Chanyeol clung to the straps connecting him to the parachute, eyes closed, the weight of Tao dangling beside him oddly comforting and the only thing keeping Chanyeol from screaming.

He let out a gasp when the cold wind turned into cold water. Chanyeol drew in a deep breath and submerged himself, working his arms out of the pack and ignoring the sting in his eyes from the salty water. He spread his arms to make his way back to the surface and–

What.

He flailed slightly, struggling to at least break the surface. He could feel the wind hitting his hand and kicked out his legs. He gasped as the waves hit his neck and wondered why it had taken so long to get up when he was so used to swimmi–

Oh.

Right.

Tao.

Chanyeol stared at his submerged hand and faintly saw the outline of a familiar sequined top beneath the waves.

Well, .

Chanyeol kicked out while awkwardly placing his arms under Tao's, awkwardly because of the handcuffs. Tao's arm ended up bending a way Chanyeol didn't think it should have and he made a face to express his disgust.

He tried to distract himself, “Land, find land.”

Chanyeol glanced around, breathing heavily, and almost sighed in relief when he saw a rather large island a few feet away. How he had missed it, he didn't even know.

With a questionably conscious Tao in his arms, Chanyeol butterflies, strokes, and freestyles his way over to the island, legs almost giving out when he can feel ground under his shoes. He takes a second to thank every god he knows, “Thank you Buddha, Zeus, Hera, Hades–no wait I don't like you–Poseidon. OHMYGOD YES POSIEDON. BECAUSE I WAS IN WATER. THANK YOU FOR NOT KILLING ME. I SHALL OFFER YOU A SACRIFICE!” He held his arms high, forgetting Tao was there. He blinked, “Oh wait, but not him. Maybe like a leaf or something.”

The next twenty minutes were filled with Chanyeol trying to get himself and Tao onto land that wasn't covered with water, without dragging Tao.

He ended up dragging Tao.

Chanyeol complained effusively since no one was there to yell at him, and stared at the nearing line of trees. He just had to make it to the trees, and he'd be done. Just a little mo–

And then something touched his foot.

Chanyeol stopped cold and looked down, fear drowning out the sound of the waves. He spotted something gray and scary-looking, larger than his hand, beneath the clear water. The world stopped for a moment, Chanyeol glaring at the rock, before the world titled off its axis when the thing moved.

Not a rock.

Chanyeol clamped his mouth shut and gathered Tao in his arms before sprinting off until he couldn't feel water lapping at his ankles. He stopped, panting, and dropped to his knees, laying a possibly dead Tao on the ground.

He calmed himself down, hands on his hips and breathing in and out slowly. Then he measured the distance between the foaming waves and himself with his eyes. No. Too close. That thing could scuttle, crawl, heck–maybe it dragged itself around like one of those horror movies. It could easily murder him in his sleep. He had to move.

Chanyeol looked around, and spotted the trees once again. Trees were nice; the thing probably was allergic to trees. He could hide in the trees and make camouflage clothes and await the war while rallying his troops and then they could all tell stories by a campfire but then Billy would be the first to die, because Billy wanted to be a hero and as he breathed his last breath, Chanyeol would hold him in his arms and he would promise vengeance on the thing. For Billy.

He glared at the looming water and narrowed his eyes. “For Billy,” he whispered, dramatically stepping slowly backward into the bushes until the cameras wouldn't be able to see him anymore.

Except not really.

Something on Chanyeol's arm clinked and gave away his position. He curled up into the agreed upon defense form and waited for bombs to drop. After a minute, he figured he was safe. He glared at his arm and wondered exactly what it was that had ruined his plans. Oh, right. The handcuffs.

Tao.

At this point, Chanyeol figured he should never be a parent, because all his kids would die of starvation. Or from games of extreme hide and go seek.

Back to Tao.

Chanyeol stared at the chinaman's chest, and then his face. No movement. He fretted, sitting up. “Does anyone have a mirror? Mirrors are the best way to tell if someone is breathing, because you can see the fog on the mirror and then you know!” He waited for someone to hand one to him. A minute passed. Nothing.

“Rude.”

