#61: Cheeseburger in Paradise Part 2
Updating earlier than I planned because this story now has 100 upvotes!!!

 

They spent about three hours cruising along the shoreline before they managed to entirely fill one cooler and get the second one to the halfway mark, at which point they all decided that it was time to go home and cook their catch. They had a few books on hand that talked about how to cook fish—or not cook it—the only problem was that they didn’t have a lot of fixings that the book talked about.

“What is soy sauce?” Suho wondered, perusing the book while he, Xiumin and Sehun cleaned and deboned the fish.

“I don’t know, it looks gross,” Sehun sniffed, looking over Suho’s shoulder.

“We should try to make some of this stuff though,” Suho went on. “It would be interesting to really taste what kinds of food these people ate.”

“Food is food,” Kyungsoo said—he was at the stove, frying some of the shrimp. “These things better taste good,” he grumbled. “For all the time we spent cleaning and peeling them.”

Baekhyun nodded—he was on Kyungsoo’s right side, boiling some of the shrimp. The good thing about staying in a hotel which had once housed so many people was that the kitchen was huge—there were so many stoves that they could cook everything at once, and huge refrigerators and freezers that could hold what they didn’t eat. They’d caught plenty of shrimp as well as a few dozen bass and mackerel. They found five blue crabs, fourteen mantis shrimp, and three of what Kris said were mitten crabs, which were covered in what seemed to be hair but was apparently not.

“These creatures are weird,” Kai sighed as he tossed the mitten crabs into a pot. He and Lu Han were on crab duty.

“But supposedly delicious,” Suho added distractedly. They were leaving some of the shrimp and mackerel raw for sushi—nigiri sushi, which was supposed to be eaten with rice and some kinds of sauce. They had some rice cooking on the stove—it kept surprisingly well in supermarkets, but the sauces were things they’d have to go without.

Suho had eaten raw fish before—he’d come from a fishing village after all, and he’d learned how to slice and dice fish almost before he’d learned how to walk, and sometimes for the sake of convenience (especially when there were five other children in the house) the fish would be served raw. He was curious to see how this fish held up. Deciding that he had chef’s privilege, he picked up a piece of the mackerel and popped it in his mouth. At once a wave of nostalgia hit him so hard he had to fight to hold back tears. He hadn’t eaten fish like this in a long time.

“Suho?” Lu Han murmured, gently touching Suho’s arm, “Are you okay?”

Suho quickly gathered himself and swallowed the fish, taking a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said breezily. “Just…you know, it’s really familiar.”

Lu Han gave him an understanding smile. “I know,” he said quietly. “I really do.”

The sun had set by the time all the fish was ready to be served. While Suho, Lu Han, Xiumin, Kyungsoo, Sehun, Baekhyun and Kai had been cooking the fish and rice, the other boys had gone looking for wild vegetables or fruits to give the meal some variety, and when they all met in the dining room it was the first time the two groups got a look at what the other had done.

“Wow,” Suho gasped when he saw the dining room. “You guys were busy!”

They had rearranged the tables, pushing three together instead of two so that everyone could have elbow room, and they’d set it with a red tablecloth and plates, cutlery and glasses.

“Well, Kris decided that we needed to stop eating like heathens and have a proper dinner,” Chen shrugged. “I guess it looks nice.”

Kris directed those with hot pots and pans to put their load down on blocks of wood and stone—hot plates, he called them. “We didn’t find a whole lot in the way of vegetables,” he admitted. “But we do have coconuts and wild onions.”

“Coconuts, like that crab we ate yesterday?” Baekhyun asked, looking around.

“No, this is a coconut,” Kris explained, holding up something that looked like a hairy rock. “It’s full of sweet water, and there’s a lining of ‘meat’ inside of it that we can eat. I cracked a few open and poured out the water, come see…”

“It’s good,” Chanyeol added. “We tried some already. Sehun should like it, he likes sweet things.”

Once everything was set out, everyone took their seats. Before they even reached for the food, everyone just froze and stared at each other for a second.

“Déjà vu,” Kai muttered.

Suho was flashing back to that nostalgic feeling. “When’s the last time we really ate together at a table?” He wondered. It had been a while, for a half second it was as if nobody knew quite what to do.

