Most great stories start on ordinary days. The protagonist would wake up, peel themselves out of bed, fall into their daily routine... until a certain something would happen, something unusual and surprising that would rip the future hero out of his (or her) comfortable life.

Whether we're talking about a great story or not is debatable, but Kyungsoo's story didn't even bother giving him a fake sense of security. No, Kyungsoo woke up to insanity. And by insanity, he means an obnoxious screeching noise.

"Soo, Soo, Soo, SOO!"

...and the commas were merely a formality, because even in his half-asleep daze, Kyungsoo felt like whoever was speaking did not bother to breathe in between, creating a headache-inducing siren sound. He drew the blanket up higher.

"You're awake! I saw that!!" the voice yelled, and it felt like it was way too close for comfort, so Kyungsoo flung the blanket off him, fully intending to smack whoever dared approach him without permission.

"Oh my god, what?!" he yelled, voice still gruff from sleep.

He did smack the intruder. It was just a smaller intruder than he'd initially thought, giving much less resistance than assumed, and so a small creature barely avoided crashing into a nearby wall with an offended yelp.

"Really now? Rude much?!" it complained.

A fairy.

...or was it? Kyungsoo squinted, before deciding to rub as much sleep out of his eyes as he could. The thing was tiny, just the size of a fairy - and living in a place where everyone had a fairy, Kyungsoo was more than familiar with them. But usually, fairies weren't this colorful. Sure, they'd wear simple clothes, have hair and skin and all that - but it all shone in a uniform color. Like Taemin, for example, who was his best friend's fairy and emitted a soft, pale yellow glow from his silky-looking hair down to his finger tips. This fairy, however, had hair of a vibrant purple (definitely unusually dark for a fairy), pale skin and clothes that shimmered silvery, on top of a pair of white wings.

"You are a fairy, right?" he asked, sitting up with a suspicious look trained on the little thing that was hovering over the foot of his bed. It was obviously the wrong thing to say, as the fairy's mouth dropped open in a mix of disbelief and indignance.

"Yeah, sure, just be full-on rude, why don't you?" the fairy suggested sarcastically, fluttering closer to present his backside with a look over his shoulder. "You see those wings? What else would I be? Tom Thumb during an identity crisis? Gee, I expected a little more tolerance from you, of all people."

Kyungsoo would have maybe felt bad for unknowingly insulting him, if this little ball of color hadn’t gone all snarky on him. No one sassed Do Kyungsoo this early in the morning.

"Look," he began, not bothering to hide his lack of enthusiasm, "I don't even know you. What the do you want from me, barging in and waking me up like that?"

Which was saying something, since Kyungsoo silently prided himself in knowing every fairy of the village he lived in. To be very honest, he got along better with the fairies than with their human counterparts, in many cases.

One could easily put the blame on Kyungsoo's gloomy-looking face or his no-nonsense attitude - but Kyungsoo himself knew the real reason he was a loner was that he had no fairy. Everyone living in the Kokiri village had one - it would just come to you one day, feeling the connection. Kyungsoo had long ago given up on waiting for a fairy to come find him, and quite frankly, it had stung much more than the rejection of the other people around him. Having a magical little soulmate, someone to stand by you no matter what, had always seemed like such a wonderful concept to Kyungsoo. And while fairies were always similar to their owners, they somehow all shared a certain liking for Kyungsoo, the only boy without a fairy.

Long story short, Kyungsoo had no idea who this fellow was.

"Seriously, I've never seen you before."

"My condolences," the fairy said with a dismissive wave of his tiny hand, leaving Kyungsoo to raise a judgmental eyebrow that went blissfully ignored. "Anyway, now that I finally managed to wake you up - which took forever, by the way - I can tell you that the great tree wants to talk to you."

"Me?" Kyungsoo asked, more to himself than anything, mind already running wild, wondering whether he'd messed anything up recently.

"No, that vase on your nightstand," the fairy quipped back, "of course you! Do you see anyone else in here?"

Kyungsoo felt a headache (that he was entirely too young for) creeping up on him.

"I get it," he grumbled, swinging his legs over the bed. "I'll go. Soon."

"I hope by soon you mean now, cause considering how long it took me to rouse your sleepy , the tree might have grown a new twig or two-"

"Oh god, just leave me alone now," Kyungsoo tried to interrupt, but it turned out to be in vain.

"To let you fall back asleep? Yeah, you wish. I'll stay right here, until you reached the tree safe and sound and in a timely manner-"

The fairy yelped as it barely escaped a shoe that had been thrown with deadly aim and scurried out of his window.

"-or maybe I'll tell the tree you'll find your way alone, byeee!"

Kyungsoo stared at his open window, as if daring the creature to come back, but it didn't. Blissful silence enveloped him, and he sighed.

As if he knew just how rare and precious silence was going to get in the near future.

Awhile later, Kyungsoo was padding through the village, being greeted by various fairies and ignored by their owners. He waved at them, even showed a rare, little smile when no owner was facing him to scoff at the display of affection.

Kyungsoo strode through the ever so luscious, green grass and triggered by the earlier, odd encounter, he wondered, like he so often did. He was well-aware of the fact that this sheltered place in the woods with all the never-aging boys and girls wasn't everything. It was nice here, really. They all lived comfortably and sheltered from the world's misfortune and human sins, all thanks to the great tree protecting them. But he'd also heard a fairy talk about places where the leaves turned colorful and fell, just to grow anew after a long period of cold. He'd heard talks of oceans of sand and villages much bigger than theirs, where people looked very, very different. Heck, he'd even heard of civilizations made up by beings that weren't human at all. What did the world outside look like? Kyungsoo would have left to see for himself, if only Kokiri people wouldn't wither away upon leaving.

Well, he told himself, straightening up as he took a deliberate turn to seek out the big tree. This life isn't so bad. It may be a little boring, but boredom also meant reliable routines, and safety. So what if he was missing out on the biggest perk of being a Kokiri (which was having a fairy)? He'd live for a long time and never age. Whatever aging meant.

"To use simple terms: You're adopted."

Kyungsoo blinked.

"I'm what?"

The great tree stood before him, old and imposing, and for the first time ever, Kyungsoo felt like if the tree could squirm, it would. Did the twigs rustle a little more than they should, in this wind?

"You were found at a very young age, abandoned. A stray fairy found you and had a traveler drop you off at the entrance to our village. You were raised with care, but we cannot ignore the fact that you're human."

I'm human?, Kyungsoo thought, only vocalizing his thoughts half-way. "Like, fully human. No child of the forest?"

"Your heart is one of the forest."

"So... no. Fully human," Kyungsoo deadpanned.

"Well, it's not that surprising," a small voice piped up from a high plant nearby. A side glance told him that it was the annoying colorful fairy from earlier, sitting on the highest flower, with his legs crossed. "I mean look at you. It's kind of obvious, with your roundish ears and pitch-black hair."

"I don't wanna hear that from you, okay?" Kyungsoo countered with a glare, and before Baekhyun could argue, the leaves rustled loudly, calling back attention to the honorable patron of the woods. Right.

"Is there a reason you're granting me with this knowledge now, of all days?" Kyungsoo asked suspiciously.

"There is, indeed. We received a call for help from the kingdom of humans, and you shall go and be our messenger. Go and meet the princess of this kingdom. You should be free of the constricts meant for children of the forest - make this journey, and decide for yourself where you want to go in life."

Kyungsoo's face must have betrayed it all, because the tree actually chuckled, however a tree would manage to do so.

"I know you cannot wait to see the world, Kyungsoo. Just know that you'll always have a home here."

Kyungsoo gratefully smiled at this. Right. The great tree had never been anything but accepting, and albeit being an outsider, this place had granted him many good memories. Nonetheless, if the opportunity to leave presented itself like this, Kyungsoo would gladly take it.

"These are bad times, though. Great dangers await you, so you should equip yourself accordingly-"

His voice grew louder as Kyungsoo was already halfway out of the glade.

"-and I'm sending this fairy called Baekhyun to be your adviser!"

Kyungsoo placed both palms over his ears as he kept walking, blank face trained on the entrance. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Baekhyun was.

"I said. Baekhyun shall be your adviser. Do Kyungsoo!"

"Ugh, I don't know. Red swirls? Doesn't seem to go well with that grass green of your... everything."

"Shut up - a shield is a shield. It's meant to protect, not look good."

"Hmhm... I see that this must be your motto..." Baekhyun trailed off with a meaningful look scanning Kyungsoo from head to toes.

"Shut-"

"Up, yeah, I know," the fairy sassed, flying right out of reach when Kyungsoo swatted at him almost absently.

Baekhyun wasn't exactly a fortune teller, but considering that Kyungsoo had approximately told him to 'shut up' about 50 times ever since they left the glade, it got easy to predict it. The same went for the swatting motions whenever the fairy got too adventurous with the way it poked at him.

Kyungsoo was mildly annoyed, to put it nicely. He'd had to endure so many stares and questions today; his limit of spoken-words-per-day had been exceeded before he'd even had a bite of food.

"What did the tree want from you?"

"Where are you going?"

"What do you need a shield for?"

"Why would you want to buy this-"

And the most asked questions above them all...

"What's with that fairy? It can't be yours?"

"What's wrong with it??"

See, the thing was that Kyungsoo was extremely done with Baekhyun already. The little ball of colorful light seemed dead set on driving him up the walls as many times as possibly. It didn't push his buttons, it tap danced on them. It was not like Kyungsoo chose to be with this fairy, but now they were a (reluctant) team, and he didn't like the fact that having Baekhyun only added another reason for the other Kokiri to look down on him. Granted, he might look a little unusual, but he was as much of a fairy as any other companion flitting around the village.

The cherry on top arrived in the form of the village’s sort-of self-acclaimed leader; a stupid prick who had wasted many hours of his life trying to make Kyungsoo feel miserable. Because... why miss one last, glorious opportunity?

"So you're finally leaving, huh?"

"Yep," Kyungsoo said curtly, checking the contents of the strange pouch that fit so many more things inside it than it should - a present someone had given him in the name of the great tree.

"With an actual shield and sword," the boy continued, blissfully thinking his words would cut the other boy deeply, when in reality, Kyungsoo had turned deaf to him years ago. "Who do you think you are, some kind of knight? You can't even use any of them!"

"Oh, try me," Kyungsoo muttered in a bored manner, rolling his shoulders to test the fit of the harness holding said shield and sword (with the latter being quite heavy, but Baekhyun insisted it to be essential).

"Well, at least we'll finally get rid of you."

His voice sounded so nasal that Kyungsoo considered recommending him something to cure a cold, but wisely shut up.

"You were never really one of us, anyway. Didn't need the great tree to tell me that-"

"Oh, will you shut up?" Baekhyun surprisingly piped up, sounding quite ticked off. "Who do you even think you are, waltzing in here and insulting him like this?!"

"Baekhyun, no-" Kyungsoo began, but his words evaporated at the already quite heated aura of the fairy.

"He'll be part of the whole world, while you'll be stuck in this tiny village, being part of, like, 50 people who probably don't even like you! Who's the laughable one now, huh?"

"I don't think anyone was talking to YOU, you poor excuse of a fairy!" the boy barked back, and Kyungsoo sighed.

"Though I'm not surprised the tree would choose such a retarded fairy for you - a weirdo fairy for a weirdo like-"

He didn't get to finish that statement. For Kyungsoo had already punched him in the face.

It had happened quickly, almost instinctively, but one second the boy was snarling, and now he was making noises that suggested that now something was wrong with his nose for real. For a second, even Baekhyun was quiet, though Kyungsoo felt like he was seeing the fairy raise a brow at the sight. Whether it was shocked or impressed or gleeful? He couldn't tell at all. Either way...

"The only one insulting this fairy will be I, so don't try it again," he stated moodily, twiddling his fingers and balling them into a fist to regain feeling in them With this, he simply turned towards the village's exit, with Baekhyun scurrying after him with a faint tinkling noise.

Wow, it's been forever since he really punched someone. It was actually quite relieving. He almost missed the soft, familiar voice calling out to him.

"Soo, hey."

Startled out of his post-aggressive bliss, Kyungsoo looked up to see his best friend, Jongin, leaning against the wooden bridge waiting behind the portal.

