Two
Animal PlanetDongwoo let out a happy sigh, the last tendrils of his dream fading away to welcome him to the new day. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, recalling the splendorous taste of hot chocolate from the previous evening. It was a sweet drink, much sweeter than the stuff his mentor used to serve him on Mato, and it was the perfect thing to quench his thirst after such a long journey. The fact that Okami-san prepared it personally for him made it even better, it was a gesture full of kindness and it was just so adorable! Even if Okami-san had been upset that he had crashed into his backyard, it was clear that there were no hard feelings between them now. He even gave Dongwoo such luxurious accommodations to spend the night in, the mattress underneath him reminding him of the fluffy clouds in the sky.
He wondered if Okami-san was always so generous with his visitors, but somehow he didn’t think so. He seemed a little upset at first at his sudden arrival, but clearly Dongwoo had won him over with his charm to get an invitation to stay in his home! He smiled to himself, today would be a wonderful day; he would get to tell Okami-san all about his glorious plans for Japan.
He opened his eyes, the need to find the cute Earthling starting to overwhelm him. But instead of seeing the plain white ceiling above him, he was meet with unfamiliar wide eyes. The sparkling brown eyes were full with curiosity as he stared down at Dongwoo, who didn’t even jump back at this strange awakening. The stranger’s brow furrowed as he pulled back and stood above Dongwoo, his hands crossed over his chest.
“I don’t know you.” He finally said. “And I know everyone who comes into this house, but I don’t know you.”
Dongwoo grinned at this stranger, jumping into a sitting position and sticking his hand out as he had seen people do before. “I am Dongwoo. Well, that is my Earth name! I have been offered temporary lodgings in this wonderful place by the owner of the house, Okami-san!”
“I think you’re in the wrong place.” The man looked at him skeptically.
“Surely you must know him too! He’s very, very kind, he’s got the prettiest dark brown eyes, and very nice teeth actually, which would probably look amazing if he laughed, but I don’t think I’ve been able to make him laugh yet. But anyway, he is a very cute person, even when he is a little angry that I messed up his backyard.” Dongwoo looked thoughtful for a second, trying to come up with any other descriptions of his host. “Oh, and he makes the most delightful hot chocolate!“
“The owner of this house is Hoya, and he’s grumpy man who asks for rent from his dear brother even though he is rich. And he’s extremely protective of his possessions, can you believe that he has all that space in the backyard, and he couldn’t even spare me a little bit to build a racetrack for my remote control car collection? But no, the backyard just had to have another flower patch because flower patches are refined Sungyeol, not childish like racetracks.” The stronger mocked the owner with a haughty voice. He then paused for a moment. “But he does make great hot chocolate, when he’s feeling marginally generous.”
Dongwoo’s face lit up as he pieced together the stranger and the name in his mind. “Sungyeol? Are you Sungyeol? Okami-san told me about you! He thought that you paid me to come to Earth!”
“Paid you to come to Earth? Why would I do that?” Sungyeol asked, confused.
Dongwoo shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure, but Okami-san was very angry at the moment because I had crashed my spaceship into his petunias.”
“I can imagine that he would be. He’s very touchy about those petunias.” Sungyeol grinned wickedly. “Once I crashed my remote control helicopter into them, and he almost kicked me out. I bet he got sooo angry at you for crashing your spaceship.”
“He was, but then he was nice and made me the divine hot chocolate so it was all okay!”
Sungyeol nodded sagely. “The hot chocolate does make the bad good. But that really that you crashed your spaceship! All the models I’ve tried out I’ve never been able to get off the ground! I even splurged on my 21st birthday and bought a replica of a pod racer from The Phantom Menace. It looked awesome, the exterior was to die for, but I couldn’t even get it to turn on! How long were you able to keep yours in the air? It must have cost a fortune.”
