#nsau

Everything up to Mu imprisoning Lilly is the same, but this time Mu is convinced by her advisors to execute Lilly sooner, both to nip this whole “plot against the queen” thing in the bud, and so that Lilly isn’t left to rot for months on end. At this point, Mu is not far gone enough to be apathetic towards her sister’s death, and goes into mourning rather than paranoia. She doesn’t start to imprison people willy-nilly. Due to this, her kingdom (while still upset because Lilly was so beloved), is not so much fearful of her as they are sympathetic, because at the end of the day Mu was 14. This also means that the Goofy Mafia goes free, and eventually Mu is informed that Lilly was actually planning a party. For HER. Mu becomes inconsolable, locking herself away in her room.

Lilly, meanwhile, had not had months to fester in grief, and was still somewhat in denial of the fact that her own sister declared her a traitor-- for no reason, in her eyes. When she was informed she would be executed, she was first shocked, and then... outraged. How DARE her SISTER send her to prison, not say a word to her for weeks, and then sentence her to death? How DARE Mu not even BOTHER to hear Lilly’s side of the story? But she was helpless as the guards escorted her to her death. She looked pleadingly into the crowd, begging someone, anyone, to speak out against all this... this NONSENSE. And the people. Did. Nothing.

A few weeks later, Lilly wakes up, eventually realizing she’s dead. Feeling betrayed and abandoned by everyone she loved, Lilly lashes out in rage, destroying most of the kingdom and exuding a suffocating miasma. (Kind of like the thing Blue Diamond from SU can do, but more lethal.) It’s sudden, and there are almost no escapees.

Present-day, Captor roams the forest somewhat aimlessly, with most of her memories fragmented. It’s frighteningly empty and quiet, and even more dead than usual. No ghosts dare to reside within. If she finds any intruders, she’ll attack straight away, because... well, she doesn’t really remember, but it’s what she usually does. She doesn’t try to trap people with her-- instead, she’s called “The Captor” because all those who enter the forest never come out.

Mu, on the other hand, in an attempt to right what she’s done in any way she can, has made the manor into a sort of safe-haven. All of the dwellers, spiders, fire spirits, anything that used to “live” in the forest now resides in that area. She’ll go out regularly to try and rescue any unfortunate souls that have wandered into the woods, such as, say, a crown wearing alien. She might need some help collecting ingredients for her “jams and jellies”, though. Don’t worry, they aren’t made of people or anything, but make sure not to drop them! They can be quite explosive. How else will she keep The Captor at bay?

Mu and Captor still argue, but instead of it being over who rules Subcon, they argue over who DOESN’T. Mu blames herself for the fall of Subcon, and refuses to be put in a position of power again, so she tries to get through to the Lilly she remembers so SHE can take charge. Captor... well, she doesn’t want to be the ruler because she remembers having a negative association with it, but she also remembers this red girl being the queen or something so that means she must be in charge, right?

Sorry this ended up so long! I always find AUs where the good characters are “bad” and vice versa super interesting, so I got a bit carried away with ideas. I’ve even made AUs like that of my own original works ^^” I guess I’ve kind of done that here, huh? I might expand on it further if I feel like... making an evil Prince or something. Or if someone sends another ask with this prompt! Feel free if you want to!

~Day 1~

Minho’s still bestowing kisses on Kibum when the others arrive. He’s switched sides from the night before, head buried in Kibum’s neck, pressing kisses next to his adam’s apple. Kibum’s disappointed that their time is coming to an end, but he’s glad that the others are coming in so they can prepare for whatever lies ahead. Although he hears Jinki calling out for them from the door, he’s too breathless to answer, opting to wave at them instead. He hears Taemin groan and laughs. It makes Minho pause and look up. There’s a hazy look to his face, a smile creeping over as he sees the others make their way inside. He kisses Kibum twice more before getting out of the hammock. He reaches Jonghyun first, giving him the same two kiss treatment. Next is Jinki, followed by Taemin, who are each given a kiss on each cheek. The four of them look at each other, obviously equally confused, as Minho makes his way to one of the wells.

“How are you this morning, sprout?” Jinki ventures, walking up behind him.

“I know she sent you guys, give me a minute and I’ll answer as much of your questions as I can.”

He washes his face in the water, then goes and grabs an armful of oranges off the tree behind it. When he walks towards the stone tablet in the middle of the garden, the others follow. There’s only four stumps around it, so Jonghyun ends up sitting on Minho’s lap. Kibum feels a pang of jealousy as he watches Minho start kissing at his shoulder, but one look from Minho dissipates the feeling. They start peeling oranges as Minho starts to explain the situation.

“So, it’s obviously no secret we’re all influenced by the moon. I know you guys have like weird power surges and other things go on. But mine is a little different. Once a year, at one particular moon cycle, I go into what the lady and I call blooming period. It’s usually 4 days or so, but it can be longer or shorter depending on what time of year it falls in.”

“What do you guys mean ‘blooming period’? Aren’t you always in bloom?” Taemin asks, mouth full of fruit.

Minho laughs and buries his head into Jonghyun’s neck for a moment.

“Yes, but no. I can make anything bloom at any point in the year but I in particular only bloom once a year. Normally, the plants and I are in somewhat of a neutral energy cycle. The energy I take from them goes back into them. But during blooming, my energy greatly exceeds that of the plants. Everything becomes volatile and over-bloomed, in really weird ways.”

“So what does that mean for us?” Jinki asks.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had anyone around during one and I’ve never had one so near the solstice so I don’t know how hard it’s going to be.”

“Well, can you walk us through it? How it is for you? Maybe that’ll give us an idea.” Kibum suggests.

“Today is the first day. First days are normally fine, besides the feeling of knowing I’m going into it. Then there’s burning. And the burning goes on for a few days. Then there’s a sort of lull, that I can never really remember well. And then there’s rebuilding.”

“What do you mean burning?” Jonghyun asks, shifting around to face Minho. Minho’s face contorts with pain at the thought.

“I can’t really describe it, I’m sorry.”

“What about rebuilding?” Jinki tries.

“Something always happens and I have to fix the garden, but again, I don’t really know what it is.”

A silence falls between them all as they try to make sense of Minho’s words.  Minho’s face is buried in Jonghyun’s neck again; Jonghyun’s doing his best to stay quiet but a tiny whimper escapes him every now and again. Kibum feels jealous rising again until he sees Minho’s hand reaching for him. He takes it and he begins feeling the warmth and bliss from earlier; it’s an odd sensation, almost as if he’s enjoying the kisses Jonghyun’s now getting.He looks across the table and sees Jinki and Taemin watching the whole thing with equal amounts of confusion, intrigue, and disgust. Suddenly, Minho stops: he lets go of Kibum’s hand and moves Jonghyun enough that he can stand. He looks up towards the sky for a long time, at something the others can’t see, then goes and makes his way to the hammock. Even though it’s high noon, he gets in and is asleep before the others can ask what he’s doing. There’s a flash of light and the lady stands before them on the table.

“I see you’ve all made it. This sleep is the beginning of the blooming. He’ll sleep til tomorrow, so you’ll have a little bit of reprieve before things get...serious. Each of you will feel a call, and it’s imperative that you follow that call whether or not you understand what it means.”

“Is that all you can give us? If this is so important and dangerous, can’t you give us anything that will help?” Jonghyun asks. The others are vaguely shocked at his boldness; he was often the most timid around the lady. She seems to smile, then look to each person for a few moments, silently relaying information to each.

“There. You have your hint. Are you pleased?” she asks when she’s done. The four nod. She’s gone again before they can think of any other questions to ask. They sit in silence for a while, the only sounds coming from Minho moving in the hammock.

“So what did she tell you guys?” Taemin asks.

“I don’t know that we’re supposed to share,” Jinki says quietly.

“She said I’m...involved the second day -- so tomorrow -- and the fifth day.” Jonghyun offers.

“Me too,” Kibum says.

“I’m the fourth day,” Taemin says

“I’m the third day, which makes sense.” Jinki says.

Silence falls again. Kibum’s not sure what to think of the fact that he and Jonghyun are paired together, but he’s grateful that he won’t have to be alone in his tasks.

“We should prepare,” Jinki instructs, standing. “Jonghyun, Kibum, gather all the foodstuff that looks in any way ready. Put half of it on the table and bring half of it outside. When you’re done, Jonghyun, I want you to put out a call to all the wildlife that usually comes by and tell them not to dare; they’ll probably know already but just in case.. Taemin, give us some cloud cover. Not enough that the plants suffer, but enough that no ships think to come near. I’m going to put a ring around the island so anything that tries to ignore all the warnings get stuck.”

