I

PENGUIN FIASCO

 

 

“Sehuuuuuun!”

Luhan’s voice boomed across the living room.

Sehun was about to follow the others out the door.

 

“Not so fast, milk tea boy.”

He pulled Sehun back by the collar.

 

“You know we’re assigned to look after Kyungsoo today. You’re not going anywhere.”

 

Sehun groaned.

 

The other members had gone out to different places; each enjoying their break. And well, there was only so much you could do inside the apartment for entertainment. Television, DVD and Play Station. That was it. Why were they still even using a Play Station? Next time they release an album, Sehun was going to force the others to contribute in buying a Wii.

And by force, he meant force in the literal term.

Back in the day, he only needed to use his aegyo.

But ever since they’ve become busy, pressured and agitated, no one really gave a care to others anymore. Sehun was well-aware of that; the fact that they had lost time for each other and bonding as a family.

 

That’s why he always leaves his milk tea cups everywhere; it was a reminder.

So that any time Luhan would see the cups, he would be reminded that it was him who introduced milk tea to Sehun—the Sehun who he used to make time for, but not anymore. Unfortunately, Luhan never saw it as a sign. He saw it as trash. So he always told Sehun to throw those cups away. But Sehun didn’t; he still left them lying everywhere—just for a different reason now.

To get on Luhan’s nerves.

To annoy Luhan so he’d get shouted at.

To gain Luhan’s attention because he missed Luhan,

who had only been concerned with his vocal lessons during Wolf, Growl, and Overdose.

They hardly ever talked; they only did when they argued. It wasn’t the best form of bonding (could you even call it that?) but it was all Sehun had to get by. So he purposely acts obnoxious. Not just towards Luhan, but to everyone because he misses all of them.

He just misses Luhan a tad bit more.

 

 

“Alright, alright. Sheesh.” Sehun rolled his eyes at the elder. “Where’s Dyo hyung anyway?”

 

“Let’s go check his room.”

 

 

 

 

They went to Kyungsoo and Jong In’s shared room. Kyungsoo wasn’t there, but something else was—a box.

 They approached the box. It had already been opened and was empty. There was a paper taped to the side, so Sehun took it and read it. He smacked his forehead.

 

“Omigosh, he just bought a penguin online…”

 

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Here.”

 

Straight from the coasts of New Zealand. Thank you for shopping at Peter’s Online Penguin Shop! Refunds are available within week of purchase. Have fun with your new pal!

Penguin type: Korora Penguin

Sold to: Do Kyung Soo, 37 years-old, Scientist from Stanford University

Purpose of purchase: Research (classified information)

Address:  Apartment # xx, at xx street, xx city

 

 “…”

 

“He posed as a 37 year-old scientist who graduated from a prestigious university. To buy a penguin. Un-be-leiveable.”

“Well hyung, at least he didn’t buy something illegal.”

Just then, they heard the television in the living room. They were pretty sure that was supposed to be off, considering the others just left.

 

 

 

 

And there he was.

Kyungsoo.

Sitting on the couch watching television.

With a Penguin sitting on his lap.

Wearing his “Wolf 88” t-shirt (which was obviously too big).

 

*squak*

 

The Penguin turned its head to look at Kyungsoo. Then it squaked again. Kyungsoo simply nodded and got off the couch, carrying the small penguin in his arms. Sehun and Luhan discreetly followed him.

Kyungsoo went to the kitchen and seated the Penguin on a chair. He opened the fridge and took out a pint of ice cream (Jong In’s pint of ice cream to be exact, but that really didn’t matter right now). He lifted the Penguin and sat down on the chair; placing the Penguin on his lap.

He was going to spoon-feed it ice cream.

The penguin actually opened its beak in anticipation.

 

“Kyungsoo, don’t!” Luhan shouted as he approached the boy.

 

 

“Luhan hyung, look at my pet. Luhan hyung, this is D.O.

D.O. this is Luhan hyung. Say hi~”

Kyungsoo proceeded to wave one of the Penguin’s flippers at Luhan.

