Pure #45: Chocolate and Strawberry Stains
Title: Chocolate and Strawberry Stains
Rating: G
Word Count: 4,141
Summary: Behind every stain hides a story and a few laughs.
Author's Note: This didn’t quite turn out as I would have expected it to be but I hope some of you will still enjoy my pathetic attempt at fluff. I want to thank the prompter for such a cute prompt and I hope I didn’t disappoint you too much.
Thank you to my lovely beta too, you are the best Judge!
Chocolate.
Despite all the choices in front of him, Kyungsoo always takes one scoop of chocolate ice-cream on a waffle cone. Even though Jongin tried multiple times to make him try new flavors, the little one only eats chocolate ice-cream. Maybe it’s the rich cocoa flavor it leaves in your mouth even after you brush your teeth that makes him so happy, or maybe it’s the bits and pieces of chocolate the cashier puts in the middle of the icy desert with such a nice smile? Whatever the reason, it’s one of those things that always remains the same.
Kyungsoo’s usual order is one scoop of chocolate goodness on a waffle cone just like ice cream day is on Fridays, it didn't change and never would.
🍦
Today, Kyungsoo is wearing his yellow overalls, Jongin can see him waiting at the front of his door through the little circular window of his room. As yellow as the sun, as yellow as a bee, the overalls match the walls of Jongin’s room. He hurries up and slips out of his pajamas to put on the white shirt his mother left on the bed; Kyungsoo is waiting for him.
If it had been a few months earlier, Jongin would have asked his mom to help him put his shirt on, but since the day he learned Kyungsoo put his shirts on all by himself, he never asked for help anymore. After all, he is a big boy and big boys put their shirts on by themselves.
As he comes out of the house, all he sees is Kyungsoo frowning; hands on his hips and head a little tilted.
Every time the older one frowns it means Jongin either did or said something he shouldn’t have. He knows it because when he plays in mud on rainy days Kyungsoo frowns and tells him : “You are going to get all dirty!”, and when he eats all the cookies his mom makes on Tuesday nights he frowns again and shouts: “Your mom told you not to eat all of them today!”. Kyungsoo nags him for every little thing, for the things he does and doesn't do. He nags him until he learns what he should or not do. What could he have done this time?
“You put your shirt on inside out!”, Kyungsoo says.
“I didn’t!”
“Yes you did, look at the back of your shirt, the tag is sticking out!”
He turns his head around and pulls his shirt to look at the back and indeed see a little blue tag sticking out. Jongin is a big boy, after all he does put his shirts on by himself. He is just a big boy that makes a lot of mistakes, a forgetful little big boy. He runs in the backyard and quickly puts his shirt right side in.
“Are you ready to leave now? I waited for so long.”, Kyungsoo shouts with the same frown on his face.
Jongin runs at the front of the house to find himself in front of his neighbor a bit out of breath, being a big boy is tiring.
“Yeah let's go!”
The sun is shining brightly on top of their heads, screaming to him that it's a beautiful day, the grass is colored of a vibrant green, the sky is painted with a deep blue. Kyungsoo takes Jongin's hand and they walk together to the ice-cream shop.
There was a time when Ms. Kim would be in the middle, dragging her son who claimed to be “too tired to walk”. Although with time, the duo started to walk by themselves to the little store. Especially after the whole big boy incident, Jongin explained to his mother that he was old enough to walk alone.
After all, you only have to walk down the street and turn to the right until you reach the end of the sidewalk. In no time, you’ll be able to see the bright pink color of the store. It’s as easy as ABC, if not easier since Jongin still doesn’t know what comes after E.
And so they both walk down the street at a steady pace following the golden rule his mother had settled with him after the big boy talk: always hold hands.
“Let’s play the sidewalk game Soo!”
“I’m too tired Nini.”
“Oh come on!”
The sidewalk game is one of Jongin’s favourite games. The rules are simple too: don't walk on the lines and cracks of the sidewalk. He knows Kyungsoo will be playing too, he always does. He knows it because every time Jongin mentions that he lost, he always has something to say and because deep down, it’s also his favorite game.
