“I’m sorry, Taemin. Grandma’s going on a trip – she’s never coming back.” Taemin eyed the scraggly-looking bunny, delicate paw now clenched in his much bigger fist.

He sniffed, hating the way his voice faltered as he exploded. “I’m not a little kid anymore! I’m not dumb! You could just tell me that she died!”]

“I never want to see you again,” he whispered to himself, stepping away from the bunny – the bunny he had cherished so much. The bunny he had named Minnie, after himself. The bunny his grandma had given him.

-Several years later-

“Taemin!” his mother called from the kitchen balancing a collection of cleaning utensils on her arms. “Could you pack up your stuff into that cardboard box I’ve left in front of your room?”

The teenager rolled his eyes. “Yea, sure Mom.” He’d just stuff everything in there and organize it later, when they reached their destination: their new household. Digging through his closet, he dragged out tons and tons of items – some useless, some valuable – and frowned at a familiar-looking box buried in the back. Shrugging to himself, he gathered his possessions in his arms and began the journey to the cardboard box.

The shoebox he had grasped in his hands slid from his grip and clattered to the floor. A bunny, limp and lifeless, flopped out.

▄▄▄▄▄▄

I had to add some QMi in there. ;D I just couldn't resist.