 

“Oh, so that’s why he’s wearing the Wolf 88 shirt… He’s supposed to be D.O. of EXO… Wait, what?” Sehun was confused at his own realization. “Luhan hyung, we can’t have a penguin for a main vocal.”

And Luhan facepalmed. Because seriously, was that the problem at hand?

“Kyungsoo, you can’t feed Penguins ice cream. They eat krill and they eat fish, but for the love of all things sane, they don’t eat ice cream. Plus, you can’t just keep him as a pet! He’s not a domesticated animal. He belongs in his natural habitat. You have to send him back to New Zealand.”

 

“NO!” Kyungsoo shouted and ran away.

 

 

“I am not separating from D.O.!

He’s my friend! You don’t understand!”

 

*SLAM*

He locked himself in his room.

 

 

“Don’t understand what??” Sehun asked Luhan.

 Luhan shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

 

 

 

*slurp*

*sluuurp*

*sluuuuuurrppp*

 

“Sehun! Knock it off!”

It had been two hours. Kyungsoo was still in his room with “D.O.” Luhan and Sehun were on the couch, thinking of a way to return the Penguin. And well, Sehun was drinking milk tea.

“I am trying to think here! But I can’t come up with a single idea because of your obnoxious slurping!”

“Geez, I’m sorry. You know, you could have said it in a nicer way.”

“Oh, so you’re hurt? You feel bad because I tell you you’re being loud? Well, excuse me if I don’t say it in the tone you wanted, coupled by a Sehunnie or whatever. Because every time I told you to dispose of your empty milk tea cups in a nice way, you never did. You kept on leaving them everywhere! I’m freaking sick of your insufferable behavior!”

 

“Well, I’m freaking sick of you and your stupid voice! Go marry it, why don’t you!”

Sehun stormed off.

 

“That didn’t even make any sense!” Luhan yelled.

 

*BAM*

Oh Sehun had left the building.

 

 

 

“Ugh… that annoying maknae…” Luhan sighed.

Luhan closed his eyes as his brows furrowed; he nested his face in his palms.

 

There was a time he and Sehun were two peas in a pod; love seeping from every smile they gave each other. He had always been fond of Sehun; even way back when Sehun still had a retainer which caused him to talk with a lisp. Luhan thought it was cute. Luhan though Sehun was cute. Luhan thought they would probably be brothers in a different life. But why did things change? Properly disposing of milk tea cups—was that so much to ask? Undoubtedly their schedule’s been tight; it got everyone cranky, including himself. But to leave his cups everywhere every single time even though Luhan never failed to reprimand him—that just wasn’t tolerable. Actually, that wasn’t even reasonable! Why did Sehun keep doing that?

Luhan sighed. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about this. He needed to take care of the Penguin issue first; with or without Sehun.

 

 

Ouch. Something poked Luhan’s head.

Ouch. It poked harder.

Ouch. Ok, Luhan was so not in the mood for this.

 

He lifted his face from his palms, to scold whoever or whatever was poking him. He came face to face with “D.O.”; lifted up by Kyungsoo’s hands. The Penguin was looking straight into his eyes; maybe even right through his soul.  Well, this was awkward.

 

“Hyung, I’ve been calling you over and over but you weren’t responding. D.O. thought you were asleep so he started pecking your head. 

 

Um… we had a long discussion about things… about him going back to New Zealand and all…

So, now we’re here to tell you what we’ve decided.”

 

“Wait, you were discussing things with a peng-

You know what, never mind. Please continue.”

 

“Ok. Well, D.O. and I decided that even though we liked being with each other, he had a family to go back to. He was expected to be at home before midnight, and his mother wasn’t going to be happy if he came home late. Might think he went out drinking or fooling around with girls, since he did that in his younger years. He doesn’t do it anymore, but his mother is still mindful of the past. She probably wouldn’t believe that some human guy put him in a box and shipped him to a different country, where he became friends with the vocalist of one of Korea’s hottest boy bands.

