effie | stray kids

braces.

in which jeongin surprises effie with a brace-less smile

-

"hey, noona~"

effie looked up from her laptop, still exhausted from the game she played earlier, to find the youngest standing in front of her.

"what's up, elf boy. how was ice-cream?"

jeongin's eyes widened at her, making effie a little nervous. he never made that expression before, and it was scaring her a little. she shut her laptop, standing up to the boy, giving a 'what the fuck' expression.

"i lied. we didn't go out to get ice cream," jeongin then smiled widely, putting his teeth on show.

effie gasped at the maknae, immediately noticing his braces were gone. instead of smiling back, she walked past him, put on her headphones, and then showed the youngest her playlist called, 'brace-less jeongin sad playlist' and laid on the ground, pressing play.

jeongin, understanding how the rapper felt, laid on top of her. he knew how weird it was going to be when he smiled at her from now on. 

the youngest heard day6's 'i need somebody' blaring from her headphones, then sighed. he took them off, looking at her.

effie frowned, "leave me alone with day6, i'm grieving."

"jokes aside, noona. do i look okay?" jeongin, who's voice was drowning in insecurity, looked at the girl expectantly.

effie then realized he was insecure about the fans not thinking his smile was special anymore, and gave him a hug.

"you're looking dapper, my elf."

"i don't know what that means, noona."

effie laughed, "i don't either, i'm not from london. we can google it later."

the girl held the youngest tightly, afraid his youth would float away if she didn't keep her hold on him. she felt entitled to keeping the baby of the group safe, and it was a huge step for her to accept a brace-less jeongin.

she was happy they were off, as he usually complained about not being able to eat gum, or how much they hurt. but at the same time, he was growing up. she wasn't ready for jeongin to grow up, although it was eventually going to happen.

"love you, older elf."

"love you, smaller noona."

-

bitch im sad about jeongin's braces being gone, but also happy that my dude's not in pain anymore. i was shook asf when i saw him smiling without braces. but he still looks as uwu as ever. we got ourselves a boy who is going to grow up into a beautiful young man ladies and gentlemen~