“Kim Jonghyun! Stop running around! You’ll ruin your clothes! I even ironed them nicely today.”

A short boy on a lollipop turned around at his mother’s call. His eyes turned into crescent slits as he smiled and tackled her.

                “Mom! TAG! You’re it!”

                “Aigoo, this kid! Stop! You’re sweating too much. Look at little Kibum over there. Look how behaved he is. Could you be like him for one moment?”

                Jonghyun’s eyes returned to normal. His candy verging to fall from his mouth, open in mild resentment.

                “Jeez, it’s boring!” He sneaked a glance at Kibum who was standing as still as a statue.

                “Kibum, Kibum, look over here! Look! Smile for the camera.”

                The kid’s little head turned to face the camera and let out a sweet grin. The other parents awed at the sight. They knew Kibum was born for the limelight.

                “That’s it! That’s my baby! Let’s have another one, honey.”

                “Mom, my lips are tired.” Kibum complained while massaging the corners of his mouth.

                “I have to leave in a few moments, Kibum. That’s why I’m taking lots of pictures now. You know how busy mommy is at work, right Kibummie?”

                “Oh alright!” Kibum rolled his eyes and proceeded to blind everyone with his smile. Of course, Jonghyun was still staring. Kibum caught him in the act and the other looked away almost instantly. This time, it was Kibum’s turn to stare. Jonghyun’s candy caught his eye. It was pink, probably tasted of strawberries too. He wanted that kid’s lollipop badly. A light tap on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

                “Kibum, I’ll go ahead now. Have fun!”

                “Alright. Bye, mommy.”

                He waved goodbye with a small smile hoping to conceal the sadness in his eyes.

                “Hey! Key! Hey!” The little devil broke his moment.

                “What Jjong?”

                “You look pretty today.”

                Kibum’s crinkled his nose in distaste.

                “Ya! I’m a boy!”

                “So what? Look, even Taemin is pretty.” He pointed to a little kid sitting in a bench with his feet dangling in the air, swaying back and forth, drinking a carton of banana milk quietly.

                “Whatever! I still don’t see anything. I’m not pretty.” Kibum sulked. It was hard for Jonghyun to find a plausible reason. In his own eyes, Kibum was pretty. Words wouldn’t cut out to express it.

                “Hey, little Kibum. Where’s your mom?” Jonghyun’s mother broke the awkward tension between the two children.

                “Hello, Mrs. Kim! She left for work.”

                “Aigoo, look how grown up you are! How old are you, Kibum?”

                “I’m five.”

                “Jonghyun over here is six but why can’t he be as mature as you?”

                “MOOOOOM!” Jonghyun raved.

                “See?” His mother chuckled at her son’s retort. She ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek. This at least made Jonghyun’s pout disappear.

                “I’ll be back to fetch you later alright? Be good. I’m leaving Kibum in charge of you.”

                “What?! Why is he in charge of me? I’m older!” Fuming little Jonghyun was back.

                “Just because. You can’t argue with me, remember?” His mother was obviously having fun teasing her own son.

                “Stay out of trouble!” With this, his mother left the two alone.

                “Hey, do you have another lollipop?” Kibum asked out of the blue.

                “Yeah. Here you go!” Jonghyun fished a candy covered in blue from his pocket.

                “I don’t want that. It’s not pink.” Kibum turned away. Jonghyun appeared in front of him again, shoving the lollipop from his mouth into Kibum’s.

                “Here, take mine. It’s pink!”

                “Eww! You already got your saliva all over it!” Contrary to Kibum’s whining, he still bit the lollipop off of Jonghyun’s hands.

                “Exactly. Now it tastes much better!”

                “No. It tastes like fish.”

                “How did you know? I ate fish for breakfast!” Jonghyun grinned, showing his dinosaur teeth.

                “Yuck!” Kibum cranked his head in disgust. Yet, he was still on Jonghyun’s candy.

                With a loud thud, a boy fell on the floor just a few inches away from their feet.

                “Jinki! Are you alright?” Kibum asked in concern. He helped him up and brushed some of the dirt off his clothes.

                “Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks, Kibum!” The boy said. A wide smile formed on his lips and lines for his eyes. He continued to run around, as if he was in a game of tag with invisible playmates. Of course, he tripped every minute or so. That was Lee Jinki for you.

                A tall boy came into the scene surrounded by a bunch of older kids. Kibum and Jonghyun watched as he conversed with them.

                “Thanks for letting me play with you, hyung!” The boy beamed.

                “You’re welcome, Minho. Come eat snacks with me sometime!”

                “Yes, Changmin hyung!”

                “Hey Minho! Eat with me too! I’ll share my strawberry milk with you!” The other third grader piped in while flashing a gummy smile.

                “Eunhyuk hyung, of course!”

                “We better get back to our room now. Bye, Minho!” The last of them said.

