Make Me STAY

Battle Ground

"Make that 6 out of 8."

The room went from deathly silent to an uproar as the members of Stray Kids started cheering.

"Go Innie!"

"Maknae on top!"

In the middle of the chaos, Rose and Jeongin stood in their own little bubble. The youngest still had his hand on Rose's cheek as they stared at each other. She wondered how he had known they might be soulmates.

"How?"

"We shared a near-death experience."

Rose's brows furrowed, and then her eyes widened.

"Oh! I didn't even... Have you known since then?"

Jeongin shook his head.

"No. I didn't know until Jisung said you needed to have a near-death experience to create another soulmate. Suddenly, it clicked why I'd felt weird around you all week."

"I'm sorry I didn't notice. You'd think I'd be an expert by now. I didn't even notice when Felix and I -"

Jeongin brought up his other hand and held Rose's head between his hands.

"Noona, it's okay. This is an equal partnership. Not a leadership position. You don't have to do all the work."

Rose stared at him with wide eyes. The way he was holding her face had squished her a little, giving her pouty fish lips. Jeongin smiled at how cute she looked. He remembered when Chan and Rose had announced their bonding. He had hoped his soulmate would be someone like Rose, but he never imagined it would actually be Rose.

When had the Maknae turned into a man?

Rose looked after all the members of Stray Kids, but she babied Jeongin a little more because that's what the rest of the group did. But recently, like at Hyde Park when she had gotten hurt and now, he had been stepping up and taking charge. It made her feel strange as she tried to correlate the cute Maknae with the man standing in front of her now.

The feel of his hands on her face had her skin tingling. She could feel the waves of their soulmate bond washing over her. It made her feel small, but in a good way. Like he could surround her and protect her. It made all of Rose's rough edges melt away.

As she gazed into his eyes, her view shifted. She no longer looked at him the same way, which was good because their whole dynamic had just changed. In the back of her mind, Rose wondered what Jeongin thought about them being soulmates. Was he happy? Did he mind the age gap? Could he accept having to share with his Hyungs?

There were so many things Rose wanted to ask Jeongin and her potential soulmates, Jisung and Seungmin. However, there was one person she needed to talk to more.

"Whoa! Wait for your turn. We haven't celebrated our bonding yet."

Rose felt the loss as Jeongin removed his hands from her face.

"We can talk once you've had time with Felix-Hyung."

She watched the youngest leave to give them space. Rose was amazed at his maturity and selflessness. Had he always been that way?

"Noona?"

Rose turned to Felix, who was looking at her with an odd expression.

"Sorry, Lixie. That was... unexpected."

"Would you rather... I mean, if you want to talk to Jeongin -"

She grabbed his hands.

"No! I want to be with you! I'm so sorry we haven't had any time together."