every angel has wings

title: every angel has wings
characters: gen fic, kim jongbros, chanyeol
rating: g
wordcount: 1,700
warnings: kid!jongin, teen!jongdae and teen!chanyeol
monster!au the first of a series of ficlets where kim jongbros and their friends are all monsters.
summary: jongin goes for his first Halloween and meets chanyeol

“Remember to bring him back-“ “-by nine o’clock. I know, Joonmyun. Were you this hovery when it was my first Halloween?” Jongdae rolls his eyes at Joonmyun and bounces on the balls of his feet, eager to dive into the night and drink in the energy in the air. “He was worse,” Minseok says. “We had to turn back almost ten times because he was convinced you were safer off at home.” Even as he calls Joonmyun out for overreacting, he bends down and takes what must be the hundredth picture of Jongin in his pumpkin outfit. Jongdae understands why Minseok and Joonmyun are so excited though. A monster’s first Halloween is a big deal and Jongin looks adorable in his orange hat and fluffy body suit. Halloween is the only night when the portals between the worlds open and monsters can seamlessly blend in among the human race. Still, the night is calling for Jongdae and they’re wasting moonlight. “Can I go now?” Jongdae asks impatiently. Jongin is starting to fidget in his wagon too and Jongdae jiggles the handle, making Jongin burst out in a small giggle. He doesn’t wait for his brothers to answer and starts tugging the wagon forward and out the door. “Hold on tight, lil bro, because we’re going to meet some humans!” Jongin grabs onto the sides of the wagon and laughs as it flies bumpily down the porch stairs, almost giving Joonmyun a heart attack. “Do you think they’ll be okay?” Joonmyun asks, clutching the doorway and anxiously following Jongdae and Jongin’s slowly diminishing figures. “All babies grow up,” Minseok says soothingly. “Now come back in and help me to sort out the candy. The human kids will be coming by soon.” “You went all out, Kim!” Someone calls and Jongdae feels a grin taking over his face. He spent a lot of time hand-making his Captain America shield and goaded Joonmyun for weeks before he helped him to sew up a cape, so he’s pretty proud of his costume. “Aw, cute. You brought a little pumpkin.” Chanyeol leans against the wall of convenience store, where they had promised to meet up. He gives a one finger salute and saunters over, almost too much confidence for a monster who is fascinated with collecting human toys. “It’s Jongin’s first Halloween. I said I would bring him around the neighbourhood a bit and bring him back.” Jongin doesn’t make much of a fuss usually so he’s easy to take care of. So far, he’s been obediently sitting put in his wagon, laughing at Jongdae’s exaggerated narration of each monster they come across. “He’s small for his size, isn’t he?” Chanyeol crouches down to wiggle his fingers at Jongin to say hi and Jongin playfully tries to bite his fingers. Chanyeol pretends to let Jongin go for another bite and quickly pulls back at the last moment, reaching out to pinch Jongin’s cheek inside. “It’s not exactly like height runs in our family, Jongdae says dryly. “Jongin’s been teething lately though, so it’s only a matter of time before his growth spurt hits.” He looks Chanyeol up and down. Aside from the fake blood and bruises smudged across Chanyeol’s face (is that… monster written across his eyebrows?), Chanyeol looks the same as he usually does. “What are you?” Chanyeol smirks and flexes his arms. “Myself. It’s been a while since I let my wings out so I decided to give them a breather.” His wings shine almost metallic silver in the moonlight and the tips of the wings clench, a telltale sign that he’s about to unfurl his wings to their full length. “Hey, don’t startle-” Jongin lets out a shriek, almost falling off his wagon at his surprise of seeing Chanyeol’s wings suddenly shoot out. Spanned out, Chanyeol’s wings are magnificent, 6 feet wide and a beautiful web of dark red and silver. Immediately, Jongdae has Jongin wrapped up against his chest and he glares at Chanyeol. “Don’t scare my little brother.” Chanyeol sheepishly pulls in his wings. “Sorry. But I don’t think he’s scared?” Jongin stares in wide eyed wonder. In a small, breathy voice, he says, “Angel.” “He’s not an angel,” Jongdae laughs and knocks Jongin lightly on his head. “Have Joonmyun been poisoning you with human fairytales? This guy is as far as you can get from an angel.” “Angel,” Jongin says stubbornly, reaching out to grab at Chanyeol’s wings. He stands up and starts climbing at Chanyeol’s legs, trying to touch the shiny wings. “Gentle there, kid, these are my real- Ow! That hurt?” Jongin startles at the loud tone and he falls back down onto his wagon, landing on his bum. His bottom lip starts to quiver. “Nini hurt? Angel?” “No, no,” Chanyeol backtracks quickly. “I’m not hurt.” He flaps his wings softly a few times to show Jongin, careful to keep his movements small enough to not startle Jongin again. “Nini didn’t-” Jongin hiccups, eyes filling up with tears. “want hurt angel. Sowwy, Nini sowwy!” “You made him cry!” Jongdae