“You just lost!”
“Not even! I didn't touch the line, what are you talking about!”
Jongin giggles.
“Stop laughing! If you laugh too much you’ll end up filling your tummy with so many laughs you won't even have space for ice cream.”
Jongin doesn't pay attention to what he is saying and runs to the shop.
“Last one to the shop only gets one scoop”
🍦
The store is small; two- no three chairs, one table and the ice cream bar. The walls are blue, a soft baby blue and Kyungsoo is last because two scoops is a bit too much for his small stomach and one scoop seems just right.
The two toddlers are sitting on the small table waiting for their order; two scoops of bubble gum ice-cream in a cup and, of course, one chocolate scoop in a waffle cone. Jongin can’t stand on his seat and Kyungsoo is close to scolding him again, the typical Friday.
“To my two favorite clients, one chocolate and one bubble gum.” The cashier says as she gives to them what they have been waiting for all week.
They both thank her at the same time, it became a habit by now. The cashier goes back to work and they start talking about what they are going to do for the rest of the day.
The Princess and Dragon game? No, Kyungsoo refuses to be the Princess for the millionth time. Hide and Seek? They will settle for that. Jongin is done his two scoops and Kyungsoo is still licking his. Jongin looks at the waffle cone, if only he could have a bite… After a few minutes of staring at the cone, he asks him softly:
“Can I have a bit of your ice cream pretty pleaseee?”
“Didn’t you already have two scoops?”
“But you eat so slow that I already want another one.”
Kyungsoo sighs and approaches his ice-cream to Jongin to give him a bite. Jongin smiles and takes a huge bit out of the scoop, it hurts his teeth a bit but he doesn't mind.
“You took too much of it Kim Jongin!”, Kyungsoo says as he tries to push him.
He is angry, devastated, especially when he sees his beautiful ice cream falling on Jongin’s shirt. Oh no. What is he going to say? What is he going to do? A big brown stain is stuck on Jongin's white tee-shirt.
“I’m so sorry Jongin! I didn’t mean to do that. I’ll give you one of my shirts if you want- no no I’ll do anything you want! Please don't tell my mom!”
“Anything I want?”
“You won't say it to my mommy right?”
“Be my slave for 3 weeks.”
Immediately Kyungsoo regrets his words. He would like to hit Jongin and tell him he was being a bit too much but this will have to do. Jongin giggles, a bit like he often does, and sucks off the brown stain on his shirt; the taste of victory.
🍦
There is only one little blue house in the entire neighborhood and right beside it there is the only one little red house. Blue as the sea and red as roses. Jongin lives among the blue and Kyungsoo among the red, even though Jongin always wanted to live among the red because red is the color of his favorite truck and of his best friend's house.
And so, every morning Jongin knocks on the little red door to see his favorite neighbor. Although today, it’s a very special day. He doesn’t knock on Kyungsoo’s door. As a slave, Kyungsoo should be the one coming at his door no? He simply waits on his bed in his pajamas looking through the window for any signs of Kyungsoo.
The clock ticks and ticks and it’s driving Jongin crazy. It has been 15 minutes and there is still no sign of him waiting at the front door or even coming out of his house. Maybe he went too far with the whole “slave” idea? He decides to quickly put on his clothes and head outside to knock on the door, he decides it’s not much of a special day.
To his surprise, Kyungsoo is already waiting at the front of his door.
“Just because I’m officially your slave today doesn’t mean you have to keep me waiting Kim Jongin!”
Kyungsoo has this big boy habit of saying people’s full names when he is angry. A habit he picked up from his mom. Jongin wishes that one day, he’ll also have a big boy habit.
“Pff, you shouldn’t be talking to me like that! After all you are the one that made a big stain on my t-shirt yesterday.”
“Shhh! Less loud, someone might hear you.”, Kyungsoo immediately replies.
The neighborhood is quite small, a few shops here and there and one big park. It is mainly why Jongin’s mother allowed the whole big boy situation. Everyone knows each other and a bit too well too. The park is Jongin’s favorite place right after the little red house. He likes sliding down the big green slide and feeling the air against his face when he is on the swings.
