To Each Their Own

The two boys were sitting on the couch, as usual. Xiumin, the caring and involved pixie that he was, was attempting to talk to Chen about their four friends venturing out, while the other boy was giggling, seeing the situation in a very different light. In his opinion it was very hard not to find the current situation rather hilarious. And he was making this well known, much to the chagrin of Xiumin who was trying to get Chen to take this seriously for once.

 

"So you're saying, Kai, Chanyeol, Kris and Luhan are all on 'excursions'." Chen wiggled his eyebrows while Xiumin tried to explain what he was worried about. 

 

"Yes, but-"

 

"Finally-ing-ly!" Chen threw his head back and laughed. "I was begin to worry about Kai, he was surrounded by hot chicks, not to mention this." Chen circled his face and Xiumin let out a loud sigh as his boyfriend continued. "But he hasn't got laid in like, months. And Chanyeol's never even done it once."

 

"Actually he has, but-"

 

"What?!" Chen sat up adn stared at Xiumin. "Channie's not a ?!"

 

"Shut up!" Xiumin hissed and looked around, sure Kai wasn't here, but he could come back. "And no, he's not but that not important right now."

 

"Not important? Not important?! Xiu, this is what I've spent my life waiting for."

 

"I can't believe you were worried about someone else's mental state." Muttered Xiumin. "And don't ask me about Chanyeol, you know he's gone out with plenty of girls, he was thinking about it one time and-"

 

"Xiu, I didn't know you were into that." Chen siddled up to him and smirked slightly. "If you want to see something naughty, how about you look in my mind right now?"

 

"I'm scared to." Said Xiumin flicking Chen's forehead. "And I did not 'see' anything he was just having regrets-"

 

"Hashtag regrets, Yeol, I feel ya." Chen fell down into Xiumin's laps and looked up at him, blinking innocently. "Would you forgive my sins my love?"

 

"I will if you stop interrupting me and let me talk." Xiumin snapped and Chen sat back up and looked into Xiumin's eyes before miming zipping his lips and throwing the key away. 

 

"My jips aeee selwaed." He mumbled and Xiumin rolled his eyes. 

 

"Let them stay that way until I'm done then." He took in a breath. "As I was saying, don't you find it suspicious that the prince of vampires, one of the strongest alphas and..." Xiumin looked around. "Well, you know, Kris all going out at the same time?"

 

"Uhmhumo." Chen shrugged and Xiumin scowled. 

 

"Well I do. Kris's always gone out with girls but he seemed pretty serious, he's never stayed at someone's house before, it's always been a hotel. And Kai...he's never even woken up earlier than 10 o'clock on a weekend much less got out of the house, and Luhan's arranged marriage was all very sudden. And to a fairy? A vampire and a fairy? What sort of mariage it that? And there's some sort of uprising in the Underworld, and the prince of the mermaids has apparently gone missing. Still don't find that weird?"

 

"How tiy ow?" Chen titled his head to the side and Xiumin nodded. 

 

"You're right. You should ask the council."

 

"What the ?" Chen yelled and Xiumin shushed him. 

 

"Minseok." Chen hissed. "I've spent half of my life running from them. They've finally forgotten about me, asking them something'll put me right back on their radar."

 

"If you ask Junmyeon-"

 

"I don't want to talk to him." Chen looked away and Xiumin hit him over the head. 

 

"You said you'd stop interrupting."

 

"Owww."

 

"And don't call me Minseok." Xiumin shook his head. "You know I'd ask but..."

 

"I know, I know." Chen was uncharacteristically serious. "How do you know all this anyways?"

 

Xiumin shrugged. "The winds carries things."

 

Chen decided not to ask pausing to take it all in, and his frown deepened. "Wait the prince of mermaids? What are you talking about? The underworld's uprising?"

 

Xiumin nodded. "I heard the prince gone missing, and then I saw him, he was in the underworld and it was falling apart." Xiumin shivered. "It was terrifing."

 

Chen incled closer to Xiumin and looked into his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

 

"Being half-fairy has its upsides you know." Xiumin grinned cheekily. "Clairvoyance is one of them."

 

"You mean you can see the future?!" Chen stared at him wide-eyed, he knew his boyfriend was powerful, he could read his mind for goodness sake.

 

"Yes, I see things, from all different places. It doesn't happen very often but I'll see thins in my dreams."

 

"Well that could just be a dream." Chen said condescnedling. "The underworld collapsing and mermaid prince? Aren't mermaids exinct? Last I heard the last one died in the captivity of the Council."

 

"It wasn't a dream. I know what I saw." Xiumin said frowning at Chen. 

 

"Xiu, Xiu, come on now." Chen lightly ran his fingers over Xiumin's forehead before quickly giving him a kiss. "You saw something in your dream, what makes you think it wasn't a dream?"

