“Okay, okay, I can fix this,” Chanyeol repeated, pacing around the yard and rubbing his temple with his fingers.

“Last time you said so, Professor, look what happened…” Minseok muttered, nodding his head at Yixing’s body on the grass (who tried to communicate with or rivalize with a gecko) and then at the bearded dragon.

Chanyeol continued pacing around while thinking. Jongdae walked next to him, talking to him.

Junmyeon stopped groaning in his hands and sighed. He went to Minseok and saw the bearded dragon he was holding. T-rex’s body has shrunk considerably and was around 20 centimeters long. Lizard Yixing was awake now, one of those huge black pupils looked his way.

“Yixing?” Junmyeon asked.

Yixing didn’t nod or did anything only continued staring at him.

“He can’t understand us anymore, Professor Park?” Baekhyun asked.

“Because he is a lizard. All his human knowledge is still there, but it’s useless to apply in this new physiology because there are restraints. Lizards can’t hear as well as we do, even if they did, they mostly rely on their other senses to communicate,” he explained.

“Then, any idea on how to fix this?” Minseok wondered.

Chanyeol came to a halt. “I… Don’t know!” he sighed in frustration, “This has never happened before. I-I have to search in my library. I’ll be back. And don’t let him,” he said, pointing at lizard Yixing, “Wander off in the yard. We might not find him until tomorrow morning if he runs away to explore it,” With that said, Chanyeol made his way inside the house.

“Wow, guys isn’t this crazy? This morning Yixing wakes up as a baby and now he’s a lizard?” Jongdae said. He patted lizard Yixing’s head, “You’ve been through a lot, little guy. Haven’t you?” he let out a chuckle.

Junmyeon grabbed Jongdae’s onesie and brought him forward until they stood face to face. “Jongdae, you’re gonna go back inside and make sure that giant does anything he can to solve this mess!”

“Jeez, relax Junmyeon. Frowning gives you wrinkles.” Jongdae freed himself from Junmyeon’s grasp. “And stop worrying, Chanyeol will solve this, you’ll see.” Jongdae walked back to the house while muttering a bunch of stuff about his friends not understanding him.

“So… What are we going to do now?” Minseok asked.

There wasn’t much they could do except wait for Chanyeol to come up with a solution. It would be wise to keep an eye on Yixing’s body, given that T-rex seemed to like roaming around everywhere in the yard with his new physiology. Baekhyun offered to make sure the pet lizard wouldn’t hurt Yixing’s body. Meanwhile, Junmyeon and Minseok walked into the living room, closing the French doors to make sure Yixing wouldn’t escape in his miniature form. They let lizard Yixing rest on the carpeted floor, only to see him crawling around everywhere, every corner of Chanyeol’s living room. Tired of chasing Yixing around, they grabbed some mustard greens from Chanyeol’s fridge and decided to distract Yixing by feeding him some. Lizard Yixing stopped his movements and curbed his tail when he saw the bowl of greens in front of him.

Minseok closed his eyes for a bit and relaxed on the couch. Junmyeon laid on his belly, resting his jaw on top of his hands in the carpet, while he saw lizard Yixing devouring the green leaves. Regardless of what Chanyeol had said, Junmyeon continued talking to Yixing. He didn’t want Yixing to feel all alone trapped inside the pet lizard’s body. And perhaps Yixing did hear him because it seemed they were having eye contact: one of Yixing’s eye might have been looking at him. At some point, Junmyeon even reached a hand to tap him gently on the head and the back. In response, lizard Yixing lifted his front leg and moved it forward in a circular motion. But that behavior, arm-waving, was typical of bearded dragons. Junmyeon knew that because Yixing had told him about it before, and he had seen T-rex doing it. Still, Junmyeon liked to believe that although they couldn’t understand each other, it was a sign Yixing was communicating back to him.

“Well, you’ve always said you wished to know how it felt like to be a T-rex… I guess this is the closest you’ll come.”

Yixing reached forward to eat the last green leaf.

Baekhyun walked inside just then, throwing himself to rest on one of the armchairs.

“Where’s T-rex? Or Yixing’s body?” Junmyeon asked.

