So uh, turns out I messed up the last one on @twipsai‘s request! So! Here’s what they actually meant :D
😈-Villainify a protagonist (for Captor)
😇-Heroify a villain (for Muriel)
While I was coloring this I was wondering why Captor looked so familiar, and then I realized... I accidentally turned her into a Mimikyu (ס_ס;;) Whoops... I guess villain = gamer girl?
Anyways, I have a “few” ideas for this version! It ended up very long, since I covered both the past and present for both of them, so I’ll put them under the cut :)
Everything up to Mu imprisoning Lilly is the same, but this time Mu is convinced by her advisors to execute Lilly sooner, both to nip this whole “plot against the queen” thing in the bud, and so that Lilly isn’t left to rot for months on end. At this point, Mu is not far gone enough to be apathetic towards her sister’s death, and goes into mourning rather than paranoia. She doesn’t start to imprison people willy-nilly. Due to this, her kingdom (while still upset because Lilly was so beloved), is not so much fearful of her as they are sympathetic, because at the end of the day Mu was 14. This also means that the Goofy Mafia goes free, and eventually Mu is informed that Lilly was actually planning a party. For HER. Mu becomes inconsolable, locking herself away in her room.
Lilly, meanwhile, had not had months to fester in grief, and was still somewhat in denial of the fact that her own sister declared her a traitor-- for no reason, in her eyes. When she was informed she would be executed, she was first shocked, and then... outraged. How DARE her SISTER send her to prison, not say a word to her for weeks, and then sentence her to death? How DARE Mu not even BOTHER to hear Lilly’s side of the story? But she was helpless as the guards escorted her to her death. She looked pleadingly into the crowd, begging someone, anyone, to speak out against all this... this NONSENSE. And the people. Did. Nothing.
A few weeks later, Lilly wakes up, eventually realizing she’s dead. Feeling betrayed and abandoned by everyone she loved, Lilly lashes out in rage, destroying most of the kingdom and exuding a suffocating miasma. (Kind of like the thing Blue Diamond from SU can do, but more lethal.) It’s sudden, and there are almost no escapees.
Present-day, Captor roams the forest somewhat aimlessly, with most of her memories fragmented. It’s frighteningly empty and quiet, and even more dead than usual. No ghosts dare to reside within. If she finds any intruders, she’ll attack straight away, because... well, she doesn’t really remember, but it’s what she usually does. She doesn’t try to trap people with her-- instead, she’s called “The Captor” because all those who enter the forest never come out.
Mu, on the other hand, in an attempt to right what she’s done in any way she can, has made the manor into a sort of safe-haven. All of the dwellers, spiders, fire spirits, anything that used to “live” in the forest now resides in that area. She’ll go out regularly to try and rescue any unfortunate souls that have wandered into the woods, such as, say, a crown wearing alien. She might need some help collecting ingredients for her “jams and jellies”, though. Don’t worry, they aren’t made of people or anything, but make sure not to drop them! They can be quite explosive. How else will she keep The Captor at bay?
Mu and Captor still argue, but instead of it being over who rules Subcon, they argue over who DOESN’T. Mu blames herself for the fall of Subcon, and refuses to be put in a position of power again, so she tries to get through to the Lilly she remembers so SHE can take charge. Captor... well, she doesn’t want to be the ruler because she remembers having a negative association with it, but she also remembers this red girl being the queen or something so that means she must be in charge, right?
Sorry this ended up so long! I always find AUs where the good characters are “bad” and vice versa super interesting, so I got a bit carried away with ideas. I’ve even made AUs like that of my own original works ^^” I guess I’ve kind of done that here, huh? I might expand on it further if I feel like... making an evil Prince or something. Or if someone sends another ask with this prompt! Feel free if you want to!
SHINee Nature AU: “There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.” or the one where Kibum stays the night for the first time. (Minkey, pg/pg13; ~2.2K words)
“It’s clear by the expression on his face that Minho is more than thrilled that Kibum’s come. It’s been almost 3 weeks since he had the chance to stop by and though he can’t put his finger on what it is, something’s different.”
When Kibum finally finishes his work, it’s late. The sun is well past its highest point, though not quite setting just yet. He knows he shouldn’t go to the island, that it’s too late in the day, but he goes anyway. Taemin reminds him to be quick; neither of them have slept outside the cloud caves since they had come to be as they were and they both worried what would happen if they tried sleeping elsewhere.
Minho’s on the beach when Kibum arrives. He’s sitting in the sand trying to coax something to grow but immediately stops as soon as he sees him.
“Kibum!”
“Hi. Long time no see, huh?”
“Nope but I’m glad you came today.”
“Where’s our puppy?”
“Jjongie is out on some weird speed migration thing with Jinki. He left a day or two after he got back from staying at your place.”
That means it’s been a least a week and a half that Minho’s been alone. It’s clear by the expression on his face that Minho is more than thrilled that Kibum’s come. It’s been almost 3 weeks since he had the chance to stop by and though he can’t put his finger on what it is, something’s different. Giving up on his project, Minho stands and takes Kibum’s hand, leading him into the garden. He shows him all the plants he’s been working on, how his citrus trees are in bloom, the new wells. Every time they finish looking at something, Kibum thinks that he needs to go. But just as the thoughts creep up, he feels Minho’s hand tighten around his and so he says just a little longer. Minho saves his new plot, the one he made on his first day alone, for last. Even though he knows Minho’s plants are almost always beautiful, the sight of the new plot -- his section in particular -- takes his breath away. He notices how much redder his flowers are in comparison to the other three and feels his cheeks becoming the same color. Minho presses a kiss to his cheek. Feeling oddly shy, he looks away and notices that the sun is almost finished setting. He’s been here too long and now it’s too late to leave. He pulls a wind and asks it to let Taemin know he’s staying at the island and that he’ll report back in the morning.