The other three nod and get busy with their assigned task. Kibum starts collecting fruit while Jonghyun turns into a puppy to dig up vegetables. Every once in a while, one of them go to check on Minho. The light in the garden starts to fade ever so slightly as Taemin pulls his clouds together. When he’s done, he comes in to the garden to help Jonghyun carry half the bounty outside.The three from the beach come back in after a while and the four of them sit down to eat again. The sun’s already setting so they start talking about sleeping arrangements: Kibum will join Minho again in the hammock, Jinki will sleep in the well, and Taemin will sleep in the same tree as Jonghyun’s nest. As they all make their way to their spots, they worry about the next day and the meaning of their tasks.

~Day 2~

When the second day starts, the four of them are sitting outside the garden on the beach. They’re in front of the door so they can peak in if anything happens, but they’re worried enough by what might happen that they keep their distance. They’re in the middle of discussing their own moon cycles. Jinki starts the conversation, discussing his own moontime record of a wave 2000 ft in height and how he created an enormous artificial sea in the innermost part of the mainland. Taemin keeps it going with descriptions of his best hurricanes yet and some very special displays of ball lighting. Kibum talks about how he harvested an entire wheat field in a matter of five minutes and splitting a mountain in two. Jonghyun’s the last to go. He talks about his most recent moontime, when he apparently had control over every fish within 100 miles of the island and how he once made an entire flock of birds fall out of the sky because he sneezed. The common factor of their stories -- major destruction in one way or another -- hits them all simultaneously. There’s discussion of how bad they think it’s going to be or how its going to play out, but with Minho’s inability to remember and the lady’s decision not to share information, they have no idea what to expect. Jonghyun and Kibum know they’re up today, with whatever their ‘call’ is. Taemin and Jinki have agreed to stay on the beach unless they call for them.

*

When Minho wakes up, he’s already started burning. It’s a prickly white heat, inexplicable and inescapable. He can hear the others laughing, right outside the garden. He doesn’t have the strength to get out of the hammock and wishes that someone would come in.  Kibum is the first to come into the garden. He makes his way over to the hammock and sits down next to it. He reaches up to brush Minho’s bangs out of his eyes and kisses his forehead.

“Hi there, morning glory. You’ve been asleep so long I was starting to get worried.”

Minho smiles and Kibum returns it.

“You’re so warm, are do you feel okay?” he asks, holding the back of his hand to Minho’s forehead. Minho does his best to shake his head. Kibum’s hand moves down Minho’s face, thumb stroking his cheek.

“My poor flower, you’ve started burning, haven’t you?” he coos. Minho nods then cranes his neck in a silent plea for kisses and he’s pleased when Kibum obliges. He wraps his arms around Kibum’s neck and tries to continue with the same fervor as the day and night before. His need and greed for Kibum’s lips has only increased with time, but with the burning, he struggles to keep up the pace. He feels Kibum laugh and pull away.

“Why don’t you just rest and let me do the work, love?”

He nods, letting Kibum pull him out of the hammock and onto his lap. He keeps his arms around Kibum’s neck as Kibum’s arms snake around his waist. They sit there for a minute, foreheads pressed together, making sure they’re comfortable before resuming. Kibum leans back, resting on one of the hammock trees. They fall into somewhat of a rhythm: Kibum gives him a few kisses then makes his way down Minho’s neck and shoulders before making his way back up to his lips. It’s leisurely enough that it leaves Minho wanting, but ardent enough that he’s left breathless everytime Kibum pulls away. To give him better access, Minho moves his arms down to Kibum’s waist; in return, Kibum cups his face and slows down, whispering sweet nothings between each kiss. There’s a rustling behind them. Minho goes to turn around to check for who it is, but Kibum’s got too strong of a hold on his attention.

“Minho? Kibum?”

He’s thankful that it’s Jonghyun’s voice -- and that it’s more intrigued than upset or disgusted. Kibum lets go of Minho so that he can look at Jonghyun. His head is cocked to the side and there’s a glimmer in his eye. Minho holds out his hand and is pleasantly surprised when he takes it, sitting behind him. Kibum resumes his efforts as Jonghyun wraps his arms around Minho’s waist and begins kissing his shoulders. Every once in a while, Kibum lets up and moves to his neck again; Minho twists around so that he can kiss Jonghyun properly, putting a hand behind Jonghyun’s head to make it easier on both of them. Minho’s more than content to stay just like this, sandwiched between Kibum and Jonghyun, for once on the purely receiving end of their affections.

After a while, the two of them switch Minho so he’s facing Jonghyun.  Minho worries that maybe he’s been too demanding with Kibum; when Kibum bites his shoulder and slides his hands down to his hips, however, he realizes that it was just for a change of pace. Minho goes to put his own hands on Jonghyun’s thighs, but in the end he slides them up to rest on his chest. Jonghyun picks up the pace, giving Minho’s mind less time to wander. Between Jonghyun’s fervent kisses and Kibum’s fingers kneading at his hips, heat begins pooling in the pit of his stomach. It’s only grows higher when he feels Jonghyun reach to wrap his hand around his length. It only takes a few strokes before he’s gasping for breath and just a few more before he’s finished, vision going blurry and ears filled with the sound of his own heartbeat.

When he comes back to himself, Kibum and Jonghyun have slowed significantly. Their touches are sweet and soft, allowing Minho to recover. As they start picking up the pace again, Minho’s switched around to face Kibum. While Jonghyun had been mostly silent, only offering moans and whimpers that matched Minho’s own, Kibum isn’t afraid to use his voice to help Minho along. He starts whispering sweet short nothings again at first; when he finally takes Minho into his hands his little whispers get bigger, and its not long before Minho’s coming undone again to the sound of Kibum’s refrains of “blossom for me.”

Minho buries his head in Kibum’s neck, chest heaving. He tentatively takes Kibum into one hand and reaches back to take Jonghyun into the other. After all, he prides himself on being fair in his kisses, so why shouldn’t he be fair now? Initially his strokes are slow, picking up speed as he gets the energy to, spurred on by Kibum’s low moans and Jonghyun’s quick whimpers. There’s a feeling of warmth and pride when first Jonghyun and then Kibum come in his hands. He smiles, earning a smack from Kibum.

They continue for the rest of the afternoon, Jonghyun and Kibum taking turns working Minho before he does his best to please them both. The whole thing culminates as the sun is setting, with both their hands wrapped around him to get him off together one last time. Minho’s beyond exhausted when it’s finished; but the burning, formerly excruciating, is appeased for the time being. He’s past the point of overstimulation; just the feeling of Jonghyun pressing gentle kisses to his spine is enough to make him whimper and his back arch. He lets himself fall onto Kibum as the last of the light starts fading from view.

It soon becomes apparent that he’s not going to be able to move, so Jonghyun and Kibum work together to get him into the hammock. It’s Jonghyun’s turn to sit and compliment Minho as Kibum goes and gets a bucket of water. They work to clean both Minho and themselves off quickly. Jonghyun lets Kibum climb into the hammock facing Minho, opting to sit beside it and hold Minho’s hand from where it hangs over the edge. They both continue murmuring little compliments to him. When Kibum starts playing with Minho’s hair, it’s all over and he’s asleep in moments. As the two sit and watch his chest rise and fall, the realization of what’s just happened washes over them.  

“Did we just...?” Kibum asks first.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Have you guys...ever? I mean I know we all kiss all the time but...”

“No. Have you?”

“I mean it felt like we were leading up to that the other night but it never went that far.”

There’s surprise on Jonghyun’s face.

“You were here the night before last?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t planning on coming to visit that day and then all of a sudden it was all I could think about doing. So I came and he showed me all his new things. It was like he was trying to stall me so I’d have to spend the night. It worked and we basically made out until he fell asleep.”

Silence falls between them and they both look away. Kibum’s surprised at the change in the garden. Every flower was seemingly over-blooming. Once normal flowers were now blossoming so much, their stalks couldn’t hold them up. There were no more unopened buds. The fruit trees were so heavy with fruit, multiples sprouting together in odd masses, he thought their branches might break as well.

“Did he...did you....you felt it too, right?” Kibum asks after a while, not sure how to form the question.

“The pull? Yeah, I felt it too. I guess this was our call?”

“It makes sense within what the lady told me, but I just wasn’t sure if it was for you.”

“What did she tell you?”

“Well, the first night I was here, she said not to leave him alone. Then yesterday when she was giving us the hints, she said that today the call would be for affection and attention.”

“She said the same thing to be, basically, with the added bit of ‘even if it seems oddly far, just go with it’”

Kibum hums in response as Minho shifts around to lay on Kibum’s chest.

