LADY LIBERTY :: minchan ✔︎

fifty years later

an eighty-one-year-old minho smiled softly as he packed the last of his possessions, carefully placing his spiked, dark green crown into a box. he was about to move into an old people's home.

the box brought back memories of a handsome young man, dark-haired and sweet-voiced. minho couldn't remember his surname, but the name "chan" would never fade from his memory.

minho regretted the way his relationship with chan had ended. they'd fought over meaningless things for ages, eventually breaking up over a stupid argument about types of music five years after they started dating.

a bell tinkled softly to announce minho's arrival in the home. he was shown to his room by a young man with a bright smile.

"hey, kid, what's your name?" minho asked the teenager.

the boy beamed, his braces catching the light as he was obviously pleased by minho's way of striking up a conversation. "i'm jeongin, mr. lee. yang jeongin. i'm nineteen."

minho barely remembered being nineteen. "oh, my. you're so young! and you spend all day socializing with old twats such as i? get a life, boy," he teased.

jeongin smiled. "no, the people here are much nicer than teens my own age. if you want tips on who to befriend, i can let you in on some secrets."

minho nodded, a signal for jeongin to list off some names.

"well, the first people that come to mind used to be in a rapping trio together when they were around my age. maybe even younger. they bicker a lot, but it's all in good fun.

"the youngest, jisung, is just over sixty years older than i am! he's going to turn eighty this september; i'm going to be twenty next february. he's a bit chaotic, although his joints pain him a lot. he's easiest to spot because he's the only one who's lost all his hair.

"the middle one is changbin. he tries to pretend he's tough and dark and stuff, but he's actually such a little kid inside. the smallest things make him happy, but he gets picked on a lot. one of my only friends, seungmin, who is also an intern here, has a prank war going on with changbin. so don't get too close to him, or i'll have to clean slime off of you.

"and chan, the oldest of the three, is exactly what you'd want in a grandfather. it's a shame he's never had children or been married. apparently, the last time he dated someone was forty-five years ago! they broke up over something really stupid; i can't remember what. anyway, chan always holds this green spike thing in his hand. never agrees to let go of it, which makes seungmin and me think that he wants to stab something all the time. i'd steer clear of the green spike, if i were you," jeongin finished, unlocking minho's door and leading him inside.

"chan... what's chan's full name?"

jeongin blinked, surprised by minho's interest. "um, he's bang chan. christopher bang. do you know him?"

minho lead jeongin to a box, opening it to reveal a green crown with a single missing spike.

"i dated chan... forty-five years ago."