Sehun can't say he dislikes his life, however short and meaningless it may end up being. In the bag he is squished against his brothers and sisters in a very nice way, and they're all very soft, as marshmallows should be. At the moment he has Kai and Tao snuggled up against him.

“Sehun, why are you so stiff and dry?” Kai asks curiously. He is probably one of the biggest fluff balls in the bag. Sehun wonders if the human who will eat Kai is going to notice that.

Sehun doesn't answer. Instead, someone else answers for him. “Can't you see the hole in the bag? It's right there. It dries us up,” says Tao sadly. “We're going to go stiff, too, if we don't get eaten first.”

Kai makes a distressed noise at that. “I don't want to dry up,” he whispers; Sehun can't believe that this marshmallow is ten seconds older than him.

“It's fine, you guys'll get eaten in no time,” he mutters. “Even Baekhyun was eaten yesterday. Don't worry.” He's been too close to the opening for too long. He feels strangely old, even though he knows he isn't. There are other marshmallows in the quick-dry zone too, older than him by minutes, but despite his penchant for snuggling he thinks of himself as a bit of a loner. Well, as much of a loner as a marshmallow can be in a bag full of marshmallows.

Which is why he is surprised by the amount of screaming from his brothers and sisters when he falls out of the bag, Tao and Kai screaming the loudest. However, he does not have much time to think about that because all of a sudden he has landed on the next story of the cupboard.

There are so many boxes and bags of different colors around him. It's terrifying; he's never been out of the bag other than when he was created. The plastic bag, albeit boring, was safe. He knew where he was. Now he is surrounded by foreign objects and containers and it's all too quiet. Sehun can't help but whimper in fear; he hears a soft groan.

“Hello?” he whispers out into the unknown.

“Hi,” says a voice; he thinks it's coming from the box of cocoa powder. Is it the cocoa speaking? “What's a lone marshmallow doing here? Did you fall out of your bag?”

“Yes,” Sehun replies wistfully.

“I see. I'm Suho.” The voice is kind and soothing.

“I'm Sehun. Are you the cocoa?”

Strangely enough, the cocoa rumbles, a sort of chuckle; but not unfriendly. It makes Sehun feel safe. “Yeah, that's me,” says Suho.

“Can you help me get back into the bag?” Sehun wonders.

“Well, I can't carry you anywhere, but I could try to help you find the way,” suggests Suho.

That's all Sehun can ask for.



With Suho's help, Sehun tries his hardest to climb up to the next story, but he finds himself unable to get very far. It's not like there is a way up. In the end, he gives up, sighing heavily.

“I'm sorry you can't get back to your brothers and sisters,” Suho tells him.

“I guess I was meant to dry up by myself,” Sehun replies quietly.

“Can I stay with you?” he asks after some consideration. The cocoa, at least, is company, and makes him feel safe in this different environment.

“Of course.” Suho's voice is soothing, and Sehun leans against his box.

They're both quiet for a few moments until Suho asks, “Why are you so afraid of drying up?”

Suho is cocoa, already as dry as he can get. Even though he seems to know a little more about the cupboard than a tiny marshmallow, he does not understand the dangers of being a dry marshmallow.

“If I get too dry, no one will want to eat me,” Sehun explains. “I'll just be really dry and wrinkly and probably thrown away.”

“That sounds scary,” Suho mutters.

“I've heard stories about other marshmallows being thrown in the trash because they were so dry. No one wants a stiff and wrinkly marshmallow. I got too close to the hole in my bag, and I started drying. You dry faster when you're closer to the opening. I started drying and all of a sudden, I... I just fell out, before I could think about it twice.” Sehun shudders at the memory, remembering Tao and Kai; his closest brothers, who were so worried when they noticed that he was going dry. He might never see them again.

“I'm sorry,” is the quiet reply from the cocoa.

Sehun doesn't reply, just asks weakly, “What does cocoa fear?”

He waits as Suho seems to be thinking about it for a while. “Being spilled, perhaps,” says Suho after a few moments. “On a floor or some other surface. It doesn't hurt, but being spread out and losing part of myself – at least the idea of it – terrifies me.”