“It was nice.” Jonghyun finally says after a while.

“Yeah, yeah it was. We should try that again sometime when he’s not on the brink of probably re-dying or something.”

Jonghyun laughs as he stands. “I’m going to go tell the others they can come in for the night. He was so loud that I’m sure they know what was happening but just in case he someone soundproofed the garden...”

Kibum nods; he’s asleep before Jonghyun even makes it to the door.

~Day 3~

Jinki is the first one to wake up. He crawls out of his well, sitting on the lip of it while he adjusts back into a human form. Starting from Taemin, who’s closest to him, he goes round and checks on everyone. Taemin is sleeping soundly, floating on a misshapen cloud; he’d probably pulled it around himself in his sleep, Kibum referred to them as dream clouds. Jonghyun’s in his nest in the tree closest to Taemin; it makes Jinki laugh that it’s very clearly a bird's nest but Jonghyun is sleeping as a little green snake in it. He moves on to the hammock and sees Kibum’s not actually in it, but rather floating next to it. Between Taemin and Key, Jinki figures old habits must die hard. Jinki shakes his shoulder and leads him so he’s sitting by Jonghyun’s nesting tree so he’s out of the way. He goes back to the hammock and finds Minho sweating and gasping for air. He puts a hand to his forehead; his fever, already high yesterday, is now blistering. The garden is still packed with overblooming and the flower's perfume is overwhelming.

Jinki knows that Jonghyun and Kibum need to rest and that Taemin isn’t ready to play his part yet, so he picks Minho up out of the hammock. He carries him out and down the beach, until he’s standing in a few inches of water. Minho is so fevered that he barely seems to notice the change in scenery. Jinki sits down in the water and arranges it so Minho is semi-sitting in his lap, head resting on Jinki’s shoulder. They’re at such an angle that the water will continuously run over him to cool him off, and Jinki puts up a barrier such that it won’t splash Minho in the face. The move seems to help, Minho’s breath becoming less labored. Jinki lets one of his arms turn into his water form and does his best to wet Minho’s hair. Minho slowly looks up at him; Jinki realizes he’s trying to reach for him and takes his hand. He lets himself stay just human enough to keep Minho supported and calm but turns water form enough that he’s cool to the touch. He finds himself pressing little kisses to Minho’s forehead and cheek; Minho’s eyes are closed and he keeps whispering Jinki’s name. Jinki wonders if he started this of his own volition or if Minho is using the last bit of whatever pull he had on Jonghyun and Kibum yesterday to pull at him now. Either way, he continues until Minho goes quiet. When he stops to look at Minho, he’s taken aback by his pitiful appearance. Minho’s spent body and soul was a far cry from his normal vibrance. His skin isn’t warm anymore and Jinki worries that he’s cooled him down too much. After returning to full human state, he picks Minho up and carries him back inside the garden to the hammock. The scent of the garden is still near-unbearable, but there’s a new sweetness to it. Once he gets Minho situated in the hammock, he goes to the well and gets a bucket of water. Grabbing a stool, he sits next to the hammock, taking Minho’s outstretched hand.

“I brought you first.” Minho whispers.

Jinki dips his hand in the water and pours a little bit on Minho’s head before stroking his hair. “You did what, sprout?”

“I brought you to me first.”

“How’d you do that, sprout?”

“Do you remember when we first met?”

“Yeah. You were the strongest looking, most strangely placed mangrove tree I’d ever seen and when I tried to pull myself onto the beach by your roots you started screaming.”

Minho hazily laughs. “I felt you coming by that day. I could feel your energy as you passed. I wanted you to come by. I’ve been lonely so long, Jinki.”

“I know you have, sprout. How did you know I was out there?”

“I can’t explain it. I just knew you were there in the water. I couldn’t even tell what you were, but I wanted someone to be there so badly. So I made you tired, so you’d come on shore. You fought me so hard, I didn’t know if you’d really come. When you swam to shore I was so excited, I forgot to change back until you pulled at me. It didn’t hurt me at all, but I was so surprised to feel someone that I screamed.”

Jinki tries to process the information and after he while he nods for Minho to continue.

“When Taemin followed you here, I felt him too. He had so much curiosity that it didn’t take much to pull him. Kibum was so lonely that I didn’t even have to pull and he was tumbling in.”

“What about Jonghyun? Since we brought him to you?”

“I just tried to make him calm. He was so scared. The first day was so hard and I was worried he’d leave, but after that it got easier pretty quickly.”

Jinki nods, still not fully understanding. He had thought that Minho could only control plants, but maybe he was wrong. Minho goes quiet, pulling Jinki’s hand closer to him, kissing his knuckles. After a while, he speaks up again.

“Plants are easiest for me. They have a particular structure, they don’t move around much. But I’m not as limited to them as you guys think. They lady told me that at first, she thought to make me an earth spirit. I’d been swallowed by the earth and so by that thought it should be earth under my command. But it was really the trees under the earth and the people who didn’t warn us that really took me.”

“So it’s plants and people for you?”

“Yeah. Why do you think you guys like visiting me so much? Because I want you too. That’s why regular people, ships and things, never wash up here. I keep them away. With you guys, it’s just an influence. But if it were regular, living people, it’d be almost like it is with plants. That’s why she brought me here, so far from everyone.”

The picture is becoming clearer to Jinki now, questions he’d been sitting on getting answered.

“Do you pull at us everytime? To come back?”

“No, but I don’t pull evenly either.”

“What do you mean?”

There’s sadness in Minho’s face and Jinki wishes he hadn’t asked.

“When I pulled you guys, I learned what your energy feels like. I can tell who’s coming before you ever get here and how you’re feeling. So for example with Kibum, I didn’t have to pull at all, just latch on; I don’t even have to think about it now. It’s like an elastic bond. He only goes so far for so long before he’s coming back. Jonghyun's always here and even when he goes away he doesn't have anywhere else to go, so it's more of like keeping a beacon out for him to find his way back.”

“What about Taemin and I?”

Minho looks away and doesn’t say anything. He’s starting to look pink again so Jinki resumes pouring water over his forehead. After a few minutes, he tries again.

“Do you feel like you still have to pull at Taemin and I, sprout?”

“It’s not that I feel that I have to, it’s just that I worry what will happen if I don’t.”

“Sprout, I’d still come see you.”

Jinki brings a hand up to Minho’s cheek. Minho looks away and stays quiet. Jinki sits with him until he’s asleep again before going to check on the others. He finds them all outside on the beach eating tangerines. As he sits down to join them, he wonders why Minho thinks he wouldn’t come back.

~Day 4~

When Taemin wakes up, it’s to screaming. In his surprise, he falls off his cloud. He looks around trying to find who it’s from: Jonghyun is peaking out of his nest; Jinki, out of the well; Kibum looks like he just fell as well. As the screaming starts again, they all look towards the center of the garden. Minho is on top of the table stone on his hands and knees. They watch as he presses his forehead to the stone and continues screaming in some unseeable agony. It’s the fourth day and Taemin knows that it’s his turn to step up for Minho. The lady had revealed to him on the first day that his job would be the hardest and that he would have to follow his instinct without the slightest hesitation. As he watches Minho writhe in pain, he hopes that instinct happens soon. He gets up and walks over to where Minho is, crouching down in front of him. He reaches out and gingerly touches Minho’s shoulder, almost falling over when Minho straightens up. Minho grabs both of Taemin’s wrists and Taemin quickly realizes how afraid Minho is. He wonders why it couldn’t have been one of the others to have to be here in this moment; out of all of them, he’s the least close to Minho and he has no idea how to try to comfort him. His thoughts are interrupted when Minho goes stone still and the ground begins to rumble. He looks past Minho and notices the trees splitting in the middle, fully grown shoots coming up to replace them. He looks around and realizes that all of the plants are doing it, even the vines are literally bursting with new growth. As soon as the old plant falls away and the new replacement seemingly instantaneously matures, a new shoot begins sprouting. The air is filled with even more potent blossoms and the smell of decaying matter and soon they're all choking on it.

When Taemin looks back to Minho, he thinks he sees him mouthing ‘please’; the thought strikes him and he immediately looks to Kibum and signals for him to get the others out. Taemin waits for Kibum’s signal; as soon as the wind hits, him he pulls every storm cloud he can around the island until the sky is filled with black clouds. The moment it all comes together, he opens his hands and begins to unleash every lightning bolt he can muster. He does his best to hit each tree and every plot until the whole island is seemingly burning. The sprouting rate seems to lessen, but he continues to burn every shoot that makes its way to the surface. Soon, the level of the trees and the blaze is low enough that he can see the others from where they stand on the beach. Jinki has them an arm around Jonghyun and Kibum and the three of them are shielded from the fire in one of Jinki’s water bubbles. Their horrified faces make him doubt his decision, but it’s too late to stop. As he continues, he notices Minho’s skin begin to change; he’s worried that he’s burning him alive but assumes the change from tan flesh to thick bark is seemingly comforting, as if Minho’s finding a way to protect himself.

