#hyunknow

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"hyung! did you hear that?"

minho rolled his eyes, walking over to jeongin, who eagerly peeked out one of the windows. 'the window', made of a tiny slit in between the wooden boards, hastily nailed in place of broken glass. they figured that convenience stores were built to be steady, but glass was glass.

"you could hear the wind blow and you would think it's an approaching survivor," he sighed after he saw nothing through the space. he almost went back to his resting spot before jeongin pulled him back to peek.

"no, really! i heard something, i heard footsteps," the younger whisper-yelled. he was shaking his brother's shoulders, which really didn't help with his now growing headache.

minho swat his hands off of him, before pulling away from the window and walking to his previous seat. "it was probably, i don't know, a dog? i mean if you were sick of our biscuit supply, then i could have a look…"

a newspaper roll came flying onto his face. where'd that come from? "oi!"

"that's disgusting, hyung! i can't believe you think i would ever!" jeongin whined. minho chuckled and approached him again, ruffling his hair. the younger kept his pout.

"we'll… ah," he sighed, he's giving in, again. "i will check it out. only me."

"but hyung," the other whined again.

"no 'but's. you heard something and that's enough, we don't want you in danger."

"i don't want you in danger, either!"

"hyung can take care of himself just fine, buddy. besides, it's really probably just the wind," he winked.

minho stood and collected keys and a big padlock from the counter across the entrance of the store.

before he unlocked the doors, jeongin stood to hold him back by the arm. "wait."

the elder raised a brow. jeongin slowly lifted his arm to place something in his palm. a lollipop?

"in case you get hungry…?"

minho's eyes suddenly felt heavy with water. "what are you saying— i'm not gonna leave for that long!" he grabbed the candy and pulled his brother into his chest, into a tight embrace. "you're annoying."

"i'm just being cautious! you won't let me leave with you," jeongin chuckled. minho felt growing warmth on his shirt.

"i'm not gonna…" minho trailed off. he didn't want to say the word. why was he leaving again? ah right, jeongin heard something outside. "i won't be gone long, okay? i'll just round the building and i'll be back." the younger nodded, pulling away and unlocking the doors for him. he kept the keys and the lollipop in his front pocket and stepped out.

the atmosphere hadn't changed from when they first came here. the same gloomy red skies, abandoned cars, other stores broken in, electrical posts knocked down. there was a nonfunctional tank in the middle of the road, crashed to its side and reeking of undead remains it had run over before. maybe there was one or two in there, still.

minho sighed and turned to lock the outside bars with the padlock. he put the keys back into his pocket and looked over to their window, meeting a pair of eyes, to whom he smiled and waved.

then he heard it. rubble cracking underneath light footsteps. minho quietly walked over to the general direction of the sound, slowly reaching for the pistol in his makeshift holster. don't shoot, just warn. he made it a couple of buildings past their store before he found the source, situating himself behind a rundown car and peeking out.

some guy had half of his body through the backseat window of a car across the road. what the hell is he doing? the man was shifting around as he seemed to be looking for something, rocking the car and causing metal to creak together. he's being too loud…

just as the thought entered his head, he recognized a second pair of footsteps approaching. he looked around to find the origin; an alleyway behind the rundown car. where the man was still halfway seemingly stuck inside.

"damn it," minho cursed under his breath. he took his hand off the pistol and reached for the knife next to it.

the walker looked around for the sound and started speeding towards the car. just before its hands were to grab onto the guy's black pants, minho shoved it onto the floor and pierced its head with the knife. rotten blood laid itself onto his hand and flew onto his cheek. what a mess…

the creaking noises had stopped. minho slowly stood, wiping the blood off with his denim sleeve, and turned around to face the almost victim, who had finally pulled himself out of the car. the man, tall with messy, jet black hair and a black hoodie, stood there, with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. he grew red all over his small face. minho would've laughed had he not almost died because he was being too careless. he may have noticed the other's admittedly pretty face, though.

"sh-shit, i'm sorry— you had to— i'm sorry," the man hung his head low.

minho chuckled. "you should pay attention to your surroundings, kid," he said coldly. "if i hadn't been here… well, you'd be making different, unfortunate, noises…"

he thought the other's eyes couldn't go any wider, but they did. "i-i'm really, really sorry, sir," his voice grew bigger with panic, minho looking around for any danger, "you had to go through the troub—"

minho turned the man around and cupped a hand over his mouth to shut him up for a bit. loud rustling came from the direction of the store. jeongin… he had no time to get back inside.

he led them to a block farther from the store, farther from the approaching horde, hoping to find temporary shelter. hoping that the horde would only pass by.

he found an opening; yet another shattered window to an electronics store. it had been almost wiped clean by survivors— thieves, what would you need electronics for in the apocalypse?— save for a few blocky monitors ruined on the floor.

minho encouraged the man to climb in first before he followed. "here," he whispered, both of them ducking behind the store's counter. the rustling became louder. as if the horde was taunting them, following them wherever they had gone, trapping them until there was no way out, no way back home. back to the convenience store… back to his little brother.

"who are you? why did you save me?"

minho slightly jumped and stared at him. he didn't expect a conversation, nor did he want it. the man's voice was soft but it wasn't quiet. not with how the walkers could hear everything, and how they would follow whatever they heard. minho held a finger to his own mouth as a shhh and peeked over the counter. he immediately sat down.

