#60: Cheeseburger in Paradise Part 1
FOOD TIME!!!

It was weird for Kyungsoo to walk across the beach and not feel like the sand was shivering under his feet, as if drawn to him like he was a magnet. He was still adjusting to the absence of his gift—he missed being able to construct tiny sculptures out of sand and rock, crushing the particles together to stand the test of time and be found at a later date. He missed being able to put his foot down and leave spider-webs of cracks in the ground. He missed being able to move the ground under Chanyeol’s feet and watch him flail around like a fish as he tripped. Suho couldn’t understand how Chanyeol had gotten so much more coordinated lately. But when Kyungsoo thought about the constant ache in his bones and the never ending nausea at every touch of his body against the ground…well, the absence of feeling was better than the pain.

Kyungsoo knew that this trip had partially been for him. They had wandered a long time to get to this particular beach, because it was supposed to be one of the better ones and according to the research Kai and Kris had done it was the least likely to have suffered the effects of pollution. There were no sharks for them to worry about, no volcanoes or earthquakes, it was just a peaceful spot to relax. And while they all needed time to just breathe, everyone knew Kyungsoo needed it the most. He could see it in the way they side-eyed him, the way their hands lingered on his shoulders and the back of his head. They felt bad for him, for what he had gone through. He had lost hope, and he wasn’t going to recover from it overnight. Kyungsoo was actually quite flattered. He wasn’t used to being the center of worry and attention—when they were kids it had been Chen, and then Kai and Tao, then a bit of Baekhyun, and after they crash landed on this planet it had been Sehun, Lu Han, and Kai who needed extra attention. Now it was Kyungsoo’s turn.

As much as he liked being with his brothers, he also needed a bit of breathing room. It was only the second day on the beach, but Kyungsoo was already only too happy to take an opportunity to slip away for a few minutes. It wasn’t like he was the only one. Tao, Kris and Suho had already wandered off, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still at the pool, and nobody had seen Kai or Chen all morning. Kyungsoo really didn’t want to know what they were up to. Lay, Xiumin, Lu Han and Sehun were having fun in the ocean, and Kyungsoo wanted to go for a walk. He went off in the opposite direction that Kris, Suho and Tao had gone, and realized after a few minutes that he had a hitchhiker.

“Hello, Keen,” Kyungsoo cooed, beckoning the dog over. Keen came at once, Kyungsoo’s hand and recoiling when he tasted the salt water. Kyungsoo laughed at him, patting his head. “I didn’t tell you to my arm, silly.”

He’d forgotten his sunglasses, and he kind of regretted it. It was really bright out, he had to shield his eyes in order to see comfortably. He couldn’t even look at the sand for too long, which was a shame since that was where all the shells were. Kyungsoo hadn’t walked far when he came to a halt, Keen sitting next to him and giving him an expectant look.

Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder—he could hardly see the other four, and he couldn’t hear them. realizing it would be silly to go much further without his sunglasses, he walked to the water and waded in a little. It was hard to tell just how deep he was, with the waves coming in and washing out again. He eventually sat down close enough to the shore that he wouldn’t be drowned by a wave, but the water wouldn’t avoid him either.

It was amazing how empty and clean the beach was—even without his gift, Kyungsoo was still sensitive to the earth, especially when in a high-traffic area. He could tell that this was a place that had once been choked with people, the size of the hotel alone could attest to that. He couldn’t imagine this place with so many people though—a population that big, how did anyone enjoy the beach?

A wave came up, splashing Kyungsoo’s chest with warm water. Keen, who had been creeping closer, yelped and leapt back, Kyungsoo could hear him shaking off and laughed again.

“You got three drops of water on your fur!” He cried, turning around to watch Keen prance away from the water. “You big baby.”

Kyungsoo shook his head, turning back to the water. He looked down at his legs, stretching them out and watching little rays of light flutter over his skin and across the sand. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the sound of the waves and the feel of the warm, soft sand consume him. He hadn’t meditated since his gift had been suppressed, but it was easy to fall back into the calm, semi asleep state.

