a/n: Hey guys! I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry about that. My first semester of college kicked my to the ground, but now that I'm on winter break I've picked up writing again. I have a fic coming out in the Deer of Dawn exchange on Livejournal (postings are in early January; if you like Luhan, check it out!) and then after that, I don't think I'll be joining any exchanges for a while. I have a new work in progress that I'm super excited about, as it's my first personal project in a long time! We'll see when that gets posted. I also have another side project in the works, and more information about that will be forthcoming. Enjoy the drabble!

Drabble 37: Rose Petals

Junmyeon hated crying. He hated feeling sad, he hated the horrible weight of all of his emotions sitting on his chest, but most of all he hated—

“Junmyeon?” There was a loud thump in the hallway as Minseok, his older brother, stepped into the house. “Have you been crying again?”

Junmyeon grit his teeth and resisted the urge to throw his pillow at his bedroom door. Most of all, he hated that he couldn’t even hide it.

Minseok sighed outside in the hallway, and there was the sounds of his footsteps going into the kitchen, most likely to fetch a broom and dustpan.

Junmyeon opened his clenched fists and stared down at the soft, thick rose petals in his hands. Why couldn’t he express his emotions any other way?

Junmyeon sighed and got up to dump the flower petals into the trash can by his bed. At least crying rose petals didn’t hurt—one of the many wonders of magic, he supposed.

Junmyeon brushed his pants off and opened his door to get out into the hallway. He walked down to the end of the hall where Minseok was getting ready to crouch down and start sweeping the rose petals lining the floor into a dustpan. Junmyeon wordlessly took the broom and pan out of his brother’s hands and crouched down to start cleaning the floor himself.

Minseok stood awkwardly behind Junmyeon as Junmyeon briskly crab-walked down the hall, sweeping his broom. “Junmyeon?”

“What?” Junmyeon snapped back.

“You’ve been crying magenta colored petals for the past week,” Minseok said softly. “I haven’t seen that color from you before.”

Junmyeon’s mouth tightened. “Don’t worry about it.” He continued crab walking down the hallway to his bedroom door.

“Did something happen?” Minseok asked tentatively.

“No.” Junmyeon reached his bedroom door and straightened up. “I’m going to go throw these away.”

“Junmyeon,” Minseok sighed in exasperation. “How am I supposed to help you if you don’t tell me anything?”

 “There’s nothing for you to help with,” Junmyeon snapped back.

“There has to be something wrong, you’re crying!” Minseok shouted at him.

Emotions out of his grasp, turquoise rose petals started to slide down Junmyeon’s cheeks, and he angrily dashed them away with the side of his arm. “Don’t yell at me,” Junmyeon said quietly, his voice quiet and trembling.

“Sorry,” Minseok muttered. His hair turned a dull shade of green, and Junmyeon knew that his elder brother truly felt guilty.

“It’s alright.” Junmyeon sighed and crouched down again to sweep the turquoise petals into the dustpan with the magenta ones. “I’m being serious though. It’s nothing you can help with.”

Minseok gave him a long, sad look and let out a weary sigh. “I just want to help you.”

“You can’t.” Junmyeon gave him a small smile and straightened up. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He walked down the hallway and went outside to dump the rose petals into the trash bin sitting out on the curb. He opened the lid and wrinkled as a horrible, rotting smell emanated from within, quickly dumped the petals in, and banged the lid shut. He turned and walked back to the house, the now-empty dustpan swinging loosely at his side.

It had been a difficult decision to get rid of Luhan. Minseok had been coming home with bruises and injuries for weeks, now. It had taken a while to get the information he needed, but after some deep, hard searching, Junmyeon had found out all about Luhan. Of course, Minseok had been worried and afraid when Luhan went missing weeks ago. And Junmyeon hadn’t walked away clean from Luhan’s murder—Minseok had never seen magenta rose petals from him before because he’d never expressed emotions as complex and confusing as this before. Junmyeon wondered, dispassionately, if he would ever cry magenta again.

The sound of the garbage truck filled their quiet little neighborhood as Junmyeon slipped back into the house. He had planned it all out so carefully, and this was the final step to his plan. The garbage truck would take the body away to a landfill somewhere, and this whole mess would be behind him.

“Why’d you dump the rose petals in the trash? We could’ve composted them in our planter,” Minseok said suddenly as Junmyeon passed him in the kitchen.

Junmyeon shrugged. “If I recall, my flower petals take a while to deteriorate.” He put the dustpan away and headed off to the bathroom to wash up. Hopefully, there would be brighter days ahead for the both of them.

a/n: No one was expecting that, right? I wasn't either. Actually, this whole idea started off as a Cinderella spin-off, but then I decided that I didn't want Junmyeon's conflict to be about a ball. Then it turned to murder...lol. Anyways, thanks so much for reading! Comments are always appreciated, and see you soon in another story! <3