It was Kyungsoo who broke the silence. “The food that is actually cooked is getting cold,” he blurted, grabbing a pair of tongs. “Alright, supposedly this mitten crab is supposed to be really good, so we’ll all try that first.”

All the food had been laid out evenly, so everyone got a taste of the crab. After trying it, they could only say one thing.

“Okay we have got to get more of these,” Tao said through a mouthful.

Next they tried the mantis shrimp (“These little bastards were so hard to kill,” Kyungsoo glowered). Since there were fourteen they had put two in a freezer for later and halved the other twelve so that everyone could try it raw and boiled. They were divided on which tasted better but they all agreed that it tasted good, and so they tried the white shrimp next.

“Wow,” Kai and Chanyeol said at the same time, a sentiment everyone echoed.

“Guys,” Kai cried, “How did we survive before shrimp?”

“Chicken,” Lu Han laughed, and everyone laughed with him.

“It’s really not bad raw,” Kris added. “I didn’t know how it would be but it’s good.”

“We should make butter,” Suho announced, “It’s supposed to be good with butter.”

“I thought that was lobster?” Lay asked.

“Well that too…”

And the meal continued on, everyone talking through mouthfuls of fish and coconut (which they all agreed was delicious and Sehun vowed to never be without ever again). They had soda too—Kris said they needed to find something that could carbonate it, he knew such things existed, because all they’d ever had was flat soda. But even that couldn’t distract from how nice it was to just be together. When the last bit of food had been eaten, nobody wanted to get up.

“This was nice,” Tao sighed, his head on Suho’s shoulder. “We should do this more often.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“We can once we get more fish,” Kai sighed. “We should have enough leftover mackerel and bass for a meal tomorrow, and we can have chicken for another, but we really need to consider a deep sea fishing trip.”

“I want to try tuna,” Lay piped up. “I heard it’s really good.”

“Too good,” Kris added, “The previous occupants of this world almost fished the Bluefin tuna into extinction.”

“Do you think it’s still around?” Suho asked.

“After today, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Kris said. “We caught a lot of fish considering the wretched state of this planet. I thought we’d have a harder time.”

“Is this the Tree at work?” Kyungsoo wondered, “Or maybe things were already better over here?”

“That could be,” Xiumin mused. “I mean, it has been a long time since everyone stopped caring. I don’t think these people were really doing that much fishing when their planet was collapsing. It seemed to me like everyone went insular, you know?”

“You mean like, they all looked out for themselves?” Chen asked. “Instead of working to get food for other people?”

“Basically.”

There was a brief silence. “Well,” Kris said, “I guess we’ll find out. I’m all for deep sea fishing.”

After everyone else had agreed to give it a try, they decided they would start the search for an appropriate boat first thing in the morning.

 

When they were preparing to come to Earth, everyone had a different job to do. Kris learned about electricity and technology, Chen studied geography, Kai studied medical texts so they could be prepared for emergencies, and so on. They couldn’t prepare for everything, especially because their knowledge was so limited, and their home planet only had information based on what they had learned from spying and the little contact they’d had with past inhabitants. So it was a good thing that Suho had grown up in a fishing village and knew what a good boat looked like, because the books had never talked about boats like this.

“I’m amazed that thing could float,” he mumbled, shaking his head at an oversized craft. He’d taken a car and drove along the sand for a while, finally coming to a stop at a dock about a mile away. There was a covered hut which looked like the one he’s found the first boat in, so he took a chance and decided to explore. The hut was completely sealed off and closed with a lock, which Suho thought was promising—it meant the boats inside couldn’t have been vandalized. He formed a jet of water with his hand and sent it at the side door, splintering it apart. Once he got inside, his jaw dropped.

“By the Tree,” he yelped, stumbling back. “They’re huge!!”

Inside there were a few boats tied up, with wide decks and what seemed to be two floors. They actually seemed to be in very good condition, but Suho had never seen a boat that big—or that white—in his life! He ran into the room, feeling almost giddy. He latched onto the first boat he saw, running his hands over it. He knocked on the frame, inspected what he could see for cracks or damage and found none. He clambered over the railing of the boat and found himself on a narrow walkway. The majority of the lower deck was enclosed but surrounded by windows, and when Suho peeked through the windows he didn’t see any water damage, so he made his way around to walk into the enclosed space.