“Let’s go to the park.”
Kyungsoo simply nods and takes his hands to start walking but Jongin doesn’t move. It is still the morning and he doesn’t really want to walk, but he has a wonderful idea.
“Why aren’t you moving?”, Kyungsoo suddenly asks a bit confused.
“Give me a piggyback ride.”
“What?!”
“Give me a piggyback ride.”
There is no place for arguing, Kyungsoo turns around and Jongin hops on his back. The road to the park summaries itself in three words; shrugs, heat and sidewalk cracks. The sun beats down and Kyungsoo shrugs. And Jongin? He is making sure Kyungsoo doesn’t step on the cracks and the lines of the sidewalk; the sidewalk game never stops.
After a few minutes, they finally reach the park. In the middle of a huge sandbox stands the unfamous slide, Jongin quickly gets off of Kyungsoo and runs to it. The stairs that lead to the top are hot, it makes him even more excited. 1… 2… 3… Take off! Jongin is sliding, sun hitting him directly and static biting his legs as he slowly goes down. What a great way to start a Saturday morning.
Kyungsoo joins him and they slide a few more times together inventing the most weird ways to make your way down. Holding hands, head first, in a little ball, sliding could never get more fun.
“What do we do now?”, Jongin looks at Kyungsoo with a dumb smile.
“Can we go on the swings please?”
“Yeah it’s a good idea, except you have to push me.”
“I guess I’ll have to..”
Jongin hops on their swing, the one at the far left decorated with a thousand ribbons of different colors. When Kyungsoo first moved next door, the two of them found a ribbon at the park and decided to tie it on the chains that held up the swing. Since then, they have been adding one every time they go to the park. Today, Jongin has a green ribbon in his pocket, he gives it to Kyungsoo because he still doesn’t know how to tie knots. Every time he promises to himself that he’ll learn how to because as a big boy himself, it’s about time he learns how to tie knots.
And so Kyungsoo ties the knot and pushes Jongin. The fresh air and the laughs of two kids on a saturday morning; the neighborhood comes to life.
🍦
Princess and Dragons is Jongin’s second favorite game. The rules are pretty easy too, the princess has to go on the bed and stay behind the bars of the dungeon, the terrifying mountain of pillows. The knight has the save the princess by defeating many monsters, that also happen to be pillows, and dodge obstacles, even more pillows. Kyungsoo usually plays the princess and Jongin has to admit he is quite fitted for the role. He complains and overreacts on any given occasion.
The yellow walls of Jongin’s room feel like the rays of sunshine and the pillows are comfortable under Kyungsoo’s head, they are ready to start. The first obstacle in sight is the field of poisonous mushrooms. However, in Jongin’s eyes it’s nothing, he quickly slides against the mushroom making sure he doesn't touch the infected dots. Then comes the mysterious monster of the lagoon, a piece of cake. The brave knight he is takes little steps until he reaches the next stage without waking up the monster.
“You look ridiculous right now, you know that right?” Kyungsoo says.
“Shh! It’s the most crucial part Soo, I have to defeat the dragon to free you.”
He takes out his plastic sword from under the bed, he is ready to slash the head of the dragon. Careful.. And...
“I don’t want to play anymore.” Kyungsoo says as he gets up and goes downstairs.
Another game of Princess and Dragons that ends in the traditional way; the dragon is never slashed and the princess a bit too impatient.
🍦
By now it’s the end of the first week and Jongin has asked Kyungsoo to give him piggy back rides every morning wherever they went. The first week is the most tiring in Kyungsoo's opinion and the most delightful in Jongin’s. They have been playing Princess and Dragon so much times, even Jongin is sick of it.
The two of them are behind the little blue house, in the backyard to be more precise. They are both opening their treasure chests, boxes with all of the candies and treats their parents gave them which they didn’t eat. Jongin’s is almost empty though because he prefers to devour them right away rather than keeping them in a dusty little box. He only has 3 chocolate bars and a gumball. Kyungsoo thought has plenty of candies; gumballs, gummies, chocolate bars, powdered candy, licorice, lollipops, jelly beans and caramels. He has a bit of everything but doesn't eat much.
