the weather in seoul these days is not particularly desirable, nor does it exactly fit the theme du jour. but do kyungsoo carries on, pulling up his sweater to his neck as he trudges through the october cold. today is their first anniversary, and kyungsoo only wishes to please his boyfriend and throw in a hint of surprise to make up for the year of predictability and cheesiness.

finally, he reaches his destination. a hidden gem to most seoulites, the west coast pet shop is situated between two towering apartment complexes. its owner, byun baekhyun, smiles warmly at kyungsoo when the door opens; they’ve been friends since high school.

“what are you looking for? I just got a bunch of new shipments of all kinds of animals!” baekhyun gestures towards the empty cages spilling out of his office.

“i want to get something for yifan,” kyungsoo says. “i think he’d like a reptile, but maybe a puppy or something…?”

baekhyun knows exactly how to counter his friend’s confusion. he pops into his office and returns momentarily, holding in one hand a fire-engine-red lizard and in the other a how-to guide for lizard care.

“this, my brother, is the sritaesh lizard. it literally can only be found in one town somewhere in the middle east, it was a pain in the to track down, and i’ll sell it to you for ten million won.”

“why would I want that?” kyungsoo inquires, clutching his wallet.

“a puppy is not only twice as expensive, but also requires a lot of work just to keep alive. if you get a puppy, you’re basically signing a fifteen-year contract to stay with yifan. it’ll be your baby and up all your time and energy. i’m doing you a favor.”

kyungsoo sighs and takes the lizard from baekhyun. “i’ll admit, it’s cute.”

“now you’re seeing it! not to mention, yifan would love it. it’s the perfect gift!” baekhyun exclaims as he arbitrarily collects supplies from the reptile aisle. “i’ll even throw in all of this for free, just as long as you have a happy anniversary!”

・ﾟ ,。・:*:・゜

by now, the weather had cleared up and the sun had risen to a blinding intensity that seared through the curtains of yifan’s apartment, waking him at the obnoxiously-early hour of noon. yifan rolls over and begins to clear notifications on his phone. he mutters under his breath about how he needs to change the drapes as he skims email after email.

his heart stops once he realizes his calendar sent him one little reminder too: today is his and kyungsoo’s one-year anniversary. “,” he whispers. “i forgot.”

never in his life has yifan gotten dressed and ready to leave so quickly. never in his life has yifan forgotten anything this important, either, and he rushes out the door as he attempts to tie his shoelaces. he trips spectacularly.

“hi, doofus,” kyungsoo laughs as he runs to his boyfriend. yifan’s heart sinks as he catches sight of the exquisitely-wrapped box in his arms, complete with holes poked in the paper and an enormous bow on top. but he kisses his cheek as he picks himself up anyway.

“what’s in the box?” yifan inquires.

“come inside so I can show you!” kyungsoo replies. yifan can’t help but smile at kyungsoo’s unadulterated enthusiasm for this little box. he wonders how long it took to wrap so intricately, and follows his boyfriend to his living room.

“unwrap it,” kyungsoo demands as soon as yifan sits down. kyungsoo is beaming, there is sunshine radiating out of his ears and nostrils and mouth and probably his butthole too, and yifan immediately begins to lift the tape and remove the polka-dot wrapping paper.

the paper flies away to reveal the top of a glass terrarium, and then a bright red lizard perched on top of a rock. all of yifan’s previous worries dissolve; he’s so thankful that kyungsoo knows exactly what to get him, that kyungsoo knows him so well.

kyungsoo is not oblivious to his reaction and begins to laugh. “i’m glad you like it, babe.”

“i’ve always wanted a lizard,” yifan breathes. “they remind me of myself. thank you. i love you.”

“i love you, too.”

“can we name it prince yifan the second?”

“okay, buddy, i don’t love you that much.”

“so let’s name it charlene.”

“but, wait, yifan, what did you get me?”