Soon, the flames start dying down and the ground goes still. Taemin slowly lets the clouds dissipate and Jinki does the same to his bubble. Taemin can hear Kibum and Jonghyun screaming at him; asking what was he thinking, how could he, why why why.  The island was covered in as much ash as it was sand. Every piece of life, beyond the five of them, was completely destroyed. To say Taemin felt guilty about what happened was an understatement; but when he was pulled into Minho’s arms, with tears and many whispered ‘thank you’s, he knew he had done what he was supposed to.

~Day 5~

Jonghyun is uneasy when he wakes. The island, still only ash and sand, feels very vulnerable. He had burrowed into the sand to sleep but it gave him little comfort. He crawls up to the surface to look for the others. No one had fallen asleep easily after the fire. He can see Jinki out in the surf, recharging himself. It had been hard on him, being on land so much for so long. Taemin and Kibum are sharing a cloud to sleep on. It's a little surprising, considering the way Kibum had berated Taemin for destroying the garden. Jonghyun himself had initially been equally furious over it, but as he watched Minho’s reaction he realized that it was what needed to be done. Minho's still sitting on the table stone, the only thing that had survived the fire. He's still mostly covered in bark below the neck; it's starting to crack and pull away, showing fresh pink skin underneath. Jonghyun makes his way over to the table, switching from his current badger form to human form. He gives Minho a good morning kiss and sits facing him. Minho reaches out a hand and Jonghyun takes it, absentmindedly picking at the cracking bark.

“Did I scare you yesterday?” Minho asks, almost whispering.

“I was scared for you, yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jonghyun looks up, taken aback by the comment.

“Why are you sorry? It’s not like you did it on purpose, right?”

“I just don’t want you to be unhappy because of me.”

Jonghyun tries to think of a reply but is interrupted. There’s a thud and the two look to see Kibum on the ground. He sits up and holds a hand to his head.

“I think he kicked me,” he groans.

“I mean after yesterday I wouldn’t be surprised.” Jonghyun mutters.

Kibum sticks his tongue out at Jonghyun before getting up and sitting behind Minho. Jonghyun’s almost done debarking Minho’s hand and he starts on the other as Kibum starts peeling bark off his back. They sit in relative silence, the only sound coming from the snapping bark.

“So what are you going to do now?” Kibum asks.

“What do you mean?” Minho replies.

“Well, you’re entire home’s just been destroyed and now it’s literally just going to be you, Jonghyun, and this rock on this island. What are you going to do?”

“I can still grow plants, Kibum. It’s not like Taemin hit me with lightning and magically brought me back to life.”

“What’s all the bark for then?”

Minho laughs. “It was to protect me from the fire.”

Kibum makes a dissatisfied noise. Jonghyun’s amused at the whole thing: if Minho had been able to bring the garden up like he was yesterday, he’d be able to grow them a new garden.

“Don’t you trust me, Kibum?” Minho asks.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t see how you can replace 50 years of work in a timely manner. After all, Jonghyun’s still going to have to eat even if you can just sit and photosynthesize.”

Jonghyun moves to Minho’s legs when he finishes with his hands, Minho himself pulling bark off his own chest. When enough bark has come off, Minho stands. Taemin’s finally woken up and come off his cloud. Minho walks over to him, kisses his cheek, and comes back to the stone as Taemin shyly walks off in the direction of Jinki. Minho holds out a hand to Jonghyun; when he takes it, Minho pulls him to his feet and into his arms. Minho leads him in a waltz of sorts. Jonghyun tries his best to remember the music he heard at the circus and starts singing a half remembered tune. Kibum watches wearily from the rock. As they circle around and around, green shoots start to pop up everywhere Minho’s stepped. Eventually, there’s a large blanket of grass all around the stone. As they go further out, treetops start popping out. It’s not long before the old perimeter of the garden is reestablished. Once there’s enough greenery, Minho brings Jonghyun back to the stone. He lets go of Jonghyun’s hand and reaches out for Kibum.

“What do you want me for? You seem to be doing just fine on your own with Jonghyun.”

“But how am I supposed to have flowers in my garden if you won’t dance with me?” Minho asks.

Kibum sighs and blushes, taking Minho’s hand.

"Besides. I didn't build this garden over fifty years."

Jonghyun continues to sing as Minho and Kibum waltz around, small flowers popping up in their wake. As time goes on, the garden starts to look more vibrant than Jonghyun can remember. All the bark has finally fallen off of Minho and the new pink skin is returning back to it’s normal tan color. Minho looks better and brighter than ever. Though Jonghyun still isn’t quite sure what’s going on, he realizes that maybe this was exactly what Minho needed.

~Day 6~

Kibum is the last awake. He’s still surprised at how quickly Minho had rebuilt the garden the day before. He hears the others outside on the beach and smells the new fruits they’re eating. As he comes out, he sees Jinki, Taemin, and Jonghyun sitting in the shade of the trees while Minho stands out near the surf. There’s a light, and the lady is standing next to Minho on the beach. She holds a hand to Minho’s face. None of them can hear what’s being said but they talk for awhile before she leaves. Minho comes back to where they’re sitting with a satisfied look on his face. Kibum can’t stand it anymore.

“So what was this all about? What’s the point of you having to destroy everything?” he asks, yelling more than intended.

Minho sits down next to Kibum.

“Because I need it to grow. Plants don’t live forever you know.” he replies.

“That doesn’t seem like a reason for something so big though,” Jinki admits.

Minho pauses for a moment before asking “Have you guys ever seen pine trees?”

“Of course I’ve seen a pine tree,” Key snaps. “What do you think I went to the coast to get away from?”

“So you’ve seen forests, right?”

Key nods.

“So you know that forests need to burn to be healthy.” Minho says simply, doing his best to pull the pit out of a peach.

“What do you mean a forest needs to burn to be healthy? That’s a bit of an oxymoron, isn’t it?” Taemin asks, shoving as many grapes into his mouth as he can manage.

“As the forest grows, little shrubs and other plants grow in between the trees. If there’s too many plants, they take up all the nutrients out of the ground. It’s like the flora suffocates itself.” Jonghyun explains, to everyone’s surprise. “Some plants go as far as requiring fire for their seeds to take root in order to limit growth.”

Minho beams at Jonghyun and sits next to him to reward him with peachy kisses while the other three try to process the information.

“How old was the garden? The one that just burned?” Jinki asks.

“Oh, the oldest parts were a little over a year old. I don’t think there was a fire last time, I think I just killed everything off myself. I always remember the day after but then the second day it all gets fuzzy.”

Kibum still isn’t satisfied with the answers he’s been giving but decides to give up in order to enjoy everyone’s last few hours on the island. Though he doesn’t know if he himself will go back to the cloud cave tonight, he knows Taemin definitely will and Jinki will most definitely be going back to whatever depth he sleeps at. He decides to leave it up to Jonghyun and Minho. Now that Minho seems back to his normal energy level and his fever has gone away, the rest of the afternoon is spent playing around. They run around the island, Jinki and Kibum have and epic water vs wind fight (Jinki wins, soaking everyone), and Jonghyun and Minho have a competition to see who can change into a more inconvenient form (Minho wins, turning into an big gloop of algae). When the sun starts to set, Jinki’s the first to go.

“Well, I’d love to say this has been fun, but since we all know it hasn’t, I’m glad everything turned out okay. I’ll come see you soon when I’m not dying at the thought of being on land, okay sprout?”

Minho nods, tears welling up in his eyes as he hugs Jinki goodbye. Jinki runs and jumps out into the water as the others watch. When he’s out far enough, he makes a wave back at them in a final farewell. When he’s properly gone, Taemin turns to Kibum.

“Are you coming home or are you camping out with your boyfriends again?” he asks.

Kibum looks at Minho and Jonghyun.

“Do you guys want me to stay or would you rather me go?”

Minho and Jonghyun share a look and smile.

“I mean if you want to stay, I think we’d be up for a....discussion of things that happened the other day.” Minho says with a wink.

Taemin groans. “Ok well in that case I’m leaving.”

As Minho walks over to help him up into the cloud, Taemin raises his hand.

“Because of all the things that happened this week, I will allow you to properly kiss me once. But if you try to pull anything weird or stick your tongue in my mouth I swear on everything that I will strike you with the biggest bolt of lightning you’ve ever seen in your entire life.” he says hurriedly.

