a lot for a little
❇ Title: a lot for a little + for jbmaunier
❇ Pairing: taemin/kai, baekhyun/chanyeol
❇ Rating: R
❇ Length: 2,300+ words
❇ Warnings: lapslock, character death(s), light gore
❇ Author note: hi! i strayed a bit from the original prompt, hope that's okay. i'm not very familiar with attack on titan universe but i did get to watch some episodes and did a little research to get familiar and, holy crap, intense. i love it. i actually really like both ships as bromance so yay fun to write. short b/c pinch-hit desu so i hope this is ok, enjoy!
❇ Summary: [attack on titan au] kai dreams of saving the world with his best friend.
jongin stares at his reflection in the pond and blinks a little in mild disbelief at what he sees: clean cut uniform, vertical maneuvering equipment strapped on with a full pressurized tank, and the survey corps insignia stitched tightly and proudly on his jacket. he is a scout. three grueling years of training, and he now stands as a scout, a protector of his people. it’s something he was prepared for and, even before his extensive preparation, the only thing for him in life.
“you made it. you finally made it, jongin.” taemin calls out from a few steps behind him. it is quiet in the outer-wall fields and definitely not somewhere their commander would be happy to find either of them so far away from camp in the outer walls.
jongin turns, smiling sheepishly. he acknowledges taemin with a nod, walking towards him.
“i did you one better! i am the youngest to join the scouts and i was the highest ranking graduate.” jongin announces a little cockily, a teasing tone he saves only for the man in front of him.
“your willingness to die at the hands of a titan is not attractive at all, jongin, how do you expect to marry a girl from the inner wall. i want to be an uncle someday, i told you.” taemin retorts, laughing but it slowly fades. they both know it’s not something to joke about. they’ve lost too many neighbors, too many friends and loved ones to the return of the murderous titans to hope for any such future. survival is something too precious these days, and never more important than now. jongin knows it all too well.
they both sit under the comforting shade of the tree standing beside the pond. it had been too long since they shared such a peaceful moment. jongin misses it, the days where they could speak of their ambitions freely without the slightest idea of what awaited them on the other side of those dreams.
“i was actually ranked five out of the ten of us that passed,” jongin confesses with a smile to taemin but there’s no sign of regret, instead a wild determination showing in the curve of his lips and the growing glow in his eyes. “as long as i’m a scout, i’ll do whatever it takes to bring them all down.”
“you’ll be commander in no time, jonginnie,” taemin pats his back to which jongin sneers.
“they sit behind their desks and stay behind on their horses, no thanks.”
“i don’t. i hang out with delinquent punks like you.”
“that’s because no one can take you seriously as captain when you’re giggling around naked titans and don’t show up after raids and make us think you’re all dead. that last raid we all thought you were gone for good because you thought it was a good idea to attempt braiding a titan’s hair.” jongin huffs when taemin bursts out laughing.
“for the record, i didn’t steal the bag of bread,” jongin adds as an afterthought. “it was the garrison guard’s fault for falling asleep during his watch. besides i gave it to the refugees. they need it more than those snobs in the inner walls.”
“even with that badge on, you will always be the people’s vigilante, won’t you jongin?” taemin uses jongin’s head as leverage as he gets up, mussing it up for good measure even after he’s completely standing up.
“and you’ll always be the idiot with ridiculous amount of talent.”
"if i'm such an idiot, why do you bother being around me so much, huh?" taemin yawns out with a stretch.