“Is everything okay?” Minho asks, slipping an arm around Kibum’s waist.
“Yeah, it’s just too late for me to go home now so I was letting Taemin know.”
“Does that mean you’re going to stay?”
Kibum wonders if this was Minho’s plan all along, to make him stay the night. Though he claimed to only be able to control plants, there had been more than one occasion where the others had wondered if there was more to his powers than just that.
“I don’t really have a choice in the matter, but yes, I’m going to stay.”
Minho beams. As the sun finishes setting and the sky gets dark, an odd blue glow begins to come from the wells. Minho explains it before Kibum can ask.
“It’s algae. Jinki found them and put them all in the walls of the well. The darkness is fine for me, since plants need it to help regulate themselves, but Jonghyun doesn’t always like it. He gets stuck in nocturnal ruts but for whatever reason his eyesight doesn’t adapt as well as it should. It’s enough that he can see but not enough to keep me awake.”
When his eyes finish adjusting to it, Kibum finds that he rather likes the soft glow. As he looks around the garden, he sees all the plants adjusting to the lower light: blossoms closing up tightly, leaves rolling in on themselves. He feels Minho’s hand tighten around his before he’s lead, ever so slowly, to the hammock. Minho lets Kibum get in first: it’s much easier for him than it is for Jonghyun, since he has the wind hold the hammock in place. He lays on his side so that Minho can lay next to him but is surprised when he feels the hammock tilt enough that he slides onto his back. Minho gets in, laying on his stomach halfway on top of Kibum. Kibum’s surprised but definitely not complaining. He reaches to give Minho a goodnight kiss and is surprised again when Minho gently cups his face in his hands, wasting no time to start kissing him. Normally, during the sunlight hours, their kisses are quick and bright pecks, short and sweet like little pieces of candy; it’s the reason why he and Jonghyun ask Minho for so many. Tonight though is different; Minho’s kisses are slow and languid and in a way, needy; it’s almost like he forgets how to stop every time and once he remembers, he doesn’t want to. Kibum shifts around so that he can wrap his arms around Minho’s waist, holding him tighter. When Minho presses their foreheads together to take a breather, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, Kibum takes in the situation. Though he watched them close, the flowers’ scent is still thick in the air. The glow of the algae is just bright enough to light up one side of Minho’s face; his features are oddly softened in it and Kibum doesn’t think he could be anymore in love than he is at this moment. Though Minho’s always been very physically affectionate with all of them, Kibum can’t think of single instance that he’s seen or heard of Minho being like this, though he’s never really talked to Jonghyun about what happens when the sun goes down.
“Is this what our puppy gets every night when I leave?” he whispers.
“No, he doesn’t,” Minho replies with a breathy laugh. “Jjongie almost always goes animal mode after dark and besides he doesn’t like kisses after dark.”
Kibum hums in response and cranes his neck in attempt to get more kisses. Minho obliges almost immediately and Kibum is blissful once again. He thinks back to 2 months prior, when Jonghyun had an episode that could only be described as reminiscent of an animal in heat. When he was in human form, he could go no more than five minutes without some sort of physical contact (whether it be holding hands or otherwise) before he would start weeping; in his animal form, it was even less time, though he’d simply start crawling on whoever was closest and whining for affection. To pacify him, Minho had allowed Jonghyun to turn into a little snake and wrap around whatever limb he preferred at the moment for the remainder of the episode. Kibum knew admittedly little about plants and though he doubted that they had ‘heat’s per se, he wondered if it was a similar situation for him right now. There’s a full moon out and one of the five always seems to have some sort of episode during it, though so far never more than one of them at a time. Minho pulls away and Kibum thinks he’s taking another breather, but he moves to start kissing his cheek instead.
“I just missed you,” Minho whispers in between kisses. Kibum’s breath catches in his throat and his heart flutters when Minho repeats it again and again. Though he knows that he’s saying ‘I missed you,’ to Kibum’s it sounds more like ‘I love you.’
“I missed you too,” he says when Minho takes another breather. Minho smiles and continues on his way, meandering between Kibum’s lips and cheeks and jaw, going as far as his shoulders. Neither of them say anymore, choosing to simply enjoy the moment. Over time, the already slow kisses get longer and Kibum realizes that Minho’s starting to fall asleep. When it’s too much, Minho gives Kibum one more goodnight kiss before scooting down so that he can tuck his head into the crook of Kibum’s neck. Kibum leans to his the top of his head and is surprised when he somehow ends up with a mouth full of lavender. He calls a wind to gently swing the hammock, making sure that Minho falls asleep before trying to himself. Every once in a while, the wind comes in ever so slightly colder. It’s not enough to wake him up, but enough that Minho cuddles closer into Kibum’s hold. Within minutes, Kibum’s asleep as well, too blissed out to worry about what will happen overnight.
*
When Kibum wakes up, there’s light coming in through the canopy of trees. He looks down and sees Minho still sleeping soundly. He shifts and feels like he’s caught in something. Looking down at his limbs, he notices he’s covered in little thread-like tendrils of some sort of plant seemingly stemming from Minho. Obviously he wasn’t going to leave easily any time soon. He feels a pair of eyes watching him and looks up to see the lady standing next to the hammock. He tries to sit up to properly greet her, but she motions for him to stay still.
“Am I allowed to sleep here?” he asks timidly. He’s relieved when she laughs.
“You can sleep anywhere you like, Zephyr. The others are a little more limited in their sleeping place of choice, but you in particular can sleep as you like where you like. It’s always been that way.”
He sighs in relief. Minho begins shifting around, and Kibum worries that he’s woken him, but he merely sighs and goes still again. Kibum watches as the woman walks over to the new plot and inspects it.
“He’s blooming this moon,” she states.
“Blooming?”
