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Felix loves his morning runs.
He loves it when the sun is barely up in the sky, the mist is still fogging the air, and the birds are chirping in the leaves. He loves it when people are still mostly asleep, leaving the city in a peaceful, quiet atmosphere that does wonders in calming his mind. He loves it when he runs across the empty streets, enjoying the few last moments of solace before the whole city bursts into life with its daily morning rush hours.
He loves it even more when (don’t tell anyone) he returns to the tranquility of his home since his roommates are still sleeping away on their beds. He loves his friends to death and would definitely take a bullet for them, but it’s nice to see the house quiet instead of yelling and screaming every once in a while. Seven guys in their mid-twenties living together can cause quite a scene, as Felix has come to realize.
He comes home after his daily run in a good mood. There was a very nasty storm last night, with heavy rains and booming thunder and lightning striking every few minutes, making his roommate Seungmin awake far too many times and making the windows creak dangerously around their house. At one point, Chan was scared that the storm would blow their glass doors away, but thankfully they survived without any damage. Most of the trees in the park are not that lucky though, as Felix ran past them this morning, they’d collapsed into a heap of messy branches and leaves on the ground. The sight is heartbreaking, to be honest, but nothing the city counselors can’t fix.
He’s sad that the small flower ponds in the park were completely destroyed in the storm, but he knows that people will have them regrown soon.
Once he reaches home, he has his groceries in one hand and cups of coffee in the other. There are maybe 30 minutes until the others’ usual waking hours, so he plans on arranging the food neatly in the fridge before the neat freak Seungmin has a heart attack, all the while trying to come up with ways to rob Minho into cooking for them.
Except when he takes off his shoes, faint cries echo in their empty living room.
Felix freezes.
“Who’s there?” He calls.
No one answers. The crying stops.
“Is that you, Jisung?” Felix calls again. “Knock it off. It’s not cool, man.”
Faint sniffles can be heard somewhere but with a much, much tinier volume.
The hairs on Felix’s arms are all standing on end. A chill runs down his spine as he glances around the empty room, his voice slightly shaking.
“Seriously, Jisung, this isn’t funny.” He says, trying to keep his voice steady. This is so not fair - Jisung knows that he hates scary shits!
The sniffles grow quieter, almost hesitant, as if whatever is making the sound is unsure whether to continue. Felix hesitantly heads further into their living room, wondering where the crying is coming from.
It’s not from the hallway, that Felix knows for sure. But there aren’t any spaces for Jisung, or whoever decides it’s funny to prank him in the early morning, to hide.
“If this is some mean game, I’m going to be really mad!” He calls, trying to sound braver than he feels. Silence hangs thick in the air, broken only by the faintest echo of a lingering sob.
He stops abruptly when he hears a very distinguished cry right next to him.
“What the fuck!” He curses, looking frantically around him.
There’s still no one. Only he and the flower pots near the window. Felix has opened the window slightly and taken the pots there before leaving for his morning run because he knows close to nothing about taking care of the plants but figures the plants might need some fresh air after the storm (do plants need to breathe fresh air at all? Felix doesn’t know).
“What the actual fuck? Is this some kind of haunted house urban legend that finally comes to life? After we’ve been living here a whole year?” Felix can’t help but yap. “Is there a spirit living somewhere among the walls? What is your motive?”
“What the fuck are you so loud for?”
Felix doesn’t scream. He swears he doesn’t.
But the startled, frightening look Jeongin has on his face tells him otherwise.
“Hyung, you okay there?” Jeongin asks with a hand clutched tightly to his chest. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Jeongin. Innie.” Felix all but runs to him. “Someone is crying.”
“Yeah, it’s you.”
“Aside from me.” Felix hisses.
“Who in their right mind would cry at this hour? Your doppelganger?”
“Shut the fuck up, oh my god! I’m already scared enough!” Felix nearly cries. “Or is it you? Are you ganging up with Jisung to bully me?”
“It’s too early for pranks.” Jeongin grumbles. “Besides, I don’t hear any…”
Sobs.
“See! It’s the fucking ghost living in this house!”
“Will you calm the fuck down? All those muscles and you scream like a goddamn little girl the moment someone hiccup…”
“I’m sorry…”
“Who the fuck was that?”
By now Felix has hidden behind Jeongin with a death grip on his waist, face buried into Jeongin’s nape and shaking like a leaf. Jeongin seems to be doing better, but his face is pale as a sheet, and his body stiffens in the middle of their living room.
Because that ‘sorry’ definitely does not belong to any of the residents in this household.
Jeongin carefully picks up Seungmin’s baseball bat in the corner, raising it high.
“Who is it?” He calls. “I have weapons and a very skittish cat right here.”
“That doesn’t sound very intimidating.”
“You think?”
“It’s me…”
“Me who?”
“Just me…”
“But who?”
“For fuck’s sake…”
“There!”
Jeongin suddenly points to the window.
“Where?” Felix squints.
And then he sees it.
Fluttering between the rose’s petals, a small figure slowly peeks its head out, shyly looking at them.
“It’s me…” The tiny figure says. “Sorry I scared you.”
Felix almost faints.
✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Everyone is wide awake when Jeongin not-so-gently bangs on their door, demanding them to wake the fuck up you’re not gonna believe this shit.
Resulting in five very sleepy men with tousled hair in the living room, eyes barely opened and yawns spreading from one to another like a virus.
“You better have a good fucking reason to wake us up this early, Jeongin.” Minho grumbles. “Or else I’m gonna air fry you.”
“You air fry me all the time.” Jeongin casually replies. “But this is important! ”
“What can be so important that you feel the need to bang on my door at…” Changbin quints his eyes at his phone. “Six in the fucking morning?”
“Oh my god, stop swearing!” Chan exclaims.