Minho smiles fondly before leaning in and giving Taemin a peck on the corner of his mouth. He holds out a hand for him to hold on, and soon Taemin is whizzing off homeward on his little cloud. Minho feels someone grabbing at his left arm and kissing on his right shoulder, turning to see Jonghyun and Kibum, respectively.

“So that discussion, can we start now or do we have to wait for sundown?” Jonghyun asks, pulling Minho down by his arm to kiss his cheek.

“We can start now. I bet the grass will be a lot more comfortable than the sand, too.” he says, pulling the two towards the door.

“Is that why you made grass this time? Just for this?” Kibum asks incredulously.

When Kibum finally finishes his work, it’s late. The sun is well past its highest point, though not quite setting just yet. He knows he shouldn’t go to the island, that it’s too late in the day, but he goes anyway. Taemin reminds him to be quick; neither of them have slept outside the cloud caves since they had come to be as they were and they both worried what would happen if they tried sleeping elsewhere.

Minho’s on the beach when Kibum arrives. He’s sitting in the sand trying to coax something to grow but immediately stops as soon as he sees him.

“Kibum!”

“Hi. Long time no see, huh?”

“Nope but I’m glad you came today.”

“Where’s our puppy?”

“Jjongie is out on some weird speed migration thing with Jinki. He left a day or two after he got back from staying at your place.”

That means it’s been a least a week and a half that Minho’s been alone. It’s clear by the expression on his face that Minho is more than thrilled that Kibum’s come. It’s been almost 3 weeks since he had the chance to stop by and though he can’t put his finger on what it is, something’s different. Giving up on his project, Minho stands and takes Kibum’s hand, leading him into the garden. He shows him all the plants he’s been working on, how his citrus trees are in bloom, the new wells. Every time they finish looking at something, Kibum thinks that he needs to go. But just as the thoughts creep up, he feels Minho’s hand tighten around his and so he says just a little longer. Minho saves his new plot, the one he made on his first day alone, for last. Even though he knows Minho’s plants are almost always beautiful, the sight of the new plot -- his section in particular -- takes his breath away. He notices how much redder his flowers are in comparison to the other three and feels his cheeks becoming the same color. Minho presses a kiss to his cheek. Feeling oddly shy, he looks away and notices that the sun is almost finished setting. He’s been here too long and now it’s too late to leave. He pulls a wind and asks it to let Taemin know he’s staying at the island and that he’ll report back in the morning.

“Is everything okay?” Minho asks, slipping an arm around Kibum’s waist.

“Yeah, it’s just too late for me to go home now so I was letting Taemin know.”

“Does that mean you’re going to stay?”

Kibum wonders if this was Minho’s plan all along, to make him stay the night. Though he claimed to only be able to control plants, there had been more than one occasion where the others had wondered if there was more to his powers than just that.

“I don’t really have a choice in the matter, but yes, I’m going to stay.”

Minho beams. As the sun finishes setting and the sky gets dark, an odd blue glow begins to come from the wells. Minho explains it before Kibum can ask.

“It’s algae. Jinki found them and put them all in the walls of the well. The darkness is fine for me, since plants need it to help regulate themselves, but Jonghyun doesn’t always like it. He gets stuck in nocturnal ruts but for whatever reason his eyesight doesn’t adapt as well as it should. It’s enough that he can see but not enough to keep me awake.”

When his eyes finish adjusting to it, Kibum finds that he rather likes the soft glow. As he looks around the garden, he sees all the plants adjusting to the lower light: blossoms closing up tightly, leaves rolling in on themselves. He feels Minho’s hand tighten around his before he’s lead, ever so slowly, to the hammock. Minho lets Kibum get in first: it’s much easier for him than it is for Jonghyun, since he has the wind hold the hammock in place. He lays on his side so that Minho can lay next to him but is surprised when he feels the hammock tilt enough that he slides onto his back. Minho gets in, laying on his stomach halfway on top of Kibum. Kibum’s surprised but definitely not complaining. He reaches to give Minho a goodnight kiss and is surprised again when Minho gently cups his face in his hands, wasting no time to start kissing him. Normally, during the sunlight hours, their kisses are quick and bright pecks, short and sweet like little pieces of candy; it’s the reason why he and Jonghyun ask Minho for so many. Tonight though is different; Minho’s kisses are slow and languid and in a way, needy; it’s almost like he forgets how to stop every time and once he remembers, he doesn’t want to. Kibum shifts around so that he can wrap his arms around Minho’s waist, holding him tighter. When Minho presses their foreheads together to take a breather, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, Kibum takes in the situation. Though he watched them close, the flowers’ scent is still thick in the air. The glow of the algae is just bright enough to light up one side of Minho’s face; his features are oddly softened in it and Kibum doesn’t think he could be anymore in love than he is at this moment. Though Minho’s always been very physically affectionate with all of them, Kibum can’t think of single instance that he’s seen or heard of Minho being like this, though he’s never really talked to Jonghyun about what happens when the sun goes down.

“Is this what our puppy gets every night when I leave?” he whispers.

“No,  he doesn’t,” Minho replies with a breathy laugh. “Jjongie almost always goes animal mode after dark and besides he doesn’t like kisses after dark.”

Kibum hums in response and cranes his neck in attempt to get more kisses. Minho obliges almost immediately and Kibum is blissful once again. He thinks back to 2 months prior, when Jonghyun had an episode that could only be described as reminiscent of an animal in heat. When he was in human form, he could go no more than five minutes without some sort of physical contact (whether it be holding hands or otherwise) before he would start weeping; in his animal form, it was even less time, though he’d simply start crawling on whoever was closest and whining for affection. To pacify him, Minho had allowed Jonghyun to turn into a little snake and wrap around whatever limb he preferred at the moment for the remainder of the episode. Kibum knew admittedly little about plants and though he doubted that they had ‘heat’s per se, he wondered if it was a similar situation for him right now. There’s a full moon out and one of the five always seems to have some sort of episode during it, though so far never more than one of them at a time. Minho pulls away and Kibum thinks he’s taking another breather, but he moves to start kissing his cheek instead.

“I just missed you,” Minho whispers in between kisses. Kibum’s breath catches in his throat and his heart flutters when Minho repeats it again and again. Though he knows that he’s saying ‘I missed you,’ to Kibum’s it sounds more like ‘I love you.’

“I missed you too,” he says when Minho takes another breather. Minho smiles and continues on his way, meandering between Kibum’s lips and cheeks and jaw, going as far as his shoulders. Neither of them say anymore, choosing to simply enjoy the moment. Over time, the already slow kisses get longer and Kibum realizes that Minho’s starting to fall asleep. When it’s too much, Minho gives Kibum one more goodnight kiss before scooting down so that he can tuck his head into the crook of Kibum’s neck. Kibum leans to his the top of his head and is surprised when he somehow ends up with a mouth full of lavender. He calls a wind to gently swing the hammock, making sure that Minho falls asleep before trying to himself. Every once in a while, the wind comes in ever so slightly colder. It’s not enough to wake him up, but enough that Minho cuddles closer into Kibum’s hold. Within minutes, Kibum’s asleep as well, too blissed out to worry about what will happen overnight.

*

When Kibum wakes up, there’s light coming in through the canopy of trees. He looks down and sees Minho still sleeping soundly. He shifts and feels like he’s caught in something. Looking down at his limbs, he notices he’s covered in little thread-like tendrils of some sort of plant seemingly stemming from Minho. Obviously he wasn’t going to leave easily any time soon. He feels a pair of eyes watching him and looks up to see the lady standing next to the hammock. He tries to sit up to properly greet her, but she motions for him to stay still.

“Am I allowed to sleep here?” he asks timidly. He’s relieved when she laughs. “You can sleep anywhere you like, Zephyr. The others are a little more limited in their sleeping place of choice, but you in particular can sleep as you like where you like. It’s always been that way.”

He sighs in relief. Minho begins shifting around, and Kibum worries that he’s woken him, but he merely sighs and goes still again. Kibum watches as the woman walks over to the new plot and inspects it.

“He’s blooming this moon,” she states.

“Blooming?”

“Yes, blooming. This moon cycle, his power is going to be at its strongest and most volatile and he’s going to be at his neediest and most vulnerable. He goes through a blooming period every year, but it’s going to be incredibly strong this year since it’s happening at the end of summer. He’s going to need all four of you to help him cope with it. You have no orders until I come again.”

“Oh.” Kibum looks at Minho and kisses his forehead, fishing out the bits of lavender the inevitably form in his mouth. From where she stands, the lady laughs; it sounds almost fond.