“Yes, blooming. This moon cycle, his power is going to be at its strongest and most volatile and he’s going to be at his neediest and most vulnerable. He goes through a blooming period every year, but it’s going to be incredibly strong this year since it’s happening at the end of summer. He’s going to need all four of you to help him cope with it. You have no orders until I come again.”
“Oh.” Kibum looks at Minho and kisses his forehead, fishing out the bits of lavender the inevitably form in his mouth. From where she stands, the lady laughs; it sounds almost fond.
“He called for you yesterday, didn’t he?”
“What?”
“When you woke up in the morning yesterday, you had no intention of coming over to this island, and yet you found yourself drawn to the island anyway, correct?”
Kibum nods, trying to figure out where she’s going with this.
“Out of the five of you, Minho alone has the power to pull life from where there is none. Though he’s limited to plants, he’s connected to all living matter. He doesn’t know how much power he holds and that’s why he was chosen to carry it. Though you have gone past the realm of the living, he’s still connected to the life you once held. The more time you spend on this island, the stronger his pull on you. That’s why yesterday, when he was alone and needed someone, he was able to tug your heart in his direction.”
Kibum sits silently. He hears what she’s telling him and part of him completely understand what she’s saying, but in another way he can’t comprehend what she means. She finally looks up at him and laughs again.
“You don’t have to understand now. When it comes time, you will know. Just remember. No matter what seems like is happening, it will pass. None of you are in danger. Except perhaps him.” she pauses, looks at the plot of flowers once more. “I’m going to call on the others. Stay close. Don’t leave him alone.”
With a flash of light, she’s gone. Out of the five of them, Kibum sees her the most, yet he still can’t fathom what or who she is; all there is to do is follow her orders. As he ponders what her instructions mean, he feels Minho wiggling around, huffing and sighing, signalling that he’s finally waking up. The tendrils slowly pull back and disappear by the time Minho opens his eyes. Kibum grabs his hand and starts kissing his knuckles as he waits for him to fully wake up and is pleased to find that he stops tasting lavender. Eventually Minho pulls his hand away so that he can rest it on Kibum’s cheek.
“How’d you sleep, morning glory?” Kibum asks. Minho doesn’t respond, though he smiles at the epithet. He pulls at Kibum’s face and cranes his neck, obviously trying for kisses, but is too far down to reach higher than his chin. He starts anyways, though there’s a distinctly disappointed feeling in the air. Kibum laughs and does his best to pull Minho up so that they’re properly face to face. Minho nuzzles his nose against Kibum’s.
“Are you blooming, my morning glory?”
Minho simply hums before resuming his steady stream of kisses from the night before. Though Kibum’s worried about what this is going to hold and why the warnings given to him were needed, he hoped the lady waited as long as possible to send the others.
Animal “guardian” -- is supposed to protect other animals from stuff, but since he can also turn into animals he mostly spends his time as a puppy. Lives on the island with Minho (and sort of Jinki). Likes to play around with Minho, esp if it means bothering Key.
SHINee Nature AU: “Your kisses are like miracle fruit that sweetens my life.” or the one where Minho grows too much fruit and everyone’s day gets a little sweeter. (JongMinKey,~900 words)
Jonghyun, who had heard the comment, yelled “I mean the third option is we keep kissing and you take a nap.”
It had been an easy day on the island. Everyone had gathered together for a very important project. Not storm making or adventuring or any of the normal sort. It was more of a cleaning mission. Somehow, Minho had sent all of his fruit bearing plants into overdrive and now he and Jonghyun had more than they could possibly eat to deal with. So of course they invited Taemin, Jinki, and Kibum over for a picnic of sorts. Jonghyun and Minho had made reed baskets for everything, pulling it all out on the beach. It was quite a bounty, even for five people with seemingly endless appetites. They had already started peeling tangerines by the time the others finally came around. They sat in a circle at first, each person picking one type of fruit: Jinki had apples; Jonghyun, strawberries; Kibum, persimmons; Taemin, bananas; and Minho kept the tangerines. Beside them lay more baskets which were less full, but had other fruits like peaches, lemons, and grapes. They’d peel and clean it off, then either eat it themselves or feed someone else.
When the sun finally started to set, they decided that they’d had enough to eat. Minho, Kibum, and Jonghyun decided to nap while Taemin and Jinki started playing around with the remaining fruit down in the surf. Jinki would pull up a tiny bit of water and use it to dramatically slice up an apple while juggling tangerines. Taemin, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to use lightning to cut fruit. After 10 attempts, all he had was fruit mash. It wasn’t often that the two of them just played for the sake of it.
When they woke up, Jonghyun, Minho, and Kibum watched Taemin and Jinki for a while. Since Jinki seemed to have a pretty good hold on Taemin’s attention, they figured they had at least a little while to be more affectionate before the Mr. kissing police started sending miniature storm clouds and other annoyances their way. They had figured out a system to make sure that none of them got left out when it was affection time. Minho, who was both the top donor and top recipient of affection, would sit in the middle. When Jonghyun or Kibum wanted his attention, they’d simply tap his shoulder or cheek and he’d oblige. Minho prided himself on trying to be as fair and equal as he could be. Today, Minho was on the receiving end of both Jonghyun and Kibum’s affections. At first, it went smoothly. Tap, tap. A kiss from Kibum. Tap, tap. A kiss from Jonghyun. Back and forth. Then, equal time became obviously not enough time.
“You know, I should be able to get two kisses for each one you get,” Kibum started, poking at Jonghyun. “You live with him so you have 24/7 access while I only get a few hours a week.”
“If you want more kisses then come visit more. It’s not like there’s a chance we won’t be here,” Jonghyun sneered.
“If you’re always here that just proves my point that you get more kisses overall so I should get more now!”