"Jongin."

There was no more than that, but Jongin understood. He always did. Kyungsoo stopped next to his friend and leaned his arms on the thick ropes keeping the bridge afloat. For awhile, they stared into the forest stretching below them.

"I was wondering when you'd punch him, you know? It's been awhile," Jongin mused, tone light and floating above the serious topic below - not unlike the way they were standing high up in the air on the sturdy wooden planks.

"I'm not gonna tell you to stay," Jongin hummed, and Kyungsoo turned his head to get a look at the sun kissed skin of his friend, watching the way the faint sunrays made his eyes light up and look even more clear than usual. "But you know I-"

"Yeah. I know," Kyungsoo cut him off. In a rare display of affection, he placed a palm on Jongin's upper arm. Of course his friend wouldn't have it, and pulled him into a hug instead. A vague sound told him that it made Baekhyun fall off his shoulder, but the fairy stayed blissfully silent as Kyungsoo soaked up the last hug he'd get for awhile. As an actual child of the forest, Jongin couldn't leave. And maybe he wouldn't, even if he had the choice. Jongin's bond with the forest was strong, stronger than any of the other children.

"Come visit me soon, yeah?"

"Of course. I gotta make sure you're not getting bullied when I'm not around to take it."

Jongin chuckled, and Kyungsoo smiled, too. It was an obvious lie - the forest cherished Jongin, and if anyone protected the other, it would be the other way around for sure.

A sudden rumbling interrupted the peaceful silence. Kyungsoo snorted, Jongin whined.

"And bring me food, okay?"

"You..." Kyungsoo trailed off with a good-natured roll of his eyes, nudging Jongin's shoulder. "Always starving. Go and get some food. I'll be back to visit before you know it."

Jongin drew away, but ultimately hesitated. He even bit his lip, a clear sign that something was up. Kyungsoo shot him a questioning look.

"What is i-"

"For you!"

Something was pushed in his hands, and then Jongin had scampered off with an awkward 'Bye' on his lips. There, on his open palm sat a little wooden charm, fixed to a thin leather strap. There was a fairy neatly carved into it.

"Cute."

"I swear to any deity listening, if you say another word, you're done for," Kyungsoo said sharply, as he put the necklace on, hiding the charm beneath his shirt, to protect it from the weather. A faint 'eep' was the only response, and Kyungsoo straightened his clothes, turning towards the big, wooden portal.

"Okay. This is it."

He took a deep breath.

"So... Baekhyun, yeah?" he asked, without looking up at wherever Baekhyun was currently stirring around.

"That's my name."

"You ready to leave?" Kyungsoo asked, maybe stalling a little. Just a few more seconds.

"Yeeeah..." the fairy said suspiciously drawn out. Kyungsoo waited patiently. He didn't even flinch when the voice spoke into his ear next. The fairy had turned a little apprehensive, it seemed, after watching Kyungsoo actually punching someone earlier.

"But really... the hat has to go."

Kyungsoo shot him a hesitant side glance.

"You sure?"

Baekhyun nodded with his little nose scrunched up.

"Absolutely."

Without a word, Kyungsoo tugged the dwarf-like, green hat off his face and stuffed it into the pouch, before stalking through the portal and off into the big world awaiting him.

Turned out, the world was vast, wide... and full of things intent on eating him. Or at least scaring the crap out of him.

Also, Baekhyun was hell-bent on informing him about every single one of them.

"Watch out, these plants look different from home, but they might still attack you-yep, they totally do."

"Watch out for the birds, they'll sweep down to try and peck your eyes out-"

"There, did you see it twinkle over there? I think someone dropped a ruby there! You're not rich enough to afford leaving it there, right?"

Really. Baekhyun just wouldn't shut up. Ever. Kyungsoo was already starting to blur out the voice in favour of soaking up his surroundings. He'd never seen such a big meadow, such a big space in general, with only a few trees obscuring the view, unlike he was used to, growing up in a forest. In the distance, he saw mountains, and a vague shadow where he assumed the castle must be. Not that he had to assume much, because whenever Baekhyun didn't deem him in immediate danger, the fairy started giving him geography lessons.

"So you could say the Hyrule Field is the heart of the country, you can reach pretty much every important area via crossing it. There's the Lon Lon Farm right in the center and the lake in the South, a popular spot for tourists, travelers and fishers. We're currently in a South-East position on the map, our goal lies in the North so-"

"Oh my god, what do I have to do to SHUT. YOU. UP?"

"-so you're walking into the completely wrong direction - unless you wanna go fishing, that is," the fairy ended quite snippily. Kyungsoo groaned.

"I hate you."

He swore the fairy blew him a kiss, only to evade Kyungsoo's hand with a yelp.

"Really though, you might wanna hurry up, or you'll get into trouble."

"I'm walking already, what more do you want? Unlike you, I don't have shiny wings," Kyungsoo grumbled, adjusting the sword on his back. This thing was way too heavy. He hadn't even drawn it once so far- flesh-eating plants might sound scary, but they're essentially... plants. Rooted to the spot. Easy to avoid. And those 'scary birds' hadn't paid him much attention, presumably because his green attire blended in so well with the grass that he was basically invisible to them.

This meadow was just too big, and the only reason he hadn't taken a break yet was due to Baekhyun's incessant whining to 'hurry up'. The city came into view around sun dawn, and filled Kyungsoo with a fresh wave of excitement, despite his screaming legs and the dark clouds obscuring the last sun rays. He saw an incredibly high wall made of polished stone, and a wooden bridge?

That was- that was being pulled up?

"Nooo! You were too slow, I told you to hurry!" Baekhyun complained, and let out an exasperated groan. "Great, now we're stuck."

"W-what do you mean?" Kyungsoo huffed out, coming to a slow stop. Why would they pull up the bridge?

Of course Baekhyun had an answer for that, too.

"Becaaause... it's night!"

"So?"

"Well, they wouldn't want the zombies to get in."

Kyungsoo blinked away a stray raindrop.

"Zombies??"

Baekhyun crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well, actually they're more Skeletons than Zombies, but what difference is it, really? Flesh or bones, whatever, right? The point is-aw man, does it really have to rain now?"

"What is the point? What, Baekhyun?!" Kyungsoo asked, more than a little concerned, when an ugly scrunching noise cut the delicate voice of the fairy off.

"Maybe now's a good moment to pull out that sword of yours," Baekhyun provided helpfully.

Though 'helpful' might be a stretch, really.

"Swing it horizontally first, then wait for the reaction-no, use your shield to deflect!"

"I can barely lift the sword with one hand, how on earth do you expect me-"

"Careful, skeleton on 3 o'clock!"

"I don't even know where twelve o'clock is?!"

The outside world . Kyungsoo had spent the better part of an hour pummeling slow, but very much undead Skeletons with his sword (because he definitely lacked the finesse for 'slashing' or, god forbid, 'slaying'), and he was getting tired. His muscles had been sore before, but now they were just starting to refuse service. On top of that he was dripping wet, since it had started to rain buckets, as if to mock his fate.

"How long is this gonna go on?!" he yelled over the rustle of rain, clumsily pushing a Skeleton back with his wooden shield.

"Well, the whole night, obviously! What do you think is the reason for them keeping the bridge up?"

"The whole night?!"

Kyungsoo lowered his sword, placed a foot on a Skeleton's rib cage and kicked it away from him with relish.

"I'm not gonna do this all night," he sniffed, blinking away raindrops as he took a look around, lingering on a tree that looked just perfect.

"Where are you going?" Baekhyun complained, and went ignored as Kyungsoo unceremoniously dropped his sword (which landed in the mud with an ugly, wet splotching sound) in favour of climbing up the tree. He wasn't a fit person by nature, but growing up in the woods, it was kind of a given that he could climb trees. All the while, Baekhyun fluttered close to his head, complaining.

"You left your sword down there, what were you thinking?!"

"So? You think these things are smart enough to pick it up and keep it? They walk around pawing at things and barely know how to spot me, a living and moving being," Kyungsoo replied between clenched teeth, and with a final pull, he came to a halt in what he deemed the most comfortable spot. He wriggled a bit in place and considered whether it might be silly and biased to say the trees back home were more comfortable.

The fairy muttered something about how there better be no lightning in the following hours, but Kyungsoo barely even listened anymore. Maybe he'd finally learned to simply tune out the exasperatingly chatty thing.

His eyes lingered on the fairy, who was trying to nestle close enough to the trunk that it seemed like an attempt to either cuddle it or just disappear into the wood. A fairy companion for him. Who would have thought, Kyungsoo mused as he watched Baekhyun grumble something intelligible. A real fairy, huh?

...a fairy that just sneezed. And even with Baekhyun being inconsistently colorful (he swore his wings had turned a tinge blueish ), he was glowing rather weakly right now, come to think of it.

"Are you cold?" Kyungsoo asked, grimacing at a raindrop that decided to run down the side of his temple.

"Well," Baekhyun began in an attempt at snark that was much less impressive due to his runny nose, "considering that we've been drowning in rain for an hour, and it's windy and fairies are not ing immune to cold-WHAT. Are you doing-"

Kyungsoo hummed noncommittally as he had simply plucked the fairy off the branch it was sitting on and sat it on his thigh.

"I'll scream if you try anything weird-"

"Oh, please. Who's gonna hear you, the Skeletons down there?" Kyungsoo asked absently as he searched his pouch with one hand, a look of concentration on his face. Baekhyun threw a look at the Skeletons (that had honestly forgotten all about him already, aimlessly wandering the area), wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms.

"You are gonna hear it. And trust me, you don't want that-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a scary thing. Now come here."

The fairy shot him a suspicious look at the sight of the green fabric in his hand, but Kyungsoo persisted, and so the stubborn little fairy complied and crawled inside the unfashionable hat he had condemned earlier. Without a word, Kyungsoo cradled the fairy in its makeshift sleeping bag close, shielding it further from the cold with his hands. For a moment, surprised eyes blinked up at him, before a mop of purple hair was the only thing peeking out from the hat anymore. Kyungsoo felt the creature sigh, felt it through the fabric.

For the longest time, he listened to the persistent rain and the faint sound of Skeletons dragging their feet through the mud. Even the scent of wet leaves and grass was different here. Kyungsoo was exhausted indeed, but his brain was still working hard to comprehend this day's events. It was the only reason he wasn't deep asleep when Baekhyun spoke up way later.

"Hey...?"

"Mh?"

He felt the fairy shift a bit, but kept his eyes closed.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"Which of the million words you said, exactly?" Kyungsoo asked with scrunched eyebrows. He could think of a ton of things to get offended at, but Baekhyun's next words weren't aimed at any of them.

"That it's obvious you're adopted... sorry for that."

Kyungsoo opened his eyes to look at the dimly glowing head peeking out of the hat resting in his lap.

"Why?"

"Well. I was just kinda eager for another person to be an outcast, too, I guess. Not a pretty side of me, I admit-"

"No," Kyungsoo interrupted him, "Why do you feel sorry about that? I picked on your looks, too."

"But only after I attacked you," Baekhyun argued in a final voice, shuffling to get into a comfortable sleeping position.

"What about when I saw you this morning?"

"That had no ill intentions. It's only fair, so... I apologize."

Kyungsoo hummed, and gave the curled up fairy a gentle squeeze. He barely realized that the rain had stopped.

The first thing Kyungsoo did when he reached the biggest city in the country (according to Baekhyun), was find a hotel where he could clean up. He got plenty of stares, though that wasn't too strange, he soon decided. All the dried mud and rain probably made him look like a homeless person. Or a fierce adventurer, Baekhyun had assured him, though that did not mean he could skip the clean up, the fairy had decisively added. Because of course Baekhyun would be an extremely hygienic, clean fairy (he was just vain, really).

To Kyungsoo's chagrin, the stares wouldn't stop afterwards, either. It was a struggle - he wanted to be the person to stare! Wanted to silently take in the grandness of everything, the funnily dressed people who were crowding the so-called 'square', the various shops and what they might possibly sell.

Instead, he was being stared at. Baekhyun was being stared at. It made Kyungsoo uncomfortable.