Memories came back to him, things he hadn’t thought about in a long time. How he felt meeting everyone for the first time, the tricks he and the others would play on Suho, the evenings spent curled up under Kris’ wing, struggling to keep his eyes open while Suho read to them. Eventually the memories grew more abstract. Sunlight on a piece of paper in the classroom, the sound of a cricket late at night, the feeling of clean sheets under bare feet, someone holding his hand and pulling him along…

Then they weren’t memories that he was seeing. He saw the sun and the water, and he heard a thousand voices whispering in the distance. He heard laughter, singing in languages he didn’t understand, he saw dozens of strange animals frolicking in the sea, scuttling across the sand. He saw sunsets and rain storms, lightning that would make Chen awed, and then he heard silence and saw a bright light, from which twelve figures slowly materialized. He couldn’t see their faces, but he knew that they were boys—unfamiliar boys. Or, eleven of them were. But one…there was one that Kyungsoo couldn’t read.

The meditation was interrupted as Kyungsoo attempted to latch onto the vision—that was his mistake. If he focused too much, he would be snapped out of his daze.

Kyungsoo slowly opened his eyes. He hadn’t been meditating for long, but he felt very refreshed. Confused, but also in a good mood. He stood up and stretched, rolling his shoulders and neck.

“I should do that more often,” he sighed. Then he beckoned Keen. “Come on, let’s go back to the others.”

Kyungsoo mulled over his visions as he walked back. When he was a child, meditations meant replaying the events of the day over and over in his head until he drifted into a daze, thinking about how his actions had affected others. As he got older—as they all got older—meditation became important in keeping old memories fresh. They couldn’t really forget things, but memories could be shoved away and left to gather dust as they collected more and more moments. Sometimes, through meditation, they’d be able to connect with their gifts. Kris would be able to see from the eyes of passing birds, Chen would be able to sense storms, Tao would feel the passage of time, and Kyungsoo would be able to feel the imprints of past visitors to whatever land he happened to be on. And very, very rarely, they might be able to get a glimpse of the future.

With jolt, Kyungsoo realized what he had seen—his Generation of Guardians was the ninth, and the tenth would be all girls. The twelve boys he had seen weren’t any past Guardians he knew of, so he must have gotten a look at the eleventh Generation! But what of the twelfth boy—the one Kyungsoo hadn’t been able to get a read on?

Kyungsoo stopped dead. Was it possible that in the future…generations could be mix gendered? But such a thing had never happened before…

‘Neither before has a Generation left their home planet,’ a voice whispered in the back of Kyungsoo’s head.

Kyungsoo shook his head and slapped his cheeks. “Don’t think about it,” he murmured to himself. “Log it away and ask the Tree later.” And with that he continued on, resolutely focusing on how refreshed he felt.

Xiumin had seen a lot in his life and it was hard to surprise him, but he had to say that the thing Suho was holding up in his sphere of water was surprising indeed.

“What in the name of the Tree is that?” He cried as Suho neared.

Suho looked grim, his brows furrowed and his lips thin. “According to Kris it’s a crab, and we can eat it.”

“It looks like a spider,” Sehun muttered, scooting away from it.

“That’s what Tao thought,” Suho sighed, looking over his shoulder. Xiumin looked too, and saw Tao huddled into Kris’ side, the two of them walking much slower than Suho had been.

“Anyway,” Suho went on, “Kris also said that it drowns in water, but so far it’s still alive, so I don’t know if I trust his word!” He turned his head to yell the last bit and Xiumin coughed to hide a laugh—clearly Suho had been miffed about the still living crab for a while now.

“It’ll drown eventually!” Kris hollered back.

Suho rolled his eyes and turned back to the other five. “Anyway, we need to kill this crab. It scared the heck out of Tao, and it will make a nice snack for us to have before we go out fishing.”

Sehun narrowed his eyes. “Since when did fishing become a thing?”

Suho sighed again. “We need food, Sehun-ah. It’s only day two and you guys have already eaten everything we caught yesterday.”

“It made 24 meals,” Lay pointed out. “Give us a break, it’s not like we ate a whole lot on the way here.”

“And anyway,” Suho breezed on, “We want to go further out so we can hopefully get some more variety in our food.”

“Do we have a boat?” Lu Han asked.

Suho nodded. “There’s a sail boat nearby, and the sails are in good shape. If we work together, we’ll be able to steer it well enough.”

Sehun scoffed. “You mean as long as I keep up a breeze for the sails.”

“So you’ll do it?” Suho asked hopefully.

Sehun huffed. “I’ll do it if you get that creepy little spider-crab out of my face.”

Suho beamed. “Okay, I’ll go take this thing to the kitchen. Somebody go find Chen and Kai please, this is going to be a family activity.”

“NOT IT!” Lu Han screamed, leaping to his feet and running back to the water.

Xiumin sighed. “I’ll go get them, jeez.”