The sides were lined with cushioned seats, and at the back there was a space that looked like it had been used to store food and drink. There was a door marked with a sign he had come to recognize for a bathroom, and in the center there was a large railed off space. Suho approached the railing and gasped again when he saw that the bottom of the boat was missing!

“Where’s the floor?” He cried, before his brain caught up with him. If the boat was still floating, then the bottom had to be in place—it was just see-through. Suho reached his hand between the bars and pressed down on the bottom. “Oh, it’s glass,” he laughed. “Well, that’s pretty cool.”

He then went up the stairs and to the upper deck—this was pretty open, without seating and only a small covering where the steering system was kept. Suho thought it would be pleasant to sit up there and enjoy the breeze, and it looked sound. He wasn’t so sure about the steering system and he couldn’t see the motor, but that was more Kris’ area of expertise anyway. Still, he figure this was a good boat to try with, and he happily exited the space and got back in the car to drive back to where the others were.

 

Lu Han had found some fishing rods in town and declared them to be satisfactory, as well as some fishing line and hooks. Part of the reason the rods were good was because they were still wrapped in their packaging, and he spent the day putting them together and stringing the line through the hooks, following along with pictures in the booklet of instructions (very carefully, as the book looked ready to fall apart). Suho drove Kris and Chen to the boat house and showed them what he had found. Chen was along to help them charge the battery in the motor—or to see if he possibly could.

They both gasped when they saw what Suho had found. “It’s a tourist boat,” Kris breathed. “I heard about these kinds of things—people would take them out for weekends and things.”

“How do they operate?” Suho asked excitedly.

“Most have generators,” Kris explained as the boarded the boat Suho had gone on. There was a brief pause while he and Chen checked out the glass bottom, and then he continued, “This was probably used to tour the reef or something.” He led the way to the top of the boat to the steering system (“It’s called a cockpit,” he said) and said that it looked to be in good condition, grinning triumphantly when he saw the keys were in the ignition. But when he tried to start the boat, there was a horrible grinding sound and then nothing.

“No problem,” he said easily. “This is where you come in, Chen. Suho, stay here and turn that key when I tell you to.”

Chen followed along nervously—he could charge batteries up to a certain point, but recently when he’d tried to charge a phone he’d made it explode.

“Most boats like this started using their own generators towards the end,” Kris told him as they went back downstairs. “Obviously not as big as the one at the hotel, but I think you could get it to work again with no problem.”

“What if I blow it up?” Chen asked nervously.

“I doubt that you will,” Kris told him. The generator was located at the back of the boat with the rudder, Kris had to pull up part of the boat to expose it—Chen was nervous to see the boat coming apart, but Kris assured him it was okay.

“Just go easy,” he warned.

So Chen took a deep breath and allowed electricity to flow through his fingers. He pushed his hands together, watching sparks fly from his palms, and then he pressed his hands down until the touched the generator, feeling a jolt go through his body and exit through his palms. He pulled back just as quickly, nervous for a second, but nothing happened.

Chen sighed in relief that he hadn’t blown the boat up and Kris turned towards the cockpit. “Start it up, Suho!”

There was a second of silence, and then the engine revved to life. Kris grinned at Chen proudly. “We have a boat.”

 

They had a boat and fishing rods, but they had to wait another day to go fishing—by the time they got everything together, it was too late to go out and fish. But they went to bed determined to wake up early the next day. They packed bags with clothing, swimwear and fresh water, they cooked up some chicken and packed it away in an ice-filled cooler along with some coconuts and bait—smaller fish that Lu Han had caught while fishing off the dock. Baekhyun had the brilliant idea to cut up a section of grass from the ground and bring it along so the dogs could have a place to go to the bathroom. They woke up before sunrise the next day and loaded everything into the car. Kris drove it along the beach slowly while everyone walked alongside—or ten people walked alongside, Tao sat in the back (they had left the trunk open to make room for the fishing rods) with his feet dangling out and his arms wrapped around the dogs.