“If you want time to get more kisses than other people then maybe you should just set time aside to visit just Minho! But since this is the three of us time, you get one for each I get!”
Still sandwiched between the two of them, Minho sighed. They’d argued about this before at great length. It always made him laugh that the two would waste more than half their affection time arguing about who should get kisses. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jinki gesturing that Taemin was losing interest in his games and that they were almost out of time. Tired of not getting the affection he wanted, Minho put an arm around each of them.
“I know you two like arguing about who deserves more kisses but I’m not quite feeling it today. I don’t know if you noticed, but I have two cheeks. Which is convenient since there’s two of you. Two cheeks, two of you, twice the kisses.” he explained, jokingly.
Jonghyun and Kibum looked at each other and laughed before shifting closer so they could each reach their respective cheek. Jinki was surprised at the sudden peace and dropped his tangerines. As he reached to pick them up, he heard Taemin mutter under his breath.
“What if neither of you kissed him and you guys just took another nap.”
Jinki started laughing and dropped his remaining tangerines. He tried to suppress it so the three could finish having their moment, but it was too much.
“Taemin, what did you say? Are you trying to rekill Jinki or something?” Kibum called, his face somewhere between concerned and amused.
Jonghyun, who had heard the comment, yelled “I mean the third option is we keep kissing and you take a nap.”
Taemin’s face turned red, though it was obvious he was pleased that he’d made Jinki laugh so hard. The sun finally set and it grew dark on the beach. Begrudgingly, Jinki, Taemin, and Kibum got up to leave. Jinki set off first after quick hugs for everyone. Taemin also said goodbye quickly but lingered, waiting for Kibum.
“Taemin, you should probably go ahead but really slowly,” Jonghyun called as he headed towards the garden. “I’m going to go inside so Kibum can have the alone time with Minho that he’s obviously desperate for and I know how much you want to see that.”
SHINee Nature AU: " “I will find comfort in the rhythm of the sea and the hearts of friends.” or the one where Onew (and Key) help Minho after a long day. (Onminkey/Onho; ~2.1K)
**There’s going to be a part 2 eventually!!!
“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely."
“What if I tried changing my wingspan? Do you think that would help?”
“I don’t know. Jonghyun, I said I see birds fly through my storms but that doesn’t mean that I write meticulous notes on how they fly and their measurements or anything. I just let them do their flying thing.”
Upon discovering that his power allowed him to turn into not just regular and realistic animals but also bizarre hybrids, Jonghyun had enlisted Taemin to help him figure out how to fly through storms. At the start of their brainstorming session, there had been many great ideas; as time went on however, the ideas had begun to dwindle. Now they were laying on the beach and watching seabirds fly past to try and get ideas. Minho watched them from further up the beach. If his counting was correct, this was the ninth time that Jonghyun had suggested a wingspan change.
“Whatever I’m just going to think storms and change into a bird and whatever I turn into is what I’m going to go with.” Jonghyun huffed, sitting up. He quickly changed forms, ending up as something between a petrel and a pelican. Both Taemin and Minho laughed at the sight, earning what was assumed to be a glare from bird Jonghyun. How someone could manage to be so expressive as a bird, Minho would never know.
“I’m sorry, Jonghyun, you should be able to see yourself. You’re literally the funniest and ugliest bird I’ve ever seen,” Taemin laughed as he stood, “Are you ready?”
Bird Jonghyun glared again then waved his head around in some semblance of a nod and shot off into the sky, Taemin trailing behind with clouds already forming around him.
Minho was a little upset that the two hadn’t said goodbye before they left, but it wasn’t the first time so he tried to let it go. In order to distract himself, he decided to try to grow something new. He had brought his book outside with him in anticipation of this. After flipping through for a while, he decided to try making some passionflowers. He’d always had trouble with purple flowers and the odd look of the flowers made it twice the challenge. He carefully set the book next to him in the sand and closed his eyes. Putting his hands to the ground, he tried to imagine what the flower was like, slowly moving upward to raise the flower. When he finished and he opened his eyes he was immediately met with disappointment. Not only was his purple passionflower not purple, but the trademark filament petals were too thick. It looked like some bizarre, mutant daisy. So he tried again. The flower came out the same, only with a pink hue to it. Again. Same flower. After 100 blossoms he was no closer to growing a purple flower, much less a passionflower. To try and mitigate his growing frustration, he moved away from his patch of disappointments and tried to grow roses. Roses were easy for him, especially since Kibum had started visiting more. He put his hands to the sand and pulled up his roses. When he examined them, they were malformed. The petals weren’t the right sizes, the colors were uneven, and some of them could barely stay upright. He tried again and again and again, with the same result. Beyond frustrated, he tried to force all the blossoms back down under the sand.
Jinki almost forgot that he wanted to go by the island until he ran into Kibum.
“Hey there, old man. I’m on my way to visit Minbabe, do you want to come too?” he asked. Jinki nodded and the two headed off. When they arrived, both were caught off guard by the sight of Minho on the beach. He was curled up with his head in his hands, with hundreds of dying flowers around him at his feet. Kibum reached the beach before Jinki did.
“My sweet summer blossom, what happened? Are you ok?” he asked, kneeling next to Minho. Minho looked up, obviously surprised at their appearance. It was plain that he’d been crying for a while and it made Jinki’s heart ache. He opened his mouth as if to explain what had happened, but the story was cut off by another sob. Jinki looked to Kibum and motioned towards the garden. Kibum took the hint, and together they coaxed Minho onto his feet, into the garden, and onto his hammock. They cradled him between them, with Jinki holding him and Kibum facing them. They let him cry for a while, knowing that if he was already this upset that any calm down tactics were useless. Eventually he calmed down but remained silent for a while.
