Chapter 24: Celebration

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height




Everyone met up at the front of the department store once they had found everything they needed and checked out. Minho's jaw just about dropped when he saw the total price of everything and was about to object to them spending that much money on him when Chan pulled a golden credit card out of his pocket and had everything paid for before Minho even got the chance.

"Woah. JYP gave you his personal credit card?!" Hyunjin said in a shouted whisper. "I think I can count the number of people he's lent his card to on one hand. Are you his actual son or what?"

Chan laughed sheepishly, "You're over exaggerating, Hyunjin. It really isn't that big of a deal."

"You all really didn't have to spend that much money on me. Like I said before, I don't mind shopping cheap. What all did you guys even buy for it to cost that much?"

"School supplies are expensive," Changbin shrugged.

"And also Jisung went a little all out on your skin care routine and products. He was looking through just about everything looking for what works best and had the best smells while mumbling to himself weirdly," Hyunjin said to call Jisung out.

"It was honestly scary," Jeongin added. "Like he was possessed."

"You did?" Minho asked, turning to Jisung.

"Y-yeah," Jisung stuttered as his eyes looked around widely like he was trying to think of something quickly. "Like Woojin said before! There's no reason to still be cheap! The academy exists to make your life better, and that starts with taking care of your body well, so you're welcome."

All while Jisung was ranting, his cheeks and chest kept puffing out in the most adorable way all while he was waving his hands all about. Jisung was being too cute for Minho to disagree with, so instead, he just nodded, "Fair enough."

"I don't care that if you don't think you deserve it, I think you deserve the w-," Jisung started to shout back before pausing. "Oh, you agree with me?"

"You made a valid argument, so sure."

"Great, they're talking again," Seungmin suddenly said with mock enthusiasm. "Can we go get food now?"

Everyone cheered at the mention of food and grabbed a shopping bag so that they could start to head out. All except Jisung who was still in a huff about the fact Hyunjin and Seungmin kept trying to call him out. 'Can't they just mind their own business?'

Everyone had left through the front door except Minho who turned around to Jisung.

"You coming or you just gonna get left behind?" Minho asked with a teasing smirk on his face.

"I-I'm coming," Jisung said as he jogged to catch up to Minho, and then they both made their way to the bus.

They hadn't driven very far when Chan brought the bus to a halt again, this time outside a quaint little restaurant that had a nice patio to the side where they could see a few customers eating outside. The windows that covered most of the restaurant's front and sides of the building were all decorated with greenery and flowers. It seemed really cozy.

Chan walked up to the front of the door where there was an older woman behind a podium. She looked up from whatever task she was working on, and as soon as she made eye contact with Chan, her face broke out into the biggest smile.

"Bang Chan! Welcome back!" she shouted cheerfully as she came around the podium and gave Chan a motherly hug. "I didn't expect to see you back so soon, but I am glad that you did so that I can thank you and your friends for helping me fix my patio roof last time you all were here. That would have been a nightmare had it started to rain. Oh, are Bambam and Jimin not with you today?"

"Ah-ha, it's okay, Mrs. Jung. You don't need to do anything to thank us. We just wanted to be of help," Chan replied. "And no, they aren't with me today. My other friends and I just managed to pass an exam that we have all been worried about, so we are here to celebrate."

"Well, that is definitely something worth celebrating. I know that school of yours pushes you all hard, but it makes you all turn out to be such nice young men and women, always helping us old folks here in town whenever we need a hand. Follow me and I can take you to your seats. We have room left on the patio."

They all followed her through the front door where they saw more people enjoying delicious food and out a side door onto the patio. She pushed two tables together and then pulled up an extra chair with the assistance of Chan and Woojin who were quick to help her once she started moving stuff around.

"I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick," Jisung said just as everyone was sitting down. Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Jeongin were quick to share an evil look among themselves and made sure to leave the only empty seat right next to Minho.

Minho himself wasn't paying too much attention as this was going on because he had gotten his hands on a menu and was in awe at all the enticing food served here. He had never been to a homey, local restaurant like this before, and everything looked so good.