“Somebody should make sure they don’t jump,” he laughed when Sehun glared at him. “Not my fault you didn’t think of it.”

It wasn’t long before they were at the boat house/hut thing, and they quickly loaded everything onboard. The glass floor was a hit with everyone, and they all couldn’t wait to actually get the boat out and find out how far down they could see. Once they had everything on board, Suho stood at the front of the boat and sent a wave of water at the huge front doors of the boat house, splintering them open. Kris started the engine and between him, Xiumin and Suho, they managed to steer safely out of the house. By that time the sun had risen, and they all caught their breath as they took in the beautiful sky.

“Wow,” Kris breathed. “It’s beautiful.” But then he glared at the steering system. “I’m not sure if it was worth that stress though.”

Xiumin giggled and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry about it, we’re in the open water now, there’s nothing to run into.”

It took Kris a minute to recover from the display of affection, but when he did he reminded Xiumin that there were reefs out there in the shallows, and pointed to the radar system. “Just keep an eye on that, and if you see any little blips they’re probably fish.”

“We’ve got it,” Xiumin and Suho chorused together.

“You go relax, okay?” Xiumin ordered gently. “We’ve got the steering down.”

Kris made his way down to the lower deck where the other boys were gathered around the glass. Baekhyun seemed to be a little freaked out, and as Kris approached he couldn’t help but feel the same.

“Baekhyun, you want to come help me set up the dog grass?” He asked, and Baekhyun leapt to his feet.

They spread the grass out in a corner near the back of the boat, double layering it just to be safe. Even then, they didn’t go back inside. They walked around to the front of the boat and leaned over the railing, watching the water go by.

“So,” Kris aid after a moment, “How are the swimming lessons going?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I’m not getting much swimming done,” he sighed. “Chanyeol carries me in, and I stay in his arms for a few minutes, and then I usually start to cry.”

Kris was instantly concerned. “That doesn’t sound like it’s working.”

“I know,” Baekhyun sighed. “I don’t understand it. I know I have nothing to be afraid of—I’m not scared now, but when I’m in the water, when I think about…going in, by myself…and I can’t help but think about it, no matter how much I try not to…that’s when I panic.”

Kris hummed. “Well, I guess you just need to get comfortable with the idea of being in the water.”

“I know,” Baekhyun sighed again. “It’s taking longer than I thought.”

“You’ve been learning for two days,” Kris reminded him. “Give yourself some time.”

Baekhyun nodded. “What about you?” He asked suddenly. “You look a little shaken.”

Kris looked up towards the cockpit and leaned closer to Baekhyun, lowering his voice. “It’s just…sometimes I forget that I’m not the oldest one here. It surprises me whenever I remember that.”

Baekhyun gave Kris an odd look, almost like he was worried. “You’ve always been like this,” he said. “You get so shocked when other people try to take care of you. It used to just be one of those things about you but I’m starting to realize…you’re just not used to it. You and Suho, you had this whole leader thing drilled into you from the start and it’s to the point that you don’t even think that it’s okay to be taken care of.”

Kris stared at Baekhyun in shock—he suddenly realized that look from earlier had been pity. “I…um…”

Baekhyun waved his hand. “I’m not expecting an answer or excuse, I just had to say it. Just…try not to be surprised. We do love you, you know, all of us love both or you, and we want to look out for our leaders.”

They were quiet for a little while until Xiumin yelled down, “I think we’ve got some fish nearby!!”

But hauling up giant fish proved to be a lot harder than anticipated—the first time they cast the lines, they got moderately sized mackerels, which were good to have but not what they were looking for. But then they went out a little further and cast the lines again, and they hooked a big fish. A big, strong, not-going-without-a-fight fish. It took Lu Han, Suho, Kris and Xiumin over an hour taking turns with the rod to reel it in, and finally after that they got fed up. The fish was shallow enough that Lu Han was able to latch onto it and use his gift to haul it close to the edge of the boat.

“Nice going, Lu Han,” Sehun said brightly. “And you were worried about your gift.”

Lu Han shrugged. “I don’t know, I think I should be able to just pluck them up out of the depths. Now what?” He asked.