yells, shoving Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol blinks back at Jongdae, hands shooting in the air in surrender. “What do I do now?” “What? I don’t know. Comfort him!” Chanyeol has seen his cousins pacify his nieces before, so he mimics whatever they did. He gently lifts Jongin up and holds him against his chest, gently rocking the baby monster until his sobs quiet down. “Shh, I’m not hurt.” Under Jongdae’s careful watch, Chanyeol brings his wings forward and wraps them around Jongin, creating a makeshift blanket to cocoon Jongin. “Angel,” Jongin murmurs sleepily into Chanyeol’s shoulder, clutching his shirt and slowly falling asleep. Chanyeol ends up carrying Jongin around the neighbourhood twice before bringing him back home, a full hour before Jongin’s supposed bedtime. Jongin refuses to let Chanyeol go so Chanyeol sits by Jongin’s bedside, waiting until Jongin’s grip around his thumb lightens and Jongin drifts off into sleep before he quietly slips out and rejoins Jongdae for the rest of Halloween night. A week later, Jongdae barges into Chanyeol’s room with Jongin in tow and thrusts the baby monster towards Chanyeol. “You created this mess. You fix it.” “How did you get in?” Chanyeol asks, bewildered. Jongin eagerly climbs onto the bed and tries to crawl under the blankets to join Chanyeol. “Angel,” Jongin coos happily, pulling Chanyeol’s left wing around himself and petting the leathery scales. Jongdae flops onto the foot of the bed and lies down on his side, scowling. His forked tail flicks with agitation the more Jongin snuggles into Chanyeol’s warmth. “Your mom let me in. For the past week, Jongin has been blabbering about his ‘angel’ and now he wants to grow wings. Joonmyun is devastated because of all the nice role models he could pick, he picked you.” “Hey,” Chanyeol says, insulted. He’s not sure himself why Jongin suddenly developed a fascination with his wings, but he has to admit it pleases him a little. “Anyway, I’m here to tell you that I have basketball practice and my brothers are at work, so you’re on babysitter duty for today.” "What?!" “He loves you. Just feed him grapes if he gets hungry.“ Jongdae hops up, looking far too mischievous now. “Well, don’t want coach to chew me up for being late. Don’t kill my brother, Chanyeol.” He whistles on his way out, leaving Chanyeol with a lapful of adoring monster. “My name is Chanyeol,” he tells Jongin hesitantly, not sure whether he should hold out a hand for Jongin to shake and finally deciding against it. “Can you say that?” Jongin stops chewing on the ends of Chanyeol’s hoodie and blinks up at him. “Chanweol?” “Chanyeol,” he repeats, putting emphasis on the second syllabus. Jongin scrunches up his nose in hesitation and tries again, “Chanweol.” He’s so cute that Chanyeol can’t keep the smile from bursting out. “Close enough. Now what do you want to do?” “I want wings,” Jongin declares loudly. He clambers to his feet and tugs at Chanyeol’s arm, trying to get him to stand up too. “Like Chanweol!” “You have a nice tail though. And pretty ears.” Chanyeol pets the furry ears on Jongin’s head softly and Jongin can’t help but “Wings. I want wings!” Hours later, Jongdae lets himself into Chanyeol’s house again, expecting a frazzled Chanyeol and a grumpy Jongin. Jongin doesn’t take to strangers well and Jongdae is already regretting leaving Jongin with Chanyeol, especially since Chanyeol has no experience with kids. What he doesn’t expect is the sound of Jongin’s laughter to ring through the house, loud enough that Jongdae can hear them from the front door. “Jongdae, I have wings!” Jongin laughs and runs around Jongdae’s feet when Jongdae gets to Chanyeol’s room, flapping his construction paper wings behind him. The pair seem to have been busy in the few hours and there is a mess of paper on the floor, next to some wire and too much glitter. “That’s nice. Those are really nice wings,” Jongdae says to Jongin and pinches his cheek. The smile drops off his face when he pretends to frown at Chanyeol. “Don’t encourage him.” Chanyeol shrugs and hides a smile. “You left him with me.” “Thanks,” Jongdae grins, letting the act fall. He holds his hand out to Jongin. “Jongin, it’s dinnertime. Let’s go home” “Don’t want to leave,” Jongin pouts, shaking his head and running back to Chanyeol’s side. His voice is starting to sound a bit strained, the threat of a tantrum just hanging off each word. Chanyeol crouches down to be at Jongin’s eye level and takes both his fists in his hands, unfurling his clenched fists. “Hey kid, even if you go back, I’ll be watching over you.” He ignores Jongdae pretending to dry retch in the background and links their pinkies together, his large finger almost engulfing Jongin’s tiny one. “Just keep these wings and I’ll always be your guardian angel. Pinky promise.” “Chanyeol is Nini’s angel?” Jongin asks hopefully, holding their linked pinkies high in the air. “Chanyeol is Jongin’s angel,” Chanyeol nods. Chanyeol doesn’t make promises, but he thinks this is one he’ll keep for a very long time. end. laughs did i ever mention that i love the childhood friends to lovers trope