“He’s sleeping under the porch swing. Boy, that lizard’s energetic. Yixing’s forearms, elbows, and legs are gonna hurt like hell tomorrow.”

At that Yixing raised his little head, looking at Baekhyun’s way.

“Has Professor Park come out?”

“No,” Minseok said this time.

“What’s taking them so long?” Baekhyun asked.

“No idea,” Junmyeon replied.

Baekhyun stood up. “Let’s go see,” he suggested. He went forward to pull Minseok out of the couch. Reluctantly, Minseok let him.

Junmyeon gently grabbed lizard Yixing in his hand, just like real Yixing had thought him long ago with T-rex. Although the little feet tickled him, Yixing rested calmly in his palms, a sign he wasn’t nervous or afraid of being held this way.

The three friends made their way through the hall. It seemed Chanyeol also had a fascination with minimalistic art if that could explain all the strange paintings hanging on the walls. After searching in the wrong rooms, they reached the desired one.

Baekhyun opened the door just as he said, “Professor Park-”

He got interrupted by his scream. Actually, everyone screamed their lungs out while they saw the scene happening before them. Baekhyun even raised his hand to cover lizard Yixing’s eyes.

“Hey close the door, will ya?” Jongdae said, staring their way with a menacing look.

Amid the screams, Minseok managed to shut the door. They all ran away through the hall back into the living room and then the kitchen.

Minseok bent down to wash his face on the sink. “That’s it, I’ve seen it all now,” he said while rubbing his eyes with the water.

“Poor thing, you’re way too young to be seeing that,” Baekhyun talked to lizard Yixing in Junmyeon’s hands. He lightly patted the lizard’s head.

“I think we’re all way too young to see the image of Jongdae and Chanyeol ing against the desk. I need to get it bleached out from my eyes,” Minseok complained, still rubbing his eyes with water.

“Oh, my god. This is worse than that time I walked into Baekhyun having a fun time with his se-”

“HEY! You promised not to tell anyone, Junmyeon!” Baekhyun said horrified and putting a hand on Junmyeon’s lips.

Once Minseok stopped washing his face, they all sat down on the same couch. Nobody said anything about the earlier happenings anymore but tried to distract themselves from it. Lizard Yixing found it comforting on Junmyeon’s hands and settle for laying there, for the time being, he closed his eyes and slept there. His human body also continued snoozing out on the porch.

Chanyeol and Jongdae appeared from the hallway a while later. Chanyeol could barely meet them in the eyes. Jongdae looked at them while shaking his head.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that,” Chanyeol said, his cheeks turning red and voice wavering, “I should have locked the door. So sorry.”

“Well, I’m not. These guys don’t know anything about privacy. Just walking into people’s rooms like that, it was bound to happen.” Jongdae threw himself on the armchair Baekhyun had sat on earlier.

Chanyeol continued having his head facing down and red cheeks when he said, “Well, I’m gonna go back to read some more. I’ll let you know what we can do soon.” He quickly walked back to his library.

Everyone glared at Jongdae with furrowed eyebrows.

“What?” Jongdae said at last.

“When I said to do everything you can, I didn’t mean that,” Junmyeon said.

“What? Never seen two people doing it? Besides, this teaches you guys a lesson.” Jongdae pointed at them, “Always knock before walking into a room.”

“Jongdae!” they all replied.

“I can’t believe you only distracted him rather than help to solve this,” Minseok asked, crossing his arms.

“No, I did help him. I helped him find the books he wanted. It wasn’t easy, I don’t understand the language and all that. But Chanyeol remembered what symbols were on the first pages, so I just had to search the right ones.”

“Then, what happened? How did you go from doing that to doing that?”

“I’m just that good, my dear, Baek,” Jongdae smirked. “But Chanyeol was going nowhere with his research. Apparently, the quickest solutions required some kind of offering or sacrifice or something like that, but he couldn’t find any possible solution. Then, he got all sad and miserable about being a failed wizard, and whatnot. I just wanted to comfort him.”

“With that?” Baekhyun asked.

“One thing led to another, you know the drill… Or actually, you don’t.”

Baekhyun threw one of the cushions on Jongdae’s face.

“So, you’re saying it’s been hours, and he’s got nothing?” Junmyeon asked this time, doing his best to not put lizard Yixing down, follow Baekhyun and throw the other cushion at Jongdae.