Kyungsoo grabbed the baseball bat they’d brought along and went to club it but Kris pulled the bat away. “Don’t bludgeon it,” he scolded, “We want to save as much of it as we can, we can eat the whole thing.”

“Well what do you suggest we do?” Kyungsoo fired back.

“We have to cut it,” Kris said, casting an anxious look at Chen and Tao, bless their faint hearts, “And let it bleed out. It’s the best way to kill and make sure it’s good to serve.”

“We have a knife?” Kai asked, and Kris pointed to the fishing gear. When everyone looked away squeamishly, Kris took a deep breath.

“Okay, fine. I’ll do it.” And he grabbed a heavy glove and put it on his left hand, using it to hold the line that the fish was still attached to. Then he leaned over the edge of the boat and used his other hand to slash at the fishes’ neck. After a few minutes the fish seemed to have bled out, and Kris gave Lu Han the go ahead to haul it over the edge of the boat. A bit of blood sloshed onto the deck, and Suho quickly used some sea water to wash it away.

“That was messy,” Chanyeol mumbled.

“Well it was good work anyway,” Suho said, “Now, what kind of fish is this?”

Kris finally got a good look at the thing. “Wow,” he cried, “It’s a yellow fin tuna!”

“Oh gosh,” Kai scoffed. “What an unimaginative name!”

Tao poked the fish. “It’s really big,” he muttered, his eyes wide. “Wow…is this as big as they can be?”

Kris shook his head and retrieved a tape measure from his bag. He stretched it out over the fish. “121 centimeters,” he announced. “But they can get to be over 200.”

Tao gaped. “Oh my god,” he said weakly. “That’s huge!”

“When did we start saying ‘Oh my god?’” Chanyeol wondered, but nobody got back to him because at that moment one of their other lines started twitching.

“FISH!” Lay screamed, latching onto the rod.

Unfortunately that one got away, and they moved to another spot, storing the first fish in one of the coolers. Xiumin covered the fish in a layer of ice and they moved the cooler inside, so the sun wouldn’t make it too warm. Even so, Xiumin made sure to check on their catch every few hours.

In the next few hours they hooked another yellow fin, three black carp, and when they found themselves in shallower water at one point, Lu Han managed to pull up a few crabs. Finally at the end of the day they caught the elusive Bluefin tuna. They fought to reel it in for almost an hour, and as soon as it came close to the edge of the boat Kris stabbed it. Then they all sat back to take in it’s sheer size.

“I thought the yellow fin was big,” Tao muttered, staring in awe at the beast.

“Didn’t you say it was over fished?” Suho asked Kris.

“I said almost,” Kris panted—he’d had the last turn with the fishing rod and it had wiped him out. “But fishermen also farmed them. I guess when the world was ending, they released the farm fish and they bred back to good numbers. Their only natural predators are sharks and sometimes whales.”

Suho wrapped the fish in water and helped Lu Han heave it over the edge of boat. Lu Han hadn’t been able to get a grip on it until recently, because of how much it had been fighting. Everyone gathered around, and even the dogs came up to sniff it, but Lay quickly pulled them back.

“This isn’t even as big as they can be,” Kris told them, “I guess this one’s about 150 centimeters.”

“That’s huge!” Baekhyun cried. “Oh god, things like this live in the water?!”

“At least it doesn’t have teeth,” Kris pointed out. “it can’t really hurt you unless it hits you over the head.”

Baekhyun didn’t look convinced, but he changed the subject. “Will it even fit in the coolers?”

“We only have the one left,” Xiumin added.

“We’ll just have to gut it and cut it up now,” Suho said grimly, rolling up his sleeves. “This is gonna get messy. Everyone out of the way.”

Leaving it to Suho to take care of, everyone else rushed inside and converged around the glass floor.

“It’s a little sad,” Chanyeol sighed, “We can’t see anything.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” Baekhyun muttered. Lu Han ruffled his hair and he ducked out of the way, scowling.

Chen was off to the side, rummaging through his bag. After a moment he stood up, holding something behind his back. “I brought something along for us,” He announced. “I made sure it would work on the ship before we left.” And he pulled from behind his back a portable CD player.