“that’s because you’re my hero, stupid. i’ve wanted to be like you all my life.” jongin grumbles out of earshot as he fixes his hair. taemin is always more athletic, more ambitious, more ruthless and only less tired because everything comes so easily to him to the point that fighting the titans seems more like a game. but that's what made taemin special. it is taemin’s childish smile that helps jongin go on, even after their parents were taken from them by the human-eating giants that terrorized the last of humanity.
growing up with taemin meant others marveling at taemin’s natural talent and endlessly praising him (especially after being made captain so quickly) while jongin stayed up late nights to work harder in hopes of catching up to him. sometimes taemin would join him and jongin would tell him off, promising to stay up until dawn and be stronger. it usually ends with him falling asleep in the middle of his make-shift obstacle courses and taemin carrying him back home. deep down, though, jongin was the proudest of his best friend among everyone else. and now that he is finally part of the scout corps, he could join taemin and fight by his side to end the titan reign, just how he always dreamed. a dream both taemin and him shared.
everyone knew taemin favored him but the older of the two never took it easy on him, nor used as position as captain to grant him easy access into the scouts. jongin wouldn't have it any other way, really. today is the day he can look into his best friend's eyes, both in the regiment and outside, and smile.
jongin looks up at taemin. the light of the fading sun glowing around the man before him, a commanding presence indeed. jongin loves him like the big brother he always takes the care to be with him. taemin is all he has in this life and he could never see himself without him. it was too close of a call that time the scouts went on a raid on a mission to kill off some titans. jongin was with the other students, watching from a distance, from safety behind the wall.
“taemin,” jongin asks because it’s been on his mind, voice light with vulnerability, “how did you escape that titan raid…?” and taemin only smiles, looking up suddenly as a shadow overcomes them both. kai turns to see it, a ten meter titan hunching over them with its teeth bared in imitation of a twisted smile. jongin jumps to his feet, eyes wide. he shouldn’t have been so careless, he shouldn’t have told taemin to meet him out here.
jongin doesn’t waver for long, his blood boiling with the rage he’s known all his life for these beings, if you could call them such. he readies his fight stance, gripping his gear and ready to attack with taemin’s excited laugh before charging for attack except...
there is none.
“taemin, taemin?" jongin looks around himself wildly.
"where are you?!”, he screams again for his friend but he’s nowhere to be found. he tries to reason that taemin went to warn the other scouts but it doesn’t work because his friend would never leave a fight, would never leave him so suddenly like that. he doesn’t have time to rationalize because the titan is stepping forward. there are only a few trees surrounding them but it is enough to make jongin temporarily airborne so he can strike a fatal blow. it’s his speciality, after all, the precision of his movements making him known as one of the deadliest in his graduating troop.
deadliest, but not actually experienced. he is facing his first titan, a moment he has been preparing himself but at least hoped not to do so alone, especially not like this. sure he had been in the outer wall, he should have expected it, but it should have been cleared out a few days by taemin’s troop’s raid…
jongin sprints, leaping into the air as wires of hooks spring from his gear and attach to the nearby trees. his body is yanked up and, with a loud cry, jongin raises his twin swords with his eyes targeting dead on to the weak point of his target. this is it, his first claim for a kill except not because something, or rather, someone is slamming into him and outright preventing his attack. he yells, retracting the wires of his gear quickly as he lands on the ground with a body on top of him. it’s baekhyun, a fellow graduate of his troop. they had shared breakfast that morning. jongin knew him to be very particular about his potatoes.
“STOP! DON’T HURT HIM!” baekhyun shouts even though their faces are almost touching at the proximity at which baekhyun deems necessary to get his point across.
jongin, who would normally be very relieved to see the familiar face, glares at him in outrage and screams back.
“what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” jongin shouts in exasperation and pushes the other man off.
the titan reacts, pushing jongin away from baekhyun and grabbing the smaller boy, lifting him up. jongin screams, rubbing his chest and barely recoiling from attack. he shouts after his troop mate, already preparing himself to make another attack when baekhyun yells at him.
“shut the fuck up, jongin, you’re scaring him!”
jongin stops in his tracks as if literally struck dumb by the other's words. there’s no way this is happening.
“scaring him? is this some kind of sick joke? he’s going to eat, you!” jongin shouts as his mind quickly thinks of ways of getting to baekhyun and escaping because baekhyun has obviously lost his mind and they both need to get as far as possible from the titan (who, really, is just standing and staring).