Chen collapsed on top of Kai’s back, struggling to catch his breath. Kai’s chest was heaving, and he groaned under Chen’s weight.

“Ugh…I can’t breathe…”

Chen laughed but rolled off of him, snuggling up to his side. “You can’t breathe because I wore you out,” he bragged, but it was ruined because he was out of breath too. Kai didn’t seem to notice though, and Chen laid his head down on the bed, shutting his eyes for a few minutes. He and Kai had fallen into bed shortly after Kai had come back from helping Kris with the pool. Well…first Kai had come back to find Chen sitting in the middle of the bed in his underwear, arms wrapped self-consciously around his shoulders. Chen hadn’t been so self-conscious when Kai immediately yanked off his own shirt and tackled Chen to the mattress, kissing him like they hadn’t seen each other in years. For all the time that the two of them had spent in the bed, they hadn’t gotten much sleep.

After a few minutes Chen rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He debated finding a mirror so he could assess the damage—Kai had to have left at least five hickeys on his neck alone—but he didn’t know if his legs could support his weight. Chen threw his arms over his head and arched his back, whining as he stretched out his sore muscles and groaning when his joints popped. He sighed as he relaxed out of the stretch, only to gasp and tense up again when Kai suddenly leaned over and kissed him again.

Chen’s stomach swopped and his toes curled as Kai into his mouth, curling his tongue behind his teeth. When Kai pulled back it was as if Chen had never caught his breath to begin with.

“You’re insatiable,” Chen gasped as Kai mouthed at his jaw, teeth scraping the sharp angles of his bones.

“So are you,” Kai mumbled, trailing down to his neck. “You’re all hot for me, aren’t you?”

Chen couldn’t even deny it. “Did you slip something in my food?” He asked, half serious.

Kai was busy with Chen’s collar bones, but he pulled himself up long enough to answer. “No, we just haven’t been together like this in a long time.”

“Since the mall,” Chen countered. “I’m still not sure I’ve forgiven you for that, by the way,” the last part came out higher than he intended as Kai inched his way down Chen’s chest. Chen groaned and tangled his fingers in Kai’s hair He was debating if he should push Kai off so they could sleep or keep him right where he was, when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey you animals!” Xiumin yelled through the door. “Get dressed, Suho has food and then he wants us to go fishing!”

Kai was another mark onto Chen’s stomach, and Chen couldn’t help but be annoyed at Suho’s timing. “Now?!” He cried, biting his lip as Kai bit him.

“Soon!” Xiumin yelled back. “So just…hurry up or something!” And then there were footsteps hurrying away.

Kai pulled himself off Chen’s stomach and grinned up at him. “Should we go shower, then?” He asked innocently.

Chen tightened his grip on Kai’s hair. “Finish what you started,” he growled, shoving Kai back down even as he started to laugh.

Tao felt more than a little silly—in his defense, he’d never seen a real crab before coming to this place. He’d spent eight years locked up in a hospital and then jumped right into finding his friends, he hadn’t exactly had time to look at food. Kris kept telling him it was okay, he didn’t have to be embarrassed, it was a pretty monstrous crab, and even Sehun was afraid of it (Chen wasn’t allowed into the kitchen until after the thing was cooked and dismembered), but Tao still blushed when he thought about how he’d actually cried.

Kyungsoo and Suho were in the kitchen, cooking the crab in one of the huge pots, and everyone else had gathered in the dining room. Kai and Chen had just come downstairs, looking rumpled and sleepy, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they had been up to. Tao was a little more than jealous. He, Kris and Suho had yet to do…much.

Kris rubbed Tao’s arm, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Are you feeling better?” he asked quietly.

Tao nodded, keeping his eyes on the floor. “’M alright,” he mumbled.

Baekhyun sat down on Tao’s other side, grinning at him. “Cheer up, kiddo! You did find us some dinner, after all.”

“Lunch,” Kai corrected. “It’s lunch time.”

Lu Han raised his hand. “Is this crab really big enough to feed all of us?” He asked skeptically. “You saw how much we ate the other day.”

“We have a little fish left over from yesterday,” Kris assured, “Everyone will get a plate and then we’ll all go out fishing.”

Kai snorted, bringing everyone’s eyes his way. Chen was perched on his lap, and again Tao felt a flash of jealousy. “You guys are crazy if you think we can catch anything really impressive today. All the good fish live further out in the sea, and that boat Suho found isn’t bad but it’ll need to be looked over more thoroughly before we take it out into the deep sea.”

