FROM THE ASHES.

he appreciated it, really. the opportunity to watch his brother perform. it was good exposure, or something like that ━━━ gave him an idea on what his life would look like when he eventually debuted, if he ever debuted. usually staff are so cool about it too, they let him stand backstage, just off to the side so he can watch the performance front and center ! well, metaphorically at least.

but these ones had been different, insisted that he sit in the green room, watch the performance on screen instead. something about health and safety and all that boring stuff. it didn't make sense to him, and he remembers the way that cheol-min had even gotten annoyed at whoever it was that had told him no, not that it had done him any good. still, here he sat ━━━ a too small seat and phone in hand because there was nothing exciting about watching the performance on screen. he'd watched fan cams hundreds of times, it was boring !

though, if he'd been paying attention, he might have realized that his brother was no longer on stage. might've even heard the door open and given himself enough time to prepare for the phone theft that was about to take place.

" ah ━━━ ! hey ! give it back ! " he protests loudly, standing up and moving towards his brother that was now on the other side of the room, ready to run off at a moments notice. " minnie ! i'll tell eomma you're being mean again ━━━ she really trusts you to take care of me when i'm in seoul and this ?? this isn't taking care of me ! "

don't be so dramatic, dae. if you want it, come and get it, then.

a groan, because he knows EXACTLY how this is going to end. he reaches out for his phone, lets out a frustrated noise when cheol-min holds it just out of reach. " give it back ! " he yells, eyes widening when cheol-min side steps him to run off, the younger jung following close behind.

𝐃𝐀𝐄-𝐇𝐎'𝐒  𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃  𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀,  𝐖𝐀𝐒  𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓  𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄  𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃  𝐇𝐈𝐌.  Moreso  then  calling  him  Dae-ho’s  big  brother.  It’s  clear  that  it  came  from  the  fact  that  Cheol-min  was  rarely  ever  seen  growing  up  without  his  little  brother  in  tow,  the  younger  glued  to  his  hip  and  vice  versa.  When  he  had  become  an  idol,  however,  and  debuted  —  it  was  a  hard  adjustment  for  him.  Leaving  his  baby  brother  behind  in  Daegu  while  he  went  to  Seoul  to  live  out  his  dreams  —  well,  he  had  to  admit,  he  missed  having  him  around  all  the  time.  Dae-ho  always  came  first,  was  always  his  pride  and  joy  —  and  moving  a  whole  city  away  to  pursue  his  dreams?  Well  …  it  was  hard.  Even  if  he  called  almost  every  night,  video-chatted,  etc,  it  was  hard.  The  good  thing  was  the  the  was  able  to  have  him  most  weekends,  at  least  —  depending  on  his  schedule.

                                            He  always  made  it  work.

𝐁𝐔𝐓  𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘  𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖  𝐈𝐍  𝐊𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐀,  Cheol-min  made  sure  to  invite  Dae-ho  and  the  rest  of  their  family.  He  made  it  a  point  to  include  them,  as  he  always  did  (  despite  his  parents  and  sisters  being  busy  this  weekend  and  unable  to  attend  ).  Though  he  had  been  annoyed  this  time  around  that  management  was  banning  his  little  brother  to  the  green  room,  and  despite  having  to  go  perform,  he  fought  until  he  no  longer  could,  nearly  being  dragged  off  by  Jiyong,  but  still  speaking  as  he  followed.

“  Come  on  !  He’s  never  caused  an  issue  before  —  that’s  not  fair  !?  ”

𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒,  𝐀𝐓  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐄𝐍𝐃  𝐎𝐅  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄,  Cheol-min  had  scoped  out  his  brother,  a  soft  amused  huff  leaving  him  as  he  walked  up  and  pinched  his  fingers  onto  the  younger  phone,  yanking  it  out  of  his  hand  and  booking  it.   He  may  have  been  a  protector,  a  second  appa  in  a  way  —  but  he  was  also  still  a  big  brother.  And  what  did  big  brothers  do?

                      They  terrorized  their  younger  siblings  for  fun.

𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃  𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒  𝐓𝐎  𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏  𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄  𝐎𝐔𝐓  𝐎𝐅  𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇  𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄  𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄  𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍  𝐃𝐀𝐄-𝐇𝐎  𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒  𝐔𝐏,  a  wide  grin  upon  his  features.  What  a  drama  queen!  Cheol-min  was  just  having  some  fun.

“  You  can’t  stay  glued  to  your  phone  the  whole  time,  Dae  !  Eomma  would  agree  with  me,  you  know.”