Baekhyun seemed nonchalant about it, but he got the lingering suspicion that the fairy just reacted by either bristling or ignoring things as a matter of defense.

"You're dressed in a full Kokiri outfit," some guy stated, dragging a girl around by his hand. "That's cultural appropriation, you know?"

Kyungsoo blinked.

"Cultural-what?"

"Please," Baekhyun chimed in, fluttering above Kyungsoo's head (to be on eye level with the guy), "he is a Kokiri, f-y-i."

Kyungsoo didn't know what 'fyi' meant, but the guy only snorted at this.

"Kokiris die when they leave the forest, everyone knows that. You don't look anything like the paintings on the church windows, either."

"Also," the girl spoke up, eyeing Kyungsoo with a playful twinkle in her eyes, "I doubt a person spending all their days in the forest would be this... cute."

A tiny gasp told him that Baekhyun was all-around offended (for his sake? This boy had too much energy to spend), but luckily, it didn't pick a fight with them and just tugged at Kyungsoo's sleeve, who humored him by walking in the ordered direction.

"Molesters. Everywhere," the fairy muttered when they were out of hearing range.

"Baek, that girl was nine years old, at most."

"And you're what, ten??"

"Excuse you, I'm 18-"

"She winked at you," Baekhyun stated, leaving no room for protest. He kept mumbling something about Kokiris being too innocent for the big, bad world, and instead of engaging in a pointless verbal battle, Kyungsoo spent a good amount of time thinking about that. Kokiris usually felt nothing but brotherly love - their bodies were those of a child, after all. Kyungsoo had been wondering about that before, whether there was something wrong with him. Now he knew.

During a lengthy breakfast in a café located on a sunny patch of the square, Kyungsoo was allowed to soak in the sight of a bustling city. He was most fascinated by all the old people, to be honest. Knowing that people age and seeing it for himself were two different things.

After that, however, it was time to think about how they'd get into the castle to meet the princess. Sitting still for too long was obviously not an option for his hyped companion.

"I'm telling you, they'll just laugh at you, like these people from before!"

"And I'm telling you we haven't even tried yet! maybe they're expecting us!" Kyungsoo argued back, though it was getting weaker. It was clear that Baekhyun could go at this forever, so he just stood up in a sudden, determined motion. It cause the fairy to almost tumble off the table it had been sitting on.

"We're gonna go there now, explain the situation, and see what they say."

Kyungsoo stalked forwards, ignoring the dramatic show Baekhyun put up - because for all the loud volume and drama, it was a small show, so it was manageable.

Kyungsoo would never admit it out loud, but the sight of actual metal armor and shiny lances did chip at his confidence a little. Still, he'd do this. At least he'd attempt to, as soon as this guy was done discussing with the two guards.

"But my friends, I've been here countless time before, you know me-" the man began in a soft, albeit slightly desperate voice. One of the guards huffed.

"Since this is my first day, I doubt it. The fact that you assume you know me or Harry here - who's never patrolled the entrance either - tells me you are a very dubious person."

"Oh my god, sorry. I mistook you for- but really, the uniforms all look the same!"

Baekhyun was engaged in the drama, munching on a big bread crumb he'd plucked off Kyungsoo's breakfast, while the latter was busy fiddling with a little stone he'd found. It was shimmering prettily, like a glass marble with swirls inside. Fancy.

"If you won't leave, Sir, we're forced to take you into custody."

"No, please- I just lost the seal of approval, it's probably round here somewhere-"

As if on cue, the man turned around and his eyes fell on Kyungsoo, who lifted the shiny marble with a questioning gaze. The man looked like the human personification of relief.

"Yes! That one!" he began, ushering towards the ex-Kokiri, who handed the marble over with a shrug.

"Thank you so much. I'm Zhang Yixing, working on the farm outside the city."

Kyungsoo nodded, a little overwhelmed by the hearty handshake and the genuine warmth in the other's eyes. For once, even Baekhyun had no snarky comment to offer.

"I actually placed the jewel in the back pocket of my wallet, I have no idea how I could lose it," he continued, absently slipping the glass marble into his pocket, "but really, thanks a lot for picking it up. What is your name, if I may ask?"

"Kyungsoo. From- from the Kokiri forest," he added, after realizing how asocial his short reply seemed, as opposed to the farmer's. "I've been sent as a messenger, to go and see the princess."

He had no idea why he was exposing that much information, but his brain immediately scrambled to present itself from its best side being faced with kind, open-hearted Zhang Yixing. Who lit up at his revelation.

"Kyungsoo it is, then. Thank you, Kyungsoo. That sounds like an amazing story I'd love to hear more about! I'm actually on my way to deliver fresh milk to the castle, do you wanna tag along?"

He all but skipped back towards the guards.

"Okay, so this is Kyungsoo and he's with me. The royal jewel is... is-"

" pocket," Kyungsoo provided helpfully from his left.

"Right. In my pocket. Right... oh, in the other one. Alright."

Not too long after, Kyungsoo found himself walking down royal gardens, on the lookout for the princess, who was supposedly somewhere in the area.

"I can't believe it was this easy. I didn't even have to verify any- Baekhyun? Are you alright?"

"Yeapp. Why?"

"You've been quiet..." Kyungsoo said, throwing a suspicious side glance at the fairy trailing after him.

"...is he gone?"

"Who? Yixing?" Kyungsoo asked, turning back to where the the other had long vanished inside the castle-

"Don't look!"

"What? Why? What the hell is going on?" Kyungsoo demanded, mildly distressed.

"He was HOT!" Baekhyun sighed, obviously swooning.

Kyungsoo stared at him, fifty shades of judgment.

"Really now."

With an exasperated tinkling sound (how even...?), Baekhyun turned towards him.

"Didn't you see him? H-o-t. And he's NICE, too, I can't handle this. Did you see his thighs?"

"Oh my god, stop talking. Stop right there. I do not want to hear this," Kyungsoo interrupted him with determination. And he really didn't. Zhang Yixing was too pure for this. And also he seemed like twice his age. Kyungsoo wasn't into older guys. Blame it on growing up with kids.

Baekhyun was still rambling on about the farmer's dimples when Kyungsoo finally caught sight of a blonde mop of hair, and a slim body clad in obviously royal garments attached to it. She was standing in a section of the garden that was mostly encaved by the castle's walls, with her back to them.

"Shush now. Can you not scare the princess away with your dirty mind, please?"

"Dirty?!" Baekhyun all but screeched, and great, now the princess had noticed them, and turned towards them in alarm.

Kyungsoo hesitated, feeling the cogs in his mind getting stuck on something minor.

Princess. Right?

He walked towards her, a little slower than the princess herself, who was almost stomping towards him in a very ungraceful way. Only when they were stood face to face, did the other speak up.

"Are you intruders?"

"Are you a guy?"

He could see the features of the soft, but definitely male face tighten, a stiff smile telling him that hoo boy, he just went 3 steps too far.

"Well. One of these accusations is an insult and one isn't. Your choice. I'm only going to advise you to answer me before I call the security guards on your ."

"What fine language my highness," Baekhyun chirped in sarcastic wonder and both Kyungsoo and the prince whirled around to glare at the fairy.

"God, I'm sorry for him. Don't mind him. I- I don't even know him. Yeah. He just followed me like a little stalker," Kyungsoo began, and ignored the dramatic gasp since the prince was still staring him down with narrowed eyes. He was really handsome, all porcelain skin, petite figure and bright eyes. Bright eyes that looked ready to kill him. He should get talking soon. Try to salvage what he still can.

"I came to see you; I'm the forest's messenger. You called for help?" he ended in what was his best attempt at a polite smile. Something about it seemed off, but did its job, judging by the way the prince deflated in a mix of defeat and exasperation.

"And they sent a kid? A kid that's dressed like a potential offender?" he complained, looking much younger than Kyungsoo, actually.

"You're not much older than I am. And it's a national color, okay? There are no... ' offenders' where I'm from, mind you," Kyungsoo said as sniffily as he could. The prince only stared at him.

"And you left that place? Suspicious enough, if you ask me..."

Kyungsoo was running out of patience here. It must be right what Baekhyun had said - royal people have too much time to waste.

"Now do you need help or what? Are you even the princess-prince-whatever?"

"I'm not a princess, obviously! God, the next person I catch spreading this rumor will be execu-okay, no. But they'll really, really regret it!" the prince ended in a voice that told Kyungsoo he'd never punch anyone in the face. His antipathy turned into instant pity. Maybe he should give this prince a few tips on that later.

The prince shook the thought off before straightening his posture into something more formal.

"I'm prince Luhan, the only heir to the throne - there is no princess and I never wore a wig for fun - and I called for your help, because of an emergency of national importance. Come here and see for yourself."

He took a few steps towards a wall, and just when Kyungsoo thought they'd spy through a window like weirdos, prince Luhan turned around and made a grand gesture over the garden.

"What do you see here?" he asked expectantly. Kyungsoo's eyes flitted over neatly trimmed grass, a fountain that looked brand new, and the general snobbishness of tamed nature ( a crime to a Kokiri, really). Not that he'd want to insult the prince.

"Uhm. A... garden?" he guessed lamely. Luhan made an unhappy noise asking him to look closer.

"A terrible fountain?" Baekhyun asked judgingly. "Is this a puking dragon?

"Awful choice of curtains? Mustard is, like, officially the worst color for anything that's not mustard.

"And the arrangement! There's such little sun reaching this garden that keeping the plants alive is a terrible waste of water-"

"God, NO!" Luhan cut him off, and now Kyungsoo felt really close to this prince. They were clearly like-minded.

"How can you guess so much and never get it right?! This garden is the manifestation of prissy royalty!"

Kyungsoo nodded with a knowing expression and scrunched up nose.

"I know right? Isn't that what it's supposed to look like though?"

Luhan stomped his feet like a petulant child.

"It wasn't always like this! Once, this was a luscious garden I played in as a kid! With lots of interesting plants running riot, climbing up the walls and exotic flowers to discover... Now it's just dead. And it's all Kim Minseok's fault."

"Kim Minseok is who...?" Kyungsoo asked, looking up at Baekhyun, who also shrugged.

"I thought you know everything," he accused the fairy lowly, who never ignored a bait and crossed his arms.

"What?! I'm a fairy from that stupid forest - you think they get newspapers over there?"

"Kim Minseok," Luhan began, strictly demanding their attention like the royalty he was, "is a politician who's on his way to becoming my father's right hand. He's a total neat freak and kills every bit of fun wherever he's allowed to. He'll turn this kingdom into a dystopian, cold society if we let this go on!"

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating a liiiittle?" Baekhyun asked skeptically. Luhan blankly stared at him.

"He made people cut the grass with a nail clipper and a ruler."

The fairy whistled.

"Fair enough."

"And how could I possibly help in this situation? Show him the beauty of nature? Teach him to make daisy chains?" Kyungsoo asked sarcastically. Had he made this whole (admittedly wonderful) journey for nothing?

"I doubt that would help."

"Then what, you want me to kill him?"

The prince shot him a judgmental look.

"Why so barbaric?"

"Well, I did buy this stupid sword, so..."

Luhan shook his head and pulled out a roll of paper.

"It probably never reached you forest kids, but we do live in a democracy. And I'm an adult, so this will be settled maturely."

"Poison?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Extensive bullying?" Baekhyun suggested.

"With a petition!" Luhan said brightly, ignoring the two concerning reactions.

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. "A pettishn?"

"Petition. Gathering signatures to represent a certain standpoint or demand," Baekhyun began, lecturing-mode instantly activated, "it's clearly more civilized than demonstrations or riots, and is generally respected by the people in charge. If it isn't, it's probably a better shot to get out the torches and pitchforks, anyway."

"Thanks, flying dictionary," Kyungsoo deadpanned, and looked at Luhan, who was still distractingly pretty.

"So you want me to gather signatures. From whom?"

"Oh, various influential people - here, I wrote down a list for you on the back," Luhan said, eagerly (and awkwardly) opening the scroll to show him a smudged list written in pink ink on the back and stepping closer to present it.

