people have always told me to go outside, get fresh air, take in the sun

i got a job and they have me outside taking photos for several hours

it's actually making me sick
my eyes don't adjust to light, i physically ache
i think i need to tell them i cant do the outdoor photography anymore

my system is just kinda weird
water and exercise make me sick too

            The front door opened after some frantic knocking and bell ringing.

           “This probably isn’t the smartest of ideas considering what he said he did, but I heard Yixing was here. Yifan needs help.”

           “You got that right…” Chanyeol growled.

           “Is Suho– did Yifan really–” The words caught in his throat and Jongdae couldn’t finish his thoughts as he and Chanyeol put Kris on the fainting chair.

           Yixing walked out of the kitchen with Luhan.

           “That worked a little faster than anticipated.” Luhan mumbled around a cookie.

           Yixing went back in the kitchen and got a glass of water. He quickly threw it on Kris who woke up coughing and sputtering.

           Kris sat up still coughing. He wiped his face with his hands and smeared blood all over.

           “Go wash your hands and face Yifan, you look like .” Yixing frowned.

           Jongdae helped him to the bathroom. “Why are you still here, Jong?” Kris asked quietly.

           “Get it through that thick skull of yours Yifan. I.Love.You. I don’t know how many times I can say it before it sinks in.” He said as he scrubbed Kris’ face clean with a paper towel. “I’m not leaving.”

           Kris pinned Jongdae against a wall and his voice got dangerously low. “Even if it’s possible I could snap and kill you too?” He asked with his cheek rubbing his smaller lover’s. He was trying to sound threatening, but Jongdae knew him too well.

           “I’m going to have to trust you.” He turned his head and kissed Kris hard.

           He kissed Jongdae back with all of his pent up emotion. He felt there would be a time soon where he couldn’t do this. “We should stop here…” Kris panted as Jongdae sunk his teeth into Kris’ lower lip.

           “You’re probably right…” He rested his forehead against Kris’ collarbone. They were both breathing hard.

           They walked out of the bathroom and everyone looked at them expectantly.

           “Kinda figured the doomed man would want more alone time with the one he loves than that.” Luhan grumbled, nibbling on a jammie dodger.

           “Who are you… exactly?” Kris asked.

           “*cough*GRIMREAPER*cough*” Yixing said loud enough for Kris to hear.

           “… Oh… Here for Suho?” Kris asked uneasily.

           Luhan pulled out his phone and scrolled through the notes, “Nope.” It was a cheerful sound and he popped the P.

           “Then why are you here?” Kris asked.

           “As a favour to a very old friend…” Their conversation was interrupted by a scream of pain from upstairs. Kris sat on the fainting couch, clutching his head.

           “What’s wrong?” Jongdae whispered.

           “My head is killing me.” Kris said as he clenched his eyes shut. He curled into a ball with his head in Jongdae’s lap. He tried to cover his ears to drown out the screaming. “He’s… I did that…” He whimpered before pressing his palms to his ears harder in hopes of dulling the sound.

           Yixing ran upstairs and threw open the door to the bedroom. “Why is he screaming?” Tao asked, about to open the door.

           “It’s painful isn’t it?”

           “What?” Tao asked.

           “Having your soul forced back into your body, I would guess it would hurt like a .” Yixing said.

           “How do we make him feel better?”

           “I’ve never actually been involved in a resurrection before. I’ll just try to move things around inside where they belong.”

           They weren’t sure if Joonmyun stopped screaming because his throat had given out or because it stopped hurting as much. Tao was pretty sure it was because he was only capable of  so much because it looked like he was still trying to scream but no noise was coming out.

           “Sit against the headboard, Zitao, I need to put him in your lap.”

           Tao did as he was told and Yixing effortlessly lifted Joonmyun to lay him face down. He maneuvered Joonmyun’s arms so they would wrap around Tao’s waist.

           It looked like Yixing was giving a back massage to Joonmyun with the way he was smoothing out the man’s back. Eventually Joonmyun relaxed and his breathing started to slow.

           “If you can, leave him like this, it’d probably be best. I need to go rummage through Yifan’s head to figure out what possessed him. I know that he wouldn’t do anything like this if he could help it. This is tearing him apart.”

           Tao frowned as the medic left and he looked down at Joonmyun. He ran his fingers through his hair. “I made the right decision didn’t I? It was only fair… He took your life. He should give it back.”

            Joonmyun snuggled into his mate’s warmth.

           Downstairs, Yifan still had his hands covering his ears. He was crying, sobbing and whimpering, not caring who saw him. Chanyeol was even starting to feel bad for him.

           “Ok Yifan. Time to see what got into your head.” Yixing said quietly as he knelt next to the fainting couch.

           “Carbuncle.” Baekhyun said vacantly.

           Yixing froze with his hand centimeters away from Yifan’s head.

           “I’ll go put a kettle on.” Luhan chirped and walked back into the kitchen.

           There was a knock on the door.  “I heard Zitao… I was delayed, I came as quickly as I could. What happened?” Minseok asked breathlessly when Yixing answered the door.

           “One of Zitao’s pet humans got possessed and killed his mate.” Luhan said as stuck his head out of the kitchen.

           “Joonmyun’s dead?” Minseok exclaimed in disbelief. Kris started to wail. “That shouldn't even be possible!”

           “Not dead anymore.” Luhan sang as he turned around to go rummage for more snacks in the kitchen.

           “Luhan… If you’re not here for Joonmyun, what the hell are you here for?” Minseok asked as he took one of the cookies he was offering. His tone was accusing. Bitter. “You don’t do casual visits.”

