"alright, is everyone here? you guys took so damn long!" soonyoung scowled, counting the heads in his room.
seungcheol whipped his head around, "wait where's chan- oh. nevermind."
the boys gave a half-hearted laugh to cover the fact that their house felt the impact of chan not being home, and how much the boys secretly missed him.
seokmin tried his best to lighten the mood, "well, it's okay! we're on our way to see him, so if we're all ready let's go now."
as soonyoung nodded and led the boys through the closet portal, seungcheol went over some rules for the boys as visitors, "okay guys, remember that we're guests, so best behaviours okay? we don't want to be disrespec-"
"yup, we got it hyung! now stop stressing, you're so on edge." jun cut him off, chuckling at seungcheol's stunned face.
the boys squinted at the change of light from soonyoung's closet to jihoon's studio, where vernon decided to drop a notebook and usb sticks on the coffee table.
"what's all that vernon?" seungcheol asked, picking up the notebook that read 'hot stuff' across the front.
"it's my music! all the lyrics and notes are in there, and the demos are on the usb sticks. i figured i'll bring them to show jihoon later after breakfast." vernon chuckled, picking up a usb stick and tapping it against the wooden table.
"are we supposed to wait in here, soon?" seokmin asked, walking around and running his fingers across the walls.
"um, i'm not sure. i'll go out and see if he's in the room and if not we'll just wait in here." he shrugged and started walking out of the studio.
he stepped through the portal and squinted his eyes as he was welcomed by the morning light of pleia, much brighter than earth due to their two suns.
as soon as he opened his eyes, his eyes latched onto the image of a shirtless jihoon. his bare back facing the brunette, soonyoung could barely muster up the brain power to say one word. a deep blush formed on his cheeks as he felt his hand tingle with the urge to hold the blonde tightly.
"h-hey..." was all he managed to stutter out before the fae turned around, covering his bare body with the shirt he clasped in his hands.
"soonie?!" he screeched, pulling the shirt over his head.
soonyoung looked him up and down: blue jeans, white t-shirt and his hair carefully parted down the centre... absolutely stunning.
"you look handsome, ji."
a blush crossed jihoon's cheeks as he turned his face away, "thanks soonie, you do too."
soonyoung looked down at himself: ripped black jeans, grey tank top and a black windbreaker on top... not too shabby himself, he had to admit.
"are your brothers here?" jihoon asked, looking past soonyoung's shoulder for them.
the brunette chuckled, "yeah, in the studio. we were waiting for your signal. is everything good on your end?"
jihoon gave a little thumbs up, "yup!" his green eyes shifted to the side for a moment, "they're mostly in a good mood, minus wonwoo, he's stubborn."
"oh that's fine, mingyu is a little stubborn too but in- a positive way?"
"are they...?"
"into each other...?"
"you see it too right?!"
"yeah!"
"i know maybe we'll see during brea- soonie we left your brothers in the closet!"
"don't worry we're all used to being in there..."
"what?"
"nothing! let's go get them!"
jihoon swung the door to the studio open, and the imanity came walking through the door one by one.
seungcheol came first, "good morning jihoon! how are you?"
"i'm doing well! thank you for coming on short notice!"
seokmin came in next, "the morning sun is so beautiful here jihoon! you don't get this kind of light on earth."
"well he'd be glad to hear that."
"who?"
"oh nevermind, good morning seokmin!"
mingyu came in next, "jihoon!"
"mingyu! you look dashing."
"that means handsome, in case you didn't know." jun cackled, following the taller boy.
"i know what that means!" mingyu sulked, "so jihoon, do you have people who cook for you?"
jihoon's eyebrows furrowed, "no we don't, we do things ourselves here, why?"
"i'd love to help make breakfast, it's the least i can do. plus, i like cooking."
the blonde boy flashed a smile, "that sounds great, mingyu."
"jihoon! guess what dude!"
jihoon whipped his head around to meet eyes with vernon, wearing the widest gummy smile he'd seen yet. "what's up?"
"i have music i want to show you! there's a whole bunch i brought with me, so maybe after breakfast we can look it over?"
jihoon's eyes lit up and he shot into the air with his lime green wings carrying him to the ceiling, "i'd love to!"
the fae settled back onto the floor, "okay, we should go now they're probably all ready now."
the boys nodded and followed the yellow glitter trail the petite boy left behind him, their shoes echoing through the halls of the empty castle. after a few twists and turns, jihoon stopped in front of a large door.
"okay this is it!" he exclaimed, pushing the large doors open with his hands. creaking open, the doors revealed a very spacious kitchen and dining room, lit up by the large windows that made up the longest wall of the room.
looking around, the imanities met eyes with the fae waiting around the long wooden dinner table, decorated with vibrant flowers and fruit bowls. the fae looked at the door and stood up, "you remember my brothers, right guys?" jihoon giggled, lifting his arm and gesturing for the boys to enter the room.
jeonghan tucked a chunk of his silky lilac hair behind his ear, "actually i don't believe we properly introduced ourselves yet... shall we?" he smiled, his pearly white teeth shining.