“Jonghyun keeps finding new things to turn into and you all are always so amazed by it, especially Taemin now that Jonghyun can turn into birds. So I wanted to try to grow something new so that you guys would be excited at something I made too but it kept coming out all wrong and ugly. So I tried making roses because I know I can make those pretty and you like those but they came out wrong and ugly too,” he trailed off, fresh tears running down his cheeks.
“Oh Minho,” Kibum started, “my beautiful brier rose, everything you make is lovely. You don’t have to wear yourself out with bigger and fancier and more flowers to keep us interested. There’s no interest quota that you have to meet for us to keep visiting. You’re interesting enough without all that.”
Minho stayed quiet, brows furrowed in concentration and tears still occasionally slipping down his cheek. Jinki shifted so he could run his fingers through Minho’s hair while Kibum held one of Minho’s hands between his own. They laid there, Jinki humming and Kibum pressing small kisses into Minho’s knuckles. After a while, Kibum began shifting around, eventually falling out of the hammock. He sprang back to his feet before the other two could ask if he was ok.
“I have to go run an errand really quick but I’ll be back as quick as I can, ok?” He bent over and kissed Minho’s cheek then Jinkis forehead and then ran towards the gate. “I’ll be quicker than the wind I promise!”
There was a sudden breeze through the garden, indicating that Kibum had left. Minho began shifting around.
“You don’t have to roll over if you’re already comfortable, sprout,” Jinki whispered. Minho settled back as he had been and sighed.
“What had you been trying to make, sprout? I used to know a lot of land plants but I’ve been at sea so long that I only really know ones that grow on coastlines now.”
“They’re called passionflowers. I think my mom used to like them but I can only barely remember them.”
“Is that why you struggled with them? Because you don’t have the memory of them?”
“No, for some reason purple flowers are hard for me and then they have really weird parts to their flowers so I knew it was going to be hard from the start but usually I can kind of manage to figure something out after a few tries.”
“Are you a strong swimmer?”
“What?”
“You said you lived on the coast before, are you a strong swimmer?”
“I think I was? I haven’t really gone swimming since. I remember being in swimming competitions.”
“I found this weird plain of seagrass and I thought maybe you’d like to see it, but you’ll probably have to swim to some degree to get to it.”
“How long will it take to get there?”
“Not long.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see that.”
After maneuvering their way out of the hammock, they made their way to the beach. Jinki hurried into the water out of habit. He noticed that Minho wasn’t walking next to him and turned round. Minho was standing on the beach, staring out at the water.
“Are you sure you want to come out, sprout?”
“Yeah. I remembered the feeling of having to hold my breath during swim meets, so I’m trying to get some photosynthesis stuff going so that I don’t have to totally rely on breathing while we’re swimming.”
“Oh.”
As Jinki watched, green patches began to appear on Minho’s skin. When he was ready, Minho joined Jinki in the surf.
“So I’ll probably turn mostly to my water form, just out of habit, but I promise I won’t leave you. If you hold my hand, I think that’ll stay in human form but it may just be a ghost hand so don’t freak out.”
Minho nodded and they headed out. Jinki indicated when it was time to start swimming and true to his word, all but his hand quickly turned to seawater. Minho tried to balance breathing and not-breathing. He pulled Jinki’s ghost hand to the surface every few minutes and Jinki stilled the water where they rested so it was easier for Minho to breathe. When they got to the plain, it was teeming with multiple schools of fish and plenty of crabs. They pulled to the surface and Jinki made an effort to go back to his human form, at least above the waist.
“There’s so much!” Minho exclaimed.
“I know. It’s not uncommon for the meadows to be so big area wise, but it’s weird how dense it is.” Jinki explained.
“Is it really grass?”
“They’re really plants. I don’t think it’s proper grass though.”
“Weird.”
“If you want, you can swim around and feel the grass and everything as you want. I’ll stay close by and watch if you start struggling. When you’re done and want to go back, just come back up to this spot on the edge and stay up and I’ll come back over for you.”
Minho nodded, looking down at the water. He took a big breath and headed back down. He swam to a somewhat unoccupied spot before reaching out. It wasn’t as slimey as he was expecting but it still had the pliable feeling characteristic of aquatic plants. Taemin had asked him once if he could talk to plants, and while he couldn’t necessarily talk to them, there was definitely a connection that was unique to him. He moved between the surface and different spots in the meadow, trying to feel out as many plant as he could. After a few trips, he started feeling tired. He hadn’t seen Jinki in a while and thought about going to the meeting spot just to make sure he was still here. On the other hand, the seagrass was much softer than he had imagined and the thought of a nap crossed his mind. He let himself sink down until he was as close to laying on the grass as he could manage. Just before he closed his eyes, however, he felt himself being lifted up. When he broke the surface, Jinki was waiting.
“Are you okay? If you’re tired you should’ve told me.”
“I didn’t really realize it? It just kind of hit me all of a sudden and the grass is so much softer than I thought it would be.” MInho explained.
“Well, let’s just get you back home just to be safe. Do you think you can swim back or do you need me to carry you?”
Minho paused, trying to assess his state. He was definitely tired. The wind picked up around them, making a fair amount of wake.
“I’m just going to carry you, sprout. If I don’t bring you back home in one piece, Kibum will have more than words waiting for me.”
Minho nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. Jinki laughed, then dipped under the water. Minho felt himself being picked up again and slowly but surely they started back in the direction they had come. Somewhere along the way he managed to fall asleep and Jinki made sure to prop him up enough above the water that he wouldn’t start drowning again. When they got near the island, Jinki woke him up again, encouraging him to dip below the water. Kibum was waiting on the shore, a big bag laying next to him on the beach. Jinki turned back to his full human form, helping Minho walk up the beach. When they got to the shore, Jinki stayed back, waiting until Kibum had a hold of Minho.