“Wow!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, running over to examine it. “Where’d you find it?”

“I was poking around in some of the hotel rooms,” Chen admitted, “And I found it. We so rarely find them in good condition, I thought the opportunity was too good to pass up. I have a bunch of CDs too, I’ve, um…been collecting them.”

Everyone was surprised. “I didn’t know that,” Kai said quietly, “How many do you have?”

Chen shrugged. “I brought along five, but I think I have around fifteen.” He held up one. “This is probably my favorite, but I can’t read it.” He eyed Kris. “You need to teach us English.”

“It’s not easy to learn,” Kris said quickly. “It’s more difficult if you learn later in life—it’s one of the things that frustrates me. People spoke it fluently in my village, but since we were so isolated it never really spread.”

“How did it even come to your village?” Sehun asked. “I know there was that lady, the one that the fifth Kai brought to our world, but why did she end up in your village?”

“I don’t actually know that story,” Baekhyun said quietly.

“It’s mostly legend,” Kris explained. “There was this scientist on this world who was working on communicating with other planets, and she somehow managed to contact ours, but she didn’t want the people she worked for to find out what she’d learned, so she got a message to the Guardians to take her away or there would be big trouble for our world. So they came and took her away.”

“Just like that?” Baekhyun asked skeptically.

“She wasn’t the only one,” Kris reminded him. “it’s happened before. Anyway, she wanted a quiet life so she moved somewhere isolated. The thing about my village is that it’s fairly warm—she didn’t want to be in the Northern circle.”

Chen interrupted—“And she taught the people her language while they taught her theirs. Now, can you read the CD?”

Kris took the CD from him and squinted at the title. “Okay,” He said after a while, “It’s in a weird font but I think the artist is called Journey, and the title of the CD is…Escape? I think it’s Escape.”

Chen looked delighted. “I really want you guys to hear this one song, it sounds so beautiful, even if I don’t understand it.”

Everyone had to grin at his enthusiasm—Chen was a fun person, and he was coming out of his shell more and more, but it was obvious that he was still very reserved. He only got really, truly excited about a few things in life, mainly lightning and Kai, but now it looked like music had been added to that list.

Kris turned to the doorway. “Suho, how’s the fish?”

“I’m just cleaning up,” Suho called back. “Come on out.”

They all filtered back out to help Suho pack away the fish, but he’d put a huge slab aside.

“I know we don’t have rice or anything,” He said, “But you guys need to eat this fish, I tried some and it’s really good.” He shaved twelve thin slices off and passed them around, and on the count of three everyone popped it in their mouths.

“Oh my god,” Tao said, “Wow. I have been ruined.”

“For real,” Kai agreed. Then he swatted at Keen, who was sitting at his feet and looking for a handout. “Get lost dog, this is too good for you.”

Everyone had a laugh at that, and then Suho dug around in the cooler they’d packed with snacks and pulled out a few plates. “I brought this for the chicken, but I guess we can use it for the fish, I don’t think we need anything else.”

“Give the chicken to the dogs,” Lu Han suggested, scooping Daisy up. “They can have it.”

Since the breeze felt amazing, they all decided to eat on the upper deck. The anchor was down and they saw no need to move, so they grabbed the cooler with their food and drinks and hauled it up the stairs. Chanyeol carried Keen up the steps and Lu Han carried Daisy. Chen brought up the CD player and plugged it into an outlet in the cockpit. They listened to the CD while they ate, talking and laughing together, but something felt different, and it took a while to figure out what had changed—they weren’t coupled off. Sehun was sitting between Kris and Kai, Lu Han was between Xiumin and Lay, Kyungsoo was on Kai’s other side and Suho was next to him, Tao was sandwiched between Chen and Chanyeol, and Baekhyun was between Lay and Chen. For a brief moment, conversation flowed to a halt and everyone looked around the circle with wide eyes. It seemed as though, for a while, they had forgotten that they were friends, not just couples and trios.

The song on the CD changed, and Chen broke the silence. “This song is actually my favorite,” he said quietly. “I forgot to mention it earlier. I think it’s called ‘Open Arms.’”

Kris checked the CD case and then nodded. “Yeah, that’s the name.”