"So there's the president of Kakariko village, the leader of the Gerudos, and Zoras and-"

Kyungsoo pretended to look at it, while he really just asked himself whether the prince’s scent came from nice perfume, shampoo, or whether that was his natural scent. And how creepy this thought was on a scale of one to ten.

"So yeah, with your little fairy guide, I'm sure you'll find them in no time," Luhan concluded, and Kyungsoo’s fairy moodily (and half-heartedly) kicked his hair.

"Don't call me that."

"What else would you be?" Luhan asked back in confusion, and Kyungsoo could see the trouble announcing itself on the horizon like the scrunching noises had announced the zombie skeletons the night before.

"Okay, I guess we should embark on the epic journey. Like, now."

The prince looked at him with nothing short of amazement.

"Really? Just like that? You'll actually... do this?"

"Wasn't that the whole point?" Kyungsoo asked, mildly confused.

"No questions, no partial payment, no demands for my hand in marriage, nothing?"

Kyungsoo blinked, and if his brain could, it would do the same, just temporarily stuttering in its workings.

"Uhm. We didn't even go on a date yet. I MEAN," he interrupted himself, "not like I want to. Not like I wouldn't want to either, but. Yeah. This is really awkward."

And if only he didn't have the wonderful talent of instant blushing, he could laugh this off as a joke. To his surprise, the prince looked a little sheepish, too. And did his eyes flutter down, just for a split second?

"I-uhm. Yeah, no, that was mostly a joke. Dates are more fun if they're informal, anyway. Maybe. I mean when you come back, I could show you this nice place I found-"

"-aaaand we're gone - off to save the world, my prince!" Baekhyun all but yelled, and viciously pinched the skin of Kyungsoo's back, urging him to leave right this instant. With Kyungsoo being inflexible and unable to get rid of the tick on his back, he saw himself forced to leave with awkwardly jumpy steps.

"Ow, ow, god dammit Baekhyun, I'm walking, aren't I? If you don't let go right ing now-" he began, breaking into a little sigh when the fairy let go, wisely flying out of swatting range.

"Are you aware of the fact that you just ed me?" he whispered harshly when they were out of hearing range. Baekhyun had the audacity to make a 'pfft' sound.

"Duh. I'm not an idiot."

"This could have been my first date ever! And with a prince, too!"

"Didn't take you for the gold-digging type."

"I'm NOT."

"Good."

Kyungsoo was tempted to stomp his foot, too, but he liked to cling to his dignity, so he just whined.

"What's your problem?"

"Well, for one, you barely know each other. Secondly, he's clearly a weirdo, and thirdly, he's a weirdo. And unattractive," Baekhyun listed with a voice suggesting that he was his mother.

"Unattractive?! Are you BLIND?"

"Are you blind? What do you want with this pretty boy when the world has godly men like Zhang Yixing?!"

Kyungsoo flatout gaped at the fairy.

"That's what this is about? The farmer? Who is legit way older than me?"

Baekhyun shrugged.

"Older guys are hot though."

"...YOU are the only weirdo here!"

They bickered all the way out of the castle and only stopped to collectively glare at a guy making fun of them. Needless to say, the guy left the scene quickly (and backwards).

Kyungsoo had expected his experience in the outside world to be a grand adventure, full of, well, adventurous stuff. Slaying monsters, exploring mysterious places, unraveling mysteries and discovering treasures. You know, all the tedious, but secretly exciting stuff. Granted, the moment Luhan had rattled down the definition of a petition, he had started to form doubts.

Still, he hadn't expected it to go like this...

"Huh? Yeah, sure, where do I have to sign?"

Kyungsoo blinked dumbly at the big, bulky creature that was called a Goron. He couldn't think of anything to compare them to - maybe a... rock? A rock with frog eyes? And arms and legs, too, though they seemed to enjoy literally rolling around.

Baekhyun had figured that starting out with the the leader of the Goron folk would be a splendid idea, since they lived close to the castle, up in an impressive cliff with the merry name 'Death Mountain'. There was also a village at the foot of the mountain, and they had to get the mayor to sign the petition, too. Unfortunately, he was absent, and now Kyungsoo was face to face with this HUGE Goron covered in what looked like war paintings. At least he assumed  that 'SWAG' was some sort of war-exclamation.

And yet the giant, intimidating guy just said yes?

"Just like that?" Baekhyun asked almost judgingly, and for once, Kyungsoo agreed wholeheartedly. The Goron tilted his head from left to right, making some cracking noises. Kyungsoo hoped this was a Goronian 'shrug' and not an invitation to battle.

"Luhan is a good friend of mine. I see no reason not to support him," the Goron said with a benevolent (and quite dorky expression).

"But- don't you want us to gain your approval? Give us a challenge, a test, make us look for some special herbs or talk to people?" Baekhyun asked incredulously, and Kyungsoo stared at him in alarm. Wait, what? How about no? "Or obtain a special object that requires us to chase down at least 5 different people around the globe-earhg!"

The odd sound was a result from Kyungsoo swiftly sweeping his hat through the air to capture (and muffle) the fairy that was so keen on bringing their demise.

Of course, the damage had been done already, and the Goron looked thoughtful.

"A favour? That's an option? I mean, that's convenient, actually..."

Kyungsoo groaned, and the leader actually looked kind of sheepish, scratching his neck with a strange, grainy sound.

"I've noticed the shiny metal you're carrying around..."

"My sword?" Kyungsoo asked, lifting his scabbard in question while his free hand kept the hat with the struggling fairy down. The other nodded.

"And I was gonna ask where you got it from? It looks like the perfect tool to be honest."

"Oh," Kyungsoo said blankly. "Why, you can just have this one."

And with these words, he just held out the scabbard holding the sword.

Baekhyun used the opportunity to pop his head out of an unguarded part of the hat's seam, looking all mussed up and incredulous.

"What the hell?! You can't just give away your sword! You need it!"

"Pfft. What use do I have for a heavy stick of metal I can't even use," Kyungsoo argued in an almost bored manner. "And by the way - you look like you've been electrocuted."

"Really? I can just have it? I don't mean to trouble you-"

"No, you're not-here, have fun," Kyungsoo said as he all but pushed the sword into the leader's hands. His voice dropped down to mutter, "god, finally I'm rid of this dead weight."

Baekhyun kept angrily yelling 'No!' and 'that's not how it's supposed to be' over and over again, but the Goron seemed delighted.

"Thank you so much! That's really generous! You see, we Gorons usually paint with our hands, but that doesn't really allow precision work - I prefer etching."

Kyungsoo blinked.

"Itching?"

"Ecchi?" Baekhyun asked. Both of them stared at the fairy for a good few seconds, before said little thing groaned.

"Guys, it was a joke. Can't a fairy make a joke once in awhile?"

"No, but I mean - what is ecchi?" Kyungsoo asked with scrunched up eyebrows, and the Goron cleared his throat loudly, clearly miffed that his big coming out was ruined by a bad joke.

"I'll show you right now, as a show of gratitude for your kindness!"

Baekhyun was still cackling (seeing as only cute, pure fairies would giggle, and Baekhyun was clearly sent from hell) when Kyungsoo trudged back into the village with a deadpan expression.

"Karma, man," he laughed, and his wings made tinkling noises as he shook with laughter. Kyungsoo suspected he made the noise on purpose. Somehow.

"Though you gotta admit, it's probably a more effective weapon than that sword to a noob like you-"

"Shut up, or I'll test that thesis on you, right now!" Kyungsoo replied grumpily. He had exchanged the dead weight for another dead weight. One that was probably even heavier than before - a solid stone panel on which the Goron had etched the clumsy drawing of a duck. Or maybe it was some other mystical being, for the number of legs did not align with the understanding Kyungsoo had of ducks.

Either way... this was going just great.

"And to your left you're seeing the big waterfall, which has been flowing through this cavern for more than 240 years- are you even listening? Helloooo?"

"Hmmm?" Kyungsoo hummed absently, rubbing the spot over his sternum where he could feel the little wooden pendant beneath the fabric. Baekhyun pouted. He could hear it. Somehow.

"Are you not even interested in your surroundings anymore? Did the wide, vast world get boring already? Because as far as I'm concerned, this is an amazing underwater cavern, and the complex architecture deserves the awe of a puny lil' forest bumpkin like you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I do like it!" Kyungsoo retorted, rolling his eyes. "But do you hear the music?"

The tinkling, exotic sounds were faintly echoing through the cavern of the Zora, a tribe of creatures that lived both underwater and on land. Maybe that's why it sounded a little... watery to Kyungsoo. Baekhyun nodded.

"What about it? You like it?" he hummed with a tilted head. He stood out starkly in this environment - unlike the village or general meadows they'd been travelling through, this cavern was dipped in shades of pale blue and dark stone, only broken by the perpetually moving net of water reflections crawling along the walls. There was no telling where the light came from - somehow, it was just there. With his deep purple hair and wings shimmering oddly golden (how was that even possible? Why were they golden now? Was he a fairy chameleon? That didn't know how to chameleon?), it was impossible to lose Baekhyun in this place.

What a pity.

"Yeah. I was thinking about how much Jongin would enjoy this type of music," Kyungsoo mused as he closed his eyes to try and soak up the notes as much as possible. There was an ongoing stream of deep, harp-like tones that lay like a soothing blanket over the bright symphony. Kokiri music was usually very quick-paced and merry - something serene and elegant like this seemed to suit Jongin much better, who preferred to dance languidly, preferring to exert control over his body instead of just moving around.

"You miss him a lot, huh? You keep talking about him."

Baekhyun's words burst the little bubble of reverie, and Kyungsoo shrugged.

"I do?"

"I wish Jongin could see these people, he'd understand-

"This is so tacky, Jongin would totally buy it-

"The way the Gorons roast meat would make Jongin cry tears of joy, I wonder if I can learn it-

"Oh, stars! I used to look at the stars - with JONGIN-"

"Yes, yes, fiiiine, I get it already!" Kyungsoo grumbled, though his cheeks had turned undoubtedly red. "What do you expect though? He's my best friend. Kind of my only friend, to be honest - who else am I supposed to think or talk about?"

Baekhyun hesitated, as if there was something he was itching to say, but thought better of it. Instead, he rolled his eyes with a good-natured smile. How dare this flickery little candle flame get condescending on him?

"You're right. Still, you gotta keep your eyes open and experience your adventure, if you wanna tell Jongin about it!"

The words were so unexpectedly wise that Kyungsoo was dead certain he had read them somewhere.

"You're right. Let's go and try to find the leader of these folk. Maybe he'll be enamoured by this wondrous duck painting," Kyungsoo suggested with an airy amount of sarcasm sprinkled over the words.

Zoras were actually fascinating to Kyungsoo. They looked different from humans, and even more unlike Gorons. They were taller than humans and appeared mostly well-built - or maybe he could only say so because they didn't wear any clothes (come to think of it, neither had the Gorons, but for some reason Kyungsoo hadn't dwelled on it for too long, since he neither expected a frog nor stone to wear a frilly blouse).

On the Zoras, however, he could see the smooth planes of muscles on the snowy white skin very clearly. Oh, and the fins, of course. Some were sharp, others wide and flowy, but they were all attached to their arms. He wondered what they felt like, what their skin would feel like, too - but it would probably be very inappropriate to poke some stranger. Not to mention the fact that neither of them had hair, and oddly shaped heads... Kyungsoo decided they were a cross between a fish and a human. A pretty fish though. Maybe he should feel a little weirded out, but Kyungsoo was just fascinated. Baekhyun had a hard time convincing him to move when he saw a Zora casually diving into the cavern's lake, elegantly twirling through the water.

Baekhyun told him he looked like a creep and that they should leave if he wanted to avoid a restraining order. Kyungsoo did not pout.

"Welcome, forest child!"

And Kyungsoo did not stare.

Should a king look like this? Should a throne room look like this?

King Suho was... massive. That is to say, he wasn't fat. But he was all but drowning (he could hear Baekhyun laugh at the accidental pun, and goddammit, the fairy had infiltrated his last sanctuary - his head) in layers and layers of shimmery fabric, accessories seemingly carved out of stones and jewels, and the throne area... was a mess.

"Please make yourself at home, human guests are a rare and welcome sight in our cavern."