“It was state of the art, the most marvelous spaceship I ever had the pleasure of owning…” Dongwoo mourned for a brief moment, before perking up again. “But the Bang X2 is really fast! It took me three Earth days to get from Mato to this planet. It was so comfortable too. Intergalactic travelling usually makes me space sick but the suspension on my ship was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. And it took me ages to save up for it, almost two whole Earth years to pay for the trip! Gas prices on Mato these days are outrageous, you wouldn’t even believe it! Luckily I was able to get a bargain on some liquid nitrogen, so everything worked out in the end!”
“Mato? Where is that? Geography was never my strong point in school.”
“Oh, Mato is a tiny little planet in the Andromeda galaxy. It’s not too far from here, actually! It’s a lovely place, we have the most wonderful summers, but that could be because of our closer proximity to the sun. I guess I would be hard to recognize with my pink hair, most of the people on my planet are blonde, but I’ve always liked to stand out! I had never even considered changing my hair color until I stumbled upon the country of Japan while researching it for a project in school during Earth week. And well, everything about that place is just perfect. I just knew that someday I would have to do whatever it takes to live there! But unfortunately, I got a little too zealous during my victory dance and messed up my landing a bit, so I ended up in Korea instead! But Okami-san has been so accommodating, and I’m sure he’ll do all that he can to help me reach my final destination!”
“So you’re saying that you are an alien, who crashed en route to Japan?”
“Well… I prefer extraterrestrial lifeform, but I guess alien works too!” Dongwoo smiled brightly, “And whilst I am saddened that I didn’t make it to the land of Hello Kitty-chan, I’m very glad that of all places to crash, I landed in Okami-san’s backyard. My welcome on this planet has been so very pleasant!”
“So you’re actually an alien, who crashed into the backyard on accident?”
Dongwoo chewed on his lip. ‘Well, yes. I think we covered that bit already…” He wasn’t exactly sure why the Earthling was repeating the already established facts, but a warm pair of arms around him stopped his musings entirely.
“Oh my god! You’re an alien! And you’re in my house! This is amazing!” He screamed, bouncing the two of them up and down on the bed. His enthusiasm was contagious, and Dongwoo felt his own heart fill with glee.
“Why yes! I am and I did! And it is quite an amazing thing, now that you mention it!”
Sungyeol immediately stood up, his eyes filled with determination. “Dongwoo, you may consider me your helper on your quest to fulfill your destiny. I swear, on my life as an Earthling and a believer in otherworldly beings as instilled in me from watching Star Trek for over half of my life, that I will do everything in my power to make your stay on this planet easier. Consider me your guide, Lee Sungyeol is at your service!”
“Oh, while that is very generous of you Lee Sungyeol, unfortunately it is tradition that the first person you meet on a planet must become your ambassador. So the burden must fall to Okami-san. But I do rather like you and I can see that adorableness runs in this family… I have another proposition for you.”
Sungyeol nodded with the utmost seriousness. “I am listening Dongwoo.”
“Perhaps we can… how do you say it on this planet… become best friends? Then we can explore this terrain together, conquering whatever obstacles that should rise in our path as equals.”
The tall boy dropped down to one knee. “I would be honored to be your sidekick Dongwoo.”
Dongwoo clapped happily. “Splendid! In honor of our close relationship, it is only right that I give you a name fitting to your person. From now on, you shall be known as Kirin-chan!”
“I like that! Kirin-chan!” Sungyeol bounced the two of them again in his joy. “Is it from your special Mato language? What does it mean?!”
Dongwoo laughed, an infectious sound that had Sungyeol throwing his head back in sync. “No, silly. It’s Japanese! It means giraffe, because you’re so tall like a giraffe. Okami-san is Okami-san because he looks like a wolf, those sharp teeth and dark eyes and fuzzy hair that I just want to pet!”
“Don’t even try it. He’s a grouchy old wolf.” Sungyeol laughed. “As your best friend, that is my first ultra serious piece of advice.”
“I will heed your advice, wise Kirin-chan.” Dongwoo said gravely. “Please tell me everything there is to know about the generous Okami-san, for I do not wish to be responsible for causing bad relations between Earth and Mato. I already know that Okami-san dislikes being called cute...”