・ﾟ ,。・:*:・゜

one month into owning charlene, and two weeks after yifan was allowed to speak to kyungsoo again after forgetting their anniversary, they decide to go on a walk. it is far too cold for the three of them to be outside for more than what is absolutely necessary, but kyungsoo had insisted that they get some fresh air. so they are walking through the park around the corner and they enjoy the sights and sounds of their city at the mild expense of their warmth.

before they left, yifan had switched charlene into a more-portable cage that included a heat pack and a leash, just in case. now, however, he regretted it: charlene was throwing a fit in the cage, and if she could talk yifan was almost positive she would be swearing.

“hey, kyungsoo, let’s sit down for a bit. i want to see if something’s wrong with charlene.” yifan says.

“oh yeah, of course. you can go find us a place to sit and i’ll grab us some food?” kyungsoo offers.

“you’re perfect.”

“i know.”

yifan locates a prime spot in the park and claims it for his little family. taking charlene out of her cage, he her scales and looks her straight in the eyes. “you know, charlene,” he starts, “you have such a good life. kyungsoo and i love you so much. we take such good care of you. you deserve the whole universe and we’re giving you the best we can. so, charlene, can you tell me—“

“okay, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but i just wanted you to know—“

hssssssssssssssssssss.

yifan, unable to bear his pet sassing him, looks the up to see kyungsoo running towards them with a baggie from mcdonald’s. perfect.

on the other side, yifan sees a tall, pink-haired man with three dogs heading their way. perfect.

“yifan, did i seriously just see you talking to a lizard?” kyungsoo exclaims, plopping down next to him on the bench and digging into his french fries. but yifan doesn’t have time to come up with a witty response, because the man with the dogs had approached a dangerously close proximity to charlene and yifan was trying to protect his lizard.

the lizard, however, is ostentatious in demonstrating her own abilities. she flicks her tongue at the smallest of the dogs and lets out another ear-splitting hiss. the dogs dissipate, leaving their owner running after them.

“dude,” kyungsoo breathes. “your lizard must be magical.”

“it must have been the lecture i gave her. maybe i transferred superpowers to her,” yifan retorts.

・ﾟ ,。・:*:・゜

kyungsoo is in the kitchen.

it is the eve of his own birthday, and kyungsoo is in the kitchen.

“you don’t have to cook for your own birthday—“

“but i don’t trust you to cook for me,” kyungsoo interrupts. “i want to enjoy the food i’ll be eating.”

“we could go to a restaurant, or get takeout,” yifan offers, choosing to neglect the fact that kyungsoo just admitted that he hated his cooking.

“i want to enjoy the food i’ll be eating,” kyungsoo repeats. yifan leaves it at that and lets kyungsoo continue to stir pesto and feta cheese together, electing to play with charlene instead.

charlene is no longer a baby lizard, and carries almost no resemblance to the blazing red creature baekhyun had shown kyungsoo in october. she had developed a purple gradient on her scales, and some of the scales on her back had risen to form a sort of tail travelling along her spain. nevertheless, she was beautiful, and yifan was proud to be her owner. he runs his finger along her stomach and kisses her reptilian forehead. charlene hisses.

“are you hungry, charlene?” yifan asks. “let’s go to the kitchen to see if kyungsoo has anything for you – or me, really, because you can’t eat…”

hsssss.

they are greeted by the scent of pasta and meat in the oven. the chef had taken a break, so yifan begins to help himself to a container of leftovers in the fridge, only to find kyungsoo fuming in the doorway.

“what are you doing?” he screams, startling both yifan and charlene.

“i’m hungry as hell,” yifan complains. kyungsoo moves toward him. yifan, expecting a hug, opens his arms, but is shocked when he feels his boyfriend’s clammy hands slap his face.

“i told you to stay out of the kitchen! what if you’ve ruined everything!”

“well, i was just eating leftovers from last week...” yifan starts. kyungsoo’s sudden realization that the dinner could be saved, however, runs short. “but i think i should save some for you, too, because something smells burned.”

kyungsoo darts around so quickly that he feels the air move around him. the kitchen is on fire. billowing smoke was piping out in bursts from the oven, and everything from the sink to the wooden cupboards were in flames. at the center of it all, charlene lies on the marble counter, emitting a small inferno from .

kyungsoo is the first to grab the fire extinguisher, while yifan darts to get charlene back in her cage.

after the ordeal is through and dinner is officially ruined, yifan poses an essential question: “restaurant or takeout?”

kyungsoo hits him.