Kyungsoo blinked. He stood on an elevated platform facing the king, who sat even higher. A constant stream of water was flowing over his throne and into the lake surrounding them. One would think the water could clean the area - and pollute the rest of the cavern's water - but somehow, the indiscernible mess of plants, stones, pearls and god knows what he found around the cavern (were there a couple lost glass bottles?) remained.

Kyungsoo pushed the pile of things by his feet aside to comfortably settle down, while Baekhyun, attempting to sit on said pile, almost caused an avalanche and bristled like a cat suddenly falling into a bathtub. Kyungsoo shook his head and offered his shoulder - an offer which the fairy took, glaring at the offensive objects. Silly fairy.

"Do you want some tea?" the king offered gently. There was actually a generous, bright smile hidden behind all the chaos, but a look at the water flowing down the walls and around the findings (and the king, and probably every other inhabitant) made him shake his head. Who knew where this water had once been. Who. Knew.

"No, thank you. I don't wanna take up too much of your time," Kyungsoo began quickly, before someone offered him more questionable food or drinks, "I'm actually a messenger from the castle..."

"Heroic adventures, my !" Baekhyun huffed, and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

"Your is tiny, anyway."

"Excuse you-"

"It's just a little babysitting. It could be worse."

"It could be worse," the fairy imitated him in a terribly mocking voice, "but it could be better, too! I'm growing tired of compromising-"

"Stop whining," Kyungsoo cut him off decisively. "I prefer babysitting some kid over slaying monsters any day. You're not even one to talk - after all, you're not the one risking your life in the first place."

Baekhyun pouted and made low, indiscernible whiny noises that Kyungsoo tuned out. If the king wanted them to babysit his beloved son for a day, so be it.

He hadn't expected the son to be a grown Zora though.

"And who are you guys?" the son - who was a prince, right? - asked them, sounding bored and mildly condescending. He was tall, pretty well-proportioned with almost aristocratic features. He looked nothing like the Zora king. Maybe he, too, was adopted, Kyungsoo thought empathetically. Still... rude.

"Well, hello to you too," Kyungsoo deadpanned, and he heard Baekhyun sigh, but one glare kept the fairy silent.

"We were sent to you by your father, to, well. Assist you?" Kyungsoo asked helplessly. The king’s actual words had been 'please make sure my son doesn't get into trouble', but this didn't feel like an appropriate thing to say to someone this... regal.

His word choice seemed to be perfect, for the prince's moody features lit up a little.

"Really? In this case, you can help me take Vivi for a walk!"

It wasn't a question, and not even a demand. No, Sehun seemed to think they would be grateful for being allowed to take care of precious Vivi. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. People and their pets.

"I feel sea-sick," Baekhyun groaned, and Kyungsoo huffed, albeit weakly.

People and their pet... whales.

Pet whales.

Vivi was a ing whale. Tons and tons of "totally not overweight" whale - and you know what they say about pets being similar to their owner? Well, Kyungsoo could now second that statement, because Vivi was just as moody as her owner. Which was mighty inconvenient considering Vivi's sheer size. How did one even take a whale for a walk? Sehun was unable to see the problem with that, but the bratty prince was, well. A Zora. Who could swim. And breathe underwater. Unlike Kyungsoo, whose only experience swimming took place in shallow ponds and mostly featured him scrambling out of whatever water he'd been pushed in.

He could now proudly say he's ridden a whale, though, by ‘riding’ he means coincidentally being ON the whale, hoping to stay there, and only almost drowning whenever Vivi dipped beneath the surface accidentally.

Now both him and Baekhyun were drenched, very pale and done with this day.

"You’re a damn fairy. You could have chosen to, you know, fly or something," Kyungsoo argued weakly, and Baekhyun cleared his throat and made odd noises as he tried to get rid of the water in his nostrils.

"And when I'd have lost you, I would have caught up to you how exactly? I'm not gonna explain to you that a huge whale is faster than-"

"Vivi does not have a 'huge ', excuse you!"

Oh, right. The Zora prince was still there. And the look he shot them was downright evil.

"Time to brush her teeth now, shall we?"

For once, neither Kyungsoo or Baekhyun said anything, but he swore the fairy turned even paler at those words.

"I... don't wanna be your fairy anymore," Baekhyun said, slowly, and completely void of any emotion.

"I don't wanna be alive anymore," Kyungsoo countered, too exhausted to even pant anymore. He was lying on the terrace, facing the orange sky above him. There was a small puddle of water he was lying in, but really, he was wet from head to toe, and he lost the heart to care somewhere in Vivi's pharynx. A small splotching sound told him that Baekhyun, too, had splashed into the water somewhere near his head. They had actually brushed the teeth of a whale, with Baekhyun insisting that whales 'weren't supposed to have teeth', stomping with his tiny foot, which tickled the whale and almost got them swallowed whole, but only ended in a big sneeze they would both rather forget about.
They had scrubbed her from head to tail, replaced her traditional jewelry with new ones, polished the old ones and even sang her a lullaby (another moment they had silently agreed on never sharing with anyone, ever).

Now they were thoroughly exhausted, drenched and embarrassed. And questioning their life choices.

"You know what?" Kyungsoo asked, when his breathing had evened out enough to form words.

Baekhyun made an indiscernible noise that he generously interpreted as enough interest to continue.

"You can mock me for this, but... Sehun and Jongin would get along so well."

Baekhyun groaned, but as predicted, he was too weak for his usual dramatics.

"You just see what you want to see - Jongin is way too sweet for this spoiled prince," he protested, and Kyungsoo hummed in negation.

"Nah. That's what he's like towards strangers. He may look all sweet and complacent but deep down, he's pretty bratty himself."

"Huh," Baekhyun added in a monotone voice, "so just like you. You look like a reaper in disguise, but are just a little introvert with myopia?"

Kyungsoo furrowed his brows unhappily and turned his head to glare at the fairy.

"Myopia? I don't wanna hear this from you, considering you look like a nosy little , but are just a big softie-"

"I'm NOT!"

"You were crying during the lullaby!"

"Can you two shut up and stop throwing compliments at each other, it's disgusting!" Sehun complained, and they both forced themselves into a sitting position, just to tell him to shut up.

After receiving the Zora's signature (and a handwritten letter by Sehun that was quite mushy and told him he'd love to go out with Vivi and him again, which Kyungsoo took with a strained smile, being slightly disturbed), they returned to the little town, but the mayor was still missing in action. Thus, they ventured out to the Lon Lon Farm and the big Hylia lake.

Unfortunately, they paid Yixing a visit first, who accidentally signed on Sehun's letter first, but they got there. It was just unfortunate because at the Hylia lake, the high-ranking scientist whose signature they needed made them deliver a love letter... to the very Zhang Yixing (and to Baekhyun's misfortune).

And when gentle Yixing received his letter, he made them return to the lake to deliver a little present in the form of fresh milk. Long story short, they did a lot of useless running around, and while the world around him was still very much amazing, Kyungsoo lost quite a bit of excitement while traveling the exact same route for the third time.

The repetition meant that Kyungsoo had spent a good chunk of their time thinking, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one since Baekhyun sparked up a surprising conversation one afternoon when they were both lounging around at the lake, slurping freshly pressed juice and recovering from their latest errand.

"How did you even meet Jongin?"

Kyungsoo looked up from his bottle with the straw dunked inside, but Baekhyun seemed intent on pretending his thimble filled with juice was immensely interesting.

"Well. I don't remember," he admitted. "The village is small, and we've... always known each other? I guess you can tell I wasn't exactly popular-"

Kyungsoo paused and waited for Baekhyun to mock him, and he did laugh as expected, but it seemed half-hearted. He didn't even attempt to interrupt him, which was saying something.

"-but Jongin was, and for some reason he was all up in my face, because he liked me? To be honest, he's a little cowardly, so it wasn't like he'd actively yell at people to stop being a to me."

Baekhyun snorted, as if he would have obviously done that in Jongin's place, and Kyungsoo scoffed.

"Don't gimme that reaction," he complained, "Jongin isn't responsible for fighting for me; I am. To know that I had someone to trust and someone I could always turn to was all the help I needed. I'm not a complete weakling."

"Unlike Jongin, you mean?"

Kyungsoo would have taken the bait to set the snarky fairy's attitude right, but his voice was surprisingly bitter, which was very unlike him. Kyungsoo fully turned away from the lake to face the fairy, who was sitting on his bag, still sloshing the juice around his thimble.

"What's up with you? Did someone let you down like that before?"

Baekhyun sniffed, but his haughty act was pretty weak.

"Maybe," he said snippily. "Unlike you, I don't need half-hearted, unreliable friends though."

"Jongin is not unreliable!" Kyungsoo protested a bit too loudly, admittedly, but this was his best friend they were talking about. "He was always there and would drop anything if I needed him - he never spoke ill of me either. So what if he didn't punch people in the face for me? I can do that myself!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Baekhyun said with a kind of stubborn defensiveness.

"Not everyone can have a wonderful soul like Jongin around, okay? I'm just."

He stopped there, looking conflicted and unhappy - but as it usually was with Baekhyun, no thought stayed confined for too long.

"Don't mind me, I'm just bitter, " he admitted with a sigh way too deep for such a small fairy. "It's not like I have a Jongin in my life. And you keep talking  about him and-"

"You do have friends though, don't you?" Kyungsoo asked suspiciously, and Baekhyun made a vague gesture.

"-I have colleagues, okay? Don't interrupt me - I was saying that since you were talking so much about him, I started wondering whether I'm actually missing out on something. I told myself I'm not, and if you look at all the pretentious idiots around the world, I still think that's mostly true. But you and Jongin are kinda... different. You're so... into each other."

At Kyungsoo's slightly judgemental look, he added "Platonically speaking, of course," with a roll of his eyes. "Either way, you just really think the other is super cool. Like. You really think that. And I always thought that having friends is an okay-thing, since you can share stuff, but it's still better to experience it all by yourself. But with you and Jongin, it kinda looks like you're sharing more than you even have?"

Kyungsoo wasn't perfectly able to follow Baekhyun's jumbled thoughts (or, more precisely, why he was even having them), but it seemed like this was something that bothered him greatly. Maybe he'd be like that, too, if he'd never met Jongin. Baekhyun may be a nuisance, but that alone shouldn't justify him having no friends - after all, Kyungsoo knew tons of annoying people, and they all seemed to get along just fine. He was kind of at a loss as to how to comfort the conflicted fairy. He couldn't just offer to become his friend, that would be so awkward now. Besides, fairies and their proteges were automatically something like friends, anyway. Right?

"You know, I'd love to think of you as 'super cool', too, if you weren't so damn obnoxious," Kyungsoo offered instead, his tone pretty light. Baekhyun gaped at him in offense.

"Excuse me? I should get a medal for keeping you alive-"

"Yeah, maybe you should."

Baekhyun tripped over his own words at the compliment, and for a second, he just blinked at him, before he huffed.

"We both should get a medal for surviving that insane whale ride," he announced with a smile that was suspiciously bright. In fact, the fairy seemed to literally glow at his words, and even Kyungsoo wasn't immune to drop dead adorable things, so he returned his smile with a small grin of his own.

"Don't remind me," he groaned, "I bet we're still reeking, but don't even smell it anymore."

He held out his hand expectantly. "Now come on, you should drink more. Let me fill that up for you. We gotta stay hydrated and stuff - who knows where they'll send us to next."

It turned out that a simple juice refill was not enough to save them from what came next - which was a scorching hot desert. Luckily for them, there was no need to venture into the desert very far, for the folk they were searching for had their fortress built at the seams of it. As usual, Kyungsoo got his history lesson on the way there.

"...and they hate men," he just concluded as they took a bridge over a high cliff. There was a river below, but it was way too far down to contribute any humidity to the already very dry, hot air. Kyungsoo shot him a side glance.

"Really hate them?"

Baekhyun nodded with a grimace.

"You wouldn't believe."

Kyungsoo wiped his sweaty forehead and summed up the information he had mentally highlighted as Baekhyun gave his speech.

"So. Fierce clan, female warriors, hate men-"

In this exact second, an arrow whipped through the air, boring itself into the ground way too close to Kyungsoo's feet to be comfortable.