Now, I’ve already gone online to Peter’s Penguin Shop and settled the matter. They’ll come by later at eight o’clock to pick up D.O. In the mean time, D.O. and will be bonding since it’s our last day together. We’re going out for lunch. You coming?”

 

Well, wow.

That explanation was totally illogical, but Luhan didn’t care because fact is his problem was solved. Luhan prayed internally and thanked God that this whole penguin fiasco solved itself. Now he only had one more predicament—Sehun.It was about time Luhan confronted that kid. He was going to ask about the root of the milk tea problem. But that would have to wait, since watching over Kyungsoo was more important right now.

 

“Soo-yah, I would love to join you and D.O. for lunch. But is there even a restaurant that allows penguins?”

“There is, in fact. D.O. and I also thought about that. So we searched online and found a Pizza parlor that also caters to Penguins.

Let’s go!

Oh, but where’s Sehun?”

 

“He went out, but don’t worry about him.

He’s just… cooling off.”

 

 

 

“Ahjussi, one more!

Choco, large, no toppings, 100% sugar level.”

 

Sehun was at his favorite milk tea place, drinking again—as if he wasn’t just doing that at the house, which was the reason for his argument with Luhan. Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone there at the time; EXO might be reported because he was trying to get high on milk tea. Or, well, trying to get brain freeze and sugar rush at least. 

 

“Calm down boy. This is the tenth cup, all in the span of thirty minutes.

I’m very happy you’re being such a great customer, but for your own well-being I think you should stop. Drinking never solves anything—be it drinking alcohol or milk tea. If you have a problem, why don’t you tell me? It’s only the two of us anyway.”

 

The ahjussi gave Sehun a smile and maybe that was something Sehun had been looking for. Just not from some stranger, but from a certain blonde Chinese who he had long considered a brother. Sehun thought for a while. He then came to a decision.

 

“Ahjussi, supposed I know this guy. He’s tall and handsome, even if I do say so myself.

Now he’s friends with this blonde Chinese…”

 

 

 

Luhan and Kyungsoo arrived at the pizza parlor. They sat down at a table for three. The waiter handed them a menu, while his penguin assistant handed D.O. the menu for penguins. When their food arrived, Kyungsoo and D.O. started talking animatedly; laughing here and there and throwing nods at each other. Luhan’s eye twitched—how in the world did those two even understand what the other was saying? One of them was talking in Korean and the other was squaking. Maybe this was all really just a bad dream?

Luhan pinched himself.

Numerous times.

Sadly, this was reality.

 

After eating, the three headed to the park. Kyungsoo and D.O. were playing tag. They invited Luhan, but he insisted that he was still too full to play. So he sat down on the park bench, watching the two chase each other in circles. Eventually they got tired and plopped down on the ground. D.O. got an idea and started rolling around the floor. Kyungsoo laughed and started rolling too.

 

“Yah!” Luhan was chuckling at the sight. “Stop it you two. Especially you, Kyungsoo. You’re getting dirty.”

 

D.O. obeyed Luhan and sat up, followed by Kyungsoo.

D.O. whispered something to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo giggled.

 

“What?” Luhan asked in curiosity.

“He said you sound like his mother. He should listen to you when you’re telling Sehun off; you really sound like some middle-aged woman nagging at her child.”

“Oh…”

 

 

“I see, I see.” The ahjussi nodded at Sehun.  “So your friend misses his Chinese friend. But I think he’s going about this the wrong way.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, why didn’t he just tell the Chinese guy that he missed him? A sign may be misinterpreted, for example, the milk tea cups. But to actually say what you feel clearly and simply, I’m sure that will get the message across. Tell your friend to give it a try.”

 

Sehun mulled over the thought. He smiled at the ahjussi.

“Thank you very much. I’ll let him know.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was almost dinner time; Luhan, Kyungsoo and D.O. were all at the apartment. Luhan was giving Kyungsoo and D.O. a bath. It wasn’t even easy to get them in the tub, but thankfully, tempting them by playing with the bubbles worked. Any other day and it would have been awkward for Luhan to give Kyungsoo a bath, since they were already in their twenties. But today, he already felt like he had been hanging-out with his two sons.