"they're coming," he mouthed, closing his eyes and listening to the approaching parade.

both of them seemed to stop breathing in anxiety. noise attracts attention, not only to humans, but to the undead. especially the undead.

seconds before the first walker stepped into view, minho was grabbed and pushed to the ground— his eyes flew open and was met by the sight of the man he rescued wrestling with a walker, an unlucky store clerk that they didn't notice before they stepped in their hiding spot.

"fuck—" minho cursed, shuffling behind them and kicking it behind its knee, causing its calf to dislodge but not fall off. it lost its balance, but was still inches from being face to face with the man, so dangerously close to pulling him to the other side.

minho pulled out his knife and, as carefully but swiftly as possible, dug it into the walker's brain. slowly, it lost power and collapsed in the other's arms. he pushed it away and sat back down, checking himself for injuries. "damn it…"

as silence swept over them again, they noticed that the commotion outside had stopped. minho carried his gaze to the outside of the store. it was clear. the noise only faded into the distance, but the horde was out of sight.

"do you feel a sting anywhere?" minho looked over, eyes widening as he saw blood on the man's nose. "is that—"

"no, it doesn't hurt anywhere," the other responded. he stood in front of minho and bowed. "thank you for saving me. thrice."

minho had his brows raised. he was surprised to see the respectful gesture after so long. but to think… he was the first other survivor he's run into in a while. minho held his shoulders to help him stand, "it's no problem… just be careful and be alert, alright?"

the man smiled brightly and nodded. well, that was a sight to see. "yes, sir." as if he remembered something so important, his smile dropped, eyes widened, and bowed again. "m-my name is hyunjin, sir. how rude of me."

"wh— it's okay," he chuckled, helping him stand straight again. "minho." he held out a hand which the other respectfully shook. they listened to the wind blow for a second, before he asked hyunjin where he even came from. "do you have family to go back to?"

hyunjin looked away. minho observed as the other's eyes seem to start watering. "shit, sorry, you don't have to answer..."

"it's alright," hyunjin sighed. "just… we should probably get somewhere safe first."

minho almost jumped in realization. they weren't anywhere near safe right now, plus he had to get back to his brother. "i'll take you to our place, we gotta go now," he rushed, already climbing through the broken window. hyunjin followed suit and basically ran towards the convenience store.

as they approached shelter, minho sighed in relief as he saw the same pair of eyes peeking through the slit in the window. "you been watching the whole time, bud?" he whispered, almost giggling as he noticed how the younger's eyes seemed a bit damp.

"you scared me when you just ran off… come inside now, please?" jeongin pleaded. his expression went from worry to shock as he saw hyunjin come into view.

minho waited for hyunjin to catch up before he took out his keys and unlocked the door. he let him in first and scanned their surroundings as he followed.

jeongin shuffled to stand, jaw dropped as he stared at the taller boy. "you were right, innie," minho called after he secured the padlock, walking over to mess with jeongin's hair. "finally."

quickly, jeongin went over to hyunjin and started patting him everywhere— from his hair to his hoodie to his pant pockets— "who are you? where did you come from? why are you here— is that blood on your nose???" hyunjin's eyes blew open as he pushed jeongin off of him and rushed to the surveillance mirror of the store.

he looked over himself in panic, but quickly calmed as he seemed to realize what it was. he sighed as he wiped the blood off with his sleeve. "it's just a splatter from earlier…" he turned and sat on one of the benches in front of the other two.

"earlier? what happened earlier??" jeongin nearly yelled, minho not appreciating the sound at all. his headache had suddenly come back.

"we ran into two of them," minho tiredly answered, reaching over to pat jeongin's head. "no one is hurt, don't worry." he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. he hadn't been aware that he was out of breath and energy from today's encounters. how long had it been since then?

jeongin cleared his throat. "why are you staring? what are you planning?" he said lowly. minho opened an eye to peek and met with hyunjin staring at him like the younger had said.

"w-what," hyunjin stuttered, quickly averting his gaze and moving it to one of the windows, "i'm not.. staring.."

"you were," minho chuckled. "it's fine, i know i'm cute."

jeongin groaned, brows furrowed and making that silly, disgusted face that minho adored. "hyung, please, can you not." hyunjin turned extremely red.

minho couldn't help his laughter. he missed these moments. teasing his friends and his brother about literally anything, not worrying about anything around them. not being worried of lurking danger from people, alive or undead. "am i wrong?"

the younger made a face, causing minho to chuckle a bit louder and tackled him into a hug.

"actually, he isn't wrong," they heard from the seat across them. they both turned and saw hyunjin, less red, looking at them with a soft smile.

then, minho finally got a good look at the other's face. the messy hair, intimidating siren eyes, small nose, and the plump lips… it's a good combination. "you're really handsome, hyunjin-ah."

he laughed as he watched hyunjin avert his gaze again, eyes wide and furious blush brought back. he felt jeongin chuckle on his side. "so that's it? y'all were just checking each other out?"

"checking ea— jeongin, where did you learn this language??" minho mocked, giggling at jeongin's exhausted expression. faintly, he heard a chuckle from the other seat as well.

minho looked at hyunjin and saw that bright smile again. "you can stay here for a bit."

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another repost from my ao3, yippee! fun fact, i wrote this with their double knot teaser images in mind, so if you wanted to imagine them in certain clothing or in a certain setting, that was the inspo for this :)

i've had the idea to continue this zombie au as a series with the other kids but haven't had the motivation to do it, buttt maybe i can restart that idea sometime soon :o idk yet hehe

thank you for reading, and i hope you enjoyed <3