“So…you are telling me if that fox has two babies then there will be no rain for three months?” Sehun cocked an eyebrow.

“That is what they say…” Tao stared at the foliage, which according to the experts (that apparently had nothing better to do but hunt down pregnant foxes) would soon emerge the most accurate weather forecast they could find.

“That is hilarious!” Sehun laughed loudly “Um, what is the success rate? 5%?”

Tao laughed “Probably.” It was pretty ridiculous. It had been a legend in the countryside for a long time- hundreds of years probably. Every April the farmers got together, found a fox den, and waited. And that was their meteorological report for the next few months.

“Hun-ah…”Tao bit his bottom lip, knowing he shouldn’t even suggest it. “You should scare it.”

Sehun jerked his head up from where he had it tilted, near Tao’s shoulder, “I should!”

“I shouldn’t have suggest it…”Tao immediately regretted it, kind of.

“I think you just made this day halfway worthwhile…Hold on.” Sehun moved towards the fox den, passing by countless farmers, press, and suit clad good publicity seekers – eager to be seen “helping the poor”.

Sehun had bemoaned being dragged here earlier in the day, but there was little he could do. Tao’s Mom and Dad had invested in several charities in the area, they were building a political base with the rural population. Tao couldn’t avoid the quaint country event if he had wanted to. He had to be here and wave at the cameras, play the filial son, which meant Sehun had to be here too.

Tao watched his friend get near the den, slowly creeping past the other onlookers. He giggled, putting his hand over his mouth to stifle his amusement.

“I hope you are behaving.”

Tao stopped laughing. It was his older brother, Kris, moving to stand beside him. Kris was someone that Tao hated, then liked, then hated. He was what Tao couldn’t be – the oldest son, the heir – but he was something Tao didn’t want to be – the one with all of the burden, the one who tried to be better than everyone else.

“Yeah. 100% behaving.” Tao put on his serious face, counting from ten to one in his head. As he reached one it happened.

A loud scream. One very angry Mother Fox leapt out of her den, rushing the crowd. Overdressed women in high heels fell down, men in suits- who only wanted their picture in the paper next to some downtrodden citizens celebrating a folksy bit of nonsense, were screaming at the top of their lungs. Tao burst out laughing, he couldn’t help it. He stood tall as the crowd surged past him, Sehun running after the Mother fox – herding her around the area.

“Not cool.” Kris shook his head. He turned around and stalked back towards the car, disappointed yet again with his little brother.

***

“You…uh…smell like old men’s shoes.”

For such a small, dainty hand, it was strong. It didn’t help she was wearing rings.

Chanyeol grabbed his cheek, jerking back in shock “Hey! Why did you do that?”

The girl her heels, shouting over her shoulder as she stalked off “I knew you were just a creep. SHOES! I SMELL LIKE OLD MEN’S SHOES!”

Chanyeol rubbed his red cheek, flopping back down in the cheap plastic chair. It was bad enough that he had been slapped. What made it worse is that it happened in the middle of the mall food court.

“I said GLADIOLAS. YOU SMELL LIKE GLADIOLAS!” Baekhyun added insult to injury by slapping Chanyeol on the other, unmarked cheek. “Yah!”

“Again? Are you kidding me?! Speak clearer! Enunciate or something!” Chanyeol threw his hands up in frustration. He couldn’t’ even remember what it was last time, but it had the same end result. A hard slap to the face.

“I am speaking clearly! You just don’t listen!” Baekhyun huffed and puffed, standing up he announced “I am going home. If you can’t figure any of this out yet that is your own problem.”

Chanyeol waved his hands “Go.”

Baekhyun held his head high and walked out of the food court, utilizing his best injured victim persona as he did so. It didn’t seem to work, as no one paid him any mind as he stomped out of the crowded space.

Chanyeol groaned, slumping his head onto the table. Why, why did this always happen? It wasn’t like he was stupid, just awkward. Really awkward. And then he always trusted Baekhyun and his stupid ideas an-

“Um…sorry.”

Chanyeol held his head up. It was Baekhyun. Of course it was Baekhyun. And of course Chanyeol answered the way he always did “That’s okay, I’m not really mad.”

A vicious cycle.

***

“And the little owl said to the puppy...”

Kyungsoo giggled. It was a bit of a stretch, for Kyungsoo to admit that he had giggled. Nope, in his opinion he had laughed. But Jongin saw it as giggling, which made him smile, a wide grin before he continued the story “Guess what it is, hyung.”

Kyungsoo stopped laughing, suddenly trying to look extremely thoughtful “Well, seeing as you wrote it when you were seven, I am guessing the puppy said something about dancing like a girl.”