“jongin, it’s him. it’s hard to explain but it’s him!” baekhyun turns his attention to face the titan who is still suspending him in the air. baekhyun reaches over to gently touch his nose.
“it’s just jongin, he won’t hurt you. please turn back, chanyeol, we need to tell the others-”
“WHAT?” jongin feels lightheaded. chanyeol had been killed. jongin saw chanyeol get killed and get eaten by a titan during the last raid, it was humanly impossible yet...before jongin can take a closer look, the earth trembles, announcing the arrival of three other titans coming to them at full speed.
“you can’t fucking tell me they are our friends too!” jongin whines.
“shit.” baekhyun goes white in chanyeol-titan-whatever’s hold. “actually, they’re not.”
the three tackle the titan holding onto baekhyun, who falls from his grip. jongin barely catches him on time before one of the titans see him, crawling towards them and aiming to crush them with its gigantic fist. jongin pushes baekhyun out of the way, himself barely missing the attack but not by much because he feels the crunch of the bones in his legs. baekhyun screams in horror but wills himself drag jongin to him using his maneuvering hear to pull them both up to the thick branch of the tallest tree. they’re by no means safe because the titan is reaching his hand toward them, mouth opening wide only to be filled with chanyeol-titan’s fist and engaging him in battle.
jongin, while groaning in agonizing pain, stares in awe at how strong the titan that was holding baekhyun moments ago is, fighting so fiercely. he’s never seen anything like it in his life. he barely registers baekhyun's quivering voice beside him.
"y-you. you saved me." baekhyun is in tears, face in shock as he lowers his head to look over jongin's bloodied legs. shaking hands hover over them, trying to make sense of how he can help. all jongin can think about is taemin, wondering when he’s coming back (with medics, hopefully). he doesn’t notice he’s blabbering out these thoughts out loud until baekhyun is staring at him, completely unamused and utterly frightened.
“jongin. taemin is dead. taemin is…”
jongin blinks, he blinks and laughs, maybe a little on the psychotic side. “don’t be ridiculous, he was here with me before you and your titan friend came-, ahh!” he groans out more because his broken legs are starting to slip off the tree. but baekhyun is shaking his head slowly all the while trying to adjust jongin as best as he can. still, jongin continues.
“none of this makes sense, we need to find taemin and-”
it isn’t until baekhyun slaps him that he stops.
“stop it, jongin, he’s dead! he’s been dead! jongin, captain taemin never came back from the last raid because he was torn to pieces!”
jongin’s face goes blank. everything goes blank, really. chanyeol is fighting off the titans, having successfully killed two and finishing off the third one, growing all the more sloppy with his moves because he's getting tired, but jongin's mind is barely there to witness it. it’s all distant noise because taemin...there’s a flash of a smile too childish in his mind. his mind...there’s a numb ache in his chest that he can’t quite decide is purely from the physical pain from the blow the titan dealt him.
taemin? taemin…?, he calls out, remembers calling out when he escaped the inner walls to run out and meet the scouts camp after hearing the news of his beloved friend being ki- no. it never happened. just like dead humans turning into titans isn’t happening, just like how his legs are broken beyond repair isn’t happening, just like the reality of not being able to fight ever again isn’t happening.
jongin doesn’t feel the tears that trace down his cheeks. the pain in his legs is irrelevant. baekhyun is telling him something, expression urgent, but it's irrelevant, so he closes his eyes to make it stop,
baekhyun is sliding down the tree, crying as he runs off to catch chanyeol in an embrace, his human form rising from the steaming carcass of his titan form and somehow that, too, is irrelevant too.
jongin swallows thickly, eyes blurry as he looks around because suddenly his vision is starting to wash out to white, the only exception being the commanding presence of a figure breaking the glowing light all around it.
“why did you leave…? w-we were supposed to fight together.” jongin chokes back a sob.
“we never had to.” taemin leans over, hand extending. “don’t you see? you made it, jongin.” stupid, idiotic, childish smile. “you made it.”