“He called for you yesterday, didn’t he?”

“What?”

“When you woke up in the morning yesterday, you had no intention of coming over to this island, and yet you found yourself drawn to the island anyway, correct?”

Kibum nods, trying to figure out where she’s going with this.

“Out of the five of you, Minho alone has the power to pull life from where there is none. Though he’s limited to plants, he’s connected to all living matter. He doesn’t know how much power he holds and that’s why he was chosen to carry it. Though you have gone past the realm of the living, he’s still connected to the life you once held. The more time you spend on this island, the stronger his pull on you. That’s why yesterday, when he was alone and needed someone, he was able to tug your heart in his direction.”

Kibum sits silently. He hears what she’s telling him and part of him completely understand what she’s saying, but in another way he can’t comprehend what she means. She finally looks up at him and laughs again.

“You don’t have to understand now. When it comes time, you will know. Just remember. No matter what seems like is happening, it will pass. None of you are in danger. Except perhaps him.” she pauses, looks at the plot of flowers once more. “I’m going to call on the others. Stay close. Don’t leave him alone.”

With a flash of light, she’s gone. Out of the five of them, Kibum sees her the most, yet he still can’t fathom what or who she is; all there is to do is follow her orders. As he ponders what her instructions mean, he feels Minho wiggling around, huffing and sighing, signalling that he’s finally waking up. The tendrils slowly pull back and disappear by the time Minho opens his eyes. Kibum grabs his hand and starts kissing his knuckles as he waits for him to fully wake up and is pleased to find that he stops tasting lavender. Eventually Minho pulls his hand away so that he can rest it on Kibum’s cheek.

“How’d you sleep, morning glory?” Kibum asks. Minho doesn’t respond, though he smiles at the epithet. He pulls at Kibum’s face and cranes his neck, obviously trying for kisses, but is too far down to reach higher than his chin. He starts anyways, though there’s a distinctly disappointed feeling in the air. Kibum laughs and does his best to pull Minho up so that they’re properly face to face. Minho nuzzles his nose against Kibum’s.

“Are you blooming, my morning glory?”

It’s quiet when Minho wakes up. Sunbeams meander through the canopy of the top trees and by the time they reach him  in the hammock, they’ve been softened enough to just bring warmth without blinding him. He moves to stretch, taking advantage of the fact that he’s the only one in the hammock to move as he pleases. Normally he’d move gently around as to not wake or scare Jonghyun. Today, though, the hammock was his and his alone. Jonghyun had gone on a trip. Taemin and Kibum were curious as to if Jonghyun could reach their cloud cave, so Taemin had volunteered to travel along with him (to make little cloud resting places for him as he needs) since there were no storms that he needed to make that day. Kibum and Jinki had left on a trip a few days earlier; something about testing ways to make bigger waves and water spouts. For the first time in a long time, Minho was alone for the day. Though he had spent many years alone -- at least fifty, by Kibum’s guess -- the feeling was odd to him now. Swinging his legs over the side so he was sitting up, Minho inspected his garden. It had been a while since he had given it the full attention he used to, especially with Jonghyun’s antics and the added pressure of growing fruit for four people beyond himself.

Standing, he looked around again before walking along the perimeter to the waterhole closer to his hammock. Before, he had to collect rainwater in a cistern but now he didn’t have to. Jonghyun and Jinki, in an effort to give something back to Minho beyond just friendship, had worked together to build two wells and a whole collection of tunnels under the sand. Jonghyun had dug all the holes and tunnels and Jinki had brought the water. Under guidance of the lady, he’d learned how to enchant the tunnels so that any seawater that came into them was immediately desalinated into freshwater. It was no small miracle and it had greatly improved all of Minho’s already wonderful flowers. He took a moment to look at his reflection in the water. He noticed flowers in his hair and grabbed one to examine. It was a little zinnia: he must be more lonely than he thought.

After tending to plants he already had planned to examine that day, Minho looked around for something new to do. He noticed that one of the plots near his hammock was unhealthy. All the leaves were wrinkled and rolling in, the flower petals withered and falling, the stems weak and breaking. He tried to remember what he had grown there before. As he began clearing the plants out, breaking them down with his hands so that they would compost and help improve the soil for whatever he planted in their stead. Although he couldn’t talk to plants like Jonghyun could to animals, per se, he could still understand their needs and -- as Kibum referred to them -- feelings. The feelings contained in these plants were unmistakable: sadness, loneliness, hopelessness. It suddenly struck him where these plants were from.

A few years after being brought to the island, the lady had come to visit Minho. She inquired about his health, happiness, and handiwork. When he said that everything was fine beyond the obvious pains of being lonely, she became furious. Who was he to ask for a friend when she had provided everything for him. He had grown only one plot of flowers in those years, after spending most of his initial time building the tree and vine perimeter around the safer (i.e. mostly out of tide’s reach) part of the island. It had taken a month to grow his first proper flower and the other twenty or so blooms had taken almost as long. Each day he had to coax them to grow properly. Now that they were blooming wonderfully and growing strong, his labor of love had turned into his pride and joy. In her anger, the lady scorched everything within the confines of the trees. When she departed, Minho was left with nothing but ashes. He sank to his knees and tried to feel for any remaining roots though he knew there wouldn’t be any. He had marked the space for each flower with little seashells and as he moved from ring to ring he couldn’t help but cry. He didn’t think that a friend, even just a little bird, was too much to ask for, much less something to be punished for. As he made to his way to the last ring, the tears came stronger until he couldn’t move. He sobbed and wailed until his body couldn’t give anymore and he fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning, he was surrounded by a sea of red and black and white and blue flowers: anemone, syringa, bramble, asphodel, hemlock, belladonna, mourning bride, and more flowers had sprung up during the night. A garden of mourning had sprung up from the ashes of his garden of love and pride, watered -- literally -- by his tears.

It had been an easy day on the island. Everyone had gathered together for a very important project. Not storm making or adventuring or any of the normal sort. It was more of a cleaning mission. Somehow, Minho had sent all of his fruit bearing plants into overdrive and now he and Jonghyun had more than they could possibly eat to deal with. So of course they invited Taemin, Jinki, and Kibum over for a picnic of sorts. Jonghyun and Minho had made reed baskets for everything, pulling it all out on the beach. It was quite a bounty, even for five people with seemingly endless appetites. They had already started peeling tangerines by the time the others finally came around. They sat in a circle at first, each person picking one type of fruit: Jinki had apples; Jonghyun, strawberries; Kibum, persimmons; Taemin, bananas; and Minho kept the tangerines. Beside them lay more baskets which were less full, but had other fruits like peaches, lemons, and grapes. They’d peel and clean it off, then either eat it themselves or feed someone else.

When the sun finally started to set, they decided that they’d had enough to eat. Minho, Kibum, and Jonghyun decided to nap while Taemin and Jinki started playing around with the remaining fruit down in the surf. Jinki would pull up a tiny bit of water and use it to dramatically slice up an apple while juggling tangerines. Taemin, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to use lightning to cut fruit. After 10 attempts, all he had was fruit mash. It wasn’t often that the two of them just played for the sake of it.

When they woke up, Jonghyun, Minho, and Kibum watched Taemin and Jinki for a while. Since Jinki seemed to have a pretty good hold on Taemin’s attention, they figured they had at least a little while to be more affectionate before the Mr. kissing police started sending miniature storm clouds and other annoyances their way. They had figured out a system to make sure that none of them got left out when it was affection time. Minho, who was both the top donor and top recipient of affection, would sit in the middle. When Jonghyun or Kibum wanted his attention, they’d simply tap his shoulder or cheek and he’d oblige. Minho prided himself on trying to be as fair and equal as he could be. Today, Minho was on the receiving end of both Jonghyun and Kibum’s affections. At first, it went smoothly. Tap, tap. A kiss from Kibum. Tap, tap. A kiss from Jonghyun. Back and forth. Then, equal time became obviously not enough time.

“You know, I should be able to get two kisses for each one you get,” Kibum started, poking at Jonghyun. “You live with him so you have 24/7 access while I only get a few hours a week.”

“If you want more kisses then come visit more. It’s not like there’s a chance we won’t be here,” Jonghyun sneered.

“If you’re always here that just proves my point that you get more kisses overall so I should get more now!”

“If you want time to get more kisses than other people then maybe you should just set time aside to visit just Minho! But since this is the three of us time, you get one for each I get!”

Still sandwiched between the two of them, Minho sighed. They’d argued about this before at great length. It always made him laugh that the two would waste more than half their  affection time arguing about who should get kisses. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jinki gesturing that Taemin was losing interest in his games and that they were almost out of time. Tired of not getting the affection he wanted, Minho put an arm around each of them.

