It was one of those rare days that neither Changmin nor Junsu could accompany Jaejoong home, and all three humans were forced to travel together. Yoochun was serious about his threat during lunch; the Felis would have his mother make the next day’s meal. The Delphinus, for some odd reason, didn’t want to be alone with Jaejoong, but his poor excuse was the dry weather and his wrinkling skin. No one really had any protests, not counting Changmin’s whines for being separated from his human.

“The more your scent rubs off on me, the more others want to eat me anyway. Lay off the affection,” and Jaejoong pet his Felis behind his twitching ears before sending him to his mother’s.

Yunho and Yoochun learned it was best to stay away from Jaejoong at night. After months of previously living together, they knew their friend’s insomniac traits. They’d roughhouse together and crack jokes, but when it came to turning out the lights and drifting off into a pleasant dream world, Jaejoong managed to gently rake his fingers through Yoochun’s wild locks and blow teasing words into Yunho’s ear. However comforting his actions were, they still worried about his dull sleep deprived eyes and stiff movements around the flat.

They tried, they really did try to lure Jaejoong into their sheets and sap away all his energy with some pointless talk about feelings and health, but they fell asleep, again he managed to stay forever awake. From their many tries of latching onto Jaejoong’s body and letting their heartbeats be his lullaby, and cuddling up so close that their limbs became someone else’s, still their Jaejoong did not sleep. Was he afraid of others climbing in through the window over the bed or of world suddenly ending in the dead of the night? Were his thoughts so complicated that his mind literally could not take a break from processing them? They didn’t know.

The first time that Jaejoong ‘slept’ alone was when Yunho and Yoochun had caught a virus (almost sure at the time that they had it) and Jaejoong had been forbidden near them for a whole week. He slept on the spare couch with the warmest bed sheet available. Yunho noticed him first. On the way back from the bathroom, having just spilled his guts into the porcelain throne again, he became aware of his pale friend sprawled halfway on the cushions and halfway on the ground, dark hair touching the cool wooden floor. That was when they realized that Jaejoong could only fall asleep if his human friends were away and he was drained due to stress.

They saved up to buy an inflatable mattress where the oldest could freely choose to sleep or not sleep. Even after Changmin came into the picture and assured Jaejoong safety even outside the home, they left the bed for him; he was always welcome in their home.

As much as the trio wanted to play around, they really had to finish their work. With just a few more weeks of career instruction, they’d be let out into the world to help the innocent. That being the case, the three ate a light dinner and decided to head out to the inner city on Jaejoong’s whim.

“Count it as on-the-job training, we see a child, we save them, perhaps that Ophidia will give us extra credit,” Jaejoong suggested through a bite of fruit.Yoochun’s worry and concern is cut off with a small teasing pout from Jaejoong and a gracious thigh rub from Yunho.

Yoochun chews slowly on his chopsticks, unsure about their safety. Three wasn’t a safe number so late at night. The other two humans just laugh and discuss bars with various others to keep them company. “I think Heechul will be around the north side tonight, do you think he’d like to join us?” Jaejoong nodded, but not entirely happy.

Apple cores and banana peels thrown away, night attire donned, cash hidden in the lining of jackets, the humans traveled out the back door towards the well known north side of town. Jaejoong’s entire body tingles the whole way there, from excitement or from impending death, he isn’t sure. Oddly enough, most of the trip was spent laughing over a tale of Changmin playing around in a paper bag instead of the possibility of Jaejoong not waking in the morning. Only once did anyone slip up.

“And it was so stupid because he actually acted like he didn’t know the way out!” Jaejoong slurred the words together in an accent only he could command.

“The bag was standing up?”

“Yeah, he dove in head first. No matter how much he tried to squish every inch of himself in there, he still stuck everything below his out. I missed the news because of his games.”

Yunho perked up slightly, remembering the reports that week. “It was Tuesday right? Let’s see, important news… Wildfires on the east side all the way to the next city, robberies close to downtown picking up, a series of kidnappings by the river. I think there was also something about frequent murders of the protected Dovius and other nondescript Aves. They found a few wingless bodies in the dump surrounded by a few hungry others.”

With a frown, Jaejoong asked, “Anything positive happen?” His reply was a snicker and a snide remark.

“Yeah, the mayor’s daughter is now a legal adult. Her birthday party was in a bar. All drinks that night were half off, everyone but us three showed up.”

“Sounds like a boring party in my opinion. It can’t have been fun without three emo humans trying to out drink the entire city?” With a hand tightly bound toYunho’s waist and another hanging loosely off of Jae’s shoulder, he continued his little rant. “Well , by positive I thought they would have finally found the cure to it! For all we know, every hangover kills off a little more of the disease. Jaejoong, all your worries will be meaningless by tomorrow if the night goes well!” And he pulled them into the club Heechul was usually seen at.

He didn’t mean it. They knew. His light optimism preferred to pointlessly make things worse, actually making the trip more sober that it already was. But like the twisted little human he was, Jaejoong laughed. He and Yoochun had the same take on dark humor; the darker the better.