"What do you want here?" a female voice demanded, and before Kyungsoo could begin to gather his thoughts, two women stepped out from behind some rocks. A vague part of him wondered how they even managed to hide with their incredibly red manes tied up into ponytails. Most of him was kind of concerned about his safety, though.

"Speak, man. And use your words wisely. They could be your last ones."

Kyungsoo didn't doubt this even a little. He was sweating for a whole different reason now. But when Baekhyun started yelling stuff about appropriate border control at them, his insides froze in dread.

Shocking red. Tomato red.

Wasn't it amazing that something in their genes was so strong that all the residents of the Gerudo village had hair of such an intense color?

That was all Kyungsoo's numb brain could think about as he felt their stares bore into him. He sat in a pompous-looking room, full of colorfully woven carpets and golden decoration, waiting for their leader to bless him with an audience.

Baekhyun had told him how much Gerudos hated men. How they thought of them as 'good for nothing but ing' (what a dirty mouth his fairy had, really) - and how they did just that, in order not to die out, though none of their conquests were ever allowed into the village. That must have been the reason they had passed through a little camp on their way. Probably desperate guys who hoped to get a chance with any of them. The mere circumstances kind of supported the Gerudo's attitude, and Kyungsoo felt second-hand embarrassment for being a man for the first time in his life. Most of them were gorgeous, too, so they could probably have anyone... which raised the question why they would stare at him like that. They hated men. They didn't look like they hated him though. Quite the opposite-

"Oh my god, your whistle won't help you here," Baekhyun whispered worriedly into his ear - it tickled. Kyungsoo blinked.

"I don't have a- wait. Do I have one?"

"Yep. small pocket inside your bag, within reach."

"You're worse than the mother I never had," Kyungsoo harshly whispered back, when a loud voice boomed through the room, and they both flinched as if caught in the act.

"You can stop staring, you won't get a piece of him, anyway. Off, back off," the voice said, almost in exasperation, and when Kyungsoo looked up, the man (a man?) tripped over his own words. "A-and out. Shoo, out with you girls, I'm. Having a talk with the messenger."

Such wide eyes. Usually, people said that to Kyungsoo, but as of now, the Gerudo leader sitting across him rivaled him easily with the way he was staring at him. It wasn't a predatory look like the women had given him, and reminded him more of... childish awe.

"Uhm. I'm," the Gerudo began, cleared his throat and shook his head, obviously willing himself to get his together. With a straightened posture and a much more even, deep voice he started anew.

"I'm the leader here. My name is Chanyeol, and I welcome you as a guest."

Chanyeol was tall, really tall. His skin was of the same golden brown as the rest of his people, and the same could be said about his vividly red hair. His eyes had the bright amber color, too. There was a lot more jewelry on him, which made sense. But the most obvious thing about him was-

"You're a man," Kyungsoo blurted out, and the other snorted, a boyish grin tugged at his lips.

"Believe me, they don't let me forget that here."

Baekhyun huffed.

"Well, if that warrior hadn't attempted to turn me into a barbeque skewer, I would have told you that Gerudos only bear female children, but every hundred years or so, a male is born, and they make him their leader."

"So... they despise men, but they make that one man they do get a ruler?" Kyungsoo asked, feeling all sorts of confused. "So are they discriminating men or not? Or is this some case of that pattri-ottism thing you told me about? My brain can't handle this."

The Gerudo leader laughed, looking much less like a leader and more like an excited kid.

"It's a tradition," he began, "but I assume you're not here to learn about us? Usually, they'd sent female messengers, too, so whatever brings you here must be urgent?"

"Oh, pfft. Not really. Kinda important, I guess?"

Baekhyun slapped his temple, which felt like a minor pinch.

"It's about world politics, and we'll all drown in dark, miserable times if we don't act quickly," Kyungsoo said blankly, not even flinching as he switched approaches. For a second, Chanyeol hesitated, and it looked like he'd actually buy the obvious sarcasm. Kyungsoo took pity on him.

"I'm joking. We just need you to sign a petition against a possible future politician. I got a whole folder about his political views ready if-"

"Oh, sure. Where do I sign?"

"Doesn't anyone in this country care about politics?!" Baekhyun groaned, but Chanyeol only shrugged.

"What you do won't impact us over here. And even if the kingdom decides to attack us, we can still kick their . We'll get by."

"Well, but-"

"My fairy here is just concerned that we don't deserve that easy reply," Kyungsoo hurriedly cut him off, before the fairy could teach this desert tribe leader about politics. It's always in everyone's interest if as many people as possible stay uneducated on that matter.

"Since most people of importance want us to earn their favor by doing something."

"Oh, you wanna do something for me?"

God, so maybe this was the wrong approach. Kyungsoo nodded casually, but internally, he really hoped this dopey guy didn't own a pet sandworm or anything.

To his surprise, the other got all fidgety and hesitated for a bit.

"There's. There would be something. But you can decline, of course-"

"Hmhm, what is it?" Baekhyun asked, lazily lounging around the plush carpet in boredom, now that he'd realized all hope of educating people was lost.

"I mean. It would just be a really big deal to me, and maybe it isn't for you, so maybe-"

"Yeeeah?" the fairy asked drawn out, and Kyungsoo arched a brow at the informal, squirmish ruler.

"Can you get me a date?"

Baekhyun gaped at him, and apparently swallowed carpet lint in the progress, because he started coughing.

"A date? I didn't take you to be the type... not to get dates," Kyungsoo asked suspiciously. Did the guy have some really weird hobbies?

The other ing blushed.

"I know you'll think this is ridiculous, and living with all these beautiful women seems great and , but. It's kind of ironic but- I'm. I'm GAY."

The last word was almost yelled, and both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were a little too taken aback by the sudden outburst to come up with a witty comment. Chanyeol was glowing almost as red as his hair by now.

"I'm super not into women, and I don't exactly have a wide selection of men, if you get what I mean, and I can’t really leave this place - I know it's ironic, but I just wanna be on a date once in my life, is that so pathetic?"

His last words were lost in the half-choked, but still very hysteric laughter of Baekhyun.

Chanyeol pouted. Kyungsoo grimaced, actually a little apologetic.

Baekhyun almost died laughing.

"Oh my god, you're amazing," he wheezed out between snapping for air and laughing like a mad fairy when all of a sudden, he made a full stop and turned dead serious, despite the wide smile. "You're so not gonna date Kyungsoo."

Chanyeol turned even more wide-eyed, if that was possible.

"That's not what I was getting at! Any date would be fine!" he defended himself quickly, both hands raised in defense as if he wasn't the leader of a great, proud tribe. "B-but I mean. No offense, you're really handsome and cool, so if you had offered, I wouldn't have- I'm digging my own grave right now, huh?"

Kyungsoo hummed in agreement, only mildly crept out. Of all his previous questionable encounters, this guy was at least straightforward and honest. Also, Chanyeol wasn't all that bad-looking himself. Not quite his type personality-wise, but a single date wouldn't do any harm...

Baekhyun, however, rolled on his stomach, face supported on his hands, and although it was hard to tell it from here sat, Kyungsoo swore he saw a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. We'll get you a date alright. And I already have the perfect candidate in mind."

"Who?" asked Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun grinned.

"Yeah, who?" asked Chanyeol, and they both looked at the small fairy. Who didn't say a word and just smiled widely.

Kyungsoo questioned life, wandered around the village (that was more of a fortress, really), admired the architecture and artistry, questioned life, flew from the creepy stares he got from a group of women, retreated to Chanyeol's official premises... and had just started questioning life again, when the bead curtain tinkled.

He looked up to see Baekhyun and Chanyeol, with the latter looking oddly flustered.

"How was your 'date'?" Kyungsoo asked skeptically, expecting the tall Gerudo to make a joke, not blush like a... guy who just had his first date.

"It was nice," he uttered in a small voice, and Baekhyun shot him an indulgent smile, and winked.

"Glad to hear that, sweetie. I'm trying."

Kyungsoo's brain wasn't capable of formulating a suitable response, so he just shut up.

"You're not so bad yourself," the fairy added in a singsong voice (prompting the Gerudo to walk against a leg of his table), as he sat on Kyungsoo's bent knee, where he stretched his arms over his head.

"It's pretty late now, so surely you won't mind us staying a night longer, do you?"

Chanyeol looked almost pitiful, with how quickly he shook his head at this.

"O-of course not! It's the least I can do. Please be my guests."

"Ah, you're such a gentleman. We'll talk in the morning then," Baekhyun chirped, and again, Chanyeol only nodded, staring at him in genuine admiration.

"I can't believe you!" Kyungsoo said in a hushed, but nonetheless incredulous voice. "He's wrapped around your little finger! What even- how. Just. How. Why. I have so many questions."

"And I feel like all of them are at least mildly insulting," Baekhyun replied snippily, and Kyungsoo made a 'well, yeah, can't deny that' gesture to himself, as he was currently lying on his back, looking up into the starry sky.

"I heard that."

"I didn't say anything."

"I heard your thoughts," Baekhyun argued, and really, it had been pretty quiet the whole day without a noisy fairy being in his immediate proximity.

"You think I can't charm people with my stunning appearance? Humans at least appreciate all the colors, unlike certain beings more about my height."

It wasn't the first time that Baekhyun showed glimpses of bitterness over being different, but this time, Kyungsoo braved addressing the topic further.

"You know, to be honest… I don't know why fairies would make a huge fuss over it, anyway. So what if you have pink hair, but no pink skin? So what if you have one or two colors more? Shouldn't they be envious?" he asked, hands folded behind his head as he lay back to curiously eye a certain star constellation, when a much brighter light invaded his vision.

"One or two? Hun, I have purple hair," Baekhyun began, running a hand through his hair to demonstrate, "skin that looks like I'm a ing human princess, blue eyes-"

At this, he flew closer, until even Kyungsoo could confirm it - he'd never really noticed before, but his eyes had the color of clear river water.

"Which Chanyeol said are beautiful, by the way-"

Kyungsoo grimaced, because he did not want to hear about this, but Baekhyun was already moving on, now looking down a little so as not to distract him from the spots on his face he kept poking.

"I even have stupid, dark freckles, that are probably too tiny for you to see. Heck, my wings can't even make up their ing mind and settle on a color. So yeah, as you can see, I'm an abnormality," he ended his speech with a smile, sounding like someone sarcastically trying to sell a ty product.

With this, he settled on the ground, right between the crook of Kyungsoo's elbow and his hair, to lean over his arm like it was a balcony.

"Buuut naive sweethearts like Chanyeol actually think it's pretty, so whatever."

"Because he's right," Kyungsoo protested calmly, before he knew it. Baekhyun made a vague, huffy sound, but Kyungsoo wasn't easily deterred. It was a pain, being different. No matter what kind of comforting words he'd offer, that one fact would stay true. They don't make the stares and whispers go away, and they can't change people's hearts. But...

"You know," Kyungsoo began thoughtfully, " them."

Baekhyun actually snorted at this, and Kyungsoo's lips twitched into a small smile.

"No, really, you said it yourself. When we left the forest, you remember?"

The fairy hummed out a question, and of course he wouldn't remember one of the million things he'd said that day. But this particular statement Kyungsoo remembered crystal clear.

"That if we're discovering the whole world and are a part of it, they are the odd ones out, because they're stuck in this small forest. So at the end of the day, belonging anywhere makes you the odd one out for someone, somewhere, right?"

"I guess...?" Baekhyun said skeptically, but Kyungsoo continued, anyway.

"So if you belong to the whole world, and are part of no group, you don't owe anyone an answer, right? Except if this is you wondering whether you'll ever snatch yourself a fairy date-"

"Oh please-" Baekhyun began, but for once, Kyungsoo didn't give him a chance to talk.

"-then I can tell you that just because some snobby forest fairies aren't capable of looking into your eyes and appreciating your freckles, won't mean every fairy is this blind. Don't legends say that the great, wish-granting fairies have dark purple hair, too?"

"Why, you want me to grant you a wish?" Baekhyun asked cheekily, but Kyungsoo heard the underlying smile. Funny, how he could pick up on subtleties like that by now. Kyungsoo only huffed in response.

