What Am I Left With? • Monsta X

i.

They were met with a series of clicks from the rest of their choir, mostly greetings and a few clicks of amusement. Although their eyesight was poor due to the near-complete absence of light, Hyungwon could identify every member of his family by their unique tone. Hyunwoo's clicks were soft and contemplative with a rich timbre; Hoseok's were brighter and had a slightly scratchy quality about them. Minhyuk's clicks were fast and louder than the others, and Kihyun's were slightly higher in register. Jooheon's register was the second lowest, and his tone had a sharp quality about it. Changkyun had the lowest pitch of the group, and Hyungwon fell somewhere in the middle.

He had always been in the middle of most things – register, age, speed, hunting prowess. He wasn't the best at anything, but he wasn't quite the worst, either. Hyungwon was an entirely average siren.

Hyungwon let go of Changkyun as they fell in with the group. Jooheon nipped at his shoulder in a friendly manner, and Hyungwon repeated the gesture back. Nipping was a sign of friendship and familiarity but above all else, a sign of trust. Their teeth were extremely sharp, meant for ripping apart the dense two-legged creatures from the Above, and they could do serious damage to other creatures as well. On the rare occasion when two sirens fought, it was nearly always to the death. But with sirens you trusted and cared about, a nip was a demonstration that you could tear into their flesh if you wanted to. Similarly, letting another siren place their teeth on your own flesh was a way to demonstrate that you trusted them unconditionally.

Hyungwon assumed that it was common in other choirs of sirens, but he didn't have many opportunities to confirm. Choirs were rare in and of themselves, and sirens were known to be very territorial creatures. His own choir had resided in this territory for many moon cycles now, but if the resources became scarce, they would have to move on and find another suitable place uninhabited of other sirens.

The strange urge to recall his parents hit him suddenly, but the memories were old and unclear. He couldn't remember any hazy images of their appearances, not the shade of their bioluminescent tails or the size of their large eyes. All he could remember was their clicking registers, tones unique to each siren. But his parents each belonged to separate choirs, and once he was old enough to survive on his own, his father had returned to his choir, and his mother had returned to hers. If Hyungwon ever had offspring, he would do the same. Finding a choir you trusted was too rare of an occurrence to abandon it over offspring.

Still, he felt odd thinking about them. Was he sad? Did he miss them? He didn't think that was quite it because he hadn't thought about them in many, many cycles.

What's wrong? Hoseok clicked, and there were a few other clicks from Minhyuk and Kihyun affirming Hoseok's question and directing it toward Hyungwon.

Nothing, Hyungwon clicked back, frowning despite the fact that none of them would be able to make it out in the dark. Even with all of them in the same confined space, all their tails giving off the faintest light, not many of their physical attributes were visible in any definition. Hyungwon didn't really know what any of his choir looked like; he knew the broad strokes from running his webbed fingers over their faces, tracing protruding slit noses and cupping large ears, but if they all lived in the Above, he didn't think he'd be able to recognize them by sight alone. That thought, in conjunction with the sudden remembrance of his parents, made him sad for reasons he couldn't quite ascertain.

What is it? Changkyun clicked, circling closer. The tip of his tail gently brushed against Hyungwon's scales in what was meant to be a calming gesture, an assertion of presence and support.

Just feel cold, Hyungwon clicked back reluctantly. He didn't like when they all worried about him, and while he could usually wave off the concerns of his older brothers, he found it difficult to hide much from Changkyun.