Jongdae sighed. “It’s more complicated now, apparently. He can’t simply ask his superiors for help. This is the third time he screws up. He could get banished from practicing his wizarding skills. And he just recently became one.”

“Of all the wizards out there, you just had to go out with this one,” Baekhyun said, burying his face in his hands.

“He’ll solve this, I know he will.”

“When?”

“In a couple of days… Hopefully.”

Junmyeon even regretted asking. He knew that was what Jongdae was going to say. This had gone from bad to worse. At least as a baby, Yixing had been easy to take care of and communicate with. Like this… Who knew what could happen to both the pet lizard and the human. Junmyeon stood up from the couch. As much as he wanted to vent out his anger at them, he knew this couldn’t be Chanyeol or Jongdae’s fault. It had all begun with him. This was his fault.

He opened the French doors and walked into the porch. The cold wind greeted him. He saw feet sticking out under the porch swing. He sat down on the porch swing. Lizard Yixing had woken up again, probably by the loudness of their conversation. Junmyeon held him with one hand and caressed Yixing with the other. Yixing’s pupil looked his way.

“Hi Xing,” Junmyeon said.

“I’m so sorry things turned out this way. It’s my fault, you know? I made that witch angry, and she cursed us both. Then you became a baby and now a lizard.” He sighed. “If I hadn’t been so dumb this might have never happened. Sorry.”

“I’m always so dumb. All this time I’ve been a coward trying to ‘seduce’ you and wait for you to say something when I should have faced my fears and let you know everything myself.”

“You remember that time we cooked dinner for charades night with the guys?” Junmyeon smiled fondly. “I said I liked carrots a lot, and when I was a kid, my mom used to tease me saying I was like a small bunny. It didn’t help she bought me that onesie. And you laughed at it but agreed. You also said you’ll give me a truck full of carrots. We laughed together at your silly idea. And I thought that was it, a joke.”

Junmyeon laughed warmheartedly while continued to remember his time with Yixing.

“But then you appeared at my door the next day with that wheelbarrow filled with these huge carrots. It wasn’t a truck, you said, but hoped it was enough. It was more than enough. We ate carrots with every dish that week, and I never had so much carrot cake in my life.”

“I was so happy. Really happy, Xing. And I jumped to hug you while I thanked you over and over. But I also felt this urge to kiss you while I held you. And while I imagined that thought, it didn’t feel weird. It felt right. Being with you like that. I guess that’s when I knew you no longer were my friend, but I wanted us to be something else, just like you had wished long ago.”

He let out another sigh.

“I was just a coward and didn’t want to face you saying no. It was stupid. I should have told you as soon as I knew, rather than let you confess again. How could I ever think of letting you confess after I rejected you? I wish I had dared to tell you my feelings when we’re the same age when you were human and not just a lizard… I’m sorry for being this late.”

Junmyeon felt his cheeks getting damp from the few tears falling, thinking that if Chanyeol didn’t solve this, he might never have his Yixing back. He leaned down do gently kiss the bearded dragon’s head.

“I love you, Xing. I love all of you, with your funny quirks, blunt honesty, strange sides and ideas, and just everything. I love you my beautiful, Yixing.”

When Junmyeon stared at lizard Yixing again, he saw a tear running down one eye. He almost believed Yixing had heard him and cried with him. But some reptiles often let out tears to clean out and protect their eyes. It didn’t mean lizard Yixing was sharing his pain and uncertainty regarding this matter. Junmyeon still appreciated the timing.

Suddenly the porch swing began shaking. Junmyeon looked around thinking it was a strong wind, but the geckos on the grass were crawling around desperately, going away to hide. The bug zapper hanging from the ceiling started to shake, along with the solar lamps. Junmyeon turned to see the French windows. Everything inside the house was trembling too, getting quicker and quicker. He saw Minseok shouting and motioning for him to get inside. Junmyeon held lizard Yixing tighter and thought of how to bring inside Yixing’s body too. He couldn’t leave it there. But just as Junmyeon stood up, he fell on his back, and everything turned black.

Until he felt like floating through a strange tunnel where visions, multicolored lights, and patterns flashed before his eyes. Then a white light came into his view.