“I know you two like arguing about who deserves more kisses but I’m not quite feeling it today. I don’t know if you noticed, but I have two cheeks. Which is convenient since there’s two of you. Two cheeks, two of you, twice the kisses.” he explained, jokingly.

Jonghyun and Kibum looked at each other and laughed before shifting closer so they could each reach their respective cheek. Jinki was surprised at the sudden peace and dropped his tangerines. As he reached to pick them up, he heard Taemin mutter under his breath.

“What if neither of you kissed him and you guys just took another nap.”

Jinki started laughing and dropped his remaining tangerines. He tried to suppress it so the three could finish having their moment, but it was too much.

“Taemin, what did you say? Are you trying to rekill Jinki or something?” Kibum called, his face somewhere between concerned and amused.

Jonghyun, who had heard the comment, yelled “I mean the third option is we keep kissing and you take a nap.”

Taemin’s face turned red, though it was obvious he was pleased that he’d made Jinki laugh so hard. The sun finally set and it grew dark on the beach. Begrudgingly, Jinki, Taemin, and Kibum got up to leave. Jinki set off first after quick hugs for everyone. Taemin also said goodbye quickly but lingered, waiting for Kibum.

“What if I tried changing my wingspan? Do you think that would help?”

“I don’t know. Jonghyun, I said I see birds fly through my storms but that doesn’t mean that I write meticulous notes on how they fly and their measurements or anything. I just let them do their flying thing.”

Upon discovering that his power allowed him to turn into not just regular and realistic animals but also bizarre hybrids, Jonghyun had enlisted Taemin to help him figure out how to fly through storms. At the start of their brainstorming session, there had been many great ideas; as time went on however, the ideas had begun to dwindle. Now they were laying on the beach and watching seabirds fly past to try and get ideas. Minho watched them from further up the beach. If his counting was correct, this was the ninth time that Jonghyun had suggested a wingspan change.

“Whatever I’m just going to think storms and change into a bird and whatever I turn into is what I’m going to go with.” Jonghyun huffed, sitting up. He quickly changed forms, ending up as something between a petrel and a pelican. Both Taemin and Minho laughed at the sight, earning what was assumed to be a glare from bird Jonghyun. How someone could manage to be so expressive as a bird, Minho would never know.

“I’m sorry, Jonghyun, you should be able to see yourself. You’re literally the funniest and ugliest bird I’ve ever seen,” Taemin laughed as he stood, “Are you ready?”

Bird Jonghyun glared again then waved his head around in some semblance of a nod and shot off into the sky, Taemin trailing behind with clouds already forming around him.

Minho was a little upset that the two hadn’t said goodbye before they left, but it wasn’t the first time so he tried to let it go. In order to distract himself, he decided to try to grow something new. He had brought his book outside with him in anticipation of this. After flipping through for a while, he decided to try making some passionflowers. He’d always had trouble with purple flowers and the odd look of the flowers made it twice the challenge. He carefully set the book next to him in the sand and closed his eyes. Putting his hands to the ground, he tried to imagine what the flower was like, slowly moving upward to raise the flower. When he finished and he opened his eyes he was immediately met with disappointment. Not only was his purple passionflower not purple, but the trademark filament petals were too thick. It looked like some bizarre, mutant daisy. So he tried again. The flower came out the same, only with a pink hue to it. Again. Same flower. After 100 blossoms he was no closer to growing a purple flower, much less a passionflower. To try and mitigate his growing frustration, he moved away from his patch of disappointments and tried to grow roses. Roses were easy for him, especially since Kibum had started visiting more. He put his hands to the sand and pulled up his roses. When he examined them, they were malformed. The petals weren’t the right sizes, the colors were uneven, and some of them could barely stay upright. He tried again and again and again, with the same result. Beyond frustrated, he tried to force all the blossoms back down under the sand.

Jinki almost forgot that he wanted to go by the island until he ran into Kibum.

“Hey there, old man. I’m on my way to visit Minbabe, do you want to come too?” he asked. Jinki nodded and the two headed off. When they arrived, both were caught off guard by the sight of Minho on the beach. He was curled up with his head in his hands, with hundreds of dying flowers around him at his feet. Kibum reached the beach before Jinki did.

“My sweet summer blossom, what happened? Are you ok?” he asked,  kneeling next to Minho.  Minho looked up, obviously surprised at their appearance. It was plain that he’d been crying for a while and it made Jinki’s heart ache. He opened his mouth as if to explain what had happened, but the story was cut off by another sob. Jinki looked to Kibum and motioned towards the garden. Kibum took the hint, and together they coaxed Minho onto his feet, into the garden, and onto his hammock. They cradled him between them, with Jinki holding him and Kibum facing them. They let him cry for a while, knowing that if he was already this upset that any calm down tactics were useless. Eventually he calmed down but remained silent for a while.

“Jonghyun keeps finding new things to turn into and you all are always so amazed by it, especially Taemin now that Jonghyun can turn into birds. So I wanted to try to grow something new so that you guys would be excited at something I made too but it kept coming out all wrong and ugly. So I tried making roses because I know I can make those pretty and you like those but they came out wrong and ugly too,” he trailed off, fresh tears running down his cheeks.

“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely. You don’t have to wear yourself out with bigger and fancier and more flowers to keep us interested. There’s no interest quota that you have to meet for us to keep visiting. You’re interesting enough without all that.”

Minho stayed quiet, brows furrowed in concentration and tears still occasionally slipping down his cheek. Jinki shifted so he could run his fingers through Minho’s hair while Kibum held one of Minho’s hands between his own. They laid there, Jinki humming and Kibum pressing small kisses into Minho’s knuckles. After a while, Kibum began shifting around, eventually falling out of the hammock. He sprang back to his feet before the other two could ask if he was ok.

“I have to go run an errand really quick but I’ll be back as quick as I can, ok?” He bent over and kissed Minho’s cheek then Jinkis forehead and then ran towards the gate. “I’ll be quicker than the wind I promise!”

There was a sudden breeze through the garden, indicating that Kibum had left. Minho began shifting around.

“You don’t have to roll over if you’re already comfortable, sprout,” Jinki whispered. Minho settled back as he had been and sighed.

“What had you been trying to make, sprout? I used to know a lot of land plants but I’ve been at sea so long that I only really know ones that grow on coastlines now.”

“They’re called passionflowers. I think my mom used to like them but I can only barely remember them.”

“Is that why you struggled with them? Because you don’t have the memory of them?”

“No, for some reason purple flowers are hard for me and then they have really weird parts to their flowers so I knew it was going to be hard from the start but usually I can kind of manage to figure something out after a few tries.”

“Are you a strong swimmer?”

“What?”

“You said you lived on the coast before, are you a strong swimmer?”

“I think I was? I haven’t really gone swimming since. I remember being in swimming competitions.”

“I found this weird plain of seagrass and I thought maybe you’d like to see it, but you’ll probably have to swim to some degree to get to it.”

“How long will it take to get there?”

“Not long.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.”

After maneuvering their way out of the hammock, they made their way to the beach. Jinki hurried into the water out of habit. He noticed that Minho wasn’t walking next to him and turned round. Minho was standing on the beach, staring out at the water.

“Are you sure you want to come out, sprout?”

“Yeah. I remembered the feeling of having to hold my breath during swim meets, so I’m trying to get some photosynthesis stuff going so that I don’t have to totally rely on breathing while we’re swimming.”

“Oh.”

As Jinki watched, green patches began to appear on Minho’s skin. When he was ready, Minho joined Jinki in the surf.

“So I’ll probably turn mostly to my water form, just out of habit, but I promise I won’t leave you. If you hold my hand, I think that’ll stay in human form but it may just be a ghost hand so don’t freak out.”

Minho nodded and they headed out. Jinki indicated when it was time to start swimming and true to his word, all but his hand quickly turned to seawater. Minho tried to balance breathing and not-breathing. He pulled Jinki’s ghost hand to the surface every few minutes and Jinki stilled the water where they rested so it was easier for Minho to breathe. When they got to the plain, it was teeming with multiple schools of fish and plenty of crabs. They pulled to the surface and Jinki made an effort to go back to his human form, at least above the waist.

“There’s so much!” Minho exclaimed.

“I know. It’s not uncommon for the meadows to be so big area wise, but it’s weird how dense it is.” Jinki explained.

“Is it really grass?”

“They’re really plants. I don’t think it’s proper grass though.”

“Weird.”

“If you want, you can swim around and feel the grass and everything as you want. I’ll stay close by and watch if you start struggling. When you’re done and want to go back, just come back up to this spot on the edge and stay up and I’ll come back over for you.”