           “KimJoonmyun was never mine to take, I came to guide KimJoonmyun and Zitao back from my office. So now I’m just sticking around to see if I can help any.”

  Minseok snorted and rolled his eyes before the psychopomp turned to Baekhyun, “Are you certain it’s a carbuncle?”

           Baekhyun nodded timidly while looking at the floor. “It tried to drown me and wouldn’t let me wake up.”

           “What did it look like?” Minseok asked. The others crowded around Baekhyun to hear his uncharacteristically quiet voice.

           “It had a jewel in its head … Not sure if it was a man or a woman … Its skin was kinda brassy and it was so cold … Like metal.” He was thinking hard and his eyebrows were drawn together.

           “What made you think it was a carbuncle?”  Luhan asked, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

           “I…” He looked confused. “It…”

           “He said it in his weird creepy talk,” Chanyeol interrupted, “He hasn’t been wrong yet. He even knew Joonmyun would die.” Baekhyun nodded while looking at the floor again.

           “I think it planted the idea in Baekhyun’s head.” Yixing said.

           “Carbuncles look like small animals.” Luhan spat popcorn as he spoke.

           “They don’t have brass skin,” Minseok said, looking at the psychopomp in disgust and stealing a handful of his popcorn. The redhead looked at him indignantly.

           “Did you guys acquire anything new? Possibly made of brass?” Yixing asked Jongdae.

           “The lamp– Yifan bought it at Suho’s yard sale.” Jongdae tried to soothe the shaking man on his lap by running his fingers through his hair, “He was so happy to buy something so old for so little, and then it was like he forgot all about it. I should have noticed something was wrong usually he would gush about something like that for at least a couple months.”

           “Bring the lamp.” Luhan said sternly.

           “But–” He gestured to the trembling man on his lap.

           “I’ll work on his headache, you bring the lamp.” Yixing said.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

           Tao patiently ran his fingers through Joonmyun’s hair, never moving from the position Yixing put him in. Yixing went back and forth between Kris and Joonmyun for nearly two days. He hooked the smaller man up to an IV so he wouldn’t dehydrate. He tried to make Kris as comfortable as possible until he could figure out what was wrong with him.

           Upstairs, Joonmyun was starting to stir. “Joonmyun?” Tao looked at him to see if his mate was awake or just moving a little. His eyes fluttered open and they locked eyes for a moment.

           “Joonmyun? How do you feel, angel?”

           “Like someone ripped out my throat,” He whispered hoarsely before coughing. “Everything hurts…”

           “Would you like some water?” Joonmyun nodded. Tao conjured up a glass of water and Joonmyun frowned.

           “How did you do that? What’s the trick?”  He croaked. Tao raised an eyebrow.

           “You remember what I am, don’t you?” He asked as Tao helped him sit up and held the cup for him to drink. He took a few long sips and started talking quietly.

           “You’re Tao. You’re my boyfriend.” Tao frowned and Joonmyun thought he saw his eyes almost tear up for a moment.

           “Yixing!” Tao shouted in the direction of the door.

           “Who is Yixing? Oh , I’ve lost my memory haven’t I?”

           “You haven’t met Yixing… not while conscious, but I do want to say you’ve lost something while coming back.” He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears while tapping Joonmyun’s temple. Joonmyun snuggled his face into the genie’s chest.

           Yixing came in slowly “What’s wrong?”

           “He has blank spots in his memory.” Tao sounded distressed.

           “Ok Joonmyun, where are you right now?” Yixing asked as he checked Joonmyun’s pulse.

           “… I don’t know.” He leaned against Tao and looked around the room.

           “Who are you leaning against?” the medic asked as he flashed a light into Joonmyun’s eyes.

           “My boyfriend, Tao.” Yixing nodded and felt Joonmyun’s throat.

           “Is that it? What else can you tell me about him? Where did you meet?” He asked as he looked in Joonmyun’s ear.

           “Uh… that night club. We spent the whole time talking… uh… He followed me home?” He looked like he was thinking really hard, “That’s not right– How did you end up in my bed the next morning?”

           Tao kissed Joonmyun’s temple. “Do you remember what happened after I woke you up that morning?”

           “You and me… we uh… In the shower we …”

           “I mean before that, love…” He pulled up his sleeve and showed Joonmyun the scar on his wrist. “Do you remember what you did?” He asked in his mate’s ear. He took Joonmyun’s hand and made him trace the scarred skin around his neck.

           Joonmyun’s breath hitched.

           “Do you remember?” Tao asked softly.

           “Do you remember what happened to you?” Yixing asked. “I mean why you’re injured like this…”

           “I… Kris– oh crap– Kris! There was something controlling him! Is he ok? Someone has to help him!” Joonmyun tried to push up and run out of the room but his limbs weren’t listening to him and he ended up tangled in his blanket.

           “Calm down, angel, you’re not doing yourself any favours by flopping around like that.”

           “But Kris needs help…” Joonmyun whined.

           “I’m trying. He’s downstairs in your living room with Jongdae.” Yixing said.

           “You just need to rest. I’ll help you.” Tao said as he ran his fingers through Joonmyun’s hair.

           “After all Kris did to you, you’re still worried about him? You’re so sweet.” Yixing smirked.

           “Seriously… there was something whispering to him. It was so loud I could hear it.”

           “What did it say?”

           “Get your wishes.” Joonmyun looked haunted.

           “Yixing!!!” Jongdae shouted from downstairs. “Yixing I need you.” He sounded on the verge of panic.