After the three shots each, the lines of humor and cruel jabs blurred together and Yunho spent the time insulting the mop Yoochun called hair. “Ever ing heard of a ing comb? It’ll keep you from going bald!” Under his breath he added a bit about dogs shedding less with tamer fur. “And stop ing about the clothes I wear!”

Jaejoong and Yoochun were still sober enough to remember this conversation in the morning, and they would use every little whine to their advantage.Yoochun only scoffed like he actually cared, ordering another drink just to screw with Yunho. By the end of the hour he hoped to be spouting more nonsense that him. The night demanded that they pour their lives into the party and never let a chance go.

By the fifth shot, Yunho was drooling on Jaejoong’s back, trying to either dilute the spilled alcohol with his spit or it up in the process. Jaejoong didn’t really protest to his contact until sharp stabs jabbed at him. His face of alarm even alerted Yunho.

“Are you okay?” No. He was not ing okay. He was pretty damn sure he was about to go into another ing fit of pain and agony. He was not ing okay. Especially when the stabs shifted deeper into his skin, and for once he actually felt like something physical was hurting him. Eyes fluttered closed, and a deep groan let out. He was not okay, what idiot asks that?

“He’s fine Yunho.” That voice. Not Yoochun. All the pressure on his back, Yunho’s weight and the prickly stabs, vanished, and before him their friend smugly stood before them. Slender, flexible, sturdy, tall, beautiful. Smooth green skin covered in sharp warning thorns, hair soft like a petal’s pure white layers, limbs stiff but easily bent. Heechul.

“Yay!” Yoochun burst, and happily crawled over Yunho to sit in Jaejoong’s lap and converse with the Rosa. He gently rubbed his fingers over the soft petals on his head, careful not to tear any of them. “Just who I wanted to see. I was thinking of getting a tattoo, maybe on my ankle so it wouldn’t be too distracting.”Yoochun shifted on Jaejoong’s lap and fell into his chest, eyes still focused on the Rosa. Yunho had collapsed onto Jaejoong’s back again, encasing the man between the two humans properly.

Heechul gave a taunting crooked grin, “I’d expect bold and distracting from you Yoochun.” But as he said it, he narrowed his eyes at Jaejoong, scooting further away and ripping the upholstery with the thorns sticking out on his body. “Why do you want to hide it?”

Yoochun’s too drunk to even tell who he is talking to and somehow discovers that Jaejoong’s neck is his new shot glass, trying to drink up the contents, harder but not getting anything out of it. Between ‘sips’ he explains as logically as he can manage. “I don’t think Jaejoong would want a faerie o’ his chest fo’ da rest o’ his liffu. I’ll –get one o’ mah ankle and we’ll get a matching something else there.” And he fell into a fit of giggles when he looked up intoJaejoong’s dazed eyes and finally realized what he was making hickeys on.

“Oh,” Heechul’s tone cold, “He wanted one too?” Jaejoong hadn’t really considered one, but why the hell not? If Yoochun wanted to get one, he might as well do the same. If he was to die next week he’d at least like to go out with a bang. Maybe he’d get a hooker stained on his lower torso, or some whacky saying on his arms. He’d get clown makeup permanently done to his eyes!

“Sounds freaking amazing. Should I get one on my ?”

“No,” Yunho speaks up, now awake and mumbling into Jaejoong, “Your back, it’s where it hurts. If you got one there you would at least have an excuse for the pain.” These words bring the heightened mood down, suddenly serious.

Heechul pulled Yoochun off of Jaejoong, examining the ill human’s face. “There’s something wrong with you smelly?” Like all others, Jaejoong even smelled distinct and wonderful to Heechul, a plant-like other. It seemed odd for Heechul to show any concern since Jaejoong was perhaps the only human that he hated. Not that Jaejoong was particularly buddy-buddy with him either. Every stare full of jaded hateful desire. He wanted the human too much. A ing human. Just a human.

Shrinking into Yunho’s embrace, Jaejoong hid from the prideful Rosa. “Yeah,” in a small voice.

The Rosa almost wanted to say ‘about time’ but the other two humans were normal enough for him not to. Only Jaejoong deserved his spite. Instead, he pulled Yoochun up and steadied his stance. “Fine, let’s go.”

They all managed to walk on their own two feet without stumbling too many times. Heechul led them to his tattoo shop one alley over, jammed a key into the gated door, and pulled them all in before some night creature decided one of them would be dinner. Yunho passed out on a recliner in the waiting area while Yoochun was led into the back to choose a stencil for his tattoo. Heechul stared vacantly at Jaejoong, trying to mask all desire, hate, and jealousy with impatient spikes in his thorns. “Take a nap or choose a tattoo for yourself. There are designs all over the shop; you can even sketch your own in that blank notebook. A tattoo on your isn’t going to be seen by respectable people anyway.”

It really seemed like a joke. He had been called a , but it was still a joke. Jaejoong actually laughed. “I take back my earlier comment. I’ll get it on my back like Yunnie said.” The nickname was meant to tease, but it only pissed Heechul off. A yell from Yoochun directed Heechul to the back, and Jaejoong accepted the offer of sketching his ink out.