Sehun hums, listening intently as the cocoa continues. “Or... When we're in the box for too long, we get too old, sometimes moths get in. They may infest us. And then, like a dry marshmallow, we won't be used for hot chocolate, but thrown in the trash. It happened to the cocoa who was here before me. I think he was called Kris.” Suho lets out a weak laugh. “I guess we're more alike than we thought, huh?”

“I guess,” Sehun answers, seeing the cocoa in a new light. Even Suho, who had seemed mature and safe at first, is still a young cocoa plant at the core; he has fears, too. The revelations make him feel closer to Suho. “Thank you for being so nice to me. You didn't have to.”

He thinks Suho sounds almost fond when he replies, “We need to stick together in this cupboard, right?”

“Yeah. You're right.”

Sehun hears a snort and turns in confusion. It's coming from a bag of flour. “You guys are just adorable.” The marshmallow never considered that there were others around them because only Suho had talked to him, but it is evident that most of the other food is asleep. He feels tired, too.

“Shut up, Chen,” Suho says; he sounds almost embarrassed at the flour's reaction.

Sehun falls asleep thinking that yes, he would like to be adorable with Suho. But it can never happen.



He is awoken by the sound of Suho whispering at him. “Sehun, I'm leaving now. Someone is going to drink me.”

At first he thinks it's a dream, but then he remembers that marshmallows do not dream. He jostles awake and sure enough, the cupboard door has been opened and a large hand is grabbing Suho.

“No!” he cries in alarm.

“It's okay. I've been waiting for this,” Suho says, with only a slight shake to his voice. He is obviously trying to soothe Sehun. It isn't working. “I was meant for this. Good luck, Sehun.”

Sehun manages to roll out of the cupboard just before the door is closed.



Life as cocoa is short.

Suho is snowed into a mug before having hot water poured all over him. It doesn't hurt; it's more like a weird sensation as he dissolves, the water becoming part of him. He becomes hot chocolate.

He knows what is coming. That he doesn't have much time. Soon, he will be cool enough to be drunk. Soon, the human who turned him from cocoa powder to hot chocolate will have him fulfill his purpose.

For now, however, he has a few long minutes. Enough time to spot the bowl of marshmallows that's been placed next to him.

“Hey there,” he calls out.

There is what he can only describe as a shocked silence – these marshmallows must not be used to contact with other food – before a deep voice replies with a, “Hi.”

“Do any of you know Sehun? Young and maybe a bit dry?” he asks.

“Sehun? Yes, I know him. He fell out of the bag. Did you meet him? Is he okay?”

“He should be okay,” says Suho. “What's your name?”

“Chanyeol.”

“Chanyeol, if you find Sehun, please just tell him- tell him that it was nice meeting him.”

“Okay,” replies Chanyeol, sounding a bit confused. Suho can't blame him.

Just then he hears a familiar voice shout out from behind him, and swirls in his cup to see the marshmallow. “How dare you leave me like this,” says Sehun.

Suho feels a surge of fondness overtake him, but also fear for what the marshmallow might do. “Don't worry, Sehun, I'm fulfilling my purpose,” he assures.

But Sehun isn't about to take that. “What about my purpose then? Am I supposed to stay here and dry? I might as well be eaten while I'm still edible, and it might as well be with you. I trust you.”

“Sehun...”

Suho thinks he hears a tinge of fear in the marshmallow's voice as he says, “It's okay, Suho. I'll be with my favorite cocoa.”

There is nothing Suho can do to stop Sehun as the marshmallow climbs up and drops into the mug with him, the too hot chocolate.

“Thank you,” whispers Sehun.



When Yixing comes back from the living room to get his mug of hot chocolate, there is a marshmallow floating in the cocoa that he can't remember putting in there. He frowns.

“Lu-ge?” he calls to his roommate. “Did you put this marshmallow in my cocoa?”

“Uh, no,” Lu Han shouts back. “You probably did it and can't remember it. You're, like, in a daze most of the time.”

That is true, Yixing supposes. He shrugs and grabs the mug, taking a sip before bringing it with him back to the living room.