Sungyeol gasped. “You called him cute?”
“Yes! He is very cute, and on my planet we value honesty above all else. I thought that the best way to build a rapport with my ambassador would be to be truthful, so I was.” Dongwoo pouted slightly, “He didn’t seem to appreciate it though.”
“Oh my gosh! You actually called him cute! You called Lee Howon cute?!” Sungyeol broke out in raucous laughter, his hand slapping the bed so hard in his mirth that the springs rebounded. He rolled over, falling off the bed into a heap of giggles onto the floor. Dongwoo stared for a moment before his own cawing laughter split through the room, he repeated Sungyeol’s actions, slapping the bed before rolling off it to land beside Sungyeol and laughing with the hysterical Earthling. “You called… him… cute!”
Dongwoo’s sides were splitting with pain from the laughter and his back and ribs ached, but he couldn’t stop. Beside him was his very own best friend laughing, and in the TV programmes that he had used to research friendship, the one who had begun the laughing fit also had to be the first to stop. So he laughed and laughed, as did Sungyeol, neither of them stopping.
Well, not until the door swung open and in the doorway stood a fuming angry Hoya. “What is going on here?” Sungyeol immediately stopped laughing, so Dongwoo followed suit. His body ached from all of the laughing and rolling and floor-slapping and his eyes were full of mirthful tears as he looked up at the man in the doorway.
“Okami-san!” He shouted excitedly, jumping up to run and greet the nice man with a big hug.
“Not. A. Chance.” Hoya sighed, pushing past Dongwoo to step towards his brother. “Of course, I should have known you would be involved in this awful racket at six in the morning.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, hair that Dongwoo gleefully noted was pointing in all directions. It stuck up when he pulled his hand back and Dongwoo giggled. Hoya just glanced at him disdainfully and then turned back to Sungyeol. “I knew I should have taken measures to keep you two apart. Who knows what sort of crazy stories he told you that you believe. Did he tell you he was an alien yet? He tried that one on me last night.”
Sungyeol nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! And he has appointed me as his best friend and sidekick for his time on Earth, a role that I have wholeheartedly accepted. I wanted to be his guide, but you have got that position already… Why did it have to be you that witnessed the spaceship crash! Why couldn’t I have been here instead?! I knew I was a heavy sleeper, but I didn’t realize it would come at this cost!”
“Don’t be sad, Kirin-chan!” Dongwoo piped up. “You and I will have so much fun as best friends.”
“I guess that’s true! Ambassador is so political and politics are so boring! Now best friend - that’s a role that needs someone fun and cheerful and awesome. Someone like me!”
Hoya just glanced between the two of them in disbelief. “You’re buying this?” He said. “You’re actually going to believe that this… this… asylum escapee is an alien? A weird, pink haired, human looking, Japanophile alien?”
Sungyeol actually looked offended. “And you didn’t? Hyung, I know that you’re uptight, serious nature hinders your ability to believe in the possibility that aliens are real, but there is literally an unidentified flying object in our backyard. How can you deny the truth that is staring at you in the face! Dongwoo is a guest here from the planet Mato, and it is your job to take care of him as his ambassador!”
Hoya scoffed at the title. “I never agreed to be anything! All I did was give him a place to sleep until the morning, and now I am going to scour the internet for the closest mental institutions so I can get him back where he belongs! The fact that you are actually on his side is making me question whether or not I should try to turn you in with him!”
“I’m not the one being crazy, you are! Do you have any idea how lucky we are! This is seriously amazing, we are actually standing in the presence of an alien, and all you can do is accuse him of lying! On Mato they value honesty above all else-”
“Oh my god, do you hear yourself? There’s no such thing as Mato! You need to actually grow up for once and stop living in a fantasy world!” Hoya bit out sharply, and Sungyeol closed his mouth in shame.