Sehun suddenly spoke up. “This may sound weird but I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and…” he took a deep breath. “You know, we’ve all been through a lot of crap, and we’re kind of messed up, but I think we’d be a lot worse off if we didn’t have each other. Like, I can’t picture my life without any single one of you and…” his voice broke a little and he was suddenly fighting tears. “Remember when Seven told us that she hadn’t spoken to the members of her Generation in a long time? I just hope that never happens to us. I hope we stay friends forever, no matter what and…” he paused to clear his throat. “I just hope that nothing ever changes between us.” Then he quickly wiped his eyes.

“Aw, Sehun-ah,” Baekhyun cooed, “Don’t cry!”

Kris wrapped his arm around Sehun’s shoulders and tucked him into his side. Sehun leaned his head against Kris’ shoulder, trying to steal another moment to compose himself. Kris grinned and slowly unfolded his wings, wrapping one around Sehun’s shoulders. “Bird hug,” he laughed. “Remember this, Sehun? You couldn’t get enough of my wings when you were a kid—you, Kai and Chen.”

“And me,” Chanyeol threw in.

“What do you mean when we were kids?” Sehun mumbled, burrowing back into the fluffy feathers. “I still love your wings.”

“Hey, that reminds me,” Xiumin cried, “Kris, why do you still keep your wings hidden? I swear, sometimes I forget they’re even there.”

Kris thought about it for a second, looking flustered as everyone waited for his answer. “I guess I just got used to it? I don’t know…it’s not on purpose, I just keep them folded.”

“But why?” Tao asked. “I never understood…you love your wings.”

Kris hesitated. “Well…you know, flight is the only gift that really changes a Guardian’s body. We’re all different from everyone else but flight is really marks a Guard—me, marks me, as different from everyone else.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess when I was a kid I just didn’t want to be any more different than I already was. And then when I got older I didn’t want to stand out. I didn’t want people to just notice the wings. I figured when they first saw me they’d be so shocked by the wings they’d just stare at them and forget about me, or all of us. And now it’s just second nature, I guess. I don’t even think about showing them off.”

“You should,” Sehun sighed, absently combing his fingers through the lower feathers, “This is so therapeutic and they’re so pretty.”

Kris grinned. “Okay, I’ll try to keep them out more.”

 Chen’s favorite song started to play again, and as the chorus approached a few of the boys started to hum along, cutting off in giggles when they realized what they were doing.

“This really is a good song,” Suho murmured. He turned to Kris. “What’s it about?”

“As far as I can tell, it’s about a man vowing to be open to his lover no matter what, and a promise that they’ll always accept each other,” Kris explained.

“That’s beautiful,” Kai said, and he grinned at Chen. “I see why you like it.”

“I memorized it,” Chen admitted shyly. “A while ago, actually.”

“You should sing it, then,” Lay cried. “Go on, we haven’t heard you sing in ages!”

“We haven’t sung at all in ages,” Chen blurted. “We used to…”

It was another shock. There was so much that they used to do that they hadn’t done in so long—they did used to sing, not all the time but often enough. They sang local songs and lullabies—especially lullabies, and other nonsense children’s songs, as they were the most plentiful. Odes to the Tree and songs for wedding ceremonies were okay, but only because the alternative was working songs and death marches—neither of which were very pleasant.

“So let’s learn this song,” Suho said quickly. “Come on, we can do this.”

They looped the song a few times, and Chen and Kris helped them out with the harder lyrics, and by about the fourth loop they all had it down, and as the song started again they all sang along.

It was amazing. There was no better feeling in the world than the twelve of them together, feeling the sun and wind on their skin, hearing their voices come together as one. No matter where they went or how many of them coupled off, they would always have each other in the end, and they would always be there to support each other. They would always be friends and brothers, and they would always love each other.

By the time the song ended they were all smiling, and a few were crying, but there was a feeling of happiness in the air that nobody could ignore. After a moment Tao looked around and gasped.

“Guys, look, the sun’s setting!”

They had been so wrapped up in each other, they hadn’t noticed the change in the sky, but as they snapped out of their daze they all gasped.

“It’s beautiful,” Baekhyun breathed.