"Right now, I only wish to hear no details of your date."

"Ah, you're not even interested in the tentative first steps into my first love story, with my big, adorable sugar daddy-"

"Not listening. I'm not even gonna ask what your daddy has to do with a date and what you did with the sugar, just no-"

"But Kyungsooo..."

"Stop. Right there. Respect my wish."

"Your wishes ran out ages ago, wasted on telling me to shut up."

Kyungsoo groaned, but he didn't wriggle his arm, and Baekhyun, in turn, didn't pinch him. For awhile, they just looked up at the stars as their conversation simpered out.

"You know what?"

...correction: as the conversation came to a very temporary halt.

"What?"

"You're right," Baekhyun said thoughtfully, and a vague tickling feeling suggested that he was bouncing his legs or tapping his feet. "We gotta show them up! Until they wish they could be like us! And I'm not gonna grant that wish."

Kyungsoo chuckled.

"That's the spirit."

It wasn't a thought that had occurred to Kyungsoo before, but maybe they weren't complete opposites on the spectrum after all. Maybe sharing a competitive edge was one of the main reasons for their bickering, but could also be the thing that kept them together and took them places.

Kyungsoo would have loved to think deeper into that, but Baekhyun's detailed report of his date with a somewhat-prince killed any thought processes he was attempting to have.

"What do you want me to do? You think I'm hiding him somewhere? The. Mayor. Is. Not. Available," the exasperated secretary with the name tag spelling 'Tao' yelled, making a wide gesture around the room. "You think I'm just gonna put on some fancy hat and reveal that I'm the mayor? Because that's not gonna happen, I can assure you!"

"Is he dead," Baekhyun didn't ask, but stated in a flat voice. The secretary shot him a pointed look.

"He most definitely isn't."

"Then where is he? We've been here what, three times now? Four times? You could really give us an audience, we're not trying to sell him a carpet, goddammit!"

Kyungsoo could have tried to reign the heated fairy in. But in that case he would have to raise hell himself, and watching things get done was a nice change of pace.

"Is he on a year-long vacation in Hawaii?" Baekhyun demanded, fluttering right before the secretary's face.

"Where is Hawaii-"

"Tell us where he is or we won't leave this office and ruin all your meetings by crunching on salt crackers and popcorn so loudly you won't get a word of what they say!"

"This is the weirdest threat I've ever gotten - are you hungry?"

"Do you think you're sneaky? I notice a distraction when I see it!"

Yes, this was quite alright, Kyungsoo thought as he leaned back in the chair. A snack did sound like a good idea, too. He absently scanned their petition that was almost complete. Just this one silly signature was missing. He looked at Chanyeol's shaky signature - apparently, signing paperwork wasn't really a concern over at their tribe. Or maybe he'd just been too nervous, because for some reason, Baekhyun made him nervous. Pfft. Baekhyun. Who would be intimidated by a tiny, glowing fairy?

Bored, he looked up to watch Baekhyun tug at a tiny leather strip the guy wore as a fashion statement - silly choice, really. He was practically asking for it.

"Okay, fine! I'll tell you, just stop before you incapacitate me!"

"I'm pretty sure I'd need piano strings for that, you sissy," Baekhyun quipped, and the poor secretary rubbed their very red neck and had enough common sense to quickly get rid of the poor excuse for a necklace, as soon as Baekhyun loosened his grip.

"Our mayor never works during the day - he returns at dawn; most of the time, that is-"

"Wheeere is he? I'm not gonna take any more excuses, we'll go and meet him right the now," Baekhyun announced boldly, swinging the leather strip stubbornly. If it had been any shorter, it would have looked like a whip and not like a petulant child being dramatic. Either way, Tao still paled.

"Baekhyun, you're white as a sheet. Sure you wanna do this?"

"Y-yes."

"I heard you stutter," Kyungsoo remarked with a side glance, and the fairy huffed weakly.

", please. I did not. Let's do this."

They both looked into the dark corridor that had been carved into stone. Faint dripping noises resounded from inside, and maybe it was the fact that the sun was still shining brightly from far above them, but it looked pitch black in there

"...and you're sure this secretary guy didn't just wanna get rid of us?" Kyungsoo finally asked. "It seems highly unlikely that their mayor spends his days at the bottom of a well."

"Maybe he's so ugly that he's scared to face the public?" Baekhyun offered, but sounded rather meek.

"You think he has long, black hair and a ghostly white gown?" Kyungsoo asked, and now he was certain Baekhyun's light got a little weaker. He decided to get this over with before it got actually dark and stalked ahead.

"Whatever, man. Come on, Baek. It's not like I have a torch, so make yourself useful for once."

"You better watch out for your torch, then, or you can get lost in this maze for all I care," Baekhyun announced in a shrill voice, and Kyungsoo took pity on him.

"This place is so ed up, what the ..." Baekhyun whispered from where he was perched on top of Kyungsoo's head, half hidden under the green hat. This so-called ugly hat really was the most useful item he’d taken along.

As the secretary had promised, the place was lit enough, with a couple torches lining the damp corridors. There was no telling how and what they were burning though, so Kyungsoo refrained from touching and taking along any of them.

There was no telling what exactly this place had been built for, but everything about it screamed haunted and cursed. There were a lot of chains in odd sizes not really suited to keep back humans. Some rooms looked like torture chambers, and there were many things written across the walls in both chalk and what looked suspiciously like blood. They were written in an ancient language Kyungsoo had never seen before. Baekhyun, on the other hand, could read them perfectly. And wasn't happy about it. So he followed his favourite motto when he was nervous, angry or upset in any way - 'Sharing is caring'.

"In memory of those who died from greed and hatred," he read out loud. "Oh, this one says 'proceed if you dare to face us inside out'. What a merry residence," he laughed weakly.

To be fair, Kyungsoo was far from happy about being in this place, too. If he'd had a choice, he'd be up there on the mayor's cozy couch, reading a book or something until he returned. But no, Baekhyun had wanted to go here, and now the fairy was literally vibrating with nervousness on his head. Who would have thought that even the great Baekhyun wasn't completely fearless?

"Left! Something moved!"

He whirled around in alarm, only for the fairy to admit that "Oh, it was just a drop of water. Sorryyy" - he sighed, but decided not to comment on it.

"So what is this place? An ancient torture chamber?" he asked, if only to keep the fairy talking, for both their comfort.

"They’re probably remains from the civil war that raged centuries ago," Baekhyun began, instantly in his dictionary-mode, "all the evil spirits were sealed away in the Shadow temple, where most of the really bloody deeds were done, but I guess it wasn't the only place where they happened."

Kyungsoo hummed, as he took another corner, to see more corridors, more mesh fences and solid metal bars for doors. Oh, and more red fingerprints on the walls.

"Considering this is a bottom of a well, it was probably a hidden place where prisoners or other... things were imprisoned. And they intended to flood it afterwards? Either way, it wasn't flooded. So we can only hope there's nothing alive down here..."

"Why do you even know all this? Did I ever ask you why you're basically a walking and talking library?" Kyungsoo asked lightly, moving on in hopes that Baekhyun didn't pay any heed to the tiny specks of blood leading their way.

"I am not a-"

"You can read a language that's so damn old I only found it after crawling into a forgotten cave."

"Well."

"Or a well, whatever."

"That was not what I- ugh, you're an idiot," Baekhyun complained, and Kyungsoo grinned, despite the eery surroundings. Getting a jab at Baekhyun never lost its appeal. To his surprise, Baekhyun got a little squirmish at the harmless question.

"I mean, imagine being in my place," he finally began. "You're a forest fairy, and you're waiting for some kid to be your protege. Except that just doesn't happen. You're waiting and waiting, but nope, nothing. You're pretty certain you're just a freak of nature, and there will be none. Fine."

Kyungsoo didn't think this was fine at all, but Baekhyun left no room to argue.

"But then you keep asking yourself what if? What if you just leave this place and fly out to, I don't know, see the world - and then your protege enters the stage and you're not there. Sure, it's unlikely but what if?"

What if? Kyungsoo wasn't so sure, actually. Maybe he would have left, anyway? But this was probably just him being ignorant. He, too, had hoped for a fairy to come to him and gave up eventually. But unlike Baekhyun, he would have left the moment he could. Apparently, the little fairy had had way more faith and fighting spirit than bitter, bitter Kyungsoo.

"So I figured I better do something instead of dying of boredom and getting into an early midlife crisis," Baekhyun said almost conversationally, and it was nice to see that the bloody, moist walls of the well were temporarily pushed into the background. "And I started learning. I mean, sure, fairies should be good guides and , but I wanted to be better than them. I literally learnt everything I could get my hands on. I talked to the great tree and ancient, old fairies, listening to their stories. I learnt how to read and then read any book I could find. And whenever I returned to the forest, there was still no one waiting for me, but I at least had something to occupy my time with, yanno?"

Kyungsoo actually didn't know what to say to that. To think that Baekhyun had tried so hard to find a purpose and be good enough for whomever he would support in the future-

"That was the sweetest thing I've heard all my life."

Baekhyun shrieked and immediately hid under the hat, as Kyungsoo whirled around to see someone casually leaning against a squeaky metal door. There was a friendly-looking man just standing there, smiling at them.

"You got lost pretty badly, didn't you? You want me to show you the way out?" he offered, but Kyungsoo shook his head, ignoring his racing heart. The man was neither a ghost nor undead - and if he was, he surely was the most handsome one he’d seen so far. He was covered in dirt, but at least there was not a single patch of rotten skin in sight.

"Actually, we were searching for someone. Presumably you," Kyungsoo said, trying to sound nonchalant and as if these were completely normal circumstances. "If you happen to be the mayor of the city above."

The man looked surprised, but smiled even wider as he offered his hand.

"That I am. Kim Jongdae, how can I help you?"

"Okay, but why the hell would you spend all your time here? Are you secretly a serial killer?"

Jongdae laughed heartily, and Baekhyun flinched in at the volume.

"If you think I am, you're being a pretty brave fairy right now, venturing into such a dark place," he joked, and Kyungsoo was certain that if their circumstances were different, Baekhyun would turn up the sass, but the fairy was still spooked enough to stay quiet.

"Naw, I'm kidding though. I just think that this place is amazing!" the mayor said happily, and even Kyungsoo stopped in his tracks.

"Excuse me?"

"Isn't it? It's super exciting to be here," he insisted, "for one, the history is pretty intriguing. But the place is also still alive."

Baekhyun held onto Kyungsoo's hair tight enough to make him wince.

"Like, do you see this?" Jongdae asked merrily, pointing at a strange, red symbol written on the ceiling. "That wasn't there last month!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Baekhyun mumbled, and the sudden absence of a soft glow told him that the fairy had crawled entirely under the hat again. Kyungsoo himself was rather concerned, too.

"That's. Interesting," he said stiffly, following Jongdae along, as the latter pointed out another chain he swore hadn't been tied to a skeleton before.

"You see, we actually really just need you to sign this petition, then we'll leave you to your... research," he said carefully, and Jongdae shrugged.

"Sure. Do you have a pen?"

Neither Kyungsoo nor Baekhyun were in the mood to lecture him on political awareness (it would probably be lost on a mayor spending his time in a cursed well instead of doing paperwork, anyway). Still, this didn't change the fact that-

"," Kyungsoo said intelligently, and Baekhyun groaned.

"You forgot the pen?! How-"

"Well, if you hadn't used it to threaten the secretary's secretary, maybe I would have it right now-"

"Tao already has a secretary?" Jongdae asked, mildly interested, and they both shot him a judgmental look.

"How are you still the mayor? When are the next elections?" Baekhyun whined, but the other only shrugged with a boyish grin.

"People like me."

"You think they're afraid he might curse them? Because I think they're afraid he might curse them," Baekhyun stage-whispered, and Kyungsoo grimaced in a 'probably?' fashion.

"Either way, if you wanna get my signature, you gotta wait til I get something to write with. And I was just about to go and sacrifice something, so you gotta either wait here or tag along."

"Sacrifice?!"