 

"It felt real." Even as the words left his mouth Xiumin could tell how weak his argument was and he was slowly beggining to think Chen was right, he'd never doubted his ability before, but his dreams, well had there ever been any consequences of them?

 

He'd dreamt of an angel falling to the ground, of a demon bound in chains, of vampires gatherting in a cemetry and now of the underworld kingdom of Dark creatures crumbling as a mermaid thrashed in the fiery waters, a shiny silver crown melting into his light blue hair. 

 

But had he ever seen proof it'd happened? Seeing people's thought was one thing, but having visions of actual events that could possibly happen in the future, that wasn't something a mere pixie could do right? Maybe, Chen was right. It was just dreams. 

 

"I suppose." 

 

Still, there was a small part of Xiumin that was telling him that this wasn't just a mere dream. 

 

"Xiu, mermaids aren't here anymore. Why were you so convinced that it was real if you were dreaming of a mermaid? And how could you hear about one dissapearing? The last one died more than seventy years ago."

 

Xiumin didn't answer. 

 

Truthfully, he did not believe mermaids were extinct. At least not completely. To him, the Council was nothing but liars. They had lied to him about what he'd been doing, they could easily lie about this. Why would they lie? He had something of an idea. Mermaid scales had magical properties, they could heal disease, elongate life, but of course it was illegal to kill them for that. Not that that stopped them from being hunted. And if they were thought to be extinct, then it would so very easy for the council to pick them off, one by one, and then sell the scales, for obscene amounts of money. Very easy indeed. 

 

"Xiu, stop thinking. I can hear your mind churning." Chen wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You know what we should do? We should follow suit and go out, like you said, everyone else is."

 

Xiumin opened his mouth but then closed it. Honestly, he felt hurt that Chen hadn't taken him seriously, and he'd wanted to push, but the embarassement of how outlandish it all sounded when it wasn't in his head made him aquiesce and mellowed his resolve. Because there was no one Xiumin doubted more than himself. He'd been wrong about so many things so many times. He'd been wrong about the council. He'd thought that scanning the minds of vampire, werewolf, fairy, any supernatural ambassadors and telling the council if they were planning rebellion would help maintain peace. That it would mean less people would get hurt. That is until he saw what the council did to those who rejected their control. 

 

It had been a massacre. A massacre Xiumin shouldn't have seen. But one of his friends on the council had been sent out to the vampire coven, and Xiumin had snuck along with him. He been told to wait in the car, and not to look. But of course he had. And he saw what they did. They killed all of them. Sure, one could say seven vampires weren't that many. But those seven vampires were seven lives lost. Seven dead. Seven murdered. When the ten council members had returned, his friend included, Xiumin had smiled at them, hiding the sick feeling in his stomach, and as soon as they had returned to their headquarters he'd ran to his room where he'd spent the rest of the afternoon throwing up. 

 

He'd run away the next day. He'd hadn't asked the council, he'd seen what they could do, and he wasn't stupid, he knew they wouldn't let someone with his abilities leave. He didn't know if they'd looked for him, or even they still were he'd just ran. And somehow, five years later, he'd found himself here, and he'd settled, made friends, fallen in love. Did he really want to give all that up because of a freakishly realistic dream? 

 

"I'm sorry." He said softly and Chen blinked. 

 

"What? Are you rejecting me?" Chen pouted and Xiumin laughed. 

 

"No, let's go."

 

Chen knew what Xiumin meant. He kissed his boyfriend softly and took his hand, pulling him off the sofa and walking to the door. 

 

But Xiumin still wasn't convinced and he pulled out his phone as he and Chen walked down the road. He quickly sent a few texts to Luhan. He knew Luhan was of the same mind of him, and in fact, Luhan had often spoke as if mermaids were still alive, even as if he knew them.

 

_____________________________________

 

 

Seventeen minutes. 

 

Seventeen minutes was how long it took for Baekhyun to come to his senses. By then it was already too late and he was sitting at some rickety table in cheap café, a coffee in front of him as Chanyeol grinned happily at him. 

 

"I missed you." Said Chanyeol and Baekhyun blinked. 

 

"Pardon?" 

 

"I missed you." Chanyeol smiled brightly at him while Baekhyun stared at him. 

 

"It hasn't even been one day since I last saw you."

 

"I still missed you though. Even if it was just one night." Chanyeol suddenly straightened like an idea had just come to him and he smiled widely at Chanyeol. "You should just stay at my house than I wouldnt-"

 

"That's why." Baekhyun shook his head. "I knew there was something about you."

 

Baekhyun pointed his finger at Chanyeol with narrowed eyes. "You only want me for my body."

 

"What?" Chanyeol balked and Baekhyun nodded with a pensive look on his face.

 

"I knew it."

