The smell was unbelievably disgusting, to say the least. It may have been a birdcage, but it was horribly smelly. And that huge oaf of an owner didn’t even try to clean it at any point. All he cared about was feeding these stupid birds more food but never cleaning their cage. Baekhyun wanted to snap, too bad the oaf doesn’t speak bird language, he’d have been shocked at the sheer amount of insults Baekhyun had thrown at him the first time he him into the cage.

At a certain point, he wondered why he can’t throw flames or phase in and out of places like the rest of his family can. He blamed it on the fact that this is the first time he shifted and actually stayed conscious while in Phoenix form. He blamed it on how weak he truly was, otherwise, his body would have probably been able to shift earlier than this.

His thoughts got cut off when the lights suddenly in the room the cage was in, which Baekhyun could tell was the entrance to the tiny apartment the oaf lived in. He didn’t know who his holder was or what he was doing with his life. He could tell that he paints, not only because he could smell oil and paint on him most of the time, but also because sometimes he sees him in his painting clothes, all sorts of colors would be on them. That or a unicorn puked on him. He was sure that was a stereotype and if one of their shifters heard him they would probably snap at him.

The oaf came out, dressed semi-formally and looking much better than he usually did. Baekhyun could see that he took the time to style his hair and pick his clothes, not the usual blind pick he always made before leaving the apartment.

As usual, he went for their cage, pasting the stupid smile he always did when he approached the cell he placed Baekhyun in.

“Morning Suk,” He greeted. And Baekhyun had no idea why he only greeted him and not the rest of the birds, they were probably feeling hurt by this. Not that Baekhyun would know, heck if he understood bird language either. Wait, do birds have a language?

‘Morning, Oaf.’ Baekhyun replied. Knowing full well anything he says always came out as chirps.

Baekhyun didn’t know his name, so he just opted to give him nicknames of his choice.

“Today is the day!” He stated excitedly.

‘You set me free, I hope.’

“Today is the first day of my exhibition in Seoul!”

‘Good lord, why do you think I care?’

“Wish me luck!” The oaf said, then left.

‘May you get caged by a giant oaf and never find your way back!’ Baekhyun said bitterly.

And with that, the giant oaf turned the lights off and left them again. The birds had started chirping loudly when he’d entered the room, but they always stayed quiet as soon as he left, then start chirping again when he came back home. Baekhyun can attribute it to the fact that the last time they attempted to keep chirping even when their captor was gone, Baekhyun swung one of his wings and kicked one of them, and then yelled at the others to shut up. He didn’t know if they understood his screeching, but they avoided getting anywhere near him since then.           

Chanyeol would have sworn it all happened in slow motion, but it was all actually very sudden.

Two months after he had found his greatest source of inspiration, he fell severely ill. And when he says it fell ill, he meant literally.

He came back home one day, and Suk was in the middle of the cage, writhing so frantically, that he was too scared to even touch him. Chanyeol immediately went into full panic mode. He quickly grabbed a cotton shirt he owned, wrapped it gently around the bird’s body then ran, quite literally ran, out to find help. After asking around for a while, he managed to find a good vet he could take Suk to, and even though he had to lie to the doctor when he asked about the bird’s breed, saying it’s a mixed one and he wasn’t sure. The doctor couldn’t find out what was wrong with Suk.

All he could do was prescribe him some supplements in hopes of getting his body strength back to fight whatever the bird was having. Chanyeol went to three other vets in three different parts of Seoul, they all had the same answer, and they all prescribed him the same supplements, different names, and companies, but same purposes.

Two weeks later, the bird was indeed feeling much better, but to Chanyeol’s horror, it stopped eating.

He really couldn’t help it. It wasn’t because he wanted to, he just couldn’t. The mere sight of the stinking bird food their captor kept feeding them made him nauseous. And the less he ate, the weaker he got, and the less he felt like he could stand up straight.

Fainting became a habit of his, after that. Needless to say, the oaf was freaking out. If Baekhyun tried to count on both hands -human hands, of course- the number of times he took Baekhyun to different vets, it wouldn’t be enough.

At some point, the oaf stopped going out of his house altogether and just sat by their cage, reading out loud or riffing slow songs on his guitar. Baekhyun loved that. He found himself falling off to sleep listening to the human’s deep, baritone voice singing or humming. It became a habit of his. Baekhyun wasn’t sure if it were a good habit or not.

Some other times, the oaf would paint something and then show it to Baekhyun proudly, asking him about his opinion, and if Baekhyun could speak, he would tell him his paintings were amazing. At some point, Baekhyun started wondering what this giant man couldn’t do. He cooked like a pro, regardless of the crappy bird food he gave them to eat, he sang and played the guitar like a true musician. He painted like a true artist. At one point, Baekhyun wondered what the man’s profession was.

The oaf looked sad almost all the time, sitting down and talking to him. The rest of the birds were wary of him, but Baekhyun listened. He had nothing else to do, anyway. He told him about his home in Daegu, he said so much about it that Baekhyun felt like he knew the place by heart. Sometimes he’d even show him pictures of the city on his phone and Baekhyun would watch in wonder, all those colorful parks, and lovely, green areas. If he managed to get back home one day, maybe he’ll visit that lovely city. Chanyeol also told him funny stories about his childhood. Baekhyun couldn’t help but notice that he mentioned the name “Sehun” a lot, and he did it so fondly, Baekhyun became curious to meet this Sehun fellow.

Never, during all these tales, did the oaf mention his name. Baekhyun listened to the human talk to him on daily basis, but the truly important information was never mentioned.

One time, after the human came back with Baekhyun from the vet’s, following another collapse, he hadn’t even bothered to put Baekhyun back into the big cage. He put him on a coffee table while he just placed his face into his palms and cried.

Baekhyun tilted his head in confusion, wondering why the human was this affected for a mere bird. He was feeling incredibly weak, he felt like his insides were burning and his body wanted to rip out and change back into his human form, he didn’t even have the stamina to fly out of the open window which pained him. But the sight of the human in front of him crying so much for him made Baekhyun forget his pain and focus on the other’s.

“Suk-ah” The human called. Baekhyun took a step forward, as though letting him know he was listening, “Please don’t die.” He said.

‘I won’t.’ Baekhyun replied, but he knew it came out as a mere chirp.

“The doctor said that if you don’t eat something soon, your organs will just stop working… please eat something.” The giant looked up at Baekhyun, who was beginning to tear up after the human’s extensive crying, and then he seemed to freeze. Baekhyun didn’t know what made him so shocked but at least he’d stopped crying, right?

“You- are you… crying?” Chanyeol stared long and hard at Baekhyun, trying to fathom the water drops falling from Suk’s eyes.

Baekhyun shook his head slightly, and then he took another step forward, trying to think of anything to stop the human from going back to crying,

‘Here, lemme sing you something my mom used to sing me when I would cry.’

And then Baekhyun started singing. He knew it was coming out as chirps to the human, but he was singing his mom’s lullaby. He had no clue how the human was hearing it, but he tried to manifest the notes of the song as much as he could into the chirps coming out of his bird form.

Baekhyun only stopped when the giant man suddenly sat straight, tears still falling down his face, but a huge, goofy smile adorned his handsome face, “You’re singing again!” He said excitedly, “Suk-ah, you’re singing!” He repeated.

‘Well, I mean, obviously.’

“I can’t believe it. It’s like,” The human paused, apparently trying to think of the right words. “You’re trying to cheer me up.” He concluded.

‘Well, what do you know, he’s both talented and smart.’

“