As everyone was ordering drinks, Jisung came back to the table and noticed the only empty seat left. He wouldn't have thought it was on purpose except for the fact that the three that had been picking on him for the past hour were all staring at him with satisfied expressions. Jisung rolled his eyes as he sat down.

He really didn't need their meddling now but didn't complain about it. When he had gone to the bathroom, he had run some water over his face and determined he would stop avoiding Minho because, as he had thought before, Minho hadn't done anything wrong.

In reaction to the movement of Jisung taking the seat beside him, Minho looked up from his menu and made a shocked expression before his face changed to a slight smile that was almost too small to catch.

"Do you know what you are going to get?" he asked Jisung hoping to get an actual response.

"Yeah, the kimchi jjigae here is really good. We usually come here whenever we come into town, and it is always my favorite thing to eat," Jisung replied enthusiastically.

"Ooo, I was looking at the kimchi jjigae. I guess I'll get that too."

For the rest of the night, the two of them kept talking and talking and talking, almost in their own little world as the rest of the team were having a good time around them as well. They would talk about all sorts of random things and both of them would make stupidly random, but funny jokes and then laugh together. It was so refreshing for both of them to be able to just be themselves with someone just as goofy.

Finally, everyone finished eating and they were all trying to figure out what dessert to get when Mrs. Jung came out with a cheesecake that had nine candles placed in the top.

Jisung's eyes lit up so brightly as he made eye contact with the cheesecake to the point that Minho couldn't help but stare at the cute face the younger was making. She moved to set it down on the table, and Chan attempted to object to it since they hadn't ordered it, but Mrs. Jung wasn't having any of it to Jisung's relief.

"Absolute nonsense that you can't accept my gift to all of you. You boys worked hard to do well on your exam, and hard work deserves to be rewarded. It is my treat and a thank you for you and your classmates for always being so gracious with us."

Chan stopped objecting after that, realizing it might offend the older women if they didn't accept the gift. "Okay, okay. Thank you so much, Mrs. Jung. Alright, Stray Kids, should we blow these candles out together?"

They all responded yes and on the count of three blew out the candles and cheered. They cut the cakes and gave everyone a slice. Jisung immediately started filling his cheeks up with the yummy cake which caused Minho to laugh.

"You must really, really like cheesecake, little squirrel," Minho said, just about causing Jisung to choke.

Once he had calmed down from a coughing fit, he stuttered, "w-what did you call me?"

"A little squirrel. You look like one whenever you eat by the way you stuff your cheeks with food, and you look so adorably small while doing it," he explained with his blinding smile. Jisung could feel his cheeks begin to heat up and quickly looked away from the older boy before it became worse.

"I'm not c-cute."

"Sure you are, Jisungie."

Jisung's face became even more red. 'Gaaaahhhhhh. What are you doing to me, Lee Minho? Why am I such a mess now?' was all Jisung's mind could process.

He was thankfully saved by everyone getting up from the table to leave before Minho seemed to notice, but that didn't mean it escaped the notice of others at the table. He could have sworn he heard Seungmin and Hyunjin high fiving each other once Jisung had his back to them while Jeongin was jumping up and down excitedly.

*****

The next day was Friday, and they all had Korean for first block and history for second block where Minho got to meet Jeongin's father. He was a nice and relaxed guy who was boasting about how proud he was about his son and the rest of their team succeeding for their first mission. He was just as talkative as Mrs. Yang, but much less high strung it seemed.

They ended up deciding to eat at the same stop for lunch as they had the day before, but on their way there, more students seemed to be trying to come up and talk to the nine of them. People seemed extra interested in talking to Minho because he was a new student to the point he was completely surrounded by people throwing questions at him.

"It's so cool you're new and on a team. You must be a really good fighter."

"What's your gift? I bet you're like a Rank 4."

"Oh my God, you're so handsome. Are you dating anyone?"