Dongwoo couldn’t stand listening to the brothers argue over him any longer. “Okami-san, Kirin-chan, please do not fight because of me. I don’t like being the cause of anger. I just wanted to come to Earth and join all the lovely creatures that I have been dreaming about for so long. I never considered that my presence could actually make Earthlings… unhappy.”
Sungyeol shook his head. “No Dongwoo, you’ve made me happy, really! It’s just… Hyung has a hard time believing in these sorts of things. I hate to ask you this because I believe you 100 percent and you’d think that the UFO would be enough, but maybe if you could show him something… prove that you’re from a different planet, he will be happy too.”
Dongwoo looked at Hoya with desperate eyes. “Is that true Okami-san? Will my powers make you happy?”
Sungyeol glared at Hoya, who was staring away from them with the utmost concentration. Sungyeol then kicked him in the shin, and Hoya made a noise of pain. “Ouch! Okay, fine. I’ll play along. If Dongwoo manages to blow my mind with his ‘powers’ then I will accept the fact that he’s an alien.” In reality he had no intentions of doing so, because there was clearly no way that was possible, because aliens weren’t real. But he knew if he didn’t agree to the theatrics that Sungyeol would probably never let it go, and he didn’t feel like dealing with his annoying whining in the future.
Dongwoo stood up, pacing around the room as his finger tapped on his lips. “Hmm… the things I can do are just a natural part of me. It’s hard to think about which one them would be more impressive than another.”
“Just tell us about them. Brainstorm out loud so to speak.” Sungyeol tried to encourage him, internally squeeing over his moment of aide as a sidekick.
“Well, I mean my powers vary. I guess there are a few things I could do…” He paced a little before pausing. “Oh, I know! Matoki are very talented when it comes to tongues! It’s part of what makes us so friendly during intergalatic relations!”
“Tongues? Friendly? Dongwoo I have to admit, I didn’t think you were the type…” Sungyeol responded with raised eyebrows.
“What do you mean Kirin-chan? I love speaking in different languages! Aside from my native tongue I adore Japanese, but you already know that. But Korean is really fun too! Definitely easier than Delpha and it sounds nicer than Zorgg, which I am convinced is really just a series of different sounding grunts!”
“So you can speak and understand any language in the universe? That’s so freaking sweet.” Sungyeol said in awe, and Hoya scoffed.
“He’s talking about languages that aren’t even real. And even if he does know multiple ‘Earth’ languages, that’s not really that rare. There are tons of people who can easily learn languages. Hell, I learned English in a year when I decided to globalize my business. That’s really not that impressive.”
Dongwoo looked a little crestfallen at the lack of praise, and Sungyeol spoke up in his defense. “It is still very impressive to be able to speak more than one language Dongwoo! I only know Korean, and I still make mistakes with pronunciation sometimes. You sound like you were born here!”
The pink haired man blushed under the compliment. “Oh, thank you Kirin-chan! I try really hard to fit in when I visit a planet, and the best way to do that is with communication! The ability to overcome language barriers makes things much easier. But I know it’s not necessarily that cool.”
“Well, do you have any other powers?” Sungyeol asked hopefully.
Dongwoo returned to pacing, his finger tapping against his lip in thought once again. “Ah! How do you feel… about raisins?” He exclaimed, pausing in his steps.
“Raisins?” Hoya and Sungyeol asked in unison.
“Yes, raisins. You know, dried fruit. Raisins and dates and-”
Hoya cut him off. “I know what they are, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well once, back on Mato, I ran out of food. The first food I could think of was raisins, so I just used my powers to make raisins. I could do that now if you wanted me to.” Dongwoo suggested.
Sungyeol grinned at the suggestion. “Yes! I love raisins.”
Hoya glared at him. “No. No raisins.” He shook his head. “Why am I even humouring this stupidity? Raisins!” He moved to leave the room but Dongwoo reached out to grab him.
“Okami-san! Don’t go…” His face dropped.