He held his hand in front of Tao's nose and mouth, and then he saw it. It was slight, but he could see the other's chest move. And then he felt warm air on his hand. “You're alive!” He proclaimed joyfully, waiting for Tao to sit up and celebrate with him.

Tao stayed where he was, lying supine and looking somewhat like Snow White.

“We need to find you a prince,” Chanyeol declared with a nod, then he frowned. “But not right now. You look like a mess and you smell like seaweed,” he sniffed his soaked button-up shirt, “Oh god, I smell like seaweed, too!”

Tao made no response.

Chanyeol sighed. “No, but seriously, man. You need to get up. We can find you a prince some other time. Right now we need to get away before the thing eats us.”

“I'm not kidding.”

“I will not hesitate to feed you to it as a peace offering.”

Still Tao made no sighs of being alive, apart from the breathing thing.

Chanyeol sighed dramatically and waved his arms, conflicted. He had to get away from the water, that much was certain. He stared at Tao, hoping the boy would hover off the ground and magically float over to the barely-there brush.

Where was Kris when you needed him?

“Oh wait, don't I have a phoenix or something?” Chanyeol mused, leaning back onto his heels. He frowned and brushed away the though. “Be serious, Park, you have two minutes until the thing crawls out and you die.”

No, wait. Two minutes was too soon. Maybe three.

He stared at Tao, contemplating the meaning of life while on the verge of death and then– “I'll carry him!” He shouted, gently patting himself on the back for his genius. “You really should do something else. Maybe find the cure to cancer,” he hummed to himself, still basking in his own excellence. Then he sighed, “No, K needs me to be awesome and tall. I shall stay.”

He placed his feet slightly apart and shifted Tao's arm so it wouldn't get tangled when he picked him up.

Chanyeol stared at the expressionless face and let out a deep breath. “I hope that you weigh as much as a princess. If you don't, I'm dropping you and you're going to get eaten.”

With a quick intake of air, Chanyeol gathered the wet mess into his arms and stood with a grunt, wanting to cry.

“You weigh two times as much as a princess!” He whined, sprinting over to safety. “False advertising,” he huffed under his breath, trying desperately not to drop the load of tanned chinese in his arms.

When he deemed himself far enough from the murky evil waters and the mysterious thing from the deep, he lowered himself and crossed his legs, dropping Tao half onto his lap and half onto the ground. He braced his arms out behind himself and heaved, staring at the somewhat cloudy sky. Hey, that cloud looked like the gray thing.

He directed his attention back to his indisposed partner. He poked the younger and made a face. “No wonder why you're so heavy! You're completely muscle!” He poked his arm and scowled. “Well, I sort of have muscle...”

He leaned forward, the sight of the indefinite stretch of water just visible from between a particularly thick trunk and a flowering bush.

Chanyeol glanced at Tao and sighed, patting the younger's cheek. “Right, well I'm pretty sure we're going to die as soon as the sun sets so I'm gonna sleep now while I still can. Please be okay when I wake up?” As carefully as he could, he brushed away the smeared marks of mascara and eyeliner, as he had seen Baekhyun do thousands of times.

He smiled at his work and placed the rest of Tao on the ground. He curled up on his side, suppressed a shiver, and willed dreams of unicorns and bacon in an effort to forget the possibility of death by strange sea creatures.

As soon as the giant began to snore, Tao sat up and scrambled away from the dyed brunet. At least, as far as the handcuffs permitted.

He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, scowling at his bandmate.

Tao's eyes narrowed into slits and he sneered.

“Why did I get stuck with you?"

Gasp! It's an update!

Right. I'm really sorry. I fell asleep writing this because I'm good at crack when I'm tired. (I forgot how to write crack over break and almost cried. Very stressful, this writing stuff)

But, well, happy new year everyone! 

And there's twenty of you now :D I love you all, but I didn't thank you individually because I'm lazy OTL

Lubaek next. Then Chensoo. Then kairis. Grande finale of the first day with ing. I'll pray to the writing gods so that updates will be better. 

BUT LIKE OKAY. TAORIS TWO MOONS AND THEN SEHUN. I'VE BEEN LEGIT CRYING THE PAST COUPLE DAYS.