“Hey!” Jongin hit Kyungsoo with his nearly flat pillow, attacking him for his affectionate insult. Kyungsoo moved over on the small space, avoiding the hit. They were sitting on Jongin’s uncomfortable bed, going through Jongin’s hilarious (Kyungsoo’s words) or embarrassing (Jongin’s words) childhood journals that Jongin’s Mother had dropped off a few hours before.

“Fine…”Kyungsoo stopped rolling around, and put his serious face back on “What did the puppy say?”

Jongin blushed and looked away “He said ruff ruff.”

That was all it took for Kyungsoo to break into laughter yet again, precipitating another pillow assault. Their laughter was suddenly broken up by the loud alarm.

“…again.” Jongin sat up, closing the book of his childhood ramblings. Kyungsoo followed, sitting up on the cot his face grew pale.

“I hate that sound.” Kyungsoo put his hands over his ears, trying to drown the alarm sound out.

It was never a boring, carefree day in prison.

***

Yixing was tired. It had been a long, tedious day. He shouldn’t complain, not when there were so many people who had only ten percent of the chances that he had in life. So he didn’t complain. He sat in the shade, wiping his brow he gulped water.

“Hyung, I wish you would take a break now and then.” Jongdae sat down next to Yixing. He didn’t bother to make eye contact, instead he looked on at the work that Yixing had completed over the last several hours. The small house was already nearly framed up, taking form among the rundown shacks that stood on either side of it.

“Don’t worry about me.” Yixing finished chugging his water, “I am just doing what I can.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself.” Jongdae was worried. Yixing’s waist had been bad ever since his slipped disk a few years before. Heavy labor only made things worse. “Don’t try to make up for things you can’t control. Like your parents…”

Yixing nodded “I won’t.” He stood up, ready to get back to work “Thanks for caring about me, Jongdae. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Same here.” Jongdae smile, watching Yixing walk off towards the pile of lumber, ready to get back to work.

***

“They are going to get suspicious if you keep painting me.” Suho had thrown his arms over Kris’s neck, peeking over his shoulder at the half finished portrait. It was Suho painted on the canvas, sitting on the stone bench that rested by the pond at their estate, his features sad and lonely.

“Humph.” Kris continued painting, ignoring the man hanging off of his shoulders.

Suho exhaled deeply “You really at painting...you know that, right.”

“Hey!” Kris shot Suho an annoyed look “It calms me down.”

“And to think your Mom swears you have talent.”

“Do you want me to paint a giant as your face or…”

“Sorry, sorry. Paint away.” Suho remained silent after that, watching Kris’s brush with a mixture of amusement and admiration.

***

Tao was not impressed. First of all, he was taken away from his Wushu practice for this. Second of all, Sehun had spent the last half an hour calling him a nut job while motioning at the books on the psychiatrist’ shelf and making plays on their titles.

“Hun-ah, if you don’t shut the hell up I am seriously going to-“

And then the door opened.

Tao’s attention was jerked away from Sehun’s sarcasm at the bookshelf and directed towards the two newcomers. They both looked younger than Tao, and they both looked as annoyed as he did. Still, Tao had enough good manners to stand and bow, Sehun doing the same.

“Hello.” Tao tried to feign happiness at meeting the two newbies “I am Haung Zitao.”

“Lu Han. And this is Kim Minseok.” Luhan gestured towards his side. Luhan wasn’t stupid, he knew full well that no one had yet to acknowledge his friend, but that never stopped him from introducing him. Minseok, after all, was deserving of an introduction.

“Nice to meet you Minseok. This is Oh Sehun.” Tao gestured behind him.

“Are you serious?” Sehun rolled his eyes “Your Mom wants you in a therapy group with babies?”

“We are not babies!” Minseok replied, crossing his arms.

“Yeah- I am betting we are older than you guys!” Luhan shot an annoyed look at Sehun.

“Wait…” Tao looked from Sehun to Minseok and Luhan and back to Sehun “You….you can see him?”

“Of course I can see him, he is right there.” Luhan pointed at Sehun, wondering what kind of crazy person this Tao was.

“Can you see me?” Minseok asked. Luhan looked at his friend in surprise. It had been a long time, since they were children, that Luhan had heard Minseok ask that question. After so many non-responsive people he had asked the question to Minseok had seemed to give up asking.

“Yes.” Tao was taken aback.

The door opened, shattering the tense moment in the room. A middle aged man walked in. At least Luhan assumed he was middle aged. His face had some wrinkles here and there, but his fashion, hair style and accessories said otherwise. His hair was slicked back, dyed bleach blonde. He wore shorts and a punk rock t-shirt with a white lab coat thrown haphazardly over his casual outfit.

 “My patients! Welcome!” The man gestured for them to sit.

Luhan was apprehensive, but did what he was told, taking a seat next to Tao. It was only then that he noticed there were four chairs laid out, not two.

The man sat opposite them, pulling out a notepad. “I am sure that you are all a little shocked to be here. Ammiright?!”