“I have to go, sprout. I hope you had fun. Don’t forget, you can always talk to me!” he said, waving and heading back out into the water.
🐶ontaekey bring lil Jonghyun to Minho’s island so that he won’t be so lonely.
🐶Tease each other to no end, but at the end of the day they’re 100% ride or die
🐶Used to sleep on opposite ends of the island but after one (1) accidental nap they won’t sleep apart.
🐶Try to team-prank Key as much as possible, doesn’t always end well.
(fic under cut; ~2k words)
Now that some time had passed and they’d learned what he liked and disliked, Taemin and Jinki started forming a third bounty pile of flowery treasures for Minho. It was mostly pieces of jewelry but sometimes there would be pieces of glass windows or shards of porcelain. What had formerly been a small endeavor for acquaintanceship and treasure and grown into a more friendly endeavor. They would plan their trips according to where Taemin had recently sent storms (to make it easier to pull up the goods), and simply took everything to Minho’s island to sort together instead of awkwardly on clouds at sea. Minho never watched them sort, not wanting to interrupt their quiet friendship, but would come and fawn over every piece they brought back once the sorting was done. When they parted, they’d make arrangements for the next time to meet. They were getting pretty good at this and Taemin was attempting to find something extra pretty to give to Kibum in apology for losing some of his treasures.
Normally they would go and find long sunken treasures that no regular humans would come looking for; but as they travelled out, they came across a rather recent shipwreck. Jinki swam up to the debris to check for survivors while Taemin held back. While he never intentionally sent storms in the path of normal people, it never made it any easier to see ships that had been so obviously wrecked by them. Jinki gave the all clear and they began stirring up the water to see what was inside. Since the wreck was so recent everything came up rather quickly. Seeing how hard the wreck was on Taemin, Jinki paused.
“Is it ok to stay here or would you rather go somewhere else?” he asked.
“No, it’s ok. You said there wasn’t anyone in there right?” Taemin replied after a moment.
“There was no one I could see. I saw a few other ships go by yesterday from around here, they were probably able to rescue everyone.”
Taemin nodded but didn’t say anything else. Jinki also went back to work, diving down to see if there was any good china on the inside. Minho had lately taken an interest in rose patterned teacups and seeing the happiness on his face was worth the extra dive. As expected there were a few good cups laying on the floor. He saw some strange bubbles coming up from the floor below and against his better judgement he went to go check it out. After searching through several rooms, he finally came across a door with bubbles coming out. To his surprise, he found the source of the bubbles was a small puppy, caught in some sort of air pocket in the corner of the room. The puppy noticed him and began trying to bark in Jinki’s direction. Being careful not to burst the bubble, Jinki slowly began maneuvering the bubble out of the room and towards the surface. The puppy continued barking but did its best to remain still, seeming to understand what was going on. Eventually, Jinki and the pup got to the surface. Taemin was waiting for him at the surface; it was obvious from the relieved expression on his face that Jinki had been down there a long time.
“Is that a puppy??” Tae asked when they reached the surface.
Jinki nodded and finished bringing the bubble up. As soon as it came into contact with the air the bubble burst; the puppy did its best to swim, but it was obvious he wasn’t used to being around water. Jinki carefully directed him up on a swell to Taemin, who excitedly brought him onto his cloud. The puppy cowered in his lap.
“He was in a bubble in the bottom level of the ship, but not a normal air pocket or anything. It was like he’d been purposefully put in there.” Jinki explained, reaching out to try and pet their new friend. Taemin’s face turned serious.
“Jinki, that’s not a good sign. We need to watch him, hide him somewhere. I don’t want anything to happen to this little guy.”
Jinki nodded. They sat for a minute, both quietly trying to brainstorm how to protect this puppy. Both liked it but neither lived in a place that was safe in any sense for a land animal.
“Oh! I know! We can take it to Minho! Then he’ll have a friend all the time!” Taemin shouted suddenly.
“Maybe then he won’t be so sulky when we leave. Good thinking.”
With the puppy’s fate decided, they headed off to the island. It wasn’t far, but it took them a while since Taemin wasn’t used to having passengers and the puppy wasn’t used to being on a cloud. When they got to the island, Minho was out near the water’s edge practicing his sea plants. His hand were out in the water and as they got closer Jinki could see the kelp stretching from his palms. The puppy was obviously excited to see land and as they approached Taemin had trouble keeping him on the cloud, eventually slipping out of his grasp. Once the puppy was off Taemin let himself drop into Jinki’s waiting wave. Minho looked up and let go of his kelp, interested in the treasure he knew was coming.
“Hi guys! How was your ship today?” he asked when they finally reached the beach.
“Good,” Jinki replied. “We found a lot of cool stuff. We even brought you a friend!”
Taemin held out the puppy, which had begun whimpering at being wet. Minho looked at it with wide eyes; it occurred to Jinki that Minho might not have seen a puppy before. When Minho reached out and began playing and petting it he remembered that at some time or another, Minho had lived somewhere else. From further up the beach came a scream.
“OH MY GOD IS THAT A PUPPY.”
Taemin and Jinki laughed at Kibum, who was now running down the beach.
“Yes, Bummie, it’s a puppy. Jinki and I found it on a ship today and since none of the three of us live in puppy-suitable places we’re giving it to Minho.” Taemin yelled back, finally putting the puppy down on the ground. It sniffed around for a moment and then plopped down, apparently anticipating Kibum’s incoming affections.
“The puppy is for me??” Minho asked in disbelief.
Jinki nodded. “Yeah, bud. I mean beyond the whole ‘who lives in a place where puppies can also live’ you also have the hardest time going to visit friends.”
“Hey Minbabe, you should grow him some grass to use so he doesn’t ruin all my flowers.”
Everyone turned to look at Kibum.
“Last time I checked they were Minho’s flowers, actually.” said Jinki.