 

“Ouch ouch ouch, get it off hyung!” Kyungsoo got soap in his eyes.

D.O. laughed at him.

Luhan rolled his eyes and rinsed the soap off.

 

When Luhan finally got the two cleaned up and dressed (yes, even D.O. got dressed with another one of Kyungsoo’s shirts), Luhan ordered take-out for him and Kyungsoo, and some fish for D.O. They all sat down on the couch and watched TV; D.O. taking his usual spot on Kyungsoo’s lap, resting his back on the singer’s chest.

The food arrived not long after.

It was 7:00 PM.

 

During dinner time, Luhan felt that the atmosphere became different.

It felt heavy. It felt sad.

 

“Soo-yah, D.O.-yah, is there something wrong?”

The two hadn’t eaten a single bite; both were just staring blankly at their plates.

 

“It’s the last hour with D.O. …” Kyungsoo said in a gloomy tone, not even looking up from his plate.

D.O. squaked sadly in agreement.

Luhan felt bad for them; he almost forgot that the penguin was leaving.

 

“Oh… well, don’t be too sad. It will be the few minutes you have with each other—make them happy.”

 

Both Kyungsoo and D.O. looked up to see Luhan giving them a worried smile.

They smiled at him too, then at each other.

They started eating.

 

 

Luhan offered to wash the dishes, so that Kyungsoo and D.O. could spend more time together. The two went back to their place on the couch and watched TV; with Kyungsoo holding D.O. just a bit tighter, and D.O. snuggling back.

 

 

7:45 PM

Kyungsoo brought out D.O.’s box from his room, and placed it in the living room.

He used a marker to write a message on the box.

 

Thanks for the one day we spent with each other. I had fun with you. You can keep my shirt, so that you won’t forget me. Let’s meet again someday.

Stay healthy and happy.

I love you D.O.!~

-Do Kyungsoo

 

When Luhan read this, he felt a pang in his heart.

Because he knew that Kyungsoo and D.O. were never really going to meet again—since Kyungsoo lived in Korea, while D.O. lived in New Zealand. And the fact that Kyungsoo was a going to be busy again with boy band activities in the future, while D.O. would be busy with his life as a Penguin. Plus, all of this was due to Kyungsoo’s irrational state. There wasn’t even a guarantee that he would remember D.O. the next day.

Luhan felt sad that after witnessing these two bond, he would also have to witness them separate. Suddenly, he felt something poking him; startling him from his thoughts. Kyungsoo was poking him with the marker, encouraging him to write a message as well. Luhan looked down to see D.O. hugging his right leg, and burrowing his face in it—as if also telling Luhan to write a little something as a remembrance.

 

It was nice meeting you D.O. You were the first Penguin friend I had. I hope we can see each other again. Maybe then, I'll play tag with you and Kyungsoo.

Take care of yourself.

-Luhan

 

 

“Hey hyung, there’s only one last thing to do.”

“And what’s that Kyungsoo?”

“I’m going to let D.O. pee everywhere in the house.

In the living room, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, under my bed—everywhere.”

 

“WHAT!? Why would you do that!?” Although nothing should come as a surprise to Luhan anymore, it can’t be helped.

 

“A reminder, hyung. Remembrance.

If I become busy with vocal practice all the time when break ends, I’ll forget about D.O. But if I smell his pee wherever I go, I’ll remember him. Maybe I’ll be able to save up money and visit him in New Zealand.”

 

Wait a minute.

“Well, I’m freaking sick of you and your stupid voice! Go marry it, why don’t you!”

 

“Omigosh…” Luhan said to no one in particular.

Because the empty milk tea cups Sehun leaves everywhere—they were a reminder. 

A reminder to spend time with Sehun. A reminder to give Sehun some attention.

A reminder that Sehun missed him.

 

Well, at least, that’s what Luhan managed to conjure up after hearing what Kyungsoo said.