“How do you have so much candy, I still don’t understand.”, Jongin says with despair.
“It’s because I don’t eat everything I see!”
“Well, I’m sorry but it’s just too good not to be eaten. Can you give me some?”
“Alright but you’ll have to go easy on me next week though. My back hurts after all of the piggy back rides I had to give you.”
“It’s a deal then!”
Jongin learned this sentence from a show that talked about auctions on TV. He thought that repeating it made him look like more of a big boy. He takes a handful of candies and places them in his box. He is smiling so much the corner of his lips are almost touching his eyes.
“It’s Friday, should we get ice-cream?”
“That’s a great idea Jonginnie!”
“But… Can you still give me a piggy back ride?”
Kyungsoo sighs and turns around, Jongin smiles and the two of them make their way to the shop. There are a lot of customers today, probably a whole family is there. Jongin doesn't know what he should do, should he wait in line or wave hello at the cashier and run in front? He opts for the running in front but as soon as he take a step Kyungsoo pulls him back.
“You have to wait until they are done Jongin.”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”, Kyungsoo replies with frustration.
“How about you go and run in front to get us ice-creams? After all you are the slave no?”
“Jongin it doesn’t work like that!”
“Okay then if you can’t do that, I’ll be the one choosing what kind of ice-cream you are eating today!”
Kyungsoo doesn’t have the energy to sigh. He really really wants to hit Jongin and tell him he can’t do that but he remembers what happened last time they came here and calms down.
Jongin thinks the store is having a promotion on strawberry ice-cream. A ton of drawings of strawberries are hanged to the ceiling, it looks like it’s raining strawberries from down there. He decides he will be taking strawberry ice-cream for Kyungsoo because you can't go wrong with strawberries. The family leaves and Jongin waves hello to the pretty cashier.
“One scoop of peach ice cream in a cup and one scoop of strawberry ice-cream on a waffle cone please”
His neighbor looks at him with big eyes. The words that come out of Jongin’s mouth are not the one’s he expects. “One scoop of chocolate ice-cream on a waffle cone.” is the sentence he would have liked to hear.
They both stay silent when they receive their order, a quick thank you and that's all. Kyungsoo stares at his cone with a bit of disgust. Strawberry ice-cream looked different, smelled different and probably tasted much different. The pink color of it was soothing to the eye but the smell was unfamiliar to what he knew.
“You know it’s not that bad, you should at least taste it. I order you to!”, Jongin says.
Hesitantly, Kyungsoo licks it a bit. He pauses. Did he like it? Did he hate it? Kyungsoo suddenly takes a big bite out of his cone, he smiles. The day ends with two children heading back home, one of them is licking his fingers and the other one is smiling dumbly at the other.
🍦
The second week feels better somehow, there is less weight on Kyungsoo’s back these days especially since he made an arrangement with Jongin. Jongin always wanted to spend a night outside like big boys would do. Without the help of his mom, or his dad and without the comfort of his home. So, he proposed to Kyungsoo to sleep one night out and in exchange, he would let him go as his slave. Of course, Kyungsoo accepted.
They are now both “packing” for their trip while the tent is being assembled in Kyungsoo’s backyard by Ms. Do who loved the idea. Jongin packs the only candy bar left from what Kyungsoo gave him in a small bag. He is so excited he might pee in his pants. Kyungsoo however is terrified. The night is about to fall and spending it without his mom telling him stories and kissing him goodnight is the last thing he wants to happen.
Once they are done, they both meet up inside the tent. It’s green, quite spacious too. Two pillows are already placed as well as a cover. Kyungsoo is in his pajamas and Jongin too, they are ready.
“Let’s go watch the sunset before going to sleep.” Jongin says
“Okay, but let’s come back before the night falls please? Something bad might happen to us.”
“Don’t worry, as long as I’m here nothing can happen to you. I already killed a ton a monsters and went through ten thousand fields of poisonous mushrooms, remember?”