“There are some shallow water fish we can catch,” Kris insisted.

“But do we really all need to be there for it?” Kai pressed. “It’ll mostly be Suho and Lu Han doing the fishing, we don’t have rods.”

Kris pursed his lips thoughtfully. “We can get rods.”

“From where?” Lay asked.

“Have you seen where we are?” Suho called, and everyone turned to look at him. He and Kyungsoo each balanced six plates on large platters and carried them over to the table that the other ten were sitting at.

Suho went on, “We’re in a fishing town, I’m sure we can find some fishing rods.”

“But will they have stood the test of time?” Kai asked. “A strong fish could easily snap the rod.”

Suho sighed. “If the rod can withstand a fish of that size, I think it can stand to sit unused for a few years. Have some faith in the people of this world, Kai! I’m starting to think you just don’t want to go fishing.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Kai mumbled, tightening his grip on Chen’s waist.

Suho must have heard him, but his only response was to wrap Kai up in a tight hug and plant an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek as he walked past Kai’s chair. Kai predictably yelped and squirmed and wiped his cheek off when Suho let him go.

“So,” Kyungsoo said brightly, directing everyone’s attention to the plates being passed around, “The stuff in the middle is the coconut crab, and the stuff along the edges is left overs, and the greens are some wild onions that I dug up while we were waiting for the crab to cook.”

Baekhyun poked at the crab meat suspiciously. He had what seemed to have been a leg at one point. “Is this sanitary?”

“It was boiled in hot water,” Kyungsoo sighed, rolling his eyes. “And we washed it thoroughly before hand, it’s fine.”

“Okay,” Tao said loudly, picking up a fork, “On the count of three, we are all going to eat the thing that nearly gave me a heart attack, agreed?”

Around the table, everyone pulled their plates closer and picked up their utensils. Tao counted them off.

“One, two, three.”

For a few seconds there was just the sound of twelve boys chewing.

“It’s not bad,” Xiumin said, picking up another piece.

Kris hummed in agreement. “It’s not the most flavorful thing, but it’s pretty good.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and all too soon they were done eating.

“So,” Suho said brightly, “Shall we go to the boat now?”

Kai looked ready to protest, but Chen tugged on his arm. “Come on Kai, let’s just go along, it could be fun.”

Kai hesitated for a second and then sighed. “Okay, okay. Let’s go.”

Suho looked delighted—it was adorable. “Okay, let’s go get the cooler and we can go!”

“Cooler?” Lay echoed. “Cooler…what is that?”

“It’s a big container that you fill with ice and it keeps food cold,” Suho answered, leading them all into the kitchen. “I found three in this kitchen and washed them out, and they look to be in pretty good shape. They’ll hold whatever we catch until we can get back here.”

While Xiumin filled the coolers with ice, Chen and Lu Han leashed up the dogs and Kris packed a bag with a few water bottles. They wouldn’t be gone long, but they would be out in the sun and he wanted to make sure they all stayed hydrated. Then they all made their way down to the shore where the boat was docked.

“So, how’d you find this boat?” Lu Han asked.

“There’s boats all over,” Suho answered. “It’s just that this one was in the best shape. It was in a private holding area with a roof and really good walls, so it wasn’t that violated by all the elements.”

“I say again,” Kai called, “There’s no way it’s that good. These things on this world, they can’t withstand everything. We’ll have to stay close to shore.”

“We’ll still get a lot of good fish,” Suho countered.

“But we need big fish,” Kai emphasized. “I’ve seen books that talk about fish, and there’s huge ones that can be as big as a person! We need those fish, and lots of them, especially if we want to stay here long term.”

There was a silence, and Kai looked around in surprise. “What?” He asked. “Don’t tell me you guys didn’t think about it.”

“I mean…we’re pretty far from the Tree,” Chanyeol mumbled.

“I didn’t say we had to stay forever,” Kai pointed out. “But we can stay for a while. Weeks, maybe. And it’s not going to be fun if we have to keep going out to sea every day to catch our food.”

“We can always eat chicken too,” Baekhyun pointed out, and everyone laughed. No matter where they found themselves, there seemed to be an abundance of chickens. They couldn’t figure out what had made them so immune to the bad conditions of the land, but they appreciated the easy food. Chickens were really dumb and easy to catch.

“Okay,” Kai conceded, “But we can always have chicken. How often are we going to be able to eat fish? That’s what’s best about coming to the water, getting easy access to new food. And what if it rains for a few days and we don’t want to go out? Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a fish as big as Kris or Chanyeol stored in one of the freezers, so we have food on hand?”