 

 

“I’m going to get a bottle of water from the fridge for D.O. I’m sure if he chugs it all down in one go, he’ll be peeing in no time.”

“Wait! Instead of peeing in the house, can we just take pictures? Wouldn’t that be better? Plus it would stink less.”

“Hmm…” Kyungsoo looked to D.O. for agreement. D.O. nodded.

“Ok, hyung. Here, use my phone.”

 

 

Two pictures were taken of Kyungsoo with D.O. in his arms. Another was taken of Luhan and D.O. Then Kyungsoo and D.O. took selfies together.

 

 

8:00 PM

A guy from Peter’s Penguin Shop had arrived to pick up D.O. D.O. gave Kyungsoo a peck on the cheek; literally. He also gave one to Luhan. Luhan hugged the crying Kyungsoo tightly, as they watched D.O. waving from his box as he was taken away. After crying for a while, Kyungsoo became sleepy. Luhan brought him to his room and laid him down on the bed.

 

“Hyung…”

“Yes Soo?”

“Do you think D.O. will get home before midnight? Because his mother will scold him if he’s late, you know.”

“Yes, I know Soo. Don’t worry; maybe the pilot of the airplane knows too and will speed up a bit.”

“I hope so… and hyung?”

“Yes?”

“You should check up on Sehunnie.”

 

That was the last thing Kyungsoo said before a yawn escaped his lips and his eyes fluttered close.

Luhan gently left the room and took out his phone to call up Sehun. But before he could even dial the number, the door to the apartment opened, and well—Sehun was right there. They were just staring at each other for a good while, until Sehun tore his gaze away and looked to the ground.

 

“H-hyung… Um… I’m sorry.

I’m really very sorry. I never meant to annoy you at first. I just wanted… just wanted some attention from you, that’s all. I didn’t mean it. But then I found that we only ever talked when we argued. So, I continued to purposely annoy you, because I missed you. I’m sorry, I know that it’s a lousy excuse for an explanation, but it’s all I’ve got. You’ve been so into vocal practices and I guess I just felt neglected. I know I shouldn’t have, because the schedule was taking its toll on everybody. But well… I missed you. That’s really all it ever was. I’m sorry, I won’t be obnoxious anymore. And if it takes time for you to forgive me, I don’t mind, because I deserve to be ignor--”

 

Before Sehun could finish his long speech, Luhan was already hugging him tightly.

 

“I’m sorry I neglected you, Sehunnie. I didn’t notice it; I’m sorry.”

He cupped Sehun’s face and looked in his eyes.

“Can you forgive me?”

 

That’s all it took for Sehun to hold onto Luhan; to squeeze him and hide his face in the elder’s neck because tears were starting to form.

“You never did anything wrong, hyung. It was me—I should’ve just said something instead of hinting it around. I should’ve just told you I missed you. There’s nothing for me to forgive—I was in fault.

Can you forgive me?”

 

“Of course.” Luhan rubbed Sehun’s back affectionately; trying to sooth the boy who was already hiccupping.

 

Sehun lifted his face to look at Luhan, and gave him one of the brightest smiles Luhan’s seen in a while. It felt good to be brothers again. The elder smiled back at him and they both sat down on the couch to watch some television.

 

It was such an eventful day.

 

“Hyung?”

“Yeah?”

“Another thing I’m sorry for is that I left you alone to handle Kyungsoo and his Penguin. What happened today? Is the Penguin still here?”

“Nope. He’s on his way home, because he must be there before midnight. Else, his mother will scold him.”

“Oh…” Sehun didn’t know how to react to that. “Um, ok… how’s Kyungsoo hyung?”

“He’s asleep now.”

“I… see…”

“You know what, why don’t I just tell you the whole story?”

 

 

 

A few minutes later, the other members arrive home from their day out.

“So how was Kyungsoo? How crazy did he get?”

“Crazy is an understatement” Sehun deadpanned.

“Whoever is taking care of him tomorrow, good luck to you. You have no idea what's in store.” Luhan declared.