❇ Pairing: taemin/kai, baekhyun/chanyeol
❇ Rating: R
❇ Length: 2,300+ words
❇ Warnings: lapslock, character death(s), light gore
❇ Author note: hi! i strayed a bit from the original prompt, hope that's okay. i'm not very familiar with attack on titan universe but i did get to watch some episodes and did a little research to get familiar and, holy crap, intense. i love it. i actually really like both ships as bromance so yay fun to write. short b/c pinch-hit desu so i hope this is ok, enjoy!
❇ Summary: [attack on titan au] kai dreams of saving the world with his best friend.
jongin stares at his reflection in the pond and blinks a little in mild disbelief at what he sees: clean cut uniform, vertical maneuvering equipment strapped on with a full pressurized tank, and the survey corps insignia stitched tightly and proudly on his jacket. he is a scout. three grueling years of training, and he now stands as a scout, a protector of his people. it’s something he was prepared for and, even before his extensive preparation, the only thing for him in life.
“you made it. you finally made it, jongin.” taemin calls out from a few steps behind him. it is quiet in the outer-wall fields and definitely not somewhere their commander would be happy to find either of them so far away from camp in the outer walls.
jongin turns, smiling sheepishly. he acknowledges taemin with a nod, walking towards him.
“i did you one better! i am the youngest to join the scouts and i was the highest ranking graduate.” jongin announces a little cockily, a teasing tone he saves only for the man in front of him.
“your willingness to die at the hands of a titan is not attractive at all, jongin, how do you expect to marry a girl from the inner wall. i want to be an uncle someday, i told you.” taemin retorts, laughing but it slowly fades. they both know it’s not something to joke about. they’ve lost too many neighbors, too many friends and loved ones to the return of the murderous titans to hope for any such future. survival is something too precious these days, and never more important than now. jongin knows it all too well.
they both sit under the comforting shade of the tree standing beside the pond. it had been too long since they shared such a peaceful moment. jongin misses it, the days where they could speak of their ambitions freely without the slightest idea of what awaited them on the other side of those dreams.
“i was actually ranked five out of the ten of us that passed,” jongin confesses with a smile to taemin but there’s no sign of regret, instead a wild determination showing in the curve of his lips and the growing glow in his eyes. “as long as i’m a scout, i’ll do whatever it takes to bring them all down.”
“you’ll be commander in no time, jonginnie,” taemin pats his back to which jongin sneers.
“they sit behind their desks and stay behind on their horses, no thanks.”
“i don’t. i hang out with delinquent punks like you.”
“that’s because no one can take you seriously as captain when you’re giggling around naked titans and don’t show up after raids and make us think you’re all dead. that last raid we all thought you were gone for good because you thought it was a good idea to attempt braiding a titan’s hair.” jongin huffs when taemin bursts out laughing.
“for the record, i didn’t steal the bag of bread,” jongin adds as an afterthought. “it was the garrison guard’s fault for falling asleep during his watch. besides i gave it to the refugees. they need it more than those snobs in the inner walls.”
“even with that badge on, you will always be the people’s vigilante, won’t you jongin?” taemin uses jongin’s head as leverage as he gets up, mussing it up for good measure even after he’s completely standing up.
“and you’ll always be the idiot with ridiculous amount of talent.”
"if i'm such an idiot, why do you bother being around me so much, huh?" taemin yawns out with a stretch.