                “Donghae’s right. Our teacher might get mad. Bye, Minho! See you later!” Eunhyuk chimed and waved goodbye.

                From a nearby bench, Taemin’s mushroom head turned to face Minho. His face lit up as he bopped on the floor until he reached him.

                “Minho! You’re back!” Taemin beamed while biting the straw of his banana milk.

                “Hi Taemin! I had fun playing with the hyungs. You should come too!”

                “Eh? Aren’t they scary? Kyuhyun hyung from the third grade is you know!” Taemin’s eyes grew in fear.

                “No, he’s not! I’ll introduce them to you later.” Minho reassured him.

                “I don’t wanna!”

                “But why?”

                “I just want Minho here. I want Minho to play with me!” His lips turned into a plump pout. Minho found this irresistibly cute and pinched Taemin’s two cheeks.

                “Alright, alright, Taemin. I’m here to play with you.”

                “YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” he threw his hands up in the air and jumped up and down. His happiness was contagious as all the kids started doing funny dances.

                “We better join in the fun.” Jonghyun said, facing Kibum.

                “No. They look like a bunch of crazy monkeys.”

                “Stop being a diva! Let’s go!” He took Kibum’s hand and led him in the crowd. Taemin saw them, grabbed Minho’s hand and held Kibum’s free hand too. The other kids joined in their long line except for one.

                “Ya! Let me hold hands too!”

                “No, Jinki! We might catch your virus!” A girl with braided hair said.

                “What virus?” Jinki let out a soft yelp. He was sick and he didn’t even know about it.

                “Your virus! The Jinki Virus! You’d always trip and act weird!” The others laughed this.

                “What? Such a thing exists?!” Jinki ran towards line, only to find them running away from him and laughing.

                A few minutes after that, they all got bored and broke the line. The kids were back to their separate leisure. The five remained as a group.

                “Minho, what are you doing?!” Taemin screeched. Minho was in the middle of pulling his shirt above his head. After doing so, he started removing his pants.

                “It’s hot!”

                “Stop it! There are girls around!” Jonghyun warned him.

                “So?”

                “They’ll see your ring ding dong!”

                “Look at how they stare.” Jinki added.

                “I don’t really care. It’s hot! So hot!”

                “MINHO!” Kibum and Taemin screamed.

                “Choi Minho! Come here this instant!”

                All five of them turned around in horror. “Uh-oh”

                “Coming, mom!” Minho stood up and collected his shirt.

                The other four leaned in closer to listen.

                “What did I tell you about removing your clothes in public?”

                They returned to their seats. It was going to be an awful lecture.

                “Hey! Let’s play a new game! Choose your partner!” A chubby kid shouted at the top of his lungs. The children rushed about to look for partners. Everyone came to ask Taemin to be theirs. Poor Jinki wasn’t asked even once. They were all sure that they would lose with him as their pair. Jinki was about to sit in a bench when a hand grabbed hold of his.

                “Where are you going? Are you leaving me to play all alone?” Taemin asked him with beady eyes.

                “What? You chose me? But we’ll lose! I’ll just bring you down.”

                “But we’ll have the most fun! I don’t care about winning as long as we enjoy. That’s what matters the most, right?”

                “I guess so.” They both smiled and ran hand in hand towards the other kids.

                Kibum was now sitting on the bench where Taemin previously sat, still playing with the lollipop in his mouth. Jonghyun’s small body managed to wriggle out of the crowd.

                “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! C’mon, let’s play!”

                “Go away. I’m tired.”

                “Eh? Everyone’s looking for a partner…”

                “Why were you looking for me then? You know I don’t want to play.”

                “You’re MINE, yeobo*!” He sat next to him and cupped his hands. Kibum’s face turned a bright shade of red and mumbled,

                “Jjong. You’re stupid.”

                “Aww, that’s so mean, Key!” Jonghyun whined while sticking his tongue out.

                “…and short.”

                “SHUT UP!” They let out a laugh, gasping for air after a few minutes. Silence enveloped the two as they stared at the other kids who were now in a chaos of fun.

                “Do you think we’ll still be like this in the future?”

                Jonghyun turned his head to face Kibum. How could such a question come from a kid almost his age.

                “Well, I do hope so… or maybe even more.”

                Kibum had to stare at Jonghyun because of his response only to find him grinning at him with the warmth of a thousand suns.

                “Stupid dinosaur!” Kibum smacked Jonghyun’s head and ran before the other could chase him.

                “Hey! That hurts! I’ll get you for that!” Jonghyun jumped out of the bench and followed Kibum into the crowd of children.

 

*yeobo = honey. What married couples call each other.

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A/N:

 

I got the idea yesterday when I went to my sister's school to watch a program.

I was rather bored and instead, took notice of my environment.

After scribbling notes on my itouch, I HAD to make a one-shot about little SHINee in a preschool :)