"well," he began, "i guess i'll start with myself. my name is jeonghan, i'm the eldest son and the soon-to-be-king of pleia."
he gestured to his right, where the orange haired boy stood proudly. "next in line is joshua, second eldest and light of the family."
"next to him is wonwoo. third eldest, gatekeeper of our land, and the grumpiest person here."
"the fourth eldest goes to jihoon, whom i'm sure you're all acquainted with. he's our resident troublemaker."
"minghao, with the red hair, is the fifth eldest. he may not look like it, but he's a... multi-faceted person. very much an interesting one."
"sixth in line is seungkwan, our sweetheart. he's quite the singer though, you should hear him!"
"and of course chan, our youngest. though, you guys know him more than we do. i've started to consider him our collective brother, because sometimes blood doesn't define family."
jeonghan's eyes wavered for a second looking at the chan, but shook it off. "come sit! it's still early, you shouldn't be so tense."
the imanity sat down across from the fae, exchanging hellos to the familiar faces they came across from last time, as well as the imanity hitting chan with a barrage of pleian and fae related questions to which the boy just laughed.
jeonghan started to get up from his seat, "we didn't have time to get any food prepared but i'll start-"
"no! if you'd like, i could make breakfast... it's the least i could do as your guest and i'm actually not too bad in the kitchen." mingyu babbled, shooting up from his seat and backing in toward the kitchen.
"what if you poison us?" wonwoo droned, not looking up from the book he had glued to his hand.
"well it'd be buffet style, so whatever you eat, we eat. i don't know about you, but i'm not in the mood for dying today." mingyu giggled, cocking his head to the side. "but good morning to you too, woohoo."
wonwoo snapped his book closed and flew up faster than anyone could react to. before they knew it, he was in mingyu's face. "stop. calling. me. that." he growled, his blue eyes crashing into mingyu's brown ones like the sea hitting the sand.
mingyu only stared back blankly, patting the fae's shoulders. "why though? it's a good nickname! at least i'm being nice to you, you're always so mean to me for no reason. i at least remember your name, i don't even think you remember mine!" he pouted, leaving the other one speechless.
wonwoo, though eloquently spoken on most days, felt lost for words in that moment. 'is he pouting? why is he pouting? is he mocking me? is he actually upset? he's so odd!' these thoughts floated around as he yelled back whatever came to his head.
"of course i remember your name, mingyu! but the nickname is stupid! wouldn't you hate a dumbass nickname, like- i don't know- minnie? huh!? what if i started calling you that?!" wonwoo yelled, his eyebrows stitched together as he took his aggression out on the tall male.
wonwoo braced for a fight, like he would with jihoon, until he was met with a bright smile. "minnie?! that's a really cute nickname! see look, we can get along if we tried. now, if you're really that afraid about breakfast, you can stay with me in the kitchen to make sure i don't poison the food, okay? deal?" the imanity nodded firmly, removing his hands from the blue haired boy's shoulders.
wonwoo averted his gaze, letting his bangs flop over his eyes. "f-fine." he grumbled, nodding his head hesitantly.
the two walked away into the open-concept kitchen, where the others could see, but not hear them.
the boys' attention was stolen from the odd duo to seungkwan, who giggled happily in his chair. "what is it, kwannie?" jihoon asked, scrunching up his nose.
"oh, it's nothing hoonie hyung! it's just such a nice day today." he laughed, tilting his head back. the morning light catching his baby pink hair, surrounding the boy with a soft pink glow around him.
"so while we wait, what should we do?" chan asked, leaning back into his chair.
"icebreakers?" seungcheol suggested, to which the boys all agreed to.
❀
hello everyone!
today marks a momentous occasion for this story... we just hit #1 in a ranking for the first time! i'm over the moon and i have no one else to thank but you: the reader ❤︎
i know i say this often, but thank you for taking time out of your day to read this. for reading the chapter, voting, commenting and everything in between :) i read every comment and try to respond to them when i get a chance, it makes my day to be honest.
we're also inching closer and closer to 5k read and 500 votes, holy shit.
this whole story was based off a dream, and honestly i didn't expect it to grow like this. seeing people enjoy something i write is greater than any dream i've had, because it's real! thank you for giving me something to be so proud of.
there's still so much i want to do with this story, so just you wait ;) no matter what happens with ranking i want to continue to write and share this story with anyone who'll click on it.
performance unit is mentoring on i-land soon, i haven't gotten around to watching it but maybe i will?
on a side note though, rest in peace to chadwick boseman. cancer is such a scary thing but considering his willpower and hard work; he put up an amazing fight. losing someone is so hard and my condolences go out to his wife and family. to all my marvel fanatics out there, i'm sorry to you too, we just lost a king and superhero. make sure to remind the people around you that you love them, there's never a bad time to.
with all that, i hope you have a great day/night wherever you are!
until next time, lovelies ❤︎