・ﾟ ,。・:*:・゜

“hey, baekhyun, come over sometime. I have a lot to tell you,” reads a text kyungsoo sent the week before. there had been no reply, so it was nothing less than a shock when, at promptly eight on a saturday morning, byun baekhyun banged on the door.

“what are you doing here?” kyungsoo mumbles. “you could have replied to my text.”

“i could have, but I didn’t, but i’m here not and that’s what matters.” baekhyun smiles. kyungsoo welcomes him inside.

“can I offer you some coffee?” baekhyun says as he bursts into the kitchen.

“this is my house,” kyungsoo replies, rolling his eyes.

“anyway, what’s up?” baekhyun sets down his mug of coffee on the table and crosses his legs, eager to hear this story. kyungsoo relives three months of odd experiences since charlene was bestowed upon him, ranging from the out-of-body experience he had at his mother’s house to the time his lizard set his kitchen on fire.

when he finishes, baekhyun is crying. “dude,” he gasps. “i got another shipment of that breed of lizard the other week, and i can see what’s going on, kind of—are you sitting down?”

“i’m literally right in front of you, sitting down, on my couch, in my house. what are you talking about?”

“these aren’t lizards.”

“so what the are they?”

“they’re ing dragons, mate.”

baekhyun then endures two hours of kyungsoo’s subsequent panicking and heavy breathing, as well as another hour of screaming and bawling.

・ﾟ ,。・:*:・゜

when yifan is made aware of his treasured pet’s status as a mythical creature, he is ecstatic. kyungsoo, although he has warmed up to the notion that he accidentally purchased something that shouldn’t exist, is still not quite on board.

“come on, babe,” yifan whines. “it’s still the same charlene! the only thing that’s changed is what we know about her!”

“do you know how dangerous dragons are?” kyungsoo retorts. “we could die! she could set the whole apartment complex on fire!”

“but has she? we’ve owned her for six months and the biggest mishap is the kitchen incident. and we fixed that in no time!”

“have you never read any mythology?”

“no?”

“then you don’t know what you’re talking about! next time – and before you open your mouth, there will be a next time—we might not have the resources to just patch up and move on!”

“babe…”

“don’t babe me! we can’t keep her!”

“it was a gift! you can’t just give me a gift and take it back!”

kyungsoo takes a step back. yes, it is slightly rude and immoral to ask the receiver of a gift to return it. but if it was for the greater good, if it could be dangerous to the whole world, then what can be done?

he stares at his boyfriend intently, silently. yifan isn’t on the verge of tears, per se, but he is annoyed and defensive and aggressively protective of a reptilian creature with the power to kill. tapping on the bedside table, kyungsoo stares outside. it’s pouring, just like it was that day in october. the air is thick, and it rests inside the apartment with a certain pouf that can be felt just by the force of gravity. it would be impossible to attempt to go outside to clear his head, kyungsoo concludes, and so he brings himself back to reality.

yifan shoots him a quizzical look. he, too, would much rather be somewhere else. he didn’t want to break up over a lizard—no, wait, a dragon—but he didn’t want to compromise.

“what are we gonna do?” he whispers.

“what do you want to do?”

“i feel like we raised charlene, you know? she grew up with us, we’re basically her parents.”

“i know.”

“i want to keep her, man, i love her so much.”

“as much as you love me?”

“maybe. in different ways, of course, i love you both the same.”

“she is still an animal. you know that, right?”

“yeah. i want to keep her.”

“we can.”

“really?”

kyungsoo smiles and plants a quick kiss on yifan’s nose before exiting the room to obtain charlene’s terrarium. yifan follows him, excited that he finally won an argument. however, not five seconds later kyungsoo sits down on the floor, clutching the glass cage.

the terrarium is empty.

yifan can see, through the mug and the rain, a faint incandescence in the sky.