“that’s because you’re my hero, stupid. i’ve wanted to be like you all my life.” jongin grumbles out of earshot as he fixes his hair. taemin is always more athletic, more ambitious, more ruthless and only less tired because everything comes so easily to him to the point that fighting the titans seems more like a game. but that's what made taemin special. it is taemin’s childish smile that helps jongin go on, even after their parents were taken from them by the human-eating giants that terrorized the last of humanity.
growing up with taemin meant others marveling at taemin’s natural talent and endlessly praising him (especially after being made captain so quickly) while jongin stayed up late nights to work harder in hopes of catching up to him. sometimes taemin would join him and jongin would tell him off, promising to stay up until dawn and be stronger. it usually ends with him falling asleep in the middle of his make-shift obstacle courses and taemin carrying him back home. deep down, though, jongin was the proudest of his best friend among everyone else. and now that he is finally part of the scout corps, he could join taemin and fight by his side to end the titan reign, just how he always dreamed. a dream both taemin and him shared.
everyone knew taemin favored him but the older of the two never took it easy on him, nor used as position as captain to grant him easy access into the scouts. jongin wouldn't have it any other way, really. today is the day he can look into his best friend's eyes, both in the regiment and outside, and smile.
jongin looks up at taemin. the light of the fading sun glowing around the man before him, a commanding presence indeed. jongin loves him like the big brother he always takes the care to be with him. taemin is all he has in this life and he could never see himself without him. it was too close of a call that time the scouts went on a raid on a mission to kill off some titans. jongin was with the other students, watching from a distance, from safety behind the wall.
“taemin,” jongin asks because it’s been on his mind, voice light with vulnerability, “how did you escape that titan raid…?” and taemin only smiles, looking up suddenly as a shadow overcomes them both. kai turns to see it, a ten meter titan hunching over them with its teeth bared in imitation of a twisted smile. jongin jumps to his feet, eyes wide. he shouldn’t have been so careless, he shouldn’t have told taemin to meet him out here.
jongin doesn’t waver for long, his blood boiling with the rage he’s known all his life for these beings, if you could call them such. he readies his fight stance, gripping his gear and ready to attack with taemin’s excited laugh before charging for attack except...
there is none.
“taemin, taemin?" jongin looks around himself wildly.
"where are you?!”, he screams again for his friend but he’s nowhere to be found. he tries to reason that taemin went to warn the other scouts but it doesn’t work because his friend would never leave a fight, would never leave him so suddenly like that. he doesn’t have time to rationalize because the titan is stepping forward. there are only a few trees surrounding them but it is enough to make jongin temporarily airborne so he can strike a fatal blow. it’s his speciality, after all, the precision of his movements making him known as one of the deadliest in his graduating troop.
deadliest, but not actually experienced. he is facing his first titan, a moment he has been preparing himself but at least hoped not to do so alone, especially not like this. sure he had been in the outer wall, he should have expected it, but it should have been cleared out a few days by taemin’s troop’s raid…
jongin sprints, leaping into the air as wires of hooks spring from his gear and attach to the nearby trees. his body is yanked up and, with a loud cry, jongin raises his twin swords with his eyes targeting dead on to the weak point of his target. this is it, his first claim for a kill except not because something, or rather, someone is slamming into him and outright preventing his attack. he yells, retracting the wires of his gear quickly as he lands on the ground with a body on top of him. it’s baekhyun, a fellow graduate of his troop. they had shared breakfast that morning. jongin knew him to be very particular about his potatoes.
“STOP! DON’T HURT HIM!” baekhyun shouts even though their faces are almost touching at the proximity at which baekhyun deems necessary to get his point across.
jongin, who would normally be very relieved to see the familiar face, glares at him in outrage and screams back.
“what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” jongin shouts in exasperation and pushes the other man off.
the titan reacts, pushing jongin away from baekhyun and grabbing the smaller boy, lifting him up. jongin screams, rubbing his chest and barely recoiling from attack. he shouts after his troop mate, already preparing himself to make another attack when baekhyun yells at him.
“shut the fuck up, jongin, you’re scaring him!”
jongin stops in his tracks as if literally struck dumb by the other's words. there’s no way this is happening.
“scaring him? is this some kind of sick joke? he’s going to eat, you!” jongin shouts as his mind quickly thinks of ways of getting to baekhyun and escaping because baekhyun has obviously lost his mind and they both need to get as far as possible from the titan (who, really, is just standing and staring).