Kris was beginning to see his point, and he wasn’t the only one.

“Well,” Kris began, “I mean…we could definitely try it. We’ll need to plan though—we’d probably be gone an entire day, maybe even stay out for the night, so we’ll need a bigger boat. And we’ll need food and water, for us and the dogs…”

“We’ll need a bigger cooler,” Suho joked.

“We’ll need a fishing rod or a net or something of that sort,” Sehun threw in.

“We’ll need bait!” Kyungsoo added.

“It’s a lot to think about,” Lu Han said firmly, “And we can talk about it more when we’re done with this fishing trip. For now, let’s think about what we’re looking for, yeah?”

“I have a list,” Kris said, but before he could say much more, Suho stopped and pointed.

“Look, there’s our boat!”

Everyone turned to look. Suho had managed to get the boat out of its storehouse and had tied it off on a long dock, where it stood waiting for them.

“Wow,” Baekhyun said, “That’s really cool.”

For an older boat, it was in remarkably good condition. It was pretty big, they wouldn’t have a lot of elbow room but they would be able to fit everyone on board. They secured the coolers with ropes and put the dogs in the small crawl-space under the nose of the boat. Xiumin was in charge of the rudder, Sehun stood at the very back of the boat and kept wind in the sails, and Suho helped by controlling the currents. Lu Han stood at the tip of the boat, using his gift to scan the water for fish.

“So anyway,” Kris said, pulling his list out of his pocket. “If we stay close to shore, we’ll probably find white shrimp, blue crabs, bass, mackerel and sweetfish. They’re all pretty small, and of course the crabs and shrimp will be closer to the bottom. We might find mantis shrimp, and we’ll have to be careful of those things because they’re really aggressive and have claws.”

“Lovely,” Chen said dryly. “So our dinner can fight back.”

“You know I can’t sense things that are way out there, right?” He called out. “I’m only good for maybe 20 meters.”

“That’s fine,” Suho called back, “Just let me know when you get something.”

They stayed close to the shore, keeping the beach well within sight. They cruised along at a nice pace, not too fast or too slow, and the eight who were not actively fishing sat scattered around the boat, careful to avoid the ‘boom.’

“Why’s it called a boom?” Lay asked, following the low beam as it swayed with the sails.

It was Kris who answered. “Because if you’re not careful, it’ll go ‘BOOM’ and crack you on the head.”

Everyone winced and inched further away from it while Kris laughed.

After a while Lu Han called that they seemed to be in a busy area, and Kai leaned over to let down the anchor. While they waited for the fish to settle and get used to the presence of the boat, they all took the chance to look around themselves.

“This is truly beautiful,” Lu Han sighed, sitting down on the very tip of the boat. “You know, I don’t think I’d mind spending more time sailing.”

“Me either,” Baekhyun piped up. “This is so much different from the last time we were on a boat…it’s so relaxing.”

“And can you imagine watching the sun set from the sea?” Tao sighed. “It must be gorgeous.”

Everyone had to agree to that, and they all sighed wistfully in unison.

“So, I guess we’re going on a fishing trip then?” Suho asked.

Lu Han suddenly jumped up. “Think about that later, I think we’ve got a bunch of shrimp under our boat!”

This will pick up in the next chapter. I would have written more, but this thing is already really long.

Also, picture Lay saying “Cooler” the same way he says “Cheeseball.” (Just so you know, I'm obsessed with EXO's Showtime, it's really the highlight of my week.)

Oh yeah and I’ve completed the At World’s End chronology! You can find it here http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/780777

HAPPY 60 DRABBLES WOW I’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A LONG TIME!! I’m amazed I still have ideas for this…and oh, I have so many ideas. I tell you once this arc is over we are diving headfirst back into the angst, I have so much stuff yet to do with their gifts…it will be glorious!

Also eh I may end up posting a little rated OT3 action in this arc. It needs to happen. Every other couple has had their moment, it’s OT3’s turn (Kai/Chen getting naughty in this chapter…they’re really insatiable).

Oh and I had a question about the fate of Xiumin, Lay, and Kyungsoo as far as their pairings go. They will all be paired off eventually, I’m not sure who Lay will be with but it will most likely be someone from the next Generation of Guardians. Xiumin will also definitely be paired with someone from the next generation, and Kyungsoo will be paired with someone from the eleventh generation. The generation he just had a vision of.

OHOHOHOHO ^3^