 

"No!" Chanyeol looked stricken while Baekhyun muffled his laughter at the boy's expression. "No, Hyunnie no, no, I don't! I didn't mean it like that! I just wanted to be closer to you..that sounds wrong, it's fine you don't have to, you stay at your house. And I swear it's not like that!"

 

Baekhyun laughed loudly and Chanyeol shut his mouth. 

 

"Hey!" He looked like he was about to protest but he joined in with Baekhyun's laughing instead, merely pleased to have been the instigator of Baekhyun's laughter instead of his annoyance. 

 

"You're too easy." Said Baekhyun giggling while Chanyeol only smiled in response. 

 

"When it comes to you maybe." He winked. "But don't worry, my mind and body are only yours to use as you wish."

 

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?"

 

Chanyeol pouted. "That was supposed to make you fall deeply and irrovacbly in love."

 

"You're the easy one, not me. I'm going to make it harder for you."

 

"That line usually works." Muttered Chanyeol and Baekhyun couldn't help but chuckle. 

 

"You get around then?"

 

"Not anymore, my hearts is yours and yours only."

 

"At least you're trying." Said Baekhyun while Chanyeol pouted cutely as his usually trusty flirtations bounced right off. 

 

"Well I am getting somewhere. You're talking to me now aren't you?"

 

"Only because you're bribing me." Countered Baekhyun. 

 

Chanyeol looked affronted me. "I'm not bribing you."

 

"If I talk to you for a month, you'll leave me alone." Baekhyun reminded him and Chanyeol suddenly grinned at him. 

 

"Only if you don't fall for me."

 

"I'm not worried."

 

"Um, are you going to order?" A waitress hesitantly asked and Baekhyun immediately realized he'd been so absored with arguing with the boy in front of him he'd completely forgotten where they were. 

 

"Yes, I'll have this." Chanyeol pointed to something and then looked to Baekhyun who merely shook his head. 

 

"I'm fine thank you."

 

"Really? Did you already have breakfast or something?"

 

"Yes, that's it. I'm not really hungry." Baekhyun smiled hesitantly at Chanyeol who seemed to be thinking about something. "Don't let that stop you."

 

"Okay then. That's it." Chanyeol handed the menu to the waitress who took it with a bow and went to relay the order. 

 

"So Baekhyun." Chanyeol leant back and folded a leg over another. "Tell me about yourself."

 

The vampire raised an eyebrow. "Is this a date or an interview?"

 

"So it is date." Chanyeol chuckled to himself before clearing his throat and settling on a more serious expression. "But really, I don't know anything about you."

 

"I'd rather it stay that way." Baekhyun muttered but Chanyeol only smiled. 

 

"I'll start. My name's Park Chanyeol."

 

There was silence for a few minutes. 

 

"That's it?" Asked Baekhyun.

 

"I have been told I sometimes come on too strong so I'm dialling it back." Admitted Chanyeol and Baekhyun shook his head exasperrated. 

 

Really, he'd never met anyone as weird and random as this human in his entire life. Only Tao could compare to how, easy-going and relaxed his attitude was. He shrugged well, there was no harm in chatting was there? Truthfully, he was having a little bit of fun sparring with the human, Kyungsoo and Sehun were both too blunt and Tao was too cute to tease. It was nice talking with someone different from his usual small circle of friends. 

 

"Byun Baekhyun." He said quietly and Chanyeol grinned but didn't say anything in response, beggining to understand that Baekhyun was a lot shyer than he let on. 

 

"I'm 18."

 

Baekhyun hesitated. "17."

 

"You sure?" Chanyeol joked and Baekyun nodded. 

 

"Okay then, um..." The human paushed to think. 

 

"Chanyeol!" Suddenly someone called out and Chanyeol looked around, surprised. 

 

"Luhan?" He questioned, shocked to see the small boy running towards him and panicked look on his face. 

 

"Chanyeol! Have you seen Kris?" The small boy ran up to their table and panted out his question. 

 

"No, not since yesterday..." Chanyeol trailed off while Baekhyun looked at Luhan curiously. "Why?"

 

"Ah !" Chanyeol looked shocked to hear the boy swear. "He's really done it this time."

 

"What?"

 

"Kris why? How could he be so stupid?! Gone and kidnapped that kid just because he's the mermaid prince? What the was he thinking, is he trying to start a war?!"

 

"What did you just say?" Baekhyun stared at Luhan with wide-eyes who finally seemed to realize he was there and he quickly smiled akwardly. 

 

"Oh it's nothing, I just think one of my friends has lost his mind and capture the prince of mermaids, hahahaha." Luhan laughed hoaresly while Chanyeol looked worriedly at him. 

 

"I'm not sure it's Kris that's lost his mind."

 

Baekyun suddenly jerked up and spun to glare at Luhan. “This Kris...where is he? And what has he done with my friend?"