Junmyeon’s eyes opened slowly. Blinking, he tried to focus his vision. A white ceiling, that was what the first thing he could distinguish. He sensed a cold wooden floor against his limbs. Looking at his body, he recognized the red basketball uniform. That was when he realized it. Junmyeon widened his eyes while he sat up. The bed, the posters, the wardrobes, the sunlight entering through the window, this was his room. He was back in his room!

Junmyeon stood up. He sprinted through his apartment until he reached the kitchen just in time to see Yixing holding a glass with a red liquid inside.

“No, Yixing! Don’t drink that!” he screamed while he jumped forward to toss away the glass from Yixing’s hand. The glass shattered against the kitchen floor some steps away from them.

Perplexed, Yixing asked, “Jun? What’s the matter?”

“That’s cursed!”

“Your cranberry juice is cursed?” Yixing raised an eyebrow.

Oh. There was a bottle of cranberry juice standing on the counter Junmyeon hadn’t noted at first. His cheeks turned warm. But rather than answering the question, Junmyeon embraced Yixing in a hug just like he had wanted to do all this time. Fortunately, Yixing raised his arms to hold him back while Junmyeon rested his chin on Yixing’s shoulder.

“My old Yixing, you’re back,” Junmyeon muttered.

“I know we joke about me thinking like an eighty-year-old sometimes, but am I really that old? I’m younger than you… And where did I go?”

Junmyeon let out a laugh. How he had missed this.

“You don’t remember anything?”

Yixing shook his head. “No?”

He’ll explain his crazy experience later. Right now, Junmyeon backed away until he could see Yixing’s face, but they still didn’t break their hold.

“I love you, Yixing. And not as a friend, but as something much more, as a lover who loves the love of his life. I fell in love with you long ago. Who wouldn’t? Your wonderful, beautiful, so honestly funny and caring, and I love you. But I waited for you to say something first just, so I couldn’t hear you reject me. I was such a wuss, as Baek said it. But I’m not anymore. I just want you to know that I love you so much and I want us to date, or better yet, be boyfriends for a long time because I’ve seen life without you and it’s awful. But if you happen to have hit it off with Yitian last night and want to date him instead… That’s okay. I lost my chance. I’ll eventually understand and try to cope with it.”

Yixing mouth went from agape to forming a smile and letting out a laugh. Junmyeon’s heart fluttered while he waited for the frightening response.

“While Yitian and I did have fun and talked a lot, in the end, he asked for your number.”

“What?” Junmyeon said, now his face turned with confusion.

“Yeah, just before he left the car.”

Yitian’s smile flashed through Junmyeon’s head along with Yixing skipping the translation. “Did you give it to him?”

Yixing smiled as a kid getting caught eating in the middle of mischief. “I might have said you were my boyfriend.”

Junmyeon couldn’t help to grin.

“I was never truly over you, Jun… And the thought of you and Yitian together just made me so jealous.”

Junmyeon could certainly relate to that.

“And then you say I could crash on your bed, that was too much. I couldn’t sleep at all because of the impure thoughts of us that my mind came up with.” Yixing blushed at his words, making Junmyeon caress his cheek.

“But you already heard my confession once, and it still stands, everything I said then. Of course, I’ll be your boyfriend… I love you too my bunny, Jun.”

Smiling, Junmyeon waited no more to lean in and catch those lips in a kiss. He had been truly a coward for not saying this earlier when the results would have been this. This was everything. A soft, innocent touch bursting with the elation of being in each other’s arms, of conveying their feelings at last.

Yixing was his; he was Yixing’s.

In the aftermath of their kiss, they pressed their foreheads together, keeping their bodies molded in that embrace.

“Will you tell me now why you tossed away my cranberry juice?”

Junmyeon grinned. He backed away to see Yixing’s face up close and explain to him his crazy dreams. Just then something caught his attention. How hadn’t he noticed this before? Yixing cheeks had tiny scratches scattered here and there just like… Junmyeon looked into his now boyfriend’s eyes.

“Yixing, what happened to your face?”

Author's Note
 

And there you have it, folks.

Your comments and upvotes have been very appreciated~ Thank you ^0^