Kyungsoo feels at peace. They both sit down and munch on a half of a candy bar as they watch the sky lowly turning black. From blue, to yellow, to orange and finally to pink, the sky shows its beautiful colors to the world. They both are amazed by the sunset that is in front of their eyes. Suddenly black starts to appear in the sky, Kyungsoo runs inside of the tent, he doesn't want to get eaten by the monsters of the night. Jongin calls him out again by saying:
“Come and look at the stars Kyungsoo! They are really pretty!”
“I don’t want to Jonginie, please come inside. I’m lonely.”
Even though Jongin is the one that should be deciding, he listens to him and goes inside because he knows how terrified he really is. When he goes inside the tent, he only sees a big white ball, Kyungsoo is hiding under the cover. Jongin jumps on him and says:
“Why are you so afraid? You know to become a real big boy, you can be afraid of the dark.”
“Pff, stop it. Why do you even want to become a big boy so fast? You don’t like taking ice-creams with me anymore?”
“It’s not that, aren't you excited to become a big boy?”
“I guess... I never thought about it,”
“Well then you see! Let’s become big boys together then.”
They both take out their fingers and seal the promise with their pinkies and their thumbs. Jongin is feeling sleepy and Kyungsoo doesn't want to go to sleep before he gets his story. So Jongin invents a quick story for him:
“Once upon a time, there was… uhh… two best friends that lived right next to each other. They really liked each other really much because one of them was funny and the other one was really nice.
The story is strangely familiar but Kyungsoo doesn’t point it out and keeps on listening.
“Mhh.. One day, one of them dropped ice cream on the other’s shirt but he didn’t want his friend to tell his mommy so he became his slave for a short while. The other best friend never got to tell him but he is the best slave in the universe… oh no i mean, the best person in the universe. Mhh…”
Suddenly, Jongin stops talking.
“Why did you pause so suddenly? Aren’t you going to finish?”
“I forgot what I was saying…”
Forgetful big boy. Kyungsoo laughs and hugs Jongin thighly.
“Goodnight Jongin.”
“Goodnight Kyungsoo.”
Soon both of their eyes are closed and they are both off to dreamland. Jongin dreaming of a second scoop of ice-cream and Kyungsoo of the two best friends walking side by side.
🍦
It's a beautiful summer day and the two little monsters already made their way to the ice-cream shop. After a long night out, they wanted to get a little reward. They are supposedly there to celebrate “Kyungsoo's deliverance” like he would call it, even though Jongin is only there for ice cream.
“What could I get you today?”
The cashier and her pretty smile.
“A bubblegum ice cream and a choco-” Just as Jongin is about to finish his sentence, Kyungsoo interrupts him and says:
“A strawberry ice cream please…”
Jongin smiles and giggles a bit, he must have really liked it last time. He should have known by the way Kyungsoo licked his fingers a ton of times before leaving the shop. He must have known especially when Kyungsoo actually raced with him today to get two scoops.
The two of them sit on the bench that sits in front of the little store- a yellow bench. Kyungsoo savors his two scoops of strawberry ice cream with a big smile on his face, almost looking at it as if it was the eighth wonder of the world.
“Kyungsooo, can I have a bite?”, Jongin says as he looks down at his empty cup.
“No! Last time I made a mess and you took a really big bite.”
“Oh come on!”
Jongin is craving for ice cream again. He can hear his stomach begging for more. He is a bit frustrated, why doesn't Kyungsoo want to give him a bite? It isn't like he is going to eat everything.
“Kyungsooo…”
This time the older one completely ignores him and it makes Jongin's blood boil. He quickly tries to take the waffle cone in Kyungsoo's hands but isn't of being it his hands, it falls directly on Kyungsoo's Poporo shirt. A big pink stain is stuck onto it.
“I’m sooo sooo sorry! I already dropped ice-cream on my shirt before and if I do it again mommy is going to kill me so please don't tell her! I’ll do anything you want!”
“Anything I want?
“Be my slave for 3 weeks.”
Kyungsoo sucks off the stain on his shirt and the both of them laugh.
Chocolate and strawberry stains; the little wonders of friendship.