Minho was completely overwhelmed by all the strangers trying to talk to him and was just standing there at a loss for words until Jisung, thankfully, grabbed ahold of his arm and dragged him through the people surrounding him. They tried to follow—still not done—but he all of a sudden instructed Minho to jump on his back.

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Get on my back. I'll piggyback you," he responded in a rushing tone.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

So Minho did as he was told, and as soon as he felt Jisung's surprisingly toned arms lock around his legs, the world wrapped around him and the next thing he knew they were no longer in the entrance hall of the academy but under the twisted tree, in their lunch spot.

Jisung slowly put the older down, and Minho immediately collapsed to his knees once Jisung was no longer supporting him.

"Sorry. It's always very hard on the body the first time I run with someone. They just didn't seem like they intended to leave you alone any time soon, and I could tell they were making you uncomfortable. This was the only thing I could think of to help," he said as he kneeled down next to Minho, making sure he was okay.

"No, no. It's fine. I'm glad you did that when you did because I was just about to go into a panic attack with all their attention on me," he said as he steadied his breathing.

"Panic attack?"

"Yeah... I don't know if you noticed when you first met me, but I don't really do too well with people I don't know. I think I was only able to get used to you and the rest of the team so quickly because I was so set on freeing my friends from the Gifted prison, and I needed you all to pull it off."

"Oh. I see," Jisung said, then paused. "Is there a reason why?" he suddenly asked before he realized that subject might be sensitive to Minho. "I-I mean, you only have to answer that if you're not uncomfortable with it. I didn't mean to pry. I was just thinking that it sometimes helps to, like, talk it out and whatnot. At least that's what Chan always says to me, but Chan is a lot easier to talk to compared to me, so it might be different if you talk to me-"

"Jisung," Minho finally said to stop the younger boy's rambling. The younger went silent and then moved his gaze from the ground to Minho's face with an apologetic look on his face that Minho couldn't help but laugh at.

"What?! Why are you laughing at me?"

"Nothing. It's just that you were stressing out and ranting in such an adorable way."

"A-adorable?" Jisung said flustered. "Ya! Would you stop calling me cute and adorable! I am a guy and not adorable." Jisung then picked grass from the ground and started throwing it at Minho which just caused Minho to laugh and try and try to dodge the attacks. When Jisung finally was satisfied by how much grass the older was covered in he stopped and they both sat there on the ground together each catching their breath from their mini battle.

After a moment, Minho broke the silence by saying, "I guess the reason I don't like being around strangers is because I have a hard time trusting new people. My entire life I've jumped from foster home to foster home, and it seemed that no matter where I ended up, the other kids, and even the foster parents, would always bully and belittle me for being a Gifted. Then when I finally found foster parents that I had learned to feel secure with and trust, they betrayed me. Even when I was with BTS and the rest of the runways, I got along with most everyone, but I also kept my distance, never fully trusting anyone which turned out completely justified after Jaehwa betrayed us. But here, with Stray Kids, it somehow feels different. It feels like I can start to actually open up and trust you guys."

Minho paused for a second, staring at the ground until he turned to made eye contact with Jisung

"This trust I am starting to give to the eight of you terrifies me."





*********





Sorry I'm a few days overdue on this update, but I did end up posting the first chapter of my new fic, Briardale, on Sunday to make up for it. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out ^.^

My last exam was today so I am officially free for the summer and going to get back into a regular writing schedule, so expect faster updates for The Gifted Few and Briardale if you are reading both ;P

Q: If You Had Two Hours Left On Earth What Would You Do?

Hmmmm. Probably go to this really delicious ramen place near me and get my usual order and then go ski diving. Maybe land in like some grassy field in the middle of nowhere and just lay down in the grass while staring at the sky until the end. Yeah... that's about all I can think of.

I really really wanna go ski diving. My dad and I were planning on doing it a while ago, but we just both got busy and forgot about it. He says we are going to go some time this summer so I am hyped for that.

Love you all and thanks for being patient with meeeeee!

~Shadow

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net