“Stop being a dad!”
“Guys…”
“It’s called moral, you moron!”
“Every walking person on Earth and their mom swear, Chan hyung. It’s a normal thing.”
“No is it not. Don’t normalize swearing.”
“Guys, come on…”
“You say that, but I heard you swear pretty much every morning when you’re late for work.” Seungmin remarks.
“Well somebody’s gotta teach you guys the right thing.”
“Shut up!” Felix yells. “Oh my god, you’re gonna scare the fairy!”
Once again, silence hung in the air.
Five pairs of eyes slowly turn to Felix, who blushes very hard when being put under the spotlight.
“Lix, mate, my bro…” Jisung starts. “Are you high?”
“I wish I were!” Felix grumbles. “But I’m not shitting you guys.”
“He’s definitely high.” Changbin whispers.
“Unfortunately, he’s not.” Jeongin sighs.
“Did you guys sneak off to smoke weed together?” Jisung wiggles his eyebrows.
“Will you shut up?” Jeongin smacks him in the head. “Felix, show them.”
Everyone watches in confusion and wariness as Felix puts the pot of roses in the middle of the living room. The flower bud is closed and looks pretty normal to any of them. Minho says the same thing.
“Just watch.” Felix shushes him.
Then, to the flower, he speaks with the most gentle voice he can muster.
“Hey, you can come out now.”
Everyone stares at him like he’s grown three heads.
Then, the flower moves.
“What the fuck…” Changbin whispers.
“Are you seeing this?” Jisung asks. “Are you?”
“Yeah, I’m seeing alright.” Seungmin mutters.
In front of them, a small figure pops its head out of the petals.
“Hi…” The tiny figure says. “I’m sorry I invaded your house…”
Let’s just say, each of them needs a damn strong coffee that morning.
✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
The fairy’s name is Hyunjin.
He crashed this morning when Felix opened the window to let the fresh air in.
“The roses called me.” Hyunjin explains that when he sits in the middle of their dining table, with seven pairs of human eyes on him. “They said I could rest with them until I feel better.”
“You can speak to flowers?” Chan asks in awe.
“Yes!” Hyunjin proudly exclaims. “I am a flower fairy!”
He is small, so small that he can easily use their plates as sitting chairs. He has long black hair that reaches his shoulders, plump lips and very shining eyes. His ears are a bit pointed and his cheeks are adorably pink, and overall, he’s very pretty. Minho has cut a few small pieces of strawberry for him, which he’s happily munching on, seemingly unbothered by the intense staring from the giant humans around. He’s wearing a cute purple dress with small bare feet, which he’s dangling cutely.
His lavender glittering wings shine beautifully under their kitchen light, seemingly sparkling with each ray of light falling on them. And as mesmerized as they are, they also notice with a frown that one of his wings is slightly ripped and fluttering weakly behind him.
“How did your wings get injured, Hyunjin-ah?” Changbin asks gently.
At this, Hyunjin’s smile disappears a bit.
“It’s because of the storm… I was blown away…” He sadly mumbles. “My house was destroyed too…”
“Your house?” Jeongin asks.
“The tulips at the park! Those are my home!” Hyunjin exclaims. “But it is all gone now…”
He sadly looks down at the strawberries, his wings lower pitifully.
Felix grimaces when he recalls the state of the park when he passed by it this morning. Almost all of the flowers and trees were swept off by the storm. He tells the others as much, and they all frown sympathetically.
“Hey, it’s okay, don’t be sad! You can stay here with us!” Jisung tries to lift the mood. “You can stay in the roses, or any flowers you want. Minho hyung planted a lot!”
“Yeah, I have a few more, although I hid them in my room last night because of the storm.” Minho says. “You can stay with them if you like, Hyunjin-ah.”
Hyunjin’s shiny eyes seem to glimmer. “The roses said you were very nice.” He answers. “That’s why I decided to stay with it. They said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“We would never hurt you!” Changbin exclaims as if he’s offended.
“Yeah.” Felix agrees. “I think my sister still keeps some of her Barbie clothes, maybe you’ll fit in them. Or I can just sew you some new dresses. Oh! Maybe we should get a doll house…”
“What do fairies eat?” Seungmin wonders aloud. “Do you eat leaves?”
“No. I eat fruits, like this one!”
“Okay, then we can get you some fresh fruits.”
“Do you eat meat too? Milk? Eggs?”
“He is a delicate fairy, not a fucking gym rat, Changbin hyung.”
“Again, stop with the swearing already! We have a guest here, be polite!”
“You once swore out loud when Jeongin’s mother visited.”
“That’s because you put your rubber spider in my backpack!”
“And I have no regrets!”
Fairy Hyunjin sits on their plate, eyes shining happily as he see them bicker.
“You guys are so fun!” He exclaims. “I’m so happy the roses called me here.”
Their banter stops abruptly, all eyes fall on their little guest with fondness.
“You can stay here for as long as you want, Hyunjin-ah.” Jisung says gently. “No one is gonna hurt you.”
“Promise?” Hyunjin tilts his head cutely. “You won’t give me to those white cloak humans to study?”
“He means ‘scientist’?” Seungmin whispers. No one answers.
“We’re not gonna give you to anyone you don’t want.” Chan assures. “You can stay here until your health is fully recovered. Speaking about that, is there anything we can do about your wing?”
“Oh, this?” Hyunjin peeks behind him to see his ripped wing, and then smiles. “Don’t worry, it’ll heal. I’m a strong fairy!”
They all coo, making Hyunjin’s cheeks redden beautifully.
They can’t help it. Their little flower fairy guest is so cute!
“Well, let’s see what Felix brought home and have some breakfast.” Minho says, standing up. “And let’s see if we have something other than fruits for our little fairy here.”