For once, Kyungsoo wasn't inclined to tell his fairy to shut up. Sacrifice. Oh god. Or rather oh, whatever deity was ruling in here - please don't be upset, Kyungsoo prayed in his head.

"Well, yeah," Jongdae said conversationally as he stepped inside a larger room with a little stone altar in the center. "I do that sometimes. Gotta do all the spirits living here a favour, don't you think?"

Kyungsoo wasn't inclined to disagree and tried to stay back as far as he dared. Jongdae reached inside the bag he'd slung over his shoulder, fumbling around until he found what he'd been searching for.

For awhile, Kyungsoo just stared at the happening before him.

Jongdae placed the thing on the altar, arranged two other items right and left to it and finally poured a thick, red liquid from his bottle over it. There were no mystic incarnations, just Jongdae stepping back, looking quite content with himself.

"What... was inside that bottle?" Kyungsoo asked slowly, as soon as they had left the eery room and Jongdae seemed to be delighted by the question.

"It's cherry syrup! Tastes heavenly on the sponge cake, let me tell you."

"You sacrificed a sponge cake to whatever is living in this dark, creepy well," Kyungsoo stated blankly.

"I mean, I bet they don't get a lot of nice food down here," Jongdae argued innocently.

"You also sacrificed two boxes of napkins."

"How else are they supposed to get rid of the grease?"

Kyungsoo inhaled deeply, looked at Jongdae's guileless expression, thought better of it and exhaled.

"Let's go."

"Already?"

"Definitely," Kyungsoo and Baekhyun replied in unison, and Jongdae pouted.

"This went better than we thought!" Baekhyun exclaimed, even louder and a tad higher than usual. It was like the fresh air was making him lightheaded.

"You even got rid of that stone, now running away from your responsibilities will be even easier!"

"Running away from you will still be pointless, so what do I care," Kyungsoo grumbled, one hand attempting to sooth down his ruffled hair. How could tiny fairy fingers ruin this much of his hair in such a short time. He felt like he literally posed as a bird's nest right now. Still, It was true. During the short process of signing the petition over a piece of sponge cake (which he'd never be able to see the same way again, oh god), Jongdae had noticed the solid stone panel with the ominous duck carved into it... and had been delighted. It would make a wonderful addition to the well, he'd said. It would fit right in. They'll love it.

They.

Kyungsoo shook his head. Jongdae seemed to be sweet, but also very, very weird.

At least they now had all the signatures, which meant they could return to Prince Luhan, and after that, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Which was kind of a problem, since he wasn't sure what that would be. For all the pain it had been to act as a handyman for anyone, it had at least kept him occupied. He kind of wanted to visit Jongin, but then what? There was no way he'd just return and stay in the forest.

"So, where do you wanna go, after this?" he asked out loud. And received no answer.

"Baek?"

He looked up and behind him, where Kakariko village was lying, completely unbothered by the lack of noise. Baekhyun was gone.

At first, Kyungsoo had thought this to be a joke. He'd turned towards all directions, and searched the nearby trees and bushes at the village's entrance. Heck, he even searched his pocket and carded his fingers through his hair, hoping to find the fairy sitting there, mocking him for looking like an idiot. But he was gone.

The second reaction was a wave of panic. Baekhyun was gone. . . Did he fly off? Did someone hurt him? What the ? Where do you find a tiny fairy? Was it getting increasingly difficult to find him with every passing second he stood there, frozen? Probably.

Kyungsoo shakily started moving, and before he knew it, he was half-running through the village, looking for a glowing dot of pink and silver. Oh, and green, because in such pleasant temperatures, his wings would often emit a greenish shine. He sought above and beyond and started asking every villager he'd met whether they had seen a stray fairy somewhere.

This was crazy, he couldn't have gone far.

A heavy feeling of fear and disappointment settled in his stomach.

He'd lost his fairy.

The fairy that had nothing on its mind but supporting and protecting him, at all times. And he'd lost him. Baekhyun didn't deserve this.

Kyungsoo was aware of the fact that he wasn't thinking clear, but all of a sudden, he was prompted to act, and alone.

"Baek?" he asked, only to repeat it, a little louder. "Baek! Baekhyun! Where are you?"

People started to give him strange looks, but they'd done so all his life, so Kyungsoo inhaled deeply and called out louder.

"Baekhyun! Stupid fairy, where did you fly off to?! Come back!"

He looked around the area and stared at the villagers, in case the fairy was somewhere close to them. In case it had chosen to change his protege.

"Stop harassing anyone that's not me - Baekhyun!"

Someone made a startled sound and Kyungsoo whipped around to see a young traveler reach into his bag to pull out a bottle, looking annoyed. A bottle with a purple and greenish glow inside-

"You!" Kyungsoo yelled, and the guy almost dropped the bottle in shock.

"Don't you dare drop this!" Kyungsoo added as he stalked over to the boy who looked like he was about to bolt. Lucky for him, he did no such thing.

"Did you actually catch my fairy in a bottle?! What the is wrong with you?!"

Kyungsoo wasn't the type to scream, but he was just so, so angry. There, in the glass bottle closed with a cork, stood Baekhyun. He'd been furiously throwing himself around the bottle to hopefully tip it off balance, but now he stopped, and looked up at Kyungsoo, wings sinking a little.

What was this puny guy thinking?

And how dared he shrug at him right now?

"Well, I'm an adventurer," he said, both palms still firmly keeping the bottle in place, "and it's common knowledge that if you catch a fairy, it'll heal your injuries if you let it free. Didn't know this was yours, but now it's in here, so-"

"Shut the up," Kyungsoo hissed, reaching for the bottle that the guy pressed closer to himself petulantly. Kyungsoo hesitated - after all, piercing the fairy with glass shards was not an option - and forced himself to breathe.

"Okay. Listen here," he began, deceivingly calm. "This is not a lesser light spirit but a real, conscious fairy. What you're doing is already considered cruelty. But on top of that, this fairy you stuffed into a bottle there is my personal guardian fairy, my companion for life. Now you could, no, you should, fear what I'm doing to you if you don't return him right this instant. But you know, I'm not horrible, and I just want this to be over."

The guy shot him a wary look, and for once, Kyungsoo was glad that he also looked like he could kill.

"So if you give me this bottle right now, I won't open it when you're around. Does that sound like a deal?"

The guy had a puzzled expression, and really, Kyungsoo was starting to pity him.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because," he explained patiently as he crossed his arms, "this particular fairy will not heal your wounds in gratitude if you let it free, but probably scratch your eyes out. And do other stuff I couldn't tell you because I'm not half as imaginative as him."

The adventurer hesitated, looked down at the bottle where Baekhyun had turned eerily quiet, staring up at him with a very, very cold expression, and equally crossed arms. He seemed at least half as crept out as he should be, and slowly placed the bottle down on the ground... before running for his life, disappearing between the houses. Kyungsoo didn't waste time looking after him, and immediately knelt down next to the bottle. He still waited a full ten seconds, giving the guy the mercy he'd promised. Baekhyun was impatiently tapping the glass though, so he made quick work of the cap (that at least had some holes bored inside, wow, so generous). The fairy zoomed out of the bottle like a loose champagne cork.

"What took you so long?!" he complained, looking ruffled and breathing heavily. His wings fluttered erratically, as if stretching out and enjoying the new-found room to move.

"Well, excuse me for not being able to look inside people's pockets!" Kyungsoo defended himself, the stares of villagers around him being nothing but a background painting to him.

"Yeah, but what about just now? Enjoying the last ten seconds of silence before immediately freeing me?!"

"I was just saving that poor idiot from you eating him up alive!"

The fairy snorted, and tumbled a bit - presumably from exertion after exhausting his body as he'd tried to raise hell inside a glass bottle.

"You think I'd eat this moron?! What if his stupidity is contagious? You want me to die?"

"I could have just left you there, you know," Kyungsoo huffed, as he held out his head, and Baekhyun hopped on, making himself comfortable.

"Not that it wasn't a close call - you didn't even notice I was snatched away in your very presence! I was two meters behind you - two!"

"Well, you were also silly enough to get caught by a brainless guy with a bottle, so I'm not sure I'm the one who- wait. Did you hear me calling for you?"

Silence.

"No?" Baekhyun half-asked. Tss. What a horrible liar.

"I mean no - you were probably trying to persuade the guy to keep me, anyway!" he added, but Kyungsoo was already rolling his eyes in exasperation, despite his ears burning.

Companion for life, he'd said.

And oops, what a surprise to even Kyungsoo himself, but... he'd meant it.

The air was pleasantly warm, considering the height of the moon, and filled with the scent of roasted meat and sugar. And voices. Lots of voices that the forest had never heard.

No outsider could enter the Kokiri village, but the woods themselves were perfectly acceptable, so Kyungsoo insisted on the celebration being held there. Now he was sitting with his back to a comfortable tree, watching the generous feast prince Luhan was hosting, as a show of gratitude. He saw many familiar faces he'd encountered during his journey - close to him sat the scientist with Yixing, lost in a conversation - or each other's eyes, but Baekhyun had refused to acknowledge this; said fairy was currently busy educating forest fairies on the horrors of bottles, and how a modern-day fairy should in no way reward a human for freeing them if they had been the one to capture them in the first place.

Close to the fire he saw Jongin watching people roast the meat with eager, shining eyes, while Sehun lazed in a nearby pond and apparently made snarky comments at something.

Seeing his friend so happy and excited that Kyungsoo had brought the outside world to him, was the real highlight of the evening, Kyungsoo thought.

Even Chanyeol had managed to sneak away from his tribe, and was currently being completely wrapped around Jongdae's little finger. What an odd couple.

"Kyungsoo, there you are-"

He looked up, but instead of a grinning Jongin with two big skewers of meat, he was met with the porcelain face of Luhan, who shooed his guards away and gracelessly plopped down next to him.

"This fest is really fun! I've rarely seen so many important people in one place, celebrating. Like, really celebrating, not just acting out some stiff, boring dinner," he rambled, and Kyungsoo could only shake his head over how un-princely this prince was.

"And the forest is amazing! So many trees you could climb and places to explore! I bet you know them like the back of your hand, don't you?"

Kyungsoo shrugged.

"I guess I do. You should definitely not explore them on your own though. Believe me, they're not called Lost Woods for nothing."

"I can imagine..." Luhan trailed off thoughtfully.

For awhile, they were silent, as Luhan was obviously gathering his thoughts. Kyungsoo waited. He had time, and watching Jongin curiously approach Sehun with a second skewer as a gift was highly entertaining. Chanyeol's face that was red enough to rival his hair was worth a look, too, just like mere sight of the Goron and Zora leader next to each other, both being massive, but so very different-

"I wanted to thank you again, Kyungsoo."

He turned to look at the prince, whose eyes were shining from the light of the nearby fire.

"What you did for me- for the kingdom... it means a lot to me. Thank you."

Kyungsoo, who was never on the receiving end of such high praise, ever, felt himself blushing and hated it.

"It's nothing," he said dismissively. "At least I got to see the world and stuff. It was an interesting journey."

The prince huffed out a short, breathy laugh.

"I bet. So... I feel bad about asking another favour, but how would you feel about showing me around the woods one day?" he asked excitedly, before stumbling over his words a little. "If it's not too much trouble. I mean. You... you know what I mean," he ended, looking just a little too red for the fire to take the blame. Kyungsoo did know what he meant. And instantly, his eyes flit up to meet Baekhyun's, who had ceased his speech long ago and had been observing them, because of course he had. Kyungsoo finally lifted his brows in question, and Baekhyun caved in. 'Fine,' he mouthed, and Kyungsoo turned back to the frazzled prince with a small smile.

"I'd love to show you around."

Behind Luhan, Baekhyun made an 'okay' sign with his fingers... before buzzing closer to ruin the moment by messing up Luhan's pretty, blonde hair.

That's my fairy, Kyungsoo thought vaguely as he laughed at the mess Baekhyun's nimble fingers made of the carefully styled hair. My fairy tries to drive me up the walls from morning to dawn, and makes ty attempts at lying to me. My fairy picks a fight with literally anyone, despite being terrified, and intervenes with my love life.

Who would have thought that a fairy would come to find him, after such a long wait.

Who would have thought that such a fairy would be just perfect for him.