Luhan and Tao, already shaken up by the recent development, nodded dumbly.

“You guys have imaginary friends, right?”

“No!” Tao and Luhan answered in unison. They looked at each other in surprise after they vehemently shouted out their answers.

“Right. And I get that. But your parents don’t. And judging by these two guys here-“The doctor pointed to Minseok and then to Sehun “You two are having a hell of a time with life.”

“Wait…you can see them too?” Luhan was finding this entire thing to be too much.

“Of course I can see them. They are here, right?” The doctor laughed, “What is wrong with you guys, yo!”

“Of course we are here.” Sehun, who had taken the seat next to Tao, answered “And thank god someone can finally figure that out. I was sick of these idiots calling me imaginary.”

“You have a mouth on you for a young guy.” Joon Hyung shook his head, then broke into a wide smile “I like it!”

Minseok remained quiet, sitting next to Luhan he simply listened. This was all so new, he wasn’t sure what to do. Joon Hyung, however, was not about to let him sit silently as an observer.

“And you – you seem to be mature. Kind…or maybe just a little boring?”

“Hey!” Minseok and Luhan answered together, causing Luhan to blush.

“Haha! Nope, you guys have fight in you too!” Joon Hyung clapped his hands together “So, does anyone need anything to drink?”

When he didn’t get an answer, Joon Hyung pulled out three cans of beer “I would offer your friends some, but I know they can’t drink it.”

Tao was offended. Who drank beer? Cognac was more his style.

“Just drink it moron.” Sehun rolled his eyes, Tao took the offered drink quickly. Motioning for Sehun to be quiet.

Luhan took the beer “Isn’t it wrong to drink beer with your patients?”

“Um- no.” Doctor Park answered, cracking open his beer he motioned for his two patients to partake in a cheer. After some urging Luhan and Tao finally moved forward and clinked their beer cans with the Doctor’s. “Ahhh, always tastes so good.” Joon Hyung put his beer down on his desk “Now onto the good stuff. When did you guys meet your friends?”

Neither man spoke. It was something they weren’t exactly used to talking about…at least any more. No, it was something they had become used to not talking about. Hiding even.

“Fine, you don’t have anything to say. Okay, let me tell you a story.” Doctor Park got up, moving towards a record player tucked in the corner of his office. He put on something psychedelic, making a “Bam” sound as he dropped the needle onto the vinyl. A bass heavy, aged tune had Doctor Park half dancing back over to his chair.

Luhan thought it might be The Beatles or maybe some other old British group he should be hip enough to know. “The Turtles” Minseok whispered, identifying the band.

Joon Hyung sat back down, the strange riffs sounding behind him “Once upon a time there were –“

“Please don’t go into that merge into one thing-two people under different skies thing.” Sehun blurted out, looking a bit embarrassed after he had said it. He could be sarcastic, mouthy, and sometimes even bold – but he tried to be nice.

“Yah!” Tao hit his friend, mouthing the words “Shut up”. Tao wasn’t pleased to be here, but he would listen politely at least.

“So, you have heard the two skies deal before?” Doctor Park asked. It would be the common thing to say to such patients – identify what is different with the person and the imaginary friend and make them one- the end goal was a reconcilement of the two. Convince the patient that the hallucinations are part of themselves.

 “I’ve heard it.” Luhan’s voice was raspy. This wasn’t his first time in a psychiatrist’s office. His Father had taken him to one shortly before he had passed away. To fix “my sick child” his Father had said. It was uncomfortable to be told you are crazy when you know you are not. Luhan carried his Father’s disdain for him, for Minseok, to this day.

“Good. Then this will be a new one!” The Psychiatrist laughed loudly, quickly stopped and grew serious, a range of moods quickly displayed much to the confusion of his patents. “What I need to know is if any of you guys have heard of the Re-“

The door to the psychiatrist’s office opened again. All attention turned to the newcomers. Doctor Park stood up, as did the other four men followed. They bowed in greeting.

There were two newcomers, both looking extremely nervous.

The Doctor approached them, arms wide as if to give them a hug “Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun. What is up brothers!”

Chanyeol stumbled. Minseok, out of habit, rushed forward a few steps to catch the man as he began to stumble. Luhan held him back.

“You…can see him?” Chanyeol muttered, looking around the room.

“Yep. And um, so can they.” Joon Hyung motioned over his shoulder with a thumbs up gesture. ”Sit down. We were just having some beers and listening to the Turtles.”

“Oh…that seems….normal.” Chanyeol eyed the people in the room, completely convinced none of this was normal. Not even a little bit. Still, he sat down in the chair next to the other boy (was it Minseok, was that what he had introduced himself as?) and waited for the Psychiatrist to begin speaking.

“So, I was just talking about the Red Shifts. Who knows anything about them?” When no one raised their hands, Joon Hyung continued “Good! Because this is sure to blow your mind…”