The sky was pink, orange, purple and the palest of blues, and the sun had just met the horizon, the light reflecting in the ocean and mixing a fiery orange with the turquoise waves. They watched in silence as the sun dipped lower, and just as the very top of the sun disappeared under the horizon there was the quickest flash of green light.

“The green flash!” Chanyeol cried, “It is real!”

“Of course it’s real,” Baekhyun sighed, but even he sounded awed. “The light passes through the whole spectrum, but human eyes can only see the green and only under ideal conditions.”

“We must be pretty lucky then,” Lu Han sighed, and everyone hummed in agreement.

Suddenly Suho jumped up. “OH MY GOD!” He cried, “The sun’s set and we’re still in the open water!”

There was a collective gasp and everyone leapt to their feet.

“Time to go!” Kris yelled, “Okay, Baekhyun, get ready to light the way, we’re going to need all the help we can get to dock this thing…”

Even when Baekhyun flooded the surrounding area in light, they decided not to risk docking in the boat house. Instead they cut the boat’s engine as they neared the docks and Suho managed to float the boat close enough for Xiumin, Lu Han and Chanyeol to leap out and tie the boat to the dock. The day had caught up to them and they were all tired as they unloaded the boat, Lu Han floating the coolers with their catch along behind them on the way to the car. It was a quiet trip back to the hotel, but the atmosphere of the day lingered. Once they made it back to the hotel and unloaded the fish into the freezers, it was time for bed. Still, nobody really wanted to go. They loitered in the kitchen for a bit, debating about snacks when they really just didn’t want to leave each other.

Kai spoke up. “There’s this room,” he said slowly, “On the tenth floor, and it’s full of couches and chairs—I think it says ‘lounge’ on the door. Anyway, I’m sure it’s big enough to fit some mattresses in.”

Everyone perked up at that. “Think we can all sleep in the same room without driving each other crazy?” Suho asked wryly.

“Only if nobody steals my spot next to Kris,” Tao said haughtily.

“Snooze you lose!” Kai yelled, “Go grab your mattresses!”

And ten boys raced up the stairs, shouting and tripping over each other while Suho and Kris stared at one another in horror.

“Kris,” Suho whispered, “They’ll never go to sleep…”

 

 

 

 

1-The kids are singing. The kids are singing “Open Arms.” Yeah. That’s me being totally unsubtle.

2-The Green Flash is actually real. I have seen it, my sister saw it too, some of you may have also seen it.

3-My thinking is that endangered species of today would eventually come to thrive once more once humans evacuate the planet, especially when a magical, all-powerful Tree is cleaning the oceans and air.

4-That last bit is a nod to drabble #25, when all the kids slept in the same room for the first time and it was absolute chaos.

5-I finally explain how Kris can speak/read English in this AU—not that I mention it a lot but it’s there in passing. How many people didn’t even realize it until now?

6-LONGEST CHAPTER EVER HOLY COW YOU GUYS. I JUST COULD NOT CUT THIS OFF AND I HAD SO MUCH ‘SPLAININ TO DO. It’s like, okay they’re going fishing. What kind of boat should they use? What’s available to them on a touristy beach? How does the boat operate? What kind of fish do they catch? How do they kill the fish? Chen could shock it, but then if he didn’t make it explode he’d probably cook it! Okay, how does one kill a big fish? Oh ew, you stab it (god I wish I didn’t know that ><). But I guess it’s okay because I’m back at school now so updates might not be as frequent.

7-because this was so long I didn’t get to the OT3 stuff, BUT IT WILL HAPPEN, I HAVE A PLAN. I PROMISE.

8- DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT ADORABLE KAICHEN MOMENT IN SHOWTIME EP 10?? I know a few people commented on it but just ACTUAL AWE KAICHEN (every time I type KaiChen I think kitchen). http://31.media.tumblr.com/767f636355c788ff701245f3e632d1d1/tumblr_mzutg4AImE1rhr7fbo1_r2_500.gif GOD THEY ARE SO CUTE I LITERALLY CAN'T TAKE IT

9-this is the kind of boat they use http://www.key-west-miami.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/glass-bottom-b.jpg 

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