The sketch had been easy; he assumed Heechul would pretty it up for him since he drew just as well as the next drunk guy. Yoochun’s echoing whimpers didn’t deter him from the main goal, egging him on even. Humble, the four word phrase scratched onto the sheet in pretty cursive. Through his sleep, Yunho managed to synchronize his moans with Yoochun’s, Jaejoong’s fingers strumming gently through his hair. We’re only this drunk because we only ate fruit before. Jaejoong hummed along, his voice blending nicely with their low ones.

An hour passed like that, Jaejoong mindlessly  Yunho’s head, almost missing the feel of the Felis on his body. Then Yoochun stumbled out, now very much awake, and collapsed on the couch across from Jae and Yunho. His grumpy frown spoke no words.

“Something wrong?” And Yoochun huffed.

“Yeah, it’s not a ing faerie!” He flung his right leg up onto the table and turned it enough for Jaejoong to see. Instead of a y fairy with sparkly wings, there were two feathers and strings of beads tinting his skin, turning red on the edges. “I did not choose this design.”

“Yes you did.” Heechul’s wicked grin again, his nails the same black as Yoochun’s leg. The thorns grew out and snapped, fresh white ones replacing the tainted ones. “I said, ‘are you sure you want this one,’ and you kept on insisting for the feathers and beads. We all know to never argue with a drunken man.” He snatched the sketch book from beside Jaejoong and apathetically scanned over the page. A blank look back a Jaejoong.

“What?”

“Only this? All that space on your back waiting to be filled and all you think of is this? It doesn’t even seem worth the effort.” Heechul’s unwillingness brought out an animated laugh from Jaejoong, and Yunho cried at the booming roar. ‘Too loud’ he had whispered.

“Flip to the next page.” Two phrases danced around in a musical note, the words meaningful and perfect. “The one on the left I heard in the orphanage’s church. I liked that sermon the most of all the bull they taught us. The one on the right I heard from a begging guitarist on the street a few years ago. A slight contradiction of the first, I know. I was thinking of waiting to get these two for when I knew I could handle the pain. Yoochun screamed like a little back there.”

Yoochun growled, still pissed off with his failed tattoo. A ‘ you’ muttered under his breath. Instead of anymore arguments, Heechul led Jaejoong to the back. “Strip,” he said calmly, like he had seen his body a million times before. The Rosa set up different inks, putting away the vibrant reds and whites, the slick blacks sitting out still. “Lie down here.” Jaejoong laid flat down on a table, no protests, he wouldn’t have been able to sit up when this drunk. “I hateyou.”

The first pricks were just to stencil the words in. The words curved properly, the thorny nail guiding the letters like it was calligraphy and art all in one. But god damn, it hurt. Or had the back pain come back? . Jaejoong couldn’t tell. The pains were so similar, so exact and piercing, so unrelenting and determined. It was there, it was real. ing pain.

“You have to smell so damn edible. I’m a plant other, I don’t go for humans.” Heechul dabbed his nail into a different ink, preparing the second layer.

No, it was everywhere, not centered on those four words. Yes, it was another throbbing attack. Where was Changmin to away the pain, or Junsu to hug him until he forgot? Yoochun or Yunho to cuddle with? Why now? Why when he was getting a damn tattoo? Why!

“Dirty human, beneath me. Why? Your odor? Why?” The letters being carved roughly into the center of his back, like Heechul was using a knife and taking his anger out on the flesh, wanting to spill blood onto the tile floor.

‘Hope to the end’, he could only feel that. Only the individual words taking shape one after another, Heechul’s other nails sliding over his skin in a taunt. The feeling of his spine bursting from his tight skin ebbed away, and only the needles jabbing at him remained.

“I am above you!” Ho—stab—pe t—stab—o  th—stab, stab, stab—e en—rip—d. “I am a Rosa! ing human. Why?”

It hurt so much.

“You’ve gotten worse, Jaejoong. I hate you even more than before, if that is possible.”

But it felt right.

First, I will never ever abandon a fic unless I state so otherwise. I will try to update within a month, but it really depends on what else I am writing and how lazy I am feelings. I've had this fic open on my laptop for two months now with only one page written for this chapter. The words are mocking me, I swear. I've been telling it to write itself, but it hasn't been complying, so I gave in and wasted a few hours writing this. That is why it so much.

Second, the only hint I'll give about this fic is LOOK AT THE POSTERS. Love the posters, love me for changing the posters ever so slightly with each chapter, study the posters, understand the posters. 

Third, Heechul will appear more often, and his hating Jaejoong is sort of significant but not necessarily important. 

A Key of the words used

Cheonsa- singular, form of money
cheon- plural, form of money
Felis- cat-like others
Delphinus- dolphin-like others
Ophidia- snake-like others
Hesper- hamster-like others
Canis- dog-like others
Ursus- bear-like others
Rosa- rose-like others (of the plant-like others)
Dovius- dove-like others
Aves- generic name for bird-like others

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