Hoya pulled away from the grasp. “You’re hands are so hot.” He whispered, spinning to face Dongwoo. “There’s no way you can be this warm and not be ill with a fever… What-”
“We Matoki have a higher core body temperature than you Earthlings!” Dongwoo giggled, “We’re warmhearted and warm blooded! That’s my motto in life! It makes it easier for us to use certain powers though, like making fire and-”
Sungyeol gasped. “Wait! You can make fire?”
“Yes! Fire and raisins and lots of other things!” Dongwoo grinned. “I was going to suggest that I show you fire, but Okami-san got angry at me for the fire from my spaceship. He made me get rid of it last night… I thought raisins was a better idea because who doesn’t like raisins?”
“Me…” Hoya interjected dryly.
Dongwoo shook his head sadly. “Okami-san doesn’t like fire or raisins? That must make you very sad….”
“He does lead a very sad, lonely life.” Sungyeol intoned.
“I am perfectly happy with my life! And I do like fire, just not when it’s turning my petunias to charcoal!” Hoya ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “What exactly was the point of this conversation again?”
“Kirin-chan said that if I showed Okami-san my powers he would believe me, so I was going to make raisins. But I think I’ll make fire instead cause fire is my favorite…” With no further words, Dongwoo pushed his hand out, palm up, and a flame shot out from his hand to the light fixture, smashing one of the glass bulbs. “Oopsie…” Dongwoo shrugged sheepishly. “I guess I got a bit carried away again… sorry.”
Hoya and Sungyeol were just staring at him in shock.
“That was….” Hoya started.
“Awesome…” Sungyeol finished.
“I was going for ‘an extremely expensive piece of decoration’.” Hoya deadpanned. “But I guess it was pretty impressive, for a magic trick.”
Sungyeol sighed in frustration and bent down to pick up a piece of glass that had fallen beside the bed.
“No! Kirin-chan will hurt himself if he picks the sharp glass up! Let me!” Dongwoo protested. He raised his hand again and all of the glass raised from the floor and hovered in mid-air. “Where should I dispose of this?” He turned to Hoya.
Hoya just pointed at the waste basket in the corner of the room wordlessly, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets as the glass floated to the waste basket and dropped in with a ching.
“All done!” Dongwoo smiled. “So what can I do to prove that I really am from Mato?”
“I think you already have.” Sungyeol whispered, staring at his brother who looked as though he was about to faint with shock.
“Is that right, Okami-san? Have I made you believe me?!” Dongwoo asked eagerly, looking up at Hoya with wide, hopeful eyes. Hoya could only nod slowly at the alien, who grinned widely. “Yay! I was sad that you didn’t believe me, because you’re my ambassador and so you have to believe me, but now that you do I am super duper happy!” He ran up and gathered the rigid Hoya into his arms in a hug to show just how happy he was. It took a few moments before he felt Hoya’s weight press against him. “And yay! Now Okami-san is hugging me back!” He grinned, before realising that Hoya wasn’t hugging him back. “Okami-san… Are you okay? Okami-san?” He stepped back, feeling Hoya slump completely against him.
“Oh my god, he’s fainted!” Sungyeol shouted, laughing raucously. “Hoya actually fainted!”
Dongwoo stepped back in shock, accidentally letting go of the deadweight that he was holding up. He could only thank his fast reflexes when he immediately used his powers to stop Hoya from hitting the floor.
“Is he okay? What should I do with him?” Dongwoo asked worriedly, looking at the unconscious being floating in front of him.
Sungyeol just pointed to the door. “Why don’t you take him to the kitchen? I’m hungry and we have tons of Earth food I can make you try! Plus, Hoya will probably need the coffee when he wakes up to the realization that his boring life just got a lot more interesting.”
A/N: So here’s chapter two of the total what-the-ery that is Animal Planet. We hope you enjoyed the Dongyeol here (cause Sungyeol would totally be the type to immediately jump on board with alien antics) they are just so adorable like this and poor Hoya has to deal with their shenanigans.
SHENANIGANS GALORE.
(Who can really blame him for fainting at this point?)
We hope you enjoyed it and as always we’d love to know what you think, so leave a comment!
Until next time!
Jade & Ray
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