Minho nodded, looking down at the water. He took a big breath and headed back down. He swam to a somewhat unoccupied spot before reaching out. It wasn’t as slimey as he was expecting but it still had the pliable feeling characteristic of aquatic plants. Taemin had asked him once if he could talk to plants, and while he couldn’t necessarily talk to them, there was definitely a connection that was unique to him. He moved between the surface and different spots in the meadow, trying to feel out as many plant as he could. After a few trips, he started feeling tired. He hadn’t seen Jinki in a while and thought about going to the meeting spot just to make sure he was still here. On the other hand, the seagrass was much softer than he had imagined and the thought of a nap crossed his mind. He let himself sink down until he was as close to laying on the grass as he could manage. Just before he closed his eyes, however, he felt himself being lifted up. When he broke the surface, Jinki was waiting.

“Are you okay? If you’re tired you should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t really realize it? It just kind of hit me all of a sudden and the grass is so much softer than I thought it would be.” MInho explained.

“Well, let’s just get you back home just to be safe. Do you think you can swim back or do you need me to carry you?”

Minho paused, trying to assess his state. He was definitely tired. The wind picked up around them, making a fair amount of wake.

“I’m just going to carry you, sprout. If I don’t bring you back home in one piece, Kibum will have more than words waiting for me.”

Minho nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. Jinki laughed, then dipped under the water. Minho felt himself being picked up again and slowly but surely they started back in the direction they had come. Somewhere along the way he managed to fall asleep and Jinki made sure to prop him up enough above the water that he wouldn’t start drowning again. When they got near the island, Jinki woke him up again, encouraging him to dip below the water. Kibum was waiting on the shore, a big bag laying next to him on the beach. Jinki turned back to his full human form, helping Minho walk up the beach. When they got to the shore, Jinki stayed back, waiting until Kibum had a hold of Minho.

“So do you ever actually sleep in your hammock or is it all for show?” Jonghyun asked. He was arranging his sleeping spot. It was somewhere between a nest and a bed, consisting of a blanket and whatever soft pieces of feather and flower he came across. He had a proper nest in the tree near Minho’s hammock, a result of three days stuck as a canary, but preferred this spot. Minho looked up from where he was preparing flower bulbs at the centerstone.  

“I actually sleep there a lot. I don’t really sleep when I’m a plant. I mean, I don’t know what it’s like to turn into an animal but consciousness is really different as a plant. Like, I’m still aware of myself but I don’t sense things in the same way. But when I’m a person and need sleep that’s definitely the spot for it.”

“Where did you even get it in the first place?”

Minho stopped working. He stared off into the distance with a focused look on his face. Jonghyun usually knew better than to ask Minho about how things came to be but sometimes curiosity just got the better of him. Little forget-me-nots began sprouting where daisies had once been in Minho’s hair; obviously something was coming to him.

“The lady brought it for me. I can’t sleep on the ground anymore so she brought it so I could sleep safe,” Minho said suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper.

“The lady? Do you mean your mom?”

“No. I don’t remember having a mom.”

“But Minho, you just said your mom brought it.” “No, I said the lady brought it.”

The two sat in silence. Jonghyun was puzzled by Minho’s explanation but it was obvious he was too far gone into some memory to offer anything better. After a while he tried a different approach.

“Why can’t you sleep on the ground, Minho? You’re fine in the ground as a plant.”

“That’s how I got here. I slept on the ground and then I was here.”

The far away look in Minho’s eyes began to worry Jonghyun. He’d seen the other get mentally far away before, once sitting motionless for over two hours when Taemin had asked where he’d gotten the blanket that Jonghyun was now using, but it was never this bad. He stood, looking for some way to get his mind back to the island.

“I’ve never been in a hammock. How do you even get into it?” he asked.

The small blossoms in Minho’s hair began falling away and he seemed to snap back to the present. He looked up at Jonghyun.

“You’ve never been in a hammock?”

Jonghyun shook his head. Minho stood and walked over to it, waving at Jonghyun to follow. He sat in it while Jonghyun was looking away and began swinging with a smug face. Jonghyun stared at the boy and the swing with an annoyed look. Minho stood and gestured for Jonghyun to try. Jonghyun walked up to it, tried sitting like it was a chair, and immediately found himself on the ground. Hammock 1, Jonghyun 0. He stood and tried again, opting for a bellyflop attempt. Again, he found himself on the ground. Hammock 2, Jonghyun 0. He tried again, trying to carefully lay himself into it. Hammock 3, Jonghyun 0. He glared at Minho who was unable to hold back his giggles. Again and again and again he tried. Minho joined him on the ground, his fits of laughter only fueling Jonghyun’s anger against the hammock. Somewhere around the 8th try, Minho finally came to his aid. “Jonghyun, stop,” he said in between gasps for air. “Please for the love of everything don’t try anything else. Give me a second and I’ll show you how to get in.”

Jonghyun stood and waited for Minho to collect himself. While he was angry at the hammock, he was also starting to hurt from falling on the ground. Damn Minho’s height and apparent need to sleep above ground. When Minho stood, he took Jonghyun’s hand.

“Ok, so first off, you never want to try any of the ways you just tried to get in. Congratulations on finding more ways to fall out that I knew were possible.”

Jonghyun pulled his hand away.

“Ok so then show me how to get in you tall jerk.”

“I was getting there, ok? If you wouldn’t look so funny falling out I would have already. I didn’t expect you to keep trying to get in.”

“Just show me how to get in your damn hammock, plant boy.”

Minho adjusted himself so he was standing with the hammock at his back, arms holding onto the top. He pulled Jonghyun beside him.

“So you want to stand like this and then hold on and then on the count of three we’re going to sit and let it swing forward.” he explained.

He let Jonghyun count. It took two attempts to get the timing right, but they made it into the hammock. They let it swing, Minho using his legs to keep it going.

“So you sleep sitting up like this?” Jonghyun asked when he finally got comfortable.

“No, I sleep like this.” Minho swung his legs up into the hammock and laying down, taking Jonghyun by surprise.

“Hey! That’s no fair! How do I get my legs up in here?!”

“With how short they are probably with less difficulty than me.”

The comment earned Minho a smack on the leg.

“Hold on to the sides and just swing your legs.” After a few halted attempts, Jonghyun got his legs in. There was a silence between them as they both enjoyed the gentle sway.

***

Kibum hadn’t been to the island in over a week. Normally, he had no issue going long periods of time without returning to places. Minho’s island was different. Mainly because Minho was there, but there was also some indescribable energy he picked up there. He kicked up a wind and decided to pay a visit. It was midday so it was more likely that both Minho and Jonghyun (who was prone to explore the air and sea near the island) would be home. Seeing the empty beach, he headed directly for the garden. He struggled momentarily with the guard vines but made his way inside. When he didn’t see anyone in there he called out.

“Hello?”

He was shushed by someone unseen. Then he noticed the hand waving from the hammock. He walked over and realized it was Jonghyun’s.

“Jonghyun? Where’s Minho I-”

“Shhhh!” Jonghyun cut him off. “You’ll wake him up.”

“I’ll what??”

Jonghyun waved him over. As he came closer, Kibum realized both of them were in the hammock. How Jonghyun had been able to wave was somewhat of a surprise with the way Minho was clinging to the smaller boy. Minho was still asleep with his head tucked under Jonghyun’s chin, small bits of lavender growing in his hair.

“I thought you two slept on opposite sides of the garden?” he whispered, pointing to where Jonghyun’s nesting pile was.

“We do.”

“Then why are you both in the hammock?” “I asked how Minho was able to sleep in it and he was showing me how to get into it.”

“And then?” “We just fell asleep.”

Kibum gave Jonghyun a suspecting look.

“I’m telling you, Kibum. This nap was not planned.”

“So why aren’t you asleep then?”

“I got my two hours, I’m good to go. Plant boy over here likes sleep a little more than me though so here I stay.”

Kibum laughed, then immediately covered his mouth. Minho shifted and began making noise.

“Is he awake?”

“No, he just sleep talks.”

They fell into silence, letting Minho fall back asleep.

“He seems nice to sleep next to.”

“He actually is. Well, as long as you’re fine with having absolutely zero personal space. But I can’t remember the last time I slept this well.”

Kibum sighed.

“Listen, Kibum. If you’re this jealous, you could always stop by a different day and complain that you didn’t sleep well. I mean, you’ve already taught him hand holding, hugging, and calling people affectionate terms. Might as well reinforce that napping together is nice.”

“I’m going now, Jonghyun. Enjoy your hammock lesson turned nap.”