“You all know what I mean. Minho, just go do your thing, my wonderful flower child.” Kibum huffed.
“What is grass like again? I almost remember it but not enough to grow it.”
After about ten minutes of explanation ranging from Jinki’s unhelpful “large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants” to Taemin’s equally unhelpful “that green stuff that grows on the ground and shakes in the wind” to Kibum’s short somewhat helpful sensory descriptions, Minho had enough of an idea to attempt it. He went further up the beach, past the normal threshold of waves, sat down and put his palms face down on the sand. After a moment he lifted his hands and a small patch of scraggly grass began growing. It wasn’t lushous or full by any means but it was enough to catch the attention of the puppy. It ran over (much to Kibum’s chagrin) and began to roll around. Minho laughed and reached out to pet it again. After a while it tuckered out, plopping down again to take a nap. Minho got up and walked back to the shore line, where Jinki and Taemin were beginning to offload the treasures they’d saved for Minho. He and Kibum walked them up to the tree ring. As they were walking back there was a loud pop coming from the direction of the puppy. All four turned and saw a very confused looking boy sitting where their beloved puppy had once been napping.
“Hello? Where am I? What happened to the boat?” he asked, obviously beginning to panic. Minho ran over and sat next to him.
“My name is Minho. You’re on my island. The boat you were on wrecked and my friends Jinki and Taemin saved you from it.” he explained, pointing at where the other two were.
“The boat wrecked?”
“Yeah, it was really wrecked. You were the only living thing left on the boat,” said Jinki.
The boy looked down at the ground; he looked shaken but not distraught.
“What’s your name?” Minho asked, trying to keep him talking.
“I-I’m Jonghyun.”
“That’s a pretty name,” Kibum continued. “Where are you from Jonghyun?”
“I’m fr- I’m from the mainland, I think. This was my first time sailing. I was going somewhere but they wouldn’t tell me where.”
Jinki sat down next to Minho and waited for Jonghyun to look at him.
“My name is Jinki. I was the one that found you on the ship. I’m going to ask you a question but you don’t have to answer if you don’t know, ok?” he said. Jonghyun nodded.
“Were you turned into a puppy by someone or is that something you can do by yourself?’
Jonghyun looked down again, brows furrowed in thought. No one said anything.
“I-I think I can do it myself? It’s not easy though. And I sometimes forget how t- how to turn back. Like into a person.”
“When I found you, you were in this ball of air. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Do you remember how you got in there?”
Jonghyun shook his head. “I don’t remember anything from the time we left shore til you came in for me.”
Silence fell over the five. Taemin made his way over to Kibum and began whispering in his ear. When he finished, Kibum turned to Jonghyun.
“Jonghyun, it’s getting dark. The three of us, “ he gestured at Jinki, Taemin, and himself, “can’t take you with us to where we live. Do you feel okay to stay here with Minho? We can take you to the mainland if you don’t, but it’s a long long way and it may not be anywhere close to where you’re from.”
Jonghyun looked around the island, then at Minho, then back at Kibum.
“I-I think I could stay here? If that’s ok? I don’t want to be trouble.”
Minho smiled. “You won’t be trouble, I’ve been hoping for a friend that can stay.”
He stood and stretched his hand out towards Jonghyun, who gingerly accepted it. Once everyone was standing, the three started out towards the water while Jonghyun and Minho stayed near the grass. They turned around and waved.
“We’ll come back tomorrow to check on you, ok? Minho’s the nicest person I’ve ever met so you’ll be ok for tonight. Goodbye!” yelled Kibum.
Jinki jumped in the water just so that he perfectly soaked Kibum and Taemin, then was gone. Taemin called a cloud over and Kibum called a wind, together maneuvering their way into the skies and out of sight. Minho and Jonghyun waited on the beach, hands still clasped (Kibum had just taught Minho about holding hands), til everyone was gone. They turned towards the tree ring.
“Do you like strawberries?” Minho asked.
“Yeah, strawberries are nice. Why?.”
“I just learned how to make them. I have some in my garden, do you want some? Jinki says they’re sweeter than normal ones but Taemin and Kibum like them so.”
☁️ Kibum visits Min’s Island with Tae one time because Tae has a friend???
☁️He loves all the flowers Minho grows so he visits often
☁️50% of the time is nice and sends nice warm winds and 50% of time is Bothered and sends cold winds just to ruffle Min’s leaves
☁️Highkey in love with Minho but won’t say it (and literally blows away anyone who tries to tell Minho). Purposely calls everyone babe so that he doesn’t accidentally proclaim his love.
(fic under cut)
Though they usually worked on the same storm cells and lived together, Taemin and Kibum usually didn’t “go to work” together. Kibum would take one side and Taemin the other, for maximum Storm Swirling. Today was not a usual day. Both were feeling a little lazy and decided that giving everyone a somewhat sunny day wouldn’t cause the apocalypse, so instead Kibum was helping Taemin move some clouds around to prep for the next day. After a while, Taemin perked up and got to work setting up a tiny raincloud.
“I thought we weren’t doing any storms today, Taebabe?”
Taemin looked up, then seemed to remember something and went back to work.
“I almost forgot to send rain to my friend so I’m making a cloud now. He’s on a island but he grows pretty flowers and he’s always nice to me so I try to make storms avoid him and send nice rain for his flowers everyday,” he explained.
Kibum stopped moving clouds to stare at Taemin.
“Taebabe, you have friends???”
Taemin glared as he finished the raincloud and sent it on its way.
“Wow way to ignore Jinki’s existence. Also if I don’t have friends what does that make you?”
“I’m your weather brother from another mother obviously????”
Taemin sighed and got back to work moving clouds.
“So when are you going to introduce me to your friends? As your mom I have to know all of your friends.”
“But I thought you just said you were my brother?”