“jongin, it’s him. it’s hard to explain but it’s him!” baekhyun turns his attention to face the titan who is still suspending him in the air. baekhyun reaches over to gently touch his nose.
“it’s just jongin, he won’t hurt you. please turn back, chanyeol, we need to tell the others-”
“WHAT?” jongin feels lightheaded. chanyeol had been killed. jongin saw chanyeol get killed and get eaten by a titan during the last raid, it was humanly impossible yet...before jongin can take a closer look, the earth trembles, announcing the arrival of three other titans coming to them at full speed.
“you can’t fucking tell me they are our friends too!” jongin whines.
“shit.” baekhyun goes white in chanyeol-titan-whatever’s hold. “actually, they’re not.”
the three tackle the titan holding onto baekhyun, who falls from his grip. jongin barely catches him on time before one of the titans see him, crawling towards them and aiming to crush them with its gigantic fist. jongin pushes baekhyun out of the way, himself barely missing the attack but not by much because he feels the crunch of the bones in his legs. baekhyun screams in horror but wills himself drag jongin to him using his maneuvering hear to pull them both up to the thick branch of the tallest tree. they’re by no means safe because the titan is reaching his hand toward them, mouth opening wide only to be filled with chanyeol-titan’s fist and engaging him in battle.
jongin, while groaning in agonizing pain, stares in awe at how strong the titan that was holding baekhyun moments ago is, fighting so fiercely. he’s never seen anything like it in his life. he barely registers baekhyun's quivering voice beside him.
"y-you. you saved me." baekhyun is in tears, face in shock as he lowers his head to look over jongin's bloodied legs. shaking hands hover over them, trying to make sense of how he can help. all jongin can think about is taemin, wondering when he’s coming back (with medics, hopefully). he doesn’t notice he’s blabbering out these thoughts out loud until baekhyun is staring at him, completely unamused and utterly frightened.
“jongin. taemin is dead. taemin is…”
jongin blinks, he blinks and laughs, maybe a little on the psychotic side. “don’t be ridiculous, he was here with me before you and your titan friend came-, ahh!” he groans out more because his broken legs are starting to slip off the tree. but baekhyun is shaking his head slowly all the while trying to adjust jongin as best as he can. still, jongin continues.
“none of this makes sense, we need to find taemin and-”
it isn’t until baekhyun slaps him that he stops.
“stop it, jongin, he’s dead! he’s been dead! jongin, captain taemin never came back from the last raid because he was torn to pieces!”
jongin’s face goes blank. everything goes blank, really. chanyeol is fighting off the titans, having successfully killed two and finishing off the third one, growing all the more sloppy with his moves because he's getting tired, but jongin's mind is barely there to witness it. it’s all distant noise because taemin...there’s a flash of a smile too childish in his mind. his mind...there’s a numb ache in his chest that he can’t quite decide is purely from the physical pain from the blow the titan dealt him.
taemin? taemin…?, he calls out, remembers calling out when he escaped the inner walls to run out and meet the scouts camp after hearing the news of his beloved friend being ki- no. it never happened. just like dead humans turning into titans isn’t happening, just like how his legs are broken beyond repair isn’t happening, just like the reality of not being able to fight ever again isn’t happening.
jongin doesn’t feel the tears that trace down his cheeks. the pain in his legs is irrelevant. baekhyun is telling him something, expression urgent, but it's irrelevant, so he closes his eyes to make it stop,
baekhyun is sliding down the tree, crying as he runs off to catch chanyeol in an embrace, his human form rising from the steaming carcass of his titan form and somehow that, too, is irrelevant too.
jongin swallows thickly, eyes blurry as he looks around because suddenly his vision is starting to wash out to white, the only exception being the commanding presence of a figure breaking the glowing light all around it.
“why did you leave…? w-we were supposed to fight together.” jongin chokes back a sob.
“we never had to.” taemin leans over, hand extending. “don’t you see? you made it, jongin.” stupid, idiotic, childish smile. “you made it.”