Kibum sighed. “Taebabe, I am all of your relations since it’s just us out here. Anyway where is this island? You said there’s flowers right?”
Taemin laughed. “I’ll show you the island, but you have to promise me something.”
“Tell me and I’ll decide.”
“Well I’ve seen how you flit around and I just want you to know if you break this guy’s heart I will literally strike you with lightning repeatedly.”
Kibum stopped in surprise. It was true that he wasn’t always the most reliable person when it came to love; it wasn’t because he was unable to love or anything, he was just fond of flirting and people never quite seemed to understand him.
“Ok, I guess. I promise to be gentle with this guy. Does he live alone or something?”
Taemin stopped moving clouds and starting floating in a different direction, motioning for Kibum to follow him.
“Yeah actually he does. Jinki and I are the only people he knows apparently.”
“Wow. So is he just like a normal dude that accepts that you guys are like water weirdos or?”
Taemin laughed but didn’t reply. As they got closer to the island, Taemin went around to see if Minho was outside or in his garden. He had hoped that he would be a tree so that he could scare Kibum but the empty beach suggested Minho was inside. When he reached the bottom limit of his cloud, he hovered and waited for Kibum to catch up.
“He’s inside right now but if we sit right here and kind of move around we might be able to sneak a glance in so you can decide if you can play nice or not,” he explained.
Kibum looked offended for a moment, then shrugged. “Fair enough. So can you see him?”
Taemin searched around the garden for a sign of movement; it was possible that Minho was still a plant. After a minute he came into view.
“Is that him?” Kibum whispered.
“Yeah. He’s probably working on a flower right now.”
“Where’s that raincloud you sent?”
As if it had been waiting to be remembered, Taemin’s raincloud came down low enough to block their view and started.
“Right there,” Taemin said, giggling.
Kibum huffed.
“Come on, we can go visit now. He won’t work if it’s raining.” Taemin explained before jumping off his cloud. While he knew how to get on and off his cloud in an easy and cool manner, jumping off and having Minho carry him back up was definitely the much more fun option. As he walked up onto the beach, he could see Kibum shaking his head. They made their way up to the tree ring and Tae gave the secret knock. Kibum was a little surprised when the vines moved out of the way on their own, but even more shocked when he saw the man inside.
“Taebabe,” he whispered “you didn’t mention how cute your friend is!”
Taemin turned to face Kibum before he entered. “Actually I did, you just weren’t listening for it. Remember that thing I made you promise me?”
“Taemin! You came to see me!” came the call from within. The two boys entered and made their way into the garden.
“Yeah, Minho. I had some extra time on my way home so I thought I’d make stop by and see how your flowers are doing. Is the rain ok?” Taemin replied, hugging Minho.
“Yeah it’s perfect!” Minho replied with a smile. He turned and properly noticed Kibum.
“Minho, this is my friend and weather brother Kibum. He controls the wind and likes flirting.” explained Taemin.
Kibum put his hand out for the usual ‘nice to meet you’ handshake but greeted instead with a hug. Now he understood Taemin’s warning. Fun.
“Hi Kibum. I’m sure Taemin already told you but I’m Minho and I’m the plant guy.” Minho said as he let go. Kibum looked around the room, pretending to be unaffected by the hug.
“Did you grow those yourself??” he asked, pointing at a table full of various blossoms. He walked over to it and began inspecting them without waiting for a response.
“Yeah, they’re all mine. I live here by myself so I’ve been trying to grow the most beautiful flower for a while now. They always turn out pretty, but I never feel satisfied with them.” Minho explained, picking one up.
“They’re gorgeous, Minho”
“Wow, Minho. You must’ve really wowed Kibum. He never says anything is gorgeous!” Taemin exclaimed.
Minho looked between them, a huge smile on his face.
“Really?? You really think so??”
Kibum nodded, still looking at the flowers. Minho beamed for a while, then sat down on a stump nearby. He became really serious and focused on his hands. Taemin tried to see what was going on, but Kibum interrupting him to say something about each flower. After a few minutes Minho let out a sigh and the smile returned to his face.
“Here, Kibum,” he said, holding out a circle of the same sort of flowers. Kibum looked at him, unsure of what he meant.
“It’s for you, since you seem to like them so much. I’ve made the others things when they visit and I’d feel rude if I didn’t give you anything.” he explained. When Kibum didn’t move Minho came around and placed it neatly on his head, arranging his hair gently so it sat right. He then stepped back towards Taemin so they could both admire his handiwork.
“Wow, Kibum it looks so good on you. Minho did a good job.”
Minho looked like he was about to speak as well when a cold wind blew through the garden. Taemin tried not to giggle at Kibum’s antics but Minho, who was naive of the situation, shivered and raced around to make sure everything was still in its place.
“What was that??” he asked, checking the table of flowers.
“Oh that was...my boss. I’m afraid Tae and I have to go. It was really nice meeting you though!” Kibum explained, trying to grab a hold of Taemin.
“See you, Minho!”
Minho looked sad at their parting but waved and said goodbye. Once they were back in the sky and out of earshot, Taemin finally let himself laugh and nearly fell out of his cloud. Kibum looked at him unamusedly, constantly checking to make sure his flower crown wasn’t being blown away.
“It’s not funny, Taemin!” he finally shouted.
“Oh yes it is! You should’ve seen your face! There wasn’t a flower in there that was redder than your face! I’ve never seen so many hearts in your eyes!”
“Did you have to make such a cute friend? I don’t have time for this you know!”
“Well, he certainly has time if you ever find some.”
“Do you think he noticed?”
“Probably not. He’s sweet and overexcited to see people at this point. Maybe if you visit more. He was the same way when I first met him.”
“What did he give you when you went?”
“He gave me plants that don’t need to be in soil to grow. Those plants I have at the hideout.”
